Coronal Mass Ejection

1.

It is midnight in New York. At JFK International Airport, there was a rather peculiar event that happened, the power went out all over the airport with no explanation. People trying to call out were met with the realization that their cell phones and the landlines were not working. Nothing was able to be seen. Airport officials were looking out the window alongside the Air Traffic Controllers and seeing nothing but the cold sharp gaze of darkness all around them.

Reaching out to their radios they tried to communicate with the pilots that are flying above the city. With power lacking all over the airport, officials were baffled at what the cause and what to do during their newly found unimaginable situation. They, as soon discovered, were unable to reach the airplanes flying above nor could those pilots reach the central hub of Air Traffic Control. Shortly thereafter, a widely colored light display was appearing in the skies around them. Many had never seen the Northern Lights so close, but others had and again, the thought of the majority was nothing out of the ordinary.

Just as soon as those lights above the airport appeared, they noticed the lights of the city around them flashing, and then turning off altogether. It was as if it was in unison. The lights, then the lack of city lights. The next thing that had shook them was the generators kicking on then immediately powering down, no back up system in place of the backup and suddenly as the flashed green screen flashed off, they all looked at one another and their thoughts were as one. What about the planes that are above us?

Not one person said a word for a good long while, in fact, what broke them was a distress call over a walkie-talkie. It was a guard that was asking questions about the blackout. But the sudden sounds of pain that emerged from the speaker on their end was a little absurd, something that a guard would not do. Their thoughts plagued the nighttime air in the room…

What was going on out there?

With the darkness encompassing the world, the planes that were flying above found themselves alone. The pilots were looking at their Global Positioning Satellite devices on their dashboard and compared them to the compasses that were alongside them. The differences were incomprehensible. The GPS told them that they were thousands of miles off course but those with the old fashion compass onboard as well were just as lost as those without. The spinning dial was repositioning them all over and no one was able to figure anything out. With all Air Traffic Controls going out all over, what were these brave pilots to do with so many souls on board?

At three o’clock in the morning the first plane crashed into the ocean, far away from its original destination.

On the Earthen surface below, the world was beginning to experience a shock to their system that they would never see again in their lifetimes.

Times Square, the people outside who normally gather there were treated to lights that they normally do not see. The Aurora Borealis was bright with greens, blues, pinks, and purples, all shining so bright in the evening sky that it was hard to tell where the stars were. Then the lights of the city began to power off in massive sparks that sent shockwaves throughout all of New York City. The colors at first were a nice treat for the open populous, but the sudden sparks from the lights and giant television screens made the crowds disperse in a panic.

Running as fast as they could, the people were trampling over one another trying to get to their home or away, far away, first. As unhinging as this was to them, no one had any idea why the lights in Times Square or the tv monitors there were sparking and sending electricity down into the center.

As people were sitting in their offices, going over daily tasks, the power in there was flickering, then it went out without anyone toying with the lights. The fluorescent bulbs and computer monitor above and at eye level shattered in and on people’s eyes as well as their heads. Those running for cover were sent back as the flooded hallways were igniting. Fire spread throughout the buildings as the people were trying to flee.

How was this possible?

What is going on?

Help!

Someone! Anyone!

The cries from the buildings edged on as the helpless met the cries of the city from those running from Time Square.

----------------------------------------------------

Motorists on the road as well as those in their parking areas had come into a shock as their vehicles stalled and puttered out or were unable to start at all. They all just sat there like ginormous paperweights as their owners and operators gazed into the sky above. Some frustrated and screaming at their vehicles, others getting out to push, thinking that somehow, they were out of gas, though most of the tanks had some in it. Eventually they were all forced to march, carry themselves on their own two feet.

---------------------------------------------

Those at home and those that had just made it before their vehicles quit unexpectedly found that their lives there were normal at first.

In Denver, a husband who had been working late at the office was just arriving home from work on what had been a long hard day. He, tired, dragged himself through the door to his happy loving home. Sitting down in front of the computer, he saw people saying that the Aurora Borealis was amazing that evening and surprised by the fact that it was as far south as Denver for them to see it as full as they were.

He thought to himself: that is not unusual.

Then at second thought: Wait, this is summer, we are in August.

Without thinking any further, he ran outside and looked up. He then called for his wife and son to come out and view this phenomenon with him.

Back inside after gawking at the rare sky light, they began cooking their evening meal. The lights flickered slightly, but it gave them no alarm. This was not unusual as the lights tended to do this as people arrived home.

But this was not the usual as they were beginning to find out.

The lights flashed on and off for a good two minutes solid and then… POP, SNAP!

The screen blew out of the tv! The lights shut off completely and did not return on. He walked over to the switch and as he toggled the switch up and down it sent a shock into his hand, at the same time the toaster erupted into flames as the toast it once was cooking exploded out from its fiery center.

The lights that surrounded the kitchen began to pop and lash out their sparks upon the ground and surrounding family that they had once bathed in lighting heaven. The laptop that he had once been on sat motionless on the table, as he reached for it the screen on it blew out from the bezel and send the glass jetting into his hands.

His wife of ten years looked feverishly for a rag in the dark. She found a flashlight and used that to discover the box of medical supplies that her husband had brought home all those months before. She pulled out the alcohol and a bandage, then using the light, she guided herself back to her husband and tried to tend to his wound.

In the meantime, their ten-year-old son was steadily pouring water on top of the toaster and the surrounding flames, trying to put them out. It was doing no good as he was finding out, the sparks from the toaster only bounced up onto him giving him the shock of his life.

The fire then expanded to the whole kitchen and the man, woman and child that was rising from the floor began to move into the living room. There they stepped around the glass that was on the floor, when suddenly the whole house exploded in one light as the oven, which was gas operated, blew into pieces!

“Out! OUT!” he cried as he began reaching for their young son to lead him outside.

The fire swept the front door as they emerged outside barely singed from the onslaught of the flames. Checking each other as quickly as they could but more focused on their son, they found themselves to be relatively safe and unharmed.

“We have to call 9-1-1!” the woman screamed.

“I do not have my phone, you?”

“No, I left it inside.” She replied to him, her panic in her voice only made him feel worse.

“DAD! What are we gonna do?”

“I don’t know son, this is… I don’t know.”

--------------------------------------------------

In Dothan, Alabama, at the Walmart on highway 231, there was a growing crowd of people in the parking lot with vehicles that suddenly stopped working. People looking back and forth for an answer that no one had. Someone shouted among all the noise from the fields of voices that there were lights in the sky.

People there looking up in unison and were suddenly as if without an independent thought of their own, pulled out their cell phones to take pictures when their signal died suddenly, then their phones all shut off at the same time, like they were all doing some sort of power sync. One by one each person tried turning on their phones only to get a small shock and then the sudden explosion of their screen and other glass that their cell phone had.

Suddenly flames burst from their hands as many threw their phones to the ground and began stomping on them, others just threw them across the parking lot. A scream, a scream that pierced everyone’s ears emanated from the building behind them. As the mass of people turned around, they all noticed that Walmart was on fire!

--------------------------------------------

The people across the US as well as the world all began to wonder what was going on. What happened to the power? What happened to their cars? What happened to their phones and everything? What was going on? The masses wondered, the masses had no idea, they wondered who did know what was going on?

If someone knew, the people hoped that they would come forth and let the world know. This was the most important thing to have ever happened to the world and no one knows what and or why.