Archaea 2: Janis Read Free Page B

winds above 400... yeah, that's a bad one.”
    “Don't they have the ability to forecast these, Captain?” I asked. On Earth, they have hurricane and other cyclonic storm forecasting down to a science.
    “No Pauli, not on this rock, though we know why they happen, we can't see them coming. The borosilicate deserts of the great plains set up an incredible updraft, which pulls massive katibatic winds inwards from the rest of this blasted continent, which in turn, feeds the process and forces the updraft higher and higher. A similar process over the inner sea can cause another drop in pressure, and in conflict between the two, a tall ridge of pressure forms between them across this peninsula.”
    “But can't they tell enough in advance to post a warning?” I asked, incredulously.
    “Not really. In the summers here, this process might go all summer without a howler forming. The pressures by themselves aren't enough of an indication a howler will form.”
    “So how do they form?”
    “Well, the going theory is, the ridge of high pressure causes ripples and eddies in the jet stream, and a howler happens when the leading edge of the jet stream dives down underneath the ridge of pressure, crashing without warning towards the low pressure of the inner sea, right across us. That massive downdraft unbalances the low pressure over the great plains, and it pulls down behind the jet stream, adding to, and accelerating it into a true howler.”
    “Well is it a cyclic event?”
    “No, not really Pauli. Some years we may get a hanfdul of howlers, but then we might not see one for many years. The competing systems are too chaotic.”
    “What about pressure monitoring... indicators in cloud formation maybe?”
    “Well, the howlers form fast enough there's really not much in the way of indication, no impending cloud formation. As the winds drop towards us and blast across the great plains, clouds do pile up,” he waved into the inky blackness we could see hurling past the Archaea's bow, “but by that time the storm is moving fast enough it will hit New Turiana in moments. Everyone is very good at seeing when a howler is about to hit, but we just haven't gotten good at telling when the conditions are right for their formation.”
    “How long do they last?”
    Gene answered with a grimace, “They blow themselves out eventually, but as a rule, they blow until they don't. One time we had one that lasted a few weeks.”
    “I remember that one Gene, it was like hell. I spent the entire time in the upper Warrens, while dust kept piling up and getting deeper and deeper.”
    “Lucky, I would have paid money to be in the Warrens, if you can believe that... I was on the municipal services payroll at the time, and ended up drowned in dust as we tried to save solar farms.”
    “Warrens?” I haven't really heard this term used in conjunction with New Turiana.
    “The Warrens are the subsections of the really big arcos, the massive buildings in the core of downtown. They reach many tens of thousands of meters into the sky, but are built on massive foundations that delve even deeper. The Warrens go all the way to the bottoms of the deepest foundations, from what I've heard, though you'd have to be pretty brave to explore those parts of town. The rule of law stops eventually, and the underside of this city is pretty dark and dangerous.”
    Gene scowled. “I've been down there, Dak.” he said, “One time when we had a major failure in a water pump station, we had to go all the way to the bottom with full military support. People down there didn't look human, they were beyond savage.”
    This reminded me of stories I'd heard of some of the worst parts of Old Detroit back on Earth, completely abandoned and shut off from basic services, it nevertheless became home to those who were faced with impossible decisions, those who couldn't afford to go elsewhere, or those who wanted freedom from authority. It became the worst sort of society,