Star One: Tycho City Survival

by Weil, Raymond L.

  Trace felt emotionless as he looked unsympathetically at the two men. He didn’t even notice when his pistol went off, putting a bullet in the head of the man that was standing. It bucked in his hand again, and the one sitting down slid out of his chair to collapse unmoving on the porch.

  Stepping up on the porch, Trace checked both men, satisfying himself that they were indeed dead. Then he went inside the house to check on the Donaldsons. Fred Donaldson he found in one of the kid’s bedrooms with a bullet in his chest. In the main bedroom, he found Fred’s wife. He carefully covered her body with a sheet and took another to put over Fred. He felt cold anger and revulsion over what the two men had done to the Donaldsons.

  Going back out onto the porch, Trace sat down on the top step and took a deep breath. He had hoped that when he came home all the killing would stop. It almost seemed as if it had followed him here. Trace sat there for several minutes and then stood up. He would go back home and then come back in the morning. They would need to get some of the kid’s clothes and move the food to the bunker as well as bury the Donaldsons.

  As he walked back through the woods, his mind was full of concern and dread. How do you tell three young kids that their parents are dead? Somehow, he was going to have to find a way.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Mase was at Farside speaking with Charles Turner and Adam Strong about the future of the observatory complex. He had been debating for quite some time now on whether it should be shut down or not. The decision needed to be made quickly as moonquakes were becoming more frequent each day.

  “Just forty people,” Adam pleaded not wanting to see the complex abandoned. “We have a deep shelter that can handle that many if the living quarters become compromised. Even as he spoke, he felt the conference room shudder slightly from a distant moonquake.

  Mase leaned back in his chair frowning, and then he glanced over at Andrew Carnegie the chief engineer for Farside. “Andrew, what do you think? Would it be safe for the number of people that Adam wants to stay?”

  “The deep shelter is sheathed in Luxen,” Andrew replied in a calm and steady voice. “We have done a lot of work in strengthening the dome for the Albertson reflector. As long as we don’t have a major moonquake beneath us we should be fine.”

  “This complex is built on a stable area of the Moon,” Adam spoke. “We did that because of the reflector and the dish arrays. There is a very low chance of a major moonquake.”

  “We can’t miss this opportunity,” Charles added in an extremely serious voice. His eyes focused intently on Mase. “The opportunity to study a neutron star and a black hole at close range will never occur for us again. Not only that, but we need to continue to track Star One.”

  “We’ve also built a safe room inside the dome,” Andrew continued. “If we suffer a major moonquake, anyone working in the dome will have ample time to get inside it if there is a failure in the dome structure.”

  “How many people will be inside the dome at any given time?” Mase asked.

  “About ten at the most,” answered Adam, thinking about the plans that he and Charles had discussed. “We can control the Albertson reflector as well as the dish array from there with only ten people.”

  “Most of the time there will only be four or five people in the dome,” Adam said, placing his hands on the table. “We will only have one shift per day with a crew of ten; the other two work shifts will only have four or five people.”

  After more discussion, Mase finally agreed to allow forty people to stay at the observatory complex. The rest would be evacuated to Tycho City gradually over the next several weeks.

  “Don’t let me down,” he said as he stood up. “This complex isn’t worth someone losing their life over.”

  “We won’t,” promised Adam, feeling relieved that the commander was going to allow the complex to stay open. “If the quakes get bad we will evacuate everyone to Tycho City.”

  -

  An hour later, Mase was staring out the cockpit window of the shuttle at the desolate gray lunar landscape below. Then, taking a deep breath, he looked over at Anthony. “Did I make a mistake in letting them stay?”

  Anthony was silent for a moment. “I don’t think so. While you were in the meeting with Adam, I went down and inspected their deep shelter. It’s built as well as anything in Tycho City. They have spacesuits placed at strategic locations, including the safe room in the dome. Carnegie has thought this through very well. Unless they have a moonquake that just swallows the entire observatory complex, they should be okay.”

  Mase nodded, turning his gaze back toward the Moon’s surface. His eyes wandered up, and he could just see the Earth on the distant horizon. It looked so much different than it had just a few months back. The blue and white globe had changed. Now it had a brown tinge in the atmosphere from the dust and other pollutants that had been thrown up from erupting volcanoes.

  “What about this General Young that has been trying to contact us?” Anthony asked as he reached forward and made a slight adjustment to the shuttle’s controls. “Are you ever going to respond to him or try to contact the other bunkers?”

  “Yes, I think so,” answered Mase, folding his arms across his chest. General Young was sending a message once a week to Tycho City asking to speak to Mase. “General Karver says the man is a good officer and trustworthy. We’ve just been waiting for travel on the surface to become impossible. We don’t want to endanger any surviving bunkers by allowing anyone who might intercept our conversations to figure out where they are. The survivors are having enough problems without us adding more to them.”

  Anthony nodded as he scanned his controls. The shuttle he was flying was one of the smaller ones and very dependable. He made a minor adjustment to their course and began to climb higher. Off in the distance he could see a volcano erupting and he was changing their course to go around it. There had been very few volcanic eruptions so far on the Moon. The lava was down so deep that only a major seismographic event could cause one of the ancient dormant volcanoes to erupt.

  “What’s the latest situation report from Earth?” Anthony asked as he gazed down at the volcano. He knew that Mase was briefed daily by Major Burns.

  “It’s steadily getting worse,” Mase replied in a somber tone. “The earthquakes are getting more powerful, and it’s not uncommon to have several massive tidal waves a day hitting the coasts all over the world. There have been so many volcanic eruptions the past month that the atmosphere in most places is no longer safe to breathe.”

  “What about survivors?” asked Anthony, knowing that the death toll on Earth had to be in the billions by now.

  He knew it would be difficult to survive out in the open with all the pollutants in the air. In only a matter of a few more weeks, the surface would probably be uninhabitable. The only survivors would be in the deep cave systems and the underground bunkers.

  “We’re still picking up a few civilian stations, but most of the bunkers are staying quiet,” Mase responded. “There’s also a lot of interference in Earth’s atmosphere from the volcanic eruptions and the dust and ash. Teela has turned control of all of the military satellites over to us. She also programmed the computers on the satellites so no one else can access them without our permission. We have been discussing communicating with the survivors so we can better assess who has a chance of surviving.”

  “I’m glad we can access the military satellites,” commented Anthony, knowing that some of them had really powerful cameras and observation equipment on board. Several of them were also capable of measuring contaminants in the Earth’s atmosphere.

  “They have been useful,” admitted Mase, thinking about all the information that Major Daniels gathered daily from them and then condensed to cover in their daily meeting.

  Anthony nodded as he looked up into the deep darkness of space and the unwinking stars. Somewhere out there was Star One as it moved ever closer to the neutron star and black hole. He let out a deep sigh, knowing he wo
uld never see or talk to his friends on the station again.

  Mase watched the lunar surface below as he made a decision. In two more weeks, he would authorize contacting General Young and perhaps the two secret underground bunkers. He was pretty sure the military communication satellites they controlled could cut through the interference in the Earth’s atmosphere.

  He was also fairly confident that he would not be putting any of the three bunkers in danger by communicating with them. After speaking with the three bunkers, he would decide about attempting to contact others. If everyone was in agreement, he might have Major Daniels launch a search to see just who else was still alive on the planet.

  -

  General Young was in the communications center speaking to Captain Wells. “So you don’t feel it’s safe to search for any more survivors out on the surface?”

  “No, Sir,” Wells replied as he studied the general’s face. “The conditions outside are steadily getting worse, and we now have to wear breathing masks continuously. We have only found half a dozen additional survivors this past month.”

  “I still think we should keep a patrol or two out,” Young spoke. He didn’t want anyone sneaking up on the bunker and causing problems, particularly Senator Farley if he was still alive. Even though the conditions up on the surface made that doubtful, he would still rather play it safe.

  “I will talk to Sergeant Adams about sending out several small patrols,” Wells responded. “Shortly they will have to wear full containment suits just to go outside.”

  “I don’t want them going more than a few miles from the bunker,” Young added. “I also want them to stay in radio contact.”

  “Sir, I have Mase Colton on the com system,” Corporal Anise Fransen suddenly reported with an excited look upon her face. She reached up and brushed her blonde hair back as her deep blue eyes gazed at General Young.

  “About time!” Young said, walking hurriedly over to the com panel. “Put him on the speaker.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Anise replied as she pressed the appropriate button on her communications panel.

  “General Young, this is Commander Mase Colton. I understand you have been wanting to speak with me?”

  “Commander, it’s a relief to hear your voice,” Young began. It was great to hear from other survivors. He had so many questions he wanted to ask the Tyco City commander. “We have been curious about some things down here.”

  “We have some questions as well,” Mase responded.

  “I can guess what about,” answered Marcus as he recalled some of the horrendous events that had occurred in the bunker while Senator Farley was in charge. “I will start first and explain what has happened.”

  Marcus spent fifteen minutes explaining what Senator Farley had done and how he had finally been deposed. Once he was done, there was silence from the other end of the com.

  Finally, Mase spoke again. “We suspected something like that. We have been hesitant to contact you because we were not sure who else might be able to intercept our communications. Now, with the conditions on the surface, that is no longer an issue. What I would like to do is see how many survivors we can locate and what their current situation is. It might be useful once the neutron star and black hole have passed.”

  Marcus hesitated for a moment and then began speaking again. “We are currently in touch with two other bunkers here in the eastern part of the United States. We suspect there are others, but due to the interference in the atmosphere have not been able to contact anyone else for quite some time.”

  “Our communications satellites should be able to cut through most of the interference,” Mase replied. “We also have a list of potential bunker sites that General Karver has furnished us.”

  “General Karver,” spoke Marcus, feeling surprised at hearing the name. “Is he still alive?”

  “Yes, he’s on Star One.”

  “Speaking of Star One, why is the space station heading toward the black hole?”

  -

  Mase had finally finished speaking to General Marcus. Marcus had spent some time describing the conditions around his bunker and the other two he was in contact with. Overall, between the three bunkers, there were 6,800 survivors. Mase just wondered how many more they could reach.

  “Major Daniels, we have the list from General Karver, which designates the potential locations for survivors. I want you to begin sending messages to those locations and see if we can get a response.”

  Daniels nodded as she examined the comprehensive list. There were over eleven hundred potential sites listed in the United States alone where there could still be survivors. Some of these were military bunkers, others were civilian, but the majority were private bunkers built by small groups of survivalists. There were also cave systems as well as numerous underground areas in some of the major cities. The list even contained the bottom floors of parking garages, subway systems, and underground transit tunnels.

  “This will take a while,” commented Daniels, letting out a deep breath. She knew this was going to be a big project as it might take more than a couple of attempts to break through the atmospheric interference in some areas.

  It was going to take days to send messages to all of those locations. Even if there were survivors in some of the locations, there was a good chance they would not have a powerful enough transmitter to send back a response.

  “I realize it’s going to take some time,” Mase responded. “Just do what’s necessary.”

  Daniels nodded; she would call in some more of Captain Struthers’ marines, who were communication experts. This was going to be a major undertaking.

  When Mase was finished in the Control Center, he made his way to the new Tycho City construction site. As he entered the cavern, he paused and looked at the work that was being done. Over twelve hundred people were currently involved in the construction of the new city. Already over half a dozen ten story apartment buildings had been completed, and twenty more were in the process.

  Each building would have three underground levels. Private homes and other public buildings would also have underground levels. It was a massive building project, but it was progressing rapidly. The new Tycho City would extend seventy five hundred feet along the center of the eight hundred foot wide cavern. A wide, two-lane street would divide it.

  There would only be a few streets large enough to allow access to battery operated vehicles. For the most part, going from one section of the city to another would be done by walking. There would also be an underground transit system that ran below the street to allow more rapid access to different parts of Tycho City if it were needed.

  “It’s coming along quickly now,” Isaac commented as he walked up to Mase. “Two more months and we will be able to start moving people in.”

  Mase nodded, he felt the ground tremble slightly and looked over at Isaac.

  “Ground tremors,” Isaac confirmed with a frown. “They’re almost nonstop now.”

  “Are they causing any damage?” Mase asked with some concern in his eyes. This was a large cavern and their future depended on it staying intact.

  “No, not yet,” Isaac replied. “As long as we don’t have a major ground movement close by we should be fine. The Luxen support beams should be able to handle the moonquakes.”

  Mase nodded and watched as two excavation machines rumbled past toward a digging site. He just hopped they could get everything done in time.

  -

  Deep beneath the Pacific, a major fault line suddenly ruptured from the tremendous pressure it had been under. The ocean floor, in some areas, dropped by nearly one thousand feet in just a few minutes. Several underwater mountains collapsed as the massive earthquake intensified, sending shock wave after shock wave through the sea floor.

  As the tremors raced toward the west coast of the United States, a series of massive waves began to build. Off the Oregon and Washington coasts, the water suddenly began to recede, exposing the sea floor for several miles. In the distance, a
deafening, roaring sound almost like a freight train began to grow.

  There was nothing living to watch as the two mile high mountain of water struck the coast, destroying the last vestiges of human civilization along the shore and far inland. The wave traveled for hundreds of miles in some areas, wiping out towns and homes that lay in its path. Behind it, other waves hammered the coast, some almost as large as the first.

  In other areas of the United States volcanoes continued to erupt. Mount St. Helens exploded in a fiery blast that made the eruption back in 1980 look minuscule. Mountains of lava poured forth, and fiery ash and smoke billowed up into the sky. The area for miles around was leveled.

  In Yellowstone, the caldera began to stir. There were several minor eruptions and releases of gases, but no major eruption. The magma chamber continued to fill, and pressure was steadily mounting. It was only a matter of time before it had to be released.

  In Florida, a massive tidal wave swept completely across the state, eliminating all signs of the former cape complex and the battlefield to the north of it. The highest point in Florida was Britton Hill at 345 feet above sea level. The wave height was two hundred feet above it as it swept on past and rolled into Southern Alabama.

  In North Carolina, in a sheltered valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a small village still held a few people struggling to hold on to life. Each day their lives were becoming harder as their food supplies began to run low and the air became more difficult to breathe. Less than two hundred people remained in the small village, and it had been weeks since they had any contact with the outside world.

  Most of the trees in the surrounding forest were dead or dying from the acid rain and general pollution in the atmosphere. The only doctor in the village knew that their days were numbered as more people came by his office daily with severe respiratory problems. The few people who ventured outside their homes had to wear white masks to help with the air, but even those were beginning to have little effect.