Josh threw in, “Chesapeake Bay and the Wooly Mammoth.”
Wooldridge and Chandra looked at him with surprise.
Frowning, Wooldridge said, “Yes, during oil exploration in the 1990s, an 85-mile wide crater was found at the bottom of the Chesapeake. Although not as big as the dinosaur killer, it probably destroyed all life on the East coast and shaped the Chesapeake Bay. It was dated to about 35 million years ago.” Glancing at Josh, he added, “Although still hotly debated, there is some evidence to suggest the extinction of the Wooly Mammoth, Saber Tooth cats, etc., along with the demise of the Clovis Indian culture may have been caused by a small comet detonation over the Great Lakes. That would have been only about 12,000 years ago.” He paused. “I completely agree that comets are the largest single threat to humanity. What I don’t understand,” he glanced back at Josh, “is how anyone could possibly have found a new one, particularly a dark comet, two years out.”
Josh said quietly, “The information came from ... another source. One that’s so highly classified, I can’t share it with you at this time. I’m sorry. I would love nothing more than to give you the background. All I can say right now is that we believe our information is reliable.” He paused. “I wish it weren’t.”
Wooldridge, with some sarcasm, said, “What are we talking ... aliens?”
There was nervous laughter around the room.
Josh gently shook his head. “I’m sorry. I can’t say where the information came from.”
Wooldridge started to say something and then stopped.
Josh knew his refusal to explain would force them to draw their own conclusions. They’d probably run the gamut from super-sensitive military space hardware to aliens at Roswell. As brilliant and logical as these people were, they were still driven by emotions. He knew most of them were just excited to be involved with an important purpose. “Dr. Wooldridge, when we can release the source, I promise that you and Dr. Chandra will be the first to be notified.”
Wooldridge looked a little uncertain, but sat down.
There was a loud buzz of conversations around the table.
Meadows brought them back. “OK folks, let’s focus.” Josh admired Meadows’ ability to roll with the punches. As things quieted down, Meadows said, “If we’re talking two years, boosting a nuclear reactor into orbit will be a challenge.”
Chandra added quietly, “It’s not two years.”
Meadows said, “Pardon me?”
Chandra said, “That’s time to impact. We need time to deflect it. Depending on its size and the power of the beam, we’ll need to hit it continuously for at least a year. That means we have to be up and operating less than a year from now.”
Meadows whistled. “In that case, no matter how much money we throw at it, I don’t think we have the infrastructure to put up a space-based system. It hinges on too many undeveloped capabilities, any one of which could stop us in our tracks.” There was silence in the room.
Into the silence, Meadows said quietly and with the slightest of smiles, “Dr. Chandra, you’ve already thought of another option.”
Josh knew that Meadows played the ‘history major’ to make people feel comfortable or force them to explain things clearly. In fact, he was extremely knowledgeable about U.S. space and defense capabilities. Like Josh, he was also very good at reading people.
Chandra and Katori exchanged a conspiratorial glance.
She said, “The system has to be ground-based. That massively reduces the logistics and power issue. However, it creates two other challenges. The first is that we’ll need more power and beam correction.”
Meadows said, “I understand punching a beam through the atmosphere takes more power, but correction?”
“Yes.” She pulled glasses out of her pocket and held them up. “It’s like wearing glasses for astigmatism. The atmosphere isn’t uniform, that’s why stars appear to twinkle. We’ll need the clearest, driest air possible, and even then, we’ll need to apply an ‘optical correction’ to the beam.”
“Clear, dry air, like on mountaintops where observatories are located?”
“Yes, but that brings us to our second challenge. The earth rotates. If we put this thing on any existing observatory mountain, half the time, the comet would be on the wrong side of the earth. We’d have to wait until we came around again to continue firing.”
Meadows said, “Since we may not get enough funding to stop the earth from rotating, what are you suggesting?”
Chandra smiled. “We need to put the beam projectors on the earth’s poles.”
Several conversations started around the table. Meadows held up a hand. When the room quieted down, he said, “Please explain.”
Chandra continued, “We need as much time as possible with an unobstructed shot at the comet. From the North and South Pole we can swivel the beam as the earth rotates and fire it 24 hours a day. The poles also happen to have the thinnest, driest air and least amount of rainfall.”
Meadows asked, “Are we talking both poles?”
Chandra said, “That would be optimal, but let’s start with one site. It’d be easier to build it on land at the South Pole.” She looked directly at Josh. “Unless our source suggests the comet’s coming in from above the solar equatorial plane? If that’s the case, we’d have to use some type of vessel at the North Pole.”
Meadows looked at Josh.
Without even questioning Jesse, Josh knew the comet was coming in from the Southern Hemisphere. He said, “South Pole.”
Major Wendy Crow, an Air Force engineer and MIT grad, said, “You have no power there. You’d need a nuclear reactor.”
Chandra nodded. “Yup.”
Meadows added, “Easier than putting it in orbit.”
Crow continued, “But we don’t own the South Pole. How would we get permission to put a reactor there?”
Chandra shrugged and looked at Meadows and Josh. “Not my problem.”
More conversations started around the room. Meadows leaned back and whispered to Josh, “Guess I see now why this thing’s classified.”
He nodded and said into Meadows’ ear, “I’ll talk to Carl about how to set up operations at the South Pole.”
The meeting continued for another hour as they discussed details. Meadows finally wrapped it up.
Grinning, Cho faked a yawn. “Monster lasers, nukes at the South Pole. Hope we have something more interesting to work on soon.”
Meadows finished with, “OK, folks, great job! I feel good about our progress.” Glancing at Josh, he added, “I’ve been promised we’ll have funding authorization ASAP. Dr. Chandra, Dr. Katori, please give me a preliminary schedule and cost estimates as soon as you can, so we can work up a budget. Ladies and gentlemen, we don’t have the authority to pull you off other projects, but I’m sure we’ll be able to cut through the red tape soon. Off the record, I’d ask you to make this your number one priority.”
With notification that a comet was going to hit the world in two years, he expected the mood to be somber. Instead, the atmosphere was more like a good Christmas party. Jesse was right, purpose was critical to happiness.
As Josh was about to leave, Meadows asked to see him, Chandra, Lopez, Katori and Wooldridge in his office.
They went in and sat down.
As Meadows closed the door, he said, “Dr. Wooldridge?”
Looking constipated, Wooldridge said, “Where’s the data on this comet? I want to see its coordinates.”
Josh asked quietly, “Could you see a dark comet two years out?”
“Of course not! That’s my point.”
Meadows, looking thoughtful, said, “When I was a young squadron safety officer, I had to take a course in Risk Management. It was very boring, but one thing stuck with me. When you’re deciding how much time and money to put into mitigating risk, you look at two things. How likely is it to happen, and how severe are the consequences if it does?” He paused. “Apparently, even a small comet carries more destructive power tha
n the world’s entire inventory of nuclear weapons.” He paused again. “Dr. Wooldridge, I understand your skepticism, but it seems to me there’s a more important question here. Why — if we’ve known we could be blindsided by a catastrophic impact — isn’t there already a plan and hardware in place to deflect these things?”
Wooldridge said, “Despite the new impact estimates, the youngest impact craters bigger than a kilometer are tens of thousands of years old. The probability of a large impact is still considered low.”
Meadows nodded thoughtfully. “As a history major, I can tell you that there are over 150 great flood legends from across the globe. Since every major culture has one, anthropologists believe they must be based on a real event. I’m no scientist but what else could cause a global deluge and obliterate coastal civilizations?”
Chandra said, “It does make sense. With 70 percent of the world covered in oceans, that’s where most impacts should occur, and they don’t leave obvious craters for us to find.” She shook her head. “It wouldn’t take more than a one-kilometer-wide asteroid or comet to vaporize cubic miles of ocean and create 500-foot-high tsunamis.” With a small smile, she added, “That would be enough to wash away a mythical Atlantis and even explain ‘40 days and 40 nights.’”
Wooldridge frowned. “That’s conjecture.”
Chandra smiled. “Yes, but IRAS-Araki-Alcock isn’t.” Looking around, she added, “It was a 10-kilometer-wide burned-out comet — a planet killer — that came within five-million kilometers of the earth. With a surface as black as coal, we didn’t spot it until it was two weeks from closest approach.”
Wooldridge gave a slight head nod and sighed. “It’s really a matter of budgets. The government doesn’t see it as an imminent threat and hasn’t been willing to spend the money.”
Lopez jumped in. “The problem is belief. It’s hard for the mind to accept anything without personal experience. In the U.S., cars kill 35,000 people a year. After hundreds of studies, we know seatbelts could have prevented many of those deaths, and surveys show almost everyone knows this. Yet, thousands of unbelted people die every year. The problem is, unless you, or someone you know, cracked a windshield with your head, it’s just not real. We understand logically but not emotionally.” She looked around with a slight smile. “No one knows anyone killed by a comet.”
Meadows looked at Wooldridge. “I understand it’s hard to work without a concrete source.” He glanced at Josh and said, “Hopefully we’ll have that soon, but at this point, I really don’t care if Josh claims he heard it from his fairy godmother. This is something we should have done decades ago.”
They nodded with some half-smiles.
Meadows continued, “I’ll get off my soapbox.” He smiled. “I honestly can’t imagine a more brilliant team or a program with greater potential to help humanity. It’s truly my honor to be able to work with you.” He paused looking at each of them. “Let’s make this happen.”
As the meeting broke up, Wooldridge came over to Josh. “I’m not only a tenured professor at Berkeley, I went there as an undergraduate.” He looked down his long nose at Josh. “Do you have a college degree?”
Briefly forgetting his need for concealment, Josh said, “Cornell.”
Wooldridge, looking constipated again, said, “Well, at least it wasn’t a state school, like....” He waved his hand vaguely in the direction of the others.
Josh knew that Chandra’s University of Texas was highly ranked in astrophysics. Wooldridge was simply retreating into the security of his academic credentials. Giving him his due, Josh said, “Berkeley is unquestionably one of the best schools in the world in astrophysics.”
“Actually, Berkeley is the best in the world.”
Josh nodded, “Yes, of course, and I can’t tell you how fortunate we are to have someone of your stature on this team. It’s truly an honor.”
Wooldridge finally smiled. “Glad to be able to offer my expertise.”
Josh remembered Meadows’ comment about “healthy egos.”
After the meeting broke up, Tim Smith came by. With only Josh and Meadows in the office, Smith asked them, “May I talk to you?”
Josh jumped in with, “Sorry, Tim. I know I owe you that account information. I’ll get it to you as soon as I can.”
Smith shook his head. “No hurry. Even after you get it to the CIA, it’ll take a while to get through their system to me.” He paused. “Just wanted to let you know I’ve started my preliminary security investigation of the team members.”
Frowning, Meadows asked, “I thought everyone on the team has a Top Secret clearance and a special background investigation?”
Smith nodded. “Yes, but most of them are dated, and I have resources that allow me to go into a little more depth.”
Meadows nodded but maintained his frown. “Is that necessary? I’ve never been big on invading people’s privacy unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
Smith said, “My purpose is simply to identify anyone on the team who might be vulnerable to outside influence such as blackmail, so that we can protect them and the program.” He paused. “Captain Meadows, I’m very good at what I do. I’ve only had one failure in my career, and it was my fault for not knowing who I was protecting.”
Josh thought he saw some emotion on Smith’s face, but then it was gone. Smith ended with, “I won’t let that happen again.”
Meadows nodded seriously. “I understand. Do what you feel is necessary to protect the team.”
Josh hoped Smith’s detailed investigations didn’t apply to his employers.
22
BILLIONAIRE
Sheri texted Josh that Elton Musk was going to leave New York to open his new launch facility in Ecuador, but she managed to squeeze him in for a 5:00 pm meeting before Musk departed.
To make sure he had plenty of time to get to Musk’s Manhattan office, Josh booked the earliest morning flight.
As he was shaving that morning, he looked in the mirror and said, “Only a couple minor details left — build a secret nuclear base at the South Pole and find a few hundred million to fund it.” He smiled. “Delusions of grandeur, huh?”
As he arrived at the airport, he discovered there were major delays due to a line of heavy June thunderstorms pounding the East Coast. His 7:30 am flight finally left at 12:30 pm. He would still make it but his margin was gone.
It was a rough flight with a lot of turbulence. He felt sorry for the woman sitting next to him. She was clenching the armrest and sweating profusely. He told her he was a pilot and tried to set her at ease by explaining that the pilots would never take them through truly dangerous weather. The rough air was just from the periphery of the storms. It seemed to help.
Then the pilot, in a relaxed Texas drawl, announced they’d be stuck in a holding pattern for 30 minutes. He also said they might have to divert to another airport if the weather didn’t improve.
Now Josh began to sweat and clench the armrest. He needed this meeting. The scientists and engineers couldn’t keep charging their time to other programs without raising suspicion. On top of that, they needed to buy real pieces of hardware, not to mention building a base in Antarctica. He’d used up or cashed-in all of Elizabeth’s free airline miles and had to max out his credit card just to pay for this flight.
He glanced over and realized the woman next to him was watching him closely.
With large eyes, she asked, “Are we going to die?”
He took a deep breath and smiled, confessing his nervousness was simply because he had a critical meeting in New York.
Relieved, she said, “I understand. I do meetings all over the country. Why don’t you just text them your situation using the airline’s Wi-Fi?”
Of course! He thanked her and texted Sheri.
Sheri replied, “I’ll call Musk.”
Thirty minutes later, the pilot updated them. “I’m sorry, folks, if we don’t get cleared for an approach in a few minutes, we’re gonna have to divert to Philadelphi
a due to fuel.”
Sheri texted back, “Best he can do is delay the meeting until 5:30. Has to leave by 6:00 for a flight.”
Josh looked at his watch. If they didn’t start their approach now, he’d never make it. He took a deep breath and made a conscious effort to stop producing adrenaline. He opened his eyes, feeling better.
The pilot came up and said, “I’m sorry folks, looks like we’re going to have to divert to....”
Finally, the woman next to him asked, “You think he forgot where he’s going?”
Before Josh could respond, the pilot said, “Sorry. Just got cleared for the approach. Should be landin’ at JFK in about 15 minutes. Might be a little bumpy. Make sure your belts are cinched tight.”
The approach was rough in heavy rain and winds, but they landed with only a few bounces. As soon as the airplane hit the gate, Josh was out and running through the airport. Checking the time, he realized he’d have to take a cab. After paying the fare and tip, he’d be down to his last few dollars. He appreciated the irony. He was there because he needed hundreds of millions, but would have to take a bus back to the airport.
He burst out of the terminal into a heavy downpour punctuated by lightning and thunder. He was able to grab a cab quickly, but as they entered Manhattan, they hit a huge traffic jam. Sitting in gridlock, he mapped the destination on his phone. He was only three miles away, but it was 5:15. No way he’d make it. Giving the driver the last of his cash, he jumped out into the deluge and started running. He ran hard, doing four-minute miles through the blowing sheets of rain. He dodged cars like a running back and reached the building at 5:27. Looking like he walked out of a swimming pool and squeaking with each step, he went straight to the lobby information desk and showed his ID. The receptionist said, “Raining, huh?”
Still breathing hard, he replied, “Is it? I didn’t notice.”
Looking at him strangely, the receptionist directed him to the elevator.
Musk’s office was, of course, at the top. Alone in the elevator, Josh caught his breath, closed his eyes and focused on what must happen. It was difficult. He was used to planning for the worst-case scenario and having a backup plan. He had no backup plan.
Impact (Fuzed Trilogy Book 1) Page 13