Pilgrimage (The New World)

by Kurt Winans

His first step was to prepare a written proposal that he would then have translated and dispatched to all the heads of government around the world. After that, he would speak with whoever would listen to him about the construction of shelters. Ross knew that he needed to attempt what would be a tough sell to almost everyone in the world with the exception of the global scientific community, and he would probably receive some additional grief for doing so.

  It seemed logical to sculpt out large cave structures in order to house the people and supplies that would be necessary for a potentially long duration of time. It also seemed that the best places to have those shelters would be in the mountains of as many different countries around the globe as possible. The scientific teams probably wouldn’t be able to pinpoint where on the Earth the asteroid would impact until shortly before the event, so having multiple supposed safe havens just seemed like a prudent move. Ross could visualize literally hundreds of large caves within the Andes Mountains that stretched for a few thousand miles near the western edge of South America, or lower sections of the mighty Himalaya Mountain Range of Asia. There were of course many other suitable locations in mountain ranges such as the Alps in Europe, which could handle the needs of large population centers throughout the world.

  As far as North America was concerned, the western half of the continent offered more, but not all of, the best mountainous options. In the United States, the general area of the continental divide along the Rocky Mountain range from Montana on down to New Mexico could prove quite useful, while closer to the west coast the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges would also be viable options. Additional fortifications could be located in the smaller western ranges of the Sawtooth or Wabash, while the Appalachian, Allegheny, and Adirondack Mountains could pick up the slack for the northeastern quadrant of the country.

  If this proposal was to be globally accepted as a viable course of action, a tremendous amount of international cooperation would be necessary. Some countries of the world have the majority of their land very close to sea level, so those citizens might need to use the caves built in another country. Even if they could construct caves of their own, they might not be as safe as ones built at higher altitudes.

  The odds were in favor of an ocean impact because roughly seventy percent of the Earth’s surface consisted of water, and the series of massive waves that could be caused by such an impact might flood out any low lying caves. That scenario held true for certain areas of America as well, because many of the states along the gulf coast and lower eastern seaboard had little or no mountains to speak of.

  While Ross verbally spelled this all out, and Mrs. Patterson put it into the computer, he suddenly flashed back to a conversation he had years ago with Dennis Strickland. Ross asked Mrs. Patterson to remind him to give the Strickland family in Colorado a call as soon as they were finished with the task at hand, because he needed to ask them for some information. Ross couldn’t remember the exact amount, but he knew the family owned a significant amount of property within the state. He also remembered how Dennis had told him that much of it was located at high elevation.

  When Mrs. Patterson asked him if there was anything else he wished to add to the current proposal, Ross quickly snapped back to the reality of the moment. He continued by saying it would be important that any and all occupants of the caves must have some sort of useful function. By that he meant that some people would be needed to build the shelters by blasting away the rock, and they would also be needed to help maintain the structural integrity of the caves. Others would be responsible for the growing and harvesting of food sources such as plant life or animals. Another group would need to hunt whatever animals were available in the wilderness near the caves during the last few weeks before the collision, and have that meat ready for consumption by the masses when they moved underground.

  Beyond that there would be a need for people to gather, ration, and distribute the water supply available to each cave. There would also be a need for people to do cooking or cleaning, while others with the necessary education would be responsible for the sanitation issues of transforming human waste into useable topsoil and fertilizer for crops. Each shelter would also need to have doctors and nurses to take care of any medical issues that would most certainly arise. Perhaps the one bright spot in this entire proposal was that there probably would no longer be any need for lawyers, but Ross wasn’t going to confront Jessica with that thought just yet.

  The entire process hadn’t yet taken into account the skills needed to create available access to the shelters throughout the world. Each host country would need to build roads and trails to the entrance points for multiple reasons. Aside from getting the people into the shelters, there needed to be a way for all the animals, food, water, and other supplies to be shuttled in. That could entail building some small bridges in difficult to reach areas, and time was growing short for that type of work.

  No matter what the distinct duty assigned to each person might be everyone involved would need to work together in some level of harmony. It was necessary in order for the shelters to accomplish their intended task. There was a possibility that the occupants might need to live inside the caves for many months, or years, just to survive.

  It would be impossible to accurately predict before the asteroid collision how extreme the atmospheric conditions might be, but conventional wisdom suggested that thick dust and huge debris clouds could envelop the planet after the collision. That would be a byproduct of an impact on land, or a large enough one in shallower areas of an ocean, but in either case venturing outside would become detrimental to ones’ well-being. There was plenty of evidence throughout history to validate such scientific claims, with several volcanic eruptions at various locations around the planet during the previous century alone. The plume ash clouds of such events had caused many nearby inhabitants to protect themselves against the accidental inhaling of the dangerous substance that could cause severe respiratory problems. Plant and animal life were negatively affected as well. One volcanic event had taken place in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States when Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980. That event created a massive river of mud and debris such as fallen pine trees that tore through the adjacent mountainside, and scattered ash a few inches deep on some of the nearby towns.

  Environmental conditions from an asteroid impact eventually would allow people to venture outside again, but until then, all food would need to be grown indoors. That would be a hugely important task that would require special training, and Ross would need to consult with some of the leading agricultural minds of the country to formulate and implement such a plan.

  On the back end of the entire stay within the caves there would once again be a need for those people who specialized in hunting and gathering. When the surviving populace begins to emerge, new sources of food and water would need to be located. There may not be any animal life left to speak of on the surface, but whatever there was would need to be hunted for continued survival. New areas to grow crops would need to be located near whatever water sources might exist, which had just become an additional reason for locating the shelters at high elevation. If and when the atmosphere began to produce snow and rain again in an attempt to cleanse the planet, that water would need to be captured for use from the mountain runoff.

  Global communications would most probably no longer exist in terms of what mankind is currently used to, so at first the inhabitants of neighboring caves would have to resort to the archaic form of face to face communication. That was sure to have a shocking impact upon many who had become overly accustomed to having communication and information access to the world in the palm of their hand. Those people would soon realize that it was significantly less important in the big picture to be informed, as opposed to being alive.

  There was of course the possibility that all of this advanced planning would be pointless because the asteroid could either miss the Earth entirely, or be large enough that it would be a total planet killer. If the
later of the two were true, then all the planning in the world wouldn’t matter. If however neither one of the two scenarios came to fruition, then at least the efforts of building and fortifying shelters would give some people an outside chance at survival.

  With that Ross concluded his thoughts on the shelter proposal, and thanked Mrs. Patterson for preparing the document. It would take some time for the world leaders to get back to him on the subject, and for all he knew many of them were currently working on a similar plan of action. Ross knew that his current thoughts had only begun to scratch the surface of the potential logistical nightmare that lay in front of him and other world leaders, but he would welcome any additional constructive ideas. In essence the plan needed to be approved and put into action yesterday, because time was now something that could not be wasted.

  Ross asked Mrs. Patterson if she could please get the information she had taken down out to the appropriate people for translation as soon as possible, and then place a call to the Secretary of Agriculture. Ross hoped that he would know the names of some brilliant minds in the field, and be familiar with any new technologies that could be helpful to the cause. As Mrs. Patterson headed for the door Ross had one more request of her, and instructed her to please place a call to the Strickland family in Woodland Park before she did anything else.

  BY THE TIME the autumnal equinox of September signified the passing of summer into fall within the northern hemisphere; a few more American citizens were beginning to accept the inevitable. Throughout much of the previous month, astronomers and scientific teams had focused a tremendous amount of attention onto the path of the asteroid. They had been able to ascertain that impact seemed imminent, and were now attempting to determine the overall mass of the object.

  During the same time, Ross and other world leaders had begun to have a more open and meaningful dialogue with regard to what should be done about it. Many had now read through the proposal set forth by Ross, and a few had made some welcome additions to the overall plan. Construction was beginning to get underway on building shelters in caves throughout several mountain ranges in different regions of the world, but Ross knew enough to let other governments and countries develop their own systems of how to proceed.

  In the United States, a sizable budget towards the efforts of the project had been approved by Congress, and Ross was hopeful that would encourage more people to get involved. Interviews were being conducted at hundreds of locations throughout the country to determine who was a candidate for the multitude of jobs such an undertaking would need for success. Unfortunately, the overall number of applicants was still rather meager. At first that was puzzling to Ross, because with each passing day more and more people seemed to believe that the impact of the asteroid was indeed going to take place. He knew that generally speaking, the culture of Americans was to almost blindly follow the hottest trend. In spite of all the posturing about individuality, Ross knew that most people wanted to fit in with a group somehow. Why then were they not following each other in droves to the interview locations for an opportunity to work for their own survival?

  Suddenly the truth hit Ross like a brick, and he began to break the American citizens down into their respective groups or demographics. In time there would be a large demographic that would become dedicated to the project, which would not surprisingly grow in numbers as the time of demise grew near, but they had not yet formed. For the time being, most people were still trying to figure out which group would be the “coolest one” to hook up with.

  Ross began with the senior citizens, to which he, Patty, and Jessica had somewhat reluctantly become. Ross didn’t feel much like a senior citizen, because he was still both very healthy and active, but he nevertheless was part of that demographic. He tried to put himself into that collective mindset, so that he could further understand what those millions of people might think of the shelters.

  It occurred to him that many of the elderly may simply want to live out their time that was left on Earth in peace and quiet. A large contingent of seniors may have lived in the same house for much of their lives, and therefore had no desire to go anywhere else. It was a safe bet that many had lost their spouse in recent years, and might look upon this as a noble way to join them again in the afterworld. To them all the hardship associated with relocating to, living in for who knows how long, and then with vast amounts of luck emerging from the shelters to a world that would have very little if any resemblance to what they left behind was simply too much to handle. Certainly seniors would not be turned away if they possessed a needed skill set and wanted to participate, but Ross didn’t expect many of them to do so. In general, that demographic could not be looked down upon for their thought process, but serious dedication to the shelters was probably not a priority to them.

  There would be one huge demographic that would span all ages, and that would be the religiously devout. Ross admired anyone who had developed and maintained a belief system in whatever had given them inner peace, but he also knew that some had taken that passion to another level. Many people would stand firmly behind their God of whatever religion they practiced, and Ross had no intention of trying to sway them away from their devotion.

  Millions within the United States, and in other parts of the world, would believe to their core that it was part of God’s master plan to save them from the peril of the asteroid, but Ross had no right or power to condemn them for it. After all, he believed with all his being in the existence of extraterrestrials, and many felt that was crazy. The only difference between the two was that Ross had actually come face to face on a few occasions with an alien, but he didn’t know anyone who could actually claim to have met God. It was not a subject for debate that Ross intended to get into with anyone, because it would most probably end badly, but it was interesting to think about. Ross realized that in spite of the words often spoken of, “Love and help thy neighbor”, many of the religious faithful would also stay in their homes without an interest in the shelters.

  Moving to the opposite end of the scale, Ross knew there would also be a demographic that would be much more dangerous. Without actual confirmation, he knew there were probably already a large amount of people that had become “panic movers”. Those were the individuals or families that had taken everything upon themselves for survival. They would have packed up whatever they deemed to be most precious into their cars, and made a run for the hills. Many would then fall victim to outrageous price gouging by those they met along the way who could provide goods or services to what would obviously be desperate people.

  The lucky few would find a cave or something similar, and then defend it with everything they had. That demographic was dangerous because there would be theft of supplies needed for their own needs, and that would inevitably lead to violence in order to obtain or protect the supplies. They would be acting as individuals instead of taking part in a team effort, and eventually the strain would probably become too much for them to handle. If small bands of these people did somehow unite, they would become even more dangerous as vigilante groups. That could cause a threat to the people who were fortifying the shelters with supplies, and Ross would need to convey that to other world leaders. It now seemed most prudent to have armed military personnel escorting any supply vehicles in the future, and guards posted at the shelter entrances to protect what had been stored.

  Another demographic to consider would be that of the financially affluent. There would be many among that set of people who, out of nothing more than habit, would feel a natural entitlement to a place within the shelters. Although some had worked hard during their life to gain their fortunes, the majority had simply inherited the wealth. Even those who had earned their own way, probably had never done much, or any, of the physical labor associated with what would be needed to maintain the shelters. Ross could visualize a bidding war from certain members of that demographic at the entrances to the shelters, as they would wave stacks of cash in the face of the guards to gain entry. Of course he
knew that would not be true for all of them, because with this, or any other sect of society, there would always be exceptions to the rule.

  Unfortunately that same sense of entitlement would probably be seen within many of the elected officials at both the national and state levels. While some, like Ross, had come from humble beginnings, many had become accustomed to the comfortable financial lifestyle that their positions provided for them. Ross couldn’t really fault those individuals, because he had also fallen into that trap during his many years of public service to the nation. Sadly, the line of who gained automatic entry to the shelters would need to be drawn somewhere.

  Ross and his entire Cabinet, several leading members of the federal government, and all of their families had been guaranteed a place deep within the Colorado mountainside fortification of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD. However, most other elected officials would be left to fend for themselves. It occurred to Ross that although his group would be kept in America’s most secure underground location for the sake of maintaining the constitutional chain of succession, it would be wise to disperse the remaining members of Congress and state Governors to multiple shelters. That would increase the probability of at least some of them surviving, while at the same time providing a built in leadership role within each of the shelters throughout the nation. Ross would also need to make it clear to his own family, and to the entire aforementioned group, that this gift of automatic entry came with a price. Each one of them would be required to set the proper example for everyone else in the shelters by working hard at their given tasks to help ensure order and harmony.

  The final major group of American citizens would be those who took the entirety of the situation seriously. They would be the people who interviewed for various labor positions, and then did their part by working hard to build or fortify the shelters. Once inside the shelters they would also work to maintain a harmonious lifestyle as best as could be expected, while everyone waited for a hopeful emergence. As Ross thought through all of this, it became obvious to him that this demographic would be the most important, but he hoped it wouldn’t be the smallest.