by T I WADE
It seemed the word of work was getting around, but lucky for the Nevada base, electronic communications were 99 percent non-existent in their part of the world.
Over the next few days, more and more of the old crew arrived. All the tools, molds and equipment stored underground were hauled up. Within a week, three of the six hangars on the airfield were being readied for work. In the meantime, Penelope had gone back to Australia in SB-III to exchange with Saturn, who then flew the refueled shuttle into Russia to pick up two more thrusters and a few more scientists.
In Magadan, Saturn, Johnny Walls and young Jenny Burgos, as co-pilot, met up with Mars and Lunar flying SB-IV, who were also visiting to pick up more thrusters. Four of the new thrusters could be fitted into the larger shuttle, and the Russian thruster crew were told to start on six more, and that they could have unlimited amounts of engine orders from other parts of the world once word got out. The thruster build crew of 40 Russians suggested that they all move to Nevada. They could be closed down at any time by the local Russian authorities.
Mars had a better idea: Australia. He suggested the Australasian base would be better, as Ryan did not want the whole organization to be in the U.S. just yet. The thruster crew was ecstatic. The only problem they could see was how to organize shipping small parts from the dozen or so Russian small company suppliers. Mars suggested that they could be relocated as well. With that, another enjoyable vodka party was missed by the sleeping Jonesy. The astronauts, apart from Saturn who was starting to show her pregnancy, were allowed six shots each by Lunar, as they would be flying the next day.
Both of the designs of the new mother ships showed five rear-facing thrusters in the “hub” of the wheel each. SB-IV had been designed to have six, four underneath the wings and two on the rear. As the mechanics told Mars and Lunar, the three smaller shuttles could also have the more powerful wing thrusters installed. Mars suggested that their current engines could be passed down to the mining craft sitting in Australia. The Russians needed funds to pay other companies for parts, and again gold was the more appreciated currency.
Now the new shuttle’s engines and electronics could be pulled out and reconstructed with what was needed to get her into shape for space. All the astronauts knew that with six of these large and extremely powerful thrusters, her straight-line travel speed in space would be far faster than any craft they currently had. Saturn was adamant she would be her captain.
It was surprising what American supplies were being trucked in when they returned from Russia, and what contacts the old crewmembers had back in Nevada around the globe. The range of food and drink supplies was certainly not as varied as when the airfield had begun decades earlier, but it was enough to keep the workers happy.
It was time to visit The Pig’s Snout to gather payment for the Russians, the Astermine crew, and working capital to build all this merchandise. Mars wanted to learn to drive a car, and so did Saturn and Lunar. It was priority when they returned to the Nevada desert.
Sergeant Meyers, currently the most knowledgeable car enthusiast on the airfield, and a rusty Captain Pete spent a week working poor old Joanne’s Volkswagen beetle, whose manual gearbox was put to a noisy screeching test daily, teaching the young astronauts how to drive the most difficult vehicle they had ever tried to maneuver. The Volkswagen, even with its old soft top down, was the most impossible vehicle they had all tried to command.
During the second and third week, many advanced to driving the Audis and electronic Teslas. Compared to the old Volkswagen, these were so much more modern, and the rapid acceleration and instant maneuverability easier to fathom.
The long, 10,000-foot airstrip now had its share of motor cars riding its length. Even Captain Pete, who was pretty lacking in remembering his advanced driving abilities himself, had to get instruction from Sergeant Meyers on how to drive a fast car.
Even though Meyers told them that Las Vegas was pretty much a very quiet town, they still wanted to see the famous landmark themselves, so a parade of cars left the airfield one morning and headed down the old potholed highway towards Vegas. The cars saw one old motorcycle heading in the opposite direction during the whole journey down to Creech Air Force Base, and the newly “licensed” drivers enjoyed missing the holes in the old and weathered asphalt.
Sergeant Meyers drove with Captain Pete in Ryan’s silver Audi. Now that the Audi engines only ran on alcohol, the only gas station was back at base—or at a liquor store.
At the old Creech Air Force Base, they stopped. With the security gates gone, they drove right in.
Their own base looked better than what they found at Creech. The hangars and buildings had been ransacked for anything of value, and it would certainly need a complete facelift to ever be occupied again. There wasn’t one building that didn’t have major damage. Thin dogs of all sizes ran off in every direction as they toured the old base Captain Pete knew so well.
As they drove closer to the city, a few more people could be seen. Everybody stopped and gawked at the line of four vehicles, two red and two silver. Mars noticed that many of the other cars on the roads were old, and all had damage, or what he had learned about in chemistry: rust.
Many were old tractors, and families waved as they passed. Sergeant Meyers was well-armed and had made sure the kids could shoot an ordinary rifle before they had left.
To Captain Pete, who had spent many days on the Strip, the dusty and weathered street was lined with the same old, damaged casinos. It looked like a ghost town.
“As the dollar lost its value, the tourists stopped coming,” explained Sergeant Meyers in the passenger seat of Pete’s Audi leading the line of four cars. “The flights into Vegas slowed and then stopped all together. Gas stations ran out of fuel as they weren’t resupplied. Over a decade, this place went from the Strip as we used to see it to being an unoccupied area. The police still operate, I believe, and shoot first around here. The rich headed out, then the casino owners felt threatened by the hungry and the homeless and left town with hundreds of trucks full of equipment. The insides, I’ve been told, are bare and empty. I’m sure they are full of people you don’t want to meet. The surrounding area is pretty much as you would remember it, the suburbs. Food still gets through, but Vegas has lost over half of its population. Ryan used to have lunch with Jonesy and VIN at that casino.” He pointed to a large, dirty-looking tower of a building. “We are going to head south down the highway to Henderson. I have a buddy who has a restaurant there and owes me a few favors. It’s protected by guys I know.”
They headed down an almost empty highway that ran through the city and reached an area that seemed detached from the city itself. Barbed wire fence surrounded it and men inside a high wire were guarding two large steel gates across the road.
“Who wants in?” shouted one man from inside the wire.
“Joe Meyers and friends for lunch at Bob’s Diner, Hal,” shouted the sergeant, climbing out of the front Audi.
“You got something for us, Joe?” was the answer.
“A tiny diamond the size of your pinky nail,” he shouted back, still standing outside the car, and the gate opened.
“Good enough for a visit, Joe. I’ll take one of those electric cars if you have one extra?”
“Go find yourself your own horse, Hal, these belong to us.”
Once Captain Pete saw the cars outside Bob’s Diner, he felt like he was back in the States. The range of a dozen vehicles looked like he had never left the country. Old Mustangs, Dodge Chargers, several hybrid/electric vehicles, and even a sleek red Ferrari was parked outside the old diner next to a rusty and faded green John Deere tractor that looked a hundred years old.
They locked the cars and walked in, as a crowd gathered outside to see the new cars. They carried their arms and were relieved of them at the door by a pretty girl who sat them at a booth with a broad, sweet smile. Menus were presented, as if the world still worked properly.
Pete couldn’t believe the difference
between here and the Strip. The inside was half full with about two dozen men and women either drinking at a long bar or eating at the dozen or so tables in the small diner. To Pete, it seemed Sergeant Meyers knew most of the people, as he waved or said howdy to many. To Lunar, Mars and Saturn, it reminded them of the old movies they had watched on their travels, except this diner looked partly out of a western and partly like a more modern diner.
The astronauts were dressed in old civilian clothes that they had found underground, which had to have been worn by their parents. The cotton was heavy, and not what they were used to.
A man came up to the booth. “Hi, Joe. You brought some friends, I see. What currency are you paying with today? Your choice is gold or jewelry. You know we don’t accept paper anymore.”
“You know you owe me a few favors, Bob, and I told your brother at the gate that I have this little raw stone for you,” He tossed over the tiny diamond he and the group had picked out of one of the underground canisters.
“Is it real, Joe? Is it one of those old Richmond asteroid stones? I’ve always wanted one of those.”
“Yep! One of the smallest he gave me, Bob, before he left,” replied the sergeant.
“Bob here used to be Ryan’s neighbor when he was a kid here in Henderson,” laughed Joe, telling the others. “They even went to school together.”
“Heard from him? I hope he comes back. I see, Joe, that you and these youngsters are driving his old vehicles. Something happening I need to know about?”
“No, they needed a drive. They’ve been standing at the base for years. A few of my grandkids here and my cousin Pete from California came to visit, so I suggested we head over to Bob’s for lunch.” Bob nodded at the introductions and looked at the stone.
“Good enough for a couple of meals, Joe. You guys have what you want, and return someday for another meal. This stone must be all of five carats. Also, Joe, I have a case of vintage Budweiser and a fifth of Jack out back, to pay you for what I owe you.”
Lunch was certainly interesting. They weren’t hassled by anybody. The steaks were as large and as tasty as on the Australian island. and the cold American beer brought back memories for Pete. The kids decided not to drink. It was hard enough driving these mean machines without alcohol consumption, so the case of beer and the bottle of Jack were reserved for the base.
The group thanked Bob for the meal. Nobody talked to them, and nobody asked who they were. They looked like a few rich old fogies and a couple of kids in fancy cars out for lunch. The rich had certainly decreased in numbers, but this was America, and there were still places money brought everything they wanted.
The ride home was just as uninteresting, and the crew realized how lucky they were to have the island. Mars really wanted to go fishing, but it was time to head into the Sahara and do some mining.
The new shuttle was taken out of action to be taken apart. The build crew had 21 months before the next Mars/Earth opposition when, Mars told them, he would be returning to the red planet in it.
The smaller shuttles were refueled and filled with stores for the African desert. They didn’t know what they would find. With the section leaders in charge of their departments hard at work and Sergeant Meyers and his six old guys on guard, the two spacecraft inside their shields launched themselves from the desolate base and headed eastwards at high altitude.
Martin had told them before they had left his base in Israel that the exact same two earthmovers had been placed inside the sandy crater as had been used before. So had drums of diesel, two tents for accommodations, a military cooking area, toilets and two large generators ready to power up fridges and freezers for their arrival. The old airfield was now pothole-free, as the Israeli army had filled in the holes, and the tarmac for aircraft.
The Australian Prime Minister had offered air tankers for refueling if any were needed, and had explained that with most of the cars on the road in his country electric and no airlines flying for the last decade or more, there were large amounts of jet fuel stored around his country.
Only the farmers and truckers still used diesel, and Martin had a factory in Brisbane working on electric trucks and tractors.
Chapter 10
Joanne Dithers Roo Goes to Washington
Canada was cold and snowy. Ruler Roo had never seen such cold white stuff in his life before. Nor had he been outside where the air pinched his skin. Joanne had seen a white winter a couple of times before, and she explained to her bundled-up husband and son that life on Earth had been tough for many for millions of years. He had been lucky to see only warm conditions on Earth. Roo had never felt the icy cold before.
Mary Collins was happy to have them in Toronto. A large and luxurious private house a few blocks from her house had already been equipped, and even Joanne was impressed with her family’s temporary “Canadian Residence,” as she called it. The house had five bedrooms, and Roo immediately stated that he was ready, if he had to make a whole new tribe, to fill all the sleeping rooms. The house was as big as one section of America One or half of the base on DX2017.
Joanne mentioned that this was far larger than her living conditions before America One, as she had spent most of her young life in universities or on the road in motels. Mary had made sure that the accommodations were good enough for a future President, and she told them not to worry about food or shopping. There was fresh food in the refrigerator, and they didn’t need money.
Young Jo Dithers Roo was to be homeschooled by either a homeschool teacher or, as Joanne suggested, by his father.
They had a pleasant day together before Joanne’s first trip to Washington, which Mary warned was not going to be so pleasant. Mary and a few other important members of the Canadian government were going with her.
Joanne expected to be housed in a private house several blocks away belonging to the Canadian Embassy. The Embassy would be their office for a few weeks. Joanne was told that a few of her Washington supporters had been contacted by the Canadian Embassy, and a “March of Support” for her return had been suggested to be held on the same day as their meeting with the U.S. Congress, the third day after their arrival.
“We haven’t told your supporters, Joanne, where you are staying, in case they cause an embarrassing situation for the Embassy,” Mary told her. Joanne understood, still not believing that her small party had grown so large. Her father must really hate her now. “They will not know if you are staying in Washington, and our Canadian troops protecting the city have been placed on a higher alert. Congress, the Senate, and the White House are going to scream when they hear of our intentions to withdraw our troops, and scream again when you are introduced to them.”
“Where are my supporters supposed to meet?” Joanne asked.
“On the Mall outside the Capitol, the same place your father became President,” Mary replied, smiling.
The accommodations were as luxurious in Washington as in Toronto. Roo and Jo were to stay in Canada until some momentum had been gained and it was safe for them to join her.
The townhouse was well equipped, but much smaller and had no garden. Joanne was introduced to three ladies who would reside with her. Debbie West, an experienced girl who had worked in the Capitol Building all her life, Jody Foster, Joanne’s very own personal assistant, and Sherry James, her bodyguard.
All three girls were about her own age, all professional, and that first night, they enjoyed a delivered-in dinner and a bottle of Californian Merlot while getting to know each other.
The girl who had worked in Washington, Debbie West, told Joanne that she had been one of the up-and-coming Capitol women, and had worked in several different departments in the Capitol. She had spent two years as a Senator’s personal assistant, and then a year as the PA for a Congressman who had then been promoted to House Speaker while she was with him. The previous Speaker had died in a bad car accident. This all happened under President Dithers’ time in office.
It seemed Debbie West hated ex-President Dit
hers as much as Joanne did, as the President had forced her boss, the new Speaker of the House, to step down due to political lobbying and unproved scandals. The man was disgraced and had left in disgust, going back to Tennessee to retire from Washington only a year after he had taken office.
Once President Downs was elected, her next job was as an assistant to a U.S. Congressman, who had recently retired a few months’ earlier. Now she was ready to help Joanne, as Debbie West herself had been an inactive member of the illegal “Individual Party” since the House Speaker had been forced to retire.
Joanne looked forward to working with Debbie and told the wide-eyed ladies about her travels around the solar system. It had been explained to Joanne that Debbie would not be at the first meeting in the House chamber due to everyone knowing who she was.
The troubles could be seen in the traffic crawl to Capitol Hill for the meeting with Congress. The Washington streets, usually empty of people, were amassed with thousands, mostly young people and students who were converging on the Mall. The wide street was thick with people as the Canadian Embassy car inched its way through the crowds down the famous avenue.
Its windows were dark so nobody could see in, but as the vehicle made its way down Pennsylvania Avenue, the Canadian Embassy flag received cheers and the car was slapped on its roof by a few.
Joanne was shocked at the masses. The early morning news had already shown the Mall with thousands of young people congregating and several dozen Washington police on horseback trying to keep order. Mary told her in the car that the Canadian troops had vowed to cause trouble with the local police force if violence was used against the masses.