2021 Read online

  Even Seattle reported feeling the tremor, fortunately though, its power supply was still intact.

  For the people in the giant power cut area though, it was to be a very long night spent just huddling in the complete pitch dark, waiting for the dawn to arrive.

  Chapter Eleven

  Day Two:

  8th January 2021

  California, U.S.A.

  The next day, the whole world was waking up to the news that there had been a massive power failure all along the Californian coast.

  In many countries around the world though, people read about the giant power cut around page seven in their newspapers as it was hardly considered a major news event. Whilst on many television channels it was hardly even mentioned at all.

  All over the rest of America however, it was now front page news.

  The recriminations soon began as angry relatives unable to even contact their friends and family within the power cut area, now demanded to know when the power would be turned back on!

  Soon, the President found himself under pressure to quickly resolve the matter and so he quickly passed this responsibility on to the power companies themselves.

  The power companies however, reported they could find no faults all along their systems and they were entirely baffled as to what had even caused such a catastrophic failure. They pointed to odd anomalies such as a cable working fine along an area only to then suddenly fail once it reached a certain point. They had never encountered such a strange phenomenon ever before and were simply struggling to even understand how it could even happen.

  The President ordered an emergency meeting with the power companies chief executives that quickly became quite heated!

  In the end, fed up with hearing endless technical jargon the President just exploded.

  ‘LOOK! I DON’T CARE HOW YOU DO IT, BUT I JUST WANT THE POWER FOR ALL THESE PEOPLE PUT BACK ON! NOW!’ he demanded angrily.

  ‘Mr President, we are all trying our best to fix it, but the power just seems to drop off once we reach certain points’ explained one expert engineer.

  ‘Well just send your engineers into those areas to fix them then!’ demanded the President, now unable to hide his frustration.

  ‘But we have, Mr President, but we just seem to lose touch with our people once they enter the area’ explained one power company head.

  ‘You’ve experienced that? We’ve experienced the same thing’ interrupted another power company boss.

  ‘And us!’ agreed another.

  ‘Then what the hell is going on in these areas?’ asked the President, now calming down a little as he was beginning to appreciate their quandary.

  ‘Mr President, we have no explanation as to why we can’t contact anyone in these areas. I mean, we have no internet, no telephone, no satellite communications, No CB radio, no mobile phone communications, or anything at all. We simply can’t communicate with anyone within this power cut area for some reason’ explained one power station boss as all the rest nodded their heads in agreement.

  ‘This is just ridiculous!’ uttered the President. ‘If you cannot resolve this soon, I’ll have to declare a state of emergency!’

  ‘We’re all doing our very best, Mr President’ another company boss assured him.

  ‘Well then, do better than your best!’ the President smiled.

  ‘OK, I suggest we use the Pentagon as our base until we get this situation resolved’ stated the President firmly.

  Complaints from people unable to even contact friends and relatives living in the effected area were now increasing dramatically.

  Business leaders were also now complaining how it was costing them millions of Dollars for every hour this power problem couldn’t be resolved.

  Very quickly the power companies and power stations were now all liaising with each other from their new Pentagon base in an all out effort to finally solve the problem, but very soon it became evident something else was going on.

  After seeing how angry the President had became last time, before they reported back to him this time they literally all drew lots to decide who was going to have to inform the President of this new development.

  Finally, the unlucky man met up with the President as the power company’s representative.

  ‘Well? You’ve got some good news for me I hope?’ asked the President.

  The man was already shaking his head.

  ‘We’re still at a loss as to what is going on, Mr President’ he confessed. ‘Every power company has now sent in engineers fully loaded up with equipment, but the moment they enter the effected power cut area, it seems they are never heard or seen of again’ he shrugged.

  ‘But this can’t be?’ puzzled the President ‘what the hell is going on here?’ he questioned.

  At this stage, it was still early morning and despite all the power failures covering such a large area, many aircraft were still due to land at international airports such as Los Angeles. These included small private aircraft and helicopters, right up to large passenger jets.

  They upon entering the power failure area now all began to simply fall from the sky!

  In a single one hour period no less than one hundred and forty five aircraft of varying sizes simply dropped off air controller’s screens!

  The President immediately declared an instant state of emergency and ordered all aircraft in the entire United States to be grounded!

  Television news teams themselves flew small helicopters into the power affected area and were themselves never seen or heard of again!

  The President now alerted the National Guard!

  Chapter Twelve

  Day Three:

  9th January 2021

  The Pentagon, U.S.A.

  Electrical engineers, military experts and scientists of all kinds were now all called to an emergency meeting at the Pentagon, and they all argued amongst themselves until the President himself made an appearance and then they were all quiet.

  ‘Gentleman, I have handed this problem over to General O’Dowd and I have full confidence in him to finally resolve this matter. So have I your assurances that you will do all you can to finally find an answer to this now disastrous situation?’

  Everyone in the room either nodded their heads or answered ‘yes, Mr President’ so then the President continued.

  ‘I have no idea what is going on here, but have to consider whether we are in fact at war and somehow someone has found a way to tamper with and disrupt our power facilities.

  ‘Mr President is there any evidence that someone has attacked our infrastructure?’ a scientist now asked.

  ‘No there isn’t’ the President admitted ‘but I have to consider this could be a case of industrial espionage on a colossal scale. When our planes are now falling from the sky, it could even be an open act of terrorism or maybe even war declared against us’ uttered the President as many people now gasped in horror. ‘Gentleman, I now have to return to Washington, so we now need answers and quickly please!’

  ‘Mr President, it could simply be a very unusual atmospheric condition, such as unusually large sun spots’ suggested one scientist.

  ‘That could explain the strange sightings in the night sky a few days ago’ agreed another.

  ‘Well, we’re not about to suggest dropping bombs on anyone quite yet, Gentleman’ responded the President as he held up his hands to calm everyone down. ‘All I’m saying is, we need to keep an ‘open mind’ on this thing, as it could even be a successful cyber terrorist attack for all we know’ suggested the President. ‘But we need to get this problem licked and quickly, Gentleman, as a great many people have now died and I don’t wish to see anymore die as a result of this. I need to go back to the American people with some answers, Gentleman and quickly!’

  The President then briefly spoke to the General privately before departing.

  The moment the President left the roo
m the arguments all commenced all over again.

  General O’Dowd just stood looking at them all and shaking his head, then he shouted loudly to get their attention.

  ‘THIS DAMN PROBLEM MUST BE SOLVABLE!’

  He now had their full attention.

  ‘But, General, every person we send into the area is never seen or heard of again’ explained an expert in nuclear power.

  ‘But why aren’t we hearing from any of your engineers? Did they not have any telecommunications with them?’ asked the General.

  ‘Yes, all ours did’ answered another man ‘but we still couldn’t contact them or apparently them us’ he puzzled.

  ‘Ours went in with walkie talkie radios and their own mobile phones but still we haven’t heard from any of them’ another power company engineer then explained.

  ‘And when we send someone in to find the ones that went missing, they just go missing too!’ explained another man.

  ‘What if we send in surveillance craft to fly in over the area and see what is happening that way?’ suggested a scientist.

  ‘It won’t work!’ answered a man standing at the back as they all looked around at him.

  ‘Sorry, I’m Ray White, scientist with NASA’ he introduced himself ‘nothing is able to film over that area, as anything that even passes over it immediately switches off’ he explained.

  ‘Surely that’s nonsense?’ queried the General.

  ‘No, even satellites in space are shutting down whenever they pass over the area as does every single plane, helicopter or any other craft that passes over it’ he explained as they all gasped and then scratched their heads in dismay.

  ‘What about Mantle Earth they managed to photograph my wife sun bathing naked real close up in my back garden last week?’ suggested someone to some chuckles of laughter.

  A man who had just entered then answered his question.

  ‘NA, SORRY! BUT NOTHING WORKS!’ he announced as he moved further into the room. ‘I’ve just come from NASA and we rerouted the International Space Station’s orbit to pass over the affected area. Now every time it does, it too suffers a catastrophic power failure. So no one can even view what’s going on in there, even from space, and that, Gentleman is just awesome technology!’ he concluded.

  ‘What the heck!’ uttered General Iram.

  General O’Dowd noticed him sitting there.

  ‘General Iram, have you any thoughts yourself on this matter?’

  ‘Could we not approach from the sea using our navy?’ he suggested.

  ‘Na, tried it! They all went missing too’ replied a chief electronics expert from one of the power companies.

  ‘Then what the heck can we do?’ uttered General O’Dowd in frustration.

  ‘Er, excuse me!’ a polite voice from the back suddenly interrupted.

  ‘Yes?’ uttered General O’Dowd ‘and who the heck are you?’

  The man dressed in plain clothes now pushed his way passed all the military men to stand right at the front.

  ‘Hello, General, my name’s Stuart Keys, I’m a professor at Oxford University in England’ he introduced himself politely.

  ‘That’s just what we need, a God damn Brit!’ muttered the General quietly.

  ‘No, he’s an expert, a genius in fact’ smiled one of the American scientists as he shook the man’s hand. ‘He’s helped us solve many complex problems from missile guidance systems to the latest space propulsion system at NASA’ he smiled.

  ‘Has he security clearance to even be here? General O’Dowd inquired.

  ‘He’s level One!’ the head of the CIA informed the General.

  The General just huffed out his breath and smiled.

  ‘OK genius, Brit, what do you want to say?’ he asked.

  ‘I believe your electricity has somehow been neutralised so nothing electric will work in that area’ he suggested.

  ‘Yes, but that doesn’t explain why people are going into the area and are not coming out again does it?’ suggested another scientist.

  ‘No, that it doesn’t. That’s why we need to start thinking low-tech rather than hi-tech’ the Englishman now smiled.

  ‘Explain what you mean, man?’ suggested General Iram sitting just in front of him and turning around to look at him.

  ‘If my theory runs true, if we can travel through the air and not rely in any way upon electricity we may be able to get into the area and back out again’ Stuart Keys smiled.

  ‘But that’s presuming you don’t get stuck in there too?’ huffed General O’Dowd.

  ‘Well, if that’s true you won’t have to worry about me anymore will you, General’ smiled the English Professor as many people at the meeting chuckled away quietly.

  He then continued.

  ‘I believe there may have been a massive earth movement of some kind that has affected the area in a way we don’t yet understand. If this were true, it could well explain why people go in and never come out again’ he surmised.

  ‘They may have fallen, maybe into a large fissure in the Earth?’ suggested a scientist close by.

  ‘Exactly’ nodded Professor Keys.

  ‘That could explain a lot’ pondered another scientist as he scratched his chin in thought. ‘If the sudden opening up of a large crevice in the Earth’s surface has left dust in the air, people might just be unknowingly be stepping right through it to disaster.’

  ‘Like stepping off a cliff edge, blindfold’ nodded another.

  ‘And by going for the low-tech solution as he says, through the air, we may be able to overcome this problem befalling all our investigators, and finally return with some new information instead’ suggested a rather attractive woman as everyone turned around to stare at her.

  ‘Sorry, I’m Jackie Mellows from Harvard University’ she explained.

  The Englishman, Stuart Keys immediately pointed at her.

  ‘Oh, I know you, excellent paper on the latest unmanned landing on Mars by the way’ he smiled.

  ‘If we can get back to the point’ uttered General O’Dowd raising his eyes to the ceiling.

  ‘Sorry’ the English professor apologised.

  ‘Could a large movement in the Earth’s crust in the California area itself, not interfere with our electrical energy?’ pondered another scientist.

  ‘Then this may not be some clever cyber attack on us from abroad after all?’ nodded another scientist.

  ‘Thank God for that!’ commented another ‘the last thing we want is to start World War Three, especially by mistake’ he uttered as everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

  ‘If I might interrupt!’ huffed General O’Dowd ‘what exactly is this low tech solution then?’ he inquired.

  Both professors Keys and Professor Mellows went to speak simultaneously.

  ‘Ladies first!’ smiled Professor Keys.

  ‘Well I was thinking of something like a hot air balloon’ suggested Professor Mellows.

  Just then though, a Captain from the American Air Force walked in and spoke to General O’Dowd.

  ‘Perhaps you should explain your findings to everyone here?’ suggested the General, so the Air Force Captain explained;

  ‘One of our planes just entered the area to try and discover what is happening inside there, and just before his engines and all his electrical systems cut out, he told us his flame had gone out first’ the Air Force Captain announced.

  ‘What the hell does that mean?’ asked General Iram now looking even more baffled.

  ‘He just said, when he entered the air space over where the power cuts had taken place, the flames from his aircraft engines just ‘cut out’ and they wouldn’t re-ignite again’ explained the Air Force Captain.

  ‘Did he eject safely?’ asked General Iram.

  ‘I’m afraid we don’t know, we lost radio contact only seconds later’ the Air Force Captain admitted.

&nb
sp; ‘I’m afraid it’s unlikely he did’ added the Englishman.

  ‘Why?’ immediately asked General O’Dowd.

  ‘Well if his electrics failed and no flame would ignite, then there is nothing left still working within the cockpit’ explained the English Professor quietly, realising the pilot would have fallen to his death as a result.

  ‘But no flame, how do you explain that?’ questioned Professor Mellows.

  ‘I can’t!’ admitted the Englishman now shrugging his shoulders.

  ‘But if nothing ignites?’ pondered Professor Mellows.

  ‘Then the burner on the hot air balloon wouldn’t work over the area either’ Professor Keys added.

  ‘Do you two think you can come up with something that would actually work, and get you in and out of there finally with some information?’ asked General O’Dowd.

  ‘Yes, we think so’ the two professors nodded.

  ‘Well get on with it then!’ suggested the General as he went off to inform the President of what was happening.

  With the room now full of purely scientists, engineers and technicians they all began work on solving the problem.

  ‘What do you think is really causing all this?’ asked another scientist.

  ‘I think the earthquake has opened up some kind of large fault line that is somehow affecting the magnetic poles and so as a result all our electricity’ suggested Professor Mellows.

  ‘But why can’t people get out?’ asked another man ‘do you really think it’s opened up a huge fissure in the earth?’

  ‘I reckon if that is the case, which sounds quite probable’ answered Professor Keys ‘then there may also be a fault line that is easy to enter from this side, but nigh on impossible to climb out of that side’ he suggested.

  ‘Something like a new Grand Canyon has just opened up’ nodded another.

  ‘That sounds quite feasible’ agreed another scientist.

  ‘But does the area affected coincide with the Andreas Fault line?’ pondered another scientist.

  ‘I don’t know, perhaps someone could check that?’ suggested Professor Mellows as several scientists immediately sat down and began tapping into their laptop, head and hand held computers.