to the Index or to the Recon Team R-101 page
report covers: 3 July 2140 - 8 July 2140
weather report: by the evening a mild thunderstorm was crossing the island. Sunrise was at 6:02 a.m., sunset 8:44 p.m. (EST). The moon was new this night, so not really visible. Temperatures were 86° F max, 64 F low. Rainfall was 0.4", entirely during the thunderstorm. Wind was from the southwest, 15 kph, gusts up to 20 kph. Fog, rain, thunderstorm. Visibility 8 km at most (before the storm). The storm arrived in the afternoon, and was at its peak by sunset.
Recon Team R-101 slowly awoke in their cryoberths; all six of them seemed healthy but thirsty. The computer clock read 7:10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, Friday 28 May 2004 (they took 8 hours to wake the team up, though, so the wakeup signal was thought to have been sent late on May 27th). This date disturbed the team somewhat. "Maybe the Atomic War didn't happen ... ?"
As designed, the bolthole monitor had self-destructed after receiving the wakeup signal, starting the computer and cryoberths, and opening the oxygen tank manifold.
Some of the overhead lights above the boatway came on -- some had died long ago, or made a pop sound and died immediately. The air within the bolthole was incredibly dry -- dry enough that a CBR kit, once powered up, would indicate LOW HUMIDITY as a warning!
The team stumbled over to the banquet table to get some water. As they hacked and hammered in frustration at the canned water ...
... Perkins noticed something odd: Wyeth Derwin wasn't present, and another person was!
This other person was a man named Robert Fairhope. He had a Project ID card, personal effects box, a role kit, survival gear, etc.; however, there were no division patches (MARS, Recon, Science, etc.) patches on the clothing, and no name tapes (though the sizes fit him).
As the 'regular' members of the team gathered angrily around, Fairhope asked if they were also on an Omega team. Naturally, the team had many questions:
Fairhope's story |
He was an engineering staff member with the Morrow Project. Mostly, he designed some component systems for depots and other facilities with plumbing -- he's a sanitation engineer by training*. In 1987, he was told to prepare for cryofreezing on an Omega team (team 107), along with many other planners etc. He was only given one week's notice. His training was only five days long, and then he was placed in cryo-stasis. He expected to be awakened long after all the Recon, MARS and Science teams, once the Project was well underway assisting in the reconstruction of the United States. * Nathan and I are still working on Fairhope's background. |
Roy, sent to check on the computer, came back out of the boat to say that the transmitted message said only,
CODE 1000 EMERGENCY TEAM ACTIVATION SIGNAL RECEIVED
There was also a manila envelope, labelled For Team Leader Only . Inside was a typed sheet:
MORROW INDUSTRIES Warren, MI
SECRET Security Level 14
April 3rd, 1987
Project member Wyeth Derwin has been removed from team R-101, and replaced by Robert Fairhope, security rating 22, position observer.
Good luck!
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The team went through many of their initial tasks; the interior conditions were safe, except for the extreme dryness. The periscope showed only darkness, shot through with flashes of lightning (which lit up raindrops and the lake's surface).
Eventually, Perkins and Tager were chosen to climb up the vertical shaft to the surface. The air pressure valves were opened, and the bolthole gradually reached normal air pressure; the water valves were opened, and cold, fresh water filled the boatway.
Perkins and Tager climbed to the hatch, and opened it; the hulk of an old diesel engine fell over, its mission of concealing the hatch done. It was late at night, with a thunderstorm slowly moving away from the island, to the northeast. The sturdy 19mm Lexan windows were heavily scratched and yellowed on the outside; they had false mullions to give the appearance of smaller panes.
There were almost no furnishing in the lighthouse -- four double bunk bed frames on the second floor were the extent of movable items. A bathtub, two toilets, and (in the kitchen) sinks, a coal stove, icebox, cabinets and countertops were present. Light fixtures were present, but had no bulbs. Looking out the front door, the foundation of an entirely wooden, un-restored bunkhouse, and the collapsed remains of an iron water tank, were visible nearby.
A short amount of searching uncovered a plastic plaque, which was hinged on one side.
Behind the plaque was a narrow slot, which a Morrow Project ID card could be inserted into. This unlatched the hatch at the top of the vertical shaft.
After consulting with their team mates, the two explorers decided to stay in the lighthouse until dawn. Even after the storm was gone, there were no visible lights on the mainland, about 5 kilometers to the south.
weather report: morning fog, no rain, 55° F low, 84° F max, very light wind from NNE, gusts to 12 kph, visibility 20 km
At dawn, the Calypso left the bolthole, and picked up Tager and Perkins at the dock on the southeastern end of the island.
The boat sailed west, and then along the peninsula, gazing with despair at the remnants of vacation homes and small towns -- all overgrown and deserted. The radio was receiving only faint bits of distant traffic -- Roy expected more after nightfall, but certainly American radio transmissions were down by at least 99%.
They fired a few rounds from their small arms, to make sure they were working.
Mark off 20 rounds of 9mm Parabellum, 4 rounds of buckshot,
6 rounds of "loose" 5.56mm, 5 rounds of belted 5.56mm,
3 rounds of 7.62mm, 6 rounds of belted .50 caliber, and 5 rounds of belted 7.62mm.
Other weapons didn't need test-firing.
Approaching the shore where cache MI-18 was located, the team saw a large concrete block, stranded on the pale beach at the foot of the cliffs. This was the cache, apparently unopened. Waiting for the fog to lift, the team members patrolled the shore a bit -- the highway was overgrown, and a moose was seen -- and tried out their dry suits.
Looming in the distance was Granite Island, with a lighthouse in it about 10 kilometers offshore. The team motored over there; this island was, if anything, harder to get onto than West Huron Island. There was an obvious, dented and rusted, large metal door on the north side of the island -- the main entrance to Depot Eta. Using a dinghy, some of the team went ashore and entered the base through an entrance in the lighthouse.
Granite Island and Depot Eta |
Granite Island is 17 km north of Marquette in Lake Superior. The 1 hectare island rises 18 meters above the lake, and was owned by a retired corporate executive at the time of the Atomic War; she bought it in 1979 from the Coast Guard. The former light house and two-story keeper's quarters were refurbished at great expense over a decade. There was a Coast Guard-maintained steel truss tower with an automated light, and a water tower.
Engineering Team Eta: The underground "dry dock" is 50 meters long, 9 meters wide, 5 meters deep. There were four 7m rigid inflatable boats for utility work, an LCM-8, two amphibious ATVs, an Albatross scout hovercraft, a dive support boat, and lots of pontoon system components (outboard motors, pilothouses, etc.). The depot water seals failed circa 2010, there's a lot of rust and damage. The monitor woke up the Team members when the seals failed. The lake was frozen over from the Atomic War until circa 2020; the team members had to cross the ice using the amphibious ATVs and the hovercraft. Circa 2020, the team (or their descendants) returned and cleaned out the depot. They left a note painted on a wall:
OLZO RRCX HOLH ECYI U
... which decoded to:
TEAM ETAA TSOO LOCK S
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There wasn't much else to see on Granite Island, so the team motored the roughly 300 kilometers to Sault St. Marie, on the Saint Mary's River. Along the way they met a small sailing vessel, with two men aboard, sailing roughly west. The sailors' native language seemed to be mostly Finnish, but they knew a bit of English. They claimed to be heading towards Au Train, west of Munising, MI.
An hour or so before sunset, the team came to the entrance of the Soo Locks. All of the large locks had been damaged during the Atomic War, but were somewhat repaired, but were all dry behind a dam at the entrances. One of the large canals had a tangle of old, rusting ship debris still in it, about where the old railway bridge had been. The highway bridge was still in place, though somewhat rusty and ratty.
The old Sault Ste. Marie canal and locks were in service. The city on the Canadian side seemed somewhat active, with utility poles and horse-drawn carriages in evidence. Fishing boats and other small craft were mostly sail-driven, with a few steamboats and one or two "can't tell" motorized craft. The biggest were perhaps 200 tons displacement, except for an old vessel, the 750 ton car ferry MS Norgoma --
MS Norgoma |
The last ship built for overnight passenger service on the Great Lakes, launched in 1950, retired in 1974 and became a museum. She could carry 200 tons of freight, with a length of 57 meters, a draft of 4.6 meters, a beam of 11 meters. Her original steam engines has been replaced by a diesel engine before retirement. The Norgoma didn't look to have sailed recently, but was in good condition. |
A small fort, with various unlikely small cannons, faced towards Lake Superior. Flying over the fort (and some vessels) was this flag:
somewhat similar to the 21st Century real-world Russian, Slovakiann and Slovenian flags
The team docked at a small fish-processing plant and harbor on the American side, and spoke with some of the locals. The local language was called "Arcadian", but was a mish-mash of French and English.
Other Language: Arcadian starting skill for MP members: add English and French, divide by 5.
The actual date was confirmed by the locals -- July 4th, 2140.
Sault Ste. Marie on the American side was mostly a source of salvage for the locals; a nuclear weapon had exploded over the town during the Atomic War. Only a hundred or so poor fishermen lived on the south side of the Saint Mary's River. The team had some nice food from a fresh-fish stand. The local currency was American and Canadian coinage (for amounts under $1) and Kinross prison coins for $1 value.
As the sun set, electric lights lit up along the north shore of the river, and along the bridge to the south shore. Leaving Roy to watch the boat, the team crossed over the river and played tourist in the "Canadian" city. Guards were seen carrying muzzle-loading rifles, cartridge shotguns, and some old revolvers. A subscription library and a small museum were of some interest. Some basic dates and facts became quickly apparent:
November 18, 1989: the Atomic War began suddenly. No record exists at Sault Ste. Marie of the reason for the war. Much of Michigan below the Mackinaw Straits, and the upper half of Wisconsin, were heavily contaminated by fallout.
1989 - 2030: the Long Winter. Lake Superior (at least) was entirely frozen over for this complete period.
2010: Team Eta woke up, due to their depot being damaged by ice buildup and movement on Lake Superior. They ended up, within a few weeks, at Sault Ste. Marie. While the lakes were still frozen, they built the dam across the top and bottom ends of the larger locks, and refurbished the old locks and the bridges over Saint Mary's River. A permanent village of people maintaining the Mackinac Bridge was established. Much of their equipment was used to support the communities that later became the Arcadian Republic. Many refugees from Quebec and other Canadian areas arrived, along with the survivors of several other Project teams.
2020: Team Eta, or their descendants, returned to Granite Island and cleaned out the last of the equipment there.
2032: some Mariners first arrived at Soo (the current name for Sault Ste. Marie); they'd been navigating around Lake Michigan for several years by then.
2042: the last survivor of Team Eta dies of old age, on Manitoulin Island.
2051: the Arcadian Republic was established. The flag represents Canada (or Quebec), the Saint Mary's River, and America.
2056: the last Morrow Project survivor dies of old age, at Soo.
wire-making for electrical systems is one of the few technologies past the "Little House on the Prairie" level in the Arcadian Republic.
The team returned to the boat and spent the night.
weather report: low temperature 62 °F, high temperature 84 °F, maximum humidity 87%, precipitation 0.04", wind average 8 kph from the west. Cloudy, very brief rain, thunderstorm over Lake Superior in the afternoon.
red dotted lines are ferry routes; red solid lines are rail routes recently in operation
After breakfast, the Calypso sailed to the port of New Asail (formerly Meldrum Bay), on Manitoulin Island. The small communities there, and on some other islands, and along the coast of Ontario, were practically all built in the mid-21st Century -- apparently the population of Ontario had dropped to almost nothing during the Long Winter, and snow and ice had laid meters deep for decades here.
Except for a simple electrical grid around a couple of towns, there was little in the way of modern late 20th Century technology on those islands. The soil of the islands wasn't very suited to agriculture, but there were several steam-powered sawmills. Pine trees were cut down on the Ontario mainland, floated downriver and across the bays to Manitoulin Island; trappers and settlers on the mainland also sent pelts, meat and farm produce. From New Asail and other small ports, Mariners carried the lumber, shingles, planks, pelts, meat, etc. all over the Great Lakes.
Muzzle-loading rifles and smoothbore muskets were the most dangerous small arms seen here.
The team spent a day and a half exploring the islands and the Ontario shore. Any literate person they met had heard of the Morrow Project ("Make an EDU x 5% toll to recall the name 'Morrow Project'."), but only as an organization that helped rebuild after the Atomic War. "Ils ont construit le system electric et les generateurs."
weather report: low temperature 59 °F, high temperature 79 °F, some clouds. Sunrise 5:56 a.m. ET, sunset 9:30 p.m. ET. (day is 15 hours 34 minutes long). Moon is waxing crescent, 20% illuminated.
The Calypso sailed west through the Mackinac Strait, under the bridge. The roadway was mostly gone, but people were living on the bridge and maintaining it.
A few sail and steam vessels were encountered on the trip to Bastion (formerly Milwaukee, Wisconsin). Ancient concentrations of fallout were detected on both sides of the lake between the Mackinac Straits and just north of Milwaukee -- nothing to concern the team more than possible human threats, though.
Milwaukee had been hit heavily by nuclear weapons during the Atomic War; the current communities were all well inland from the original metropolitan areas. The harbor had some activity in it, including a few small steam ships; a primitive steam-powered trolley led about five kilometers inland to Bastion itself.
The ride through the ruins of Milwaukee had a depressing effect on the team. Many square kilometers of blasted, burned, abandoned, ransacked, and overgrown city were spread about the shores of Lake Michigan.
A huge mall was the commercial and industrial center of Bastion; the old parking lots had once been covered in tents for refugees and injured people, but by the 22nd Century were mostly vegetable gardens and pastures. A sturdy palisade of old I-beams and railway track surrounded the parking log; the actual mall structure had been fortified with rubble and metal debris after the Atomic War. For several years after the War, the ventilation system of the mall had been maintained to keep out fallout.
Gray blobs outside the palisade are ruined buildings; brown buildings are post-Atomic War;
red dashed line indicates the trolley line. The building to the east is the steam power plant.
A small area of the parking lot had been preserved with pavement and marked parking spaces, a couple of street lights, and several old automobiles seemingly "on display". The cars were oddly "opened up" so that people could walk through them (in one side and out the other). Similarly, a couple of the retail spaces at one end of the mall had been set up with old cash registers, display cases and racks, some holiday (~November 18th) decor, and an eclectic selection of 20th Century consumer goods. It looked sort of like a museum, although the power wasn't on and nobody was paying attention to the museum when the Morrow team arrived.
There was a 20 meter tall radio antenna on top of the mall.
The mall had a lot of shopping opportunities, but for information about the Atomic War the team visited the Learned, about a kilometer north. The general public was not allowed to directly handle the texts; the members of the Learned would read the book, show pictures, etc. for a fee ... generally 10 cents an hour. This document sort of represents a couple of hours spent at the Learned's archive:
The Atomic War A Condensed History
The nuclear war started on Friday, November 18 1989, at about 1:30 p.m. Eastern time. News bulletins on television and radio networks began to transmit Emergency Broadcast System emergency action notifications from 2:30 p.m. Eastern time, only ten minutes before any weapons struck the continental United States. The broadcast of the emergency message was “directed by the President”, but no information was presented by the broadcast media about the reason for the emergency action notification, or about the nature of the national emergency. The last message being broadcast locally was, “This information just in, from the AP wire; attention news directors and all bureaus, from the Air Force at Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado … “ One transcription states that NORAD had detected missile launches from 21 sites within the Soviet Union around 2 p.m. Eastern time, and that the American military had gone to full alert. In any case, atomic detonations in North America began around 2:30, and continued for several hours. Five explosions – one surface burst at the airport, and four air bursts – struck Milwaukee that afternoon, killing half a million people within a day or so. By the next day, all long-distance telephone and telegraph services were out of operation; very few radio stations were still broadcasting in the U.S.; and no television stations were being received in Wisconsin. For many weeks, ham radio operators kept in contact with each other, elsewhere in the United States and overseas. The continued cold weather, several months of heavy fallout, and lack of food and medicine killed many people who had survived the blasts. As the weeks turned into months, strange diseases were seen – some had symptoms not seen before the War. By March of 1990, only 3,000 survivors were living in the Milwaukee area (and of course several thousand survivors had fled). Fortunately, the heaviest concentrations of fallout were to the north (passing over Green Bay) and south (Chicago and southwards). The United States and all NATO allies were heavily damaged; no radio signals were being received from Europe more than a month after the war. Secondary targets in Central and South America, Africa and Asia were struck – especially petrochemical industries. The effects of the War on China, Korea and Japan are unknown in Wisconsin. NATO overseas bases, transmitters, and repair facilities were certainly attacked. In the Middle East, the nations of Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Israel and Saudi Arabia were heavily struck. There was no way of knowing who fired what missiles, but most sources seem to feel that only the Soviet Union would have attacked Israel with multiple ICBMs. Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and various air force bases were struck, according to ham radio contacts. The Learned's trove of post-war news from overseas leans heavily on survivalists, private militias, posse groups, supremacy groups, and some even more radical or seditious types. Mentions of the Zionist Occupation Government and other conspiracy-theory key phrases are found in the narratives. The Learned consider most of these groups “Pariahs”; that term is also used to refer to some of the post-War groups that attacked or bothered Bastion/Milwaukee.
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Meanwhile, Dr. Perkins asked some questions and did some shopping.
questions about the area |
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shopping requests |
Purchases previously mentioned at Soo:
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Funds for this ... gold and silver from the contact pack, I presume?
After learning a couple hours of local history, and having a somewhat bland but filling meal, the team returned on the trolley to the harbor, and slept on their boat.
weather report: low temperature 64 °F, high temperature 75 °F, overcast, peak 90% humidity, no rain. Winds about 12 kph from SE to NE, visibility 16 kilometers.
The team woke up aboard the Calypso, in the harbor at Bastion.
on to The Last Pirate Of Gitche Gumee