Tanya and Roger, by now a competent pilot, flew the helicopter around Sydney and environs on several occasions making extensive video recordings. Central Sydney was almost completely flooded, and Circular Quay inundated. The huge skyscrapers stood like sentinels, knee deep in water. The Kurnell Oil Refinery was under water. There were long streaks of oil from the refinery on the south side of Botany Bay and from the airport on the north side. Several cranes, some suspended at precarious angles, was all that was visible of Port Botany. A ship's funnel poked out of the water on Southern Cross Drive, seemingly the ship had been lifted from its mooring at the port and driven the three kilometres inland to its current resting place during the first violent impact of the flood. The nearby Kingsford-Smith Airport was completely flooded, with a few tail fins of abandoned aircraft just visible. Very occasionally people emerged and waved desperately, but in general the city was deserted.
They landed on an oval close to Epping Road. The rugby posts on the oval were sticking out of knee high, unmown grass in anticipation of the next game, now never to be played. As with all the major arteries out of the city, the road was jammed up with cars not going anywhere. Tanya hopped out, leaving Roger at the controls of the machine. She disappeared for a few minutes and then Roger saw her being violently sick next to the deserted bus stop.
A very pale Tanya returned to the aircraft and sat silently for a minute. 'Dead people! Most cars have several bodies inside, although there were some on the pavement. It's too ghastly to think about. They all just died there. Many of the bodies outside the cars look as if they've been partially eaten by something, probably dogs. Let's go. There's nothing we can do for these people.'
After several of these trips, she said to Roger, 'I think we will leave it at that. We should show it all to the community though.'
Mark said to Tanya one evening over dinner, 'With all our recent patrols there was no sign of any direct threat to us here at The Settlement. But I'm still worried about Demetriou and Fred.'
Tanya nodded.
'Jonathan told Dad in a recent satellite call that all the jails were opened up to give inmates a chance of surviving by themselves. I just wonder how long it will be before we see them. '
Tanya said nothing, but her eyes widened . She hadn't given Demetriou a thought in years.
'There has also been some contact with Evan, so he is still alive. All the message said was "Rome" and then weeks later "Istanbul", according to Jonathan.'
Tanya forced herself to relax.
Jonathan was now the most senior surviving officer in the army. David had kept in close touch with him by way of a satellite phone for a while and then with a flock of homing pigeons both The Settlement and the army base near Canberra had nurtured for the past few years.
'We are surviving,' Jonathan told David, 'but have no capacity to help anyone. Our resources are concerned mainly with incursions from the North. When you are able, it would be helpful if you could secure the Port of Newcastle. You have the military capacity. My guess is you have two or three years to do it.'
'What about Sydney?' asked David.
'Nothing at the moment, but leave that to us.'
Over ensuing months, Mark and his brother Jonathan had set up regular meetings, sometimes in the now deserted city of Canberra and on alternate visits at The Settlement.
On one of his visits to Canberra, Mark enquired about Virginia Andrews.
'At the time of the collapse and before the flood hit, many of the people here returned home to see if they could help their families. I think Captain Andrews went home.'
During his discussions with Mark, Jonathan frequently referred to his battle with some of the military hierarchy who had thought his Ice Shelf obsession was ridiculous fantasy. However, he'd managed to maintain a budget and had copied many of The Settlement initiatives, 'What you did at The Settlement is now the basis of the survival of what's left of the Australian military establishment. I think, in time, it will be the basis of re-creating some sort of Government in Australia.'
There were ten thousand active military personnel on various bases as well as in ships and submarines scattered around the coast of Australia, plus partners and children. A food supply, schools, and hospitals were all being maintained.
'We are trying to establish the number of people and groups that have survived. We estimate there are about one hundred groups, such as yours, around Australia that survived the flood aftermath; The Settlement being the most highly developed. Our resources are stretched now maintaining the geographic integrity of Australia. In future, in cooperation with groups like yours, we would hope to be able to be a catalyst in rebuilding the Australian nation.'
At the time of the flood, Jonathan had taken the initiative to deploy troops to several bases in the continent's North. 'I had already secretly created infrastructure in Darwin harbour to cope with an increase in sea levels of fifteen metres, so most of the navy made it there. We managed to feed all the depots from Canberra at first, but most of them now have their own sources of food.'