It was Saturday morning and the birds were chirping as if it were spring, yet another unpleasant reminder that the seasons were misaligned. But Alice was glad for a solid night's sleep and took advantage of the late schedule, at least according to her standards. She usually started the day with at least an eight mile jog, followed by a half on hour of reading the news, and fifteen minutes of leadership reading over breakfast. Then there was the morning preparation for whatever day's actual challenges were going to be.
But Alice knew there would be plenty of work in the days ahead and luxuriated in sleeping for 10 hours. She still went for a jog around the armory, taking every chance she could to cement the memory of her alma mater across the street into her mind. It took 30 laps to even feel fatigued and she knew it wasn't her full workout, but good nonetheless.
She took a stroll through the mess hall to see what food she could stomach and found the favorite breakfast of northwest men: biscuits and sausage gravy. She opted for an apple and banana and a cup of oatmeal and cranberry juice and she quickly returned to her room to get her reading in for the day. The news didn't seem to be an urgent matter anymore so she focused on diving into her 100 page briefing document.
Besides the schedule for the next few days, the brief included more scientific background on the air quality, some population projections in the worst case scenario, and technical details of the preparations for Ember. It went over a lot of the things they had discussed the previous night, but in much finer detail. There were bios of her chief administrators, the list of military personnel and all of the citizens. Pictures of everybody were included to help her get to know her "constituency." There was nothing about the children biographically - apparently their history or names meant nothing.
It also included a basic guide to the civic rules under which the city would be set up and a contractual agreement about the partnership she would have within the military structure. The military would have all the power and she the pretty face on the whole package, she realized. Oh well, too late now. She scrawled her name quickly across the bottom. None of it was difficult material, but she realized there was more work to be done for Ember to thrive and survive, both physically and communally. There was nothing in the documentation that said how long they intended to keep them underground. She jotted a few notes down for her introductory remarks she would gave later.
Lunchtime came and as she was heading towards the private officers dining area, she was delighted to see Roger Noam, Joseph Munk, and Susie Humboldt ahead of her in the hallway, along with a few others. They were busily chatting and didn't hear her come up behind them and say, "Oh hey Roger. How's it going? Did you finish the report up for the city attorney?"
"I'm sorry Mayor Harken. I haven't had - wait what, WHAT are you doing here? She started laughing and gave him a hug. "Mayor Harken!" her friends exclaimed all asking questions at once. "What are you doing here? We thought you were off for medical treatment." "How long have you been here?" "We didn't see you at breakfast."
"Well, I guess I've still got a few more surprises up my sleeves at my age," she said in answer to all of them after they stopped long enough to take a breath.
Bill Cloving introduced Sarah Edwards, Dr. Victor Silverman, and William Bolio. Alice introduced her old friends to her new co-workers. Hugs were exchanged among old friends and handshakes among the new. Edwards would lead education efforts, Silverman was another M.D., and Bill Bolio was an electrical engineer. Dr. Coldblood stood off awkwardly to the side.
They headed into the mess hall and grabbed trays, talking loudly and attracting the attention of several dozen seniors and grunts. They moved to a private room for officers and saw they got something the others didn't get: Mmm…Starbucks…the great gift of the Northwest to the world. Oh, I hope they stocked us with Starbucks, she thought.
The nine of them began to talk about their career histories and families: Alice, Sarah, Joseph and William were all widowed; Dr. Silverman, Roger, Bill and Susie were all divorced; and not surprisingly, Dr. Turtling never married. Most of their parents had passed away, there was a mixture of both living and dead siblings, but they talked longest about their grandchildren- a total of 55 between them.
Alice leaned back and sipped her coffee, watching the dynamics beginning to taking shape. It was nice to see at least part of her "new administration" beginning to gel and she knew enough when to let things form on their own and stay out of it. She also noticed Sarah and William also seemed to pay a lot of attention to each other.
Dr. Turtling looked at his watch and said, "Well, I've got some more packing up to do and might try to slip in a nap since it's going to be a long night. See you at dinner time." He grabbed his dishes and left. The others remained for a couple more hours getting to know each other, and then headed back to their rooms.
Alice took one more long shower even though she knew they wouldn't go without, but she was already starting to feel a desire to hoard. She grabbed the extra shampoos and soaps she didn't use, stuffed them in her bag with her belongings, redid her makeup and headed to dinner with her briefing manual in satchel. The mess hall was much fuller now and it appeared that all of the seniors were there. She smiled at those who made eye contact with her and dipped her head in a slight gesture of honor, something she learned on agricultural trade trips to Japan. She could hear the echo of crying infants emanating from somewhere. They all ate dinner more quickly and quietly than lunch: a very hearty lentil and beef stew. She knew they needed the protein tonight and the soft foods were considerate of the seniors who probably had a fair amount of false teeth.
Finished with dinner, people started heading to the assembly hall where the sixty and seventy year olds were being directed into distinct groups of men and women. She walked up alongside Col. Gray and said, "Are you ready?"
"As ever," he said. "Let's get this over with."
They walked up onto a low stage, with Col. Gray allowing Mayor Harken to lead the way. She stepped up to a podium, turned the microphone on, and before speaking made her best effort to look everyone in the room in the eyes. She noted that the majority of the seniors looked like the typical historical Northwest populace: some Asian, some Hispanic, a few African Americans but largely Caucasian. She thought she knew a couple of them by name recognizing them from their directory photos.
Deep breath. OK. Here we go. "Good evening my friends, my name is Alice Harken and I want to start by saying thank you for the incredible sacrifice you have made to serve your nation, your communities and the family and friends you have left behind.
"Tonight, we will begin a journey together that will go well beyond our lifetimes, even though a bunch of you still look like spring chickens." Some laughter tittered through the crowd. "And together we will build a community that your parents would have and your children will be proud of, a community that is a seed in the ground as insurance against the future. All of us have parents that told us of the Great Dust Bowls and the Great Depression and the Great Wars. So I know that we have been imbued with the strength it will take for us as we forge ahead into the unknown."
Alice stopped for just a moment to catch herself. "I do not yet know your personal stories, but I hope to learn them soon. I have the deepest for you and can relate to the difficulty of the decision you made to come here tonight. So, I honor you for answering this call."
Nobody knew if they were supposed to clap or not and a bit of applause came out awkwardly from around the room. Alice jumped into the void and said "I'd like to introduce you to Col. Gray. Together, we will provide joint leadership of this endeavor and he is going to explain some instructions now."
Col. Gray stepped forward and Alice stepped back to where he had been standing behind her. "Ladies and Gentleman, thank you for your cooperation in making this an orderly affair. As an officer who has given his life in service to his country and the ideals of democracy, I stand with Mayor Harken in saluting you for the bravery of your choice that has led you here tonight." With that, Lt .Gray stood to full attention and saluted the crowd. Many of the men, who had obviously served in the military knew exactly what to do and stood to attention and saluted back. Others nervously looked around not knowing if they were supposed to do the same, but after four seconds, their uneasiness gave way to relief when Col. Gray continued. "Not bad," thought Alice. "That was a nice touch. We'll see how he finishes."
"All of you have received a number that corresponds to the child being assigned to you. It is followed by a two letter combination that corresponds to the person you will be assigned to live with as a family unit. Ladies please form a line in numeric order on this side of the hall," he indicated his right, "and men do the same on this side where you will receive your infant. When you have done so, please find your family unit partner until everybody is paired up. We will then proceed to the buses where you will be provided with supplies for the infants including formula, diapers, etc. We have already put your belongings into rucksacks which are tagged with your unique alphanumeric combination. Are there any questions?"
Col. Gray looked around the room quickly, but if there were questions, nobody was willing to admit them to such an austere and precise man. They'd figure it out eventually.
"Thank you. Please line up in numerical order."
Transferring babies was as orderly as he made it sound, with men in suits handing babies to each man and woman. Alice noted that unlike the older generation, the babies were almost entirely the opposite ethnic mix, the majority looking of African American descent, some darker than others. Alice could only surmise that these had been plucked from the hands of mothers who had found themselves in an unpredicted situation. She was also surprised that most of the children seemed quite content, as if they'd been drugged for the trip. Good thing because nearly all of the seniors looked like they were carrying fine China as they took their young charges into their arms.
Although the baby handoff was orderly, the matching up of senior pairs was a little more awkward, like a junior high dance. People milled around the room looking at each other's letters stuck on their jackets. This did not go as fast as Col. Gray wanted and even though he was standing "at ease" and watching the process a few feet back from the podium, Alice could see he was anything but that. He started to step forward when Alice cleared her throat. He stopped abruptly, turned back and locked eyes with her. She raised her left eyebrow, cocked her head to the right and whispered, "May I?" He stifled a grumble and stepped back.
Mayor Harken approached the podium again. "I am sure that you are all having a grand time getting to know each other already, but unfortunately, we are on military time now and Col. Gray has set a curfew for you." She smiled. "If you have found your partner already, please step to the side of the room so that those remaining can more easily find their mate." Alice grimaced. She meant to say match, but she wasn't going to point out her error by correcting herself.
This sped the process along very quickly and Grey took the microphone again as the last two pairs finally connected. "Thank you all. Once again, your number corresponds to the bus you'll be riding in. Men and women numbered one through thirty-three exit out the front door here, followed by 34-66 through this door, followed by the remaining through this door. Administrative personnel will take the fourth bus." Apparently no instruction was needed for the soldiers who made for the exits more quickly.
Alice went out and monitored the driveway which had four buses waiting and a semi-truck with a bulldozer on top. At the front and the back of the caravan, there were armored, camouflaged vehicles mounted with guns on top. Sheesh, Alice, thought, they were taking security a little more seriously than she thought was necessary. The buses weren't the yellow "Bluebird" brand, but more like the charter buses you would see bringing musicians into town. The few windows that existed on the buses were covered up completely - as if any of these seniors would have any idea where they were headed in the dark. The grunts were busy loading the seniors' rucksacks and gave the administrators a hand with their bags and briefcases.
Col. Gray stepped up quietly beside Alice as she watched the process. "A very efficient operation, wouldn't you say, Mayor Harken?" barely hiding the military pride that came with a lifetime of service. Alice caught it, but pretended to ignore it.
"Of course it is, I wouldn't expect anything less,"It was a half-truth, but she felt anything to cool the tension that was already forming between them would serve her better underground. "You did quite well in there. You make an able leader." Col. Gray turned and looked at her to see if she was serious, but he couldn't quite read her face or voice yet.
Winifred Wilson, numbered 77-CZ got on the bus carefully with her new bald bundle of joy. She had grown up on a farm in South Central Montana, her father lucky enough to survive World War II. Five of her siblings were born before his service and five afterwards, and Winnie was the youngest of the ten. She learned to work hard all her life and never turned away from difficulty, but at the age of 70 was starting to slow down. With all of her siblings and parents and husband deceased, she had little to call family and her own children had moved to far off places and rarely visited home anymore.
Still, she wasn't sure she had made the right choice to leave everything behind. Her memories of her farm were embedded deep in her mind and nobody could take that away from her, even if she wasn't allowed to bring photographs or books. But she never guessed she would be a mother again: my goodness, it had been 35 years since she had held an infant of her own. They said she could name this bright pink faced girl whatever she wanted.
She looked into the pleasant brown eyes of the girl and saw a twinkle that made her think of Betelgeuse, the brightest star light in the skies above her farm. Oh how she longed for the days when she could look up into the night sky and see all the stars in their glory. For the past five years – the skies had become so dusky that you could barely make out the North Star anymore.
Based on her training for the past couple of months, she had already figured out they'd be going underground. Although she had spent all of her life as a farmer's wife, and had a degree in agricultural from Montana State University, they had required her to take a course in hydroponic growth methods along with a few others. She understood the material readily enough and had led the other baby-boomers in applying her knowledge. She saw none of them in the armory so she must have made the first cut. (She hadn't calculated that there might be other shelters they were heading to besides Ember.) They had all finished training a month ago and then had taken a two hour train trip through the farm fields of her ancestors and arrived at the Spokane train station. They bused her to the armory this afternoon, was fed, and given a chance to shower and change into the clothes they provided. They were warm and since it was still in the upper 60s', she thought, "Yep, we're definitely going underground." The whole "handing out babies" business was awfully efficient, but there was no sense of love or connection in it, not yet anyway.
She had been paired up with Stanley Tornick (23-CZ), a 70 year old from Wyoming who had been given a baby boy and had been on the same train with her. They didn't know on the train they were headed to the same destination and besides a polite "good day," they didn't converse at all. To think that they would be randomly paired into a family unit. It was not officially a forced marriage, but an arranged family unit and there were no "nuptial" expectations of anybody. There were also no rules against it either, but at 60 and 70 years old, nobody expected any Harlequin romance novels to be written about the Ember elders.
Stanley came behind her and after she sat in one of the bus seats he asked, "Well hello again Mrs. Wilson, fancy meeting you on public transportation again." He smiled kindly. "Is this seat taken?"
She smiled back and replied, "No. not all, Mr. Tornick, but the first thing you can know about me is that life together – whatever remains of it – is going to be miserable for you if you ever call me Missus again." He laughed out loud, causing the baby to squeal a bit. "Oh sorry Forest. Shh shhh shhhhh. There's a good boy now."
"Forest huh? That was pretty quick. Any reason behind why you chose Forest?"
"I grew up crawling around Yellowstone, my dad was a forest ranger there all his life, and I spent every spare moment there as an adult. You really have no idea how beautiful creation is when you get away from all the crazy technology that fills our lives. I for one am glad to be rid of all it. Fact is, I can proudly say I never even owned a cell phone."
Winifred snickered, and then said "I'm sorry" feeling bad she laughed at him.
"Nah, don't worry about it. Anyway, seeing all the fires over the past few years destroy everything that I considered beautiful in my life, well, I suppose naming him Forest is my way of making sure that memory doesn't die with me. Who knows if he'll ever even see a forest in his lifetime."
Winifred leaned back with the baby against her chest and took a deep breath. She felt for the first time since Gary had died that she may have just found a new soul mate. A few moments of silence passed between them as the last passengers came on the bus.
"Star," she said softly. "I'm naming her Star. Star Light. That's my way of remembering something that was precious to me."
"Mmmmmm…that's nice. I like that a lot. Although I think Star Tornick sounds more natural, don't you."
This time they both burst out laughing, drawing a chorus of shushes from the other parents in the rows around them. They stifled themselves, but continued to quiver with quiet laughter for the next five minutes until an officer came on the bus and announced they'd be leaving. She looked around and wondered why only half the seats were filled. She quickly figured it out as the bus jerked into motion.
The bus ride was horrible. Clearly, the army hadn't thought through the details of transporting infants and had provided no baby seats for the long journey – idiots! Holding a child on your lap for a short trip may have been OK, but a journey of several hours, for seniors? Extraordinary planning, she thought sarcastically. "I sure hope a woman has thought through how many diapers it's going to take to raise 100 babies," she said under her breath.
"What?" said Stanley, who'd clearly mastered the trick of taking a nap sitting upright holding an infant securely.
"Oh nothing, but since you're awake, I need to use the bathroom. Do you think you can hold Star for a second?"
"Sure. It took a little bit of juggling, but Stanley looked like a happy grandfather of twins holding the two infant against him. She grabbed her purse, not that she'd probably be needing it much longer, and headed to the back of the bus to the restroom.
The restroom was nice enough and took a few minutes extra in the restroom to jot some notes down secretly in a small notebook. She couldn't stand the thought of not recording some of the journey down for posterity's sake. She may or may not be able to share it with Star and Forest, but she wanted to write her thoughts down while she had a chance. They'd been on the road for two, maybe three hours, she hadn't looked at what time they left. She thought it was Sunday, but since she couldn't see out the windows - not even the front – she wasn't actually sure. The bus came to a slow stop, the brakes squealing.
"Sorry I took so long, what are we stopping for?" she asked as she returned to her seat to Stanley, but stopped herself quietly as she saw he had already dozed off again, the babies safely tucked up against him. Amazing, she thought, he's going to have to teach me how he does that. She settled back into her seat and seeing that the three of them were sleeping just fine, leaned her head back and decided to take advantage of the opportunity when she could.
The bus started up again. Maybe they were passing through a small town (actually it had been a guarded road blockade with a fence that extended for miles in either direction, topped by razor wire.) They started up into some mildly twisting curves and they could hear the bus engine struggling just a little as it struggled uphill. The curves became tighter and the bus slowed to 10 or 15 MPH around each corner. She was glad that she had taken time to write in the bathroom when the she did because there would have been no way to make out any of her scrawl around theses corners.
Soon, they leveled out, left the pavement onto a gravel road for another mile or two and then slowed to a stop with a sudden jerk. It jolted everybody awake and none too soon. They were all very ready to stretch out their achy, geriatric joints. People started collecting their belongings and babies started crying, but the driver asked everybody to stay in their seats until further notice. From somewhere in the front, bottles of cold pre-mixed formula started being passed back. Winifred shook her head. They thought of refrigerators for baby milk, but didn't think of car seats. Unbelievable. Cold formula! It's a wonder they got these babies to Spokane alive.
After 10 of waiting and feeding babies who didn't much like cold formula, Mayor Harken came on the bus and grabbed the CB microphone to make an announcement. Just as she was about to push her thumb on the button to talk, she looked around the seats somewhat incredulously. "Good evening folks. I can see in their infinite wisdom that the Army failed to provide enough infant seats for all 100 of you. I am so sorry to see that you've had to carry your infants without a chance to rest your arms. Well, let's just hope that they stocked us with enough diapers to get through the next 2-3 years," she said dryly.
A smile spread across Winifred's face. "Oh, I like her Stanley. I like her a lot. Somebody who is not only sensible but also ballsy enough to call a spade a spade, huh Stanley." She turned to look at him, but he had already fallen asleep again with Forest.
The mayor continued. "You'd best get yourself some shuteye. They're going to set up a tent for our last equipping before we go down. It shouldn't be too long, but I'd take whatever rest you can get right now."
Everybody readily complied and the babies finally started to settle down with bottle nipples in their mouth. But Winifred couldn't sleep and now she was just downright jealous of Stanley. She looked around and surreptitiously pulled out her notebook and pen and made a few notes before tucking it away. Then she closed her eyes again.
It wasn't long – she couldn't be sure how long but not long enough – before they were awoken again. The mayor came back on board and quietly announced, "Please gather your belongings and babies and exit carefully. It's a little rocky out here so watch your steps."
Outside the bus, three were a couple of floodlights on top of generators that the seniors shielded their eyes from. A chain of guards were passing rucksacks along a "fire brigade" line. Others were directing them: "Right this way please. That's the way we'll be going in. Please form a line. "
Everybody was very quiet as they took in the rolling hills spread out before them in the full moonlight. "Now that was unusual," she thought. "I haven't seen the moon so bright in a long time. We must be at quite the elevation." She looked up at the tall Ponderosa Pines that went straight as an arrow into the star lit skies. She turned back for a second to look out over the gentle ascent they had made. A single small town in the distance was the only thing she could see of civilization.
They were ushered towards an army tent that was dimly lit, considerate enough of sleeping babies. There was coffee and food in it and a table of some supplies. One by one, the soldiers had the seniors pass them the babies. There was an assembly line of 8 female soldiers changing diapers every efficiently and bundling the babies up in pajamas with little hoods. Meanwhile, other soldiers had the seniors don a heavier jacket that was waterproof, a fresh pair of socks, and some rubber boots. They assisted them putting on baby slings that would allow them to carry the baby attached to their chest. "I could have used this three hours ago" Winnie said to the soldier, who just looked up sheepishly and assisted getting Star into the sling. They also fastened a headlamp to her forehead and showed her the switch. She moved on and was given a light drawstring backpack with an MRE and water bottle in it.
Col. Gray grabbed a megaphone and clicked the button. Unfortunately he had selected the button that emitted a piercing feedback tone. Immediately more than a dozen elderly reached up to their ears and hearing aids and screamed in pain. That caused several babies to wake up and start crying. "I'm sorry about that," he announced through the megaphone that was obviously turned up to its maximum volume.
Alice shot him an icy glare and thought, "what a fiasco" and he dropped the megaphone to his side, uncertain of what to do.
"Well he's a piece of work," Winnie whispered to Stanley. "I wonder what his problem is."
"He's not nearly as bad as my drill sergeant," he replied. "But cut the guy some slack. No operation goes perfectly and I think he's nervous being paired up with that pert little red head Alice," as he nodded towards the mayor. She had started going around the room and stroking babies between their eyes to calm them down. Eventually the babies settled down again and the somewhat flustered Col. Gray just raised his voice over the few squalling babies and said, "I'm sorry about that. Can you all hear me OK?"
Everybody nodded, looking at their babies and avoiding eye contact with him.
"Please try to feed your babies one last time. The infant formula has a tiny bit of sedative to calm the babies down during this journey. We do not want to risk any of you slipping and falling and it will be easier with them sleeping. Your survival is as paramount to the success of this endeavor as much as is the children's."
"The first mile of the path is gradual in most places and cuts back and forth. However, at the bottom of the descent, it will be a little slippery and my men will be there to assist you with getting down safely. We will rest at the bottom for an hour or two before going on our way. If there's no other questions, we'll be on our way."
A white haired lady in the back raised her hand, and said "Excuse me Col. Gray. We've been on the bus for three hours and I've got to pee like racehorse. Is there a toilet we can use?"
Colonel Gray looked really irritated because they were already behind schedule, but before he had a chance to say no, Mayor Harken raised her voice and said, "Ms. Murdo, isn't it?" The woman nodded yes, and beamed a little bit that she was no longer just an alpha-numeric entry in the government's log. "I feel the same way and I'm sure Col. Gray wouldn't mind if we use the bus toilets before we go. Col. Gray, would your squadron be willing to hold some babies while our esteemed citizens relieve themselves?"
He gritted out "Of course. That will be no problem." It took nearly half an hour to unstrap babies, get everybody through the toilets, and loaded up with babies and gear again.
With the exception of the bus drivers and about a dozen guardsmen, the group of 235 adults and infants made their way up a short incline into a lit arched opening in the side of the hill. Two armed guardsmen flanked either side. Winifred took one last look at the moon and the stars and a deep intoxicating breath of the countryside.
Goodbye world, she thought, and walked into the cave.