The Mountain
Page 44
When the connection was made and the Settlement’s numbers displayed in front of him, Brandon breathed a sigh of relief. He accessed the communications backlog from the Settlement and found one message per year had been sent to Earth, as had been the case for decades before. He didn’t bother listening to any. The rest of the Settlement’s numbers appeared mostly unchanged, though still as strong as ever for the potential of expansion.
Not unless something dramatic has—
Brandon’s chest fluttered. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of this sooner. The lingering haze in his mind cleared in an instant. His fingers danced through one holographic screen after another, searching for the one rarely-used system to which his cryo chamber was connected. When he discovered a notification connected to his chamber, a message explaining that he’d been woken early because another chamber had been accessed, he stared at the name of the owner of that other chamber.
“Charles Jonas,” he said breathlessly.
It was the name he’d been waiting centuries to see, a name he’d been doubting would ever pop up in their system. His fingers shook—a shaking that had nothing to do with his body temperature—as he accessed the radio system.
“Mountain facility, Mountain facility, do you copy?” he said. “Any representative of One Corp., please respond.”
No answer, not the first, second or tenth time he repeated the message. His excitement waned a bit with each minute of radio silence. Brandon wondered if there could be a malfunction with the radio on their end or The Mountain’s; even worse, he now wondered if Charles Jonas’s cryo chamber might’ve finally malfunctioned after so many years, or if The Mountain facility itself could’ve crumbled.
His excitement tempered, he turned his attention back to the Settlement; more specifically, he accessed the computer system that provided details about Earth’s current position in regards to the Settlement. When he saw the results, his heart skipped a beat once again. Knowing what must be done next, Brandon made sure to run the calculations several more times, each time receiving the same answer. Unable to wait any longer, he entered the Settlement’s communication system and pressed transmit.
“Earth to Settlement, Earth to Settlement. There’s been a possible awakening. We will contact you shortly with further updates.”
After sending the message, Brandon knew it would take quite a while to reach the Settlement. With no point in waiting any longer, he hurried back through the facility, practically sprinting as he thought about speaking to somebody for the first time in hundreds of years. He nearly slipped upon entering the cryogenics room but headed straight for Commander Askren’s chamber, his fingers quickly pressing buttons until a light shined from within.
As the commander woke from her freeze, Brandon retrieved her warming blanket and readied for the chamber door to open. When it finally did, Katrice Askren hobbled forward, her long brown hair covering her face, her head hung low, her entire body quivering so severely that she barely remained upright. Brandon hurried to wrap her in the blanket, placing an arm around her to help lead her away. But Commander Askren grunted and stood straighter, shaking the hair from her face to show surprisingly lucid eyes.
“Temperature or contact?” she asked.
“Contact,” Brandon answered.
She sighed. “So, their grand experiment to continue life on Earth has failed, as I suspected.”
“I can’t say with certainty,” Brandon said. “The only communication we received is a signal from The Mountain. There’s nothing from the other arks.”
She nodded. “And how many survivors do they have?”
“Unknown, ma’am. Besides the signal of Charles Jonas’s cryo-stasis chamber being accessed, I’ve received no other communication with The Mountain,” Brandon said. Commander Askren’s head snapped in his direction. Brandon could sense her annoyance with his lack of information. “However,” he added, “the facility remains in perfect order and everything can be ready to go on short notice. Earth’s current position makes our ideal travel time in less than a month.”
Commander Askren stopped. “This information isn’t what I’d hoped for,” she said. “Original evacuation plans called for far better circumstances, but those always seemed unrealistic. I assumed the situation would end up being less than ideal, or perhaps that evacuation might only include those of us remaining here. If we can connect with anyone extra from the survival arks—especially Charles Jonas—that should more than fulfill the government’s deal with those humans that wanted to try surviving on Earth.” She started walking again before pausing, her shoulders drooping. “Not that there’s anyone left at the Settlement with immediate connections to the government that Earth left behind.”
The commander continued walking, her every step becoming steadier and faster as she exited the cryogenic room and headed for the facility’s control center. After Brandon informed her about how much time had passed since their people had been put in cryo-stasis—as well as how little the weather conditions had changed over the course of hundreds of years—the commander’s decision became easier to make than she ever would’ve expected.
“We’ve remained frozen long enough hoping Earth’s cooldown would be temporary,” she said. “It’s obviously not. Humans might one day return and repopulate our planet, but it won’t be you or me or anyone else here. Wake the others. Prepare for the extraction of Charles Jonas and his people and whoever else we can find out there.
“Then, prepare for our departure from Earth.”
Like the “Kevin George—Author” fan page on Facebook to receive updates about when new books in the series will be released.
Thanks so much for checking out book six of the Great Blue Above series. If you liked it, I would appreciate if you could leave a quick review on Amazon or a rating on Goodreads. I’ve found that having more reviews is the best way for readers to give new authors a chance. Thanks again!
While waiting for new books in the Great Blue Above series, please check out some of my previous works.
THE GREAT BLUE ABOVE SERIES
BOOK ONE – THE CITY BELOW
BOOK TWO – THE DOME OF LIFE
BOOK THREE – THE BATTLE ABOVE
BOOK FOUR – BEFORE THE NOTHINGNESS
BOOK FIVE – THE TUNNEL WAR
BOOX SIX – THE MOUNTAIN
BOOK SEVEN (final in the series) coming in the second half of 2019. . .
LIFE, INC.—If you could learn the exact moment of your death, would you? If you could see a deceased loved one for one more day—at the cost of one year of your life—would you? These are the answers Life, Inc. wants to know . . .
COMET CLEMENT SERIES (A deadly comet hurtling toward Earth and humanity’s plans to deal with the potential extinction level event.)
BOOK ONE—THE INNER CIRCLE
BOOK TWO—INTERCEPTION
BOOK THREE—THE NEW SPACE RACE
BOOK FOUR—THE THREE ARKS
BOOK FIVE—EVACUATION EARTH
BOOK SIX—FINAL DAYS
BOOK SEVEN—IMPACT
BOOK EIGHT—UNINVITED
BOOK NINE—TAKEOVER
BOOK TEN—MISSION: SURVIVAL
BOOK ELEVEN—RELOCATION
BOOK TWELVE—A SECOND CHANCE (final in series)
CRYO-MAN SERIES (A sick man dies and is put into cryostasis. He awakens years later to a brand-new world and is on a quest to recover his memories.)
BOOK ONE—CRYO-MAN
BOOK TWO—ROBOTROPOLIS
BOOK THREE—DEARBORN
BOOK FOUR—BEYOND RIVER CITY (final in series)
KEEPER OF THE WATER SERIES (A young girl with unexplained strength and speed dreams of a past life and soon learns why. . .)
DRINKING LIFE—BOOK ONE
RECRUITS—BOOK TWO
THE WATER QUEENS—BOOK THREE
MIDDLE GRADE NOVELS
THE HINTERLAND CHRONICLES
PIGEON IN THE PINEWOODS – BOOK ONE
BOOK TWO COMING SOON. . .<
br />
FLEA’S FIVE CHRISTMASES SERIES
THE NORTH POLE CHALLENGE—FLEA’S 1ST X-MAS
THE RUDOLPH CHALLENGE—FLEA’S 2ND X-MAS
THE JACK FROST CHALLENGE—FLEA’S 3RD X-MAS
THE FROSTIE CHALLENGE—FLEA’S 4TH X-MAS
THE SOUTH POLE CHALLENGE—FLEA’S 5TH AND FINAL X-MAS
EDDIE AND JEREMY SERIES
EDDIE AND JEREMY GO TO THE AQUARIUM—BOOK ONE
EDDIE AND JEREMY GO TO THE NORTH POLE—BOOK TWO