The World Game (10 page)

CHAPTER 28

Goddard Space Center Skyhook base

The silver cloud of the anti-matter shock wave steam rolled in at five hundred miles an hour towards the Skyhook base. In an instant the base was obliterated and the Skyhook sheared off clean, leaving nothing behind except the silver surface. The tail of the mono filament tube flashed away into the sky, its end being devoured by the silvery anti-matter that slowly increased into an anti-matter doughnut rolling up the tube.

It was if Goddard never existed. The people never existed.

The Skyhook tube flew off into space, dragged by the counter mass of the terminus twenty seven thousand miles away. The impact of the shock wave had send a directional energy wave up the filament, causing a wave amplitude to travel up the tube. The bump of the wave was small at first as the cut end of the filament offered no resistance to the energy, but as the anti-matter torus grew in size and mass, the filament began to taughten again and the travelling wave amplitude grew in proportion as the end stopped flailing. It was already a mile above the filament axis. The three lower space transports were just moving away from the unpowered hook when the anti-matter struck the base. They were scant miles from the Hook with the wave heading towards them at over one thousand miles an hour, the amplitude growing and doubling every two minutes.

Transport X3 was in trouble losing atmosphere. The co pilot had called for help from the near by X2 and X1 Transports to close and mate locks to allow clearing without air loss, but that would require a rendezvous and cessation of travel away from the Hook. They would be in range of the wave as it travelled up the Hook. They would be smashed like bugs on a windscreen. Or X3 would lose its air and all aboard would die.

The race was on.

CHAPTER 29

Deep beneath Yellowstone National Park

The anti-matter wave front dove down into the fractured earth, devouring magma and rock like a superfast gangrene infection. It worked its way into every crack and pipe, eating and widening, fracturing further and isolating micro particles to island size chunks of the mantle that tumbled about like silver nuggets in a sack. If they ever found virgin rock the anti-matter coating transferred itself and started a voracious new path of destruction. Like a giant mosaic in three dimensions the earth was crumbling into tiles of anti-matter coated rock. The silver plague reached the molten core and started to spread over the liquid interface, starting the creation of a single silver ball being orbited by the scattered pieces of the mantle.

Each rock fragment, no matter the size, remained stable once it was completely coated by the silver anti-matter screen. The silver surface shimmered and rippled as pieces came together, but were repelled before collision. Battleship sized juggernauts drifting into each other that should have smashed themselves with violent momentum never touched. They slowed down and then steadily accelerated apart a two like poles of magnets repel.

The few who were watching from space saw a surreal vision of the shell of a silver ornamental ball gradually shattering and the myriads of pieces expanding outwards, leaving a smaller, perfectly spherical silver core at the centre. The planet earth was gone. In its place floated an alien construct. The few left in space were the sole remnants of the human species. A species without a home.

Somewhere floating in this expanding shell of debris was a modest chunk of earth that used to be part of Iran. Inside that morsel was the survival chamber where Arjmand and Zardooz waited out the expected retaliatory strikes after the broadcast some hours earlier.

The pair sat looking for communications which had ceased completely. They had no outside contact. Arjmand grabbed the arm rests of his chair and started pulling down on them. He looked uncomfortable, almost panicked. “What’s happening Zardooz? I am feeling light headed. I feel light all over?”

Zardooz was being more focussed. “We are getting lighter. I also feel it. There is only one explanation that makes any sense. Gravity is reducing. We are in some form of free fall like astronauts in space.”

“How could that be? We are hundreds of metres below the surface.”

Zardooz was silent as he scratched his chin in deep thought. “The last thing we saw on the outside video,” he began slowly, “was a silvery cloud rolling towards us from the epicenter of the AMD the Americans dropped on Teheran. I am not really sure what this cloud was, but if it was an anti-matter front then it would explain what is happening now.” He looked Arjmand square in the eye in a detached way. “Conclusion!”

“Yes? What?” Arjmand was half out of his seat burning for the answer.

“The earth is disintegrating. Blowing up. Coming apart.”

“No! I don’t believe you! That couldn’t happen. Not from one bomb.”

Arjmand smiled revealing browned teeth and a wide gap between the front pair. “Oh, you’re just trying to scare me. You’re joking.” He flapped his hand in negation and sat back grinning and shaking his head.

“No I’m not joking with you. This is real. We may be the only survivors left from our planet.”

CHAPTER 30

Near Earth Orbit.

Far above, from several vantage points in orbit, survivors of the human species peered down at the spectacle of their unrecognizable home world. A world that scant hours ago had been blue with oceans, green with forests, white with ice caps, brown with deserts and all interspersed with grey and white clouds.

All they could see now was a silver ball covered with cracks and fracture lines that multiplied in real time, with segments moving away from each other and gaps visibly increasing. There were frequent flashes of electrical discharge between the gaps and whatever lay beneath them. There were no cities. No ruins. No radio or TV signals.

Just an alien world.

Over a period of hours it became apparent that the shattered surface segments were moving away and outwards, some heading directly for the last human outposts. Nothing would be spared from the destruction of collision and absorption of the anti-matter shells. The movement was relatively slow at this time, powered by the repulsion force of the anti-matter upon itself, but countered by the gravity of the remaining earth core. There was time to formulate a survival plan.

Aboard Air Force One the crew watched as Janine Carver’s transport nudged in to dock. The locks mated with a slight clunk and showed all green to open between the craft.

Crew and staff from Air Force One had assembled all possible useful materiel near the lock. Only those items that could fit through or be broken down to fit. In the world of technology a hand to hand chain passed the items through to the cadets on the transport. While this was going on, Fuller, with an auxiliary oxygen bottle clipped to his belt and a jet-pack on his back, was space walking on the airfoil of Air Force One with a reaction mass transfer hose which he plugged into the under wing valve. The other end was already attached to the Transport fuelling system and simply unwound to accommodate the reaction mass supply tank. The transports suffered no performance disadvantage in carrying apparently superfluous equipment as they had relied primarily on the Skyhook propulsion system. That luxury was now a life saving feature for a large part of the human species.

When Fuller saw that the reaction mass tanks were topped up and the auxiliary tanks filled, he headed back inside the transport via the front air lock and called Carver to save time.

“Commander Carver, do we have any other containers available for reaction mass storage on board the transport?” He was on open channel so was being formal.

“Wait Col. Fuller. I will ask the cadets to look and check if Air Force One has anything we can use. How much mass is left in the tanks?”

“The pilot tells me that they are still half full of jet fuel. I am reluctant to take this inboard due to the volatility, but the benefits far outweigh the risks.” Carver stopped as a voice interrupted in the background. “Col. Fuller, Cadet Hannaford would like a word with you.”

“Go ahead Lt. Hannaford.” Felicity couldn’t stifle her grin of pleasure at Fuller’s use of her rank, even under the gravity of the circumstances.

“Sir, I have been discussing the issue of the reaction mass with Cadet Shaw and how we could preserve it. Cadet Shaw had a great interest in Air Force One, both the current craft and its predecessors and if extremely familiar with the engineering and structure of this craft.”

“I am listening Lt Hannaford. This is a timely intervention on your part. I was just discussing bringing as much reaction mass as we could store, on board.”

“Sir, Cadet Shaw believes we could save all the remaining reaction mass. May I get him to explain his plan directly?”

“Absolutely. Let’s move. The anti-matter clock is ticking.”

“Shaw here Sir. I am working from memory of the schematics of Air Force One. The reaction tanks were placed and designed for fast removal and replacement in case of emergency. Each tank has an internal rigid bladder that can be collapsed when empty but retains a firm shape when extended and even partially filled. We could lift the bladders out and tow them behind us sir. This may give us time to move out of the path of the anti-matter fragmentation. We can consolidate the reaction mass when we are out of danger.”

“Do you know how to remove the bladders Shaw?”

“I studied Air Force One in depth sir. In theory I know. In practice…?”

“Take Hannaford and any others you may need to the rear air lock. I will meet you there in one minute. Make sure you have any tools or equipment you may need.” Fuller turned his attention to Carver. “Janine, what have we got for a tether for the reaction mass bladders?”

She looked thoughtful for a moment. “There is a coupling on the hull just behind the rear air lock you will be using. Our refueling hoses are the only things long enough to do the job, but if we damage them all the reaction mass in the universe is no use to us.”

“All I want to do is impart sufficient momentum to the bladders to get them moving in the right direction away from the anti-matter storm. We can pick them up later and tow them on a short leash. The plan is to attach the hoses and pull the bladders out of their housings. We move away from the anti-matter and Space City and impart enough velocity to the bladders to outrun the anti-matter, then we untether and put the pedal to the metal as my old Dad used to say.”

“Risky, but I guess we don’t have any option. Can your cadets handle free space with no training?”

“That’s not a question I am even thinking about. There is no option. The Air Force One guys don’t have youniforms or buddies. They hadn’t planned on a space visit. These kids are good. They will do fine.”

Fuller kissed Janine and backed out of the flight deck. He saw the human chain still taking goods aboard from the doomed Air Force One while far down the end of the cabin he could see Hannaford and Shaw waiting for him. As he passed the first lock one of the chain members fumbled a large package that floated away from him. Fuller reacted and seized the slow moving missile, stopping its progress by planting his feet on the cabin roof. He handed the package back to the crewman with the comment “You have to be careful mister, we don’t get two tries at this.”

The crewman accepted the package, and Fuller saw the President’s face peeking around it grinning. “Yes sir! Won’t happen again!”

“Mr President!” Fuller was speechless.

“Carry on Col. Fuller. You are in charge here, not me.”

Fuller threw a salute and kept on towards the waiting cadets.

Shaw and Hannaford were accompanied by Amy Young, the three cadets unencumbered by any equipment other than a universal multi tool carried by Shaw.

“Is that all you will need Shaw?” queried Fuller.

“Yes sir. According to the Manual there is only one type of fastener in use and this will handle it. I am more concerned about the anti-matter sir.”

Fuller looked sharply at Shaw. “What is the issue Shaw?”

“I crunched the numbers on the fragment velocities with Felicity sir. They are very approximate, but there is a distinct acceleration due to internal repelling forces between the segments and the core. As much anti gravity as it is anti-matter sir. What this means is that we do not have as much time as we thought sir.”

“How much time do we have?

“In reality sir, none. No matter what we do, some anti-matter is going to overtake us based on a delay to recover the reaction mass and our maximum acceleration away from the danger. If we do not pick up the reaction mass we will run out and will not escape the anti-matter. If we do pick it up we cannot outrun it. We are done both ways.”

Fuller looked thoughtful. “Did you get a scan of what anti-matter is heading directly our way?”

“Yes sir.” Hannaford replied. “There are two large fragments that have a high probability of impact with us. Fortunately there do not appear to be dust particles of anti-matter. They annihilated themselves in the atmosphere and were a major contributor to the electric discharge we saw. Other fragments are on close trajectories but will clear us by sufficient distance. These pieces are masking whatever may be behind them.”

“If we could deflect the two segments, we could still take an escape trajectory so that other faster segments will fly right past us. We may then be able to outrun anything coming up behind. Question is, how do we deflect these things?”

There was silence for a moment then Shaw nodded his head and drew shapes with a finger in the air. He squinted one eye deep in thought. Just as he was about to speak, Felicity held up her hand and looked him in the eye. “That will work.”

Fuller frowned. “He didn’t say anything.”

“He doesn’t need to. I know what he is thinking.” Hannaford turned to Fuller. “Really sir, I know what he is thinking. He knows what I am thinking. It must be our buddies.”

“OK we will look into that later. Right now, someone tell me.”

Hannaford gestured to Shaw to explain. “Sir, we have the reaction mass of jet fuel on Air Force One and reaction mass of water on this transport. The fuel will not ignite without oxygen and as reaction mass it will only give up its kinetic energy potential. As jet fuel it will give up its chemical energy potential, hundreds of times more bang. On earth, an air-fuel device turns fuel into an aerosol mist and disperses it into an optimum volume of air to provide oxygen. Once ignited the explosion is devastating.

We have the oxygen we need in the water on board, but we need to break it down to hydrogen and oxygen. I believe that if a layer of water is propelled towards the anti-matter fragments immediately followed by a dispersed layer of fuel, the anti-matter surface will dissociate the layer of water into oxygen and hydrogen, maybe their anti-matter equivalents, as a vapor layer ahead of the fragments. The fuel will hit this vapor layer and form a fuel air effect. We just need to ignite it if it does not ignite itself. The resulting reaction will either deflect the fragments, slow them down or even shatter them. Depending on the outcome, we may have to dodge particles, but they will be regular matter.”

“We have some RPG’s on board from Air Force One. A rocket propelled grenade should ignite the mix.” Fuller beckoned an Air Force One crewman over and instructed him to locate and bring the RPG and launcher. “We need a method to shoot the water and fuel at the fragments. The travel time of the water and fuel is critical. We can use the refueling pumps and spray it out of the hoses at high pressure. We have to make sure our aim is right.

How much can we use without leaving ourselves short?”

“If this works sir, it really doesn’t matter. Where are we going to go?” Hannaford asked.

“Sir, the energy release will be significant. I think we should risk half our mass. After all, we lose completely if we fail.”

“You are quite right Shaw, so here is how we will do it…”