“Alright folks, the numbers are in! After running every calculation we’ve determined that the best case scenario for the year is as follows-”
The screen lit up with a simple table.
Hurricane Category
Number of Incidents
5
2
4
3
3
5
2
6
1
8
“Ouch…Two cat-fives this year!”
Kyrie’s neighbor, a balding businessman in a tight suit, leaned in close to her. “They always add extra disasters in order to make more money.”
She gave a confirmatory nod but said nothing. She was well aware of the conspiracies surrounding The Weather Agency.
The table listing upcoming hurricanes shrank as a map of the Eastern US took its place.
“Let’s begin with the first cat-five.” The auctioneer said. A yellow line appeared on the map, intersecting with Northern Florida and breezing up through Georgia and the Carolinas. Dates appeared beside the line, with the phrase ‘Landfall – 4:39 PM’ beside the date ‘July 9th’.
“Ouch! A lot of valuable property in that area.” The auctioneer exclaimed. “So let’s start the bidding at $4 million a mile.”
“Ten miles north.” A businessman said, calmly raising his fingers without unfolding his arms.
The yellow line on the map moved slightly, and the time beside July 9th changed to 4:54.
“Eighteen miles further north.” Another man said.
Again the line and time changed.
“Sixty five miles south of Original landfall.”
The line moved dramatically southward. Kyrie checked the property she was meant to defend and frowned. Several large condos were right in the path of the storm, and though they’d easily survive, damage to the surrounding infrastructure would inconvenience many of their affluent residents.”
“Fifteen miles further south.” She said.
The line drifted to the south.
“Twenty-seven miles south.” This time the line did not move, but instead an alert appeared. ‘Warning: altering the route of this hurricane this far South will instigate the conditions necessary to create an additional storm. Details: Additional Cat-1, landfall on September 28th at 6:12 AM.” A faint red line appeared, this one intersecting the Florida Keys.
“An extra storm.” The auctioneer stated. “That incurs a double-cost to you, plus subsidizing 50% of every mile for relocation of the new hurricane. Will you accept charges?”
The man spent several long seconds glancing back and forth between the large screen in front of the room, and the info-pad sitting in his lap. Eventually he moved his finger across his neck a couple times. “Nix the order.” He said.
The yellow line returned to its last position and the red line disappeared. For a long minute no one spoke.
“Any other takers?” The auctioneer asked. “There’s a lot of prime real estate in that area, and even a couple miles can make a huge difference!”
But no one spoke.
“No one?”
Silence.
“Alright.” The auctioneer said. He banged the gavel, and the next hurricane trajectory map appeared. Kyrie felt a small sense of relief seeing the next cat-5 projected so far from any of her clients’ properties. If she could just negotiate through the 4’s and 3’s, she’d be in the clear.
As the route for the second cat-5 was auctioned, Kyrie’s neighbor leaned in and whispered, “I hear they’ve figured out a way to release excess geothermal energy in the form of a tsunami. I’ve been told that, within the next 5 years, we’ll be bidding against those disasters as well.”
Kyrie doubted it. As long as she’d been in the destruction mitigation field, there’d always been people claiming that they’d soon be bidding against tsunamis, or volcanoes, or even meteor strikes. Nevertheless, she smiled.
“I guess that means job security for us.” She shrugged.
Her neighbor, who’d been drinking from a smokey glass of brandy, raised it slightly. “Hear-hear!” He said, a bit too loudly. The auctioneer cast him a quizzical look before turning back to the audience at large. “To the continuation of natural disasters.” He said more silently.
“To natural disasters, and the damage they inflict.” Kyrie agreed.