IMMOLATION: Chapter 5

The acrid stench of bat guano stung the eyes and nose and made the half dozen people in the small cave even edgier than they might have otherwise been. Nothing but the rock formations lent themselves to those who wanted to sit down and, as most surfaces in the cave were covered in a fine layer of the aforementioned guano, most chose to remain standing. Months of planing, coordinating and researching had taken place before tonight’s meeting. None of them had met before in person as all of their work up to this point had taken place online. Now, however, the time for online research and planing was over and they were ready to begin in earnest. So, unpleasant surroundings aside, they were all eager to get started.

A short, middle aged man on the side furthest from the entrance of the cave stepped forward so he was better illuminated by the gas lantern that hung from the ceiling. His neatly cropped hair and expensive suit looked at odds with their surroundings. What little chatter there had been died instantly.

“Green Tea,” the short, well dressed man said in a thick Japanese accent.

“Tea Leaves,” said another, rounder man in a tweed jacket and salt and pepper hair, his voice marking him as British.

“Leaves Early,” a young woman this time, no older than mid twenties and dressed in jeans and a tank top. Her accent was unmistakably from the southern states of America and her long red hair was done up in pigtails. Green Tea Narrowed his eyes at her.

“Early Bird,” boomed an older man in a deep, South African accent. His face and hands were heavily wrinkled but the thin, colorful clothes he wore did little to disguise his well toned ebony body.

Around the cave they went, stepping forward into the light and stating their code names in order. Everyone waited, alert for their turn as failing to go in order meant death.

“Bird Feather,” the second woman of the group, broader and heavier then the American and distinctly German. She was also one of the few who appeared dressed for the occasion in hiking boots, thick clothing and a pack of climbing gear.

“Feather Weight,” the tallest, strongest man in the group chimed in with a smirk and nodded to his fellow American. Next to the German, he looked the next best prepared for the hike to the cave. All he lacked was the climbing gear.

Having finished the ritual, they relaxed, slightly, and nodded. There was no going back now.

“Tonight,” Green Tea said, “I lead our meeting.”

Green Tea sat and gestured for the others to follow. Most had misgivings about this but only Leaves Early hesitated, trying desperately to find a spot without so much fecal matter.

“My dear,” Tea Leaves said impatiently, pulling out a handkerchief and spreading it on a flat piece of stone.

“Thanks,” Leaves Early said and sat herself down, careful to maximize the handkerchief's protection.

Light Weight rolled his eyes and Green Tea pursed his lips.

“Now we begin,” Green Tea announced and he pulled out a small collapsible table and a sheet of paper from the inside of his suit coat. The table stood only a few inches off the ground but it was enough that the paper had a clean surface to lay on.

Everyone bent down to look at it. On the paper were listed the major coal and uranium mines in the world as well as the top five oil producers.

“This is the enemy,” Green Tea stated. “The world is choking on their pollution. We've tried to get them to listen to reason but the world economies are, as they say, addicted to these pollutants.”

“And y'all know how to beat an addiction, right?” Leaves Early asked, and then without waiting for a response she answered her own question, “Cold Turkey!”

No one else said anything in response to this, though several exchanged looks as they questioned the wisdom of including Leaves Early in their group.

“Calm down there, Leaves Early,” said Feather Weight and he rested one of his heavy hands on her back to keep her from bouncing with excitement.

“Yes,” Green Tea went on, “We all need to remain calm while we work toward our goals. Our work may be to save the world, but the world is resistant and so, as Leaves Early put it, the world must go cold turkey.”

“Where do we strike first?” Bird Feather asked in an attempt to get the meeting moving forward once more.

“Here,” Green Tea pointed to the paper where the uranium mines were labeled. “We will also need to remove the power plants.”

“Now we're still agreed that we can't take out every nuclear plant, right?” Leaves Early asked, serious this time. “'Cause there's an awful lot of them. And besides, there's good chances one of them's gonna turn nasty on us and make a mess. And seein' as we want to be savin' the world and not makin' it glow green...”

The group nodded in agreement.

“And that's why you're with us,” Green Tea explained. “Your expertise with these power plants will be invaluable.”

“Wait,” Tea Leaves interrupted, “She's our nuclear physicist?”

“Course I am,” Leaves Early replied, “Why else'd I be here?” she looked around the cave and gave an involuntary shudder.

“What do you recommend?” Bird Feather asked Leaves Early gruffly before another tangent could distract her.

Leaves Early shrank back slightly under the haughty gaze of Bird Feather and looked down at her hands in her lap.

“Well,” she began, “The easiest way would be to blow up on of the cooling tanks. There'd be some leakage, but not much and it would be enough to force them to shut down the whole plant.”

The group thought, weighing the cost of allowing some radiation to leak against the ease of achieving their goal.

“But,” Leaves Early went on, “And I know this sounds terrible but hear me out, if we take out the power plants one by one, that's gonna take time and money, not to mention we'll be more likely to get caught the more of these we hit.”

Leaves Early looked around the at the group and it wasn't until Early Bird gestured for her to go on that she continued.

“Well, it's like in the past, if one nuclear plant goes critical, they shut down a bunch of them, right? So rather than risking being caught as we carefully hit a bunch of them, what if we got a few of them to go critical?”

“What about what you just said about not wanting to make the world glow green?” Tea Leaves asked, still unable to believe that Leaves Early was anything more than an annoying twit.

“We won't have to hit many, five at most and people would be so scared they'd make their governments shut down the rest.”

“How many lives?” Early Bird asked in his deep rumbling voice.

Leaves Early blushed like a small child who'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

“Well,” she said nervously, “To make the most out of it we'd probably have to hit at least two major populations. America's got a few good spots, so does France or—

“How many lives?” Early Bird asked again, “Because there will be no point in saving the world if there are no people to benefit from it.

Again, Leaves Early blushed but she met Early Bird's gaze and said, “A couple million...give or take.”

Early Bird looked down and everyone in the circle contemplated this possible change of plans. They were fine with a few hundred, prepared for a few thousand, perhaps even accepting of a few hundred thousand. But killing millions...