Read The Diary of Professor Gilbert Rasher Page 17

growing are those thing that grow in the dark or near darkness or in UV shielded or artificially lit greenhouses. I've gotten reports that there are many underground artificially lighted greenhouses near nuclear power plant sites and a couple of wind energy sites. The lights are now almost impossible to get. I get a repeated shortwave message from a site in Georgia trying to make fluorescent lights. They are having trouble getting the raw materials to do it.

  We have seen no cars or trucks running, a few bicycles. People avoid one another for fear that what little they have will be taken. That fear is quite real; predators are everywhere. One woman that lived near us, Dolores Gaines, was raped and beaten and we have taken her in. I was surprised that she wasn’t then killed and eaten. She has been living off the termites in her rotting house. She was only 40 but looked 60. We served her some worm-mushroom soup and she said she couldn’t remember tasting something so good. It brought to mind a story about the early days of the Web. A rumor was spread that a well-known hamburger chain made their hamburgers from worms. The chain brilliantly countered that worms were far too expensive.

  By rummaging through abandoned homes, we have added a few more guns and more ammunition to our collection. In addition, there is my prize, a modern crossbow, a quiver full of steel tipped arrows and a straw stuffed target and stand. Some of these homes have the corpses of the occupants, some murdered, most starved or froze to death. None of the homes had electricity, gas or water. More than a few houses had burned to the ground from building fires in homes that had no fireplaces to keep from freezing.

  The university one-million gallon sphere-in-the-sky water tank stopped refilling about five years ago. I made sure all university water supplies were turned off except to our building. We are rationing ourselves to about 100 gallons a day for all of us. This is in contrast to the typical Californian that used to use 1,000 gallon per day or more. Our rate of usage means this tank should last for 22 years. I went and measured the water pressure at the tank and it indicated the tank was still about 80% full. Good News. It means leaks, if any, are small.

  6.3.2140:

  Brock Lee on one of his bicycle excursions met a girl. While talking to her, he was shot in the head by the abductor of the girl. He managed to ride his bicycle back to tell us what happened but I couldn’t stop his internal bleeding. I felt terrible, he died as I was watching him. I thought of making him into an android but the damage to the frontal lobes was extensive. Much personality is attributable to the frontal lobes so this could be a bad idea. In addition, I would need to infuse the brain with drugs to stop ischemia, preserve tissue and protect it during freezing. Key blood vessels were punctured meaning this process would have been far from optimal. The resulting connectome would also be compromised because we never did get the system operating as well as when I went under the blade.

  I decided it was time to be a self-appointed Pittsburgh Ranger. I slung the shotgun over my shoulder, put a Pistol in my coat pocket and started walking in the early evening toward the house where the girl lived. The house was a little over a mile away.

  A Burly male of six feet two with a pistol came out of the door and pointed it at me as I approached.

  I asked, “Why did you shoot that young man? He meant you no harm.”

  Burly male: “He was trying to take away my property.”

  “What property was that?”

  Burly male: “Melody, she's my property.”

  “Last time I checked it was against the law to take human beings as property, especially if they don't want to be property.”

  The Burly male mockingly responded, “Last time I checked there was no fucking law!”

  “Well that has changed as of today; I'm the law.”

  The burly male shouted, “I can change that!” and he fired one shot into my chest. I pulled out my pistol and shot him in the heart in return. He crumpled to the ground and died almost instantly. I would have to do some repair on myself but it was mostly cosmetic.

  The girl came out of the house soon after and asked, “How is Brock?”

  I had to tell her that he died and she sort of shriveled and nearly collapsed in front of me.

  “There’s only one to blame and he lies here in the dirt where he belongs. You can come live with us if you like. Your name is Melody?”

  Melody: “Yes. Melody Drake. Who else is with you?”

  “The parents of Brock and a lady named Dolores. They are nice people.”

  Melody: “Brock's parents? What will they think of me?”

  “If I know them, they will accept you like a daughter. What do you have that you want to bring with you?”

  Melody: “Very little, one change of clothes and some extra underwear.”

  “Let's go inside and take a look.” I took his gun and found more weapons inside and loads of ammunition and Abe's ring. This was probably the cannibal that killed Abe and maybe Max as well. “You know you are lucky I came along. This guy has been killing and eating people. You would probably be next on his menu if he ran out of others to kill or he grew tired of you.”

  Melody: “I know. He would tell me that over and over. I have been living in terror for more than a year.”

  I found a dilapidated shopping cart that still rolled and piled everything in it including a fold-up camping cot and some blankets. We headed back and arrived when it was quite dark. I introduced Melody to the others and filled them in on what happened. Everyone welcomed Melody with open arms then told her to take a shower. I think she used two days allotment of water alone but she had several years-worth of dirt on her. Chosen lent Melody her robe so she would have something clean to put on afterward. Chosen took all of Melody's clothes and put them in the washer and set up and vacuumed her cot. We had accumulated a collection of clothes and some wide brimmed hats and wrap-around dark glasses so that daytime excursions were possible. Chosen picked out a flower pattern pair of pajamas for her to wear when she got out of the shower.

  7.1.2145:

  Our little colony grew to 22 people as others saw us and finally got brave enough or desperate enough to make contact. It seemed that we eliminated the chief menace in the area. A couple sheepishly admitted they dined on his remains. I said, “That's probably the only good thing he did in his ugly life.

  We built two more greenhouses and activated the Electrical Engineering Building. By rearranging office partitions, we accommodated the new people with room to spare. I located a huge library of pirated movies and videos from a computer in one of the dorms. I set up the computer in a conference room that had a large screen so now there was entertainment for all.

  I was worried about the winters. They were getting colder and longer. Snow was on the ground well into May. I was keeping a weather log and the trend was unmistakable. I was wondering whether we should move south. I noted that there was still significant radio traffic south of us. I couldn’t tell whether we would be going into a better or a worse situation from the radio traffic. Many transmissions were pleas for help from people being attacked. It seemed clear that most human predators moved south where the pickings were more plentiful.

  Another factor against moving was the religious groups springing up saying they were the saved ones and that these were the 'end times.' Well it certainly was the 'end times' for most people but it was unlikely any of these groups were saved for anything in particular. Most were either ethnocentric or steeped in apocalyptic dogma. Practically all regard outsiders as the enemy and perhaps many of them were.

  I passed the time reading medical journals for I was now the house doctor. Everyone here was surprisingly healthy considering what they've been through. The most serious medical problems were two cases of melanoma but neither had metastasized and were easy to excise using electric needle surgery and a laser for cauterization when necessary. Otherwise I had one appendicitis, a broken fibula and minor cuts and bruises.

  12.25.2158:

  It's Christmas and there has been a blizzard for two weeks. The Greenhouses have collapsed
from the weight of the snow. The snow has to be shoveled off the roofs of our two buildings, storm or no storm, or the weight of the snow will damage them as well. Our store of food has been depleted for two days and we will soon run out of water. We are melting snow for water. Two people have died, Bobby Ruse and Tammy Crossman. In an act of desperation one person ate our meager seed stock so we have nothing to plant. People are eating the remains of those who died. Although I find this repugnant, so is meaningless death. Many more deaths will follow if this storm doesn't break soon. The future doesn't look very promising. It seems we are headed for a swiftly approaching ice age.

  1.1.2159:

  Taking advantage of a letup in the storm Gilbert Lee and two others left to see if they could find some worms. In our last contact, they were more than two miles away and had found nothing. The storms fury returned but they have not. I feared the worst. Those who left had pocket transceivers but they stopped operating when the temperature dropped again. The temperature outside is minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit with wind gusts of 50 miles per hour whipping up clouds of snow and ice. Visibility is near zero. Minus 45 is even too cold for me in full cold weather gear and I have to keep things running here. Chosen Lee is frantic and I don't know how to help her. I had to stop her from going out