“Marla, there are a lot of very smart and very motivated people out there making plans and setting them into motion. We are lucky that we have twenty seven years to prepare. I think by that time we will be in much better shape to survive the challenges we will be facing. There are already projects getting started. All the different industries are pulling together to start building what we are going to need. Rockets and space ships are being rapidly designed or modified to do what we need them to do in space to protect us. The government is deciding where we can build new cities and neighborhoods for everyone to live after the storm passes. We will survive.”
“Our time is running out Peter, so I have two more quick questions for you. We have all heard the President asking people to consider not having children, or to limit ourselves to one child per couple to reduce the amount of people that will need to be fed and housed in twenty seven years from now. So, let me ask a personal question. Are you and your girlfriend going to have a baby knowing what is going to happen in the future?”
Susan jumped up and almost knocked the table over on her uncle. “That bitch,” she exclaimed.
“Uh, you are right, that is a very personal question Marla. Susan and I have not really discussed it at this point,” Peter replied.
“Fair enough,” said Marla with a twinkle in her eye. “My last question is this Peter. Where do you plan on being when your star makes its closest pass to us? Are you going to be glued to a telescope somewhere or holding your girl?”
Mike looked at Eric and grinned, “He’s screwed no matter what he says.”
“Well,” said Peter, “Twenty-seven years is a long time away.”
Marla looked at the camera and said, “Well girlfriend, wherever you are out there, you have some work to do also it seems.”
“This is Marla Albright with Doctor Peter Rockwell from JPL. We bid you all good night.”
Susan grabbed up all the dirty dishes and stomped off to the kitchen.
Mike took a swallow of his beer and glanced at his old friend. “When are you going to tell her Eric? She looks just like her mother did back then you know.”
“I know,” sighed Eric. “Sometimes, I actually think I see her mother again instead of her. I just hope that Peter does not make the same mistake and bad choices that I did so long ago. I guess I will tell her when I think the time is right.”
Chapter 20
August 15th, 2017
Bethesda, Maryland
Jessica Driskall was so nervous she could hardly stand it as she kept pulling back her hair to look through the microscope. Trying to focus on the microscope was making her nauseous again. Brett and Doctor Jeremy Tomes were in the Break room eating a breakfast croissant. She shook her head. Men, they could drive a woman crazy in times like these. They had been working on this day for over a year now and Brett was eating a stupid croissant, it drove her nuts.
Benjamin Greco was on his way to the lab with the woman he had chosen to be the surrogate to carry his child. They had finished mapping his dead sons DNA about seven weeks ago after nine months of trial and error. Doctor Jeremy Tomes, a fertility specialist had harvested eggs from Amy, the twenty six year old surrogate five days ago. Brett and Jessica had then reproduced the DNA in the lab from the computer database and they had removed the entire DNA molecule from the nucleus of the eggs and replaced it with the laboratory reproduced DNA. So far, it had been a success. They had three viable Blastocysts living and dividing in a special nutrient dish. Jessica was amazed as she looked at them under the microscope.
Doctor Tomes would be implanting those three microscopic clusters of cells into Amy’s uterus when she arrived at the lab. If all went according to plan, at least one of them should implant and in nine months plus or minus a couple of days at least one identical copy of the six month old son that Benjamin Greco had lost to Meningitis would be born. There was the possibility of triplets but odds were only one of the Blastocysts would implant. The process of in-vitro fertilization was not new, but as far as they could knew no one had ever reproduced DNA from a computer data based source that itself had been derived from non-living tissue. If this worked, the possibilities were endless.
Benjamin had made them agree not to share any of this particular research until after his son was born. Brett was very excited that they could offer this process to the brave astronauts that were training to start construction of the space based asteroid defense system. They were going to be exposed to pretty high doses of radiation and if they could preserve their DNA before they went into space they could still safely have healthy children in the future. Also, they both were excited that they could use this process of storing DNA for all of the species of animals that would probably be going extinct after the encounter with Peter’s Star. One day it might be possible to restore a habitat where a species could be brought back from extinction and survive.
Brett came out of the break room and said, “They just drove up.” Doctor Tomes jumped up and went to verify everything was ready. “Are they ready for implantation?” Brett asked Jessica.
Jessica nodded. “They are looking for a warm dark place to hide and grow into babies.”
Brett went and unlocked the door and let Benjamin and a beautiful young blond women enter. They were doing this on a Saturday morning when none of the other staff members were here. This part of their research had been kept secret until they proved it would work. Only Brett, Benjamin, Jessica, and Jeremy Tomes knew the whole story. Amy, the surrogate only knew that she was going to be a surrogate. She was not aware that the embryos that were going to be implanted had been produced from the DNA of Benjamin’s dead baby son.
Benjamin introduced Amy to Brett. “Amy, this is Doctor Brett Driskall, he and his wife have prepared the fertilized eggs that Doctor Tomes will be implanting in you. I turn you over to their care. I will be in your break room Brett.”
Brett nodded and shook Amy’s hand. “It is very nice to meet you. If you will come with me I think my wife and Doctor Tomes are about ready. They will actually be doing the procedure. I will sit out here and keep the future father company.”
Jessica met them at the procedure room door in a surgical gown and mask. “Hi Amy, please come with me and we will get your prepped and ready.” She led Amy into the room, blew a kiss at Brett, and closed the door.
Brett went back to the break room and sat down with Benjamin. “Today is the big day Benjamin,” joked Brett. “You’re going to be a father again.”
Benjamin looked up, “I am as nervous as the day my son was first born he said. Hopefully, things will work out better this time.”
Changing the subject, Benjamin said, “I want to let you know that I am amazed at the astounding progress you and Jessica are making in your procedures for the vaccines. You have done more in the past year than anyone had thought was possible.”
“Well, it helps that we have almost unlimited funding,” said Brett. “All this equipment and research work has cost you a small fortune.”
“It is an investment,” said Benjamin. “While the pharmaceutical companies are falling all over each trying to finish development of the vaccines, it is the work you two are doing with the digital cataloging of DNA that is the true breakthrough here. That is why I am not the only one bankrolling you. I am a member of a group of very wealthy and influential people that believes that the techniques you are working on could pay us back quite well for the investments we have made. My business associates and I have also bought a pharmaceutical company that has previous expertise for producing affordable vaccines. The world is going to be experiencing a crisis in a couple of decades, and millions if not billions are going to die. We have decided that we can use our financial resources to help alleviate some of the suffering. Call it a humanitarian gesture.”
“I do not understand,” said Brett.
“We are going to mass produce the vaccines that you have prepared and distribute them free of charge to the billions of people living in the third world count
ries whose governments will not be able to afford them from the other pharmaceutical companies. We are going to do this totally free of charge,” Benjamin explained.
Brett was speechless. “Benjamin, you did not get rich giving away billions of dollars to the poor of the world.”
“No, I did not. However, like I said, I am not doing this alone. There are others who are willing to contribute to make our world a better place after the Brown Dwarf passes.”
“That is very admirable of you and your friends Benjamin,” said Peter.
“Well, while we are waiting, there are a few technical questions that my colleagues and I need answering Peter. How soon will it be before the vaccines for all the epidemic diseases like Typhoid, Cholera, and the others are ready? After the floods, you know that Yellow Fever, Malaria, and many of the other mosquito borne diseases are going to run rampant and we feel that we need to start distributing the vaccines very soon.”
“Actually, we are almost there,” said Peter. “Everyone in the world’s health care organizations agree there is no time for decade long clinical trials. Since the President and the courts decided it would be legal for death row inmates to volunteer for testing the vaccines, we are years ahead of schedule. Due to prison overcrowding, they are even letting prisoners with long sentences volunteer for the trials in returned for reduced sentences. At first, even I thought that this was rather un-ethical, but it was decided that if the victim or the families of the victim agreed to it, then it would be allowed. Only the inmates deemed a threat to society are not being given a chance to earn their release. It is actually turning out to be a good thing. They earn their release by volunteering for the vaccine trials, and then serve their parole working on the national housing projects that are getting started. We are getting quick results from the testing. We have a motivated and cheap workforce, and are spending less money on keeping people in prison. The one strike rule that will put them back behind bars with their original sentence seems to be a good motivator for them to stay clean and most of the released inmates are turning over a new page in their lives.”
“I have another question for you Brett. Is there a way, or will it be possible to combine several of these vaccines into one injection? It would be a lot easier to give a crying child just one or two injections instead of multiple ones. It will also make it easier to distribute and require far fewer supplies to administer all the vaccines.”
Brett thought for a minute. “Yes, that should be possible. We already have combination vaccines like the Tetanus/Diphtheria one, or the Measles and Mumps vaccine. That should not be a problem. They could probably reduce it down to two or maybe three injections. The volume of the vaccine needed for each disease will be the limiting factor.”
“That is very good news, I will pass that along to my friends. It will take away some of the sting of the cost I think,” Benjamin said with a laugh. “Oh, one more question. How do we stand on the birth control vaccine?”
“Well, in theory it is ready. We prepared a small batch and gave it to Doctor Basjani at NIH. The government wants to be able to offer it at no cost to people at all government health clinics. If a young woman agrees to get the vaccine, then they can administer it and then enter it into their computer information systems so she automatically gets the no child tax credit from the IRS without a bunch of paperwork hassle. I believe it will go over very well, but it is slightly more expensive to produce as it takes growing the tissues in vitro to produce the altered sperm cells. Unfortunately, it will probably be cost prohibitive for any small third world country to do it independently due to the cost of the lab resources to produce it.”
Benjamin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Peter, I am going to send one of the production specialists over from my new pharmaceutical company over to look at your techniques for producing that. Maybe he can come up with a more economical method of production. Would you please share it with him?”
Brett nodded and started to speak but just then Amy entered the break room followed by Jessica and Dr. Tomes. “All done,” said Amy. “It did not hurt anything like I was expecting. As a matter of fact, since I had to fast for the procedure, I could really use some lunch. I guess I better enjoy eating now before I start getting morning sickness too,” she grinned at Jessica. Jessica gave her a knowing wink.
Benjamin stood and gave Brett and Jessica and Dr. Tomes a big hug. “If this works, nothing can repay you for what you have done for me.”
Taking Amy by the arm, he led the way to the door. “You name what you want to eat, and it will be done,” he said to her.
“How about a chili-dog and milkshake from Dairy Queen?” she asked. They all stared at her in horror. “I was just kidding! Geez guys, I know I am eating for more than one now. How about I have a good nutritious salad with grilled salmon on top?”
“There you go, that sounds better,” said Jessica as Benjamin and Amy walked out the door. Dr. Tomes shook Brett and Jessica’s hands and followed Benjamin out the door.
Brett and Jessica stood and watched them drive off. Brett took Jessica’s hand and gave it a kiss. “I wonder how much he is paying her,” Brett said.
“Five million dollars plus all expenses,” said Jessica.
“You have got to be kidding me!” he exclaimed.
“What is wrong with that?” she asked slyly. “How much would you pay me to have your baby?”
“Well I sure don’t have five million dollars,” Peter said.
She turned and started back into the lab. “Well, you better start saving then, because my period is almost six weeks late,” she called as she went inside. Brett stood there too stunned to speak. Then, a big grin split his face as he rushed in after her.
Chapter 21
June 28th, 2019
Cape Canaveral, Florida
President Montgomery sat in the Cape Canaveral viewing stands with NASA Director David Honstein and the new Director of Space Forces, General Robert Seale. Robert Seale had been chosen as director of the new agency due to his experience working with NASA as well as several of the other major aeronautical engineering firms that had provided vehicles for the Air Force X37B space plane program. At one time, he was in the pipeline to train as a space shuttle pilot until that program had been scrapped. They were here to watch the launch of a new space race. This time the United States was not competing with another country for one-upmanship and bragging rights. It was a race to build a space defense network to protect the planet from the rain of asteroids and comets that was expected to start with the passing of the Brown Dwarf, or Peter’s Star, as it was now being frequently called by the general public. The President smiled to herself. As much as the scientific community and Peter Rockwell himself had fought it, the name given to the Brown Dwarf by the press had stuck and it was just referred to as Peter’s Star now.
Sitting on three separate pads in front of them, each about a mile apart were two of the new NASA Space Launch System Heavy boosters and a Space-X Falcon 9 Heavy Booster. This type of cooperation would have never have happened ten years ago. The two SLS each held part of the trusses of the new space station ‘Alpha’. The Space-X Falcon 9 Heavy had a Sierra Nevada Corporation Dream chaser with seven Astronauts sitting atop it. The Falcon 9 would launch first putting the Dream Chaser into a low Earth orbit where it would Rendezvous with a temporary work and habitation module provided by Bigelow Space Industries. The SLS and their cargos would follow in about four hours. Then, the work would begin in earnest. The astronauts, who could more aptly called space engineers at this point, would begin assembly of the trusses. The trusses would become the back bone of the new low Earth orbit Space Station Alpha.
After Russia had pulled out of the International Space Station Program two years ago there was no longer any capability of launching astronauts to that platform. Having almost reached its projected life expectancy, it had been broken apart and de-orbited. This had resulted in some spectacular fireworks as the modules burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere. Today
would only be the third time since then that man had been back in space. The other two times had been test flights of the Space-X/Dream Chaser Hybrid. David Honstein reached over and handed the President a pair of binoculars. “We are into the final countdown Madam President.”
The large digital counters in front of the viewing stands paused at thirty seconds, and then begin counting down again. At about nine seconds there was a flash of light and flame at the bottom of the booster, and smoke billowed out in an expanding cloud. At about six seconds, the sound of thunder hit them. At zero seconds on the counter, the rocket seem to sit there on a pillow of smoke and flame, and then it began rising. It accelerated rapidly and climbed into the blue sky above. The sight of those seven brave men riding a controlled explosion into space to begin the task of protecting their fellow men brought tears to the President’s eyes, and an immense sense of pride. While the rest of the world was drawing back into itself and engaging in squabbles and war, the United States was once again showing itself as the shining symbol of hope for all the people of Earth. Their country alone had to shoulder this massive burden.
After the rocket was out of sight and only a slowly drifting cloud of vapor and exhaust remained, the President stood. “Congratulations to both NASA and the Space Force gentlemen. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a new era in space for us and the cornerstone of our future defense against any objects from space that may threaten our planet. Now, if you will excuse me I have a plane to catch to Atlanta where I am to inspect the work being done on the new capitol complex.” She stood and made her way out of the stands escorted by her security detail.
David and Robert shook hands and Robert made his way to his car. Robert was flying to Houston to monitor the rendezvous of the new trusses with the work module and David was on his way to Texas to check on the progress of the new Space Force Launch Center. David glanced around the view that was available from the viewing stand before he left. He could see the huge earthen berms that were being pushed up around the Cape Canaveral Launch Facilities. Huge mounds of dirt and rock were being erected to protect the facility from the high tides that were expected when Peter’s Star passed. They were being raised to seventy five feet above sea level. It was a monumental task and millions of tons of earth were being excavated, hauled and pushed into place. He just hoped it was enough. But he thought, that is why the newer and larger Space Force Facility was being built in Texas above the reach of the encroaching tides. Heaven only knew that it would take both of them operating at a frenetic pace to launch all that was needed into space.
Dark Star Rising Second Edition (Pebbles in The Sky) Page 16
