321 PsyLo: Part 1

Irony: PsyLo was named after a psyllid, a sap-sucking plant louse pest that jumps from plant-home to plant-home. As such, it was rumored to be an empty ICBM silo populated by "survivalists," now going on 300 years.

There'd been many different survivalist sects. The New World Order speculated that these particular survivalists were a pre-apocalyptic cult who had lived their lives planning for the end of the world via nuclear war.

They had been right.

They had elaborate survival scripts, provisions, and retrofit prowess to bring their intentions to fruition—occupying their silo once it did what it did best—launch. Of course, it hadn't been their silo. Yet.

Until firing its payload, as prophesied.

The mythos generally accepted is that they had hunkered down in that empty silo, to survive, once that one—and all the others—had each released its Valkyrie to cross the Arctic Circle. Two-way traffic, at least. Perhaps three-way. Who knew?

Once the ICBM launched, vacating their prospective survival home, they set into precise motion their plans. Everything had moved quickly.

Along with certain ironies.

Irony: the space vacated by the ICBM's launch—the very thing they feared enough to warrant such survivalism fixations—would serve as their future home. Long before hostile exchanges, they had eyed the former tenant, seeking to be the new one.

Irony: contrasting with that unknown number who would live there after launch, as its new tenants, was the known number of people in Omsk—1,129,281—targeted on the receiving end of the silo's former tenant.

Irony: the very protections in place securing launch readiness of the missile would offer them protection after they sought post-launch refuge there: it was sheltered, ventilated, powered, and elaborately plumbed for easy adaptation from the coolant and hydro-exchange functions to providing the necessities of hydroponic agriculture.

Irony: it was the launching away their future home's contents that made it both possible to have a post-apocalyptic home—but necessary, too. Or, so they thought.

Irony: those of New World Order were the survivors, and those in the PsyLo were prisoners, too frightened by what they feared they'd find if they came out.

Life is irony. So is death. The New World Order wondered how much sap was left in PsyLo.

________

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Yep. Survivalist silos exist.

For Saturday, November 16, Day 321 of the 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge.

366 WORDS (without A/N)

45 DAYS TO GO! THE SAP RUNS ON IN THIS VOCAL CHALLENGE, 366 CURIES A DAY.

There are currently three Vocal survivalist writers in this 2024 Story-a-Day Challenge:

• L.C. (Foresighted) Schäfer

• Rachel (Hindsighted) Deeming

• Gerard (Blindsided) DiLeo