Harry Turtledove - Supervolcano: Things Fall Apart

The windup alarm clock on Colin Fergusons nightstand ticked like a bomb. A silent digital clock sat there with it, but too often was silent when it needed to make noise. Power in San Atanasiopower in the whole L.A. basinhad got too erratic to trust since the supervolcano eruption going on five years ago now. And Colin had always been a suspenders-and-belt man: a good way for a cop to be.

When the windup clock clattered, he jerked as if it really were a bomb. He groped at it till it shut up. Wan predawn light leaked between the slats of the venetian blinds.

Did I Colin didnt finish asking his wife whether hed bothered her too much to let her go back to sleep. Kelly wasnt in bed with him. He chuckled under his breath. Her alarm clock had gone off, and he hadnt even noticed. When Deborah woke up hungry, she wanted her mothers breast. Colin could do all kinds of things, but he wasnt built to nurse.

He got out of bed, opened the blinds, and went downstairs. He held on to the iron rail and stepped carefully. Even with the blinds open, not all that much light was getting in.

Kelly sat in a rocking chair in the front room. The baby was asleep on her lap, so shed been there a while. She fluttered her fingers at him. You didnt move when she started crying, she said. Im impressed.

He shrugged. Yeah, well he said vaguely, and then, Im gonna make coffee. Want some?

Oh, God, yes! Kelly said. He felt the same way himself.

They still had natural gas. Since the power was out, the fancy electronic ignition on the stove wasnt worth squat. When Colin turned a valve and lit a match at the burner, though, he got blue flames. He and Kelly both liked cream and sugar. He spooned in Coffee-mate instead. The refrigerator was an icebox more often than not. Sometimes the power stayed out so long, it wasnt even much of an icebox. They steered clear of milk products most of the time.

Thanks, Kelly said when he brought her the cup. Dont know what Id do without this stuff.

Tell me about it. Colin sipped hot caffeine. He looked out through the French doors at the back yard and made a small, unhappy noise. Starting to rain.

His wife clucked in sympathy. Just what you need.

Yeah, right, Colin said. Id sooner stay in bed today anyhow. Heck, Id sooner visit your old man than go in this morning. Kellys father, Dr. Stan Birnbaum, bragged that he was the best dentist in the South Bay. He might well have been, too. That didnt make calling on him any more fun.

Maybe the press conference wont be too horrible. By the way Kelly said it, she didnt believe it.

Neither did Colin. And maybe He clamped down hard on that. Someone who tried not to swear in front of women shouldnt come out with And maybe monkeysll fly out of my ass when talking with his beloved. But that was what hed been thinking, all right.

By Kellys soft snort, she knew it, too. She was almost fifteen years younger than he was, and took cussing for granted whether he did or not. She cautiously rose from the rocker, holding Deborah in the crook of her left arm and levering herself up with her right. The baby didnt stir or fuss. Kelly headed for the stairs. Ill get her down. Then Ill figure out whether to go back to bed myself or just stay up.

Okay. Colin finished his coffee, then cut a bagel in half and slathered Nutella on it. Nutella was great stuff when you could get it. Anything that tasted good and didnt need refrigeration counted as great stuff these days.

He went back upstairs after he ate. Shaving with cold water wasnt his idea of fun, either, but he methodically took care of it. A cold shower He shook his head. Nobody bathed as often as people had before the eruption, not when hot water was one more thing that was hard to come by. A soapy washcloth here and there would have to do for now.

Somber blue suit. Blue shirt. Somber maroon tie. Okay? he asked Kelly. Yes, he would much rather have faced Stan Birnbaums drill than the gentlemen and ladies of the Fourth Estate. Stan at least gave you novocaine before he got to work. There wouldnt be any painkillers this morning.

Okay. Kelly nodded. For good measure, she came over and kissed him. She felt nice in his arms. He wished he could stay. Wishing did as much good as it always did.

Off to throw the wolves raw meat, he said. Kelly laughed, for all the world as if he were joking.

He put on a rain slicker with a hood and slipped galoshes over his shoes. His bike sat in the foyer along with Kellys and Marshalls. Deborahs squawks hadnt rousted his grown son from his first marriage. But then, from everything Colin had seen, Marshall was better than even money to sleep through the crack of doom.

One more sigh. Then out the door, up onto the bike, on with the helmet, and away. Hi-yo, Silver! Colin thought sourly. His bifocals sat in an inside jacket pocket. Hood or no hood, riding in the rain with them on was a losing proposition. He pedaled south to 154th, dutifully stopped at the stop sign, stuck his left arm straight out to signal a left turn, and went east on 154th to Hesperus.

Another stop sign there. A right turn this time: left arm out with forearm and hand pointing up. Hesperus was one of San Atanasios major northsouth streets. Thered probably be a few cars on it, even if gas was hard to come by and over fifteen bucks a gallon when you could get any.

Mostly bikes, though, bikes and skateboards and the occasional grownupsized tricycle. Quite a few people rode with iPod earbuds to shut out the world. Colin didnt; he wanted to know what might be gaining on him. Traffic lights were out along with the rest of the power. If something came barreling down Reynoso Drive toward Hesperus, for instance, maybe hed hear it and be able to take evasive action.

But nothing didnothing more dangerous than other bicycles, anyhow. (Not that bike-on-bike crashes couldnt get messy. You could rack yourself up but good. You could even kill yourself, especially if you didnt bother with a helmetat least as dumb as riding in a car without a seat belt.) He pedaled on. This was an old part of San Atanasio, with shops and offices dating back to not long after the war, some to before it.

The police station was near the corner of Hesperus and San Atanasio Boulevard, in the government center with the jail, the city hall, and the county library. Theyd all gone up in the 1960s, when the town was flush. That was a while ago now. When San Atanasio got in the news these days, the people who didnt call it gritty invariably did call it working-class.

San Atanasio would be in the news today. Colin wished like hell that werent so. One more wish he wouldnt get.

He chained his bike to the steel rack that had gone into place by the stations front door after the eruption. A lot of black-and-whites sat in the parking lot. They were in working order, but so expensive to put on the street that most of them sat most of the time.

Several news vans sat in the lot, too. Colins mouth tightened when he saw one from CNN along with the local stations machines. The only thing he wanted less than going on L.A. TV was going on nationalto say nothing of internationalTV. Well, a lot of what life was all about was the difference between what you wanted and what you got.

He walked into the cop shop. Hello, Lieutenant, said the sergeant at the desk.

Morning, Neil, Colin answered. A phone call from Neil Schneider at twenty-five past three in the bloody morning had got this nightmare rollingor, if you looked at things a different way, the nightmare had been rolling for years and crashed to a stop with that call.

Uh, Lieutenant, the mayor wants to talk to you before the press conference, Schneider said. Hes waiting inhe looked very unhappy for a few secondsin the chiefs office.