loved the night shifts. It was the quietness, the freedom to do whatever you want, mostly. Because most of the time, nothing happens in the night shifts. His boss, , is off, sleeping or whatever he likes to do in his free time. So can read his books with nothing to interfere. He saw no reason for today's shift to be any different.
Warning! Abnormal detected!
put his bookmark and looked at the screen. In all his 12 years working in this facility, he only had one solar flare and that was a tiny one with no affect on Earth. But this one was different, as the details on screen indicated:
Size: >X100
ETA of flare to reach Earth: 45 minutes 32 seconds.
was in shock. The largest known solar flare so far was of X45 size, and the monitoring and measuring system worked in a scale comparing that to previous solar flares… For a flare to be sized in above X100 was… unthinkable. No one probably knew the consequences of such an phenomena.
called right away, as the protocol of such events required, and afterwards - sent the notification to all the personal that must be here in such occasion.
Twenty-five minutes later, the facility was a bustling place. More than 50 people were present: scientists, military personals, agents of multiple agencies and even few government officials.
On the screen, there was a big video stream of the Solar Flare, and the clock ticking…
Size: >X100
ETA of flare to reach Earth: 19 minutes 48 seconds.
Because of course - the first thing to do on such an unknowing looming potential disaster is - to name it.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
All over the world, emergency agencies were notified to get ready. Airplanes company were to notify their off-ground airplanes to get ready, and if possible - land as soon as possible. Governments all over the world were notified and emergencies plans were pulled out of dusted drawers.
In the facility, now was pushed aside, nervously drinking a cup of coffee and listening to all the noise around him, trying to understand - probably like everyone else - what the hell all this means.
came to him, seeing that he was nervous:
“You did well , nothing else could have been done.”
“I know. It’s not like i understand any of this…” said. “Does any of the smart people here knows what’s going to happen?”
“Any speculation or assumption is equally possible to any other. Just have to wait an see… Not like we have anything to do about it. Maybe pray…” Mike said.
“Did you call your parent to talk with them?” Mike asked .
“I did, though as was decided - i didn’t tell them anything.” said. “Was it really the wise choice to not let the public know about this?”
“Lucky me, it was not my responsibility to decide that…” Mike said. “The common agreement was that if the Tide will cause no harm - no need to panic the public. And if it will do harm - the decision what to do then will happen then…”
“I can understand that decision…” said.
“At least here we’re supposed to be mostly protected, as we’re quiet underground here…” said Mike.
“I guess we’ll find out soon enough…” said .
And then - all the electricity-based items started flickering and buzzing, from white-snow images or noises to beeps and flashes. All that took around 30 seconds, the time it took the to pass over Earth. And then…
all went back to normal. The screens went back to show the regular stuff, the monitoring system didn’t show any sign of anomalies. On screen it said:
The Tide has passed through Earth, no residual radiation or lasting affect has been recorded.
“What?” asked . “No radio blackout? No Electricity fallout? No Magnetic crochet? How is that even possible?”
“I guess we were lucky? Looks like all the fuss was for nothing” Mike said.
“Or you prayers helped” teased him.
“Who knows?” Mike said. and then: “OK everyone, lets make sure that this is indeed behind us and we can continue with our lives as normal.”
Or so they have thought….