Sweetness in the Dark (2 page)

As Paul and Amanda sat down, Paul said, “Ms. Savage, this hardly seems sufficient to make up for the way you were treated this morning.”

“Well then, if I might suggest, Dr. Kendall, perhaps you could join me for a little get-together I’m having at my place in celebration of finishing my thesis. At least if I get good news from my committee.”

“I’m sure you have nothing to worry about. Your work in my class is exemplary and I’m sure your thesis shows the same excellent work,” Paul said.

“So you’ll join me then?”

“I would love to, but I have a policy of not involving myself with my students personally. In fact, it’s an ISE policy.”

“Oh.” Amanda looked down at her food, the disappointment visible. She suddenly smiled and raised her head. Looking straight at Paul she added. “Well, then you can attend. As of today, I’m no longer a student. I’ve completed my studies, I’m just waiting for the committee’s answer and then I’ll collect my graduate degree.”

Paul sat and looked at the young woman across from him. She seemed genuinely excited about his presence at her celebration. And she was technically right about no longer being a student.

It had been a long time since he had been with a woman. Friends had tried to set him up after his divorce but each time things had not seemed right. Along with the attention he gave his children after their mother walked out on them, Paul had been too busy to think about getting involved with anyone.

Not that Amanda sought any such thing. She was just inviting me to a party with others
, Paul thought.
A harmless celebration of her accomplishment. What could it hurt
?

“I suppose you’re right. You are giving up your student status, but I’ll attend on one condition. You need to call me Paul.”

“OK then, you need to call me Amanda.”

With the tension removed between teacher and student, the two adults spent the rest of the meal discussing McNeill’s analysis of human history and the affects that disease had on it. The time sped by as other students came and went. Soon it was late afternoon and the restaurant was practically empty. The mood was broken when the waitress asked if the two needed anything.

“Oh my word, look at the time,” Amanda exclaimed.

Paul looked at his watch. It was close to four o’clock. They had been so transfixed discussing historical facts that the time had flown.

“Well, there’s no point heading to Meridian now. You’d arrive about closing time. I can write you an excuse if you need.” He stopped. He sounded like a fifth grade teacher, talking to a tardy child. Sitting across from him was a very adult, beautiful woman that was a bit red-faced at her oversight. She took the offer with a smile.

“Thanks, Paul, for that offer. I can handle the mayor myself.” She smiled at him.

“I was only offering to…”

She brought her hand up and placed a finger on his lips. Paul felt a jolt of electricity hit him like none had in a long time. Amanda let her finger linger longer than was necessary. Her eyes showed she felt the same connection between the two of them.

“Well, since we’ve been bad in returning to our work this afternoon and it’s Friday, I propose that we continue what we’ve been doing. I’ve wanted to discuss with someone Laurie Garrett’s work. Are you familiar with it?” Amanda said.

“
Betrayal of Trust
or
The Coming Plague
. Both are excellent works. They fit in with McNeill’s work.”

“Good. Do you know how hard it is to find someone that I can have a decent conversation with over this stuff?”

The two fell into a deep discussion until the evening waitress showed up. Her presence reminded the two that the restaurant was gearing up for Friday night.

“Perhaps we need to let them have their table back?” Paul said.

“Is there somewhere else we can go to continue our talk?” Amanda inquired.

As they stepped into the main foyer of the building through the restaurant side door, he looked at the elevator doors nearby.
Would it be moving things too fast?
he thought. His two children were with their mom for the weekend.

Just because he and Amanda were hitting things off intellectually didn’t mean that anything more might transpire.
There is at least fifteen years difference between us
, he thought. Certainly there was just a common interest in academics between them. Her offer to continue their discussion warranted an answer.
But where? Do I dare offer?
he thought.

“If you don’t think me impertinent, I have an apartment upstairs where we could sit and talk,” Paul offered.

Pine Mountain Observatory, near Bend, Oregon (July)

Thunderstorms started building in the afternoon over Pine Mountain Observatory. Located at 6500’, the Observatory towered over the surrounding high desert country of Central Oregon. Twenty-six miles southeast of Bend, the Observatory was the research facility of the University of Oregon Physics Department.

The largest operating telescope this day was pointed toward the sun as one of the professors and his students worked on their research. But their work would have to wait as the large doors began to shut to protect the delicate 32” telescope from possible hail damage.

Thunderstorms were a frequent visitor to the Observatory during the summer months and this July was turning out to be one of the most active yet. Already the Observatory had been evacuated twice from wild fires started on the mountain by lightning strikes. Both had been suppressed by the U.S. Forest Service, but the dry undergrowth was still waiting for another storm to set things ablaze.

“Dr. Ewing, we can finish up here,” one of the students offered. “Your wife called hours ago and I know you’ve been anxious to call her back.”

“Thank you. I almost forgot,” Dr. John Ewing replied. Sometimes he needed a pad of paper hung around his neck to remind him of things. When he worked on the telescope, time just flew by.
Just put me down as the ‘absent-minded professor’
, he thought.

He had enjoyed that old movie immensely when his kids were small.
Fred McMurray played the part well
, he thought.
The new version with Robin Williams was definitely inferior. Modern Hollywood just didn’t do the job like they did in the old days
.

“I think we got some good pictures before the storm blew in,” the graduate intern added.

John focused back on the telescope, with the young people standing and waiting for instructions.

“Go ahead and work those pictures up for transmission to SOHO. They’ll want to see them right away. Just mind the lightning. Power down if it really lights up around us,” John said. SOHO stood for the Solar and Heliosphere Observatory. SOHO collected data from around the country for analysis.

The Pine Mountain Observatory had numerous lightning rods on its buildings and the electrical system was fully protected from any strikes. But the equipment was sensitive and he didn’t want to risk a power surge taking out any of the expensive equipment. The University was frugal with its budget and if something went down, it might be a long time before a replacement could be purchased.

“Are you expecting a repeat of last month, Dr. Ewing?” one student asked.

“We are in a Solar Max period. Last month’s CME was in line with the size that had been predicted,” John answered. CME stood for Coronal Mass Ejections, the scientific term for a solar flare. John noticed a certain concern in her voice. For her benefit. he added, “We’ll have plenty of warning from the Space Weather Prediction Center on any X-class ejections.”

A Solar Max was a period of maximum activity on the sun compared with a Solar Minimum. Each period lasted about eleven years and this Solar Max was in its tenth year. The sun went through phases of solar flares and last month’s flare had led to some electrical outages in Argentina.

Things had definitely been heating up on the sun over the last month and he wanted to continue watching from the Observatory. The sun had recently thrown out two high X-class ejections but luckily they had been aimed out into space and not at Earth.
We dodged it that time
, John thought.

John headed to his office to call his wife, Mary, back in Eugene. He hadn’t been home for almost three weeks now due to all the solar activity.

“Mary, sorry to be so slow getting back to you. Things have been hectic here,” John said. He knew Mary had resigned herself long ago to having an absent husband.

“John, Isaac has his final baseball game this weekend for the American Legion. He’s heading off to college soon, if you remember. You may not get another chance to see him play. Do you think you could make it over?” Mary asked.

She knew how to make her point. The college remark hurt, but she was right. He’d been away too much and had missed his three children growing up. Every summer he headed to Pine Mountain and every school year he was busy with classes.

“I’ll get away. Tell Isaac I’ll be over Friday evening. Maybe we can go out for breakfast Saturday morning before his game,” John said.

“They have a team breakfast before every tournament. You’d know that if you’d been around here more often,” Mary said. Her exasperation was evident.

“Sorry. I’ll be home for the whole weekend. See you soon,” John said. There wasn’t much else to say and he hung up quickly as a large clap of thunder rocked the Observatory.
No need getting electrocuted holding on to a phone
, he thought. And it offered an opportunity to avoid any more stings from his wife.

He loved his wife, but he loved his work, too. He knew that his children had suffered because of his work, but at least their mother had been able to stay home and be there for them.

John suddenly realized he was famished. The Observatory had living quarters for those who studied and worked there. The kitchen was well stocked and once a week someone would drive into Bend with the shopping list. John grabbed some yogurt and noticed some new nectarines on the counter.
My favorite: yogurt, nectarine and some granola
, he thought.

John ate while he read his professional journal. The kitchen grew quiet as the thunderstorm moved off to the east.
That one hadn’t been bad
, John thought. The building had shook a couple times from lightning strikes close by.
We’ll have to wait to see if the Weather Service calls about nearby strikes and any fires
, he thought.

As the senior staff member, he was responsible for everyone’s safety at Pine Mountain. When he headed to Eugene in a couple of days, he’d make sure the graduate intern was ready to take over.

“Dr. Ewing, there’s a phone call from Boulder.” John looked up as the student broke the stillness.

“Thank you,” John said.
Now, what did Boulder want?
he thought. The Space Weather Prediction Center was located in Boulder and it was almost certainly them calling. John hurried to his office and punched the extension on his phone. “John Ewing here.”

“Doc, Max here.” John envisioned Max when he heard his voice. Max had been one of John’s doctoral students a couple of years back and they had stayed in touch. Max had landed a job at SWPC and had been excited about moving to Colorado.

“Max, good to hear from you. How’s the mountain biking?” John asked. Max had always been an ardent biker and always mentioned how he liked the sunny weather of Boulder. “You miss the rain of Eugene yet?”

“Doc, our satellites just reported Sunspot AR1654 flared again. NOAA is acknowledging it as ‘BGD’. It looks seriously big,” Max said. John could tell Max tried to keep his emotions in check as he talked. He wasn’t succeeding very well.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, ran the Space Weather Prediction Center. If they were labeling the latest sun activity as a BGD, that wasn’t good. A Beta-Gamma-Delta, or BGD, was the most complex solar magnetic configuration that existed. It meant that the positive and negative polarity fields were in a strong gradient.

“How large is it?” John asked.

“1100 SM and growing. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory picked up the re-flare and measured it at M2.6,” Max answered.

M2.6 was high for a re-flare
, John thought. The Solar Dynamics Observatory, SDO, was a satellite positioned between the earth and the sun which provided a limited warning system. “So we can expect further activity from this spot soon?”

“I’ll call if we get any further reports,” Max said.

“Thanks, Max. I appreciate the heads up.” He knew Max must be busy and had taken valuable time to call with the information. It would soon be on the SWPC’s website, but John had learned long ago that NOAA was slow on evaluating SDO reports.
Better to have an inside source
, he thought.

John didn’t have long to wait for his inside source to call again. He answered Max’s call with trepidation.
He wouldn’t have called back so soon if it wasn’t important
, John thought.

“Max, it must be something big to call back so soon,” John said.

“Doc, I wouldn’t have called so soon, but this is big.” John definitely heard the panic in Max’s voice.

“How big?” John carefully asked.

“The Mother of All Solar Flares big. Remember how we used to discuss the possibility of a Z-class flare. This one may be it. And it’s aimed right at us.”

John closed his eyes. On the scientific scale for solar activity, X size storms had been the highest that had ever been detected. To move up into the Z category would mean disaster. “How much time?”

“Two hours, three tops. It’s coming fast and furious,” Max said.

Middle Fork of the Salmon River, Idaho (the same day)

“Paul, we need to pull in and let the kids catch up,” Amanda said.

Paul Kendall turned on the cooler he sat on and noticed that his two children had drifted too far upstream for safety. He pulled on his oars and the cataraft responded quickly. Heading toward a nice eddy in the river, he slid into a quiet spot behind a rock. The raft would sit with little attention until Matt and Meredith caught up.