“Talk to me, Francisco,” Robert called toward the screen in the conference room. He was staring at his computer, waiting for access to the LSST.
After another fifteen minutes, Dr. Campero appeared in front of the soldier with the camera.
“It should be working now, Robert,” Dr. Campero replied. “Many of the cables had been cut through, but luckily most of them were just power cables. I forgot how much power this thing uses, and considering we haven’t really used this telescope before—”
“Wait, what?” Secretary Brighton interrupted, glaring at Robert. “You’ve never used this telescope before? What do you mean? You just told me you’d been using it.”
“Well,” Robert answered, “construction was only recently completed. It hasn’t really been used yet.”
The Secretary fumed, “You mean to tell me this machine might not even help us?”
“Eit is our best chance, sir,” Dr. Ivanov replied, “Ze LSST vill give us near-real-time footage, something zat no other telescope can give as accurately.”
“This is what happens when you trust a bunch of scientists. All they want to do is play with the newest toys,” the Secretary grumbled.
“Got it!” Dr. Campero exclaimed. “We should be good, Robert! Refresh the feed.”
“Also, General Diaz, we are going to need some help from your SEAL team,” Robert said slowly.
“What kind of help?” General Diaz replied suspiciously.
“Well, the CCDs—part of the imaging sensors—can get really hot, and the only thing that cools them and allows them to function is liquid nitrogen. Unfortunately, there’s no working liquid nitrogen plant near Cerro Pachón. Dr. Campero made sure to take enough of it with him for at least a month, but after that . . . ”
General Diaz was beside himself with anger. “These are the highest-trained soldiers in the entire Navy and you want to make them be pack-animals for you?” he asked incredulously.
“General Diaz, this is about saving the world. The Navy SEALs can’t stop the comet from coming. What they can do is cool the equipment giving us the images that tell us the trajectory of the comet so we can blast the hell out of her.”
General Diaz gave Robert a death stare, seething in silence.
Robert, feeling guilty about betraying Secretary Brighton’s trust, turned his attention to his laptop. He hit refresh on the screen, plugged in the access codes for the LSST, and waited.
“We are online!” he said.
Robert plugged in the projector to his computer, and the desktop appeared on the screen of one of the televisions.
“I’m going to program the LSST to stay tracked on Shiva. It may take a day before we have reliable data. This is a major breakthrough.”
Robert looked around and saw Secretary Brighton looking curiously at him, nodding his head toward the door. Confused, he asked Suri to take over and excused himself.
“What’s going on, Secretary? I’m sorry about misleading you about the LSST. It’s just that we really need it.”
Secretary Brighton looked more tired than usual and ignored Robert’s apology. His customarily pristine suit was a bit wrinkled.
“An hour ago I got a call from the NSA Chief and President Chaplin,” he began. “It’s about the Union Anarchists; they are gaining momentum. They have taken control of a few cities, including Denver, which we feel may be too close for comfort. We have reason to believe it was the same hacker, ‘@OneUnionAnarchist,’ who hacked us again.”
“Are you serious?”
“What I’m saying is, you need to be ready. For your safety and for the safety of what we are doing against the comet, we may need to relocate you and the team, probably to an island off the coast of Florida. It’s a kind of safe house the government keeps, where you will be isolated from harm. It will also make trips to and from Cape Canaveral easier.”
“These . . . Union Anarchists . . . do they understand that destroying the work we are doing would be killing our planet, our world, everything we care about? Everything they care about—assuming they care about anything at all!”
“It’s maddening, I know. I’m not sure who leads this organization. President Chaplin and I believe that there might even be some members of Congress involved. But the Union Anarchists could be a cover, and to be honest, you need to focus on the engineering and astronomy, so try not to worry about this.”
“Good God,” Robert said, before asking again, “so Miami was a terrorist attack?”
“Yes,” Brighton responded. “The NSA traced the IP addresses to a coffee shop in Denver. Then ChatSnap gave us all the photos and videos taken at that coffee shop in a four hour period, and we were able to piece together the perpetrator of the hack. We just don’t know how deep this goes.”
“ChatSnap gave you all their data?” Robert asked.
“Yeah. Well, since it’s about national security, they had to. Robert, we can spy on any American we want.”
“Wow. Why would the hackers want to end the world?” Robert repeated.
Secretary Brighton looked darkly at Robert, who tried unsuccessfully to decipher his gaze.
“That’s what I need to find out. For now, just be ready to move at a moment’s notice, and tell your scientists to prepare as well. Oh and Robert, do not ever, under any circumstances, lie to me about what you’re doing again. We are trying to save the world here. Let’s be on the same team, okay?”
Robert nodded, apologizing, and they walked back into the room together.
“What was that all about?” Suri asked. “That’s the second time Brighton took you aside.”
“I’ll tell you later,” Robert replied.
Back on the screen in Chile, Dr. Campero was making some adjustments to the LSST. Meanwhile, Captain Bergden notified General Diaz that he deployed a few SEALs on a recon mission toward the mountain town of Vicuña toward La Serena. They spotted a camp of soldiers with assault rifles occupying a section of the road between Vicuña and La Serena.
“Your orders, sir?” Captain Bergden asked.
“Defend the telescope,” General Diaz replied. “Do not preemptively strike. From seeing the helicopter, they probably know where you are located, and possibly about the USS Roosevelt, but do not engage unless the telescope is threatened.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Also,” General Diaz said through gritted teeth, “you will need to travel back and forth from the USS Roosevelt to bring tanks of liquid nitrogen. Follow Dr. Campero’s instructions on how many tanks and what to do with them when you make it back to the telescope.”
“Yes, sir.”
They had been at the cabin for a week. Jeremy sat on the floor of the loft, letting his feet dangle over its edge above the living room. “I Can’t Stop” by Flux Pavilion was blaring on the stereo and the others were dancing below him. It was nine p.m., dirty dishes littered the tables around the cabin, and empty glasses were strewn about. Trash overflowed on the ground. They had done little more than hike around, make food, and shoot the hunting rifle they’d found at the cabin. Jeremy rubbed the stubble on his chin, watching Dustin and Karina, thinking they had become boyfriend and girlfriend. Jeremy couldn’t tell whether it was for lack of options or because they genuinely liked each other.
“I can’t stop!!” screamed everyone but Jeremy, laughing and dancing.
Jeremy swung his legs back down to the ground and walked over the blankets on the floor. He wasn’t in the mood to dance. He went down the stairs and walked out into the crisp Colorado air. It was much colder outside than in the cabin and the air smelled like cold pine needles. He walked a ways to a clearing in the trees where he could see the stars. Jeremy tried to find the comet but didn’t see anything, and sighed. He stood there for a few minutes in silence.
“Trying to find the comet?” Janice asked.
Jeremy jumped and looked to his left where Janice stood beside him.
“You scared me . . . but yeah, I was.”
“I haven’t been able to
see it yet either, except that one grainy photo they showed us when the president delivered her speech.”
They stood in silence for a while until Jeremy had an idea.
“Can I see it?” he asked.
“See what?”
“The Ark. When we first met you told us about that big ship that was being built in the Rockies. Is it close to here?”
Janice was silent again for a moment.
“Um, yeah, sure. Why do you want to see it?”
“I’m just curious. Not that I think what they’re doing is really that cool, but building something that could orbit Earth for a while would be awesome. Pretty sweet engineering, you know?”
Janice laughed. “Pretty sweet engineering,” she repeated. “Yeah, that’s one way to put it. Well, I don’t see why not.”
“I mean, it’s not dangerous to see it, right?”
“They’ll have some patrols around, but it should be fine. I know of somewhere we can go and get a good view, but not more than that . . . Hey!”
Suddenly tensing up, Janice pointed down a path, but it was too dark.
Jeremy squinted his eyes, but saw nothing. “What is it?” he asked.
“Shhh!” Janice said quickly.
Jeremy looked harder and his heart started racing. About fifty yards in front of them a huge black bear slowly walked between the trees. The bear didn’t seem to notice there were two humans standing so close to her, watching her majestic wildness. The bear’s shoulder blades stuck out as she moved—too quietly for her weight—through the forest.
“What should we do?” Jeremy whispered.
“We should stand here and wait, not talk, and try not to make sudden moves.”
They watched in tranquil silence as the bear passed by, not noticing—or ignoring—them, and went along her way. Jeremy looked over at Janice, who had a curious look on her face, and stepped closer to him.
“I think we should get some sleep,” Jeremy stuttered, afraid and amazed at the beautiful bear.
“I agree.”
The next day, Jeremy and Janice spent the day organizing the food situation at the cabin. The cabin had a lot of cured meats and canned vegetables, not to mention pounds of rice. Anna’s grandfather had been a bit scared of the nuclear winter the Cold War could have brought, so their cabin was stocked full of food.
“Wake up, wake up!” Jeremy called.
“Not so loud, man,” Dustin returned from the couch.
Jeremy cooked the last of their eggs and some steak he had found in the freezer. Soon, the smell of Jeremy’s cooking woke everyone up, and Jeremy announced his plan to visit the Ark.
“That sounds a little dangerous,” Anna said. “You talked about this with Janice?”
Jeremy really wanted Anna to come, but didn’t want to start a “relationship” fight in front of everyone. Women are so confusing, he thought, does she just want to party all the time until the world ends?
“It’ll be fun. And plus we’ll probably get to backpack for a day or two to reach a safe spot where we can see the Ark,” Janice offered, and Anna shot her a look Jeremy couldn’t decipher.
“Karina, what do you think?” Anna asked.
“I’m not too into it, but you guys can definitely go!”
“I’ll stay behind and make sure Karina is okay,” Dustin said, winking at Jeremy.
“So, looks like it’s just us three?” Jeremy asked, hopeful that Anna would come as well.
“I’ll go.”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s fine. I want to go.”
They all sat there picking at their food, except Dustin and Karina, who ate voraciously.
After breakfast, the trio packed up, and Karina let Janice use her backpacking backpack. As Jeremy packed his bag, Dustin pulled him aside.
“So Janice . . . ” Dustin said, adopting a knowing smile.
“What about her?”
Dustin nodded and nudged him with his elbow.
“Dude, what are you talking about?”
“Nothing, man,” Dustin laughed. “Forget it.”
“You sure you don’t want to come with us?”
“Yeah. I mean it sounds fun, but staying here with Karina sounds fun too. Coming to the cabin was such a good idea!”
He hugged his best friend, and walked out to the car.
“I’ll see you when we get back, man.”
Once inside the car, Janice started the engine and drove north. She took so many turns that eventually Jeremy had no idea where he was. He was momentarily nervous that this was a trap—that somehow they were needed for some plan by the über-rich, and Janice was their undercover agent posing as a friend.
This feeling did not go away once it made its way into Jeremy’s mind. It only grew, and when they stopped in front of a dark trailhead, it grew worse.
“Ready?” Janice asked.
“How far do you think it is?” Anna inquired.
“Not sure, but we’ll definitely have to camp for a night, maybe two. Let’s just hope we don’t spot any bears,” Janice said, winking at Jeremy.
It took them one full day to reach the valley where Janice said the Ark was being built. The night was freezing and the backpacks were heavy, but there was a stream that tumbled out of the mountain, so at least they had access to drinkable water. In the morning, they ate beans and rice, which were rapidly becoming their only source of food. Jeremy figured that soon they would need to go hunting.
The trio talked about the United States and what they thought was happening around the country while they walked. Janice told them about the Union Anarchists, who had assumed control of much of Denver. The Union Anarchists were a group of people who wanted to see the world crumble, and who felt that there was no reason for living. At the helm was a philosopher—a man identified only as Mr. K—who argued that the comet was too large to move by any force. He said that the coming of the comet proved that there was no God, and told the people to join him in anarchy, and in living without rules, without bureaucracy, without the rule of law.
“If you guys had gone any farther into Denver,” Janice said, “you would have noticed the slogan: Live Until Death, or L.U.D. It’s all over the town now. Some people are even getting tattoos of the slogan. That’s another reason why I was in Denver—I wanted to see what the Union Anarchists were about. There is so much going on that none of us know about, that I felt I should do a little firsthand research. Well, I was not impressed.”
“Did you ever meet their leader, Mr. K?” Anna asked.
“No, but I saw him speak once through a black-market TV station. He was only a silhouette, and he wore a bowler hat, which I thought was weird.”
“What did he say?”
“Oh, the usual. Take up our cause, their cause sucks, that kind of thing.”
They were slowly climbing over the pass, which was largely covered by trees.
“It should only be another half hour. We should keep as quiet as possible now.”
This is so stupid, what are we doing? Jeremy thought to himself, realizing that he’d wanted to get away from danger by going to Vail. Suddenly, partying in Anna’s cabin and relaxing with Dustin and Karina seemed like a great idea. They were slowly climbing down the mountainous path when Janice stopped the group by raising her right hand. Jeremy tried to peer through the trees but couldn’t make out too much, so they crept closer. The group put their backpacks down, hiding them behind two bristlecone pines, and continued.
“What were we trying to accomplish here, again?” Anna whispered to Jeremy.
“I don’t remember . . . ” Jeremy whispered.
They moved on. The valley was very deep, and finally they came to a small area, just wide enough to punch a golf ball through, where they could peer down through the trees. The Ark looked impossibly large to go into space, especially from the rockets he’d seen leave Cape Canaveral on the news.
It seemed like the hardest thing about space travel was get
ting far enough away from Earth’s gravity, and this thing was huge. The ship looked absolutely immense. And it did look like something from Star Wars. In the middle of the hulking mass of metal was a huge rectangular glass—at least Jeremy thought it was glass; it was transparent—and he could see plants inside. They crept closer and Jeremy saw that the ship contained what looked like a huge spinning wheel, like a hamster wheel. In a book he once read, he had seen sketches of something similar. It was used to create artificial gravity, but as far as Jeremy knew it had never been done outside of science fiction books.
“Jeremy, look!”
Jeremy snapped out of his reverie, and below the gigantic spaceship, five small dots were making their way toward the thicket of trees where they stood.
“What should we do?” Anna asked.
Jeremy remembered that he had packed a pair of binoculars in his backpack, so he sprinted back to where he left it.
“What are you doing?” Janice hissed.
“Jer, you serious right now?” Anna said almost at the same time.
Jeremy slid in next to his backpack and began rifling through it, finally finding the binoculars in the side pocket. He took them out and ripped them out of the packaging and returned to the place Janice and Anna were waiting. He put the lenses to his eyes and adjusted the focus.
“They have guns,” he said.
“We should probably go then . . . ” Anna said nervously.
Janice was the first to go and Anna followed, but Jeremy hesitated. They had a good head start on these mysterious figures; running away didn’t make sense. We can’t just outrun them, Jeremy thought. We are a full day away from the car; they’ll easily catch up to us . . .
“Guys, wait!” Jeremy called.
Anna and Janice looked back.
“What?” Janice called. “Are they getting closer?”
“No! Well maybe, I don’t know! That’s the point. Will you just stop running for a second?”
They did, and Jeremy replied, “Thanks. I think we should make sure they are actually following us.”
Anna knew what to do. She looked around quickly and found a low-lying branch attached to one of the larger white pine trees. She grabbed it and pulled herself up, and Jeremy threw the binoculars toward her. She caught them, slung them around her neck, and headed up.
Days of Anarchy Page 7
