Pilgrimage (The New World)

by Kurt Winans

  With reluctant acceptance, Ross ultimately realized that the number of people in the United States who would be helpful to the cause of building, fortifying, and maintaining the shelters were vastly outnumbered by those who wouldn’t. He also knew that something needed to be done in order to properly identify and protect those who were helpful, so he asked Mrs. Patterson to please place a call to the Surgeon General.

  WITH THE UNMISTAKABLE tune created by toasting with fine crystal still lingering in the air, Ross and Patty each took a sip from their champagne glasses. Then they raised their glasses towards the rest of the assembled crowd within the White House, and wished them all a Happy New Year. The blizzard conditions over the past few days had not deterred anyone on the guest list from attending the celebration to usher in 2022, but this was not the normal crowd to attend such an event.

  During the fall, Ross and Patty had decided to host this party for each and every staff member of the White House and their families. Beyond some of the more recognizable faces, this group included those of gardeners, house keepers, cooks and servers. It was their way of saying thanks to each one of them for all the hard work and dedication they had shown over the course of the previous five years, and also a way to provide them all with a gift, and honor, they would never expect.

  The previous three months had been filled with all sorts of activities for Ross and the family. Like multitudes of other people around the planet who had now accepted the inevitable, Ross had taken the opportunity to do a few things that would soon no longer be available. In October he had gone to historic old Wrigley Field in Chicago to throw out the first pitch for game one of the World Series between the Cubs and the Kansas City Royals. Ross thought it was nice for the fans of Chicago to have the Cubs finally win the big prize after several decades of frustration, but was saddened that it may have been the last of the fall classics. During early December Ross had also attended the Army vs. Navy football game, which he had been able to do only a handful of times since graduating from the academy.

  Immediately after the closely fought game, which Navy won by two points, Ross headed west because he had some serious business to attend to. He surprised many people over the course of the next ten days by visiting at least a dozen of the sites in the western mountain ranges where construction and early fortification on some of the shelters was feverishly underway.

  The demographic who took the entirety of the situation seriously was beginning to grow in numbers, and they had made some good progress with their work. Much of the rock that had been blasted from the mountainsides to create the shelters had been used to fill in small nearby ravines, and had therefore helped create better routes for the roads leading up to the entrances.

  Ross was proud of his Surgeon General for responding in such a positive way to the call from the White House in late September, and had expressed his gratitude to her on several occasions. She had the idea to implant those people who had been working on the shelters from the earliest days of the project with a microchip, and Ross had fully endorsed the plan.

  Many of the people that Ross met with during his surprise visits had already been implanted with the microchip that would guarantee their place in the shelters, but he identified several more at each site during the visits that had earned the same consideration. The implant was a brilliant idea that had given this particular group of people comfort in the knowledge that they would not be forgotten by their government or country for their efforts.

  The final stop for Ross on his western tour was at the Strickland family home in Woodland Park, Colorado. He wanted to ask them a favor, and Ross didn’t feel it was the type of thing that could be handled with a phone call. While sitting in the same beautiful home that he had first seen when Dennis had been laid to rest, Ross spoke with a few relatives of his old friend. They had been some of the few that had believed his story about the asteroid from the very beginning, and had been constructing a massive shelter of their own on their property high in the nearby mountains. Ross informed them that he and his family would seek refuge in the nearby mountainside NORAD fortification, while some staff members would use a shelter within the Appalachians, but he was concerned for the well-being of many others at the White House.

  The Strickland family had been to the White House on a few separate occasions by invitation of Ross and Patty, and had met some of the people to which he spoke of. Ross asked if he could impose on the Strickland’s to help him out with his dilemma, as some of those dedicated people had not been assigned a shelter. The Strickland family put Ross’ mind at ease, as they informed him they would be happy to provide a place in their shelter for any of the White House staff and their families who needed the help. They understood many of them had been unable to leave their current positions at the White House in order to help with the shelters, but also weren’t part of the group that would be given automatic entry. Ross was now assured that the only thing those people needed to do was make their own way to the mountains of Colorado.

  With that Ross breathed a sigh of relief, and promised that, at his personal expense, he would send additional supplies and food stores for the extra people to the Strickland shelter well in advance of the asteroid impact.

  Upon his return to the White House, Ross located Patty to inform her that the visit with the Strickland’s had been successful, and she too breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the news. The two of them decided that perhaps the best way to inform all those who might be impacted, was to wait until their already planned staff party on New Year’s Eve. They thought the event would be a wonderful venue to provide them all with the surprise gift. Ross then headed in the direction of the oval office, because he knew there would be a multitude of phone calls and several business issues to catch up on after being away for ten days.

  Before digging back into all that was waiting for him on his desk, Ross stared at the emblem on Grandpa Hank’s necklace that still hung from the small reading lamp for a few moments. It reminded him of how limited his power was in the really big picture of the galaxy, but it had also always been the thing that kept him centered and focused on whatever task lay in front of him. Ross knew he was doing all that he could with his limited power to save some of the people of Earth who wanted to be saved, but it just didn’t seem to be enough in his own eyes.

  A knock, and subsequent entry, by Mrs. Patterson at the door snapped Ross back into the present reality once again. She had a list of items to go over with her boss, but before she could begin he told her he had an idea. His plan was to shut down the work on the shelters for two weeks during the time of Christmas and New Year’s, because Ross felt that all those people should be able to spend significant time with their families if they wanted to. This would probably be the last holiday season as they knew it, so the work could wait while everyone spent time with their loved ones. Ross also felt that if he didn’t provide them with a break, they could all become burned out on the job before the shelters were finished. There would be a stretch drive during the final months that would need maximum effort, and if they all worked too hard now they wouldn’t have the strength to go on when it was needed most.

  Mrs. Patterson agreed it was a good idea, so Ross asked her to place a series of calls for him after she had gone over the items she wished to discuss with him. It would add a significant amount to the already long list of calls he needed to make, but he wanted to personally speak with the foremen at each shelter to make sure they understood his wishes.

  After a few longer than usual days in the office catching up on lost time, Ross began to really focus on Christmas with the family. He knew that this would probably be the last time they could all enjoy the holiday together in the warmth and comfort of the White House, and he left it up to Patty to make sure everyone would be there for at least a few days.

  AS THE PEOPLE of Earth, including those at the White House, flipped the pages of their respective calendars to March, a new realization set in. With less than six months remaining until
the asteroid impact, there was added incentive to get things done. In the United States, agricultural output was at an all-time high, as farmers were no longer instructed to hold back on their planting or harvesting in favor of market conditions.

  Every acre of fertile farm land within the country was being used to either grow the food to sustain the people’s needs within the shelters, or to fatten up all the livestock that would be slaughtered for the meat or placed inside the caves for other resources such as milk and eggs. Many more citizens had also joined the ever growing demographic of those who wished to help build and supply the shelters, but some had refused the opportunity to have the microchip implanted.

  What had surprised Ross, were the actions of the large religiously devout demographic. It had been reported that in many areas of the world this societal group had come out in huge numbers to assist with the daunting task at hand. In general, the group still wanted no part of seeking refuge within the shelters, but felt it was the humane thing to do by helping in any way possible. They still believed God was going to save them in the end, but lending a hand to others was all part of the master plan. Ross admired their devotion, freely admitted he had been wrong in his previous assessment of them, and was glad for all those who would benefit by having the extra help.

  At that point there were two dozen caves in Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado that were considered completed in the structural sense and each could house a thousand people. In the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges to the west another dozen were in the same stage of readiness, with a few dozen more nearing completion in several areas. The majority of all the shelters had been constructed with eastward facing entrances and ventilation shafts, because it was unknown how high, or how far inland, the giant waves from the nearby Pacific Ocean could be after the asteroids impact.

  Each of the massive caves would still need to be fortified with bunk beds, blankets, and other important features such as generators for lighting systems before any food or water would be brought in, but at least the structures themselves were ready for the next phase of preparedness. The work thus far had not been easy for the crews who dug them out, as the winter in the western United States had been brutal up to that point. Access to the shelters along the makeshift roads had been challenging at times, but the workers had done a great job of overcoming the obstacle. The positive side to the heavy winter was that it created a vast amount of snow that would be collected as it melted, and stored within the caves for later use.

  Construction in the caves within the smaller mountain ranges in the eastern section of the country was not as progressed, but those had been started at a later date. Ross, and the leading engineering minds behind the project, had always wanted to have as many caves as possible in the Rocky Mountains. They had the benefit of being not only a much higher mountain range, but they were also significantly further away from any of the world’s oceans.

  Workers throughout the country had become united in a way that Ross had never imagined. He was overjoyed to see it happen, but was still surprised by it. The history books revealed that the current resolve was similar to that of the days of World War II, when the entire country seemed to ban together in the common goal of defeating a foreign enemy. This was of course an even larger undertaking in the big picture because it was truly a global threat, and many of the people seemed to finally be understanding of that fact.

  In what had been a difficult decision to arrive at, Ross was now faced with the task of informing the citizens of the United States of something they would not be happy to hear. In a televised address to the nation, he informed them that personal driving would become a thing of the past at the end of March. The nation’s supply of fuel would be needed for all the farm equipment that would harvest the crops destined for the shelters, and the truck convoys that would be transporting the fortifications. Those same convoys were currently being used to transport the massive number of bunk beds and generators to those shelters that were ready, and they would continue to do so as other caves were completed. Logging trucks were bringing vast amounts of fallen trees to the closest shelters, so a supply of wood for heat and cooking could also be stored within.

  Once all of the fortifications, including food and water, had been transported to the caves, the convoys of trucks would then carry whatever fuel supply remained for use by the generators inside. The final trip, with the help of hundreds of busses, would then be to carry the most precious cargo of all, the people, to the shelters, and park adjacent to the entrances for hopeful use after the event was all over.

  As of the first day of April, children would need to walk or ride their bikes to school. Parents would need to prioritize what was truly needed with the use of their cars or trucks, and complete those tasks as of the last day of March. After that, people who still wanted to report for their respective jobs would need to find alternative means to get there.

  Ross knew he was asking the American people to give up a large piece of their personal identity by not allowing them to drive anymore, but it needed to be done for the greater good. The OPEC nations had just announced they would be jacking up the price of oil again, as if they needed another reason, and Ross had emphatically stated to Congress that, “The new price levels were beyond ludicrous!”

  It had been decided that the United States would purchase no more oil from the cartel after the end of March, and that would put a strain on the oil producing capabilities here in America. Ross knew it was a drastic measure, but the country had been held hostage by those vultures for more than half a century now. There had been rhetoric on Capitol Hill for the majority of that time frame about America gaining its energy independence, and Ross had been involved in some of those discussions, but no real significant steps towards that end had ever been taken. Now, like it or not, those steps had been thrust upon the nation. Ross wanted to grant America such independence, even if it would only be for the last few months before everything on Earth would drastically change.

  Ross wondered why those nations really thought the best way to prepare for the problem at hand was to rape and pillage the entire world for a commodity that was not only finite, but would become completely worthless very soon. What good would it do them to have all that cash buried in a hole in the sand, while a few thousand feet of water rushed uncontrollably over their heads? As far as Ross was concerned, they were idiots with myopic thinking who would pay the ultimate price. His desire was to create a new policy that the United States would no longer allow any of those people, who were responsible for the recent price hikes, entrance into the country.

  Meanwhile, the Earth had now rotated far enough around the sun that the asteroid was no longer visible to all the astronomers on the planet surface who had been studying it since the day it was located. Earth was very close to the same position that it had been when the alien had informed Ross of the impending doom, and it would be several months until the astronomers could fixate on the asteroid again.

  Fortunately NASA, and other global space agencies, had launched several probes towards the menacing rock during the previous few months. That was done in an attempt to ascertain vital information such as its overall size and composition, but it would be sometime before the probes telemetry would send back useful results.

  ON A GLORIOUS warm and sunny day in May, Ross found himself back at Annapolis to give the commencement address for the Naval Academy graduating class of 2022. One such graduate felt incredibly honored, as the President of the United States repeatedly glanced over in his specific direction during the proceedings. What he didn’t know was that Ross was not looking at him so much, as he was looking at the chair to which the young man sat upon.

  Ross had done the same thing five years prior when he had given the commencement address to the class of 2017 during the first spring of his presidency, as that was the location of his seat when he had graduated from the academy in 1972. Could it really have been fifty years, he thought to himself, since he threw his cap into the air wh
ile following the customary tradition of all Midshipmen upon graduation? In some ways it seemed like only yesterday, but it had indeed been a long and fulfilling journey since that day many years before. Ross felt saddened by the fact that this could possibly be the last group of stellar young men and women to graduate from the academy, and then realized that same sentiment should be applied to hundreds of colleges and universities throughout the country.

  The day in Annapolis, along the shore of Chesapeake Bay, had been a pleasant and much needed diversion from many of the trials and tribulations that Ross now faced. Over the previous few weeks, there had been several reports of mass looting in many of the cities and towns throughout America. In response, with the urging of his Cabinet, and then the help of Congress, Ross had implemented an increased level of military presence in some areas to help keep the peace.

  It was now approximately ninety days until the impact of the asteroid, but the leading scientific minds of the planet had only been able to narrow down the specific time to a four day window during the final ten days of August. The looting was a definitive sign that the downhill slide of humanity was beginning to take hold, and Ross knew it would only get worse. Everyday life had become quite challenging for many families who lived in rural areas, because the “no personal driving mandate” had now been in effect for roughly seven weeks. Those who lived in the cities had an easier time of getting where they needed to be, but there was also a growing faction of those who no longer cared about anything.

  Another interesting event that seemed to be taking place in many areas throughout the country was that of relocation. Reports were coming in from the inner cities and suburban areas of thousands of homeless people relocating into the dwellings of those people who had left them vacant to build, fortify, and then seek refuge in the shelters. Although some neighbors in the more affluent areas complained bitterly to the local law enforcement about the intrusion into their protected and sanitary world, most just accepted the shifting of classes. In most cases the former homeless were not the ones responsible for any of the looting; they were just using an available space for a much needed upgrade.