Chapter 11
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge
faster than society gathers wisdom...
-Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations, 1988
Dave wandered out to greet the 4WD as it pulled up.
“How was the trip home?”
“Uneventful.”
“See - I told you you’d be alright love.”
I exchanged glances with Jen.
“You didn’t ask her how the trip was going there...”
“How was the trip going there?”
“It snowed,” replied Jen, with as much casualness as she could muster.
“You sure?” laughed Dave.
“Yeah... Right near the place where you saw those lights that other time... We took photos of it.”
“Really? Let’s unpack the car, rouse up the others and all have a look at your photos together...”
Ω
“Nice boots,” said Pete, as I walked in.
“Nice redecorating job,” I retorted, looking around at the chalked graffiti on the walls.
Dave and Jen walked in behind me. Brendan eyed Dave curiously - sensing purpose in his presence. Dave went over to the linen closet and pulled out a state-of-the-art projector with an 11 in 1 card reader.
“Pop your memory card in here love and let’s see what we’ve got... Where’s young Zachariah?” he added, eyeing Jake.
Jake swallowed hard and looked towards the Communications Room.
Pete and Brendan exchanged astonished looks. The laid back B & B owner had inexplicably turned into a leader who exuded authority and sounded a lot like Gordon. Even his Aussie accent no longer seemed so pronounced. Jake scuttled away to get Zac.
“Dave’s here...” he said, bursting into the room. “It sounds important.”
He looked at Dale’s tear-stained face.
“You go Zac... I’ll sit with Dale ‘til he’s ready to go out,” he said plonking himself down on the floor and draping his arm around Dale’s trembling body.
Ω
I tried to push away the feeling that I was back in college delivering a presentation as they flicked through the photos Jen and I had snapped.
“By the way, these are the GPS coordinates of the place where it snowed.”
“Mean anything to you Dave?” asked Zac.
“Yeah... It’s in the vicinity of the JORN transmitter at Leonora.”
I felt the difference more than observed it... While I had been away there had been another subtle shift in relationships... This time between Zac and Dave... They’d teamed up together. A union which was somehow stronger than the sum of its parts.
Jake and Dale joined them.
“I also had mobile phone reception in the area... Like I had the other day.”
Dave nodded.
“This speck... here... did either of you notice what it was?”
“I noticed it but I couldn’t work out what it was.”
“I think I know what it was... I’ll fill you in later Dave,” said Jen surreptitiously.
“Fill us in now Jen.”
“Dave?”
“It’s okay love.”
“It looked like that light that hung in the sky when the Atlantis shuttle was launched at Cape Canaveral back in ‘85.”
“A marker beacon? Good girl... Familiar with them Zac?”
“Like the ones used with the scalar E/M howitzers?”
“Yep.”
“Then we know what to expect tonight.”
The alarm on Dave’s watch beeped.
“Speaking of which, the sky-show’s about to start. Want to head outside?”
“Yeah... Might just make a cuppa first,” said Zac casually.
“You know that the fireballs are about to start?” I blurted out.
Glances exchanged between Dave and Zac.
“Dave’s noticed a pattern... a certain sound on his radio.”
I bristled at his simplistic answer.
“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child Zac.”
“Okay... Three different ELF signals are simultaneously being pulsed at the moment...One of them is a dangerous signal. Together the three are going to make three fireballs... like what you and Tyson saw the other day, except bigger and noisier.”
“More like what we saw the other night?”
“Yes...We know where two of the signals are being transmitted from but not the third one.”
“And the third one’s the dangerous one.”
“Yep.”
“So what’s the big deal? Three pretty big lights instead of one.”
“The dangerous one by itself can bring down an aircraft... Two others combined with the dangerous one? I’ve never witnessed it before.”
“Theoretically every electronic appliance within a 100km radius could fry,” added Jake softly.
“Best put your cameras away in my workshop,” suggested Dave.
“And miss out on a scoop of a lifetime? I’ll risk my cameras thankyou very much.”
“Your best option then is to stand in Zac’s Faraday observation cage and take your snaps... It’ll be kinda cosy though... It’s only built for one observer.”
Zac noticed the glint in Dave’s eye, and eyed him back. A silent headlock between a lead stallion and a challenger. Brendan looked at them both curiously.
“I can handle being squished up providing I get good photos for my scoop...” I said, ignoring their silent exchange.
Dave’s eyes were dancing. Zac eyed him circumspectly.
“You head out then... I’ll just get some biscuits and I’ll join you.”
Biscuits? As if?
“Just tell me you want to brief your team without me around instead of being so secretive!” I blustered, as I walked out.
Silence.
“Sir? Are you still in charge?” asked Brendan in mild confusion.
“Just!” grinned Zac. “Stick with Dave... Trust him like you’d trust me.”
He grabbed a handful of biscuits and walked outside after Maya.
“Brief briefing,” mumbled Pete.
Jen giggled and draped an affectionate arm around Dave.
“You old conniver... Even I know they could’ve safely observed those fireballs from the bird aviary. So does Zac I reckon.”
Dave’s eyes twinkled.
“Much more romantic forcing them to breathe in each other’s ears and fortuitously touch squishy bits while they try to get their photos.”
“You’re matchmaking them?” gasped Jake.
“Well that’s what you pups are trying to do, ain’t it?”
Grins all round.
“Who are you really Dave?” asked Pete.
“An old friend of Gordon’s... He’s got me out of mothballs.”
“Why?”
“To stand shoulder to shoulder with Zac. It’s a two man job keeping you mob safe.”
“It’s a five man job match-making those two!” retorted Brendan. “Welcome aboard Dave.”
Dave chuckled softly and tugged Jen by the hand.
“Come on you lot... Let’s sneak out the back door into the walk-in aviary. There’s plenty of room for us all to stand around and observe in comfort.”
“So if the birds drop dead, we’re in trouble, right?” asked Dale.
“The canary in a cage is a test for poisonous gases, you wally!”
Soft laughter all round.
“Don’t worry - this is actually a purpose-built Faraday cage that happens to have birds in it. All the panels are electrically grounded. Rechecked them this arvo.”
Dave continued to build report with Zac’s team as he set up his own camera gear.
“I agree the recent mass bird deaths suggest some flocks have winged it into the same type of high frequency grid that’s brought down a number of Airforce machines over the years.”
“Are you saying, what happened worldwide at the start of 2011 has happened before?”
“Sure has. I
remember it rained dead birds for four days in Alabama after the Challenger incident. The media speculated that it was lead poisoning from all the burnt rocket fuel. As if...”
Ω
The roaring sound announced the imminent arrival of the first fireball. I looked up at the sky at the dull orange moon shape that had appeared northeast of us... It passed by disturbingly slowly over the desert... almost like it was hanging around waiting for a train or something.
A sonic boom... There was the connecting train... A second white violet dancing ball... Frolicking like a firefly with an indigo body...
“Frightened?” checked Zac.
“If this cage was enclosed I’d be freaking out, but it’s open enough.”
“Sorry... we’re on different wavelengths... I meant are you frightened of what we’re observing?”
“Are you kidding? So far I can’t see what you lot are making all the fuss about.”
Hands closed around my shoulders and gently rested on them.
“Ever talked about the claustrophobia?”
I hesitated.
“It’s a learned behaviour. I wasn’t born with it... I picked it up overseas on an assignment a few years back.”
“What happened?”
I felt a wave of panic wash over me... I pushed it back down. He gently parted my hair with his fingertips and soothingly massaged my neck.
“Whoaah girl - You look fragile... Must’ve been a real nasty experience... Ever told anyone about it?”
I shook my head. He twirled a strand of my hair between his fingertips affectionately.
“Hey... I can handle the dark... And I can handle confined spaces... I just can’t handle them both at the same time, okay?” I said defensively.
He leant close to my cheek and gently exhaled on it. It felt strangely romantic, although I couldn’t work out why.
“We’ll have to go for a walk together and share our fears and dreams before we go our separate ways eh?” he said softly.
Our separate ways?
A wave of sadness swept over me at the thought.
Come on. You’re losing it! Refocus Maya. You’re a photojournalist on assignment. And this is gonna be the scoop of your life...
A tiny white light appeared several thousand feet above us. It could have been mistaken for a star or an aircraft.
“That’s it? That’s the dangerous one?”
“No.... That’s the marker... We didn’t expect it at that height however...”
Zac’s voice was dry... Tiny.
“What’s the matter?”
There was a brilliant welding arc white flash. Everything around me lit up like daylight... Trees... bushes... the video footage. A large greenish-blue ball plummeted down out of the sky, stalled, then changed direction and started bouncing towards the other two lights... All three fell into formation like a spearhead, then they zipped away together.
So that’s it? Some sky-show.
I glanced up at Zac. His lips were quivering.
Huh?
I put my camera down. Striving to make sense of his unexpected reaction. My palms traced the contours of his face. I wiped the hint of tears away with my fingertips. He cleared his throat noisily. Self consciously.
“Don’t shut me out quite yet... Please explain why you’re so upset,” I whispered.
“The third transmitter’s used a satellite-based system as an energy source... It’s never been done before to my knowledge... It’s only been theoretical in the past...”
“Meaning?”
“A fleet of similar satellites using the same RF technology could potentially destroy the world as we know it... If they’re misused by the wrong people for warfare purposes...”
“There’ve always been wars Zac. There are wars going on right now... Civil unrest. Violence worldwide.”
“I know... But there are so many things left on my Things-I-want-to-try-before-I-die list.”
“With me?”
His lips brushed mine for no more than a milli-second. But I knew it meant yes. My heart soared.
He doesn’t want us to go our separate ways either.
Then the moment was gone.
He took a deep breath, stepped out of the Faraday cage, and walked off towards the others.
Ω
The singlemen’s quarters had taken on a new feel. A cross between a military command post and a leading newspaper trying to change the front page headlines at a minute to midnight. Dave and Zac - heads centimetres apart - drawing a bunch of lines on an aviation map of the region... Jake typing furiously on his computer... The three amigos at their laptops... searching articles full of alpha-numerics and funny squiggles which looked Greek to me...
“No wonder we couldn’t find the third transmitter on the ground...” mumbled Jake. “I still can’t believe they’ve pulled it off...”
“Combining ground based transmitters with a sat-based transmitter that has a possible output of 1000 megawatts...” frowned Brendan, shaking his head in disbelief.
“... and interrogating the JORN network to set the trajectory,” mused Pete.
“...and all along we were assuming the third transmitter was ground based and located near where the Koreans are camped...” added Dale. “You warn us time and time again not to have biased thinking Zac...”
“Nah... The data you collected was still valuable. The Korean observers are real enough. But they aren’t scientists like us guys... Gordon ran Maya’s uniform photos through the ISRA’s data base... Apparently the uniform’s not standard issue... He says it’s worn by an elite North Korean unit... some highly trained commando types or something.”
Dave looked up at the comment.
“As for posing in his jacket and cap, Gordon says you were lucky Pete. He says he could have snapped you in half.”
Dave raised his eyebrows.
“Listen all of you. You know I don’t believe in going military on you but this a direct order... See and avoid when it comes to the Koreans from now on... You too Maya.”
His normally peaceful eyes were intense and serious.
I nodded vigorously.
Silence. Jake broke it.
“The only sat that’s anywhere near us at the moment is a UN weather satellite with a communications repeater... Squawk recognition code WMK1. Also known as Weathermaker 1.”
“Great... One World Government Weathermakers,” growled Dave.
“Sick sense of humour,” murmured Dale.
“It explains Maya’s observation that she had mobile reception,” added Zac. “The trajectory was west south west... More observer information would be handy, but I’d say the most likely experimental target is Perth.”
Perth? My city?
“Perth?” I repeated, finally finding my voice.
“Perth?” echoed Jake softly.
His city too.
“I’ll mobilize my team to check the trajectory,” offered Dave. “If we’re correct, the sky-show should be visible from the Observatory at Gingin in about twenty minutes.”
Mobilize his team?
My instincts had been right. I had known Dave was more than a semi-retired landowner who ran a B & B from the moment I met him. Just as I had known Zac was more than a professor from Alaska.
“Am I allowed to tell Frank?”
I wasn’t sure whether to direct my question to Zac or Dave any longer. Dave nodded at Zac and walked off.
Oh well... That answered my unspoken question. I was still on Zac’s team.
“Tell him someone’s given you an anonymous tip. Expect to see the fireballs over Perth in about an hour... Actually you’d better warn him the fireballs may damage his electronic gear too... Taking the snaps through caged trailers might offer his equipment a degree of protection.”
“Can I email him my photos?”
“Yeah... Just don’t mention who we are or what we’re doing for now.”
I nodded. Too easy.
I wasn’t really sure who they were anymore..
. Or what they were really doing. Then again it didn’t really matter who they were... All that mattered was they were the good guys. Like International Rescue. And they wanted me to keep their identities secret...
Ω
“Maya?”
Frank’s voice growled out of my laptop.
“Oh hi Frank.”
I deliberately sounded casual. Frank hated it and I knew it.
“These photos you’ve sent me Maya? Where did you take them?”
“Out of Laverton. About an hour ago.”
“This tip off you’ve got that these fireballs will be over Perth shortly... Are your informants reliable?”
“Yes.”
“Who are they Maya?”
“Just scientists.”
“Maya. I sent you to Laverton chasing an earthquake. How come you’ve ended up chasing fireballs?”
“They’re related.”
“Huh?”
“I can’t explain right this minute.”
“Maya!”
“Listen Frank. Did you do as I told you? Is everyone with cameras standing inside wire cages?”
“Yeah... It cost me an arm and a leg to get Coates Hire to open up after hours and hire me their cage trailers, but I did as you said... I’ve also got some of the crew standing inside bird cages up at Kohunu Wildlife Reserve.”
A deafening rumble.
“Frank? Are you alright?”
“Yeah... you weren’t wrong about when this thing would happen. Or about the noise... Sounds like a rocket’s approaching... I can see the lights now... They’re like coloured UFOs...They’re getting closer... We’re getting good footage... I’m looking down on the city from the top of Greenmount... The lights are going out...”
Everyone looked up with sudden interest.
“Have the fireballs gone Frank?”
“No... Not the fireballs... The lights in the city. Almost every light’s gone off... The City of Lights is virtually in complete darkness... It’s...”
The line went dead.
“Frank?”
Silence.
“Frank! Frank answer me!!” I screamed.
A flare of gut-wrenching fear. Zac draped a steadying arm on my shoulder.
“He may have just had to end the call... Or the internet might have gone down...”
I sniffed up noisily.
“Yeah... It couldn’t be that easy to get rid of Frank,” I replied weakly.
Ω
“It makes sense... Perth is isolated from rest of the world, so it’s the perfect place to conduct an experiment... in case combining both ground and sat generated E/M pulses has an unanticipated spin-off....” murmured Dave.
“And geographically it’s almost opposite the San Andreas Fault region in California....” muttered Zac.
“And what better way to strut your stuff than switch the entire City of Lights off?” mused Jake.
“Sick sense of humour,” repeated Dale.
Ω
“Maya... Can you hear me?”
“Yeah... You sound stressed Frank. You okay?”
“I’m okay... Everyone’s okay...”
“Why are you using the sat phone?”
“Communications are disrupted. Mobile phones have dropped out. The internet’s not working... And there’s no dial tone on landlines... I can’t even raise the office on the sat phone.”
“Maybe the emergency generator didn’t kick in at the office.”
“I suppose that’s possible.”
A subtle change in tone.
“What?”
“I was just thinking... It’s a bit like last time. Except last time there was just one fireball. And communications weren’t as affected as this.”
“Last time? This has happened in Perth before?”
“On a smaller scale. May 1st 1995. About 2 am. You would have been living in Israel with your parents at the time. About half a million people between Bunbury and Toodyay saw the fireball that time. Lots heard this roaring sound. Mundaring Seismic observatory picked up the ground vibration wave for almost two minutes. Witnesses in the Midland area saw the fireball stop dead in the sky and its tail invert. Then there was this enormous blue-white light like a welding arc flash, and an explosion which caused things to fall off the shelves. Then when it had finished with Perth, it travelled all the way up the coast terrifying people up as far as Sunday Island in the Kimberley region.”
“What was the official explanation last time?”
“A meteor.”
“Meteors don’t stop dead and hover over communities then take off again.”
“I know.”
“Meteors don’t travel in threes either Frank.”
“I know.”
“Meteors travel at 25,000 kilometres an hour Frank. You know what we saw tonight wasn’t going that fast. We observed the fireballs here and I gave you an hour’s warning that they were coming. And you heard the sound before you saw them. Which indicates they were travelling just under the speed of sound... Nowhere near the speed of bolides.”
“Observed them? Speed of sound? Bolides?!”
Frank sounded derisive. I braced myself for what I knew was coming.
“Maya. I sent you to Laverton to report on a simple earth tremor!”
“You had the gut feeling!” I retorted hotly.
“Listen Maya, I don’t know who you’re hanging out with but I’m pulling you off the assignment as of now. I want you back here to cover what’s happened in Perth first thing in the morning.”
I pulled a tissue out of my pocket and lay it over the top of the webcam.
“Frank? I’ve lost your face... Are you still there?”
“The old tissue-over-the-webcam trick doesn’t work with me Maya!”
I bent my head over and started scratching my hair near the mic.
“Sorry Frank... Interference on the line... What’d you say?”
Zac broke into a smile.
“Maya! I know you’re scratching your hair! I know you can hear me!” bellowed Frank.
Zac’s smile turned into a huge grin.
“Can’t...make...out...what...you’re...saying... Bye Frank... I’ll contact you... when I can...”
“Maya! I promised your Dad I’d keep you out of trouble!”
I kept scratching my hair but said nothing back.
“You should work for the IRA. To terrorize the terrorists! You hear me Maya!!”
Complete silence.
The three amigos were stifling their amusement. I wasn’t sure who would crack first. Frank or them.
“Well I’m hanging up on you then! Keep that petite arse of yours out of trouble tonight Maya... And I want you on the first flight back to Perth tomorrow... You hear me?”
Frank ended the call. Laughter erupted and filled the room.
Zac approached me. Circled around me like a tiger sizing up a meal.
“What?” I smiled.
“He’s right... It is petite,” he said with dancing eyes.
I flushed with pleasure. Another round of laughter. Healing the tension that had been in the room...
“I like that trick of scratching your hair to end a call,” added Jake.
“You’ve never done that before?”
“No. I don’t have to end many calls, but I must remember it... Talking of calls, maybe I’d better call Nan... Just to make sure she’s alright.”
Jake dialled home on his computer. A message about connecting to the lounge-room television flashed on his monitor.
“What version of Skype is that?” asked Zac inquisitively.
“It’s a version under development. It’s due to come out next year. I volunteered to test the prototype... It works on internet-connected widescreen T.V’s. Nan hardly ever has the computer on, so I’ve got the phone rigged up so it rings through the tele. She always has that on...”
Ω
“Hi Nan. It’s Jake... I’m having a fantastic time... I learnt to drive this arvo... Yeah... I was just won
dering if you saw any unusual lights in the sky a while ago? No? You were watching tele... CSI? Right... But no channels are working now? Hmmm... The tele transmitters may have taken a whack... And you can’t work out how to get the television-phone to work properly. Never mind. I can’t see you but I can hear you fine. Just pretend it’s an old-fashioned phone... Anything wrong with our generator? It’s working fine? Good... All our LED bulbs and Edisons working okay? Good... Nan, can you look outside for me and tell me if anyone else has got lights? Any of the neighbours? No... Okay... What about the university? Is it lit up? No it’s dark too?”
I found my curiosity growing as I listened into the one way conversation.
“Interesting... One more thing Nan... You know how you put that energy saving bulb in the socket out on the front porch.... Could you check to see if it’s working?”
A short pause.
“Yeah I’m still here... It’s not working? Hmmm... I thought as much... Listen, in the morning when you can see what you’re doing, put on disposable gloves and tie a plastic bag around the bulb. I’ll dispose of it through the university’s toxic chemicals unit when I get home...”
That’s a bit extreme Jake. It’s only a light globe.
“Listen Nan. As a precaution, fully top up both rainwater tanks with the bore tonight. Yeah both 200 000L tanks. Fill ‘em up. Yeah I know it means you’re gonna have to go to bed late, but you can always get up late to make up for it... The thing is, I think lots of people’s energy saving bulbs have blown not just yours. And if people dispose of them incorrectly, the heavy metals could make it dangerous to drink the water in Perth for a long while.”
Huh? What heavy metals?
“Nah... Sorry Nan. I can’t make CSI come back on the tele tonight... Everyone’s missing out on it, not just you. When I get back home I’ll find the episode on the internet and you can watch it online okay?... Actually, tell your friends down at Bingo tomorrow not to vacuum any broken bulbs up if theirs exploded... Handle ‘em with gloves...Yeah... Listen Nan... I have to go... I’ll call you again in a couple of nights... Bye... Love you...”
Ω
Thoughtful silence as Jake hung up.
“It could be a localized blackout,” he shrugged. “We get them from time to time.”
“Nah... It’s widespread I’d say. Sounds like everyone’s CFLs have fried too...”
“The cleanup’s gonna take a lot of planning...” murmured Jake.
“What cleanup?” I asked.
“CFLs contain nasties,” explained Jake. “If they’re disposed of en-masse in landfill, Perth’s groundwater will become non-potable.”
Unfit for drinking?
“Between what your Nan’s told us and Maya’s boss was saying, it sounds like the EMP has knocked out the main feeds from Muchea and Collie power stations and a fair bit of commercial telecommunications equipment as well... It’s amazing your house faired so well actually...” ventured Zac.
“I s’pose tonight was a good test... I’ve got all our crucial electrical appliances in the main part of the house electromagnetically hardened in a Faraday cage similar to Dave’s setup. Except because we’re on the grid, I use optical fibres to transfer data in and out of the house and the electrical power feeds have electromagnetic devices fitted to them to deal with transients...”
“So you don’t think you’ve lost much?” asked Dale.
“Nah...There’s nothing much in my bedroom... My desktop and all my important stuff’s in a study nook in the Faraday area.”
“How’d you set up the system?” asked Pete curiously.
“Basically if a transient trips an electromagnetic arresting device, the house is momentarily disconnected from the grid... Then if a secondary electromagnetic arresting device detects another transient, the house automatically switches over to our 5kvA wind generator. I’ve also got emergency power supplies for my computer and solar panels which charge a bank of 12 volt batteries for back up lighting if the other systems fail.”
“That’s pretty self sufficient for suburbia... How’d you get away with the wind generator?” asked Brendan
“It’s a custom design... I made it look like a ducted fan so people just think it’s a big air-conditioner on our roof... It charges a bank of modified Al/air batteries inside the attic... So even without any wind, the system can run the whole house for a week. ”
“Aluminium air batteries?” echoed Pete.
“Yeah... They used to be used as backup power supplies in telephone exchanges in the Telecom era. I picked them up for a song at an auction. They’re designed to produce vast amounts of electricity quickly and have consumable electrodes which can be readily replaced. I just use Coke cans… The system works fine but I’ve also been keeping an eye on the latest discoveries in biomimetics. In case something better comes up.”
Zac smiled with admiration. Impressed by the enormity of what Jake had done without assistance at such a young age.
“Why’d you set up such a self sufficient system?” he asked.
“I found the dream design in one of Mum’s notebooks one time. Nan told me she’d always talked about doing it. So I set it up. Just for somethin’ to do...”