by Mark Wandrey
In America, the riots started in the usual places; South Central Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, and New York were a few of them. Despite the President’s promise, many were not in the mood to be patient or were simply driven over the edge by the terrible events. The military did its job without many desertions, but militia groups in the southern states mobilized almost overnight and claimed to have control of Georgia and Arkansas. Like in Russia, the Cape Canaveral NASA facility was overrun with fanatics armed with what they claimed to be liters of smallpox. Millions of people didn’t show up for work the day after Aries’ destruction and millions more missed the next day. For a week, society teetered on the edge of collapse in the greatest nation on Earth.
In
New York City, one of the nation’s largest credit card corporations quadrupled its short-term interest rate and added a 100% cash advance surcharge. Hours later, the move was mirrored by all the other major card companies. That night the US government's Securities and Exchange Commission ruled the move illegal. Americans responded by going on a spending spree. Money was being spent faster than it could be printed. Manufacturers were shutting down for lack of raw materials and distributors were closing for lack of merchandise. The end drew nearer.
May 13
The sun rose over New York City as it always had. The night before was cool and clear in the Big Apple, one of those rare May nights when you could actually see a star or two from Central Park. That night there was a new star bright enough for everyone to see. Only it wasn’t a star, it was Lebowski. The asteroid was only visible for an hour before the rising sun blocked it out. Thanks to the press, everyone knew what that bright scintillating light really was. Panic was reaching a crescendo.
Billy sat in his now battered cruiser and watched the computerized call system on the dashboard flashing so many requests for aid that it scrolled nine pages. A newscast two days ago warned of the dangers of an ocean impact. In a high watermark of good taste, that inflammatory bit of news was followed by the nineties disaster film Deep Impact. With its realistic scene depicting the destruction of New York as the result of an asteroid induced tidal wave, a terrorist attack wouldn't have caused more panic. Since then, the exodus from New York City had begun in earnest. A two day long traffic jam was a sight to behold. Many of the evacuees hadn’t made it across a bridge or through a tunnel yet.
His ex-wife had been released from government custody yesterday. She, her new husband, and the mayor had taken a helicopter to Albany. There they were initiating a Supreme Court case against the illegal declaration of martial law. Billy laughed at her over the phone, the sheer ludicrousness of the court case being more than he could stand. She hung up before he could tell her he was engaged. Billy doubted he’d ever hear from Trisha again, and he hoped he would never hear from Chief Niedelmeir. Seeing his new fiancé was another matter entirely.
Nearby, Billy noticed a pair of cars he’d been watching moving inch by inch toward the Holland Tunnel. The man driving the rear car was honking the horn incessantly and lurching ahead with a squeak of tires every time he got to move a few feet. The city was full of panicking road warriors just waiting for the Schumer to hit the fan. He’d tried twice to get into the building where Mindy worked and failed both times. Where once there was only minimal security, now a pair of Humvees were parked on either side of the doorway. The soldiers checked IDs every time and allowed no one to enter who wasn't identified.
The cars moved another foot and, again, the man screeched forward and lay on the horn. “What does he expect the person in front of him to do?” Billy wondered, “Force ahead a thousand more cars?” That first night separated from Mindy had been horrible. The gut-wrenching truth of Mindy’s dire predictions for the Aries mission were terrible to behold. Then to find her under twenty-four hour lock down was almost too much to bear.
He began to ignore his duties, signing on shift and spending hours between the building where she worked and the apartment where she slept. Three days after she had been taken away from him he got his first look at her as she was escorted with a large group from the office to her apartment. It was only because traffic was snarled that they'd been forced to move on foot. Mindy’s friend Harold was there as well. Billy jumped from his car and raced toward her. The soldiers had efficiently cut him off, crossing their M-4 carbines like a Spartan shield wall, leaving him to ineffectually call her name.
The second time, he was better prepared for the encounter. Instead of rushing headlong he simply stepped from a doorway and into the group. Mindy had looked over in surprise and almost squealed with delight. He shushed her and they had quickly discussed the situation. “That’s insane, I’m going to get you out of this,” he said and grabbed her arm.
She snatched her arm away and gave him a stern look. “You will do no such thing, mister. What makes you think I want to get rescued, Prince Charming? I know what I’m doing. Not being able to see you is hard. Just the same, I’m handling it.”
“I’m not; we were supposed to be getting married!”
“I know, I’m trying to work on that, but it’s going to take time.”
“Okay, try to give me a call?”
“Impossible. They’ve taken the phone from our apartment building and watch every time we pick up the phone at the office.”
“How can you stand it?”
“Better than Harold; he’s ready to crack. Let’s try this again tomorrow.”
He said he would and easily slipped out of the group. They might be good soldiers but they were piss poor detectives. Going about unnoticed in crowds was a job requirement for him.
He returned to his duties and tried to see her again the next day. He never got close. Every time he tried he was warned away. Worse, his repeated attempts drew attention to himself and they saw him coming now. So he contented himself with watching her from afar. Today she was unwrapping some sort of food and eating it as they walked. As she looked right at him she wadded up the wrapper and threw it into a garbage can. She looked at the wrapper, up at him, and back at the wrapper. With a wink and a smile she continued on with her group.
A few minutes later Billy ran over and grabbed the wrapper. On it was a note in Mindy’s handwriting.
Billy, I’m sorry things are the way they are right now. I’m going to make some arrangements to get together soon, so don’t do anything foolish. I’ll call you if I get a chance, but I doubt I will. It would be too big of a risk right now. See you soon, and I love you!
He smiled for the first time in days and stuck the note in his pocket. Later, he took out the note and read it again, which made his smile even bigger. With a sigh, he went back to work.
That day, Mindy found time to corner Skinner in his office near the top of their office building. The potbellied, gray haired astronomer was sitting in his office surrounded by poster-sized shots of star clusters and globular nebulae. Through the huge window, distant columns of smoke were visible. “That’s Queens,” he said when she came in. “Hipstitch was talking about it at breakfast. Turns out a couple gangs got into it and when the cops showed up they decided they wanted to fight the law more than each other. A dozen other gangs have joined in the cause and declared themselves a kingdom. It’s only taken a few weeks to shove us back to medieval times.”
“This is just the beginning,” she agreed.
Skinner nodded and went, “Hmm. U.N. Peace Keepers in Uganda were ambushed yesterday, about four hundred of them. Reinforcements arrived to find their attackers already enjoying a meal of the defeated troops.”
“Oh, God.”
“CNN had a news segment a few minute ago on the thugs who have taken the Kennedy Space Center. We’re sliding back into anarchy.”
“What is the government doing about it?”
“NYPD is trying to negotiate with the gangs in Queens but the Army is offering no real support. All the government efforts are going to protect the bunkers.”
“Those bunkers are just bullshit.”
/> “Right, but the image has to be maintained as long as possible for what we’re doing here to succeed. Oh, did you know there has been a conclusion on the cause of the New Delhi blast?”
“I thought the official position was a nuclear weapon with an experimental cobalt casing?”
“That is the official position.” He picked up a remote and one of the posters turned out to be a plasma display. It changed to a satellite image of the now infamous miles wide crater with its active volcanic caldera in the center. “Blast yield of six hundred sixty-nine megatons delivered at ground level. We have some images of the blast, but they’re from the side and not at a good resolution. What they do give us is an exact chronology. A single Pakistani bomber managed to penetrate over the city and drop its payload over a golf course. A golf course, of all places. They were laser-guided weapons, brought down by a spotter nearby. CIA intel has confirmed this.”
“Someone actually stood there and laser-guided a nuclear bomb onto target? That’s insane, why would they do that?”
“They wouldn’t. They also wouldn’t bother with a spotter for a nuclear weapon. It’s the only kind of bomb where close counts, why drop two nuclear bombs?”
“I don’t understand.”
“It wasn’t a nuclear weapon.” She just stared at him. “This is only known by a handful of people; there was a Portal in New Delhi.” He punched the controller again and a blurry image showed the distinctive outline of a Portal against trees and dozens of people with cameras and other gear. Mindy noticed right away that near the Portal was a tall flag stuck in the ground and on that flag, the number nine.
“It was on the golf course where the Pakistanis bombed?”
“Bingo.”
“The Pakistanis were bombing the Indian Portal.”
“Right again.”
“Then blast was from the Portal, not the bomb?!”
“Three for three. Osgood has thought from the beginning that the Portal is nothing more than a huge block of plasma contained by a force field. There were curious neutron leakages that suggested more than met the eye. This blast gave us the answer.”
“Anti-matter,” Mindy said in an almost inaudible whisper.
“Damn, you were on a roll. We thought maybe, but the blast tossed that out. The energy flash lacked the anti-neutrons you would expect from anti-matter. No, it’s more like what we expect to find at the center of a sun. New Delhi was witness to the first close up view of the center of a star. The bomb that pilot dropped probably overwhelmed the force field and the rest was history.”
“If the one here blew up it would pretty much vaporize Manhattan.”
“Yep, and that’s why we have to keep this little secret of ours to the last minute.”
“You’re fairly convincing.”
“I need to be. So, why did you come up here to visit an old man? You weren’t looking for a lesson in particle physics.”
“No, that’s true. I want to get married.”
“I’m a little old for you, dear.”
“That didn’t stop you from trying back in college. I already have a man picked out. Billy Harper; he’s a police lieutenant with NYPD.”
“That strapping young man I saw you with weeks ago?”
“Exactly. We had just decided to do it when I got locked down. I still want to get married but I can’t even kiss him good night with the chains on my bedroom door.”
“I don’t know what I can do about that. I’m under the same rules.”
“I don’t buy that for an instant, Leo. No one is writing on a piece of paper every time you take a piss. I’m working my ass off for this project; all I’m looking for is some reciprocity.”
“Bringing him in is just not possible.”
“I’m not asking for you to let him in; I’m asking to be allowed to marry the man I love.”
“You still haven’t found the location of our new world.”
“Oh, is that how it’s going to be? Do I have to trade the location of that planet for the right to get married?”
“I didn’t say that, Mindy. You’re asking me to go to Hipstitch for a big favor, and with nothing to offer in return. Containment here is complete, regardless of what you think. I have a little more freedom around the house, so to speak, but I can’t just leave either. You said you could find that planet when you came on. How long before you strike pay dirt?”
“I need to get more viewings. It’s only been three times. I think once more and I’ve got it.”
“I have to say that sounds like an excuse. Is there any kind of guarantee you can offer us?”
“I don’t think there are any guarantees left. All I can say is I’m close.”
“Here’s the deal: solve the location and you can get married. I’ll even arrange a twenty-four hour honeymoon.”
“I solve it, we get the marriage, honeymoon, and he gets to move in with me.”
“All but impossible.”
“Try?”
“I’ll try, but you’ve got to solve it.” Leo looked down at a screen set in his desk she couldn’t see. “We don’t have a lot of time left. We’re sending over another scientist tomorrow, the real deal this time. This guys a bona fide molecular biologist and on the NASA xenobiologist first contact list. Took Osgood and me a while. We finally convinced them to let us send over someone who can help figure out this world’s biology.”
“Get them to let me out to the Portal for the crossing and I’ll have your location.”
“Deal.”
Mindy went back to her office and spent the rest of the day working with Harold. He’d been quiet and kept to himself since the incident with Hipstitch at the beginning of their lock down, but he seemed even worse today. He shuffled papers, head down and quiet. They had the normal lunch time meeting with their fellow conspirators, bur he said little. Finally she had to say something.
“Harold, are you okay?”
“Fine,” he said and flashed her a smile so big it was frightening. She looked at him suspiciously for long enough that he finally said something more. “I’ve got something going.”
“Harold, don’t do anything stupid.”
“Would I do something like that?”
“If you thought you would get away with it, you bet your ass you would!” He just shrugged and went back to work.
The next morning she was met at the front door by a pair of plain clothes NSA agents. “Mindy Patoy, we have orders for you to come with us,” they said and handed a piece of paper to her military guards. They looked them over and handed them back without comment. Shortly she was riding in their big black car. Traffic in the city had begun to decrease as those who were going to leave had done so. The drive to Central Park was a quick one. The only real delays were caused by the now common military checkpoints. When they turned into the park she was stunned.
Vast areas formerly covered by trees were now clear-cut and in their place were buildings of all kinds: warehouses, modular offices, truck parks and military tents were everywhere. The warehouses were of the metal frame and corrugated aluminum type that took little time to assemble. Still, the fact that they had been constructed in less than a week was amazing. The whole place was lousy with tractor trailers, forklifts, and hundreds of workers. She wondered if much of the materials being delivered were the items that she and Harold had helped to approve. What really bothered her was realizing that most of those items were probably ones they had tried to exclude and were added anyway.
The NSA men dropped her at the entrance to the Portal Dome and drove away. For the first time in days she was alone and unescorted. “I’m almost scared,” she thought as she stood there.
“Looking for someone?” asked a soldier coming out of the dome.
“Doctors Skinner and Osgood?”
“In there. Are you cleared?”
“Would I be here if I wasn’t?”
“Good point,” he said and walked away without another word. The encounter left her wondering if security was once
again becoming lax in the aftermath of the Followers’ demise. They were treating anyone inside the perimeter as having permission to be there, and that seemed to be asking for trouble. She took a calming breath and went into the dome. Leo spotted her and waved her over.
“Glad you made it, any problems with security?” he asked.
“No, the goons you sent got me in easy.”
“I figured they would. We’re ready to go in about ten minutes.” She nodded and pulled out the ex-FBI computer from her backpack, using the spare time to go over her notes. Later, a hand on her shoulder made her look up. It was Dr. Osgood.
“We’re going through at about an hour before dawn on the other side. We don’t have any images from that time so it should be a unique view for you.”
“I don’t know if that will help much,” she said with a frown. “I’ve been studying the later night shots, around midnight.”
“Best we can do, I’m afraid. Timing is everything at this point. Our xenobiologist landed at JKF a few minutes ago and we go as soon as he’s here.” Osgood went to check on his instruments and left her alone to worry. She’d felt pretty confident of making a match today, but this was a bad turn. Just like any other planet, the one on the other end of the Portal rotated. As it turned during the night the view of the sky would change. The Portal acted as a narrow window into the night sky and depending on how far it had orbited since her earlier observations she might well find herself with a completely different sky. That would be a worst case scenario for Mindy and her plans.
The biologist arrived as promised and on schedule. He was in his forties and reminded her of Billy. Despite herself she realized she was smiling and looking shyly at the handsome man. “Mindy Patoy, astronomer,” she introduced herself.