Verdant Skies
Steven Lyle Jordan
Table of Contents
Introduction
1: Disaster
2: President’s Arrival
3: Plans
4: Politics
5: The Diplomat
6: Tensions
7: Maneuvers
8: Research
9: Reports
10: Reading the Opposition
11: Embargo
12: Secrets
13: Futility
14: Inspiration
15: Window of Opportunity
16: Damage Assessment
17: Assaults
18: Discussions
19: Re-prioritizing
20: Panicking
21: Collision
22: Moment of Truth
23: Translated
24: Assessment
25: Announcement
26: Explanations
27: Pandemonium
28: Coordination
29: Mysteries
30: Missing Persons
31: Ready
32: Decisions
33: Leaving
34: Arrival
35: Questions
36: Pre-flight
37: Return
38: Emergency
39: Big Jump
40: Living
Afterword
About the author
Verdant Skies e-book edition is Copyright ©Steven Lyle Jordan. All rights reserved. This ebook edition is intended for private use only. Purchaser is authorized to shift the novel to alternative ebook formats in order to facilitate its use by the purchaser. Purchaser is not authorized to reproduce or redistribute this novel. Please do not redistribute or resell this novel, or copies of it, without the express permission of the copyright owner. Any interested parties should be directed to RightBrane.com to obtain copies for themselves.
The characters in this novel are fictional, and do not represent actual persons, living or dead. Any similarities to actual persons, living or dead, are coincidental and unintentional. For further information, and to see other novels, visit RightBrane.com.
Cover art by Steven Lyle Jordan for Right Brane ePublications. All rights reserved.
Revision 2: September, 2010
Introduction
NA Newsfeed—Breaking News—05Aug2229.16:23GMT
The U.S. Geologic Survey outpost in Bozeman, Mt. report this morning that four vents identified to be directly connected to the Yellowstone Caldera erupted within eighteen minutes of each other, beginning at 15:38GMT. The skies immediately over the region have begun to fill with volcanic ash and various sulfuric compounds, forcing authorities to immediately widen the established safety cordon around Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding environs.
Evacuations have been sounded throughout the Yellowstone region of Wyoming, and evacuation alerts have been widecast throughout Wyoming and the surrounding states. Scientists at the U.S.G.S. outpost have reported that the eruptions agree with their projections of the imminent eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera, an event that has been widely anticipated over roughly the past two hundred years, though scientists had no way of knowing the ultimate moment, nor the magnitude, of the eruption.
Live data from the Global Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration is being sent to the U.S.G.S. in order to provide an accurate projection of the movement of the volcanic residue being ejected into the atmosphere by the caldera. Volcanic ash and soot is known to shut down most aircraft and some aerospacecraft engines, so a no-fly zone is being established in the surrounding area. As the area impacted by the ash cloud widens, air traffic in the North American region will be heavily impacted. Volcanic ash is also known to be hazardous to respiratory systems; as a result, residents in the states surrounding Wyoming are being advised to stay within their homes or indoors in safe locations, until further notice. The danger will not be lessened until the cloud has largely dissipated, and scientists have no way of estimating at this point whether that will happen in days, weeks, or months.
Yellowstone National Park has not allowed visitors since 2163, when the heat and fumes from the park’s famous vents and geysers became either too hot for human or animal toleration, or began to spew sulfurs and other volatile chemicals that suffocated the animals in the vicinity. In 2140, a permanent outpost was set up in Bozeman, tasked specifically to monitor the Yellowstone Caldera in an attempt to identify the approximate time of eruption and to monitor the air quality and current weather patterns in the area to provide early warning in the event of an imminent eruption. Critics are already attacking the U.S.G.S. over the apparent lack of warning provided by the outpost, and demanding an immediate investigation of the station’s operational mission.
Scientists worldwide are responding to the event. Many of them are referring to the historic report delivered by Mohamar Reed to the U.N. in 2180, saying that this event would be the environmental “straw that breaks the camel’s back.” Others are referring to it as a “potential extinction event.”
Current evacuation and alert notices
Detail on Yellowstone Caldera
Detail on U.S.G.S. Yellowstone Caldera Research Program
Text of Report #UN44089/MR02052180, delivered by Dr. Mohamar Reed on 2 May 2180: On the threat represented by the Yellowstone Caldera to destabilize the environmental state of the globe
1: Disaster
05Aug2229
The leisurely arc being cut by Aerospace Force One through the Colorado sky belied the incredible power being applied to its twin engines—more than usual, in order to cut through the grit that was already beginning to fill the air, and outrun it into orbit. Despite plenty of warning and distance, the skies to the north and west were already displaying a deep red hue, and lighter ash being ejected by the Yellowstone Caldera had already managed to reach as far as the Denver metropolitan area and darken the local skies. The powerful Aerospace Force jet was still in its southward turn and the reddish sky was slowly vanishing astern, but the outboard cameras kept the image centered, broadcasting it on every viewscreen that was not otherwise occupied displaying data relevant to the running of the country.
Only one such screen in the President’s flying office was broadcasting the rearward view. As far as Gaston Lambert was concerned, that was more than enough. It was like watching a plague advance upon his nation, and in fact, would be no less devastating. He tried not to look at that screen, out of concern that its mere image would drain the resolve out of him, that he would be unable to make decisions, unable to run the country. And as it was, he didn’t know how he would be able to guide it through this disaster, no matter how focused he might be.
Notice had been so short that they’d had little time to prepare or collect much before they had to go. Only the staff that were in the High House, or could reach Aerospace Force One at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in an hour’s time, had been able to come. Those staff members were now liberally spread out among the sub-sections of the jet’s wide blended wing cabin, either trying to get work done, or waiting out the ride and nervously discussing the situation below amongst themselves.
They hadn’t even had the time to wait for Vice President Carruthers to return from Lisboa, before it was decided that the worsening atmospheric conditions demanded they take off. That was particularly galling, because Lambert knew he would never hear the end of leaving Lena Carruthers in direct charge of the country, while he stole away to the relative safety of Verdant. And she would never forgive him for leaving her behind… she would be a bitch-on-wheels to work with, for the duration of their term.
However long that would last.
Lambert glanced over at the only other person in the room, seated at the chair closest to his desk.
Enu Thompson, his Chief of Staff, also seemed to be pointedly avoiding looking at the one viewscreen that displayed the ash front behind them, and he glared with tightly knitted brows at the other screens that showed the evacuation efforts in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Utah, the emergency meetings being carried out throughout the country, or displays of figures and graphs that measured the health and well-being of the country… all of which were in horrid scarlet death-spirals now.
As if Thompson could feel Lambert’s gaze on him, he shifted his head enough so that he could meet the President’s eyes. Thompson’s dark African features and naturally large, round eyes could look particularly fierce when he was unhappy, and he looked none too comforting now. They had been together long enough that there was no reason to voice what they both knew they were thinking: We could not have known; this is not our fault; yet, we will be blamed for it, and the subsequent ruin of the country, if we can’t find a miracle somewhere that will pull us out of it; in short, our political lives are pretty much over.
Seemingly confirming their shared thought, Thompson’s face softened slightly, and he dropped the hand that had been pressed against his cheek as he slumped in the chair. He straightened up perceptively, and nodded at the President. “We’ll figure something out.” It was an empty gesture, an empty statement, and Lambert chose not to reply.
There was a discreet knock at the door, and Thompson called out, “Yes?”
The door slid open, and one of the President’s aides popped his head inside. Without pausing to gauge the mood of the room, he said: “Sir, we’ve gotten word that the Vice President has touched down in Frederick. She’ll be on the next bullet west to Denver within the hour.”
“Thank you,” Lambert replied. When he added nothing else, the aide took the hint, and disappeared, closing the door behind him. Lambert shook his head sadly. “Merde. ‘Cocktail Barbie’ in the High House,” he muttered, using the nickname the media had so irreverently attached to the Vice-President during the elections Not that it didn’t suit her—in fact, it could only have been more accurate if she’d possessed a twelve-inch waist. “I’m not sure which to be more afraid of… the people’s reaction, or hers.”
Thompson shrugged. “It’s not as if we won’t be in communication with Denver. We’ll still be giving the orders, and Lena can just sit there and look good. Like usual.”
Lambert glared at Thompson. “You know there’s more to running the High House than that. She’ll be a nervous wreck before sunset.” He cracked an ironic grin. “Which will be coming a lot sooner than usual today.”
He risked a glance at the rearward camera viewscreen. Although the reddish horizon still dominated the image, it was now at risk of being overshadowed by the noticeably-increasing curvature of the Earth below, and the inky blackness above it. Though the appearance of Earth from high orbit had always awed and impressed him, the image was tainted by the spreading red stain below, and today Lambert saw nothing beautiful about it.
So he glanced at another screen, which had shifted to a forward view. The cameras were able to provide filtering that the unaided eye at a viewport would not have been able to manage as well, and Lambert could clearly see the tiny pinpoints of starlight speckling the field of black. A few specks were brighter than the rest, and Lambert knew they were heading towards one of those brighter specks, though at this distance he could not tell which.
Under normal circumstances, there would always be ships in the sky, going to and from the orbital satellites. Less than a century ago, engine technology had finally put the practicality of powered flight into orbit into the hands of small shipping companies, heavy freight haulers and even passenger services. Much of the transit and transportation that used to be carried out in the atmosphere was now sent all the way to orbit, where the lack of atmospheric drag allowed a ship to travel around the world on significantly less power, not to mention accessing the various orbital facilities that had been built. At the moment, however, there were far fewer ships in the sky, as the atmospheric conditions had caught most craft unprepared, and grounded most fleets.
“Are there any reports from Verdant?” Lambert asked. “How are they reacting to this?”
“I haven’t heard anything yet,” Thompson replied. “I’m sure they’re monitoring the situation, but the gravity of this might not have reached anyone outside of the CnC. I’ll get an update.”
Lambert nodded as Thompson rose from his seat and headed for the door. “Let me know if things are getting bad up there. Nothing like escaping a disaster and landing in the middle of a riot.”
Thompson smiled grimly at him before he exited the room. “That’s the spirit.”
~
Verdant’s Command and Control center usually carried the atmosphere of an open office full of relaxed cubicle-workers, talking openly and joking, passing information back and forth, and tending to their work with the quiet efficiency of people who knew what they were doing. The atmosphere in the CnC today, however, was noticeably different.
Various scenes of the spreading plumes of ash, evacuation efforts, North American and global weather data, and concerned news reports from around the world were displayed on a myriad of monitor screens on the desks. The reports were in many languages, many of them being translated by the GLIS, the station’s Governing Logistics Intelligence System, into Universal English for the benefit of the staff. Personnel quick-stepped back and forth, from desk to desk, sharing data or asking questions of each other, and trying to collate everything they were seeing. The GLIS spoke as well, multiple dialogues from multiple speakers, supplying data or answering questions as requested. An individual would have had to raise their voice to be noticed above the commotion. Despite the artificial daylighting in the room, the CnC felt dark and ominous today, as if the ash clouds over Wyoming were somehow blocking their light, too.
The room consisted of two outer rows of control and monitoring desks set in a rectangular pattern, with the desks on each side of the rectangle oriented to the open area in the center of the room. A command station as large as six of the outer desks dominated the central space, itself dominated by an elaborate wrap-around control panel, a number of large viewscreens on its surface and suspended from the high ceiling above, and a three-dimensional display column in its center. Of the personnel coming and going throughout the CnC, they mostly gave a wide berth to the central station, and to the man and woman standing side-by-side there.
They wore identical green blazers, complete with the Verdant logo over the left breast pocket, matching green trousers, and cream-colored shirts, the mark of senior governing personnel. Beyond that, there was very little about them that seemed similar. He was European in features, handsome, an inch over six feet, just a few years into the second half-century of his life, and with the slight paunch to prove it; outwardly calm, but very alert, taking in the data before him and the reactions around the room with calculating eyes. She was a small, fighting-trim, dusky Latina who didn’t look like she’d reached thirty yet. Her pretty face, dominated by large, expressive eyes, was tempered by a strong and confident gaze that suggested an unwavering confidence and dedication to duty.
She watched the viewscreens in obvious dismay, absently using her hand to cover her open mouth. “This is painful to watch,” she muttered, too softly for her words to get any further than the man standing next to her. The man glanced at her… perhaps just to make sure she was bearing up under the stress of the situation… and nodded lightly, but otherwise said nothing.
A voice called out from an overhead speaker… the voice of the GLIS. “Ceo Lenz?”
The man at the central station allowed his eyes to drift upward at the ceiling, as if looking at the speaker was the same as looking at the Governing Logistics Intelligence System. The GLIS speakers and monitoring pods all looked like fist-sized soccer balls, their white faceted surfaces allowing for uni-directional sound and sensory input and output. The sound was directed at him well enough that it was easy to pick out w
hich pod had spoken to him.
Once the man’s eyes had fixed on the appropriate pod, it spoke again. “Raw stock deliveries to Verdant are already being postponed or cancelled throughout the Americas. Manufacturing schedules will be immediately impacted in six on-board plants.”
“Understood,” the man nodded. “Are you still monitoring Aerospace Force One?”
“Yes. They report no adverse difficulty getting through the atmosphere. ETA is still 1915.”
“Prepare a list of plant personnel, starting from non-essential and working up, for an interim leave schedule.”
“Very good,” the GLIS responded.
Next to him, the woman nodded, though she did not take her eyes off the screens. “Might as well. It’s not as if they’d get much work done during this.”
“Agreed.” The man glanced at the woman. “Do you have family near Yellowstone?”
“Are you kidding?” the woman replied, and flashed him an ironic half-grin. “I don’t think there’s a ten-square-klick plot on Earth where you won’t find a member of the extended Luis clan.” He chuckled, not too heartily. “Hopefully,” she continued more seriously, “none that couldn’t get out of there in time.”
The man and woman exchanged glances, then furtively stole a glance about them at those in the rest of CnC. They were the top of the command structure, and it would not pay to set a bad example to the rest of the staff, or show an inappropriate level of concern during a crisis. Julian Lenz, “Jules” to those closest to him, Chief Executive Officer of Verdant, had seen his share of executives who’d lost their positions due to a lapse in professionalism at an inopportune time—like when a media camera was on them, or a disgruntled employee was in earshot—and had no interest in playing the defensive role with his career. He was just too old for that nonsense.
His second in command, Executive Officer Reya Luis, was probably not quite as concerned for her career as he was… but she was just as professional, and understood about professional propriety. Her comment about her extended family was already a well-known and well-worn running gag in CnC, and therefore hardly something to take issue with. Even so, she’d kept it pitched low enough to avoid anyone else overhearing... with the possible exception of the GLIS.
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