Never Again

by M. A. Rothman

  Her head lolled toward him, and she squinted through one open eye. “My body is totally confused. Is it time for breakfast or lunch? Either way, I’m hungry.”

  Dave smiled. “Well, since we’re in Indonesia right now, it’s almost 7:30 a.m., so I think we can squeeze in a good breakfast. The rover won’t be within range until later this afternoon anyway.”

  A Secret Service agent approached and handed him a satellite phone. “Doctor Holmes, it’s Doctor Radcliffe.”

  Sitting up, Dave held the phone to his ear. “Hey, Burt, you’ve got good timing. I was going to call you later tonight. I’m sitting on a beautiful white sand beach on the west coast of Indonesia, just northwest of Lake Maninjau. This’ll mark the half-way point.”

  “That’s great progress. In fact, I think you’re pushing ahead of schedule, which is awesome. But I’m actually calling to let you know that the president is about to go public with some of the Indigo stuff. I suggest you find a place to watch. She’s going live in about thirty minutes.”

  A surge of excited curiosity washed over him as he motioned for one of the nearby Secret Service agents and whispered, “Can you get us to a TV with access to U.S. channels in thirty minutes?”

  After only a second’s hesitation, the agent nodded. “Yes, sir. There’s a five-star resort only five-minutes away. I just need ten minutes to sweep the area ahead of us, but it’s doable.”

  “Dave, I do want to warn you about something....” Burt’s voice rang loudly over the satellite phone. “Let’s just say that what the president says and the reality of Indigo won’t exactly match. As scientists, we hate inaccuracy, so I just want you to know that she’s not an idiot, and that she’ll be purposefully glossing over or understating some things for very obvious reasons. I’m sure you understand, but I wanted to warn you so that you don’t get the wrong idea. She’s playing a tough game with the public.”

  “No worries, Burt. I understand better than you can imagine, and I’ll just bite my tongue while I watch. Speaking of which, I’m off to get myself to a TV, so thanks for the heads up.” Dave hung up and stood as several of the armored transport vehicles associated with his entourage sped away, off to do their standard security screen ahead of his arrival.

  Over the last several weeks, Dave had gotten used to what had initially seemed like paranoid precautions. It was only after he’d read that security briefing that he had much more appreciation for what the agents were doing for him. With that briefing prominent in his mind, he’d stopped getting frustrated with the hassles involved in having all of this security.

  As he held Bella’s hand and walked toward their heavily armored four-wheel-drive, Dave glanced at her and wondered how much he’d actually care about the world anymore if it weren’t for her.

  ###

  The hotel resembled some of the buildings he’d seen in DC, with white marble columns and acres of carved and polished stone. The opulent surroundings of the hotel were impressive, especially when Dave considered how far this location was from any major cities. As he’d walked through the lobby, he noticed the pink marble pillars in the ballroom and the domed ceiling with beautiful murals of garden scenes. But now, Dave’s attention was riveted to the holographic image of the White House projected onto a lonely table in a large ballroom. His security detail had emptied the room and the disembodied sound of a reporter’s voice echoed loudly through a hidden speaker. “And I now pass control to the White House for the briefing that is about to start.”

  ###

  Uniformed members of the NYPD streamed out of the Midtown South Precinct as the shift changed. A few familiar faces greeted Stryker, and fellow officers patted him on his shoulder as they walked by.

  Were it not for a different uniform and the assault rifle draped in front of him, he’d be following them on their patrols.

  But things had changed.

  He was the platoon leader for just over four dozen members of the Military Police out of Fort Drum, all of whom were standing at attention in front of him.

  Taking in a deep breath, Stryker called loudly. “It’s nearly 2100 hours and we’ll be helping the NYPD enforce the governor’s dusk-to-dawn curfew.

  “You’ve all been briefed, but remember, nobody is allowed on the streets unless they’re a first responder or being escorted by one. No exceptions.

  “NYPD’s got the lead on enforcement matters and we’re here to back them up.

  “Sergeants, make sure you coordinate your squad’s movements with your assigned counterpart in the precinct. This should ensure we get maximum coverage of the streets and subways.

  “Any questions?”

  Stryker paused for a moment and panned his gaze across the platoon, all of them in full battle gear.

  “Okay, keep each other’s sixes and stay safe. Dismissed!”

  The sergeants began barking orders to their respective squads, and the soldiers double-timed it to their assigned locations.

  “When you’re done with deployment,” said a familiar voice, “we need to talk about getting you promoted.”

  Stryker smiled, turned to his right, and saw the welcome face of Lieutenant Malacaria standing at the entrance to the precinct. “Hey, Lieutenant. Things have definitely gone to hell, haven’t they?”

  The twenty-plus-year NYPD veteran approached and tilted his head toward Eighth Avenue. “Jon, let’s take a walk.”

  Stryker ambled alongside Malacaria and, despite the warmth of the summer night, a cold shiver raced through him as he stared at the empty thoroughfare. It was eerie with nobody on the streets in midtown.

  Tonight was the first night of the curfew, and he’d have guessed there’d be lots of people wandering around claiming they hadn’t understood what the curfew really meant, or have some other type of excuse for their having violated the governor’s edict. After all, Stryker wasn’t sure if there’d ever been such a sweeping proclamation in New York City.

  After a few minutes of strolling in silence, taking in their surreal surroundings, they turned on West 42nd Street and approached the shimmering lights of Times Square. “Lieutenant—”

  “Call me Matt.”

  “Matt, did you hear anything about why the governor’s enacted this curfew? I thought all the attacks here have been during the day.”

  The lieutenant shook his head. “No idea. We were caught by surprise when the orders came in, and we scrambled to get everyone lined up to enforce them. This is stretching our resources to the limit. I’m actually thankful to have the army help out with this.”

  Stryker nodded as he passed a huddled group of two street cops chatting with two MPs from his platoon.

  The holographic images shimmered brightly overhead as they entered the heart of Times Square.

  “Jon, when you got deployed, did you end up dealing with more crazies, like what happened to you with that rookie?”

  “You mean religious fanatics?” Stryker glanced at Malacaria and noticed his grim expression.

  “You were deployed out West, right? Well, we’ve been getting lots of those suicidal-type doomsayers locally. Is that what you ended up dealing with over there as well?”

  “Yup. For whatever reason, they’ve not been reporting it in the news, but there’s definitely some cult-like thing going on. No idea what’s triggering it.”

  Suddenly, the coruscating shimmer of lights coming from above flickered, and the unchanging glow of the White House’s logo appeared on every screen in Times Square.

  “What the hell?” Both lieutenants exclaimed simultaneously as they looked up at the images hovering fifty feet above them.

  Stryker heard alert beeps coming from both the police and military radios as a message crawled across the bottom of the screen, along with a thirty-second countdown.

  “*** Priority Message – Broadcasting across all channels – Message from the President of the United States ***”

  There were nearly a dozen officers and MPs within sight,
all staring up at the holograms as they switched to a live feed coming from the Oval Office.

  ###

  Holding Bella’s hand, Dave sat back and watched the crystal-clear image of Margaret Hager as she sat behind her desk and addressed most of the known world.

  “Good evening, my fellow citizens.

  “Tonight, I speak not only as the President of the United States, but as a global citizen. To every person within the reach of my voice, I urge you to pause and listen, because what I’m about to say affects us all. In fact, this same message will ripple across the globe as all of the other nations’ leaders speak to their citizens, telling them what I’m about to share with you.

  “Over humanity’s history, there have been times of strife. Times when the people of various nations have not seen eye-to-eye, and instead, have seen fit to wage war against each other.

  “Yet in those times of strife, unlikely partners find themselves banding together. Former enemies become allies and even friends.

  “Now, we all find ourselves on a precipice, facing an enemy that imperils us all. Not just Americans, but the citizenry of the world.

  “I, with the support of the Congress, have signed a binding agreement between the United States and all of the world’s nations. Setting aside any of our differences, we array ourselves against a common primordial threat.

  “This threat could, if left unattended, be the cause of a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions. Something that could wipe away all life on this planet, from the tiniest of bacteria, to the fish in the sea, and even to us, all of humanity. Gone in an instant.

  “What is the threat, you might ask?

  “It is the same threat that caused mass extinction on our world in the past, a global terror that none had ever confronted in any way, shape, or form.”

  “In approximately five months, a series of large asteroids, some larger than the ones that killed the dinosaurs sixty million years ago, is expected to cross close enough to Earth that we stand a good chance of being hit by one or more of them.”

  The camera followed the president as she slowly backed away from her desk and stood, giving the camera a steely glare.

  “As Abraham Lincoln said in a speech given in 1858, ‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ At that moment, President Lincoln was speaking of a division between the states. We have no such division within our country today, yet we’ve historically not been as close with other nations as we could be.

  “I stand before you now. As President of the United States, and as a duly designated representative of the leaders of the United Nations, I promise you that the nations of the world are not divided. We stand together against this common threat.”

  The president slammed her fist loudly on the desk with a grim expression.

  “That threat ends here!

  “It ends now!”

  She lowered back into her chair and leaned forward, again addressing the world in a firm yet calm manner.

  “Through a series of previously classified scientific advances, I am relieved to inform all of you that this global threat is being handled, and we will not meet the same fate as the dinosaurs when a life-ending threat streaked across our skies.”

  “Thanks to the hard work of many of the world’s top scientists, we have a solution.

  “Let me repeat that. We have a solution for the incoming threat.

  “Most of you are certainly familiar with the International Science Foundation. It is a place where advanced scientific research is conducted. They have made significant advances in a variety of areas, but they are especially known for discovering new treatments for multiple sclerosis and other diseases that had previously been thought to be incurable. I will, for the first time, now unveil something that has been in the works for nearly a decade.

  “Our scientists had foreseen the possibility of such an incoming threat and have been working feverishly for nearly ten years on combating it. As I speak to you, we are actively deploying a network of satellites, which will serve as an outward-facing shield against that which threatens our existence.

  “It is called DefenseNet.

  “Using an array of satellites with unimaginably powerful lasers, DefenseNet will detect and destroy any incoming threat.”

  ###

  Dave leaned closer to the holographic image as he listened to the president’s every word. It didn’t surprise him that she’d glossed over mentioning him or any of the other people involved. He was one of the anonymous scientists, and at this point in his life, Dave was quite content with that.

  President Hager’s voice was steady, calm, and well-modulated. She managed to walk the line between being serious and emphatic, and without sounding panicky. He didn’t feel sure that many people could have effectively pulled that off.

  “DefenseNet will serve as the means by which we’ll escape a near-certain death, and for that, we will be ever grateful to our scientific community.

  “Nonetheless, I want to emphasize one thing.

  “Even though I want to assure you that the citizens of our world are safe, nothing is ever foolproof. There is a very small chance that some object may manage to escape being shoved aside or completely destroyed by DefenseNet.

  “When I met just this morning with the governors of our coastal states, we agreed that it is in the best interest of the American people for us to act with an abundance of caution.

  “That being said, I’ve requested the governors of the coastal states to issue evacuation orders for their residents living along the coasts. These evacuations will be completed ahead of the four-month deadline.

  “Under the authority entrusted to me by the Constitution, and in conjunction with the UN general security mandate, I have directed that the following take place immediately:

  “First: any location within one mile of an ocean and less than twenty feet above sea level will undergo mandatory evacuation to sheltered areas, as designated by each of the states’ governors.

  “Second: there will also be a suggested evacuation zone if you live within ten miles of the coast and less than fifty feet above sea level.

  “Third: I’ve already informed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to deploy emergency services in all of the coastal states, and they will be building shelters to accommodate each and every person that will be displaced.

  “Fourth: I am, as of now activating all branches of our military reservists to assist in this coordinated evacuation of the coastal regions, as well as maintaining the security of those evacuated areas. I’ve given the orders to recall all of the active-duty members of the military who are stationed abroad to be available as well. Looting and unrest will be dealt with in the harshest manner possible.

  “Fifth: Being that our capitol is located in an evacuation zone, I, along with the rest of our government, will be displaced and operating from within a shelter further inland.

  “My fellow citizens, let no one doubt that this is a challenging time in the history of our world. I realize that the difficulties of the next several months will be trying for us all.

  “No one can foresee precisely what may happen or what the costs will be, but as citizens of the United States, it is in times like these that Americans band together, rising to meet the challenges set before us.

  “For those of you who are unaffected by the evacuations, please consider opening your homes, housing others whom you might know, or register with your local authorities if you have spare rooms for those who are affected. This is a time for all Americans to pitch in.

  “In this time of crisis, I want to remind you all that the greatest danger we could face is the one in which we do nothing.

  “I want to personally thank, yet again, all of those scientists who have been working night and day on DefenseNet. These men and women are the ones to whom we all owe our lives.

  “I recall a speech given by President John F. Kennedy, ‘We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do
the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.’

  “Those words were spoken over one-hundred-years ago, and I’m sad to say that we’ve barely stretched ourselves past those, at-the-time, lofty goals.

  “When we’re on the other side of this crisis and we can all collectively breathe a sigh of relief, I pledge to increase our investments in the sciences to unprecedented levels. This investment will be sufficient to bring about a Renaissance in all fields of science, because it will be through science that the future of humanity will be guided.

  “But while our gaze shifts skywards in the next few months as DefenseNet is activated, I pledge that in our lifetimes, we will explore new worlds.

  “We will seek out the farthest reaches of our solar system and beyond.

  “And in our lifetimes, we will boldly go where nobody has gone before.

  “But for now, our goal is a humble one. Now is not a time for panic, but a time for resolute purpose and faith. DefenseNet is our world’s shield, and it is that shield which will see us through this crisis.

  “Immediately following my broadcast, your state’s governor will speak to you with more local details. I just want to repeat once again that I have full confidence in DefenseNet and the resilience of the American people. I will be amongst many of you shortly, sharing the same shelters as all of you, and God willing, we will all soon see the fruits of our current and future scientific investments.

  “May God bless the United States of America, and may we all find ourselves changed for the better after this crisis is over.

  “Thank you and good night.”

  With a grim nod, Dave gave Bella’s hand a squeeze. Somehow, the president had managed to leave out huge critical details, but at the same time hinted at everything. He muttered, more to himself than anyone else, “Damned right we’ll be boldly going where nobody’s gone before. And it’s going to be sooner rather than later.”