1. The Millennium - 1999-2000

The battered family car travelled on the dark, desolate, winding road, and its lights hardly left any impression on the darkness that prevailed that moonless night of December 31st, 1999. The driver, a man in his mid 30s, was alert and focused on driving and did not dare to look away, as if he feared what would happen the minute he did. Beside him in the passenger seat was a woman about his age, also alert and focused, staring at the road in front of her..

"Jonathan, if we don't get there in half an hour they won't wait for us..." She started, and her tone indicated a great effort to maintain restraint and keep control.

"Don't worry, Sally, we'll be right there," He interrupted her, trying to show confidence he didn't feel at all. "What about the boy, is he still asleep?"

Sally turned. In the back seat, strapped in his booster chair, sat Sam, Sally and Jonathan's 4-year-old son, surrounded by a pile of packages and bags that apparently had no room in the trunk. He was sound asleep. Sally turned to her husband again. "He's fine," she said.

A few minutes later, the car reached a sharp bend in the road. Jonathan almost missed the turn and had to stop more abruptly than he intended. "Sorry," he murmured. "We're here."

The road was blocked by a fence with a gate on which hung two large warning signs. One read: "Caution! Electric Fence! Danger of Death!" And it looks like an original sign taken from somewhere else. The other one was newer, and it read: "Private Property! No Entry! Trespassers will be punished!"

"Dad, Mom, are we there yet?" A sleepy voice squeaked suddenly from the back seat.

The two turned their heads toward the voice, the boy, who waa awakened by the sudden jolt, stretched in his seat and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Yes, sweetie, we're here," said Jonathan, his hesitancy gone. He flashed the car headlights as per a pre-agreed sugnal. A few seconds later, the gate opened quietly and lightly, as it was obviously lubricated and well maintained. The car passed through the gate, continued for a few tens of meters, and stopped by a large construction that looked on the outside like an abandoned industrial building. The large main doors were open.

The whole compound looked like a state-of-the-art atomic shelter built to the strictest specifications, and the name "bunker" may have suited it better.

Jonathan drove the car inside and pulled up on a metallic platform next to a button panel. He pushed one of the buttons, large doors closed silently, and the platform began its descent. The car was inside what appeared to be a cargo lift or car lift in a large public car park. It descended and descended for a time that seemed eternal, but in fact lasted for a few seconds, and opened into a large, daylight-lit space.

Jonathan drove the car slowly and carefully out of the lift. At the door were three men, among them a man of average stature, with long black hair turning partly grey, and gave him the appearance of an ancient patriarch. He had a quiet conversation with one of the others, who walked over to the car and directed it to its designated parking space, along with several other vehicles already waiting on the scene, including a fire truck and an ambulance.

When the car finally stopped, the man who looked like a patriarch came to the driver's side window and said, "The Rosins?"

"Sorry," Jonathan replied. "We..."

"You're late," The man interrupted him. "I'm Daniel.Take your things and come with us. Lockdown in 10 minutes."

Daniel did not utter another word as he led the family to the large main hall where about 200 people of all genders and colors, from one-year-olds to seniors, were waiting. It was pretty clear that the diversity was not accidental at all. They all seemed welcoming and even quite relaxed. The hall went silent and everyone seemed to be waiting for Daniel to speak.

He wasted no time. He cleared his throat and said aloud: "We have arrived at the moment of truth, friends. One minute to lockdown. You all know what to do. To your stations!"

The assembly dispersed each to their assigned positions, and the Public Address system began to sound a countdown in automatic, mechanical voice. When the count reached zero, all the lights in the hall went off at once and were replaced with dim emergency lights. The Shelter was completely silent. The ease felt less than a minute before had disappeared. Daniel stepped out of the room that served as a control room and called out to Jonathan, who had not dared move yet. "Rosin!"

Jonathan was quick to recover. Sally, standing next to him like teacher tring to reason with a slow student, hugging Sam, stared at him sharply. He gave her a reassuring look and turned to Daniel: "Yes, where do you want me?"

"You're the car mechanic, aren't you?" Daniel asked.

"Yes," Jonathan replied.

"And you're the pediatrician, right?" He turned to Sally.

Sally nodded.

"Welcome. I really hope you will remain unemployed, but we have a clinic equipped with all the basic equipment here." He turned again to Jonathan. "You, on the other hand, will have your hands full. We did everything to shield our vehicles fom EMP's, especially the electrical systems, exactly according to your instructions, but we have to be prepared for every possibility. Take your family to the residence, Simi will show you the place Then come back here. We need to talk."

The woman called Simi was a warm, maternal woman of about 50, and she kept chattering cheerfully on the way to the residential complex, which was one level below the hall. "So where are you guys from? Daniel said from the south, right?"

"Yes," Jonathan replied.

"And you're a car mechanic? And you're a doctor?"

"A pediatrician, yes," Sally replied.

"One thing is for sure, Daniel knows how to pick the people he lets into his Shelter," Simi said. "I am a teacher, for example. Daniel thinks that the children must stay in school as if nothing happened. We have a classroom and a Playpen here and we will make sure your boy doesn't get bored for a moment. His name is Sam, right?"

Sam stared at Simi with round, curious eyes, and said nothing.

"Excuse me, I really don't mean to be rude, but Sam is exhausted and I just have to put him to bed," Sally said apologetically. "To be honest, I am almost falling off my feet too..."

Simi's cheerfulness didn't show the slightest dent. "It's okay, I understand. Here we are."

Simi stopped in front of a door with a simple handwritten sign "Rosin", opened it and let Sally, who was still carrying Sam, enter first. Her eyes took in the part-cabin, part-room, similar to a crew member cabin on a freighter, furnished functionally but very economically - sleeping bunks, a sitting area, a small closet, and a separate bathroom-toilet area behind a partition.

"I'll give you time to get settled," Simi said. "The kitchen area is at the end of the corridor to the right. You can't miss it. In the living quarters you can't light a fire or cook, of course. See you in the morning. I'm sure everything will look better then."

Simi left, and all the air was sucked out of Jonathan's lungs in one long puff, as he turned to Sally and said in an overly encouraging tone: "This is it. Everything is fine. We've arrived in one piece, we're together and we're safe. Like I promised you, right?"

"Yes," Sally admitted.

"Put Sam down and go to bed. I'm going to talk to Daniel, and then I'll take care of the rest of our stuff. Don't wait up for me. We'll talk in the morning."

The two kissed, and Jonathan closed the door and started walking back toward the control room.

Apart from the independent internal control systems for lighting, air conditioning, waste recycling and security cameras, the Shelter's control room was highly sophisticated and equipped with wireless and satellite communication systems with the outside world. From his place by the door, Jonathan watched the displays on the wall. Some were monitors of the external security cameras, showing only the almost complete darkness outside. The others showed "snow" or signals of interrupted or ended broadcasts. Two other people that Jonathan did not know were also in the room at the time. Daniel stood between them, in front of the big central monitor connected to the control systems. He noticed Jonathan's presence and said without turning his head: "Oh, Rosin. Is your family okay?"

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Jonathan approached him and stopped beside him. His gaze was still fixed on the monitors. "Yes, they are already asleep, thanks."

"Good." Daniel's directness was sometimes annoying. "We have twenty-five cars here, ten different types of commercial vehicles and also an ambulance and a fire truck. Tomorrow morning, after breakfast, I want to check them all and give me a status report."

"Of course." Jonathan hesitated for a moment, and then added: "Excuse me for asking, but wasn't it a bit extreme, stealing an ambulance and a fire truck? They would be needed more on the outside, wouldn't they?"

To Jonathan's surprise, Daniel did not resent the question. "Who said we stole them?" He said, and for the first time there was a hint of levity in his voice. "We bought them a few months ago in army surpluss sales. Of course, we took them on test drives and ran all the usual tests, but I need you to check them again."

"Okay." Jonathan's eyes turned again to the line of monitors on the wall. "What's going on here?" He asked, trying to hide his concern. "What's the situation outside? Do we know yet?"

"It's too soon," Daniel replied briefly.

"And what about regular TV and radio broadcasts? Emergency broadcasts?"

"Do you think we trust those? We have other sources of information. We have reliable contacts outside. People who volunteered to stay outside the Shelters. They'll find a way to let us know as soon as the picture becomes clear."

"Yes, I understand." Jonathan didn't know how much he could tesr Daniel's patience, but he kept going. "It's just that I've heard some say that the millennium will only begin in 2001, and not..."

"Where did you hear that, in some science fiction show on TV?" Daniel responded dismissively. "You are confusing Y2K and the Millennium. Every culture has its own way of calculating a Millennium. But Y2K is a real and present danger to all Western culture as we know it and it was caused by two very real computing glitches - marking years with only two digits numbers and ignoring the fact that years whose numbers are divided by 400 are leap years. And what's with all those questions anyway?"

"I'm sorry," Jonathan hoped he managed make his words sound apologetic enough. "I have no intention of disrespecting you or doubting you. Obviously you have done everything to prepare for every eventuality, but I entrust you with my family's life, my son's life, and I need to know..."

"All you need to know is how to do your job," Daniel interrupted him with a sharpness bordering almost on rudeness. "I won't bother you, and you won't interfere with how I do my job. As long as you obey the rules, you and your family have no cause for concern."

Jonathan wanted to respond but changed his mind and bit his lips. "All right. We'll talk in the morning."

He left the control room. When he reached the door he couldn't stop himself from looking back. Daniel was already fully focused on the control panel and was no longer aware of Jonathan's existence.

The person in charge of the so-called "restaurant" was a tall, skinny, ill-tempered 50-year-old man, one of the oldest in the group. His name was Martin, and he excelled in making adequate enough meals from basic supplies. He had two assistants, a very unpopular task that all the older members of the group had to share in turn. They ate breakfast silently, intently. Simi went from table to table, greeting everyone with a good morning, adding a kind and encouraging word. Daniel sat alone at a corner table, and no one approached him or tried to disturb him.

Sally and Jonathan walked into the "restaurant" late, leading Sam among them. The only places left were at one of the side tables, where one couple was already seated. They sat down apologetically, and the woman, slightly older than Sally, said with a smile, turning her eyes on Sam: "The boy overslept, huh?" And before Sally could respond, the woman continued knowingly. "We have two of our own. Some things never change..."

"Yes, and that's good," Sally replied with a smile. "Don't worry, it won't happen again. The truth is that we actually had a very quiet and calm night. Right, baby?" Sam, who was watching intently, allowed her to fondly ruffle his hair, and then she held out her hand. "This is Sam, and I'm Sally."

The woman shook the outstretched hand. "Hi, I'm Iris, and this is my husband, Max. The kids are already in the Playpen."

"Jonathan," Jonathan intervened. He and Max exchanged handshakes.

"Isn't that very strange?" Said Max. "I mean, in the circumstances? This quiet, it's not easy to get used to."

"Exactly," Jonathan agreed. "Are there any news yet? Have we heard anything?"

"Not yet," Max replied. "You're Rosin? The mechanic, right?"

"Yes," Jonathan was confused by the sudden change of subject. "What..."

"The red Corvette? It's mine."

Jonathan couldn't help himself. "What, you stole it from the Starsky and Hatch set? Or some car museum? "

"Give her special treatment, okay?" Max responded as if he took Jonathan's sarcastic comment at face value. "I expect her to be in perfect shape when I get her out of here."

But Max couldn't keep a straight face for a long time, and as his eyes gleamed with mischief, Jonathan burst out laughing loudly, and found it hard to restrain himself when he noticed the attention he was attracting among the occupants of the nearby tables. He lowered his voice to a cinspieatorial whisper and said: "Don't worry. I'm going to give her the royal treatment."

After breakfast, Jonathan went up to the car parking area, at the level above the residential level. The place was still and dark except for the emergency lights. The keys to all the cars, including his own, were hung in a simple metal locker on the wall. He opened the locker, took out the first key and started working.

About two hours later. Jonathan found himself in front of Max's red Corvette, a classy, well maintained and well-kept car, and it was evident that its owners had invested a great deal of work in it. I don't understand how Daniel agreed to allow such a beautiful and useless toy into the Shelter, Jonathan mused to himself, but if you were mine, I would also demand special treatment for you...

He opened the hood and started checking the car systems.

When Jonathan finished working and glanced at his watch - an old-fashioned but accurate and reliable analogue watch as long as you didn't forget to wind it - it was close to noon. He closed the Corvette's hood with appropriate care, locked the doors, put the key back in the locker, and, after a brief deliberation, decided to stop first by the control room.

Daniel was in his place in front of the central monitor and did not notice Jonathan's entry until he heard the knock on the door. He turned away from the monitor and didn't seem surprised to see Jonathan. "Rosin." He finally said. "Did you finish the inspection? Do you have a sit rep for me?"

Jonathan ripped the report out from the writing board and handed it to Daniel. "Everything is fine. There was only one glitch, in Max's Corvette, and I was able to fix it. This toy is well kept, but it's much older than it looks."

"Excellent." If Daniel caught up with Jonathan's question, he chose to ignore it. He took the report from Jonathan's hands and placed it on the control panel without looking at it. "All right, you can go back to your family. I'll call you if I need you."

He returned his focus to the monitor and Jonathan left the control room and closed the door behind him.

Almost unintentionally, the side table became a regular meeting place for the two couples - Jonathan and Sally, and Max and Iris. After the children were finished with their meals, they were sent to the Playpen – A very fancy name for a corner where several mats were placed on the floor and several shelves loaded with games and toys were installed - and the parents stayed at the table, sipping another cup of coffee and trying to pass the time with small talk. After Jonathan finished working on the cars and submitted the final status report to Daniel, he remained virtually unemployed. Sally spent about an hour each morning in the clinic, checking medical records that were left blank, waiting for patients who never arrived, and not knowing whether to be disappointed or satisfied that no one needed her services. The clinic was indeed equipped with the basic equipment needed to treat injuries and bruises, headaches and minor cases of colds and childhood illnesses, but not cases requiring surgical intervention or prolonged hospitalization.

On the third morning, it was Jonathan's turn to accompany the children to the Playpen, and he returned to the table five minutes later. The topics of conversation around the table hardly changed, but Jonathan sat down anyway, rubbing his hands with satisfaction, and asked, "Okay, what did I miss?"

"Nothing," Max said. "Is everything okay? Is there anything new in the parking lot?"

"No, all the cars are in great shape, thank you," Sam replied, adding pointedly: "Including your Corvette."

Loud laughter spread around the table.

"And how about you?" Max turned to Sally.

Sally made a face. "There are no sick children," she said. "Three days and I haven't even treated a scratch..."

"So we're bored, so what?" Iris said. "It's better than the other way around, isn't it?"

Sally shrugged. "I guess so, but I'm thinking of the kids in my clinic..."

"They'll be just fine." Jonathan intervened, adding with a wink: "Or maybe you're afraid they'll realize that they can do without you too?"

"Of course not!" Sally exclaimed in utter indignation. "You know as well as I do that it's impossible! But still..."

"I understand completely," Iris said. "It's hard to believe, but no one is indispensable..."

"Enough of this gloomy talk," Max interrupted her. "We win either way, don't you get it? If a disaster strikes, we will survive. If it doesn't, we may come out looking a little dumb and paranoid, but we will have survived anyway. Isn't that the point?"

"Really, what will you tell your friends and family when you get out of here? I mean, assuming both they and we do survive?" Jonathan asked in an amused tone.

Max looked at Iris. "We'll think of something, we always do, right?"

Iris laughed. "Yes, we are already old hands at this."

"Yes, surviving would be very nice indeed, but somehow, I'm not sure about this whole 'sole survivor' bit," Sally said. "I mean, what are we supposed to do if we walk out of here to a world in ruins? Start rebuilding? How exactly?"

"I'm sure Daniel has a plan," Max replied with unshakable confidence. "Besides, we won't be the only ones. You know there are other Shelters..."

Martin's appearance at the table cut the conversation short. "Sorry, do you want anything else? I have to clean up and close," he said.

Only then did the two couples realize that they were actually left alone in the "restaurant", and they got up quickly. Sally turned to Iris and said jokingly. "How about we help him?"

The morning when the All Clear, for want of a better term, sounded caught everyone staying in the Shelter by surprise. They all dropped whatever they were doing and rushed to the Great Hall. Daniel was already waiting for them, a big smile of satisfaction on his face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that the danger has passed," he declared as soon as the Hall went silent. "They say that a couple of small countries in Africa were badly hit, but my people confirm that the damage was quite isolated. Y2K caused far less harm than we feared. It just goes to show that you can never be too prepared."

A murmur of agreement passed through the crowd.

"When the doors open in an hour, you can all go home," Daniel continued. "I ask that you leave at keep at least five minutes intervals between cars to avoid unnecessary traffic and unnecessary attention. Carefully check your quarters, leave them as clean as you find them, and don't forget anything because you won't be able to come back for it. Ronnie and Tom, come with me to the control room room. Oh, and I need three volunteers to help Martin close the restaurant."

The crowd quickly dispersed.

Sally and Jonathan were happy to be out in the daylight after more than two weeks where the only way to tell night from day was to look at the watch. They were among the first to exit to the desolate dirt path. The sky was clear as usual. Rain started to fall as usual in January. They passed through the gate, and soon found themselves again on the main road, which was packed with cars as usual this time of the afternoon. Jonathan was driving, Sally was sitting next to him, and in the back seat, Sam, strapped in the security chair, awake and alert, muttered to himself as he played with a toy his parents had given him. Suddenly he asked aloud, "Mama, where are we going?"

Sally turned to him, a big smile on her face. "Home, sweetie. We're going home."