It was early, very early in Los Angeles.
Dawn was just beginning -- the horizon was a pure clear blue, the sky still dark enough that the constellations could be seen.
The freeways were full, but the traffic was flowing well, and people on the road were congratulating themselves for their early start, or grateful their night shift was over and thinking about home and bed.
Most people, though, were still asleep.
Hardly anyone was worrying about North Korea -- China and Russia had finally come around on greater sanctions, and the common opinion was that a military coup was coming and Kim Jong Un was about to join his ancestors.
Until a new, very temporary star appeared in the western sky.
People looking at it had a moment to wonder about the flash before seeing what seemed to be the aurora, something very rare in southern California.
Then they were distracted, as their phones failed, many of their cars stalled, and they heard echoing muffled booms as power transformers all over the city exploded simultaneously. The entire Los Angeles basin went dark.
Chaos reigned.
On the freeways, tens of thousands of cars traveling at highway speeds became uncontrollable missiles -- engines stalled, lights out, skidding and scraping across the pavement out of control.
Random fires were breaking out across the city -- flammable buildings near exploding transformers, mostly, to start.
The fires went largely unfought -- the phone systems were out so the fire departments didn't know about them, and the fire engines and ambulances wouldn't start anyway (their computer-controlled ignition and fuel systems were dead).
By the time the sun was up, people were on the streets, worried, starting to panic.
More explosions, big ones, were happening in El Segundo, Torrance, Wilmington, and being followed by massive fires filling the sky with black smoke -- oil refineries and chemical plants had lost their control systems.
By noon, uncontrolled fires were sweeping across the valley.
And that was just the first day..."
Important!
Read it all!
