“Yeah. He’s a real problem. Feel free to take him with you,” Tom said dryly.
Percy grinned. “Not a chance, but I would like to talk to him.”
It took only a couple of minutes for Wilkins to sign over the ownership of the trailer loads of fuel to Percy for an ounce of gold and a barter slip for a week’s worth of food sometime after the next two weeks.
Andy looked on as the two men had talked privately. He couldn’t hear, of course, but when Percy and he walked out to the truck, Andy asked, “Did you just buy that fuel from Mr. Wilkins?”
“Yep. Greedy devil but he’s not too knowledgeable of the real value of things. I would have given him a month’s food for that fuel. He took a week’s worth and an ounce of gold.”
“What good is gold? The food I can sure see. Not going to be many reefer trucks with fresh food for a long time.”
“He took gold. Others will. We’re still going to need a medium of exchange. I don’t think paper currency will do it. People won’t trust it. I think they will gold and silver, just like people have since the very beginnings of modern civilization. Barter is great, but you still need a medium of exchange. A means to acquire things when you don’t have the trade goods the other party wants. Some means to set values that people can understand.
“You’ve heard me refer to a couple of, quote, weeks’ worth, unquote, of food. There’s bound to be a difference of opinion on what that is. Since it will appear that I have so much, my definition is going to be considered a lot less to those that are hungry, with their hand out. I’ll be more specific in the future, but we’re in a hurry right now.”
It took a few more minutes at the other shelter. They didn’t have a survey meter, just a couple of dosimeters. They did have a hand held radio and plenty of batteries. They would be able to stay in touch with those in the town hall and coordinate activities.
“We’re not going to do this again,” Percy said, glancing at the survey meter as they headed back out to the estate. Percy had to swerve almost off the road to avoid a SUV rocketing toward them on the way back to the estate.
“That guy’s crazy!” Andy exclaimed when Percy had the rig back fully on the road. “He could have killed us and him.”
“Scared,” Percy said, calmly.
They backed the Jimmy into the garage of one of the cottages, and then returned the pickup to the garage at the house. They washed down both vehicles before they went into the garages. Then Percy called Mattie on the intercom and had her bring out a change of clothes for him. Andy took out a change from one of his suitcases that they’d washed down.
“Not much on these,” Percy said as he changed clothes in the garage, “But we do not carry any fallout into the houses or barns. We decontaminate every time from now on. We’ll deal with these later.” Percy showed Andy where to put the clothes they’d removed, for later cleaning.
“We were getting worried,” said Sara, when the two entered the kitchen of the house. She gave each a quick hug, and then stepped back. “We’ve been watching the meter. There’s radiation now.”
Percy showed them all how to read the dosimeter he insisted they each now wear at all times. He used his as the example. “See, it’s not even a measurable amount. But as I told Andrew, we don’t take any chances. From now on, until the radiation falls back to the background level I have recorded for here, we wear the dosimeters and track our accumulated dose, as well as taking readings with the survey meter regularly. We limit our outside trips to those absolutely necessary. And for the immediate future, only Sara, Mattie, and I will go outside, unless there is a major emergency.”
All the rest immediately protested that they should share the risk. Percy raised his hand to quiet them and explained. “We three are the oldest. We’ll be close to the end of our lives before a low dose of radiation will usually result in cancer or other problems. Like thirty or forty years from now. Even if it’s twenty, we’ll still be old. You all would just be in the prime of your life, even still in the childbearing years for some. There is no reason for you younger people possibly to suffer during the most productive part of your life, if it can be avoided.
“It’s not that you won’t get some exposure. It’s bound to happen. We won’t be in shelter forever. We will limit the exposure more, the younger you are. We’re talking long term planning here. We have to think of accumulated dosages over the next twenty, thirty, forty years. Even after it’s safe to go out… relatively speaking, each and every time you do, you will be getting a little radiation.
“We’ll decontaminate here. Things are set up to make it relatively easy. But the radiation will be decaying after the detonations stop and the dose rate peaks. By the seven ten rule, radiation should be one tenth what it is an hour after the peak dose rate, seven hours after that first hour, then one-tenth of that 49 hours later, then a tenth of that about two weeks later and so on. For each seven fold increase in time the dose rate, assuming no new radiation, the dose rate drops to a tenth of what it was.
“So, if we were to peak at… say… one thousand Röentgens it would be down to zero point one Röentgen in four months and down to zero point zero one Röentgen after about two and a half years.
“While the fallout is building, then the first two days are really dangerous. Then the next two weeks, still dangerous, but should be okay after that to go out for decontamination and necessities. After four months, it will be a matter of sleeping in shelter, but working in decontaminated areas should be okay for a regular daily schedule. In less than three years, there won’t be much to worry about, except the weather.”
“Nuclear winter?” Melissa asked.
“Possibly, more likely climate change for other reasons. We’ve been staring at the possibility since the North Sea started freshening up from melting ice. We might get colder, warmer, or stay the same. One thing is for sure, the weather will be unsettled for a long time. As much ash as we are getting, and the different varieties, makes me think that a lot of volcanoes let loose. A couple of big volcanoes can put more debris in the air than all the nukes that could be used.
“If the trend is warmer, we’re looking for lots of rain. If the trend is a lot cooler, then we should expect drier weather. Either way, the storms will be worse with really heavy rains and snow, even if it’s cooler and drier over all. If it’s warmer then we’ll just get lots and lots of rain and that’s if we’re really lucky… Geez!”
The dome shook yet again. Percy ran to the den and flipped on a TV, flipped another switch, then worked a remote control. “This camera is in a grounded steel housing out by the towers. I opened the cover. Look.”
There was an ugly glow in the distance to the west, illuminating the clouds and falling ash. “Probably thirty miles, possibly more,” Percy said. “No target there. It could be one that just missed or there’s something there that we never knew about but they did.” Percy didn’t specify who ‘they’ were.
“I just thought!” Jock exclaimed. “What about chemical or biological weapons?”
They all looked at Percy. “They both have very localized areas of destruction. If any were used… are being used, the effect will be right there. They are primarily tactical weapons. They can be used for denial of territory, too, on a strategic scale. We should be fine. The house HVAC system has appropriate filters. So do the animal barn fans. There is a danger of biological weapons spreading diseases from locally affected populations, but I doubt there’ll be much long distance travel for a long time.
“Most of the biologicals I know about are virulent and would kill off those exposed quickly. It wouldn’t be able to spread without fast transportation. And chemicals should dissipate pretty quickly. Nor are they mobile. They’ll stay where they are, except for some possible runoff problems.