Lethal Legacy

By Tom Edwards

Prologue
Lethal Legacy started off as a novel set in the year 2050; purely fictional. But the situation in which the main character found himself had to be explained in terms of the deterioration of the environment. Weeks of research uncovered an amazing saga of doom and despair; wrong decisions made for the wrong reasons, criminal neglect and appalling apathy on the part of many from the top to the bottom of every strata of society. Most of the incidents depicted in the book are fictional, but many more are fact, frighteningly so. It is a scenario that could quite easily eventuate; indeed many of the events are occurring now and have been for some time. Many of those in a position to help eliminate pollution will not do so because of vested interests. Many turn a blind eye because the truth is too horrible to contemplate, and some feel helpless in the face of such a massive task. There are of course many selfless people throughout every level of society who strive constantly for the betterment of mankind; the weekenders who plant trees and vegetation along river banks, clean the rivers, estuaries and bushland of all manner of detritus; the many environmental groups, some of whom risk their lives to save various endangered species and prevent tree felling. But all too often they lack resources and coordinated direction; this must originate far higher up the corporate and governmental ladder. Inevitably they tackle the results of degeneration and not the causes. There are also many good environmentally aware people in all walks of life, from the bottom to the top, who try to do the right thing, sometimes to their disadvantage. But many of those who really have the power to effect change are apparently not loving enough or caring enough to slough off their indifference to the ultimate fate of their children and grandchildren because they are the ones who will carry the brunt of our reckless behaviour in the years ahead.
I have kept the central theme as a vehicle to carry the environmental message.
Tom


Copy of letter written in March 2006

Dear Friends,

Most of you will be pleased to hear that I will not be plaguing you any further with doomsday scenarios regarding the sad demise of our planet; I have given up. My last book, "Lethal Legacy sums up most of what I have to say on the subject.

I am now nearing 80 years of age and have been writing and arguing the topic for over forty years - mostly with little success. One day in the future politicians and the world's manipulators will have a sudden burst of enlightenment and realise that they have killed the goose that laid the golden egg, but it will be too late. In my opinion we have passed the point of no return and even, if by a miracle, we stopped all pollution we could no longer hope to reverse the process.

Throughout the history of the earth the masses have been manipulated by the few, the greedy few, it has always been so. Even as recently as two hundred years ago we had families who grew what they ate and made what they wore; they lived by natural cycles; albeit under a feudalistic system. The Industrial Revolution mechanised industry and people alike and made time a major factor in our lives, we became virtual automatons that produced goods that we mainly did not need to further enrich the rich. Our lives were circumscribed not by what we needed but what we wanted which in turn was encouraged and perpetuated by the manipulators via advertising agencies and the media. Our shops are filled with masses of goods that we can well do without, all of which require power, materials and machines to make and which invariably create pollution of one sort or another. We came to believe that we needed the mass of appliances and entertainment units; the clothes to match changing fashions and all those objects of self indulgence; that they were essential to our happiness. We live lives full of excesses and believe that this is an essential prerogative for a su

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Oct 16, 2010
• ISBN: 9781453583289

Tom Edwards

Tom Edwards, originally from London, England, settled in Sacramento, California where he met his wife Jenna Edwards. Both work in the tech industry, Tom is a web designer and Jenna is a graphic artist, they share a passion for technology and embrace all the latest gadgets with gusto! The reviews of all the apps in their bestselling ebook 250+ Best Kindle Fire and Fire HD Apps for the New Kindle Fire User were written and researched by Tom and Jenna. Jenna also designed the book cover. Other than exploring new tech, Tom and Jenna enjoy spending time with their kids and cooking for friends.

Book preview

Lethal

        Legacy

By

Tom Edwards

Writer’s Literary

Copyright © 2010 by Tom Edwards.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2010914705

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4535-7964-0

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4535-7963-3

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4535-8328-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-800-618-969

www.xlibris.com.au

[e-mail]

500384

Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Epilogue

PROLOGUE

Lethal Legacy started off as a novel set in the year 2050; purely fictional. But the situation in which the main character found himself had to be explained in terms of the deterioration of the environment. Weeks of research uncovered an amazing saga of doom and despair; wrong decisions made for the wrong reasons, criminal neglect and appalling apathy on the part of many from the top to the bottom of every strata of society. Most of the incidents depicted in the book are fictional, but many more are fact, frighteningly so. It is a scenario that could quite easily eventuate; indeed many of the events are occurring now and have been for some time. Many of those in a position to help eliminate pollution will not do so because of vested interests. Many turn a blind eye because the truth is too horrible to contemplate, and some feel helpless in the face of such a massive task. There are of course many selfless people throughout every level of society who strive constantly for the betterment of mankind; the weekenders who plant trees and vegetation along river banks, clean the rivers, estuaries and bushland of all manner of detritus; the many environmental groups, some of whom risk their lives to save various endangered species and prevent tree felling. But all too often they lack resources and coordinated direction; this must originate far higher up the corporate and governmental ladder. Inevitably they tackle the results of degeneration and not the causes. There are also many good environmentally aware people in all walks of life, from the bottom to the top, who try to do the right thing, sometimes to their disadvantage. But many of those who really have the power to effect change are apparently not loving enough or caring enough to slough off their indifference to the ultimate fate of their children and grandchildren—because they are the ones who will carry the brunt of our reckless behaviour in the years ahead.

I have kept the central theme as a vehicle to carry the environmental message.

Tom

The ultimate test of man’s stupidity is when, in his grubbing for riches, he destroys the environment that sustains him.

Other books by Tom Edwards:

If I Should Die

No Greater Freedom

The Connoisseur & other stories

John O’Groats to Land’s End—downhill

The Fifinella Log

The Storyteller

Technical:

The layman’s guide to Quality Control

The layman’s guide to Company Accreditation

CHAPTER ONE

Dear reader, if there will still be readers in this brave new world of survivors. I am sitting here in my cave deep in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, Australia. The year is 2050. On the walls around me are hundreds of pictures drawn by long dead Aboriginals of the Daruk tribe at a time when the world breathed clean, life-giving air and the land provided sustenance for all. It seems incredible now that only a hundred years ago the world’s golden beaches were the playgrounds of countless millions and the oceans seemed fit to provide an endless variety of seafood for all. In those days few thought that their consumer driven, energy dependant, lifestyle could ever change. They destroyed millions of trees, plundered the oceans, fouled the land and created billions of tons of waste. The world for many was a beautiful place; those days are long gone of course and a pestilence now covers the entire globe. I have no idea how long I can survive here, without companionship and my food supplies slowly diminishing.

Unlike many people I do have water, clean fresh water that runs off the mountain and is filtered by hundreds of feet of rock until it falls in a cascade into a small pond near the opening at the back, where it eventually tumbles down into a hidden valley below. Where I am is part of the Greater Blue Mountains area which was added to the World Heritage list in December 2000. The Greater Blue Mountains area covers over a million hectares of mostly forested land on a sandstone plateau. It is a beautiful place of sheer cliffs, inaccessible valleys and swamps that once teemed with life, now sadly stilled and the rustlings muted; it also sustains almost a hundred species of eucalypt, the vapour from which gives the mountains their name.

To reach this part of the Blue Mountains from the nearest town I first have to pass through the comparatively narrow belt of the Watagan Mountains, which in itself is a challenge as, in spite of the degradation of the area over the past forty years, most of the thick rainforest still exists with tangled vines and matted undergrowth and a preponderance of leeches; but I have found the easier tracks.

I discovered the cave some thirty years ago whilst exploring the mountain range with a band of dedicated bush walkers. We had started out several days before with our packs on our backs and with tents and provisions. Our leader had heard of a cave where it was rumoured there were magnificent cave paintings. We had eventually stumbled upon it quite by accident after one of our party saw several goats emerging from what appeared to be a solid wall of rock.

After several hours of exploring we discovered the entrance. The access was through a narrow defile that ran parallel to the sheer cliff face where the entrance was shielded by a rock outcrop. It appeared to be the only access, although I later discovered that this was not correct. As far as I am aware nobody else knows about this place as all of the original party are dead, mostly through natural causes, although not entirely; one was killed in a riot two years ago. As the inevitable ultimate fate of the country, in fact the entire world, became obvious I began to make plans and set in place arrangements that I hoped would serve me well, and perhaps many others. The last part of my plans have not so far materialised due to circumstances beyond my control.

Over several years I began stocking up on those things that would help to sustain me for a long time as I could not envisage a quick solution to the global problems that beset us. I thought it was of prime importance to keep a record of events as I saw them and to this end on one of my first trips I lugged a large package of journals, paper, ink, pens and pencils, together with candles lamps and batteries, which I stored on a natural shelf. The cave is always dry and once I had cleaned out a miscellaneous collection of droppings and bones it became quite habitable.

The cave itself has the echoing hollowness of a cathedral and is about ten metres wide and about twenty metres long where it tapers into a narrow passage that finally ends in a long low hole through which light filtered. On investigation I discovered that the opening was just over a metre high, about a metre wide and continued for approximately three metres, an entrance through which, apparently, the goats and other animals had accessed the cave. With some difficulty I had wormed my way along the tunnel to eventually emerge on a gentle grassy slope that led to a small hidden valley totally locked in by towering sheer rocky walls. I spent some time exploring the valley and could find no other way out, except possibly by way of an almost impassable goat track that zigzagged up a near vertical face. The ground is rocky but has areas of good rich loam that could support vegetables and perhaps some fruit trees. I was well contented.

On my second trip to the cave I carried a small sledgehammer, chisels and a crowbar, a shovel and as many other useful tools as I could manage. I arrived back at the cave four days later totally exhausted but jubilant and set to work enlarging the rear opening to a point where I could walk comfortably out to the valley; this took me nearly two weeks but the effort was well worth it. The rock that I removed I stacked just inside the cave entrance; eventually my intention was to build a dry rock wall to narrow the entrance to make it more defendable, should that become necessary. I also constructed a light gate to fill the tunnel to prevent the passage of animals, although I could not block the main entrance. I spent the following week exploring every corner of my kingdom, especially the inner reaches of the cave, which in spite of many visits I had so far not done.

I have located myself to the right of the entrance, about six metres back where there is a half metre high mound about three metres square; it is comprised of a soft loamy, fibrous material which I assumed would have been constructed by the original inhabitants as a sleeping place; I was pleased to follow their lead and spread my sleeping bag there. The bag is a heavy winter type that I bought for a walking trip in the Snowy Mountains many years ago, before the snows finally disappeared. I also have another lighter one for the summer. Behind the mound the cave recedes about seven metres where there are many rock ledges and a scattering of large rocks on the floor, some of which I have roughly shaped to provide a place to sit and write. I also brought in a dozen or so heavy duty cardboard boxes which I have stacked to one side; these hold most of my clothes and bedding; pots, pans, provisions and kitchen-ware line the ledges behind. I will have to improve on this arrangement in due course. The light throughout the cave is filtered but adequate in most areas. My investigations have shown several natural openings to the outside, all of which are protected by large rock overhangs that prevent the rain from entering. These are inaccessible from the outside without abseiling gear and proper equipment.

The main light comes from the entrance which faces the north. The rock ridge that shields the entrance just brushes the lower limb of the sun at mid winter when the sun is close to its most northern position at the Tropic of Cancer; as it moves southwards towards the Tropic of Capricorn in mid summer it gets blocked by the roof of the cave’s entrance, and at that time of the year this is quite pleasant.

Continuing down the right side, beyond my mound, the cave turns right again and leads to a fault in the rock, which I will describe later. Beyond that is another deep recess about eight metres deep and five metres wide that could provide shelter for others, should there ever be any. The wall then tapers down to the rear entrance. The left hand side turns left about two metres inside the entrance and a narrow opening leads to another cave, roughly circular and about ten metres in diameter. It is very rough and partially filled with debris; it leads to another smaller cave, very high and narrow. Towards the rear of the main cave, on the left, is a series of small and large tunnels that lead with many twists and turns to other caverns until the openings become too small to crawl through.

Later I spent several days exploring the valley. The stream that flows near the rear of the cave runs down a steep gully about ten metres long where it collects in a small pool, about seven by four by two metres deep in the centre and empties through a cleft in the rock where it’s speed increases as it rushes away to form a marshy area of reeds, water grass and swamplands. Having found no better solution I have constructed a small toilet, known in Australia as a ‘long drop’ downstream, which ensures that the pool is not polluted. There is also a wider, flat area above this where I bathe and do my washing—all without soap.

I discovered that the valley itself is about a kilometre in diameter. At the furthest end away from the cave is a small forest, about a hectare in extent with very tangled undergrowth that supports a wide variety of birds, some of which I have not seen for many years. I forced my way along the rock-strewn base behind the forest with much difficulty, owing to the jumbled talus, where I stumbled upon yet another cave which appears to be quite extensive but I was unable to reach it as the floor is about four metres above my head with no apparent means of accessing it. I marked it down for future exploration. I carried on with my circumnavigation and saw several rabbits and some wombat droppings but no wombats. In the centre of the valley there are several large rocky outcrops. Nearer to the cave large rocks surround a natural amphitheatre about twenty metres across, giving it an almost pagan aspect. The rest of the valley is mostly grassland with a few shrubs and wild flowers. The marshland is quite extensive with reeds and rushes growing profusely and it has clumps of trees around its edges. I am well pleased with my small kingdom.

Over the following year I made trips at least twice a month to stock the cave with provisions, mainly tinned food, sacks of rice, cooking utensils, bedding and all those items that would prolong life and add some small comforts to my eremitic life to come. Food is becoming increasingly difficult to come by as is kerosene for the lamps. I realise that sooner or later I will have to live off the land and learn to hunt and grow my food. To this end I have constructed traps using the information gleaned from the internet and purchased many packets of seeds and some small potted fruit trees.

Once, whilst investigating the inner reaches of my cave I felt a gentle breeze on my face and although I could not discover the source I realised that at that point a recess in the main wall seemed to get close to the outside wall of the cave. Walking outside I checked the rocky face to the right of the main entrance where it turned sharply to the left for about twelve metres and I discovered a clump of dense bush and quite a large tree. Delving deeply into the brush I found what appeared to be a wombat’s burrow, obviously long disused. Lighting a small fire I added a few green leaves and set it in the entrance to the burrow; hurrying back into the cave I soon discovered a steady stream of smoke coming from a wide fault in the wall that was filled with fairly loose earth which I marked as a possible emergency exit should it be needed. After two long, hard years my cave is now fully functional. I wonder what the original Aborigines would have thought.

The foregoing explains how I arrived at my current situation but it does not tell you how or why it became necessary; or of the country’s long drift into terror and chaos, revolution and mayhem; or of the nightmarish situation in which I find myself. I will go back a hundred years, although the scenario of disaster had been set long before that.

CHAPTER TWO

Sometime, back in the late 1800s, it was recognised that something called the Greenhouse Effect was a phenomenon that made our planet habitable, it did not have any negative effects; it kept the world fixed in a temperature range that suited us. Without the Greenhouse Effect the temperature on earth would be in the region of minus 18 degrees centigrade instead of the 16 degrees we are used to. Much work was done by scientists such as Svante Arrhenius and Arvid Hogbom from Stockholm; American geologist, T.C. Chamberlin; physicist, E.O. Hulburt and many others. The argument raged as to whether CO2 would or would not increase global warming. Around 1938 an English engineer, Guy Stewart Callendar, took up the baton; he asserted—on somewhat flimsy grounds—that the doubling of CO2 could gradually bring a rise in temperature sometime in the future. While he could not prove that global warming was underway he had given a new emphasis to the investigation. He warned the world of the acceleration of the Greenhouse Effect and of the ultimate problems that this would cause to the environment. The University of Leicester Bulletin (19.02.2006) stated, ‘Even at today’s slightly elevated temperatures, with a rise of around half a degree centigrade, mountain glaciers are receding significantly, as also seem to be, locally, the margins of the ice in Greenland and Antarctica. The Greenland icecap is vulnerable, and its loss would mean a sea level rise of some 7 metres; as it creates its own regional climate its loss may be effectively permanent. In Antarctica the recent break-up of ice shelves has precipitated increased streaming of ice from much further inland, which potentially represents the initiation of a phase of much more serious ice-sheet collapse’

The fact that Arctic ice floes were melting was of no significant importance and had little effect on ocean levels. Icebergs are large floating masses of ice and in order to float the iceberg displaces a volume of water that has a weight equal to that of the iceberg, however in the Antarctic and countries such as Greenland the melting ice ran off large land masses which raised the ocean levels significantly. The rising temperatures also affected the glaciers where the snow and ice retreated annually. The main ice covered land mass is the Antarctic which had 90% of the world’s ice to a depth of about 2,133 metres (7000 feet). This was to prove to be a major factor in the devastation to come. An article written by Katelyn Sabochik, who was the Online Campaign Manager for, ‘Save Our Environment.org’, back in April 2006, wrote, ‘Polar bears are in growing jeopardy as the ice essential for their survival rapidly disappears. Some studies forecast an ice-free Arctic in summer as early as 2100, spelling certain doom for polar bears. A growing number of bears are already drowning as they are forced to swim more often, and for longer distances, in search of ice sheets. Researchers found four dead polar bears floating 60 miles off Alaska’s coast in the fall of 2004, and it’s likely that many more will drown as ice sheets continue to melt.’ The polluters seemed unimpressed. It seems totally incomprehensible to us now that all these warnings were so completely disregarded, especially when written by such bodies as the Environment Society of Australia who circulated an article by the World Bank, entitled ‘Climate Change Big Threat to East Asia’, which stated, ‘Rising sea levels, more intense storms and greater extremes of droughts and floods will probably cause greater loss of life and threaten the livelihoods of millions’ The Bank said in a report. ‘Countries in the region are partly to blame, because of their dependence on fossil fuels, and they need to do more to promote energy efficiency to cut the emission of greenhouse gases. They also need to become better adapted to the coming weather extremes to limit