Our asteroid survival: A fictitional history of the ten year survival of a large ELE asteroid impact by a small, pre advised, group

by Lionel Woodhead

  We agreed that we would never attack another group unless we were first put at risk. The risk evaluation would be made after an attempt at meeting any unknown, possibly aggressive group. This was unless an imminent threat necessitated the president’s immediate decision on a course of action; such as an unprovoked attack on one of our groups or part of our empire.

  The project to create our future energy provider, the steam engine, took on several interested people, including the plumbers wife and eldest daughter Dani and Danita who proved very adapt at learning and developing the techniques required. Other research projects were agreed and staff allocated, in nearly all cases, to volunteers. Shelter life was now getting organized to the benefit of all. We had very few dissenters and those dissenters we had were assisted, via undemanding negotiations, to accept a mutually agreed solution to their problems.

  The education of the children continued but in our schools the education was designed and directed to benefit both the children and the future of our society. Although history and geography were maintained as part of the curriculum for the younger children religion was kept as an interest subject outside of that curriculum. None of us were anti-religious but knowledge as to which religion was the right one, if any, was beyond our understanding.

  Many very intelligent people believe in a particular religion having studied it for considerable periods. Knowing this and having respect for such people how could we dismiss their belief without contrary proof which, apparently, is contrary to the requirement of religions. Everyone would be allowed the right to practice their own belief as long as they made no attempt to restrict the freedom of others. No one would have the right to force or pressurize their religion onto anyone else. Intelligent design, relating to religion, could be discussed, as could any subject, but it would not be encouraged or taught in our schools.

  Chapter 7. Our First Rescue Mission.

  Three month after our previous rescue attempt visibility had improved to about thirty meters during the day and the environment had improved to such an extent that on an external visit to examine our external medical stores I thought I saw the globe of the sun. It was partly due to this that we decided to make another attempt to reach the rich mans shelter.

  There was now a considerable depth of snow though recent precipitation had been low. In addition it was now much colder never getting above minus ten degrees centigrade and much colder at night. To assist us further our cobbler and carpenter had manufactured fifteen pairs of a type of snowshoe to assist us in crossing the sludge (snow and frozen material including that hopefully frozen river).

  An attempt at crossing the river would only be made if the sludge had frozen sufficiently for us to consider it acceptably safe. Everything else was arranged as on our previous attempt except that we added a little more food such that we had rations for 6 days (i.e. probably sufficient for the return journey if we did not achieve our objective or the rich mans shelter had somehow been destroyed), some additional bottled gas and paint. The additional food partly consisted of some military dried food, being of little weight. The paint was a small tin each of blue, white and red paint with which to mark our route. The additional gas consisted of two small gas bottles allowing us warm drinks and meals for the six days. The latter element was very important in the current conditions; eating snow or frozen food would likely cause diarrhoea disrupting our movements in many ways.

  As observed from our shelter the snow structure was now harder and flatter. This, together with the hoped for frozen sludge, would allow us to transport the slightly greater load as long as we did not have to physically carry the sledge. As this had not proved necessary before we hoped this state of affairs would continue.

  If we achieved our objective we intended, for the return journey, to stock up with supplies required to maintain the additional personnel of the rich man’s shelter. These supplies would have to be sufficient for all who wished to return with us. We would, however, leave any surplus to support any future visitors to that edifice. This was partly to assist any future visitors but mainly, on this occasion, as we could not carry the remaining stores to the main shelter.

  On this occasion I was confident of success having studied the external environment. We left the shelter and carefully set up the GPS, which amazingly appeared to be functioning acceptably, to our start point, a few intermediate waypoints and the mapped end point. When all was prepared we left, with renewed excitement, on our new adventure into the unknown.

  We were all a little nervous of the potential risks so each man was again roped to one or more companions forming a chain by means of specially prepared webbing with a hook connected to a loop in the rope connected to the sledge. This hook allowed each team member to move easily to different parts of the rope. An alternative option would have been for everyone to be directly connected to the sledge but this was rejected due to the unknown soil condition beneath the snow which might have opened on one of our team. In addition if we were all directly connected to the sledge all would have had to break an individual path through the snow and sludge; this had previously proved very tiring.

  One should understand the condition of the terrain. At this time the top layer of pristine soft snow was undermined by some reasonably solid material. Below this solid upper layer there was about twenty centimetres of a softer version and below this was the sludge of unknown condition; probably frozen. The snowshoes kept us, mostly, above the soft snow but breaking a path through such inconsistent strata remained problematical.

  There was also the possibility that some of the sludge might not have frozen sufficiently to support the weight of a man; even with our snowshoes. Anyone falling into unfrozen sludge would have needed to be rapidly extracted before he became hypothermic. This would probably have ended our adventure forcing us into attempting a rapid retreat to our shelter.

  As we could now see so much better we were able to move more rapidly than previously and we developed new techniques. The sledge now took the last but one location. The tail end Charlie, myself, being the smallest, was assigned the task of controlling the sledge. This was no sinecure. On the flat I kept the sledge pointing in the right direction by pulling the rear of the sledge into the appropriate direction. On normal downhill sections I provided some braking control. If the downhill slope proved too steep, this happened only once, others would support me. On long upward gradients I joined the pullers; this was much easier than being the tail end Charlie.

  We had originally planned to have a different leader for each day. Unfortunately, with the difficulty of path breaking it was found necessary to change our leader every half hour. The new arrangement was that the last of the pullers took over from the first and each person moved one space backward on the rope. The last man in the chain was the most rested when he took over the lead.

  We reached the valley bottom quite quickly but there our troubles really started. We again met the sludge but fortunately this was much more solid than previously though it still presented many difficulties. Not the least of these problems was the short period undulation of the terrain. In spite of our improved vision it remained difficult to see where one was placing ones feet hence requiring care. Fortunately a torch in the hands of the second walker gave some indication of the best path to the leader.

  Progress was slow but it appeared that we would be able to cross the river without too much risk. Before making our crossing, however, we left a marker, a red painted circle filled with white, on a large rock twenty meters, well within vision range of our crossing point, from what we saw as the actual river. We set this as a GPS waypoint in preparation for our return journey.

  We turned directly north to cross the river, this being the shortest route across, which here ran directly west to east. We intended to mark our arrival point on the far side with paint, hopefully, on another large visible stone. Such a stone was, with difficulty, found but it was a little further up from the river than ideal. This was not too much of a problem on the re
turn journey as we had only to go directly south from that point to find the river. On finding this rock we had a short rest, set another waypoint, and started up the path that we knew, from previous experience, led to the rich mans shelter. The path had been seriously rearranged since our previous visit but the formation of the area remained recognizable.

  In theory, on our return, by going directly south from that stone marker, if we could find it, we should arrive at a place we would recognize. I was a little worried about this idea as previous experience had shown that the sludge was moving slowly eastwards towards the lake. Now, however, there was little observable movement so another worry was the possibility of an unseen material buildup further up the valley. Unless everything was completely solid this material might break though and then, if we were unlucky enough to be in the way, we would be inundated in a freezing mud flow from which our survival chances would have been highly questionable.

  Because we had become concerned about the possibility of a material buildup further up the valley and the path was here in better condition we did not stop our hike for nearly an hour. By this time we had made a good start at up the other side of the valley and when we thought we were on safer ground we stopped and had a long rest, a wonderfully warm coffee and a snack. We left as a marker another small pile of painted stones on top of a larger stone and a piece of loose wood which, just by chance, we had found. We set another waypoint, took a compass bearing and continued in the indicated direction.

  We were hopeful that we would be able to retrace our outward journey and that our tracks and signs would remain visible until we returned from the rich mans shelter. This was a reasonable hope as the snowfall had now reduced to almost non existence except for snow dust blown around by the light breeze.

  The waypoints and compass bearings gave us further confidence of returning at least to the river. Whilst the GPS unit was still functioning and most of the time maintained a track we should have no problem but we were unsure how much longer this state of affairs would continue. For this reason we wanted as much additional visual navigation assistance as possible. Whilst it was true that we could probably find our way without electronic assistance the risk of getting lost, even in such a short distance, was too great to allow us to be unnecessarily without support.

  Such was the state of the terrain that we only managed about eight kilometres on that first day. By the evening we had reached an area that was much easier going and we considered we could maintain this speed on the next day. The route we were using would probably be clear of major obstructions as the inundations had not severely affected this area. The path appeared almost a road in width and sufficient, we thought, for a vehicle.

  The route we were then following was well above what we thought might incur the risk of a sludge-flow. This assumption was supported by a lack of observable structural damage but this hardly indicated safety. It was, however, sufficient to inspire tired men with enough confidence to camp there.

  We decided that we would sleep within a single tent to allow body warmth to comfort us; though within very overcrowded conditions. We prepared and ate a warm meal which was a real morale and energy booster. We arranged for a single man two hour guard pattern. No-one would leave their sleeping bag but the guard would have a revolver for our defence. The man on the right, from the tent entrance, took the first stint. He was followed by the next on the left to ensure minimum disruption for the sleepers and so it continued through the night.

  I remember being surprised that this arrangement had worked. I found, during my guard period, that it was very difficult to remain awake whilst lying motionless in a comfortable sleeping bag with no conversational company or distracting points of interest for that apparently everlasting two hours. Fortunately there were no alarms and after my two hours on guard, even in the cramped conditions, I slept well.

  The following morning we had a brief breakfast and started off again after a nearly ten hour rest period. We arrived shortly afterwards in the region of our destination our route having proven much simpler than we had expected. It was Fortunate, however, that we decided to approach the shelter with some caution. We had not suspected any problems but considered, with some apprehension, the possibility that our surprise visit might alarm the inmates into some precipitous action. Any such action could have resulted in someone getting hurt which we wished to avoid if at all possible.

  Finding the region of the shelter was simple as the GPS had brought us close. The shelter itself was close to the imposing rich man’s house which was surrounded by a high protective wall. On first appearance the wall had largely survived the destructive effect of the blast though the house on the top of the ridge, seen almost as a blurred vision on the skyline, appeared severely damaged. This was probably due to its position at the highest point in the area that would have, historically, allowed the owner to enjoy some magnificent views over a great distance. The house had received the full force of the slope compressed blast on its largest face.

  On going round the wall to the main gate we were surprised, and somewhat concerned, to find two male bodies lying on some stones that had fallen from the wall. This part of the wall was near the ridge line and had suffered some damage probably from the blast. One of the bodies had been shot in the face, probably with a shotgun, and was unrecognizable. We did not look for identification as it would have been of little use. The other body was recognized as one of those we had left in charge of the shelter. The bodies were not badly decomposed but, due to the prevailing weather conditions, this did not necessarily indicate a recent death. These bodies concerned us as it was unanticipated and indicated a potential risk within the shelter.

  As far as we were aware no shotguns had been left with the inmates suggesting a possible invasion by person or persons unknown. The evidence appeared to indicate that more than one person was responsible. We, therefore, had to reconsider the situation and minimize any risk to ourselves. We were four, though reasonably well armed for close encounters, and we had received some basic military training from Fabio who was very experienced in practical military principles.

  We were hopeful that we could maintain the benefit of surprise. Some critical questions, however, required immediate answers; how many invaders were there and how would the current inmates greet our arrival? We would, assume that some of the current inmates had, from what we had observed, to be considered dangerous until we were satisfied to the contrary.

  We advanced cautiously hampered by the necessity to restrict illumination when performing our reconnaissance. We had, however, another advantage in that two of us had been here before and knew there had been, on our previous visits, no external means for our possible opponents to detect our approach.

  They might, however, have placed a guard in the house though Fabio considered this was unlikely as the house was even further from any known habitation than was our shelter. In addition the weather, at this time, was potentially dangerous unless appropriately dressed, protected and/or exercised. Preparing for our reconnaissance we moved carefully into the house in order to observe any possible risk from that area. Once there, partly protected within a room with no remaining windows, we decided on our strategy.

  The rich mans shelter’s ventilation system was much cruder than ours having only been provided with the possibility of vent closing against the pressure pulse. We had installed this facility while we were working on our main shelter; the latter always having had priority. The vents, therefore, were merely one hundred and fifty millimetre metal pipes with vent extensions but no heat exchangers. We had provided vent extensions against precipitation but we could see they had been removed. At the air exhaust vent we should be able to hear what was going on inside the shelter.

  There was a similar ventilation system for the generator motor that we could just hear operating. The generator ventilation system had been installed some distance from the shelter air supply system. This separation was to protect the inmates from exhaust gases being draw
n into the shelter. From within the shelter, however, the noise of the generator should effectively hide any slight noise we made on our advance.

  We proceeded stealthily towards the air vent. We were able to see the light streaming from the air exhaust lighting the snow dust around the vent. As we got nearer, we heard raised voices. The voice of a young lady was heard and she was obviously in some distress. A second lady was then heard in similar distress and we understood, from the conversation, that both were being sexually assaulted by somebody. We were unable to tell the numbers involved but we now required a plan based on the probability that we would not be welcomed by those in charge. We knew they had weapons consisting of at least 4 hand guns, actually revolvers, and, at least, a shotgun: though probably more.

  Our assumption at the time, which proved correct, was that a group of visitors had somehow taken over the shelter though there remained the possibility of a takeover by some of the original personnel. At least two of the original group had been killed and from what we were hearing we could divine that at least some of the inmates were, at least, dissatisfied with the then current regime.

  An obvious strategy for taking over the rich mans shelter was to put the inmates into a situation, within their residence, which they would be unable to endure. This would require them to exit their accommodation, through the single exit, in a disorganized manner. To achieve this we planned to initially stop the generator. Then after a “polite” request that they should leave the protection of the shelter, which we obviously expected to be refused, throw one of the gas grenades through the air exhaust vent. We would then cover the air exhaust vent allowing the gas to saturate the inside environment making it rather uncomfortable for the inmates.