Exodus (The Exodus Trilogy) (4 page)

“
On the other hand, if we’re not ready in time, we lose everything ….”

The science advisor nodded at Havelar’s remark and concluded
, “So there is a need for balance, we need a timeframe that gives us the advantages of Earth-based R&D and production capacity, and at the same time allows those lucky few to get away before it all breaks down. Whatever we do, we cannot allow any one single issue to bog us down. Above all, we need forward movement. What we know is this: Impact will most likely happen approximately twelve years from now. Some of the effects of the close encounters prior to impact will hit us within eight years.” Not very long, Ramon thought, to figure out how to send a viable population to another planet, build the necessary vehicle for transport, launch the ship, and wave good-bye.

“
Somewhere in between years eight and twelve, we will encounter our point of no return, the day when we can no longer launch, and all our efforts will be in vain. If that happens, all we can do is pray.” As the science advisor fell silent, Havelar again took charge.

“
All right, so Devastator will hit us in a little more than a decade. Whether anyone survives the impact is a toss of the dice; the scientists cannot yet say for certain. But however that plays out, the destruction will be … well, impossible to describe … Mankind will most likely not survive the long-term effects, so it is up to us, here in this room, to make a plan that may save a tiny fraction of our species.” This time, everyone nodded, some eagerly, and some still recovering from the bad news. Ramon again noticed that the president himself had been mostly passive, as if his mind was elsewhere. Now, President Andrews rose from his chair, and to everyone’s surprise held up a piece of paper, as if he had already written a script that he intended to follow. Ramon was disturbed by the sight. Hadn’t he listened to the others at all? The president began, and it immediately became apparent that he had a lot of concerns that had little to do with the task at hand.

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When NASA so horrendously failed at sustaining the Mars colony, it was merely the culmination of various missteps that had been going on for decades. Even the successful first manned flight to Mars couldn’t change the fact that NASA had become a symbol of the past, of the weaknesses and lack of vision that so entrenched this country for years, and that the terrorists took advantage of. All those things happened before the reforms that ended bureaucratic practices. And those reforms made it possible for decisive men to take charge and save this great democracy from its enemies, foreign and domestic.” This was the official version of history these days, and something Ramon had heard before. He’d never quite become comfortable with those views, even if his own success had been built upon that of the reformed American government. And whatever he felt, he still couldn’t see the relevance to the momentous efforts ahead. NASA was long dead, and to gather the expertise necessary for this, they would have to look elsewhere.

“
The truth about Devastator is only known to a few people in this country, and for the time being, let’s keep it that way. However, there are others who are already moving on this. As mentioned already, the Chinese and Russians are cooperating on a scheme to divert the course of the planet. And to no avail. They will fail miserably, have no doubt about it, and when they realize that, they will see that they have spent all their resources and gained nothing. The other great powers are somewhat of a mystery to us; we know that things are stirring in India, and they have extracted most of their best scientists that were working abroad, in the U.S., Europe, and South Africa. Clearly they intend to mount some kind of effort, we just don’t know what. With their security policies, the Indian flow of information is close to zero. As for Brazil, we think they might do something similar to us, but they are being unusually tight lipped about it. The only ones we currently have an open channel to are the Europeans. ESA already have a team working on planetary habitability, trying to find a viable target planet, and we expect that they will soon be a full partner in our venture.” The science advisor nodded, as did several others. They all knew that when NASA was disbanded and the study of space generally fell into disgrace, astronomy was one field of research that had lost influence and support in the United States. ESA had gone the other way, increasing their funding of astronomy programs, and were years ahead. Without their cooperation, any American mission would for all practical purposes be blind.

“
The one thing I am skeptical about when it comes to the Europeans is the fact that they have very differing views on what to do with dissidents. There are elements in ESA that have been vocal enemies of our reforms, as if they had any right to concern themselves with our business. Clearly, they will have to be excluded from any joint projects. We don’t want their destructive views to spread.” The president let the sentence hang in the air, while silently challenging anyone to disagree. It had been a long time since anyone had spoken up about the kind of institutionalized paranoia the president seemed to display, so no one said anything. President Andrews, satisfied with the silence, continued.

“
All right, so we need to maintain a level of security here. We will not share everything with the Europeans, but to obtain their cooperation, we need to reserve some seats on the spaceship for them. And we will make sure that their candidates go through the same selection process as our people, so that dissidents and leftists are properly weeded out. There have to be some of their candidates we can approve of; they’re not all bad, thank God. As for our American candidates, we’ll perform thorough background checks to make sure we only send loyal people of like mind to build a new world. That same standard also has to apply to everyone working on the project, and especially the ones in charge of selecting the right candidates.” Ramon noticed the national security advisor raised an eyebrow, before his face quickly became as blank and unreadable as before. The president walked over to where Daniel Shaw, the former director of JPL, was sitting and put his hands on Shaw’s shoulders.

“
Some of you may already have recognized Daniel Shaw, former director of JPL of Pasadena. JPL will play an important role, as it has done in several previous space endeavors of this country. When Congress investigated the Mars incident, JPL was shown to have foreseen ,many of the weaknesses that caused the mission to become such a tragedy. It was one of the few institutions involved that was not prosecuted or disbanded in the aftermath.” He paused, and then smiled.

“
When all that happened, Daniel was just a rocket engineer, of course, but he later came to be director, and his legacy is that of several successful military applications of the technology developed out in Pasadena. He’s also a friend of mine, and one of the people I would trust with something as important as this. He will be in charge of the project and report back to me. The Consortium will be an advisory board that will be consulted on all major decisions. There will be plenty of work, and I expect each of you to already have some idea as to how your companies can contribute. If you have anything urgent, take it up with George.” He nodded at Havelar, who nodded in acknowledgement. One of the business leaders, Dana Fuller of the high-tech Quantum Industries, raised her hand slowly, then spoke.

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We need to have a name. I guess we could just call it the project …” Havelar shook his head.

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Of course we need a name. A name that says something of the magnitude of the challenges we’re talking about here, of the importance. To help us stay inspired.”

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Exodus,” Ramon said quietly, then as the room fell silent, he looked up to see everyone looking at him.

“
That’s what this is,” he said, and several nodded, others murmured agreement. The president smiled; he was known to be a religious man.

“
Exodus it is.”

There
was just a week left until Christmas, and Ramon knew it would be very different this year. Even though they had all pledged not to reveal anything to their families, spouses included, Isabella Solis, as much CEO as her husband but for the title, was the sole exception. But both knew their daughter had to be spared the burden of this knowledge. As a teenager, she had enough on her mind. Still, Ramon wondered what it would be like celebrating Christmas while knowing the world would soon come to an end.

Two days had passed since their last meeting.
They were sitting around the same table, almost all the business leaders and the same representatives from the administration, except the president, who had to maintain an appearance to the public as if it was all business as usual. In addition, there were several scientists. Director Shaw had brought several from JPL, some former NASA people, and even a couple of astronomers from ESA who looked mighty jet-lagged. Ramon had brought his wife, Isabella, much to the dismay of Havelar, who agreed with the president that as few as possible should know, including family. Ramon had pushed it through though. Even Havelar had to give in to the fact that, although Ramon Solis was CEO of Cheevo, Isabella had always been a part of the Consortium meetings, speaking on Cheevo’s behalf with as much weight as Ramon.

The meeting had begun half an hour ago, with a recap of previous events and the decision to establish Project Exodus. They all knew they were talking about sending people off Earth to make sure humanity could survive. But the details were blurry, as most of them had no idea where such an expedition could go, and few knew much about space at all. So the goal for the meeting was to come up with options for the scientists to continue working on.

As the walkthrough of the estimates for how Devastator would behave in the coming years drew to a close, Havelar again took charge, and repeated the question they were all pondering.

“
So where do we go?” He looked at each and every one of them, and let the question linger for a moment before he continued.

“
A viable Mars settlement was always the goal, and for all practical purposes the final destination for most of our space endeavors, at least before we disbanded NASA. After that … well, it was irrelevant. But now that Mars is gone, what options do we have?” One of the former NASA people, Dr. Jacob Grant, a gray-haired man who now worked in the civilian satellite business, spoke first.

“
Let’s look at it this way. First, we need to explore the possibilities within the solar system. I mean, that’s obvious. With current technology, anything else is a pipe dream. Second, further out, the stars. Of course, we’re not able to do that today or tomorrow, but let’s consider it anyhow. We’re sort of brainstorming here, folks, we should look at every option, realistic or not. And besides, they didn’t have the technology to send people to the moon in 1961 either. But they did it.” One of the business leaders, looking rather puzzled, interrupted him.

“
I don’t know what you’re thinking here, but I just don’t get it. The solar system? Where? With Mars out of the equation now, I can’t see where that would be.” Grant smiled and nodded slowly.

“
Actually, you have a point. It may not be possible to live anywhere else in the solar system. What I said was that we need to explore the possibilities, then take care of the obstacles, or rule out the reckless and the impossible.” He sipped his water while the business leader quieted down.

“
So, the solar system.” Grant continued. “First off, we will need some way of harvesting resources, since supplies from Earth will not be an option. That makes Earth orbit a bad choice. The moon could be a possibility. It has encrusted oxygen, and minerals, all of which could be mined. The problem is that the moon has no atmosphere and very little water. Those are critical factors when it comes to long-term survival.” Ramon looked over at Havelar, who seemed disinterested and a little annoyed at this point. Grant though, was clearly unaffected, and from the looks of the other scientists, his opinions seemed to carry a lot of weight.

“
We could also imagine something like a space station, in orbit somewhere further out, or some kind of free-flying settlement in space.” Eric Sloan, one of the engineers from JPL, shook his head while waving a finger back and forth, almost admonishing. A crinkle in the corners of his eyes, though, let anyone who bothered to look see that he was simply following Grant’s line of thought.

“
Let’s not go down that road, Dr. Grant,” said Sloan. “We could barely maintain the orbital stations, and we still had the luxury of ground supplies … We are simply not capable of building lasting, closed life-support systems. There will always be losses, and faults, and unforeseen contingencies. Eventually it will break down. What we need to aim for is something that will last long enough to get us somewhere.” At that point Isabella surprised her husband by speaking.

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So, we need supplies, resources. That means planets, right?” That was Isabella Solis; quick to draw the conclusions, and not wasting time on further discussion when the outcome seemed obvious. The president’s science advisor cut her off though.

“
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, people. We have other options, so please let Dr. Grant continue.” Grant smiled at Isabella before he continued.

“
Oh, I think both Dr. Sloan and Mrs. Solis make good points. So no space habitats; we need to be able to replenish our resources at some point. The planets are an option, so are some of the moons orbiting Saturn or Jupiter. NASA found evidence of organic compounds on Titan …” He halted, as a red-faced Havelar stood up and motioned for them all to stop talking.

“
Goddammit, you guys. What the hell are you talking about? You all seem to forget one simple fact; we’re human. We need open spaces, land to build upon, to multiply, to expand. Remember, this is about a new beginning, not finding some dark hole to hide out in. We should be looking at ways to create a possibility for life, not just some meaningless existence.” Grant nodded, then several others followed suit. Ramon thought Grant looked like he’d planned this all from the start, and now he got to conclude his own line of reasoning, with all the downsides to the alternatives covered.

“
I think it’s safe to say now that we need to find a planet or a large moon which is Earth-like. I’m talking about size, gravity, temperature, water, oxygen, and atmosphere. With an atmosphere we don’t have to wear pressure suits, although it doesn’t have to be breathable. So let’s be clear here. There is nothing remotely like that in our solar system, except Earth. So we’re not talking about the solar system anymore. We’re talking about sending a spaceship to some star system light years away. We’re talking about a new Earth and a new beginning for mankind.” The point seemed to sink in with everyone in the room now. Man had never travelled to the stars before, and now, as the survival of mankind itself was under threat, they would, in just a few years, send a starship on a one-way journey into deep space to find a new home for the survivors. The dimensions were staggering, and Ramon thought it all seemed surreal. Sloan from JPL again shook his head as he raised his concerns.

“
I think everyone should be aware of the difficulties we’re looking at here. There are so many questions that need answering. Where do we find this planet? How can we be sure it has all the properties we need? And what about space flight? We haven’t even touched upon that. We’re not talking chemical rockets here; we have to come up with entirely new methods of propulsion, and fast! How fast? Is it at all possible to come up with a way to travel to the stars? The engineering issues here are huge!” Havelar nodded at Sloan, a wide grin spreading across his face while his eyes got that look they often did when confronted with an obstacle no one quite knew how to handle.

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It’s all frontier work from here, folks.” He looked around, then at his watch, and smiled.

“
I think we all need a break. This is a lot to take in, and I’d like us to address the issues one by one, or we’ll get nowhere.” Ramon and Isabella looked at each other. Isabella voiced a name with her lips, and Ramon found he’d been thinking about it, at least subconsciously, since he first heard what would happen on Earth in just a few years. Maria.