Displacement Day

CHAPTER 17 - Solving the Generator Problem

Darren and Chloe finished making animprovised stove with some rocks and a small saucepan that Chloeowned. A couple of radio checks showed that he wasn't neededanywhere that morning or, he hoped, in the afternoon.

Not long before lunch, Darren felt a powerful urge to take a walk. He decided he'd make a kind of loop, going briefly into the desert and swinging around a rural road about a half mile West of Chloe's place."Chloe, I'm taking a walk. Want to come with me?" She had a book in one hand and a pen in the other.She shook her head. "Reading. Have fun." "I don't know if I'll have fun. But I will have my shotgun." He knew it was a sad attempt at wordplay; that was the best he could do. Outside, the sky looked about the same as every other day. A few more thorn bushes had sprouted. The three he'd seen a few days ago were bigger, up to almost 12 inches now. "I wonder when the grass will come in?" He shrugged and walked on. A few minutes into his walk things were looking and sounding quiet. The only things moving out in the desert seemed to be dust and limbs of thorn bushes blown by a steady breeze out of the northeast. A random thought crossed Darren's mind. What do those creatures eat? They aren't vegetarians, obviously. A lone figure wandered from behind a large bush. He immediately recognized Cat, in her desert nomad costume, as he liked to call it. She smiled when she saw him."Hello again Darren. How are you?"Darren hesitated for a moment. "Fine. Just doing a patrol in this area. How have you been? Where did you go?"She walked toward him and stopped about six feet away. "I had to go and visit with my clan. I think they're all afraid of your town, so they are staying out there." She pointed toward a spot beyond the oasis and sand dune that Darren had become so familiar with."So, are you staying for a while?"She frowned. Darren guessed she didn't know the word. "I mean, are you coming back to town for a few days.""No, not this time. I just wanted to deliver some news. There was a storm a few days ago and another one last night. Did you know?""Um, no.""Did you see flashes of blue light in the desert?"Darren described the stuff Chloe had seen. "And that's it. Why?""Where is the van?""Still locked up at the Public Safety Center, as far as I know. Why?""There is a connection. I think. You got here and the storms happened because of something to do with the van."Darren didn't see how anyone would possibly know that, especially some backwards desert nomad. "Really? Well, anyway, I had someone make a very odd claim about you a few days ago. It was just after you left."Darren felt a sudden urge to look around, for any sign of change in the desert.""Yes Darren?""The clerk at the motel mentioned a gun had disappeared.""I don't know about that." She looked down and shifted her weight onto her right foot. "What about the van?""What about it? What can we investigate? Some crazy person in a van killed himself in the desert.""You said he was not from Ridgeway. Why was he here?""Good question. No way of knowing.""Really? No one can..." She cut herself off and looked toward town. "Can what?" Darren shook his head. "Never mind. What do you suggest we do about the van Cat?""I like it when you call me that." Darren suddenly liked that she liked her nickname. "We should take a closer look at it. Maybe the device in the back is the key." "Now you're thinking." She reached out and touched him on the arm. "Can I go back to town with you?""Sure. Walk with me while I finish my patrol.""Has anyone you know been talking about me?""Yeah, the missing gun came up. Chloe said it was odd that you just come and go." She hadn't said that, but Darren wanted to see if Cat would react, maybe share something. "I had business in the desert, again. That's all. Would you like to come with me next time?"He shook his head. They wandered in a loop, not talking for a couple of minutes. Darren caught himself looking around and up, not at her."Chloe and I went south, looking for that town you mentioned." This time he did look at her. She seemed calm, and looked at him without any particular expression on her face. "You didn't mention the ruins. Or the bandits at the far end of the salt lake. Why is that?" She stopped. Darren looked over his shoulder and kept walking. "I did not know about the bandits. And the little town, well, it fell into ruins decades ago." She started walking again. "I guess. Anyway, what happened?" He felt like he overreacted just then. "We were chased. They had captured a truck. Where would they learn to drive a truck and shoot guns. One of them had a rifle." "Darren, most people here are not friendly to strangers. At all. I can't explain the rifle or the truck." "Well, thanks for being honest. But, what else do you know about things down south?" The town I mentioned is less than a day from the far end of the salt flats. The locals will be friendlier though. I promise." The language barrier came to mind. "Where did you learn to speak English." She looked away. "I think many people here still know something like English. You might need a translator though.""What do you mean people still speak English. This isn't earth.""Oh, that's what you call this place?""What do you call it?" They started to walk again. "This is going to come as a shock Cat. But lots of people have been asking questions about you." He was looking at her then. She just shrugged. And she kept looking around. She almost acting like someone who expected to be followed. Or, someone who was casing houses. Darren laughed at that idea and just kept moving. He nodded at a young man who was erecting a kind of water collector in the yard. It was similar to the device they'd seen in the desert. I hope more people are doing that.**** Darren pointed Cat in the direction of the Public Safety Center so she could head that way and share her story about the van. He hoped she knew something they didn't because food was almost gone and water was severely limited. A few minutes after he got back to the apartment, he checked in with Charlie, who promptly summoned him to the Center. "Cat presented a fascinating theory about the van and that thing inside. We need to have a little conference. I've already summoned Mike and Iris and Pastor Drummond." Darren drove to the Public Safety Center, this time taking it slow and ignoring stop signs to save a little gas. He knew he wasn't getting more. The meeting ended up consisting of him, Charlie, Mike, Allison, and Pastor Drummond. Darren knew the device was probably behind their little Ridgeway across dimensions and had decided they must reactivate it. "So, that's why I was ready to fire it up myself. How though?" Allison and Mike both nodded in Charlie's direction. Charlie smiled. "I figured out how to power it up. Probably. We just need to connect a generator to the capacitor and charge it up.: "How? It doesn't have a plug or whatever does it?" "No, there's no way to power it right off a generator like ours. We can rig a kind of adapter from an RV outlet and a couple of other parts that fit whatever one-off power supply they have. We hope." "How do you know it won't pump too much juice into that capacitor and burn it up or maybe it can't supply enough juice and we run out of fuel before we have enough of a charge." Everyone looked puzzled. "Look, Chloe and I saw a flickering blue light a few nights ago. The next day, someone found that van. I think we can be confident someone tried to activate it and failed." Charlie shrugged. "So, I think the capacitor holds more than enough juice to put the town back where it goes. The tiny charge that remained is what caused that little light show a few days ago." Mike was nodding along. "Yeah, I did see that light. I thought it was just heat lightning out in the desert." The room was silent for about 30 seconds. Charlie nodded and looked around. "I think we have to try Darren's plan. I'll get a generator and plug it to our jerry-rigged adapter And, well, I don't know." "Charlie we'll also want to put the truck back where the van was. Will we have to tow it?" Charlie shook his head. "We can scare up a little gas. I'll empty the tank in my cruiser if I have to." "So, how soon can we try this?" "Tonight." Darren looked around the room. It seemed like they all agreed with Charlie. "Good. Let's get started." Twenty minutes later, Charlie had siphoned some gas and put in the old truck, which did not start. Fiddling with the engine, checking the battery, and finally getting it to turn over cost Charlie another twenty minutes. This wouldn't be a problem in normal times, but with no electricity and little for artificial illumination, they had to rely on sunlight. It was no more than an hour before sunset when their emergency meeting wrapped up. Darren had volunteered to drive the truck over to the park while Charlie went on an errand with Allison. Along the way, he saw two of those bird-things flying low overhead. He also saw a hell hound in the city park eating something, probably someone's dog. "This better work." The parking lot was open and exposed, a little thing that Darren should have thought about. If Cat and her friends came at them now, they'd be unable to defend the van until the portal device was charged. Unless that happened much more quickly than he feared was likely. Though, on an optimistic note, he had no idea how much power the thing used. While he waited for Charlie to come back with the generator and adapter he surveyed the surroundings. No one was out, which made sense because it was no dark. The approaches to this corner of the parking lot were open to about 50 yards in most direction. The restrooms and storage for the Parks Department were in a building about 50 yards away in the opposite direction. Two houses across the street were dark, which didn't prove anything, but probably empty. They were almost 100 yards away. The openness could be an advantage, Darren decided. He could use the body of the van for cover if he had to. Later, they'd have Charlie's police cruiser. Nerves began to eat him in a minute. He reached for the shotgun and began to mentally count the shells he had left. He had 12 rounds left. Unless Allison and Charlie had more 12-guage shells they were willing to part with, that was all he'd ever have.