Excerpt from Backwards
Chapter 2 - Storm
‘How is that possible? The previous weather report from the Southern Settlement said it was going to be reasonably calm autumn weather for the next few weeks,’ Jackson asked Marcus over the radio. The entire team had gathered in the Radio Room after Thomas sounded the alarm at the Gate Tower.
‘Yeah,’ Marcus replied. ‘But I released some weather balloons, just to be sure, because Derek from the Southern Settlement asked me if it was safe for them to do some aerial experiments. The data they collected just showed me significant changes in the Western warm air currents,’ Marcus answered. ‘The same quick changes as we have seen before. I just know there is a supercell build-up in the North-West somewhere, Jackson. I just can’t back it up with satellite images, that’s all. They could hear a muffled “scheisse” over the radio, indicating that Marcus, originally from Germany, was once again frustrated at missing pre-war technology. Normally, Marcus, a former AI expert, wouldn’t be in the Southern Settlement. He didn’t like to leave his attic with technical stuff in the Northern Settlement at all. But he had agreed to it because Derek, the leader of the Southern Settlement, had asked his help with developing a perpetual motion device to experiment with continuous energy. Because they all had the same goal of using as much sustainable energy as possible in the future, it was important to join forces and knowledge. Jackson looked around the room and saw Alex standing in the back, with Fay still in her arms. She pointed at her wrist to remind him to ask how long before the storm would reach their Settlement. He nodded he understood and asked Marcus;
‘Okay, thank you so much for the heads up, Marcus. How much time do you think we have?
‘I think about eight to twelve hours, Jackson.’ Marcus answered him. ‘We are hitting the shelters ourselves in a few hours. There is hardly any wind now and it’s starting to get pretty hot over here. So you know what that means.’ They all knew what that meant. The storm, and specifically the extreme lightning build-up that usually came along with it, was close to the Southern Settlement.
‘Thanks, man,’ Jackson responded. ‘I guess I better leave you to it then. Stay safe over there.’
‘Wait, don’t break contact yet, Jackson,’ Marcus hastily said. ‘There is something else you should know. I left the Northern Settlement together with Sôse. He felt restless for a while now and needed some alone time in nature, and to, as he called it; ‘Talk to the spirits of his ancestors.’
‘Oh,’ Jackson replied. ‘Well, that will have to wait I guess. Maybe he can help you with your project later.’
‘No, you don’t understand,’ Marcus said. ‘Sôse is not here. We left at the same time, but he is traveling by horse and wanted to visit your Settlement first.’
‘By horse? Jackson asked, surprised.
‘Yes,’ Marcus answered. ‘He found one of those local indigenous ponies at a lake somewhere, a few months ago. He trained it and has traveled with it a lot lately. I don’t know, it’s a dark gray horse. Just so you know.’
‘Wow, could be an Ojibwe horse that survived,’ Jackson reacted enthusiastically. ‘They were almost extinct once.’
‘If you say so. Again, I don’t know,’ Marcus replied. ‘Anyway…, he is out there. He is on his way over to you because he is carrying some packages of medicinal herbs your Doc asked for, and I’m worried if he will be safe from the storm. I expected he would have reached you by now.’ Jackson looked at Alex, who was already biting her lip in worry. Sôse was one of their closest friends. They even fought together a few years ago. Jackson took the mic from the radio again and answered Marcus:
‘We will start to prepare for the storm first and if we have time left, we will have a search party out for him. I will let you know as soon as we find him. Thanks again. I hope you all manage to stay safe. During and after the storm, radio contact will probably not function as usual, but we will re-establish contact as soon as possible. Good luck.’
‘Good luck to you up there as well. Over and out,’ Marcus ended their conversation. Jackson stood up, turned around to lean against the desk, and started rubbing his beard. A sign he was worried too, but it only took him thirty seconds to go into action mode after that, and made eye contact with everyone in the room.
‘Let me guess, the main hall is filled with the rest of the USPs? He asked Hoser, his right hand. Hoser nodded and opened the door for him so they could join them, so Jackson could address the other Settlers to get ready for a storm. He first walked past Alex and said, while he lovingly touched her face which was still covered with mud from the contest, with the back of his hand:
‘Don’t worry, we’ll find Sôse. Better take that shower, and help with preparing for impact after that.’ Alex didn't say anything back. She just nodded worriedly and swallowed. Then she turned around and walked outside.
Jackson walked up to the small stage of the main hall in the Readiness Center, where about eighty Settlers had gathered, and started to explain to them what was going on and how to divide their tasks to prepare for a storm like this:
‘Hi, everyone. We have another challenge coming our way to test if our Readiness Center is functioning the way it should, people. Let’s start with stocking up our shelters with food and water and with covering the windows of our lodges and other structures. I would like to talk to our First Aid and Fire Teams, after this short meeting.’ He saw Doc and Flo from the Medical Team raising their hands they understood, as well as Owen and his wife, Wenona, to let him know they were present to talk through the Fire Security. ‘Joe, Tucker, Ezra, and Samuel,’ Jackson went on, ‘will you get the ropes we collected in the basement of the Armory, please? We will need them to tie down as many loose objects in the camp as we can. The men nodded and immediately started making a plan in which order. ‘Don’t worry, USP’s,’ Jackson said reassuringly. ‘We have eight to twelve hours. That’s more than enough time to prepare. After that, you will have plenty of time to sit down on your lazy asses to recover from the hard work in your shelters, during the storm.’ Some Settlers laughed to support his dad joke, but most of them quickly left the room to do their job. Hoser, Will, and Harper were still standing around because they suspected that Jackson had a different set of orders for them. And they were right.
‘Hoser? Jackson asked him, while he walked over to them.
‘Yes, I know,’ Hoser replied. ‘Search party for Sôse after we secured the Armory and the outside shooting range.’ Jackson nodded gratefully that Hoser had understood him perfectly without having to say anything else. ‘But no longer than two hours,’ Jackson added. ‘After that, please take shelter yourselves. Good luck guys.’
*
Looking up at the sky, it was obvious that the storm was about to hit the Settlement. The normal golden and red glow of sunset, had transformed into huge clouds of strange looking greenish-yellow colors, which the Settlers had seen before. They predicted gusts of wind, hailstorms, and especially, extreme lightning. It was a phenomenon that had developed more and more in recent years, perhaps related to the effect of nuclear particles in the atmosphere. But nobody knew for sure. The fact that the climate had changed after the Third War, was noticeable in the warmer summers and winters of recent years. But these storms could not officially be explained meteorologically. Partly because no one had the right equipment available to do so. The weather had not changed in the way they expected. Because after the war, emissions were reduced to almost none, and the threat of climate change should have stabilized. But over the years, they had learned how to prepare for these extremes and adjusted their lifestyle to deal with them. It turned out that the Readiness Center was finished right on time and its functionality was especially important in these types of situations. A lot of their security and relief work depended on it. Alex was closing up the Greenhouse, together with Graham. They blocked the door with a large beam and checked whether they had tied the ropes, made from the bark of trees, tight enough. They had stretched the thick ropes over the greenhouse, which was made of the rest material of plastic sheeting, and anchored it to the ground with wooden pickets. Graham walked over to Alex so they could hear each other over the sound of the wind. Alex could see that Graham was tired by the way he walked.
‘Do you think we have done everything? He asked. She patted him reassuringly on his back and answered:
‘Yes, Graham, thank you. There is nothing more we can do now. Please go to your shelter with Nora. You need to rest.’
‘Don’t tell an old man what to do, my dear girl. I can still,’…, Alex interrupted him by hugging him.
‘Please go home, Graham,’ she said, closer to his ear. ‘Jackson would kill me if anything would happen to you. And don’t call me, girl. I’m forty years old.’ She kissed him on the cheek and steered him in the right direction. ‘I will pick up the children in a moment and take them to our own shelter,’ she called after him. He raised his hand to let her know that he had heard her and obediently began to walk to his lodge. When the first storms hit a few years ago, the danger and damage they caused, had forced them to dig shelters under their lodges, so everybody had a safe place to protect themselves from the forces of nature. Fortunately, that generally provided sufficient protection. But they knew that after the storm, they would have to clear many of the forest paths they needed to get around and repair the damage in the Settlement, caused by branches and other debris. The last storm had even caused roof damage to some of the structures in the camp. Alex quickly turned around and started running to the Readiness Center. The storm was about to hit and she wanted to get Jackson, so they could go to their shelter, together with the children. She found him in the Radio Room, where he and Will communicated with The Team that had gone looking for Sôse:
‘Where are you, Hoser? She heard him say, using the walkie-talkie this time.
‘Don’t worry, right in front of the gate. We're coming back in. It’s getting too dangerous,’ Hoser replied. Jackson let out a deep sigh and looked at Will. He was relieved because Hoser’s team was wise enough to come back and take shelter themselves, but he was worried about Sôse at the same time. Alex walked over to him and laid a hand on his back, to let him know she was there, and bravely said:
‘That’s it, Jackson, there’s nothing more we can do. Sôse is one of the strongest men I have ever met. He will find a way to get through this somehow. Let’s go and take shelter ourselves.’ She looked up at him with an uncertain expression, hoping he would be wise enough to go with her. After all, their family's safety was ultimately important as well. Will helped her by saying;
‘She’s right, Jackson. That’s enough. Call in Chris and Thomas from the Northern Tower and let’s dig in for a few hours.’ Jackson nodded in agreement and ordered Chris to come back from his post. But to their surprise, Chris did not react the way they thought he would:
‘Negative, Jackson. I see movement near the lake.’
‘Movement? Jackson reacted. ‘Doesn’t matter. Probably some animal looking for shelter as well, I want you to come in, Chris.’ Suddenly they heard the voice of Thomas through the walkie-talkie;
‘No, Dad, wait. Chris is right. I spotted him first through the scope. It’s a man I think. But he keeps disappearing on us.’
‘What? Jackson replied. ‘What do you mean? “Keeps disappearing.” Is it Sôse, maybe? Chris must have grabbed the walkie back from Thomas’s hands again because they heard him say:
‘Negative. Not Sôse. Unless he can teleport or something. I’m constantly losing visual and then he pops up on the other side again.’ That made absolutely no sense to the three people in the Radio Room and Jackson didn’t even know how to react for a moment. But then the necessity of getting Thomas and Chris to comply and return, took over quickly, and he answered Chris:
‘Chris, I don’t know what the hell is going on up there, but if you are sure it’s not Sôse, I’m going to have to throw priorities at you. We’ll talk about this later. I want you to come in. Now! That’s an order! You and Thomas have five minutes to get yourselves into a shelter.’ That last part was more meant for his son. Jackson’s fatherly impatience and concerns were taking over.
‘Yes, sir.’ Chris quickly reacted. ‘Is it okay if Thomas stays with us during the storm? I already asked my moms.’
‘That’s fine,’ Jackson answered. He was sure that Mika and Lynn must be worried sick about their son too by now. There was no more time to waste on whatever they had seen at the lake, as the first real strong gusts of wind began to pound the roof of the Readiness Center.