BEFORE THE EXPLOSION
The Sarge called us back at around 5:42pm, we hurriedly returned to the sister facility, apparently we all wanted that drink, we gathered round the creates of vodka from which I saw the cool steam evaporate from. I could smell that sweet chocolate flavor in all its goodness, I could taste the alcohol and feel my mouth salivate, memories of the time when alcohol was a common good came back to me, it was bliss. The Sarge called to Ethan and henry,
"You both did very well today, you should launch these drinks for us, give us a speech"
"no offences sir, this is not a baptism, guys just drink to your fill, enjoy yourselves" rick laughed as he responded, there was an audible giggle among us, the mood was indeed bright, we were happy, and we needed to take our minds of the impossible mission we had the next day. After henry and Ethan took a bottle and filled their cups, I followed suit as did Jamie, Loraine, Nathan and Jamie. I didn't introduce Loraine to you, she was one of the privates that flew the ospreys with henry, and she was pretty good at it too. So yeah we talked, made a few jokes, teased each other and laughed, I hadn't felt that good about myself since the explosion. A little over an hour and we sat round a small table near the corner of the hanger with both ospreys in the corner and the sky fortress in the distance, still missing a power source. We were pretty relaxed and happy then Jamie said
"Every human in the world were once this happy, now we're a mess, how did we get here" I looked at him and looked away, the Sarge sighed,
"Nature fucked us over, we lost a lot, I…" he paused "I lost a lot"
"Nothing you could have done Sarge, you didn't know, none of us did" Rick said
"What do you mean" Jamie asked
"I lost a friend in the explosion, I guess most of us did"
"Can I ask you something sir?" he said
"Yes"
"How did you end up here? I mean sure you're a soldier and all but your country should have pulled you out or something, right"
"The Sarge wasn't all military Jamie" Vanessa said taking a sip of her cup
"that's right" the Sarge replied "before the horde appeared, before all this mess, I was a trained soldier with the agency for radioactive materials control and distribution, all I had to do was command moving radioactive materials, ensure they're transported safely, then the discovery was made and I was sent to retrieve a certain doctor, an expert in nuclear science. My team and I went to him and well we talked…"
BEFORE THE HORDE
(As told by the Sarge)
12:27pm
September 16th 2033
Manhattan, New York
"Good morning doctor Revere, I'm special agent Cason from the agency for radioactive materials control and distribution (AFRM-CAD), I need to speak with you"
"Okay… can I ask why sir?" Revere asked puzzled
"No you may not, not yet. We need to get you to the rest of the team first"
"Is something wrong?"
"You'll find out sir, just come with me" he paused "it is a sensitive issue and I'm not at liberty to discuss it with you anyways" he added
"Okay sir" doctor Revere retorted and was escorted by two other agents and Cason back to the van where I was waiting for him, as he entered I took his hand and helped him inside the back of the armored van,
"I'm Sergeant Kent, ex American military, now a private officer with the agency, were going for a ride doctor"
"I don't think I can ask where we're going or refuse to go for that matter"
"You're right, this is of paramount importance, you don't get to say no" I replied. The other agents got in the front and drove us to John Fitzgerald Kennedy international airport in New York, where a plane was already waiting for us. After a couple of minutes, we arrived the airport and my assistant came to us,
"Sir, word just came, a base of operations has been set up for us, and it's been stocked up as we speak"
"Thank you Irina, we're moving out ASAP"
"Sir" she said as she saluted and walked to the plane behind her. Revere, Cason and me followed her and got onto the plane, which was already ready to go.
"Strap in doctor, it's going to be a long flight" Cason said as he entered the cargo hold
"I still don't know where I'm going, this is practically kidnapping"
"Call it what you may doctor, it doesn't matter. You're the leading expert in your field, we need you" I said
"For what" he replied, as the cargo hold door closed, I sat him down and said
"Well, some days ago, some workers of the university in Benin, Nigeria were taken to the hospital, they had suffered radiation burns and radiation related sicknesses"
"What" he exclaimed
"Exactly, there's no way they should have right, so the government of the country contacted the AFRM-CAD and they were flown in to examine the school, apparently an area of the school was radioactive, not enough to cause damage to cells and tissues, but the workers had received it consistently enough to cause burns and sickness"
"But there's no radioactive material processing site in Nigeria, how",
"That's why we need you doctor, we found plutonium in a drilling site in the area, it's being examined as we speak, there was a drilling operation to set up a new massive water pump system for the school when the workers were exposed. Had they chosen another site, they probably wouldn't have found it"
"But nuclear fusion is already a thing, no one needs plutonium anymore, it would be easier to build a fusion bomb now than a fission bomb. Plutonium shouldn't be a problem, why am I needed exactly" he asked placing his hand on his thighs
"Well that's not the reason you're been flown in, it's becau..." He cut me off
"Wait you just said plutonium didn't you"
"I did"
"There weren't any naturally occurring plutonium fields in Nigeria, at least none that I knew of" he replied
"Well now you know why we need you doctor" he looked surprised, and barely said anything after that, I could see the expression of shock and confusion on his face, he just kept looking down and kept quiet the rest of the flight.
10:42pm
September 16th 2033
University of Benin, Benin city
As you know, the Allen Research Facility was an old nuclear fallout shelter during the cold war, it was the safest place to carry out research on radioactive materials so we turned it to our base of operations, flying in and out from the University to the facility regularly, the United States government, the United Nations and the Nigerian government had readied the place for our research as to understand what had happened in the university of Benin. We had huge ospreys and a sky fortress was en-route to the location. Doctor Revere did his studying and research and with the team assigned to him, determined that plutonium 239 was created from nuclear fission in the earth, of course he was wrong but at the time we had no idea.
He published a paper and the country announced the discovery, and there were plans put in to further study the plutonium and the University was placed on a lockdown, on the 28th of September, new plans were put in to test for radiation poisoning and sicknesses to people in the school compound, and by the 8th of October they were to be evacuated From the university premises. But unfortunately before those plans came to fruition on the 4th of October, well... The team and I just finished a survey session to see how deep the plutonium went into the ground and we got on the last osprey to the base, doctor Revere and Cason and about fourteen scientists, stayed behind, including doctor Franklin and my assistant Irina, Revere requested they did because he was going to pull an all-nighter to come up with a proper answer the next day. Just as our osprey got pass the Benin city bypass bridge in Ugbowo, we got a distress call form the school claiming there was a malfunction, before we could turn the bird, the whole thing went up in flames, a blinding light from the school that consumed everything within the school compound and at least five hundred feet around the school then followed the boom and shockwave, it knocked a few of the components in the osprey out and we crashed in the woods near the bridge, myself, Rick and Henry rushed out of the burning Osprey and stared at the mushroom cloud of fire in front of us, none of us predicted it, we didn't expect it, it wasn't supposed to happen, we had everything under control and hundreds of people just died in an instant, I was broken, Irina was like family, I couldn't comprehend what had happened, I regretted letting her stay. I froze up and dropped on my knees in tears, Rick rushed back to the osprey to get the rest of the people out, it was a mess. We radioed the ARF and after what seemed like decades but was only about thirty minutes, another osprey came to our position to pick us up, just as soon as it started raining, it was like the heavens were falling with the rains, like some spiritual force out there was angry at Nigeria, I stayed silent through the fly back to the facility.
The rains put out most of the fires and prevented it from spreading, that was good, the next day, we received word that the sky fortress was damaged as a result of electromagnetic disturbance from the explosion, it was still operational but needed repairs, and its power core was destroyed. The crew pushed it farther and with what it had left, they brought it to the allen research facility and it was just abandoned there. An alternative power source for it was in a vehicle that arrived the school before the explosion, though it wasn't a priority at the time to get it. we got protective gear and went back to the explosion site in the morning to access the level of damage caused, it was bad, the government began to evacuate the entirety of that region of Benin, they feared it was a terrorist attack, others feared it wasn't safe, it didn't really matter anymore, the damage had been done. More scientists came in and determined that the plutonium had cooled off and though the radiation level was still high, a meltdown was not a possibility, the natural formations of rock under the earth prevented it from going through to the underground water. It was a disaster we didn't have a name for when it happened, and more work was left to be done but were left on hold until after the evacuation was completed. As usual, some people refused to move, the government didn't care, they left them and by February of the next year evacuation was almost completed, and more soldiers were brought in to ensure people didn't return, they did anyway, hiding around the city.
As of August, the plutonium radiation had stabilized, although still lethal, protective clothing canceled out most of the radiation so clean-up effort was put into place, with a containment superstructure built around the drilling tunnel to prevent more radiation from escaping and to make the decontamination effort easier. New scientist were brought in to decontaminate the place and determine why it exploded, as the plutonium we found was not suitable to be used in a bomb. The clean-up went pretty well, I had started to recover from the trauma of losing Irina and my men in the explosion but was still taking things slow. For further studies, we had to declare the entire city radioactive to urge people to leave and put them in less danger should anything happen again, almost as though we knew what was coming, though we had no idea, new teams of scientists were flown in from all over the world to examine the dangerously radioactive site in protective gear while my team kept surveying the city to ensure no civilians were left, it took weeks, almost seemed fruitless at the time then a new development came, in February, of 2035, the 1st to be precise, the containment superstructure caved in on itself and we had no idea as to why, we had just finished clean up and were preparing to move out of the city when it collapsed, with limited information, our science team were sent in again and this time, they discovered some parts of the tunnel walls broke and the vibrations caused the collapse, and the broken walls revealed the true cause of the explosion, the data they sent in was dynamic, it was the answers we'd all sought, the answers doctor Revere wanted to find, had they found it then, the explosion wouldn't have happened, we could have stopped it, just a wall covered it. The plutonium was formed form seismic activities that occurred and was still occurring under the African tectonic plates in the Nigeria bay area, somehow the seismic occurrences caused an unnatural nuclear decay of u-238 and its end product was pu-239. An increased density in the air allowed the plutonium to reach its critical mass, firing neutrons and allowing for a fission chain reaction which was then ignited by a spark in the water pumps' wiring system that was placed before our team arrive the very first time, releasing a Shockwave that compressed the inner plutonium and led to its massive explosion. Had we known, we would have stopped it, but I don't think we were meant to know because just sixteen days after on the 10th of February, we lost contact with the team of scientists and soldiers sent in, and When the second team we sent got there on the 19th, Because the shelter doors were set to open up on the evacuation day, which was the 19th of February, they were gone, there was blood and a few bodies but that was it, then the three soldiers we sent got sealed in, the doors collapsed locking them in and opening up another hole in the structure, the did manage to send us the data the first team had gathered thought, a new element they dubbed Relilium-unknown or X. Relilium-X was determined from a few days of study to be an airborne particle based metallic chemical element. And till now, we don't much or anything else about it except it's airborne and it caused the plague, as you all know, the scientists that were in contact with it became draugrs. And the warning we got in the downloaded data as recorded by doctor Hallie gave us a heads up, my team left the site in the osprey and that same day just as we got to the Allen facility, we got reports of our soldiers being attacked by scientists and civilians from around the city, violent and savage men, women and children, we had to recall them and then we turned the research facility into a military outpost, and after relaying our findings to the government they set up the Nexus in Lagos the next month but by that time the infection had already come out, the public were already at risk, it was too late. Particles of Relilium escaped through the damaged facility, we couldn't fix it up because we couldn't go near it, and so started the greatest trial humanity has faced for far, the infection spread fast, and by the end of 2035, the entire African continent was a red zone, parts of the Americas and Europe were sealed, major cities were barricaded and people lived in fear and the end of 36 only made it worse, we were down to the last billion people, at least that's all we knew. People thought an asteroid or a man-made disaster would cause the extinction of humanity, well we were all wrong, it's almost as if the world wants us gone. Now things are better though, Relilium is no longer in the air, the only way to get infected now is through direct contact with the draugrs, and most of them are in hibernation so we're not in any direct risk, we Have to survive this people, at all cost, humanity can't lose, not to this infection.
* * *
"Wow, that's a lot to go through Sarge, I'm sure people appreciate what you're doing here, they have to" Jamie said
"They will" I said "I think I'm going to take off sir, it's been a while, and I'm beginning to feel drowsy' I added as I got up
"I'll walk you to your quarters" Jamie said I whispered the words 'thank you' to him, pretty sure he didn't hear me, then he came and stood close to me to guide me back, I knew I couldn't walk all the way myself so I didn't object. Seeing major changed everything, all my plans and everything going on at the facility. He gave us hope.
We left the rest of the team and went to the stairwell and we made small talk as we walked, and inside the stairwell, he asked
"So you've been here four years eh, that's a long time"
"Actually I've only been here about two years plus. I do miss my friends in Lagos, but i guess i have to be here"
"This facility seems like it's the only thing keeping us all alive, what a miracle it is" he looked at me and back through the hallway leading back to the main facility "do you think it's weird how this facility was put together really quickly just in time for the accident" he asked, just as I was about to speak I held my words and rethought what to say
"Jamie, this facility wasn't put together in a day, it's taken it four years to come this far, when I got here it was still a hot mess, nothing worked, power was erratic. The reactor, it wasn't even here"
"So how did you get it in?"
"Come with me" I responded completely ignoring his question; I led him down to the second floor u see the hangers where the reactor was, we went into the observation room where we met a few physicists working to keep the reactor going
"Hey Thomson, hey Ben" I greeted the lead engineers
"Hi Rose, what's up" Ben answered, tom just waved at me and carried on his business, Jamie whispered to me
"He's rude"
"Yeah he doesn't talk much but I think he means we'll" I went to Ben and requested permission to enter the reactor hall with Jamie, he was reluctant at first, some people on the station still didn't trust Jamie all that much but after a little nudge, he budged and directed me to the protective gear we needed to enter
"Come on Jamie" I said, he followed me without saying much. We put on the clothes and went in the reactor hall, the massive hallway was truly an engineering feat, more so as it was under the hangers
"Holy crap" Jamie exclaimed as he saw the massive glass wall enclosing the reactor, he was truly amazed at the sight, the huge ring where particles were accelerated circling the metal orb where fusion occurred and the cooling system we had worked out, it was truly marvelous. Then some barrels at the end of the hall caught his eye, he turned and asked
"What is that?" I gave him a ridiculous stare before I answered
"Its reactor fuel" he looked surprised
"What!" he exclaimed pointing his ear at me
"Yes Jamie, fusion reactors run on fuel, contrary to what people think. Why do people even think that, I mean what would they run on if not fuel? Of course they use way less fuel and have higher power outputs than traditional reactors but yes they run on fuel"
"What kind of fuel is that?" he asked "I mean I don't think it is petrol, is it?"
"No Jamie it's not, it couldn't possibly be. This reactor is the HB17x, its core runs on hydrogen and boron"
"Hydrogen? Not uranium"
"well unlike older radioactive fusion reactors, the HB17x by Exadyne uses electromagnetic aided laser to accelerate hydrogen with boron in the accelerator to near light speed and collides them and starts and sustains a chain reaction in the core"
"And heat? It does use heat and steam to spin turbines right?"
"Fortunately, no it doesn't. When the hydrogen atoms fuse with boron, it throws off helium atoms without any electrons"
"Positively charged helium. So another device gathers the helium as electricity?"
"Not entirely, the reactor does get hot and a heat sink seal collects the heat and turns it to electricity, using the new thermal management engine, it's pretty cool actually..."
"So it's like the fusion generates power and the heat is also used to generate power as the reactor is cooled… kinda like the new ion engines"
"It's exactly like those" I answered in exhilaration, I loved the technology behind fusion reactors so much that it was kinda my thing
"I see" he paused "you sure know a lot about fusion reactors though"
"What can I say? I've been here for a while, there's only so much I can do with my time…" I smirked, he giggled back at me, and we both watched the reactor as it vibrated gently. "Ahh" I exhaled "this single piece of equipment is the center piece of our lives now"
"How did you get it down here?" He asked, I took a step back and faced the exit doors
"See those doors, well they weren't always doors, there was literally nothing there, we moved it in piece by piece and Nathan and his team coupled it. The thing took almost three months to complete"
"But how, how did you find something like this? Surely it wasn't just laying around in a corner"
"It was" I started to walk towards the door "Common, let's go" he gave me a grin look, I knew he wanted the answer so I gave it to him "well it was in transit to UBTH, to serve as an alternative power core for the sky fortress, when we found it, we knew it would save us, finally we shut down the solar panel array outside the facility"
"I see, well that..." I interrupted him saying
"Jamie, I need some sleep, we have a mission tomorrow and we'd really need the rest, we'll continue this question and answer session tomorrow okay"
"Sure I guess, I'll walk you to your room as I promised"
"Thank you" I responded, at that point my vision was already fading, it was already hard to talk and walk, I didn't hold my liquor very well. I remember Vanessa joining us somewhere along the way to the Allen and following us all the way to my room while she and Jamie spoke. It was all like a distant memory, I did remember they were talking about how close we were though, well I dozed off pretty much after and didn't catch what happened or what they talked about the rest of the night.