CHAPTER FOUR
Jonathan was amazed. It’s really true. A hot meal in comfort can really do wonders for one’s morale. He noticed a perceptible optimism developing as his hunger began to abate. ‘Why would a full stomach bring about a change in ones attitude?’
Well, this seemed to be a case of matter over mind. He hoped his fellow passengers had also made the emotional adjustment.
As he now contemplated the worst-case scenario his pessimism wasn’t so extreme and could their experience be unique? And not what others on the planet had undergone? He smiled as he realized he had already made the transition of allegiance from country to planet.
He even chatted amiably with those in the first class area as he ate and had a sense of, well, hard to say but something positive. As in an absence of negativity. A filling meal and social intercourse really did wonders.
When Captain Schollander asked him to return to the cockpit this feeling persisted. But only briefly. It was time to make plans and the contingency plans when the first plans were found to be less than realistic.
Communications still did not work and they knew there would be no one in the sky until they approached California. They were on their own, at least, until they reached the California coast.
They all desperately wanted to find other human beings. Was it the social prerogative or do people need contact with others when times are difficult?
At any rate, they decided that some form of large block printing might do in a pinch if Morse code didn’t work.
Also, there was hope the Bay Area wasn’t as devastated as Hawaii and they discussed possible landing sites as well as what they may do to provide food and shelter.
In the cockpit, at least, there was optimism. Jonathan did not want to go back in the cabin and discuss worst-case scenarios. Even if it was true he couldn’t face it just yet.
Stacey came back from time to time and reported. The passengers were holding up well and those who had been hurt were resting comfortably. Two of the injured didn’t want anything stronger than an analgesic and Stacey thought it was because of the fear of something happening while they slept.
Yet, a couple of hours flying with the repetitive droning and no new cause for alarm seemed to create an atmosphere of peacefulness and calm throughout the cabin. No one had asked for a question and answer period for which Jonathan was grateful. He assumed everyone was waiting to see how the Bay Area fared.
Jonathan returned to his first class seat. Without anticipating it he dozed.
>
“Good afternoon. This is the captain speaking. We are thirty-five minutes from San Francisco airport. We have descended to twenty three thousand feet. I am going to start the descent as if we had a communicated flight path. We, as yet, still have no ability to communicate with anyone else and this could cause a problem if there is much air traffic above the airport.”
“So, we are changing our designated route somewhat to come into the Bay Area on a flight path closer to what the military uses. I must, however, go lower to able to view what may be in the skies of the San Francisco Bay Area.
“Flight attendants will go about the cabin and will be ready to relay anything anyone might see. Please, remain seated with your seat belts fastened.”
Jonathan became more alert while the captain spoke over the intercom. As silence from the intercom resumed, Stacey, the head flight attendant, came to his seat and informed him Captain Schollander would like to see him in the cockpit.
He rose, and with a big yawn stretched his body then walked to the cockpit hatch and knocked. He was admitted.
McNeill, the navigator, was smiling, and it occurred to Jonathan that Terry could often be found smiling. He wished he had found the inner peace to smile so readily.
Terry’s grin broadened as he turned to Prezlee, “the moment of truth awaits us upon these emerald shores and golden hills.”
Jonathan smiled. Terry’s attitude was contagious. “Ah, you have a poetic streak Terry. For myself, I’m not feeling so fatalistic and feel maybe things will be better here.”
Captain Schollander and Bob, the co-pilot, just nodded their heads and concentrated on the task at hand. Which was to get the plane in the vicinity of SFO sans communication in one piece.
Terry turned to Jonathan, “we haven’t sighted anyone one as yet but from this far out and at this altitude that’s not unusual. And, the flight plan I worked out we may not see anyone until we’re almost on top of SFO.”
Jonathan could now see green on the horizon and without realizing it scrunched up his face in thought. Terry’s smile widened. He heard Bob, say eighteen thousand feet.
Terry still smiled at Jonathan and looked like he was waiting. ‘Waiting for what?’
“Oh, you want me to guess where we’re heading. Hmm, well, it’s certainly not San Fran. Let’s see. The hills like that are south of the city and west of San Jose. Are we heading over the redwoods? Somewhere like Ben Lomond?”
McNeill just shook his head and smiled.
But after a couple of moments of quiet as Jonathan considered this, Terry’s patience waned and spoke up.
“No, but it’s a good guess. San Jose airport isn’t too far from there and there may be traffic.” The plane was soon to be flying over the green expanse of the coastal range.
“Ah, well.” Jonathan reflected he didn’t really like guessing games, “perhaps Monterrey?”
Terry gave Jonathan a pat on the shoulder, “nearly, but just a little north. Don’t want to get in the way of any stray army planes. Even though Fort Ord is closed it’s still part of the military fly zone.”
McNeill continued as the plane changed course and began to head north, “but you were correct about the hills between San Jose and San Francisco. We’ll be flying directly overhead. No other big birds fly this path so we should be pretty safe. And it should afford us a good view of what the skies over SFO might look like.”
They were still too high to see anything of what may be on the ground though he could see the smog and the general panorama of San Jose as they passed to the west of the largest city in the Bay Area.
They were now at sixteen thousand feet and could see the bay side of the peninsula. No other planes were in sight.
The captain then put the plane on an arc to swing over the bay and come towards SFO from the water.
Finally Bob the co-pilot couldn’t contain himself, “damn, we should be seeing all kinds of traffic.”
Terry again addressed Jonathan, “on a normal day there might be ten or more planes waiting to land just at SFO. Not to mention Oakland and San Jose. No one seems to be taking to the air, either.” Jim waited a few moments and added, almost to himself, “doesn’t look good.”
“Let’s go to ten thousand, Bob.” The co-pilot nodded to let Captain Schollander know that that wasn’t a bad idea.
As they approached SFO, which sits next to the bay’s shoreline south of San Francisco, they could also start to make out what highway 101 was like. Nothing moved or moved so slowly they couldn’t distinguish it but the highway certainly contained lots of traffic.
Gliding over the water brought a false sense of calmness which was extinguished instantly as they could now view the airport.
Nothing was standing and the area was cratered though not as severely as Hawaii. Planes were sitting on the runways with broken wings and listing badly. Buildings were flattened and they could see large holes in hangars where meteors struck. Small fires seemed everywhere.
They could see the highway did have numerous vehicles with people wandering but everything seemed directionless. Traffic wasn’t really going anywhere.
The plane headed north for San Francisco. Even before the plane was over the city they could tell no tall building stood.
“Holy hell,” Jonathan blurted out. “Where are the bridges?” He craned his neck to where the Golden Gate Bridge should be although he didn’t really expect it to see it.
Captain Schollander finally spok
e, “the bridges were the first thing I looked for.” He spoke in a flat monotone. None of the five bridges survived intact.
“Jonathan, I guess we’ll have to think about the contingency plans. But I will look over as much of the area as I can.” Captain Schollander then turned in his seat, “we’ll need a very good understanding of the worst case scenario. Could you Doctor, ah Jonathan, consider what it is you need to tell us and the passengers?” Captain Schollander smiled weakly, his first smile in ages. Jonathan could only nod his head.
Stacey knocked on the hatch and was admitted. She spoke to the Captain though it was for everyone.
“Captain, the passengers are getting restless and need you to address them.” She lingered for a few seconds but couldn’t think of anything else to add. In a sense, nothing needed to be added.
With a heavy heart and after a big sigh, “this is the captain speaking. I’m sure many of you now know this area, the San Francisco Bay Area, was also devastated. We cannot land at SFO airport and, well, the craters from the meteor swarm seem to have hit the whole Bay Area. I’m going to do some reconnaissance but it appears we’ll have to travel elsewhere.”
He paused, then, “we are a family now. Though strangers before we boarded this airplane we are now a community and as in any community we must help each other and rely on each other. In a little while Dr. Prezlee (no smile at the mention of his last name this time) will address you and a question and answer period may follow if it would be helpful. Stacey, the head flight attendant, will be supervising the preparation of our next meal.”
Again a pause, “I’d like to thank all the passengers and crew for remaining calm during this…ah, crisis. But, I add, we are not in the clear. We must find a location to be safe. Please continue to remain calm and any questions you may have you can give to one of the crew members.”
The plane flew to the east of Twin Peaks. They could see fires and people milling about or running. The plane headed past where the Golden Gate Bridge would have been and flew in an arc to examine more closely the ocean side shoreline on Jonathan’s suggestion.
The shoreline was visible. Nothing else was. The Sunset and Richmond districts before the settlement at Buena Vista in the early 1800’s had been sand dunes. Not even the native population lived there.
These two districts, mostly built up after World War Two, had reverted back two hundred years. Sand dunes and debris once again dominated the landscape.
The captain piloted the plane over the city and headed towards the east bay.
Here the tsunami had not been as devastating due to the narrow strait between San Francisco and Marin. Yet, the cratering and earthquake damage was widespread. Mt. Diablo had erupted throwing ash into the air. Larger fires were visible on this side of the bay. Wild fires and brush fires dotted the landscape.
Jonathan wondered if despair might be the most challenging problem facing them. It was disheartening to look at the complete destruction of a civilization where millions of people lived, loved, worked, avoided work and tried to live a life if not one with joy at least with a modicum of security and contentment. That was now lost; forever perhaps?
As he considered these gloomy thoughts someone shouted and pointed. He looked and for a little while had no idea what the shout and pointing meant. Then he saw a plane heading toward them. It was a small craft and looked a little like a military plane.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Captain Cassidy I’m Captain Schollander.” Captain Schollander had to yell. He stood at the open hatch which was twenty feet above the ground. Neither he nor any one else could deplane because they could never get back up. There was no ramp.
The airbus and the army transport had flown to a small airfield in northern California. It was mostly used by the U. S. Forest Service during the fire season. Fire season had been declared over months ago and no one was left to man the field or do any maintenance.
The place was deserted when they first landed but stragglers from the area showed up in dire condition. They were primarily loggers and their families. They were looking for news and in a few cases medical attention.
When Jonathan saw the horror on the faces of these people he knew for certain this was no sci-fi movie. Even more so when the hatch was opened.
The air was hot with cinders and ash from the volcanoes of the Cascade mountain range. They could easily see the plume from Mt. Shasta more than fifty miles away. The other plume was probably from Mt. Ashland. It was late afternoon but it was dark especially in the east where the Cascade volcanoes were.
A Morse code had been initiated and understood by both crews and Captain Cassidy had lobbied, successfully, for a rendezvous at this location. The army pilot knew of this airfield and after seeing the edge of the meteor swarm thought the destruction it caused might have missed the most northern regions of California.
With radio contact still unavailable it was hoped they could land in a safe place and compare notes.
With some trepidation Captain Schollander over the length of the landing strip agreed. The landing strip proved long enough with almost forty feet of tarmac left over for good measure. The major problem was the environment. It was hot and humid with no air movement as ashes and small cinders slowly rained down on them.
Both captains resolved not to spend much time on the ground and were making plans to fly to Vancouver Island as the most likely and promising safety zone. Yet, neither captain had completely accepted Jonathan’s worst case scenario.
So, Captain Cassidy decided to make a foray into the Sierras to see if any possible sites exist there and if anyone had survived relatively unscathed. The army pilot still had much fuel left from the flight up from Orange County and told Captain Schollander that he would join up on Vancouver Island. A placement of flares would be needed for him to have a safe landing strip.
The army co-pilot, Lieutenant Rangus, yelled as he hurried up to the two talking captains.
“We’ve found a sturdy twelve foot ladder and some crates we can stack on top of each other so we can transfer some of our passengers and the civilians to the airbus.”
Lieutenant Rangus had a big though sooty smile. “We’ll need some help at your end, Captain Schollander, but we can get everybody that needs to go with you up and in.”
Captain Cassidy slapped the lieutenant on the back, “well, let’s get going.”
One of the army medics was just then driving a forklift with a large crate and with some wrangling was able to position it under the open hatch of the airbus.
It took several more trips with only minor mishaps and a stable pyramid reaching 10 feet high was ready for the ladder. Prezlee and a local sawyer were chosen to be on the top platform of the pyramid to assist those onto and up the ladder. They would stabilize the ladder and assist each climber as far as they could. A powerful local Hawaiian man was at the entrance to the airbus to make sure the human cargo arrived safely.
This effort went smoothly but did take time. All the while the ashes and cinders kept up a light and unhurried but steady descent. Making everyone outside miserable while the oppressive heat made everyone inside wretched.
The head flight attendant, Stacy, made each new passenger comfortable and the few that were hurt were being treated by the Queen’s hospital intern, the veterinarian and soon the two medics.
The two medics had been assigned to the team of nurses heading to Fort Miley in San Francisco in the plane flown by Captain Cassidy. They were to attend and participate in the ongoing study of PTSD. Long a dilemma for the military and now recognized as a major problem in the civilian population.
A local supermarket down the road had numerous cans and packaged food still intact. As much as they could carry on the other forklift was brought to the landing strip and transferred to airbus. The food and water was stuffed into the cargo holds.
McNeill did the load calculation and with the use of fuel the loading of the food and water would not be a problem for takeoff.
Jonathan and a
local lumberman, his name was Hawk short for Hawkins, did the yeoman’s work with the help of a male flight attendant until the cargo holds were completely full.
“Ill never again say Hawaii is too humid.”
“I’ve heard Hawaii is humid,” said Hawk.
“Well, actually I never did think so but if you’ve ever been there for Kona winds then you’d think that. Very similar to this…but still not as bad.”
At last everything was ready for the plane to continue on to Vancouver Island. All the food was stored and secured and all the passengers had had ample time to stand and stretch their legs.
They didn’t dare wait too long as the ash was becoming noticeable on the runway and it would only get worse over time. Plus the huge jets couldn’t take much in the way of debris. Also, they didn’t want to arrive at Vancouver Island when it was dark though they did have more hours of daylight due to the crustal shift and probable axial displacement.
The stopover also had the effect to remove all doubts that a new era in human social development had indeed begun. While seeing Oahu and the San Francisco Bay Area there was a sense of unreality because they were in affect watching a reality show through the filter of a TV screen.
The small cabin windows on the plane distorted the authentic nature of what they were viewing. As in viewing any reality show the realness is interesting but it doesn’t really affect you.
Not until they had the airbus hatch open and could get the feel of the environment did the actuality of a global catastrophe begin to be appreciated.
The original passengers of the airbus were at times quiet, pensive or moody. It took some time before they interacted with the new arrivals. It was now their turn to ponder on what the future might hold. None on the plane had any clue what could be needed and what each might do to survive. With the possible exception of Dr. Jonathan Prezlee.
Most of the people on the plane had no job or calling in this new world. Without fuel planes couldn’t fly. Captain Schollander and the co-pilot will be grounded. Businessmen of most stripes will have no business to conduct. Most of the passengers had had jobs which will be superfluous now.