End Of Days Epilogue

IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST...

Commander Shultz, no Captain Shultz, sat in his command chair on the bridge of the USN Gabriel Giffords as the Littoral Combat Ship cautiously advanced up the Columbia River towards the confluence with the Willamette. They were navigating unfamiliar waters with only their sonar rather than a local pilot to guide them. The Bonneville dam as well as The Dalles Dam had been breached. The resulting radioactive flood waters had transformed the river. Celilo Falls had been reborn. Their charts were suspect at best. The river would have been impassable if not for their shallow draft.

The ship's powerful gas turbines had remained shut down but on standby since they left San Diego to conserve fuel. Fortunately; fuel was once again available, but in limited quantities. Diplomatic and trade relations had been negotiated with the Republic of Alaska. As the only state of the former United States of America that had actually had a functioning anti ballistic missile system on that day of detonations, Alaska had emerged essentially unscathed from the nuclear wars.

Unfortunately; Alaska had been far from self sufficient. President of the sovereign State of Alaska Palin wasn't anyone's fool. She wasn't just giving away Alaskan oil. She never had. Queen Lili'uokalani was equally committed to safeguarding the interests of the Kingdom of Hawaii. A formidable fleet had been docked at Pearl Harbor on that day of detonations. San Diego and The Kingdom of Hawaii were having to compete for Governor Palin's favor to obtain Alaskan oil. Along with providing security and food assistance, San Diego and Hawaii were competing to assist Alaska in its efforts to keep the oil flowing.

Gabby's duel, diesel engines were now operating at only a fraction of full throttle. Thanks to her slippery, trimaran hull, she was still making over ten knots. In spite of the treacherous navigation, it would be less dangerous to hopefully travel faster than news of their arrival.

The weather evoked memories of that day of detonations when the Gabriel Giffords was conducting a simulated strike on Camp Pendleton. Once again, the sky was blue. The sun was shining. There was only a hint of haze that attested to the conflagrations that were still raging in the remnants of the Middle East oil fields. In spite of, or perhaps because of the haze, the weather was warm but not hot. Gabby had been in an almost perfect position to intercept those missiles while they were still in the vulnerable boost phase.

The boost phase trajectories had subsequently been analyzed and extrapolated. If not for then Commander Shultz and his ship, not just San Diego and Camp Pendleton would have been nuked. Los Vegas, Hoover dam, Flagstaff, Tucson and Sedona as well as Phoenix Arizona would have also been nuked on that day of detonations. Along with saving those cities, Commander Shultz had saved the integrated circuit fabricators of Arizona.

Captain Shultz and his crew hadn't been the only heros on that day of detonations. A far more capable Arleigh Burke class, Aegis destroyer with dedicated, long range, exoatmospheric, ballistic missile interceptors had been exercising in the Gulf coast on the border between Texas and Louisiana. With the exception of New Orleans, the Gulf Coast had been spared.

The beautiful weather was ironic for other reasons. It was the type of beautiful Spring, almost Summer day that one should expect in late May in Oregon, but couldn't. Before the wars, everyone had known that it always rained on the Rose Festival parades. It had been raining on that day over a dozen years ago when then young Ensign Shultz had been embarked on his first ship. His ship had been making a port call during Rose Festival. Now there would be no Grand Floral Parade nor a Starlight Parade. There would probably be no Rose Festival parades not just this year or even next year or even the year after, but maybe not ever.

Captain Shultz was still becoming accustomed to his promotion. It was only a brevet promotion by his Admiral. His promotion hadn't been endorsed by the President much less confirmed by the Senate. However; in the aftermath of Washington being nuked, there was no longer a Senate to formally confirm promotions or do anything else. All that was left of the Federal government was the President and a few, isolated military commanders and useless bureaucracrats.

Unfortunately; the Bitch was even crazier than her venal, venial, senile predecessor. The Bitch had survived the nuking of America only because she'd been aboard Air Force One rather than in Washington DC on that day of detonations. Fortunately; the bitch had been unwilling to push the proverbial nuclear button. Nuking Russia or China on the recommendation of her insane advisers would have only provoked retaliation.

With mushroom clouds rising almost all along the West coast as well as all along the East coast, the President had been compelled to seek refuge at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Whiteman was home to America's Bee-two bombers as well as a vast arsenal of nuclear weapons with which to arm the bombers. At the command of the new President, many tactical aircraft, tankers and transports had been relocated to Whiteman rather than remain dispersed. The bitch had felt compelled to consolidate the forces of the United States to confirm and bolster her authority.

Few people had understood that certain provisions of the Patriot Act would confer such dictatorial, autocratic authority on the President and the Deep State bureaucracy during such an emergency. One of the Bitch's first acts after that day of detonations was to nuke Tulsa Oklahoma. The Bitch nuked Tulsa not just in retribution for insubordination. She had felt compelled to demonstrate that her authority reigned supreme in the aftermath of the nuclear attack that had ravaged so much of America. The President of the United States had also averred that she was nuking Tulsa in belated retaliation for the Black Wall Street massacre a century ago! Perhaps the South Asian-American had been ashamed that she'd been compelled to reign not just from flyover country but from an Air Force base named "Whiteman"?

In the aftermath of the nuking of Tulsa, most of the surviving local military commanders attempted to ignore the POTUS without crossing the Rubicon of blatant insubordination. Ballistic missile submarines as well as the land based intercontinental ballistic missile bases had gone silent. They hadn't been responding to the Bitch's incessant orders to launch.

Only Alaska and Hawaii had officially declared their independence. With no operational bases for aerial refueling tankers, the range of Whiteman's bombers was limited. Alaska as well as Hawaii also had formidable air defenses.

Much of the United States, the region that had once been derided as "fly over country," had emerged from that day of detonations seemingly unscathed. However; the destruction and disruption of so much of America's petroleum infrastructure had crippled the entire country. The subsequent electro magnetic pulse attack had inflicted even more damage. The paucity of fuel and functional transport had severely constrained the ability of the Federal government to project military power to enforce the dictatorial decrees of the President.

Ironically; America's forbearance had encouraged other countries to push the button. The Eurasian continent had always been a rough neighborhood. The brushfire nuclear wars had ravaged the middle East as well as Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and India not to mention both Koreas, Japan and Taiwan. It had been inevitable that these countries would realize that allowing Russia and China to remain relatively unscathed would be suicidal. Not nuking Russia and China would guarantee their hegemony over not just Eurasian but Africa and Australia as well. The nuclear strikes against Russia and China by these upstart nuclear powers had provoked their wrath. The retaliations hadn't been limited to just the upstart nuclear powers. Russia and China had nuked each other as well as other potential enemies, particularly Europe and Australia.

Ironically; the Gulf Coast as well as the central plains of America had remained somewhat unscathed from the nuclear melee. America's nuclear forces had remained largely intact although disunited after that day of detonations. America's strategic power was not yet depleted from launching attacks. The other nuclear powers had been deterred.

Although grievously wounded and no longer united, the remnants of the United States had became the most powerful nations on the planet by default. The Electro Magnetic Pulse attack had remained the only nuclear attack against America since that day of detonations ravaged the Coastal regions. The perpetrators of that attack had utilized a delayed, Fractional Orbit Bombardment system that had ensured their anonymity.

Unfortunately; the Electro Magnetic Pulse attack against America had fried the fragile computers of most civilian vehicles including cars, trucks and railroad locomotives. With few exceptions, only military ships and aircraft with EMP hardened electronics had remained operational. Even the vehicles that had remained operational had been effectively immobilized by the paucity of fuel. The entire country, including the remnants of the Army, had been put afoot. The threat of a nuclear strike by their own, putative government was the primary consideration that compelled the commanders of isolated, surviving military units to feign fealty to the President.

Captain Shultz reached up to feel the insignia on his epilates. He was now the commanding officer of an entire squadron of Independence class, Littoral Combat Ships. However; due to personnel shortages, he was wearing two hats. He remained the de facto commanding officer of this ship as well. To many Naval personnel had been on leave in Tijuana on that day of detonations. Shultz was almost grateful that he wasn't wearing his formal uniform with the fourth bar on his epilates. However; the eagles on his Marine combat fatigues still weighed heavily upon his shoulders.

The symbols of Captain Shultz's rank and authority might not have felt so profoundly oppressive if the Littoral Combat Ships that had been docked at Naval Base San Diego weren't the only warships that weren't effectively trapped in the harbor. Then merely Commander Shultz's actions a year ago had prevented San Diego from being nuked. Unfortunately; the captain of a container ship had been panicked by the sight of the mushroom cloud rising over Tijuana. In her haste to flee, the idiot had rammed the pier of one of the towers that supported the main bridge span over the main channel. The Arleigh Burke class destroyers had been trapped in the inner harbor like ships in a bottle.

The pair of Nimitz class carriers that were berthed in the outer harbor weren't really trapped. However they weren't going to risk going anywhere without Aegis escorts to provide air defense as well as screen them from submarines. The Hawaiian squadron was unwilling to leave their home islands undefended to provide escorts. Until such time as the stricken ship and the wreckage of the bridge were removed, the Littoral Combat Ships with their shallow draft were the most powerful surface combatants that could put out to sea.

The heavy barge cranes at the ports of Los Angeles and San Francisco had been far enough from the hypocenters to escape serious damage. The barge cranes had also been upwind which had enabled them to evade the worst of the fallout. Decontamination procedures combined with the effects of time had been effective.

Unfortunately; the Golden Gate bridge had collapsed, blocking access to San Francisco bay. Perhaps the civilian salvage crews hadn't survived the blast effects, direct nuclear radiation and thermal radiation? Alternatively; they might have been killed by radioactive fallout. It was estimated that only one-tenth of the population of the bay area had survived the nuclear attack and the immediate aftermath. During the year since that day of detonations, starvation and civil strife had killed most of those who had survived.

The Navy crews who were commandeering the crane barges and tugboats were still learning how to operate and maintain the civilian machinery while making repairs. In spite of the paucity of survivors, the incessant rioting that had been escalating to civil war even before that day of detonations was unhelpful. Clearing the wreckage of the Golden Gate bridge that obstructed access to San Francisco Bay as well as the Oakland Bay bridge to enable access to the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard must take priority. A third carrier had been dry docked at the ship yard with a maintenance cycle recently completed. The remnants of America needed that carrier!

Given the nukings of San Francisco, San Jose, Berkeley and Palo Alto, Captain Shultz had been surprised by what they had discovered as they entered the Columbia River. While the City of Astoria had been nuked, the bridge remained standing. It hadn't collapsed to impede navigation. Either the villains had overestimated the blast effects of their weapons, missed their target, or they had preferred to just kill as many people as possible while leaving critical infrastructure intact.

As the Gabriel Giffords proceeded upriver, they had been somewhat surprised. Whoever had nuked America hadn't felt the need to waste a nuke on Longview. That critical bridge also remained standing. Nuking Astoria had ignited forest fires that had dwarfed the legendary Tillamook burn. The conflagrations had ravaged the Coast Range. Miraculously; the fires hadn't propagated to Longview. Although the city remained intact, the houses, apartments and offices had been inhabited only by dead and decaying corpses.

A physician rather than a mere pharmacist mate was embarked on the Gabriel Giffords for this reconizance mission. She had confirmed that with the exceptions of obvious suicides and homicides, the residents of Longview, Kelso and Rainier had been killed by lethal doses of residual radiation. The doctor had speculated that perhaps the same rainstorm that had saved the cities from the inferno must have precipitated much of the fallout from Astoria in the relatively confined area of the three cities. While various tunnels, basements and even sewers might have provided protection, they had discovered no evidence that anyone had been knowledgeable enough to seek such refuges. The ignorance of the victims had been just as lethal as the fallout.

As they proceeded upriver, the crew had made more discoveries. Whoever had nuked America had obviously intended to nuke the nuclear wastes that had remained at the site of the dismantled Trojan nuclear power plant. The long term radioactivity of those wastes was comparable to the fallout from several hundred, one Megaton nukes. Fortunately; the warhead had missed. The nuke had detonated in the Trojan Recreational Area almost a mile away. A new lake that was almost half a mile in diameter had been excavated. The casks of spent fuel had been toppled over and scattered about. Fortunately; the robust containers that had been designed to survive literally being hit by a speeding locomotive had remained intact. The fission products that might have rendered many thousands of square miles uninhabitable for decades had not been unleased into the environment.

Commander, no Captain, Shultz's attention was drawn to the radiation meter once again. During the year since that day of detonations, the radioactivity of the fallout had diminished by a factor of nearly a million. However; isotopic analysis had revealed that the depleted Uranium casings of the nukes had been salted with Cobalt.

The seemingly obvious intent had been to prolong the residual nuclear radiation. However; the apocalyptical scenario popularized by the novel ON THE BEACH hadn't been realized. With a half-life of just over five years, the radioactivity of the Cobalt-sixty nuclides remained inconsequential compared to the radioactivity of the fission products. Fission products are predominantly much shorter lived and therefore more intensely radioactive. More importantly, the radioactivity of the Cobalt-sixty as well as the fission products was diminishing with time rather than increasing as Neville Norway had hysterically propagandized. In spite of the Cobalt, the long term, residual radioactivity would be problematic only at or near the actual bomb craters.

Captain Shultz pulled a battered, dog eared copy of On the Beach out of a pocket of his coverall. He'd recently discovered his copy of the novel in a used bookstore. With most personal electronics fried and the internet destroyed, people were rediscovering books. He'd only finished reading the apocalyptical novel barely an hour earlier. He once again perused the cover then the biographical information about the author.

Nevil Shute Norway had been an aeronautical engineer. He hadn't been one of those ignoramuses who considered themselves to be well read. His education should have enabled him to check the math. However; like so many people who considered themselves to be well read, it seemed as if he had mindlessly accepted the hysterical claims of others about the enduring fallout from hypothetical Cobalt bombs without checking the math himself.

Norway's credulity was somewhat understandable. The then recent series of nuclear weapons tests at Bikini Atoll had provoked hysteria. At fifteen Megatons, the yield of the Castle Bravo detonation had vastly exceeded the expectations of the scientists who had designed the device. They'd had to remain sheltered in their bunkers for hours before they could be evacuated.

Of course the Castle Bravo device had been far less powerful than the Soviet's Tsar Bomb. The yield of that massive monster had been over fifty Megatons. The yield would have been doubled and the radioactive fallout massively multiplied if the Soviets had included a depleted Uranium casing in the device.

Few laypeople had understood that the detonation of two dozen nukes with an aggregate yield of seventy-five Megatons within the confined area of Bikini Atoll, which was no larger than New York City, should not be mindlessly extrapolated to presume that the global fallout from a nuclear war would be universally lethal. Less than a hundred, one Megaton yield nukes had been employed to ravage America. With the exception of the sites of the actual craters, the residual radioactivity of the fallout was almost inconsequential.

Perhaps Norway simply hadn't been incredulous enough to perform the calculations himself rather than intentionally dishonest. Norway hadn't seemed to understand that his apocalyptical predictions couldn't be realized. It would be necessary to detonate an aggregate yield of millions of Megatons of Cobalt bombs rather than merely a few thousand to subject the entire planet to the lingering, lethal fallout that he had described.

In Norway's defense, it must be acknowledged that the seminal volume THE EFFECTS OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS hadn't yet been published and made available to the public. It would have been difficult for Norway to obtain information on the proportions of the various fission products and their half-lives. Norway hadn't visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki much less the obelisk at the Trinity site or Bikini Atoll. Shultz had. Norway hadn't had the benefit of such visceral experiences that might have helped him understand just how ephemeral the radioactivity of nuclear fallout would be.

Just as General Tibbets who'd personally nuked Hiroshima had driven a Toyota that had been built in Japan during his retirement years, Shultz's family still relied on their vintage Mazda minivan that had actually been built in Hiroshima. He still had the Mazda RX-seven that he'd been driving when he got married as well. He'd actually transplanted a Wankel rotary engine into their minivan rather than rebuild the aging piston engine. Shultz had also enjoyed watching Sponge Bob Square Pants cartoons with his kids. Few people had understood the premise of the humor. Norway hadn't benefited from such visceral experiences. Unfortunately; ON THE BEACH and other fictions had provoked ignorance and fatalistic pessimism.