The Turbine Field is the wind-swept plain of turbines spread across the San Gorgonio Pass, a landmark on the route from Banning to the Colony’s Power Station. It is both a working part of the settlement’s electrical system and a threatening stretch of open country: its turbines can generate power, but the Colony’s failing batteries make that power increasingly precarious, while the field also holds the memory of Demo Jaxon’s final ride and the uncertainty surrounding travelers who do not return.

Setting and Route

The field comes into view as Peter Jaxon and his party descend from the mountains toward Banning. Hundreds of turbines stand across the flats, resembling a forest of artificial trees; beyond them, another mountain range appears through the haze. The descent takes place under a hot, dry wind so forceful that conversation becomes impossible, and the temperature rises as the riders lose altitude. Banning marks the end of the road down from the mountain, after which the party plans to follow the Eastern Road inland toward the Power Station.

This route makes the Turbine Field more than scenery. The travelers must cross exposed ground to reach infrastructure that sustains the Colony. Near their destination, a concrete bunker sits partly submerged in the valley floor, enclosed by an electrified fence; a large rust-colored power trunk climbs the mountain behind it. Theo Jaxon uses a key carried on a leather lanyard to open control panels, cut the current, and release the gate. The approach thus runs from the visible turbine landscape to a guarded, below-ground facility where access to power is physically controlled.

Energy and Fragile Infrastructure

The turbines’ presence does not guarantee reliable electricity. Michael Fisher sees the Colony’s battery cells deteriorating on the Lighthouse monitor, where green bars register the failing system. The cells were designed to last decades, and their survival for nearly a century is remarkable, but the battery membranes are no longer serviceable: corrosion can be cleared and wiring adjusted, yet the damaged membranes cannot be restored. Without replacement batteries, the turbines may continue turning while the settlement loses its ability to store and regulate their output. Michael estimates that the lights may fail within a year or two.

The gap between generation and storage gives the field a particular irony. Wind power appears to offer an enduring resource, but the Colony remains dependent on aging components that cannot be repaired indefinitely. Michael understands that a single windless night could become dangerous if the batteries can no longer regulate the current. His technical work therefore carries a social consequence: keeping the lights on is part of keeping the community alive, and the eventual failure would leave him responsible for telling its people that the system can no longer protect them.

Demo Jaxon’s Last Ride

The Turbine Field is also bound to the story of Demo Jaxon’s disappearance. Five years before Peter’s recollection, Demo rode out along the Eastern Road with the herd, leaving the Colony on his great roan mare, Diamond. Peter, then a Watch runner, observed the departure from the catwalk near the Main Gate on a cold, gray morning just before Morning Bell. Diamond’s white forehead marking gave her the name; Demo regarded her as loyal and tireless, and Peter saw him bend to stroke her neck and speak quietly to her as they waited for the gate.

The departure departed from Demo’s established ritual. Before Morning Bell, he ordinarily took his compass from his waist pouch, inspected it, and called out the number leaving; the gatekeeper answered with the number expected back. On this morning, the familiar exchange did not occur. Peter did not call to his father, and Demo did not look up at him. The omission gives the ride the quality of a farewell without establishing that Demo intended it as one. Peter remembers his mother’s explanation that Demo had entered his own time, but he is left to wonder whether his father knew he was watching.

Demo’s final ride followed a longer period of change. After returning from an earlier Long Ride, he seemed weighed down by sadness and stepped down from the Household, passing his seat to Theo. He began riding alone, leaving at first light and returning shortly before Second Evening Bell, without telling Peter where he went. Peter connects his father’s altered state to the loss of Willem, whom Demo had loved deeply. The Turbine Field and the Eastern Road therefore belong to a pattern of departure that the family could observe but not fully understand.

Nightfall and the Danger of Not Returning

For travelers, the field’s open approach is governed by the Colony’s narrow margin between daylight and darkness. When Peter’s party reaches the Power Station, Theo watches the sun sink behind the mountain and notes that once the shadow crosses the valley they must seal the hatch. The group brings its animals into the underground stable and closes the bulkhead for the night. Peter then joins Theo at the gate to scan the turbine field with binoculars, waiting for Caleb Jones and Zander, who have not come back.

The wait evokes Demo’s disappearance. Peter wonders how long the family had waited on the earlier night when his father went into the turbine field, and how long they had delayed before sealing the hatch. The parallel makes the landscape a threshold: beyond the Colony’s protected lights, a familiar route can become a space from which a person may not return. The turbines offer power to the settlement, but the field around them remains exposed and uncertain, linking the community’s survival to infrastructure that is both indispensable and vulnerable.