Like sailors clinging to a raft on tempest-tossed seas, Sheila and I held tight to each other as an ocean of rainbows flooded the sky.

"Oh, my God! What is it?" she cried as glowing waves of light thundered silently across the firmament. The heavens blazed with a kaleidoscope of color.

"I don't know," I said as I watched the glowing pastel streamers of brilliance slither along invisible magnetic lines of force like undulating serpents.

"I think we're looking at the mother of all solar storms. We need to assess the damage." Sheila broke away from me and twisted the key in the truck's ignition. Dead. Not so much as a click. The circuitry was fried. "Everyone, inside, pronto!" she commanded as she turned and raced across the meadow for the safety of the cabin.

"I have no idea what this is doing to the background radiation, probably off the charts," our leader screamed as we scrambled to seek sanctuary from the fire in the sky.

I'm not an expert on radiation, but the idea frightened the crap out of me. Not knowing the details, I allowed terror and my paranoid imagination to fill in the blanks. What we don't know can kill us. I ran like the hounds of Hell were on my tail.

"Keep going! Move! Everyone, take cover in the cavern," Sheila said as she directed us to the emergency stairway next to the kitchen elevator.

The interior of our home was shrouded in shadow, illumined only by the sky glow pouring through the windows at the front of the Great Room. The reverse fire drill was a well-executed route as we dashed inside away from the fire in the sky. I fought against a rising tide of dread as I scrambled down the rattling cast-iron staircase. Having a nightmare dream is one thing. Waking up next to the monsters under my bed was another.

When Monty Python declared no one ready for the Spanish Inquisition, he wasn't kidding. If we ain't ready to cry havoc and nuke our neighbors, we sure as shit ain't prepared for the technology-killing chaos raging in the heavens above; just another random event dished out by a disinterested universe. Nothing personal. Shit happens.

"Stay calm and carry the fuck along. Deal with it and get over it," I said aloud to myself as I took the stairs, two at a time.

"Excellent advice," Sheila's voice echoed from beneath me as an "Amen to that," sounded from above.

Next time I talk to myself, I gotta remember to whisper.

The winding descent into the cave took forever as terror and adrenaline compressed focus and extended my perception of time. The second hand on my watch refused to advance as moments oozed into minutes which stretched into hours.

The rattling clatter of scores of human feet pounding on the metal treads echoed like thunder from the musty-damp granite walls of our pitch-black corridor. Whatever had lit up the sky had eclipsed our electricity.

My terrified guess? We had a grandstand seat to an epic Carrington event of biblical proportions. I'll leave it to the scholars to sort out the theology. I prayed we weren't pawns in some demonic chess tournament. If you have any doubt Mother Nature plays a wicked game of chance, ask the citizens of Pompeii or the children of Krakatoa.

The palms of my hands were slick with sweat. My mouth was dusty dry, and my head spun with every twisting turn as I lept down the spiral stairway into the darkness. With a boom sounding like a cannon in a trash can, a blueish white radiance illuminated our vertical tunnel. Someone underneath me had kicked open the rusty steel door to the cavern under our cabin.

The light was a welcome sign. Whatever had eaten the guts out of the electronics in the building above us hadn't stopped for lunch in our underground grotto. As I emerged from the exit, I bent down with my hands on my knees and gasped for breath: short pants followed by deep inhales. Stinging trickles of sweat ran into my eyes as I fought to get my breathing under control.

"What's going on?" Jennifer yelled from the second story doorway of the ranch-style control center.

"Solar storm!" the commander shouted before she turned to face me. "Sky, please see everyone is settled in and accounted for. Assemble the sisters by the lake." Sheila brushed her hair from her eyes and pointed to the cozy bench beside the mist-shrouded lagoon of hot water. The dark pond was fed by geothermal hot springs. It was the same place where we had talked so long ago.

Fear hits different folks in different ways. Two sisters were bent double as they vomited on the cave's stone floor. Several women of the clan offered comfort as they gathered around their stricken comrades. The rest of the society milled about in stunned silence and tried to process the impossible.

"Listen up!" I called as the last of the clan emerged from the door at the bottom of the staircase. With a wave of my hands, I motioned for the ladies to gather around. "The chief is checking with Jennifer. I presume she's getting an update and status report," I told the news-hungry gathering. Sheila has asked me to get everyone settled in and accounted for. Martha, can you do the honors?"

The terror in the captain of the kitchen eyes abated as she focused on the task at hand. Busy people don't have the luxury of panic. As Martha attended to the women, I assumed a seat on the stone bench and took a moment to gather my wits and clear my mind. I was terrified. Fear can be a useful servant, unlike his kissing cousin, Panic. Fear strengthens the scenes and sharpens the mind. Panic smothers reason, and we flee without purpose.

Trembling like an old man, I tapped a smoke out of my pack of cigarettes and flicked my Bic. I inhaled and held each breath for a moment before exhaling. As the pace of my breathing slowed, the knot of muscles in my jaw and neck gradually softened. Nicotine seduces every smoker, and we'll continue to love her still even as she becomes our assassin.

"Now what?" I questioned myself.

Before I could answer, I was on my feet and trotting toward the control center. My body had decided while my mind dithered. Time to make the donuts and earn my keep. I took a drag and tossed the butt to the side of the path.

"Ahoy, the center," I called out as I climbed the stairs to the second story balcony.

Sneaking up on comrades in combat is never a great idea. A benign surprise is an excellent way to get killed by friendly fire. Sheila waved a welcome without taking her eyes away and from the bank of computer monitors. I entered and stood behind them as they frantically clicked from one screen to the next as they checked system status reports.

"Is it bad?" I asked.

"Well, it's not good," Sheila answered as she called up a system summary. "It looks like we've lost power in everything above ground. Solar's dead, as are the remote sensors. We won’t know the extent of the damage until we go topside and do an inventory.

"At least we've got plenty of power down here." I waved at the computer screens and the lights in the ceiling. Our subterranean settlement was unchanged from the day Sheila, and I had toured the facility a few weeks ago.

"Yes, we do. Up to six megawatts if need be," Jennifer laughed.

I smiled a half-grin. Considering the size of the dark cloud around us, we needed every silver lining we could find.

"What about radiation?" I asked as I glanced upward toward the cavern's domed ceiling.

"I don't know. I may have overplayed the hand. I read somewhere especially bad solar storms and CMEs can kick the crap out of the Earth's magnetic field protecting us from most cosmic rays." Sheila shrugged her shoulders and licked her lips. "Better safe than sorry."

"What do you think?" Sheila put her arm around Martha's shoulder and led her to the picture window overlooking the canter's courtyard.

I moved to the commander's side and pulled out my pen and back-pocket notepad and prepared to take notes.

Below us, the woman of the sisterhood gathered about in various postures of shocked dismay and uncertainty. Several ladies were huddled in conversation, and about a dozen was seated on several of the benches facing an arrangement of rocks positioned like islands in an expanse of sand raked to represent ripples in the water. The Zen garden did little to calm the mood of dread which had settled over the inhabitants of Liberty Mountain.

"Do we have enough to feed the multitude?" the leader asked as she scanned the worried faces of the sisters.

"Thankfully, we've got enough for a feast. No one need go hungry; the pantry is full, and we just filled the freezer on Monday," Martha replied

"What a wonderful idea! I love it." Sheila dark expression of concern slowly brightened into a smile as she took Martha's hand and they stood together on the second story deck.

"Hear ye! Hear ye!" Sheila sang out as she raised her hands over her head in a sign of prayer. "Tonight is the first night of a new world. By the authority of my office, I hereby declare a feast of gratitude and thanksgiving. Spread the word to gather, rejoice, and be thankful. We are alive. We have survived, and we will continue to survive. Blessed be."'

I couldn't keep myself from smiling. It was as corny as all hell but might work. Her declaration of a feast in defiance of fate and everything going on around us was a cheeky and masterful distraction from the anxiety and apprehension we were all feeling.

Hmm, the first night in a new world? I might as well play historian. I scribbled the date on my notepad followed by, "Day One, Year One - Chief orders we start the new age with a celebration of gratitude and thanksgiving."

With a few commands and several suggestions, Martha organized the society into a scrumptious scavenger hunt.

"Please put everything over there," the kitchen maestro said as she instructed us to transfer the contents in the freezer to the dining table.

She scratched her head as she examined the freezer wrapped contents and sorted them into several piles while also scanning the pantry shelves for additional fixings. With a look of intense concentration, Martha closed her eyes as she matched her inventory of recipes with available ingredients. After about a minute heavy thinking, her face relaxed into a smile and her eyes flashed open.

"Got it!" she exclaimed with a wide grin as she slapped the palm of her hand on her thigh. Her dietary gifts were matched by her leadership skills. With a minimum amount of direction, she turned the community dinner into a sisterhood project.

"Commander, I need a crew to take the canned foodstuff down to the sampling station by the hot springs. We'll cook the broth for the venison stew. Submerse the jars in the water next to the dock," Martha ordered as she began to clear the glass containers of vegetables from the pantry shelves. "Oh, and a couple of gallons of spirits from the wine cellar would be a helpful addition," the head of the kitchen crew called over her shoulder.

"Sky, can you take StarShine with you and fetch the brandy?" the director suggested.

"Boss?" I stammered. "Can someone else help me? I'm kinda having personal problems with StarShine," I kept my facial expression as neutral as possible to avoid the necessity of a detailed explanation. Ever since my acceptance into the society as shadow-sister, Seraina's daughter had been pestering me to consummate her entry into womanhood.

"Personal problems? What kind?" Seraina's eyes narrowed with concern as she studied me carefully.

"Um, er, it's embarrassing." I shuffled my feet and looked at the decking beneath my shoes.

"Well?" The commander tilted her head to one side and brushed her hair out of her eyes as she gave me that look. She was an impatient shepherd who didn't like secrets infecting the tranquility of her flock.

"Never mind, I'll deal with it," I said as I cleared my throat with a quick cough. The truth was too awkward to admit. What kinda guy refuses sex with a willing and beautiful virgin scoring an eleven on the one-to-ten hotness scale? Teaching the eager daughter of my lover the joys of sex was too close to incest for my tastes. I like kinky, but I don't bend in that direction.

"StarShine sees you as some kind of father figure, and she's worried sick about her mother. Be a nice daddy and comfort your daughter. She needs you," the Society's director said as she turned on her heel and left me alone with my thoughts and her instructions.

I found StarShine sniffling at the bottom of the stairs. With her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin resting on her knees, she rocked back and forth to the sound of invisible music. I sat down next to her and put my arm around her shoulder and held her close to me as I kissed the top of her head and said nothing. The young girl had retreated within herself to a place where words could not reach.

"I'm scared, Wolfie," Star blubbered as she wrapped her arms around my neck and hung on to me like a drowning swimmer grasping a life preserver. I stroked her hair and let her weep without interruption.

"You're afraid. I'm afraid. We're all afraid. Your mom and Darlene will be okay."

My reassurance was more a prayer than a conviction. We were in unknown territory.