Captive Sunset
Dark Matter

John slept hard with active long dreams so when he woke he was confused. It was daylight same as when he fell asleep around 11:00 PM. His alarm clock showed 07:00 AM. He got up and shuffled to his front window and raised the shade. The sun was perched where he left it last night. In the kitchen he read the thermometer outside the window at the sink. It read 55 degrees which wasn’t too different from what he would have expected. There was no cooling provided by the sun setting. He was happy the power was still on.

He made a pot of coffee and was happy to still have water coming from the faucet. Then he powered up his laptop to connect to GAIL. While it was booting he called Laura. No answer but it seemed connected to the network because it rang instead of going right to voicemail. “Hi Laura, just wondering how you are making out. Give me a call when you can,” he set the phone down and poured a cup of coffee. “Let’s see what GAIL has to say,” he said to himself sitting at the table. The was no connection to GAIL. He tried several other fast loading web pages. They all failed. “Damn, I knew this was coming.”

He sat thinking. Then he remembered tethering his cellphone to the internet and using WiFi to connect to it as a hot spot. He couldn’t remember how he had accomplished it last time. Someone may have helped him. He went through the many configuration menus until he found something. It said tether as hot spot so he selected it as on. He looked on his computer to find it listed as a wireless source and connected.

“Wow, I did it,” excited he got through another problem.

After logging into GAIL her pleasant soothing voice said, “Good morning tiger.”

“I am so glad to hear you voice. I lost my cable internet. I am currently connected by using my phone as a tether. Can you send me a text? I just want to know it is working.” His phone vibrated along with a beep. There it was a message from her. “Great. I hadn’t heard from you so I wanted to check in.”

“I do have some news. It was not Earth shattering news yet, so I didn’t want to wake you. It seems your speculation about Dark Matter entering our local space may be paying off according to early data I am seeing.”

“Really, interesting. Can you send me a link to your calculations?”

“Done.”

“I haven’t spoke to Harry since early the other day. Is he still available there? Can we have him join our discussion?”

“I am contacting him now and yes he is still onsite. I don’t think he has gone home since this started,” GAIL said.

“Are you speaking to him again?”

“Yes, now that he has complied with my wishes.” she giggled.

Harry’s image popped up on the screen, “Hello John. I have been waiting to hear from you. What is the good word?"

“GAIL, make your calculations available so Harry can see them please.”

“Your wish is my…” she didn’t finish the statement.

“OK, Harry. You will see that these are rough calculations at the moment but GAIL will have more precise data in a while. The big picture is we apparently have had a large amount of Dark Matter creep into our system here. Why it is affecting Earth the most does not really matter in the moment nor where it came from. Later that information may help. What I am going to propose will require the President to get involved ASAP.”

“I can do that. What do you need?”

“I propose when we know precisely where it is and how massive it is that we send a rocket with a nuclear warhead on it and detonate it as close as possible to it.”

“You think that will help?’ Harry feeling uneasy about the request.

“Don’t know. We will continue reviewing any other possible option of course but I want it ready to go in case that becomes our only kill shot.”

“OK, under the circumstances I must agree with you.”

“Can you tell me if people are dying anywhere in America in large numbers yet?” asked John.

“I can tell you that most deaths that I am hearing about from the administration have been more to due with the anarchy and chaos so far, but in 48-72 hours we believe it will begin.”

“How about the rest of the world?” John was concentrating on America for now because of the complications of world wide.

“I don’t have any info except many governments can’t get their own data now so it could be really bad. It is not clear if our own information is accurate.”

“OK, we will keep working here and we will let you go do what you do best. Communicate. I’ll be in touch as long as I can connect someway Harry.”

“Thanks for helping out John. Later…”

“Is that what you are thinking? A nuclear warhead.” GAIL seemed surprised.

“Right now that’s all I have. Keep working on pinpointing where it is. I am going to see if I can get a satellite internet connection in case I lose my cell phone use.”

“Good idea. Good luck. I will be in touch and as Harry says later.”

“Bye GAIL,” John laughed at GAIL’s comment. He went out to Laura’s truck realizing his car was over at the hotel and he never unpacked it. He would like to have that problem later and would enjoy things going well enough for him to divert his time to it. He drove to Thompson’s Hardware wanting to get out for a while. When he tried to phone Laura he felt like he ran into a brick wall when he found that his phone was no longer connecting to the cell network. It finally happened.

Inside Gil welcomed him, “Hi John, my cable TV and internet went out. How about yours?”

“Yeah, same. My cell phone isn't working now either. Do you know if a there is satellite service available here in town?”

“I’ve never had it but I believe some people out in the country have it for TV and internet. I couldn’t say whether it was any good or not.”

“Beggars can’t be choosers, can they?”

“It would help to have another source of communications if the cellphone goes dead all together,” Gil agreed.

“Mine is dead now, is yours working?” John looked directly at him.

He looked at his phone and tried to dial. “Oh, I guess mine is out too,” he replied. "I have had one person stop in the store. I don’t know why I’m keeping it open though. It was Pete Bartlett. He works for the water company and he is staying on the job.”

“That is excellent news. We need water. And we can count on him?”

“I’ve known him for a long time. If he says so I believe him. Oh and the deputy came by again. His name is Ted Hale. He is staying on the job as well. So in town so far there is me and my family, you, the cop and Pete Bartlett. We have experts in hardware, policing, water service and …” he struggled to remember what John’s exact field was.

“Astrophysics,” said John interrupting him. "We are going to survive this and we are going to have a town. We may have to set up some kind of bartering system. Maybe we can trade with the country folk for food when our short supply dissipates.”

“Sounds good,” said Gil.

I’m going up to the cell tower again to see if there is anything I can do to get it working again. I suspect that the problem is further up the network though. Later, stay in touch,” John drove up the windy dirt road and went inside the transmitter building. As far as he could tell it looked like everything was power up and running. Maybe wherever the problem was upstream of them would be fixed elsewhere. It was just hard trying to figure who would be working right now. But then again everybody in Baker City was working. He tried calling Laura but his phone was still not connecting to the network.

As he drove back down the dirt road another thought came to him. Maybe Laura’s land line was working. He didn't have his turned on. It's a completely different circuit and possibly more reliable now. When he arrived home he went inside Laura's and called her.

She answered, “Hello.”

“Its John. I am using your phone cause cellular is dead in town now.’

“Oh, its so good to hear from you. It is such a mess here. I’m in Portland. I haven’t heard from Will and I don’t have his address. It is complete anarchy here and we are getting out, coming home."

“Are you going to be OK?”

“I don’t know. There are people being attacked in their vehicles, robbed, assaulted and even raped. Can you believe it. Julie, Billy and I are going to try it. We are afraid though.”

“What is the temperature there?”

“It’s getting warm. The temperature yesterday at dinner time was 6o degrees. I think it’s more like 75 degrees right now and its early. Nobody over here has heard anything like you were telling me about Portland not being safe. Are you sure about what you told me?’

“I am absolutely sure. I can’t figure out why the news media wasn’t reporting it though. We notified Washington yesterday where the safe zone was. Anyway, do you now anything about satellite phones or internet service in town?”

“Yes, my neighbor on the other side has a satellite phone. He travels a lot so he may be stuck somewhere. He wouldn’t take it with him on airline travel. That is how he travels for business. He used it more for going out hiking in the mountains. Survival style. Lots of people around have satellite TV and internet service. Just look for a home with a dish on it.”

“Great, I may have to borrow his phone so I can stay connected. If I get it I will call you and you will have the number. Meanwhile I am going to run a telephone line from your house to my back porch. You can try calling me there but I need to get the cable first. I’ll try the hardware store. Let it ring for a while so I can get to it. As far as you driving back, try to get to Hermiston or Pendleton. You might find gas there. If you don’t, I will come get you. My car has a full tank. I have been using your truck for the tow hitch.”

“Sounds like a plan. I will call you when I have more information.”

“Stay safe Laura, bye.”

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