2042: The Great Cataclysm (20 page)

‘G’day mate.’ He said trying to sound cheery. ‘It’s your long lost brother.’

‘Nick! What a surprise! How-the-devil are you?  I was beginning to worry about you, what’re you up to? You sound so close, where are you?’

Nick winced at Brian’s use of the metaphor
devil
. ‘Um, I’m home.’

‘Home!’ Brian yelped. ‘Great! Hope you can stay a while this time, we’ve missed your ugly mug. Are you coming straight up here right? Karen will be thrilled, she’ll be home from work in about an hour.’

‘Yeah, can’t wait to see you both too. I’ll be there in a couple of hours. Break out the scotch, we’ve got a lot to talk about.’

Chapter Twenty-four

Sunday, June 5

The Trancab dropped him at the terminus at the foot of the mountain where his SUV was stored. Brian had maintained the vehicle in his absence, so he had no fear it would not start. He looked at the sleek lines and gleaming paintwork and felt sad it could only be used on country roads. The next thought was probably just as well, as escaping from the cities would be much easier in Trancabs that were programmed to prevent bottlenecks. The thirty minute drive to Brian’s home in the hills above Nerang led him past lush green golf courses and majestic homes. This beautiful region attracted the rich and famous, with a great number of the residents being wealthy retired business people. If one could overlook the council flats to the north, it was paradise, and certainly one of the world’s best kept secrets. Sadness overcame Nick as he pictured all of this underwater.

Brian greeted him with a strong hug. Karen examined the two men who were so different, and she wiped her hands up and down her thighs as she waited for Nick to turn to her. Nick’s eyes locked on to hers over Brian’s shoulder and she flushed. He felt the long forgotten adrenalin spurt as he pushed Brian away and opened his arms to Karen. They hugged, clinging to each other for a brief moment, and Nick never wanted to let her go. She hadn’t changed, and her close resemblance to Laura hit him again. She wore her shiny black hair smooth and sharply cut below her ears and kissing her jawline with a pointed peak either side of her face. Her large purple eyes fixed on him for an instant, but as they broke apart Karen lowered her head and Nick saw she was not eager to look him in the eyes again. He felt the air between them crackle as his eyes willed her to look at him again. Instead she made a hasty retreat to the kitchen saying she was making coffee.

Brian’s home was perched on a plateau overlooking the magnificent coastline, with extensive views to the north and south, and was a masterpiece of modern construction. About eighteen metres long with a flat roof, it fitted into the side of the hill like an eagle flexing it’s wings ready for flight. The entire house was cleverly elevated out from the mountainside, and vast tinted Navilon walls covered the entire length of the front and rear of the building. It had been designed as an extension of the surrounding forest, melding the outdoors into its interior. The rear of the house at street level was almost encased by a rain-forest of tall gums, palms, Bird’s Nest tree ferns, and native Beronia.  A long wooden deck jutted out almost four metres from the front of the house, and offered a completely different view. Looking out from inside the house, one was given the impression of being up in the clouds. High-rise buildings to the east in the distance, silhouetted against the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, presented a startling scene, their glass sides appearing to be on fire at this time of the day as the setting sun in the west cast orange flames of sunlight that danced on their shimmering windows. From here Nick could see the many intricate canal systems weaving their way like snakes to the sea, where they were met by the dykes instead of the ocean. He looked through Brian’s large telescope and could see boats moored forlornly in front of the expensive riverfront homes.

‘Sad sight isn’t it?’ Brian remarked. ‘Many of those expensive waterfront homes are housing immigrant squatters now. Owners couldn’t sell them, so some just abandoned them for higher ground. The government encouraged the owners to leave, hoping to reduce the population here, but it backfired, and just created homes for refugees and low-life that fled the council flats for a better lifestyle, regardless of the threat of rising seas.’

Nick frowned ‘So the demographics have changed?’

‘I’ll say, and not for the best. I have to work down there but I wouldn’t live there. The crime rate’s horrendous, and businesses are closing down everywhere.’

Brian went to answer his sat-phone, and after the unsettling reunion with Karen, a feeling of peace crept over Nick, as he absorbed the smell of the eucalypts and listened to the Kookaburra’s laughter in the background.

‘We used to enjoy this view.’ Karen purred, handing him his coffee. Nick clasped the mug and held it there for a few heartbeats, and he felt the tingle again.

‘When I get home at night I like to lie out here and watch the stars.’  She settled with a sigh into a comfortable hammock slung casually across a metal frame on the deck.

‘Brian was just saying how bad it is down there now. Um, how’s things at the hospital?’ Nick asked.

‘Terrible. All we seem to do is treat knife and gunshot wounds from home invasions.’

‘Why don’t you give it away?’

‘Being a nurse isn’t a job you know, it’s my life.’

‘Is that why you and Brian don’t have children?’ Nick asked and suddenly felt ashamed as she quickly gazed out to sea.

‘No, we did try a few years back. I can’t have children.’

Nick held up his hand. ‘Stop. That was insensitive of me. I shouldn’t have asked.’

She struggled out of the hammock and walked to the edge of the verandah, and turned to face him rubbing her folded arms. ‘You’re not married yet?’ She said changing the subject.

‘No.  Who’d have me?  I’m just a vagabond.’

Nick studied her face. The years had not aged her at all, she looked serene but aloof.  Tiny dimples danced in her cheeks and smile lines tweaked the corners of her gently tilted purple eyes, softening the slight oriental look of her youth. Her sleek black hair showed no sign of fading and there was a healthy glow on her cheeks. Her small body had retained its shape and she looked the same as she did ten years ago when he had last seen her. She was still beautiful and she took his breath away and whisked him right back to the day he had first seen her.

***

Brian

Ten years ago after Brian fell foul to the skiing accident at Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains, he had been flown back to Sydney to recuperate in hospital, where he met and fell in love with Karen who was a nurse on his ward.

Nick managed some time off and flew home to see Brian, and when he first laid eyes on Karen he knew she was the woman he would always love. He remembered when they were introduced, he had felt weak at the knees and lost all his self-assurance. She did not seem to notice how his hand trembled when he took hers, and showed no indication that she was aware of the effect she had on him.

After a month Nick decided if he stayed any longer he would risk showing his feelings and alienating his brother, so he returned to America and vowed to put her out of his mind forever.

A few months later Brian called to say they were getting married and invited Nick to the wedding. Nick believed in his heart that Karen did not really love Brian, and secretly hoped their relationship would fail, so the news completely floored him. As much as he cared for Brian he could not bring himself to accept the invitation, pleading work commitments. He remembered now how crushed he felt at the time, how he had thrown himself into a whirlwind of social engagements in an attempt to forget Karen. None of that worked then, and even now the distant memory prevented him from having those deep burning feelings for any other woman, even Laura.

Nick snapped back to the present and Karen filled his vision as she stood before him reaching for his glass for a refill.

‘You seem keyed up Nick. I can see something’s troubling you.’  Brian remarked as he joined them on the verandah.

Graham and Nick were the same height, but he lacked Nick’s rugged weathered appearance.  Where Nick was thickset and muscular, his skin baked by the ever present sun at sea, Brian was lean, and his lightly tanned skin showed no signs of ageing. He maintained a fitness program of regular morning runs around the mountain roads.

Brian was now CEO of Bill Simpson’s newspaper empire, which was one of the largest in the country thanks to Brian. It was not because Bill was Karen’s uncle, but like Nick, Brian was intelligent but more outgoing, and as a result had climbed the ladder to the top quickly. Unlike his brother he possessed a tough streak, and was good at keeping his true feelings hidden.

‘I’ve got something to tell you, but I need you both to promise you won’t tell anyone else for at least twenty-four hours. I promised someone I’d keep it from you for now, but I can’t, you need to know.’ Nick sloshed his drink around the glass.

‘Sounds serious, but can you trust a journalist to keep a secret?’
Brian grinned.

‘I don’t have a choice. I think you’ll agree it’s necessary when you hear what it is.’

They reluctantly agreed and Nick unfolded his story. The cynical smile faded from Brian’s face as he listened. Nick was accustomed to being questioned in detail, so he was thorough with his explanations. The silence of the bushland surrounding them added to the drama of the moment.  There was a hush, the Kookaburras had fled, and the only sounds were the occasional warble from a family of magpies, the long melodious call of a solitary native Butcher Bird in the distance, and the soft swish of the wind rustling in the gum trees.

Brian stood with his arms crossed and Karen reacted to the news as expected, first shock, disbelief, then fear. Nick identified with all of these emotions, he was still experiencing them himself.

‘My God.’ Karen said. ‘What will we do?  This’s terrible.’  She thought immediately of her friends and patients at the hospital. ‘So many people could die.’

‘I’ve just come from Canberra where I had a long session with the Minister for Emergency Services. He’s a good bloke. With the military’s help, they’ll be setting up camps in the mountains and stocking them with supplies. He’s setting up emergency meetings right now with all the relevant people in charge of the hospitals, police and other emergency services.’

‘What’d they want from you?’ Brian asked, unfolding his arms.

‘They needed to pick my brains so they’d know what to expect when it happens. Oh, and listen, Graham’s back too, we came home together. He’s flat-out commandeering every privately owned Veto he can lay his hands on.’

‘Jesus Christ Nick. Did they tell you their plans?’

‘Not in detail. Their biggest problem is getting it all organised before the press conference. That’s why I’m not supposed to tell you, you can’t release this yet. They’re calling it operation Star Flight, and only people at top levels know about it right now. There’s a great pool of info available from all the past tsunamis we’ve had thank God, especially round Japan.’

Brian sat and banged his drink on the table. ‘You can’t expect me to sit on something as big as this Nick.’

‘I expect you to honour our agreement. It’s only for twenty-four hours. You’ll have the jump on them Brian, although I don’t know if that’s any use, other than giving you the notoriety of being the first reporter to break the news.’

‘Yeah, well I need that. Bill’s been a bit miffed at me lately. Don’t know what’s getting in his craw.’

Nick glanced at Karen and she shrugged her shoulders. ‘I promise to give you the information everyone will be craving, that should make a difference.’

‘Okay… I guess. How much warning will we get then?’

‘I’m not sure. These things are so unpredictable, but there should be time to get up into the hills if people act straight away, there’ll be warnings sent out by the tsunami detection centres around the Pacific. They’re um, planning to move people up there before the warnings. You’d better get this place locked up tight, there’ll be looters and people looking for shelter anywhere they can get it.’

Karen imagined the chaos they would be facing and her faced darkened, highlighting the smile lines around her eyes. Her hand holding her drink trembled slightly. ‘Are you telling us everything Nick?’ She tilted her chin and narrowed her eyes.

Nick turned away
.
Should I tell them
?
He thought
.
No, things are bad enoug
h
. Instead he said, ‘I’ve told you everything I know for certain.’

‘Hmmm. What about all the people in hospitals and nursing homes, and the old people. Who’s going to look after them?’

‘Who’s the bloke in charge at the hospital Karen?’ Nick asked.

‘His name’s Alex Videon.’ She replied glancing at Brian, and Nick did not fail to notice him wince.

‘He’s probably already been notified. What sort of bloke is he?’

Brian jumped from his seat and retreated inside before Karen answered.

‘Karen?’ Nick asked.

Karen stared after Brian and frowned.

‘Karen!’ Nick prompted again.

‘Oh, sorry, you may as well know the story. I was engaged to marry Alex before I met Brian.’