Wake-up Call: 2035

by Robert J. Traydon

  He thought back to the Global Unification Summit that had taken place three years earlier. The encounter story told by the 12 Principals had obviously been true, but he had chosen to disregard their warnings and the Ultimatum Compliance Treaty. Now his nation would face the consequences of those reckless decisions. He was responsible for the situation that the Soviet Union now found itself in, and he would be responsible for trying to get his nation out of it.

  For the balance of the flight he pondered over the possibility of retaliatory action. Vital Soviet infrastructure was under attack and this constituted an outright declaration of war against his nation. As far as he was concerned, climate change had been hugely beneficial to the Soviet Union. Arable land had increased by 15% as a direct result of rising global temperatures. His nation had everything to gain from global warming. The fact that most other nations were suffering from climate change was incidental to him. Now these menacing extra-terrestrials wanted to reverse his nation’s gains!

  Rivensky’s subliminal fury was increasing with each passing minute. These extra-terrestrials had chosen to provoke the wrong human being. He was the most powerful man on Earth in terms of nuclear capability, and they would now face the almighty wrath of the Soviet Union.

  12:10 p.m. Earth: Jameson Country Manor

  Sally Jameson was horrified by what she had just seen. “My God, all those people! They’re … they’re all gone! The entire city … it’s gone!”

  Her husband responded while shaking his head in dismay, “This can’t be happening. It just can’t be happening!”

  Sally spoke in a trembling voice, “It’s too terrible for words. I feel responsible because I failed to implement what I was entrusted to … I failed America and the world. I’m the one who should be inside one of those things.”

  Her husband was quick to respond, “Don’t say that, Sally. This nation is going to need you more than ever in the aftermath of this tragedy. Our people took a collective decision not to listen to you. They even castigated you for your determined efforts.

  “The fact is that none of this would be happening if they had trusted in you and acted on your recommendations. They chose not to, and now the consequences of their short-sightedness have been realised. You cannot, under any circumstances, blame yourself for this. You did everything in your power to avoid what is happening today. Anything more would have landed you in a maximum security prison, or even worse, a psychiatric ward.”

  He comforted her and said, “I know it’s tough, Sally, but you need to be strong. You need to be strong for all of those people who survive this onslaught. Many will survive, and they will be looking to you for guidance to ensure that this never happens again.”

  She appreciated his reassurance. His statements made sense, and once again gave her renewed resolve that this was actually just the beginning of the long and arduous journey that stood before the whole of humankind. Further bouts of remediation would follow in the future if the Ultimatum continued to be ignored.

  She then spared a thought for what the other 11 Principals must be going through. On the spacecraft they had agreed to stay in contact with one another during the remediation, via their sat-phone operator’s messaging service. Jameson was relieved to see that so far, all of the other 11 Principals were safe. She took the opportunity to update her own ‘safe’ status.

  On CNN, the broadcast picture was split in half, showing two different views of the hemisphere that had engulfed New York City – one view from the side and the other from directly above. The left view was showing a live feed of the hemisphere subsequent to the shockwaves. The right side was showing a replay of footage captured by a geo-stationary surveillance satellite that had been focused on New York for the last 10 minutes. It replayed the series of interior shockwaves revealing exactly how they had spread and what they had done. Sally Jameson knew that this cataclysmic event would be equally petrifying for everyone who had not been enclosed in the hemispheres, especially after seeing what had happened to those people caught inside them.

  Now there would be no doubt of the Supreme Beings’ existence, or that the Ultimatum was real and had to be complied with. The remaining population would now surely be convinced to take it seriously. Jameson felt overwhelmed by what she, the other Principals and all those people around the world who managed to survive, would face in the remediation’s aftermath. This disastrous event would change everything.

  12:15 p.m. Earth: White House – President’s Emergency Operations Centre

  In the White House bunker below the East Wing, President West, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Combatant Commanders were all sitting around the conference table in the President’s Emergency Operations Centre (PEOC). By this time, the President’s war-time assemblage of highest ranking officials was in a state of flux. They had all just witnessed the hemispheres’ synchronised shockwaves completely destroying a number of American cities, including New York.

  Even though the President and his men had raised the alert state to DEFCON 1, been evacuated to the PEOC, stayed in constant contact with key personnel at NORAD and the National Military Command Centre (NMCC) at the Pentagon, and also reviewed the USA-specific GCMA report; there had been almost no time for the Armed Forces’ divisions to mobilise. By the time the first deployment and city evacuation instructions had been dispatched, vapour trails were already being reported across the nation. Minutes later, their efforts to effectively coordinate the Armed Forces were being heavily compromised by increasing communication difficulties. There had been a general sense of dazed disbelief and helplessness during the 10 minutes that followed, as everyone in the PEOC, NORAD and NMCC had watched the inconceivable events unfolding across the United States and the world.

  At this very moment, the PEOC’s numerous screens were displaying live surveillance feeds from a range of ground-based cameras, airborne drones and military satellites. One screen was dedicated to whatever news channels were still available. All the feeds showed similar swirling masses of debris and dust within the hemispheres.

  Of great concern to everyone were the numerous Armed Forces’ divisions that had been caught within the hemispheres and were now uncontactable. These were the people that the nation depended on in times of national emergency … and they were now all assumed to be missing in action.

  Intense debate continued as everyone in the PEOC, NORAD and the NMCC tried to take stock of the situation. President West was forced at one point, to raise his voice and bring calm to the escalating panic and commotion. Most of them were struggling to think clearly as the reality and scale of the situation began to set in. Many of them were considering the fates of their families while trying to concentrate and perform their duty. President West was furious with himself for not having taken decisive action sooner, but he stepped up in unspoken acknowledgement of his failure and did the very best he could under the extreme circumstances.

  Everyone’s efforts continued with relentless determination as they tried to re-establish some sense of order across the nation. But, lurking at the back of everyone’s mind was the inescapable realisation that Jameson’s supposed extra-terrestrial beings were most likely responsible for this horrendous attack.

  At one stage, when all hope seemed lost, President West drowned out the incessant storm of conversation around him and looked up at the screens around the PEOC. A particular screen caught his attention. It was displaying a live unbroken picture of the Earth’s entire surface, being captured by multiple surveillance satellites in space. The hemispheres were being artificially highlighted with their respective diameters shown adjacent to them. The picture showed the true extent of the remediation in vivid detail – it had affected all seven of the world’s continents.

  On the North American continent, the hemispheres were scattered predominantly across the United States and Mexico. They appeared to be of varying sizes, depending on the city or area they covered. Some were 20 kilometres in diameter, while the one surrounding Mexico City measured over
100 kilometres across. Much bigger ‘behemoth hemispheres’ could be seen in rural areas over agricultural land, with one in Illinois measuring an astounding width of 500 kilometres.

  Interestingly, the images of Asia showed a vast area where there were no hemispheres at all … China. The President took special notice of the disturbing pattern of hemisphere distribution and density. Those nations that had achieved the highest levels of compliance were showing the fewest number of hemispheres, while those that had failed were inundated with them.

  President West was reluctantly coming to terms with the fact that President Jameson and the other 11 Principals had been truthful in everything they had said.

  12:55 p.m. Earth: USSR – Merrinov

  High in the Ural Mountain Range, over 1 750 kilometres north-east of Moscow, it was snowing heavily. The Hind Supercopter had slowed and reverted back to hover-mode. It was now drifting towards an elevated landing pad, blasting a whirling mass of snow in all directions. Seconds later it was on the ground, just 20 metres away from Merrinov’s outer fortifications. Before disembarking, the accompanying Secret Service officer held up the President’s bulky snow leopard fur jacket for Rivensky to conveniently slip into. It was rumoured to have been made from the fur of half a dozen snow leopard specimens – two of which the President, himself, had shot while on hunting trips in Kashmir.

  He was then handed a pair of skiing goggles, which he duly put on before exiting the cabin door. He stepped out into the freezing conditions, and held up his arm in an attempt to shield his face from the stinging snowflakes. The officer ushered him towards an angled concrete structure adjacent to the landing pad. A thick, heavy-set steel door with multiple locking pins began to open as he strode towards it. He saluted two security personnel as he entered the strategic stronghold, then walked down a long sloped passage toward a pair of elevator doors embossed with the majestic coat of arms of the Soviet Union.

  Rivensky admired the passage’s polished granite walls, floor and ceiling. Merrinov had been built here for this precise reason. This location was home to one of the Soviet Union’s biggest granite rock reefs. The entire facility had been bored deep into the rock, making it impenetrable to all but an asteroid strike. The project had been completed at an exorbitant cost, one that had almost bankrupted his nation.

  As the President reached the elevator, its doors opened and he was met by his Minister of Defence, Dmitry Kurosnovich, and his Chief of the General Staff, Army General Yegor Drashenko. They saluted their Supreme Commander-in-Chief and he returned the gesture. He stepped into the elevator and they commenced their 100 metre long descent underground, down the vertically-bored granite shaft. They greeted one another and spoke briefly before the elevator doors opened into a small entrance lobby. As the President exited the elevator he was introduced to the Executive Operations Officer of the Merrinov facility and other key staff members.

  He was then led through to the War Operations and Command Centre (WOCC), which was a facility of immense proportion. It was shaped like a huge auditorium with all the workstation desks lined up in long arcs to face the curved front wall. The wall itself was a single, enormous ultra-high definition screen, 6 metres high and 18 metres across.

  It was, at that very moment, displaying an array of situational data including surveillance maps, threat analysis statistics, impact assessment tables, projected casualty charts and numerous satellite images of the hemispheres.

  To one side of the screen, live videoconference feeds had been established with the Major-Generals manning the ‘National Centre for Defence Management’ in Frunze Naberezhnaya, and also the ‘National Crisis Management Centre’ (NCMC) in Moscow, which housed the Soviet Unified System of Prevention and Elimination of Emergency Situations (SSChS). Various high-level EMERCOM (Emergency Control Ministry) officials could be seen on the NCMC feed. On the other side of the screen, a number of local and international news channel broadcasts were being shown simultaneously. The overall sight was impressive to say the least.

  The President stopped briefly to study the satellite images which showed where the hemispheres were located across the USSR. The count was now up to 137. It was patently obvious just how many vital power plants and other industrial assets had been targeted. The visual confirmation was alarming to him and aggravated his already simmering temper.

  Looking around he could see that the WOCC was buzzing with activity. Finally, this expensive facility would be put to appropriate use. This was the moment that all the Merrinov staff had dedicated their extensive training, hard work and lives to.

  The President was then led up a ramp into the Merrinov War Coordination Room, known as the War Room. It was a sizeable venue, one entire side of which overlooked the WOCC from above. The room had a large conference table in its centre, and on it were two steel Cheget nuclear suitcases belonging to the Defence Minister and Chief of the General Staff respectively. A third, which belonged to the Soviet President and travelled with him wherever he went, was placed next to them. The three Cheget suitcases had not been in the same room for over half a century. They were the key to the Soviet Union’s Strategic Nuclear Control and Command System.

  Around the conference table were 15 other high ranking, fully decorated senior officials, who made up the balance of the nation’s 18 member Defence Command and Intelligence Unit. These included the Marshal of the Soviet Union, Admiral of the Fleet, General of the Soviet Union’s Strategic Forces, Aerospace Defence Forces Commander and other Defence Ministry officials.

  As President Rivensky entered the room all the senior officials around the table stood up, saluted and then welcomed their Comrade Commander-in-Chief. He motioned for everyone to take their seats and assumed his place at the head of the table. His seat was grand and had served various Russian Tsars and Heads of State over the centuries. Today was no different to those days, just another adversary, that was all. Both Napoleon and Hitler had been defeated from this chair, and next in line were these conceited extra-terrestrials.

  1:10 p.m. Earth: Merrinov War Coordination Room

  Defence Minister Kurosnovich stood to open the meeting. “Comrade President. As you are aware, we are facing an enemy of unknown strength and proportion. Our nation is under attack from these unidentified hemispherical objects and we must assume that everything contained within their interiors has been destroyed, including both infrastructure and people. We are currently trying to ascertain exactly who the aggressor is, so that steps can be taken to neutralise the threat. We will now brief you on everything we know up to this point.”

  The President waved his hand for them to proceed.

  The Minister of Intelligence, Goran Lebedev stood and delivered the briefing. He needed just 25 minutes to summarise the situation, including the projected estimate of infrastructure damage and civilian casualties. He then gave a forecast of how the country would be affected by the absence of this infrastructure and proposed various courses of action that could be taken to mitigate the extent of the disaster. Once his briefing was complete he handed the floor to Army General Drashenko. He and the Soviet President had known each other since first being conscripted into the military together just before the turn of the century.

  Drashenko spoke, “Comrade President, there has been a key development that I must bring to your attention. Our Threat Surveillance Team has been able to reverse-trace the incoming trajectories of these unidentified objects using their vapour trails, and can confirm that they originated from outside of Earth’s atmosphere in space. This prompted us to re-examine the data from 14 of our orbiting surveillance satellites, which did in fact detect numerous objects but disregarded them as transiting non-threatening meteoroids.

  “The data has so far revealed over 6 000 objects and counting is still in progress. By analysing the objects’ trajectory data, we have been able to extrapolate an estimated origin point from where these objects came. This happens to be in the same equatorial orbit as our GPS satellites, 26 720 kilometres from the Earth�
�s centre, although its orbital direction is retrograde, giving it an orbital period of six hours. This is very concerning since we are not aware of any military infrastructure in orbit around the Earth that is capable of housing or launching the highly sophisticated weapons that we are seeing now.

  “It would also not be possible for any nation to conceal a space project of this magnitude … and we know this because we have long considered the prospect ourselves. We are thus looking at other, not previously considered possibilities that may help us establish the exact source of this attack.”

  The President knew where this was going.

  The General continued with a slight hint of hesitation, “One of these possibilities, Comrade President, is that this attack has been launched by the extra-terrestrial Supreme Beings that were spoken of at the Global Unification Summit three years ago. As we all know, today marks the date that these Supreme Beings were supposed to return to Earth and assess our compliance in accordance with their Ultimatum – as the 12 Principals referred to it. The strange events that we are seeing now could very well be part of the ‘remediation’ that is referred to in this Ultimatum.”

  The President gave a small nod in acknowledgement of the possibility. He had decided not to make mention of the IntraGlobe notification received from the Chinese President.

  General Drashenko was both surprised and relieved that his theory had not been met with rebuke or ridicule, so he continued, “At this stage, this is the only theory that could feasibly explain: firstly, the origin of this attack being from space; secondly, the worldwide nature of this attack; and thirdly, the highly advanced technology of the weapons being used. The Supreme Beings must be coordinating this attack from some kind of spacecraft, maybe the same one that was photographed by NASA three years ago.”