A minute later, another bright light lit up the cabin, but it came from the northeast and above them this time. The ball of glowing white had rays leaping out in all directions. Tom squinted his eyes and looked out the window at the terrifying object. He turned away, couldn’t see for a few seconds, and then had an image of the explosion burned in his vision. “That one was up in outer space. This is definitely serious. Grampa told us about nuclear EMP bursts, and these look exactly how he described them.”
The ladies argued over top of Tom and kept smothering him. He wrapped his arms around their necks and drew their faces to his. “Granny B, Jackie, please stop talking. I think it was a nuclear air blast meant to create a tremendous electromagnetic pulse. One of our enemies just neutralized our Pacific Fleet without damaging the fleet or the islands. I’ll bet the detonation was hundreds of miles up in the atmosphere. The second blast destroyed some of our military and communication satellites, plus all communications and the grid on the west coast. That’s why we saw them so bright.”
Granny B pinched Tom on the side, making him release them. “Okay, smarty pants. What makes you think that?”
“Ouch! That hurt. Well, first, Grampa warned us about EMP and Solar Flares, and I’ve read several of those Post-Apocalyptic books. Many of the authors feature EMP blasts because those explosions don’t kill people. It makes the story much better to see the billions of people fighting over scraps of bread when the grid is down. The vehicles don’t work, and most communication has been fried.”
“Yes, your grandpa spoke a lot about survival and prepping. I went along with him to keep the arguments down. Darn, I read some of those books back during Y2K. Heck, that’s thirty-eight years ago, and the thought still scares me. What can we do?”
Tom reached up again to push the call button. This time, a female flight attendant walked from the front of the plane but was stopped by dozens of passengers with questions. Tom turned his head and looked into the rear galley to see two flight attendants arguing in front of the restrooms. Tom’s family was seated next to the last row at the back of the plane, so he stood up and took a few steps toward the two women. One was crying.
“Ma’am, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Sir, please go back to your seat.”
Tom stood his ground as he glared at the frightened flight attendants. “Ladies, something bad just happened several hundred miles behind us, and another blast was above us. Do you know what happened?”
“Sir, we don’t have any information. The pilot will make an announcement as soon as he knows something.”
“Does the pilot have communication with the control tower?”
“Go sit down, or we’ll have to force you to go to your seat.”
Tom’s face slumped. “You’d better have a better explanation than that in a few minutes, or you’re going to have a riot on your hands.” Tom pointed to the dozens of passengers trying to hear what was said.
“Please sit down.”
Jackie and Tom had been inseparable growing up on the ranch and were still best friends. Jackie had dated but never had a serious relationship. She was a beautiful twenty-eight-year-old young woman who always slathered her face with sunblock. Jackie always wore her Dorfman Pacific or Stetson wide-brimmed hats to keep her face from looking like her weathered Granny B’s face. She was tall at five foot seven inches with short blonde hair and an athletic build.
Jackie had always been a tomboy and could play as rough as any of the boys in their school. Most of the boys were a bit put off by a girl who could tackle them and whip them in a fair fight. She worked hard around the ranch and was at home, feeding the cattle and helping new calves into the world. She’d left the ranch to attend college but had become so homesick she’d returned before the end of her freshman year. She’d continued her education online and read biology and history books in her spare time.
Jackie took the in-flight phone in front of her and used her credit card to start the call. Everything went well until just after the card was read. The phone had a tone at first, but there was only static on the speaker. She saw Tom turn toward her, pointed at the phone, and made a slashing motion across her neck. Tom turned to the flight attendants. “The phones are dead. The pilot had better give us an update now! This is bull crap.”
Tom tried his cell phone even though it was against the rules. The phone came on but didn’t receive a signal. He pointed to it and made the slashing motion across his neck. “Jackie, my cell phone reception is dead.”
“That could be because we’re in the middle of the ocean.”
The flight attendants rushed to the front of the plane, dodging requests to stop and answer questions. Several passengers got out of their seats and approached Tom. One large gray-haired man spoke above the others. “What did they say?”
“They said they didn’t know what happened, and the pilot would make an announcement soon. Check your in-flight phones to see if they’re working. Ours doesn’t. Something bad happened. Does anyone have a radio or other means to pick up radio or TV signals?”
A few women were now crying, along with several scared children. The gray-haired man said, “We’ll check with the other passengers. What’s your best guess?”
Tom didn’t want to just guess and alarm
