Chapter 278: Solar Irradiance

Kalli waited patiently until the glare crackling on the walls ended, then turned on her tablet and waited again for the until the static faded from the cameras, and then checked the outer wall views to see what the air quality issue was.

"Forest fire. That’s probably not related to the radiation, it shouldn’t set trees on fire, no matter how strong it is. But the temperature is high, and the sun is so bright that a shiny volcanic stone could act as a focal point to start a fire," she explained.

Vinnie sighed, as he watched Kalli’s tablet. "Well, shit. Alright, I see what the issue is now. We’ll likely have grass fires, and fields burning soon. There are too many bits of volcanic glass out there for it not to be a light show right now.

If I’m reading this sensor right, we’re at over three times the usual mid-afternoon light level."

Kalli nodded. "Sunburn in under thirty seconds, second degree burns in five minutes for exposed skin. And that’s not accounting for the fact that it’s currently close to sixty degrees outside.

That volcanic stone and ash holds heat far too well."

"Yep, we’re definitely going to need better air conditioning if it keeps up like this. But solar storms are usually short, right?" Yara asked.

"Yeah. They’re usually short, not more than three or five days," Kalli agreed.

"Well, that’s still likely to be an issue, given how hot it is out there. How long until we can turn the power back on?"

Kalli shrugged. "Give it another hour, and I’ll have everything back up and running. It might be safe right now, but there is a built-in procedure for eliminating the static electricity, and that takes at least half an hour.

The buildings are pretty well insulated, we should be fine for at least a little while."

The team leaders nodded.

It was getting warm in here already, but it was not intolerable. Even if they spent another hour in the dark, they would be fine.

It was unnaturally quiet in the city with the power off, but Kalli decided that it wasn’t all bad. The hum of the fans was the constant background noise of her life, but with them off, it was rather relaxing.

Of course, she could go outside if she wanted.

The Light Composite Battle Armour had basic climate regulation functions to it, though it wasn’t anything as fancy as the climate control in the power armour. Going out in a Flight Suit could be questionable if they were hit by another pulse, though.

"Hey, does anyone know sun stuff? We’ve got data, but I need to know if this is actually over, or if we’re going to be relying on magic for a few days," Kalli realized.

"Oh, that’s a good point," Nancy realized.

She had [Ice Fog] as a spell, and it could be used to drop the temperature in the room.

And now it was comfortable again.

Vinnie smiled. "Well, with magic, we’re not totally lost. Plus, we have enough of an enhanced physique that most of us aren’t going to die from a little heat. Like, I can feel it, but it’s not as awful as the thermostat says it should be."

That made sense to the rest of the group. They would certainly sunburn if they were outside for long, they were still humans. But they had a much higher tolerance to heat and cold than they used to.

"I wonder if there is something beyond the stage where we’re at now? Like, we’re already above what would be considered normal for humans, but if we could heal like the monsters, or gain their durability, it would be incredible," Reggie noted.

Yara opened her mouth to respond, and Reggie raised a hand to stop her.

"If you’re going to say that I already have their smell, I will have you know that I just got out of the shower."

Every other person in the room laughed, as they knew that was exactly where Yara had been going with the conversation. But now that they had seen her called out, she couldn’t very well continue with it.

Kalli smiled at Reggie, "I suppose that it’s not impossible. If you keep advancing the way that you are, you’re bound to get to a point where either you stop, or you have to advance in some fundamental way so that you can progress beyond what even the body of a Hero can sustain, in the way that you’re built now."

The warriors considered her words carefully. She had a point. Their bones were stronger than they used to be, their skin was too. If it wasn’t true, they would take injuries just trying to lift the weights that they did during training.

And since they didn’t they were obviously changing on that fundamental level that Kalli had mentioned, but it just wasn’t at a level yet where it was truly distinct.

"Damn it’s bright out there. How long did you say that it was going to last?" Gerry shouted from the kitchen, having missed the last part of the conversation, as he was out grabbing ingredients.

"You didn’t get a radiation burn, did you? It’s going to last most of the week, I would guess," Kalli shouted back.

"No, I had my helmet on for the visor, it’s like staring at a welding bead just looking at the reflection off the buildings. It’s a good thing that they’ve all got tinted glass on them, or people inside would be fried."

Kalli sighed. "This is going to be problematic. The city should be alright, the tubers might as well, but my chickens are not going to be happy.

The other ones are inside, and they’ll have climate control as soon as I’m sure that it’s safe to turn the power back on.

But mine don’t."

"You’re worried about the chickens? It’s nearly hot enough to soft-boil the eggs," Gerry replied as he brought out pitchers of iced tea and snacks for them to pass the time.

"I would cook a hot lunch, but it’s about to get very warm in my kitchen, and the power is out," he added.