CATACLYSMAL

by Adrian Glass

  “Priority message for all airborne bombers within the triangular range East of our position, there has been reports of an EMP use over Tokyo, Japan and their territorial waters East of the China Sea. The area is now electronically inoperative with SATCOM down as is satellite and some VHF and UHF relays. Please confirm your position and Command protocols.”

  “Relay position, verification and command protocol to the SS Momsen, require a directive on a possible counterstrike. Confirmation imperative before action is taken.” Captain Ravas orders.

  “Noted sir, will relay,” The EW officer prepares the encrypted message back to the SS Momsen via the only Ultra High Frequency band that is available.

  A light near one of the EOS sensors flashes with an accompanying warning sound. “Detected EMB pulse within the Electromagnetic spectrum, may also include gamma ray detection.”

  The Captain closes his eyes briefly. “Verify position and locale, also notify the SS Momsen on a possible confirmation that a nuclear attack has occurred on Japan.”

  Cornell checks over the EOS system, mapping out the coordinates, he also relays the information to the destroyer.

  “Confirmation of nuclear strike over Japan, exact pinpoint appears to be Tokyo.”

  A return message from the warship is quickly received Cornell reads it out to his Captain and co-pilot

  “We confirm a possible first strike on Tokyo, Japan from mid range Thermonuclear missile. Origin, China, unable to verify without SATCOM or Satellite Nuclear Detection Systems, our RTOs are picking up light discrepancy over the region that may indicate a nuclear weapon has been used. We will be sending through the Defense Secretary code for authorization of a nuclear counter strike You have orders to first strike Chinese military targets before further attacks on allied interests. The Commanding officer and EW officer will activate the Permissive Action Link, which will prepare measures for a counter strike.”

  Captain Frank Ravas is a seasoned pilot, in his late thirties he has flown missions over Iraq and Afghanistan. Although trained for a possible nuclear exchange, the mere thought of an incident actually occurring has never plagued his mind as a possibility. It is without the empathy of it's actions but only the direction of an order that is paramount. He exhales wiping away beads of sweat from his upper lip.

  “Second Commanding officer Wilson Hansen we have a counter strike situation that may stem to an all out exchange from the Eastern seaboard on our Eastern Allies. As you are aware we have been trained for this, so this is not a drill. I will be assisting the Electronic Warfare officer with the activation of the PAL system.”

  Hansen nods. “Yes sir.”

  Captain Ravas gets up from his flight-chair making his way to where Cornell is sitting, ascending slightly below the cockpit, he sits next to the EW officer. A print out has been received from the SS Momsen. Cornell hands it to his Captain. Ravas looks at the information on the printed document and nods.

  “Activation keys.” Both men take off the activation keys that are placed around their necks.

  Captain Ravas turns to Cornell. “On my count, insert and turn to activate warheads...One, Two, Three...” They infix both their keys into the activation locks. “...Turn to activate and prime warheads...” He then checks the authorization code and launch coordinates. “Electronic Warfare officer you will sequence for a two cruise missile launch, at yields of one megaton on each warhead, code and target coordinates are as follows...” Cornell looks at his Commanding officer as he prepares to type in the code and coordinates for a launch of the two cruise missiles, with the combined destructive power of two hundred thousand kilotons of TNT, eight thousand times more powerful than the nuclear weapon dropped on Nagasaki, Japan in nineteen forty five. “...Code is 6290...Coordinates for warhead one is present guidance code is 2674B23, present guidance code for warhead two is 2345C28.”

  Cornell continues imputing the codes.

  “Sir we are at twenty eight thousand feet, reaching counter attack speed,” Hansen says into the Captain's com-link.

  “Noted. Hold speed and altitude...EW officer. Confirm our position and preparation of launch with detonation times.”

  “Launch in sixty seconds, targets will be hit within eight minutes from our position.”

  In less than seven minutes Captain Ravas and his crew will release two megaton thermonuclear cruise missiles, both targets have been designated, one the port of Shanghai, the other Beijing city. With the thermonuclear force of Two Megatons, the death toll on the populace of those two cities will be in the millions. Their order to launch a nuclear counter attack must be followed through, as a first strike on Japan, from China, could have all ready achieved megadeath on most of the population of Tokyo. Captain Ravas closes his eyes, he thinks of his wife, who is now pregnant with their first child, he quickly thinks of the two other crew members under his command. A thought crosses his mind, very briefly, of an incident a few years back in Northern Iraq, an electrical storm caused him and his crew to lose contact with their refueling plane. All GPS satellite relays ceased at the same time their on-board jamming systems lit up, when their systems returned to normal the refueling plane had just appeared through the storm clouds. Almost causing a mid-air collision between the two planes. He thinks to himself Only a single frequency band active, nothing from other warships in the area, just us and that one Destroyer. Their's and our SATCOM communication systems are inoperative. He remembers back to the re-fueling plane incident, they had lost contact within the electrical storm, unable to communicate with other other planes in the area. We are both blind. Captain Frank Ravas opens his eyes.

  “Hansen, take us as close as you can to the Japanese West coast.”

  “Sir? We will be vulnerable to enemy detection...” Captain Ravas's co-pilot replies

  “And we'll lose the counter strike advantage...” The EW officer says shaking his head.

  Captain Ravas holds up his right index finger up, indicating for Cornell to remain quite, at the same time he doesn't look at his Electronic Warfare officer.

  “That's an order, increase speed...” Captain Ravas looks at his watch. They will be moving into Japanese airspace in five minutes. Cornell still looking at his superior officer places his right hand on the crew issued handgun.

  The huge bomber begins to veer left towards the mainland of Japan with two of it's thermonuclear one megaton cruise missiles primed and set to be launched.

  Captain Ravas looks at the radar screens in-front of him on the battle station readouts, he sees the West coast of Japan near the Straofortress.

  “Attention unidentified plane entering Japanese airspace. Identify and verify your position. If unable to comply with request within sixty seconds we will fire on your position.”

  “Deactivate. NOW!” The Captain orders as both he and Cornell turn their keys back to safe mode for the missile launch. The EW officer at the same time voids the code, resetting the PAL arming system. Captain Ravas quickly gets up rushing back to his cockpit flight-chair.

  “Move it right!” He orders as he and his co-pilot steer the plane back away from the Japanese coast.

  “This is Captain Frank Ravas of the US air-force sixty ninth squadron based at Anderson airbase Guam. We are on route to Eielson airbase in Alaska, our responders have been down and we temporarily lost radar positioning. Please confirm.”

  “We note your change of course and resumption of route onto the North Pacific...”

  “Sir, we have all radar, SATCOM and systems back on line…looking for verification of a first strike on Japan. There was nothing. No attack occurred,” Cornell says into his com-link to Captain Ravas.

  “Contact the Momsen relay our information to them even if there systems are back on-line...Lets hope that we and them were the only ones that read it all wrong,” Captain Ravas says looking around the cockpit at the communication commands that are all in the normal ranges

  “Yes sir.”

  “Our apologies Tokyo, resumption of correct course
has been rectified. We are now leaving Japanese airspace.” Captain Ravas replies talking into his helmet mouthpiece.

  “Resumption noted and verified. You are cleared to proceed on current course.”

  Captain Ravas and his co-pilot ascend the bomber back to cruising altitude.

  “We have a urgent communique from the SS Momsen” Cornell says into the com-link, he precedes to read out the message from the Destroyer.

  “Acknowledge satellite glitch, stand down on strike has been ordered as a broad protocol for all military assets within the Pacific region. No actions have been recorded or expected. Direct orders from the President and Secretary of Defense. This is a high level security issue, no media contact and/or communication to civilian networks. All official responses will be processed through the Pentagon.”

  The massive bomber begins to level out once again at it's cruising altitude. The Second in commanding officer Wilson Hansen sets the autopilot. Captain Frank Ravas leans back and exhales. Staring into the night-sky from the cockpit window. All three men remain quite.

  ***

  “Fucking freezing,” Elly Jansky says to herself wrapped in a blanket as she walks towards the kitchen tabletop where she has placed her cellphone. Coughing, she picks up the phone. Checking for messages, the first message she sees is from her colleague Micheal Reddy.

  “Hey Elly, let me know what you discussed with Ivane. We have some news conferences coming up soon. Thanks. Micheal”

  Jansky types back a returned message.

  “I have the flu, feeling pretty bad. Just flew in two hours ago. Seen Doctor, says must rest. Have calculations for DEVs. Tori says they are not a natural phenomenon. Equations check out. Not wormholes or dark matter. Possible structure. Will call in a few hours or so.”

  Looking over a several other messages, she ignores all except then one from her sister. Jansky taps the message to open it.

  “Mom is having her second session of chemotherapy. Doctors say if this goes well her chances will improve. How was Europe? Love, Katy”

  Jansky quickly types back.

  “I will call you soon, I think we both should go and see mom in next few days. I'll let you know. Caught flu...Air travel the world-wide incubator for viruses :) Love, Janks. ”

  Coughing Jansky walks towards her lounge chair, sitting down, she folds her legs up and pulls the blanket closer to herself. She places the cellphone down onto the small coffee table, setting the phone to silent. She closes her eyes. Jansky's thoughts become delirious. Wonderful, I hate that song yet can recite all the lyrics. Always found that strange, fever induced memories of songs which I don't like. My head. She leans forward despite the coldness of an influenza induced fever, she also feels her temperature increase as her immune system fights the paramyxovirus. Jansky rests her forehead on her right palm. It feels hot, sweaty. The geometric Space-time equations, it's maths, calculations. A wormhole, it's gotta be a wormhole. Jansky coughs. Leaning her head back onto the headrest of the lounge chair. Her eyes are still shut. Despite the frenetic thought patterns, Jansky focuses on the meeting she had with Professor Ivane Tori two days ago in Rome, Italy.

  He's wrong, it's a wormhole, natural phenomenon, small Black Hole shrinking, a visible photon sphere...But the shaped spherical cone. Structure? Remnants of a rare cosmological event...Remnants. Jansky opens her eyes. She gets up, leaving the blanket on her lounge chair, feeling feverish. Walking to the open kitchen she pours a glass of water, also breaking open the silver wrap of an aspirin tablet. She looks at the glass of water, the clear fluid encased in the glass. Holding the glass of water above her, she angles the glass so that the light fitting appears distorted within the elongated tubular shape.

  Placing the tablet in her mouth, she sips the water. Jansky thinks back to her hotel room in Rome, when she woke up feeling unwell after that recurring dream. It wasn't that she was hung over, more so it was the onset of influenza. “Now it's really hitting hard,” Jansky says to her self. Walking back to the lounge chair she sits down, leaning back, looking up at the ceiling. He's right, the first part of equations. It's correct. And I'm also right, without the equations. The assumption, that this structure is an unnatural object. Jansky looks at her cellphone. Not well enough to make the call just yet. Pulling up the blanket she closes her eyes. An overwhelming sense of tiredness weighs on her. She falls asleep.

  “Elly! Elly!...”

  Slumped across her lounge chair Jansky looks at her right hand, she is clutching her cellphone. A voice is heard from what appears to be a call that she has received. Barely conscious she lifts the phone up, placing it against her ear.

  “...why...is life...so hard?”

  “What?” Jansky replies, the voice familiar.

  “I miss her...I really do...” The voice is her sister's

  “We found something...I don't feel so good...” Jansky says, she slumps her head down, eyes closed, holding the phone to her right ear. Through the speaker of the phone she hears a voice, it sounds like her sister, yet the voice seems muffled at times indistinguishable. Jansky continues talking. “...I'm not dying, just feel tired...sick. It's heading towards our Solar System...I think it's alien...old, ancient.”

  “...Elly I'm scared.” The voice replies.

  Opening her eyes, she looks at the television in-front of her, the footage shows the unmistakable image of an mushroom cloud from a thermonuclear detention. She closes her eyes turning away

  “The fucking human race!”

  She throws the phone across the room, it smashes against the opposite wall. “You assholes, you fucking stupid assholes...We're nothing in the cosmos...” Jansky gets up, stumbling she walks towards the television. Tears steaming down her face she falls to her knees. “...We deserved better.”

  Elly Jansky awakes from her phantasmagoric vision, she looks at the cellphone, a message is lit up onto the screen. She gets up, quickly picking up the phone, it's a message from Chris Halelis. Jansky calls his number

  “Hey Elly...How you feeling? Micheal said you've been sick with the flu.”

  “I'm feeling better, fever seems to have past...I've got Ivane's equations on the DEVs, it's a structural phenomenon.”

  “Structural? And it's emissions?”

  “From within it's core, the calculations check out.”

  “We believe it could be a type of Wormhole.”

  “Professor Tori assumed that we would theorize that...It's not a wormhole...It's...” Jansky coughs. “...Possibly an Extraterrestrial construct, in fact, although speculative from my own observations of Ivane's equations. A relic...An Alien-Artifact.”

  “An alien artifact?” Halelis asks.

  “Yes, and by aspects of Ivane's equations, this artifact resonates an intelligence.”

  “So it's alive...”

  “Unknown in the sense of being organic life, I need to contact someone...” Jansky pauses looking out through her curtain at the overcast day now forming. “...When I wrote my last book, I conferred with an conceptual designer and philosopher called Jensen Denlas, he wrote a paper four years ago that discussed his philosophy of Xeno-Structuralism.

  “We need the hard-science for this Elly,” Halelis replies, his tone direct.

  “Of course Chris, within the realms of speculation until we can prove it, an alien hypothesis is always last on the list, but Ivane's calculations seem correct, they've also been checked through the military computers, it's moving in our direction. Like I said it's not a cosmic bubble or any other cosmological phenomenon that may be explained with our current understanding of physics. So what we know so far, now with these equations the rest is...”

  “...Speculation,” Halelis replies finishing Jansky's sentence.

  “Also, it's propulsion may be warping Space and time. The military satellite telescopes have pinpointed it's exact trajectory. Not only is it heading towards Earth, but our entire Solar System...in a perfect alignment.”

  “Hence the high concentration of Neutron, Neutrino
and Gamma Rays hitting the the Earth.”

  “And all above the normal ranges, more so the high Neutrino counts. I'll email Ivane's paper to you, hang on...” Jansky gets up walking towards her laptop.

  “Have you seen the news?”

  “No,” she replies, opening her laptop and attaching Professor Tori's report to Haelis's email.

  “An American bomber, most probably Nuke armed, flew off course, was heading for Japan...The 'official' excuse is they had lost SATCOM and it's satellite transponders didn't indicate that is was flying over Japanese airspace.”

  Jansky sends the email with Professor Tori's paper to her colleague. “We better get moving on establishing a global acknowledgment of this Alien...” She thinks of the term Dark Emission Voids as now an inappropriate description for this massive object heading towards our Solar System “...Artifact. If it emitting intense particle disbursements within the electromagnetic spectrum. By error, it could set off a conflict here on Earth.”

  “You’re right, both Micheal and I are setting up a conference with Russian and Chinese physicists tomorrow...I've received the email with Ivane's paper, thanks,” Haelis replies, as Jansky standing above her laptop brings up the news story of the B52 bomber that flew onto Japanese airspace. “This is not good Chris...You ever hear about the Aurora Borealis story during the first Cold War?” She continues looking at the news article.

  “Yeah, nearly set off World War Three. You're seeing comparisons...”

  “Absolutely, nineteen sixty two...” she studies the article. “...U2 spy-plane leaving for a mission from Eielson Air Force Base...How ironic, the B52 that was flying off course was also heading to Eielson, anyway...The pilot was using star chart navigation, ascends into an extremely bright Aurora Borealis. Can't see the stars for directional navigation, flies off course ends up in Russian airspace...It's amidst the Cuban missile crisis and everyone was a trigger happy nuke ass-wipe.”