Aurora+Mortales

My short story is called __Aurora Mortales__. The following is the first chapter entitled "Threat": [January 12, 2037 Providence, RI] “The situation between The Republic of India and The Peoples Republic of China continued to deteriorate today as India announced the placement of thermonuclear weapons in Arunachal Pradesh, the easternmost province of India and only 20 minutes away from the Chinese capital of Beijing 15 minutes away from Shanghai. Even though China claims not to be worried because of their anti-missile system, they responded by placing several more divisions in southern China. This move is especially provocative because China claims land in this Indian province. The current round of threats between these two neighbors began when India voted to officially recognize Tibet as a nation, following other countries with histories of hostility towards China, such as Taiwan and Japan. In other news scientists…” “Come on, can we change the channel yet? I’ve heard enough about scientists and their complaints about Global Warming and I want to watch Cartoon Network.” complained Larry, interrupting the newsman’s monologue. “SHHH!!” said Oliver, Larry’s older brother, who continued to listen to the new program on TV, with the remote carefully kept out of Larry’s reach. “…A geomagnetic reversal is switching of the earth’s magnetic poles between north and south. During a geomagnetic reversal, the magnetic field is weakened severally and there are many, smaller, magnetic “poles” where the field lines run vertical. In the area immediately surrounding these poles, there is almost no magnetic field. The earth’s magnetic field will remain in this extremely weakened state until the poles have completed their switch, which could take anything from three months to ten years. During the time it takes for the magnetic field to fully switch, there will be higher radiation levels world wide and magnetic compasses will be all but useless. Fortunately, scientists say that these radiation levels will be comfortably in the safe range and will not be fatal to anyone. There will, however, be a slightly increased risk of cancer. On the brighter side, everyone world wide will be able to see the northern or southern lights almost every night. There may also be problems posed for migratory birds, which use the earth’s magnetic pole to navigate. Visit our website at www.worldnews.gov for updates as to the locations of the multiple magnetic ‘poles’ and how it will affect you.” “//Now// you can watch cartoons” said Oliver, and then yelled “DAD!! Did you just hear on the news? There’s going to be a geomagnetic reversal!” Feel free to discuss any changes on either the discussion tab on my page or the discussion tab on hunter's page under the subject "sol empire"home