In Wyoming two of the first three warheads had penetrated the makeshift air shield and detonated, all seven remaining having been taken out by military aircraft missiles. But just the one warhead had really been enough to tip the instability of the magma plume.
The initial nuclear rock-vapor bubble was now filled like a ripe pimple on the earth’s face, one touch and it would spurt out the pus of magma to relieve the pressure. But this was no acne pimple volcanic release. The magma from far below, with the pressure of the whole planet forcing it out, was gradually rising up its main pipe and forcing more molten rock through smaller secondary arteries. The two extra warheads that did get through simply accelerated the process a little, widening the open wound to allow the earth’s heartbeat to pump out the red hot, bloody magma that should have been deep down inside the planet.
The shock wave of the nuclear detonations and the upsurge of magma had set of another reaction that no one had ever anticipated. There was enough of a jolt to the North American tectonic plate to set off a domino effect against the Pacific plate subduction. As the Northth American plate slid beneath the Pacific plate, the formerly balanced forces were now in turmoil, like flicking one end of a large rug and smashing up into the Pacific plate edge. Earthquakes unknown in magnitude were firing off around the Pacific Rim of Fire and immense tsunamis were racing towards the shores of every continent. Islands vanished with cities and populations, in a blink. They just were not there any more. The Yellowstone eruption was like a growing, suppurating, flesh eating bacterial infection on the Earth’s face.
The anti-matter front was expanding outwards at the speed of a jet liner, to devour Russia, Europe and Africa while the super volcano and its earthquake support cast demolished the Americas and the Eastern Pacific. Two cataclysmic forces, each in itself capable of total planetary destruction, inexorably racing towards each other. Mutually assured destruction.
CHAPTER 19
Aboard Carver’s Transport. 25th June, 8.55 am
Janine Carver had cut the news feed from earth, or whatever remained of it among the static screens and whistling speakers, as stations shut down, or were simply abandoned in the haste of flight from danger.
The cadets were strapped in and with no windows in the transport hull, unable to see the fireworks on the surface that were clearly visible. The cadets were totally stunned by the limited information they had been exposed to, sombre and silent. Fuller was observing them constantly on the cabin camera to make sure no one freaked out and headed for an air lock. He periodically took a look at earth at a sharp angle behind the ship from the co-pilot position. Janine had been pushing the ship to its speed limits on the magnetic rail. It was capable of double the regular acceleration, but she had to consider the novice passengers. At one and a half G’s, they were well into the deceleration phase and the transport was two thirds the way up the Skyhook, about eighteen thousand miles from earth, their acceleration couches turned about to keep them sitting comfortably. They were well into zero gravity space.
“What happens if this anti-matter stuff hits the Skyhook?” he asked Janine.
“We become a real space ship. No drama in that because we can release at any time. The question is, where do we go? Back down to earth or head for Space City?”
“I think we need to wait and see what is really going on. We need information and options if we are going to survive. This is so far beyond war as we understand it. No one really knows what an Anti Matter Device event will cause.” Janine stopped for a moment as she adjusted a communication channel, then continued, “It was postulated that an AMD event would initiate a self sustaining energy wave that would destroy everything on the surface of the earth. Our guys put their money on energy dissipation and damping by large bodies of water and atmosphere, so they went for it. I guess we are going to find out if we move off to Space City.”
“Sounds to me like you’ve answered your own question. We go on. That is in our emergency protocol directive anyway. Complete the mission.” Fuller scratched his head. “Although protocol be damned. We save our skins first.”
He looked out at earth again and shook his head in despair. “What have we done to ourselves? Is this the end of humanity? Look at our home. By God, look there... New Zealand is half gone. How can it be possible? The tsunami’s can’t possibly have reached there yet. Oh! Look! Hawaii has vanished. Oh Lord! Millions of people, just gone. Look at California. The West coast is missing. This can’t be. Look, Alaska is drowning in front of our eyes. Oh God! What have we done?”
“John?” Janine looked at him, tears in her eyes, “we have to carry on. Think about it. We may have the most precious cargo of any ship in the history of humanity. We have the survivors and the means to survive - for a while anyway.”
He shook his head in despair. “We can’t help them down there, that’s for sure.” He looked up at Janine. “I need to go and talk to the cadets. My gut tells me we should disengage from the Skyhook sooner than later. We have enough reaction mass to get to Space City. If a shock-wave hits the Skyhook it could flick us off like a swatter whacking a fly. I’ll leave the final decision to you.”
“OK go talk to them. I’m watching the comms from earth base. The moment I see anything change I will release. The longer we can hold on to the hook the more margin for error later.”
Fuller looked thoughtful for a moment. “I have an idea.”
“OK, what?”
“Stop the deceleration and reverse it. We are not in a standard situation so our detachment vector and release can be brought forward.”
“You’re right John! I’ll do the calculations now. An early hook detatchment at higher velocity uses Skyhook magnetic energy and reduces reaction mass use which is one of our biggest concerns under the circumstances. I’m on it!” Janine’s eyes sparkled with intelligence and excitement.
Fuller paused and looked back at the cadets. They were all preoccupied with their own thoughts. None looked his way. He leaned over and planted his lips on Janine’s. She responded with warmth. And then got down to the math.
CHAPTER 20
Aboard Air Force One. 25th June, 9.00 am
“Mr. President.” Chuck Hanes touched the slumbering President’s arm to gently rouse him. He gave him a short moment to shake away the cobwebs of much needed sleep and handed him a steaming mug of coffee. The President rubbed his eyes with his free hand while he took a sip of the reviving brew.
“What have you got for me Chuck?” he yawned, the last tendrils of sleep dissolving away into heightened alertness. “You’re not looking happy!”
“We may have a problem Mr. President.”
“Oh, cut the Mr. President crap again. Tom. Here I am Tom, OK?”
“Aw. OK. Tom.” He stopped to gather his breath and thoughts. “We have a potential problem about to arise that has never been seen on this planet and you are going to have to deal with it.”
“What could be worse than what has happened so far Chuck?” Tom looked Chuck in the eyes.
“How about the end of the world? That is the problem.”
Tom raised an eyebrow. “End of the world huh? I make the right decision, whatever it is, and the world goes on. I make the wrong one and no one knows about it anyway. So hit me with it.”
“Our science advisory board at NASA has been monitoring the progress of the anti-matter wave front. It is not dissipating at all and it appears that it will totally engulf the globe. That’s the good news.”
“What! That’s good news. I don’t want to hear...”
“So while we have been watching the wave front from satellite live cameras the analysts noticed that whenever the wave front reached areas of caverns or active volcanic fissures it actually penetrated into the earth’s crust and created voids that could not hold the energy charge. They witnessed huge explosions, greater than any seismic activity ever recorded and then the wave front kept penetrating into the newly exposed regions. Where this activity is most advanced the mantle of the earth
is being undermined and detached. The wave eats away underneath but does not move back up. We are getting country sized segments crashing in on the voids and feeding the trapped wave. They don’t know when, or even if, this process will stop.”
“So what can we do about it? I don’t see any decision here.”
“That is not all.” Hanes looked grim. “The scientists are trying to predict what will happen when the wave hits the Yellowstone magma plume discontinuity. It is so deep and wide now that they fear the wave will penetrate to the core of the planet.”
“Now you are going to tell me the planet will explode?”
“Something like that Tom.”
“So what can I do? What can anyone do?”
“You have one decision to make Tom. Go down with the planet or save yourself while you can.”
Tom gave Chuck a wry look. “It was my decision to set off the AMD in the first place so I am responsible for this whole mess. A bit heavy to have the fate of humanity and the world on your shoulders. Sounds a bit melodramatic but dammit! I do have that responsibility. Do I run or do I die with my decision and our home?”
“Tom, it is a no brainer. We have to save as much as we can, survive as long as possible. That is our charter. That’s the duty of the President of the United States. Survive and rebuild.”
“Eight billion people wiped out Chuck. How do I live with that. The President of the United States, the greatest mass murderer in history.” He shook his head and tears ran down his cheeks.
“Tom, we may not survive this at all. You have to try.”
The President shrugged and sighed. “How do we survive Chuck? What magic have we got?”
“We have a Skyhook Transport in emergency transit to Space City. We divert it and rendezvous in low earth orbit. Air Force One can’t make it to deep space on its own.”
“What happens to Air Force One?”
“Autopilot to attempt to land back at Andrews. If there is an Andrews.”
The President gave a defeated shrug of his shoulders, the weight of the world visibly pressing him down. “OK Chuck. We survive. Do it.”
Hanes rose to organize the directives to the Transport. Air Force One was already on its way to low earth orbit and rendezvous with a Space City shuttle. He glanced out of a window at the visible rim of earth and stopped suddenly in his tracks, sucking in a breath of shock. “Tom, look. Look out the window!”
The President lifted himself on one elbow to get a view through the nearest port. “Good Lord! What is that?” A silver grey rim covered the edge of the horizon. Featureless and visibly rolling over the earth’s surface, leaving a blank, gray face in its wake. On closer examination flashes of sheet lightning and tendrils of high voltage plasma could be seen, even against the direct sunlight.
“That is the anti-matter wave front Tom. That is the end of our planet as we know it.”
“What have I done?” The President was crying, tears streaming, as he clenched the arm rests. “What have I done? What have I done.” He repeated over and over, his voice diminishing to a whimper as he buried his head in his arms.
“Tom?”
The President looked up at Hanes, eyes red and face wet with tears. His expression morphed into the hard, decisive visage Hanes was used to seeing. He sighed a gasp of relief. The President was back. “I’m good now Chuck. I’m good. I will handle this... Like a President.”
CHAPTER 21
Iranian Presidential Survival Bunker
“Zardooz, you have outdone yourself!” Arjmand lay on a reclining couch in his underwear, his clothing scattered around on the floor. Two young women knelt beside him offering plates of sweet grapes and exotic fruits. Trained from childhood to accept any abuse from men, neither of them flinched as Arjmand groped and fondled them without shame, his erection straining his shorts and his breathing fast coming rapid and shallow. He started moaning and pulled the nearest girl’s hand to his member, pushing down his shorts with the other hand. In seconds he was flopping about like a landed fish as the girl’s touch brought him to a messy, climactic spatter. The atmosphere was rank with his odor as Zardooz watched on with a smirk of condescending amusement. He thought to himself that the few so called virgins he had installed were going to remain virgins with Arjmand around.
Zardooz beckoned to one of the girls who came over to him. He quietly told her to clean Arjmand up and get him dressed. Arjmand had a broadcast to make to the world.
Arjmand sat in front of a sophisticated video camera array that transmitted in 3-D. His hair had been slicked back and he now wore a traditional djabella and keffiyeh.
“On 3, 2, 1...” one of the young women, acting as producer, pointed at Arjmand signalling he was transmitting.
“I am addressing the world, in particular the United States and its lackey Israel. The great Iranian Empire has destroyed the aggressor North Korean Hegemony and our doomsday bomb has collapsed the very landmass of the United States.
These same United States started this aggression by attacking the Empire of Iran with a weapon of mass destruction, an anti-matter device. The leadership of the United States should be tried and condemned as they did to our valiant neighbor Saddam Hussein all those years ago!
They called our brother Osama Bin Laden a terrorist for fighting a limited war, and then they killed him. No longer will the Iranian Empire be subservient to any other nation.
We have retaliated to the use of the AMD with our doomsday bomb that is destroying continental USA even as I speak.” Arjmand paused, red in the face with excitement and emotion.
“Whoever is hearing and seeing this broadcast, take up your weapons, seek out the enemies around you and destroy them in the name of Allah!”
CHAPTER 22
Goddard Space Center - Skyhook control.
“Understood Mr. President. I will repeat your instructions. Load all available Skyhook transports within the hour with whatever supplies are available. Board all Goddard personnel and whoever else is on site and wishes to make a one way trip to Space City. Launch all transports within 90 minutes and instruct transport pilots to disengage from the Skyhook thirty minutes after launch.” The General’s voice was steady as he controlled his emotions. He knew exactly what was coming. “Mr. president?” He allowed his humanity to slip past the steely military armor.
“Yes General?”
“About our families? Our wives and kids?”
“General, I can’t tell you how to handle things down there. That is your job alone. However if you can get your families into the transports within the time limits then do so. There is no shortage of passenger capacity and Space City has plenty of room. The only risk is that there are no survival suits for all the passengers and only the vehicle integrity will protect them. I guess that is better than staying behind. General, go do what you have to without delay.”
The General’s shoulders moved maybe a quarter inch in relief as he acknowledged. “Thank you Mr. President. See you aboard Space City Sir.”
The General issued the orders, with carefully worded instruction regarding families to be brought into the facility. He warned the Goddard security team leaders, those that he could trust, that there may be violent reaction to his orders. Within scant moments of issuing the orders there was screaming and crying reported from several areas of the complex as some staff members who commuted hours each day saw their loved ones were doomed. The security details had to restrain three women and one man, all who had broken down emotionally, the man becoming violent when approached. Sedated, the four were taken aboard the first available transport. Freedom of the individual was no longer an option.
Three transports were being frantically loaded. There was no time for safety checking or the niceties of inventory control. Crates were strapped down wherever they would fit. Pallets of food and assorted essentials were slipped randomly into pallet bays while bales of soft goods were piled into every available gap and held in place with duct tape. Mechanics hauled hoses to reaction mass tan
ks and started the filling process while the three designated pilot commanders watched for obvious disaster in the making dangers that had to be corrected.
Within minutes the first staff members without incoming family attachments started to file into the passenger loading area and flight crew hurried them on board and strapped each one in. There was little talk between the passengers who did not have space suit protection or any experience of space flight and the inherent dangers. But better a reasonable chance of survival than none at all.
The first three transports were loaded and locked down ready for launch. There was no delay or traditional countdown from Goddard Launch Control. The transports simply left one after the other and three more railed in to take their place and loads.
The activity was becoming frantic with less than 45 minutes until the shock wave was due to hit Goddard and the Skyhook. The semblance of discipline and order was beginning to break down, with military and staff realizing that this was the last chance to escape certain death. People started pushing and shoving to get aboard the transports, the wailing of injured punctuated by the shouted orders of the few military controllers still trying to maintain order.
The bales and supplies were being thrown in now with no attempt to secure them or balance the loading. The three pilots huddled together in conference, looking at timepieces and comparing with the wall screen data on the shock wave approach. They came to a decision and broke away to their respective transports, each now with sidearm in hand and plain sight. They knew that there was only 8 minutes left until they had to leave to achieve the minimum thirty minutes until separation from the Skyhook.
Just meeting those constraints was no guarantee of safety or survival. No one knew how the Skyhook would react when the shock wave hit the base of the twenty seven thousand mile long tube. Such a catastrophe had never been anticipated and never tested in theory. They were soon to find out.
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