by David Capps
I began to understand what the ancient Rama civilization had suffered 63,000 years ago. As advanced as their technology was, it wasn’t going to save them from the meteorites. It’s no wonder our scientists believe there never was an advanced civilization in our distant past. By the time the meteor storm was over, nothing recognizable remained.
“The greatest danger to the planet will be the fires that will start from the meteorites. Every forest will burn, every field will burn and every wood construction building will burn. The fires will bring on an apocalypse the likes of which the world has not known in recorded history. The two primary effects of the fires will be smoke and a lack of oxygen. Smoke will be a tremendous hazard. Visibility will be reduced to less than one hundred feet. People with breathing problems will likely not survive the smoke. Fire consumes oxygen. Three to ten minutes without oxygen and we’re all dead. Fortunately, we can survive on less oxygen than is required to support a fire. So at some point, when the oxygen level falls below the amount required to sustain a fire, the flames will go out. Smoldering fires will remain, as will the extensive amounts of smoke, so some means of filtering the smoke out of the air we breathe will also be required.”
Piece by piece, I was putting together what had happened to the Rama civilization and the rest of the people on the planet. They were near the end of an ice age, so many of the meteorites would have landed in glaciers, quickly cooled and rendered harmless. As bad as the meteor storm had been for them, it was going to be a lot worse for us now. Our population was significantly larger and the amount of glaciers was profoundly less. The massive forests around the globe would burn, and with them the biological mechanism for replenishing the oxygen would also be gone.
“The structures that will survive will be hardened underground bunkers. You can build this type of structure in a few days from common building materials. First recommendation is to start with a corrugated curved or domed metal building such as the common Quonset hut. It doesn’t have to be large. In fact the smaller the bunker is, the higher the likelihood of survival. Second, an eight inch to ten inch thick layer of reinforced concrete needs to be added on top of the metal structure. Then, once the concrete has set properly, the entire structure needs to be covered with at least six feet of dirt.”
“Why dirt?” one of the computer techs asked.
“Dirt is plentiful, to begin with,” Dr. Hans explained. “But the most important quality is that it provides a deceleration zone for the meteorite before it strikes the concrete covering. Concrete is actually quite brittle and will shatter under such an impact. The dirt covering will limit the impact force the concrete sustains and hopefully keep the bunker intact.”
“Most people aren’t going to be able to build a structure like this. What are they supposed to do?” asked another tech.
“People are going to have to band together to build these bunkers,” Dr. Hans replied. “The good news is that some bunkers of this type already exist. Think of sewers running under your highways, drainage culverts and bridges. All of these are of similar design and construction. People can seek shelter in all of them.”
“What about food and water?” someone asked.
“Each bunker will need to hold not only the people involved, but enough food and water for two months’ time. Sanitary facilities will also need to be incorporated into the bunkers and people will need a supply of dust masks to filter out the smoke from the air they breathe.”
“Dr. Hans,” another asked, “will the meteorite bombardment be constant or will it vary?”
“Fortunately the meteorite strike rate will vary considerably. As the Earth moves into the meteor cloud the majority of the meteorites will fall from midnight through noon. That will be the leading edge of the planet. From noon and into the early evening the planet itself will shield us from most of the meteorites, so if any rebuilding or resupply needs to be done, that will be the time for it.”
“And what about emergency services?” another tech asked.
“I’m afraid that there will be no emergency services,” Dr. Hans replied. “All of our emergency organizations, like hospitals, fire departments and police stations, will suffer the same consequences as every other building in the world; they will be severely damaged structurally and most will burn to the ground within hours of the initial meteor storm.”
“John said you were a research astronomer. Have you been able to confirm the existence of the meteor cloud?” Ed asked.
“Yes, I have,” Dr. Hans replied. “Because of the direction in which the solar system moves, incoming objects are detected from observatories in the Southern Hemisphere first. That is the advantage we have from Quito, Ecuador -- we can see both the northern and southern sections of the sky.”
“Can you give us a more accurate date and time for the start of the meteor storm?” Ed asked.
“My calculations confirm the four-day window that John currently has. Space-based radar will be required to get a more accurate fix on the date and time. I do not have access to that kind of equipment, sorry.”
There was a long pause while everyone began to digest the information.
“Okay, people,” John said. “I have handouts for each of you. Dr. Hans will be here for the rest of the day and will be happy to answer any other questions you may have. Thank you for your time and attention.”
* * *
Tia came over to me after the presentation. “Does NASA have access to space-based radar?” she asked.
I thought for a moment. “Yes, it does.”
“You used to work there. How do we get access to their database? They probably know exactly when the meteor storm will happen.”
“My user name and password are either gone or monitored, maybe both. But that’s a minor technicality for someone with skills,” I replied. She smiled and we headed for the communications room. I guess she wasn’t ignoring me, after all. That alone raised my spirits, which I desperately needed after listening to Dr. Hans.
We settled in at a computer station and I started to construct a program using my old boss’ user name. I figured Sheldon Woolser wasn’t likely to be monitored.
“So how did you learn how to hack into computer systems?” I asked Tia as I continued typing.
“I had a mentor, a guy,” she said.
“Was he good?”
“He was the best.”
“How did you meet him?” I asked.
“I didn’t, actually,” she replied. “He never knew. There was a small group of us. We studied code together. This guy, he called himself Shadow Hawk, he would make his code available to other hackers, kind of an open source thing.”
I stopped typing and looked at her.
“Anyway,” she said, “his code was brilliant, sophisticated and elegant. It was so far beyond anything we had ever seen. It was kind of magical.”
My heart was pounding so loud I was sure she could hear it. “Wh… What happened?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “He just disappeared. We never heard from him again. I was in my second year of high school. I had all of these fantasies of finding him and falling in love with him. I imagined myself marrying him in a secret ceremony out in the woods someplace. It was all so romantic.”
My hand started shaking and I was breathing rapidly. She looked at me, obviously concerned.
“Carl? Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I answered, “probably too much coffee.”
I got up and walked around for a bit, shaking my arms, trying to settle down. She sat there watching me. I returned to the computer and continued to create the program. I set up a sub-file with possible passwords and the first letter of each word in several phrases I knew Woolser liked. I also created a subroutine that assigned symbols in place of letters, such as a “5” for an “s”, “(“ for a “c”, “3” for an “E” and “!” for an “I”.
Tia looked at the program on the screen. “Where did you learn to write code like that?” she asked.
“I taught myself,” I replied. “It just seemed like the way to do things.”
I also made a sub-file with all of the addresses I had learned for the computer system at NASA.
“So how does this work?” she asked.
“These are the different addresses that I know are used to get access to the NASA database. The program randomly rotates address so the system doesn’t recognize it is being hacked right away. This is my old boss’ user name. The rest of the program creates likely passwords and tries them one at a time.”
Her mouth fell open as she studied the code I had written. “You don’t use script for this?”
“Too slow.” I responded. “Besides, programs that are looking for hackers are all looking for script-like commands. By using a compiled program it bypasses a lot of the script-based security features of firewalls.”
“And you just create code like that off the top of your head?” she asked.
“Pretty much, yeah.”
She sat back in the chair and looked at me.
“Want to see if it works?” I asked.
She looked back at the screen. I compiled and linked the code into an executable file and activated the program.
Twenty-eight seconds later, the program announced we had been granted access to the NASA database. I constructed a query relating to meteors covering the four days we knew the storm would begin.
“There it is,” I said. “Day, hour and location.”
I looked over at Tia. Her mouth was open again. She closed her mouth, stared at me for a moment, got up and walked out of the communications room. I wondered if she suspected the truth about me. She was really smart. Given a little more time, I believed she would figure it out.
I wrote the date and time for the start of the meteor storm on a sticky note and handed it to John. He went over to one of the computer techs who updated the main screen on the website.
METEOR STORM
IN 52 DAYS
17 HOURS
32 MINUTES
* * *
Based on Dr. Hans’s recommendations, John’s people put together the Bunker Builder’s Book, complete with diagrams, parts list and potential suppliers of materials. John made the book available as a free download in PDF format. He arranged for a print version from a major printing house. The complete book came in at $2.83 wholesale cost. Priority shipping came to $5.52 for a total cost of $8.35. John priced the book at $8.00 including the priority shipping. A tech asked if that was a smart way to price the book. John explained that his preference was to supply the book for free, but he really needed the money for other projects. He could subsidize thirty-five cents a book, but not the whole thing. Besides, anyone could get the book for free as a download.
“John,” I said, “we aren’t getting the message out to enough people. We need to get the mainstream media in on the process. Right now, they are ignoring us and the warnings about the meteor storm.”
“There’s a process at work,” John said. “The first step for the government and the mainstream media is to ignore the problem. The second step is to deny. The third step is to ridicule, and the final step is to acknowledge the problem.”
“Deny and ridicule. Just like they did to me on the Cy Cobb Show.”
“Exactly. You got on the show because they viewed it as entertainment, not news. Now that it falls into the category of news they will ignore it as long as they can.”
“So how do we get the story into the news?” I asked.
“By creating a story so inviting that the media falls into the trap of running with it. We have something now that just might do that. One of our business members acquired a bankrupt steel mill. In this economy that’s real news, but what we are doing with the steel mill will be the irresistible part of the story.”
The following day we all watched in the communications room as the story broke on the Network News Channel.
“This is Kayla Hunter, reporting for Network News. With me today is Alexis DeVille, new owner of Old City Steel. I see that you have a large crew taking down the walls of the mill and covering the equipment with rust preventive. Is this steel mill headed for China?”
Alexis was dressed in a typical dark blue business suit. Her blonde hair was drawn back in a bun and she wore small diamond pierced earrings.
“No, Kayla, this steel mill is staying right here. This facility will play a critical role in rebuilding this country’s infrastructure, and we are preparing it for that future.”
“By taking it apart?”
“Yes. The entire facility is being dismantled and placed in a concrete cocoon so it will survive the coming meteor storm.”
“I don’t understand. What meteor storm?”
“In fifty-two days the earth will be hit by a massive meteor storm that will last for two months. Everything will have to be rebuilt and this steel mill will be the primary supplier of steel in that process.”
The reporter turned toward the camera with a blank expression on her face.
“That’s crazy,” the reporter said. The segment ended.
“How does that help?” I asked. “It makes us look like nut-jobs.”
John smiled and waved me over to one of the computer consoles.
“Watch,” he said.
The console was monitoring visitors to John’s meteor storm website. The current visitor count was just over 600 visitors. Within seconds it began to climb. The visitor count passed 1,000 and then 2,000.
“Bring the two back-up servers online,” John said.
“Both online,” a computer tech answered.
The visitor count continued to climb past 5,000 and within two minutes was well over 10,000 current visitors on the website.
“How many Bunker Builder’s Books are being downloaded?” John asked.
“Twenty-two hundred… twenty-three hundred,” the tech paused. “Twenty-five hundred books being downloaded at this time.”
John smiled. “First crack in the foundation of silence.” He turned to face the room. “What’s happening on Facebook and Twitter?” he yelled.
“Facebook visitors up by a factor of ten… make that twelve,” a tech answered.
“Twitter comments are exploding with over ten thousand comments per minute.”
“Positive or negative?” John asked.
“Hold on,” a tech said. “Looks like roughly seventy percent positive and thirty percent negative.”
John turned to me. “Not bad for a nut-job.”
I laughed. He really did understand people and the system.
“Tomorrow we launch Phase Two,” he said.
* * *
The next morning I was again awakened by a knock at my door just as it was getting light outside. “Time for a walk in the woods,” John said softly.
I quickly got ready and headed down to the kitchen to join John and Ed. After coffee and a bagel we headed out, this time to a different spot in the woods.
“Okay Ed, what have you found?” John asked.
“I have an old teammate who is connected to the DIA. Word is they are looking for Carl Palminteri,” he said. “That’s what the mole in your organization will be after.”
“With that in mind, who can we eliminate from our list of suspects?” John asked.
“At this point the only people who actually know who Palminteri is, are you, me, Tia, the pilot and copilot of your plane and the driver of your limo.”
John thought about that for a minute. “Okay,” John said. “There are actually two limo drivers, one during the day, and one at night. Only the night driver knows who Carl is. The day driver doesn’t know. So if Carl is the target and someone who actually knows Carl’s true identity is the mole, they would have him already. That should narrow our search down to the day driver, the Learjet 45 pilot and the co-pilot.”
That’s my take on it, too,” Ed replied.
“Suggestions?” John asked.
“I say we give them Carl Palminteri,” Ed said.
�
��What!” I shouted.
“Calm down,” John said. “Let Ed explain.”
“I know a guy in San Diego, an actor, who is Carl’s height and build. With some make-up we could make him look just like Carl Palminteri. We hire him, let him keep his own ID so the feds won’t hold him for very long, and use him as bait. We leak that we are bringing Palminteri into the fold, but each suspect gets a different time and place. Wherever the feds show up, we have the mole.”
“And what do we do with the mole after we find him?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Ed said. “Once the feds know his cover is blown, they’ll pull him. End of problem.”
“Won’t they just send in another mole?” I asked.
“Sure,” Ed said. He turned to John. “How long has the day driver, pilot and co-pilot been with you?”
“The day driver has been with me for over a year, pilot and co-pilot for almost three years.” John replied.
“And how long was the vetting process before you hired them?”
“Six months,” John replied. “The meteor storm will have come and gone before they can create another mole. Once we find out who it is, it’ll be over. No more threat.”
“How long do you want to take to set up the operation?” Ed asked.
“We need to do this slowly so it doesn’t look too suspicious,” John said. “We need to leak this over the next week or so. How long do you need to get your actor ready?”
“Couple of days,” Ed replied.
“Okay,” John said, ”let him know he has a job and start prepping him.”
“You got it.” Ed replied.
CHAPTER 15
I approached John privately. “What about the electrical grid?” I asked. “Everything in our society depends on electricity and the distribution grid that delivers it.”
John sighed. “There are certain parts of our infrastructure that are going to be difficult to restore: the electrical grid, water treatment, fuel processing and distribution – all of them are going to take a long time to rebuild. We have to focus on water treatment first. Too many lives depend on clean water. Supplies need to be moved, so fuel processing and distribution has to come next. The electrical grid will have to wait.”