The Disappearance of Summer Solstice

"No sir. The electricity in the fence will kill anyone who touches it. The stream is not even a foot deep at that point. Steve is too big of a boy to clear that small distance."

They were only thirty yards from tripping over Steve. He decided to chance rolling into the middle of the stream. Taking a deep breath, he rolled over, slowly, twice, returning to the icy water. He lay still, face down in the stream, but found that the water covered all but two or three inches of the top part of his body. His hands and face began to feel numb. It was too late to make another movement. They walked up to within five yards of where Steve lay. His body seemed to take the shape of a protruding rock.

The Colonel was beginning to look strangely at the form in the middle of the stream, when a call came on his two-way radio. "Colonel, the General needs you at the gate immediately. It's beginning to get wild out here. Solstice confirmed Amir's accusation about the lies he told. General Lever tried to implicate the President for his decision to lie but President Ohm has denied ever talking to him." The two men quickly turned toward the main gate and ran.

Steve lifted his head out of the water and looked around him. The two officers were almost at the main gate. He breathed in great gulps of air. "Great! The fence is electrified!" Steve said to himself. He decided to chance it anyway. As he pushed himself up in order to crawl to the side of the stream, his hand went deeply into silt..at least two feet. Maybe there would be some silt at the fence that he could dig away to safely get under the fence. He realized that he would need a depth of at least two feet to get under the fence and even that would be extremely risky. Maybe he could get it even deeper if there was enough silt.

Within three minutes, after arriving at the perimeter fence, Steve found himself in the stream once again. He hopefully pushed his hand into the bottom of the stream. His heart sank. The silt wasn't as deep as at the spot where he was trying to hide from the Colonel--only about a foot. He began to dig with his hands, removing rocks and silt as fast as he could. Every once in a while he could hear people yelling at the main gate. He wondered if he could get out in time to get to the news team. With each handful removed, it seemed that the stream would bring in more material. He couldn't give up now. It was his only hope to save his life and the life of his friends.

Steve felt under the fence. He estimated with his arm that it was a little over a foot and a half under the surface of the stream. With renewed effort, he continued removing small pebbles and dirt. Finally, he reached solid material and could dig no further. He made another estimate--not quite two feet. He looked at the fence. The bottom of the fence was about an inch above the surface of the stream. He breathed heavily from the effort made to dig in the ice-cold water. He cupped his hands and blew on them to try to warm them up. He was not successful and started to shiver. He put his hands back into the water and felt the bottom of the stream, hoping to find something else to remove. He groaned from pain and discouragement. Finally, he decided to make the attempt, no matter what the outcome. He and his friends had to be saved at all costs.

He laid down on his back in the large depression that he had cleared, with his head toward the fence. He took a deep breath as his head went below the water. He felt the front part of his shirt float to the surface of the stream. He took his hand and pushed it down. His hand was slightly above the surface of the water. Was it enough to clear the fence? He began to push with his legs but the pain in his left leg prevented him from pushing with enough force to cause him to move under the fence. He realized that he would need both hands as well. He lifted his head to replenish his lungs with oxygen and took a deep breath and submerged it once again. He removed his hand from his shirt and it floated to the top of the water. He pushed with all of his might and moved slightly. His face was under the fence, his nose barely clearing the electrified metal. Another heroic shove and his neck passed under the fence. On the third shove he only moved half of the distance between his neck and waist. He pushed again, this time becoming conscious of his shirt preventing him from moving. The horror of the situation dawned on him. His shirt was caught on the bottom of the fence. He knew he could last only a short time more under the water, but realized that when he came up for air this time, he would come into contact with the fence. Steve's mind raced wildly, not knowing what to do next. He quickly decided that he had to reach up and pull his shirt down. He did so, half expecting for his hand to touch the fence. When it didn't he gained hope. He grabbed his shirt and pulled it down. Then he lifted the torso of his body up slightly and tucked as much of the shirt under his back as he could. This time, the shirt did not float up. But now, Steve's lungs were crying for air. With all of the strength that he could muster, he pushed again. His waist was now under the fence. He pushed again, moving himself another four inches. He couldn't stand it any longer. He knew that he had to surface to get air. He carefully began lifting his head out of the water. As his nose and mouth cleared he drank in huge amounts of air. He breathed in and out heavily for at least a minute. He could see that if he sat up straight, that his waist would touch the fence. He went under the water once again and pushed again. He moved slightly. After two more pushes, all but his feet had cleared the fence. He sat completely up and then carefully pulled his feet toward him. The shoelace of his left shoe became entangled on the bottom of the fence. He tried to move his foot back and then pull it out again, but found it to be hopelessly trapped.

"I have to get the shoe off somehow," he said out loud to himself. He tried to put his right foot under his left heel but found it pushing his left foot up. It would soon touch the fence. He changed positions so that his right foot was at the side and a little bit under his heel. He pushed and began to feel it move, but the pain of his wound increased dramatically. He almost screamed out loud, but put his arm in his mouth and bit with all of his might. One last push and his shoe finally came off. It fell into the water and began to float. It bumped against the fence--nothing happened. The current caused it to change position slightly. Steve had now pulled himself out of the water. He watched the shoe move back and forth and bump the fence repeatedly. Wasn't there any electricity at all? At that moment, the metallic eyelet of the shoe touched the fence, sending sparks flying in all directions. A siren began to sound on the base.