April 13 a snippet.

Most of my time is being spent on the next Family Law book. But when I need a break I work on April 13. I did this today As always rough and unedited.
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“Come look. It’s doing it again,” Eileen said leaning over peering out the window.

“Let’s go outside,” Victor suggested. He put on his slippers and grabbed a pistol out of habit and caution. They hadn’t had any trouble at all. Late at night it was cool in Northern California but not cold. A jacket might be needed to sit for hours but not to see the lights in the sky. This was the third night the conflict between the Spacers and North America was visible. The first night was spectacular but it seemed to be winding down now.

None of this conflict seemed aimed at their area which was just fine with them. All of Southern California suffered from the bombardment of Vandenberg a couple of years ago. The delicate balance of services and legacy infrastructure that made the lower part of the state habitable had collapsed in a cascade from the point of that strike within three days. The rural northern part of the state still didn’t have electric power and existed in a political power vacuum but was habitable. If you had the skills and means it was possible to live much like people in the area had back at the start of the twentieth century.

The wrap around porch shielded the sky but they went to the corner where they could see the sky both to the north and east. Their eyes were already adjusted to the dark since they’d been in bed. Vic examined the open areas, the tree line, and listened carefully before he allowed himself to look at the sky. There was no traffic noise or other sounds of civilization to break the silence and no glow of electric lights to spoil the view.

A man-made meteor passed by to the north shedding fragments of various colors as it disintegrated. It was too high and far away to hear anything. It petered out, consumed before it got anywhere near the ground. Vic silently hoped it wasn’t a manned object. There were fine single lines of debris reentering, very much like a natural meteor shower, but they suspected none of it was natural. Suddenly there was a bright spark high overhead, then another until there had been a regular procession off them leading off to the east. After a pause there was a gentle orange glow on the eastern horizon that faded away. A few minutes later there was a brief white flash reflected off some clouds and then nothing more. That seemed to be it for this round.

“Do you want to look at the news on the satellite phone and see if anybody knows what is going on?” Eileen asked Vic.

“Not tonight. It always takes them some time to decide what to say, or to sort out what others are saying. Better to wait until tomorrow when the foreign reports will be more reliable. Let’s just go back to bed for now,” Vic said.

“You’re right,” Eileen said but leaned out and took one last look. Nothing was happening so she followed Vic back inside.