“It was just a thought,” Warren responded with a deep sigh.
“Warren,” Burns spoke in an understanding voice. “We all know the hardships the people up above are going through. We just need to concentrate on those we have been entrusted with to make sure they survive this calamity.”
“You’re right of course,” Warren replied as he watched one of the viewscreens, which showed a small town inundated with rising water. There were a number of people trapped upon roofs, and from what he could see; no one was attempting to rescue them.
“That is being broadcast from a helicopter in Illinois,” a young blonde lieutenant reported from her communications console. “We are receiving numerous video feeds similar in nature from all over the country. The flooding is so bad, local governments and even state governments are being overwhelmed. They just don’t have the resources to respond to an emergency of this size.”
Warren nodded his head sadly. The scope of the human tragedy was beyond belief. What was even more frightening was that this was only the beginning; the worst was yet to come.
Chapter Fourteen
Mase was standing on the lunar surface in his white spacesuit along with Anthony and over a dozen others. They were all staring upward toward space. Up above a brilliant light was visible where the Star One space station was in orbit. If you watched closely, you could almost see it moving. Steve Larson and his team had decided to move the station out of the Moon’s orbit and take it deeper into the solar system. They had even been discussing taking it to the black hole and attempting to take the station through the wormhole to escape a possible nova.
The reason for this thinking was that Teela, the AI on Star One, was forecasting a good chance that the sun would undergo a nova-like transformation due to the gravitational stresses put on it by the close approach of the neutron star and black hole. How serious this would be was still up for conjecture. Teela was unclear how large the nova would be. Her simulations showed anything from a minor flare up of the sun to a full sized nova, which would destroy the entire solar system.
Mase tapped his com panel to send a message up to Star One. He was quickly put in touch with Margaret Sullivan, the communications specialist on the station.
“Tell Steve he has really lit up the night sky,” Mase commented as his gaze stayed riveted on the sight above. The station had been equipped with four ion drives, and they were slowly moving the station out of the Earth-Moon Lagrange point. “Some of us are out on the surface watching the show, and the rest of Tycho City’s inhabitants are watching from their viewscreens. We all wish you the best of luck.”
“Commander Larson says thank you and that he will contact you later with the status of the station,” Margaret replied. “Everyone’s pretty excited up here; we’re anxious to see how well this works.”
“They’re actually doing it!” Anthony spoke as he gazed upward in awe at the spectacle.
The light had become much brighter, and he knew that special SRBs attached to the station’s hull had been fired to help accelerate the massive space station on its long journey. Anthony knew special Luxen cables had been stretched between the three wheels of the station to help stabilize it. There had also been a thick layer of Luxen placed upon the outer hull to strengthen it for what was ahead.
It was sad to know that so many of his friends were leaving. If they were successful in their attempt to transit the wormhole, they would be permanently out of reach, leaving Tycho City on its own. The station seemed to be moving faster, and Anthony continued to watch with interest.
“We’re on our own now,” Mase commented as he glanced over toward the edge of the crater where he knew a Black Knight missile battery was located.
He hoped Senator Farley didn’t turn his wrath on Tycho City now that Star One was out of his reach. They would have to be on guard the next few weeks for any signs of interference from Earth. He also knew that shortly the worsening weather conditions on Earth would make any attempt to attack Tycho City impractical.
“We were going to be eventually anyway,” Anthony replied. “Star One might be able to survive in the short term for a few years, but in the long term the space station is not a viable option. At some point in time, if they had remained in orbit, they would have had to come down here in order to survive.”
“Where’s Jean?” Mase asked. Jean was Anthony’s younger sister.
“Doctor Klein let her off to watch Star One,” Anthony replied. “She is over at Linda’s apartment with Jolene and Karen.”
Mase nodded; he knew very little work was currently being done because of all the excitement about the space station leaving orbit. That had been the main topic of conversation for the last several days. There had been a lot of calls made back and forth as friends said goodbye to each other. The station would still be within easy communications range for a few more months, but it wouldn’t be the same when you looked up into space and Star One wasn’t hovering protectively overhead.
“Linda wants to cook us all supper tonight,” Mase added as he continued to watch the space station slowly pull away from the Moon.
He had a number of close friends on Star One. It was sad to know that he would never see any of them again. Steve Larson and he had been through a lot together over the years as Steve built the massive space station and Mase did the same thing with Tycho City.
Captain Struthers came over to stand next to Mase and Anthony. “Commander, I have ordered the crews at the Black Knight stations to be extra vigilant for the next few days.”
“I was going to recommend that myself,” Mase replied with a nod. “I don’t think we’re in any immediate danger, but we should be watchful in any case.”
“Do you think they will make it?” asked Anthony, referring to the planned attempt by Star One to transit the wormhole.
“I hope so,” replied Mase, turning to look at Anthony. “Teela thinks they have a good chance or they wouldn’t be considering it. If they make it they will be starting a new human civilization somewhere else in our galaxy.”
The group became quiet, as they all looked upward at the receding Star One space station. Around them, the desolate gray lunar landscape seemed even lonelier as Star One left its protective position above them.
-
Later that evening, Mase was at Linda’s apartment with the others. “How is progress coming with the second ecological habitat?” he asked from where he was sitting on the couch.
Linda and Karen were in the small kitchen cooking. From the tantalizing aromas coming from the kitchen, there was not doubt in Mase’s mind that this was going to be an excellent meal.
“Great!” Jolene replied with an excited smile. She was sitting in a chair across from Mase. “The soil has been prepared, and we have already laid out the feeder lines for nutrients and water. We will begin putting in the first garden plots in a couple more days.”
“What about the ponds for the fish?” asked Mase, recalling that Jolene had mentioned raising fish in several small ponds in an earlier conversation.
Jolene brushed her black hair back behind her shoulders with her left hand. “Steffan has a crew coming tomorrow to build them for us. There will be four small ponds,” she replied, recalling the latest designs. “Each will be one hundred and twenty-five feet across and four feet deep. We will be raising four different species of fish. We should have our first harvests in a little over six weeks from the time the fish are first introduced into the ponds until they are large enough to eat.”
“Any chance we can fish in the ponds?” Anthony asked with a thoughtful look on his face. He was sitting next to Jolene in one of the dining room table chairs. It had been years since he had gone fishing on Earth.
“I don’t think so,” admonished Jolene, reaching over and poking Anthony in the side. “Tyler Erin and John Gray tried that on Star One, and Julie confiscated all of their fishing gear after she chased them out of the habitat where the fish were.”
“Yeah, John told me about
that,” replied Anthony, shaking his head. He could well imagine his friend trying to escape his wife’s ire. It was a very comical thought.
“So, we’re going to have fish to eat?” Jean asked surprised. She had been staying extremely busy with Dr. Klein and hadn’t thought much about where their food was going to come from.
“Yes,” Jolene answered. “Once we get the third habitat built we should have fish, chicken, and pork available to add to our meals.”
“No steaks?” Anthony asked with a disappointed look on his face. It was going to be a big disappointment to go into a restaurant and not find steaks on the menu.
“Not for a while,” replied Jolene, reaching over and patting Anthony on the leg. “I’m sure you will be able to survive.”
“How’s your work with Doctor Klein going?” asked Mase, looking over at Jean who was sitting on the far end of the couch.
“It’s great,” she replied with a big smile. “I’m learning so much and we have been really busy getting the deep sleep chambers ready.”
“I was going to ask Doctor Klein about that earlier, but never got around to it,” Mase said. “How many people do we have under now?”
“Twelve hundred,” replied Jean, promptly. “Doctor Klein says we have enough material and medical supplies to put another one thousand into deep sleep over the next six weeks.”
Mase nodded; that would still leave over six thousand people awake. He would have a talk with Doctor Klein about speeding up the process. That number needed to be fewer than four thousand when the neutron star and black hole made their closest approach.
“Supper’s ready,” Linda informed them as she stepped into the room, taking off her apron. “I hope everyone’s hungry!”
They all gathered around the table, and their eyes widened upon seeing what Linda and Karen had prepared.
“I didn’t know you two could cook like this,” Mase said as he eyed the broiled rib-eye steak on his plate. Looking across the table, he saw Anthony had a big happy grin on his face.
They had steaks, baked potatoes, green beans, fried okra, a green salad, and baked rolls. Mase thought he could smell cinnamon, which hinted at a dessert hiding somewhere out of sight.
“Linda, you and Karen did great with this meal,” Jolene commented as she reached for the salad. She knew that everything in the salad had been grown in her ecological habitat, and she was anxious to taste it. She had offered to help with the cooking, but Linda and Karen had insisted that they could handle it.
“We used to cook together at home,” Linda said with a smile, remembering those days a few years back. Then the smile slowly faded as she thought about her parents still trapped on Earth.
Mase saw Linda’s look of concern and could easily guess what she was thinking about. He cut into his steak and took a bite. “This tastes great!” he said, breaking out into a grin. He saw with satisfaction that a smile had returned to Linda’s face.
“I don’t know how often we can do this,” Linda spoke as she ate one of the small cherry tomatoes in her salad. “I had some things put away in our small freezer.”
“Is this salad all from the habitat?” Anthony asked Jolene as he took a cautious bite and his eyes widened. “It actually tastes pretty good!”
“Everything except the salad dressing,” answered Jolene, pleased that Anthony liked the salad. “We are already sending a lot of vegetables to the restaurants in Tycho City. If everyone would just eat a salad we could feed a big part of the refugees that came up from Earth.”
“As we put more of them into deep sleep it will put less stress on our food resources as well as our recycling systems,” Mase commented as he cut another slice off his steak.
He knew that currently Isaac and Steffan were spending much of their time making sure Tycho City’s systems stayed online from all the stress they were under. There was a full time maintenance crew assigned just to handle the recycling systems.
“Mom and I used to bake a lot back home,” Karen said as she buttered a roll. She had made the rolls from scratch using one of her mother’s recipes. “Commander, what do you think happened to our parents? Do you think they’re still alive?”
Mase looked over at the twenty-two-year-old and for a moment, a serious look came over his face. “It’s hard to tell,” he said, looking into Karen’s eyes. “There’s been some flooding around Kansas City, but not as bad as the rest of the country. From our latest reports, even their electricity is still working. There’s a good chance your parents are fine and just trying to ride these storms out.”
“Don’t forget, Karen,” spoke Linda, feeling her sister’s pain and concern. “There is a large solidly built basement beneath the house. Dad made sure of that when they had the house built. I’m sure they will be fine.”
Karen nodded and slowly finished buttering her roll. She hoped that Linda was right.
Mase knew many of the people in Tycho City were asking the same question that Karen had just asked. Everyone still had loved ones and close friends trapped on Earth. The coming months were going to be hard on everybody as the situation on Earth steadily worsened.
-
Warren Timmons was in the Control Center of the bunker staring at Major Burns in disbelief. “Star One did what?” he said in a loud and stunned voice.
“They left the orbit of the Moon and, from what we can tell, are accelerating the station on a course to rendezvous with the neutron star and black hole.”
Warren sat down in a chair and looked around the Control Center, feeling confused. “Why would they do that?”
“No one knows,” answered Major Burns. “I spoke to a few of the scientists earlier and they are just as mystified as we are. We know something happened to the FarQuest a number of days ago, and now Star One is under acceleration and rapidly leaving the Earth and the Moon.”
“They must have a reason,” said Warren, looking intently at Major Burns. “Something they discovered about the neutron star and black hole from the FarQuest mission.”
“We may never know,” replied Burns, shaking his head. “We don’t dare attempt to contact them in case our transmission is picked up by Senator Farley’s military.”
“What about General Mann?” Warren asked. “Does he have any idea?”
“No,” Burns replied, shaking his head. “I spoke with the general earlier, and they are just as mystified as we are.”
“I bet Senator Farley is fit to be tied about this,” Warren added with a haunting smile. “Star One is now effectively out of his reach.”
“Perhaps that’s why they moved the station,” suggested Burns, thoughtfully. “Farley has already attacked them with missiles; perhaps they are doing this to make the station unreachable to further attacks. There is still a possibility they may change course away from the neutron star.”
“I’m picking up some radio transmissions from various stations reporting that Star One has left the Lagrange point,” Lieutenant Reynolds reported from communications. She checked several more stations and then turned around to face Major Burns and Warren Timmons. “No one seems to understand what is going on with the space station.”
“Steve Larson knows what he’s doing,” spoke Warren, decisively. “I also bet that Mase Colton on the Moon knows what’s going on. When things calm down some, we may attempt to contact Colton and find out what Larson is up to. I’m really curious as to what they had to do to make the station maneuverable like this. It wasn’t originally equipped to be able to move out of the Lagrange point.”
Major Burns nodded his head in agreement. It wouldn’t be much longer if the conditions on the surface continued to deteriorate, that any type of reprisal from Senator Farley would be impossible. Each day there were fewer and fewer radio stations on the air as power grids continued to fail due to the inclement weather. It wouldn’t be much longer until Farley’s control of the country was gone forever.
“What’s the current status of the bunker?” asked Warren, turning to look at Major Burns o
nce again. “How are we doing on the new tunnel?”
“Progress is going well,” Burns replied. He had been on an inspection tour earlier. “Allen Summers is spending most of his time in the tunnel supervising its construction, and it’s coming along quickly.”
“What about the dirt and rocks from the digging?” Warren asked with concern. “Where are we putting that?”
“We have multiple access tunnels dug into several old gold mines,” Burns responded. He walked over to a cabinet on the wall and took out several maps, which showed the old gold mines that honeycombed the area. Returning to the small table where Warren was sitting, he rolled one of them out.
“Old gold mines,” mused Warren, looking down at the map. He could see a number of underground tunnels that were marked in red.
“We’ve sealed off the surface entrances, and we’re putting the dirt and rock inside the tunnels,” Burns explained. “We have plenty of room and no one will ever know what we’re doing.”
Warren nodded. Anything they could do to expand the bunker only made it more comfortable for the 6,240 people that had made the bunker their home. Warren just hoped he could continue to protect the people in the bunker and that they would all come through the rough days that were still ahead.
He leaned back in his chair and thought about all the people they had lost. President Kateland, Jane Kinsey, Tim McPhryson, and the many others that had lost their lives to ensure that some people could survive. Now, Steve Larson and General Karver were leaving as well as Star One fled deeper into the black void of space.
Chapter Fifteen
Star One: Tycho City Survival Page 19
