we should live it up a little.”
“There are several parties being planned, you know,” Sarah said.
“Yes,” Tom said, “they’re ready to test one of the new steam engines at Empangeni, and the plan is to start it up at midnight of December 31 with toasts and music. I’ve been meaning to tell Mary that we’ve been invited.”
“We’re not going to any party at Empangeni,” Mary said. “I love steam engines. But if I have anything to say about it, we’re going to celebrate with our friends right here in Engineering Village. Herb and Roxy will be gone soon enough. I think we should be together.”
“I figured that’s the way you’d feel,” Tom said, just a touch sheepishly. “I’ve already told them I’d come over to see the engine the next morning.”
“What I’ve been thinking,” Roxy said, “is that this is the time for us to have another fling with our line dancing. I know we associate that with the carefree days before the Event, and we’ve never had the heart to go back to it. But I’ve been saving my cowgirl outfit, damn it, and I’m just dying to put it on again.”
“But how about the music?” Mary asked. “Without electricity, there’s no way we can play that boom box of yours.”
“I’m way ahead of you on that,” Roxy said. “A few of the guys from the band have agreed to help out. I’ve got them rehearsing ‘Cowboy Hustle,’ ‘Tennessee Stroll,’ ‘Country Strut,’ and my very best favorite, ‘Dallas Shuffle.’”
She started to hum and clap her hands. “You remember ‘Dallas Shuffle,’ don’t you? Come on, grab your partners. Just for a minute, just to see if you can still move.”
We rose to our feet, awkward and uncertain. The women were several months pregnant, and it showed. But then Sarah called out, “Let’s do it!” and there we were, modified sweetheart position, moving to the music. Roxy sang out the melody and continued to clap the rhythm, while at the same time she nudged Herb into position next to her. I tried to remember the old instructions: “Lift your stomach, rib cage up and in. Lift your chin so that it’s parallel to the floor. Don’t look down!” Pretty soon it was coming back. The body remembers. And there we were, stepping lively, feeling good, looking good, too—better still, not caring how we looked.
Thus do we answer the heavens. With dance. With steam engines. And with our babies to come.
After awhile, we sat down, out of breath, laughing—for the moment without a care. Or rather, with cares held at bay by Roxy’s dauntless spirit, and by our own. Suddenly, Sarah took my hand and placed it on her belly. I felt movement, as if the little feet within were trying to mark the beat.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I began work on this book by searching for a place—a part of the world in which the survivors could, with some prospect of success, attempt to rebuild a technological society. It had to be a place endowed with temperate climate, flourishing agriculture, and large numbers of domestic animals. Other natural resources were a must— especially timber, coal, iron, and copper. Furthermore, these resources had to be close to an ocean shore and concentrated within an area that could serve as home for a functional community—say a circle with a diameter of a hundred miles or so. It was easier to describe such a spot than to find it.
A solution suggested itself one day when I pulled down from my bookshelf a copy of
However, South Africa is a large country, and the information in the atlas did not enable me to zero in on an area of the requisite limited size. My problem was solved when, through the good offices of Martin Creamer, Publishing Editor of
The information I received from Kelvin Kemm convinced me that, from a geographical point of view, the province of KwaZulu Natal was the ideal setting for my story. Fortuitously, it turned out that the population of that region also met my criteria for an ideal supporting cast—multi-ethnic, technologically accomplished, and most of all, politically pragmatic.
Several other South African engineers provided support and information. In response to a letter of inquiry that Martin Creamer printed in his publication, I received friendly communiques from Bill Brunjes, Elma Holt, Wally Langsford, Philip Lloyd, and Patrick Taylor.
Once the sphere of action was established, my next task was to devise a means of destroying all the people on Earth outside of the chosen spot. With most catastrophes, such as earthquake, nuclear war, disease, and climate change, I found it exceedingly difficult to wipe out everyone in the world except for a select few in KwaZulu Natal. However, the impactor-from-space scenario showed promise, and this is the one I decided to pursue. Embarking on a journey around the Internet, I discovered a lively community of people interested in—and wary of —comets and asteroids. Eventually I found my way to the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona. More particularly, I made contact with James Head, a graduate student in the university’s Department of Planetary Sciences. Calculations for the calamity scenario are his. If there are purists who are not convinced by the figures, let me just say that destruction of the world is not a field in which there has ever been much by way of agreed standards. In general, the K/T disaster theory has gained wide support, and Walter Alvarez has provided a simplified exposition of it in his book, T. Rex
According to my specifications, Jim Head devised a “safe zone” that sliced through the southeast shore of South Africa, providing Richards Bay as a beachhead, and KwaZulu Natal as a center of action. By happenstance, the zone also included the southern portion of Madagascar. This gave me, as a bonus setting, that incredibly exotic island. Incidentally, the quote about the population of Madagascar being “the most astonishing fact of human geography in the entire world,” comes from
Although the geographical setting and the catastrophe scenario were my biggest research challenges, I received other assistance that needs to be mentioned.
Rich Combes provided helpful information about industrial development in Colonial North America, and details about the numbers of people required to perform specific items of work. He also read the manuscript and shared his imaginative ideas. Nora Jason, Manager of Fire Research Information Services at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, directed me to valuable material about fire storms. Other useful facts came from Captain Enrico Ferri of Renaissance Cruises, David Pang of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, Leon Shargel of the National Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, and Aristotle Tympas.
I particularly appreciate Henry Petroski taking time from his own very busy writing and teaching schedule to read portions of the manuscript and make helpful comments.
It was pleasant, as well as convenient, to be able to do some of the writing in my office at Kreisler Borg Florman Construction Company. The people there were helpful in a variety of ways, particularly Virginia Crowley,
