The three of them stood there as the regular program came back on. “Now all the talking heads will be appearing,” Brett joked. “That was interesting; I thought she was going to talk about our breakthrough.”
Benjamin just looked disgusted and said, “The sheep hear what they want to hear.” He turned to them. “I would like both of you to get back to your research as soon as you can. Continue your basic research as we agreed. I would also like you to work on my special request when you can, and Jessica…I have been thinking about what we discussed back in your old lab. Remember about the bacteria with the tail. I think that there might be a tremendous profit in a birth control vaccine. If you could perfect that, there are several potential customers that would pay handsomely for it. To make this investment more profitable, I would like you to devote some resources to that also. Now, I must take my leave, I have some important phone calls to make.”
Benjamin looked at the TV as he turned to go. “Never, ever trust a politician. I have bribed too many of them in the past to believe every word they say.” With that he turned and walked out collecting his ever present “assistant” at the door as he went.
Brett looked at Jessica and shrugged. “You heard the man, back to work.”
Chapter 17
Thursday April 28th 2016
California
Peter sat back in his seat and flipped up the tiny table surface on the back of the seat in front of him as the flight attendant gave him a soft drink. Although he would have preferred a cold beer, he felt like he was still on the clock for Uncle Sam and JPL. He was on a commercial flight back to the west coast after a whirlwind of briefings in Washington. He was much too low on the NASA and JPL totem pole to qualify for a private government jet. It made it him dizzy thinking of all the behind the scenes jockeying and lobbying going on in Washington regarding the discovery of the Brown Dwarf.
There were specials on the television stations discussing the news of the approaching Brown Dwarf. Anyone that thought they were someone in the know was being interviewed about what a Brown Dwarf was and what was going to happen when it arrived and what could be done to stop it etc. etc. As expected, the end of the world fanatics were having a heyday with all of the attention they could now command. There had been some minor rioting and looting in a few cities after the President’s speech, but that was mostly by inner city gangs who would take advantage of any situation to stir up a chance to rampage through the shopping districts, breaking windows and looting stores. These had been handled very quickly by the local police and after about twenty four hours the streets were quite again. Surprisingly, it was rather eerily calm, and for the most part people went about their daily business. Most people were too busy just making ends meet to worry about something that was going to happen twenty seven years in the future.
Peter was looking forward to getting home, sleeping in his own bed, and just getting back to his office to do what he loved working on. It also did not hurt that Susan was waiting on him. He had called her to let her know his flight number and she was going to meet him at the airport. The woman sitting beside him in first class had her laptop open watching to the news on CNN. There were several climatologists from somewhere talking about how in twenty seven years or so the best places to live would be central Africa, the northern half of South America and places like Central America. Already, they were saying, speculators were buying up land left and right in those places.
Just as Peter was about to shut his eyes and try and get some sleep the newscast had shifted to a reporter trying to ask questions of a middle aged man who was trying to hurry up the side walk to reach his house. Peter sat back up wide awake and looked at the woman’s laptop screen.
“Excuse me Doctor Casselman,” the reporter said. “Can you tell us anything about what type of student Peter Rockwell is? Just how did he discover this object that no one else had noticed? Is it true that Peter Rockwell is dating your niece? Did you help him discover his star?”
Through it all, Eric Casselman just kept saying, “No comment, no comment.” He made it to his door, rushed through, and shut the door behind him.
The reporter turned around to face the camera. “Well, Renee,” he said as he addressed the newscaster back in the station anchor room, “It seems that Doctor Casselman does not want to speak to us. “So I guess we will go back to you.”
The camera faded back to the newscaster. Superimposed on the screen behind her was a recent picture of Peter from Cal Techs graduation listing for the spring semester. “So far, no one has seen Peter Rockwell since the President’s speech. We are not sure if he is lying low or the government has him tied up in some meeting somewhere. We promise though, that just as soon as we can locate him we will try to get an interview with him.”
Peter cringed and tried to sink down in his seat. The woman beside him just turned and stared at him. Peter just gave a sheepish grin and turned toward the window. As he pretended to go to sleep he could hear her tapping away on her keyboard. “Oh crap, he thought. This is not going to be good.”
Peter’s plane landed and pulled up to the egress tube. As he stood to get his luggage he noticed people were looking his way and whispering. The two female flight attendants were smiling and trying to catch his eye. As he waited for the de-boarding to start, a little boy about eight years old that was traveling with his father in the seats in front of his stood up on his knees in the seat and asked Peter, “Are you really the guy that discovered Peter’s Star?”
Peter just shook his head and headed for the exit door as fast as he could. Reaching the concourse his heart sank. Susan was there waiting on him but she did not look very happy. There were cameras flashing and reporters everywhere. “Mr. Rockwell, Peter Rockwell?” they were all yelling. The concourse was a teeming mass of people.
At that moment a man with a JPL badge and four airport security police pushed their way through the crowd. “Come with us Mr. Rockwell, we will try to avoid all this.”
“Wait,” said Peter. “Susan, my girlfriend…”
Half the reporters and cameras turned to Susan. “Oh shit,” thought Peter.
One of the security guards grabbed Susan’s arm and pulled her from the sea of reporters. They were led down a side door to the tarmac below where a Security SUV was waiting. They were hustled inside and the SUV took off across the tarmac area. The JPL man turned around to them. “I am sorry we did not get there sooner. Someone on your flight must have recognized you and notified the news agencies. I have orders to get you out of here and to a secure location until some of this hoopla dies down.”
“So much for sleeping in my own bed tonight,” Peter said.
Susan grinned and bent over to give him a kiss. She whispered in his ear and nibbled it. “Well, maybe my bed would have been lonely anyway,” he thought to himself.
After a ride across the entire airport they pulled into a plane hangar where a white minivan with a big Channel 5 TV sign across it side was sitting waiting for them. “Damn,” said Peter “We’ve been duped!”
“Relax,” said the JPL man. “What better place for you to hide from the press in than in a TV van? No one would ever think to look for you there.” One of the security men opened the side door of the van and they jumped out of the SUV and hurried into the van. The van then drove out, onto the access road and joined the other traffic on the interstate near LAX.
“It seems like we have escaped,” sighed Susan.
Peter noticed that the driver, an elderly man probably in his sixties, also had a JPL badge on. “Where are you taking us?” asked Peter.
The driver looked in his mirror and said, “One of your buddies is going to meet us near the beach and take you to their house for a couple of days until all this fuss dies down.”
“What about my work?” exclaimed Peter.
“And my classes?” pitched in Susan.
The driver just looked in the mirror and grinned. “I was once your age. I know you can find something to do together fo
r a few days while you are laying low.”
Susan blushed and giggled. Peter just sat back and wondered what the hell had he gotten himself into just by studying some old satellite photographs. It occurred to him that he had definitely stirred up a hornet’s nest.
They pulled up to a fairly deserted section of a beach road. There was a Lexus with dark tinted windows waiting for them. “Here is your ride,” the van driver told them. Susan jumped out and climbed into the back seat and Peter hurriedly slid in right behind her.
Peter looked up at the driver of the car and found himself staring in the mirror at Mary Beth Davis, director of the Hubble project. She grinned at him and said, “Welcome home schoolboy.”
Peter was in shock. “Doctor Davis, what are you doing here?”
“Well schoolboy, seems you and your girlfriend are going to be the guests of my partner and I until all this hoopla dies off some. Hope you guys brought your swimsuits. Mary Beth turned and looked Susan up and down. “Although in your case honey, they are totally optional.” Susan turned beet red.
“Hell, I was just kidding honey. Don’t worry, I am already spoken for.” She looked into her mirrors and then accelerated the Lexus onto the highway. As she merged into the traffic, the classics radio station she was listening to started playing the old Eagles song “Hotel California.” Peter just sat there, too tired to speak. Susan laid her head on his shoulder and hummed along with the music in contentment.
Chapter 18
April 28th, 2016
Washington, DC
President Montgomery walked into the secret service anteroom outside the oval office. The two agents there immediately jumped to their feet. She motioned them to sit back down and asked, “Do you guys have some fresh coffee?” She knew they did, they always had a pot going. As President she knew she could always just take a cup, but she felt it was more civil and polite to ask. One of them jumped up to pour her a cup. They knew she liked it black and hot, just as she knew they always had a fresh pot brewed that she could raid. Nodding her appreciation, she took her mug and went back into the oval office to get her notes before joining the National Security council meeting in the situation room.
Her chief of staff, Elliott Dewey, was there watching CNN on the large television monitor that was used to monitor the public news. At the moment, it was showing the apparent escape of Peter Rockwell and his girlfriend at the airport on the west coast as they ran out a side door with some security guards and climbed into a SUV. “You know the press is not going to let up until they interview him a dozen times or so,” Elliott said. “The poor kid doesn’t know what he got himself into. The press is like a blood thirsty pack of hyenas. Once they get the scent they are not going to let go.”
President Montgomery wrinkled her nose up at the mention of reporters. “Why don’t you have Doctor Honstein over at NASA set up a couple of controlled press interviews with him? That way the kid does not get mauled and maybe he can get a little peace afterwards. God knows that soon we all will have little enough of that. Let’s get this over with,” she said as she turned toward the briefing room.
The members of the National Security Council stood as she entered. “Be seated ladies and gentlemen, we have a lot to discuss. By now all of you should have read your briefing on current events as well as the most recent information available on the Brown Dwarf, or as is now being commonly called by all the TV stations “Peter’s Star.” You should know that our administration is probably facing a greater challenge than anyone who has ever sat in this office before. Our country, as well as the whole world, stands on the brink of falling into utter chaos and anarchy that could well cause the collapse of civilization as we know it.”
“The issues that must be resolved are overwhelming, but what we do now in the next few years could very well ensure the survival of this county as well as the whole planet. I have outlined the problems we face with the input of a few advisors. I will ask Mr. Dewey to briefly describe those, and then we will open the discussion. Remember, that these plans are a rough outline only, and not set in stone by any means. Detailed plans will take considerably longer to work out and implement. Mr. Elliot, please proceed.”
Elliott Dewey stood and looked at his notes. “You may all follow along in the handout you were given when you arrived this evening. These items have been delegated to the heads of certain departments and they will each give a quick briefing on steps to achieve these goals.”
Item One…Maintaining law and order leading up to the encounter as well as after the encounter. This will fall under the jurisdiction of the Homeland Security Advisor with legal backup from the Attorney General’s office. Mr. Isaacs of Homeland Security will now brief us.”
Mr. Isaacs stood and acknowledged the room. “In order to maintain some semblance of normalcy, we wish to minimize the use of any military or National Guard units in this endeavor until about six months before the encounter. At that time, the long range plan is to impose martial law while the populous is moved from imperiled areas to areas of relative safety that have been prepared. To do this without a heavy military presence will require doubling the size of most major police forces. New, stricter laws involving violent crime, looting, and rioting will be implemented upon the advice of the Attorney General. Martial law is only being considered being imposed from six months before the encounter until after the population has been relocated post encounter. It will be relaxed as soon as possible.”
“Thank you, Mr. Isaacs,” Elliott said.
“Item two…Evacuating, housing, and feeding millions of people from the coastal areas and earthquake prone regions during the closest approach of the Brown Dwarf. This will fall under the Jurisdiction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Mr. Alexander, a quick brief please.”
The head of FEMA stood. “This effort will make the efforts of past hurricane and national emergency efforts in the past pale in comparison. We are talking about moving approximately one hundred and eighty million people away from coastal cities and from areas along major fault lines. Then, we will have to house, feed, and provide security for those people and relocate them to areas in the southern states where they will be able to survive the colder climates that are expected to develop after the encounter. This is not going to be like providing for a few hundred thousand after a major Hurricane for six months or so. We are talking about providing shelter and food for approximately two thirds the population of the country for several years. It will take us all of the twenty seven years we have before the event to prepare for the magnitude of this operation.” He sat down.
“Item three…Preparing new infrastructure in preparation for the moving millions of people to the southern regions prior to the onset of heavy snows and the icing in of northern latitudes,” continued Elliott. “Until the President and Congress appoint special commissions, this has not been placed under any particular agency. It will require the moving of vital industry, factories, and manufacturing capability to the southern states prior to the coastal, earthquake prone, and northern areas becoming un-inhabitable. New power plants, new cities, hospitals, schools and housing developments will have to be built. Vast new tracts of new farmland will have to be prepared. It will be a very costly and critical undertaking. The President feels that private industry should take a lead role in this endeavor.”
“Item four… Maintaining the health of the population and preventing the outbreak of epidemics as a result of the floods, earthquakes and the close living quarters necessitated by the above. Doctor Basjani of the National Institute of Health will briefly discuss this.”
“Thank you Mr. Elliott,” Dr. Basjani said as he stood. “Think of all the diseases that afflict man now under fairly good habitation and hygiene controls. Then, crowd approximately three hundred million people into about half the land space we now have. After that, throw in all the coastal flooding, ruptures in sewage lines and contaminated water supplies, and finally add all the mosquitoes that will flourish after the floods. We will h
ave Diphtheria, Yellow Fever, Malaria, Plague, Tuberculosis, and every other disease spreading like never before. Without proper medical treatment, probably thirty percent of our population would die during the first winter after the encounter. Luckily, there has been a very recent breakthrough in the design and preparation of vaccines that holds great promise. A drastically accelerated clinical trial has been started using this new process for several vaccines. If this pans out as we hope we should have a vaccine for almost all of these diseases that I have mentioned available for mass vaccinations in the next ten years. If it does not, then many of all these new housing projects would be half empty in less than a year after the encounter.” He sat back down and Elliott stood again.
“Item Six…maintaining national security and the national defense leading up to, during and after the encounter. General Makavich, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will brief us,” said Elliott as he introduced the General.
The General stood and addressed the council. “Be prepared, there is going to be some wars and they are going to be some bad ones.” Everyone looked shocked and the President was frowning. “Let me explain. Nearly all of Russia, a third of China, all of the Scandinavian Countries, large portions of England, France, Germany, Poland etc. are going to be all but uninhabitable come the first winter after the encounter. Where are all those people going to go? All of Canada to our North is going to be uninhabitable. Where will their citizens go? Many of these countries do not have warmer regions to move their populace to like we do.”
“Already many of these northern lying countries are realizing this and eyeing their neighbors to the south. Places like Africa, India, and South America. These warmer regions have land and smaller populations, with the exception of India of course. They also have much weaker military forces. You can guess what is going to happen. The United States does not have the strength to protect all of these smaller countries. Some quick scenarios have been run and we have made some predictions, these are rough, but are the most logical outcomes.”
Dark Star Rising Second Edition (Pebbles in The Sky) Page 14
