Chapter 1- Zeitgeist
Things seemed quite; it was 11:30 P.M., late at night, and yet despite this it was remarkably bright outside. It was still clearly night time, however the moon shown with an intensity that was almost awe inspiring, bright enough to create clear shadows, and make it easy to see even all the way down the street. There was no mistaking it for day time, however, it was as if there was a strange, blue light emanating and permeating the environment, creating a strange incandescent glow. It was a perfect night to actually be involved in night activities, since it was still dark enough and cool enough to provide a relief from the day, but bright enough to have no trouble seeing someone; it was almost as if it was as if it was day time with a cloudy overcast, except everything was slightly darker, and blue. It was a full moon out tonight, perhaps a perfect night for an invasion.
Not so surprisingly, although perhaps strangely, it was not much later until the power went out. It was shut down with a sudden click, and my computer buzzing and whirring, briefly turning itself back on and then shutting off again, almost as if there had been a surge of power, and the system tried to turn itself on again, but failed to do so. The rest of my house stood oddly still, the fans beginning to slow down, and the characteristic buzzing sound of my computer and AC now non-existent. Everything from my fridge, to my AC, to my computer had been shut down; all the conveniences of modern living. Of course, without a computer or TV I had no way of receiving communication in a manner that wouldn't take weeks if at least not days for news to spread. Without phones, I had no way of receiving pertinent information of any oncoming storms, emerging threats by my friends or family, the ability to contact emergency services, or just to generally communicate among neighbors. The internet was integral to how I received up to date information from relatives and acquaintances, as well as most of my current events, and without the TV or phone there was no substitute for that either. The fridge made it possible to store food well past it's spoiling point, so it allowed me to possess large quantities of healthy food I otherwise couldn't have without such technology. All of it was dependent on electricity; it not only was annoying, but at this stage of development I actually relied on it to survive, and to form the basis of my being. Trucks and cars would transport food to the grocery stores, I would transport myself there using similar machine which they themselves were dependent on fuel which was pumped using electricity, and then bring it home to be preserved in my refrigerator and air conditioned home.
Without it all, I didn't have much to do. Perhaps my entire identity and most of what I did was crafted around such technology. Even if I went somewhere, say a restaurant or mall to hang out, it still required transportation from a car to get there, and the luxuries afforded to me at home there in order to make staying there a comfortable and even healthy experience. Especially since it was night time, but perhaps not too late, now reaching 12:00 A.M., it wasn't like I could realistically go anywhere that wouldn't be closed down or close to be, so the best option was just to try to focus on something else; with it being dark, nearly pitch black in my house without the lighting, even the subtle glow of the on and off button on many of my appliances, I couldn't read or play a game, and that assumed I even wanted to at the time. As a result, after some, I decided to head outside, where it had appeared my neighbors had done the same. Most of them had the same expression and compulsion, to go outside and see what was going on, look up at the sky, and looking around to our neighbors to see what they were up to. Was it just my house, was it just isolated and localized in this area, was it going in nearby neighborhoods or just this one? Didn't anyone have any inkling as to why this was happening, or what was the purpose? We all looked at each other and laughed, lightening the mood somewhat, and sharing in each other's "misery" of lacking modern luxuries and having nothing to do. It was bright outside, so we could see everything, almost eerily so, and it was clear to us that every house on the street, and down the neighborhood, apparently was out of power, as well. This had happened before of course, and the power would quickly turn back on as soon as someone fixed a transformer that had blown, but the size and scope was a little more alarming, but nothing too out of the ordinary. It had been over an hour since it turned off, and we expected it to be turned on faster than that, but knew that many delays or a large scale power surge could have blown multiple transformers, and being at night, they might not have known where they blown up or had the manpower to go after them. It may have just been protocol to take things slower in order to be safe, since it was in general harder to see at night, even if this night wasn't the darkest night there had ever been. It was perfectly clear outside, with few clouds in the sky, so it likely wasn't from a storm or the wind, yet it clearly wasn't coming back on for this time. Most alarming was the lack of cellphone service I was receiving; it wasn't out of batteries, but it didn't seem to be getting reception, to a point where being outside on a cloudless day only made it seemed more odd. Were the cellphone towers out? Maybe it was a much larger power grid failure than just the neighborhood, although that would mean this was something more serious. Perhaps a lot of emergency calls were being made, or simply being night time meant they didn't provide the same level of service, so there was an overload in calls. Maybe it was just one of the first times a large power grid failure like this had occurred, and he was worrying too much as it would be turned on in a few hours.
Somewhat more curious now, and lacking anything better to do, he headed off down the street and started walking down the sidewalk to get a better look at the surrounding houses. Incidentally, he began walking towards his neighbors, who he knew fairly well, and of whom waved at him as he passed. Waving back, I said "Hi, how's it going? Nice night isn't it; the moon is really bright."
Gesturing back that they agreed, I said in a somewhat humorous tone "Ope, we're being attacked. The Russians are invading; this is the precursor to any invasion you know, an EMP! First they take out the power grid to knock out communications and sew confusion, and then they invade with ground forces to try to capture the territory. It's the perfect plan; there's really no point in nuking a territory and just irradiating it forever, and it could easily spark retaliation for civilian deaths, so the first thing they'd do is simply user one to try to take out our power more than anything. Yep; expect any moment for paratroopers in blue helmets to start coming down and airplanes to be flying over head. It's all over. We're doomed. WWIII is starting."
They seemed a little shocked by my nearly deadpan and quite assertive tone, as if I knew exactly what was going on, but recognized clearly that it was a joke, and started laughing. Without much more to say we just kept laughing as I was walking by, and one of them commented how they really had no idea what to do when it was so dark out and we didn't have anything electronic to use. Continuing to walk on by and waving at the four men, nearly my age, standing around in their front lawn commenting on the situation, I gave a final wave and set "Watch out for men in blue helmets falling from the sky!" And continued on down the sidewalk. I couldn't actually see a house with their lights on, however,
Not so surprisingly, although perhaps strangely, it was not much later until the power went out. It was shut down with a sudden click, and my computer buzzing and whirring, briefly turning itself back on and then shutting off again, almost as if there had been a surge of power, and the system tried to turn itself on again, but failed to do so. The rest of my house stood oddly still, the fans beginning to slow down, and the characteristic buzzing sound of my computer and AC now non-existent. Everything from my fridge, to my AC, to my computer had been shut down; all the conveniences of modern living. Of course, without a computer or TV I had no way of receiving communication in a manner that wouldn't take weeks if at least not days for news to spread. Without phones, I had no way of receiving pertinent information of any oncoming storms, emerging threats by my friends or family, the ability to contact emergency services, or just to generally communicate among neighbors. The internet was integral to how I received up to date information from relatives and acquaintances, as well as most of my current events, and without the TV or phone there was no substitute for that either. The fridge made it possible to store food well past it's spoiling point, so it allowed me to possess large quantities of healthy food I otherwise couldn't have without such technology. All of it was dependent on electricity; it not only was annoying, but at this stage of development I actually relied on it to survive, and to form the basis of my being. Trucks and cars would transport food to the grocery stores, I would transport myself there using similar machine which they themselves were dependent on fuel which was pumped using electricity, and then bring it home to be preserved in my refrigerator and air conditioned home.
Without it all, I didn't have much to do. Perhaps my entire identity and most of what I did was crafted around such technology. Even if I went somewhere, say a restaurant or mall to hang out, it still required transportation from a car to get there, and the luxuries afforded to me at home there in order to make staying there a comfortable and even healthy experience. Especially since it was night time, but perhaps not too late, now reaching 12:00 A.M., it wasn't like I could realistically go anywhere that wouldn't be closed down or close to be, so the best option was just to try to focus on something else; with it being dark, nearly pitch black in my house without the lighting, even the subtle glow of the on and off button on many of my appliances, I couldn't read or play a game, and that assumed I even wanted to at the time. As a result, after some, I decided to head outside, where it had appeared my neighbors had done the same. Most of them had the same expression and compulsion, to go outside and see what was going on, look up at the sky, and looking around to our neighbors to see what they were up to. Was it just my house, was it just isolated and localized in this area, was it going in nearby neighborhoods or just this one? Didn't anyone have any inkling as to why this was happening, or what was the purpose? We all looked at each other and laughed, lightening the mood somewhat, and sharing in each other's "misery" of lacking modern luxuries and having nothing to do. It was bright outside, so we could see everything, almost eerily so, and it was clear to us that every house on the street, and down the neighborhood, apparently was out of power, as well. This had happened before of course, and the power would quickly turn back on as soon as someone fixed a transformer that had blown, but the size and scope was a little more alarming, but nothing too out of the ordinary. It had been over an hour since it turned off, and we expected it to be turned on faster than that, but knew that many delays or a large scale power surge could have blown multiple transformers, and being at night, they might not have known where they blown up or had the manpower to go after them. It may have just been protocol to take things slower in order to be safe, since it was in general harder to see at night, even if this night wasn't the darkest night there had ever been. It was perfectly clear outside, with few clouds in the sky, so it likely wasn't from a storm or the wind, yet it clearly wasn't coming back on for this time. Most alarming was the lack of cellphone service I was receiving; it wasn't out of batteries, but it didn't seem to be getting reception, to a point where being outside on a cloudless day only made it seemed more odd. Were the cellphone towers out? Maybe it was a much larger power grid failure than just the neighborhood, although that would mean this was something more serious. Perhaps a lot of emergency calls were being made, or simply being night time meant they didn't provide the same level of service, so there was an overload in calls. Maybe it was just one of the first times a large power grid failure like this had occurred, and he was worrying too much as it would be turned on in a few hours.
Somewhat more curious now, and lacking anything better to do, he headed off down the street and started walking down the sidewalk to get a better look at the surrounding houses. Incidentally, he began walking towards his neighbors, who he knew fairly well, and of whom waved at him as he passed. Waving back, I said "Hi, how's it going? Nice night isn't it; the moon is really bright."
Gesturing back that they agreed, I said in a somewhat humorous tone "Ope, we're being attacked. The Russians are invading; this is the precursor to any invasion you know, an EMP! First they take out the power grid to knock out communications and sew confusion, and then they invade with ground forces to try to capture the territory. It's the perfect plan; there's really no point in nuking a territory and just irradiating it forever, and it could easily spark retaliation for civilian deaths, so the first thing they'd do is simply user one to try to take out our power more than anything. Yep; expect any moment for paratroopers in blue helmets to start coming down and airplanes to be flying over head. It's all over. We're doomed. WWIII is starting."
They seemed a little shocked by my nearly deadpan and quite assertive tone, as if I knew exactly what was going on, but recognized clearly that it was a joke, and started laughing. Without much more to say we just kept laughing as I was walking by, and one of them commented how they really had no idea what to do when it was so dark out and we didn't have anything electronic to use. Continuing to walk on by and waving at the four men, nearly my age, standing around in their front lawn commenting on the situation, I gave a final wave and set "Watch out for men in blue helmets falling from the sky!" And continued on down the sidewalk. I couldn't actually see a house with their lights on, however,
