Willa McBride took the overly sized pair of shears out of her desk drawer and walked from the recently finished city hall out into the new Village Center. Some of the buildings were still under construction, the Ocean Grand Hotel in particular. Frank Gillis had postponed rebuilding his hotel so he could focus on rebuilding the homes and small businesses in Dolphin Beach first. Frank stood at the speaker’s platform near the midpoint of Village Center, updating the crowd that had gathered on what remained to be done in Dolphin Beach.
“I see our guest of honor has arrived,” Frank said as he saw Willa approaching. “Ladies and gentlemen, our beloved mayor, Willa McBride.”
Willa stepped up on the speaker’s platform and quickly surveyed the huge crowd of people. “Thank you Frank, and thank you my friends, the people of Dolphin Beach. We actually do have two honored guests with us today, Jason Roberts from Cal-Tech, will you please stand?”
Jason was seated in the front row. He stood, turned and waved to the crowd.
“Before you sit back down, Jason, I want to extend our profound thanks for all of the work you did to help educate us about the earthquake and tsunami. If it wasn’t for you and the evacuation plan you put together, most of us gathered here would have died last fall. Thank you Jason.” The crowd gave him a standing ovation. His face flushed, but he managed a small bow and another wave of his hand before sitting back down.
“Our other honored guest is my sister, Senator Elizabeth Bechtel.” Her sister stood and waved. “Thank you, Elizabeth, for all of your help with relief funds and the influence you exerted on our behalf to see that all of our communities could be rebuilt.”
Elizabeth quietly sat back down.
“In last year’s earthquake and tsunami we lost our homes, our businesses and our town. What we didn’t lose is one another. Dolphin Beach is the only town on the Pacific Northwest coast that didn’t have a single fatality in that disaster. That happened because you looked out for your neighbor. Young and old, rich and poor, you came together, and together we walked away from the greatest disaster in the history of the Pacific Northwest. I can’t tell you how proud I am of you. To me, you are the most wonderful people in the world.
“Which brings me to why we are here.” Willa turned to face the large tarp that covered the object over the new fountain in the Village Center. Frank held the wide ribbon that kept the tarp in place. Willa slowly approached, and glancing back at the people said, “I hereby dedicate this new piece of art to the courage and strength of the people of Dolphin Beach.” She cut the ribbon and the tarp fell away, revealing the new stainless steel sculpture of a Pacific White Sided Dolphin leaping over the central fountain. Frank reached down and turned the valve on for the fountain. Water sprayed into the air under the dolphin to the cheer of the people of Dolphin Beach. Willa turned and looked at her friends, the people of her home town. She turned again toward Frank and held out her hand. He came forward, smiling as he shook her hand.
“We’re back,” she said. “Dolphin Beach is back.”
AUTHOR D F CAPPS
DF Capps is the author of Meteor Storm, and Tsunami Storm, sci-fi thrillers. Meteor Storm features new technologies and ancient history. Capps illustrates some of the ways technologies we currently have could be used and he mixes these new technologies with his fascination with ancient history and alternative Archaeology. For Capps mixing the new and uncharted with the old is an exciting and illuminating undertaking. Tsunami Storm features the use of secret weapons of mass destruction and the existence of a Covert War.
Capps attended Wayne State University for two years before joining the U.S. Navy. Later he was discharged from the Submarine Service and went to work as an electrician in the Machine Tool trade in the Detroit area. Capps was initially trained in electronics in the Navy and expanded his training to include Industrial Computer Control and computer programming. Due to the fluctuating automotive job market in the Detroit area, he developed his design skills in both mechanical design and electrical design. Capps has six U.S. Patents and won a national design competition in 1985.
As a former electrical and mechanical engineer, Capps draws upon his experience to create much of the technology in his novels. He has a keen interest in emerging energy sciences and in his quest for knowledge on this new technology, Capps developed the control system for an over-unity electrical generator and witnessed first-hand the capabilities of such developing technologies, "The day I made the measurements on a machine that was producing eight times the electrical energy that it was consuming was a life-altering experience. I saw for myself what could actually be done, even though it was against all of my electrical training. Since then I have questioned everything that is considered conventional knowledge and found it terribly lacking. We actually live in a world that functions at a very different level from what we perceive."
Capps uses this new understanding of the greater possibilities for science and technology in his sci-fi thrillers. Some of the writers who inspired Capps are Michael Baigent, Dr. Eben Alexander (Proof of Heaven & A Map of Heaven), and David Baldacci. Capps has attended dozens of webinars through Writers Digest to work on perfecting his writing craft. Capps’ goal as a writer is to fashion an entertaining story and then to weave generally unknown facts into that story leaving the reader wondering just what is real and what isn't. If he can entertain a reader and make that reader question the reality around them, then he considers his efforts a success.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As much as a writer might like to think this is the work of the writer alone, nothing could be further from the truth. Each book that you read is the combined effort of a number of people who have all contributed to the end product. First I would like to thank my wife, Miriam for her endless patience and suggestions. Next is the much appreciated suggestions of Katie Reed and my talented publicist, Rebecca Berus. A special thanks to artist Natasha Brown for her cover design.
I would also like to thank Joseph P. Farrell for his tireless research and courage in publishing the often hidden side of human history and its dark endeavors in his book, Covert Wars and Breakaway Civilizations, Adventures Unlimited Press, ISBN 978-1-935487-83-8, from which I have drawn the inspiration for Tsunami Storm.