Russell Moran - A Climate of Doubt

“How the hell could that be?”

“Frank, the answer is that we don’t know,” Duncan said. He sat down on the office couch. “What we do know is that within minutes of our last two satellite tests, the world’s weather went crazy. I’ve grilled every scientist and engineer who works for us, and not one of them has an answer.”

“So, let’s get this straight, Phil,” Morgan said. “We perform a simple test of the satellites’ solar panels, and the system goes apeshit, facing all of the panels in one direction, which apparently resulted in a radical weather change, although we have no idea how. Our fail-safe mechanism failed both times. Shit, fail-safe systems aren’t supposed to fail. If it weren’t for Nancy Mullin’s quick thinking with the override switches, God knows what would have happened.”

“The legal department thinks we should alert the government with our concerns,” Morgan said.

“Here’s an idea, Frank. Why don’t I open a conversation with Rick Bellamy, Secretary of Homeland Security? We know each other from college, and we still correspond occasionally around the holidays. He’s a good friend. Also, he’s got the ear of President Blake.”

“There’s a man named Phil Duncan on line three for you, Rick,” my assistant said. “He says you know him.”

“He’s an old college buddy,” I said. “Good guy, but I don’t have time to shoot the shit now.”

“He says it’s urgent, sir.”

“Hi Phil, it’s Rick. My assistant says something’s urgent.”

“I would normally ask to meet you in person with a matter like this, Rick, but we wanted to contact you right away. Are we on a secure line?”

“Yes, feel free to talk, Phil. What’s up?”

“I’m going to put you on speaker. I’m with Frank Morgan, CEO of Rosetta.”

“Good morning, Mr. Secretary,” Morgan said. “Thank you for taking our call. I have a reputation for speaking in blunt language, sir, and I’m too old to change it. So rather than toss a bunch of legal bullshit at you, please let me get right to the point. As you know, Rosetta has 20 satellites in orbit. Their function is to enhance GPS capabilities, as well as perform some new sophisticated weather tracking. Well, sir, we ran a test of the solar panels on all the satellites eight days ago. One of the systems malfunctioned. Within a few minutes we experienced a historic weather anomaly. This morning we ran another series of tests. We encountered the same system malfunction but were able to override it. It took about 15 minutes to rearrange the solar panels. Within minutes, we experienced this morning’s sudden end to the blizzard and return to normal temperatures. So, in summary, we performed two series of tests and simultaneously the world experienced two shocking weather changes. Our people can’t come up with an explanation for what occurred, but it seems that the two incidents are too close in time to be mere coincidences.”

I looked out the window as the sky darkened, signaling an incoming storm. Then I glanced at a building that displayed a digital date and temperature read-out. The temperature was 32 degrees and falling. A couple of minutes before it was 84 degrees.

“Mr. Morgan, I’m sorry to interrupt you, but can you tell me what the weather is right now in Montana.”

“Well, the sky is darkening like a storm is coming,” Morgan said.

“What’s the temperature?” I asked.

Duncan called up the local weather on his cell phone.

“Holy shit,” Morgan said “Sorry, Mr. Secretary. It’s 27 degrees and dropping. Déjà vu all over again. It’s starting to snow like a bitch.”

“Here too,” I said. “Mr. Morgan, I thank you for being a stand-up American for bringing this problem to us. I’m going to contact NOAA and put some senior people in touch with you. If something is causing this, whether it’s a malfunctioning panel on your satellites or something else, there’s a technical problem that you haven’t figured out yet. And if it’s a technical problem, there must be a technical solution.”

God willing, I thought.

July 24

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to The Ellen Bellamy Show. I know that you’re all fond of my charming spontaneity, but I have a confession to make, although I’m sure you’re aware of it. Like most TV shows, The Ellen Bellamy Show is taped before the show runs. In the past few days, however, it’s been different. Because of yesterday’s wacky weather event, when the snow stopped and the temperatures soared, if we showed you what we taped it would have been totally inaccurate. As you know, the temperatures once again reversed, and it’s well below freezing across the country. So, I’m speaking to you live, which I find a little intimidating. If I make a mistake, please don’t flame me on Facebook.

“Before I continue with the show, I have an important announcement that the government requested I make. This morning’s rapid climb in temperature resulted in some fast melting of snow. Then, the thermometer reversed, and we were again plunged into a deep freeze. The result? Black ice. Wicked, nasty black ice, the likes of which you’ve never seen before. Hospitals are reporting a rash of fractured limbs from people slipping and falling. So, if you must venture out, please be careful.”

The TV went blank, along with all the lights in the building. Ellen was still broadcasting from 26 Federal Plaza, and she assumed that such a critical government location would have immediate power backup. I had been standing 20 feet from the soundstage as I always did for Ellen’s show. Sarah Watson stood next to me.

An assistant groped his way through the darkness to remove the cover over the window that had been put in place to block the sun before each broadcast.

Sarah Watson and I walked over to Ellen. I lighted our way with the flashlight app on my cell phone.

“I was worried about this,” I said. “With the temperature extremes we were bound to have a power blackout.”

As I said that the lights came back on, powered by the building’s emergency generator.

“The power should have come on within a split second,” I said to Sarah Watson.

“I’ll have the maintenance crew check it out,” Watson said. “This is unacceptable, but the way the thermometer skyrocketed and then plunged within a few minutes, I’m not surprised that it didn’t function normally.”

Ellen was on the phone with NBC, checking to see if they had power.

“Okay, the show is about to resume,” Ellen said, “but we probably lost most of our audience, or at least those without emergency generators.”

Ellen, as well as the rest of us, gradually adjusted to the weather’s surprises.

“Hey Nance,” Bill Cranston said. “If it weren’t for your quick thinking, God knows what could have happened.”

“Thanks for the compliment, hon, but something is scaring the shit out of me. That goddam fail- safe program is supposed to be just that—fail safe. I designed the software, and that’s why I’m freaking out. What happened is not supposed to happen. It’s impossible, but that’s not accurate because the impossible just occurred. I also helped design series of switches that make up the override protocol. But it almost seems like somebody else is involved in operating the solar panels on the satellites.”

“Could it be somebody in Billings playing around?” Cranston said.

“Nothing happens to the satellite controls in Billings without Frank Morgan or Phil Duncan knowing about it,” Nancy said. “That’s the way they designed the control system, and it’s a great idea. It’s sort of like the Black Box that travels around with the president. Nobody can launch a nuke without the president’s input, and nobody can test the satellites without the express permission of Morgan or Duncan. You and I can’t decide to do it on our own. The sequence must start in Billings. I don’t expect that they’ll run any more tests until we sort out this shit.”