Containing the Fallout
Across one's life, many major historical events will happen that can change the future irrevocably for the better or worse. With such events, many people will have core memories of where they were when they first learned of its existence.
For Bruce O'Brian, the Chernobyl event first came to his awareness as he was changing the diaper of his youngest child.
It was after dinner time and after experimenting somewhat with a few solid foods, George had released enough to smell like a skunk, with Carrie giving her husband diaper duty while she handled the dishes.
It was one of the least glamorous aspects of parenthood, but fortunately one positive thing about George's neediness was that he was the calmest when being changed cause either you or Carrie had your complete focus on him, and for some reason that was his happy time.
"There you go George, now you're a needy little cleanie." You said with a playful tickle on his stomach, making George laugh with glee.
"Daddy!" Interrupted Mary, who barged into the bathroom.
"Mary, what did I say about coming into the bathroom? You have to knock first." You lectured calmly.
Mary looked nonplused and simply knocked on the already opened door, to which you gave a light sigh. "Yes Mary?"
"Come in living room quick." Mary requested, a look of worry present on her face.
"Dwagon?" George asked eagerly.
"Something happening on News, want you to see." Mary requested, fidgeting in place a bit.
You nodded, wanting to ease your eldest's concerns, "Alright, let's go." You said, hoisting George up and carrying him with Mary running ahead.
When you entered the living room, Sarah approached you with concern, "Daddy, Mary stealing the Kermit Box! It not her turn, it Josephs!" Sarah protested.
"It okay, I wait. Lakers not on yet." Joseph said with patience, prompting his twin to turn at him in annoyance.
"It's not forever Sarah, just need Daddy to see news." Mary stressed.
"I'll watch the news Sarah and then Joseph will have the Kermit Box until you go to bed." You say, calming the sisters for now.
You sat down with George and it seemed that ABC was playing, "There has been a nuclear accident in the Soviet Union, and the Soviets have admitted that it happened. The Soviet version is this, one of the Soviet reactors at Chernobyl, an atomic power plant at the city of Kiev is damaged, and there is speculation in Moscow that people were injured, or even died."
For the next ten minutes, you paid attention to the news report and the living room became a bit dour, save for Sarah and Joseph who didn't understand what was going on and played with the pets under Carrie's watchful but concerned eye, with George then joining them to hug the cats.
From what you could understand from the news report, apparently there was some sort of accident in the last day or two in a nuclear power plant in Ukraine. There was evacuations in the area and so far the Soviets claimed the situation was being monitored and under control. Yet, Romania had been the first one to detect such with a rise in radiation, and Romania had been saber rattling over the day of Soviet nuclear tests or a potential strike on Romania, starting a state of mobilization within the country as the Danubian Democracy prepared for the restarting of war and threatened Article 5 if Romanian territory was contaminated. This provoked a diplomatic crisis across the Atlantic, and forced the Soviet Union's hand by revealing an accident to calm the war scares.
Admittedly, Romania may have made a tense situation worse through their reactions, but considering the earlier genocides and the Soviet's downing of Korean Airlines, tensions were at an all-time high and Romania had yet to be shown signs that the Soviets could be engaged with civil diplomacy or that they would never again try to finish what they started with the plagues.
After a clip was shown of Vice President Bush informing the press that Reagan was monitoring the situation and working closely with allies and neutral powers to achieve a common consensus and if reciprocated, aid the Soviets in any potential disaster relief, but that the situation was too early to say. After that was speculation between a nuclear physiscist and the news crew, thus leaving you content enough to give the remote to Joseph who happily switched to the Lakers.
"Daddy, we'll be okay right?" Mary asked in concern. Your heart dropped at such a question, with Carrie giving Mary a fierce and protective hug.
One downside to Mary's genius was that with her increasing curiosity and understanding of the world, came exploration of adult concepts which kids her age shouldn't have to concern themselves with. When you moved Conan production to Yugoslavia, Mary went into a research dive on the Cold War to understand what the fuss about Communism was about, and she had a fair amount of serious talks with Carrie about it and some more when you returned. You wanted Mary to stay innocent for as long as possible, but then again one of your strongest childhood memories was the Cuban Missile Crisis and the following assassination of JFK.
"We're going to be just fine Mary, just as we always have." Carrie said with upmost confidence, though you could see her eyes looking to you in concern. Both of you had some concerns, though you would present a strong united front to Mary.
"Your Mom's right Mary. I'm sure they'll fix it soon and everyone's gonna forget this by next week. They got a lot of smart people in Russia after all. And if you're still worried, just pray to God for everything to be okay and he'll help you."
"Okay." Mary said simply. Though it was clear she held some reservations, if both you and Carrie said it would be fine, then it would, simple as is.
Fortunately, the Lakers and their game against the Celtics would push away such talk for the night as you all snuggled together on the couch and the kids fell asleep in your arms. As the two of you tucked the Goslings in, you prayed that it wasn't anything major and Chernobyl would be a fleeting news subject.
Unfortunately, it would not be. For the next week, Chernobyl continued to be a topic of news programs, even EPCOT Magazine had a featurette on nuclear safety and the debate of nuclear energy. Frustratingly, the Soviet Union shared little if any news about what exactly was taking place, only reporting that it was contained and they were fixing the issue. Yet, no one really felt the situation was under control with a steady stream of desperate Ukranians trying to sneak themselves into Romania, reporting a state of uncertainty and panic while journalists reported of a high state of mobilization for the local Soviet military forces.
Romania continued to saber rattle with full mobilization, demanding that the Soviet Union let international observers into Ukraine to see what was going on, raising tensions to their highest in the last couple of years. All the while, Konstantin Cherneko was nowhere to be seen and he hadn't even made any public appearences or comments since Chernobyl began.
In the absence of Soviet information, there was wild speculation on the potential devastation and fallout, both literal and metaphorical. Nuclear physicists suddenly became the hottest interviewees for cable news and the anti-nuclear crowd, who had been quiet ever since CARE had been passed, were coming out in full force and proclaiming that America was next if it continued its nuclear reliance.
This was not something that you wanted at all. You had supported the creation of CARE because it would provide America with near infinite energy for relatively cheap, end dependence on foreign oil so it wouldn't have to suffer from OPEC's abuse again, and it would help heal the environment by lessening the amount of those toxic gases from entering the atmosphere. After all, all the animals that you would save would be meaningless if they couldn't breathe the air or were stuffed with toxins.
With Batman coming up and you wanting to spend as much family time before production began, you had hoped to put Chernobyl in the back of your mind, just let Reagan do his job, after all you did plenty with Ireland. Unfortunately, it seemed that the world had a habit of calling on you.
"Bruce, there's a Congressman here to see you." Alerted your Secretary as you were in your office going over the recent script revisions for The Dark Knight.
"Tell him I already donated everything to my limits for the California GOP." You said on the intercom, well, most of them. You sure as hell weren't going to fund those batshit John Birch types who you were hoping would be mostly phased out in the primaries this year.
"It's Congressman George Brown Jr." She said, the Democratic Representative who represented your district and most of Beverly Hills at the federal level.
You put your head into your hands and groaned, having a feeling of what this was about. Damn it! Why is it that everyone is always dropping in unannounced and wanting you to fix the world?! Why can't you just drop in on Harrison Ford and get him to do some nonsense for you.
"It's always Georges and Michaels." You joke to yourself as you look at a picture of a smiling little George on your desk.
"Alright, send him in." You say with a resigned sigh.
The mild mannered Congressman entered and you rose up and shook his hand, "Good to see you Bruce." He greeted with a smile. Well, at least it was your favorite Democrat. As much as you liked John Paul Stark, Brown had been a good representative for the past decade.
"I hope you're not asking for my endorsement or donation." You joked, though you had skirted the line somewhat with the meeting with the New Japan politician a while back.
Brown chuckled, "Don't worry, my campaign's got a pretty sizable chest on its own. When you're the Democrat who represents Bruce O'Brian, a lot of big money establishment types like to donate to keep it that way."
You were tempted to ask if George was among that number but even if he was, you didn't really care about the activism and didn't want that to interfere in your friendship, "May I ask why you're here then?"
"Well, I'm in the area to do some ground work for my LA County allies and drum up support for a few primary ballots. However, my colleagues back at DC have been asking for me to head back, to help ward off those Greenpeace types and other Eco-nuts who don't understand they're sabotaging their cause."
"Things aren't getting that bad are they?" A similar situation was happening in Sacramento, but Mike was doing a good job at preventing any radical reform from taking place and with primaries in just a month, everyone was too busy campaigning to head back for legislation.
"People are scared Bruce and want action and answers. The Soviets are doing shit, so they want the next best thing and to prevent the threat from happening here, even though nobody knows what's going on and what to avoid. It's going to be impossible to abolish the nuclear grid, but halting all nuclear contracts and freezing construction is gaining steam, to mitigate the risks as they say."
"Bastards." You seethed. While on some level it made sense, it was still a horribly planned action which could do irreparable harm to the industry. You were all for tighter regulations and strict oversight for safety, but stopping construction at all would just lead to the fossil fuel lobby getting back in the door and an exponential increase in pollution.
"What do your presidential candidates have to say on this?" You asked, in reference to the three leading candidates; Walter Mondale, Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson.
"Jackson's all for a reactor freeze and is flirting with scaling nuclear entirely. I don't think he means any harm, he just isn't familiar with the stuff outside of the movies and shows." Which for better or worse was all glowing green go and radioactive mutations. Though at least here Jackson for all of his popularity wasn't close to a nomination.
"Mondale's pushing for his nuclear freeze and he's promising an overhaul of the energy department and a safety audit of all the planets. Hart's focusing on anti-Soviet rhetroic, saying we should hold them accountable and get them to open up, and reassuring that such a conditions are near impossible here but also wanting a new round of safety regulations after the convention."
That was reasonable all things considered, "We're too close to the conventions to get anything concrete done unless Reagan wants to start using executive orders, but if we don't sieze control of the narrative, then bad actors in both our parties could hijack the platform and let fear run the energy grid." Brown stressed.
"And you want me to get conservatives to stay supportive or nuanced on nuclear energy? I just have to warn you though that I'm probably not going to head to Dallas in August. I've got the next Batman film coming up next month and there's a good chance I'll still be filming by then." Not to mention your presence didn't really matter since Reagan was being renominated unanimously.
Brown opened his mouth in slight bewilderment, then shook his head with some mirth, "No, not exactly. You're still respected enough within the party and by the public that they'll listen to what you have to say and follow if it's not a hot button, especially after Ash Wednesday. Just, if there comes a time where we need support for the nuclear industry, just lend your support and be a voice of reason and compassion to cut through the fear and paranoia so we can make sure the grid's on track for a better future."
You sighed, "If you really need me, I suppose I'll be up for bat."
When you returned home later that day you were hoping for a temporary reprieve from work and greater callings for at least the night, but was surprised when Mary greeted you with a small stack of textbooks and papers that she did her best to carry all the way to the coffee table.
"What's all this Mary, homework?" You asked. Her private school usually did not believe in homework as beneficial for learning development, but occasionally she had some long-term assignments from what you and Carrie had seen.
"Yes, but not for me, for you." Mary stressed, then handed you some books, "These are books about nuclear energy and explains them easily for normal smart people like you." Mary said.
"Okay." You said blankly. Well, at least she didn't call you dumb.
"They talk about how it works and all the benefits and how to deal with any bad stuff and what we are doing right now. I also wrote talking points for you to tell people." Mary explained.
"Mary, why are you giving me this?" You asked with a frown. Lord, if Brown got to your daughter then you would-
"I saw on newspaper that some people want to cancel the NERVA rocket because they're stupid and don't understand how it works." Mary said with a deep frown.
"Mary." You cautioned. You didn't want her to grow up to think the world besides her and her friends was stupid or beneath her, and for the most part she was pretty understanding but she had a few moments.
"But they are stupid Daddy, they're using cartoon science and not the good cartoons. If NERVA is cancelled then NASA costs more and won't work as good, so we won't stay on moon or go to Mars." Mary said passionately. "People listen to you Daddy, so you gotta teach them the smart ways and not do dumb stuff that hurts space."
You smiled at that, if the next generation was as passionate as her, genius intelligence or not, then maybe the next century would be okay. "Alright Mary, so what exactly do I need to know."
"Well, here's a chapter about reactors-"
