by Phoenix Hays
“You can say that again, Duke,” Patrick said.
Duke laughed. “Yes, I guess that is a bit of an understatement. As Patrick is alluding to, Site B is quite different than living here in Memphis. I just ask that you all enter this process with open minds and cooperative attitudes. Time is running out, and there’s going to be a point when we’ll be faced with something that challenges us to our cores. When that happens, I want everyone in this room to come together as a team and to be the people that the rest of the company can rely on.”
The group nodded in agreement but their puzzled looks showed him they clearly didn’t totally understand.
“Patrick, I know that you’ve been to Site B and that Clarence gave you a tour of the facility. Victor, this will all be new to you and your family, so I want to take this time to lay out our plans in total for both you and Patrick. Understanding what we are trying to do will be the motivation we all need to protect it and to succeed.”
Adam left the spot where he had been hovering and positioned himself in the middle of the table. The bot adjusted his angle to look up, and his eyes brightened to cast an image in the air. A holographic Space Vision logo with its angular letters and the circular path of a rocket flying around them appeared above them all.
CHAPTER 37
An extremely familiar image took the place of the Space Vision logo. The solar system appeared with the Sun positioned in the center.
“I’m sure you all recognize what you are looking at,” Duke said. “The difference between what you are about to see and what you’ve seen on the news is that this is the most accurate and most likely scenario that will play out with the Oppenheimer String.”
Victor’s family glanced around at the other faces at the table. Space Vision’s directors were unmoved by the statement. Victor caught Patrick’s eye, and he seemed less certain of what was coming next.
“My friends and colleagues, unfortunately, we are quite sure of the path that Oppenheimer is taking,” Duke said.
He nodded in Adam’s direction, and the animation played forward. The Sun got smaller as the shot widened. Oppenheimer’s asteroids raced across the image toward the blue planet near the Sun.
Joe leaned over toward his dad. “Are they going to hit the Earth?”
“I don’t know, son. It looks that way,” Victor said.
The space between the asteroids and the Earth shrunk until the result was all too apparent.
“Go ahead and freeze it there, Adam,” Duke said.
Oppenheimer’s String stopped with the closest asteroid hitting Earth and sending a shock wave outward in a circle around the impact. Chunks of asteroid and Earth flew up into the air.
Duke cleared his throat. “Our best models show that a collision with the Earth is almost a guarantee.” His statement hung in the air.
Even those who knew it was coming were solemn. The kids were wide-eyed.
Mary put her arm around Joe and said, “It will be OK. We are here for a reason.” She turned to find Duke looking at her with his piercing stare. He smiled at her.
“My dear woman, you could not be more correct in that statement.” He turned to Patrick. “Didn’t I tell you I love this family? Such strength is amazing.”
He turned back to the Bayhams.
“Mrs. Bayham—“
“Mary,” she corrected him.
“Mary, your husband has drawn your family into the most ambitious and ground-breaking effort that the human race has ever undertaken. We not only saw the Oppenheimer String coming, but we saw that they would provide a way for the human race to survive their collision with Earth.”
Adam changed the scene to focus on the Oppenheimer asteroids.
“We know that the asteroids will head toward the inner solar system,” Sanjeed said, “and at least one of them has a great chance of hitting the Earth.”
He nodded to Adam, and the animation played out. The string of objects proceeded as described and the second asteroid hit Earth.
“That’s it for us if that happens,” Victor said.
“This impact will make Earth uninhabitable, yes,” Duke said. “We think everyone, including NASA, has missed what happens before and then after the impact.”
“What do you mean?” Mary asked.
Silence was her immediate answer.
“Ironically,” Duke finally said, “the asteroids that will end all life on Earth will also give mankind a way to survive.”
Mary furrowed her eyebrows. “But how?”
“Adam, please rewind the simulation with a focus on Mars,” Miyako said.
Oppenheimer’s asteroids flew backwards past the red planet, and the simulation froze.
“We had our teams run the model multiple times to make sure this was the most likely case. Once we confirmed it, we changed our strategy. Go ahead, Adam.”
The simulation showed the objects pass Mars one at a time. Dots tracking the red planet’s orbit curled inward. After zooming out, the new orbit of Mars was closer to the Sun.
Miyako’s jaw clenched before she spoke again. “Our goal is to get off of Earth before impact and then head to Mars.”
“But we can’t live on Mars,” Victor said.
“Are you familiar with the habitable zone of a star?” Sanjeed asked.
Sanjeed’s question was answered by shaking heads or puzzled stares.
“Adam, please reset the image to our current solar system,” the Director said.
Adam did so, and the familiar Sun and planets reappeared.
Sanjeed continued: “The habitable zone for any planetary system is the distance between where the heat from the star is so hot that it turns liquid water into steam and the point where the heat is so low that water can only exist in ice form.”
A faint blue ring appeared in the image. Earth was comfortably in the middle while Mars just barely stayed inside the outer edge.
“This is why life can be sustained on Earth.”
“That makes sense,” Patrick said. “So what is your projection for Mars after the event?”
Adam changed the hologram to show the new Mars orbit.
“You’ll notice that Mars is expected to be well inside of the habitable zone. It will require a lot of work to form it into a planet that could support life, but we think it’s our best bet.”
“What are those?” Joe asked, pointing at dots heading away from Earth but not toward Mars.
“That’s a great question,” Clarence said. “Part of terraforming Mars will call for us to find water rich comets and asteroids. Once we do, we’ll guide them back toward the planet using drone controlled rockets.”
Adam showed comets and asteroids heading toward Mars. “Less intelligent drones,” he said.
“Yes, of course, Adam,” he nodded at the drone and then turned back to the presentation. “Once enough water has been introduced to Mars, we’ll have the materials we need to complete the terraforming process.”
“Sir?” Joe asked. “What is terraforming?”
Ayrin perked up slightly.
“Terraforming is the process to change a planet’s environment to one that is more habitable for us,” Clarence said. “In the past, it has been a controversial topic because critics argue that we shouldn’t go to another planet and disrupt what has always been there, just so we can live there without a spacesuit. In this situation, however, Mars has no native life, so we won’t be harming anything by making it our new home.”
“So we have to leave Earth to avoid Oppenheimer and head to Mars,” Joe said. “How can we even do that?”
Victoria looked at Duke as if to ask for permission. The CEO looked at Joe with a smile and turned back to Victoria and nodded.
“That’s where Site B comes in,” she said. “We have a network of buildings in Texas where we are basing our operations for the next stages of this plan. This network includes a number of old abandoned missile silos that we have retrofitted for rocket launches.”
Above the table, Adam projecte
d an image of a rolling landscape with buildings located at various places. Circular covers started sliding to the side revealing holes in the ground. Once they were completely open, 10 rockets launched and headed out into space.
“Once the rockets get to a certain rendezvous point, they will begin attaching themselves to the superstructure to create Sanctuary.”
“Sanctuary?” Victor asked.
“Yes,” Victoria said. “Sanctuary is the name of the completed ship that will provide the means to escape the Oppenheimer event. It’ll be composed of multiple supply rockets launched from Site B combined with the superstructure already built in space.”
“Built in space?” Joe echoed.
“Yes,” Duke said. “Construction is already underway.”
Adam changed the hologram to show Sanctuary. A large ring was connected to three others inside of it by supporting arms. Inside the smallest ring was a central spire that extended out in both directions. To the front of the ship, the spire ended in a ring holding a sphere that had antennae of different lengths sticking out from it. At the rear of the ship, the spire terminated in a globe that had two concentric rings around it. Engine cones extended out from the middle of the globe. The rockets approached Sanctuary and slid into position inside the second smallest central ring.
For a moment, silence commanded the room.
“This is unbelievable,” Victor said.
“I hope this motivates everyone here to carry out our work with quality that is second to none,” Duke said. “For those of you hearing this for the first time, this is the work that is probably the most important since the inception of the human race itself. May we make the right decisions to bring us success.”
CHAPTER 38
A combination of morning sunlight and noises of rustling brought Joe and Ayrin out of a restful sleep. They both slowly sat up at the same time. Victor crept quietly around the family’s apartment in the Space Vision building until he realized he had an audience. He looked in their direction.
“Morning,” Victor whispered. “Go back to sleep. I’m headed to work. See you when I’m done.” Victor smiled as he put on his red ball cap.
The two kids nodded, and the door closed behind Victor. Joe and Ayrin laid back down, and the world faded to dark again.
***
Pastor saw Victor standing at the railing lining the edge of the lobby balcony.
“They look more excited than usual,” he said as he walked up to Victor.
“You could say that again,” Victor said.
Patrick stopped, stood shoulder to shoulder with Victor, and rubbed the side of his head with his hand. Below them, the lobby looked normal, but the sounds coming from beyond the windows told a different story. Rocks, bricks, and other heavy objects bounced off the side of the building.
“They’ve been like this since I got down here,” Victor said. “I have no idea what has them so riled up.”
The two men stood there for a few moments, neither one of them willing to venture a guess.
Abruptly, the lobby fell silent. Nothing hit the windows. Victor and Patrick leaned forward to see what had changed. Both security guards on the lobby floor stood up, also noticing the change. The silence in the room was deafening.
A package the size of a lunchbox bounced off the front doors with a thunk and fell to the sidewalk.
Victor’s eyes flew wide open. He pushed Patrick back and started to yell, “Get down—”
The blast that interrupted him destroyed the front entrance and threw glass and metal inward. Dust billowed in the lobby.
Victor landed next to Patrick on the balcony floor.
Time slowed down. The two men shared a nervous look. A high-pitched ringing in their ears stopped them from talking. Emergency lights flashed. The sprinkler system sprayed water into the lobby, attempting to put out the fires created by the blast.
The ringing in Patrick’s ears transformed into the sound of an alarm. He watched Victor scramble to his feet and draw his sidearm. Smoke from the lobby roiled over the guardrail.
“Report!” Duke’s voice came over the radio on Victor’s shoulder. He craned his neck to hear the CEO over the commotion. “What is going on down there?”
“Sir, the front lobby was hit with a bomb,” Victor yelled into the radio.
“Any injuries? Were there people down there?”
“Not sure, sir. Patrick and I were on the overlook-”
“Patrick is with you?” Duke’s voice wavered as he asked the question. “Tell him to get out of there!”
Victor nodded at Patrick. “You’d better get going.”
“I’m staying with you,” Patrick said. “People might need help.”
“Suit yourself.”
Victor led Patrick toward the left wall of the overlook. He placed his back against it and clicked the radio over to the security channel.
“Get this alarm turned off,” Victor barked.
The alarm screamed for a few more seconds and then fell silent. Victor slid along the wall to the railing until he could look down into the lobby. Through gaps in the smoke, he saw pieces of metal and shards of glass littering the floor. The sprinkler system had extinguished most of the fires, leaving behind a few dying embers and smoke. The chaos had scattered chairs throughout the lobby.
Victor edged away from the wall and stopped at the top of the staircase. He turned, pointed to the floor in front of Patrick and locked eyes with the man.
“Stay here.”
Patrick nodded.
Victor got about halfway down the stairs and stopped. Patrick peered over the railing, trying to see what had Victor’s attention. Smoke limited the visibility in the room. A shadow at the edge of the smoke slowly grew to the size of a large man. Patrick squinted to make out any details.
Is he one of us or one of the Fatalists?
The shadow lurched forward with labored steps. Breaking through the edge of the smoke, the shadow revealed itself as one of the two Space Vision security guards that had been stationed in the lobby. He was dragging the other security guard behind him.
“Come on, Roberts,” Victor ordered. “Move it!”
“I’m not leaving him,” Roberts shouted back.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Gunfire erupted from the opening in the front of the building. All three men covered their ears and ducked down. Pings from the bullets hitting the metal walls echoed through lobby.
“We have to get out of here,” Victor yelled. “Get to the elevators!”
Roberts dropped the body and ran for the stairway.
Another round of gunshots exploded into the room. Roberts’ eyes flashed wide. His run turned into an awkward stumble. Victor ran to the bottom of the stairs and caught the man before he collapsed. Patrick watched in horror as Victor gently laid Roberts on the floor. The security guard looked up at Victor with glassy eyes, looked past him at a random point in the ceiling and stopped breathing.
“No!” Victor screamed and fired his pistol back into the smoke-filled hole in the wall.
“Victor, we have to go!”
Victor turned and ran up the stairs in time to catch up to Patrick as he jumped through open elevator doors. Victor joined him inside the car.
More gunfire barked in the lobby below them only to be muffled by the closing elevator doors. Victor’s radio crackled to life again.
“Victor, report.”
“Duke,” Victor said into the radio.
“Are you and Patrick OK?”
“Yes, but the protesters are now shooting into the building. We lost both security guards in the lobby.” Victor stopped to catch his breath. “There’s no way to defend the front of the building as it is now.”
“We need to evacuate,” the CEO said. “The safety of everyone in this building is more important than the building itself.”
Duke’s voice suddenly boomed from the loudspeakers in the building.
“Attention, everyone. There has been an attack on the lobby. D
o not – I repeat – do not go to that part of the building. I am ordering a full evacuation of the Space Vision offices. Everyone needs to evacuate using EVAC Plan Delta. This is not a drill. Evacuate immediately.”
Patrick looked with a frown at Victor. “Delta?”
“Looks like we are heading to the basement. Delta means we are piling into the vehicles in the parking level and leaving for Site B. Go on and head down, I need to get my family.”
Exchanging looks of concern, the two men exited the elevator and ran their separate ways.
CHAPTER 39
Joe looked up at the bang of the entry door opening and hitting the stopper on the wall to see his dad rush inside.
“What’s going on, Victor?” Mary asked. “Why are we evacuating?”
“There’s no time to talk. Everyone needs to grab their bags. We’ll go to the elevator together.”
Without another word, everyone jumped to work – Joe grabbed his bag and started throwing his clothes inside, Victor did the same with the parents’ clothes, and Mary went to the bathroom to pack their toiletries. One by one, they began assembling at the front door once they were done packing.
Joe hurried up to the three standing at the door. Ayrin’s jaw was clenched and her lips were set in a grim line as she watched him, but she didn’t say anything.
“Let’s go,” Victor said.
The four of them filed out the door and headed to the bank of elevators at the end of the hall. Joe fidgeted with the end of the strap on his backpack, Mary rubbed her hands together, and Victor watched the elevator indicator light with his hands on his hips. Two people carrying bags walked up and joined them. Somber greetings broke up the nervous silence.
Finally, the light above the left door lit up accompanied by a ding. The group scurried inside the waiting elevator car without saying a word. Victor pressed the button for the basement level that housed the parking garage.
Joe looked up at his dad, his eyes knitting in a frown as he felt his stomach lighten from the elevator beginning its descent.
After a few seconds, the elevator came to a stop and the ding sounded just before the doors opened. The garage was a swirling beehive of movement and sound. People were yelling to each other, running to their assigned vehicles and throwing bags or suitcases into trunks. Car doors slammed and engines revved as the vehicles came to life and started heading to the exit.