Chapter 55 - Hitting Home

"What the hells up now", said Simon who had just been woken up. He went outside again and a full moon had come up. "What's all that white stuff down there?"

Felicity joined him and looked down. "Its surf. Albany is gone."

"Don't be stupid, that's bullshit. Its a hundred k's to the coast."

It was a lot to take in for someone who was completely unprepared. "Well whatever it is, lets keep a look out. I know its dangerous to climb higher in the dark, but I don't fancy getting swept away in that either." They both stood staring at the vague chaos raging below them. Even when it became obvious it wasn't going to reach them they still continued to stare until the sun came up.

The enormity of the situation was fast becoming apparent to them. Below a certain level the trees had been flattened as far as the eye could see. Simon spoke, "Years ago, around the turn of the century my Dad said that Esperance had been cut off for about a week after a freak thunderstorm and that was obviously nothing compared to this. Even if there were something left of Albany there is no way we can drive out of here."

"Lets see if we can make it to that Cafe at the turn off", suggested Felicity. It was then that the shock hit her. "My family are dead. They're just gone. I'll never see them again." She began to cry and Simon did what he was good at. Being that pillar of stoic strength when the situation demanded it. After about 20 minutes she found herself again and they continued the descent.

They reached the dip before the carpark, which was still flooded. The water was criss-crossed with fallen trees and they were able to drag themselves to the other side. There was plenty of opportunity to get a taste of saltwater and now it was Simon's turn to mourn the passing of his family as the enormity of the situation hit home.

Eventually the ascending up the stairs to the carpark. The moped had been washed away, the only way they were getting out of here was on foot. Felicity went to the far side of the carpark and from what little of the road she could see there were trees blocking it.

She looked around. The water tanks had been spared! The carpark had two rain harvesting water tanks. There were the usual warnings about the water being unfit to drink so the authorities could cover their legal arses. However it was obvious that the intent was to provide water for dehydrated tourists. Besides that both had drank this water on previous occasions and it had never done them any harm.

"I wonder how full they are?", asked Felicity.

Simon ran his hand slowly down from the top of the tank and noted the change in temperature. "This one is about three quarters full." He did the same for the other tank. "And this one is about two thirds. Hey its starting to get dark again."

"And its going to get hot soon. The impact has created an ejector cloud and this will likely reach us and be very hot.", warned Felicity.

"Then lets fill up our water bottles and anything else we can find in the bins with fresh water and get back into the dip. That lingering sea water should keep us cool.", suggested Simon.

Soon it was getting hotter so they headed for the lower ground. They were fortunate enough to find themselves protected by a lens of cool air which had nowhere to go. This protected them from the hot air above for several hours until it subsided.

"Its getting hot", noted Deidre.
"I've been told to expect this", said Tracy. "Fortunately we are nearly on the other side of the planet from the explosion."
"We need to ride this out in the cellar", put in Andy. "Do we have water down there?"
"There is a hidden tank beneath the floor of the cellar. We will have to handpump it out. Its a 500 litre tank that is full."
"Its good that you have it but what was the thinking behind that", asked Deidre.
"In case of marauders helping themselves to the water tanks. Fighting is risky business, from a survivalist point of view its better to hide. You need to make sure you can afford to."
"Do we know how long this is going to last", asked Brent.
"No way of telling. But the underground mammals got through it 66 million years ago. We can do it again.", Tracy replied.

They got down into the cellar. Tracy showed them the handpump and other features of the cellar. There was a diesel powered jack hammer in case they found themselves trapped down here. There were six 20 litre pails to serve as emergency composting toilets. "While the compost you place on top will trap all smells, for the few minutes any waste is uncovered. Still you can't have everything", explained Tracy. Brent could smell the earth, the wood of the floorings and a hint of diesel from the jack hammer. What has to be endured has to be endured. He was somewhat relieved that he had emptied his bowels immediately before coming down here.

Tracy took out a tablet from the filing cabinet. "This hooks into six cams from around the house. The idea being that if we ever come under attack we need to know when its safe to come out. This is our duel digital thermometer. So its 28℃ in here and 45℃ outside. It updates once a minute. I got it in case of bushfire. The outside sensor is in an old pot with a lid on within the shade of one of the trees outside."

"Whoa, that's just jumped up to 50.", exclaimed Andy. They kept their eyes on it as it climbed up to 85℃. "I can smell hot wood", said Brent, trying to hide the tremor in his voice. If a fire started at this temperature they wouldn't have time to use the jack hammer, nor would they be able to survive outside if they did. In what seemed like an eternity the temperature dipped to 45. "There's been hotter days in Kalgoorlie and I'm done being trapped in this spider hole", declared Andy. "Time to go up and take a look around."

Brent followed him but the women decided to wait a little longer. The heat was oppressive, Andy checked his watch. 4PM. It was darkish, the sky a blood red. "Thank god there were no fires.", Andy told him. "We are going to need face masks or filter our air one way or the other.", Brent pointed out. Just then it started raining, but it was a dirty hot rain and the humidity that came with it was unbearable. They headed back to the safety of the cellar. Andy stopped in the kitchen. "There's a battery back up for the fridges. Yep, this switch here." The fridge and freezer hummed into life. "Ok, lets grab milk, cereals and tinned salmon. It could be a while before we can cook again."

Once down in the cellar Brent explained the need for filtered air. "Didn't think of that one", said Tracy. "But we do have the evaporative air con. Assuming that its still working, along with the diesel gensets then what we can do is to open the doors to the house, switch on just long enough to blow the stale air out, close the doors and shut off the air con until it get too stuffy again."

"We can't keep that up for long. The filter of the air con is going to clog up.", said Deidre.

"Ok, so how did these mammals survive it when the dinos got wiped out", asked Andy.

"They were underground, the ash fell on the ground, but not through it.", guessed Brent.

"Then how come they didn't run out of air in the ground", asked Deidre

"Because the air could get through the soil but the ash could not. And the soil didn't clog up because the bacteria munched on it.", Tracy answered.

"So all we need is some bacteria filters so they won't clog." Everyone looked at Andy and there was stony silence. He swallowed and realised he was thirsty from all the sweating from outside. He remembered from a few months ago feeling thirsty when climbing up Bluff Knoll. It wasn't so much thirst back then but a dry throat from breathing heavily through his mouth. He remembered someone passing him on the way down who had a tube connected to a specialised rucksack full of water. Then the inspiration hit him. A rucksack, which was made of porous woven plastic or cloth, stuffed full of compost with a breathing pipe going from the centre of the rucksack to the users mouth. He explained his idea.

"What about infections from the compost", asked Brent.

"We are all young and healthy", said Tracy who shot a glance at Deidre for confirmation. "I've gone out of my way to produce a lot of compost without any, well conventional livestock or vertebrate manure. If we have to eat slaters, termites and earthworms raw then we shouldn't get sick. But as for breathing through compost. That's like a whole new scary level of exposure. We may or may not get sick. I don't know."

Up to this point Deidre had been feeling useless since she had come here. Andy and Tracy were way ahead of the game. Brent was struggling mentally but could contribute physically while he caught up. But she had nothing to offer and then she saw her chance. "I'll do it. Someone has to go first so others can do the looking after if they get sick."

"Not on your own", said Andy.

"Probably a good idea of have a male and female. We have different immune systems.", said Brent.

"So how are we going to make it", asked Tracy.

"At least one rucksack each. Some plastic tubing, with the sides of the pipe glued to the wall of the rucksack. The mouthpiece can be from a snorkell. I used to be a surfie.", added Brent.

"Better add shoe glue, UHU or Tarzans grip to the list."

"If the piping is made from washing machine water outlet hosing then since the pipe is concertinaed then any stray particles well get trapped in the pipe, hopefully.", added Deidre.

"Sounds like a plan", said Tracy. "We need to act quickly on this make a trip into town and get this stuff while everyone else is still in shock."

"Brent and I will go", declared Andy. "Apart from the emotional shock, many will be physically bowled over by the heat. I'll check the SUV to see if it starts." He did, it did. He came back in. "Add an air filter for the SUV to the list, Brent".

They decided to head off straight away. As much as they could endure they kept the vehicles air conditioning turned off to lighten the load on the vehicle. However as they approached town the humidity became unbearable and they switched it on. The tsunami had just reached town and folks had come out of their homes to see the novel experience. By the time they realised they were getting too hot and by the time that realised it wasn't going to quickly pass and by the time they got back into their homes it was too late. Most homes didn't have a cellar or back up electricity. The scheme electricity had not come back on since the earthquake hit. There were a few survivors but they were in no condition to put up a fight.

Andy and Brent put on their headlamps. They stopped at the petrol station and used concertinaed fuel funnels and helped themselves to various type of glue. They got the rucksacks and snorkels from the sports shop. Once again they were relieved that they met no resistance. Most of the buildings had cracked windows so gaining entry wasn't hard. They got themselves some food and bottled water from the supermarkets and headed back to the farm ASAP. No dramas, none needed. "I just hope that no one saw which direction we left in.", said Andy.

Imogen finally succeeded in getting a response from Bir Tawil over the shortwave radio. The frequency 6.892 MHz and a call sign of BT2020 matched. 6.66Mhz had briefly been considered but it had been decided that every metal head survivor would be using that. The message had been simple enough and in the obsolete morse code: "No fatalities, no injuries. Major repairs underway and doable. No assistance needed." While it would be nice to have more comprehensive communication that was all she needed to hear. The best of humanity was surviving.

The Siberian group had fared somewhat better. There was a brief crackling conversation. They had chainsaws, lots of trees, lots of pine bark pith and quite a few bears to hunt. What they didn't have was any decent technology. But they would survive, she was sure of it. They also had plenty of snow to act as an air filter.

Any luck with Boudicea 3, she asked Daniel. He shook his head. "I think poor old octopus is on a one way trip to hell. You can call this fate if you like but by the time the Boudicea crashes on the red planet the octopus would have lived a normal lifespan." It was a crazy idea, Imogen thought to herself silently.

Felicity knew they were in trouble. When the rain started she realised just how much dust was in the air. As the upper air cooled, which it soon would, their protective lens would rise up and the dirty air would take its place. She looked at Simon with the fear in her eyes. "If we can't figure out how to avoid that dust we absolutely will suffocate after a number of weeks, or possibly months."

Simon didn't have too many inspired thoughts, but he had one at the right time. "Hey you know when it first started raining. Well there were heaps of dirt in that first water. What if the leaves were dusty, if they get the dust first then we may be ok if we build ourselves a cubby house or something... Hey if there's a cave around here all we have to do is cover the entrance with branches." She suddenly smiled and kissed him. "I knew you'd come good some day. It's still pretty hot outside of this dip we are in and if its too hot when we walk we are going to run out of water. Lets sleep for a while"

Simon was soon asleep from the emotional exhaustion. Felicity didn't know why she hadn't had the idea before. She pressed her hands against the damp earth and connected with the mycelium / bacterial network of the forest. Within this biological "cyberspace" which is more commonly known as the astral plane, she could find a disturbance, which she could best explain was due to the presence of a cave. She mapped out the direction of it and joined Simon in sleep.

A few hours later and they were awake. Simon, being on unfamiliar territory, was easily pointed in the right direction. They used some spare clothing as dust masks. After about half an hour they found it, deliberately concealed by sawed off branches. There were several saplings in front of the branches which looked like it had been planted there by someone who wanted to hide the cave with green foliage. "Careful Simon", she said as they approached the entrance.

Simon called out, switched on his headlamp and went inside. "Its a fucking meth lab, or at least that's what it looks like." Satisfied that no one else was in the cave he motioned her to come in. Felicity wasn't sure if it were a meth lab either. "Certainly some kind of clandestine chemistry. This could explain the evil presence she felt while on the astral plane. She walked around inside the cave. "We've got about half a house of spare area. We won't touch the chemistry set unless we have to. There's still an outside chance someone may come looking for it, even if they don't have much of a customer base left. Either way, without this equipment our capacity to manufacture anything is zero."

"What are we going to do for water?", asked Simon. Felicity looked around. "Here at the back there is a small trickle of water. This must have taken weeks to filter through the rocks above and being the dry season and its still going so we can rely on this.

Andy and Brent got back to the farm and got the gear back into the house. "I can't believe what you've just told me", said Deidre. "How could you just go in and help yourself to stuff without helping anyone."

Brent decided that he would have to be the one to tell it like it is since Andy was becoming too involved with her. "Don't get me wrong. I am not proud of what I've done. We had to do what needed to be done. This is the kind of disaster where the day after is going to be very different from the day before. We cannot afford the burden of people who could possibly drag us down. Now a few months down the track when we have proof that we have the spare capacity to take in more people then that's a different story. We will also know that they must be strong to have survived that long. I would rather be condemned by history than to have no history to condemn anyone. Our species may well hang by a thread."

Deidre looked at Andy. "I'll let you know when I've got a good answer to that", he said. "In the meantime lets survive ourselves and build capacity so we can help others in a few months time. Brent, how long before you can get those filters ready."

"A couple of hours work, tops. I'll do it in the shed outside to avoid the fumes and unless the air con is going to stop working a lot quicker than what I'm guessing it will we can leave the filters there so the glue will stop giving off fumes. Its bad shit."

"What are we going to do about the chickens. They must have died.", said Andy.

"There are incubators with a capacity of 60 eggs in the cellar and they're full. I figured it would be a good precaution in case they ever got attacked by a fox.", Tracy replied.

"I knew what I was doing when I hired you.", said Andy. "What are we going to feed them".

"Well since the mulch didn't catch fire any bugs feeding off it will have been insulated from the heat. The load delivered yesterday won't be of much help yet but there is plenty of it from around the farm. In fact there should be enough to keep us going as well as the chicks."

Simon spent half an hour digging away where the trickle of water was. He managed to dig a hollowed out bowl shaped depression underneath it. This would make drinking water easily available. Now they could at least stay here for a while.

They barely noticed it at first, but what started as a random flutter grew in intensity as the trees gave up their dead leaves. The leaves, being of large surface area relative to their volume quickly heated up along with the air. And so they drifted down. "We need to get to work on that lot", said Felicity.

"For what, they're just fucking leaves", declared Simon.

"There's going to be eight piles. Three for each of us to start with. When we take our first crap one pile starts to get filled from the leaves of the other. That's two piles left. Of those one pile for when we want to take a leak. The remaining pile, which shall be on the high ground is for bugs to crawl around in. Once our food supplies run out we are going to have to eat those bugs to live.", Felicity explained.

"Are you kidding. You'll never get it big enough.", he said matter of factly.

"Oh yes we will, or we are going to die starving."

"Can't we try something a bit more normal"

"Like starving"

"What about killing a few dingos. Well come to think of it there would be a few dead ones lying around the place"

"You're forgetting the 1080 poison. You know the stuff that was used by the government to kill Aborigines who want to go off the grid."

"So what about farmers fields"

"There's no sunlight. In a few weeks time the livestock will have died of hunger along with the roos if they haven't been hunted already. Out in the open we are also breathing in more of this dust. If we stay in the cave and you know make baffle walls from woven sticks and mud then the air in the cave should be good."

"Look I've gone camping as a kid and I never saw many bugs in these kind of leaves anyway. What makes you think they'll start breeding now?"

"Dampness and minerals"

"Ok there's a lot of dampness in the ground, maybe that's enough of that. But there's no fucking minerals in this soil. Mr Hoskins told us in geology, remember".

"The dust, straight from a volcano and its going to be slowly raining down here for years. If push comes to shove we may have to eat the bugs hanging around our urine based composts or even worse. That's why we're having separate composts."

It took a few moments for the gravity of the situation to sink in for Simon. They were restricted to traveling by foot. A tsunami wave must have flattened Albany, Denmark and Mt Barker for it to have reached this far. To find a roadhouse is no longer the same as finding a drink. They were tethered to this place by their need to drink. If civilisation hadn't fallen then they will hear the occasional plane, plastics will start floating downstream again, fields will be harvested. That can be seen from kilometres away. In the meantime it really was a case of build, build, build those compost piles.

Once the leaves have been used up there would be the bark, then twigs. "You know you really are something. I'm lucky to have you to see me through this.", said Simon with genuine affection.

They spent the rest of the day making their compost piles. The dampness would act as a magnet to the soil invertebrates. They self taught primitive weaving of sticks and saw the need for improvement. They must start all over again. Everything. The battery in Felicity's mobile phone died, not that it was much use to her anyway. She wondered, if she kept her phone safe and passed it down the generations would it help technology to progress or would it simply be the subject of a conspiracy theory on a future youtube thousands of years from now.

Desolation reigned supreme. But for how much longer. Just the blink of an eye in geological terms. But in human terms it was long. However there was no choice. Most of the Earths evolutionary innovations were stored safely in the genomes of the deep biosphere, both in bacteria and viruses. While still slow by human time frames life would make a stunning recovery as soon as conditions on the planet allowed it to do so.

Russia, China and India had fared the best since they had major populations centres away from the coast. It was however a hollow victory for all three countries. All had received extensive damage with infrastructure so badly damaged that they quickly ceased to function as the nations they once were. Of those three India would be the first to go. Their main harvest was about to start and overnight there was nothing left in the fields to gather. The first wave of people to die were those on regular medications. The diabetics, the heart sufferers and the asthmatics all became emergency rations for the hungry rats caught by surprise from the lack of human food waste.

Russia was next, who once again proved their capacity to suffer more than any other people who ever walked the Earth. What few power stations could be got working again didn't have any fuel to fire up. After the initial heating from the impact the Earth starting cooling down on top of which Russia headed into its winter. The two greatest generals of the Red Army, General January and General February wasted no time in turning on their starving own. Without compunction they pierced the hearts of millions with shards of cold steely ice.

Many in China thought they were going to make it. An estimated billion Chinese had died in the first few months. An unspeakable tragedy, but that left 500 million alive and a strong 500 million at that. Yes, a huge loss had been taken, but they were still strong in a world with no America, no Russia and no Europe. The planet was theirs.

The Chinese Communist Party was far more realistic about the situation. The one huge positive they had was that a decade ago Xi Jinping had ordered that all scientific discoveries and patents be stored on micro-fiche deep underground. This was so knowledge could survive the electromagnetic pulse of a nuclear attack. Not only that but the equipment to read the micro-fiche and generators with fuel to power that equipment was stored alongside it in huge Faraday cages. If they could hang in their for 10 years then China could emerge advanced and victorious while the rest of the world was thrown back into the stone age with no low hanging fruit in the form of metal ores to get themselves out of it.

With the food system gone they still had hundreds of millions of too many people to feed. Before the dead could be buried the Chinese Communist Party had begun the Second Long March campaign. People could leave China, mainly for Mongolia, Russia and India and whatever land they could live off would be theirs to be passed down their family. Many did leave, 300 million in total, only to perish in the devastated landscape of a wounded planet. Two hundred million people would be enough to carry the flag of supremacy of Chinese civilisation and they had plenty of land to grow their food on. But even the CCP was ran by fallible humans who fooled themselves. With the shockingly poor growing conditions the land took more human calories of energy than it could give back in the form of food. So the harder they worked the land the quicker they made themselves hungry. The officials watched in dismay as their population was whittled away to nothing. There was not even the smell of the dead as they were eaten too quickly by the starving survivors and the rats.

The Chinese empire had come to an end, but all was not lost.