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Monday, 18 July 2140 - Saturday, 23 July 2140 Sunday, 24 July 2140 Monday, 25 July 2140 Tuesday, 26 July 2140 Wednesday, 27 July 2140 Thursday, 28 July 2140 Friday, 29 July 2140 Saturday, 30 July 2140 Sunday, 31 July 2140 Monday, 1 August 2140 Tuesday, 2 August 2140

 

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report covers:   18 July 2140 - 2 August 2140

 

Part 1:  Working Out

 

Monday, 18 July 2140 - Saturday, 23 July 2140

 

     The team spent the rest of the week at Soo getting in shape, and organizing a few comforts and schemes.

     Doyle began hiring a salvage team to bring the team's gear from the bolthole and nearby cache to Soo. Peter rented a 3 bedroom house for the team ($10 per month on average for utilities, $20 per month for rent, $50 for initial furnishings, bedding, and other household goods, security deposit $30). Several evenings were spent sorting through the "booty" from Captain Deltoid and other crewmen of the Post Boat.

     Fairhope was trained on the Calypso's systems, and the use and maintenance of specialized dive gear (he had good diving skills, but little experience in maintaining equipment).

     Besides physical fitness training, the team spent some time learning about first aid and dive medicine from Doc Perkins; specialized diving tasks from Khoderevsky, and outdoors skills (mostly Fieldcraft) from Fairhope.

     Average daily high temperature was 82 °F, night time lows were around 51 °F. There was a thunderstorm on the afternoon of the 18th, but no rain after that during the week, though the 19th and 20th were overcast. Winds were mostly from the north. Surface water temperature was about 55 °F.

 

     At the end of the week, the team got to make all their accumulated checks, plus the following checks:

 

Dive (if your skill is not greater than 40%)

Fieldcraft (if your skill is not greater than 40%)

First Aid (if your skill is not greater than 40%)

Language:  Arcadian French

Swim (if your skill is not greater than 40%)

 

Part 2:  Once Around the Lake

 

travels of R101 for this episode

 

Sunday, 24 July 2140

 

weather:  daily high temperature 89 °F, low at night 57 °F, humidity 72%, usual wind speed 8 - 15 kph from the west, mostly in the afternoon. Overcast from mid-day onwards, with high clouds and light drizzling rain into the night.

 

IMPORTANT WEATHER NOTE FOR THIS EPISODE

Air temperatures on the Great Lakes, away from the shore, average 9 degrees cooler

in daytime than the values given (which are for shore conditions).

 

     The team set out a bit after sunrise (6:09 a.m.), with a bit more than 16 hours of visible light ahead of them. By 10 a.m. they exited St. Marys River, and headed towards the Mackinac Straits.

     They passed under the bridge at 12:30, and headed through Lake Michigan towards Beaver Island. Once there, they slowly (10 knots) sailed around the southeastern half of the island (near Beaver Island Head lighthouse -- seemed to be in use as a school), looking for boltholes or caches -- none sighted, though a few farms and fishing villages were seen, along with a largish church in the main harbor town -- people in their best clothing were standing in front of it, or heading away. From there, they headed northwest to the west shore of the lake, near Manistique, arriving at the shore about 5:30. Since sunset wasn't until 7:30, and nautical twilight wasn't until 8:44 p.m. at Green Bay, they kept on sailing, following the coast of the Garden Peninsula to Point Detour, and then along the shores of Summer Island, Poverty Island (another lighthouse) and St. Martin Island (yet another lighthouse).

     Fishing vessels were headed into their harbors at this time of day; a lot of tacking was required for sailing vessels bound for the shore. Both shores of Green Bay had villages, with basic technology at about the Napoleonic Wars level. A steam tug was seen pulling a string of flatboats bound for Sentinel, and a small steamboat was pulling a raft of crudely-sawed timbers in the same direction. A few smokestacks could be seen inland, probably at lumbermills.

     After sunset but before the end of nautical twilight, the Calypso anchored a kilometer or so off of Seagull Point, the crew had their dinner, set an anchor watch, and otherwise spent the night in their bunks.

 

Monday, 25 July 2140

 

weather:  daily high temperature 89 °F, low at night 66 °F, humidity 75%, usual wind speed 8 kph from the southwest, mostly in the afternoon. Fog before dawn, not lifting until 8 a.m.; overcast with very light drizzling rain for the rest of the day. Sunrise, 4:31 Central Time (no Daylight Savings in effect); sunset at 7:25 p.m., end of nautical twilight 8:43 p.m.

 

     Another warm and muggy day, with about 75% humidity along the shores of Green Bay. A few foghorns could be heard echoing along the bay; Captain Doyle set two people on watch until the fog lifted (the timber rafts were very large!), and didn't raise anchor after the fog lifted.

     The voyage to Sentinel (formerly the city of Green Bay) took till 12:45; the last few miles, the nuclear boat had to carefully avoid large numbers of moored flatboats, a few timber rafts, and other water traffic. The weather didn't make it easy to look for Morrow Project facilities along the shore.

     The crew were impressed by the appearance of busy commerce and industry in the town. Most of the flatboats in the harbor were to be dismantled for timber, but some were being hauled up the Fox River by a combination of tugboats and tow ropes pulled by steam winches or horses, to the first lock at De Pere (about 10 km upstream from the harbor).

     The steamship Badger had arrived in Bastion about 15 minutes before the Calypso; the 125 meter long ferry was clearly the largest vessel in service on the Great Lakes. A trip across Lake Michigan to Lud uses 25 tons of coal or charcoal -- the ship makes the round trip once a week, so the owners have to provide 25 tons of fuel each week -- probably costs them $250. A basic passenger ticket costs $5.

the Badger and the Calypso

 

     Lunch was had a a workmen's restaurant; leaving Roy aboard the Calypso on guard duty, the team strolled around the town. The main trading season over the Waterway had mostly drawn to a close; there were several empty dormitories and eating-halls for the people who'd brought cargo here in the Spring.

 

the Fox River Waterway

Locks and dams on the Fox River allow boats to travel from Green Bay to Lake Winnebago, and then further upstream (the "Upper Fox River") to eventually reach Portage, where craft can enter the Wisconsin River.      The Mariners, and inhabitants of Sentinel, have put the locks and dams on the Fox River in service (the locks had mostly been filled with dirt before the Atomic War). The Wisconsin River was never really improved for commercial traffic; the dam at Prairie du Sac was destroyed by two Soviet missiles during the Atomic War, which emptied Lake Wisconsin.      Thus, from Portage outwards, cargo traffic can only go downstream in flatboats and canoes along the Wisconsin River to the Mississippi. The Wisconsin River is wide and shallow; any boat drawing more than 1.3 meters can't make it through the river at all.      Canoes and other small craft can travel upstream on the Wisconsin River, nearly to Lake Superior. The crew of cargo vessels usually return overland from Saint Louis, Missouri.

 

     The team hitched a ride on a very narrow-gauge freight train along the river, to De Pere. The looked at the lock on the Fox River, and visited the Safe House. The hot, humid drizzly weather -- and perhaps a lack of novelty -- meant that only a single family was visiting. The sole employee tried to sell some food to the team, and turned on the electric lights. "I'm turning them back off in an hour." Tickets cost 25 cents for each adult, 10 cents for children under 12.

 

The Safehouse

Built in 1980 by the Müller family, owners of Müller National trucking company.  It's on one level, with bunk beds for 80 persons, and held supplies for a year. There are two large generators, a sewage system and filtered wells, garden, kennel, a gym, armory, and medical center. Two sets of stairs lead down 15 meters to the entrances; the larger entrance is really meant to be sealed long before the Atomic War. The smaller "security" entrance would be the usual way in and out just before and after the War.       The bunker is a combination of industrial, cramped and hideous circa-1980 luxury.      Of interest to Morrow Project members are the 8 concrete pads for cryoberths in the medical center. There's no sign that they were ever installed, and fusion reactors are also absent.      A similar (but less crowded, and gaudier) building, in Las Vegas:   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2414497/Most-luxurious-bunker--The-1970s-Cold-War-Era-Home-built-26-feet-underground.html

 

     The current owners of the bunker had taken out some of the supplies and fittings, and sold them -- especially light bulbs. There was no evidence that anyone entered the bunker during or after the Atomic War, until it was opened recently. Last year it was a popular attraction.

     The trip to La Pere and back took about an hour each way, plus an hour at the lock and bunker; so the team was back "in town" by 5 p.m. A bit of shopping and investigating, then dinner and to bed on the boat.

 

Tuesday, 26 July 2140

 

weather:  daily high temperature 88° F, low at night 66° F, humidity 80%, usual wind speed 10 kph from the southwest, mostly in the afternoon. Fog before dawn, not lifting until 7 a.m.; overcast with light drizzle all day -- except for brief thunderstorms around 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.. No drizzle after the second thunderstorm. Sunrise, 4:32 Central Time (no Daylight Savings in effect); sunset at 7:24 p.m., end of nautical twilight 8:41 p.m. The moon is in the last quarter. Water temperature along the Lake Michigan shore, 70° F; wave height in the afternoon, 0.3 meters.

 

     The boat was especially fuggy in the morning, what with people showering, breakfast being cooked, etc.

     This day the Calypso motored along the inner and outer coast of the Door Peninsula and Winnebago Island; they stopped briefly for a dive in the water caves at Cave Point about 1 p.m. While passing along the coast, a thunderstorm rolled quickly in from the southwest at about 3 p.m. The Maritime Museum at Manitowac presented only the rusted remains of the submarine Cobia, embedded in gravel and debris.

     Around sunset the boat docked at Bastion. Roy was left to monitor radio traffic and guard the boat, while the rest of the team took the trolley to the former mall at Greendale. They had a chat with some locals about steel production and resource shortages, possible construction of railway lines. etc., and decided to spend the next day here.

 

Wednesday, 27 July 2140

 

weather:  daily high temperature 86° F, low at night 69° F, humidity 75%, usual wind speed 12 kph from the east, with gusts up to 20 kph during the storms. Scattered cloud cover all day-- except for two thunderstorms between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.. Sunrise, 4:33 Central Time (no Daylight Savings in effect); sunset at 7:23 p.m., end of nautical twilight 8:40 p.m. Water temperature along the Lake Michigan shore, 70° F; wave height in the afternoon, 0.3 meter ... up to 0.5 meter during the thunderstorms.

 

     The team spent a lot of time looking over the construction of the large new furnace, and spoke with Mrs. Robin Patches, who was funding and pushing for more industrial capacity in Bastion. 

     The two thunderstorms that passed through made them happy they weren't sailing that day.

     In the evening they had dinner at the house of Mrs. Patches; the Girl Genius, Veronica Sterling,  was also present at the dinner, and there was more discussion of sources for acids, coal, sulfur, etc. Mrs. Patches filled in the team on the sordid details of skinball.

 

Veronica Sterling

 

     In regards to Miss Sterling, she was born in East Broad Top, Pennsylvania, in 2115 AD, and was quite good looking in a coverall-wearing, greasy-knuckles sort of way. Apparently the town of East Broad Top (aka "the Shops") was quite dedicated to rebuilding America, but she had never heard of the Morrow Project until she arrived at the Great Lakes. Engineering was sort of a religion in the Shops, and Miss Sterling was sort of a missionary -- she left when she was 15, back in 2125, and hadn't had much contact with her home since then. Her specialty was mechanical engineering, but she had a good technical education by 22nd Century standards, and a selection of useful reference works. Among other things, she owned an pistol manufactured at the Shops.

 

a stamped steel semi-automatic pistol in .45 ACP caliber

 

     Mrs. Patches arranged for the trolley driver to wait and carry the team back the harbor (10 kilometers away, as the crow flies); the gesture was especially appreciated due to the recent storms.

     Again the crew slept aboard their boat.

 

 

more narrative to come - summary only here:

 

Thursday, 28 July 2140

 

weather:  daily high temperature 80° F, low at night 66° F, humidity 70%, usual wind speed 20 kph from the northeast, with gusts up to 30 kph before dawn. Scattered cloud cover all day, with some drizzle just after dawn. Sunrise, 4:41 Central Time (no Daylight Savings in effect); sunset at 7:13 p.m., end of nautical twilight 8:24 p.m. Water temperature along the Lake Michigan shore, 70° F; wave height in the afternoon, 0.4 meters.

 

    The Calypso motored south from Bastion, following a couple of kilometers from the shore. South of Illinois border there were no signs of settlement for many kilometers, and many signs of destruction and decay. A destroyed nuclear reactor in the vicinity of Waukegan had heavily irradiated the areas north of Chicago; and from Evanston on south nuclear attacks on the city, and fallout from many other strikes to the west, had probably rendered the area uninhabitable for months after the Atomic War.

     The Naval Training Center had been destroyed by a 600 kiloton airburst ... the rusted skeleton of the sixteen-story naval hospital, and a few water towers, stood amidst scruffy trees and tumbled masonry.

     Wrigley Field was visible as an ivy-covered ruin, one of largest remaining structures north of the Loop.

 

though it has more rust and less glass than seen here ...

 

     There were a few trails, smoke from chimneys well inland, and maybe a few cautious locals peeking out from the ruins towards the mysterious, silent Calypso. A few rusted hulks, onshore and off, were the remains of some Twentieth-Century shipping.

     A half-megaton hydrogen bomb had detonated at ground level within the Loop, leaving a crater 300 meters in diameter and 70 meters deep on Wabash Avenue (between E. Madison Street and E. Washington Street). A dozen or so lesser bombs (though all over 100 kilotons) detonated during the Atomic War as air bursts within twenty kilometers of downtown. By 2140 the Loop was a tree-filled marsh, through which the Chicago River slowly meandered (not on its original course); nothing bigger than some 4-meter high chunks of masonry remained visible from the Twentieth Century. The rusted-out underside of a capsized ship, and a few pilings and rusted piers, showed the location of the Navy Pier. The river didn't look navigable for the Calypso -- the last few hundred meters were only about 10 meters wide, and probably not very deep; it and the lake shore had shifted a hundred meters or more over the years. A few primitive canoes and rafts were seen drawn up on the banks of the river.

 

sort of like this view from a few hundred feet above the shore

 

     In a somber mood, the team continued along the lake shore; various harbors and industrial cities were now home to only rust and overgrowth. Several large steamships had been pushed ashore during the Long Winter (probably by the ice sheets), and were now barely recognizable and ships. There was a moderate amount of radiation near the shore; not enough to prevent the team from passing through, but enough to make them not want to set up housekeeping.

     The zone of utter ruination was less noticeable past Michigan City. Captain Doyle decided to haul off into deep water for the night when a surge in the radiation level was detected near the Donald C. Cook reactors (struck by two half-megaton surface attacks).

 

Friday, 29 July 2140

 

weather:  daily high temperature 79° F, low at night 53° F, humidity 50%, usual wind speed 10 kph from the southeast. Clear skies before dawn, drizzle and overcast during daylight, light rain during the night. Sunrise, 5:32 a.m. Eastern Time (no Daylight Savings in effect); sunset at 8:09 p.m., end of nautical twilight 9:23 p.m. Water temperature along the Lake Michigan shore, 70° F; wave height in the afternoon, 0.3 meters.

 

    After dawn the Calypso sped past and far around the destroyed reactors, and looked in at Benton Harbor first -- nuclear contamination from the breached reactors had kept almost anyone from living there.

    Grand Haven had some farms visible, mostly to the north of the Grand River; by the time the team reached Muskegon (now known as Haven), there were networks of dirt roads, a few utility poles, fields full of crops, and a couple of rubble-and-dirt forts along the entrance to Muskegon Lake. Flags -- white with black gates -- flew over the forts, and various cannon pointed in all directions; but the soldiers didn't seem to feel the need to stop the Morrow Project vessel.

     A few sawmills were visible along the shore of Muskegon Lake, and several large docks and piers stood along the north side. A few 20th Century cargo ships were visible, stripped for salvage mostly; some were dragged ashore, others had been hauled out into the lake and sunk once they were of no further use. Some of them had apparently been used as emergency housing after the Atomic War. A ferryboat -- almost recognizable as a former LST, much smaller than the Badger -- was tied up out of service. A cofferdam contained the submarine Silversides, which was a bit rusty but all on one piece. A good number of fishing boats, some powered by small steam or diesel engines, were moving about. An old 38-meter Coast Guard cutter was still painted white, and apparently capable of getting under way -- there was a 3" gun mounted on the foredeck.

 

the Sanctum gunboat at Haven ... well, back in the 20th Century

 

    The team (except Roy) disembarked and visited the hospital -- the center of government here. A senior doctor met with the team; he'd heard of the Morrow Project, but (like most people) seemed to think it had been some kind of government program. The Sanctum did know about the Project's use of cryogenic biostasis, and in fact had a copy of a Project text on the subject (obtained decades ago from the Arcadian Republic).

    Some first aid supplies, a violin, and a few other minor things were bought in the town's stores.

    Proceeding onwards, the Calypso and her crew came to Ludington (now kinown as Lud). The small harbor had a rather notably large shipyard, where the sister-ship of the Badger stood in a dry dock, slowly being picked apart for spares. Other than the shipyard, there was a sawmill and a railway station, plus the Victorian brick building which housed the offices of the Skinball League. There were four or five staff, and a pack of five rottweilers.

     The crew paid a call upon Heather Mist, the Commissioner of Skinball, and the grand-daughter of a Morrow Project recon team member! She had a few Project items stashed away, along with a lot of other interesting treasures.

 

Heather Mist

Her grandmother was Jacqueline Cale, a member of Recon team R-35. Jacqueline was born in 1959, and died of cancer at the (biological) age 38, 2059 AD. She had three children with a Soo man; one of those children, Carol, was Heather's mother.      Carol was born in 2051; Heather was born in 2080, in Soo, and is currently 60 years old. She's got white hair, and is not nearly as tough as she once was. As a young woman, she became a strong proponent of the Project's goals, and spent a decade or so (ca. 2100-2110) traveling as a merchant, flatboat crew member, and explorer, partly to gather information needed for the "rebuild America" goal.      Starting in 2119, she began a slow program to bring the squabbling communities around the Great Lakes together -- Skinball. In several towns, Skinball officials and teams, or even fans, are the only outsiders allow to enter.      She's got a lot of contacts within the Mariners, the Medicine Society, the Arcadian Republic, and with various merchants. There are other descendants of Project personnel around, mostly at Soo.

 

     She was aware that a few Morrow people have been wandering the United States after the Atomic War (besides the ones that gathered at Soo), but had heard only vague rumors of any current Project activities west of the Mississippi.

     The Skinball League was founded to create connections between cities on the Great Lakes, and to put agents into some of the more xenophobic communities. She was able to describe conditions in Troyt (formerly Detroit), and at the Tyre King pile of automotive tires in Hagersville, Ontario (near Lake Erie). Apparently the Canadian government sent regular expeditions there to retrieve usable tires from the 14 million or more in the piles.

     The team and the commissioner agreed to put an advertisement for the Morrow Project in the coming season's flyers, to include a sketch or silhouette of the Calypso.

     The main reason she wanted to speak with the team was due to a report she received in early July. Apparently a man named Tim Fraser had arrived in Sudbury, Ontario; he was supposedly a defector from the Canadian project similar to the Morrow Project. The Canadian project was code-named Paragon, knew about the Morrow Project, and apparently didn't like it. A member of the Medicine Society brought the man's request to speak with someone from the Project to Soo, wrote it down, and mailed it to the Commissioner. She had the information before the 4th of July, but didn't know the team was up and around until the 9th of July.

     She knew some other secrets about the Project -- for example, a few items had been pilfered from the Arcadian "Musée de la Guerre Atomique", including some small amounts of boron. She also knew that the cannibals in Chicago were not particularly aggressive -- they did eat human flesh, but not very often; murder was a crime in the Feeding Grounds.

     The team stayed to a nice dinner with Commissioner Mist, and chatted about more Project history, legends of the Atomic War, stories of her trips to the Mississippi River etc.

 

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Part 3:  Set Course For Sudbury 

 

 

Saturday, 30 July 2140

 

weather:  daily high temperature 80° F, low at night 58° F, humidity 55%, usual wind speed 10 kph from the southeast. Overcast all day, with scattered rain. Sunrise, 5:31 a.m. Eastern Time (no Daylight Savings in effect); sunset at 8:11 p.m., end of nautical twilight 9:26 p.m. Water temperature along the Lake Michigan shore, 70° F; wave height in the afternoon, 0.3 meters.

 

     The Calypso got underway early, and sailed all day -- north along the Michigan shore, back through the Mackinac Straits, and into the harbor at Nouveau Asail (Meldrum Bay), on Manitoulin Island. In the evening, the experience guide and trapper Old Pierre was hired, for $1 a day; he found a couple of sturdy three-man canoes for the team ($12 each), along with a few other travel items.

 

Sunday, 31 July 2140

 

weather:  daily high temperature 78° F, low at night 60° F, humidity 60%, usual wind speed 6 kph from various directions. Clear skies all day, visibility 15 km. Sunrise, 5:07 a.m. Eastern Time (no Daylight Savings in effect); sunset at 7:56 p.m., end of nautical twilight 9:15 p.m. Water temperature along the Lake Michigan shore, 70° F -- 60° F in Lake Huron; wave height 0.3 meters. New moon this night. Bugs of the season:  mosquitoes (especially at dawn and dusk) and some late deer flies (a slightly smaller variety of horse fly).

 

     After breakfast, the Calypso, with Old Pierre and the two new canoes aboard, set out into the North Channel, and crossed over to the mouth of the Spanish River.  The river was wide and navigable for many kilometers, through ancient maple and pine forests; Pierre pointed out a few Ojibwe villages set well back from the river banks.

     The ruins of the town of Espanola marked the head of navigation; Captain Doyle, along with Tager, Fairhope, and Pete hauled the canoes ashore. They dressed in "not obviously Project members" garb, loaded their packs, and -- led by Old Pierre -- portaged the canoes around the ruins and back into the river.

 

The Calypso, with Roy and Doc Perkins aboard, hauled off to anchor in a wide section of the river.

 

     About 50 kilometers of travel lay ahead of the team, mostly along the Vermillion River (a tributary of the Spanish River). They carried their canoes around a few small waterfalls and rapids (some of which were the remains of small dams), and over several small lakes, through beautiful landscapes in lovely weather. Fish, eagles, moose, and other animals were plentiful. Some Ojibwe fishermen watched the team paddle past, and a village was seen on the shore of Kusk Lake.

 

Canoeing the Vermillion River.

Kayaking the Vermillion River

... keep in mind there's also a Vermillion River in Minnesota

 

     At sunset they pulled out and camped a kilometer or so from the ghost town of Whitefish, on Old Highway 17. There was a notable rise in the number of mosquitoes, but the breezes kept them from being truly bothersome. Old Pierre cooked some walleye and jumbo perch he'd caught. During the night they heard a big truck pass by on the Trans-Canada Highway, heading east.

 

Monday, 1 August 2140

 

weather:  daily high temperature 79° F, low at night 62° F, humidity 65%, usual wind speed 6 kph from various directions. Overcast skies, with light rain showers from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.. Sunrise, 5:03 a.m. Eastern Time (no Daylight Savings in effect); sunset at 7:54 p.m., end of nautical twilight 9:14 p.m.

 

     The next day wasn't quite so pleasant, with light rain in the afternoon. As the team paddled out of Lake McCharles, Old Pierre warned them not to drink any river water from this point onwards.

     25 kilometers of travel brought the team to the outskirts of Sudbury, at Kelly Lake. A kilometer or so below the lake (near the fomer town of Mikkola), a sturdy timber trestle bridge crossed the Vermillion River, carrying the Trans-Canada Highway -- a well-maintained wide dirt road at this point.

     Pierre was left to watch the canoes and spare supplies on the shore of Kelly Lake, and the Morrow folk walked five kilometers or so to the current "town" -- village or even just hamlet might describe it better.

 

Sudbury, Ontario

Sudbury had been a large town, focused on underground nickel and copper mines and smelters and other resource exploitation. As a result of unregulated disposal of waste, huge chimneys releasing clouds of polluted smoke, the stripping of all trees within many kilometers, etc. the town had become by 1970 a byword for "lifeless industrial hellhole". Geologically, the basin was a huge, oval meteoric crater.      The Atomic War of 1989 saw a 600 kiloton fusion bomb detonated on the surface, in the center of the town (as in, about equidistant from the actual inhabited area and the three major mining complexes). The crater, about 300 meters across, is very visible in the 22nd Century.      After the Long Winter, many floods washed through the area. "Dunes" and drifts of gravel, mud and sand cover the area, with a hundred or more small lakes and ponds scattered about. The poisoned lakes are stained various unnatural colors; during warm weather a filter mask or respirator should be worn, due to the toxic dust blown about.      Only the sturdiest of structures survived the Atomic War, Long Winter, and the floods -- the stumps of some large smokestacks, the lowest levels of some smelters, and the jagged, rusting frames of the larger buildings "downtown". Even these are partially buried in gravel and sand from the floods. There are no plants growing here, and no insects are present.      A couple dozen people live here, digging up lumps of nickel, copper and lead, or some salvage items. There's a single store.      The Trans-Canada Highway runs past the edge of town (about five kilometers to the south); there's a moderately passable "jeep trail" that leads from the Highway to the current hamlet.

 

Sudbury - molten slag flow from pre-War glory days

 

     The team stared over the distinctly unappealing area. The village consisted of a general store, built of lumber and corrugated steel sheets; and a dozen or so shacks, sheds, huts and lean-tos, built of debris and salvage materials. Smoke was coming out of a few chimneys; an iron water tank stood atop a wooden platform. There were no dogs or cats present.

     Once the team got near the town, they could see a couple of vehicles -- one behind the store was a ragged, rusty truck with mis-matched wheels, a gasifier stack, wooden cab and cargo deck, etc.. The other was a small pickup (maybe a Datsun, Ford Courier, Toyota Hilux, or Chevy Luv) with a small towed alcohol still. Some truck and motorcycle tracks led across the gravel south, towards the Trans-Canada Highway.

     Visiting the store first, the Project members were repelled by the dim, dank interior, crowded with junk, salvage, skins, boxes, and other inventory, on shelves, hanging from the rafters, or stacked on the floor. The proprietor and a couple of cronies stared at the team, and traded a few comments in bad Arcadian French. They were smoking rank cigars, and hadn't bathed since winter.

     The following doesn't represent everything at the general store, but perhaps many of the things the Morrow team might want. Don't worry about sizes, this is just a game-y representation of pawing through racks, bags, and boxes of smelly old clothes until you find some that fit. Almost all the clothing available is used. Cost is in Canadian or American coins.

 

Clothes for Sale in the Sudbury General Store
item	avail.	mass	cost
hemp jeans	3		$2
hemp jacket	2		$2
oilcloth bib overalls, black	1		$3
oilcloth pommel slicker, black	1		$3
low boots, lace-up or engineer boots	2		$3
rubber boots, pair	2		$5
rubber-soled sandals (made from truck tires)	10		$0.25
moccasins	5		$0.50
socks, wool, pair	20		$0.25
trouser belt, leather	2		$0.50
suspenders, leather	1		$0.35
corn husking gloves, leather, pair	1		$0.40
wool mittens	1		$1

 

Odds and Ends at the Sudbury General Store
item	avail.	mass, kg	cost
hemp rope, 3/8" diameter, coil of 100 meters; safe load 50 kg, breaking strength 600 kg	4	4.5	$1.00
lead-filled leather billie, medium size (the sizes are small, medium, large and Texan)	1	0.3	$1.00
hunting knife with scabbard, 6" blade	8	0.5	$2.00
one-half pound of pins	3	0.2	$0.40
wooden barrel, 42 or 53 gallon capacity	4	30 - 50	$2.50
charcoal, per bushel of 20 pounds (9 kg)	450	10	$0.20
firewood, per bushel, dry pine	lots	10	$0.06
firewood, per cord, dry pine	lots	864	$6.00
methanol, per 55-gallon barrel (includes weight of drum, doesn't include cost)	3	165	$6.00
lubricating oil, per 5 gallon can	2	20	$1.50
steel angle iron, 1.5" x 1.5", 20' long with holes at each end	60	11	$1.00
mild steel plate, 7 gauge, 48" x 96"	12	109	$16
wire cable, heavy duty 16mm diameter, 46 meters long, was 4 tons safe load	22	49	$10
black powder, in wooden kegs (6 lbs of powder per keg)	5	3	$12
water, distilled or filtered, per pint (four pints a day needed per person)	400	0.473	$0.02

 

      After a few purchases, the team picked an empty shack to occupy, figuring that the people present would come to them.  Packs were stowed and various things were found to sit on and take a load off.  While they rested, a healthy, fit young man walked by and waved on his way to his still-truck; his name is unknown. Eventually, a couple of shabby fellows ambled up:  Viktor and Pat lived a short way out of town and were happy to act as the Welcome Wagon, taking us around for introductions.  Viktor's voice was scratchy and hoarse due to a chronic cough; Pat had to breathe through a hole in her throat and would occasionally wheeze in assent with things Viktor said.  

     Tim came to Sudbury in June and lived in a shack outside town -- he was not the owner of the truck.

     There were only ten inhabitants "downtown" -- Cord  (the store owner),  Olberto and Woolite (his helpers), Karl (a big Ojibwe fellow), Steve (paranoid), Big Steve (the Mayor, a very muscular butcher, naked except for a black rubber apron and black rubber boots), Moose and Jean-Pierre (salvaging at a protruding minehead at the edge of town), in addition to Viktor and Pat. All of them were some combination of mutilated, diseased, or insane.      

     The Mayor had a great speaking voice and paused from butchering a deer to wax eloquent about Sudbury and the importance of draining several ponds of their toxic contents. The Mayor chided Viktor and Pat for bringing the "wrong sort" after we declined to assist in siphoning the chemicals from Sudbury to Lake Huron by means of a 50km hose that he wanted us to build.

     Moose and Jean-Pierre apparently suffered a minor calamity when some equipment of theirs collapsed and fell into a pit. They were wresting and pounding on each other as they shouted curses and blame, bursting out of their shack to roll on the ground before us. Our presence interrupted their debate and we made their acquaintance, delicately dodging their invitation to dinner. We didn't care for the way they undressed and sectioned us with their eyes.

     As it was getting dark, the Project folk decided to spend the night in their shack; Viktor advised them it was likely to rain in the morning. Around midnight, someone was staring at their shack, but ambled off after being detected by Fairhope.

 

Tuesday, 2 August 2140

 

weather:  daily high temperature 84° F, low at night 64° F, humidity 80%, usual wind speed 6 kph from west or southwest. Overcast skies, rain showers starting about 3 a.m., rain and thunderstorms from 4 a.m. to 6:30, followed by fog until 9 a.m., drizzle to noon. Mostly cloudy and hot in the afternoon. Sunrise, 5:04 a.m. Eastern Time (no Daylight Savings in effect); sunset at 7:53 p.m., end of nautical twilight 9:12 p.m.

 

On to A Challenger Appears