A Time to Pause

A Moment for Reflection

The project with my friend, and editor, in Seattle, is going to plan; she is about halfway through her edit process. As always, I am more grateful than I can say, and ashamed I cannot pay her for what she is doing.

In past times, at this stage, I would be planning the sequel, but I have learned the lesson well. Only prepare the second book, if the first sells well, which mine rarely do since the Forgestriker science fiction series, over a decade ago.

I was thinking of writing an eco-thriller for a change.

This is a rough starting page.

This is the start of the short story I have planned.

The offices of the FDSN (International Federation of Digital Siesmic Networks) in Toledo, Spain were no strangers to earth tremors; it was a firm's joke that at some time during each week, the offices rock, but not like the slide which occurred 17th October 2009; that day was a day that the people in Toledo would not forget as the tremor that day was the beginning of a new dawn.

Tierra del Hielo

(Land of Ice)

Sandra Echelosia was sitting at her desk when the room shook so violently she was thrown five meters, as she rose from the ground she said, "Where did that come from, we have no quakes forecast for over a week, and that will be a lot smaller, so what did we miss?"

Micos Andreas, her superior, glanced at the electronic chart which displayed the state of the planet, and replied, "I can't say. The chart is the same as before the quake, there is no platelet movement being recorded."

Sandra asked, "Do we have any signs of what happened, Louisa?"

Louisa Selanger swung round to reply, her black hair now covered in dust, then replied, "No, Sandra, all I am showing is a minute movement in the Middle East plate near Israel."

MIcos replied, "I can't imagine a small movement that far off could cause such a tremor in Toledo, something more significant must have happened."

Alain Recindrous, the person checking the state of the Earth in space commented, "You're not going to believe this, but I swear it's true. That small explosion in Israel was caused by a power plant close to Haifa blowing up. That explosion must have made the Earth change its angle towards the sun. Years of wars, and bombing finally caused a major incident."

Thinking ahead, Micos called to Sandra, "Can you get me a vid link to Japan, Hawaii, and San Fransisco please," as he turned to her, she saw his face grow weary.

Sandra enquired, "What is on your mind?"

Turning slowly, Micos replied, "Our worst-case scenario has become a reality. I fear the effects of this quake will surpass those of the great quake of November 1775."

The room went as quiet as the grave; during the courses at various universities, students had been told this was the worst quake in the history of Spain, up to 100,000 people died when a tsunami hit Portugal and southern Spain.