The ship chasing the arm fragment located it on long-range scanners. They immediately realized several things. First, that the fragment was headed directly for Cinder and the Hideaway Shipyards. Second, that Iceis had been damaged, the sun was fluctuating madly and undergoing frequent solar eruptions. Third, the humans at Hideaway were in grave danger.
They tried to contact Hideaway, but there was too much interference from Iceis. The Loud ship red-lined their grav-drive and hoped for a miracle.
---
Adamarus flew blindly though the thick clouds. Finally, at 500 feet, he broke through and could see the surface. He was above what was left of Hillcrest. He headed toward the old Loud Listening Chamber, which was the dome the Loud had built to communicate with the humans before the avatars became common. He saw the seven-mile ship immediately. It was on its side. Unbelievably, it didn’t look too damaged, though everything around it was. It was just a few miles from the Listening Chamber.
Adamarus attempted to contact the ship but got no reply. This worried him. He was able to set the fighter down next to the dome of the listening chamber in the same spot that the Loud lander had used all those years ago. He put on his helmet and passed through the airlock.
It took 30 minutes to walk to the immense ship, and when he got there, he realized he had no idea what to do. It towered above him, most of it in the clouds. There was no obvious way in, no apparent airlocks and, in fact, most of the ship was miles above him.
It rested on the edge of its awning. The handle slanted downward, the end resting on a hill.
He just stood there staring at it for many minutes, not knowing what to do. Then he heard a noise and turned around.
A group of ash covered people approached him. They were trying to breathe through rags, but still coughing badly.
Adamarus led them back to his ship where he found another group of survivors waiting. He managed to get them all inside then lifted off for the Smaller Moon.
---
The ash covered, ragtag survivors were arriving by the hundreds now and Leewood knew they were not even scratching the surface yet—soon there would be thousands…then hundreds of thousands. Eventually there would be millions…if not billions. An entire world full of people—those left alive. Those they could get to and find in time to save.
Leewood closed his eyes for a minute, then continued watching them struggling down the large ramps leading from the massive docking chambers of the smaller ‘farm’ moon.
The farms were automated and only a couple of hundred people staffed them. There were only eight small medical facilities scattered around the moon with only a handful of doctors and nurses.
He remembered why he had come into this empty office and grabbed his com unit. To his surprise, the connection went through and was answered instantly.
“Woodworth here.”
“Floyd, this is Leewood.”
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, and you?”
“We’re all okay—your wife as well. Thank God for Adamarus.”
“Where are you?”
“We’re bringing the station back to Amular as fast as…”
“Wait,” Leewood interrupted. “What did you mean, ‘Thank God for Adamarus’?”
“Well, Adamarus crippled the Blackship. If it wasn’t…”
Leewood was stunned. He interrupted again, “Adamarus? How?” As far as he knew, Adamarus was in a hospital at Trinity City.
“He found the asteroid control proto-type at the research facility on the Larger Moon and used it—he knocked off one of the Blackship’s arms as it was firing on Iceis. Put a stop to everything—the alien just up and left.”
“Really? Damn.” Out the office window, he saw that President Wicker had returned. Several others were with him. They were looking around, no doubt for him. “Woodworth, I’m out of time. Is Lorraine there?”
“Here…” a moment later, Harrington was speaking, “Patrick! Are you okay?”
“Yes, and you?”
“I’m fine. What are you…”
“Honey, I love you, but I’ve got to go now. I’m at the farm moon. I told Woodworth to come here…damn, how long will it take you to get here?” He heard her asking someone.
“About a day and a half,” she said.
“I’ll try to call you again…I don’t know…in…”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too. If nothing else, I’ll see you when you get here. Got to go.”
“Okay. Love you.”
“Me, too. Goodbye.”
“Bye.”
---
The front wedge of the Leviathan Three Battleship looked like a burned piece of charcoal. It was slowly rotating as it sped out of the solar system, approaching the orbit of Aster.
The Loud Umbrella Ship rippled into existence a scant mile away.
The Loud detected life signs and dispatched a rescue craft with two avatars.
They had to drill through eight feet of armor plating. Then, just outside of the bridge housing, they tried to contact those inside to let them know that they would be cutting through. They knocked, then listened for a response. None came, though they could hear people shuffling around and saying things. They could hear the words clearly, but they made no sense. Whoever was talking seemed to be speaking gibberish.
They drilled a small hole so they could peek in. Most of the survivors looked unconscious, a few wandered slowly about. They analyzed the air inside. It was then that they realized what had happened. They immediately started pumping in oxygen, but it was far too late.
---
A day later, the History Station docked. Wicker and Leewood were there to meet them. Adamarus, who’d arrived earlier, was on another evacuation run and unavailable.
Harrington ran to Leewood and they embraced. Then she held Leewood at arm’s length to look at him. He was exhausted, his eyes were bloodshot and he’d lost at least 10 pounds.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” he replied.
President Wicker was talking to Woodworth and Jan. Leewood led Harrington a short distance away to a window. The window was halfway up the wall that separated the docking facility and overlooked what had been fields of wheat. Now it was a field of people…tens of thousands…as far as the eye could see.
“Oh, my God,” Harrington said.
“It’s horrible, Lorraine. We have every available ship evacuating people from the planet. We’re getting five thousand a day. Anderson is full. Every sheltered facility that can be made livable on Amular is full. People we can’t squeeze into ships are dying of suffocation before our eyes as the ships lift off, packed full, shoulder-to-shoulder. The situation is so desperate, we can’t spare the time to take them elsewhere. Bernard and Anderson are sending every ship they have, but…”
Harrington squeezed Leewood’s arm, “What can we do?”
Leewood put his arms around her and buried his face in her neck and hair, “I don’t know what anyone can do.”
---
The highest point of the Hideaway Shipyards was the skyscraper-shaped structure on Dock 1—the central control tower. At the very top of the central control tower was ‘central control’. Three concentric circles of workstations surrounded a holographic projection in the center. The ceiling was made of five transparent triangles that came to a point at the center.
Evelyn and Brandon’s station was in the center around the holograph. Evelyn had gotten used to Brandon’s empty seat—he’d been at the Star Cannon for years, but now it seemed to take on new meaning. He was gone.
Iceis’ furious magnetic and plasma storms had blocked all communications since the attack on it. No one knew what was happening on Amular, though the images received looked too bad to imagine.
Evelyn was just getting ready to call it a night when it happened. She had said goodnight and was about to open the hatch to go.
“Collision Alert! Aaahhhh, Aaahhhh! Collision Alert! Aaahhhh,
Aaahhhh!”
She rushed over to Nickolas’ workstation, “What’s going on?”
He was switching through sensor visuals, “My God.” Something was displayed that was so long and so thin that it was hard to see. It was spinning end over end.
Evelyn leaned down, “What is it?”
“What it is…is almost a thousand miles long and…two miles in diameter at one end…” for a second he was lost for words, “and…well, it just tapers to nothing at the other end.”
“What…” Evelyn’s mouth just hung open.
“It is coming…oh, God…it’s here!” He looked up through the transparent panes that made up the center ceiling.
Evelyn looked up, too, but saw nothing.
“Aaahhhh, Aaahhh! Collision in Three…”
Three seconds! Her mind screamed, which ate up two and one…and then she saw it. It was coming so fast and it was so long it stretched beyond the view. Suddenly it filled the upper view plates…the alarm said zero and…
Whap!
She hadn’t had time to blink, hadn’t had time to duck. It struck and then it…bounced away!
“Shit,” she screamed.
It had been the thick, two-mile diameter end that had hit them, and did so at incredible speed, and it had just…bounced off. They stood in shock, watching it growing smaller. It was receding far slower than it had come in. Then, at a distance that allowed them to see the entire two-mile diameter, it seemed to jar to a stop. It appeared to just hover there. No, not hover, the other end a thousand miles away somewhere to their left had hit the planetoid Cinder and it had bounced off. Now the end they could see had become the center of rotation. It was still receding, but very slowly while the other end now rotated in the opposite direction.
“What in the hell was that?” Evelyn asked in disbelief.
It was three days later when they got an answer. A Loud Umbrella Ship rippled into existence. The Loud informed them that it had been a fragment of the Blackship’s arm. They said that the arm was composed of exotic material, which had almost no mass. That’s why it had bounced off without causing damage. They said that they had intercepted the fragment and set it on a course toward the gas giant, Farnom.
The Loud said they were there to conduct the emergency evacuation of the shipyards due to the unstable nature of Iceis.
---
Adamarus had just made orbit above Amular. He was piloting a transport carrying 228 people he’d collected outside of Axis and was transporting them to the farm moon.
The com buzzed. It was the farm moon. “This is Maximus aboard The Prescott,” he said.
“Admiral, we have a call for you from Bugs, please hold.”
Adamarus’ mouth fell open. He waited.
“Adamarus? This is Bugs.”
“Bugs, how are you?”
Bugs didn’t answer. Instead it said, “I’m calling you via another of our ships, one of our ark ships. The ship I’m on has crashed on Amular and, due to damage, we cannot contact you directly.”
“I came to your ship, but had no way to contact you.”
“Adamarus, please listen. The ship I’m speaking to you through found your son’s ship and rescued Nero as well as forty-six of his crew.”
Adamarus was stunned. “Nero’s alive?”
“Yes, Adamarus. However, my friend, Nero is injured. I’m afraid badly injured.”
“What do you mean?”
“Adamarus, they ran out of air.”
Adamarus closed his eyes. He knew what that meant. “How bad?”
“As I said, I’m afraid that it is bad. The ship is headed for the farm moon and will arrive in twenty-eight hours.”
---
The Umbrella ship that had found Nero and his crew, and the other Loud ship who had evacuated the Hideaway Shipyards arrived at the farm moon within 30 minutes of each other.
Adamarus rushed to the outside area where partitions had been erected to create a hospital—where they had taken Nero. At first, they wouldn’t let him see Nero. A Dr. Snider took Adamarus to his makeshift office. They sat across from each other.
“Admiral Maximus,” Snider said, “you will get to see your son, but I wanted to talk to you first…prepare you. Your son came very close to death. I’m afraid that he as well as the rest of his crew suffered massive brain damage from lack of air.”
Adamarus said nothing.
“He can’t speak…that is…he tries, but he can’t…he doesn’t make sense.”
Adamarus closed his eyes.
The doctor cleared his throat, “I’m very sorry.” When Adamarus still didn’t say anything, the doctor asked, “Do you want to see him now?”
Adamarus nodded.
The doctor led Adamarus to a row of partitioned areas then slid open a curtain and entered with him.
Nero was in a wheelchair. A nurse stood by him. Nero’s mouth was open, agape more on one side than the other. His eyes stared upward. Adamarus noticed drool run down Nero’s chin. He noticed the nurse holding a towel—she wiped his chin…as she had been doing all along.
“Eellllllll Eeeeeeeee,” Nero blurted. “Eeelllllllllllll Eeeeeeeeeeeee.”
Tears rolled down Adamarus’ face as he went to his son and hugged him.
“Eelllllll Eeeeeeeee.”
---
President Wicker was in route to Bernard Shipyards, but Harrington and Leewood were able to meet Evelyn as she disembarked. They all hugged.
“I’m so sorry about Brandon,” Harrington said.
Evelyn nodded.
Harrington hugged her again.
“You two are okay,” Evelyn managed.
“Yes, we’re fine. You heard about the arks…”
“Yes.”
“The president lost his family,” Harrington said.
“And Adamarus…Grace and Isabella,” Leewood said looking down.
Evelyn nodded sadly, saying nothing.
“The other returning Loud ark rescued Nero, but…” Harrington trailed off and looked over at Leewood.
Leewood finished for her, “Brain damage. They ran out of air. It’s…bad.”
Evelyn looked down and closed her eyes.
Harrington said, “And Burnwall is missing.”
Evelyn didn’t know what to say. What could she say?
She realized that she absolutely did not want to see Adamarus right now…for a whole lot of reasons or so it seemed to her. Had she been able to think it through, she would have realized that there was really only one reason—massive guilt.
Almost dreading the answer, Evelyn asked, “What can I do?”
Harrington shook her head for a moment, then thought of something. “They could use you over at Anderson.”
Evelyn jumped at it. Leewood checked and found out that a shuttle running supplies over to Anderson was leaving in 20 minutes.
“You don’t have to leave that soon,” Harrington said.
However, Evelyn rushed over to the departure dock and was just able to catch a ride.
---
Later, Adamarus met up with Leewood and Harrington.
Adamarus said, “I hear the other Loud ship evacuated Hideaway. Did you see Evelyn?”
Harrington nodded, “Yes…but…” she suddenly found herself tongue-tied…aware of things she wished she wasn’t. She looked over at Leewood.
For a brief instant, Leewood gave her a puzzled expression, then turned to Adamarus, “They needed her at Anderson and she caught a shuttle going there.”
Adamarus blinked and nodded, his face giving nothing away. He said nothing.
---
Three days later, Wicker returned to the Smaller Moon from the Bernard Shipyards. The first thing he did was locate the inner-circle and call a meeting—the first since the alien’s arrival, attack and departure.
It was held on the third level in the facility where the second and subsequent Council of War meetings had taken place. Adamarus, Leewood, Harrington, Donnelly, Woodworth and Jan were all on the Smaller M
oon and so attended in person. Radin’s battleship was limping back from Echo Charlie Seven and he teleconferenced. Evelyn also teleconferenced in from Anderson.
All of them sat down around the conference table or appeared on screens. Wicker hadn’t arrived yet, and all of them said hello and asked after each other.
Adamarus got Evelyn’s attention and said, “I’m very sorry about Brandon.”
Evelyn nodded back. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came. How could she reply, “Sorry about your wife and daughter and also for the injuries to your son”? She was saved by the appearance of President Wicker. She looked down, then turned toward the president.
“Hello, everyone,” he said. Around the table, the others responded in kind. “First, almost all of us lost loved ones, friends…my condolences…” he looked at Adamarus and then at Evelyn, then at others he knew had lost people they knew. He paused for a moment. Then, “General Burnwall is still missing. We’re still hopeful he’ll turn up, but…as time goes by…he left Dark Mountain when we evacuated, but no one heard from him after that.” Wicker looked down and arranged a stack of reports he’d brought.
“Anyway…Bugs is alive, though injured, his ship crash-landed very close to the dome the Loud built to communicate with us—the listening chamber. They are repairing their ship and taking care of the injured. They have not given out any other information on casualties or, on how long the repairs might take.”
“As you know, the other Umbrella ship was destroyed with the rest of Battle Group Three. The other two that left have returned. One is currently assisting with ferrying survivors wherever we can find room for them—due to radiation, we’ve decided to avoid the stations and facilities still in orbit around Aster and Serena which all of you know are basically gone. Our star system now contains two small black holes. We have a small station at Farnom, but it’s just too far away to be useful. The Loud have also created and injected nannies into this moon as well as the Larger Moon to build housing for the displaced, but it will be three months before any section will be usable.”
“The second Loud ship…well, the Loud say that it is on a time critical mission involving the arm fragment from the Blackship. That Umbrella ship is currently en route to Farnom. We could use the help of that ship, of course, but the Loud are adamant about the importance of that mission though…they will not provide any additional information on it.”
Countdown Amageddon (The Spiral Slayers Book 2) Page 45