On one level he was ready to charge off and go save Akane.
On another he was looking at a satellite picture of Japan and the wave receeding. In fact, he was looking at the wake left from Mount Fuji as little pyroclastic bits rained down into the water. The smoke plume might cover where Akane was huddling with her two friends. On the other hand, it didn't look freaking likely.
"So they built these things just in case the human race was bound to destruction, and that way someone would survive?" said Nabiki, thumbing through a brochure that had been printed in the early 70s. "Interesting."
"Uh," said Ranma as the picture changed to a view of Russia. Most of which looked like it was on fire.
"Methane level rising," said a voice from the television. "Volcanic activity has released pockets of methane in Siberian permafrost and suboceanic strata. Nearby flood basalt formation increasing greenhouse gas levels."
Airplanes had been in the air, and some were coming down for a variety of causes. Crashes started fires but with the disruption of society from the rest of the problems, those fires were not being put out. While in Russia there was a large area burning, Europe looked like a thousand smaller fires were burning.
"Predictions are likely to need to revision as modeling information is confirmed, but world temperatures are likely to reach runaway greenhouse levels within year," said the same voice over the television. "Unless cloud cover provides sufficient cooling that an ice age is triggered instead."
"What's that mean?" asked Ranma.
"It means that they're not sure if the world will get too hot or too cold for people to survive," said Nabiki. "That's why they built these shelters apparently. Sort of like that story about an 'ark' that was to contain species while the world flooded."
Kasumi was quiet in the background, reading as the images being shown on the television were just too overwhelming for her.
"This just in," said the woman's voice on the television. "Rioters in London have apparently overwhelmed police forces and are looting stores, with especial attention given to food supplies and high end electronics."
"That's brilliant," said Nabiki sarcastically. "Civilization is collapsing and some people are going to grab a wide-screen TV."
"Why would they go after food?" asked Ranma.
"Because whether it's an ice age or greenhouse," said Nabiki, "the one common thing is that food is going to get very scarce very quickly. The scenarios the people who built these shelters came up with is that as food supplies dwindle, people will start killing other people for food and things will go downhill even faster."
"Better to be killed for food than as food," said Kasumi, "though that is apparently possible too."
"The people who put this all together apparently did consider all that," said Nabiki. "As long as the defenses hold up, we're covered for a few hundred years."
(Posted Sat, 25 Apr 2009 18:45)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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