Death of a Planet

by James Duggan

  “The production of commercial aircraft was also suspended and the workforce redirected to the production of bombers and fighters to be used against the oppression on the continent of Europe and in the Pacific. Boeing played its part in that effort too and with the help of its partners produced almost nine thousand combat aircraft during the remaining three and a half years of the Second World War.”

  Again he paused while he searched for the right words to ram home his pitch.

  “Were it not for that concentrated effort it is possible the war would have been lost…in Europe at least. Now the world is faced with an even worse attack which will cost the lives of not just a few thousand but nearly eight billion. It won’t matter whether they are military or civilian, or pygmies in the rain forest…we all die. The threat is not from within, but beyond and our planet is without doubt going to lose this particular battle. The only hope for the future of the human race is to try and escape the impending Armageddon with as many people as possible.”

  He paused yet again opening his arms pleadingly. His action said more than any words could.

  “What do you need?” said Corby and Montgomery simultaneously.

  Buck breathed a huge sigh of relief. He had anticipated a major battle to enlist the help of these two great American industrial powerhouses. It was obvious a mêlée was unnecessary. Since there was no hope for the world there would be no further need for either cars or planes. To continue churning them out regardless would be a futile attempt to bury their heads in the sand. Buck proceeded to outline his plan.

  “Well I won’t go into the detail, but Ringo here says he is about to make a breakthrough in the practicalities of space flight which enables us to easily launch far larger and heavier payloads into orbit than ever before envisaged.

  Mister Gambiadini here is, as you are aware, from NASA and his organisation is involved in the training process of crews required to launch our vision of Noah’s Ark into a geostationary orbit. He also has the unenviable job of selecting those who will benefit from such a trip… rather him than me.” added Buck, thoughtfully.

  “I’ll second that.” chipped in Montgomery, who had some experience of the selection process for suitable test pilots.

  “Mister Devine here is the man with the money. He has instructions direct from President Richards to certify we get whatever is needed to ensure success of this enterprise. What we don’t yet have are the production facilities to manufacture the components and assemble the pods. There is also a need for a launch facility. It doesn’t need to be on the scale of Canaveral since we anticipate the actual launches to be comparatively serene, even surreal, affairs.”

  Corby and Montgomery exchanged meaningful glances.

  “Right, let’s get down to business.” said the latter.

  It was the start of an intense discussion lasting several hours between the six men which resulted in an off the cuff plan of action.

  ***

  Buck was to provide a general outline of the dimensions and form the Cube would take including numbers of pods involved in its construction and the function and use of each pod. He had spent the previous evening doodling on his computer sketchpad and passed around a rough visual image of his ideas.

  Jacob Corby would turn over Ford’s vehicle construction facility at Dearborn, which already had fully automated robotic production lines, to the manufacture of the pod components.

  It would involve a huge upheaval within the factory which he thought might take between six months and a year to complete. This was not considered a problem since it would take that long to produce the detailed pod designs anyway.

  Having constructed the components for each pod, the largest of which would be around ten meters square they would be transferred to Montgomery’s Boeing site at Everett on the west coast.

  In the interests of speed in the face of the impending emergency they would be transported by Beluga Airbus which was considered to be the only freight transport capable of handling the load. If necessary the aircraft would have to be hurriedly modified.

  At Everett each pod would be assembled ready for launch from the adjacent Paine Field landing strip.

  Hopefully within a year, two at the most, the first of the pods would be ready to launch into a suitable geostationary orbit. There, as each one arrived, it would be captured and ‘plugged’ into the central power unit.

  This aspect depended greatly on either the Russians or Chinese making a breakthrough in the provision of unlimited power in time. Without that the consequences for humanity would be dire. Ringo repeated his previous observation that he may be able to expedite that with an idea he had been mulling over for a couple of years.

  Carl Gambiadini’s role in the plan was to ensure that the technical requirements for space travel were as sound as they could possibly be in such a short passage of time. He was confident there would be no problem since each pod was basically a simple compartmentalised box with four sealed portholes around the male and female airtight interlocking capture devices on two opposite faces.

  There would be no need of further observation windows since the four other faces would be too closely aligned. The pod would be double skinned, with super insulated cavities. It would be hermetically sealed all around with extra thick outer walls thus ensuring atmospheric security and protection from micro meteors and other space debris.

  The design of the portholes and airlocks were already well established and tested throughout multiple historic space flights and with the beefed up construction Gambiadini could see no problem meeting the requirements. It was simply a question of adapting existing tried and tested specifications and methods of construction.

  Gambiadini did have one issue which worried him. He would need a maverick astronaut with an equally devil-may-care crew to handle the assembly of up to a hundred pods in the vacuum of space with no room for error and little time to train them. He had someone in mind for the potentially suicidal missions, but Slim McCoy would be a hard man to find and even harder to persuade.

  “Joan, can you get Mike McConnell on the case? If anyone can find him the FBI can.” said Buck, with his fingers crossed under the table.

  It was an aspect of the whole endeavour which he had not fully considered, but the seed of a plan was already forming in his agile mind as to how McCoy could be brought on board the team.

  He was about to wrap up the proceedings when Jacob Corby came up with another problem which had to be addressed.

  “My company has over two hundred thousand employees knocking out over four million cars a year. How in hell are we going to motivate them to stay on the lines and work their butts off in the interests of others? Our relationship with the unions is fairly good right now, but who knows how they will react when asked to keep working in the face of extinction.”

  “Ah.” said Buck, hesitantly. “Motivation, I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “No neither had I. We have over one hundred and forty thousand people churning out airplanes who will wonder why they should keep going.” said Montgomery.

  The gathering sat looking at each other wondering how to deal with this rather tricky problem. The whole enterprise depended on the willingness of skilled workforces to keep working on as if all their tomorrows were unlimited.

  “They need a carrot.” said the only female voice in the room.

  “What could we possibly offer them.” said Buck, puzzled.

  “All the money in the world will be of no use to them in three years time.” said Gambiadini, who realised he would have the same problem with his NASA personnel.

  Joan leaned forward hesitantly. She was only there to observe, but she felt she might have a solution which would be acceptable to all.

  “Offer them a chance of life itself.” she said, almost casually.

  “Explain.” said John Devine, who always thought in terms of money.

  “Well to put it in its simplest form, organise a raffle. Those who work on the project and put in the hours
could be awarded a ticket to ride as the Beatles once sang. If we can get as many as ten thousand off it might not be unreasonable to allocate ten per cent of the places to such a scheme.”

  Glances were exchanged around the table. The male contingent was reluctant to voice their opinion of such a simplistic solution, but they were all thinking the same thing. Finally it was Ringo who broke the deadlock.

  “Brilliant idea gal. Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to live?”

  If it was the reference to the Beatles’ song which influenced his utterance of support or not was uncertain. It was far more likely to have been his superior intellect weighing up all the pros and cons to reach a conclusion that the idea was worthy.

  Immediately the others nodded in agreement with broad smiles softening their severe features. Buck reached over and gave her a little hug which caused her cheeks to bloom.

  “It is indeed.” he said, enthusiastically.

  “Joan should be the first one to be offered a ticket don’t you think?”

  Again there was more nodding. It seemed such a simple solution to what was potentially a difficult issue.

  Joan reddened even more at the suggestion as she buried her head in her shoulders in embarrassment and inwardly hoped it was not just a throwaway remark.

  The meeting was wound up and each participant left the building squinting in the late afternoon sunlight feeling they had achieved something worthwhile.

  ‘At least the sun will keep shining in three years time.’ thought Buck as he shaded his eyes from the glare.

  ***

  THE LONG WAIT.

  With all the preliminaries and early planning completed the main movers and shakers began tackling their various assignments. To those who were not directly involved, which was the majority of the world’s population, the next three years would drag on interminably. For those charged with the task of saving humanity time would travel at the speed of light. The long wait had begun.

  Individuals had their own way of dealing with their impending and inevitable demise. Never before, other than those on death row awaiting execution of their sentence, had anyone been given the exact date and time of their own death. The knowledge hit people hard and they reacted in ways alien to their normal character.

  Those who could afford it entered into a life of unashamed hedonism. Every day was party day as they stocked up on booze and began drinking themselves into oblivion; unable to face the future.

  Those who couldn’t afford it tried to do the same until either the money ran out or there was nothing left on the supermarket shelves to steal. Their ingenuity was boundless as they found ways of producing alcohol from almost every conceivable organic material.

  Others retreated to the hills either joining communes or entering into a life of semi-monastic solitude as they beseeched their various gods to be lenient on the day of judgement.

  For the vast majority life went on more or less as usual as they tried to comfort each other in their misery. After all, what else could they do?

  There was one option they could take to avoid the horror which was to come. The suicide rate went up; slowly at first, but increasing gradually as people began to see it as an easy way out. They could not face the future and were taking the means of their death into their own hands.

  The problem became so severe that Governments all over the world surrendered to pressure and turned a blind eye to the establishment of euthanasia clinics along the lines of the Swiss model. The criteria were abolished and anyone who wanted to could avail themselves of their services free of charge with Government funded vouchers.

  Supplies of everyday items dwindled as some manufacturers and growers could see no point in carrying on. Others were more pragmatic seeing continuation of their activities as a way of passing the time. It was just as well since lack of food could only lead to world starvation and disease which would wipe out half the population anyway. It would probably be a more miserable fate than the one which awaited them and was the preferred alternative to stagnation.

  ***

  The action plan devised by Buck and his associates at the headquarters of Ford in Dearborn was bulked up into a more detailed and formal document. Copies were despatched urgently to Governments around the world and in particular to the Russian, Chinese and European space agencies.

  All three decided to develop their own cubes to the specifications drawn up by Buck and NASA since they had parallel organisations and production facilities. It made sense in the circumstances rather than shipping components half way around the world and had the distinct advantage of increasing the numbers saved. They agreed for the first time ever to an open and frank exchange of the science and technology. It was after all in everyone’s interest to do so.

  Buck was heard to remark in an unguarded moment.

  “Wow! We should arrange the end of the world more often.”

  He likened what was happening to the concentrated effort experienced in the Second World War where science and technology advanced faster in that five years than ever before in history over a similar time frame.

  Requests and submissions were coming in from individuals all over the globe volunteering assistance, no doubt in the hope they would be favourably considered for inclusion in the Cube.

  Most were dismissed as coming from cranks and desperate people who clearly had no idea what they were talking about. There was no end to the weird and wonderful schemes and the ingenuity of some in a crisis were spectacularly inventive; but impractical to pursue in the time available. The remainder which had merit were sifted out and the authors contacted to enlist their assistance.

  As the world settled down to the long run-in to destruction a strange and unexpected calm overcame the population. Whether it was shock, apathy or something else, Buck couldn’t decide. General Armstrong had made extensive plans to counter lawlessness and civil unrest. But apart from the odd outbreak, due more to infectious fear than any deliberate evil intent, his forces were stood down to fret upon their own future like everyone else. He was a very relieved man. There was enough to worry about without anarchy in the streets.

  Ringo was despatched to both Russia and China on several occasions to assess and provide input on their progress with the power unit which was an intrinsic element of the whole operation. It would take nearly six months to achieve the holy grail of unlimited power based on a variant of nuclear fusion. It was with the help of a young man who had previously fought vigorously and hopelessly for funding to exploit his genius.

  Now money, researchers and technical resources were abundant. The irony of it never went unnoticed by either Buck or Ringo. It took an Armageddon event to focus the minds of the world’s most brilliant brains on a goal which should and could have been achieved years earlier.

  ‘If only the politicians had got their heads out of the sand instead of constantly championing their own personal status in the world we would have achieved this years ago.’ thought Buck on more than one occasion.

  About the same time production began at the Ford plant on the components for the pods. Even with all the computerised robotics the going was slow. This was not like churning out cars with built-in obsolescence to make way for new and improved models. The pods needed to be super engineered to ensure they would literally last a lifetime and beyond.

  There was no room for error or sloppy workmanship since a failure could be catastrophic in an environment which was unforgiving and where there was little or no chance of correction. They couldn’t just run into the nearest service garage for spares and repairs; there would be none in the vacuum of space.

  Initially production therefore was by comparison slow and ponderous, but with the endurance of human endeavour and the ingenuity of the Ford production system the components for three pods a week began to roll off the production line. It was a massive effort by all concerned, but at that rate they would fall short of their target. What they really needed was at least two a day; or better still the impossible ability to
be able to work eight days a week or more.

  The concentrated effort by all concerned was presumably with the thought in the back of their minds that each might be one of the lucky ones to win a chance of life; as Joan had so succinctly put it. There was also the fact that the more pods they could get into orbit the better were their odds of selection. It certainly focussed the collective mindset.

  Two hundred and fifty thousand people were engaged in the operation. Each working on the assumption that if a thousand were selected to be evacuated the odds were two hundred and fifty to one; it could be them. These were far better odds than the chance of winning the national lottery which were way up in the millions. Their efforts were worth the chance and it was the only chance they had. It focussed the communal mind of the entire country.

  Similar operations were working in parallel in other countries. The Jaguar Land Rover plant in Solihull central England was given over willingly to the challenge. Peugeot and Renault in France combined their not inconsiderable resources to meet the crisis. The Japanese car industry with Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Suzuki and Toyota all got in on the act.

  After six months of intensive activity things were getting better. The pods were rolling off each of the production lines at the rate of three a day somewhere in the world. The work was relatively straightforward once the designs and assembly lines were established. It was an enterprise the industrialised world was familiar with and well able to exploit.

  However, this was all an act of faith since at this point neither the power units nor the launch technology had been mastered. There was a real possibility of over production and at the time of impact Ceres would solve the problem of launching them in a spectacular cataclysmic explosion. The concern was ignored by the powers that be since it gave a couple of million people something to do and it gave the rest hope.