August 11, ???? All our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death
Hours crept by under the unearthly dome of light, unchanging except for the electric whorls and currents above. Then, as if it was never there at all, the dome vanishes in an instant. Suddenly the ship is plunged into darkness. The crew looks up expectantly, but sees no sign of the stars, moon, or anything else. Without warning, their upturned faces are hit with a heavy, warm rain. A few seconds later a strong wind sweeps across the ship and the sea becomes rough and choppy.
"Shit!" Morton exclaims. "That weird dome must have been hiding a storm somehow. Every sit tight. Bob, I want you to make sure everything on the deck is secure. Igal, see if you can pick anything up on the radio and contact Gran Canaria -- get Demetrios to help you. Julia, be a dear and check on the rest of the passengers, make sure everyone's OK and let them know what's happening."
Johannes slips on the life belt he has brought up from below deck at some point and secures the lifeline to one of the folding dead eyes set into the deck for that purpose .. still looking around .. Yes, it's still night -- about 3am on the ship's clocks. The cloud cover is 100%.
The dome wad grown wearing after a while. Demetrios had taken what photographs there were to be taken quietly muttered about lacking the means to do much else [1] Then he moved to his cabin. Half to pass the time half his army days instincts kicking in by the whole weirdness around he went checking his own gear. Everything found shipshape he went to take a look if anything had changed, grabbed some food and returned to his cabin where he half slept. As the ship heaved and hopped and light went mostly away he jumped up and looked out of the window.
"So item. Damn damn dome is gone. With it is the light, and we've just gone in the midst of stormy weather when before not a leaf was moving. I suppose the dome could be covering of it but that's just more weirdness. Now lets see the news of the world."
The transistor radio remained silent, the crackle of noise not counting.
"Uh oh. Everyone gone silent? "
He grabbed the jacket from his BDUs and went out for the captain. He was just out of the cabin when he saw Igal about to knock at his door.
"So lets go, shall we"
Playing radioman proved a frustrating experience as it was met with complete radio silence. Double checking on the radios and other electronics did not revel any malfunction either. Just...silence. Nothing on wireless, nothing on commercial radio and no GPS either.
"Well mr Morton. To put it a bit dramatically we ain't in Kansas any more. Electronics in the ship seem to operate just fine, all of them. It's just that out there we have complete radio silence out there. No wireless, no commercial no nothing. Oh satellites included on the latter. Seems as if GPS and Glonass went out of operation. Either everyone ceased transmitting or there isn't anyone able to transmit."
"Could there still be some sort of residual interference?" the Skipper asked. "Or perhaps we were lucky and others were more badly damaged than us?
Demetrios answers : "Everyone? For all I know the Spaniards have military bases in the Canarias and the Azores. With at least some military grade electronics. Of which at least some should survive. And there is no shortwave either, although for that you can claim that the ionosphere is out"
Morton continues : The GPS going out is odd, if the satellites are still there then something must be interfering with the transmissions still. From what I could tell on the radar, the dome was about 20 miles away. I'm not sure how high, from the look of it less than that. This storm is making it difficult to tell if anything is still out there, it looked like there were a couple of returns before the storm hit. I probably should have invested in a better unit."
Johannes enters the cabin without being invited and injects. "GPS is military - the pentagon can turn off the unencrypted civilian channels at any time they choose .. can your unit receive the encrypted military channels?"
Demetrios asks : "And the Russians simultaneously closed Glonass? Ok what kind of military emergency in the Canarias would make both the Yanks and Russians close down their systems?"
"well .. the Russians have been neglecting their systems for quite some time now - so i would not be astonished if there was a temporary whole or black out ." - answers Johannes
Igal says : "There's nothing on middle or long wave too, only static may be the sphere is in place yet, but becomes invisible and not reflective for radar ... And I would like to look at the Moon too"
"me too", says Johannes - especially if it has just suddenly brightened up a lot .. ever read a story called "Inconstant Moon"?"
Demetrios assures : "Oh it will not keep up for ever. Although to tell the truth I would like to get a look at the moon right now. But anyway. I can solve you the trouble of whether the radio works or not in short order. I'll be back in a moment. "
Morton asks "Any ideas of what's going on, guys? If the shit's hit the fan I don't want to go rushing into a bad situation. Igal, keep working with that radio and see if you can pick up anything on the shortwave. There's got to be *someone* out there."
"Let me get back first" says Demetrios on his way out
He returned back backpack in tow, opened in on a table and pulled a hand held radio from inside.
"'Well less see. Short range radio, mil specs. Spectrum covers the frequencies ship's radio uses. Alpha, Charlie, Foxtrot calling Oberon, over."
A couple meters away the radio came to life...
Demetrios says 'Radio seems to work just fine. I'll be damned if I believed I'd ever say such a thing but I'm almost sorry it does. So to go to the what the hell goes on, the right answer is as of now nothing good for comfort. At best someone managed to sent to the trash bin loads upon loads of electronics. And that's the best option. Ok how is the ship going for weapons? There is a reasonable chance even the Canarias will be in chaos when/if we reach them. Not to mention what might be coming from the African coast in the way of less than law abiding people taking advantage of the situation. Spanish radar and radio out even temporarily...that's going to be smugglers paradise for the ones thinking fast enough."
"Or populated with anyone from bronze age savages to 17th century Spaniards but no time to expand the good captain's literary knowledge with such concepts..." he thought to myself.
Demetrios smiles. "Or maybe Clarke and Baxter, what's the name of the two books? To summarize you wonder whether there was perhaps the mother of all solar flares. This could explain the radio silence...partially at least. Most NATO and WarPac equipment had been built up with the expectation of nukes going off shall we say too close to them for comfort?
But this does not explain what that dome was..."
Johannes answers: "not enough data here .. but it still could have been a peculiar form of aurora ..
if there is an homogeneous and isotropic aurora all over the place it could look like a dome centered on you - analogous to the sky that also looks like a huge dome centered on you .. and it would look similar to all other possible observers at all other possible positions ..
i completely agree that these is something very fishy going on here .. but i refuse to latch on any specific theory at this time because we simply do not have enough data at this moment .. so i will try to stay open minded ..
as for the military equipment .. it was designed for nuclear EMP - yes .. how far that would be enough to harden the satellites versus a massive solar flare or the radiation front of a close by nova or GRP is anyones guess ..
a fare would also have played havoc with the ionosphere - massively reducing the range of any radio transmitting out there ..
so - i would suggest we keep on collecting data .. and then try to make the theory fit the data .."
Igal says : "I didn't know aurora can reflect radar, did you ?
Johannes answers : "Auroras are plasma effects in the atmosphere .. plasmas are electric conductors and electrical conductors - like metal - can reflect radio and radar .. "
Demetrios adds : "Or absorb them as the frequency of the EM reaching them may be. But at microwave frequencies where radar operates absorption or at least non reflectance tends to be the rule. Also if it was plasma it looked to the eye as relatively hot..."
"Wouldn't buy the case for a nova. IMS its a vanishingly low possibility. Flare rather more possible. And yes the sats would go to hell in both cases and so would the ionosphere. If big enough it could even just rip it away in theory. Frankly what worries me most is the lack of any communication on the surface. Not all radio systems are based on ionosphere propagation and we should be in range of at least someone emitting...we came out with our electronics unscathed after all and it's not as if they are hardened."
"Demetrios - we are also out of line of sight for most of the surface com stuff .. and most of the longe range stuff depend on ionospheric propagation ..
.. nobody knows much on gamma ray bursts .. there could be local ones, which would also play havoc with the ionosphere ..
again - i think we should collect more data - THEN make our theories.
I was just tryung to point put that there are many possible causes.." answered Johannes ..
" A lot, hardly all. There are way more things in EM propagation than direct waves and ionosphere propagation. As far as ships are concerned probably not even most. Ground wave using a LF is one of the methods of choice for ship communication. Especially at sea as you get better diffraction over water.
Hmm...come to think of it captain is there Loran coverage here?"
Johannes joins : "That's' a damn good question - do we HAVE a Decca/Loran set ..?"
Morton nods : Yes, there is a LORAN system, but it hasn't been used in years. It still works, it just needs to be activated and checked to make sure it's working properly.
As everyone is discussing the even, Igal's radio crackles to life with a faint message. The signal is very weak, as if from a low power radio or something very distant. It's hard to make out what language the signal is in, but with growing irritation Igal realizes he's heard it before -- Arabic.
"did anyone understand that??" asked Johannes ..
Demetrios scratches his head.
"Well not everyone with his electronics shot to hell and gone...but Arabic ? We can raise the Spanish and we are raised by someone in Arabic? Allright. We have anyone who actually speaks it? Otherwise might need someone who speaks passable French...
Igal smiles " I don't suppose my "Freeze ! Hands up ! Drop you weapon !" in Arabic will be very helpful"
Demetrios looked up and smiled as he was pulling the headseat "I'll keepin mind you know them. Never know."
There's a pause, and the same voice begins speaking in French.
Demetrios says in English: This is Oberon, receiving weak and clear. Understand us? Over."
There's a pause, and the same voice begins speaking in French.
"I already spoke in English. If he can't speak English that's a hint" says Demetrios
They don't seem to have received you message, it's possible their equipment isn't working properly. Johannes answers
Demetrios muses "I suppose it is quite possible if they were at the edge of the dome or outside it. But we have not managed to make any contact with anyone else outside and if they were well inside the dome's limits they shouldn't have had any more trouble than we do. Call me paranoid but I'd call it potentialy suspicious."
"keep on transmitting!" Johannes listens closely .. trying to figure out accented French from his few years of Latin
After a couple minutes of trying to make contact, the voice replies in English. "Oberon, need assist.... damaged by electrical event ..... wounded .... storm with engines out ..... abandoning ship, please assist..."
Johannes looks au at the ceiling and says "Und wie waers mit eine position, Dummkopf?"
"Igal .. ask for his position"
"unknown ship, unknown ship, unknown ship this is oberon, oberon, mayday received, standing by to give assitance. urgently request your position repeat request your position and other details. oberon over"
Igal continues his monotonous drone "unknown ship, unknown ship, unknown ship this is oberon, mayday received, standing by to give assistance. urgently request your position repeat request your position and other details. oberon over" - he knew he ought to give his position too, but without GPS he couldn't
Suddenly the voice replies: "309 El Tawfiq request assistant... position unknown all systems... last known position [gives a position about 20 miles east from our last known position]... refugee patrol.... dome of light... one small craft...."
Peter looks around respectfully till he had the group's attention. "If we are to meet a Moroccan patrol boat best we show them we are armed. Status must be established quickly in such situations or such is my experience."
Igal glances at Peter : "Peter, don't forget, any patrol boat is armed with at least one 12.7 mm machine gun. "
John Morton's frown grows deeper as he thinks over the situation."Peter and Igal, you both raise good points. While we do have weapons here, can we really trust that these people are who they say they are -- you mentioned pirates earlier. And even if they are, what could we do against several machine guns or larger weapons? Not to mention that the crew are likely to have automatic weapons on a patrol craft. Should we even attempt a rescue?"
It's our sacred duty to respond to their Mayday signal - but you're the Captain, it's your ship and your passengers" so I'm ready to follow every lawful order given by you. However, we simply don't know nor their, nor our position ..." Igal doesn't finish his sentence
Johannes added "Captain - we do have to help .. do you do navigation by GPS only or do you have a back up plot on paper as well .. ? Igal .. if we follow Mayday procedures we should at least try to do a Mayday relay - passing the call to stations that might be able to hear us, but not them. "
Morton nods and Igals starts to drone "mayday relay, mayday relay, madyday relay ... this is oberon ... we received a mayday call
Dave had been an interested spectator. "Don't happen to have a copy of Jane's on board, do you, Captain?" he asked.
Demetrios nods - it can be helped, wait a minute. He lefts
Demetrios is back about 5 minutes after
Well 309 El Tawfiq patrol boat they say? If you'll allow me for a moment... Osprey 55, 500 tons displacement, 18 knots top. Built in 1988. Normal crew of 15, accomodations for 16 more. One L70 Bofors gun, 40 mm, 2 20 mm. If sunk the 3 automatics won't bother us one way or the other. If not sunk can you make over 18 knots on a constant basis? And what pray tell do we have in the way of guns after all? How much ammunition for them too?"