Star One: Tycho City Survival (25 page)

“Everything
except the salad dressing,” answered Jolene, pleased that Anthony liked the
salad. “We are already sending a lot of vegetables to the restaurants in Tycho City. If everyone would just eat a salad we could feed a big part of the refugees
that came up from Earth.”

“As we put
more of them into deep sleep it will put less stress on our food resources as
well as our recycling systems,” Mase commented as he cut another slice off his
steak.

He knew that
currently Isaac and Steffan were spending much of their time making sure Tycho City’s systems stayed online from all the stress they were under. There was a full
time maintenance crew assigned just to handle the recycling systems.

“Mom and I
used to bake a lot back home,” Karen said as she buttered a roll. She had made
the rolls from scratch using one of her mother’s recipes. “Commander, what do
you think happened to our parents? Do you think they’re still alive?”

Mase looked
over at the twenty-two-year-old and for a moment, a serious look came over his
face. “It’s hard to tell,” he said, looking into Karen’s eyes. “There’s been
some flooding around Kansas City, but not as bad as the rest of the country.
From our latest reports, even their electricity is still working. There’s a
good chance your parents are fine and just trying to ride these storms out.”

“Don’t forget,
Karen,” spoke Linda, feeling her sister’s pain and concern. “There is a large solidly
built basement beneath the house. Dad made sure of that when they had the house
built. I’m sure they will be fine.”

Karen nodded
and slowly finished buttering her roll. She hoped that Linda was right.

Mase knew many
of the people in Tycho City were asking the same question that Karen had just
asked. Everyone still had loved ones and close friends trapped on Earth. The
coming months were going to be hard on everybody as the situation on Earth steadily
worsened.

-

 Warren
Timmons was in the Control Center of the bunker staring at Major Burns in
disbelief. “Star One did what?” he said in a loud and stunned voice.

“They left the
orbit of the Moon and, from what we can tell, are accelerating the station on a
course to rendezvous with the neutron star and black hole.”

Warren sat down in a chair and looked around the Control Center, feeling confused. “Why
would they do that?”

“No one knows,”
answered Major Burns. “I spoke to a few of the scientists earlier and they are
just as mystified as we are. We know something happened to the FarQuest a
number of days ago, and now Star One is under acceleration and rapidly leaving
the Earth and the Moon.”

“They must
have a reason,” said Warren, looking intently at Major Burns. “Something they
discovered about the neutron star and black hole from the FarQuest mission.”

“We may never
know,” replied Burns, shaking his head. “We don’t dare attempt to contact them
in case our transmission is picked up by Senator Farley’s military.”

“What about
General Mann?” Warren asked. “Does he have any idea?”

“No,” Burns
replied, shaking his head. “I spoke with the general earlier, and they are just
as mystified as we are.”

“I bet Senator
Farley is fit to be tied about this,” Warren added with a haunting smile. “Star
One is now effectively out of his reach.”

“Perhaps
that’s why they moved the station,” suggested Burns, thoughtfully. “Farley has already
attacked them with missiles; perhaps they are doing this to make the station unreachable
to further attacks. There is still a possibility they may change course away
from the neutron star.”

“I’m picking
up some radio transmissions from various stations reporting that Star One has
left the Lagrange point,” Lieutenant Reynolds reported from communications. She
checked several more stations and then turned around to face Major Burns and
Warren Timmons. “No one seems to understand what is going on with the space
station.”

“Steve Larson
knows what he’s doing,” spoke Warren, decisively. “I also bet that Mase Colton
on the Moon knows what’s going on. When things calm down some, we may attempt
to contact Colton and find out what Larson is up to. I’m really curious as to
what they had to do to make the station maneuverable like this. It wasn’t
originally equipped to be able to move out of the Lagrange point.”

Major Burns
nodded his head in agreement. It wouldn’t be much longer if the conditions on
the surface continued to deteriorate, that any type of reprisal from Senator
Farley would be impossible. Each day there were fewer and fewer radio stations
on the air as power grids continued to fail due to the inclement weather. It
wouldn’t be much longer until Farley’s control of the country was gone forever.

“What’s the
current status of the bunker?” asked Warren, turning to look at Major Burns
once again. “How are we doing on the new tunnel?”

“Progress is
going well,” Burns replied. He had been on an inspection tour earlier. “Allen
Summers is spending most of his time in the tunnel supervising its construction,
and it’s coming along quickly.”

“What about
the dirt and rocks from the digging?” Warren asked with concern. “Where are we
putting that?”

“We have multiple
access tunnels dug into several old gold mines,” Burns responded. He walked
over to a cabinet on the wall and took out several maps, which showed the old
gold mines that honeycombed the area. Returning to the small table where Warren was sitting, he rolled one of them out.

“Old gold
mines,” mused Warren, looking down at the map. He could see a number of
underground tunnels that were marked in red.

“We’ve sealed
off the surface entrances, and we’re putting the dirt and rock inside the
tunnels,” Burns explained. “We have plenty of room and no one will ever know
what we’re doing.”

Warren nodded. Anything they could do to expand the bunker only made it more comfortable
for the 6,240 people that had made the bunker their home. Warren just hoped he
could continue to protect the people in the bunker and that they would all come
through the rough days that were still ahead.

He leaned back
in his chair and thought about all the people they had lost. President
Kateland, Jane Kinsey, Tim McPhryson, and the many others that had lost their
lives to ensure that some people could survive. Now, Steve Larson and General
Karver were leaving as well as Star One fled deeper into the black void of
space.

Mase,
Anthony, Isaac, and Major Daniels were in the Control Center, staring in shock
at the main viewscreen on the wall. It showed that disaster had struck Los Angeles. The Pacific Ocean had moved in and reclaimed the city for its own.

Only
a few of the city’s tallest buildings were still visible above the dark blue, turbulent
ocean water, and even those showed a tremendous amount of earthquake damage.
Most of the windows in the buildings were broken, and several were leaning over
at odd angles as if they were about to teeter and fall into the swirling water
below. Numerous helicopters could be seen flying over the cataclysmic scene
broadcasting to the few still operating media stations.

Debris
and countless bodies were plainly visible in the swirling water around the
surviving structures. Even as they watched, one of the remaining buildings
seemed to tremble and then disappeared as it collapsed on its foundation,
allowing the ocean waters to swallow it with little effort. On the roofs of a
few of the buildings, people could be seen waving frantically to the circling
helicopters, but none dared land for fear of not being able to take off again.

“From
the scans we have taken, an area of nearly 4,200 square miles has been taken
over by the ocean,” Major Daniels reported as she looked at the latest data
from the orbiting satellites.

“Millions
of people must be dead from this,” Anthony spoke in a low voice. “Where’s the
help; why is no one trying to rescue those stranded people?”

“There
is no organized federal government left,” Mase responded. He was briefed daily
on the evolving situation on Earth by Major Daniels. “Only a few of the state
governments are still functioning. For the most part, most communities are
finding themselves on their own and having to rely on their own resources.”

“There
is earthquake damage throughout California,” Major Daniels continued as she
studied some data coming across a computer screen. She turned and looked
intently at the others. “Numerous communities are begging for help from the
damage suffered in the earthquake and the influx of people. They are being
overwhelmed and have no resources available for the refugees.”

“There
is no help for them,” Anthony spoke his eyes glued to the screen that showed
hundreds if not thousands of people clinging to the wreckage and drifting out
to sea. He couldn’t imagine what it must be like to know that there was no help
coming.

Mase
walked over and turned the viewscreen off. It was too depressing to watch, and
he could tell by the shocked silence in the Control Center that everyone had been
affected by what they had just witnessed.

“Earthquakes
have been gradually increasing for the past several weeks now,” Mase informed
them. “The situation on Earth will deteriorate even more rapidly now as the
neutron star gets nearer. The disaster in Los Angles is going to be repeated
hundreds if not thousands of times.”

“It’s
just hard seeing it for ourselves,” Isaac commented, his face ashen from what
he had seen on the screen. Taking a deep breath, he continued. “I just spoke to
Jackson Pierce at the mass driver and they are well underway with disassembling
it. We sent him some extra help so he can get the parts stored safely and
properly.”

“I
wonder if we will ever need it again?” asked Anthony, looking at the others.
“Star One is gone, and the Earth is in shambles. Even if people survive, I
seriously doubt if they will need any raw materials from the mass driver.”

“You’re
probably right,” replied Mase, looking at Anthony. He knew taking the mass
driver apart was a big project, but if they ever needed it again at least they
would still have it.

“I’m
getting a broadcast from an underground bunker in the Northeastern United
States,” Corporal Stewart spoke suddenly as she listened more intently to the
broadcast. “A General Marcus Young is claiming that Senator Farley has been
removed as head of state. Local state governments are being given full
authority to deal with the current National Emergency and the Federal
Government, other than some parts of the military, is being disbanded.”

Everyone
looked at each other in surprise. They hadn’t expected to hear anything like
this. They wondered if the disaster in Los Angeles had anything to do with it.

“Is
this for real?” asked Anthony, raising his eyebrow. “I’ve never heard of a
General Marcus Young before.”

“I
once knew a Colonel Marcus Young in the marines,” Captain Struthers mentioned.
“He was a good officer. If this is the same man, he would have been unwilling
to go along with Senator Farley’s ambitions. If he had the support, he could
very easily have removed Farley from power.”

“I
guess we will just wait and see,” Mase said, wondering what the ramifications
of this would be. It would be a huge relief not to have to worry about the
crazed senator anymore. “This doesn’t change anything, but it might make the
situation on Earth a little better for the survivors, at least for a while.”

“I
wonder what happened?” Anthony asked as he looked around the small group.
“Farley must have pissed off the wrong person.”

-

Mase
was standing in a secure bunker two hundred feet beneath the recently finished Tycho City cavern. The bunker was forty feet wide and over three hundred feet long. He
gazed carefully at the six long rows of glass cases that were laid out before
him. The cases were stacked four high, and there was a human body inside each
one. Each case was hooked up to monitoring equipment, and a low hum could be
heard throughout the bunker.

“How
many people are in here?” he asked, turning to face Doctor Klein who was
standing next to him.

“Nine
hundred,” Doctor Klein replied as he glanced at the monitors on a stack of
cases. He made a notation on a computer pad he was carrying and seemed to be
satisfied with the readings on the cases. “We have another six hundred in the
second bunker and Steffan has started work on the third.”

Mase
nodded as he stepped over and gazed at a young woman in one of the cases. She
looked as if she were just sleeping. “How long can we keep them under?” he
asked, turning back around to face Doctor Klein.

“We’re
not certain,” confessed Klein, hesitantly. “This deep sleep drug was perfected
by Doctor Wruggi on Star One. I have spoken in depth to him about it, and he
feels like one year should be safe. More than that and we could lose some
people.”

“So
it wouldn’t be practical to keep them under for two years then,” Mase said,
feeling disappointed. He had hoped to be able to keep the sleepers under until
after the neutron star and black hole had passed and all construction work in
the new Tycho City and the ecological habitats was completed.

“There
is a way,” Doctor Klein said, hesitantly. “If we rotate the sleepers. Allow
this bunch to sleep for a year, awaken them, and then put a second group into
deep sleep.”

“How
many people can we put into deep sleep with the equipment and resources we have?”
Mase asked.