by Ron S. Nolan
USACO President's Office
Washington, D.C.
The Secretary of Defense was in a behind closed doors meeting with the President. He handed President Ray a folder labeled 'TOP SECRET'. "Sir, just a few minutes ago I was on the secure landline to NORAD, but since then I have lost the connection. Before being cutoff, they reported that there were multiple unidentified objects entering the atmosphere over Siberia and Alaska. The exact origin and purpose of the objects are unknown at this time, but satellite communications are currently being effected worldwide, some are completely down and others are intermittent."
The President filled two glasses with ice and topped them off with straight gin; he handed one to the Secretary and moved to the window and where he gazed at the parched lawns surrounding the capitol building.
"It's your call Mr. President. What do you wish to do?"
"Damn! Disrupting communications is just what those CHIRUS paranoids would do before launching an all out attack. I better speak with the Premier."
He punched a short sequence into a red telephone but the line was busy. He looked at the SECDEF. "Damn it, how could this dedicated line be busy? Find a way to tell NORAD to raise DEFCON to level two. See if they have any updates."
The Secretary tried repeatedly before he was finally able to reestablish a connection and reported, "First there were two objects which NORAD suspects may have been carrying multiple re-entry vehicles. But now radar is picking up thousands of targets over Alaska and Siberia which may indicate that the radar signal is corrupt. They are trying to confirm."
The President paced back and forth behind his desk. "When will they know for sure?"
"Mr. President by that time it may be too late to respond. This could just be the opening salvo."
The President tried the hotline again, this time it was dead, no dial tone. He signaled to the Secretary. "Raise DEFCON to Level One." Then he sat down behind his desk and closed his eyes.
After a few moments he raised his hands in prayer. "God help me for what I am about to do." He opened his briefcase and entered the code that targeted key CHIRUS targets. Then he clicked the launch button and collapsed back into his chair.
CHIRUS Premier's Office
Beijing, China
The Premier was surrounded by his top level brass who were animatedly gesturing at a vidscreen showing fuzzy radar images of a barrage of targets raining in over Siberia.
A piercing screech warned that USACO had launched a missile attack. The Premier picked up his red phone and keyed number one, but there was no connection. He raised his hands and asked for quiet, uncertain about what to do. He tried the red phone again, but still received no response.
"The USACO President is still not answering. We must retaliate before it is too late."
He accepted the top secret briefcase containing the launch actuator from the chief of staff, leaned forward for a retina scan and then tapped a sequence of objects on the actuator keypad. At first there was no response, so he reentered the code. This time a map appeared on the wall vidscreen and lights began flashing next to Kansas City, San Francisco and Mexico City.
An alarm sounded and the words 'BALLISTIC MISSILE LAUNCH' appeared on the screen.
******
Emergency Meeting -- Luna Lounge
Thanks to Phillips’ extensive network of CREOS on the base, his call for a meeting spread quickly and the bar was completely packed by the time the Reverend and his party arrived. As they entered, Genie glanced over but continued searching for news feeds on the vidscreen. All she found was static.
Suddenly a bright red banner appeared on the screen accompanied by a warning siren and then followed by the image of a USACO news announcer. She was pale and obviously shaken, holding back the tears in her eyes. She glanced at her notepad and then looked into the camera. "We've just been informed that USACO has launched ICBMs carrying tactical nuclear weapons at selected CHIRUS targets. Please standby for an important message from President Ray."
The camera shifted to the President seated in the Oval Office. Conversation levels dropped and many of the patrons crowded forward to be better hear the broadcast.
The President began, "Greetings my fellow Americans. I am sorry, but it is my solemn duty to bring you this very disturbing news. At 23:20 GMT, NORAD detected that a barrage of unidentified objects had entered the atmosphere over Alaska. Satellite communications were disrupted, so we could only assume that we were under attack and that the attacker was CHIRUS based upon their recent assault upon our oil facilities in Prudhoe Bay."
He paused while an aid wiped his brow with a hand towel, then resumed, “This event today, along with last week's attack in Alaska, prompted me to retaliate using tactical nuclear weapons. Our very survival as a free corporate nation demanded that I take this action. None of the possible strategies for which we have prepared demanded such a quick response.”
The President was visibly shaken, obviously trying not to break down in public. He took a deep breath and said, “I feel that I should emphasize that, even though there was no time to consult with the USACO Board of Directors, they now fully support my action. May God..."
Suddenly the screen went black and the bar plunged into a brief moment of total silence before erupting into a roar of sobs, screams and people shouting questions.
Once more, Genie started scanning for open channels and found another newscast–this one originated in South America where Guillermo Martinez, Presidente IRANVEN, addressed the camera.
"The capitalist leaders of USACO have launched nuclear weapons at our allies in China. As a consequence, I have ordered attacks against key military and industrial sites in the USACO. I pray for my country's men and women and all of the innocent people of the world that must suffer due to the greed of the American corporation."
One of the bars’ regular patrons came up to Genie. "I just received a strange video message on my microcell. I don't know why it was sent it to me, but you might want to watch this. I think it may be important."
She handed the device to Genie who plugged in into the bar vidscreen. The picture was jittery, obviously hand-held. A blond girl in her mid-twenties, wearing a sweatshirt held her camera at arm's length and sobbed. "I hope someone can hear this. My name is Tasha. I am a third year med student at Georgetown University. I am returning to school after a two-week spring break visiting my parents in France. Just after the flight attendants told us to stow the seat trays and buckle up for landing at Dulles International something went terribly wrong. It felt like we hit something because the plane slammed hard upwards and then jerked sideways."
The camera panned the interior of the plane which revealed extensive damage and frightened passengers
"The windows cracked and blew out–a lot of people got hurt. I was lucky because I was already strapped into an aisle seat so I didn’t get knocked around or cut by the flying glass. You won’t believe what is going on here. It looks like a nuclear bomb detonated!"
She held her camera up to the window as the plane turned and changed course heading away from a grayish-brown mushroom-shaped cloud that was forming over the city. On the ground, buildings collapsed and burst into flame while thousands of pedestrians fled down sidewalks and flooded the downtown streets as commuters abandoned their vehicles on the blocked roadways.
The girl continued to report. "No Washington Monument, no Capitol Building–all gone. A lot of people must have perished. I can't seem to get a European connection from here, but my father is Head Surgeon at the Hôpital Américain de Paris. Please call him and let him know that I am all right. Tell him I have no idea where we are heading, but I will keep trying to reach him. I pray for the best but fear for the worst.”
She paused for a moment. “Hold it, the captain is saying...” Then the recording cut off.
The bar crowd was stunned. Some argued that it was just a sick prank while others tried to connect to love ones, but could not get a signal on the global SATCOM system.
; The USACO newscaster reappeared on the vidscreen. "I regret to inform you that at least one nuclear warhead has detonated in the nation's Capitol and Washington D.C. is in ruins."
She pressed her hand to her ear and tears flooded from her eyes. "Oh my God, we are getting reports now of nuclear blasts in San Francisco, Mexico City and Kansas City." She pulled the audio plug from her ear, "I need to be with my family. God help us all." She got up, leaving the image of her vacated chair on the screen as she and the camera operator hurried off the stage.
Genie set the vidscreen control to scan for audio or video and it immediately found Chia’s trademark music accompanied by the on-screen banner.
THE REALNEWS—STANDBY FOR UPDATE
Chia turned on the camera then took her seat on a worn sofa in what appeared to be a basement cluttered with out-of-date computers and COM gear. "This is Chia with the RealNews. The fanatics that have cruelly abused their power and transformed their own governments into profit-seeking, money-grabbing corporate states have finally brought the world to Armageddon."
The picture on the vidscreen distorted, went black for a couple of seconds and then flickered back on. "I'm sorry to say that the only good news is that they will personally suffer along with the rest of us. You've got what your rightfully deserve you greedy, self-serving pigs. This is Chia singing off. See you next time–hopefully there will be one."
She cued the anthem 'God Bless America' allowing it to play until the end and added, "Never give up!" as the screen slowly faded to black.
The only sound in the bar was the whoosh of the ventilating system. Genie put a live video feed of the Earth on the ceiling vidscreen and dimmed the lights. Several onlookers gasped and cried out when they saw blossoms of light blinking on and off across the planet. One particularly bright flash in Asia was followed by a sharp series of flashes in USACO. The earth's atmosphere filled with smoke and the planet seemed to be pulsing with pinkish-brown bubbles.
One of the SDL troops sobbed and placed her weapon on the bar. Solemnly, the rest of the troops filed forward and did the same. Many started punching numbers into their microcells, but only a few were able to connect
The Reverend bowed his head and began to pray. His wife and the rest of the SDL troops followed suit.
The vidscreen behind the bar emitted a series of beeps followed by the image of Sabien in the pilot seat of a shuttle. He looked into the camera. "What is going on? The Earth looks like it is burning."
Torch replied, "Sabien can you hear me?"
“Yeah, I hooked into the orbiting fuel station's COM system. This is a two-way link. How is the reception?"
"The video signal is a little ragged, otherwise the audio is fine."
"I see that the Reverend is there with you."
Torch rubbed his neck. "We had a bit of an altercation."
The Reverend jumped to his feet and screamed, "What have you done with the Ark? No matter what goes on down below, it must be recovered and the contents delivered to me to protect our spiritual underpinnings. That is what God told me to do. Bring it to me, now or suffer his wrath in eternal flame."
Sabien replied, "Sorry Reverend. No dice. The Ark is well out of your reach. I'm taking it to the Doomsday Comet for safekeeping. I plan to bury it in the ice with a signal beacon for recovery when the comet comes back through our solar system."
The Reverend was furious. He pounded on the bar and yelled, "You will pay for this! You spawn of the devil!"
"Well, Reverend, there are many of us that think that you are best suited for that role. Take heart, you can fight over it nineteen years from now when the comet returns. Maybe sanity will be restored by then. By the way, when we land on the comet I plan to change its name from ‘Doomsday’ to 'Hope’. It's my first lander's prerogative."
Torch replied, "Sabien, you can come back now. The SDL is all washed up."
"No way. There is no guarantee that the Reverend and his traveling circus can ever be trusted."
Astra joined in. "I agree. It turns out that he isn't the least bit interested in the Ark. What he is really after is my anti-aging research discovery. The day that I moved out of my lab at BGI, I stored my original data on a microdisc and hid it in a locket. I had a close call with the security guard, but managed to store the locket in the CryoVat that eventually became the Northern Ark and now lies empty."
Sabien said, "Now I get it. I never understood what the fuss over the Ark was about. So all of this madness is about a secret locket? Sounds sort of like a fairy tale."
Torch summarized the situation. "The flashes we viewed on Earth seem to have been a combination of conventional explosives and some nuclear weapons. Best I can figure is that USACO and CHIRUS freaked out when our pods dropped out of orbit and released the projectiles. Then IRANVEN jumped into the fray and hit USACO. Luckily, there seem to have been multiple mission aborts that resulted in weapons that didn't detonate–but they still did a lot of damage.”
Sabien was shocked. "Torch, why didn't you warn them in advance like we planned?"
Torch pointed at the Reverend. "’It was his ‘holiness’ that pushed the button that activated the pod entry command. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen."
Sabien replied, "Well Reverend, I don't have a clue to what makes you tick, but you just murdered a lot of innocent people. Maybe instead of pushing people around you should try listening to what they have to say."
The Reverend grabbed Torch's arm. "What's he mean? How could pressing that single button have caused all this? Why didn't you stop me?"
"You must have a short memory. I tried to warn you and got knocked out by one of your goons. It was just after you beat-up Astra. Do you remember now?"
The Reverend' collapsed to his knees. He cried, “Oh Lord what have I done?” and began sobbing.
His wife took charge and ordered the captain to take them back to their ship. She turned to the crowd and announced "We're going back to SDL headquarters. I don't think Atlanta has been attacked. We have a few seats open to anyone that wants to join us. Phillips, how about you? Care to get off this God forsaken rock?"
Phillips looked at Sanders, who just shrugged. "No, Mrs. LeRoque, I feel at home here. But I am going to have to make some serious reparations and atonement's for what I have done." He looked at Miguel Castaneda and received a nod of approval.
Sanders forcefully announced, "Anyone who wants to go fine or stay fine. But hear this; we will not tolerate any further religious insanity. You newcomers can start by reporting to Miguel in the admin office for assignments. Base residents, it's time to get back to work. We are now on our own and we need to do everything possible to establish our independence and self-sufficiency."
The visitors and residents split into groups and filtered out of the bar. Sabien, who had been watching the meeting break up on the shuttle’s vidscreen, spoke to those that remained in the lounge, "I'm sorry that I won't be there to help out. It sure looks like our new agenda will boil down to basic survival."
Torch chimed in. "I've been studying the emissions data. So far most of the explosions appear to be conventional weapons with only a handful of low-yield nuclear detonations. Several of the big cities have been hit, but there should be survivors in the suburbs and rural areas. All I all, there may be considerably less annihilation than we thought at first."
Astra tried to sound positive. "The most extreme radiation danger should only persist for a decade or two. By the time 'Hope' returns, the world might be ready for a new start."
Torch asked, "What’s your ETA with the comet?"
Sabien punched data into the shuttle computer. "It looks like three days, more or less–assuming no change in the comet’s trajectory. Only thing, it's going to be a one-way trip. There is not enough fuel to make it back to the moonbase and just enough oxygen to get there and check out the frozen scenery for a few days."
Astra was weeping because she knew that her brother was stubborn and once he made up his mind, there would be no tu
rning back. She forced a smile. ”Naming the comet 'Hope' is a good idea. You and the Ark are our last hope. The story comes full circle. The first seeds of life probably came to Earth on comets and now history will repeat itself."
Sabien tried to sound upbeat when he said, "Don't worry, I won't get lonely. Look, I found a stowaway hidden in the passenger cabin." He leaned back and Jasmine gave a wave from the co-pilot seat.
Vladamir, who had been watching over Melinda and Astra’s parents during the siege, caught the very end of Sabien's transmission when they entered the bar. He laughed, "So that's what you have been up to. You are now American Hero Astronaut. You can fly anything, anywhere!"
“Thanks Vladamir for what you and Melinda have done for us. Torch and Astra, I'm not one for long goodbyes. It was a good ride."
Sabien asked, "Say how did that Sci-Fi novel about the space dude and the flower girl turn out?"
Torch laughed. "Nolan's book? As far as I can recall they colonized a new world and they all lived happily forever after."
Sabien reached to cut the connection, but paused and said, "Sounds good to me. Goodbye mother and father and to you all. May you have fair winds and following seas and sturdy ships to sail them. Green light minus twenty minutes. This is HMS Ark signing off."
A round of cheers erupted form the patrons who had been watching the vidscreen. "Sabien, Sabien, Sabien..."
Jasmine smiled and blew the camera a kiss just as Sabien cut the feed. The bar vidscreen went black and the chant died out. A few sobs resonated throughout the bar.
After a few minutes, Genie jumped up onto the bar. "May I have your attention please? Just like you, I fear that I may have lost many friends and loved ones on Earth, but we are very fortunate to have gathered here some of the most brilliant and creative minds in the universe. If we pitch in and work together, we might just make things a little better for those back on Earth. Let's all pledge to save our beautiful planet and this fantastic research and mining facility.”