David finished up his readings for the night and switched on the small portable radio someone had left a long time ago. As he turned the small dial trying to find a channel, he was surprised that all he could get was static. Static and funky sounding distortion. David fiddled with the knob until weird, alien voices began to be heard. At first, he thought he was merely hearing static, but as he continued to listen, the voices, though foreign, could clearly be heard. He continued to adjust, the voices becoming clearer still until the telephone rang. The sudden change, made him jerk the dial, losing the signal while he stared blankly at the ringing phone. After a few moments, he switched off the radio and answered.
“Dude, you gotta check out the sky!” Chris said. “It is like the northern fucking lights outside.”
“What do you mean?”
“The sky’s going crazy…”
“You know I can’t leave the desk unattended.”
“Just do a parking lot check and get out here. Take some pictures.”
With that, the line went dead. Aggravated that he lost the strange signal, David almost purposely returned to his seat and went on reading. Where it not for the oblong view of the glass front doors, he would have thought that nothing was amiss. He could see what appeared to be orange lightning reflecting on the windshields of the vehicles parked outside. Quickly, he rose and with camera in hand, went outside.
It took his mind a long time to grasp what it looked like was happening. A volcano? A lava lamp? He had seen it in Spencer’s the last time he had been to the Riverchase Galleria Mall. One of those lightning ball things. A Plasma Sphere! The sky had the weird look of one of those plasma spheres shooting slow waves of orange light across the sky. As he rose his iPhone to take a video, the device relented. Acting as though it had gotten wet, the waves of strange light made it difficult to activate the device’s camera. With a little effort, it appeared to be recording the event.
In the distance, he could see the younger guard standing outside the guard shack. In one hand he held up his phone while the other held his electronic cigarette/pipe thing. After changing hands a couple times, David stopped recording and made his way over to the other Guardspointe employee. By the time he reached the shack, he had already posted the video to Facebook.
“Alright, what is going on?”
“Solar flare. Or a solar storm, rather.”
David blinked at the younger man for a moment, not believing that this punk kid could already know what’s happening.
“Trust me, I’m really geeky about these sorta thing. Kinda like the what Fantastic Four went through.”
David never liked how much he swore, which is part of the reason he never spoke much with Chris. Granted, in his younger days, he could barely finish a sentence without using the word ‘fuck’ several times.
“NorStat has been reporting for the last several years that the surface area of the sun has been nearly silent with the lack of normal sunspots and shit, but that the subsurface area has been boiling like a pressure cooker.” The white guy continued. “Whatever solar membrane that has been keeping the shit from shooting out like normal fucking gave way and is now erupting all over the solar system. “
For a while, they watched the light show in silence. When it seemed like it wasn’t going to end soon, David said goodnight to younger, white guard and headed back to his post. Sitting down, he stared at the daily log before writing “Conducted Parking Lot Patrol – All Secure”. Looking at his watch, it was almost 3am. Nine more hours until his shift ended. Six more until Gisele and the kids would be up. He had thought of calling them already, but he didn’t want to disturb them. Hopefully, the solar storm would pass and nothing would be amiss. His phone still worked, albeit a bit wonky. His father in law would be up in a couple hours before he would head to his own job at the foundry in Alabaster, so David figured he would call him at work.
David logged back onto the computer, but the internet connection was worse than his phone’s. Instead, he loaded one of his own Cd’s into the drive and started playing. Though the internet wasn’t running properly, the plant-wide emergency broadcast system displayed itself in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. A loud alert sounded and the text box read:
‘The national weather service of America has issued a warning for the serious solar anomaly for the whole of the United States of America for an undetermined length of time. Officials are asking that you remain indoors until the event has resolved. Conditions are as follows: limited visibility, darkness, and regular weather conditions. If you are currently driving please seek immediate shelter until the event has resolved. Please stay tuned for any updates to the solar anomaly.’
Mechanically, David picked up the telephone and punched in the numbers ‘7’ and ‘8’ to access the plant’s PA system.
“Weather services have announced a solar anomaly. Supervisors please direct your personnel to the north or south break areas and then come to the front lobby.”
When he hung the receiver on the rack, he didn’t let it go. Somewhere back in his high school days, he remembered one of his teachers talking about a time where New York City’s power grid went down for 24 hours and how the ensuing riot cost millions of dollars in damages. The police and local citizens seemed to lose control within a few hours of the seemingly minor inconvenience. The time was only a quarter after three and it would be a few minutes still before the supervisors would make their way to the guard’s room. David quickly dialed his home number on the office phone. As he suspected the landlines are functioning better than the phone or internet connections.
“Morning baby.” Gisele says in a sleepy voice.
“Mornin’ Baby,” I reply trying to sound chipper. “Have you seen the news yet?”
“Not yet. Is there something wrong?”
“Try to remain calm and listen. I want you to do exactly as I say. First, gather up all the dry and canned food from the cabinets and take them into the basement. Are your parents still there?”
“Mom is still in bed, but Dad is at work.”
“Ok wake her up and have her help you get as much of our valuables down into the basement as you two can. Also get all the water containers you can, fill them up, and bring them downstairs as well.”
“Babe, what’s going on?”
For a while, David didn’t respond. He didn’t know if anything was going to happen, and he had scares before, but this certainly seemed a legitimate reason for alarm.
“There has been some serious solar flare activity, and I am worried that the power might go out for a long period of time. Hopefully, nothing happens, but I want you and the kids, and your parents safe. Okay? Tell me you are going to do this.”
For once in a long time, he could hear the emotion in his own voice. Gisele did as well and quickly agreed.
“I love you!”
“I love you too! Are you coming home?”
“I’m going to try. If the plant manager isn’t in then I am going to lock everything up here and leave.”
“Alright. Be careful!”
“I will.”
“Love you! Bye.”
James C Gilliam 