Dark Star Rising Second Edition (Pebbles in The Sky) (19 page)

“Our real danger is going to come from the sky.  This Brown Dwarf is going to disrupt the nice, fairly neat asteroid belts, scramble all the comets out in the Oort cloud, and pulverize the moons around our gas giants. Who knows what other dangers it may bring with it as it approaches?  Picture the solar system as a rack of balls on a pool table.  The Dwarf is the queue ball.  Now, hit those neatly arranged balls with the queue ball and try to predict where everything is going to stop.  That is what is going to happen to all the objects in the asteroid belt and the Oort cloud.  We cannot accurately guess where they will go. There are too many variables.”

“While all these events on Earth are going to be uncomfortable and cause us problems, they will pass.  Meanwhile, our solar system is
going to be filled with rocks the same size or bigger that caused the dinosaurs to go extinct.  It will only take a hit from one of those to finish what is left of the human race and most of the life left on this planet.  In addition, there will be hundreds, probably thousands of smaller objects that if they hit the Earth, would cause regional devastation that we just cannot afford as we are trying to recover from our close encounter with the Dwarf.”

“NASA and other scientists and agencies have been studying this issue for years now and have devised multiple methods of deflecting or changing the courses of errant asteroids that threaten us.  This is going to get much harder.  We must develop a space based defense that will give us opportunity to detect these threats, assess their danger, and decide how to mitigate that danger.  Then, the defense force must have the means to do it.  My colleagues and I foresee the need for a layered defense.  We are going to need high energy lasers and missiles with nuclear warheads.  That is the easy part.  We are also going to need spacecraft that can carry crews to meet these rocks far from Earth and place drive units on them that can alter their course over time. We need to be able to install explosives to break them up, or reflectors or light absorbing compounds to slowly alter their orbits.  We are going to need the full gamut of all of these measures to protect our world.”

“We are also going to need space based telescopes and instruments to identify these threats and powerful computers to keep track of all of them.  To do all of this, we are going to need a robust and human presence in space.  This will mean space stations, at least one moon base, and probably a base closer to the asteroid belt such as on one of the moons orbiting Mars.  Our space program has languished under budgetary restraints too long.  We have to act now.  It will require both NASA’s guidance, and major assistance from private companies such as Space X, Sierra Nevada Corp, Bigelow Aerospace as well as the major military contractors such as Boeing and Lockheed.  The Air Force will be heavily involved in supplying personnel for this new Space Force.  We do not feel that the other countries with space agencies are going to be in a position to contribute much to this effort.  This weight is likely to fall on the United States shoulders alone.”  David sat down feeling like he had just preached the sermon of a lifetime.

  Elliott stood up. “Last up is Marsha Hemmings, Secretary of Treasury.  She probably has one of the hardest jobs of all.  Item
eight…how to provide funding for all of the previous needs that have been presented.”

Mrs. Hemming stood and took a deep breath. “This is not going to be pleasant,” she said.  “We are talking about severe austerity for some areas while massive increases in funding for others.  The President and I have already laid out some basic proposals to take before Congress.  And yes, there will be tax increases with all of these needs,” she joked trying to lighten the mood.  There were a few smirks but nobody laughed at her joke.”

She blushed and continued,  “As the General said, withdrawing our military forces and making our Navy into a coastal defense force as well as eliminating several costly and probably unneeded weapons programs on the drawing boards will help the bottom line tremendously.  There are also multiple other military cuts that will have to be determined.  Right now, the military takes about forty percent of the federal funding available.  We believe we can cut that almost in half.  However, most of that funding will be shifted to the new space defense force so we really gain nothing overall.”

“As soon as we can get Congress to pass it, we are going to have a massive tax overhaul.  The President wants to go to a flat tax, with no loop holes and no special deductions except for a couple of special ones that I will discuss further.  This will apply to both private tax payers as well as companies.  The President will propose major new tariffs on products being imported.  This will stimulate companies with overseas factories to move back to the mainland.  These companies will be given some government incentives to build new factories in the southern states in preparation for the loss of the northern states due to the winters and progressively decreased habitability from ice and snow buildup.  The fact that many areas of the world are going to be very
politically unstable should also be a major incentive for these companies to re-locate back into the United States where they will hope to have the greatest stability.” 

“We believe that the manufacturing capability in the rest of the world will drop by at least eighty percent during the encounter and for at least five to ten years afterwards.  It will be a very slow economic recovery. Therefore, we need to be able to produce all that we need here at home.”

“To help alleviate the population issues that will exist starting twenty seven years from now, the President is also going to make a very controversial recommendation to our tax code.  We need to give incentives to reduce our population.  She wishes to eliminate the child credit and replace it with a childless credit.  Couples who decide to produce only one child will get a tax credit.  Those who produce none will get a bigger credit.  Young adults of child bearing years who have not had children that undergo voluntary sterilization would also get a credit. The goal of these incentives is to draw down our population in our country to sustainable levels.  If we can reduce our population by just thirty percent over the next two generations, that will help our relocation costs tremendously.   We expect a tremendous outcry from many of the religious organizations from these proposed measures.”

“There is also some discussion that as a last resort we would purposely default on the treasuries and bonds held by other countries such as China if they behave aggressively toward their neighbors.  There is some small hope that this threat would make them reconsider taking warmer lands from their neighbors by force.”  She sat down as people shifted uneasily in their chairs.

The President stood up and looked around the table.  “Is anyone here happy about any of this we have discussed? Well, neither am I.  However, we need drastic measures for drastic times.  All that you have heard is just a brief skeleton of the plans and preparations we need to start immediately. I will be hosting congressional leaders over the next few days and hopefully, for once, we can get everyone acting for our countries best interests instead of their own.”

She allowed her shoulders to slump and her exhaustion became very evident.  “I need all of you.  We need to put away petty squabbles and inter-agency fighting and finger pointing.  For the sake of our country and our citizens, I need your help.  I cannot carry this heavy burden alone.  I am going to tell the Senate and the House of Representatives that our people need leaders now who will not fail them.  We will be forming action committees based upon what we have identified as areas of need tonight. There will be other needs, and we will deal with them as they come.  I urge you to devote yourselves to our cause like never before, our country needs everything that we can give it.  I trust each of you to work toward our goal.  I bid you goodnight.”

She turned to walk out as they all stood.  At that moment, every one of them made a vow to themselves that they would not fail, they would see this through.  Not for themselves, but for the country and people that they were responsible for.

Chapter 19

June 14
th
, 2016

Pasadena, California

Eric Casselman turned the TV so that he could see it from the grill on his patio.  His niece Susan and Mike Banscott were sitting at the patio table waiting for the CNN nightly talk show to begin.  He had invited them both over to watch the news tonight because JPL had finally agreed to let Peter Rockwell be interviewed on national TV.  Peter had tried his best to avoid it, but David Honstein, the NASA director, had told him that they were all under immense pressure from the President to do this.  It was to be a controlled environment and the CNN reporter doing the interview had promised not to ask off the cuff questions that would put Peter on the spot.  Eric was grilling some steaks for the three of them while Mike and Susan chatted.

“Oh, here it comes,” said Susan. “He is on TV.”  She leaned over to turn up the sound as Marla Albright, the CNN reporter introduced Peter.

“Good evening everyone, I am Marla Albright with CNN and we are here live in the studio with Peter Rockwell.  For anyone who has been living in a hole for the last three months without TV, radio, or internet service, Peter is the grad student from Cal Tech who discovered Peter’s Star, the Brown Dwarf that is approaching Earth.”

Peter, probably the question that we all are dying to ask is how you, as a student, discovered the Brown Dwarf when all the other professional astronomers in the world had not found it?  If what we hear is correct, you found it using images and data that was almost ten years old and had been reviewed by many other researchers.”

“Marla, first, let me correct you if I may,” said Peter. “A Brown Dwarf is not a star. It is basically a failed star.  It never accumulated the mass to become a star in the sense that we know it.  It is not officially named “Peters Star.”  Its astronomical designator is CFBDS081.”

Marla looked at the camera and smiled her best reporter smile with her perfectly capped teeth.  “Well, most of us could not remember that if we tried, and it is so much easier to call it “Peters Star.”  On the screen Peter visibly grimaced.  “Ok Peter, so tell us all, how did you find it first?”

“Actually, I was not looking for it when I found it,” said Peter. “I was using the images of a very distant galaxy to support research on my Doctorate
degree and the Brown Dwarf was there in every image, I just did not realize what it was at the time.  Look at it like this, nobody expected to find a Brown Dwarf within a light year of our solar system, so nobody was looking for it.”

“Another way to explain it is this way.  You go outside and look at the moon through binoculars while standing in your front yard. You are standing under a tree that has just a few bare branches above your head. You see the moon, but you do not notice the branches in your field of view.  You are not focusing on them, so to you they do not exist.  Basically, the same thing happened here.  No one was looking for it so as they looked at those images they did not see it.  I noticed it because I thought the images were corrupted and I would have to throw them out.  It took the prompting of my college professor to actually make me see what was right before my eyes.”

Marla’s expression took on the look of a hunter pursing prey.  “Speaking of your college professor, I believe his name is Doctor Eric Casselman?”

“Yes it is,” said Peter. 

“Rumor has it that you are dating his niece,” Marla slyly implied.  Peter merely nodded his head yes.  “So, how has all the attention and notoriety affected your love life?  There are probably all sorts of girls out there just dying to meet the guy who discovered the star that is going to cause so much change to our world as it approaches.”

Susan looked at her uncle and remarked, yea, “All those girls are a bunch of sluts just wanting to be seen with a celebrity.  That woman is just trying to make him uncomfortable, look at her, she loves this.”

Peter had flushed slightly and grinned.  “Like I just finished explaining, when you are looking real hard at the moon, you don’t see all the branches of the trees.”

“How sweet,” said Marla, “your girl must be very happy to be with you.”

Susan stood up indignantly “Did he just call my ass the moon?”  Mike Banscott choked on his beer as he tried not to laugh.

“Sit down Susan, for goodness sake.  I think he was giving you a compliment,” said her uncle.

“So to answer your question and put that to rest, yes, Marla, I am in a committed relationship right now.  Between Susan and work, I am too busy to even think about other women,” said Peter.

“So if he was not so busy he might look around,” asked Susan.

“Susan, sit down and be quiet,” said her Uncle. 

“So Peter, is it correct that you are now working for JPL, or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory?”

“Yes, I am Marla. I am working under Doctor Mike Banscott at JPL.  He is the leader of our team that is studying the Brown Dwarf as it approaches Earth.”

“So what more is there to study?” she asked.  “We know it is coming and where it is going, why bother?”

“This is pretty important Marla. Not only do we want to refine our understanding of the trajectory of the Dwarf, but it is giving us the chance of a lifetime to study one of these enigmatic objects from very close as it passes us.  This may never happen again and will surely never happen again in our lifetime.”

“Well, I think all of our viewers will agree that once is going to be enough,” she said. “I don’t think we want to see another one as close up as this one is supposed to get.  So, exactly what are you doing to study this thing in greater detail?  From what I understand the Hubble Space Telescope can just barely see it.”