Reboot

We looked at my files. Somewhere in this computer was a secret so vastly dangerous that it launched a manhunt for me that resulted in the deaths of at least six people.

“Any ideas?” asked William.

“Ok, the only texts in there of any probable importance are my translations. I used to translate for large corporations who did business in the Middle East. Sometimes pretty cagey stuff. I think that we should look at one particular customer. I remember that the texts were about many different things. Bit mixed up and careless. That text was unusual because most of my clients only had one machine to describe or one deal to discuss. This text was all over the place. It was about machine operations, contracts, staff, other machines, finances, other companies, all in one file,” I answered. “It was also the last translation I worked on before I left.”

Dutch added, “If there had been information transferred without your knowledge, it would have to be in code, yeah? And since you were messin’ with the text, you know, translatin’, then the code had to use numbers. There were lots of numbers in those texts?”

“Absolutely!” I answered. “And like I said, haphazard.”

I opened the files and we pored over them. I started to copy down the numbers in order. There were thousands. We quickly realized that this was going to take quite a while and we had a meeting to get ready for. Everybody was sitting in the hall, so we headed over there. There was a general muttering hum, like before a concert. People were jittery, understandably. I looked at William and Dutch expecting them to say something, but they were both looking at me. Mack and Bob also. Many people were.

I thought for a second.

Ok…

I stood up. Everyone got quiet.

“Ok everyone listen up. Apparently, there is something in my computer that is so important, so dangerous that they sent these men to kill me. Maybe even all of us.”

- Excited mumblings all around-

I held up my hands… “Please…hold on…” I waited for quiet and then went on. I looked at all their faces and I saw a panoply of expressions. Everything from fear to hate, to worry.

“What is it, Robert? What’s in your computer?” someone asked.

“I don’t know yet, but we’ll figure it out.” I took a moment here to gather myself. “I have to leave. I can’t stay here because they will come back. They’ll continue looking for me. I’ll go back home. I have to. I have to get to the bottom of this thing and it means going back. I don’t know. Maybe my leaving will take the threat away, but I can’t be sure. I should leave as soon as possible. You have to decide for yourselves if you should stay or go.”

“No, no…” I heard from the crowd. But the person didn’t sound very convinced.

Someone yelled out again: “What could it be? You must know something.”

I looked at William and Dutch. Their eyes were opened wider in anticipation; I thought for a moment, it could only be one thing; so I answered.

“I was a translator before. I translated documents that may have been important. We have to go through them. Maybe we’ll find what this is all about, but for now I have to tell you that I don’t have the faintest idea. It can’t be anything else than what’s in those files. Or else it’s a mistake. Maybe they think I’m someone else.” A quick glance at Dutch and William convinced me that no, it wasn’t a mistake.

Someone else in the crowd, Mr. Stockton, the doctor. “What’s it like back home now? Can they tell us?”

I looked at Dutch. This one was for him.

“It’s not good. Most cities are gone. The ports are gone. Every possible communications center, energy, food, everything is gone. People are starving, the sun has been hiding behind clouds of debris and smoke, though it’s showing signs of coming back, it’s been colder. People are killing each other. Some well-organized groups are surviving; the ones who were prepared. Most people died.”

Silence.

He continued. “It’s getting better now. A little bit of help is coming from other countries, not much because they have their own troubles. But we’re still very disorganized. The United States of America is more like Afghanistan now, run by a powerless central government that is too far away and secluded, so small independent groups have sprouted up. They govern themselves. They have their own rules and their own harsh punishments. They defend their territories ruthlessly.”

There was a brutal silence for two minutes as people digested this news.

“What about the army?” someone asked.

“The navy is just about gone, army, marines, almost nothing left, Air Force completely wiped out. But it’s the same everywhere. Russia, China, Europe, the same. We have no gas because no one is producing it anymore, so no cars, no machines, few generators. There’s a general distaste for oil now. People blame it for the war. We can’t pay people to make it anyway since there is no money. The financial structure is non-existent, so people are back to bartering. We can’t farm on a large scale. We’d have to take away the topsoil first to get rid of fallout and that’s difficult. So we’re back to small operations. People are growing gardens and trading.

The leading currency now is food, seeds. The safe places to go are around Idaho, some small towns in the west, a few untouched areas scattered around the mainland. Some small pockets are ok because they’ve avoided fallout.” Many people survived in caves, basements. They’ve been coming out now.”

Someone asked about the rest of the world. “Who started it?”

Dutch answered, “The information I have is that people in Israel started getting sick. Israel decided it was a virus unleashed by their enemies so they went ahead and destroyed Iran’s power stations and Iraq’s wells. They did this without America’s support. Iran defended themselves. The US stayed out of it stating Israel’s independent actions as indefensible. They left Israel alone. That was clearly a mistake. Other Arab countries joined Iran. Israel went nuclear and attacked the Arab block. Pakistan attacked India when it misread signs that made it seem like India would take advantage of the situation and bomb Pakistan. There was a bit of a lull then, but China was cornered. Their food supply suddenly destroyed, they had to annex Russia. But Russia was anticipating this and was very nervous and ready. China burst an EMP over Russia hoping that it would take out their response capabilities, but that grave error pushed Russia into a complete dispersal, which led to US and European involvement. Even Africa and South America were hit where there were either an important American presence or gas and oil or communications centers. Australia was sparsely hit but because of its geography, the toll on that country was devastating. The oil fields in Africa were hit. North Korea attacked everyone it could before getting wiped out. People in third world countries were already in terrible economic situations before the war. Afterwards, they simply ran out of food.” He took a breath here. This was painful.

“No one wanted their enemies to have access to energy or minerals because that would give them a huge advantage in the new order. So the damage was horrendous. Of course the economy is finished. There are no rich or poor people because there is no trade yet. All ownership is wiped out. People take what they want. Warlords are pitiless and aggressive. The few countries left alone aren’t too willing to help since they have their own troubles because of sudden changes in weather patterns and trade systems. And they now have to defend themselves against their neighbors who want what they have. Fighting there is ongoing. No one knows how that will end. People survived by hiding out in caves. Like I said, some towns were spared, some people were prepared. Most weren’t. They’re just coming out now. Billions have died. We’re lucky that the sun is coming back out quicker than anticipated. The world is back in the middle ages and we’re just now starting to look around. Carefully,” he concluded.

People sat stunned in the Hall. Quiet tears everywhere.

“Who’s in charge? Is it still Davies? Is there order?” someone asked.

“Davies died. He was in Air force 1 and it was hit. Vice President Mooney is in charge now. He’s in the process of reorganizing. Trying to establish control. There is a new political system in place now. It’s a bit feudal frankly. But temporary until we get back to some level of normalcy.” Then he stayed quiet. Nothing was said for a few minutes.

I stood up again.

“I’m very sorry.”

And with that, I left, followed by Dutch and William. Everyone quietly dispersed went their separate ways to discuss with their friends and families. They had decisions to make.

______________________________

I was with William and Dutch in my tree house. I cared for this place and it was pissing me off to have to leave it. I was sitting near the table with William opposite me while Dutch was on the floor on some cushions. Punkin was watching from the windowsill. William barely fit in my house. I made them a fruit drink and added a bit of Stiller’s turpentine. We needed it. I did anyway.

Once we all had drinks, I sat down, thought for a second or two and started in:

“Firstly, how do we get on your boat Dutch?” I asked. “We have to go back and the best way to do that is to hitchhike. That’s the first order of business, and then, when we’re on our way home, we can concentrate on my files. Third order of business.”

“Yeah. I’ve been thinking about that. I’ll need your help. Both of you and three more. I need a SEAL team,” he answered. “Wait a minute, what’s the second order of business?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

Dutch’s plan involved passing ourselves off as the dead SEAL team to get on the ship.

“As I said, I know that my friends on the ship will not give us any problems, but the

other eleven I’m not sure about. They haven’t been told what our mission was, but they will defend their ship. They might not want to listen to us. They’re not bad people, understand, just doing their job and I don’t really know how they’ll respond. No matter what, we have to surprise them. We have to take the ship, and we have to do it quietly without destroying anything and killing anyone. They’re good people, they have skills, we need them. But they’ll take some convincing.”

“Ok so six of us go back to the ship wearing your team’s clothes and we jump them. Amiably,” said William.

“Yes,” agreed Dutch.

“How can your friends help on the boat?” I asked.

“They don’t know what happened here yet. We have a radio check in three hours. It’s best if they’re surprised too I think. I’m not sure who’s going to answer or if they’ll be alone anyway. But once I get on board, it will only take a few seconds to get them involved. We’ll all be pointing our guns in the same direction. I hope.”

“I need a drawing of the boat and I’d like to know where everyone is if possible.” I said, and William nodded. I handed Dutch a large piece of paper and he started drawing immediately. We were standing around my small table I’d made myself. My friend Punkin the frog was watching us. William and I were watching Dutch work. He was sitting at the table now. He concentrated on his drawing.

“Ok. Here it is.”

Dutch’s drawing.

“Weapons include:

1x BAE Systems Mk 110 57 mm gun, here” he pointed to the drawing. “400 rounds in turret and two ready service magazines with 240 rounds each. 4x .50-cal machine guns, 2 Mk44 Bushmaster II 30mm guns, 21x RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile Surface-to-Air Missiles.

Oh and a new Railgun.” He talked as he put on the finishing details to his drawing.

“The Littoral Combat Ship program began in 2002 with the U.S. Navy’s pursuit of a new class of small and stealthy ships for multi-mission support,” he said. “It is a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeating anti-access and asymmetric threats in the littorals. This relatively small, high-speed boat was designed to complement the U.S. Navy’s Aegis Fleet. It’s fast and difficult to spot on radar.”

“When we board, everyone will be on deck waiting for us right?” I asked.

“No. Three will be in the navigation booth, one or two will be in engineering and the rest should be sleeping,” answered Dutch.

“So we might have to tussle with only four or five guys?” asked William.

“Correct.”

“Any thoughts?” I asked.

“They’re expecting six SEAL’s who’ve just completed a secret mission. They have no reason to think there is a problem, so they won’t be on alert. We’ll go when it’s dark, right after dusk. We’ll keep our heads down so they don’t see us with binoculars. I’ll go up first. William you’ll be second. Hell they won’t even realize anything is wrong until we’re all on deck because the SEAL team kept to themselves. We hardly ever saw them. When they pull you guys up there’ll be a moment of uncertainty, confusion, just a few seconds. We have to take advantage of that. William and I will pull our guns out at the same time. Whoever else gets on deck will do the same. I’ll get the captain, you get whoever looks more menacing, ok?”

Dutch looked at William.

William nodded stoically.

“Once we’re all pointing guns, my three friends will back me up. I’ll put my gun down and start explaining. You however, will keep pointing your guns ok? After my little speech, they should back us up.” He stayed quiet for a few seconds, let it sink in. “What do you think?”

We thought for a while. I paced. William stared at the ceiling.

Then William said, “All it takes is one itchy trigger finger and it’s a shootout.

Couldn’t we just go up there with our hands up and talk our way out?”

“I thought about that, but the captain isn’t one of my three friends. He’ll have to be convinced. If he isn’t, then we have to take the ship by force or else he’ll take us back to the US in the brig and we’re done for. The captain is key. No, we have to take the ship, with or without the captain’s consent. I certainly hope he’ll see the light. I know he’s a reasonable guy, but then again, he follows orders. I don’t think they’ll start shooting. My three friends will be on deck for sure, so that leaves only three or four that we really have to subdue.”

We decided to go talk to Mack and Bob. See if they had better ideas.

Some people were packing, getting ready to leave. But very few. Most people opted to stay. They waved at us when we walked by. We stopped to give some encouragement once in a while. Some people looked at me suspiciously. They didn’t know if I was telling the truth. They had doubts.

We would first take the ship and then come back for everyone who wanted to leave. Stiller said he’d have a few liters of hooch ready for us for the trip. We’d come back for it.

Mack and Bob wanted to come with us. We had forty-five hours to plan.