Earth Shift

The Crenshaw Chronicles – Book 1

Joel K Baker

Amazon books by Joel Baker:

The Colter Saga:

Friends of the Family              (book 1)

Way of the Dogs                            (book 2)

Dogs of Liberty                            (book 3)

Chapter 1

April 1st - 260 days to Earth Shift

Maggie Crenshaw had two problems.  Her work over the past three years clearly proved an end of life event would take place within a year.  The second problem was no one believed her.  Maggie was one of a few renowned geophysicists in the world.  She was also a classic beauty.

Tall, willowy, and blond, Maggie had been treated most of her life as too pretty to be that smart.  As a gifted child, it presented no problem.  In fact, her looks opened doors to opportunities that were otherwise unavailable.  Maggie graduated with a Masters Degree from the University of Michigan the day she turned twenty, a bright and beautiful scholar who still believed in the system.

When she received her doctorate from MIT at the age of twenty two, the first inkling of a problem began to manifest itself.  Maggie had confronted the overly attentive professor and aggressive classmates, many times.  But when she applied for jobs and research grants, she’d encountered her first experience with rejection because she was a woman.  It just convinced her to work harder than anyone else.

***

Maggie sat alone in a dark office with a large computer printout on her lap, sipping a cup of tepid coffee.  She glanced at the clock noting it was after eight in the evening.  She grabbed her phone and speed dialed the home of her project director, Jim Stanley.  The phone rang twice.

“Hello?”

“Jim, this is Maggie.”

“Maggie.  What’s up?”

“I think we need to meet now and go over the latest results from the simulation model,” Maggie said.  “It differs significantly from all our previous estimates.  The event is coming sooner than we predicted.”

The silence on the other end of the phone dragged on.  Maggie knew this was Jim’s way of handling bad news.  Maggie called it the pregnant pause.  If Jim waited long enough before responding, the other person became anxious.  It was a method he used to try and put you on the defensive.  Maggie was tired of his silly games.

“Jim? Should I send the paramedics?” Maggie asked.

“No. No.  I was just thinking,” the voice on the phone finally responded.

“Well think about this.  If you’re not here in thirty minutes, I’m calling Arthur and passing on the results myself,” Maggie said.

Arthur Wynn was the head of the Earth Core Institute.  It was Arthur who conceived the current project.  He’d intervened on behalf of Maggie, when she’d applied for a position on the team.  Arthur was an old and dear friend of Maggie’s family.  He’d worked with Maggie’s father years before when he spotted the precocious four year old girl, and told her parents to see what advanced programs were available.

He’d watched Maggie’s progress over the years.  It had been his letter of recommendation that won over the selection committee at MIT.  When she graduated, Maggie had sought desperately to make her way without assistance from anyone.  Finally she turned to Arthur for help.  Her coworkers still resented her because of it.  Maggie never used her connection with Arthur, but it made no difference.

“Now Maggie,” Jim said.  “Don’t get all bent out of shape.”

“You’ve got twenty eight minutes,” Maggie said as she disconnected her cell and tossed it on her desk.

***

Jim walked through the doors of the lab twenty minutes later.  He was a short thin man of forty, with the worst comb over Maggie had ever seen.  His face was flushed and he was under a full head of steam.

Maggie sat at her desk staring at the computer monitor glowing in the darkened office.  A single florescent light from the next room shed a white pall over the door to her office.  Jim walked up behind Maggie and stood looking at the numbers flashing across the bottom of the terminal screen.  The numbers came to rest starting from right to left, like tumblers on a safe.

“What’s so important that it couldn’t wait for tomorrow?” Jim asked obviously peeved.

“The window for the shift is now sitting at nine months,” Maggie said.  “The model recalibrated the event timing based on the new data from core samplings.  This is a full year sooner than previously projected.  It’s not going to give NASA, or anyone else, time enough to do anything if we don’t announce the results now.”

“That still assumes your model is correct,” Jim said.  “None of the other groups came up with this Armageddon scenario, except you.  I think we should wait for confirmation.”

“That’s bullshit, and you know it,” Maggie said, her voice rising with her frustration.

She looked at Jim with a hard stare.  She noticed he wore two different colors of socks.  The future of mankind might rest with some guy who couldn’t even find a matching pair of socks, Maggie thought.

She knew Jim came from a long line of government bureaucrats and academic paper pushers. Reasonably bright, he just couldn’t think outside the box.  He lived a life of mediocrity.  Jim, and those like him, make a nice living and would do nothing to jeopardize it.  Maggie understood that.  She could even accept it.  What drove her crazy was their insisting no one else rock the boat either.  Well, the stakes were too high to worry about hurt feelings and bruised egos.

“Jim, I want you to arrange a meeting with Walter Scott.  If possible, see if Arthur is in town and available to attend,” Maggie said in as calm a voice as she could manage.  “I want the meeting to be first thing tomorrow.”

“But…,” Jim started.

“No buts, Jim.  You just make the meeting happen,” Maggie said.  “And Jim, feel free to distance yourself from the findings as far as you feel is necessary.  But if you try to distort or mislead anyone on the results we’ve gotten, I personally will cut your balls off and hand them to you.”

“Well I never!” Jim said.

“Sure you have, Jim.  You just can’t remember that far back,” “Maggie said.  “Now get out of my office.”

***

Maggie sat for a long time looking at the faint green glow from the computer screen.  The simulator imposed a picture of a rotating globe on the screen complete with continents and oceans.  It slowly rotated, completing one revolution every twelve seconds.

As months and seasons passed, the globe tilted back and forth as it wobbled on its axis. The wobble at the low point brought winter.  At the high point it brought summer.  It was nothing any seventh grade science student couldn’t explain. 

As a part of her doctorate thesis at MIT, Maggie documented the shrinking of the Arctic ice cap.  Centuries of melting due to climate warming, had dumped billions of gallons of water into the oceans.  The paradox was the ocean levels were rising only marginally.  The question Maggie raised was simple.  Where was the water going?

It was one of the reasons Arthur recommended her as a team member on this project.  The project to study the ecological impact of fossil fuels on the ice caps was funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, under the direction of Walter Scott.  Everyone called him Sir Walter because of his name, as well as his pompous demeanor.

The research went into troubled waters when Maggie suggested the growth of the Antarctica ice cap was occurring at the same rate as the Arctic polar ice cap thinned due to melting.  She determined this by comparing the core samples of the ice caps covering the last ten thousand years.  The thickening of ice at Antarctica was equal to the melting ice in the Arctic.

Maggie sat staring at the screen of her terminal.  After a time, she saw the spinning globe jerk, in an almost imperceptible fashion.  It appeared to be no more than a flicker.  It would be a warning to the world that there were ninety days till the entire surface of the earth shifted.  Ninety days till civilization on earth ceased to exist. 

At fifty two minutes, or two hundred and sixty simulated days, the surface of the earth shifted.  The Antarctic ice cap moved south a full ten degrees, six hundred and ninety two miles.  Maggie hit the pause key and froze the screen and grabbed the calendar and leafed forward two hundred and sixty days.  Next December twenty first, Maggie thought.  That’s the day.

  The resume key continued the inevitable shift of the earth surface from north to south.  Montreal moved to Richmond.  The Arctic Circle went to Minneapolis.  Chicago went to Memphis.  Cincinnati went to Atlanta.  Savanna went to Miami.

As Maggie’s model had clearly shown, when the Arctic ice melted, the sea levels did not rise.  The water went to the Antarctic ice cap.  The transfer of that much weight and mass over ten thousand years was both relentless as it was inevitable.  The shift was going to happen.   Maggie shut her terminal off.  There was nothing she could do until tomorrow.

Chapter 2

April 1st - 260 days to Earth Shift

Brent Ashley sat in his tent mystified by the piece of fossilized oak bark in his hand. For five hundred miles south of where he sat, there was nothing but frozen tundra composed of dwarf shrubs, sedges, grasses, mosses, and lichens.  What was fossilized oak tree bark doing in the Arctic Circle?

He and his partner Alex Marsh were called in when the Oil Company leasing this area, uncovered a petrified forest of oak trees buried in the permafrost.  The oak trees rested twelve feet below the ground in frozen earth.  He and Alex had proved the forest covered an immense area of thousands of square miles.  Every tree lay on its side, the top of the trees pointing south.  They’d all fallen at precisely the same point in time, roughly ten thousand years ago.

None of this made any sense.  Brent went over to the tent pitched next to his and cleared his throat.

“Come in, whoever it is,” the deep voice from inside tent said.

“It’s me, Brent”.

Brent held the flap of the tent back and entered.  Alex Marsh lay sprawled on his cot with his forearm covering his eyes.  His feet extended well past the end of the cot.  Alex was a large man.

He’d been Brent’s college roommate in both undergraduate and graduate school.  Brent’s undergraduate degree was in Botanical Science and a Master’s in Archeology.  Alex had majored in Chemistry as an undergraduate and his Master’s was in Life Science.

“I’m curious, Alex,” Brent said.  “Since we’re the only two souls within five hundred miles, who did you think was outside your tent?”

“Is that you Brent?” Alex asked.  “Brent?  I think I’ve gone blind!  Ever since I’ve been on my cot, I can’t see a thing.  Everything is black.  Is that you Brent?  What should I do?”

“Well, you could take your forearm off of your eyes,” Brent said.

Alex took his arm off of his eyes and sat up with a start.

“I can see!  I can see!  Praise God, it’s a miracle!” Alex yelled.

Whenever anyone met Alex for the first time, they always noticed that everything about Alex was red.  His hair was bright red, his face was ruddy, and his beard was like a bush on fire.  He looked to anyone who met him like a large red bear.

When he and Brent had played football at Kansas State his nickname was Bear.  Alex was six foot four and weighed two hundred and sixty pounds and could run.  He was the perfect pulling guard to block for Brent who was the star running back, until he blew a knee out.

“Stop fooling around, Alex,” Brent said.  “We’ve been to eight sites in ten days.  We have to file a findings report to EPA in four days.  The only problem is I haven’t a clue how to explain what we’ve found.”

Alex sat up on his cot reaching over to the table and put on his wire rim glasses.  He was very predictable when it came to his glasses.  When Alex put them on, he was always deep in thought.

“Let’s review what we’ve got,” Alex said suddenly all business.  “It appears that about ten thousand years ago, something flattened thousands of square miles of mature hard wood forests.  Since all the trees lay with their limbs to the south and their roots to the north, we know the event came from the north.”

“Good,” Brent said.  “But we don’t know if the effect was limited to this area alone.  It’s just the permafrost protected the trees.  But the original question remains.  What are oak trees doing in the Arctic Circle in the first place?  The closest tree of any size is five hundred miles south of here.”

“Remember two years ago when that British group invited us to Africa to investigate what they thought was the oldest man made structure in existence?” Alex asked.

“You mean those British researchers?” Brent responded.

“Yes,” Alex said.  “Now think about it Brent.  Remember those rocks that were very old and extremely odd.  You were the one that proved if you restacked the rocks in the order you found them, they made rock towers ten feet high.”

“I remember,” Brent said.  “We estimated the rocks had been there for some ten to twelve thousand years based on the strata they were found in.”

“Do you remember what direction the rocks lay?” Alex asked.

“Let’s see,” Brent said. “The smallest rocks of each tower were farthest away and lay due south.  That means they fell south!  Just like the trees!”

“Exactly,” Alex said.  “This suggests the event that caused these trees to fall may have been a worldwide event.”

“Okay,” Brent said.  “But that brings us back to the big question.  How do oaks grow in the Arctic Circle where only moss and lichen can survive?”

Both men were silent as they tried to piece it together.  Nothing fit.

“Can you think of any manmade artifact, any ruin, anything man made that is older than say twelve thousand years?” Brent asked.

“What about the paintings in the Lascaux Caves?” Alex asked.  “Aren’t they supposed to be like seventeen or eighteen thousand years old?”

“Yes,” Brent said.  “I think from the Paleolithic age.  But whatever happened, occurred on the surface of the earth.  I think we have to discount anything in caves.”

What about Angkor Wat in Thailand?” Alex asked.

“It’s in Cambodia and was built in the twelfth century,” Brent said.

“Well, it looks old,” Alex said thinking.  “What about the pyramids?”

“Which pyramids?” Brent asked.   “Do you mean the ones in Mesopotamia, Egypt, or Mesoamerica?  The earliest was the pyramid in Mesopotamia about nine thousand years ago.”

“You’re such a showoff sometimes,” Alex said thinking some more.  “Okay, what about Stonehenge?”

“Nope,” Brent said.  “It went up about the time of the Egyptian Pyramids, about five to six thousand years ago.  You get one last try.”

“What about the Sphinx?” Alex asked.

“Good guess,” Brent said.  “The Sphinx in Egypt is only about five thousand years old.  But there’s one in Turkey that is thought to be eleven thousand years old.  It’s the oldest documented artifact in the world.”

Both men sat for a while, looking down at the floor of the tent thinking.

So that’s it,” Alex said.  “Other than a few rocks, beads, and stuff in caves, we really have nothing older than ten to twelve thousand years?”

“This really is hard to imagine,” Brent said.  “Mankind, in its current physical and mental condition, has been on earth for a hundred thousand years.  Yet there is no evidence or artifact of our existence, beyond twelve thousand years ago?”

“It is hard to believe,” Alex said.

“I think we have to get on the network and look at the Wild Willie folder,” Brent finally said.  You fire up your laptop and I’ll get the satellite.”

Brent went back to his tent and returned with a small satellite dish and interface adapter.  Alex had almost completed the boot sequence on his computer.  Brent connected the remote device and Alex dialed out for the EPA web site.

The Wild Willie folder was a code name both Brent and Alex used to refer to a folder full of papers published by scientists, but never officially recognized as accepted.  Most were on the outer limits of theory, many of which could not be demonstrated as true.  Some were fairly wacky and thus the folders name.

Brent looked over Alex’s shoulder as his fingers danced over the keyboard.  Once the connection was made, handshakes completed, and passwords cleared, they were in.  They decided to search the database of papers for keywords.  The first keyword they tried was ten thousand.  There were a large number of mathematical models and papers listed.  There were too many papers to investigate.

They decided to narrow the search.  They added the word catastrophic.  One paper was selected.  The name sat as lonely as an orphan, blinking green.  The author was Madeline Crenshaw.  The title of the paper was Earth Shift.

Chapter 3

April 2nd - 259 days to Earth Shift

Maggie pulled her silver BMW into her parking space in the Watergate Apartments.  After a quick elevator ride, she unlocked the door to her apartment.  She turned on the lights and walked into the living room, sorting her mail as she went.  Her décor was early monastery.  It was tasteful, but nothing that wasn’t essential.  Without pausing, Maggie turned on her home workstation and allowed it to complete the boot cycle.

She walked into her kitchen, started the coffee maker, and glanced at the clock on the wall.  It was a little after midnight.  She then pulled a frozen dinner out of the freezer and set the oven to preheat.  After taking her coat and hanging it up, Maggie walked back over to her terminal.  The EPA archive monitor was running in the upper right hand corner of her screen.

For three months she’d been tracking the paper on Earth Shift she’d placed in the EPA Theory database.  Each day the hit counter sat at zero.  She glanced at the box.  It said Hit Counter: 01.  Maggie stood and stared at the screen for a minute or two.  She couldn’t believe it.  Could this be a coincidence?  No.  It was probably Jim, out doing his homework before tomorrows meeting.  Maggie sat down at her keyboard and selected interrupt message.

Query:  Who are you and why the interest in my paper?

The message appeared on Alex’s screen in a message box.  Both he and Brent froze.  They felt like Peeping Toms, caught looking in somebody’s window.

“What the hell is that?” Brent asked.

“Looks like Madeline has a monitor running,” Alex answered.

“Let me sit down there,” Brent said elbowing Alex out of the way.

“This should be interesting,” Alex said.  “Be polite”.

“You know me,” Brent said with a smile.

“Yes, I do,” Alex replied.  “Just remember we may need her help”.

Query:  We’re two lonely guys and this is how we meet girls.  What are you wearing?

Query:  You’re very funny.  Am I talking to Red Bear or Sissy?

“I don’t believe it!” Brent said turning to Alex.  “I told you I don’t think that is funny.”

Alex was doubled over laughing.  He used the names “Red Bear and Sissy” as a joke whenever Brent and he got on the net together.  You never knew what would happen.

Query:  Truth time.  We’re two scientists sitting in a tent in the Arctic Circle investigating a huge tree kill that appears to have occurred in the neighborhood of ten thousand years ago.  We did a database search and your paper showed up.

Maggie read the message and thought about it.  It was just odd enough to be true.  She decided to answer.

Query:  I have a prediction.

Query:  What is it?

Query:  The trees.  The tops of the trees were all facing toward the south.

The hairs on the back of Brent’s neck stood up.  This was impossible.  Yet here it was flashing on their screen in a tent in the Arctic Circle.

Query:  We have to talk….

Query:  I know.  Read my paper and come to Washington.

Query:  When?

Query:  The sooner the better.  We don’t have much time.

Query:  Not much time?

Query:  It’s going to happen again…

Query:  How do I find you?

Query:  You won’t.  I’ll meet you in the lobby of the Sheraton in Georgetown at 4:00 PM, the day after tomorrow.  My name is Madeline Crenshaw.

Query:  We will be there.

Query:  You never told me.  Is this Red Bear or Sissy?

Query:  Sissy. I mean Brent.

Query: See you in thirty hours Sissy Brent.  Goodbye.

***

Alex was rolling on the floor laughing.

“I hope you got your laughs, Chuckles,” Brent said.  “Now get on the system and get us to Washington the fastest way possible.”

As Brent left the tent, Alex’s was still shaking with laughter.  He smiled and walked to his tent to start packing.  Brent wondered about Madeline Crenshaw.  He had turned thirty last month and felt something was missing.  He was looking for someone to come into his life.  He was getting tired of waiting.  He had felt strongly about one of his fellow students in grad school, but she had other priorities and they drifted apart.  But a name like Madeline, Brent thought.  I don’t think so.  He put her out of his mind.

When Brent was about finished packing, Alex stuck his head in the door.

“Got some light reading for you,” Alex said as he handed Brent a copy of Maggie’s paper.”

“Give me the Cliff notes, I’ll read it in detail on the plane,” Brent said as he continued to pack.

“Apparently, Madeline is convinced every ten thousand years or so, the ice caps at the poles get out of balance,” Alex explained.  “This causes something she calls Earth Shift.  The earth normally wobbles as it moves around the sun.  If one or the other polar caps gets too big, WHAMO!  The earth jerks to correct the imbalance.  This causes a lot of problems needless to say.”

“WHAMO you say?  Is that the actual word she used?  Gees, I do love all that scientific jargon,” Brent said.

“Actually the paper was very well written, with excellent research,” Alex said.  “Apparently they can read ice core samples they way we read tree rings.  I’ll wait to meet her, but my guess is this is one smart lady.”

“My guess is smart, sixty, moles, with glasses in white frames hanging on a silver chain around her neck,” Brent said.

“Twenty bucks says no visible moles,” Alex said.

“You’re on.  Are you packed?  When does the plane get here to pick us up?” Brent asked.

“No and two hours,” Alex replied.

“Well get packed and break out some of that beef stew.  God only knows when we’ll get to eat next,” Brent said.

***

Maggie sat in her kitchen eating the frozen dinner.  It was colorless and tasted like cardboard, but her mind was elsewhere.  She thought she had probably just made a huge mistake.  Rule one is never agree to a face to face with anyone you meet online.  Well at least they had the clearance necessary to get to the EPA database, she thought.

Of course with her luck, it was probably a couple of sixteen year old, pimpled faced, hackers.  But if they were real scientists, at least they might listen.  That would put them a step up the evolutionary ladder from Jim. With a nickname of Sissy, her bad luck with men was apparently holding.  She knew she put up walls.  It wasn’t intentional.  But the walls were high and nobody she had met was willing to try and climb them.  She doubted either Red Bear or Sissy were much into climbing anyway.

The meeting tomorrow was the big question.  If Arthur was there she had a chance.  Sir Walter Raleigh was the real problem.  Walter was a brilliant scientist who refused to consider the possibility anyone else could possibly have anything to offer.  This made him doubly dangerous.  He was both condescending and arrogant.  Many a gifted scientist was destroyed in the name of Sir Walter’s ego.

Maggie decided this was her last attempt within the system.  But without the system what could she do?  Maybe Red Bear or Sissy would have an idea.  All Maggie knew was she believed what the sign in her office said.  Never give up!  Never give in!

Chapter 4

April 2nd - 259 days to Earth Shift

Walter Scott sat looking over the stack of printouts and papers scattered on the table before him.  The clink of china caused him to look up.  He glanced at his maid as she cleared the breakfast dishes from the table.

Walter knew his staff called him ‘Skeleton’ behind his back.  He was rail thin and his skin appeared wax like and stretched tightly over the bones in his face.  His bald head, with a fringe of snow white hair, reflected the light from the elaborate chandelier in the pre-dawn darkness.  He was in his early sixties but appeared at least ten years older.

He thought about the meeting he’d scheduled this morning with that Crenshaw woman.  What she suggested seemed outlandish at best.  If her wild speculation went public, panic and rioting in the streets could happen.  He wasn’t about to let that happen.

Like a spider, Walter Scott sat at the center of a large web.  His position as the primary funder of Earth Core Institute and director of the EPA, gave him the opportunity to direct and collate vast amounts of research.  Seemingly unrelated research grants came together to form a gigantic puzzle.  It was only his brilliant intellect that filled in the missing pieces.  Now this woman thought she knew more than his organization?  It was utter nonsense.

Walter stood and walked with a slight limp towards the French doors leading out onto the expansive veranda that stretched the full length of his massive estate.  He allowed himself to limp when he was alone.  He never limped when someone else was present, not even his personal staff.  Walter had learned to mask the club foot, the product of a birth defect.

He’d suffered, growing up in a poor section of Cleveland.  He had corrective surgery as soon as he could afford it, but he still hadn’t come to terms with the taunts which followed him all during his childhood.  He stood now, a small thin man with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing across the vast green lawn in the gathering daybreak.

Walter had money, eventually.  He had lots of money.  Walter smiled to himself.  The sun appeared over the trees lining the far end of his expansive properties.   With bribes and kickbacks, he’d made his positions in government agencies pay as no one else had even dreamed of doing.

A board squeaked and Walter knew Michael, his chauffeur, was behind him.  He glanced over his shoulder.

“Good morning, Michael.  Please bring the car around front.  We leave in ten minutes”.

“Yes sir.”

“Before you go,” Walter said.  “Did the envelope from the chemical manufacturers arrive?”

“Yes it did, sir,” Michael said.  “I made the deposits as you requested.”

Walter watched as Michael disappeared through the doors.  He was the exact opposite of Walter, who was bent with age.  He was a combination driver bodyguard, whose greatest assets were he seldom spoke, and he would do anything Walter told him to do.

Walter turned and walked back into the dining room to get his brief case. Once he closed the clasp on the case, he turned and looked around the room to make sure no one was watching.  He limped towards the front door.

***

Jim Stanley leaned towards his bathroom mirror and inspected the cut on his chin.  Perfect, he thought.  This is just perfect.  He grabbed a tissue and attempted to stop the bleeding.  His meeting with the big wigs at Earth Core had the potential to be career changing, for good or bad.  He had ninety minutes and could not be late.  He knew his job hung by a slender thread.  That shrew Maggie would throw him under the bus in a heartbeat, and he knew it.

Having staunched the flow of blood, Jim walked into his kitchen.  His wife Alice sat at the counter facing Jim, paging through the newspaper.  A cup of coffee sat to one side and a cigarette resting in the ashtray issued a small column of blue smoke.  Her hair in curlers, her bathrobe hung open exposing her right breast.   

“I’m not sure what time I’ll be home tonight,” Jim said.  I’ve got a big meeting this morning.  I may have to work real late again tonight.”

Alice glanced up, then back to the paper without comment.

“I’ll call and let you know,” Jim said over his shoulder heading out the door to his car.  As Jim pulled out into traffic he tried to recall the last time he and Alice had made love.  He couldn’t.  In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d loved Alice, on any level.

***

Jim entered the conference room seven minutes early.  A stack of data material was on the table in front of each seat.  A blank pad and pen also lay in front of each chair.  Maggie had not arrived.  Both Arthur and Walter were seated at the head of the table, a silver service of coffee sitting between them.  Jim took a seat several chairs from the senior executives.  Neither acknowledged Jim’s arrival or even his existence.

Maggie came in next, greeted everyone and sat next to Arthur.  Jim tried, but couldn’t hear what was said as they conferred.  Others drifted in and the meeting began precisely at 10:00 and lasted for an hour.

Maggie made a presentation of her data, findings, and conclusions. Things heated up when Walter suggested a committee be formed to review Maggie’s data.  He expressed doubt the ‘end of life as we know it’ scenario suggested by Maggie’s conclusion, would prove out.  Maggie was furious, as much by Arthur’s silence, as Walter’s dismissive attitude and unwillingness to accept the obvious.

Jim breathed a sigh of relief over the outcome of the meeting.  Maggie stormed out with Arthur in quick pursuit.  The conference room emptied in an awkward rush.  Jim picked up the stack of papers and rose to leave.

“Jim Stanley,” Walter called.  “Come over here.”

“Sorry we wasted your time, Mr. Scott.  I told Maggie not to bother you with this bizarre theory of hers,” Jim said as he approached Walter Scott’s chair.

“I see.  Doesn’t she work for you Jim?” Walter asked.

‘Well, yes…”

“Why didn’t you intervene?”

“Mr. Scott, she can be really pig headed.  She just doesn’t take direction well.”

“Is that a problem, Jim?”

“Yes sir, it is.”

For several moments Walter Scott sat silently studying the grounds in the bottom of his coffee cup.

“Ok Jim.  But there’s something I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?”

“Why is your problem, suddenly my problem?”

Time crawled as Jim felt a growing sense of dread.

“Sir, I will deal with this immediately.”

Walter looked at Jim with icy blue daggers.

“Take care of it Jim.  If you don’t, your replacement will.  Is that clear enough?”

Jim nodded and backed towards the conference room door.  His heart raced from the look on Walter Scott’s face.

Chapter 5

April 2nd - 259 days to Earth Shift

Maggie Crenshaw was furious, her face beet red.  Arthur managed to finally overtake her in the hall by the elevators.  Maggie punched the down button repeatedly.  Finally she turned to Arthur.

“Why didn’t you do something?” Maggie asked.   “You sat there and let Walter the Weasel dismiss all the research without any cause.  If you don’t believe in my research, why did you even let the meeting take place?”

“Wait a second.  Let me catch my breath,” Arthur said.

He was bent over, still trying to catch his breath after the race down the hall.  Arthur held up one hand.  Maggie smiled at the mental image of distinguished Arthur Wynn, head of the Earth Core Institute, sprinting down the hall after her.

“Ok, Arthur, tell me what’s going on.”

The elevator doors opened with a ding.  Once in his office, Arthur closed his door, got a bottle of water out of the refrigerator, and took a big swig.

“First of all,” Arthur said, “Your data is correct and the shift is coming.  We verified your findings last night.”

Maggie started to say something and Arthur held up his hand.

“Let me finish.  Actually, we just duplicated your series of tests and you were right.  They prove conclusively the shift will occur in eight months and twenty seven days almost to the minute.”  Arthur glanced at his watch out of habit.

“If you knew, then what was this meeting all about, and why didn’t someone stand up for my conclusion?” Maggie asked.

“The meeting was to allow Walter to react to the possible event.  When he didn’t, we knew for certain,” Arthur said.

“Knew what?”

“I knew Walter Scott would be working against us,” Arthur said.  “See Maggie, when men are faced with the possibility of death, especially their own, some men go instantly into denial.  Walter is a lifelong government lackey.  He specializes in the manipulation of people and facts to his own advantage.  He could no more accept your Earth Shift premise, than if you told him he had monkeys flying out of his butt.”

“But why would he reject it out of hand?” Maggie asked.

“Because there is nothing for Walter to manipulate,” Arthur said.  “He can’t hide.  He can’t run.  His only option would be to meet his fate with some grace and dignity.  All we can do is keep Walter as far away as possible from our planning team.”

“You mentioned a planning team,” Maggie said.  “What are they planning?”

“Survival,” Arthur said.  “Not our survival, but the survival of civilization.  We refuse to let everything mankind has achieved disappear without a trace.   It’s done so many times in the past.  Run your model in reverse, Maggie.  Every ten thousand years or so, the poles go unbalanced and a shift occurs.  It’s apparently happened over and over.”

“How many others are on this ‘Survival Planning Team’?”

Arthur looked through his desk and pulled out a sheet of paper with scribbles on it.

“Let’s see,” Arthur said.  “As of now, I count four on the lead team.   So far, there is you, me, Pug Nickels, and Larry Stovall.  Larry is the President of my engineering company.  Late last night I laid out the issues as best I could to him.  He has theoretical and tactical engineers currently brain storming on a survival solution, as we speak.”

Maggie sat shaking her head.

“What made you think Walter would reject our findings today?” Maggie asked.

“Remember I said we simply duplicated tests you had already run?” Arthur asked.  “He had to suspect you were right.  He’s got someone in our group feeding him information.  I’ll find out who it is.  As of now, you’re to have no communications with Walter Scott.  If he tries to contact you, do not return his calls.  Do not meet with him.  Stay as far away from him as possible.”

“But he still finances this Institute,” Maggie said.  “Nothing happens unless he approves.”

Arthur reached into his desk and pulled out a typed letter.

“Here, sign this.  It’s your letter of resignation from Earth Core, effective immediately.”

“What about all my research?” Maggie asked.  “They’ll never let me take it with me.”

“I’ve already had all your files, computers, backup, and telecommunications packed and moved to Wynn Engineering, while we were in the meeting.”  Arthur smiled at Maggie.  “Feeling any better?”

“Yes, I’m feeling much better,” Maggie said taking a pen and signing the letter with a flourish.  “I just felt so alone.”

“You’re not alone, Maggie, and you never will be,” Arthur said.  “We need to review who else we need to recruit for the Survival Planning Team.  I think we need to bring in the best minds we can.”

“We need to bring in more than just the best minds,” Maggie said.

“What do you mean?” Arthur asked.

“Let’s assume your engineers can get us through the shift alive,” Maggie said. “We need to find people who can help us survive afterwards. Think beyond the initial shock, Arthur.  Civilization, as we know it, will cease to exist.  We’re going to have to pick up the pieces, defend ourselves, and try to reconstitute a whole society.  Arthur, we will be starting over.”

***

Maggie parked her car in her apartment complex garage, turned the engine off, and sat thinking about what had happened that morning.   Arthur had called her on the way home and suggested she profile the survival team attributes and skills required.  In two days there would be a progress meeting with Larry Stovall at Wynn Engineering and the project team.  He wanted her to present her thoughts at the meeting.

Too little information, she thought, and I have to meet those supposed Arctic explorers at the Sheraton tomorrow afternoon. Why had she agreed to meet with complete strangers?  She should have told Arthur about them.  They didn’t have enough information to be a threat.  Still it was foolish to have agreed to meet with them.  But they were coming a long ways.

A good dinner, long bath, and glass of wine later, Maggie sat down in front of her Laptop and opened up the lists she had started in the afternoon.  The first was simply titled Attributes.  The list included Fit, Smart, Child Bearing, Used to Outdoors, and Survival Skills.   A second list titled Needs, included Food, Shelter, Energy Source, and Protection.  The Third list was titled Candidates. The list was empty.

It was late and the wine kicked in.  Maggie nodded twice and decided she needed to sleep on the problem.  Who knows, she thought as she drifted off to sleep, maybe the Red Bear or the Sissy will have some ideas.  She turned off the computer and lights and walked towards her bedroom.

The black car in the street outside her window pulled slowly from the curb.  Half way down the block the headlights came on, and the car disappeared into the dark.

***

At a little after 4:00 o’clock in the afternoon Maggie made an entrance into the lobby of the Georgetown Sheraton.   She wore a cowl collared white sweater with tight designer jeans, Italian leather high heel shoes with a light tan suede jacket.  At first glance Brent thought it was a blond Cindy Crawford.  Alex sat with his back to the lobby, but turned around when he saw Brent’s jaw drop open.

“Forget it Brent, we’re here to meet with Madeline the librarian, remember?” Alex asked.  “Don’t even think about it.”

“News flash cause she’s walking over here,” Brent replied.

Both men turned as Maggie walked up to their table.

“My name is Madeline Crenshaw,” Maggie said.  “Have either of you been to the Arctic circle recently?”

Both men stood.  Maggie noted while she was five foot nine, both men towered over her.

“Alex Marsh here, this is Brent Ashley. We’re pleased to meet you.”

“Call me Maggie,” Maggie said smiling. 

Both shook Maggie’s hand as she joined the two men at their table.  When the waiter approached, she ordered chamomile tea.

“So Alex, does Brent talk or are we dealing with a deaf mute here,” Maggie said.

“I’m sorry,” Brent said.  “I was definitely not expecting you to be Madeline Crenshaw.  When you walked over, I was taken aback.”

“Taken aback?  You looked like you’d been hit with a two by four,” Alex said laughing.

Brent smiled, and Maggie thought it was a very nice smile.  She sized up the men across the table from her.   Both looked rugged and outdoorsy.  Alex was much larger than Brent, but Brent looked like he could take care of himself.  Both had a deep natural tan, although Alex was more of a reddish hue.  Maggie could tell that Brent’s long hair was normally a light brown, but was bleached blond by the sun.  Alex’s hair was very red and curly.

“Why don’t we start at the beginning,” Maggie said.

Brent gave Maggie a brief overview of their academic credentials, why they were in the arctic, and what they’d found.  Maggie sipped her tea and listened closely to what Brent had to say.  He related their inability to explain why a thousand square miles of oak trees would all fall in the same direction, at the same time, approximately ten to twelve thousand years ago.

Alex told her about facts, he and Brent thought contributed to the mystery.  There were other apparently unrelated events happening at about ten thousand years ago.  Agriculture was developed in the Fertile Crescent.  It was at this time cattle, horses, goats and sheep were domesticated.  This was also the time period the wooly mammoth, saber-toothed tiger, and large marsupials disappeared.

Brent then told her the oldest ruins of many past civilizations in South America, Egypt, Assyria, Tibet, India, and Siam all date back to the same time frame of ten to twelve thousand years ago.

“Then there’s the Mammoth discovered buried in the frozen tundra of Siberia.” Brent said.  “It was quick frozen standing up, with field daisies in its mouth and digestive track.  That type of daisy has never grown at that northern latitude, ever.  Then we found and read your research paper postulating a theory dealing with a possible polar shift at about that time.”

“So that’s why we three are sitting here today,” Maggie said.

Both men nodded and waited for Maggie to speak.

“Well first of all, you can’t imagine how relieved I am you’re not a couple crazies,” Maggie said.  “You’re not, are you?”

“No,” Brent said.  “But thanks for asking.”

“Let me give you the short answer to why you keep tripping over these anomalies from so long ago,” Maggie said.

The waiter came back with refills and Maggie waited until he was out of earshot.

“First of all Global Warming is real.  Polar bears are tumbling into the water from ice flows in the arctic.  Glaciers are retreating in Europe, Asia, and North America.”

So,” Brent said, “Al Gore was right.”

“No, Al Gore is rich.  His science was lousy.  Man has about as much impact on climate change, as a termite farting into a high wind.  Actually the termite fart has more of an impact.  Let me ask you a question.  If the Polar bears are slipping into the ocean and Arctic glaciers are retreating, why aren’t sea levels rising?  Where is all the water going?”

“Ah,” Alex said, “Thus your theory.  The Antarctic ice cap is building up at the same rate as the Arctic ice cap is melting.”

“It really isn’t a theory, Alex,” Maggie said.  “It’s a scientific fact the ice caps in the Antarctic, are thickening at the same rate the Arctic ice cap is melting.  We measured it.  The theory concerns what will happen as a result.”  

“Earth shift,” Brent said.

Maggie nodded her head.

“Exactly,” Maggie said.  “We get Earth Shift.”

Chapter 6

April 2nd - 259 days to Earth Shift

Maggie lay in her bath surrounded by scented candles reviewing the events of the day.  She’d always loved to bathe in candle light.  The light flickering on the darkened walls relaxed her.  The warm water lapped around her and she could feel the stress of the day disappear.

She’d been impressed with Alex and Brent’s credentials.  Besides, they found her research paper and started putting the puzzle together.  She’d invited them to participate in the meeting scheduled the next morning at Wynn Engineering. She still wasn’t sure she could trust them entirely.    It was the best way to keep an eye on them.  Besides, she thought to herself, if you have to repopulate the world, Brent wouldn’t be a bad place to start.

While Maggie was smiling to herself, a car pulled up in front of her building.  A black man in a black coat and hat stepped from the car.  Michael looked up at the windows of Maggie’s apartment.  No lights shown from the front windows of the fourth floor apartment, but he was sure she was in there.  Inside the lobby of the building was a very old desk, with a very old guard sitting behind it.

Michael was only to place a bug in Maggie’s apartment and wasn’t looking for any confrontation.  He found a side entrance with a lock older than the doorman out front.  He picked the lock, entered the elevators, and pushed the button for the fourth floor.

Maggie got out of the bath and examined herself in the mirror.  It’d been weeks since she visited the gym.  Still, She thought, not bad.  Not bad at all.  Maggie smiled as she put on a plush white bathrobe.  She blew out the candles and entered the hall.

She headed towards the bedroom failing to hear the plastic card slip into the door jamb.  The front door slowly swung open.  Michael stood in the dark entryway to Maggie’s apartment.  The only light came from beneath the door to her bedroom and from a streetlight through her front window.

He quietly walked up to the bedroom door, looking around the room for the best place for a listening devise.  He started toward the front room.  Suddenly he heard the sound of a cell phone tune coming from the other side of the door.  He froze in place, listening.

“Hello?” he heard the woman say through the door.  “You’re in the lobby now?  No, it’s not too late.  I wanted to talk to you anyway.  I need to tell you about the two men I met today.  What?  Just come on up.  See you in a sec.”

Michael was out the door to the apartment before Maggie ended the call.  He knew Walter would not be happy about his failure to place a bug in Maggie’s apartment.  It was unfinished business and Mr. Scott hated unfinished business.

Maggie greeted Arthur at the door in lounging pajamas.  She went into the kitchen and poured each of them a glass of Chardonnay.  They sat in the living room and Maggie told him about Brent, Alex, and her inviting them to the meeting.

“Do you think these two should be a permanent part of the group?” Arthur asked.

“I don’t know.  I was hoping you would get a read on them at the meeting tomorrow.”

Arthur pulled his cell phone from his pocket and used speed dial to make a call.

“Pug, this is Arthur.  Yes.  I know what time it is.  That’s why I pay you the big bucks.  Now listen, I have two names, Brent Ashley and Alex Marsh.  I want a complete profile first thing in the morning.  How complete?  I want to know everything, including if they wear boxers or briefs.  Good.  I’ll look for it in the morning.” 

Both Maggie and Arthur heard sirens and looked out the front window to see the flashing lights of a police car pull up out front of her building.

“I wonder what that’s all about,” Maggie said.

Neither Maggie nor Arthur saw the black car pull away from the curb and turn its headlights on halfway down the block.

Maggie answered the door when the doorbell rang.  A NYPD Detective flashed a badge and informed Maggie the doorman had noticed a silent alarm go off about a half hour ago.  Arthur joined her when the officer told her a review of the security tapes showed someone entering the elevator and exiting on the fourth floor, Maggie’s floor.  After assuring the officer they’d seen and heard nothing, the officer handed her his card and ask them to call if they remembered anything.  Maggie closed the door and turned to Arthur, concern on her face.

“How many other units are on this floor, Maggie?”

“Three,” Maggie answered, “but one is vacant, and the other two are owned by virtual recluses.  My God, whoever it was must have come here for me.”

Arthur made another quick cell phone call and a police cruiser slid up to the curb outside of Maggie’s building a few minutes later.

“You should be alright for now, Maggie, but you must be careful,” Arthur said.  “I didn’t want to concern you, but someone broke into Gillian’s house shortly after noon today.  The odd thing is they didn’t steal anything.”

Maggie sat down obviously concerned by what Arthur had just told her.  Gillian had assisted Maggie on programming the simulation model that first documented the earth shift.  After they’d gotten their results, Gillian quit Earth Core saying she wanted to spend as much time as possible with her family.

“Why would anyone want to rob Gillian?” Maggie asked.

“I’m not sure these are robberies,” Arthur said.  “More likely, someone is trying to collect information illegally.  I’ll have Pug sweep your apartment for bugs.”

“Who would bug my apartment?” Maggie asked.

“I don’t know for sure, but I think I know where to start looking,” Arthur said putting on his jacket and heading towards the front door.

“Where’s that?”

Arthur stood in the doorway and turned towards Maggie.  “Walter Scott,” he said as he closed the door behind him.

***

Walter hung up the phone on the stand next to his bed.  Failure wasn’t something he expected from Michael.  At least Michael got away clean, Walter thought. I’ll just   have to find another way to keep track of the Crenshaw woman. 

Walter knew the damage someone like Maggie Crenshaw could do to his reputation, not to mention his financial deal he had cooking.  He’d worked too hard and too long setting this up to have Crenshaw foul it up with wild doomsday fairytales.  He had to shut Arthur and her both up.   The Crenshaw woman quitting Earth Core today was unexpected.  What he needed was someone close to her and Arthur to keep him informed.

Walter reached to turn off the light and then decided against it.  He picked up the phone and dialed a number.  The phone rang a number of times.

“Hello”, a sleepy voice finally answered. “Jesus, what time is it?  Who is this?”

“It’s not Jesus.  It’s Walter.”

“Oh. Oh, Mr. Scott.  Let me wake up for a second.”

Walter could hear movement on the other end.

“Yes, Mr. Scott, What can I do for you?”

“You’re going to Arthur’s meeting tomorrow?”

“Yes.  I got my invite this afternoon.”

“Good.  Make sure I get a complete recap.  I want to know everything that’s said. “

“As always, Mr. Scott,” the voice on the phone said.  “Listen, I didn’t want to bring this up, but I need more money.  When it comes out I’m spying for you, I’ll be looking for a job for sure.”

Walter maintained a prolonged silence.

“Mr. Scott?  Are you still there?”

“Yes,” Walter finally replied.  “I always take care of those that have helped me.”

“What about the money?” the voice on the phone asked.

“That won’t be a problem.  Just get me the information I want,” Walter said.

“Super!  Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“No.  Just make sure I get a complete briefing after the meeting.”

Walter hung up the phone.  Some people are so predictable, Walter thought.

Chapter 7

April 3rd - 258 days to Earth Shift

Earlier that morning Arthur reviewed the data Pug, his head of security, had gathered on Brent and Alex.  Both cleared security background checks.   Since college, they had traveled widely and established themselves as serious researchers, with excellent credentials.  Arthur looked up from his desk as Larry Stovall, the head of Wynn Engineering, walked in.

“It looks like we’ve got two new team members, Larry,” Arthur said.  “Read through their profiles when you get a chance.”

“I will,” Larry said.  “Everyone’s in the conference room.  Did you want to give a kickoff to the meeting?”

“Yes, let’s do it.”

Both men walked down the hall and entered the mahogany paneled conference room of Wynn Engineering.  All the team leaders sat around the table, some quietly talked to each other.  Both Brent and Alex sat at the far end of the table.

“Welcome,” Arthur said.  “As I’m sure you noted, we have two new members of the planning team.  This is Brent Ashley and Alex Marsh.  They’ll just be observing today.”

Both Alex and Brent waved as acknowledgement to those seated at the conference table.

“I’d like to thank everyone in advance for all their hard work over the past few days,” Arthur said.  “Things are beginning to move rapidly.  I’d like for us to go around the table and members of the team can introduce themselves to the rest of the group and give us a quick overview of your responsibilities.  Larry, maybe you could lead off?”

“Sure,” Larry said as he stood up.  “I’m Larry Stovall.  I am the head of Wynn Engineering and in charge of the duration team.   Our mission is to see to it the transition team survives the duration of the event.”

“Hi,” the next young woman said after standing.  “My name is Marjorie Byers.  I head a small group of agronomists.  Our job is to see the transition teams have the ability to raise crops after the event.”

“I’m James Mitchell.  I head the equipping team.  We have to locate and fill a supply depot.  Our job is to deploy sufficient food and material to enable the transition team to survive for the foreseeable future.”

“My name is Pug Nickels,” the next man said in a deep gravelly voice.  “I’m in charge of security and defense for the transition team.  My responsibility is to see to it everyone comes out the other end and can defend themselves when they get there.”

Three more team leaders stood and made introductions, before it was Maggie’s turn.

“My name is Maggie Crenshaw,” Maggie said looking around the table.  “You may have heard my name mentioned from time to time.  My job is to help put together the transition teams.  Since you have all been sworn to secrecy, I thought it might be helpful if I explained the cause earth shift.”

Maggie looked around the room as she took a drink of water.

“Albert Einstein, among others, postulated that the enormous thickness and weight of the ice at the Arctic and Antarctic polar caps, balances the Earth's daily rotation,” Maggie said.  “As it turned out, they were right.”

Maggie looked down at the end of the table where Brent sat smiling at her.  She momentarily lost her train of thought, and smiled back at him.

“What they didn’t tell us,” Maggie said.  “Is every ten to twelve thousand years, this balance is disturbed when too much ice builds up at one pole or the other.  When it does, a change in the earth’s axis of rotation occurs.  The Earth keeps spinning, but the Earth's surface rotates and changes latitude.  That rotation is Earth Shift.”

Maggie sat down and a momentary murmur ran through the room.  Arthur asked if there were any questions.   Several hands shot up.  Maggie answered each question.  Shortly after, the meeting broke up.  Arthur invited Maggie, Brent, and Alex back to his office.  They sat in a small conversation pit off to one side, by the windows.

“Well, Brent, Alex, what did you think?” Arthur asked, looking at the two men.

Alex reached inside his jacket and brought out his glasses.  He put them on and turned to Maggie.

“Do you have any other empirical evidence this has happened before?” Alex asked.

“Yes,” Maggie said, “We do, at least for the last earth shift.  We know during the last ice age, significant ice glaciers covered large parts of North America and Northern Europe.  Yet, there was an absence of ice cover in Siberia.  It was actually populated to its northernmost regions by an impressive zoological community.  In addition, the Arctic Sea was warmer than it is today, with human beings living in the New Siberia Islands, and Antarctica was partially free of ice.  The general climatic situation of the Earth was coherent with a different position of the poles.”

“What exactly do you and Dr. Wynn, think Alex and I can contribute, Maggie?” Brent asked.

“We need you to find a stable location for us,” Maggie said.  “We need you to find a location that will sustain the least amount of damage during the shift.   It will be a place to store our provisions.  The place we will all converge on to begin the rebuilding of a society.  This time the accomplishments of the past ten thousand years will not be lost, as it has been so many times before.  We think your background and experience is perfect to help us find this safe haven.”

“When do you need an answer from us?”  Brent asked.

“Tomorrow,” Arthur said.  “I don’t have to tell you how important it is you keep everything you’ve heard to yourselves.”

“Maggie, we have a lot to think about,” Brent said as he and Alex stood.  “But we’ll be back to you shortly.”

Both men shook hands with Maggie and Arthur, before leaving the room.

“What do you think?” Arthur asked once they had left.

“I think they’ll be on board,” Maggie said.  “I also think they’ll be ideal candidates for one of the pods.”

Brent and Alex headed for the parking lot.  Maggie and Arthur talked for most of the afternoon.

***

Brent sat across the table from Alex in a small diner just around the corner from their hotel.   Alex was busy destroying a massive cheeseburger and plate full of fries.

“Decided to forget about the old cholesterol have we?” Brent asked.

“Oh, like that’s going to be a big problem,” Alex said.

“Do we say yes?” Brent asked.

“How could we say no?” Alex said.  “They seem to have a lot of money behind them, and the theory does fill in a lot of gaps.  Still, I’m not sure why they brought us into the inner circle so quickly.  I’m suspicious.”

Brent thought about what Alex said for a while before he answered.

“I don’t think we’re in the inner circle,” Brent said.  “I think we’re worker bees.  From what they said, it sounds like they’re planning on some craft or device to enable a small number of individuals to come out the other side.  They’re going to want to store significant amounts of provisions to rebuild. “

“Not to mention a considerable archive of knowledge,” Alex said.  “It will be just like the libraries at Alexandria, except we don’t want them destroyed this time.”

“If it were me,” Brent said, “I would include frozen embryo for every known species.  Ok, forget the lawyers, but everything else.  I would also include eggs and sperm for a significantly diverse group of individuals.  The gene pool will be at great risk, even if there are several hundred people in the escape crafts.”

“What makes you think there will be more than one escape craft?”

“Maggie said we should pick a place where limited damage will occur to store provisions.  A place they could all converge on and begin the rebuilding of a society.  Converge implies to me more than one group.  Call it a hunch.”

Alex took off his glasses and said, “I vote we say yes.”

“What if they don’t invite us to be in one of the escape crafts?” Brent asked.

“Yes, even then,” Alex said.

“Me too,” Brent said.  “Let’s call Maggie.”

Chapter 8

April 4th - 257 days to Earth Shift

The voice on the phone was lying.  Walter knew it, but there was nothing he could do about it, at least not yet.

“Very little was discussed, Mr. Scott.  There were two new guys, Alex somebody and Brent Ashley.  But they were just observing, I think.  There were some introductions of the team leaders, but nobody really said anything of interest.”

“Okay,” Walter said.  “You know I need information and I need it soon.  Just make sure you stay close to what is going on.  Be very careful and let me know when you find anything out.”

“I will Mr. Scott, don’t you worry.”

Walter hung up the phone and walked over to sit across from Michael.  If that’s all they’d covered in their meeting, they must know he had someone on the inside.  If that was true, his inside man was of no value.

“Michael, we may have problem I’ll need you to address,” Walter said.  “I have someone on the inside of Wynn Engineering who may no longer be trusted by those people.  See if you can pick up anything from our surveillance.”

“Yes sir,” Michael said.  “Do you think I should concentrate on the two new members of Arthur Wynn’s team?”

“Follow them,” Walter said.  “See what they’re up to, if possible.  Just keep them in sight for the present.”

“What about the woman?” Michael asked.

“I think we missed our chance to wire her apartment,” Walter said.  “The police will be watching.  Let it go for now.”

“Yes, Mr. Scott.”  Michael stood and left the room.

***

Walter sat and thought about what he needed to convey to his team of doctors.  He wasn’t worried about their motivation.  He was paying them a fortune.  But he needed to keep their head in the game.  If he was going to survive the loss of his last kidney, his team of doctors had to keep his clone alive and well.

Walter had been sickly, even as a child.  As his wealth and influence grew, so did his team of medical specialists.  They’d started as a select group within Earth Core.  Once they successfully cloned a human using Walter’s DNA, Walter isolated the team of doctors in their own lab.  Walter Scott made sure they were dedicated to the overall well being of Walter Scott.

He’d lost one of his kidneys five years ago, and nearly died.  That wasn’t going to happen again.  He knew someday he would need a replacement organ for transplant.  He wasn’t taking any chances.  His clone would provide the organs for the harvest.  His team of doctors would be the farmers.  They told Walter he had six months to make it all come together.  Nothing would be allowed to stand in his way, especially that stupid woman with her idiotic predictions.

***

The doctors sitting around the table were arguably the best in the country.  They were used to having to do whatever was necessary to fund their research.  In this case, they only had to bow down to Walter Scott.  His access to research grants and his own private fortune, were all they required.  In a way, it was the best possible position for them.  They had access to the best facilities in the country, with unlimited funding.

Walter entered and took his place at the table.  After the conversations began to die down, Walter stood and waited for the attention of those seated at the table.  He cleared his voice.

“Thank you all for coming on such short notice,” Walter said.  “I appreciate the speed and completeness of your responses to my request for information.  Everything you requested will be in place and secure long before my transplant is required.  My Urology specialist, Dr. Hanson, assures me I have four or so months required for the replacement kidney to mature enough for transplant.”

“Everyone turned at looked at Dr. Hanson before turning back.  Walter took a drink from a glass of water on the table.

“You have the finest medical facility in the world, fully equipped with everything you requested,” Walter said.  “I know each of you will do whatever is necessary to ensure the success of this operation.”

Walter glared around the table.

“After all, we wouldn’t want to kill the golden goose, now would we?” Walter asked.

It took a few seconds for the doctors to realize Walter had made a joke.  Nervous laughter came from several people.

“Now, as stated in the agreement you have all signed, everything that’s said here is confidential, and must not be discussed outside of this room.  Is that clear?”

Walter looked around the table at each Doctor.  There was general murmuring around the table and nodding of heads.  It was obvious to everyone present that Walter meant what he said.

“Gentlemen,” Walter said.   “I expect you to focus on the success of my operation over the next few months.  You may hear rumors from a rogue group of scientists that have hatched a theory of utter nonsense.  Pay no attention to their nutty conjectures.  It is nothing but a ploy to divert funding away from important efforts like yours.  I will crush them.”

Walter paused for dramatic effect and took a drink of water from the glass sitting on the table.  Every eye was trained on Walter and he could feel the anticipation emanating from the group around the table.

“I will look out for all of you,” Walter said.  “I can assure you nothing will stand in your way.”

The meeting broke up and the others drifted out to their cars and departed.  Walter felt he had very little to worry about from the good doctors.  As long as they had the best of everything, they were a group of happy warriors.

***

Maggie and Brent leaned over the table studying the map.   Their shoulders touched and neither drew away.  The long hours they had spent together over the past seven weeks had developed a bond between them.  They were too busy and tired for love, but a warm friendship had developed.  Maggie felt a strong physical attraction and was certain Brent did as well.

“Tell me again why you and Alex are so infatuated with Montana for a depot,” Maggie said.

“The closest fault, the San Andreas, is twelve hundred miles to the west,” Brent said.  “There’s a fracture very close to Kansas City Missouri, some six hundred miles to the east.  Then there’s a mid Atlantic rift and the ancient plate boundary in the Appalachian Mountain range.   All well away from Montana.”

“So we want to be well away from the faults because of the potential for catastrophic earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, and god knows what else?” Maggie asked.

“Correct.  In addition, the Rocky Mountains will act as a barrier for the Pacific Ocean tsunami.  That part of the country is far enough away from the Atlantic Ocean to allow the tsunami to dissipate itself by the time it reaches that far.”

“Alex, did I miss anything?”

“I can only think of one thing, Brent,” Alex said.  “Montana is about three thousand feet above sea level and situated atop a massive slab of granite.  This provides a certain amount of stability even if the tectonic plate it sits on were to sustain massive relocation or change in elevation.”

“Maggie, it’s as safe a place as Alex and I can find in this hemisphere,” Brent said.  “If there is a down side, it’s Yellowstone.  The National Park is little more than a volcano crater.  It’s a risk, but we still think it’s the best choice.”

“There is a risk,” Maggie said.  “With the shift, Montana will move to where New Mexico is today.  But it does seem like a good choice, Brent.  The question is would you be willing to stake your life on it?”

“Does that mean I get a boarding pass for this flight?”  Brent asked in return.

“I’m not going without you,” Maggie said smiling.

“Before you two get a room, what about me?” Alex asked a look of concern on his face.

Maggie laughed.  “I won’t go with out Brent, and he won’t go without you, so looks like your ticket gets punched too.  There are some preconditions however.”

“Oh oh,” Alex said.  “Here comes the small print.”

“Well, kind of,” Maggie replied.  “I don’t want to get too personal with you two, but can you…, how should I put it…, can the general stand and salute?”

Alex who was about to take a sip of his soda, blew coke all over the front of his shirt.

“My general can stand, salute, and wave the flag, all at the same time!” Alex said. “Besides, the way you two have been looking at each other, I figured that question would have been answered by now.”

“Gees Alex, is there anything you won’t say?” Brent asked.

“Hey, she’s the one who started talking about generals,” Alex said.

“Easy guys, I know this is kind of a sensitive subject,” Maggie said.  “I just meant you will have to undergo an extensive psychological and physiological exam, as well as, a complete genetic profile.  Only the potent and healthy can go on this little trip.”

Chapter 9

June 14th – 187 days to Earth Shift

It was Arthur’s decision to alert President Whitcomb of the coming catastrophic event.   Arthur, Maggie and Larry Stovall met with the POTUS in the oval office.   To say they were met with skepticism was a vast understatement.  Initially it went fairly well.  The Chief of Staff excused himself after a few minutes, and returned a short time later.

When he returned, he slipped a piece of paper to the president, and the mood of the room chilled immediately.  Maggie was about half way through her explanation of Earth Shift, when the president held up his hand to stop Maggie.

“Just a second,” The president said.  “Arthur, I’m a little confused.  I thought you and your group were still a part of Earth Core, under the sponsorship of the EPA?”

“Mr. President, we were asked to resign from Earth Core by Director Scott some weeks ago, over this very impending crisis,” Arthur said.  “I assumed you knew”.

“No,” the President said.  “No, I didn’t.”

“Mr. President,” Maggie said.  “We believe that in one hundred and eighty seven days, this December 21st, there will be a massive upheaval on the earth’s surface wiping out all evidence that our country ever existed.  If this get’s out to the public, we will have worldwide mayhem and destruction.  You need to muster the country’s vast resources to see if it is possible to protect and save artifacts of our existence.”

The President looked up as three men in dark suits entered the oval office and stood behind Arthur, Maggie, and Larry.  Their manner and deportment screamed secret service.

“Excuse me, Mr. President,” his Chief of Staff said.  “Based on the note from the Mr. Scott, I thought it prudent to ask these gentlemen to join us.”

The President leaned back in his chair looking at the three people in front of him.

“Arthur, I’m in kind of a tough spot here,” the President said.  “Walter and you are both long time friends, with a long history of public service.  Walter seems to think you all have gone around the bend, with this whole earth shift thing.  He thinks you may all be close to a mental breakdown.  He’s also concerned you could cause widespread panic and rioting with this hair brain theory of yours.”

Maggie looked at Arthur and watched as his whole demeanor changed.  He looked down at his hands in his lap and shook his head slowly.  He seemed older somehow.

“Mr. President,” Arthur said.  “James, we have indeed known each other for a long, long time.  All I can do is tell you, by the end of the year you’ll be out of a job.  You’re making a huge mistake, sir.”

Be that as it may,” the President said.  “I think you and your staff should probably leave now.   I don’t have to tell you that if any of this gets in the press, Arthur, it might cause riots and panic.  If that happened, then I would blame you and your people.”

Arthur stood to leave, joined by Maggie and Larry.  Arthur smiled at the President.

“There’s good news for you sir, in spite of your terrible decision here today,” Arthur said.

“What’s that?” The President asked.

“No one will be alive to remember,” Arthur said as he and the others left the room, trailed by the three men in dark suits.

***

  The people sat around the large table in the middle of Arthur Wynn’s house in Arlington Virginia, about twenty miles from Washington DC.  No one at the table was pleased with the outcome of the meeting with the president.  The home sat nestled in the peaceful rolling hills of Virginia.  Alex had stayed in Montana, while Brent and Maggie went to meet with Arthur and the other team leaders.

“Maggie,” Arthur said.   “Give everyone an update on the Montana status.”

“Sure,” Maggie said.  “The piece of land we acquired is perfect for what we intend.  The buildings were originally intended to house oil rigs and such from the Dakota oil boom.  There’s plenty of room for what we need.”

Maggie paused a moment looking around the table.

“More important than the buildings, are the abandoned missile silos,” Maggie said.  “They were abandoned and sold when the NORAD group was disbanded.  As a part of our disarmament, the silos were emptied and the land sold.  The silos were built of re-enforced concrete capable of taking a direct nuclear missile strike.”

“Is it possible for us to ride out the shift inside the silo?” Marjorie asked. 

“The short answer, Marjorie, is no,” Brent said.  “It might be possible to hide in one, but the forces at the time of earth shift will be incredible.  Just the acceleration and sudden stop at the time of shift is enough to crush bones, and cause your eye balls to implode blinding you.”

“Well, the vegetation will survive,” Marjorie, the chief botanist of the group said.  “I suspect a few animal species will survive as well.  Not many, but a few.”

“I hope you’re right,” Brent said.  “It’s possible some isolated pockets of humans will survive as well.  But there really is no place safe on earth to escape the destruction of the earth’s surface.”

“We could store our seedlings and genetic materials in the silos, though couldn’t we?” Marjorie asked.

“Absolutely,” Brent said.  “These silos housed missiles five stories tall.  We should be able to store a massive amount of materials we’re going to need for the settlers who come out the other side of the shift.  We’re looking to acquire other abandoned silos that are close by.”

James Mitchell, the head of food and material, raised a hand and was recognized by Arthur.

“We’re using semitrailer trucks to haul material to the site,” James said.  “So far only a few of the local have shown any curiosity.  We put out a cover story we’re a part of Homeland Security and the material and food we’re transporting is part of our disaster response program the government keeps bragging about.”

“How we doing on security, Pug?” Arthur asked.

“Well, we’re lucky the road back to our compound is over a mile,” Pug said.  “I’ve got ten of our special forces in place.  I’m still looking for two more.  Our entire compound is encircled with eight foot cyclone fencing, topped with anti-personnel razor wire.  We patrol the perimeter in vehicles on a random schedule.”

“Have you genetically profiled all ten men?” Maggie asked?

“Only eight are men,” Pug said.   “They and the two women have all been extensively tested.  The testing weeded out several individuals who had more than their fair share of testosterone, including one of the women.  I still need two more men to complete the group.”

“Larry, how are we doing on the pods?” Arthur asked.

Larry Stovall was head engineer on the escape pods being built to his unique design.  Each Pod would carry twelve people and sufficient supplies for them to survive for up to a month.

“We found some more titanium, enough to finish the exteriors on ten of the pods,” Larry said.  “I still have to build two more pods.  The pod interiors are also progressing nicely, as well.  It would help a lot if I knew how long you expect the people to be in these things.”

“You have to plan on people being in the pods for forty days,” Arthur said.

“That seems somewhat biblical,” Brent said.

“It is,” Maggie said.  “One of the timelines for the great flood, is it occurred some ten to twelve thousand years ago.  I’m thinking it’s not just a coincidence.”

“Forty days is pushing the limits,” Larry said.  “But I think we can do it.”

“Can someone explain to me why the pods are even necessary?” Pug asked.  “I’m a little late to this party.”

“There is any number of things that can kill you during the earth shift,” Maggie said.  “You have the acceleration followed by an equally rapid deceleration of moving some nine hundred miles in a few minutes.  Then you have the resulting winds that will be scouring the surface of the planet for days.”

Maggie looked around the room.  Everyone was staring at the conference table or the ceiling as they tried to imagine the devastation.  Only Brent looked at her and he too was serious as he thought of the resulting death and destruction.

“Now try to picture the impact of this sudden movement, on the oceans covering seven tenths of the earth’s surface,” Maggie continued.  “Floods, hundreds of feet deep, will cover most of the land surface, before quickly withdrawing back to their original shores.  This also can continue for weeks.   Our climatologist tells us for up to a year afterwards, perhaps longer, monster hurricane and tornadoes will sweep back and forth across the land surface.”

“Is there any good news?” Pug asked.

“We’ll be floating in the stratosphere during the worst of this,” Larry said.  “Massive helium filled balloons with a volume of half a million cubic meters, will be connected to the pods by a large number of suspension cables.  Once the pod reaches the target altitude of about twelve miles, it will float in the stratosphere for up to six weeks.”

“Will we be able to see what’s happening below?” Marjorie asked.

“We should,” Larry said.  “It depends on atmospheric conditions.  If there’s too much static interference, all bets are off.  The same is true of the communications systems between the pods.  I’m pretty sure they will be operable.”

“How do the pods get down?” Pug asked.

“The pods are pressurized and outfitted with up to six weeks of oxygen.  At the end of forty days, the balloons will begin a controlled release of the helium.  As they get close to the surface, there’s a brief period of free fall, a parasail deploys and the pod makes a gentle landing on the pod's skids.”

“Did he say free fall?” Pug asked looking around the room.  “Did he just say the pods free fall back to earth?”

“I’ve done it three times in the past two months,” Larry said.  “Would you like to come along next time?”

Chapter 10

July 28th - 143 days to Earth Shift

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Brent said.  “Look at the size of those pods!  They’re huge.”

“Overall, they’re thirty seven and half feet in diameter and sixteen feet tall in the center,” Larry said.

They look like a flying saucer,” Maggie said.

“You’re telling me that this thing, with twelve people, oxygen, water, food, and supplies is getting into the stratosphere with balloons?” Alex asked.

“We have one up there now,” Larry said.

“Didn’t someone from the government or defense raise questions?” Brent asked.

“We got a number of inquiries from the government on what it was and why it was up there,” Larry said.  “Arthur had the test flights sanctioned by NASA as a part of the Ecology Observation Project.   He said it was part of the Earth Core long term solution to make sure the UN Ecology Laws were being enforced by member nations.”

“Still, the pod must weigh a ton,” Alex said.

“Not really,” Larry said.  “We’re using the water recycle filtration system developed for the space station, so the water required is minimal.  Food is dehydrated and has little weight.  Our long term supplies are cached down here at our supply depots.”

“What about breathing?” Brent asked.  “We have to breathe.”

“Dog gone it!” Larry said.  “I knew I forgot something.”

It took a moment before they realized Larry was kidding.  Brent acknowledged his question was a little insulting and was red faced as a result.

“Not to worry,” Larry said.  “In addition to the oxygen system used on the space station, we’ve added a backup.  One of the massive balloons carrying the pod aloft will be filled with oxygen, rather than the helium in the other balloons.  A tube will be connected to a pump and can be used in an emergency to pump oxygen into the pod.”

The group walked around the edge of the silver pod, making a full circle back to where they started.   The observation portals were of thick polymer and perhaps three feet in diameter.  The entrance to the pod stood open and the four of them entered one at a time.

The circular interior wall ran around the center of the pod.  A walkway around the wall ran off in either direction.  The wall contained four evenly spaced doors leading into the four rooms, making up the interior crew quarters.  Each was pie shaped and divided the interior of the pod into four equal parts.

“These would be the sleeping quarters?” Maggie asked.

“Yes,” Larry said.  “Arthur and I discussed and decided with a crew of twelve, each day would be split into six hour shifts.  Each person would have six hours at an observation portal, six hours sleep, and six hours of eating and cleaning, and six hours of exercise and relaxation.”

“Larry, you’ve been up in these things already,” Alex said.  “You certainly know that at twelve thousand feet we really can’t see much of the ground surface.  Add to that the other challenges such as clouds, hurricanes, tornados, and horrific winds sweeping over the surface.  I’m not sure how much we’ll be able to see.”

“I don’t expect you to just be looking out the window, Alex,” Larry said.  We have optical viewing stations at each of the portals that will allow you to not only zoom in on the surface, but take pictures as well.”

“Is there like a steering wheel for the pod?” Brent asked.   If we’re going to come down close to our supply depots, won’t we have to steer this thing?”

“The short answer is no,” Larry said.  “Each of the pods will be launched at intervals, two hours apart, so they remain an equal distant from each other.  They will be high enough to escape the disturbances caused by the earth shift.  Where they come down will be a function of when they start their descent and the speed of the descent.  Each pod will start their descent over the country of Turkey, again in two hour intervals.”

“How do we maintain the appropriate rate of descent?” Alex asked.

“It’s all figured out for you and is built into the release valves,” Larry said.  “The lead pod just has to pull the plug, so to speak, at the right point in time.  All the other pods will follow your lead, and start their decent at timed intervals, so you all come down in the same general area.”

“Doesn’t this assume the winds and storms will have quieted before we pull the plug?” Maggie asked.

For the first time, Maggie noticed Larry was uneasy as he tried to formulate an answer.

“Yes, I guess it does,” Larry said.

“What if they haven’t quieted, but continue to rage across the surface of the earth?” Alex asked.

“Then the balloons will be torn apart and you will all plunge to your deaths,” Larry said.   “Are there any other questions?”

***

“I think Arthur may have gone completely insane,” Walter said.

Jim Stanley sat across the desk from Walter with his hands folded in his lap.  Jim had been dismissed from Earth Core, shortly after Walter had the EPA withdraw all funding.  Walter and Arthur hadn’t spoken since the meeting with the President ended so abruptly.

“It’s as if he wanted to destroy any credibility Earth Core had with the entire scientific community,” Jim said.

“How many days before this imaginary earth shift takes place,” Walter asked.

“About five months, sir,” Jim said.

“Have we found out where they have moved their headquarters?” Walter asked.

“Somewhere out west,” Jim said.  I think it’s somewhere in Montana.”

“So we really don’t know what they’re doing?” Walter asked.

“Not really,” Jim said.  “I know they’re launching observation balloons every once in a while.  It’s a part of some UN project.  I could send some people out there to find out what they’re doing.  I’m not sure why we even care?”

“I don’t really,” Walter said.  “But if Arthur and that woman are going to make fools of each other, I want a front row seat.”

“Yeah,” Jim said.  “I wouldn’t mind seeing that myself.”

“Let me think about it,” Walter said.  “I’m not sure I see any reason to send people out to the middle of nowhere.  But the more I think about it, the media should probably be following this story.  I think I might just call a couple of editors to give them a heads up on Arthur, and what exactly those nut jobs are doing.”

“Won’t that cause a big panic with the public?” Jim asked.

“Hey, I didn’t dream up this stupid end of the world thing,” Walter said smiling.  “What’s the difference if a few windows get broken, when the peasants decide to riot and loot a little?  I’m pretty sure I own a stock in a glass company anyway.”

***

Larry decided to stay behind in the pod awhile.  The other three headed back toward the main building.  With almost five months till the shift, there wasn’t much they could do but continue their physical training.  Most of the exercises they were learning could be continued during their stay in the pod.  No one wanted to be a weakling after a month of inactivity.

Pug also began weapons training for the crews of the pods.  The security personnel seemed to get a kick out helping the others.  Everyone was asked to help patrol the perimeters of the compound.  Recently, someone tried to breach the security of the compound and was repelled.

“What did you think of the pods?” Maggie asked.

“I don’t think it will be too bad,” Brent said.  “It will be like living in a submarine, I guess.”

“Something Larry failed to mention was that the pod can do nicely, if it happened to land in water,” Alex said.

“I thought we were going to land somewhere north of Montana?” Brent asked.  “What water?”

“Well, let’s see,” Maggie said.  “There are inland seas, floods, oceans, tidal waves, and a host of other possibilities.  No one knows how long it will take the waters to recede after the shift.  The Pacific Ocean may well reach clear to Colorado before it begins to recede.  Certainly large inland bodies of water will be left behind all over the earth.”

“The pod has a keel along the bottom and an escape hatch on top,” Alex said.  “There’s supposed to be an inflatable life raft attached to the escape hatch just in case.”

“So this could be like Noah and the great flood,” Brent said laughing.

“More than you know,” Alex said.

“Why do you say that?” Maggie asked.

“There are twelve pods, right?” Alex asked.

“Right,” Brent said.

“What was their diameter?”  Alex asked.  “Does anyone remember?”

“Larry said thirty seven and half feet,” Maggie answered.

“Correct,” Alex said.  Now, there are twelve pods, each thirty seven and half feet in diameter.  How long would they be if they were laid, end to end, in a straight line?”

“Gee, I don’t know,” Brent said.  “Maybe twelve times thirty seven and half feet?”

“Yes, very good, Brent” Alex said.  “The answer is four hundred and fifty feet or three hundred cubits, the exact length of Noah’s Ark!”

“You figured that out,” Brent said shaking his head.  “You know that makes you the world’s biggest geek… ever?”

The three laughed all the way back to the barracks.

Chapter 11

September 11th - 100 days to Earth Shift

Doyle Cannon laid the last page of the scientific paper on his cluttered desk.  He wasn’t sure who sent the thing to him.  He suspected that snake, Walter Scott over at EPA.  He didn’t really care.  It was another ‘Chicken Little’ theory predicting the end of the world.  The subject was right in his sweet spot.

Doyle was fifty five, morbidly obese, and bald as a cue ball.  He lit a cigarette and glanced over at the column of blue smoke coming from the cigarette already burning in the ashtray.

He’d been the head writer for the Progressive, for over eighteen years.  The Progressive was a rag sold at grocery store checkouts for bored housewives, who wanted a reason not to poison their husband’s dinner when they got home from work.  Doyle had thought he would do better in life.  He saw himself winning a Pulitzer Prize when he graduated from journalism school.

But, after three divorces, and a whole series of bad lifestyle decisions, he and his best friend, Jack Daniels, decided to do what he’d always done best, wreck the lives of the people unfortunate enough to come too close to him.  So he went to work for the Progressive and found his true calling.

He picked the dirty glass up off his desk and poured two fingers of whiskey into it from the bottle stashed in the bottom left drawer of his desk.   He threw it down his throat like a shot glass and sat feeling the burn.  He turned to his key board and began to type.

World to End in One Hundred Days!

Scientists have predicted the world will end in a hundred days.  The prediction was made by Earth Core, a major government sponsored scientific research center some months ago.  According to Maggie Crenshaw, a renowned Astrophysicist and head of Earth Core, just in time for Christmas, the earth will shift out of orbit and all life on earth will end.

So, if you have something you always wanted to do, now is the time.  Want that new TV?  Go get it.  You always wanted the girl next door.  Well?  What are you waiting for?  As for me, I think I’ll take the next few months off and look up some old enemies.  It’s time for some major payback.  You people do whatever you want.  I’m out of here.  So long, suckers…”

***

Maggie stared at her monitor to make sure what she was seeing.  Brent looked over her shoulder, his eyes squinted in concentration.  For no particular reason, Maggie decided to check the social networks for any rumors or comments about the coming shift, especially on government sites.

It led her eventually back to the EPA website and the EPA Theory database where she’d placed her paper entitled Earth Shift.  Over three hundred views were recorded and six checkouts in the past week.  If that many people were interested in Earth Shift, something was going on.

“What do you think it means?” Brent asked.

“I’m not sure,” Maggie said.  “I suspect someone has decided to go public.”

“Walter Scott?” Brent asked.

“I don’t know,” Maggie said.  “I don’t see what advantage he sees in going public, a few months before the event.  I’m going to call Arthur.”

The conversation with Arthur only lasted a few minutes.  Arthur agreed with Maggie someone had decided to go public with Earth Shift.  Both agreed nothing good could come out of this piece of news.  Maggie stared at her phone’s screen for a few moments, before turning back to Brent and the monitor screen.

“Can you set up a scan of all publications, periodicals, and papers for any mention of polar disruption, end of the world, that sort of thing?” Maggie asked.

“No,” Brent said.  “But I know someone who can.  I’ll call Alex.”

The conversation was short and Alex agreed to meet with them at the main building in an hour, to go over the search results with Brent, Maggie and Arthur.

***

Arthur asked Pug Nickels, the head of security, to attend the meeting about Earth Shift going public.  Alex, Maggie, and Brent joined them in the main building in the administrative conference room.

“What did you find, Alex?” Arthur asked.

“The first publication to mention Earth Shift was some rag called the Progressive,” Alex said.  “Apparently it’s some paper people use to line the bottom of their bird cages.  After that, a few of the other dailies joined the chorus and put out articles as well.  Apparently the heavy hitters are waiting for confirmation before they go to press.”

“What about television?” Maggie asked.

“The only network to mention it was NBC,” Alex said.

“That’s not good,” Arthur said.

“Why?” Brent asked.

“It means the President, or someone in his administration, is behind to the release,” Arthur said.  “That network doesn’t do anything unless the president and his party bless it.”

“Did you find anything else, Alex?” Brent asked.

“There’s been a slight uptick in random violence,” Alex said.  “No worse than a typical weekend night in Chicago.  The internet had lit up though, especially the Preppers blogs.”

“It looks like the Preppers were right after all,” Brent said.

“They’ll do better than the rest,” Pug said.  “But in the end, it will take them as well.”

“Maybe, or maybe not,” Brent said.  “I bet some will come out the other side.  At least they were smart enough to try and do something.”

“Any increase in activity around our perimeter, Pug?” Arthur asked.

“No.  All is quiet,” Pug said.  “I did bring each of you a new cell phone.  Your phones will probably be overrun with calls wanting comments on the stories and rumors.  I’ve programmed them with all of your new phone numbers on speed dial.  They’re on the table by the door with your names on them.”

“Maggie, how long till the tremor you predicted, and just what can we expect from it?” Arthur asked.

“In ten days, a series of earthquakes will occur along almost every fault line between the earth’s plates”, Maggie said.  “We can expect some earth displacement, massive tsunamis, and flooding.  The worst of it is, it will act as confirmation to the Earth Shift story.  The news about it will probably break hard.”

“Okay,” Arthur said.   “Pug, we’ll need to be ready for potential visitors if they find out we’re here.  Let us know what we can do to help out.  Alex, make sure you add Montana for the key words you’re monitoring.  We need to find out what they know.”

Arthur looked around the table at each of their faces.  He thought again how fortunate they were to have assembled such a group of outstanding individuals.  He thought of how much he would miss each of them when they left.  Maggie especially was like a daughter to him.  He’d miss her terribly.  But then again, not for long, he thought.

***

Pug had the perfect observer in town.  Sheila Downy was the best waitress in the only real café in town.  She called everyone who came in the place ‘Deary’, and everyone thought it was just for them.  ‘What can I get for you Deary?” was her favorite phrase.  She knew everyone in town, and more importantly to Pug, everyone who didn’t belong.

When the advance team for the news crews hit town, Pug heard fifteen minutes later.  He personally waited at the front gate for the expected visit.  A half hour later a black Mercedes, followed closely by a truck loaded with electronic gear, rolled up to the barricade and stopped.  The dust cloud caught up and momentarily blanketed the area.

Pug stayed in the guard house as one of his special Ops personnel went up to the window of the lead car.

“Can I help you, Sir?” the guard asked.

“Yes, son, I believe you can,” Mike Donaldson smiled a big toothy grin up at the young soldier.

Mike Donaldson was an icon of the news media on both network and cable.  He was thought of as a true friend to the military, and had blown through a number of checkpoints tougher than this one.

“I’m Mike Donaldson and this is Leslie Sherman,” Mike said gesturing to the pinched face, older, blond woman sitting next to him.

“I know, Sir,” the guard said.  How can I help you?”

“We came to see Arthur Wynn, young man,” Mike said.  “Perhaps you could give him a call and tell him we’re here.”

“Do you have an appointment, Sir?” the guard asked.

Mike wasn’t sure what to say.  He didn’t need appointments.  The fact he wanted to talk to someone was usually enough to make them piss their pants.  No one wanted to cross Mike Donaldson.  The woman leaned across the front seat of the Mercedes and squinted up at the guard.

“Young man,” the woman said.  “This is the Mike Donaldson.  I suggest you get your butt over to that shack and call your superior.  You will be in a lot of trouble if you don’t let us through this gate at once.”

Pug, who overheard the conversation walked to where the guard stood next to the Mercedes.

“My name is Pug Nickels,” Pug said.  “I’m head of security here.  Can I help you?”

“Mr. Nickels, I’m…”

“I know who you are,” Pug said.  “Neither Arthur Wynn or Maggie Crenshaw are at this facility.  I’m sorry you wasted a trip out here.  Now if you’ll just back over there,” Pug said pointing, “You can turn around and go back to town.”

“I don’t think so,” Leslie said, still leaning across the front seat.  “At a minimum, I suggest you give us a complete tour of this facility.  For God’s sake Mike, say something.”

“Well, Pug,” Mike said.  “I suggest you do what the lady says.  You don’t want Leslie Sherman mad at you.  Believe me, I know.”

Mike laughed and nudged Leslie as if it were an inside joke.  Pug whispered something to the guard who headed back toward the guard shack.

“I don’t want to make Ms. Sherman or anyone angry,” Pug said.   “But you have till the guard gets back from the guard shack, to turn around and head back to town.”

“What happens if we don’t?” Leslie asked sneering at Pug.

“Then I strap two pounds of C4 to your scrawny ass and blow you, Mike and the Mercedes all to hell.”

It had been a dry September so far.  The dust from the spinning tires of the Mercedes as it turned around and sped down the entrance road, enveloped the area for some time.

Chapter 12

September 21st - 90 days to Earth Shift

A tiny atoll of the island group called Tokelau, lies in the crystal blue Pacific, three hundred miles north of New Zealand.  The string of three atolls boasts the lowest elevation of any island group in the world.  At no point does the land rise more than six feet elevation.  For years Ecologists warned the islands would soon disappear due to rising sea levels caused by global warming.  The United Nations evacuated all the island residents to nearby New Zealand.

The islanders returned when the sea levels did not rise as predicted.  Life was relaxed in Tokelau.  There are no large hotels, restaurants, or bars on the islands.  There is just sand, sun, coconuts, and a happy friendly people.

The thatched shack was close to the beach, so the breezes would keep the baby cool.  The bamboo sides were open to the shore.  Tulla didn’t know why her baby was warm to the touch.  But this was her first, and she wasn’t sure what to expect. Not yet sunrise, her husband was already down by the boats repairing his nets.

She hoped he had better luck today and the fish would come back.  Her granny told her the last time the fish went away there was an earthquake in New Zealand.  It was weeks before the fish returned.  It was a time of great hunger.

The sun rose over the ocean as Tulla watched her husband load the nets into his boat, and drag his dugout toward the shore.  He turned, smiled, and waved at Tulla.  When he turned back the water was gone.  He watched in wonder as the water withdrew into the distance.  Offshore coral reefs appeared from the depths.  Suddenly he knew what was wrong.

“Run!” the man screamed as the wall of water appeared on the horizon.

Tulla picked up the baby and ran towards, rather than away from her husband.  They stood side by side as the wall of water approached, knowing there was no place to hide.  As it drew closer, the wall of water blocked out the rising sun.  The man hugged his beautiful wife and baby as tons of water erased Tokelau and the other islands from the face of the earth.

***

The massive weight of the ice flows at the South Pole shifted and the earth moved.  It moved only a thousand yards, but it triggered a shift in the continental plates.  As the plates ground against each other, points of intersection rubbed together and then suddenly released.  The tension created quakes causing massive displacements of water.  Tsunamis ran from Bolivia toward Australia, Iceland towards Europe, Africa toward the southern United States, from the cost of Alaska towards Japan and Southeast Asia.

Maggie and the others sat in the main hall and watched news coverage of the massive destruction and loss of life.  They waited to hear if anyone had connected these earth tremors to the coming Earth Shift.  All the coverage seemed to concentrate on the massive scale of death and destruction, missing the connection to Earth Shift entirely.

Maggie heard someone crying softly in the back of the room.  Many people had relatives in Florida.  Little was left except an island over by the middle of the state near Ocala.  No survivors were found, not even in the boats from Florida’s many harbors.  Most the Gulf coast was wiped clean as well.  A surge in the Gulf of Mexico carried up the Mississippi as far as Vicksburg.

The devastation of Mexico, all of Central America, and the eastern coast of both North and South America was complete.  No reports from Southeast Asia were received yet.  No one knew the full extent of the impact on that region.  New Zealand and Australia fared better than expected, with only minor damage in the coastal areas.

No reports from China or India had been received.  It was feared this was because of the extensive hit both countries took.  South Africa and the north east coast of Africa received a deluge of flood water and no communications was coming from either area.

***

Maggie noticed several of the women huddled off in one corner trying to reconcile each other to the loss of loved ones.  She wondered if the group as a whole had come to grips not with the loss of a few relatives, but the eventual loss of all their relatives.  It was fearsome to think about and she knew some people could become completely overwhelmed with personal tragedy and heartbreak.

“Brent?” Maggie asked.  “You have a mother, who lives in upstate New York, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Brent said.  “I have an aunt and uncle in Atlanta with a slew of nieces and nephews too.”

“Have you thought about it?” Maggie asked.  “I lost both my mother and father some years ago.  I don’t really have any close relatives.  How do you work through the grief?”

“I’m sure there will come a time in the future it will crush us, for a while,” Brent said.  “But you have to realize there is no rhyme or reason to what befalls each of us.  Think of the senseless slaughter that transpires around us every day.  There is no plan for this life.  We each go through this brief time on earth, as best we can.  A few short years, and it’s over for each of us.  Nobody gets out alive, Maggie.”

“Then what’s the point Brent,” Maggie said with tears in her eyes.  “It all seems so pointless, somehow.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Maggie darling,” Brent said taking her hand.  “It’s true we each come into this life, the way we leave it, alone.  In between, the truly fortunate find one person they can love and cherish, like no other.  It gives each of us meaning and a purpose in life.  Then, if their love brings children, well, then you discover God wants you to be happy, and gives you purpose during your life, regardless of the number of your days.”

“So the number of your days doesn’t matter nearly as much how you spend the days you have?” Maggie asked.

“Exactly,” Brent said.  “Now let’s go see if any of those talking heads in the news on TV have put the clues together about Earth Shift.”

“I thought maybe you had something else you wanted to tell me, Brent,” Maggie said looking up into Brent’s eyes with a smoldering look.

Brent took Maggie into his arms and pressed her to his body.   He kissed her gently on the cheek and then moved his lips to whisper in her ear.

“I think I’ve found find my one person I will love and cherish, Maggie,” Brent said.  “You give purpose to my life no matter if we live thirty days or thirty years.  I love you, Maggie Crenshaw.  I always will.”

***

Historic Beaufort, South Carolina is nestled in the curve of a beautiful bay along the Intra-Coastal Waterway.   Located between Charleston and Savannah, it’s best known for the town’s southern hospitality and quiet streets.  A large brick building sits on the waterway running into the low country out past the west of town.  The local town people knew it was a medical facility of some type.  They noticed the expensive cars occasionally parked in front of the building.  But the cars weren’t from around there and it was a bit of a town mystery.  

Walter Scott had been all smiles that morning.  The private medical facility in Beaufort was built for this very purpose, and now his investment would finally pay off.  He was currently going through the pre-op routine in the surgical wing of the medical complex he’d built with government funds.

Somewhere down the hall, in an operating amphitheatre, his clone was having various organs removed, and placed in rapid freeze storage units.  All, except the left kidney. It would be surgically implanted in Walter sometime later this morning.  His medical team had said the organs would extend Walter’s life indefinitely.

Walter had seen his clone on only one occasion.  It was a hideous lump of flesh, with a deformed head, abnormally long arms, and no legs.  The doctors nicknamed it Gumby and the name stuck.  It would be buried this afternoon in an unmarked grave in the swamp behind the building.

***

Two hours later, the surgical assistant finally wheeled the gurney into Walter’s room.  He was sick of waiting and anxious to get this thing over with.  The gown he wore opened as he climbed up on the wheeled cart.  The liver spots and moles covering his skin made him appear mottled and frog like.  Maybe I should add a plastic surgeon to the staff, Walter thought smiling to himself.  If I’m going to live forever, I might as well look good.

Walter was sleepy from the pre-surgery sedative he’d received.  He was almost under when he felt the cart roll toward the door from his room and into the hall toward surgery.  He was just alert enough to sense the cart swerve when the orderly pushing the gurney staggered against the wall.

“What was that?” the surgical assistant walking by the cart asked.

“I don’t know,” the orderly said.  “It felt like a quake or something.”

How odd, Walter thought, as he slid into the darkness of the anesthetic.  We never have quakes in this part of the country.

The building had no windows.  It was designed for privacy, and the God awful heat in this part of the country made air conditioning expensive.  The music in the surgical theatre was a classical piece by Verdi.  The surgical team just wanted to get this thing over with as soon as possible.  None of them saw the approaching wave.

When it broke over the town of Beaufort, it was a hundred foot high wall of water crushing every building in the scenic little town.  When it flattened the brick building with no windows, it carried everything into the low country swamp that made up most of Beaufort County.

When the wave finally receded, it left behind a black pool of debris and broken bodies.  One of these bodies was an old man with liver spots and sodden fringe of white hair.  Next to him floated a lump of flesh with no legs and a deformed head.  It’s abnormally long arms embraced the old man, as they slowly sank beneath the black waters of the swamp.

Chapter 13

November 1st - 50 days to Earth Shift

Sunlight spilled through the bedroom window, as Maggie woke slowly.  She felt Brent’s hand lying on her lower stomach as they spooned.  It felt warm and comforting.  His arm lay heavy on her side.  She smiled as she thought back to the first awkward times they’d made love.  Both had suffered a long drought and neither experienced in that department.

Maggie had a couple of brief and unremarkable encounters in college.  Brent had plenty of opportunities as a football star in college, but between his knee injury and hectic schedule, his college days were mostly celibate, with a little fumbling around with bra hooks in between.  Since then, his remote and isolated work locations, and her complete focus on planetary models, left little time for a personal life.

But with a few books and a lot of effort, they managed to work out the kinks, so to speak.  With only seven weeks before the event, Maggie knew they were going to have to put their personal life on hold.  Too much was at stake to allow individual desires to get in the way of what needed to be done.

A quick workout and shower later, Maggie sat at the table in her robe with her laptop, scanning the latest reports of riots and looting occurring all over the world.  Leaders were calling for calm, while at the same time deploying troops hoping to maintain some order.

Arthur was fairly certain Walter had been the one leaking information to the media about the coming earth shift.  There must have been someone on the inside feeding Walter information.  No one was sure why Walter would tell the media.  It certainly made organizing more difficult.  No one had seen or heard from Walter since the quake a month ago.

Regular folks filled all the churches, mosques, and synagogues to overflowing as they prayed for divine intervention.  Some of the religious fanatics interpreted the event as the end of times and were caught up in a frenzy of worship.  Other fanatics were out killing infidels as fast as possible, thus assuring themselves of heaven.

Others were simply roaming the streets in gangs looking for whatever diversion they could find.  Looted stores were not replenished, but simply stood with broken windows and empty shelves.  Infrastructure such as electricity and water were beginning to break down.

Locally, a group of scary looking thugs turned up in town outside the compound.  They mostly stood around and intimidated the local folks.  Still, having them this close to the compound was a little offsetting.

There was no way for them or anyone else to get into Mount Ararat,the team’s nickname for the compound.  It contained all the buildings where their preparations took place.  Pug Nickels, the head of security had the compound locked up tight.  It wasn’t clear who was behind the thugs gathering in town.

***

Maggie and Brent watched the television intently.  The newsman was reporting live from the United Nations building in Brussels.  The gleaming new building had only been in use for a year, after the UN relocated from New York.  He looked haggard and tired.  A surly crowd, drawn by the cameras, gathered behind him.

“This is Jeffery Bloom,” the reporter said.  “I am standing in front of the UN building in Brussels, on a day that may present the last hope for mankind.  A vote from the security council is expected at any moment on the possible use of Nuclear weapons to prevent the catastrophic shift in the earth’s orbit.”

“You can’t even get the facts right,” Brent said from behind Maggie.   “It’s not a problem with the earth’s orbit.  It’s the incline of the earth’s orbit.  What an idiot.”

“I don’t think he can hear you,” Maggie said.  “Are you watching the crowd behind him?”

Behind the reporter Jeffery Bloom, a growing crowd of onlookers began to mill about.  Signs were raised and green armbands put on with the letters ‘OE” emblazoned in red.  Several young men came forward and started waving their fists in the air.

“Looks like Occupy Earth has joined the party,” Brent said.  “Now it should get interesting.”

Jeffery glanced over his shoulder at the chanting crowd of protesters.  He seemed nervous, but determined to carry on.  Several policemen wandered in behind Jeffery and the crescendo of shouting and name calling picked up.   An especially hairy and dirty young man stepped forward and spit at one of the police.

Jeffery never saw who threw the bottle that split his head open.  He pitched forward onto the pavement, out cold.  The camera man never flinched as he continued to broadcast the ebb and flow of the police versus the protesters.  The police dogs made all the difference as they began to tear into the protesters.

Jeffery rose from the pavement hanging onto his microphone, still unsteady from the bottle to the head.  Blood trickled down his forehead and dripped from the side of his nose.

“As you can see,” Jeffery reported.  “Feelings are running high on both sides of this issue.  The vote today will decide if the full might of the nuclear submarines, currently approaching the Antarctic ice shelf, will unleash a barrage of megaton explosions in an attempt to melt the ice and return balance to the earth.”

Jeffery took a hanky from his coat pocket and dabbed gingerly at the gash in his forehead. 

“Do you think it could work?” Brent asked.

“You forget they’re all idiots,” Maggie said.  “When one is dealing with the forces of planetary movement, only a politician would think man could somehow intervene and stop something only God could put in motion.”

“Well,” Brent said.  “At least they have good intentions.”

“We know what road is paved with those, don’t we?” Maggie said.

***

Alex looked around the room as most of the team filed in.  This was the first time all members of the exit teams were together in one spot.  All were between mid twenties and their mid thirties.  All seemed in good shape with a couple of notable exceptions.   They seemed to Alex to be mixed fairly evenly between the races.  A third of the team members were men and two thirds women.

Arthur, Maggie and Larry Stovall sat at the front table.  Alex stood at a lectern and cleared his throat.  The crowd of a little over one hundred and twenty slowly quieted.

“For you new people,” Alex began.  “I’m Alex Marsh and the least important person to talk with you today.”

Nervous laughter ran through the crowd. 

“As you know, we’re seven weeks until the event.  You have each been briefed on what this means, and what is expected of you both before and after Earth Shift.  Everything you hear at this facility is considered top secret.  However, if you disclose anything that is said, you will not be punished.  You will be left behind.”

The group of peopled looked around at each other, as if they expected someone to stand and leave the room.  The murmuring died down after a few minutes.

“Now I’d like to introduce you to Maggie Crenshaw.  Maggie was the first scientist to discover Earth Shift and is a major contributor to deciding where we go from here.  Maggie?” Alex said as he sat down.

Maggie stood and headed to the podium.  She wore the same drab green overalls they rest of the group wore.  Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wore very little makeup.  She leaned forward and tapped the microphone with one finger, making sure it was on.  It squealed a high pitched whine causing everyone for several rows back to cover their ears.

“Good afternoon,” Maggie said.  “As you’re aware, we have just over six weeks before the earth shifts fourteen degrees.  This very spot will move roughly eight hundred miles south of where we sit today.   What’s left of these buildings will be moved to where Santa Fe, New Mexico sits today.”

“The shift will require about an hour from start to finish,” Maggie continued.  “This means the surface of the earth, at any given point, will be traveling at an average of eight hundred miles an hour.”

A loud buzz of murmurs ran through the hall and people reacted to possible impact of such speeds on the earth’s surface.  Maggie waited for the room to quiet.

“We don’t know, and cannot model, the impact of the required acceleration on the earth’s surface,” Maggie continued.  “Suffice it to say at some point in the shift, we believe the surface of the earth could be moving in excess of sixteen hundred miles an hour.  We believe everything mankind has constructed on the surface of the earth will be reduced to a pile of rubble.”

The noise level in the room rose considerably until Maggie had to gavel for quiet.  She waited for everyone to sit down and listen to what came next.

“We won’t be here,” Maggie said quietly into the microphone.  We will be floating some twelve miles above the earth in pressurize pods.  Each pod will carry teams of twelve people and enough supplies for them to live for a month.  There will be a total of twelve stratospheric balloons with sufficient helium to remain aloft.”

Again everyone began to talk at once and Maggie had to gavel for silence again.

“We will be assigning individuals to pod teams within the next week,” Maggie said looking around the room.  “I know there must be lots of questions.  We will be meeting periodically to answer those we can.  This won’t be easy people.  I know you all have loved ones you have already lost or will be left behind.  Pray for them.  While you’re at it, pray for us as well.”

Chapter 14

December 1st - 20 days to Earth Shift

The assault rifle felt heavy in Maggie’s hands.  It was a Bushmaster AR15 with a thirty round magazine and a muzzle flash suppressor.  It weighed in at a little over six pounds.  The survival training was a lot more strenuous then either Brent or Maggie had expected.  Besides the five mile hikes carrying backpacks weighing half their body weight, they also had to help with beefed up security.

The break in two weeks ago had everyone looking over their shoulders.  The security team was embarrassed goofballs like the NSA could breach their security so easily.    Nothing was taken but some photos, as near as anyone could tell.  Pug and two of the security group had ejected the trespassers, minus their cameras and credentials.

They were ‘observers’ from NSA, sent to check out the facility.  Apparently their satellites, phone taps, and internet monitoring wasn’t providing the enough information for Homeland Security.  Later, a semi-official request for information had been forwarded to Arthur Wynn from the President’s chief of staff.

Since Walter Scott went missing, several agencies, including the EPA, were growing concerned about the rumors stemming from the damage across the globe from massive quakes and floods.  The Earth Shift paper resurfaced and was receiving widespread distribution.  The member nations of the United Nations felt the United States had managed somehow, to trigger the global devastation.

Releasing nuclear detonations on the Antarctic ice flows, was gaining consensus as a last measure.  With the increased scrutiny by NSA, Arthur was almost certain the government was about to step in and either stop, or take over their Montana facility.

The bureaucrats were getting desperate and were capable of screwing up everything Earth Core had put together.  He decided drastic action needed to be taken to prevent this, and arranged a call to the President.

***

Mr. President,” Arthur said into the speaker phone.  “I’m here with my team.  Can you hear us on your end?”

“Yes,” the President said.  “I have my team here as well, Arthur.  I also asked the UN Security Council to send delegates to this meeting, so they knew we weren’t keeping anything from them.”

“I understand, Mr. President.” Arthur said.

“Listen, what was all that nonsense about your people tossing NSA out on their ear from your place out there?” the President asked.  “It seemed a little over the top to us.”

“Yes, sir,” Arthur said.  “I severely chastised my security people and put a red reprimand notice in their personnel files.  I really gave them a severe talking too.”

Arthur held one finger to his lips to make sure none of the people’s laughter around the table could be heard on the speaker phone.

“Well, I should think so,” the President said.  “Arthur, the reason we sent those people out there in the first place, was some people think maybe there is validity to that whole Earth Shift thing we talked about earlier.”

“Yeah,” Arthur said, “We really blew that one.”

“What do you mean?” the President asked.  “Didn’t you predict the earthquakes and tidal waves would happen before Earth Shift took place?”

“That’s what was so embarrassing, sir,” Arthur said.  “Those disasters were Earth Shift, Mr. President,” Arthur said.  “I’m sure your people told you the earth did shift several degrees.”

There was a long paused on the other end.  Muffled voices, some heated, could be heard on the other end of the line.

“Yes, but didn’t your paper predict those quakes would happen before the big one in December?” the President asked.

“Just a second Mr. President,” Arthur said.  “I have Maggie Crenshaw here who wrote the Earth Shift paper.  Maggie?”

“Mr. President,” Maggie said.  “First of all, we feel just terrible about all the loss of life and the horrific disasters around the globe.  I‘m the one who built the computer model we used to predict Earth Shift.  I must have made a small mistake somewhere in the code.”

There was silence on the other end for a few moments.  Then some hushed conversations Maggie couldn’t pick up.

“I see,” the President said.  “Well, that code stuff can be pretty tricky.  I remember the rollout of a certain health care system that will remain nameless…”

Laughter could be heard by the people on the President’s end of the line.

“Miss Crenshaw,” the President said.  “We’re much relieved to hear the worst is over.  I am addressing the UN General Assembly this afternoon, and you have just handed me the best news I could possibly deliver.”

“I’m just sorry for all the confusion,” Maggie said looking up at Arthur with her fingers crossed.

“I‘m sorry you will be called before some Senate hearing committees after the New Year,” the President said.  “They’re probably going to act like the disasters were your fault.”

“I understand,” Maggie said.  “The government has a long tradition of killing the messenger.”

“Arthur, I’m going to want you in Washington this January as well,” the President said.

“Let me know when, Sir,” Arthur said.  “I’ll be there.”

Both sides disconnected from the call.  The group around the compound’s conference table waited for Arthur to speak.

“Do you think they bought it?” Arthur asked.

“Hook, line, and sinker,” Brent said.  “But what choice did they have?  It’s too late for them to do anything anyway.”

“I think you did the President, and the world for that matter, a big service, Arthur,” Alex said.  “People may at least be able to spend their last three weeks in peace.”

“I could be wrong,” Maggie said.  “But I think the President knows the truth.  He was calling to reassure a world that is about to be extinguished.  I think the President heard exactly what he wanted to hear, and will try to bring tranquility to the world in these last days.”

Several days after the talk with the President, a large black truck appeared at the front gate.  The driver handed a letter addressed to Arthur from the President of the United States of America.

It read:

Dear Arthur,

I hoped you watched my address to the UN.  I think it accomplished exactly what we hoped it would.  Worldwide rioting and violence has been greatly reduced since the speech.  At least it’s back to its normal level.

I wanted to apologize for not being more receptive, the first time we spoke about the topic.  I probably should have surrounded myself with better people.  Well, that’s all water under the bridge.

I’m loaning you some objects for safekeeping at your compound until after the New Year.  You can return them when you come to see me.  Arthur, I wanted you to know how much I respect you and your group.  I only wish you’d have had a better President.  God go with you, Arthur.

Sincerely,

James A. Whitcomb

POTUS

***

It took some time for the truck to be unloaded.  Inside the truck was a large sealed steel box.  A list of the contents for the box was etched into the steel sides, in no less than twelve languages.

The list on the side of the box included the Constitution of the United States, the Holy Bible, the collected works of William Shakespeare, the Gettysburg Address, Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech, the Declaration of Independence, the Koran, the History of the United States, the Torah, the Complete History of the World, microfilm of the entire contents of the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Art Museum, the Louvre in Paris, and countless other precious documents from Museums and galleries around the world.

Chapter 15

December 7th - 14 days to Earth Shift

The group at Maggie’s table was a good one.  The pod assignments went well, although here was some last minute switches because of relationships that formed among some of the people.  Brent sat across the table from Maggie waiting for her to lay out some of the ground rules for the pod while it was aloft.

Overall, they’d come out well in the draft of personnel.  Each pod was assigned a team leader.  Maggie was theirs.  They were given a biography and skill set for each of the individual candidates to choose from.  The captains met the day of the draft, and each one was allowed to remove one person from the draft and directly onto their team.  Maggie chose Brent.

During their confinement in the compound, most of the team leaders had met and knew something about each of the people.  Two of Maggie’s choices had just come into the compound.  Neither Brent nor Maggie knew much about them.

Jerry Colin was one a security specialist who joined the team at the last minute.  Jerry was a tall rangy sort of guy with ginger hair, freckles and a serious demeanor.  The other was Jeff Lincoln.  Jeff was a boat builder.  His specialty was small wooden sail boats used on lakes for regattas.

The last male in the Pod was Kirk Massey.  Kirk was small, but stocky.  He’d been trained as a carpenter by his father and had worked with his father’s construction company since graduating from high school.  He and his father had built a log cabin on a small lake in Michigan without the use of power tools. 

Brent had been disappointed when Alex was chosen as a team leader, since it meant they’d be in separate groups.  There was never a question of Brent and Maggie being separated.  For the first time in over ten years though, Alex and Brent would not be able to look out for each other.

The seven women Maggie chose for the pod had similar backgrounds in spending most of their time in the outdoors.  They were either hikers or tent campers, who liked to cycle, hunt, or fish.  Three of the women had run marathons.  All were unmarried and in good physical shape.  Several of the women had specific backgrounds Maggie thought added greatly to the potential success of the group.

  Beth Richards had lived on a farm her whole life.  She was studying to become a veterinarian, when her dad died suddenly.  She was forced to drop out of school to run the family dairy farm.  Beth was used to hard physical work, and had a working knowledge of large animals and raising crops.

Valerie Mott had been an EMS medical technician for three years.  She was used to dealing with trauma injuries.  She and Maggie spent a considerable time preparing an extensive medical pack of supplies.

The third was Sandra Adams.  Sandy grew up in Montana on a ranch that had been in her family for over a hundred years.  She was an excellent horse woman, and knew the area around the supply depot extremely well.

***

“I don’t have a lot of rules for our group,” Maggie said.  “I’m also open to any suggestions you have during our time in the pod and after we land.  We all bring our own expertise and you need to take the lead when a situation arises.  Are there any questions?”

“I’m new here,” Jerry said raising, then lowering his hand.  “All I know is special forces.  I’m going to try and fit in the best I can.  I just wanted to let you know, I’ll try to help out where you need me.  I’m just not sure where that is right now.”

“Thanks, Jerry,” Maggie said.  “I know they threw you in as a replacement at the last minute, and that’s always a little rough.  We’re really expecting you to look out for all of us.  You’re the sharp end of our stick, so to speak.  While we’re in the pod, I hope you will help show us how to stay as fit as possible in a cramped area.”

“I have some ideas that will work,” Jerry said smiling.  “I may not be too popular when it’s over.”

“When the pod touches down, Jerry, everyone coming out of the entrance had better be in good shape,” Maggie said.  “We have no idea of what will be required of us, but what we do know is fatigue can get you killed.”

Maggie looked around the table.  No one blinked or flinched, a good sign.

“Once the pod is in the air”, Maggie said.  “We intend to maintain a strict schedule.  There will be one man and two women on each six hour shift.  Each of us will spend six of those hours at observation positions, six hours of chores and cleaning, six hours of eating, reading, exercise, and six hours of relaxing and sleeping.  We’ll set the four shifts up this afternoon.”

“What if we can’t sleep?” One of the women asked.

“As long as you’re in your cubicle, you can just lay there, read, or watch a movie,” Maggie said.  “Just don’t bother anyone else.  Use your best judgment.  Just remember we’re going to have twelve people in a small space for over a month.”

“There will be no heat source for cooking or anything else other than indirect heating for the cubicles,” Maggie said.  “We will have a cold storage area so we can keep fresh food, mainly grains, cereals, fruit and vegetables.  We will have chocolate bars, granola, puddings, and other things that require no cooking.”

“What about hot water for coffee,” someone asked.

“They said we would have water heated by solar panels,” Maggie said.  “I’m suspicious at this point.  I think the best we can hope for is tepid.  That includes washing and clean up as well.”

Maggie went around the table answering various questions from the group.  It was obvious some questions were being avoided.

“Since no one asked,” Maggie said.  “Let’s talk about hygiene.  Not to make a big deal of it, but we will be living in tight quarters.  You will get about thirty seconds of water for bathing.  Get wet, Get clean, rinse, and get dry.  Solid waste goes in the chute to the outside.  When you close the top lid, it opens the bottom lid.  It is literally bombs away at that point.”

There were smiles all around the table.

Let’s talk about privacy,” Maggie said.  “There won’t be any.  So if you find your unable to restrain yourself, well, do it quietly.  Yes I’m talking about sex.  If any of you are screamers, well don’t.  Also, remember someone else is going to be using the cubicle in a few hours after you.  Be considerate of other people.  Are there any other questions?”

“What happens after we land?” Valerie asked.

“Have all the sex you want,” Maggie said joking.

Valerie turned red as the rest of the group laughed.

“I didn’t mean that,” Valerie said.  “I meant, what should we expect when it’s time to return and land the pod?”

“We have a planned descent that has two purposes,” Maggie said.  “The first is, since all the pods will begin their descent from the same place, if the wind and storms are at least consistent, all the pods should all land in relatively close proximity.  It will take twelve hours from the time the descent starts before we land.”

“What if wind and storms are raging on the surface?” Jeff asked.

“Then the pods will probably be blown all over the place,” Maggie said.  “We may not see anyone else until we all converge on the supply depot.”

“Do we have any idea what the surface will be like once we land?” Beth asked.

“Brent?” Maggie asked.

“We know from the last time this happened,” Brent said.  “The start and stop of earth shift was so violent, entire forests were leveled.  Oceans and seas covered most of the land masses with floods, until the waters withdrew.  Anything man had built was scoured clean.  Little or nothing was left of civilization.”

There was silence for some time as each person thought about what that meant.  The devastation was almost beyond belief.

“Surely a monument or something will be left,” Kirk said.

“It’s possible,” Brent said.  “But not likely.  Kirk, you’re a builder.  Think about where every major city in the world is located.  They’re located on either the ocean or a river.  Some are on lakes.  They share one thing in common.  They’re all built by the water.  By definition this puts them close to sea level and prone to flooding.”

“How close to our supplies will we be when we land?” Beth asked.

“The depots where our supplies are stored will have moved some eight hundred miles south of our landing zone.  It will be close to where Santa Fe, New Mexico is today,” Brent said.

“What about the weather,” Jerry asked.

“Normally we could expect thirties during the day and freezing at night,” Maggie said.

“I thought it would be colder than that,” Jerry said.

“We expect the winds blowing from west to east to be predominant,” Brent said.  “They’ll be blowing off the ocean, so we think it will be warmer.”   

“Well, with all the forests leveled, at least there will be plenty of firewood,” Jerry said and people laughed.

“Yeah,” Val said.  “I think we can pretty much forget about that whole Global Warming thing, too.”

A cheer went up from the group, and they began to talk among themselves.

Chapter 16

December 14th - 7 days to Earth Shift

“What do you mean, we have to leave now?” Alex asked.

“Not this second,” Arthur said.  “But definitely in the next few hours.”

The Team leaders sat around the table in the executive conference room.  The only other persons there were Pug Nickels and Brent.

“I think we will be alright for the next thirty six to forty eight hours,” Pug said.  “The word we got is a convoy of army trucks is headed this way from Denver.  Either the President has lost control of the military, or just given up.  Either way, you need to be gone before they get here.”

“How did they find out about us?  What do they want?” Maggie asked.

“I suspect the President briefed the Chief of Staff and it snowballed from there,” Pug said.  “They probably think we’ve found some way to survive the event and have an underground shelter or something.”

“Don’t they have the old NORAD underground bunker in Cheyenne Mountain?” Brent asked.

“It’s already been locked down by some renegades from the San Diego marine base,” Pug said.  “They took it over in a surprise attack and sealed the blast doors.   The discipline in the military is breaking down fast.”

“Somebody should have told them NORAD bunker is twenty five miles from the largest dormant volcano on earth,” Alex said.  “When it blows, and it will blow with earth shift, it will be a very bad place to be.”

Arthur stood up and looked around the room.  He was having a hard time now that departure time was near at hand.  He took a drink of water.

“The time has come for us to say goodbye,” Arthur said.  “We have been through a lot together.  But now is the time for the young and the brave to see what can be salvaged from this time period of man.  Remember most of human history isn’t written on stone, papyrus, or paper.  It’s written in our DNA, the very fabric of who we are.  Trust your instincts, and be prepared to do what is necessary to survive.”

Arthur looked around the table at the faces of the young people in their prime.  He smiled a gentle smile.

“Now go,” Arthur said.  “Check and double check all your equipment.  The first pod will lift off in three hours.  God go with you.”

***

It’s probably a good thing, Maggie thought.  At least this way, we don’t have to sit around and think about it.  She and Brent hurried back to where their team waited for news.

“Where’s Jerry?” Brent asked.

“I think he went into town for something,” Valerie said.  “He got a phone call and said he had to run into town.”

“We leave in a little over two hours,’ Maggie said.  “We’re Pod One.”

“He should be back any time now,” Valerie said.

“Brent, get a hold of Pug and have him track down Jerry,” Maggie said.  “The rest of us, we need to get our stuff on board.   Check and double check everything.”

Brent left for a few minutes and then came back.

“Pug, said Jerry just came back through the front gate,” Brent said.  “The guards told him there were bullet holes in the side of Jerry’s SUV.”

Jerry came into the room, his arms full of large packages.  He set them down and looked around the room.

“Why is everyone running around?” Jerry asked.

“They’ve moved up the launch time for the pods,” Maggie said.  “Ours leaves in about two hours.  We’re the first one going up.  I’m glad you’re back.”

“Me too,” Jerry said.  “Things are getting ugly out there.  Someone decided to ventilate the side of my car.”

“We heard,” Brent said.  “What was so important you risked a trip out of the compound?”

“I got some medical supplies I thought Valerie might be able to use,” Jerry said.

“What did you get?” Valerie asked.  “Call me Val, will you?”

“Okay, Val,” Jerry said smiling down at her.  “I ordered something I’d saw the doctors use during my last overseas deployment.  It’s a dry form of Penicillin.  It keeps forever, and doesn’t require refrigeration.”

“That is outstanding,” Val said smiling up at Jerry.  “Thank you so much.”

“I also got you some of this powder we used in Iraq to stop the bleeding on major wounds,” Jerry said, showing his embarrassment.  “I thought you could use it too.”

“That’s great,” Maggie said looking at the awkward smiles Val and Jerry were giving each other.  “But what’s in the big packages?”

“Huh? Oh, those are crossbows,” Jerry said, somewhat distracted.

“Why bring a crossbow?” Brent asked.

“Because I can make bolts,” Jerry said.  “Plus, these are tactical crossbows.  They’re light weight, easy to load and fire.  This particular crossbow is designed for women to use and carry.  They’re quiet too.”

“How many arrows do you have?” Maggie asked.

“They’re bolts, not arrows,” Jerry said.  “I have three hundred to take with us.  It should last us a while.”

“Are they hard to carry?” Brent asked.

“They’re a laminated, carbon based, composite,” Jerry said.  “The whole thing weighs six pounds, less than a rifle.”

“How difficult is it to load?” Brent asked.

“Very easy to engage,” Jerry said.  “Just put your foot in the stirrup at the end and pull the wire back till in clicks.  It’s a compound bow, so it’s easy to cock and carries a real punch.”

“Will it bring down a large animal?” Maggie asked.

“At sixty yards, the bolt will bring down any large animal,” Jerry said.  “If the animal is a man, at sixty yards, the bolt will go clear through him.”

“Let’s get our baggage stowed, and double check everything,” Maggie said.  “We cast off in ninety minutes.”

***

The glint of sunlight off the titanium shell of the pod was blinding.  Alex, who’s pod wouldn’t leave for six hours, walked Maggie and Brent out to the ramp leading into their pod.  They stood for a moment and looked at everything but each other.  Everyone was on board and waiting for Maggie to begin their final countdown.

“I’ve got to get on board,” Maggie said.  “I have a checklist to go over with the control group before they’ll turn us loose.  As for you, Alex, you had better find us when you land.”

Maggie hugged Alex.  She turned and looked around, knowing it was for the last time.  She wondered if she would see the sun again when they landed.  There were so many questions.  Just for a moment, she was sad for the world they were leaving.  We tried, Maggie thought.  We really tried to do the right thing.  Maybe God is giving us another chance to get it right.

Maggie looked up in the sky, knowing they would be up there soon.  She shaded her eyes and waved back toward where Arthur stood watching the lift off.  Maggie wiped a tear from her eye, stiffened her resolve and walking up the entry way and into the pod.

“Well, good buddy,” Alex said.  “It looks like this is goodbye for now.”

Alex grabbed Brent in a big bear hug and held him close for a moment.

“We’ll be able to talk at least while we’re up there,” Brent said.

“We’re not carrying transmitters,” Alex said.  “Besides, the static up there will be ferocious once the shift happens.  It could fry our electronics.  I know it will on anything at ground level.”

“Okay, Mr. Optimistic,” Brent said.  “Just make sure a few hours after we land and I look up, I want to see your pod hanging just above us.”

“No problem,” Alex said.  “What could possibly go wrong?”

“Both men laughed a nervous laugh knowing everything could go horribly wrong in a heartbeat.

“Well, buddy,” Brent said holding his hand out.  “This is so long.”

“You just take care of Maggie,” Alex said shaking Brent’s hand.  “I didn’t want to tell you this, but I’m pretty sure she likes me more than you.”

Brent walked up the entry ramp and turned to wave at Arthur and the others gathering to watch the send off.  He pointed a finger at Alex and then at his heart.  Brent turned and disappeared into the pod, pulling the entry closed behind him.

Chapter 17

December 14th - 7 days to Earth Shift

The rising pod flashed silver in the sun.  The helium filled balloons carrying the pod aloft were well over a hundred feet high and only partially inflated.  As they rose and the atmosphere thinned, the balloons would expand to their full extent.  Until then, they acted as prisms, refracting the sunlight into a rainbow of colors as it passed through the gossamer material.

The pod continued to rise and the twelve passengers crowded around the portals to watch.  The balloon rose at the steady rate of three hundred feet, or the length of a football field, every minute.  It was such a smooth ascent that after a while, it began to feel as if the earth was moving away from them.

As the pod cooled, the solar heaters kicked in and a blower hummed behind them.

“Shouldn’t we be filming this?” Beth asked from the next portal over.

“You’d think so wouldn’t you,” Maggie said.  But who would we show it too?”

As the altimeter approached eighteen thousand feet, the view from the portals was limited to clouds, oceans, and land masses.  Using the Optical Assistance Devices, they could see the second pod lift gently from the earth and begin to rise.  Their relative position was three hundred miles east from the liftoff point.  At this time of year and altitude, the wind blew a hundred and fifty miles an hour west to east.

The wind speed was constant, and the team leaders knew the pods would be six hundred miles apart, all floating at sixty thousand feet, traveling at a hundred and fifty miles an hour.  This meant they would circle the earth every twenty hours.

Soon they passed over the curvature of the earth losing sight of the liftoff point.  Without the optical assistance, the view became somewhat boring and the crew off duty began to investigate their cache of supplies they’d brought on board.  Maggie stayed next to the radio and announced the launch of each of the other pods as they were announced from the compound.

***

As the last pod lifted off, Arthur came on the radio.

“All pods are away and have deployed successfully,” Arthur said.  “Pug told me we have a heavily armed convoy about fifteen miles from us and moving fast.  He estimates they should be here within the half hour.  None of us are sure what that means exactly.”

Brent and Maggie bent close to the radio and could hear mumbled voices in the background and what sounded like running feet.

“That was Pug and his team,” Arthur said.  “He’s concerned if the convoy get’s here too soon, a surface to air missile could be used against the last pod.  He says he’s not going to let that happen.  He’s taking his men out to meet the convoy before it gets here.”

“I’m going off air for a while,” Arthur said.  “Stand by.”

The group around Maggie and Brent began to grow as word spread of what was said.  It soon became noisy and crowded.

“I’m sorry,” Maggie said.   “If we all stand on one side of the pod, it can pull us off course.  “We’ll keep you informed of what’s said.”

The group dispersed back to their stations and cubicles to wait for news.

None of the pods were equipped with transmitters.  They could only receive incoming calls.  The weight of the transmitters and the batteries required to run one made them unfeasible for a balloon flight of this duration.  It meant the pods would not be able to communicate with each other while aloft..  Once one of the groups landed and reached the supply depot, it might be possible to set up another transmitter.

The shrill blast of static from the receiver caused Maggie to cover her ears.  The sound of explosions could be heard and the staccato of gunfire in the distance.

“Listen, everyone,” Arthur said sounding out of breath.  “We’ll be off the air shortly.  The convoy was delayed reaching here and the pods are all now safely launched.  Our job here is done.”

More firing could be heard and the sound of running feet.

“I hope you all appreciate the selfless sacrifice of Pug Nickels and his men just made to see this mission succeed.  I can hear fighting in the corridors.  As a last great act of defiance, I intend to destroy this transmitter.”

The sound of fighting and gunfire was getting closer.

“I just wanted to tell you,” Arthur said.  “How very proud I am of the job each of you has done in preparing for this mission.  None of us know if mankind will survive this holocaust or not.  I hope, by our efforts, we have at least created the possibility that all we have achieved will not be lost.”

A few minutes of silence passed before static crackled in the receiver.

“I only have a few moments,” Arthur said, whispering.  “God go with you, and protect you.  Now I must go.”

The explosion sounded like a pop on the transmitter followed by a high whine and then silence.  Maggie wiped tears from her eyes as Brent hugged her and held her close.

***

The receiver in the pod hissed and crackled for an hour before they turned it off.  The hum of the heater fan was the only sound for over an hour.  Finally the crew went back to their stations and what they were doing before the transmission.  At the end of the first shift, darkness approached on the horizon.  The dusk spread from east to west as the lights of the cities blinked on to drive back the dark.

“It really is beautiful, isn’t it?” Valerie asked.

“Yes, it is,” Beth said from the portal next to Val’s.

As they approached Africa, a magnificent thunder storm raged.  Bolts of lightning flashed through the clouds setting them aglow in sliver and white.  The dark expanse of the oceans past beneath the pod for hours, showing how little land mass there really was.  Finally the sky turned a pinkish rose with the coming dawn and God smiled as the sun broke over the horizon.

***

Brent and Maggie lay in the cubicle trying to sleep.  Maggie turned onto her back after facing the wall for what seemed like forever.  Brent said something in his sleep that sounded suspiciously like a swear word.  He turned on his side, bumping his knee against the metal wall.

A light knock on the door caused both Brent and Maggie to sit up at the same time.

“Come in,” Maggie said.

Jerry stuck his head into the darkened room.

“We’re here,” Brent said.  “What is it?”

“There’s something you should probably see,” Jerry said.

Brent flicked on the single bulb in the room.  Both Maggie and he shrugged into their coveralls and went to Jerry’s observation portal.

“What is it?” Maggie asked.

“Take a look,” Jerry said pointing to the Optical Assistance Device.

“Maggie leaned over and looked into the eyepiece.

“What am I looking at?” Maggie asked.  “It looks like the ocean.”

“It’s the Middle East,” Jerry said.  The lights went out over the whole Middle East grid about a half hour ago.”

“Are those flashes of lightning? Maggie asked.

“No,” Jerry said.  “If I’m right, they’re thermonuclear devices going off in every country in Northern Africa, the Persian Peninsula, and the Middle East.”

“They couldn’t wait a few days for the shift,” Brent said, shaking his head.

“It looked like to me, the first one hit Jerusalem,” Jerry said.  “Then the retaliation launches lit up the sky like the Fourth of July.”

Slowly the pod floated eastward.  They watched the bonfires burn where Bagdad, Tehran, Riyadh, Mecca, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Amman, Cairo, Giza, Islamabad, Karachi, and Kabul once stood.   They still burned brightly, as the burning rubble of these cities of once great civilizations, disappeared into darkness.

“How many days now till earth shift?” Valerie asked from the other side of the pod.

“It could happen at any time now,” Maggie said.  “I think it will happen the day after tomorrow.”

“It looks like someone decided to start doomsday early,” Brent said.

”When I was fighting in Afghanistan, we used to say the Taliban were out to meet virgins, when they tried to storm our positions,” Jerry said.  “I hope there are a lot of them up in heaven cause a whole bunch of martyrs just showed up.”

Maggie and Brent headed back toward their cubicle.

“I think I’ll go for a walk,” Brent said.

“I’ll go with you,” Maggie said.

Both found their weighted packs, slipped their arms through the straps and started walking in the circle around the interior of the pod.  Both packs weighed half their body weight.  Jerry thought this was a good way for them to stay fit and exercise.  The walkway was a little over twenty five feet around.  Two hundred laps was roughly a mile.

They stopped after a mile and leaned against the inner wall resting.  Maggie took a sip of water and tried not to think what it once was.

“Brent, I’ve been thinking,” Maggie said.

“What?” Brent asked.

“I think we should sleep in our own cubicles,” Maggie said.  “There’s just not enough room, it’s cramped, it’s hot, then there’s your talking…”

“Okay,” Brent said.  “Can I visit once in a while?”

“How do I say this delicately?” Maggie asked looking up in the air.  “No.  This whole pod thing has put me in a bad place.  Do you know what I mean?”

“Yes I do,” Brent said.  “I’m okay with that.   This isn’t really the time or the place, now is it?”

“But, after we land,” Maggie said.  “Well, that’s a whole different story.”

“Hey,” Brent said.  “All I need is a little grass and some shrubs to hide behind…”

“Stop it,” Maggie said laughing and punching Brent in the arm.  “You and I both know you don’t need shrubs…”

Chapter 18

Earth Shift

The sun rose slowly over the horizon to signify the start of the last day.  Maggie came out of her cubicle to start her morning routine.  She’d decided on the routine during the first seven days on board the pod.  It started with a breakfast of oatmeal soaked in water smelling faintly of chlorine, a pastry that looked surprisingly like a pop tart, and the coffee crystals mixed with tepid water, again smelling faintly of chlorine.

She then filled a glass with three seconds of water, set it on the tiny sink and looked at her face in the tiny mirror.  Maggie had been the first to cut off all her hair.  It only took her two days to realize there was no way to keep her hair clean on board the pod.  Now she washed her hair with a washcloth and soap.

Next she went through the exercise routine suggested by Jerry to maintain at least some muscle tone.  Finally she slipped on her pack and went for a couple of hundred laps around the pod walkway.  She tried not to bump into Brent or Sandy as they each stumbled from their cubicles to the new day.

During the laps, Maggie tried to break the boredom of walking in circles by glancing out the portals, as she passed each one.  Three of the portals were manned during each of the six hour shifts.  If you were bored enough, you were welcomed to stare out the fourth portal.  After the first few days however, watching the world go by became a little monotonous.

By the third day, they‘d also banned greetings.  Saying ‘hi’ three or four times on every lap around the pod was going to end in bloodshed if they didn’t forbid it.  Smiles and waves were still permitted.

“Today’s the day, hey Maggie?” Sandy asked.

“It better be,” Maggie said. “Otherwise, we’re going to look pretty silly up here floating around in balloons.”

“Do we even know what were looking for?” Kirk asked from one of the portals.

“Not really,” Maggie said.  “Watch the oceans.  I think they’d be the first to show a difference.  Also, look for smoke plums from volcanoes, or large clouds of dust from earthquakes.”

“Good morning, sweetheart,” Brent said coming up to Maggie.

He kissed Maggie and gave Maggie a hug.  He tasted like toothpaste and Maggie thought he was delicious.

“Is anybody up for a quick hundred?” Brent asked shouldering his pack.

“Sure, why not?” Sandy asked.  “I have a bold idea.  Let’s be adventuresome this morning!  We always walk counter clockwise.  This morning, let’s walk clockwise instead!”

“Just stop the madness, Sandy,” Maggie said.  “You really are way too daring for me.”

“Clockwise it is,” Brent said.  “Come on, Maggie.  The change will do all of us some good.  I’ll leave breadcrumbs so we won’t get lost.”

“Okay, Hansel,” Maggie said.   “Lead on.  I’m right behind you and Gretel.”

Maggie followed Brent and Sandy around the walkway.  She couldn’t help but stare at Sandy’s perfectly bald head bobbing along in front of her.  When Maggie had given herself a buzz cut, the rest of the women followed suit.  Sandy went one step farther and went completely bald.  Maggie envied her perfectly smooth, shapely head.  It looked terrific.

***

“Come here, Maggie,” Brent said.  “There’s something odd here.”

“What?” Maggie asked looking over his shoulder.

“The bank of clouds rising off the ocean by the coast of China,” Brent said.  “Look there.”

Maggie peered into the Optical Assistance Device for several minutes.

“Those aren’t clouds, Brent,” Maggie said.  “Those are a line of volcanoes where Japan used to be.  It looks like Earth Shift has started.  Get everyone up.”

Every one split up so there were three people on each station.  Maggie took the lead and started describing as best she could what she saw.  The others viewing the world below did as well.

“It’s almost impossible to tell what is happening,” Maggie said.  “It looks as if everything is vibrating and shimmering.  Nothing appears in focus.  It’s beginning to move.  Now… yes… It’s definitely rotating to the south.  Here, take a look at what’s happening.”

Maggie moved out of the way as each of the people studied the scene below.  When Maggie sat at the portal again, everything below had changed.

“Brent?” Maggie asked.  “Did you just see what happened?”

“Yes, the rotation stopped short of where we predicted,” Brent said.  “Not that it’s going to make much difference.  Look at the water pulling back from the mainland!  That’s got to be hundreds of miles!”

“Look,” Sandy said from the other portal.  “Australia has a land bridge to Asia!  The water is still pulling away from the land masses.”

They all watched in fascination as the water continued to rise in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  Hawaii disappeared quickly beneath the rising mound of water.  It grew and grew until the dome of water was thousands of feet in the air.   Then it flowed back towards the continents in tidal waves a thousand feet high.

“Oh my God,” Sandy said.  “The Tsunami is going to hit the mainland!”

As they watched, the massive wave moved inland on the Asian continent.  It lapped up the sides of the Himalayan Mountains and rolled undiminished across the face of the earth.  They watched as it buried all of the Indian sub-continent and rushed on toward the Ural Mountains.  They watched as it stopped, hesitated, and then began the rush back to the east for thousands of miles.

The massive swell of water rose over the mid-Pacific region a second time, the tidal waves again rushing toward Asia.  It was not as high the second time, but reached as far.

“Were you able to see anything when the water receded?” Brent asked.

“From what I could see, everything was scrubbed clean,” Maggie said.

“I noticed vast inland seas left behind when all the water receded,” Sandy said.  “It was like the water was trapped.”

They counted six waves and nothing remained as they drifted eastward toward the North American coast.   They saw at once, the domes of water in the oceans had broken east and west, north and south.

The sloshing of the oceans rolled over the mountains and plains then receded, only to form again.  Those receding waters cut huge channels and canyons as they withdrew.  It became difficult to pick out geographic areas as the surface of the earth was transformed by the rushing water.

Eventually the pod drifted into twilight, then darkness.  Below, not a single light could be seen except the occasional glow of running lava.

***

Tired of staring into the dark, those not at stations, did what they could to escape from the magnitude of the devastation.  Maggie and Brent retired to Maggie’s cubicle where they lay in the dark in their coveralls and held each other as they slept.

A knock on the door woke both Maggie and Brent.  They stumbled from the dark room into the dawn breaking through the portals of the pod.  The sun turned the cloud cover gold as it started its rise.

The entire surface of the earth was covered by a thick layer of clouds.  The clouds, in some cases, were swirling in enormous spirals of massive hurricanes and typhoons.  Other clouds lay thick with dirt the color of rust.  Occasional streaks of lightning coursed across the sky leaping from cloud to cloud over vast distances.

Still the pod was unbothered by all the chaos below.  It plodded along on a steady west to east course, completing a turn of the earth every twenty hours.  And so it continued for first one week, and then another.  It soon seemed to the crew they were floating over a planet they did not know.  That they’d been here for years and would continue to float over these unbroken clouds forever.

The crew became lethargic and a general morass of depression settled quietly over everyone.  Still the brown clouds with the occasional flash of lightning passed beneath them.  It wasn’t until the middle of the third week the clouds began to turn gray.

Everyone crowded around the portals to verify that the brown had indeed dissipated.

“What do you think it means?” Jerry asked.

“I can only guess,” Maggie said.  “I think the air is starting clean itself from all the dust particles swept into the air.  The dust particles could only stay aloft for so long before they began to settle back to earth.”

“What about the gray clouds?” Val asked.

“Hopefully, the rains have started,” Brent said.  “If not, it’s going to be very dusty and dirty when we land.”

“The problem is, we don’t know how long the rains will last,” Maggie said.  “We don’t want to land this thing in the middle of a rain storm.  We may have to, but I hope it stops.”

It was half way through the fourth week when the crack in the clouds showed calm waters gleaming in the sunlight.  Maggie checked and according to their charts, the west coast of the United States was somewhere beneath those blue waves.

Chapter 19

Earth Shift + 22 days

Maggie walked with her head down, following Brent around the walkway.  She tried to ignore the pain of the straps on the heavy pack, digging into her shoulders.  In retrospect, she wished they’d brought a scale with them.  Everyone was looking a little gaunt from the lousy food and chlorine tainted water.  They popped the vitamin tablets, waited for the helium release valve to open, and for the pod to descend.

The sun had been up about three hours and it seemed to Maggie that the clouds were a much paler shade of grey.  In fact, some of the clouds looked almost a milky white.  Valerie thought the clouds were beginning to thin and in places were almost a vapor.  If that was true, everyone hoped the sun would begin burning off some of the cloud cover in the next day or two.

The Optical Assistance Devices were becoming a concern.  One had broken down completely, four days ago.  Another had ice crystals form over the lens that took it out of service.  The loss of these units was everyone’s worst nightmare.  At over twelve miles in the air, they would be virtually blind, until they began their descent.  They would have no idea of where they were or where they could land.

Other than a couple of heated exchanges, everyone was getting along quite well.  It may have been a result of everyone sleeping as much as they could.  They had started a reading group.  Maggie loved to listen to others read.  Jeff Lincoln had a deep resonant voice and could make the stories come alive.  Everyone suspected Jeff had a good singing voice as well, but he claimed he couldn’t carry a tune.  Nobody believed him.

Jeff was a little standoffish when they’d first entered the pod.  Maggie thought as a builder of handcrafted sailboats, he may have been more used to being by himself and working alone.  She wondered if he might be concerned about his being the only black on the pod.  Jeff seemed a kind and gentle person.  It was all any of them could ask.

***

Brent stopped suddenly and Maggie walked into his backpack hitting her head on the metal cross piece.

“Brent!” Maggie said.  “What are you doing?”

Maggie rubbed her forehead and frowned as Brent stepped towards the nearest portal.

“I thought I was dreaming,” Brent said.  “Come look at this.”

Maggie was still frowning when she leaned over the portal next to Brent’s shoulder.  Twelve miles below, the blue of an ocean stretched as far as they could see to the east.  The view was hazy, but the blue of the ocean was unmistakable.  Maggie looked through the Optical Assistance Devise and could see gentle swells of the water with the occasional white cap.

“Oh Brent,” Maggie said hugging him tightly.  “This is wonderful.  Let’s go look at the charts and see where we’re at.”

Cheers could be heard from the other portals as the two leaned over the chart desk.  It was the first time since the event they’d seen a wide area of the earth cloud free.    

“Here’s where we are,” Brent said, stabbing his finger at a point on the map.

“Let’s see,” Maggie said.  “That would make us roughly six hundred miles off the west coast of the United States, so we could see land in as little as four hours.”

“We better figure on six hours,” Brent said.  “Don’t forget…”

“I remember,” Maggie said.  “Let’s not think about that and hope the clouds have parted.  Do you think we’ll be able to take a look at our landing spot?”

“God willing,” Brent said, meaning every word of it.

***

When they first discovered most of the west coast had disappeared beneath the waters of the Pacific Ocean, the full impact of the potential transformation of land forms hit them.  Suddenly their targeted landing zone became something else to worry about.

The path of the pod now took them over what used to be southern Canada, just below the Yukon Territory.  It then tracked across the Great Lakes, New York State, over the Atlantic, Spain, Italy, and finally Turkey.  That was where the helium release valve was to open.  The pods descent would require almost twelve hours and would place them gently, or not so gently, in what used to be close to Calgary, Canada.  

They knew the entire west coast was now a long string of islands.  Finally the Canadian Rocky Mountains reared from the sea.  Even these were beaten by flood waters and carved into new forms as the flood waters receded.  The tallest peaks were covered with snow the last time they were seen through a brief break in the clouds.

Everyone knew the pod would begin its descent in eleven days.  At the same time, no one had any idea what the projected landing zone looked like.  It could be a vast inland sea, a mud flat hundreds of miles across, or a graveyard of the remnants of a dead civilization.

***

It was another seven days before they saw the landing site.  They thought the mountains had kept the westerly winds from clearing the area east of the Canadian Rockies.  The winds shifted to the north and the surface cleared all the way to the Mississippi.

It had been night the first time they passed over the landing site.  Maggie and Brent were at the portals the second time over the Rockies.  The mountains were still shrouded in mist and low hanging clouds.  What they could see, did give them some hope.

“Look,” Maggie said.  You can see some tree cover appears to be still standing.”

“It is really hard to tell from this distance,” Brent said.  “They could just be stacked up and scattered all over.  That’s what we found in the tundra from the last time this happened.”

“It could be different in the mountains, though,” Maggie said.  “How far will we be from the mountains when we land?”

“I’d say two hundred miles,” Brent said.  “It might be less.”

“We’ll know in a couple of hours,” Brent said.

The portals with working Optical Assistance Devices were crowded with everyone on board.  They huddled close for their first glimpse of the landing site.  The minutes seemed to drag by as the mountains finally ended and the minutes ticked away.

“Here it comes,” Brent said.

“Maggie,” Brent said.  “You better take a look.”

Maggie leaned in and looked through the viewer.  At first, Maggie couldn’t make out what she was looking at.  It appeared to be an immense canyon running north and south.  At the bottom of the canyon a small river appeared to be sourced from a large body of water lying to the northeast.  To the west of the canyon, lay a flat plain the color of brown and red clay.

“How deep is that canyon?” Maggie asked.

“It looks to be several hundred feet,” Brent said.  “Here, the rest of you get a quick look.”

A half an hour later the canyon could still be seen, but as a dark line moving to the west of the pod.  Everyone was talking about what it meant.  The noise level went up as disagreements broke out over just what they’d seen.

“Can I have everyone’s attention?” Maggie asked.  “We’re going to pass over the landing site a few more times before the descent starts.  We’ll get to see more of it before then.”

Maggie looked around at the faces of the team.  A few were frightened, but the majority just looked determined.

“No matter what,” Maggie said.  “We will be landing.  At this point, I wouldn’t care if we landed in the middle of the ocean, as long as I can breathe fresh air.”

A cheer went up from around the pod.

“I just wanted to tell you,” Maggie said.   “How proud I am of the job we’ve done and the way you have all made this difficult time bearable.  You each can count on the help of all on board, and I want to thank you for your perseverance and dedication to seeing this through.”

Maggie looked at the people and knew what had to be said.  The magnitude of what had happened and what it meant was beginning to register on the faces of those around the portal stations.

“Let’s take a few moments of silence to remember those we left behind,” Maggie said.

Everyone stood in remembrance of what had happened and thought of those they left behind.  A few cried softly for family and loved ones.  From the back of the group a single voice sang out in a rich, deep baritone.  Jeff Lincoln sang.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.

“Amen,” Brent said.

“Amen,” Everyone said.

***

Each of the next three days found the portals crammed with observers at the time of the landing site crossover.  The second time the site had been cloud covered, and the third time it was sunset and little could be seen.

Everyone knew the descent would start in a matter of hours as midnight passed on the fortieth day circling the globe.  No one could sleep and people spent their time walking laps, checking their gear, or talking quietly in their cubicles.

“I wondered if you had noticed,” Maggie said.

“Noticed what?” Brent asked.

“We’re going to be landing in the dark,” Maggie said quietly.

They were in their cubicle and talked quietly out of habit.  They, like everyone else were extremely anxious to get out of the pod.  Now that the time was close, time seemed to drag minute to minute.

“”You know what the first thing I’m going to do when I get out of here?” Brent asked.

“I can guess,” Maggie said elbowing Brent in the side.

“Well that too,” Brent said.  “But first I’m going to kiss the ground and take a bath.  I’m so sick of being dirty.”

“I’m hoping there is at least one cow left alive, so we can kill it, and have a thick juicy steak,” Maggie said.  “Then, I’ll take that bath with you.”

Okay,” Brent said.  “Forget about kissing the ground.”

Chapter 20

Earth Shift + 33 days

Everyone knew the descent would start in a matter of hours.  It was midnight on the fortieth day, circling the globe.  No one could sleep and people spent their time walking laps, checking their gear, or talking quietly in their cubicles.  The descent would start as they passed over Turkey.  If they started down early or late they could end up anywhere.  They’d never see the other survivors or their supplies again.

Everyone knew they would be landing in the dark.  The last time they passed over the landing site there was thick cloud cover, laced with flashes of lightning.  The pod would drift as it lost altitude.  At five thousand feet, a parasail was to deploy and carry the pod to a soft landing.

At midnight, Maggie and Brent took over their shift by the portals. Only two of the Optical Assistance Devices were working.  But tonight, others were hanging out by the other portals in anticipation of the landing.

“Do you know how long till we start the descent?”  Brent asked.

“I’d say we have about five and half hours,” Maggie said.  “That’s just a guess, though.”

Jerry, Valerie, and Kirk came walking around the walkway and stopped behind Maggie.

“Did I hear you say we were starting the descent in five hours or so?” Jerry asked.

“It’s kind of a guess, but it sounds about right,” Maggie said.

“Doesn’t that mean we’re going to land in the dark?” Jerry asked.

“It will take twelve hours for the descent.  We’ll be landing at about three in the morning,” Maggie said.

“Isn’t it going to be dangerous to land in the dark?” Kirk asked.

“I don’t know,” Brent said.  “Let’s think about it.  We’re dropping a three and half ton titanium shell we can’t steer, from twelve miles in the air, assuming the helium release value is functioning, hoping a parasail deploys, and that it lands us gently on a surface, which may or may not be water or a deep canyon.  Gee, it seems safe to me.”

“That was sarcasm, wasn’t it?” Kirk asked.

***

The time passed slowly and everyone came out of the cubicles and sat on the walkway or wherever they could get comfortable.  It was as if no one wanted to be alone.  What conversation that took place, was quiet and eventually everyone settled into wait.  The sun rose as they passed over the top of Italy and the light filled the pod through the portals.

An hour passed, and then another.  It felt to most as if the pod was the only world, the only existence, they knew.  It seemed as if they’d been there forever, and would be so forever.  The tomb that was the pod went on, and people were afraid to break the silence.  Some slept, but all waited.

Thirty five feet above the pod, a small copper fitting frozen by the cold at this altitude, waited without knowing.  It waited for a tumbler on a timing device to fall into place.  Time passed and the tumbler crept towards a point in time that gave the device meaning and a purpose.  Twelve miles up in the frozen stratosphere, a faint click sounded.

The small copper fitting hesitated for a moment in the cold and darkness.  Then something shifted in the valve, a small rod of some sort.  The helium gas began slowly seeping into the frigid air.  With a silver pod suspended beneath them, the balloons began dropping ever so slowly toward earth.

***

   Brent woke with the start of someone who knows they shouldn’t be asleep.  He looked around to see if anyone noticed.   A bit confused and unsure of how long he’d been asleep, he tried to get his bearings.  The view from his Optical Assistance Device showed eastern Turkey was directly beneath the pod.

As he watched, the pod headed toward a large body of water to the east.  It must be the Caspian Sea, Brent thought.  If that were true, they were leaving Turkey behind.  Brent looked over where Maggie sat dozing.

“Maggie, are you asleep?” Brent asked.

“What?  Of course not,” Maggie said sitting up.   “I was resting my eyes.”

“I think we’re leaving Turkey,” Brent said.  “Did we miss something?”

“Like what?” Maggie asked.

“Like the descent?” Brent asked.

Maggie climbed out of the observation chair and over towards the chart desk.  The people in the walkway and around the perimeter of the pod all sat up alert.  Maggie glanced at the altimeter.

“We’re descending everyone,” Maggie said.  “It’s right on time, and at just the right rate of descent.  Next stop is mother earth.”

A huge cheer went up in the pod as people began hugging and giving each other high fives.

***

Seven hours later and somewhere over the Pacific, the pod floated a little over twenty three thousand feet.  The sunset was spectacular and they could pick out the occasional isolated island.  The sky was clear blue and then turned slowly to purple at dusk.  The stars were the only specks of light.  A large full moon rose over the horizon and turned from red to white.  The moons reflection on the water cast a long reflection on the calm waters of the ocean.

“Listen, everyone,” Maggie said loud enough to be heard.  “We expect to touch down, hopefully gently, in a little over five hours.”

This time she was interrupted with applause as well as cheering.  She smiled back at them.

“I need you each to take a few minutes,” Maggie said.  “And straighten this place.  We don’t want objects flying around in here when we land.  Stow all objects in lockers or in their regular storage chests.  I for one don’t want to get conked on the head by someone’s work boot.”

“Should we return our seats to their full and upright position?” someone called from the back of the pod.

“Was that you Jerry?” Maggie called back waiting for an answer and people to stop laughing.

“We can’t guarantee a gentle landing,” Maggie said smiling.  “I think we all need to hunker down and try to surround ourselves with as many pillows and blankets as we can.  Brace yourselves as best you can.  It’s possible the pod might slide or even rollover, if we land on uneven ground.  Just make sure any hard or heavy objects that can go airborne are put away securely.  I don’t want get hit in the head.  Are there any questions?”

“How long do we have?” Sandra asked.

“Five hours,” Brent said.  Six hours at the outside.”

***

The moon continued to chase the pod around the earth.  The reflection of the waters cast a long silver line towards the east.  The pod descended to twenty thousand feet, as the silver reflection of the moon ended with a shore line.  The dark shapes of mountains rose within a few thousand feet of the pod.  Both Maggie and Brent watched as the descent continued and the mountains seemed to drop away and then rise again to meet them.

The taller mountains were snow capped and the moonlight glistened off the whiteness.  It took most of an hour and half to finally clear the last foot hills of the mountains.  They checked the altimeter for the thousandth time and saw they were less than an hour from touchdown.  They calibrated their watches to the same time.  It was three in the morning and the moon was setting somewhere behind the mountains.

The descent continued through five thousand then three thousand feet.  It was somewhat unnerving to see nothing but darkness below.  It felt as if they were falling into a vast hole without light or dimension.  At two thousand feet Maggie figured they had a half hour.

“We better go get tucked in,” Brent said.  “We’re not sure what the elevation at the landing site is anymore.”

Both of them moved quickly to the cubicle where Beth was waiting.  With a team of twelve and four cubicles, they divided themselves into groups of three and hoped they’d soften any bumping around during the landing.

“Thank God,” Beth said when Brent and Maggie came through the door.  “I thought maybe there was something wrong with my watch.”

“I think we have about twenty minutes or so,” Maggie said.  “Here, let’s all huddle together and lock arms.”

They piled soft blankets, their clothes, and every pillow they could find on top of themselves and waited.  Brent wore the watch his mother gave him when he graduated from college.  It was a Swiss watch, with a button on one side that lit the dial.  The three of them peered at the glow under the blankets.

“I feel like a little kid,” Beth said.  “We’d make tents out of blankets and read comic books with a flashlight and tell ghost stories.”

The bump of the landing was almost gentle.  The pod had been circling as a result of the Parasail and jerked as it hit an embankment.  They heard a squeal of metal on rock and the pod ripped to one side and slipped down a slope.  It seemed to gather speed.

Please God, don’t let us slip off the edge of that canyon, Maggie prayed silently.

With that the pod continued down a slope toward the edge of a great chasm yawning in the darkness.  The pod slowed as it slid to the edge.  There it came to rest, hesitated, and slipped silently over the lip, plunging into the darkness below.

Chapter 21

Earth Shift + 33 days

After forty days of bickering and arguing, Alex was amazed punches hadn’t been thrown.  Just my luck, Alex thought, I get the pod from hell.  Alex was in the third pod to lift off, four hours behind Brent and Maggie.  Things were good for about a week.  Then two of the men started in with all kinds of macho crap.  Then to make matters worse, two of the women decided to hate each other as well.

Add to that, Alex was just too big physically for the pod’s dimensions.  Every time he turned around or moved, he was bumping into someone or something.  He’d lost thirty pounds and kept a rigorous workout routine.  That meant working out when everyone else was asleep.  He was ripped, no doubt about it.  Now if he could just get out of this titanium pod from hell.

The leader on pod three was a young agronomist named Jennifer Hewitt.  She’d done a magnificent job of keeping control over a very argumentative group.  She was a natural leader with a good sense of humor.  Both attributes served her well during their time in the pod, floating in the stratosphere.  Smart and easy on the eyes, Alex was somewhat smitten by Jenny.

One of the things Jenny had suggested and implemented over the past two days was to have the team weave a web of ropes to support each of the members during the landing.  They couldn’t control their descent, so Jenny figured the landing might be a rough one.  She worried some of the team might be injured if they were thrown against a hard surface.

This pod had a large supply of rope, more than enough for their team.  They put together a series of hammock like structures to restrain team members during the landing.  Alex and Jenny spent a lot of time trying to reinforce Alex’s hammock to support his size.

“Well, Alex,” Jenny said.  “At least you lost some weight.”

“I’m sorry for bumping into everyone and everything,” Alex said.  “I’m really not a clumsy guy. I feel like a bull in a china shop.”

“I knew that,” Jenny said smiling up at Alex. 

Jenny looked around and made sure everyone was out of earshot.

“I wanted to thank you for backing me up during this God awful month,” Jenny said.  “It helped to know you were always at my side supporting me.  I couldn’t believe people on the same team could turn on each other.”

“That happens when you put a couple of alpha males in a cage like this for a month,” Alex said.

“Aren’t you an alpha male?” Jenny asked quietly, smiling up at Alex.

“When I need to be,” Alex said.  “Sometimes it’s best to let other’s lead, especially if their good at it, like you.  How long do we have until splash down?”

”About an hour and half,” Jenny said.  “Did you have something in mind?”

“The first two pods have landed by now,” Alex said.  “But we’re going to be the first pod to land during daylight.  I’m going to go sit at the Optical Assistance Device and watch for any sign of the first two pods.  If either landed early, we might be able to see them.”

“Alex, I’m flashing go signs all over the place, here,” Jenny said.  “If you’re not interested, I’ll just go find some wall to beat my head against.”

“Jenny, I’m getting the message, and I’m all over you once we’re out of here.  Right now, I’m doing the best I can to keep it together as long as I’m trapped in this tin can,” Alex said.  “I am attracted to you on every level you can imagine.  Short of ripping your clothes off and ravishing you right here on the walkway, I don’t know what I can do.”

“Wow, really?” Jenny asked smiling.  “You don’t really hear the word ‘ravish’ used all that much anymore.  I kind of like it.  By the way, technically this is a Titanium can, not a tin can.”

“Please, Jenny,” Alex said smiling back at her.  “Get me off this thing.  Get me a bath.  Get me a shave.  Then, get me alone.”

“We have a little over an hour, Alex,” Jenny said.  “Now kiss me and then go and see if you can find any shiny objects laying on the ground.”

***

The sun broke over the horizon as the pod drifted across the Rocky Mountains and the view was spectacular.  Alex called Jenny over and they shared a brief quiet moment.  Jenny stood behind Alex with her hands on his shoulders, wondering what would become of them.  With everything stowed, Jenny told the last few team members it was time to climb into their webs.

As the pod slowly drifted to earth, Alex lay in his web on his stomach and could see out one of the portals.  The mountains turned into low foothills, and then flatlands.  At a thousand feet, he thought he saw a flash of movement.  Something larger than a man was moving fast toward the west.  He couldn’t tell what it was.

At seven hundred feet, he watched as the pod swung out over a gorge cut in the plain by rushing water.  It appeared to be several hundred feet deep.  A fast moving stream ran through the bottom of canyon.  Sunlight hadn’t lifted the darkness of the slit in the earth, but just for a second, as the pod cleared the far side of the canyon, Alex thought he saw a glint of silver.

The pod glided on for another seven minutes.  They landed with a thud and were dragged screeching another hundred yards.  They came to rest against a small hill covered with red dirt and rocks.

***

Brent lay staring at Maggie, unable to move.  It looked like her neck might be broken.  Her head lay at an odd angle, with blood seeping from a cut on her forehead.  As he lay there, he thought he could hear what sounded like water running.  A sharp pain shot down his spine and both his legs.  He managed to push himself up on his knees and moved his hands and arms.  He’d only been stunned in the crash.

He quickly looked at Beth.  Her arm lay at an odd angle and she was unconscious, but moaning softly.  Brent moved quickly to Maggie and bent down by her face.  He felt her warm breath against his cheek.  She was alive.

The fall into the canyon had been lessened somewhat by the parasail still deployed from the descent.  After the awful sensation of the pod tipping over the edge, they hit the side of the canyon, flipping over and finally slamming into the bottom of the gorge.  They came to rest on the far side of the stream, running through the floor of the canyon.

The rest of the team could be heard, as they checked each other for injuries.  Brent climbed out of the cubicle and looked through the portals, now facing upward toward the top of the canyon and blue sky above.  Jerry crawled over to him and stared up at the sunshine as well.

“How is everyone?” Brent asked.

“Pretty shaken up, but no serious injuries,” Jerry said.  “How did your group do?”

“It looks like Beth has a broken arm,” Brent said.  “I’m worried about Maggie.  She took a real hit to the head.”

“Let’s get everyone out,” Jerry said.  “I’ll go get Beth and bring her out as gently as I can.  You find a way out of here.”

Brent nodded and crawled over to where the sealed ramp now sat in the ceiling.  He stood and worked the handle releasing the door.  There was a big whoosh of air escaping as the ramp door swung up and away from the pod.  Brent climbed onto the pod surface and into the fresh crisp air and breathed deeply.

“Here,” Jerry said handing Beth up to Brent as gently as he could.  “I’ll go get Maggie.”

Valerie climbed up next to Brent and examined Beth’s arm.

“It looks like a clean break,” Val said.  “Let’s get her down on the ground where I can set it.”

Just then Jerry shoved Maggie through the opening and Brent grabbed her and pulled her out on the pod surface.  Val examined her eyes and listened to her breathing.  Maggie’s forehead had stopped bleeding.

“Help me get her on the ground,” Val said.  She’s going to need stitches on the forehead gash.  She’s had a bad blow to the head, Brent.  We’ll just have to see.  Let’s get them on the ground where I can treat them.”

Jerry helped Kirk, Sandy, Jeff and the other women out of the opening as Brent helped Val lower Beth and Maggie to the ground.

“Jerry, grab my medical pack and hand it out to me will you?” Val called.

“Coming right up,” Jerry said as he disappeared back into the pod.

Everyone stood in a circle around the two injured women and watched as Val started to treat them.  They were obviously worried and not sure what to do next.

“Listen, everyone,” Brent said.  “Everyone is going to be fine.  What we need to do now is get everything that isn’t bolted to the floor out of the pod.  We don’t know what we can use or not, so we want everything until we find out.  Jerry, get them organized.  You and Kirk work inside and the rest can form a chain to pass the supplies to the ground.”

“You got it,” Jerry said.  “You heard the man.  Let’s get busy.”

Maggie came awake at midnight.  She lay on something silky to the touch.  It took her a while to realize it was the parasail material.  She looked over towards a fire burning a short distance away and then at the bubbling stream running close by her side.   She was thirsty and the sound of running water was driving her crazy.

Her head throbbed with a pulsing pain that made it hard to think.  She tried to sit up but was too dizzy and had to lay on her back awhile.  It was only when she tried to move her legs that she realized she was paralyzed from the waist down.

Chapter 22

Earth Shift + 33 days

Alex was out the exit ramp as soon as it was opened.  He breathed in the fresh air and turned his face up to the sun.  He was truly happy for the first time in forty days.  He had no intention of ever going back into that thing, no matter what.  He turned and saw Jenny smiling at him as he enjoyed his new found freedom.

The others began spilling out of the pod behind Jenny.  There was a lot of whooping and hollering now they were back on earth.  Alex watched as the team divided into two groups.  Four people stood with Jenny and Alex and six of the others stood off to one side by themselves.  There must have been some planning going on about what would happen once the pod landed.

“Looks like it’s time for a team meeting,” Jenny said.  “Or would you prefer to unload the pod first?”

The other group kind of muttered among themselves and glared across the space between them.  Eventually Mark Taylor stepped forward.  He seemed a little reluctant to do so.  Mark was the security guy assigned to protect the group once they landed.  A short stocky man, Mark looked dangerous.  Like he could take care of anything he came up against.

“We’ve been talking, Jenny,” Mark said looking down at the ground.  “We think it might be best for the group if I take charge, now that we’ve landed.  We think that’s probably what they had in mind when they assigned me to the pod.”

“Looking at the numbers, Mark, it looks like we’re about split evenly into two groups,” Jenny said.  “What do you think we should do?  Split up the supplies and each go our own way?”

Mark frowned and looked sullen.  Alex suspected he hadn’t really thought the whole thing through.  Mark probably expected everyone to just sign on, once he announced he was taking over from Jenny.  Alex could tell he was starting to get agitated and a little nervous.  He thought Mark had the potential to become very dangerous and no one wanted that to happen.

Alex looked over at Quentin standing behind Jenny, to see how he was taking all this.  Quentin was the guy who butted heads with Mark during the pod days.  While they’d maintained a truce for the latter part of the trip, Alex suspected the lid could come off any second.

“I, for one, think Mark would make an excellent leader,” Alex said.  “I think we all do,”

Alex noticed Mark instantly relax.  Mark looked around at his group was a smug smile on his face.  Alex turned around toward Jenny and winked.

“What did you plan on the group doing, Mark?” Alex asked.

“Well,” Mark said.  “We need to take all the stuff off the pod.  Then we can eat some supper, and head out in the morning for the supply depot.”

Everyone nodded in Mark’s group as if this made perfect sense.

“Where is the depot?” Alex asked.

“What do you mean ‘where is it’? Mark asked.  “We’ve been floating in the same line for forty days.  The supplies were stowed where we left from.  They can’t be far.”

“Well, actually, since the earth shifted, their about six hundred miles south of here,” Alex said.  “Assuming we can walk ten miles a day, it would take us, what, two months?”

“Hell,” Mark said.  “Seals can do that in less than thirty days.  No way is it going to take two months.”

“I know Mark,” Alex said.  “I’m afraid some of us might slow you down no matter how hard we tried to keep up.  I twisted my ankle.  You probably saw me limping.  I know Jenny is not feeling well.  That could really slow you down.  Your group looks in really good shape.   I’m just not sure about our group.”

The people in Mark’s group looked concerned. Alex doubted many of them had put much thought into what was next.  Mark was starting to look concerned.  Two of the people with Mark shrugged when he wasn’t looking.  One shook his head in silent disagreement.

“What Mark knows,” Alex said, “Is someone has to get to the supply depot as fast as possible.  If others get there before Mark, they’ll steal it blind.  Plus, the one who gets there first will determine how things get passed out.  Hell, Mark, we don’t want it to be someone from one of the other pods, do we?  Do we want to have to settle for whatever is left after they get all the good stuff?”

Alex looked around and saw the people’s faces in Mark’s group stiffen with resolve.

“What do you say, Mark?” Alex asked.  “Do we want some other team to beat us?  I say no!  I say hell no!”

Some cheering and yells came from people in Mark’s group.  It reminded Alex of being in the locker room at half time of a football game.

“You heard the man!” Mark said.  “We’re burning daylight right now.   Everyone grab your packs and strap on your walking boots.  We’re going to pull out of here in one hour.  Now move it!”

Mark and his group packed and repacked their provisions before heading out.  Mark inspected each pack to make sure the weight was distributed properly.   Supplies were strewn all over the ground in a big mess.  Mark came up to Alex and Jenny.

“Sorry about the mess we’re leaving you with,” Mark said.  “No hard feelings, okay?  Like you said, Alex, Someone has to take charge, and a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.”

“You got your compass, right Mark?” Alex asked.   “Just keep on a direct line south.  Hell, I don’t have to tell you.  You probably know more about this than any of us.”

Mark shook hands and started south out of camp, followed by the rest of his group.  They disappeared over a rise and out of sight.

“We’re never going to see them again, are we?” Jenny asked.

“Probably not,” Alex said.  “But like Mark said, ‘a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.  Now, Jenny, what would you like the rest of us to do?” 

***

Brent came to check on Maggie for the fourth time since the sun went down.  He wanted to make sure she was covered as the temperature dropped with the coming evening.  When he approached, he could hear Maggie crying softly.

“What’s wrong sweetheart?” Brent asked as he knelt down beside her.

“I can’t move my legs,” Maggie said trying to stop weeping.

“Brent sat down next to Maggie and took her in his arms.  He held her for a time, rocking her gently back and forth.

“Val said you have a concussion and a bad bruise on your spine.  She said sometimes with an injury to the back, temporary paralysis happens,” Brent said.  “She said it frequently goes away after a while.”

“What’s ‘a while’?” Maggie asked.

“Anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of months,” Brent said.

“Great,” Maggie said, still sniffling.  “You can just leave me here when you guys take off.”

“I thought I could carry you like a papoose,” Brent said.  “Or I could make a travois and drag you around behind me.”

“Okay,” Maggie said.  “It sounds like you thought this all through.”

Brent smiled and hugged her.

“We won’t be going anywhere soon, anyway,” Brent said.  “And if we did, there is no way I would ever leave without you.  So you just get some sleep.”

“Okay,” Maggie said.  “Could you have Valerie come over here?  I need a drink of water and a bedpan or whatever I have to use.”

“Sure,” Brent said.  “It will get better.  I love you Maggie.  It has to get better.”

***

Alex and Jenny helped everyone clean up the landing site.  The group explored the surrounding area.  They found some firewood and dragged it back to their camp.  They fashioned a giant tent out of the Parasail and prepared some dinner and ate sitting in front of the fire.

“We have to head south, soon,” Jenny said.  “I thought we’d stay here for a few days while we get our walking legs back in shape.  Walking around that stupid walkway was alright, but we need to toughen up.  Do you agree?”

Everyone shook their head yes.

“Is it just me, or is everyone glad to be out of the pod?” Alex asked.

A huge cheer went up.  Later, everyone turned in except Alex and Jenny.  They sat close together as the fire burned down and the chill of the night air drifted in.

“Well Alex, I got you out of the pod,” Jenny said.

“So you did,” Alex said.

“Now how are we going to find you a bath and shave?” Jenny asked.

“We passed over a stream about ten miles south of here,” Alex said.  “Want to go for a walk tomorrow?”

“You bet I do!” Jenny said.

“Well, things are really looking up,” Alex said.

“Now if we can just find the teams from the other pods,” Jenny said.

Alex flashed back to their landing path over the gorge and the glint of metal he might have seen.  It could have been something, Alex thought.

“You never know,” Alex said.  “You just never know.

Chapter 23

Earth Shift + 35 days

A cold breeze blew a cloud of red dust over the small campsite where Alex slept.  It settled on his blankets and covered the pod with gritty red dirt.  He’d tossed and turned all night, unable to get comfortable.  He pulled one of the blankets over his head for cover from the wind and dust.  He needed to think.

The team had a problem, a dilemma really.  They needed to find water and find it soon.  The dribble of water coming from the recycling unit was disgusting.  It no longer tasted a little like chlorine, it was chlorine.  In order to find water for the team, they would have to relocate.  That meant losing access to the protection of the pod.

Slowly, those who chose to sleep in the pod emerged into the cool sunny morning.  Sally Strum gathered some firewood and tried to rekindle the fire from last night.  Everyone was glad Sally chose to stay with Jenny’s group.  A former surgical nurse, Sally was the only medically trained person in the pod.  When she had the fire started, she came over to where Jenny and Alex were standing.

“Good morning,” Sally said smiling.  “I wanted you both to know I think Quentin and two of the other people may be showing the initial signs of dehydration.  We need to find some water and soon.”

“What signs?” Alex asked.

“Well,” Sally said.  “For instance, a dry mouth or you’re tired all the time.   Sometimes you have low urine output, or the feeling you can't keep anything down.”

“It’s official,” Alex said.  “I’ve got dehydration.”

“It’s not something you have, Alex,” Jenny said.  “It’s something you are.  A couple of drinks of water, you’ll be fine.”

“Not from the pod, you won’t,” Sally said.  “I shut down the recycle unit to keep everyone from drinking the water.  It’s making people sick from chlorine poisoning.”

“What symptoms do you get from chlorine poisoning?” Alex asked.

“There are quite a few of them,” Sally said.  “Some of the symptoms include chest pain, coughing, dizziness, that sort of thing.”

“Oh oh,” Alex said.  “I think I’ve got chlorine poisoning too.”

“Stop it,” Jenny said.  “You don’t have chlorine poisoning.”

“That’s a relief,” Alex said.  “Seriously, it sounds like we better get to a clean water source fast.”

“It seems like it’s time for us to leave the nest,” Sally said.

“I’ll call a meeting,” Jenny said.

***

Close to dawn Brent heard Maggie moaning and went to see what was wrong.  Maggie lay apart from the others on a piece of the parasail.  The sky was lightening in the east, but the canyon walls kept the area around the pod dark and cold.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Brent whispered when he was close to Maggie.

“It’s my feet,” Maggie said close to tears.  “It feels like pins are sticking in them.”

“Should I rub them?” Brent asked.

“Please don’t touch them,” Maggie said as she started to sob.  “Get Val and hurry!”

Brent hurried over to where Val and Jerry were huddled in a pile of blankets.

“Val, wake up,” Brent said.

“What is it?” Val asked sitting up rubbing her eyes.

“It’s Maggie,” Brent said.  “She’s in a lot of pain.”

“Is it her back?” Val asked.

“No, it’s her feet,” Brent said.  “She says it feels like needles are stuck in them.”

“Look the other way,” Val said.  “I’m naked.”

Val rolled out from the blankets.  Brent looked away quickly till Val put her clothes on.  Jerry sat upright, out of a deep sleep.

“What’s going on?” Jerry asked, looking around and yawning.

“Nothing,” Val said.  “Go back to sleep.”

Val grabbed her medicine bag and started down the edge of the stream toward where Maggie lay.  She knelt by Maggie’s side and felt her forehead.

“Sweet Jesus,” Maggie said.  “Give me something for this pain.”

“Brent, go get some water from the stream,” Val said.  “I checked it yesterday.  My guess it’s glacial.  Whatever it is, it’s safe to drink.”

Maggie squeezed Val’s hand tightly until Brent got back.  Val gave Maggie two strong pain killers and within a minute, Maggie relaxed.

“Love those pills,” Maggie said, somewhat dreamily.

“I’ll bet you do,” Val said as she pulled the blankets back off Maggie’s legs.

Just as she expected, Maggie’s feet were moving and her toes curling and uncurling.  Val touched Brent’s arm and pointed to Maggie’s feet, while giving him a thumbs up and a big smile.

“Maggie?” Val said.  “I’ve got some good news.  The pain you feel is because your legs are waking up.”

“That’s nice,” Maggie said, almost asleep.

“You should be okay in a day or two,” Val said.

“Okay.” Maggie said.  “I think I’ll sleep for a while.”

“You do that,” Val said.

“Wow,” Brent said.  “Can I get some of those pills?  That was amazing!”

“Better living through chemistry,” Val said.  “The answer is no.  Not until you’re suffering excruciating pain.  Then, if I like you, maybe.”

***

Jenny called a meeting the morning after Mark and his followers headed out to find the supply depot.  Everyone knew what had caused the rift.  They discussed it at length and everyone came to the conclusion it had all worked out for the best.

“We have something else we have to discuss,” Jenny said waiting for everyone’s attention.  “We have to find water.  Our water recycle unit is no more.  We have a large case of canned apple juice, but we have to find fresh water quickly.  Then we have to move our group to the water.”

“What about the pod?” Quentin asked.

“We can’t take it with us,” Alex said.  “We’ll have to empty it out and take what we can carry.”

“Where do we go?” one of the women asked.

“Just before we touched down, we passed over a deep crevasse,” Alex said.  “I think I saw a small river or stream running through the bottom of the gorge.  It’s no more than ten or fifteen miles southwest of here.”

“You think you saw a stream?” Quentin asked.  “We’re supposed to pack up and walk fifteen miles because Alex might have seen some water?”

“I was hanging upside down from some ropes looking out a round window,” Alex said.  “But I think I saw water.”

“Great plan,” Quentin said sarcastically.

“Well, we can’t fix the recycle unit,” Jenny said.  “I’m not sure I’d want to drink from it if we could.  Anyone have another idea?  Quentin?”

Jenny looked around at all the faces for answers.  It was obvious to everyone Quentin was no help, without saying it.

“Sally told me some of us may be suffering the early stages of dehydration,” Jenny said.  “That’s a serious problem and not to be ignored.   Alex and I will go find the river and bring some water back.  You’ll have the juice to drink while we’re gone.  Make it last as long as you can.  If we leave today, we should be back the day after tomorrow, at the latest.”

Jenny looked around the group and tried to get a reading on what they were thinking.  Everyone was worried, but most seemed to know there was little choice.

“While we’re gone, get everything out of the pod and ready for transport,” Alex said.  “We can’t stay here.  We have to move closer to water.  Quentin, you supervise the offloading and packing.  We’ll be back with water as soon as we can.”

Quentin seemed to brighten and swell with importance, once he was put in charge of the work crew.  Alex thought it best to keep him busy.  Jenny signaled her agreement.

It took a little over an hour for Alex and Jenny to get ready to leave.  They traveled light, knowing they would be carrying several canvas water bags when they returned.  The only other provisions they carried were some granola energy bars, and a can of juice.  Alex strapped an AR-15 across his back and six full magazines in his ammo belt.  

The two of them waved as they went up the rise, heading southwest out of camp.  Sally suddenly yelled and ran to where they stood.  She bent over for a second, trying to catch her breath.

“Here’s an emergency first aid kit, I thought you might need,” Sally said handing over a small package.  “I forgot to give it to you earlier.”

“Are you going to be alright with Quentin in charge?” Jenny asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sally said smiling. “I carry a knockout needle that could put down a horse.  Quentin gives me any grief, and you’ll hear the thud of his dead body hitting the ground.  Just hurry back.”

Sally gave each a hug and rejoined the group by the pod.  They watched as Jenny and Alex disappeared over the hill and out of sight.

Chapter 24

Earth Shift + 36 days

“I’ve got to rest,” Jenny said setting her pack on the ground.

Alex and Jenny made good time at first.  Then their legs started to cramp, not used to this strenuous activity.  Alex was curious as to why they kept finding the footprints of Mark and his group.  They had headed out on a path directly south towards the supply depot.  Alex and Jenny headed out southwest towards where Alex had spotted a gorge with a stream.  They shouldn’t be crossing paths.

“My muscles are burning,” Alex said.  “How far do you think we’ve come?”

“We should be close,” Jenny said.  “The problem with a hole in the ground is that you don’t see it until you’re almost on it.  I think we come about seven miles or so.”

The land that they crossed was rolling flatlands, scoured clean by water during the shift.  It had been fresh water, probably from a large reservoir in the mountains.   It could have come from hundreds of miles away, and then drained following the natural contour of the land.

It was Jenny that found the first green shoots of growth among the flattened and brown prairie grasses.  Alex spotted a shrub with green shoots of leaves.

“Look at that,” Alex said.  “Here it is January, in what used to be Calgary, and we’re beginning to see spring growth.”

“The plants are as confused as we are,” Jenny said.   “They’re hundreds of miles south of where they were six weeks ago.  They think its spring.  It’s got to be pushing sixty degrees.  I’m comfortable wearing this raggedy old tee shirt.”

After a brief rest and a swig of fruit juice, they headed out on their course headed southwest.  The sun was lower in the sky when Alex stopped and pulled out his binoculars and viewed to the west.

“Look at that,” Alex said passing the binoculars to Jenny.

Jenny looked to the west and saw the bright reflection of the sunlight off the tops of snow covered mountains.  She turned to the northwest and saw what appeared to be the edge of a large stand of forest.  Many of the trees had fallen.  But some had not.

“It looks like some things weren’t destroyed,” Alex said.  “We need to head over toward those trees on our walk back if we can.”

“I don’t know,” Jenny said.  We’ll be carrying water and it looks to be miles and miles from here.”

“True,” Alex said.  “Now if we can just find that canyon.  It’s going to be dark in a couple of hours.”

A half hour later they came over a rise and saw the edge of the gorge.  It ran toward the east from where they stood, but made a sharp turn south and ran off in that direction as far as they could see in the failing light.

“What do you want to do?” Alex asked.

“I can hear the sound of running water,” Jenny said.  “Let’s see if we can get down there.  I don’t see any firewood around here anyway.”

Alex walked along the edge of the canyon.  The walls were layered sand rock and appeared to be stable.  Finally he found a landslide area that they could use to traverse to the bottom of the canyon.  Alex picked his way carefully over the rocks, finally stopping by the fast flowing stream.

“Be careful,” Alex said when Jenny started down the rock slide towards him.

“We’re not going to get back up this thing carrying water bags,” Jenny said.

Safely at the bottom, they looked around at the stream.  It was about twenty feet across and flowing rapidly.  It spilled over rocks covering the river bed.  The rock slide had dammed the water and a shallow pool formed behind the rocks.

It was about thirty feet between the canyon wall and the water.  They laid their packs down and walked over to the water’s edge.  Darkness was closing quickly at the bottom of the canyon.  There was a lot of driftwood and limbs, apparently carried down the canyon, when the river had run at flood level in the past.

Alex built a fire back from the stream.  He collected some dried grass and added shavings from the dead wood.  The fire caught at once and burned brightly.  Alex pulled a pan and a can of stew from his pack and started heating supper.  Jenny pulled a bar of soap from her pack, stripped naked, and walked into the pool of water.

Alex did his best to concentrate on the food when Jenny came out and dried off.

“Now it’s your turn,” Jenny said handing Alex the soap.  “I’ll take care of dinner.”

Alex striped and ran into the pool of water.  The water was brittle cold.  He was in long enough to get clean and not one second longer.  Jenny added some large pieces of wood to the fire and threw a towel to Alex as he came up from the stream.

“You could have told me the water was two degrees above freezing,” Alex said sitting as close to the fire as he could get.

“I didn’t want to watch you take an hour to get wet,” Jenny said.  “Here’s some stew.  It’s nice and hot.”

Jenny sat and watched Alex eat his stew.   When he finished, Alex took their dishes down to the stream and washed them.  When he came back, Jenny was bundled in the blankets close to the fire and was tucked in for the night.  She lay on her side watching the fire burn.  Alex sat on the ground watching the fire as well.

“Funny,” Alex said.  “With all that has happened, there is no place on earth I’d rather be, than here with you, at this time and in this place.”

“Only one thing could make it better,” Jenny said.

“What’s that?” Alex asked.

“Get over here you big lug and make love to me,” Jenny said.

“Will you still respect me in the morning?” Alex asked smiling.

“What makes you think I respect you now?” Jenny said laughing, flipping the top blanket back.  “Now get over here.”

***

Alex woke the next morning, in the gloom of the canyon.  The sun was up, but the high walls of the canyon made it damp and cold.  He dressed in a hurry, relit the fire, and went down by the stream to the pool of water.  He shaved with his knife and only nicked himself twice.

He leaned over to look at his reflection in the water.  He wished he’d brought a mirror with him.  As he stared at the water in the pool, a flash of silver caught his eye.  He reached into the water and pulled a tin foil wrapper from the water.

It read New Age Granola bar.  They had a thousand of these back in the pod in a sealed plastic bag.  They weren’t in high demand.  They tasted almost exactly like a dog biscuit.  Alex headed back to the where Jenny sat by the fire pulling on her boots.

“Good morning,” Jenny said.  “Did the water warm up over night?”

Alex stood looking at something in his hand, a worried look on his face.

“What’s the matter?” Jenny asked.

“Did you bring any of those granola bars that were stashed in the pod?” Alex asked.

“You mean those things that taste like kibbles?” Jenny said.  “I’m not that hungry.”

“Me either,” Alex said, a frown on his face.  “The funny thing is I just found one of those granola wrappers in the stream.”

Suddenly Alex smiled at Jenny.

“What is it?” Jenny said looking at Alex.

“I think we need to go for a little walk up the beach,” Alex said, a big grin on his face.  “I think we may just have found one of the missing pods.”

***

Brent helped Maggie over to the fire and her usual place on the log.  It had been a good night for her, and she could walk almost unaided now.  Brent got her a cup of coffee, and looked through his pack for some instant oatmeal.  A movement caught his eye, as two figures rounded the bend in the river.  The taller one waved both hands in the air.

“My God, Maggie, I think it’s Alex,” Brent said.

Alex ran towards them as fast as he could.  Brent met him half way and Alex lifted Brent in a huge bear hug.

“Boy, are we glad to find you!” Alex said.

“You have no idea how glad we are to see you too,” Brent said.

“This is Jenny Hewitt, Brent.  Jenny this is Brent Ashley,” Alex said.  “Jenny is someone special to me.  Jenny, Brent is my best friend in the world.”

“Please to meet you, Brent,” Jenny said.  “We came here for water.  Our pod landed about ten miles north of here.”

“Maggie and one of our other women were hurt when the pod went over the edge and slid into this canyon,” Brent said.  “They’re both recovering, but it was scary for a while.”

“Is Maggie going to be alright?” Alex asked.

“Yes, I think so,” Brent said.

“Just how desperate is your food situation?” Jenny asked.

“We’re in pretty good shape,” Brent said.  “I could use a steak.  Why do you ask?”

“We figured you were upstream from us,” Jenny said.  “We found a wrapper in the water for one of those New Age granola bars.  We figured anyone eating those bars, was starving.”

“I see how you could come to that conclusion,” Brent said laughing.  “But Jerry, our security guy, likes those things.  He says they reminded him of a dog he had when he was a kid.”

“That explains that,” Jenny said.

“Come on over to the fire, Jenny,” Brent said.  “I’ll introduce you to someone who is special to me.”

The sun broke over the rim of the canyon.  Warmth from the sun filtered across the crowd gathering around the campfire.  Brent and the two visitors approached.  Introductions were made, and everyone welcomed the visitors.

The next hour was spent relating everything that had happened over the past four days.  Everyone was shocked to hear about the split in Alex’s group and Mark leading a part of the group off to search for the supply depot.  Time passed quickly, and Jenny noticed the morning was slipping away.

“Alex, we have to start back now,” Jenny said.  “Our people need water, and I’m not comfortable with the situation back at our pod.”

“Why’s that?” Brent asked.

“I had to leave Quentin Boyer in charge and I’m not sure it was a great decision,” Jenny said.  “Does anyone know him?”

“I do,” Jerry said.  “The guy is a kind of a geek who disagrees with everything.  A real know it all, with a bad attitude.”

“You do know him,” Jenny said.  “Come on Alex.  We have to leave now if we’re going to make it back before dark.”

“I’ll go with you,” Brent said.

“I’ve got a suggestion, Maggie,” Alex said.  I think you may want to move your camp downstream where we camped last night.  There’s a rock dam with a pool of water behind it.”

“We’ll move while you’re gone,” Maggie said.  “We’ll lose the shelter of the pod, but no one wants to get back into that thing anyway.”

Alex, Jenny, and Brent, filled the canvas water bags, grabbed their rifles, and waved goodbye.  They headed back to the rockslide and the long trek back to Quentin and the others they’d left behind.

Chapter 25

Earth Shift + 38 days

The return trip was much easier than the trip out.  There was a lot of catching up to do.  Brent and Alex visited about what it was like for them during their time in the pods.  It was obvious that the bulky frame of Alex had made his experience much the worse.

Jenny noticed just how close the two men were, how they often finished each others sentences.   She asked about how they met and they told their story, including their meeting Maggie and all that happened since.

“Did you know these canvas bags leak?” Brent asked.

“They’re meant to seep water,” Jenny said.  The outside of the bag stays moist and the water evaporates cooling the water inside.  It’s a little trick the Bedouins learned about a thousand years ago in the deserts of the Middle East.”

“Ain’t she something?” Alex asked with a big grin.  “She knows all that kind of stuff.”

“Stop it Alex,” Jenny said.  You’re going to embarrass me.”

“If you’re around this guy much,” Brent said.  “Get used to being embarrassed.  It’s what he does.”

They stopped to look at the mountains and then the tree line when they could.  But they had to press on if they were going to reach their people before dark.  They stopped a few times to rest but were surprised to see the last rise so soon.

They came over the top of the ridge and saw the silver pod below.  Everyone was gone except for the body of Quentin.  He lay on the ground, crumpled with a bullet hole in his forehead.  Someone had executed him.

The supplies sat in a neat pile by the pod entrance.  Nothing was disturbed except for the body lying off to one side.

Alex walked around the perimeter of the area examining footprints.  Jenny went over and pushed Quentin’s body over on his side and examined the bullet wound.  Brent grabbed his AR-15, loaded one round into the chamber, and sprinted to the top of the rise.

“What do you think happened?” Jenny asked.

“That Son of Bitch Mark happened, that’s what,” Alex said.  It looks like they circled around and came back to the camp.  If we had been here, Jenny, we’d be laying in the dirt by Quentin.”

“I just did a quick go round of the area,” Brent said. “I see six sets of prints come into camp from the southeast, and ten sets or so head out south.  What did you find Alex?”

“Sally and the rest of our group, apparently stood off to one side,” Alex said.  “Mark must have just walked into camp and took over.  They then got ready to leave, grabbed some backpacks and headed out the way they came in, towards the southeast.”

“Jenny, what did you find?” asked Brent.

“Quentin was executed short range with a pistol,” Jenny said.  “One clean shot to the forehead.”

“You two know this Mark better than I do,” Brent said.  “Why would he come back?”

“Nothing good, that’s for sure,” Jenny said.

Alex thought for few minutes before responding.  He was walking around looking at the ground in the campsite.

“I think he came back for water,” Alex said.  “He left before Sally told us about the recycle unit breakdown.  I think they got out a ways and knew they were short of liquid.  Remember seeing their footprints wandering around on our way over to the gorge?”

“They did look like they were going in circles,” Jenny said.  “They must have come back to the campsite to take whatever we had left to drink.”

“It looks like he took your women by force,” Brent said.  “Judging by the footprints, they were walking in single file when they left.”

“What makes you think they were forced to go with Mark?” Jenny asked.

“There’s only one way to make them walk in single file like that,” Brent said.

“How is that?” Jenny asked.

“Tie them together in a slave chain,” Alex said.  “Do we try to follow them in the dark, Brent, or do we wait for daylight?”

“We leave now,” Brent said.  “They’ll know we went for water and will try to follow us to the gorge.  If they do, well it won’t be good for Maggie and the other people there.”

“Jenny,” Alex said.  “Do you want to wait or come with us?”

“Just try to make me stay behind,” Jenny said as she grabbed a water bag and her rifle.  “Lead on gentlemen.  We have some ground to cover.”

“I think we need to get back to the rock slide as soon as we can,” Alex said.  “If Mark picks up our trail, it will lead them right back to the gorge and Maggie.”

“Okay,” Brent said.  “This is the plan.  We’re going to run for thirty minutes, walk for thirty minutes, rest for fifteen minutes.  We should be able to make it back to the gorge in half the time.  Can you keep up?”

Alex and Jenny both nodded yes.

“Dump half the water over your heads,” Jenny said.  “We won’t need it on the run back.”

“Good point, Jenny,” Brent said.  “I would have lugged it all the way back.  Make sure you have extra thirty round magazines and let’s move.”

***

It was dark and the woman on the end of the rope chain kept tripping over rocks.  Mark had just about enough of these delays.  He walked back down the line, looking at the women’s filthy faces, cracked lips, and torn clothing.  He stopped next to Sally, reached into her pack, and took out a can of juice.

He stabbed the lid twice with his knife and tipped it up letting the juice pour into his mouth.  When he was finished, he held the can in front of Sally’s face and tipped it upside down, letting the juice spill on the ground.

“Sally, you better get this line of women in order and moving, or I’m going to leave a trail of bodies all the way to the gorge”, Mark said.

“It’s tough to do with this rope tied around my neck,” Sally said gritting her teeth with anger.

“Now listen up, women,” Mark said.  “If we’re going to reach water, I need you all to do your best to keep up.  We’ve found the trail Jenny and Alex took.  All we have to do is be at the gorge before sunrise.”

Mark walked down the line of captives looking into the face of each woman.  Ed Gantry, the farmer turned mutineer, stood to one side with the women of Mark’s group.  Ed looked a little ashamed with what was going on.  Mark’s women watched and seemed to enjoy seeing their sisters humiliated.

“I’ve taken your boots from you,” Mark said walking down the line.  “I wanted to encourage you to keep up.”

Mark looked back over his shoulder at Ed and his other followers and smiled.

“Apparently, taking your boots wasn’t enough,” Mark continued.  “So, any more delays, and I’ll see how you like marching buck naked.”

Hoots and insults came from the women onlookers.

“There’s a full moon,” Mark said smiling.  “So we won’t have any trouble following these prints.  We want to be at the gorge by daybreak.  So keep up, or we’re going to see lots of full moons, if you catch my drift.”

More laugher and cat calls as the group moved out.  The line of captive women kept up as best as possible.

***

Brent looked out over the rise at the breach in the canyon wall marking the rock slide.  With the full moon setting, their light would be gone in a matter of a half hour or so.  Neither he nor Alex could see anything of Mark and his people.  All was quiet at the bottom of the gorge.  They’d managed to arrive first, assuming Mark and his people were even headed this way.

“That Jenny is really something,” Brent said.  “What a trooper.  She kept up with us all the way and not a single complaint.”

Alex looked back to where Jenny slept.  Exhaustion had finally caught up with her and was gaining on both men.  The thought of Maggie, defenseless in the canyon below, kept both men at their post.

“Close your eyes.  Get some sleep,” Brent said to Alex.  “The moon is down and I’ll get you, if I see or hear anything.”

“Look over there, Brent,” Alex said.  “Now that the moon has set, you can see the light from Maggie’s campfire flickering off the sides of the canyon.”

“I see it,” Brent said.  “They must have moved the camp down by the pool today.  Now get some rest.”

The dew settled on the grass as the eastern sky began to lighten.  It would be dawn in an hour and daylight in two.  Brent was about to wake Alex when he saw something move to his left and toward the rock slide.  Brent shook Alex holding a finger up for silence.  Alex woke Jenny up with his hand gently covering her mouth.  They climbed up next to Brent staring over the rise.

The figure appeared to approach the rock slide, and peer over the edge at the camp below.  After a few minutes he moved off to the northeast, where others waited.  Brent could almost hear their whispered conversation, but not quite.  He motioned for the other two to drop below the rise and to keep their voices down.

“Looks like they’re going to wait for full dawn before trying the rock slide,” Alex said.  “How do think we should do this?”

“Jenny,” Brent asked.  “Are you any good with that rifle?”

“I qualified,” Jenny said.  “But I’m not shooting at paper targets this time.”

“Just put it on bursts of three, “Brent said.  “Every time you pull the trigger you’ll fire three rounds.  Count each time you pull the trigger.  When you get to ten, press this and your empty magazine will eject.  Slap a full magazine in, pull this back, and release it and you’re good to go.”

“Got it,” Jenny said.

“As I understand it, we’re up against Mark, Ed, and the four women who joined him when he left the others,” Alex said.  “Mark is a killer, no doubt about it.  I don’t know about the others, but we have to take Mark out.”

“I suspect Mark will send Ed and his women in first to see the how heavily the camp is defended,” Jenny said.  “I bet he hangs back until he’s sure.  I don’t think the women he dragged out of our camp will cooperate.”

“You’re right, Jenny,” Brent said.  “Here’s what we’re going to do.  You and Alex move down on the right side of the rock slide entrance.  I’ll circle left and see if I can find the women he dragged from your camp.  He may have left a guard.

When Ed and the women start into the rock slide you two open up with everything you got,” Brent said.  I’ll be headed for the back of the attackers and if any turn to run, I’ll cut them down.  Do you have any questions?”

Both Alex and Jenny shook their heads no.

“Okay,” Brent said.  “Good luck.  One last thing, we’re taking no prisoners.”

Brent slipped off to the left and into the darkness.

Chapter 26

Earth Shift + 40 days

Brent hurried through the pale darkness of the gathering dawn.  Circling wide to the left, he came upon the women huddled on the ground sooner than he expected.  He dropped to the ground, and using cover, crept closer.

“Do you think we should yell a warning or something?” one of the women on the ground asked.

“You heard, Mark,” another said.  “He’s out there, and he’ll come back here and cut our throats if we make a sound.”

“Should we try to get away?” asked another.

“How can we, when we’re all tied up like this?” a woman asked.

Brent crept forward to where the four women sat on the ground huddle together.  He could see rope tied around their necks and looped together.  Everyone else in Mark’s group had headed towards the entrance to the rock slide.  Brent came up behind the women and threw a pebble hitting the woman on the end of the rope chain in the arm.

Sally felt the sting of the rock on her arm and turned in that direction.  She saw the silhouette of a man holding a rifle crouched not three feet behind where she sat.  He held his finger up to his mouth for silence.  She watched as the man moved to his right following Mark’s group.

“Okay, everyone,” Sally said.  “Whatever happens, don’t make a sound.  Let’s all lay down on the ground as best we can.  People are here to help us, so be real quiet.”

Brent watched as the women huddled on the ground.   He gently tossed his knife over to Sally.  She picked it up and slashed through her ropes and then the ropes for the rest of the women.  She tossed the knife back to Brent and the women hurried off into the dark.

Brent put his knife back in the sheath.  He then grabbed his rifle and moved forward towards the rock slide.  He reached the top of a rise.  The sky lightened with the coming dawn.  Brent looked over the rise and saw someone sitting six feet directly in front of him.  The person was unaware of his presence.  He was giving hand directions to the group huddled at the bottom of the rise, about fifty feet in front of the rock slide.

The person quickly stood and stared over to where they’d left the women tied together.

“Damn!” the man said seeing the women had managed to escape.

From the side, it was clear to Brent the figure must be Mark.  Big, chin, big forehead, broad shoulders, and a chiseled looking face.  He had camouflage stripes on his face and was clearly ready for battle.  He looked comfortable holding his rifle.  He looked back watching his group advance on the rock slide.

Suddenly, he looked to the right and took several quick steps toward his advancing group.

“Look out!” Mark yelled.

Brent watched as Alex and Jenny stood and cut loose with their AR 15’s.  It was still dark enough to see fire spit from the barrels of their rifles.  The muzzle flash lit up the scene below.  Jenny was blasting in her groups of three rounds.  Alex was on full automatic, swapping out magazines as they emptied.  It was over in less than a minute.  Mark’s team was crumpled on the ground, some in the fetal position.  All were dead.

Mark advanced a few yards before thinking better of it.  He turned and started back towards where the women had been tied up.  Brent stood and Mark saw his movement out of the corner of his eye.  Brent raised his AR-15 and clicked the safety off.  The two men stood, no more than ten feet apart.

“Come on, big man,” Brent said.  “Today’s a good day to die.”

Mark gave a primeval scream as he swung up his rifle to shoot.  Brent pulled the trigger and the staccato sound of full metal jacket rounds ripping into Mark, was deafening.

Brent looked up in time to see Jerry come running out of the entrance to the rock slide, carrying his rifle across his chest.  He knelt down by the bodies at the top of the canyon rim.  He looked up at Brent’s direction and shook his head no.  There were no survivors.  Alex and Jenny walked over to Jerry who pointed toward Brent.  They came up to where Brent stood and looked down at Mark.

“What made him do it?” Alex asked.  “It just seems so crazy after mankind has been brought this close to extinction.  What do you think he was after?”

“I’ve heard of this sort of thing,” Jenny said.  “If you put people under tremendous stress, for a long enough period of time, someone cracks and the others follow.  They just want someone to tell them what to do, to make it all go away.  It happens in battle situations a lot. It’s a form of mob insanity really.”

Jerry finally walked up the rise and stood looking down at Mark.

“Man, that is stone cold,” Jerry said.  “Good job.”

“Jerry, help me drag these people someplace out of sight,” Brent said.  “We’ll bury them later today.  Alex, you and Jenny have to go find the women I set loose before the shooting started.  They didn’t have shoes, so I doubt if they got far.  They looked in bad shape.”

“We’re on it,” Alex said.  “We’ll send for help if we need it.  Don’t worry, we’ll find them.”

***

Eighteen people from pods one and three, five men and thirteen women, sat in a big circle around the fire.  The four women who had been forced marched to the gorge, were washed, fed, and wore clean clothes.  They were exhausted, but wanted to participate in this planning meeting.  Maggie stood to speak.

“Welcome to old and new friends who have joined us,” Maggie said.  “Whatever happens from this point forward, we are one family.  Never doubt it for a minute.”

A cheer went up from everyone around the circle.

“Cold as the water was, I know you all enjoyed feeling really clean after, well, after a very long time,” Maggie said to the freed women.  “Is there anything else we can get for you, anything you need?”

All said they were good, and thanked everyone for helping them.

“I called this meeting for a special reason,” Maggie said.  “I believe it is time we get organized.  In order to do so, we have to set some short and long term goals.  Something we can all work towards accomplishing.  Does everyone agree?”

There was a chorus of agreement around the circle.

“As a first step, I suggest we build and maintain a signal fire on the top of the canyon rim,” Maggie said.  “We need to burn anything that will create smoke.  For instance, we can use the oil drained from the recycle unit to create smoke.  We hope someone will see it and find us.  We think the other groups may be looking for us, even now.”

Maggie asked for volunteers and several people raised their hands.

“I’ve also asked Jerry and Valerie to begin scouting the area to our west for any signs of life,” Maggie continued.  “We suspect some animals may have survived, especially those animals who live in dens, caves, and burrows.”

“Like what?” someone behind Maggie asked.

“Let me take this one, Maggie,” Brent said.  “A whole bunch of animals either dig a hole or find a hole to live in.  Some you might not have thought of, like wild pigs.  Others are bears, rabbits, gophers, ground hogs, squirrels, rats, opossum, even dogs.”

That caused a sudden outburst of conversations as to what was eatable and what was not.  Was a gopher even something you could eat?  The conversation turned heated and Maggie called for order.

“Then there is the move of the material from pod three,” Maggie said.   “We don’t want to leave anything behind that may be of use to us in the future.  At the same time, we don’t want to drag all the supplies over here, just to have to move it again.  We need to decide where we will be able to build a permanent settlement.  We need food, water, and shelter.  Shelter we can build.  Food and water we have to find.”

“What’s wrong with here?” One of the new women asked.

“We have water and plenty of firewood here for sure,” Maggie said.  “What concerns me, are those white lines you can see up on the canyon walls.  I think those might be high water marks left by flash floods in the recent past.  No, we need to find a permanent location where we can start to build a future and not worry about getting washed away.”

Maggie looked around to see if there were any more questions before continuing.

“Do we have any engineers here?” Maggie asked.

One of the new women raised her hand.

“I’m sorry, I forgot your name,” Maggie said.

It’s Maryann O’Brian,” the woman said.  “I’m a mechanical engineer.”

“Well, Maryann, welcome to the group,” Maggie said.  “What we need is something one or two people can pull behind them, over rough terrain, carrying two or three hundred pounds.  Perhaps a cart of some kind, we can fabricate from the pod with the tools at hand.  Hopefully, the cart will help us move heavy loads without killing ourselves.  Can you do that for us?”

“Got it,” Maryann said.  “You want a cart that won’t kill us.  I can do that.”

***  

It was two days after Jerry and Valerie headed west, someone from pod six saw the smoke column in the air.  They were also scouting the area, looking for water.  They returned with their twelve people bringing the canyon group up to thirty.  Over the next week, using travois and strong backs, they were able to empty pod six and relocate themselves and their material to the canyon.

Thirteen days after leaving, Jerry and Val came through the break in the canyon wall and into camp.  A celebration broke out and it was noon before the two gave their report to Alex, Jenny, Brent and Maggie.  The parasail from one of the pods had been framed into a large tent.  The six sat in a circle in the center of the tent.  Anyone who wanted to listen could sit around the perimeter of the tent.  Maggie had decided there would be no secrets since this impacted everyone.

Valerie stood to speak and appeared a little bashful at first, looking around the tent.  Jerry hated talking in front of lots of people since he was a little kid, so he convinced Val to do the talking.

“Jerry and I walked fifty four miles to the foothills of the Rockies,” Val said.  It wasn’t until the third day, we finally saw wildlife.  Primarily, it was ducks and other water fowl on the occasional lake we passed.  On the fourth day we saw deer.  That evening we heard the howl of wolves.  The fifth day we saw a bear.”

A general hum of excited conversations broke out all over the tent.

“Please,” Maggie said.  “Let her speak.”

“Not to sound too biblical,” Valerie said.  “But, on the seventh day, we rested.”

Laughter broke out in the tent and then settled to some more quiet murmurs.

“We ate fish we caught in the lake in the evening,” Valerie said.  “It was delicious.”

Groans could be heard from those suffering from a two month diet of freeze dried mush, pop tarts, and granola bars that tasted like dog biscuits.

“As you can see, Val, our group is much larger,” Maggie said.  “Do you think this area is big enough to support this many people?”

“The place is huge,” Jerry said forgetting his shyness in his excitement.  “There were a string of lakes that went on forever.  I just hope Jeff can build canoes.”

“I can,” Jeff yelled out.  “You can count on it.  I brought my tools too.”

“Settle down, people,” Maggie said, thinking she sounded like a school teacher.  “It sounds like we’ve found a home.  Jerry will take another group back to the lakes to look around.  We all want to go, so we’ll have a lottery.  We can draw names out of a hat.”

Maggie looked around the tent at everyone.

“Are there any questions,” Maggie asked.  “No?   Okay, Brent has something he wants to say to all of us.”

“First of all, good job, Jerry and Val,” Brent said.  “It was all we hoped for and more.”

Brent looked around the room at the faces of his friends and new neighbors, thankful for each one of them.

“Friends, I suggest we take a few moments and offer up our prayers of remembrance for all those we’ve lost,” Brent said.   “After a period of silence, we’ll then offer up to God our prayer of thanksgiving, for allowing us to survive, with the hope that we live our lives according to his plan.”

It was a solemn moment and everyone felt the weight of all the millions of people and loved ones who’d passed over before them.  Everyone was somber as they filed out of the tent in quiet contemplation.

Chapter 27

Earth Shift + 60 days

The weather turned suddenly warm and rainy.  The group of people stood by the shore of the lake watching Sally and Jeff paddle the new canoe, Jeff had just finished.   They built the canoe in three days out of birch bark and cedar stripes.  They used pine pitch to seal the cracks.

Jeff also used a draw knife to carve out two kayak paddles, although neither Jeff nor Sally was proficient in how to use them.  The crowd cheered as they paddled against the wind to return to shore.  There seemed to be a lot of splashing, but not much forward progress.

When they finally made it back to shore, both Jeff and Sally were exhausted.  The crowd cheered when they stepped out on the sandy shore.  Jeff dropped to his hands and knees trying to catch his breath.

“Well Jeff, you certainly made that look easy,” Jerry said laughing.

“I said I could build a canoe, not paddle it,” Jeff said panting for air.  “How did people ever get around in one of those things?”

“It takes a little practice is all,” Jerry said.  “Who wants to go with me to the other side of the lake and see what’s over there?”

Several hands shot up in the air.

“Come on, Mary O’Brian, let’s you and me see if this canoe will hold together,” Jerry said.  “Maybe we can take our clothes off and go swimming.  What do you say girl?  Are you up for a little adventure?”

“Not with the likes of you, will I be taking my clothes off, Jerry Colin,” Mary said.  “I know how you Irish boys are, and don’t be thinking you can have your way with me neither.  But I will go for a canoe ride with you.  Just make sure you mind your manners.”

The crowd hooted and shouted as the pair started across the lake.  With Jerry at the back, the canoe shot forward with every strong stroke of the canoe paddle.  In no time, the canoe was a small dot on the lake.

“So that’s what paddling a canoe is supposed to look like,” Jeff said.

“That’s okay, Jeff,” Sally said.  “We didn’t tip over and we got back to shore.  That’s what is important.”

“Somebody, help me over to the fire,” Jeff said.  “I’ve really got to get in better shape.”

***

The group selected to explore the western lake region had been gone for over three weeks.  Maggie was starting to get concerned that something may have happened.  Brent tried to reassure her everything was alright.

Midway through the second week, people from pod eight arrived at the canyon.  They were ecstatic to find three of the other pods had survived the landing.  They’d found the ruins of pod six, crumpled and burned on landing.  They found no survivors.

They stayed in camp for two days and decided to return and bring the rest of their crew to the canyon group.   They’d landed over a hundred miles south of the canyon.  Apparently their descent started prematurely because of a malfunction in the release valve.

Maggie told them with that distance, they should just bring whatever they could carry and forget the rest.  She asked if there were any hand tools on board and Jim Kruger, the crew leader for pod eight, said they did.

“What kind of tools are they,” Maggie asked.

“Mostly cross cut saws and axes,” Jim said.  “I still don’t know why they gave us so many.”

“I do,” Alex said.  “Jim, do you mind if I and five or six others go back with you?  “We need to bring as many of those tools back here as we can carry.”

“The more, the merrier,” Jim said.

A group of ten, including Alex and Jenny, headed back to where pod eight had landed.  It was going to be a tough go of it, but it had to be done.  As they left camp, they told Maggie and Brent not to look for them for at least three weeks.  They were back in sixteen days.

***

When the group from the western lake region returned, the weather turned much colder.  No one knew for sure what season it was, or what kind of weather they could expect.  Besides huddling next to the fire, a few people had squirreled away some heavy coats and warm gloves.  The uncertainty over the weather gave everyone a distinctly odd feeling.

Mary O’Brian became the group historian.  She kept careful record of the dates, the weather, and significant events.  She called the record the Crenshaw Chronicles since Maggie remained the unelected, but recognized, leader of the canyon group.  Mary also recorded the names of every person in the group.  She planned to note the death and births as they occurred.

She and Valerie were both expecting and both knew Jerry was the father.  Jerry thought he was in a lot of hot water for a few days.  The girls were close friends and understood there were a lot more women than men.  The canyon group count was up to fifty two, sixteen men and thirty six women.  The women decided to settle peacefully into a new family unit.

***

“What did you think, about Jerry, Valerie, and Mary,” Brent asked when he heard about the situation.

“We knew this would happen when we brought more women than men,” Maggie said.  “It was bound to happen.”

“So you’re all right with it,” Brent said smiling.

“Don’t get any ideas, buster,” Maggie said.  Most men, including you, don’t understand how this whole polygamy thing really works.  I’m not talking about those religious nut jobs in Utah.  I’m talking about how it worked in ancient times, in isolated tribal communities like ours.”

“Is that what we are?” Brent asked.  “We’re an isolated tribe?”

“We’re about as isolated as you can get,” Maggie said.  “In that sort of society, the women decide who will constitute an extended family, not the man.  So get your libido under control.  If your services are needed elsewhere, I’ll make the decision.”

“What if I don’t want to abide by that little setup?” Brent asked smiling and hugging Maggie closely.

“Just remember, Bucko, you have to fall asleep eventually.” Maggie said.  “Now kiss me.  You’ve got all you can handle right here anyway.”

***

By this time Maggie was fairly certain none of the other pods had landed close by.  At the very least, it meant it would be difficult to find each other.  Given the length of time since landfall, the group decided it was time to permanently move to the western lakes region.  It was a journey of over a week and required planning on what and how things should be moved.

In preparation for the move, Maggie sent ten of the canyon people ahead to start construction of shelters.  Kirk Massey was experienced in construction and was put in charge of the group.  They had decided to build earth homes, at least initially.  They were simple to construct, snug during cold weather, and dry during wet spells.

They made the first four homes large enough for communal living, in case immediate shelter was needed.  Not knowing weather cycles was an incredible hardship.  But it was only a matter of time until that would be sorted out.  In the mean time they had a move to accomplish.

The two man cart idea to transport supplies turned out to be a nonstarter.  They were unable to fabricate a wheel with sufficient diameter to get the job done.  Mary felt badly, but was determined to come up with something workable.

She talked with everyone getting ideas and settled on the method used by the plains Indians for hundreds of years.  The traditional travois consisted of two poles of equal length with a cloth or hide slung between them.  Objects could be placed on the sling and the poles carried by horse, dog, or man.

Mary improved on the design by making the poles metal and adding small six inch diameter wheels to the end of the poles.  She then made one and two person yokes at the top of the poles with padded rests on the shoulders.  All the tests of the new travois were considered very successful.  Mary knew the real test would come with the move.

***

Maggie had the canyon group do two more tasks before they left.  One was to rig a rope lift using pulleys to move material from pod one, up to the top of the canyon rim.  The second was to build a large monument arrow pointing toward the western lake region, in case someone wanted to find them.

The move was staged for three groups to be sent out, one group per day.  Maggie and Brent were in the last group.  The morning of the last day was cool.  It reminded Maggie of October in New York.  It was a chill that warned of the coming winter.

Brent and Maggie walked down the edge of the stream bed one last time.  This had been a good place despite Maggie’s injury and painful recovery period.   They’d done their best to look out for their people and to welcome and help those who needed it.

Now the real test of building a viable community lay in front of them.  Both felt that together they would survive and perhaps, if they were fortunate, they would prosper.  Maggie knew there was new life within her.  She’d keep it to herself for a while longer.  It was both a mystery and a miracle, all wrapped up in warm and loving feelings. 

The two of them climbed up the rockslide holding hands and out onto the plain and the way west.  The morning sun was bright and warmed their backs, as the long line of people picked up their yokes, shouldered their burdens, and began the long trek toward their future.

Acknowledgements

I want to again thank all the readers who chose this book to read.  The science behind Earth Shift exists, if not widely accepted.  I especially thank those of you who took the time to review, encourage, and comment.  Thanks also to my family for reading, critiquing, and making sure I stayed true to the story. 

If there is interest in my second book in the Crenshaw Chronicles, I will post later this year.  I again want to tell you how much I appreciate your kind words and thoughts.

Again, Thanks.   Joel

About the Author

Joel Baker resides in Tampa Florida with his wife, children, and grandkids.   A graduate of Indiana University, Joel had an extensive career in Information Technology until his retirement.

Joel is currently working on a fourth novel in the Colter Saga and is considering publishing his second novel in the Crenshaw Chronicles.