"We need to talk" is usually the two slices of sweet bread covering a shit sandwich. I have yet to hear those innocent sounding words when they weren't followed by news to which I didn't want to listen.

The last time a boss called me into the office using that invitation, I left with a security escort to the front door with a severance check in my back pocket.

"Have a seat," Sheila patted the empty cushion and motioned for me to sit. "We've got a lot to talk about and not much time. The meeting starts in forty-five minutes."

"What does the board have to do with that?" I pointed to the inch-thick binder in her right hand with my name inscribed on the spine. Dennis Richards had been scratched out and overwritten in black ink: SkyWolf.

"Oh, this?" She waved the folder in the air before placing it in her lap. "Just a few notes in case I forget something."

Her serious expression ended with a wink and the hint of a knowing smile. Sheila had mastered the art of sending mixed messages.

Authority blended with sensual curiosity served as the foundation of our working relationship. We each pretended not to be aroused by the other in a weird game of sideways seduction. We played at the limits of desire. I pushed her boundaries but refused to cross. Intimacy advanced only at her invitation, and she hated it. She thought I was seducing her by convincing herself to seduce me. Since the event, I’d stopped playing.

"I'm about to making some changes, Sky," Sheila pulled my hand as she guided me to an off-balance crash landing into the adjoining cushion.

"What is it with your friggin' gravity assists? I can get down on my own, thank you." I tried to smile as I grumbled my objections to hide my alarm. Changes?!

"I'm only trying to help, and quit trying to change the subject."

She tilted her head and looked into my eyes. Her gaze was an unnerving repeat of our pre-dawn breakfast staring contest. My neck muscles tensed as I returned her mind-meld with one of my own. Two can play this game, let's see if we can find out what's going on in there? I willed my soul to relax and stepped back from the moment as I shifted my perspective to that of a third person onlooker. I wanted to observe the both of us in action.

We locked eyes, and for several long moments, our conversation was an exchange of silence as fleeting expressions concern of puzzled concern, annoyance, and sometimes affection rippled across our faces as we traded wordless thoughts.

"What kind of changes?" I touched my hand to her arm.

"I can't tell you, not yet. Not until I get council approval." Sheila patted my hand and gave me a reassuring smile. "Trust me; everything will be fine. You have my word."

The Chief opened my binder and extracted a bundle of papers marked: SkyWolf - Six Month EVAL/1.

"First, I need you to initial these pages to show that you have read them," the Commander said as she slid several pages dense with text out of the folder and laid them on the binder cover for me to sign.

"Can I read 'em first?" I pulled my bifocals out of my breast pocket and polished the lenses with a corner of my flannel shirt.

"No time. Scan, sign, and read it later." She impatiently tapped her finger on a little box helpfully labeled: Initial Here.

After taking the gel-pen from my boss's hand, I hesitated. Documents signed under duress are not legally or morally binding. Not that it mattered. I scanned the paragraphs and scribbled DNR/SW across the checkbox.

Most of the answers to the boilerplate questions were checked: Exceeds Expectations followed by a sentence or two of additional observations or supporting comment. I allowed myself to relax a tiny bit. So far I hadn't seen anything life-threatening. I've suffered through enough evaluation reports in my day to know; my opinion didn't much matter.

With a whole world turned to shit, I couldn't believe the Chief was wasting her time filling out some stupid report. I shrugged and signed each page of glowing grades with a grim smile. Apparently, I was doing a great job doing at whatever it was I was supposed to be doing. I let out an involuntary chuckle as I prepared to add my initials to the last sheet.

"What so funny?" Sheila gave me an inquiring look of puzzled concern.

"Nothing. Even in these strange times, the bureaucracy will outlive us all." I shook my head and signed with a smile.

The commander snorted a quick laugh as she withdrew the last sheet from the folder. "Sign and date here that I've given you this report." She pointed to the signature line at the bottom of the page.

My eyes widened, and sweat trickled down my back as I read the summary recommendations under "Fitness for Duty": "TERMINATE WITHOUT PREJUDICE & REASSIGN."

"What the fuck?" I gasped as a jolt of fear-driven adrenaline surged through my body and my gut twisted two ways from Tuesday, and my knees started to shake.

"Do you trust me?" She rested her hand on my leg to still my trembling.

"Er, um, yes, I suppose so." I tensed my leg and forced myself to remain still as I took a deep breath and tried to get my breathing under control.

"Then trust me now," Sheila smiled.

"Sign zee papers old man." I took the pen from her hand and muttered in my best phony German Gestapo movie accent. I didn't have much choice. I signed my John Hancock in a signature with two-inch high letters that defiantly spanned the page. I allowed myself to smile; the sweeping curlicue underline flourish was a nice touch.

The small conference room reserved for council meeting was jam-packed with a standing room only gaggle of curious sisters as I took my place at the head of the table while the commander stood before the blackboard with a chunk of chalk in hand.

"Our austerity protocol is now in effect, no more printed throw away agendas," with the Confidence of an experienced teacher and the penmanship of a practiced professional, the leader rapidly wrote out the meeting's agenda in chalk:

1. Belinda's Action Request

2. Commander's Report/Work Assignments

3. Going forward (Planning)

Sheila stepped back to admire her handy work and then added a fourth item to the meeting's agenda:

4. New Business

"The event has rendered old business obsolete," the Chief said with an ironic smile. "It's all yesterday's news. We start afresh." She took her seat, glanced at her watch, and whacked the table with her gavel.

"This meeting of the Society's Executive Committee is now in session. Belinda, you have the floor," the leader pointed the handle of the hammer and beckoned Belinda to rise. "Speak so that we may better know your mind ."

"I address the committee in the matter of our two missing sisters, Darlene and Alice." The Frost Queen scanned the faces of her friends as she walked the center of the circle to stand facing Sheila.

"The sisters have been missing for three days. I am formally demanding that we immediately launch a search and rescue operation to bring them back home." The Lady of Ice put her hands on her hips and awaited the Chair's response.

Sheila stiffened as she sat upright in the chair. "Belinda, you know my feelings about this. Request denied. Alice and Darlene are quite capable of Taking care of themselves. I expect them to scout the situation in town, at least for a few days before they head back here with a report. If they haven't returned within a week, will send out a search party but until then…"

"No!? Is that your answer?" Belinda took a half step forward. "Really? You're going to do nothing?"

"Waiting is not doing nothing. My decision is final," the chair adjusted her meeting notes and returned Frosty's glare with a sympathetic smile.

"Then I challenge your ruling and call for a council vote, as is my right under Article Five," Belinda studied the faces of the board.

"Very well. It is your right. All those in favor of my ruling, please say, 'Aye!'"

"Aye," Martha raised her right hand to the sounds of silence from the table.

"Those in opposition, please say 'No,'" the leader called after a few moments with no additional votes.

"Abstentions?" The chair's eyebrows wrinkled with puzzled curiosity while three hands from the three members rose into the air to a chorus of "I abstain."

"Um, the vote being one in support, none in opposition and three members in abstention, the ruling of your commander is affirmed." Sheila shook her head and brought the gavel down with a crash as she muttered under her breath, "That was interesting."

The reverberating thunder of the gavel smothered her next words, "What the hell?"

For a brief moment, the room reeled in stunned silence before erupting in whispering conversations between the gathered women of the sisterhood.

"What just happened?" "Did you see that?" "What kind of vote was that?"

The room buzzed with questions and confused uncertainty. Change was no longer in the air; it was all around us like an avalanche.

"Order! Order in the house!" Sheila repeatedly rapped the meeting hammer on its polished oak sounding block. "We have more people than places; meeting stands in recess. We'll reconvene in ten minutes in the amphitheater," the leader sounded the gavel while she rose from her chair and stuffed her paperwork and meeting notes into an embroidered cloth tote-bag emblazoned with the unofficial motto of the sisterhood: "If you can't do what you love, love what you do."

Easier said than done.

"Belinda, can I have a word with you for a moment?" I tapped her shoulder to get her attention.

"Oh? Do you want to speak to me?" Her smile flashed like sunshine as she turned to face me.

"Or would you rather talk to the Frost Queen?" The glow vanished behind a dark scowl accented by thinning lips and flaring nostrils as she transformed from beauty to the beast before my eyes.

I took a step back and opened my mouth to say something, but before I could utter a word, my frowning companion raised her hand like a crossing guard stopping traffic.

"Silence. I know all about your pet names for me," her smile returned as a grin, more sinister than sincere. She took a step forward.

It took all my willpower not to step back as her body invaded my personal space. At the primal level, I knew that to give ground would be an acceptance of her dominance. I moved closer to her until the tips of our toes touched.

"Yes?" Since she was looking for a fight, I would be ready with the sharpest sword of war, diplomacy.

Seraina and Darlene were Belinda’s friends. Given their tendency to overshare information, I wasn’t surprised that Belinda knew my secret name for her.

"Frosty, they are my friends also. I know you are concerned. We are all worried. Like you, I  love them both," I gently touched her arm with my hand.

"They can take care of themselves. They’ll be back in a day or two, three at the most," I moved slightly backward, enough to give each of us space sufficient to ease the tension.

"I’ve got a bad feeling about this," Belinda brushed my hand away but did not let go of it.

"We’ve got to find them, and…" she paused and struggled to get her emotions under control as tears welled in her worried eyes and her lower lip quivered.

"We’ll get them home. Just give ‘em a few more days. Okay?" My eyes watered. Frosty’s love and affection for the two women mirrored my own. She looked like I felt.

"You have my word," I brushed a tear from her cheek as I wrapped my arms around her in a quick and gentle Hollywood hug.

"Any friend of Darlene and Alice is a friend of mine, Belinda," Her body stiffened, but she did not resist. I got the message. Frosty didn’t favor hugs, at least not wolf hugs.

"I don’t know why, but I trust you," She gave me a surprise kiss on the cheek as she whispered in my ear, "Do not disappoint."

=^.^=

As a rule council meeting are closely monitored and sparsely attended. Clan members preferred to stay informed via the meeting minutes posted to the community BBS. That was then, and this is now. As I took my place next to my boss’ vacant chair, I took a long gulp of ice water and watched as the hall rapidly filled with curious and concerned sisters.

Fingering my Vietnam Service Necklace, I surveyed the faces in the gathering for any sign my status had changed. The event’s cosmic curveball made me acutely aware of my minority male status. My concern was more practical than paranoid. Crisis situations bring out the best and worst in people. Catastrophic events can unite folks from diverse backgrounds as we discover new common ground in mutual fears. 

StarShine beamed out a radiant smile and waved her hand at me as she settled into her seat near the center of the amphitheater. I returned her smiling wave with one of my own and followed with a pantomime gesture of drinking as I pointed in the direction of the kitchen and mouthed the word "coffee?"

The second time clicked. She got the message and gave me a thumbs-up and raced for the galley. I cringed at her innocent enthusiasm; the poor kid was trying too hard to please me. She missed her mom and clung to me like an incestuous daughter. 

"Damn clever, these North Americans," I chuckled under my breath as I admired the antique Grandfather’s clock someone had dragged on stage as a mechanical timekeeper for the assembly. Analog electrical clocks in the cabin were all frozen in the Rigamortis of time as their big hands, and little hands marked the moment of their demise forever. It would be a long time, if ever, before the fossilized electronics of the media center would be repaired or replaced. Until then, the dead desktops and lifeless video displays would haunt the hall as dismal reminders of yesterday.

Martha covered the live microphone in front of Sheila’s vacant chair and whispered, "Do you know where she’s at?"

"Over there," I pointed toward Sheila striding across the stage with her tote bag slung over one shoulder and a working laptop nestled in her arms like a sleeping child.

"Sorry about that, nature called," the leader said to everyone in general and no one in particular as she lifted the gavel from the table, glanced at her wristwatch and brought the hammer down with a BANG!

"We are back in session," she flipped open her computer and finger clicked a button. The dark screen of the video monitor mounted on an easel in front of the table flashed to life with a copy of the meeting's agenda.

"I everyone settled in?" she asked as she withdrew a folder of papers from her tote-bag and passed the copies around the table. 

"Next up is Mister Wolf’s six-month performance and evaluation report. Our bylaws require I provide the council with a performance and evaluation report for any new member. Today is Mister Wolf’s six-month anniversary, and this is my report as required by Article Seven of our charter," the first page of her report replaced the displayed agenda.

"What the hell?" the quartermaster gasped as she read the last page, "Terminate and reassign?"

Oh, that?" Sheila smiled, "I’ll explain."

"Ever Since we established our base, we’ve been in the planning for something which will end of the world as we know it. Now that the shit has hit the proverbial fan, the time for preparation has ended. Ready or not, we are now operational," Sheila paused as she looked around the room before turning her attention to me.

The drumbeat of my heart sounded like thunder in my ears as beads of sweat trickled down my back. I licked my dry lips and wiped my forehead with my hand as I returned her gaze with a tentative smile and dried my hands on my quivering knees. Now what?

"We’ve been blinded by the light of a new day. We know nothing about what this event has done to the world beyond these walls. Until we re-establish communications with them," the commander waved toward the lands beyond our walls, "we can only assume."

"This much we do know. Our unprotected devices and microchips took a fatal beating. We lost one-hundred percent of our chip-based electronics. If what happened to us is representative of the damage from the solar storm, and there’s no reason to think otherwise, technology has been booted back to the days before the First World War. The grid has been obliterated."

Her next words were lost as the lights of the conference hall flared and died, and our meeting was plunged into darkness. 

"Oh shit! Not again," I moaned as the shimmering glow outside the exit doors grew and intensified.

"Why does this shit keep happening to me?" I grumbled under my breath. Despite the growing knot of terror in my gut, I burst out laughing at the self-centered absurdity of my complaint.

The ‘me’ at the moment was the entirety of mankind.

Again, nothing personal. Shit happens, carry on. My sun was doing what stars must do if they are to comply with the laws of physics. I understood well the eleven-year min-max sunspot cycle. I also knew we hadn’t been around long enough to experience all the other cycles rippling through time. 

Nature had just pounded the nail into our technological coffin with a sledgehammer. 

If the first SkyFire event had reduced high-tech to rubble, this second event was making the rubble bounce.

"Oh, my God, we are so fucked," I laughed to myself, loud enough for Sheila to hear.

"What’s so funny?" Sheila said in a voice resonating with alarm and curiosity, probably wondering if I gone off the rails or what?

"Nothing," I paused as I patted my pockets for my Bic, "I was having a ‘Why Me’ moment," I flicked my lighter and looked at her in the bubble of light.

"Mother Nature is a blind lady. Her blessings and curses are randomly dealt and seldom earned. None of us deserve the earthquakes and plagues which ravage our lives."

After a few moments, my eyes adjusted to the abysmal lighting conditions. Aside from my tiny flame, the glow from the entrance doors was the only source of illumination.

"Does anyone else have a light?" I called out as I raised my lighter and searched the void for a spark.

Initially, crickets answered. But, within a few moments sparks from flint on steel danced and twinkled. The fireflies ruled the night.

"We stand in recess ‘til further notice. Please exit safely and gather in the great room," Sheila commanded as she sounded the gavel on wood.

=^.^=

"...but it’s impossible!" Jennifer's eyes opened wide as she pointed at the pulsing aurora’s dancing along the dark blue northern horizon.

We were close to solar noon and overhead, the sun’s rays blasted through the rainbow sky like a searchlight shining through a cathedral’s stained glass windows.

I was dazzled by the mesmerizing effect as the sunlight’s tint shifted by the second. The subtle changes in color altered my perspective. I was inside the rainbow looking out.

"It ain’t impossible if it is happening. What we need to know is what," I paused and did air-quotes with my fingers, "‘it’ is. Like, what the hell is going on?"I moved beside Jennifer and gave her a quick hug to distract her from her fears.

"I’ve seen worse. I used to do acid in the sixties."

"Ha! Back then, your bad trip ended when you woke-up," she relaxed a bit and returned my hug as she stepped away and let out an ear-splitting two-finger whistle followed by a loud bellow, "Science Group! Team Meeting! STAT!"