The Long Way Home

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The Long Way Home Page 22

by Phoenix Hays


  Victor grabbed a towel from a nearby cot and wiped his face and neck. He cleaned off his arms as he walked back over to the group.

  “I can’t stay here,” Victor said. “I’m headed to the monitoring room. Patrick?”

  “Of course,” Patrick said, turning back to the others. “You’ll be fine here. Rest up. You’ve had a big night.”

  The two men headed off, leaving the triage unit behind them.

  CHAPTER 71

  Victor pulled the monitoring room door open and walked in followed closely by Patrick.

  Richard looked up and turned to face Victor. “That must have been an amazing light show.”

  “You know as well as I do,” Victor walked up to Richard and poked his pointer finger into the man’s chest, “that one of us could have gotten seriously hurt up there.”

  Richard slapped Victor’s hand away. “And you know that this event was predicted last week. There was no reason for anyone to be on the surface.”

  Victor’s face darkened with anger and frustration. “There was never a warning that the debris—”

  “Enough!” Duke’s voice boomed as he entered the room. “The meteorites are still making impacts throughout our region. Adam, please give us an update.”

  “Of course,” Adam said. “It appears that three meteorites landed here at Site B. The second and third landed in the agricultural center and the greenhouse is partly destroyed.”

  “I could have told you that,” Victor muttered.

  Patrick patted Victor on the shoulder.

  “The first impact,” Adam said, “occurred on the south side of the complex. This meteorite didn’t hit anything of note. Bertha was activated too late to intercept these first three, but she is now taking out any potential threats.”

  A monitor on the wall at the front of the room switched to a scene of Bertha firing the main cannon as well as the smaller guns.

  “And beyond Site B?” Duke asked.

  “Reports are still coming in,” Adam said. “It appears that a piece splashed down in the Atlantic just off the coast of Florida. A tidal surge has flooded several cities along the coast. Numerous smaller pieces splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico with no major after effects.”

  “Thank goodness for that,” Duke said.

  “Unfortunately, one piece hit a suburb just south of the Dallas area. Several thousand buildings and homes were destroyed. Others on the edges of the impact zone are on fire. Casualties are likely to be widespread and numerous.”

  Duke fell back into his chair at the cold account of the loss of life. He pinched the bridge of his nose and his head hung forward.

  “What about the two larger pieces that we were tracking?” Richard asked.

  “That I can show you,” Adam said.

  The main monitor changed from the current image of stats and graphs to an image of a blue sky with the horizon at the very bottom of the screen.

  “I set up this camera to monitor the larger pieces,” Adam said. “The following is a time lapse recording of this evening’s event.”

  The sky began darkening from blue to purple.

  “As evening falls, you will see the moon rise and once it does, two objects will appear to its left. One is about the brightness of Jupiter, the other around that of Venus.”

  Two objects twinkled into view just to the left of the moon as promised. The sky transitioned to black which allowed stars to appear in the background. Both objects grew brighter.

  “Our concern was that one of these two objects would hit the Earth, obviously,” Adam said. “The larger one is big enough to cause widespread damage for a whole continent. The smaller one would be a more localized threat. Maybe a handful of cities at the most.”

  “That’s localized?” Victor asked.

  Duke nodded. “In terms of large objects hitting our planet, yes.”

  “My projection at this time shows that the larger object will simply be a near miss,” Adam said. “The smaller one is on a trajectory that will put its impact site somewhere in western Texas or New Mexico.”

  Everyone in the room exchanged concerned looks.

  “At this point in the time lapse, we have caught up to our live shot,” Adam said. “The two objects will disappear behind the moon and should reappear in 15 minutes.”

  Stunned silence fell over the room and for a minute, nobody spoke a word.

  “What are we going to do?” Patrick asked.

  “Well,” Duke said. He turned in his chair to face the others. “We all knew this wasn’t going to be easy. Let’s not overreact and work the situation as it unfolds.”

  Each person in the room was left to their own thoughts over the next few minutes. Victor fidgeted with the pen in front of him on the desk. Patrick moved his finger across his data pad, not really focusing on the code that scrolled past his eyes.

  Time passed slowly. Victor alternated between looking up at the screens and then back down at the section of table in front of him. The only sounds were people shifting in their seats and the muffled booms of Bertha’s guns through one of the video feeds.

  Adam broke the silence.

  “The larger piece should be appearing any second now.”

  Almost on cue, a bright dot emerged from behind the moon.

  “Any change in the trajectory?” Richard asked.

  “Calculating now,” Adam said. “It will take a moment.”

  Seconds ticked by. The space between the edge of the moon and the object slowly increased.

  “Calculations on Object 1 are complete,” Adam said. “It is confirmed that this piece of debris will pass close to Earth’s orbit but will not come close enough to be a concern.”

  “How soon are we expecting to see Object 2?” Victor asked.

  “Momentarily.”

  Everyone in the room seemed to lean forward in anticipation. Bertha’s guns popped quietly every few seconds.

  Thirty seconds passed. Then a minute.

  “Uhm, Adam...?” Duke asked.

  “This doesn’t make sense,” the robot said. “It should have cleared by now. Please stand by.”

  The image of the sky began zooming in to the right side of the moon.

  “What is that?!” Richard asked pointing.

  The image continued to zoom in and everyone saw what he was talking about. A chalky white mist seemed to be floating out from behind the moon.

  “It appears,” Adam said, “that the trajectory was truly in the west Texas direction, but the gravitational pull of the moon drew it in. It seems to have hit the moon on the far side. I’m not tracking any objects large enough to be of concern.”

  Cheers erupted from the staff in the room.

  Patrick scanned the faces around him. Most were ashen and wide-eyed but smiling. Duke’s eyes caught his. He had a smirk on his face.

  “You see, old friend,” Duke said. “When you have the mission that we do,” he looked around at the celebrating people in the room, “we are meant to succeed.”

  Adam chimed in as the commotion began to die down. “I can confirm that the portion of this event affecting the Western hemisphere is over.”

  “So it isn’t completely done?” Victor asked.

  “Unfortunately, no,” Adam said. “There will continue to be smaller impacts similar to what you experienced across the Pacific Ocean and potentially into far east Asia.”

  “OK,” Duke spoke up. “Let’s turn off the lockdown and take an inventory of the complex.”

  He turned to Victor.

  “And you need to get some rest. Take tomorrow morning off. Make sure your family is well.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Victor said.

  Patrick watched him hurry out of the room on his way back to the triage station.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” Duke said loudly. “Let’s get back to normal operations. If this isn’t your scheduled shift, get out of here. We’ll all need you to be rested for tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER 72

  Morning’s bright l
ight revealed the damage to the front of the greenhouse from the night before. Patrick surveyed the destruction as crews worked to clean up the debris. A crater was smoldering about 30 feet from where the front of the greenhouse used to stand. Laying all over the ground were pieces of metal that had made up the framing of the small building. They ranged from long pieces connected at t-junctions to foot-long chunks and were mixed with glass shards and shreds of the plants that once adorned the greenhouse. The cabinet that had been in the room was laying on its back, the doors had been blown off and the blade of a shovel with a broken handle laid next to it.

  “It’s amazing the Bayhams made it out of this,” Clarence said as he looked at the shredded pieces of plants strewn on the ground. He walked up to Patrick who was holding a piece of metal debris. “It’s hard to believe there was even a fully functioning greenhouse here 24 hours ago.”

  “I agree. They were really lucky the power stayed on so the smart-vator could get to the gym.”

  “Did you see the impact site of the other object that landed on the property?”

  “No,” Patrick said. “Why do you ask?”

  “It left a much larger crater,” Clarence said. “Luckily, it landed in an area that had no buildings, but it did partially damage one of the rocket silos.”

  Patrick’s eyebrows raised. “Really? Will they be able to repair it?”

  Clarence laughed. “Would you believe they won’t need to?”

  “What?” Patrick frowned. “Why?”

  “It was a silo that we launched one of the three rockets from last night. It’s an empty tube.”

  Patrick wiped the sweat from his brow. “The man just might be right.”

  “What do you mean?” Clarence asked.

  “Duke,” Patrick said. “He is so sure that we are going to succeed. But it really does feel like this is meant to happen.”

  “I know what you mean,” Clarence said. “When there are so many things that could go wrong but don’t, it’s causing many early doubters to change their tunes.”

  Patrick and Clarence blended into the team of workers. The clean-up crew worked slowly, but they were able to clean up the floor of the greenhouse and begin clearing sections of grass of the debris. Trash bags were filled with the metal or glass pieces, and when full, they were left on the ground to be picked up later. Only the heat of the afternoon forced them to take a break, and the team rested in the shade of what was left of the greenhouse’s sides and back wall.

  “I can’t thank you all enough,” Duke’s voice came from behind them.

  They turned to see Duke stepping out of the smart-vator. He and two other men were carrying trays with glasses of refreshments on them.

  “Don’t be shy,” he said. “Come on and take one.”

  The group didn’t need to be told twice and surrounded the three trays. They stepped back as each got the drink of their choice. Patrick watched the group re-energize from the gesture. He looked at Duke. The man was smiling but his eyes were troubled.

  Patrick walked up to Duke. “What is it?”

  “Perceptive as always, my friend,” Duke said. “I’m afraid there is more excitement headed our way. I need you to attend a management meeting I’m calling for this evening. I’ll see you then.”

  CHAPTER 73

  Duke walked into the monitoring room. All of the upper management were there except for one.

  “Where’s Richard?”

  “It’s not his shift, sir,” a woman answered. “We’ve tried to call him but there hasn’t been a response.”

  “I can only imagine how exhausted he must be after last night,” Duke said. “Let’s go ahead and get started.”

  Clarence stepped forward, looking around the room.

  “My contact at NASA is telling me that terrorist activity around their facilities started similar to the incursions we have had and he said it has continued to increase in frequency and intensity. Last night, they had multiple attacks resulting in one of their buildings getting burned to the ground.”

  A murmur rolled through the room.

  “There’s more,” Clarence said. “The attacks have expanded from destroying property and buildings to now going after the very people who run from the scenes of the attacks.”

  “How so?” Victor asked.

  “It’s diabolical. The initial attack is fast and violent, but once people flee through exits that aren’t near the initial event, they find themselves caught up in secondary attacks. Whether it is preset explosives or additional terrorists with guns, the effect is always the same. The casualties go up quickly and morale of the survivors drops.”

  Patrick exchanged a wide-eyed glance with Victor. When he looked to Duke, he saw a man with a tensed jaw and narrow eyes that were laser focused on words spoken by his director of experimental technology.

  “Continue,” Duke said.

  “My contact is saying that we need to be aware,” Clarence said. “And that we need to plan accordingly based on the change in their behavior. That was the end of the communication.”

  “So they have evolved beyond fomenting unrest and assassination attempts,” Duke said.

  “This is turning into an actual war,” Victor grumbled.

  Duke stood up. “And if anyone here didn’t see this coming, you didn’t take in the gravity of our mission. We are fighting for the very survival of our race. The survival of everything we believe in and hold dear. What force could possibly oppose that?”

  Everyone looked around at each other waiting for someone to name the opposition.

  “It is evil,” Duke said. “We are up against an evil that wants our efforts to fail and the very existence of life in our section of the universe to end. There has never been a divide with more clarity than the one we have right now. The Ascent To Sanctuary project is over three-quarters of the way completed and finishing that effort is of paramount importance.”

  He looked around the room sternly.

  “This is the acceleration. The time where the evil knows it is nearing the point where it will lose. It will become desperate. It will lash out. We must be ready to meet it. We must be ready to defeat it. And to do that, we must once again push our timelines up.”

  Duke gazed at his team in front of him.

  “Victoria, I need you to run any final checks on the shuttles and all passenger environmental systems on it and on Sanctuary.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said. “That won’t be a problem.”

  “Thank you. Sanjeed, please begin the checklists to launch the final structure and supply rockets. I need to know how soon we can be 100 percent launched.”

  “We’ve already started preliminary checklists but can push them into actual staging procedures,” Sanjeed said. “Are we prepping for normal schedule or bunched launches?”

  “I would prepare for the planned schedule, but I want secondary plans in place. If we have to launch everything at the same time and our ships have to float in an orbital parking lot waiting to get to Sanctuary, that needs to be an option.”

  “Understood,” he said.

  “Clarence,” Duke said. “This is where your department changes from experimental technologies to practical tech.”

  “Yes, sir,” Clarence said.

  “I need you and Ms. Chan to work with all of the teams to make sure everything goes without a hitch.”

  Clarence and Miyako looked the CEO in the eye and nodded.

  “And Victor. I need you to work with Richard to create a security presence that is visible as well as surprising. Your work could not be more crucial. If we have attacks, we need to fend them off. If our rockets don’t get off the ground, we can’t complete Sanctuary.”

  “Understood,” Victor said with a nod.

  “Ladies and gentleman,” Duke paused slightly, looking around the room. “This is it. Let’s do our jobs. Thank you in advance for your work. Let’s complete the Ascent.”

  Duke motioned his arm to the door and people started filing out. Patrick and V
ictor were last in line, and Duke raised a hand to stop them before they exited.

  “Gentlemen,” Duke said. “I’d like a word with you.”

  They turned back toward Duke as he stepped around the conference table.

  “Look,” Duke said. “We still do not know who the inside person or persons are. It could be anyone, including one of you, but I doubt that very much.”

  Both Victor and Patrick shook their heads involuntarily.

  “No, I know. I’m asking you two to mind your surroundings. Take note of who is around you and should probably not be there. Chances are that the person feeding info to the terrorists will attempt to block what we will be doing over the next few days.”

  Duke stared at both of them, but in an understanding and compassionate way.

  “Yes, sir,” Victor said, nodding.

  Patrick nodded in agreement.

  “OK,” Duke said, gripping the outer shoulders of the two men in front of him. “Get some rest. We have a lot of work to do starting tomorrow morning.”

  CHAPTER 74

  Mary, Joe, and Ayrin looked up at the entry door as it slid open. Victor walked in with a serious look on his face.

  “What is it?” Mary asked.

  Victor stopped and just stared at them. Then he cracked a smile.

  “Who’s up for a game of Zeroed?” he asked.

  Joe was slumped in the corner of the couch. “Eh.”

  “Come on, go get the dice,” Victor said.

  Joe slowly got up and shuffled out of the room with Ayrin in tow.

  “What is it?” Mary whispered this time.

  “We can talk later,” Victor said. He looked up to see Joe standing at the doorway. “Alright, let’s get this game going! It’s almost time for bed.”

  Joe dragged his feet as he walked forward carrying the dice.

  A distant rumble entered the room and Joe’s eyes went wide.

  “They must have launched a rocket,” Victor said. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “OK. Who gets to go first?” Mary asked.

 

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