Free 36 Hours: A Post-Apocalyptic EMP Survival Fiction Series by Bobby Akart

power of an X58 solar event. This could happen at any time, although forecasters point to later tonight.”
    Once again, the seated members in the Situation Room began to talk loudly amongst themselves. Only Blumenthal and the Chief of Staff remained calm.
    Blumenthal spoke first. “How accurate are these forecasts?”
    “Confirmed and reconfirmed, Mr. Secretary,” replied Lemmon. “The X58 solar flare is unprecedented. The bigger impact will be felt when we are hit with the accompanying coronal mass ejection. We believe it to be larger than the infamous Carrington Event of 1859. As the CME makes its way towards Earth, it will gather particles and accelerate with the solar winds. We’ve never experienced anything like it.”
    Lemmon leaned over to the aide and asked her to bring up another image. He moved to the side so the participants could see the entire rendering. He continued.
    “Because the CME is slower moving, we can more accurately predict the window of impact. This is the computer model of the CME and the accompanying solar wind colliding with Earth’s atmosphere at twenty-three hundred hours.”

    “A direct hit?” asked one of the attendees.
    “My god!” exclaimed another.
    Lemmon continued. “The impact of the CME will generate huge electrical currents in Earth’s upper atmosphere. More likely than not, the areas closest to the poles will be hit with large currents that will be transferred into electrical substations and disbursed throughout the power grid. It will have the impact of several nuclear electromagnetic bombs detonated over America simultaneously.”
    “An EMP?”
    “Yes, General.”
    “Have you been able to measure the strength of the CME?” asked the Chief of Staff.
    “We have, sir,” replied Lemmon. “For the technical aspects and potential effects of the impact for this solar event, I need to defer to Dr. Andrea Stanford of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, or ALMA, located in northern Chile.” Once again, Lemmon instructed the aide to manipulate the screens in the Situation Room. Dr. Stanford appeared on three of them, although the static reception made it difficult to see her.
    “Hello,” said Dr. Stanford, whose audio was working fine, but the video was experiencing interference.
    “Dr. Stanford, thank you for joining us,” said Lemmon. “Due to the interference we’re experiencing on this end, we’ll dispense with the preliminaries. The first question for you is whether you have been able to measure the strength of the inbound coronal mass ejection?”
    “Yes, sir,” replied Dr. Stanford. “The CME will generate a geomagnetic storm, which is measured in disturbance storm time, or Dst. In layman’s terms, this describes how hard a CME shakes up Earth’s magnetic field. A typical Dst will be equal to negative fifty on the nanotesla scale. As you can tell by this transmission, the earth is experiencing the effects of a negative fifty influence at this time. Several decades ago, the worst geomagnetic storm ever recorded caused power outages across Quebec, Canada. The 1989 event registered a negative six hundred on the nanotesla scale.”
    Lemmon moved toward the microphone and directed a question to Dr. Stanford. “I realize we didn’t have sophisticated instruments in the nineteenth century, but are you able to provide us an estimate of the strength of the Carrington Event? Most of us know the effect on the nation’s limited telegraph system.”
    “Yes,” started Dr. Stanford. “Several modern studies estimate the strength of the September 1859 geomagnetic storm to be in the range of negative eight hundred to negative seventeen hundred. That’s triple the 1989 storm.”
    “Dr. Stanford, this is Secretary Blumenthal of the Department of Homeland Security,” he said as he approached the front of the room. “Do you have an opinion as to the effect a Carrington-level event would have on our power grid today?”
    “I do,” replied Dr. Stanford. “David,