Everyone rolled off the trailer quickly. The ride had been fun, especially for the dogs, but they saw the strange new surroundings and went scampering about to explore. The students were dumbfounded by The Refuge and would have been quite happy to go scampering about too but they waited for Harrison and his father to rejoin them.
As the father and son walked back to the group, Roger Harrison started speaking and he was obviously going to take charge of the situation.
"Significant changes have taken place in the world but the first order of business is telling you about The Refuge. Please take one of the seats in front of you in the main living area and we will have a briefing."
With that, Roger turned to walk to the other side of the living area and took up a position to speak. Harrison followed him and everyone else was close behind him.
"Geez, Boss, that's the biggest television I've ever seen in my life," exclaimed Goldberg.
"You will have to be careful how you use that word, Steve. My Dad was a bird colonel in the Air Force. He earned the title but I just fell into it, largely through your efforts. By the way, I still don't like it," said Harrison and then laughed a little.
Everyone picked out a seat and sat there quietly to wait for what was about to start. When he saw that they were all situated, Roger cleared his throat and started his briefing.
First he said, "Honey, would you mind starting some tea brewing. You have heard all this before and there's no point in boring you with it again."
Susan smiled and rose to go down the corridor to the kitchen. She was happy to skip the briefing and knew they would all be ready for some tea when Roger was finished speaking.
Roger started in earnest, "When we bought the property there was already a full-scale nuclear fallout shelter here. We have been developing it for the last thirty years and have expanded it considerably. The chaos in the world has not diminished significantly during that time and we thought it prudent to plan for any eventuality."
He looked at the faces around the room and saw all were intently focused on what he was saying.
Continuing, he said, "As Steve has probably told you, this is part of a massive cave system that stretches for many miles in every direction. We have sealed every point of ingress to this part and that brings me to the first of a set of rules of behaviour here. The main doors must be closed at all times and only opened to let someone in or out. There are closed-circuit video cameras to view the exterior prior to opening the doors. Understood?"
Roger again looked around the room and saw no-one had any questions, at least not yet.
"Feel free to interrupt me as I'm talking. It's important you understand each piece before I move on to the next."
Roger paused briefly and then started speaking again.
"There is a console below the television monitor at the front of the room. In the drawers under it you will find a number of resources including a map of the complex. Review these materials as you will need them. Where you are now is the community area which will serve a number of purposes. There are antechambers all around it and each leads to sleeping areas or other aspects of The Refuge."
Roger looked around again and saw his audience was now looking a bit puzzled and possibly a bit overwhelmed by it all. He also saw Susan returning with the tea.
"I see Susan is bringing in the tea so I will distribute the maps at the same time. When we get resettled, I'll continue with the briefing."
There was a stunned silence which Susan interrupted with a quick laugh and then she said, "You think this is a shock. Imagine what I felt when he told me what he wanted to do here."
Roger and Susan then busied themselves distributing the maps and serving the tea. As soon as she had filled a few cups, she told everyone to help themselves as it would just slow things down to ask each person how much milk and sugar would be preferred.
In a few minutes everything settled back down again and Roger started again.
"Take a look at the map to locate the antechambers leading to the sleeping areas as finding a place to situate yourselves will be your first interest after eating. More interesting from a functional standpoint are the others. I will review some of them but there's no need to go into depth now on the more esoteric aspects of The Refuge."
Roger's speaking style was revealing itself as he went along and he paused again while his audience looked at their maps. He saw no-one was drifting and then continued.
"The most important systems are water, electricity, and hydroponics. Locate those areas on your maps and I will give you some detail. There is an underground river that has never been fully mapped but it is as extensive as the cave system. There is a spill quite close to here and it has bored out a fairly large lake. Before you swim in it, know the water is cold. It's good if you're in it to swim for exercise but it will be a bit much if you just want to splash. There are wet suits if you want to explore it and you may enjoy snorkelling as there are blind cavefish in it and they can be interesting. You can't find a water source that is much more pure than this one and we draw on it to supply The Refuge."
He paused briefly for questions but still there was silence. He saw everyone was being quite attentive either to him or the map so he again continued.
"The electrical system is driven two ways. There are solar panels mounted outside but they can't supply a consistent amount of electricity due to the changeable weather here in Kentucky. We also have twin turbines mounted in the waterfall to the lake and they spin quite fast enough to generate an excellent supply of electricity. We use large storage batteries and other electronics to buffer the current and to protect against any system failure. All switching is automatic but still requires monitoring and we will divide up responsibilities of this nature."
Roger again paused only briefly before launching into a discussion of the next system.
"The hydroponics gardens are the most scientifically-interesting and would become a large part of the air conditioning were it necessary to close off the air exchangers to the outside due to radiation or other type of noxious threat. The cavern housing the gardens is very large and the planting trays are large enough to provide a wide array of vegetable products and also even decorative plants. This is where the most maintenance is required and, as I said before, we will divide up these types of responsibilities."
There was another pause for questions and Goldberg raised his arm. After seeing a nod from Roger he said, "How long are you thinking we will be here. Our original plan was to wait for the problems to resolve with funding for the university and then return. Has that plan changed?"
Roger then nodded toward Harrison who replied, "Unfortunately, it has, Steve. We will review current events after the briefing but it looks like we may be here for a considerable time. Let's defer that discussion until we have got through the briefing."
Roger paused for any other questions and then started speaking again.
"Hopefully this will not become immediately necessary but there is also the clinic area. It is well-stocked with medicines and also has medical equipment for fairly sophisticated diagnostics."
Again Goldberg raised his hand and waited for Roger's nod.
"Daniel has surgical experience with the dogs but none of us have any more knowledge than we got from our families. I'm impressed by the facility but isn't this more than can actually be used?"
"Not at all. My friends, Doctor Kreitoff and his wife, Margaret, will be joining us either later tonight or tomorrow. He has been my friend and also the doctor for Susan and I for quite a few years. I trust him implicitly or I wouldn't have invited him to stay with us. Werner is not only a general practitioner as he's also an accomplished surgeon. Margaret is also a licensed doctor in obstetrics and it was through their mutual medical interests that they met about twenty years ago."
Roger looked around the room and saw a growing worry over why they would need to stay here for longer than they anticipated and particularly why anyone might need a doctor.
"I see the concern about this information but I'm a man who has learned the importance of planning. It is always better to have more than is necessary to solve a problem and I have stuck to that all my life. Please bear with me on the briefing and we will catch up with world news in a few minutes."
He paused very briefly and then starting speaking again.
"There is not much need for going into depth on some other areas and you can locate them on the map as I talk. The Warehouse is a large cavern that is equipped with extensive refrigeration units to keep food frozen for long periods. It is also stocked with non-perishable foods and general emergency foods such as powdered milk and military Meals Ready to Eat. This is where all the spare equipment is kept along with a quite diverse seed bank and this is what we use to start and sustain the hydroponics gardens."
"I had not anticipated a Noah's Ark for dogs but they won't be a problem. There is an exercise area in one of the caverns and it is floored with live grass. The lighting is done with solar accurate fluorescent bulbs and the grass does quite well in there. The dogs will have plenty of room to run and I put enough pads down there for all of them to sleep after I read you were coming."
Campbell raised his hand and then asked, "I assume you imported top soil for the grass in the exercise area. How did you ensure you did not also import seeds, insects, or other types of biology that could threaten the hydroponics gardens or even us?"
"Excellent," said Roger. "Yes, you're right the top soil was imported and, yes, it was treated before use. The treatment was chemical and ultraviolet irradiation over a long period before we were satisfied it was sterile."
Roger looked to Campbell to see if his answer was sufficient and then continued, "Finally, there is only one leader in here and you're listening to him. Daniel is my captain and we will follow that command structure."
Roger saw some of the students bridling at the statement but he continued nevertheless.
"The weapons area is the reason for the command structure. There are adequate weapons to defend The Refuge and this brings up another of the rules of behaviour. You never fire a weapon except to feed yourself or your life is in danger. How many of you are trained in weapons handling?"
Roger looked around the room and saw Harrison, Goldberg, and Campbell raising their hands.
"Is that military training," asked Roger.
The hands went back down again.
"Right then. We will conduct training once we work out a rotation for overall maintenance of The Refuge. Everyone takes their turn as janitor. I don't apologise for scaring you as that is not of my doing. I can tell you that fear goes two ways. It either turns into useless and destructive anxiety or alertness and readiness. I want to see the latter. Are you all ready to go to the news?"
Again Goldberg raised his hand and then asked, "are there any computer facilities here?"
"Yes, of course. I should have mentioned that. You can find the computer room on your maps and it is equipped with a dozen Apple desktop processors and probably as much peripheral equipment as you could need. I have enjoyed dabbling in computer video for some years and I have no intention of giving that up now. You may find the camera equipment will be useful in recording your work with the dogs. Internet access and television come from a satellite dish mounted above the cave and there are some rules on this. No outbound Internet traffic such as email, etc and no social networks."
Harrison stood up and said, "Thanks, Dad. Take a seat and have some tea. I'll take it from here."
Roger gave his son a mock salute and then went to sit beside his wife who passed him a cup of tea.
"Before turning on the television, let me tell you that I back my father fully on a command structure. I see the news has rattled all of you and it has rattled me as well. In a situation like this I have no problem deferring to the Colonel but I strongly advise you not to call him Boss. He doesn't like it. Also don't call him sir. He doesn't like that either."
With that, Harrison nodded to his father who switched on the television from the controller in the middle of the room. The lights dimmed as the television came on and the sound came alive through a surround system that wasn't obvious to see but was clearly quite powerful. The television screen was easily six feet across and it came to life with a live feed from Washington showing a building with flames coming from every window and an enormous crowd surrounding it.
"Holy Christ," said Roger softly. "They are burning Congress."
As the father and son walked back to the group, Roger Harrison started speaking and he was obviously going to take charge of the situation.
"Significant changes have taken place in the world but the first order of business is telling you about The Refuge. Please take one of the seats in front of you in the main living area and we will have a briefing."
With that, Roger turned to walk to the other side of the living area and took up a position to speak. Harrison followed him and everyone else was close behind him.
"Geez, Boss, that's the biggest television I've ever seen in my life," exclaimed Goldberg.
"You will have to be careful how you use that word, Steve. My Dad was a bird colonel in the Air Force. He earned the title but I just fell into it, largely through your efforts. By the way, I still don't like it," said Harrison and then laughed a little.
Everyone picked out a seat and sat there quietly to wait for what was about to start. When he saw that they were all situated, Roger cleared his throat and started his briefing.
First he said, "Honey, would you mind starting some tea brewing. You have heard all this before and there's no point in boring you with it again."
Susan smiled and rose to go down the corridor to the kitchen. She was happy to skip the briefing and knew they would all be ready for some tea when Roger was finished speaking.
Roger started in earnest, "When we bought the property there was already a full-scale nuclear fallout shelter here. We have been developing it for the last thirty years and have expanded it considerably. The chaos in the world has not diminished significantly during that time and we thought it prudent to plan for any eventuality."
He looked at the faces around the room and saw all were intently focused on what he was saying.
Continuing, he said, "As Steve has probably told you, this is part of a massive cave system that stretches for many miles in every direction. We have sealed every point of ingress to this part and that brings me to the first of a set of rules of behaviour here. The main doors must be closed at all times and only opened to let someone in or out. There are closed-circuit video cameras to view the exterior prior to opening the doors. Understood?"
Roger again looked around the room and saw no-one had any questions, at least not yet.
"Feel free to interrupt me as I'm talking. It's important you understand each piece before I move on to the next."
Roger paused briefly and then started speaking again.
"There is a console below the television monitor at the front of the room. In the drawers under it you will find a number of resources including a map of the complex. Review these materials as you will need them. Where you are now is the community area which will serve a number of purposes. There are antechambers all around it and each leads to sleeping areas or other aspects of The Refuge."
Roger looked around again and saw his audience was now looking a bit puzzled and possibly a bit overwhelmed by it all. He also saw Susan returning with the tea.
"I see Susan is bringing in the tea so I will distribute the maps at the same time. When we get resettled, I'll continue with the briefing."
There was a stunned silence which Susan interrupted with a quick laugh and then she said, "You think this is a shock. Imagine what I felt when he told me what he wanted to do here."
Roger and Susan then busied themselves distributing the maps and serving the tea. As soon as she had filled a few cups, she told everyone to help themselves as it would just slow things down to ask each person how much milk and sugar would be preferred.
In a few minutes everything settled back down again and Roger started again.
"Take a look at the map to locate the antechambers leading to the sleeping areas as finding a place to situate yourselves will be your first interest after eating. More interesting from a functional standpoint are the others. I will review some of them but there's no need to go into depth now on the more esoteric aspects of The Refuge."
Roger's speaking style was revealing itself as he went along and he paused again while his audience looked at their maps. He saw no-one was drifting and then continued.
"The most important systems are water, electricity, and hydroponics. Locate those areas on your maps and I will give you some detail. There is an underground river that has never been fully mapped but it is as extensive as the cave system. There is a spill quite close to here and it has bored out a fairly large lake. Before you swim in it, know the water is cold. It's good if you're in it to swim for exercise but it will be a bit much if you just want to splash. There are wet suits if you want to explore it and you may enjoy snorkelling as there are blind cavefish in it and they can be interesting. You can't find a water source that is much more pure than this one and we draw on it to supply The Refuge."
He paused briefly for questions but still there was silence. He saw everyone was being quite attentive either to him or the map so he again continued.
"The electrical system is driven two ways. There are solar panels mounted outside but they can't supply a consistent amount of electricity due to the changeable weather here in Kentucky. We also have twin turbines mounted in the waterfall to the lake and they spin quite fast enough to generate an excellent supply of electricity. We use large storage batteries and other electronics to buffer the current and to protect against any system failure. All switching is automatic but still requires monitoring and we will divide up responsibilities of this nature."
Roger again paused only briefly before launching into a discussion of the next system.
"The hydroponics gardens are the most scientifically-interesting and would become a large part of the air conditioning were it necessary to close off the air exchangers to the outside due to radiation or other type of noxious threat. The cavern housing the gardens is very large and the planting trays are large enough to provide a wide array of vegetable products and also even decorative plants. This is where the most maintenance is required and, as I said before, we will divide up these types of responsibilities."
There was another pause for questions and Goldberg raised his arm. After seeing a nod from Roger he said, "How long are you thinking we will be here. Our original plan was to wait for the problems to resolve with funding for the university and then return. Has that plan changed?"
Roger then nodded toward Harrison who replied, "Unfortunately, it has, Steve. We will review current events after the briefing but it looks like we may be here for a considerable time. Let's defer that discussion until we have got through the briefing."
Roger paused for any other questions and then started speaking again.
"Hopefully this will not become immediately necessary but there is also the clinic area. It is well-stocked with medicines and also has medical equipment for fairly sophisticated diagnostics."
Again Goldberg raised his hand and waited for Roger's nod.
"Daniel has surgical experience with the dogs but none of us have any more knowledge than we got from our families. I'm impressed by the facility but isn't this more than can actually be used?"
"Not at all. My friends, Doctor Kreitoff and his wife, Margaret, will be joining us either later tonight or tomorrow. He has been my friend and also the doctor for Susan and I for quite a few years. I trust him implicitly or I wouldn't have invited him to stay with us. Werner is not only a general practitioner as he's also an accomplished surgeon. Margaret is also a licensed doctor in obstetrics and it was through their mutual medical interests that they met about twenty years ago."
Roger looked around the room and saw a growing worry over why they would need to stay here for longer than they anticipated and particularly why anyone might need a doctor.
"I see the concern about this information but I'm a man who has learned the importance of planning. It is always better to have more than is necessary to solve a problem and I have stuck to that all my life. Please bear with me on the briefing and we will catch up with world news in a few minutes."
He paused very briefly and then starting speaking again.
"There is not much need for going into depth on some other areas and you can locate them on the map as I talk. The Warehouse is a large cavern that is equipped with extensive refrigeration units to keep food frozen for long periods. It is also stocked with non-perishable foods and general emergency foods such as powdered milk and military Meals Ready to Eat. This is where all the spare equipment is kept along with a quite diverse seed bank and this is what we use to start and sustain the hydroponics gardens."
"I had not anticipated a Noah's Ark for dogs but they won't be a problem. There is an exercise area in one of the caverns and it is floored with live grass. The lighting is done with solar accurate fluorescent bulbs and the grass does quite well in there. The dogs will have plenty of room to run and I put enough pads down there for all of them to sleep after I read you were coming."
Campbell raised his hand and then asked, "I assume you imported top soil for the grass in the exercise area. How did you ensure you did not also import seeds, insects, or other types of biology that could threaten the hydroponics gardens or even us?"
"Excellent," said Roger. "Yes, you're right the top soil was imported and, yes, it was treated before use. The treatment was chemical and ultraviolet irradiation over a long period before we were satisfied it was sterile."
Roger looked to Campbell to see if his answer was sufficient and then continued, "Finally, there is only one leader in here and you're listening to him. Daniel is my captain and we will follow that command structure."
Roger saw some of the students bridling at the statement but he continued nevertheless.
"The weapons area is the reason for the command structure. There are adequate weapons to defend The Refuge and this brings up another of the rules of behaviour. You never fire a weapon except to feed yourself or your life is in danger. How many of you are trained in weapons handling?"
Roger looked around the room and saw Harrison, Goldberg, and Campbell raising their hands.
"Is that military training," asked Roger.
The hands went back down again.
"Right then. We will conduct training once we work out a rotation for overall maintenance of The Refuge. Everyone takes their turn as janitor. I don't apologise for scaring you as that is not of my doing. I can tell you that fear goes two ways. It either turns into useless and destructive anxiety or alertness and readiness. I want to see the latter. Are you all ready to go to the news?"
Again Goldberg raised his hand and then asked, "are there any computer facilities here?"
"Yes, of course. I should have mentioned that. You can find the computer room on your maps and it is equipped with a dozen Apple desktop processors and probably as much peripheral equipment as you could need. I have enjoyed dabbling in computer video for some years and I have no intention of giving that up now. You may find the camera equipment will be useful in recording your work with the dogs. Internet access and television come from a satellite dish mounted above the cave and there are some rules on this. No outbound Internet traffic such as email, etc and no social networks."
Harrison stood up and said, "Thanks, Dad. Take a seat and have some tea. I'll take it from here."
Roger gave his son a mock salute and then went to sit beside his wife who passed him a cup of tea.
"Before turning on the television, let me tell you that I back my father fully on a command structure. I see the news has rattled all of you and it has rattled me as well. In a situation like this I have no problem deferring to the Colonel but I strongly advise you not to call him Boss. He doesn't like it. Also don't call him sir. He doesn't like that either."
With that, Harrison nodded to his father who switched on the television from the controller in the middle of the room. The lights dimmed as the television came on and the sound came alive through a surround system that wasn't obvious to see but was clearly quite powerful. The television screen was easily six feet across and it came to life with a live feed from Washington showing a building with flames coming from every window and an enormous crowd surrounding it.
"Holy Christ," said Roger softly. "They are burning Congress."
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