Nathan Pedde - Tokyo Tempest

The first draft of this project was written over the course of a NaNoWriMo. I thought to myself, if I were to create a really bad end of society disaster, what would it be. Then I thought, where would be one of the absolute worst places to be during that scenario.

Tokyo Tempest was born.

I dedicate this novel to all those that help me along the way. It is the unnamed individuals that answer a random unusual question. Or help with a plot devise.

I would like to thank my wonderful wife, Grace. She is the cattle prod, the one that inspires and encourages me to keep going. She is the reason I wake up at 5am to write. I would also like to thank my kids, for their enthusiasm and candor.

I would also like to thank Bren MacDonald for being there to bounce weird story ideas with.

And The DRS Podcast community which has also been there in that capacity.

In the immortal words of someone that I don’t remember, stay shinny.

Nathan Pedde

La Garita Caldera, San Juan, USA. Approx date: 25 Million BCE

Atana Ignimbrite, Chile. Approx date: 3.8 Million BCE

Yellowstone, Idaho, USA. Approx date: 630 Thousand BCE

Lake Taba, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Approx date: 72 Thousand BCE

Orumana Taupo, North Island, New Zealand. Approx Date: 24 Thousand BCE

Mount Tambora, Sumbawa Island, Indonesia Date: 1815 CE

These Supervolcanoes have erupted before. Each time that they have, their eruptions have changed the Earth’s climate, and not always for the better. Some have created years with no sun, while others have brought on global ices ages.

The Mount Tambora supervolcanic eruption changed the global climate for an entire year. It spewed 120 cubic kilometers of ash and debris into the atmosphere. It turned 1816 CE into the ‘Year Without a Summer.’

The list above is only some of the world’s known supervolcanos and there last major eruption. Those eruptions were 20 to 50 times larger than the Mount Tombaro eruption.

On May 18, 1980, Mount St Helens blew its top. It spewed out one cubic kilometer of ash and debris. The last time that Yellowstone erupted, it sent one thousand cubic kilometers of ash into the atmosphere, and that was a small eruption for Yellowstone.

Scientists claim that many of the supervolcanos of the world are overdue to erupt. They also claim that many of them are not as dormant as one would hope. While they do have a good idea of what will happen when the eruptions occur, there are many disagreements on the exact nature of the eruptions.

Darren Cunningham leaned against a wall at the luggage turnstile at the Haneda International Airport in Tokyo Japan. He stared at his phone.

For the last year, Darren had been living in Tokyo with his father, Fred. His mother had sent him there when she was diagnosed with cancer. Darren was sixteen years old. He was a tall and thin teenager that more resembled a scarecrow than a person at times. The long, messy hair and baggy clothes didn’t help the image. He wore blue jeans and a simple tee-shirt underneath his bomber jacket.

He didn’t personally like the bomber jacket, and fedora look that he was sporting, but when his school friend Yuki Tanamoro had suggested he buy it, he just couldn’t say no. Not that she was his girlfriend, she was just a friend.

Freddie worked for Yuki’s dad at some corporation that built robots. He was a robotic engineer.

“Everything okay?” A Japanese voice said from beside him.

Darren looked over. Yuki had walked up and was standing beside him. She wore a simple blue skirt, a white button up blouse and matching blue sports jacket. An emblem of some kind was stitched over the right breast of the coat.

Yuki was shorter than Darren but held herself in confidence. She wore little make-up and had short cropped hair.

“Yes.” Darren said in Japanese, “My mom keeps texting me about Anthony.”

“Time difference?” Yuki asked in Japanese.

“Yes.” Darren said, “After a year, she still doesn’t understand that we’re seventeen hours ahead of them.”

“When is your brother going to be here?” Yuki said.

“His flight’s been delayed,” Darren said.

“Again?” Yuki said.

“It will still be a half hour.”

“Didn’t they delay it in Vancouver?” Yuki asked.

“Yes,” Darren said.

Yuki leaned against Darren.

“I’m bored,” Yuki said.

Darren’s phone buzzed, and he looked at the display. A news article flashed across the screen. It was something about the Yellowstone National Park in the United States.

“While this is an unprecedented geological event.” The news anchor on the tiny screen said in English, “It is not unusual. It has happened before. Geologists are urging calm and collected thoughts. Yellowstone while releasing ash is not going to erupt anytime soon. Similar events have happened many times in the last fifteen years.”

Darren turned up the volume of the small TV screen so that he and Yuki could hear it.

The news reporter was in Yellowstone national park with the volcano spitting up ash and smoke in the background. Huge lights lit up the volcano in the darkness of the night. Darren saw a large group of scientists behind him near the volcano. The news reporter was whispering to a man just off of the video screen.

“That’s right, the amount of smoke and ash coming out of the volcano has picked up in the last five minutes.” The news reporter on the tiny screen.

“The scientists here are saying that the volcano is going to let off some ash and smoke for a couple of days and then go back to normal. This is a good sign for the volcano. It means that there is no pressure in the magma chamber and that there is little fear of it erupting. The most problems that we may experience is for those with asthma or other breathing problems in the immediate area.”

The News Reporter leaned out of the camera shot for a moment.

“Sorry about that Bob.” The Reporter said, “Due to the ash, I have been notified that we are being asked to leave here immediately. The area 150 miles around the park is included in the area of evacuations.”

The scene changed back to a man sitting at a desk in a newsroom.

“More will come with this breaking story as it unfolds. Until then, here is a word from our sponsors.” The news anchor said.

The screen changed to an advertisement about a late night talk show.

Darren turned off the phone.

“That’s scary.” Yuki said, “I should probably tell my dad about it. He’ll want to know.”

Yuki pulled out her phone and typed some text out.

Darren and Yuki stood at the luggage turnstile waiting for Anthony’s flight to show up. The Haneda International Airport was spread out around them. The airport terminal was large and spacious. It’s brown tiled floor, and large open spaces gave it a very public feeling. The airport was crowded with hundreds of passengers, but Darren didn’t feel as claustrophobic as he thought that we would.

Most of the passengers were from Asia, with a few from Europe and North America scattered around the terminal for spice. Darren figured that most people were probably Japanese as they were in Japan. It made sense to him, especially after living here for a year.

The massive digital sign on a far wall changed. The part that mentioned Anthony’s flight changed to ‘Arrived.’

A few minutes later, a long line of passengers walked past Darren and Yuki. They all went to wait by the Turnstile. In amongst the passengers was Anthony.

Anthony Cunningham was Darren’s younger brother and was two years his junior. Though Darren wondered at times if there was a conspiracy and he was really much younger than that. Or at least his maturity level said as much. Like Darren, Anthony was scrawny and small for his age. But that was where the similarities between them stopped. Anthony’s hair was always in wild hairdo that resembled a favorite anime character. Darren thought that he looked like a bit of a dork.