Chapter 6 On the move again
After Doug and I briefed the Assembly they realized that they needed to make some plans and then threw the problem back on me. I put together a crew of the best qualified people Frederick and I could think of. We started with several directives assigning task for the habitat civilian governors.
I tasked the experts we had to their breaking point because Doug and I had a suspicion about what would happen when the UN ship reached the asteroid belt. Chains of reporting were instituted.
After the initial inspections the problems started coming to light. The civilian governors of the habitats had supervised their local governments to varying degrees. The worse was Moon Habitat 2. With the Assemblies permission I relieved their whole government and habitat maintenance section and barred them from ever holding a position of authority again.
The UN ship entered the asteroid belt and exploded on day 5223. Our people estimated the explosion at 800 mega tons. The shock-wave started knocking asteroids out of orbit. I sent 10 ships to monitor and hopefully estimate the new orbits. One ship disappeared without a trace. The other nine quit counting at 6000.
Frederick informed the Assembly that he was going to move Freedom Station One immediately. I was instructed to bring Frederick to the assembly on the morning of 5240. I'm just going to include my journal entry for that day.
Day 5240 Saturday
I received a call from the assembly president to bring Frederick Cole to the Assembly chamber at 0900 by force if necessary. He agreed and we arrived at 0840 hours. The Assembly chamber was secured tight in a closed meeting. When we got in, an aide handed us each a sheaf of papers and told us to read them. It seems that the Assembly had made secret plans for departure for several dates. Included were exit orbits from the belt, station movement times, and orbital trajectories to Saturn. A general refueling order and preferred sequence of events. I recognized Wanda's handiwork in the scheduling.
I finished scanning my papers first and when I looked around I noticed that we were the center of attention. When Frederick finished and looked up Rita calmly said, ”Fred you are going to screw up our schedule and plan if you move out early. Not to mention causing panic among the other less stable station and habitat officials.”
Then an aide handed me a copy of Belt Assembly Directive 9 / BMDF Fleet order 7 and said I needed to read and sign it. After reading and signing it I handed it to Fred and asked him to read it and pass it back. He grumbled and then laughed. He looked at Rita and asked if he could keep the other papers to have his navigator check all the numbers.
Her reply was that it was not for general distribution prior to issuing the Assembly Directive and then said she'd better find his station where it was supposed to be when she moved over there Wednesday afternoon. Then she told us to go, she had work to do.
Three days later Belt Assembly Directive 9 was broadcaster to all habitats. The Assembly abandon Wonderland and moved over to FS1 Wednesday. According to the movement plan in directive 9 the first stations started moving Thursday.
Twenty days later we received a message from earth stating that they acknowledged our independence recognized us as a legal government and granted the Belt Government full and equal rights equal to all Earth governments. They also stated that a state of war no longer existed between the Belt Government and any Earth Government and due to our new status they were requesting our assistance in protecting the earth from 9 asteroids calculated to be on impact orbits.
The Assembly had a heated argument and then sent a message to the Earth United Nations. We acknowledge your acknowledgment of our independence. However your previous military actions within the asteroid belt have required us to relocate all of our population and equipment. We are no longer in any position to assist in the defense of earth from asteroids knocked out of their previously stable orbits. We suggest that you equip all military and other spacecraft with pusher frames. Then a combination of ships can intercept and push the threatening asteroids into orbits that no longer threaten the Earth.
After fourteen years I was on the move again.
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About the Author
I've loved westerns and science fiction since I picked up my first book at the public library.
I've been writing on my computer for years. I never planned on any of my stories being published, just to be read by myself, family, and friends. The base journal is on forty spreadsheets with links to about a thousand files of short one day paragraphs plus other stories.
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Other books by this author
Grandpas Hot Sauce
Pacific 41
Scout Expedition
Az
The Impossible Ambition
The Plan and other short stories
Just My Opinion on Syria
From Texas to New York
The Alien Spacecraft
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Connect with Stephen Brandon
My other website: Saturn Stories
Write me a note: criticisms or accolades
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The Asteroid Belt Page 7