The Thirst Quenchers
"he hasfaith in his staff to come up with the answers."
"Hm-m-m," Plumber sniffed, "he doesn't need faith. He's a realist fromthe old school. He knows that we have no choice and all that's left isto come up with a formula for living with the situation. It doesn'tbother him a bit how we figure this one. He knows we have to work itout."
Back at their combination laboratory and office area, the trio splitup to their respective cubicles to go over the report. Troy and Alec,as semispecialists in snow depth and moisture gauges, would study theproblem from the viewpoint of increasing the accuracy and volume oftheir instruments in inventorying Region Six snowfall. Other membersof the headquarters staff would tackle it from soil moisture content;stored water capabilities; increasing domestic, municipal andindustrial water economies; while the meteorology men would ventureeven farther into left field via data, formula and Ouija board, toincrease the potential future limits of their forecasts.
The key to the entire problem lay in streamflow forecasting. Accuracyin predicting the amount of water entering the vast undergroundreservoirs now had reached ninety-eight point three per cent. Yet inthe remaining one point seven per cent was the equivalent of more thanseventy-five million acre feet of water. The question now was--howmuch more water would the new units require and could the forecast beprojected another tenth or more percentage points closer to supplythan demand.
That was the basic problem. There were thousands of allied problemsinvolved, ranging from where and how the additional water would bestored and channeled and how it could be used after the new factorieshad had initial use.
At 1630, Alec stuck his copy of the prospectus, together with someother more pressing reports, in his briefcase and headed for home. Hestopped in the door to Troy's cubicle.
"You going to work all night?" he asked.
Troy swung his feet down from his desk and snubbed out his cigarette."Nope," he replied, "but I thought I'd finish reading this before Ishoved off. After all, I haven't got a section chief waiting for me athome with a stop-watch in hand to make sure I report in on time. All Ihave waiting for me at the apartment is a good, cold highball."
Alec grinned: "See you in the morning, doctor."
Troy swung his feet back up onto the desk and went back to theSouthern Cal report.
In the parking lot, Alec found his little sport jet and fired up. Heeased into the line of cars filing out of the headquarters compoundand shot into the stream of homeward-bound traffic on the stateexpressway. The torrent of vehicles was moving along at an almoststeady seventy miles an hour. Alec worked his way into the middle lanesince he would be crossing the entire city to reach his apartmentcomplex on the north side. The expressway roar turned into a hollowthunder as it threaded its way for five miles under the high NorComThruway that carried high speed traffic across and around the city.
Troy finished reading the prospectus about an hour later and then he,too, left the office. He drove to a small restaurant near Coeurd'Alene for dinner and then, yawning and tired from the night in themountains and the work of the past two days, headed for his smallbachelor apartment on the east side of Spokane.
He watched the vidicast for a half hour and then mixed a nightcap,downed it, bathed and piled into bed. He was sound asleep by 2000.
Across the city, young Jimmy Patterson played with his father, howledand talked his mother out of taking a bath and was put to bed. Alecand Carol curled up on the divan to watch the same show Troy wasviewing. At 2030 they, too, were in bed and asleep. The sounds of thecity were deadened by the high insulation construction of thebuilding. Possibly half of the nearly three million residents ofGreater Spokane were asleep in their beds shortly after midnight, butthe other half were either at work or play when the earthquake hit.
There were three distinct and violent temblors, lasting from one tofour minutes. The great buildings of the metropolis swayed, glassshattered and fell amidst the screams of frightened thousands. But thecity was built to withstand fringe nuclear destruction and the damagewas relatively light. The shocks rocked the entire Northwest and werefelt from British Columbia as far south as San Francisco and east toSalt Lake City.
In his bachelor apartment, Troy was sprawled on the edge of his bedwhen the first shock wave struck. The shuddering, stomach-churningwave tossed him to the floor and a picture dropped to smash againstthe floor.
"What the hell," Troy exclaimed in shocked sleepiness as he tried toget up. The floor continued to sway under him. He got to his hands andknees and fought to orient himself and his thinking about what washappening.
His first thought was an explosion and he staggered toward the window.There was no sign of one. A minute later, the second and lightertremblor hit and he grabbed for support.
Across the city Alec and Carol sat up wide awake during the lastinstants of the first jolt. Without a word and with a single mind,they rushed for the other bedroom to seize and comfort the frightenedand crying Jimmy. They were clutching him closely when the secondshock struck.
"It's a quake," Alec analyzed calmly, "nothing to be frightenedabout." He, too, walked to the window to see if there were outer signsof damage. When it looked fairly normal, he went back to the bed tohelp Carol calm the frightened child.
"Mother Nature is just shaking things into place a little," Alec toldhis son. "It's nothing to fear, old man. Come on, let's go out in thekitchen and get a cup of hot chocolate and then we'll all go back tobed."
Jimmy wiped his eyes and swung his feet over the edge of the bed. "CanI sleep in with you and Mom," he asked.
Alec ruffled the already mussed hair. "Sure you can, big fellow."
They went into the kitchen and Carol began making cocoa. Alec wasfishing in the cupboard for the cookie jar when the vidiphone buzzed.He went to the wall and pressed the "Answer" button.
The worried face of Jordan Plumber snapped onto the screen.
"Alec," he said grimly, "get over to the office right away. All hell'sbroken loose."
"I'll be there as soon as I can dress," Alec said. "What's happened?"
"The quake has cracked the Spokima Reservoir. Right now we've alreadylost nearly a million acre feet and God only knows how much more isgoing out. Snap it up." The screen went blank.
Alec turned to Carol. Her face was ashy and she bit on a knuckle tofight for control.
He put an arm around her. "We'll manage it, baby. I've got to go." Heturned and hurried from the kitchen to dress. At the door he pausedand turned back. "Fill up every possible container you've got emptywith water. Right now! Fill the bathtub and half the kitchen sink.Just use the other half for drain. And make every drop count. I don'tknow how long I'll be gone but I'm sure they'll be cutting thedomestic water off any minute now."
* * * * *
Alec heard the wail of sirens in the distance as he climbed into hiscar. Threading his way onto the expressway, he switched the radio tostandard broadcast band.
"... Is little damage reported," the voice of newscaster said inmatter-of-fact tones. "Seismologists at the University of Californiaand Seattle University have placed the epicenter of the quake withinfifty miles of Pullman, Washington. We repeat, there has been littledamage and no reports of personal injury in the Spokane area. However,communications with the Pullman-Moscow, Idaho area have beentemporarily disrupted. Early reports from the quake center seem toindicate possibility of heavy damage and possible injuries there.There is no confirmation at this time but stay tuned for details asthey ..." the announcer paused, then continued. "Here is a bulletinjust handed me from the Greater Spokane Municipal Authority.
"The quake has caused some minor damage to water mains in some areasin the city. Crews are now being dispatched to the scene to makerepairs but in the meanwhile, domestic water supplies are being shutdown while the repairs are in progress to conserve water supplies.Only emergency water line are being maintained for fire and disastercontrol. The Authority says water service will be resumed shortly andthere is no need for alarm."
Alec shut off the radio and concentrated on the traffic. By the timehe reached Regional headquarters, traffic flow was already increasingand he caught glimpses of family cars piled high with obviouslytossed-in belongings, heading out of the city.
The gate to Region Six headquarters normally stood open twenty-fourhours a day. Now it was closed as an armed security guard stopped him.The officer stooped and peered into the car. "Hi, Dr. Patterson, goright in." He waved to another guard on the gate and the portals swungopen.
"What's the check for, officer?" Alec asked.
"I don't really know, doctor," the guard replied. "Must be somethingto do with the quake. All I know is that we got ordered to check