“Jesus!” Gary looked at Bill. “That would take weeks.”
“Is something like that even possible?” Bill sounded skeptical.
“If anybody has any possible solution scenarios please contact me as soon as possible.” Administrator Reese-Walker sounded totally flummoxed.
“And now for the possible good news,” she continued. “At approximately two-thirty a.m. Easter Standard Time this morning, the team using the Multi-channel Extra-Terrestrial Array broad-spectrum radio equipment attached to the large Gregorian dish in Arecibo, Puerto Rico detected a signal from deep space. That signal was detected for approximately an hour before it was lost. After further analysis it is clear that the signal came from the Tamaroa spacecraft. Listen carefully to the following recording of the signal.”
There was a short pause and then the message began.
This is the spaceship Tamaroa. Our high and low gain antennas are inoperable at this time. We are broadcasting from a makeshift omnidirectional patch with hopes that you will get this message. The electric propulsion system repair has failed. We are still alive and well on the asteroid Sutter’s Mill and are attempting to push its trajectory using the nuclear engines of the Tamaroa. Please acknowledge and advise.
“That’s Paul!” Bill almost shouted.
“I knew it,” Gary said excitedly. “Listen. Listen.”
“The message repeats itself from there. We have no way of knowing what has happened up there and as far as we can tell the trajectory of the Sutter’s Mill asteroid has not changed a detectable amount. We have been responding to the signal for the past several hours but have gained no response from the Tamaroa. The spacecraft, if it is on the asteroid, is about twenty-seven million kilometers from Earth and is at about a ninety-second speed of light delay for communications. Hopefully, they are still alive and we will get a further response from them soon.”
“I’m texting Rebecca right now to tell Carolyn,” Bill said as he thumbed his phone.
“Wait, Bill,” Gary looked like somebody had run over his dog. “Not yet. We don’t know that this isn’t an automated message that is somehow still going after they were killed or something. No, let’s wait until we know for certain. We can’t put Carolyn through thinking he’s alive again and then finding out something else.”
“Dammit!” Bill slammed his phone on the coffee table in front of him. “You’re right, but dammit.”
“As soon as we get Carolyn safe, we need to get involved with this,” Gary said.
“I agree.”
The two men listened to the closing statements of the NASA Administrator but there was little more information. The NASA Deep Space Network system had been brought online and was continuously broadcasting at the asteroid. But for the past several hours there had been nothing but the repeated signal.
“But for now, we need to get to the bunker and wait out the next few hours.” Gary checked his watch and realized they needed to get moving.
CHAPTER 41
The Earth and the debris field continued to approach one another at a hefty fifteen kilometers per second relative closing velocity. The outer edges of the atmosphere had just started brushing the outer edges of the debris field. Shooting stars had begun to flash brightly across the night sky off the eastern coast of the North American continent. A giant fireball streaked across the sky visible from cities as far north as Jersey City. The explosive boom was so loud that windows burst all along the coastline from Richmond, Virginia to Jacksonville, Florida. Millions of dollars in damage grew to tens of millions as the wave of destruction from near Earth spread westward. And this was just the beginning.
As the small pieces that had been slung forward off of the Sutter’s Mill asteroid during the despin operation tracked across the globe it left a wake of damage ranging from broken windows to power outages. But that was only the small-scale debris. The largest so far had been a fireball that exploded at approximately five miles high above Memphis, Tennessee. The blast wave from the meteorite’s airburst had an epicenter about fifteen kilometers southwest of downtown and was more destructive than an EF-5 tornado. It wiped several older office and commercial buildings off the map. Homes in the suburban area showed extensive damage as far as south as Arkabutla Lake. The casualty toll was expected to be close to two hundred people. The emergency responders were working diligently to rescue those trapped in the rubble. And firefighters were engaged with fires and gas leaks over an area of more than a hundred square kilometers.
The hopes were that Memphis would be the worst of it.
At least, those were the hopes.
CHAPTER 42
“I don’t care what the FAA is telling you. This is my plane and we are leaving here now. That’s why we’re on a smaller regional airport instead of Blue Grass Airport at Lexington. Take off and get us to Paducah and it will be worth your while. I’ll take care of the FAA,” Gary told his pilot. The man was new. Gary’s previous pilot had quit once all the shooting had started and it was clear that someone was doing their level best to see him killed. Gary didn’t blame his former pilot. Who knew? That rat bastard crazy SOB Zhi Feng could show up anytime and start taking shots at him again. All of Gary’s employees had pretty much demanded a higher level of pay or protection.
The new guy had come with high praise from the same organization that supplied his bodyguards. Gary hoped the man understood that when he worked for Gary Childers sometimes you did what Gary Childers wanted and not what the federal government “recommended.” He’d learn that or Gary would be forced to find someone else that would.
“Yes sir, Mr. Childers. I just wanted to make sure you understood the risks we are taking. The commercial boys have stopped flying already. And the FAA is telling us we shouldn’t take off,” the pilot warned him.
“Are they saying we can’t take off by law?”
“Uh, not yet, sir.”
“Are they saying it is a no-fly zone and they’ll shoot us down?”
“Uh, no sir. They are not.”
“Are you afraid to fly in this?”
“No sir, the odds of getting hit by something have to be ridiculously low. And the Gulfstream 650 is the best plane there is. But I’m just warning you that there could be legal flak and there is the extremely remote possibility of danger.”
“I understand. Now let’s get out of here.” Gary was finished with the conversation.
“Roger that, sir.” The pilot toggled a switch and radioed to the control of the airport alerting them that they were taxiing and taking off whether they advised it or not. “Just go relax sir. This will be a short flight.”
“Good. Thank you for understanding.” Gary nodded and turned to the rear of the plane. He made a mental note to do something nice for the pilot in the future.
Carolyn’s gurney had been strapped into the plush couch on the left side of the cabin and Bill and Rebecca had taken seats flanking her. Rebecca was by the window near Carolyn’s head and Bill at the window by her feet. The nurse practitioner caring for her was seated behind them but was keeping a watchful eye on both Carolyn and the sensor readings being routed to her touchpad via wireless. There was no flight attendant, as Gary typically liked to take care of things like getting a drink for himself. Sometimes on longer flights he’d have an attendant or two, but this was a simple up and down from the middle of Kentucky to the western edge of it.
“Whoah! The sky is starting to light up to the east of us,” Bill said. “We should get on with it.”
“We are,” Gary said just as the plane started to move. “We’ll be in Paducah in thirty minutes or so and my place is only minutes from there. I have an ambulance standing by to transport us.”
“Don’t worry about me, Gary. I don’t think I need an ambulance,” Carolyn grunted hoarsely. “Too much fuss.”
“Well, yes and no,” Gary started just as the jet pushed him back into his seat as it accelerated for takeoff and pitched up to climb to altitude. He could see a slight grimace on Caroly
n’s face. The nurse looked up at him and gave him a thumbs up. Carolyn might have some discomfort but nothing major to worry about.
“You okay, Carolyn?” Becca asked her. “You need anything?”
“I’m fine. I’m fine,” Carolyn reassured her. “Now what do you mean by ‘yes and no,’ Gary?”
“Well, I meant that an ambulance can travel faster than normal vehicles on the road so we are all going to ride with you to my place by the river,” Gary replied. “It will be faster.”
“Y’all have to see this!” Bill sounded excited as he motioned toward the windows. “Better than the Fourth of July!”
Gary unbuckled his seat belt and climbed partially over Bill to look out his window even though there was an empty window seat right behind him. Just as he looked out there were several bright green streaks across the twilight sky leaving long burning and sparkling trails through the atmosphere against the blue and pink sky background.
“Jesus!” Bill said sounding like a kid on the fourth of July. “What fireworks!”
“We’re safe from them, right?” Rebecca Stetson asked her husband.
“The odds of one of those meteors hitting this airplane are so astronomically small that you can’t even imagine the number. For all intents and purposes the odds might as well be zero chance of a hit,” Bill told his wife.
“That’s right,” Gary added. “Nonetheless, I’ll feel better once we get safely to my place. Besides, Bill, we’ve got some phone calls to make.”
Just behind several bright streaks of green zipping across the sky to the north and east of them a fireball appeared that was much, much brighter than the ones they had seen so far. The green and white streak filled the sky and then, as far as Gary could tell, it impacted or exploded. A mushroom cloud of fire was thrown upwards and the twilight sky turned as bright as noon.
“Oh my God!” Becca shouted. “What is that?”
“Something just impacted maybe fifty to a hundred kilometers north of us. Maybe further,” Stetson exclaimed. “Gary, does this thing have a live television feed?”
“I’m already ahead of you, Bill,” Gary said as he sat back down in his seat and ran the remote controls in the chair arm. A flat-screen was revealed on a forward bulkhead. Gary switched it on and it took a few seconds to negotiate with the digital satellite system and then they were watching a twenty-four-hour news channel. “There. They’re showing it already.”
“…first reports are that a large impact has occurred just south of Cincinnati, Ohio. As of now we have little information other than the live video feed you are seeing from our affiliate there. Oh my God, this looks devastating…you can actually make out the mushroom-style cloud. It looks like a nuclear bomb was dropped on Cincinnati. Oh my God, our prayers go out to the families of the people there…We are going to go now to…”
“…Ding…Uh, sir, this is the captain speaking. I’d suggest everyone buckle up as we are about to experience a very serious shear layer. Please remain seated and remain calm.”
No sooner than the words had filtered through the intercom and Gary had managed to process what he was saying the plane started to buffet and rock. Gary lost his balance and grabbed for a handhold but missed. Fortunately, Bill grabbed him by the right arm and steadied him just in time.
“I’m good,” Gary told him. “You can let go.”
“Everybody, hold on and stay buckled!” Stetson shouted as he let go of Gary and turned to look at Carolyn and his wife.
The blast wave of the impact at the distance they were from ground zero might not have been threatening to buildings and trees and houses, but to an airplane the nearly two hundred kilometer per hour winds started tossing the plane like a toy.
Updrafts and vacuum pockets following the initial blast wave impact forced the plane to lurch upward and then fall dramatically. Gary could feel his heart sink to the pit of his stomach and then jump into his throat almost instantaneously. Gary looked over at his companions. Bill Stetson, astronaut extraordinaire had his body pressed into his seat and his head turned slightly so he could see out the window. He seemed calm, but Gary was guessing that Bill wished he were in the cockpit.
Rebecca Stetson was holding onto the seat arm white-knuckling it and appeared to be clinching her jaw to hold back bile. Carolyn had a grimace on her face, but being strapped in she could do little more than just lie there.
The jet continued to rock wildly and was thrown left and right and up and down randomly for the next several minutes. There appeared to be no end in sight until Gary felt the jet turn nose up and could feel the engines burning full throttle. The plane climbed for several minutes through the rough weather and then seemed to be clear of it.
“There are still lots of streaks across the sky,” Bill noted. “We really need to get this thing on the ground.”
“Agreed,” Gary said. “I’ll call…”
Then the plane peaked in its climb and nosed over. For a very brief instant Gary felt his stomach float into his throat and realized they must be close to microgravity, and then the plane completed the nose over and the pilot threw the throttle all the way to the stop, pushing them into a steep dive. The Gulfstream G VI class aircraft picked up speed and jetted through the upper boundary layer of the rough winds. The jet jerked and jumped but it pressed on through and gained speed. Gary looked out his window and could see lights ahead and beneath them that were rushing up quickly. He’d seen the same lights before.
“Paducah is just ahead. We’re moving really fast though,” he said.
“He’s punching through the winds. Your pilot knows what he’s doing, Gary.” Bill nodded then smiled. “Or at least I hope he does. Gonna be a helluva flare at the bottom of this dive.”
Just then the motors for the flaps kicked in, vibrating the plane as it tore into the high speed winds traversing the wings. Noise from the friction of the high speed airflow made the interior of the jet sound like a low dollar carnival ride. Then the flaps bit deeper into the wind as the motors drove them up higher. The plane started to flare out slightly and the speed began to drop rapidly. The plane was coming in very hot—too hot for a landing.
“We’re very hot!” Bill shouted. “Stall this baby!”
The nose of the plane continued to shift up and up and the noise inside the cabin continued to sound like nuts and bolts in a blender on frappé. Then the kathunk of the wheels dropping out underneath them and the motors whined as they locked them in place. The wind friction against the wheels added to the noise. Gary thought the wind against the landing gear sounded like a thousand rivers rushing through the cabin, but it also slowed the plane dramatically.
Altitude dropped quickly and then the plane righted itself at the last moment and set down on the runway almost unnoticeably. Almost instantly the brakes kicked in and squealed and it sounded as if the jets had been turned around backwards and were firing at full throttle. There were a few jerks as the brakes grabbed and continued to squeal but the aircraft slowed to a manageable speed just in time to turn at the end of the runway onto the taxiway.
“Ladies and gentlemen welcome to Paducah Regional Airport. Sorry for the bumpy ride. Mr. Childers, I’ve notified the ground crew we’re here and your ride is waiting for us in the hangar.”
“So, let’s hope this is the final show,” Gary said. “And not the precursor to something bigger.”
CHAPTER 43
Zhi Feng sat with his hands cuffed in front of him. The FBI had put him in the back seat of a nondescript black sports utility vehicle with plans to move him from the airport. The vehicle was currently traveling south on Interstate 405 toward the main FBI office near El Segundo. Agent Reed sat in the seat to the left of Feng and two other agents were in the front of the vehicle. The traffic along the interstate was crawling at a snail’s pace.
“This is just what happens when the governor goes on television shouting the sky is going to fall,” one of the men in the front laughed.
“Yeah, all the Chicken Little
s are running around, well, like chickens with their heads cut off.” The agent driving responded with a half-hearted laugh. “But after what happened in Memphis and in Cincinnati it’s hard to blame them.”
“I agree,” Reed commented from the back seat. “Hopefully, the worst of that is over.”
“Hey, look at that,” the man in the front passenger seat pointed out in front of them. “A shooting star!”
Zhi Feng remained quiet. He had nothing to say to these idiots and he was ashamed of himself for allowing himself to get caught. He was also tired. The airport security and the FBI had interrogated him for hours at a holding room at the airport. And that was after the awful overcrowded flight from Japan.
Zhi Feng wasn’t sure why but they had held him at the airport for the better part of an entire day. Finally, they were moving him to a so-called “better location.” Were he in China he would suspect that meant a hole in the ground somewhere, or a maximum security prison. But Americans were different, softer. They made him sick.
“Stay focused, gentlemen,” Agent Reed ordered his men. “This must be the asteroid debris field making its way to the West Coast. There have been many large booms across the country already that, while smaller than Memphis, still caused problems. We want to make sure we get our friend here safe and sound behind some really strong iron bars.”
“Just a few fireworks, Reed. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.”
“Holy shit! Look at that.”
An extremely bright orange white fireball streaked across the sky due south of them. It was so bright that it lit up the evening as though it were the middle of the day. Then it hit the surface of the Earth somewhere not that far from them.
The light was so bright that it nearly blinded him. He looked away just as the light of impact erupted into a fireball expanding into a mushroom-shaped cloud. If Feng had to guess he would have thought the explosion was only a handful of kilometers away if it was even that far. Then the blast wave hit.
On to the Asteroid Page 23
