Midnight Tau: Blizzard

I walk across the rocky snow covered ground of the forsaken land called Kerguelen, a place that was said to be completely submerged underwater by the government’s of the world prior to the events on December 30th, 1988. Located on the fringes of the Indian and Antarctic Oceans near Australia. I think to myself just how lucky yet unlucky I am to be here as I make my way down a crudely excavated mountain path, wind and snow pelting my face. Looking off into the distance beneath the dark cloudy sky I can see Scrap City and just beyond that, the red blinking lights at the top of the air traffic control tower at Camp Tau. No longer a beacon for aircraft and just an indicator you are approaching the last surviving bit of the United States’s military and the country's last remaining city. My radio lets out a rapid three pulse chirp to indicate a signal being picked up. I take it off my pack and click it and listen.

“The date is Sunday, January the third 1993. This is a weather advisory for the entirety of the southern portion of the Kerguelen Plateau, a strong blizzard is on the approach. It is recommended that anyone receiving this broadcast seek immediate shelter as a wind speed of 60-70 miles per hour is expected. This message will repeat.” I shut off my radio. “Shit, I better get a move on.” I hurriedly make my way down the rocky path. 

After about a solid half hour of jogging through the ever increasing snowfall I reach the gate into the city. I am exhausted, cold and finally back from my long icey trek from Ville de Rouille. I approach the rusty guard shack and knock on a panel. “Hey Frankie it’s me Major White, can I be let in?” I hear a shuffling coming from in the shack before the scraping of a small shutter on the shacks window is opened to reveal the mustached Italian from Brooklyn. “Ay if it ain’t my favorite trader Major Sarah White! Looks like ya got back just in the knick of time, Weathers ‘bout to hit the shitter!” He adjusts his newsboy hat, “I’ll let’cha right in” He pulls a lever, the large steel gate slowly raising upwards towards the icy gray sky. “So how have you been Frankie?” I lean against the shack. “Ah I’ve been alright, exhausted but alright” He shoots me a small smile as the snow starts to come down. “Same here, was an intense walk back but I should probably explain that to you after this storm. Don't want to end up freezing to death in front of you.” He chuckles a bit. “Yeah, yeah I’ll catch ya later Major.” 

I head through the gate and after a few minutes reached my scrap house. I hastily shut the door as a blizzard starts to fully bare down on Scrap City, the winds from the storm howling against the sheet metal roof. “Hey Sarah you’re back and just in time too by the sounds of it.” I let out a small relieved sigh hearing Rogers' deep voice. 

“Yeah, the wind really started to pick up, and that's Major White to you Corporal Stein.” I notice Roger rummaging around in his jacket pocket for a few seconds before he pulls out a box of VitaSalve.

 “Yeah, yeah Sarah. There’s really no need for those formalities between us as we have known each other since middle school. I also managed to snag this off of a renonian trader that came through from Wolvire E to the west, I know you use this stuff to get a boost to your thinking while working on some drafts to assist the General in his plan to hopefully secure a safe location in Perth for supply runs.” I take the box from him and open it, a full bottle.

 “You’re a real lifesaver Roger, this stuff is damn near impossible to get since the Pulse happened, and given our location in the Antarctic circle.” As I talk I ignite a fire in the crudely made furnace. “Wonder where that four-eyed horned space lizard got it from.” Roger says, “Probably via trading with the French outpost up north.” Roger takes a comb out of his bag and combs his long red hair back and over. Shortly after he puts on an ushanka hat.

I take a seat in the chair next to Roger near the furnace, which has several thermoses of water on top of it. The fire crackles as small embers occasionally escape the front grate. “Hard to believe it will be Five years next month since the world ended, I remember I was so damn excited to be celebrating New Years Eve ‘89 the next day with you and Ryan on the ship I forgot to put on socks from how lost I was in my thoughts.” Roger speaks softly and nostalgically. “Getting ready to head down to Corpus Christi when boom, a massive blue wave came over the horizon and zoomed by. Car alarms going off, the ground shaking and any active electronics exploding… t-then the nukes came…” I let out a sigh, even though half a decade has passed I’m still nowhere near comfortable enough to talk about it so I quickly cut the conversation about it short by saying. “Christ, I thought we’d never make it. '' The room falls silent except for the wind and crackling fire for a few seconds until the door is quickly opened and shut as a tall, black scaled, curly horned renonian enters. His four large blazing orange eyes looked weary and exhausted as he quickly shut the door.

“Er-Mok! I was getting worried for a bit there.” Roger says, “I was worried that you may have turned into a popsicle out there” 

“Well I didn't, got a bit held up helping a kid get home.” he approaches the furnace and hastily sits down next to it while sliding his snow covered backpack off of his shoulder. He unzips it and pulls out an orange nearly holo-graphic like keycard looking object from his bag. “I’ve got a copy of the data I’ve been helping collect for Varia Research Station Eta of that spy satellite we managed to tap into. Data doesn’t show anything of promise for the outside world.” He tosses it down on the coffee table he ‘constructed’ out of a flat boulder. “Shit, you serious?” Roger asks the alien.

“Yes, Northern Australia has quite literally been blown to bits by some stray nuclear missiles. Massive swirling vortex of God knows what over Scotland. Most of the south western US is covered in a cloud of our species fuel source MANA leaking from the reactors of the RGF colony ship VIO-LET downed in the Sierra-Nevada mountains… It's all fucked.” He takes his clawed hands and rests them on the small blocky protrusions his eyes rest in. “It looks like the safest place left in the world is right here.” I stayed silent in disbelief at what I was hearing. Roger throws his hands up in the air. “There had gotta be somewhere else out there that's doing just about as well or even better than here Mok.” I clear my throat to speak, “H-how's Dallas…” I ask Er-Mok, damn well knowing the answer that it will probably be grim. He opens the data pad and looks around a bit on it “It's a crater, hit by 3 nuclear warheads.” I clench my fist tight, now knowing for certain that my little sister probably didn’t make it. “New York?” The lizard looks around some more on the pad. “New York is… in pretty good shape actually, it's just surrounded by incredibly toxic wastelands. Looks like here”, he points to a spot on the picture on a picture captured of the city from near the Statue of Liberty, “that there are survivors residing in the World Trade Centers.” I loosen my grip just a bit. “Looks like your brothers might still be okay Sarah.” Roger says, giving me a few pats on the back. “My sister, Jenny, was in Ontario on a business trip. Any observations there?” He asks Er-Mok. “Southern half of Ontario is gone and I’m not talking about the city…” Roger grows silent for a little bit before saying quietly, “Christ” and getting up and walking over to a now piping hot water thermos. “I’m just as devastated as all of you are the colony ship I was on, the Wolvire, we found the rest of it three quarters submerged on the coast of Antarctica.” The entire room once more falls silent for a few minutes.Roger then clears his throat, “Tea time?”

Roger gives each of us a tea bag, and places the thermos on the coffee table. I’m the first to take it and pour it into a cup, mixing my tea as I pass the hot water to Er-Mok. Soon all three of us have our tea ready. I take out my radio and click it on to get a static filled signal, faintly behind the noise you can hear ‘I think we’re alone now’ by Tiffany playing. Roger busts out a deck of cards. “How ‘bout a game of Rummy to pass the time?”