“How many are there?” I ask.
“That’s hard to say, as some don’t appear to have been updated in a while. Most of the ones indicated in this notebook are situated in the western part of the country,” Harold replies.
“So there are some overseas, then?” Lynn asks.
“Well, not many it seems.”
“Do these give an indication of what is going on elsewhere?” I ask.
“Yeah. Keep in mind, though, that I’ve only brushed the surface of all of this. But, from what I’ve read so far, it’s not a pretty picture. Europe is mostly gone. According to the notebook, there are a few camps still in existence near the Mediterranean, but they don’t have many people in them. And what they do have seems to be dwindling. The notes indicate that large parts of Europe and Asia are covered in a radiation cloud. Basically, most of Europe and Asia are wastelands, or soon will be,” Harold says.
“Is that going to reach the West Coast?” I question.
“I looked into what they have regarding that and, from all appearances, we’ll see an increase in radiation levels along the seaboard…but nothing lethal. They were monitoring that. Apparently, they intended to bring the reactors online as one of their first steps but, as you well know, they didn’t get that chance. The numerous reactors worldwide have either gone critical, or will shortly.”
“You mentioned survivors in the western part of the country. What about the eastern half?”
“I’m afraid it’s the same as most of the rest of the world. There are a few groups, but they are in the same shape. Their population numbers are shrinking. And,” Harold says, forestalling a question I was forming, “it doesn’t appear that we can do anything about them. The radiation levels are too high. Even if we could go in and get them, there’s nothing we could do except watch them die. Many of those indicated in the notebook have vanished altogether.”
“Okay, so what about the rest of the world?” I ask.
“I mentioned a few groups around the Med but that’s a no-go for the same radiation reasons. There are apparently some nomadic tribes in northeastern Africa, but they were only identified and not updated. Perhaps they didn’t think them a threat. There are some indications of encampments along the western coast of Africa and a few in the interior. The areas surrounding the Indian Ocean are gone, along with Japan. Most of the cities, irradiated or not, have very few, if any survivors. There is apparently some still living in parts of the South Pacific Islands, but those appear to be mostly native tribes. There are, though, some small settlements scattered throughout them. Australia, with only a few places that people could escape to in the interior, is mostly gone. According to the notes, there are some living in the countryside along parts of the eastern Australian seaboard and for a short distance inland,” Harold briefs, referring frequently to files and notebooks stacked on the desk.
Punching a few keys, Harold directs my attention to the large screen at the front. The image slowly resolves itself into a map of Northern America with an overlay of thermal images. Most of the map shows in blue, indicating little to no heat. However, across the eastern half of the US, dozens of orange, yellow, and white glowing locations appear.
“These are the hot spots from nuclear reactors in various stages of meltdown. From the looks of things, most of them have had their fuel rods evaporate the cooling ponds and are generating a tremendous amount of heat, throwing off radiation plumes. The winds are generally carrying those eastward. I pulled up several visual images which show that many of the plants have had explosions, more than likely from a buildup of gasses,” Harold briefs.
The image dissolves and is replaced by a world map. Besides the eastern seaboard of the US, Europe is one big, glowing location with whites, yellows, and oranges mixing together in a swirl. That continues, although slightly abated, through the western half of Asia. The eastern part of India shows a few spots as does the eastern regions of China. Japan has disappeared and can only be identified by glowing ovals.
Staring at the screen, shocked by what I’m seeing, it becomes readily apparent that vast tracts of the world are uninhabitable. I feel for those survivors caught in the swirling radiation plumes.
The screen changes. Harold briefs that I am now looking at an overlay of radiation levels. Red covers the areas where the nuclear reactors are, or were, and stretches in a generally eastward flow. The entire continent of Europe is red and only changes to a yellow near the central part of Asia; plumes from the reactors coating the continents. Red streams out of Japan and drifts east, fading as it crosses the Pacific.
“How long will it be like this?” I ask.
“I don’t really know. Possibly for hundreds of years,” Harold answers.
“What are the chances that it will reach here in dangerous levels?”
“They were monitoring that and the reports indicate that it won’t reach here in harmful levels. It would be a good idea to keep checking with the Geiger counters, though, for as long as they’ll last. We’ll lose this satellite coverage in a few months,” Harold replies.
“Can we designate new passes with the satellites to update the information?” I ask, still stunned by the images.
“That’s possible but, according to the technicians, there’s not a lot of fuel remaining to keep the satellites in orbit. We have, at best, a couple of months if we don’t task them too heavily. While the electronics onboard are solar-powered, the fuel that keeps them in orbit is running out. After that depletes, their orbits will decay and they’ll burn up in the atmosphere, the remaining pieces falling to earth. There is one keyhole satellite parked above our compound that they were using to keep tabs on us.”
“Can we use that one to locate the night runner lairs and keep track of their movements?” I ask, sitting up straighter.
“Yes. We should be able to. We may not get much aside from the information we gathered from the AC-130 video, but we can use it to monitor them,” Harold answers.
“Can you set up a relay from this site to ours?”
“I can, but it will take some work. However, there’s no way I will have the capabilities that I would here,” Harold replies with a questioning look.
“We’ll talk about that later,” I say, the idea running through my mind. “Speaking of night runners, did they do any tracking of them?”
“It looks like there was some attempt to catalogue them, but it’s incomplete. It looks like they gave up after only a few cities. There are indications that the night runners are suffering the same fate as some of the identified camps in the radiated zones. They are dying along with the survivors.”
“Okay, I know you haven’t had a lot of time to study it, but now for the million dollar question. Why didn’t they use the system to activate the nanobots? Is it that they didn’t need to because everyone was already dead or changed into night runners?” I inquire.
“Well, here’s the thing. Aside from the fact that their plans went awry with the appearance of the night runners, from the logs I’ve read and from questioning the technicians, it appears that they’ve lost communication with the satellite that was to trigger them. I mean, they lost the ability to transmit the instructions. They are still receiving telemetry data, but here’s the kicker, Jack. According to all that I’ve managed to read so far, the night runners may still have those things floating around in their heads.”
“Wait, do you mean that the night runners may have the nanobots still active inside of them?” Lynn asks, incredulous.
“According to this, yes. Although, the percentages of those having them would be the same. The bots were administered in two-thirds of the vaccines. Remember, the vaccine was the cause of the night runners, not the bots,” Harold states.