They drove for fifteen minutes and it was surprising how much contour came to the land with each mile that passed. Eventually they came to a valley that dropped away from the rest of the land and it was walled by rock on each side. They didn't see anything of The Refuge until they rounded a large outcropping and there they discovered the entrance. There was nothing much else to see as making it easy to find was obviously not his father's purpose.
While they had been driving Roger had been telling Harrison about the problems in the news. Ordinarily that sort of thing stayed pretty much the same and wouldn't have been worth their time but now the problem was spreading around the world. Washington hadn't come to any resolution and China was the first to announce it was fed-up. The United States credit rating was downgraded again and China said they would buy no more of America's worthless bonds. They saw the bonds purchase as helping to finance a foreign policy that was making world problems worse rather than better.
As soon as China made the announcement the international exchange rate for the dollar started falling. Russia quickly joined China's protest and on the second day, after the Eurozone saw the dollar continuing to fall, they joined as well. The only holdout was the United Kingdom but they had been more aligned with the U.S. than with the Eurozone anyway. Taking that position just meant the pound started falling too so it seemed likely they wouldn't hold the position for long.
Saudi Arabia said they would keep supplying the U.S. with oil but it wasn't probable it would last long when America had a steadily decreasing ability to pay due to the falling dollar. All of the oil companies announced huge increases in fuel prices and that's when most of the American militias started mobilising to move toward Washington, saying they were going to fix this problem once and for all. They didn't get very far as the President ordered strike fighters and drones to take them out. The Air Force was supplied with information on how to target them as the NSA already knew where all of them were. They were destroyed within hours.
What the military couldn't stop was a march on Washington by everyone else and people started converging from all over the country. The outrage had been festering for decades and now that the dollar and the stock market were collapsing they had no reasons left to put up with it. The crowd had been steadily gathering in Washington and it was so large that the police had no chance of containing it. Many of the cops were sympathetic to their outrage and weren't much inclined to put themselves at risk trying to stop it.
Despite their anger, the people converging on Washington weren't doing anything. The police chief wanted to take some action to bring it under control but there was no basis for arrests. The people weren't demonstrating and when asked each of them said they were in town to visit the Smithsonian Museum. Something unusual was that all of the people had backpacks with food and basic supplies but none of the ones who had been searched carried any weapons. There seemed to be some type of organisation to them but it wasn't clear for what purpose and arresting people without charges would likely have provoked a reaction the police wouldn't be able to handle.
The highway patrol had tried setting up road blocks on the access roads into Washington but this created miles-long traffic jams on I-95 and was bringing the city to even more of a standstill. They had also called out the National Guard but even that only made the problem worse by creating yet more congestion. The President had ordered there must be no violence as the consequences of it couldn't possibly go well and it was becoming more and more clear there was no option except to wait to find the purpose of all the people going there.
Congress had been in-session around the clock in trying to find a solution but the discussions just kept breaking down with the same in-fighting that had infuriated the American people in the first place. Some senators had been grandstanding on the news with talk of war but when queried on who they would fight they had no good answer. With the American people advancing on Washington there wasn't any answer to find. This time the politicians had pushed it too far.
Harrison sat quietly in the tractor cab and thought about what his father had told him. It was a lot to absorb and he wanted to think through what the consequences might be. As Harrison was thinking, his father turned into the entrance of The Refuge and drove the tractor and the trailer inside. Behind them the massive doors slid closed, driven by motors that must have been enormously powerful.
While they had been driving Roger had been telling Harrison about the problems in the news. Ordinarily that sort of thing stayed pretty much the same and wouldn't have been worth their time but now the problem was spreading around the world. Washington hadn't come to any resolution and China was the first to announce it was fed-up. The United States credit rating was downgraded again and China said they would buy no more of America's worthless bonds. They saw the bonds purchase as helping to finance a foreign policy that was making world problems worse rather than better.
As soon as China made the announcement the international exchange rate for the dollar started falling. Russia quickly joined China's protest and on the second day, after the Eurozone saw the dollar continuing to fall, they joined as well. The only holdout was the United Kingdom but they had been more aligned with the U.S. than with the Eurozone anyway. Taking that position just meant the pound started falling too so it seemed likely they wouldn't hold the position for long.
Saudi Arabia said they would keep supplying the U.S. with oil but it wasn't probable it would last long when America had a steadily decreasing ability to pay due to the falling dollar. All of the oil companies announced huge increases in fuel prices and that's when most of the American militias started mobilising to move toward Washington, saying they were going to fix this problem once and for all. They didn't get very far as the President ordered strike fighters and drones to take them out. The Air Force was supplied with information on how to target them as the NSA already knew where all of them were. They were destroyed within hours.
What the military couldn't stop was a march on Washington by everyone else and people started converging from all over the country. The outrage had been festering for decades and now that the dollar and the stock market were collapsing they had no reasons left to put up with it. The crowd had been steadily gathering in Washington and it was so large that the police had no chance of containing it. Many of the cops were sympathetic to their outrage and weren't much inclined to put themselves at risk trying to stop it.
Despite their anger, the people converging on Washington weren't doing anything. The police chief wanted to take some action to bring it under control but there was no basis for arrests. The people weren't demonstrating and when asked each of them said they were in town to visit the Smithsonian Museum. Something unusual was that all of the people had backpacks with food and basic supplies but none of the ones who had been searched carried any weapons. There seemed to be some type of organisation to them but it wasn't clear for what purpose and arresting people without charges would likely have provoked a reaction the police wouldn't be able to handle.
The highway patrol had tried setting up road blocks on the access roads into Washington but this created miles-long traffic jams on I-95 and was bringing the city to even more of a standstill. They had also called out the National Guard but even that only made the problem worse by creating yet more congestion. The President had ordered there must be no violence as the consequences of it couldn't possibly go well and it was becoming more and more clear there was no option except to wait to find the purpose of all the people going there.
Congress had been in-session around the clock in trying to find a solution but the discussions just kept breaking down with the same in-fighting that had infuriated the American people in the first place. Some senators had been grandstanding on the news with talk of war but when queried on who they would fight they had no good answer. With the American people advancing on Washington there wasn't any answer to find. This time the politicians had pushed it too far.
Harrison sat quietly in the tractor cab and thought about what his father had told him. It was a lot to absorb and he wanted to think through what the consequences might be. As Harrison was thinking, his father turned into the entrance of The Refuge and drove the tractor and the trailer inside. Behind them the massive doors slid closed, driven by motors that must have been enormously powerful.
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