The Summer Storm

Posted on Wed Jan 8th, 2025 @ 4:24pm by Commander Samantha Howard

Mission: Family
Location: Eastern Seaboard, Australia, Earth

Commander Samantha Howard hadn't been home in a long time. Too used to the controlled environment of starships and starbases she felt as though thr climate was raging a personal war at the moment.

She'd been home for a week, catching up with family and friends from around the planet but always returned home in the evening. It was a little patch of paradise, more like a little patch of countryside trying to survive the harsh southern climate. The days had been blisteringly hot, tucking the moisture out of all living beings. The vegetation suffered brutally, the large trees had drooping and shrivelled leaves, the grass had browned and was dying, and the animals congregated together in whatever shade or water they could access. The Government of the country freely allowed this, as it was the way of Country for millions of years gone by. First comes the heat, then follows the dry, then eventually the drought breaks with more rain than the landscape can deal with. It was the cycle of life, but not one Sam was used to.

She sat on the wide open verandah with a glass of chilled wine, icecube bobbing within the pale liquid and condensation dripping down the outside of the glass. It was hot, but having been off world for so long she wad determined to get acclimated again. The wide verandah offered refuge from the sun and provided natural cooling as the breeze floated through.

Somewhere deep in the distance the first murmurings of the epic summer storms brewed. Tall white cumulus clouds built to dark thundercaps, bringing the tantalising promise of potential rain. During particularly dry spells even the clouds were sucked dry and lightning reeked havoc on the landscape with no rain to quench it. The local fire departments had been busy lately dealing with the fallout of such dry storms in an already dry environment.

This time however she could smell the change in the atmosphere, how the slightly metallic tang promised more than dangerous electricity jointing earth and sky. Things could change rapidly in this ancient land, the clouds built over the mountain ranges, flashing randomly with bursts of energy. A warm wind began to proceed it before a hushed quiet fell. Even the animals fell silent, a baited breath drawn to prepare for the onslaught.

One. Then another. Fat dropped of rain fell on the old corrugated iron roof, the sound almost cherished and even replicated by those who lived here. The old homesteads still bore reasonable copies of the metal rooves of old, complete with wide verandahs and water tanks that collected the liquid gold that fell from the sky. Soon the sky open to unleash the deluge, reverberating so loudly on the roof that Sam nearly retreated inside. Lightning flashed and thunder so loud it rattled the old panes of glass in the windows shortly followed. The summer storm was here.