The Maze of Madison (scifi story): Chapter Eight - The Bitter Cold Night That Lasted a Month

Chapter One: So it Begins
Chapter Two: Into the Dark
Chapter Three: Confounded by a Lock of Stone
Chapter Four: The Ponderous Path Home
Chapter Five: Fleeing the Immolation
Chapter Six: Weathering the Firestorm
Chapter Seven: An Aftermath of Exhaustion and Cinders

Chapter Eight: The Bitter Cold Night That Lasted a Month

I wish I could say life immediately calmed down after we had greenhoused the crops: it didn't. Not only did the the crops need to be placed in greenhouses, but they had to be warmed and lit. The fires had virtually blocked the sun. They did so for a whole month. The skies were black with a very faded red sun. The days were freezing. The nights were worse. And it all smelled awful.

As can be imagined, the air quality was terrible. The smoke and particulates were omnipresent. Burned, charred bits of Madlife plants caused coughing fits in anyone foolish to go outside without a respirator: every house had filtered air just in case after the colonization, disaster and salvation of Escheria. Even so, there were more than a handful of individuals who had allergic reactions to the semi incompatible biochemistry of Madison, even if burned some chemicals were not completely destroyed: ever burned Earth chiles? And, yes, as might be expected, there were deaths.

There was some talk of evacuating the colony. People were dying. Fire season was sooner than anticipated. The consequences of fire season were far, far worse than we had anticipated. Many people were terrified. They demanded a meeting of the colony. They got it. Many people thought the world was ending.

It was not. The Mayor stood before them and rallied the colony. This was the frontier, people! When Humanity pushed out and in, the frontier pushed back. The fire season of Madison was nothing compared to what the American colonists on Escheria had endured and they had even thrived in the last couple decades. If Americans had become Escherians and joined the national mythos as much as the Old West or the 13 Original Colonies and their Revolutionary War or the Civil War or Civil Rights Campaign or the Apollo and Ares Programs, then Madisonians could handle the much anticipated and planned for fire season. Besides, she quipped, under Madison's Presidency, Washington, DC had been burned and it was very much a thriving city today.

The Mayor held sway. The people calmed. We all went home.

But it still smelled, an off smell, burned, but not quite right. Like something organic that was unhealthy had been burned. Not plastic, but not anything else either.

Sweeper bots cleared the streets. People went about their business. The sky was black with red where the sun was. barely. For all intents and purposes, it was night with a faded red moon. Cold and bitter, the sun was. Cold and remote and uncaring, unwilling to share her warmth.

The first week, Tobias and I shared a lot of tasks together. Normally, we'd be in school, high school, but we were old enough to actually be useful in an adult way. We helped set up awnings above the streets, or more properly, made sure the bots that were doing so were actually not freezing solid. That happened a few times. And correcting any mistakes. No one wanted to live in a single building, but no one liked the black and gray ash falling on them either. So the coverings were up and in place.

I would have thought we would have hot meals brought to us, but the chance some ash with its Madlife contaminants might have gotten in the food made sure we actually were ushered inside for the meals. Ironically, the first few days were actually spaghetti. The tomatoes had frozen and died, but they had been washed and processed as fast as possible. Amusingly, there was even a green tomato mincemeat pie for dessert. It was shockingly good for something so unconventional a use.

It was cold. It was dark. It was smoky and smoggy. And miserable.

And then it snowed. Adding insult to injury. Not a clean, bright, snow that might have given a sense of newness and beauty. Not a crisp white. Rather, it was blackened and, at best, gray and foul. It was as though Madison was saying, "I know what more will make you miserable, invaders! Here you go! Enjoy! Or at least I will!"

At that point, life outside ceased. People stayed inside and worked remotely, if they could, often through telepresence through their boosters and used virtual worlds for meetings, direct brain to brain with only the appearance of being in a world at all.

For some, it was a heaven sent. For others, it was even greater misery. Yes, they were warm and cozy in their homes like caterpillars in cocoons, but there was no in person social interaction. At least not on a large scale. And those that needed that, thrived on that, were addicted to that...probably ought not have come out to a colony in the first place, but they had and so they were even more miserable than the rest.

Tobias and I slipped back into school. I had to catch up on weeks of vector space math and he had to write cyber essays for his bot interpretive class. We had a billion edu immies - educational immersives - to get caught up on as well. It became as oppressive as the rest. However, as we were, as we needed, as we could, we snuck off.

To be sure, venturing out of town then would have set off every alarm on the planet. Probably literally. However, Tobias made sure he pulled duty walking the walls with the patrol bots and he'd send me a coded message to join. There we talked.

After all, we had an adventure to start. One that would, unfortunately, have to begin with dealing with a nasty character who would ask a price we wouldn't like and we would owe and quite possibly not get out from under. Our talks, that Tobias and I had, were to try to figure a way of not having to call on that nasty person. I had hoped we could. I had hoped Tobias would agree to risk getting caught rather than that.

Tobias was a rock, immovable.

We agreed on a couple days not to talk and then tink to each other a note. If we were going to talk to Daniel Davis Dachnovi? Or were we going to try to do this on our own. Tobias picked the code word 'Armin Singh' for if we felt we needed to. I picked 'Indiana Jones' for if we were not.

Two days past.

I got a tink.

Armin Singh.

I tinked back.

Armin Singh.

We were going to have to deal with Daniel Davis Dachnovi.

And I hated that. I just wished Tobias hated it even more than I did so we didn't deal with him.

Alas.