Star One: Tycho City Survival (14 page)

“We
also have four additional shuttles that are currently under construction,” Jane
Kinsey spoke. “We are speeding up their construction schedule, and they should
be available for use in two more months.”

Mase
and Steve took the computer disks, both deep in thought. They were still in
shock over the president’s revelations. They had known the situation was
serious, but they hadn’t realized just how bad it was going to get. Both had
believed that there would be some survivors on Earth. Now they knew there might
be no one. The future had suddenly taken a very dismal and foreboding turn.
They would both have a lot of work to do when they returned home. The survival
of the human race had just been placed squarely upon their shoulders.

“Is
there any way to get more people up to the Moon?” Mase asked. “We have nearly a
year to construct the new Tycho City site. I believe we can take more than ten
thousand people.”

“We
don’t know,” Jane Kinsey responded with a frown. “Between the supplies you’re
going to need and the deteriorating situation down here, we may be hard pressed
just to get ten thousand people up to you.”

“I
know you would like to save more,” President Kateland added with a weak smile.
“We will save those we can. If we can get more than ten thousand people up to
you, we will.”

Mase
nodded. As soon as he got back to Tycho City, he intended to order Isaac and
Steffan to begin construction immediately. He was determined that they would
save the maximum amount of people they possibly could.

The
meeting ended, and Mase and Steve stepped outside.

“How
soon are you returning to the Moon?” Steve asked.

“As
soon as I can get back to the cape,” Mase responded. “How about you?”

“We’re
launching the FarQuest in a few more hours,” Steve replied. “I think it would
be wise if we were both safely off the Earth when that happens.”

“The
president will be making her address tomorrow night,” replied Mase, agreeing
with Steve about the importance of both of them being safely off the Earth. “I
left a recorded message to be played to my people on the Moon. I won’t make it
back in time before she makes her speech.”

Mase
reached out and shook Steve’s hand firmly. “I don’t know when we will be seeing
each other again, Steve; good luck with Star One.”

“Same
to you with Tycho City,” Steve replied. “We have a tough twelve months ahead of
us.”

Mase
nodded as the two turned and started walking down the corridor.

President
Kateland stepped out into the corridor and watched the two leave. She let out a
heavy sigh, knowing that those two men held the future of the human race in
their hands. She also knew she wouldn’t trust anyone else except them with such
an awesome responsibility.

Turning
around, she went back into the conference room; she needed to finish preparing
for the speech she was going to make. It would be the hardest speech she had
ever made. How do you tell the world that the end was coming and nothing could be
done to prevent it?

Linda and
Jolene were in her quarters and had just finished listening to Mase’s recorded
message. Linda could well imagine how people all over the Moon were reacting.
Earlier today, many had watched live as the FarQuest had launched from the
Space Platform next to Star One. It had been an awesome sight as the large
spacecraft had accelerated away under power from two of its four solid fuel
rocket boosters.

The launch had
been carried live since it would be plainly visible to everyone who was on the
surface and happened to look up. It had been mentioned that FarQuest was being
sent on a special mission approved by both Mase Colton and Steve Larson. There
had also been an outgoing communications blackout since that time. Rumors had
been running rampant until Mase’s message had been broadcast. Everyone was
stunned to learn that the FarQuest had been launched to investigate a possible
neutron star that was approaching the solar system.

“What’s the
president going to say?” Jolene asked nervously, looking over at Linda. She
suspected that Linda had known the truth for quite some time. She also needed
to read up more on exactly what a neutron star was. It also explained why the
commander wanted her to work on making Tycho City self-sufficient.

“I’m not
sure,” Linda replied as the presidential seal suddenly appeared on their
viewscreen, which was set to show the main news channel being broadcast from
Earth. “I think we’re about to find out.” On the viewscreen, the American
President suddenly appeared. Linda leaned forward waiting to hear the
president’s words. She could feel her heart beating faster, and her eyes
focused intently on the screen.

-

“My
fellow Americans and citizens of Earth,” President Kateland began, her eyes
focusing steadily on the cameras. “I come before you tonight with news of an
impending danger to our world. A danger that even now we can only guess as to
what its final consequences may be. As some of you may have already heard, just
over a month ago the giant radio telescopes at the Farside array on the Moon
detected a mysterious object coming toward our solar system.” The president
paused, letting the audience grasp what she had just said. Her throat already
felt dry as she prepared to deliver the rest of the speech.

“Upon
further investigation, the experts at Farside determined that a neutron star is
approaching our solar system at a tremendous speed.” she spoke, gazing steadily
at the cameras. “For those of you that don’t know, a neutron star is a star
similar to ours that has used up most of its energy and collapsed into a dense,
compact ball of matter fifteen to twenty miles in diameter.” She reached down
and picked up a yellow tennis ball that had been lying on her desk and held it
up for the audience.

“The
matter on this star is so dense that if this tennis ball were composed of that
matter, the strongest person on Earth couldn’t pick it up. In fact, this ball
would weigh more than the biggest aircraft carrier ever built. It’s because of
this tremendous mass that the neutron star may pose a future danger to us here
on Earth. We know from computer studies that the star will come far into our solar
system, close enough to affect the orbits of almost all of the planets. It will
certainly affect the Earth, but just how severely we don’t know,” she paused,
looking directly into the camera at her now captive audience.

Many
of the well educated, she knew, would understand what she was saying. She also
knew that there would be many people who wouldn’t.

“We
could see an increase or decrease in temperatures. We may be in for periods of
heavy storms, and there is a possibility of increased earthquake and volcanic
activity. Much of this is still conjecture; it still remains to be determined,”
President Kateland paused again for a moment before continuing. The next part
would be the hardest.

“As
a result of this impending danger, as president and with the approval of the
Joint Chiefs, we are placing the country under a state of emergency. Until the
exact threat of this impending danger is determined, it will be necessary for
us to take some extraordinary steps to ensure the safety of the people of this
great country. All the resources of our country will be used to build safe
bunkers deep underground away from the coming storms. We shall store large
supplies of food and other materials to ensure that we survive as a nation. We
will be furnishing instructions to everyone on what they must do in order to
survive this coming cataclysm. Information will be mailed to every American detailing
what needs to be done to make your homes safer, prepare basements or storm
shelters, and make living in the months ahead possible. There will also be a
government website online tomorrow with the same information but in much
greater detail. The coming days will try many of us, but I have faith in my
countrymen that we will triumph over this great danger.” The president paused
once more, taking a sip of water and allowing her audience time to digest what
she had just said.

“In
an effort to learn more about this threat, a special space mission commanded by
Commander Tyler Erin of Star One has been launched using the Jupiter probe
ship. That was the bright light that many of you saw earlier today in the sky
as the ship blasted off from the Space Platform to undertake this dangerous
journey. Changes were made to the Jupiter probe to allow it to make the long
journey required to rendezvous with the neutron star. Even as I speak, the ship
is already well underway. The crew has renamed the ship FarQuest because they
will be going much farther into space than man has ever gone before. I would
ask that each one of you say a special prayer tonight for the safety of the
ship and its brave crew. What they discover in a few short months will allow us
to better prepare to deal with the approach of this star.”

President
Kateland was silent for a moment, and then continued in a serious tone of
voice. “I know that many of you have a lot of questions. Right now, we don’t
have all the answers. In an attempt to allow everyone to understand the
situation, we are distributing stellar photographs of the neutron star with
additional information to all of the major newspapers. There will also be a
special video of the FarQuest launch for the media stations to broadcast. All
of this will also be available on the government website. Because of the
seriousness of this situation, and I repeat it is serious, the military in this
country has been placed on alert to ensure that there will be no violence in
the streets of our cities. Violence of any type will be dealt with quickly and
severely under martial law.”

President
Kateland was quiet for a long moment, gazing into the cameras. “I know some of
you will not want to believe this information. As president, I will do my best
to protect and preserve this great country of ours. I just ask that each one of
you remain calm,” she paused, looking down at her desk, and then her eyes rose
to meet the camera once more. “May God be with all of us in this time of
judgment, and may He see fit to preserve this great country. Thank you and good
night.”

-

“Oh my God!”
Jolene uttered with her hand over her mouth. “Linda, what are we going to do?
It sounds like we’re all going to die!”

Linda stood up
and went over to sit next to Jolene on the sofa. She reached out, took her
friend’s hand, and gazed calmly into her eyes. “We’re going to try to survive
here on the Moon,” she explained. “We are going to build a larger and safer Tycho City deeper beneath the surface. That’s why your job is so important.”

“Survive
here?” Jolene asked, her eyes growing wide at the thought.

“Yes, survive
here,” replied Linda, nodding her head. “Isaac Anderson and Steffan Darrow are
in the process of designing a new and much larger Tycho City. It will be far
enough underground that we should be able to ride this thing out.”

Jolene was
quiet as she took in the information, and then finally spoke as she thought
about the task before her. No wonder Commander Colton had asked her so many questions
about what she had learned from Julie Gray on Star One. “I think I need to
speak to Julie on Star One again; I’m going to need some help.”

“Julie will be
glad to help,” Linda replied with a supportive smile. “I also know that
Commander Colton will make sure you have whomever and whatever you need to get
the job done. All you have to do is ask.”

Jolene nodded
and swallowed nervously. She had a lot to think about.

-

On Earth, President
Kateland was meeting with Tim McPhryson and the vice president. “Senator Farley
wouldn’t even listen,” she informed them as she described her meeting with the Michigan
Senator just a short time earlier. “He thinks this whole thing is a farce to
increase the space budget.”

“A farce?” uttered
Tim, shaking his head in disbelief. “With all the evidence we have how, can he
doubt us?”

“It’s Senator
Farley,” Vice President Edwards explained with an angry frown. “He will try to
use this entire neutron star danger for political gain. He could cause us a lot
of problems.”

“Well, we
can’t worry about him right now,” President Kateland commented as she sat down
behind her desk. “We need to do everything we can to get those two deep bunkers
completed and staffed. We also need to keep their construction top secret. I
don’t think I want the senator finding out about them either.”

“Both are in Colorado and should be secure,” Edwards spoke. “They are being built beneath mountains in
areas the military has strict control over. We can easily restrict who has
access.”

“What else do
we have that might be secure and be able to survive?” President Kateland asked.
She leaned slightly back, resting her hands on the desk.

“There are
several large government bunkers left over from the cold war that could be
refurbished,” Vice President Edwards answered. “We also have quite a few
survivalists in the country that have built their own private doomsday bunkers.
It’s possible a few of them could survive. A number of them are very well
constructed.”

“We need to
contact those people at some point in time and offer whatever assistance and
supplies they may need to increase their chance of survival,” President
Kateland replied. “I want to look at every possibility of building or finding
safe places for people to survive. Don’t leave any stone unturned.”