Ash, page 23
Another face appeared. This time it was Oliver.
“Where the bloody hell did you say you were, Lawrence? What are you doing – having a protest sit-in? That’ll worry Enlecco!”
Hewitt didn’t rise to the bait. He explained the plan. This time Oliver didn’t laugh. “But why didn’t you just stay put in London,” he said.
“Because there was no electricity on in our area. No fuel. No food. Nothing. There’s mob rule on the streets and if you venture out without a gun, the packs of feral dogs, which are terrorizing the population, will attack you. That apart from the rats and the birds. We were hoping to try to restore something of normality.”
Zoe shuddered at the mention of rats. She still hadn’t got over her stay in Calais.
“Not a chance, Lawrence. Even with the expert help you seem to have there.”
“How can you say that?” said Hewitt, genuinely concerned. He liked Oliver too well to feel irritable with him.
“The sudden drop in temperature will mean that the extra supply will be unable to keep up with demand. You’ve got to get out.”
“When will the temperature start to fall?” said Hewitt.
Zoe butted in, “We think by tomorrow night. By late afternoon you’ll know it’s arrived. After dark the thermometer will drop like a stone. You need to be somewhere safe or get out while you still have the chance. Amy’s really upset that you left your house to go with these people.”
“But I was at Emma Stamford’s house already.” Hewitt paused. He knew he’d said the wrong thing as soon as the words left his mouth.
“You were where?” said Amy angrily.
“Listen Amy, I need to explain,” said Hewitt. There seemed to be some confusion at the other end of the link. Amy left the room and banged the door. Zoe ran after her. Oliver reappeared on the screen.
“You’ve done it now, Lawrence. I was going to tell you to get to the nearest port and head out if there’s time. However, in the current climate you might be better off staying out there and freezing to death.”
“Oliver – explain things for me will you?” said Hewitt desperately. “I was at Emma’s house with about six other people. I stayed on longer than intended because of the riots – I didn’t dare venture out. Then we were turned out of her house at knifepoint by a criminal gang.”
“You were what?” said Oliver. He was stunned and caught his breath. The news took a minute to sink in.
“I didn’t want to scare Amy but, believe me, if you thought things were bad when you were here, you have no idea how it’s deteriorated in the past weeks. I don’t know if we can get out. We might be better off staying here for the duration.”
“I’m sorry, Lawrence, I’d no idea. For God’s sake be careful – I mean that. I’m really worried now.”
“Thanks I appreciate that. But look. I’m more bothered about Amy. Talk to her, will you?”
“I’ll sort it,” said Oliver. “Or rather, Zoe will. But listen, Lawrence – it could get down to minus thirty tomorrow night. Temperatures like that are not to be messed with.”
“I know. I’ll be okay.” He rang off.
* * *
Oliver found the two women, Zoe and Amy, heads together. Amy’s eyes were red-rimmed.
“I knew I should never have left.” Amy looked forlorn.
“Well?” said Zoe, waiting for her husband to speak.
Oliver looked at Amy. “Stop giving the poor bloke a hard time – he nearly got eaten by dogs.” Amy started to cry again.
“I don’t think you’re helping, darling,” said Zoe.
“You don’t think he likes this Emma, do you?” said Amy.
“Don’t be so bloody stupid,” said Oliver.
Amy wiped her eyes. “But what if she fancies him?”
“No chance of that,” replied Oliver.
“What do you mean?” said Amy, sounding indignant but secretly comforted by Oliver’s confident banter. He obviously didn’t think there was anything to worry about. “He’s lovely,” she added, defensively.
Oliver sighed and looked towards the computer.
“Well, if you think he’s so lovely I should get back on there if I were you, stop blubbing and tell him that.”
Five minutes later Amy was all smiles.
“Come on, guys,” she said to Zoe and Oliver. “We’ve got to get ready to leave. I’ve told Lawrence we’re heading for Canada, then the States. He’s promised he’ll get out as soon as there is an opportunity.”
* * *
Hewitt went up to the control room at Millcott B where he found Steve Mills and Derek Stringer busy at their desks. It almost looked like old times.
“Steve – everyone – you need to hear this – we have a problem,” Hewitt said.
“That must be the understatement of all time,” said Mills.
“Well, another one then. Amy said a polar vortex is due to reach us by tomorrow evening. The temperatures will then begin to crash. My scientist friends say there is little we can do here to make any difference to supply as demand will go up massively. They recommend that we leave if we can.”
“But we can’t do that,” said Derek. “Of course demand will go up. And many people will survive because there is some power on who wouldn’t do otherwise.”
“Can we actually get any power on?” said Hewitt. “Because, if we can’t, we need to make a decision to leave immediately. Whatever happens we mustn’t leave it too late and be caught out without shelter.”
“We can’t say for sure until the army arrives. Without their help we can’t get this operation moving.”
“Leave?” said Emma who had just walked in. “Who’s talking about leaving?”
When no-one answered she felt a surge of panic wash through her. If they left, it might mean that Jack Ellis could arrive at Millcott B to find it deserted. He might not know of the vortex. That could put him in serious danger.
“I’m not leaving,” said Emma decisively.
“We might have to,” said Mills. “There’s only enough food left for a few more days in the apartment, which is fuelled by a diesel generator. That won’t last forever.”
Emma scowled. It seemed like Mills was taking over this project now he was on his own territory but she didn’t want to fight with him as he was a key to its success. She said nothing.
The phone rang. It was security. There were Enlecco vans outside. They were demanding entry. The heavy demolition plant would be arriving any time at all.
“Jeez! What now!” said Mills.
“If they find us here, they will order us out and we’ll be on the road when the vortex hits.” Emma looked terrified.
“Here,” said Derek, taking the phone. “Tell them that Mr Mills is in charge of the shutdown and that he is in the control room at the moment and that he’s waiting on orders from HQ. Tell them to park at the social club.”
“Okay Mr Stringer. Will do.”
“That should buy us some time,” said Derek.
Emma looked at Hewitt. “If only Major Letworth would arrive.”
“He won’t come now,” said Mills. “This operation’s a dead duck. We need to get back to the apartment and pack our things. Then just go before anyone down there suspects anything.”
“We can’t go!” said Emma.
“We can’t stay, for God’s sake! We could get arrested.” Mills was shouting. He was red in the face. “You know what Enlecco is like!”
Hewitt chipped in, seeing Emma’s distress. “I think Steve’s right, Emma. We need to pack and get the car ready to go. If Letworth and his men don’t arrive soon the Enlecco people will get suspicious of why we are stalling and will contact their HQ themselves. We could be in big trouble. They could just begin knocking the place apart with us in it if we refuse to leave.”
Have you forgotten why we’re here?” said Emma. “It’s to get some power on.”
“We can’t do that on our own. If Letworth doesn’t show in the next hour we need to get out of here or we won’t have time to beat the vortex,” said Mills.
“Well I’m staying,” said Emma.
“Don’t be stupid, Emma,” said Mills. “Is there something going on here I don’t know about? It’s you who got us back to this place. And now you are behaving very strangely, if I might say. I remember you were working for Enlecco at one time. There are a few things that don’t seem quite right to me. Like why were you snooping about asking my secretary questions about my pay-out? And meeting up with Derek here after your contract had ended. And – Derek – getting us to go to Emma’s house when we could have gone anywhere in London. Are you trying to get something on me? Is this a trap?”
Emma was aghast that Mills knew so much about her.
“Steve, either you’re getting paranoid,” said Hewitt, unable to believe what he was hearing, “Or you’ve worked for Enlecco for too long. Emma isn’t trying to stitch you up. No-one is. Look, we’re all in this together now whatever happens and if this project is going to work then you’ve got to trust us. Emma has more personal reasons for not wanting to leave Millcott.”
Emma looked away from them all but said, “I’ve got a friend who’s looking for me. Someone special.”
Mills glanced at her. He seemed more hurt rather than angry and quietened down. Derek fiddled meaninglessly with the control panels, feeling the tension in the air. He sensed the storm was about to break.
Hewitt drummed his fingers on the desk, calmly picking his moment. “Now, Steve, I think it’s time you told us about the Icarus Project.” He spoke quietly.
* * *
Mills jumped visibly. Derek stopped fidgeting and sat back in his chair.
There was a stunned silence.
“I told you it was just an HR initiative. Nothing to interest anyone else.”
“Try again, Steve,” said Hewitt. “When you arrived in London you two were on the run and afraid you were being followed. When Derek mentioned the word Icarus you couldn’t wait to change the subject. Just now you said you could be arrested. For what? You know more than you’re letting on and I think Icarus is at the bottom of this.”
Steve looked at Derek.
“You might as well tell them,” he said.
“Okay. I’ll tell you what Icarus is if you really want to know. It was only the most stupid, most ill-thought-out idea in the history of failed projects.”
“What do you mean?” said Emma. She didn’t like where this was going.
“Think back – to before the ash. Do you remember what it was really like?” said Mills.
“Of course. We had jobs and food and sunshine...” said Emma.
“Well two out of three,” said Hewitt, cynically. “We had food and jobs alright.”
“Exactly!” said Mills. Hewitt looked puzzled.
“What? What are you saying?” Emma’s mind raced. “We had a series of poor summers. So? This is the UK. It happens.”
Hewitt came in, “I remember now, Amy kept saying there’s something not quite right. There was talk of a new mini Ice Age like we had in the seventeenth century. But none of the data quite fitted. She was always looking at the temperature values and comparing what she found with the computer models. She factored in the Gulf Stream, sun spots, El Nino, the North Atlantic Oscillation – you name it. Nothing ever explained why our weather got so cold. Scientists were even looking for a new climate cycle but found nothing.”
“No. They wouldn’t. Project Icarus was meant to be the antidote to a runaway greenhouse effect that was getting too close for comfort.” Mills fidgeted uncomfortably as he spoke. His face was grey.
Emma leaned forward. She felt her heart skip a beat.
Mills continued, “Enlecco funded the project to cool the Earth down by putting huge amounts of reflective material in the upper atmosphere. It was the perfect answer. Save the planet and at the same time enable the energy companies to carry on burning fossil fuels. It seemed to be working, too. Everywhere was cooling off very nicely and then Katla erupted and spoiled the party.”
Emma heard her blood sing in her ears as her anger mounted. “How could they!” she shouted. “How bloody could they! How dare they mess with my world? The sheer arrogance of it beggars belief!” She shook with passion at the sudden realization that their predicament was partly man-made. Without the cooling effect of Icarus they could have coped when Katla blew.
“The idiots! The absolute idiots! Were you in on this, Steve?” said Hewitt, straight to the point. His eyes stared coldly at the other man.
“No! No! I swear. I only found out about it long after the stuff had been sent up there. I saw some papers – highly confidential. At first it didn’t matter that I knew – for Enlecco it was a great success story. But the ash changed everything. Suddenly Enlecco didn’t want to be blamed for their disastrous foray into climate engineering. I was the only one outside the Enlecco inner circle who knew about Icarus. They offered me a huge pay-out to keep me loyal but when I wanted out because of the shut-downs, I became a marked man. The last thing they wanted was for me to spill the beans! I should have left the country as soon as I heard about Icarus. Just packed my bag and said I’d got another job. “
Emma froze. Her stomach turned over with a stunning realization. That was what Jack had done – left without a word. Had he stumbled across Icarus too? She felt sick with fear for him. And now he was coming back for her. She remembered Carol gently urging her to go to the States. It was beginning to make sense. She swallowed hard, not daring to say anything.
Hewitt sighed deeply then banged the table with his fist.
“I need to talk to Amy,” he said.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said Derek.
“No, don’t,” added Mills. “There’s no point in dragging her into all this.” He was still agitated.
Emma agreed, her rage subsiding as a wave of pity for Mills’ plight washed over her. He looked a broken man. She went on, “I hate to say this – but we need to decide – to stay or go.”
Hewitt paced about the room impatiently, looking at his watch and sighing with frustration. “Now where the fuck is Letworth?” he said to no-one in particular. “If he shows up we might be able to decide what to do!”
The silence in the room stretched out between them as the minutes ticked by. Then, on cue, the phone rang.
Mills picked up.
“The Major is asking to speak to Mr Hewitt,” said the security guard.
“Escort him to the control room,” said Mills. Minutes later Major Letworth burst through the door with six armed men in tow. Hewitt, Mills and Derek Stringer jumped up. Emma stood up and walked over towards him her hand outstretched.
“Thank goodness you’re here, Major,” she said.
“Well, I think we got here just in time,” he replied cheerfully.
32
Bristol
Eleven days after leaving New York, Jack Ellis arrived in Portbury Dock near Bristol on the freighter Antonia. The freezing wind whipped at his face as he stood on deck. Behind him towered rows of neat, brightly coloured containers, full of food and goods from across the Atlantic. He watched with disbelief as the land grew closer. This was never the place he had left behind only a few months ago.
Looking down through the railings he saw the sea, brown with silt, churning around the rusting metal stern. The engines cut out then he felt the ship berth with a shudder. An eastern European sailor shouted hoarsely to a figure on the dock side before throwing a rope in his direction. Everywhere there was bustle and noise.
In the distance cranes stood out against the grey sky, dipping and turning as they lifted their cargo onto waiting transport. The once familiar green fields, ancient hedgerows and tree-covered hills had all but disappeared under deep drifts of snow. The air smelt of cold as Jack breathed in his homecoming. There was a hard clang of metal as the gangway was lowered. He followed the crowd to the exit and prepared to disembark.
The Bristol Channel was clogged with shipping frantically trying to berth and discharge their cargo to a desperate nation. It was one of the few ports still functioning. The massive tidal reach along the Somerset coast had helped to keep the dock ice-free as the sea was never still. Huge ice-bergs dotted the Avonmouth estuary and the water looked thick and silky as though its super-cooled surface was ready to set solid at the first opportunity.
Jack stepped down the gangway and onto the dock, hugging his down-filled coat around him as he swung his bag over his shoulder. He needed the trapper hat he’d brought with him.
The level of activity was overwhelming. Every square inch of dockside was taken up with cargo heading to the major cities. He could hardly walk for the crowds of people desperately trying to direct some much needed food to where it was needed. It didn’t take a genius to work out that these containers were nothing like enough to provision a whole country. A crowd formed by the barrier near where Jack had just disembarked from the Antonia. As soon as the ship was emptied of its passengers and crew, the human tide surged forward, knocking the officials out of the way in their haste to get on board.
It was like this every hour of every day, said a woman standing by a container. She wore a blue uniform and a Hi-Viz jacket. Jack had thought she was Port Authority security due to the logo written across her back.
“I stole the jacket,” she said. “It makes me feel safer. I’m in retail logistics. I’m trying to get some stuff out to where it’s needed. Hey you!” she shouted loudly. Jack nearly jumped out of his skin. Someone had gone up to her container. It was then he noticed that she carried an automatic weapon.
“Do you know where I can get a train to the Midlands?” he said.
“You must be kidding? It’s a nightmare trying to get anywhere. Everybody’s trying to get to a big city where there’s some food on ration, or they’re leaving altogether. Where are you from, anyway? Who in their right mind would want to come here? If you don’t mind me asking?”
“I just got in from New York. I’m trying to find a friend. I’m Jack Ellis, by the way.”
“Pleased to meet you, Jack. I’m Carly Dobson.” She looked at Jack with the practised eye of a bouncer. She liked his expensive-looking coat, and his polite manner. She guessed correctly that he was in his early fifties. And as he didn’t look hungry she believed he had just arrived as he said. She took a gamble.
