Jerry D Young
02-06-2010, 01:49 AM
Stupid Computer!
“Stupid Computer!” Frank Cooper muttered as he stared at the white lettering on the bright blue screen of his laptop computer. It was the third time in a week he had a blue screen crash. “Time to take this puppy in for some serious evaluation,” he said aloud as he turned the laptop off.
A week later Frank handed over a hundred dollar bill and got back a few ones in change. “It won’t crash now?” he asked the tech.
“Can’t guarantee that. Depends on what you wind up downloading. You had half a dozen viruses on your system. If you hadn’t had that backup you would have lost everything since I had to wipe the drive and start over. There’s nothing on it now that should cause a blue screen crash.”
The tech frowned. “A couple of those viruses I just started running into. Usually my virus software will recover everything while it gets rid of the virus. Not those two, though.”
Frank nodded. If that was the best the guy could do, that was just the way it was. “Stupid computers!” he muttered as he put the computer in the truck, behind the driver’s seat in the crew cab of the truck so it wouldn’t slide around on his way to work.
He muttered the same phrase when he got to work. The LAN was down and he couldn’t log in. He really needed to connect to the WAN at corporate, but that wasn’t doable either since it took access to the LAN to get to the WAN. At least he could get some work done on his own machine.
For a while, it turned out. He was in the middle of setting up a spreadsheet when the computer froze up. Muttering a couple of foul words, including his trademark “Stupid Computer!” Frank called IT asked for some help.
“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I hear you. Well, we got a dozen other problems right now. You’ll just have to wait.”
Frustrated, Frank took an early lunch. Perhaps things would be better when he returned.
They weren’t. His computer was still locked up, and from the looks of things, almost everyone else’s in the department was, too.
After an extended after lunch coffee break with some of the others, Smythers, the department head, came out of his office and said, “Okay people! Listen up. Paid day off the rest of the day. IT should have this thing cleared up by morning. Report in at your regular times.”
Smythers turned around and went back into his office as most of the department made a dash for the door. Frank waited for the others to leave before leaving himself. He was lost in thought for a moment.
The situation was beginning to sound like one of the PAW stories he read on the internet. Frank was a prepper, to a degree. Suddenly feeling very inadequate, prep wise, when he left the office building he didn’t head for home. Instead he headed for the closest thing in town to a prep store. It was a locally owned hardware store with a sideline of preparedness items.
The hardware store did a good business, but Winston had told Frank recently that despite everything going on in the world, the line of prep goods wasn’t selling well. The cheap stuff was moving, but not the quality items. Frank was counting on that fact to perhaps make a good deal of a large bulk purchase of items he’d been wanting but had put off getting.
“Hi ya, Winston!” Frank said, seeing Winston at the checkout counter. He was talking to someone else behind the counter.
“Hey, Frank! How goes it?”
“Lousy. Computer is down, LAN is down, WAN is down.”
“Internet is down, too,” Winston said. “So is my super duper deluxe very fancy very expensive cash register system. Some kind of virus. Victor here is trying to get the system back up and running.”
“And not having much luck,” Victor said. “Hi, Frank. You say your systems are down, too?”
Frank nodded.
“Strange. I’ve got calls from all over about systems going down.”
“That is strange,” Frank said. “Uh… Winston, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure, Frank. What’s up?” Winston came around the end of the counter and joined Frank as he walked toward the display of prep items.
“You still having trouble moving the higher end preps, Winston?”
“Yeah. I made a bad choice bringing in everything the way I did. But I got a great deal at the time…”
“Speaking of a great deal…” Frank said. He lowered his voice a bit and leaned closer. “I’d kind’a like to get a great deal on some of those items. A lot of them, as a matter of fact.”
“What do you mean? You know my prices are good. I’m a little hurt that…”
“Aw, Winston! I’d didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. But a deal is a deal. I’m talking about taking pretty much all the food, freeze-dried, dehydrated, MREs, and LTS packaged food. All of your water barrels. That grain grinder you’ve been after me to take off your hands…”
Frank was slowly going down the three aisles that made up the Prep Goods section of the store. “The good fuel cans. Oh, a whole bunch more of the things you have. Plus four or five more guns, reloading set ups, and all the ammunition you have in my calibers.”
Winston was staring at Frank, rather in awe. Frank was a frugal shopper. Always wanting a discount, but never taking umbrage when Winston held to his listed prices. But this time, if he was serious, Frank was talking about several thousand dollars worth of goods. Goods that he was having trouble selling. So… “A discount might be arranged. If the order is large enough.”
“Uh-huh. I thought you might be willing.” Frank was looking around at things, adding prices in his head. “Tell you what. I don’t need everything, but I’ll buy you out of all your prep stuff, say… for seven thousand. That doesn’t include the guns, but does the ammunition and reloading gear.”
“You’re out of your mind! I’d have to have at least…” Winston was doing some figuring in his head, too. “Fifteen thousand.”
“Don’t think so, Winston. Eight.”
“Twelve thousand!”
“Ten. That’s my best offer, Winston. Remember, I’m buying some guns, too.”
“Oh. Yeah. Okay, old son, you have a deal!” Winston held out his hand and Frank grinned and shook it. That’s going to have to be cash. I can’t run a credit card through because of the internet, and I’m afraid it could be days before a check would clear.” Winston was a bit hesitant. He wanted the sale, but asking for ten thousand in cash was pushing it.
“Not a problem,” Frank said. “I’ll have it for you tomorrow. Just don’t sell any of this stuff until I can arrange to pick it up. Now, let’s look at the guns you have.” The two walked over to the sporting goods section of the store and Winston went behind the counter, telling the regular clerk to take a break.
“Okay, what do you have in mind?” Winston didn’t rub his hands together in anticipation, but it was close as Frank named off six rifles, three shotguns, and five handguns. “I expect a deal on these, too,” Frank said firmly.
“Sure! Sure! Not a problem. Actually, it comes out the same as the other stuff. Ten grand.”
“Six.”
“Aw, come on, Frank! I have to make some money off them!”
Frank didn’t say anything. “Okay,” Winston said after a long silence. “Eight. That’s as low as I can go.”
“Done. Do the paperwork and I’ll pick up the guns when I get the other stuff. One last thing. Your precious metals. You still have some or did you sell them all?”
“Man, I thought I’d make a killing on them. Nobody is buying after the price topped eight hundred for gold and twelve for silver. And I wasn’t selling much before then. I got lucky when I bought the stuff several years ago. I…” Winston shut up quickly realizing his mistake when he saw the glint in Frank’s eyes.
“Not that I meant…”
“I’ll take all you’ve got at six hundred an ounce for gold and eight dollars an ounce for silver.” Frank was prepared to go a little higher, but he didn’t offer up.
Winston knew he’d stepped in it when he said he’d bought them cheap. It was a nice piece of change, and he had gotten them for much less than Frank was offering. And he could sure use the cash. He would be making a bundle, and getting rid of non-moving merchandise. He considered that two birds with one stone. “Okay,” he said, trying to sound dejected.
If Frank heard the dejection he paid no attention to it. He was going to be giving Winston a wad of cash that would choke a horse. But in his mind, converting the cash he’d been saving into tangibles was more than worth it. The internet and computer issues were really bothering him.
“How much gold and silver do you have?” Frank asked Winston.
Frank whistled when Winston told him. “That’s more than I was counting on…”
Afraid to lose what was the best sale of his ownership of the store, Winston offered, of his own free will, to cut the prices of the gold and silver to five-hundred-fifty and seven-fifty for the silver.
Frank hadn’t expected that. He’d just been commenting on the fact that it was more than he expected. But he could have paid the stated price. But he wasn’t going to tell Winston that. Instead, he said, “Thanks Winston. It’s a deal.” He held out his hand and they shook again.
Frank went home and before he made it into the house he got the shakes. “What have I done?” he asked himself silently. “All that money… What if nothing happens?” But he shook his head, straightened his shoulders and said aloud. “But a deal is a deal. And I’m afraid I’m right, anyway.”
It took Frank an hour to gather up the cash he’d been saving for years, hidden in and around the house in various places. There were still a few hiding places left untouched when Frank had not only the money for Winston, but another wad for another project he had been thinking about for a long time but had not pursued.
With eighty-five percent of his life savings in his hands, Frank hoped the other fifteen percent would be enough to get by on if things didn’t work out the way he was suddenly feeling they would.
Despite the decisions he’d made, Frank was able to eat a light supper, go to bed, and sleep through the night without waking up sweating the way he did sometimes when he made what he found to be difficult decisions.
He was even whistling when he went into work. It didn’t even bother him when he was able to get back to work. The computer, LAN, WAN, and internet were all operating just fine. The preps he was buying would last for years for the most part. If the balloon didn’t go up now, that was fine with him.
Still in a good mood, Frank took the time on his afternoon break to make arrangements to get a rental truck for after work and during the weekend. Those arrangements made, Frank rented a climate controlled storage room at a facility not too far from where he lived. Now he was ready to go pay Winston and start moving his new preps. He only had one stop to make after work before picking up the rental truck, and it was on the way.
Having caught up on the work he’d been unable to do the day before, Frank was happy with his progress, thankful that his immediate fears were groundless about the internet. He was looking forward to getting his new preps squared away and was whistling again when he left the office building and headed toward the rental place.
The stop he made was at the garage that he knew some preppers swore by as a great place to have a vehicle converted to a BOV. Frank thought he was in pretty good shape, BOV wise, but a few improvements wouldn’t hurt. He’d already switched out the old gasoline engine for a non-electronic diesel and added a heavy duty transmission.
When Robert Wise heard what Frank wanted done to the pickup he smiled. “Good choices. Gonna cost, though.”
“Cash price?” Frank asked.
Frank followed Robert into the office of the garage and sat patiently while Robert worked on the computer for several minutes. When Robert looked over at Frank he told him the price.
Frank didn’t even blink. “Half now, half when it’s finished and approved?”
It caught Robert by surprise. Most people wanted to finance the work done. It was seldom anyone paid outright with cash. “Absolutely!”
As always, Frank had his cash stashed in several pockets. He took out only what he needed to pay the half down on the truck work and left the rest where it was. “Can I get a ride to the rental place? I’m picking up a truck to move some things.”
“You betcha!” Robert replied. “Be a pleasure.” Robert took Frank to the rental place, using Frank’s truck to get a feel for it. “Two weeks, tops,” Robert told Frank just before Frank got out of the truck at the rental place.
“Sounds good.” Frank hitched his pants up a bit and went into the truck rental office to get the keys to the truck he’d be using that weekend. It took just a few minutes for the paperwork and then Frank was on his way to the hardware store in a one-ton box bed truck.
When he arrived at Winston’s hardware store Frank found the prep aisles cordoned off with signs that said the section was closed. In the back office of the store Winston’s eager eyes watched as Frank took out the wad of one-hundred-dollar bills from first one pocket and then another and counted them out.
“How’d you get so much cash so quick? I didn’t get my computer system up until this afternoon. I took some receipts to the bank at noon and their system was down too. It’s beginning to sound like aluminum foil hat time.”
“I know what you mean,” Frank said, not elaborating on his thoughts on the matter. Finally Frank quit pulling money out and counting it. He waited patiently while Winston recounted it and then bundled it up with rubber bands.
“Stuff is all yours, Frank! Oh. Here’s the papers for the guns. You can fill in your parts while I get the PMs out of the safe.”
Carefully shielding the knob from Frank, Winston turned around and opened up the large safe in the office. He began to set out tubes of coins from the safe onto the desk. It was hard for Frank to concentrate. He had some PMs, but this purchase was far more than he already had.
Winston began to add white tubes of gold coins to the clear tubes of silver coins. After everything was on the desk and the safe was closed and locked again, Winston said, “I’ll go get a couple of boxes for these.”
Frank nodded and went back to filling out the firearms purchase forms. He was finished when Winston returned with four small, heavy duty boxes. Between them they had the boxes loaded up in just a couple of minutes. Winston helped Frank carry the boxes out to the rental truck and put them in the cab.
Frank carefully locked up the cab of the truck and then began to load up the back with the things from the prep aisles of the store. Winston had to wait on a customer apparently, as he disappeared while Frank was stacking things on the hand cart.
Frank made two trips that evening before the store closed, and it took the rest of the weekend to get everything moved either to his house or the storage room. The new guns went into the existing gun safe, along with the precious metals, in the shelter connected to the basement of Frank’s house.
He was more than a little sore when he got to work the following Monday, but got right down to work. For a while. The computer locked up and Frank called IT. He finally hung up after waiting fifteen minutes of listening to bad hold music. If IT was this busy, his problem was probably only one of many. He checked with his co-workers. Sure enough, all their computers were locked up, too.
“Hey, boss,” Frank said, knocking on Smythers’ office door. “What do we do?”
Smythers frowned and sighed. “Jenkins said to send everyone home again. But this time without pay.”
“People aren’t going to like that,” Frank said calmly.
“Yeah. Well, they don’t like it enough, they can look for another job. Jenkins said no paid time off for computer problems anymore. You can’t do your work, you don’t get paid.”
“Okay dokey,” Frank said. He shut things down in his office and headed out to the parking lot. He’d rented a compact car to get around in while his truck was at the garage. He decided to stop there before going home to see how the work was going.
It was going well. Robert showed him the various pieces the truck was now disassembled into, and what was being done to each one. “You can get it all back together, without any parts left over, can’t you?” Frank asked, a bit awed at the process of modifying the truck.
Robert laughed. “Sure, Frank. We know what we’re doing. That’s why you hired us. But don’t feel bad, we get that question a lot when someone sees their prized vehicle torn down to its basic parts.
“Yeah. I understand why. Okay. I’ll get out of the way. I was just curious.” Just before he left the garage he stopped and asked Robert, “You been having any trouble with your computer or internet access?”
“I hope to tell you! Why do you ask?”
“Just curious. I’ve had some, too. And it’s why I’m not at work. System is down.”
“I’m not surprised. The infrastructure of the United States is in a fragile state, including the internet,” Robert said. Before he could elaborate Frank made his exit. He read the prep forums. The infrastructure was one of the main topics of conversation.
When he got home, Frank got to work sorting out some of the things he’d bought. He’d tried to get things organized and separated when he brought them in, but had not been that successful. Part of the reason was there was actually more than he’d thought there was. Winston had been assuming Frank wanted the things still in the back of the store, and Frank hadn’t even considered that there might be more than what was on display.
So he had an eclectic mixture of items he wanted to keep and things he planned on selling the first chance he had. He kept busy until it was time to go to bed, falling asleep counting in his mind how many different kinds of LTS foods he now owned.
Frank was able to work again the next day, and the rest of the week, without any more computer problems. He did, however, note that things were running more slowly than he could remember. And apparently it was fairly widespread, as it made the national news. There seemed to be problems not just in Frank’s area of the country, but nationwide and even internationally. The major anti-virus programmers were working day and night to try to isolate the problem or problems. So far no success.
There was no more trouble the next week at Frank’s work, but he heard from others that people were having trouble elsewhere. It seemed to be random. Frank was still thinking about it when he pulled into the garage parking lot to pick up the truck. A rental car driver was waiting for him, to take the rental back to the agency.
“Better be ready,” Frank muttered as he watched the rental disappear down the street. He went into the garage office. Robert was there. Grinning.
“I take it the truck is ready?” Frank asked, having to smile in return.
“Sure is. Come take a look. I think you’ll be pleased.”
Frank followed Robert into the garage. There was his one-ton crew cab truck, riding a bit higher than previously, with a four inch lift and thirty-five inch tires. Frank went to one knee and looked underneath. Everything was reinforced and there were skid plates protecting everything that needed protecting, including the large replacement fuel tank and the second large fuel tank that had been added.
“Check out these bumpers!” Robert said proudly, leading Frank to first the front of the truck and then the rear. Both bumpers were stout and boasted a winch, receiver hitch, spare tire, and some pioneer tools, plus high intensity lights. The front bumper also carried a tow bar, and the rear bumper had a couple of tall radio antennas, one on each corner.
A custom cargo rack projected halfway over the cab and carried two more spares, more tools and lights, and two aerodynamic cargo pods, with plenty of room left for additional cargo. Several antennas were also mounted on the cargo rack. A CBRNE air filtration unit sat on the front of the cab roof. A windshield visor carried more lights and had the air intakes for the engine snorkels incorporated.
The twin engine exhaust stacks were mounted to the front posts of the cargo rack and projected well above the equipment on the rack.
Robert unlocked and slid the bed cover forward, exposing the open area between the tool boxes that lined both sides of the truck bed, full height, front to back, the width of the wheel wells.
Frank looked outside at the bed and had to look closely to see the doors to the tool boxes. They were in the contour of the original bed, and the hardware was painted the same as the bed, making them blend in perfectly.
With the tan paint scheme, there was nothing particularly outstanding about the truck. Yes, it didn’t look quite stock, but it didn’t stand out the way many customized trucks did, especially if you only saw it from one angle and didn’t get the full effect of the multiple spare tires and front and rear bumper setups.
Robert opened the driver’s side door of the cab and let Frank take a look. “Looks like you got all the radios and navigation gear melded into the new dash okay.”
“Yeah. That was tough. Not so much the faraday cage itself, but making it look good, as well as be effective.”
“And the light cutout relays and switches?” Frank asked.
“Yep. Just like you wanted. Just lift this edge of the dash to seatback console and they are right here.” Robert illustrated. “All the lights are on switch controlled relays for on, automatic, and off. You can kill any set of lights that you want, or activate them if you want. You can show brake lights without hitting the brake pedal, or turn them off so they don’t come on with the pedal. Interior lights the same way. Headlights, auxiliary lights, everything.”
Frank nodded. He ran his hand over the soft leather of the split bucket seats for a moment and then used the side step to get up and into the driver’s seat. “Any trouble with the GPS mapping system and digital dash?”
“None. If either fails, you just remove the display panels and there is a full mechanical dash behind them. With compass and tilt indicators. First time I put a system like this together. I like it. Might as well have all the modern conveniences while they are available. The computer is in a faraday cage, too, but I don’t know if it will survive an HEMP event. I’d never depend on them fully. If… Well, you know, or you wouldn’t have asked for it.”
Frank smiled. “Exactly.” He slid out of the driver’s seat and opened the passenger side rear door. “Everything fit okay back here?”
“Tight, but yeah. Chemical toilet under the console between the bucket seats. Lock boxes under the seats, and the one on the floor that runs behind the seats and chemical toilet. Can be accessed from either side.”
“Okay. Let’s see under the hood,” Frank said, walking back to the front of the truck.
Both stepped up on the steps built into the bumper. Robert worked a latch in the grill and lifted the hood and began pointing out things. “Just tweaked the engine a bit. Got the dual snorkels for the engine intake and risers on all underneath vents. Hydraulic pump for the winches and twin twelve volt generators rather than alternators. One for the truck batteries, the other for an onboard welder and AC inverter with its own set of batteries. Air compressor.”
“Good job,” Frank said and Robert closed the hood. “Let’s go to the office and I’ll give you the second payment.”
Robert was grinning when Frank counted out the crisp one-hundred-dollar bills. “Thank you, Sir!” he said. “Any other work and you know where to find me.”
“That I do,” Frank said and shook Robert’s hand. Robert went to open the garage door and Frank climbed back into the truck and started it up. There was a little bit of diesel rattle, but not much.
Putting the truck in gear, Frank headed for home, getting a feel for how the truck rode with the various changes that had been done. He stopped at the truck stop and filled both tanks with fuel. The station computer system was up and he put the fuel on his debit card, the first time he’d been able to use it for some time. Frank was grinning when he went to sleep that evening.
He wasn’t grinning the next day after he got to work. The computer was still down. More than a few of his co-workers were extremely unhappy with being sent home again, without pay. Frank was getting that hinky feeling again about the computers and the internet. He went home and fired up his laptop. He hadn’t used it much since he’d had it de-virused so it booted up quickly. Everything was in order.
With some trepidation, Frank tried to open his web browser. It locked up halfway through the process and Frank Control Alt Deleted to shut down the computer. He re-booted and the computer came up fine and was working, but he didn’t try the internet again. Instead he deactivated the wireless connection so nothing could come in and he couldn’t inadvertently try to open the internet from a link in one of his Excel files where he kept his lists of equipment and supplies and their sources, many of which were internet based stores.
Frank leaned back in his chair and began to wonder just what was happening. He called a couple of friends and asked them about their internet connection. Neither had one at the moment. Just out of curiosity, Frank turned on the television and switched to the Weather Channel. No problems there.
He switched to Fox News and watched for a few minutes. The story that came up after the one he entered in the middle of, was about the troubles with the internet. “So there is a widespread problem!” Frank muttered.
By the end of the report Frank was convinced he had made the right decision to spend the money he had for the preps. The news was downplaying it, but Frank had a feeling the problem was going to get worse and even more widespread.
The report had not indicated that any nationally sponsored hacking was going on, but Frank had his own opinion about that. “The Chinese, unless I really miss my guess,” he muttered. “Or the Russians…”
On a whim, Frank decided to go do his regular grocery shopping for the week a day early. He drove the truck out of the garage and headed to the Wal-Mart Super Center where he usually got his regular groceries. The parking lot was packed. He had to park well away from the main doors of the building.
He had to wait for someone to drop a cart off. Pushing it in front of him, Frank found himself not going to the grocery aisles, but headed toward the far point of the store. Just to check out how much of what the store had. The displays at the entry were almost empty.
There was still much merchandize on the shelves and hangers, but the stock was as low as he’d ever seen it. Finally getting to groceries, he had to make several substitutions for items he normally bought that were out of stock. Again, the shelves weren’t empty, but they were very low.
Frank stopped a stocker rearranging items in a freezer case. “Any idea when you’ll be getting in more goods. I can’t find half of what I usually get.”
“Sorry mister. Don’t know. Didn’t get yesterday’s or today’s trucks. You’ll have to ask a manager for more information.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Frank headed for the checkout counter and paid for the few purchases he’d made. He tried the debit card again. The system was down. Another whim struck him and he headed for his bank.
“Need to see if my direct deposit came in yesterday,” Frank told the teller after a long wait in the line. Many of those leaving the counter before him had not been happy. He could see why when he got his answer.
“I’m sorry, sir. We are unable to process any wire transactions at the moment. I can not determine if the deposit was made before the systems went down.”
“I see. Can I make a withdrawal?”
“For up to one hundred dollars. We’re limiting the cash withdrawals until our systems are back up.”
“Yeah. Let me have that much,” Frank said. It took a couple of minutes for the teller to write out the paper withdrawal slip and get it initialed by a manager. Frank got his money in mostly tens and fives, since the teller only had two twenties in her drawer.
Frank left, his mind in a whirl. Whatever it was causing the problems, the problems were spreading. Going home, Frank put away the few groceries he’d purchased and went back to watching the news.
There was another report on the internet troubles and how they were affecting many aspects of modern living. Suddenly the talking head put a hand to his ear and had a look of intensity on his face as he listened to his director through his earpiece.
“Breaking news!” he said after a few tense moments of silence. “We have reports that several nuclear power plants have gone off-line due to computer viruses in their operating systems. But how? I know those systems are independent! What? Gas fired and coal plants, too?” The man’s eyes were wide as he listened again.
“My apologies, ladies and gentlemen. We have just received word that several non-nuclear power plants are also experiencing problems with computerized controls. However, the nuclear plants have not been compromised. Only the distribution network is down. The nuclear plants themselves are okay.”
Frank saw the lights go out in the studio and the TV go to white screen. But in only a couple of seconds the picture was back. It was obviously darker in the background of the studio, but the picture was still all right.
“We’ve suffered a power failure here at the studios. Our backup generator has kicked in. The transmitter also lost power, but it, too, has a backup generator. We will remain on the air for as long as we can.”
The guy looked scared, but kept repeating what he was being told through his earpiece. It was an awkward delivery and Frank realized that the guy’s computer monitor built into the desk was not working.
Frank sat entranced as the reports continued to come in of systems failures and shut downs all over the country, and then reports from overseas of similar situations. It seemed the entire computerized world was crashing in one way or another. Anything connected to the internet was being affected.
He gave it up at ten-thirty that night. More and more systems were going down and there was only speculation as to how and why. Even some independent computer systems seemed to be infected, which could only happen if someone used a physical media to upload to the system a virus, intentionally or by accident.
When Frank got up the next morning he turned on the TV to watch the news for the latest reports while he prepared and ate breakfast, but there was only static on each channel he tried. The TV came on so the power wasn’t out where he was, but the cable system apparently was down.
Frank tried the radio and was able to get several stations. He picked one at random and began to listen as he worked. Things were much worse now than the evening before. The station was without power, but the crew was at the transmitter site, running on a backup generator.
The station went dead and Frank switched to another. He shook his head. It was the same everywhere he went. The stations that had backup generators had power. Not as many did as Frank thought would.
After trying the landline telephone and the cell phone to check if he should go in to work and discovering both systems were out, Frank again went into work. And again he was sent home. Two people gave notice on the spot and said they weren’t coming back and would look for another job that was a real job where you went to work, did your work, and got paid.
Frank had to sympathize with Smythers. It wasn’t Smythers’ fault, but he was the one getting the heat for his boss’ orders. At a loss as to what to do, Frank drove down to the hardware store to see what Winston was doing during the crisis. He was stopped at a traffic control light when thing went black. He looked around. The power in the area was down now, too.
When he got to hardware store Frank noted that the service station across the street had a line at it and people were out of their cars, milling around. He could hear the shouting. The little bell dinged when Frank entered the store, loud in the silence within the dark store.
“Hey, Winston! It’s me, Frank! You in here somewhere?”
“Yeah!” came a yell from the back of the store. “Be right there.”
A few moments later Winston walked up, a flashlight bobbing in his hand. “Dang generator blew when I hooked it up to the building wiring after the power went out.”
“You… uh… didn’t try to power the whole store, did you?”
“Well, yeah. I know it’s not a big jenny, but all I wanted was a few lights, but it was easier to connect it to the main feed.”
Frank managed not to lecture Winston on how to hook up a generator. Of all people, Frank thought Winston should know. But apparently not.
“Sold my last one just before the power went out. I’m stuck now,” Winston said, shaking his head. He turned off the flashlight since there was enough light coming in through the front windows to see. “I’m telling you, if they don’t get things straightened out, I don’t know what I’m going to do.
“I’ve got checks and cash I need to deposit in the bank, but they are shut down because of the computer problems. And now, with the power out, I bet they can’t be doing anything. I need to get that money in the bank so I can write some checks of my own to my suppliers. Though I don’t know why. Can’t order anything anyway. I usually put in my orders over the internet, but with that down I tried to phone in an order and the cotton pickin’ phones are out, including cell service.”
“I know,” Frank said. “This whole thing is getting bad. Anything I can do to help?”
Winston shook his head. “Naw. I’ll just keep a flashlight handy and take only cash if I, by some miracle, get any customers.”
“Okay. I’m heading home then,” Frank said. When he got home he debated on whether or not to fire up his own generator. Deciding against it for the moment, since the PV roof panels were supplying enough power for everything he needed powered up at the moment, Frank made sure all the blackout curtains and shutters were closed so no one could tell he had any power at all.
With nothing better to do, Frank went into the shelter, picked a book from the bookcase of preparedness and self-sufficiency books it contained and began to read up on small space gardening.
He read late into the night, but finally went to bed, wondering what the next day would bring.
It brought more of the same. No TV and very little radio. He listened to the only radio station he could hear very well. There was more bad news. Additional infrastructure systems that depended on the internet were going down at an alarming rate. Over half of the US was now without electrical power.
Frank decided to go take a look around town after he had his breakfast. It was eerie. People were out and about, and there was some traffic, but it was still extremely quiet, with little activity. Many businesses had closed signs on their doors or in a window. The service stations were empty, except for one.
When he got closer Frank could hear a generator running. The station had power and there was a long line of people waiting to get fuel. With nothing better to do, and one of his tanks down to three-quarters, Frank got into the line and waited patiently for his chance at the pumps.
It never came. A man came out of the C-store and began to tell people the station was out of fuel. Some of those that got the news didn’t like it. Having left plenty of space between the truck and the vehicle in front of him, Frank pulled out of line before the man got to him and headed for home again. Before he rolled up the window he heard shouting and screaming behind him. “This is not good,” Frank muttered.
Arriving home, Frank secured the truck in the garage and then went out to the mini-barn in the back yard. It was big for a mini, but that’s what the brochure called it. It certainly wasn’t a full size barn, but it was big enough to hold everything Frank needed to store inside, and even included both metal shop and wood shop tools.
After servicing the rototiller, Frank began tilling up a large section of his back yard. He would be planting a garden again to complement his greenhouse and small fruit and nut tree orchards. There was a small orchard of dwarf trees in the front yard and a larger one in the back with larger trees. The larger orchard hosted four beehives.
He hadn’t gardened in a couple of years. It was time to start again. The large root cellar under the greenhouse was currently empty. It had an outdoor access as well as access from the basement.
Needless to say, his nosey neighbor, Tommy Steel, was soon at the fence between their properties, wanting to know why Frank was making all the noise. Frank didn’t think the rototiller was all that loud. It was just that Tommy liked to complain.
Frank throttled back the tiller and walked over to the fence to talk to Tommy. He stopped short of the waist high blackberry brambles that grew just inside of the chain link fence that encircled the yard, except for the front, which had decorative iron security fencing. “Just thought I’d put in a garden again. Been meaning to again for a couple of years, but just never got around to it. Can’t work cause of the computer problems so I thought now would be a good time. Still early enough in the year to get some seeds in the ground.”
“Oh. What do you think about all that? Seems bogus to me.”
Frank could barely conceal his incredulity. “Well, I can say for sure our computers at work are out of commission for the moment.”
“I think the government is just trying to scare us into doing what they want. Just more taxes to fix things up again. All they’ll do is party in some tropical paradise with the money.”
“Uh-huh. Need to get back to it if I’m going to get finished by dark.”
“Okay neighbor,” Tommy said. “Good luck with that. Save me a tomato or two, huh?”
“Sure, Tommy. Sure.” Frank figured he got off easy. Tommy was often hard to break away from without being rude to him.
Frank worked until dark, but the entire garden plot was tilled. Feeling tired, but pleased, he put away the equipment and went into the house to take a shower. He checked to make sure he still had city water pressure and was glad he checked before getting into the shower. The water was off. And if it was, so would be the sewer pumps.
It took only a few moments in the basement to close some valves and open others to connect the water pump in the basement to the well at the side of the house, and divert the sewer to the septic system on the other side of the house.
Both systems violated city ordinances, but Frank had managed to get them installed quickly and quietly when the house was built. Same thing with the underground shelter connected to the basement and the escape tunnel. His house was one of the first to be built in the development. He’d rented the equipment needed over a long holiday weekend and the guys he’d hired to do the work were all day laborers from the next town over.
The water table was pretty high and the well driller had been able to jet in a two inch well to forty-two feet, with a ten-foot slotted screen in just three hours. The water turned out to be sweet and plentiful and could be drawn with a shallow well pump since the water level was only fourteen feet down. A larger pump was also plumbed to fill two underground fifteen-hundred-gallon fiberglass cisterns connected to the roof guttering system when there wasn’t enough rain to keep them full. Another pump could draw the water from the tanks to water the lawn and garden when he had one. The pressure pump for the house could also draw from the cisterns.
Copyright 2010
“Stupid Computer!” Frank Cooper muttered as he stared at the white lettering on the bright blue screen of his laptop computer. It was the third time in a week he had a blue screen crash. “Time to take this puppy in for some serious evaluation,” he said aloud as he turned the laptop off.
A week later Frank handed over a hundred dollar bill and got back a few ones in change. “It won’t crash now?” he asked the tech.
“Can’t guarantee that. Depends on what you wind up downloading. You had half a dozen viruses on your system. If you hadn’t had that backup you would have lost everything since I had to wipe the drive and start over. There’s nothing on it now that should cause a blue screen crash.”
The tech frowned. “A couple of those viruses I just started running into. Usually my virus software will recover everything while it gets rid of the virus. Not those two, though.”
Frank nodded. If that was the best the guy could do, that was just the way it was. “Stupid computers!” he muttered as he put the computer in the truck, behind the driver’s seat in the crew cab of the truck so it wouldn’t slide around on his way to work.
He muttered the same phrase when he got to work. The LAN was down and he couldn’t log in. He really needed to connect to the WAN at corporate, but that wasn’t doable either since it took access to the LAN to get to the WAN. At least he could get some work done on his own machine.
For a while, it turned out. He was in the middle of setting up a spreadsheet when the computer froze up. Muttering a couple of foul words, including his trademark “Stupid Computer!” Frank called IT asked for some help.
“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I hear you. Well, we got a dozen other problems right now. You’ll just have to wait.”
Frustrated, Frank took an early lunch. Perhaps things would be better when he returned.
They weren’t. His computer was still locked up, and from the looks of things, almost everyone else’s in the department was, too.
After an extended after lunch coffee break with some of the others, Smythers, the department head, came out of his office and said, “Okay people! Listen up. Paid day off the rest of the day. IT should have this thing cleared up by morning. Report in at your regular times.”
Smythers turned around and went back into his office as most of the department made a dash for the door. Frank waited for the others to leave before leaving himself. He was lost in thought for a moment.
The situation was beginning to sound like one of the PAW stories he read on the internet. Frank was a prepper, to a degree. Suddenly feeling very inadequate, prep wise, when he left the office building he didn’t head for home. Instead he headed for the closest thing in town to a prep store. It was a locally owned hardware store with a sideline of preparedness items.
The hardware store did a good business, but Winston had told Frank recently that despite everything going on in the world, the line of prep goods wasn’t selling well. The cheap stuff was moving, but not the quality items. Frank was counting on that fact to perhaps make a good deal of a large bulk purchase of items he’d been wanting but had put off getting.
“Hi ya, Winston!” Frank said, seeing Winston at the checkout counter. He was talking to someone else behind the counter.
“Hey, Frank! How goes it?”
“Lousy. Computer is down, LAN is down, WAN is down.”
“Internet is down, too,” Winston said. “So is my super duper deluxe very fancy very expensive cash register system. Some kind of virus. Victor here is trying to get the system back up and running.”
“And not having much luck,” Victor said. “Hi, Frank. You say your systems are down, too?”
Frank nodded.
“Strange. I’ve got calls from all over about systems going down.”
“That is strange,” Frank said. “Uh… Winston, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure, Frank. What’s up?” Winston came around the end of the counter and joined Frank as he walked toward the display of prep items.
“You still having trouble moving the higher end preps, Winston?”
“Yeah. I made a bad choice bringing in everything the way I did. But I got a great deal at the time…”
“Speaking of a great deal…” Frank said. He lowered his voice a bit and leaned closer. “I’d kind’a like to get a great deal on some of those items. A lot of them, as a matter of fact.”
“What do you mean? You know my prices are good. I’m a little hurt that…”
“Aw, Winston! I’d didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. But a deal is a deal. I’m talking about taking pretty much all the food, freeze-dried, dehydrated, MREs, and LTS packaged food. All of your water barrels. That grain grinder you’ve been after me to take off your hands…”
Frank was slowly going down the three aisles that made up the Prep Goods section of the store. “The good fuel cans. Oh, a whole bunch more of the things you have. Plus four or five more guns, reloading set ups, and all the ammunition you have in my calibers.”
Winston was staring at Frank, rather in awe. Frank was a frugal shopper. Always wanting a discount, but never taking umbrage when Winston held to his listed prices. But this time, if he was serious, Frank was talking about several thousand dollars worth of goods. Goods that he was having trouble selling. So… “A discount might be arranged. If the order is large enough.”
“Uh-huh. I thought you might be willing.” Frank was looking around at things, adding prices in his head. “Tell you what. I don’t need everything, but I’ll buy you out of all your prep stuff, say… for seven thousand. That doesn’t include the guns, but does the ammunition and reloading gear.”
“You’re out of your mind! I’d have to have at least…” Winston was doing some figuring in his head, too. “Fifteen thousand.”
“Don’t think so, Winston. Eight.”
“Twelve thousand!”
“Ten. That’s my best offer, Winston. Remember, I’m buying some guns, too.”
“Oh. Yeah. Okay, old son, you have a deal!” Winston held out his hand and Frank grinned and shook it. That’s going to have to be cash. I can’t run a credit card through because of the internet, and I’m afraid it could be days before a check would clear.” Winston was a bit hesitant. He wanted the sale, but asking for ten thousand in cash was pushing it.
“Not a problem,” Frank said. “I’ll have it for you tomorrow. Just don’t sell any of this stuff until I can arrange to pick it up. Now, let’s look at the guns you have.” The two walked over to the sporting goods section of the store and Winston went behind the counter, telling the regular clerk to take a break.
“Okay, what do you have in mind?” Winston didn’t rub his hands together in anticipation, but it was close as Frank named off six rifles, three shotguns, and five handguns. “I expect a deal on these, too,” Frank said firmly.
“Sure! Sure! Not a problem. Actually, it comes out the same as the other stuff. Ten grand.”
“Six.”
“Aw, come on, Frank! I have to make some money off them!”
Frank didn’t say anything. “Okay,” Winston said after a long silence. “Eight. That’s as low as I can go.”
“Done. Do the paperwork and I’ll pick up the guns when I get the other stuff. One last thing. Your precious metals. You still have some or did you sell them all?”
“Man, I thought I’d make a killing on them. Nobody is buying after the price topped eight hundred for gold and twelve for silver. And I wasn’t selling much before then. I got lucky when I bought the stuff several years ago. I…” Winston shut up quickly realizing his mistake when he saw the glint in Frank’s eyes.
“Not that I meant…”
“I’ll take all you’ve got at six hundred an ounce for gold and eight dollars an ounce for silver.” Frank was prepared to go a little higher, but he didn’t offer up.
Winston knew he’d stepped in it when he said he’d bought them cheap. It was a nice piece of change, and he had gotten them for much less than Frank was offering. And he could sure use the cash. He would be making a bundle, and getting rid of non-moving merchandise. He considered that two birds with one stone. “Okay,” he said, trying to sound dejected.
If Frank heard the dejection he paid no attention to it. He was going to be giving Winston a wad of cash that would choke a horse. But in his mind, converting the cash he’d been saving into tangibles was more than worth it. The internet and computer issues were really bothering him.
“How much gold and silver do you have?” Frank asked Winston.
Frank whistled when Winston told him. “That’s more than I was counting on…”
Afraid to lose what was the best sale of his ownership of the store, Winston offered, of his own free will, to cut the prices of the gold and silver to five-hundred-fifty and seven-fifty for the silver.
Frank hadn’t expected that. He’d just been commenting on the fact that it was more than he expected. But he could have paid the stated price. But he wasn’t going to tell Winston that. Instead, he said, “Thanks Winston. It’s a deal.” He held out his hand and they shook again.
Frank went home and before he made it into the house he got the shakes. “What have I done?” he asked himself silently. “All that money… What if nothing happens?” But he shook his head, straightened his shoulders and said aloud. “But a deal is a deal. And I’m afraid I’m right, anyway.”
It took Frank an hour to gather up the cash he’d been saving for years, hidden in and around the house in various places. There were still a few hiding places left untouched when Frank had not only the money for Winston, but another wad for another project he had been thinking about for a long time but had not pursued.
With eighty-five percent of his life savings in his hands, Frank hoped the other fifteen percent would be enough to get by on if things didn’t work out the way he was suddenly feeling they would.
Despite the decisions he’d made, Frank was able to eat a light supper, go to bed, and sleep through the night without waking up sweating the way he did sometimes when he made what he found to be difficult decisions.
He was even whistling when he went into work. It didn’t even bother him when he was able to get back to work. The computer, LAN, WAN, and internet were all operating just fine. The preps he was buying would last for years for the most part. If the balloon didn’t go up now, that was fine with him.
Still in a good mood, Frank took the time on his afternoon break to make arrangements to get a rental truck for after work and during the weekend. Those arrangements made, Frank rented a climate controlled storage room at a facility not too far from where he lived. Now he was ready to go pay Winston and start moving his new preps. He only had one stop to make after work before picking up the rental truck, and it was on the way.
Having caught up on the work he’d been unable to do the day before, Frank was happy with his progress, thankful that his immediate fears were groundless about the internet. He was looking forward to getting his new preps squared away and was whistling again when he left the office building and headed toward the rental place.
The stop he made was at the garage that he knew some preppers swore by as a great place to have a vehicle converted to a BOV. Frank thought he was in pretty good shape, BOV wise, but a few improvements wouldn’t hurt. He’d already switched out the old gasoline engine for a non-electronic diesel and added a heavy duty transmission.
When Robert Wise heard what Frank wanted done to the pickup he smiled. “Good choices. Gonna cost, though.”
“Cash price?” Frank asked.
Frank followed Robert into the office of the garage and sat patiently while Robert worked on the computer for several minutes. When Robert looked over at Frank he told him the price.
Frank didn’t even blink. “Half now, half when it’s finished and approved?”
It caught Robert by surprise. Most people wanted to finance the work done. It was seldom anyone paid outright with cash. “Absolutely!”
As always, Frank had his cash stashed in several pockets. He took out only what he needed to pay the half down on the truck work and left the rest where it was. “Can I get a ride to the rental place? I’m picking up a truck to move some things.”
“You betcha!” Robert replied. “Be a pleasure.” Robert took Frank to the rental place, using Frank’s truck to get a feel for it. “Two weeks, tops,” Robert told Frank just before Frank got out of the truck at the rental place.
“Sounds good.” Frank hitched his pants up a bit and went into the truck rental office to get the keys to the truck he’d be using that weekend. It took just a few minutes for the paperwork and then Frank was on his way to the hardware store in a one-ton box bed truck.
When he arrived at Winston’s hardware store Frank found the prep aisles cordoned off with signs that said the section was closed. In the back office of the store Winston’s eager eyes watched as Frank took out the wad of one-hundred-dollar bills from first one pocket and then another and counted them out.
“How’d you get so much cash so quick? I didn’t get my computer system up until this afternoon. I took some receipts to the bank at noon and their system was down too. It’s beginning to sound like aluminum foil hat time.”
“I know what you mean,” Frank said, not elaborating on his thoughts on the matter. Finally Frank quit pulling money out and counting it. He waited patiently while Winston recounted it and then bundled it up with rubber bands.
“Stuff is all yours, Frank! Oh. Here’s the papers for the guns. You can fill in your parts while I get the PMs out of the safe.”
Carefully shielding the knob from Frank, Winston turned around and opened up the large safe in the office. He began to set out tubes of coins from the safe onto the desk. It was hard for Frank to concentrate. He had some PMs, but this purchase was far more than he already had.
Winston began to add white tubes of gold coins to the clear tubes of silver coins. After everything was on the desk and the safe was closed and locked again, Winston said, “I’ll go get a couple of boxes for these.”
Frank nodded and went back to filling out the firearms purchase forms. He was finished when Winston returned with four small, heavy duty boxes. Between them they had the boxes loaded up in just a couple of minutes. Winston helped Frank carry the boxes out to the rental truck and put them in the cab.
Frank carefully locked up the cab of the truck and then began to load up the back with the things from the prep aisles of the store. Winston had to wait on a customer apparently, as he disappeared while Frank was stacking things on the hand cart.
Frank made two trips that evening before the store closed, and it took the rest of the weekend to get everything moved either to his house or the storage room. The new guns went into the existing gun safe, along with the precious metals, in the shelter connected to the basement of Frank’s house.
He was more than a little sore when he got to work the following Monday, but got right down to work. For a while. The computer locked up and Frank called IT. He finally hung up after waiting fifteen minutes of listening to bad hold music. If IT was this busy, his problem was probably only one of many. He checked with his co-workers. Sure enough, all their computers were locked up, too.
“Hey, boss,” Frank said, knocking on Smythers’ office door. “What do we do?”
Smythers frowned and sighed. “Jenkins said to send everyone home again. But this time without pay.”
“People aren’t going to like that,” Frank said calmly.
“Yeah. Well, they don’t like it enough, they can look for another job. Jenkins said no paid time off for computer problems anymore. You can’t do your work, you don’t get paid.”
“Okay dokey,” Frank said. He shut things down in his office and headed out to the parking lot. He’d rented a compact car to get around in while his truck was at the garage. He decided to stop there before going home to see how the work was going.
It was going well. Robert showed him the various pieces the truck was now disassembled into, and what was being done to each one. “You can get it all back together, without any parts left over, can’t you?” Frank asked, a bit awed at the process of modifying the truck.
Robert laughed. “Sure, Frank. We know what we’re doing. That’s why you hired us. But don’t feel bad, we get that question a lot when someone sees their prized vehicle torn down to its basic parts.
“Yeah. I understand why. Okay. I’ll get out of the way. I was just curious.” Just before he left the garage he stopped and asked Robert, “You been having any trouble with your computer or internet access?”
“I hope to tell you! Why do you ask?”
“Just curious. I’ve had some, too. And it’s why I’m not at work. System is down.”
“I’m not surprised. The infrastructure of the United States is in a fragile state, including the internet,” Robert said. Before he could elaborate Frank made his exit. He read the prep forums. The infrastructure was one of the main topics of conversation.
When he got home, Frank got to work sorting out some of the things he’d bought. He’d tried to get things organized and separated when he brought them in, but had not been that successful. Part of the reason was there was actually more than he’d thought there was. Winston had been assuming Frank wanted the things still in the back of the store, and Frank hadn’t even considered that there might be more than what was on display.
So he had an eclectic mixture of items he wanted to keep and things he planned on selling the first chance he had. He kept busy until it was time to go to bed, falling asleep counting in his mind how many different kinds of LTS foods he now owned.
Frank was able to work again the next day, and the rest of the week, without any more computer problems. He did, however, note that things were running more slowly than he could remember. And apparently it was fairly widespread, as it made the national news. There seemed to be problems not just in Frank’s area of the country, but nationwide and even internationally. The major anti-virus programmers were working day and night to try to isolate the problem or problems. So far no success.
There was no more trouble the next week at Frank’s work, but he heard from others that people were having trouble elsewhere. It seemed to be random. Frank was still thinking about it when he pulled into the garage parking lot to pick up the truck. A rental car driver was waiting for him, to take the rental back to the agency.
“Better be ready,” Frank muttered as he watched the rental disappear down the street. He went into the garage office. Robert was there. Grinning.
“I take it the truck is ready?” Frank asked, having to smile in return.
“Sure is. Come take a look. I think you’ll be pleased.”
Frank followed Robert into the garage. There was his one-ton crew cab truck, riding a bit higher than previously, with a four inch lift and thirty-five inch tires. Frank went to one knee and looked underneath. Everything was reinforced and there were skid plates protecting everything that needed protecting, including the large replacement fuel tank and the second large fuel tank that had been added.
“Check out these bumpers!” Robert said proudly, leading Frank to first the front of the truck and then the rear. Both bumpers were stout and boasted a winch, receiver hitch, spare tire, and some pioneer tools, plus high intensity lights. The front bumper also carried a tow bar, and the rear bumper had a couple of tall radio antennas, one on each corner.
A custom cargo rack projected halfway over the cab and carried two more spares, more tools and lights, and two aerodynamic cargo pods, with plenty of room left for additional cargo. Several antennas were also mounted on the cargo rack. A CBRNE air filtration unit sat on the front of the cab roof. A windshield visor carried more lights and had the air intakes for the engine snorkels incorporated.
The twin engine exhaust stacks were mounted to the front posts of the cargo rack and projected well above the equipment on the rack.
Robert unlocked and slid the bed cover forward, exposing the open area between the tool boxes that lined both sides of the truck bed, full height, front to back, the width of the wheel wells.
Frank looked outside at the bed and had to look closely to see the doors to the tool boxes. They were in the contour of the original bed, and the hardware was painted the same as the bed, making them blend in perfectly.
With the tan paint scheme, there was nothing particularly outstanding about the truck. Yes, it didn’t look quite stock, but it didn’t stand out the way many customized trucks did, especially if you only saw it from one angle and didn’t get the full effect of the multiple spare tires and front and rear bumper setups.
Robert opened the driver’s side door of the cab and let Frank take a look. “Looks like you got all the radios and navigation gear melded into the new dash okay.”
“Yeah. That was tough. Not so much the faraday cage itself, but making it look good, as well as be effective.”
“And the light cutout relays and switches?” Frank asked.
“Yep. Just like you wanted. Just lift this edge of the dash to seatback console and they are right here.” Robert illustrated. “All the lights are on switch controlled relays for on, automatic, and off. You can kill any set of lights that you want, or activate them if you want. You can show brake lights without hitting the brake pedal, or turn them off so they don’t come on with the pedal. Interior lights the same way. Headlights, auxiliary lights, everything.”
Frank nodded. He ran his hand over the soft leather of the split bucket seats for a moment and then used the side step to get up and into the driver’s seat. “Any trouble with the GPS mapping system and digital dash?”
“None. If either fails, you just remove the display panels and there is a full mechanical dash behind them. With compass and tilt indicators. First time I put a system like this together. I like it. Might as well have all the modern conveniences while they are available. The computer is in a faraday cage, too, but I don’t know if it will survive an HEMP event. I’d never depend on them fully. If… Well, you know, or you wouldn’t have asked for it.”
Frank smiled. “Exactly.” He slid out of the driver’s seat and opened the passenger side rear door. “Everything fit okay back here?”
“Tight, but yeah. Chemical toilet under the console between the bucket seats. Lock boxes under the seats, and the one on the floor that runs behind the seats and chemical toilet. Can be accessed from either side.”
“Okay. Let’s see under the hood,” Frank said, walking back to the front of the truck.
Both stepped up on the steps built into the bumper. Robert worked a latch in the grill and lifted the hood and began pointing out things. “Just tweaked the engine a bit. Got the dual snorkels for the engine intake and risers on all underneath vents. Hydraulic pump for the winches and twin twelve volt generators rather than alternators. One for the truck batteries, the other for an onboard welder and AC inverter with its own set of batteries. Air compressor.”
“Good job,” Frank said and Robert closed the hood. “Let’s go to the office and I’ll give you the second payment.”
Robert was grinning when Frank counted out the crisp one-hundred-dollar bills. “Thank you, Sir!” he said. “Any other work and you know where to find me.”
“That I do,” Frank said and shook Robert’s hand. Robert went to open the garage door and Frank climbed back into the truck and started it up. There was a little bit of diesel rattle, but not much.
Putting the truck in gear, Frank headed for home, getting a feel for how the truck rode with the various changes that had been done. He stopped at the truck stop and filled both tanks with fuel. The station computer system was up and he put the fuel on his debit card, the first time he’d been able to use it for some time. Frank was grinning when he went to sleep that evening.
He wasn’t grinning the next day after he got to work. The computer was still down. More than a few of his co-workers were extremely unhappy with being sent home again, without pay. Frank was getting that hinky feeling again about the computers and the internet. He went home and fired up his laptop. He hadn’t used it much since he’d had it de-virused so it booted up quickly. Everything was in order.
With some trepidation, Frank tried to open his web browser. It locked up halfway through the process and Frank Control Alt Deleted to shut down the computer. He re-booted and the computer came up fine and was working, but he didn’t try the internet again. Instead he deactivated the wireless connection so nothing could come in and he couldn’t inadvertently try to open the internet from a link in one of his Excel files where he kept his lists of equipment and supplies and their sources, many of which were internet based stores.
Frank leaned back in his chair and began to wonder just what was happening. He called a couple of friends and asked them about their internet connection. Neither had one at the moment. Just out of curiosity, Frank turned on the television and switched to the Weather Channel. No problems there.
He switched to Fox News and watched for a few minutes. The story that came up after the one he entered in the middle of, was about the troubles with the internet. “So there is a widespread problem!” Frank muttered.
By the end of the report Frank was convinced he had made the right decision to spend the money he had for the preps. The news was downplaying it, but Frank had a feeling the problem was going to get worse and even more widespread.
The report had not indicated that any nationally sponsored hacking was going on, but Frank had his own opinion about that. “The Chinese, unless I really miss my guess,” he muttered. “Or the Russians…”
On a whim, Frank decided to go do his regular grocery shopping for the week a day early. He drove the truck out of the garage and headed to the Wal-Mart Super Center where he usually got his regular groceries. The parking lot was packed. He had to park well away from the main doors of the building.
He had to wait for someone to drop a cart off. Pushing it in front of him, Frank found himself not going to the grocery aisles, but headed toward the far point of the store. Just to check out how much of what the store had. The displays at the entry were almost empty.
There was still much merchandize on the shelves and hangers, but the stock was as low as he’d ever seen it. Finally getting to groceries, he had to make several substitutions for items he normally bought that were out of stock. Again, the shelves weren’t empty, but they were very low.
Frank stopped a stocker rearranging items in a freezer case. “Any idea when you’ll be getting in more goods. I can’t find half of what I usually get.”
“Sorry mister. Don’t know. Didn’t get yesterday’s or today’s trucks. You’ll have to ask a manager for more information.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Frank headed for the checkout counter and paid for the few purchases he’d made. He tried the debit card again. The system was down. Another whim struck him and he headed for his bank.
“Need to see if my direct deposit came in yesterday,” Frank told the teller after a long wait in the line. Many of those leaving the counter before him had not been happy. He could see why when he got his answer.
“I’m sorry, sir. We are unable to process any wire transactions at the moment. I can not determine if the deposit was made before the systems went down.”
“I see. Can I make a withdrawal?”
“For up to one hundred dollars. We’re limiting the cash withdrawals until our systems are back up.”
“Yeah. Let me have that much,” Frank said. It took a couple of minutes for the teller to write out the paper withdrawal slip and get it initialed by a manager. Frank got his money in mostly tens and fives, since the teller only had two twenties in her drawer.
Frank left, his mind in a whirl. Whatever it was causing the problems, the problems were spreading. Going home, Frank put away the few groceries he’d purchased and went back to watching the news.
There was another report on the internet troubles and how they were affecting many aspects of modern living. Suddenly the talking head put a hand to his ear and had a look of intensity on his face as he listened to his director through his earpiece.
“Breaking news!” he said after a few tense moments of silence. “We have reports that several nuclear power plants have gone off-line due to computer viruses in their operating systems. But how? I know those systems are independent! What? Gas fired and coal plants, too?” The man’s eyes were wide as he listened again.
“My apologies, ladies and gentlemen. We have just received word that several non-nuclear power plants are also experiencing problems with computerized controls. However, the nuclear plants have not been compromised. Only the distribution network is down. The nuclear plants themselves are okay.”
Frank saw the lights go out in the studio and the TV go to white screen. But in only a couple of seconds the picture was back. It was obviously darker in the background of the studio, but the picture was still all right.
“We’ve suffered a power failure here at the studios. Our backup generator has kicked in. The transmitter also lost power, but it, too, has a backup generator. We will remain on the air for as long as we can.”
The guy looked scared, but kept repeating what he was being told through his earpiece. It was an awkward delivery and Frank realized that the guy’s computer monitor built into the desk was not working.
Frank sat entranced as the reports continued to come in of systems failures and shut downs all over the country, and then reports from overseas of similar situations. It seemed the entire computerized world was crashing in one way or another. Anything connected to the internet was being affected.
He gave it up at ten-thirty that night. More and more systems were going down and there was only speculation as to how and why. Even some independent computer systems seemed to be infected, which could only happen if someone used a physical media to upload to the system a virus, intentionally or by accident.
When Frank got up the next morning he turned on the TV to watch the news for the latest reports while he prepared and ate breakfast, but there was only static on each channel he tried. The TV came on so the power wasn’t out where he was, but the cable system apparently was down.
Frank tried the radio and was able to get several stations. He picked one at random and began to listen as he worked. Things were much worse now than the evening before. The station was without power, but the crew was at the transmitter site, running on a backup generator.
The station went dead and Frank switched to another. He shook his head. It was the same everywhere he went. The stations that had backup generators had power. Not as many did as Frank thought would.
After trying the landline telephone and the cell phone to check if he should go in to work and discovering both systems were out, Frank again went into work. And again he was sent home. Two people gave notice on the spot and said they weren’t coming back and would look for another job that was a real job where you went to work, did your work, and got paid.
Frank had to sympathize with Smythers. It wasn’t Smythers’ fault, but he was the one getting the heat for his boss’ orders. At a loss as to what to do, Frank drove down to the hardware store to see what Winston was doing during the crisis. He was stopped at a traffic control light when thing went black. He looked around. The power in the area was down now, too.
When he got to hardware store Frank noted that the service station across the street had a line at it and people were out of their cars, milling around. He could hear the shouting. The little bell dinged when Frank entered the store, loud in the silence within the dark store.
“Hey, Winston! It’s me, Frank! You in here somewhere?”
“Yeah!” came a yell from the back of the store. “Be right there.”
A few moments later Winston walked up, a flashlight bobbing in his hand. “Dang generator blew when I hooked it up to the building wiring after the power went out.”
“You… uh… didn’t try to power the whole store, did you?”
“Well, yeah. I know it’s not a big jenny, but all I wanted was a few lights, but it was easier to connect it to the main feed.”
Frank managed not to lecture Winston on how to hook up a generator. Of all people, Frank thought Winston should know. But apparently not.
“Sold my last one just before the power went out. I’m stuck now,” Winston said, shaking his head. He turned off the flashlight since there was enough light coming in through the front windows to see. “I’m telling you, if they don’t get things straightened out, I don’t know what I’m going to do.
“I’ve got checks and cash I need to deposit in the bank, but they are shut down because of the computer problems. And now, with the power out, I bet they can’t be doing anything. I need to get that money in the bank so I can write some checks of my own to my suppliers. Though I don’t know why. Can’t order anything anyway. I usually put in my orders over the internet, but with that down I tried to phone in an order and the cotton pickin’ phones are out, including cell service.”
“I know,” Frank said. “This whole thing is getting bad. Anything I can do to help?”
Winston shook his head. “Naw. I’ll just keep a flashlight handy and take only cash if I, by some miracle, get any customers.”
“Okay. I’m heading home then,” Frank said. When he got home he debated on whether or not to fire up his own generator. Deciding against it for the moment, since the PV roof panels were supplying enough power for everything he needed powered up at the moment, Frank made sure all the blackout curtains and shutters were closed so no one could tell he had any power at all.
With nothing better to do, Frank went into the shelter, picked a book from the bookcase of preparedness and self-sufficiency books it contained and began to read up on small space gardening.
He read late into the night, but finally went to bed, wondering what the next day would bring.
It brought more of the same. No TV and very little radio. He listened to the only radio station he could hear very well. There was more bad news. Additional infrastructure systems that depended on the internet were going down at an alarming rate. Over half of the US was now without electrical power.
Frank decided to go take a look around town after he had his breakfast. It was eerie. People were out and about, and there was some traffic, but it was still extremely quiet, with little activity. Many businesses had closed signs on their doors or in a window. The service stations were empty, except for one.
When he got closer Frank could hear a generator running. The station had power and there was a long line of people waiting to get fuel. With nothing better to do, and one of his tanks down to three-quarters, Frank got into the line and waited patiently for his chance at the pumps.
It never came. A man came out of the C-store and began to tell people the station was out of fuel. Some of those that got the news didn’t like it. Having left plenty of space between the truck and the vehicle in front of him, Frank pulled out of line before the man got to him and headed for home again. Before he rolled up the window he heard shouting and screaming behind him. “This is not good,” Frank muttered.
Arriving home, Frank secured the truck in the garage and then went out to the mini-barn in the back yard. It was big for a mini, but that’s what the brochure called it. It certainly wasn’t a full size barn, but it was big enough to hold everything Frank needed to store inside, and even included both metal shop and wood shop tools.
After servicing the rototiller, Frank began tilling up a large section of his back yard. He would be planting a garden again to complement his greenhouse and small fruit and nut tree orchards. There was a small orchard of dwarf trees in the front yard and a larger one in the back with larger trees. The larger orchard hosted four beehives.
He hadn’t gardened in a couple of years. It was time to start again. The large root cellar under the greenhouse was currently empty. It had an outdoor access as well as access from the basement.
Needless to say, his nosey neighbor, Tommy Steel, was soon at the fence between their properties, wanting to know why Frank was making all the noise. Frank didn’t think the rototiller was all that loud. It was just that Tommy liked to complain.
Frank throttled back the tiller and walked over to the fence to talk to Tommy. He stopped short of the waist high blackberry brambles that grew just inside of the chain link fence that encircled the yard, except for the front, which had decorative iron security fencing. “Just thought I’d put in a garden again. Been meaning to again for a couple of years, but just never got around to it. Can’t work cause of the computer problems so I thought now would be a good time. Still early enough in the year to get some seeds in the ground.”
“Oh. What do you think about all that? Seems bogus to me.”
Frank could barely conceal his incredulity. “Well, I can say for sure our computers at work are out of commission for the moment.”
“I think the government is just trying to scare us into doing what they want. Just more taxes to fix things up again. All they’ll do is party in some tropical paradise with the money.”
“Uh-huh. Need to get back to it if I’m going to get finished by dark.”
“Okay neighbor,” Tommy said. “Good luck with that. Save me a tomato or two, huh?”
“Sure, Tommy. Sure.” Frank figured he got off easy. Tommy was often hard to break away from without being rude to him.
Frank worked until dark, but the entire garden plot was tilled. Feeling tired, but pleased, he put away the equipment and went into the house to take a shower. He checked to make sure he still had city water pressure and was glad he checked before getting into the shower. The water was off. And if it was, so would be the sewer pumps.
It took only a few moments in the basement to close some valves and open others to connect the water pump in the basement to the well at the side of the house, and divert the sewer to the septic system on the other side of the house.
Both systems violated city ordinances, but Frank had managed to get them installed quickly and quietly when the house was built. Same thing with the underground shelter connected to the basement and the escape tunnel. His house was one of the first to be built in the development. He’d rented the equipment needed over a long holiday weekend and the guys he’d hired to do the work were all day laborers from the next town over.
The water table was pretty high and the well driller had been able to jet in a two inch well to forty-two feet, with a ten-foot slotted screen in just three hours. The water turned out to be sweet and plentiful and could be drawn with a shallow well pump since the water level was only fourteen feet down. A larger pump was also plumbed to fill two underground fifteen-hundred-gallon fiberglass cisterns connected to the roof guttering system when there wasn’t enough rain to keep them full. Another pump could draw the water from the tanks to water the lawn and garden when he had one. The pressure pump for the house could also draw from the cisterns.
Copyright 2010