Ninety Degrees Out

Chay watched his brother as he paced across the front of the dinning hall in the lodge. Inside, there were close to sixty people. From the youngest, Killika’s son who was starting to sit up by himself, smiling at anyone who paused to talk to them, to Dr. Mike Ingersoll who was approaching seventy.

Dasan Stargazer stood beside Erik Amudson, gazing out at the runway where all of their planes were parked facing into the dominant westerly winds.

Chay squeezed Alicia’s hand, and kissed her forehead before going over to stare out the window with his father. The framework of one massive tent was already up, and the first bands of dark green canvas were attached. There were doors big enough to swallow a semi trailer if need be, but it would store their airplanes instead.

The air force had come through with several barrels of avgas in case of emergency. Captain Janice Whipper of the Coast Guard sat at the table across the front of the room beside Sarge. The combined conversations swirling around tables created an air of anticipation.

Hakan paced behind the head table, where his mate Armaruq sat at one end tapping away at his laptop. Chay walked over to see what he was working on and saw a list of all the people living and working on the ranch. Divided by families, skills, and what they had volunteered to do, he had a massive spread sheet open for reference.

Chay approached his brother and brother in law, looking around for Kanti.

“Where’s your wife?” he asked Hakan.

“She should be around somewhere. I think she went to check on the tents, so we can give everyone an update on what’s going on. She want’s Erik’s mother here to fill us in. Anya is a force to be reckoned with. She and Mike are working to give us a mini hospital for animals and people.”

“I see them coming,” Chay pointed out the window.

“Then I’ll call this meeting to order. I want Catherine’s report on the volcanoes first.” Hakan told him.

“I’ll find her. She’s looking a lot better now.” Chay said and scanned the room. Catherine was sitting close to the door to the kitchen. Jett Stroman was next to her, looking more and more like a guard dog. Not that he could blame him.

Chay stopped to let Alicia she would be speaking about the bears after Catherine said her piece. He continued between the tables, stopping a few times to speak to various people he recognized along the way.

“Catherine, you’re up first. Hakan wants the news on the volcanoes. You can add what I have established about the magnetic field. It’s north to south almost exactly from zero by zero for the north pole. The slip we’ve had for the last couple of decades toward the south east disappeared.”

“I’ll do that. Yellowstone is ready to blow by all accounts. The mega caldera in Eastern America isn’t far behind. I’m going to speak from here. I don’t want to be up front.”

Chay nodded. “Be ready, Anya and Kanti just came in. I’ll let Hakan know.” He raised his hand to wave at his brother catching his eye. He didn’t envy him the position of leader, but he was a natural. Strong and quiet, he listened well, and he had a head for figuring out what was most important to do first.

Hakan rapped a fork against the side of the water glass sitting on table beside him. He tugged on his braid, as he waited for people to finish their conversations and pay attention.

“Catherine Ingersoll will tell us about the state of the volcanoes around the world. This is extremely important for us, as we may need to prepare for cooler temperatures and ash fall out.”

Chay and Alicia turned their chairs so they could see the redheaded woman as she rose to speak.

“First of all, let me thank everyone for helping to heal. I’m much better, but I’m going to be jumpy. So please don’t sneak up on me when I’m in the radio shack.” She looked at Jett deliberately as she spoke, and he shrugged sheepishly.

“That said, Yellowstone caldera is simmering. We’ve been very lucky it hasn’t exploded in mega eruptions, but lava is oozing over the sides. However, Crater Lake has evaporated and the volcano under it is rumbling. Mt. Ste. Helen’s is also steaming and smoking. So far, no eruption.

“There are a couple of volcanoes in Russia active, and the Caldera in Eastern America is slowly melting its dome. It seems the big ones are only pushing lava over the edges for the moment. It’s the smaller inland volcanoes like Ste. Helen’s which are spewing ash into the atmosphere. Indonesia has three active eruptions at the moment.

“Even Antarctica’s Erebus is active again. And more importantly the entire continent is close to ice free except for a few glaciers. Sea levels have risen by almost fifty feet everywhere. Even the great lakes are flooding in a number of locations as permafrost in the northern Ontario shield melts. We’re having our own issues with water for the same reasons.

“Prevailing winds should keep us fairly ash free. But overall temperatures on Earth are expected to fall by almost seven degrees centigrade. That will take us from tropical to semi tropical and give us some much cooler weather. Likely we’ll have a rainy season instead of the thunderstorms and rain showers we have most afternoons now. This will happen fairly quickly. Our teams estimate less than a year as the ash pollution in the upper atmosphere increases. That’s all I have.”

Catherine sat down, as people digested her report. Silence reigned for a minute before everyone started to talk at once.

“Does that mean an Ice Age?” One of the cooks asked.

“It does. Temperatures in the Gobi Desert are going to drop into the minus seventies during the northern night.” Catherin answered.

“Damn, I wouldn’t want to be in China.” One of the serving staff muttered.

“And neither would I.” Hakan shuffled his notes before he continued. “We’re very lucky to be where we are. Flooding has been the worst of our problems. And we’re doing okay containing it. Alicia, tell us about the bears.”

Alicia made her way up to the front table. She stopped to talk to Killika for a moment and drew a smile from Yuka as he kicked his feet. When she turned to face everyone, her smile lit up her face. Chay knew she considered these people family now, and it showed in her mile wide grin.

“Mommy’s so pretty,” Arimina’s whisper made her grandmother smile.

“Listen to what she’s going to say. I think she’s going to tell us about more than Ursa.” Akira lifted her finger to her mouth asking for quiet.

Chay leaned down to whisper in Arimina’s ear. “I think your mommy is very pretty too. And you look just like her.”

Arimina turned and hugged him, kissing his cheek.

At the front, Alicia shook her head, and Chay gave her a half smile.

“I’m going to give you a run down on what Ursa is up to. With Chay taking the time to reprogram the cell tower at the end of Dahl Road, we have good cell connections for everyone around here. That means I’m picking up the signals from the cameras Jett and I installed a few weeks ago. Ursa has recovered well from her gunshot wound, and her cubs are growing quickly.

“As to other bears, I was able to catch a ride with a few of the helicopter rescue missions thanks to Captain Whipper.” Alicia nodded toward the uniformed woman at the table. “Surprisingly, the polar bears are migrating northward across the Yukon and into Nunavut which has remained in the same climate zone, just with a different sun orientation. They seem to know where the cold and ice remains.”

“What about the whales?” Uki Stargazer asked.

“I didn’t see many of them while we were up because we were mostly over land. Yeah, I know, Coast Guard is supposed to do water rescues, but if you could see how much the lakes in Alaska have grown, you wouldn’t be questioning their missions. Those we did see, are mothers with young calves. As per usual, they are in warmer waters to give birth.”

“What about the caribou migration?”

“I don’t know. We didn’t see any herds gathering, so I have no idea.”

“What about the migrating birds?” This came from one of the ranch hands. “If we can find nests and hatch the eggs, we can domesticate some of the bigger geese for meat.”

“We’ll don’t know, but good idea. We should keep our eyes open for any geese and ducks. I know Dasan has a plan for us to be able to get between his homestead and Stargazer Ranch.”

Alicia, waved Hakan over to the front of the table and returned to sit beside her daughter.

“We need to prepare for the cold. And we need to prepare for the return of marauding gangs. The bikers who were hanging around just after the flip have joined forces with more from across the state. Sarge, the floor is yours.” Hakan beckoned to the bull chested man in the trooper hat.