Read The Pulse for Free Online Page B

give me a wake-up call, but of course I didn’t know the cell phones were going to go out. Did you see those lights last night that everyone is talking about?”
    “Oh, yeah, I saw them, Casey. You mean you missed them? It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. It was amazing. I had just walked out of the House of Blues with my friend Jeff and was about to go home. We just stood there in the parking lot tripping out. The whole sky lit up; then it just glowed, and waves of colored light ripped across the city like some kind of explosion, but there was no sound. It was just an eerie, silent, flashing light show. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
    “What was it? Do you know?”

    “No one knows for sure. But I’m hearing a lot of talk that it could have been some kind of mega solar flare. It disrupted every kind of radio communication, and no one seems to know how extensive the disruption was, because there’s no way to get any news.”
    “My TV was out too. I didn’t check the radio, though. But now my MacBook won’t even power up. What’s up with that? I know the battery was charged because it was plugged in all night before the power went off.”
    “Weird! I don’t have mine with me, but it should come on, even it you can’t get online.” Grant took his cell phone out of his pocket as he looked at Casey’s laptop to verify that there was no way to turn it on. “Hey, my phone’s completely dead now. Not only does it not have a signal, it won’t even come on.”
    Casey reached for her iPhone and discovered that it was likewise shut down and would not come back on.
    “This must have just happened at the same time as the electrical shutdown a little while ago. Wow! What kind of force would it take to do that?”
    “Did you see all the stalled cars out on St. Charles?” Casey asked. “It looked like they had stopped just about the time I turned onto the street this morning on my way here. That would have been about the same time the lights went out, according to what everyone in Dinwiddie Hall said.”
    “No, I haven’t been back off campus. If cars have gone dead because of this, then it was definitely worse than I thought. And the fact that our phones and your computer are stone dead confirms it.”

    “How can the power going out affect things that were not plugged in?” Casey asked. “And what does any of that have to do with causing cars to stop?”
    “Because it’s much more than just a power outage, Casey. First it was radio and satellite signals right when those lights flashed. Then the electricity went out this morning. That must have been a separate event. If it shut down cars, then it was one hell of a strong electromagnetic pulse that must have fried the computers in them.”
    “I still don’t see what that has to do with cars. Surely most of them don’t have computers in them?”
    “I don’t mean regular computers like your laptop… just the little ‘black boxes’ that control the ignition and other things that keep the engine running. Without those devices, most cars won’t even start.”
    “Oh. I’m really stupid when it comes to cars, I guess.”
    “You’re not stupid, Casey. I don’t know that much about them either. I don’t even own a car. I just read about that somewhere. Oh, and there was some documentary I saw about how the police were experimenting with some kind of pulse device on their cruisers that could be used to shut down the engine of a vehicle they’re chasing. It worked on the same principle.”
    “I guess my car probably won’t start, then.”
    “I don’t know. What is it? What year is it?”
    “It’s an ’03 Camry. Why?”
    “If it were an older car—no fancy electronics—it might still run. At least that’s what I read. But yours is much too new.”

    “I tried to get Dad to buy me an old Volkswagen Beetle, but he insisted I needed something newer and ‘more reliable.’ So much for that, huh?”
    “Who could have known this