Arthur Hailey - Overload

Nim informed her about the impending "rolling blackouts" and that their own home would be affected, beginning Wednesday.

Characteristically, Ruth had said, "No problem. We'll plan ahead, and manage."

For a while, Ruth's mother, Rachel, would be coming in several days a week to help with the house and allow Ruth to rest.

"Listen to this." Ruth had turned to the Chronicle-West editorial page and began reading aloud.

THE POWER STRUGGLE

This newspaper, which tries to be honest and forthright in its opinions, admits to having second thoughts about some stands we have taken in the past.

We have, like many others, opposed increased development of nuclear electric power. We have, because of concern about pollution, aligned ourselves with opposition to coal-burning electric generating plants. We have supported wildlife preservation groups who opposed building additional dams for hydroelectric projects on the grounds that wildlife, especially fish populations, might be diminished. We expressed doubt about permitting more geothermal electric plants, fearing they would upset the economies of established tourist areas.

We do not apologize for any of these stands . They represented, and still do, our convictions in specific areas.

But, viewed as a whole, we are forced-in fairness-to agree with the electric power companies of California which argue that their hands have been tied while we have demanded of them what they cannot now deliver.

Instead of compromising here and there, as a give-and-take society should, we have said "no" to almost everything.

Let us remember that when the lights go out next Wednesday.

Perhaps we deserve what we are getting. Whether we do or not, the time has come for serious reappraisal of some long held views-our own and others'.

“There!" Ruth declared, putting down the newspaper. "What do you all think of that?"

Benjy said, "I think they should have mentioned Dad."

Ruth reached out and mussed his hair affectionately.

"It's a smooth piece of writing," Nim said. "Unfortunately, that's all it is. Oh yes, and it's five years late."

"I don't care," Ruth said. "I suppose I should care, but I don't. All I care about right now is being home, and loving you all."

In the afternoon, despite it being Sunday, Nim went to GSP&L headquarters and his office. There was plenty of activity, and decisions needing to be made. In a way, with regular blackouts only three days away, the utility was entering new and uncharted territory. As the chief dispatcher put it when Nim dropped into the Energy Control Center, "We assume everything will go smoothly and, as much as we can, we've all made sure it will. But there's always factor 'u'-for the unexpected, Mr. Goldman.

* * *

I've seen that devil bollix things too many times to believe it won't happen anywhere at any moment."

"We've had quite a few unexpected things already," Nim pointed out.

"Always room for one more, sir; sometimes two," the dispatcher said cheerfully. "Anyhow, that's the way I see it."

On his way home later, Nim wondered about the week to come, and the dispatcher's factor "u."

* * *

An hour or two after Nim went home, Georgos Archambault ventured out from his North Castle apartment. Now that his day for action-Tuesday-was so near, Georgos was more edgy and nervous than at any time since going into hiding. He sensed an observer or pursuer around each corner and in every shadow. But it proved to be imagination only. He obtained food, without incident, at a delicatessen, buying enough to last him until his departure for La Mission on Tuesday evening.

He also bought the Sunday newspapers and, on his way back to the apartment, mailed the envelope which contained that stupid Consumer Survey from Golden State Piss & Lickspittle. Briefly, Georgos hesitated at the mailbox, wondering if he should mail the letter after all. But, observing that the box had already had its single Sunday collection, and would not be cleared again until midmorning Monday, be dropped the envelope in.

Monday, relatively speaking, passed uneventfully. Tuesday, in the early morning hours, did not.

Nature, as if conspiring to embarrass GSP&L at a troubling time, mounted its own onslaught at the utility's geothermal field in the mountains of Sevilla County.

Deep in the earth beneath "Old Desperado," the wellhead which had once blown out of control and was never capped entirely, a subsidence of rock and subsoil released new geothermal steam under enormous pressure. The steam rushed to the surface with the force of twenty locomotives. Then, in a spectacular display which rivaled Dante's Inferno, hot mud, stones and rock were hurled high into the air with apocalyptic force.

Obeying another natural phenomenon, namely, "what goes up must come down," the tons of muck splattered widely over other portions of the geothermal field.

By sheer good luck, the blowout occurred at 2 am when only a handful of workers was on duty, and all were under cover. Consequently, there were neither deaths nor injuries, which would have been inevitable if the blow had happened in the daytime.

But the geothermal field's switching and transformer yard was less fortunate. It was deeply covered in wet muck, as were transmission lines nearby. The muck was a conductor of electricity. As a result, everything shorted out and the flow of power from all geothermal-driven generators; to the GSP & L transmission system was instantly cut off. No great or lasting damage was done. All that was needed was a massive cleanup job which would take two days. As for Old Desperado, its bout of mischief over, it settled back to sporadic, harmless steaming like a simmering kettle.

But for forty-eight hours, until the cleaning was complete, GSP & L would be deprived of seven hundred thousand kilowatts from its normally reliable geothermal source, and would need to find an equivalent amount of power elsewhere. The only way it could be done was by bringing more oil-powered generators on line, and thus the utility's precious reserve of oil was further, and unexpectedly, depleted.

One other question mark hung over Tuesday's operations.

Because of the time of year, out of the company's more than two hundred generating units, an unusually large number were removed from service and undergoing maintenance in preparation for the summer peak-load period. Thus, with the abrupt loss of Big Lil four days earlier, and now all geothermals, GSP&L's total generating capacity irrespective of the oil shortage-would be stretched thin for the next two days.

* * *

Nim learned of the geothermal failure and the potential capacity shortage on coming in to work on Tuesday morning.

His first thought was: How uncanny that the chief dispatcher's factor "u"-the unexpected-had intruded, precisely as the dispatcher said it might. His second was that until geothermal was back on line, GSP & L could not withstand and absorb another factor "u" episode.

The realization made him decide, before he started work, to telephone Karen Sloan.

"Karen," Nim said when she came on the line, "You've arranged to go to Redwood Grove Hospital tomorrow. Right?"

"Yes," she answered, "I'll be there in plenty of time before the afternoon blackout."

"I'd prefer it if you went today," he told her. "Could you do that?"

"Yes, of course, Nimrod. But why?"

"We're having a few problems-some we weren't expecting-and it's possible there could be a non-scheduled power cut. It may not happen, in fact it probably won't, but I'd feel easier if you were at the hospital and close to that standby generator."

"You mean I should go now?"

"Well, fairly soon. It's just a long-shot precaution."

"All right," Karen said. "Josie's here and we'll get ready. And, Nimrod."