Star One: Tycho City Survival (28 page)

Each
building would have three underground levels. Private homes and other public
buildings would also have underground levels. It was a massive building project,
but it was progressing rapidly. The new Tycho City would extend seventy five
hundred feet along the center of the eight hundred foot wide cavern. A wide, two-lane
street would divide it.

There
would only be a few streets large enough to allow access to battery operated
vehicles. For the most part, going from one section of the city to another
would be done by walking. There would also be an underground transit system
that ran below the street to allow more rapid access to different parts of Tycho City if it were needed.

“It’s
coming along quickly now,” Isaac commented as he walked up to Mase. “Two more
months and we will be able to start moving people in.”

Mase
nodded, he felt the ground tremble slightly and looked over at Isaac.

“Ground
tremors,” Isaac confirmed with a frown. “They’re almost nonstop now.”

“Are
they causing any damage?” Mase asked with some concern in his eyes. This was a
large cavern and their future depended on it staying intact.

“No,
not yet,” Isaac replied. “As long as we don’t have a major ground movement
close by we should be fine. The Luxen support beams should be able to handle
the moonquakes.”

Mase
nodded and watched as two excavation machines rumbled past toward a digging
site. He just hopped they could get everything done in time.

-

Deep
beneath the Pacific, a major fault line suddenly ruptured from the tremendous
pressure it had been under. The ocean floor, in some areas, dropped by nearly
one thousand feet in just a few minutes. Several underwater mountains collapsed
as the massive earthquake intensified, sending shock wave after shock wave
through the sea floor.

As
the tremors raced toward the west coast of the United States, a series of
massive waves began to build. Off the Oregon and Washington coasts, the water
suddenly began to recede, exposing the sea floor for several miles. In the
distance, a deafening, roaring sound almost like a freight train began to grow.

There
was nothing living to watch as the two mile high mountain of water struck the
coast, destroying the last vestiges of human civilization along the shore and
far inland. The wave traveled for hundreds of miles in some areas, wiping out
towns and homes that lay in its path. Behind it, other waves hammered the coast,
some almost as large as the first.

In
other areas of the United States volcanoes continued to erupt. Mount St. Helens exploded in a fiery blast that made the eruption back in 1980 look minuscule.
Mountains of lava poured forth, and fiery ash and smoke billowed up into the
sky. The area for miles around was leveled.

In
Yellowstone, the caldera began to stir. There were several minor eruptions and
releases of gases, but no major eruption. The magma chamber continued to fill,
and pressure was steadily mounting. It was only a matter of time before it had
to be released.

In
Florida, a massive tidal wave swept completely across the state, eliminating
all signs of the former cape complex and the battlefield to the north of it. The
highest point in Florida was Britton Hill at 345 feet above sea level. The wave
height was two hundred feet above it as it swept on past and rolled into Southern Alabama.

In
North Carolina, in a sheltered valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a small
village still held a few people struggling to hold on to life. Each day their
lives were becoming harder as their food supplies began to run low and the air became
more difficult to breathe. Less than two hundred people remained in the small
village, and it had been weeks since they had any contact with the outside
world.

Most
of the trees in the surrounding forest were dead or dying from the acid rain
and general pollution in the atmosphere. The only doctor in the village knew that
their days were numbered as more people came by his office daily with severe
respiratory problems. The few people who ventured outside their homes had to
wear white masks to help with the air, but even those were beginning to have
little effect.

The
few hunters who were still going out searching for wild game were coming back
with stories of finding dead deer and even a few dying black bears in their
dens. There was very little if any game remaining alive in the nearby
mountains.

The
doctor walked over to the large window in his office and gazed out. He had
known these people all of his life, delivered most of their children, and now
he would have to oversee them as they died. He knew their time was rapidly
running out. Letting out a deep sigh, he went and sat down, his head lowered
toward the floor. In a few more days, he knew it would be over, and he could
finally find peace from this ordeal.

In
deep space, the neutron star and black hole came ever nearer. They were now
less than seven billion miles from the Earth. Already, their gravity was
beginning to pull the planets out of their orbits and cause the sun to blaze up
with massive solar flares.

On
the Moon at the Farside complex, Adam Strong and Charles Turner kept a careful
watch on the approaching duo as well as upon the sun. They were recording
everything. Their biggest regret was that LeAnn and Pierre weren’t here with
them. Both of the astronomers had gone back and read over Pierre’s research notes
on black holes and traversable wormholes.

It
did seem slightly possible that the FarQuest might indeed have survived its
passage through the wormhole. If it did, it could be lost in space as well as
in time. What made both of them nervous was that Steve Larson and Star One were
now bound toward the black hole to attempt to traverse the wormhole also. They
knew that all they could do was watch. There would be no way to know if the
space station would survive its valiant attempt to leave the solar system.

Mase was in
the Control Center anxiously watching one of the two main viewscreens. It
showed the massive Star One space station on a trajectory to intersect the
black hole. The view was from a trailing satellite probe that was recording
everything.

From their
most recent communication with Star One, the station was now just four hours
away from entering the absolute darkness that was the black hole. They had
already lost voice communication from the interference. Mase just hoped and
prayed his friends would make it through the ordeal they were about to go
through. There was also a video feed being sent from Farside where they were
using the Albertson reflector to keep track of Star One’s progress.

“I hope they
make it,” Anthony said as he watched intently from Mase’s side. “John is piloting
Star One and is going to try to keep it in the center for its passage through
the wormhole. It will be very difficult with the gravity extremes he will be
dealing with.”

Anthony knew
this would be a herculean task for the talented shuttle pilot. The station had
been equipped with ion drives, SRBs, and additional thrusters to keep it
aligned properly. Teela the AI would also be assisting as her reactions were
almost instantaneous.

“If they make
it, they will be safe from the neutron star and the black hole,” Isaac added as
he gazed fixedly at the two screens showing Star One. “They will be starting
the human race over in another part of the galaxy.”

“They’re
really starting to pick up speed,” Major Daniels reported as she studied the
data from Farside as well as the probe that was following Star One. The neutron
star and the black hole’s gravity are pulling them in.”

For the next
several hours, everyone was silent as they watched the scene being played out
on the viewscreens. Minute by minute the space station rushed nearer to the
black hole at an every increasing rate of speed.

“They’re
almost there,” Anthony whispered as the station and the black hole seemed to
reach toward one another. He knew that Teela had plotted their course to avoid the
neutron star and allow the black hole to drag them down toward its dark center.

He could sense
the tension in the room as everyone hoped Star One would succeed in its daring
gamble. If they were successful, the human race would go on even if it died out
here in the solar system. It became suddenly quiet as everyone watched the end
of the drama being played out on the screens.

“Insertion,”
Daniels spoke as Star One vanished into the event horizon of the black hole. Then
she looked over at Mase and Anthony. “It’s over.”

“It was over
hours ago,” commented Mase, cocking his eyebrows. “What we are seeing occurred
over six hours ago, and by now Star One is in another solar system far away
from here.”

Mase let out a
deep sigh. It was hard to accept that Steve Larson and the rest of the people
on the massive space station were now gone. The night before Mase had sent a
farewell message to Steve wishing him and his people the best of luck. For a moment,
Mase felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness. Up until this time, Star One had
shared the burden of what was happening in the solar system. Now they were
gone. The sad thing was they would never know if Star One had been successful
in transiting the wormhole.

A sudden
rumbling shook the Control Center and Mase nearly fell. The lights dimmed
briefly and then brightened back up. He managed to grab a console to keep his
precarious balance as he looked around. No one was panicking; they were just
waiting for the tremor to stop. After a few moments, the rumbling ceased.

“They’re getting
worse,” Isaac spoke worriedly as he stepped closer to Mase and Anthony. “We’re
beginning to experience one or two major moonquakes a day now besides the
smaller ones.”

Mase nodded.
The Control Center had been heavily reinforced with Luxen and should be safe,
as well as the hangars and the landing pads above. There were twelve of the
large shuttles inside the hangars as well as the normal shuttles that were
commonly used on the Moon. It was essential that they survive intact in case
they were needed in the future.

The small group
made their way back to Tycho City and soon found themselves staring out over
the original cavern. All the tents were gone as well as most of the people.
They had been moved into the larger and sturdier cavern that contained the new Tycho City. The power was still on, and it looked as if the city had just been left as it
was with the lights on.

“I hope this
cavern survives,” Isaac commented as they got into an elective car to make the
trip to the far end of the cavern and into the larger one.

“What do you
think the odds are?” Mase asked. He hoped the cavern survived also. It would
give them additional space to expand back into later if it was needed.

“Fifty fifty,”
Isaac responded after a moment. “Steffan ran some computer simulations on the
stress the cavern might be subjected to. If we had the extra Luxen we could
strengthen the ceiling, but we need everything we are producing for the second
fusion reactor cavern as well as the new ecological habitats we are adding.”

Mase nodded.
Jolene had recently requested they build another and larger ecological habitat
to ensure they had an adequate food supply. Mase had agreed to this, as it
would provide more variety in what they could produce.

“Commander, we
need to return to the Control Center,” Major Daniels spoke nervously as she
listened to a message over the small radio she always carried. Her eyes grew
wide with concern as she added, “Yellowstone is erupting!”

-

Warren Timmons
looked over at Major Burns with a look of great worry. “Are we certain it’s Yellowstone?”

“Yes, we’ve
confirmed it,” Burns replied in a steady voice. “We have had a series of
steadily increasing earthquakes there for the past week, and now they are
nearly off the scale. From the satellite data, there is no doubt that Yellowstone is experiencing a major eruption.”

Warren sat down and let out a deep breath. “Yellowstone is a supervolcano. It can cause
more damage than all the other volcanoes currently erupting in the entire
hemisphere.” Warren had seen computer simulations in the past of what an
eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano would look like as well as its
disastrous consequences.

“If there are
any survivors in that area or to the east, this will finish them off,” Burns
said, shaking his head. “Even a bunker might not be safe from this. The air
will be fouled, and there will be a tremendous amount of ash.”

Warren nodded in understanding. Over the last several months, the situation on the surface
had steadily worsened. It was nearly impossible to go outside now without a
full containment suit on. He doubted if there was anyone still alive outside of
an underground facility.

-

The ground
around Yellowstone shook, and massive fissures opened up. From several of these
red hot lava flowed freely. In other areas, geysers of lava leaped hundreds of
feet into the air. The trees and wildlife around the park had long since died.
There was not a living creature within one hundred miles as the caldera finally
let forth with its full, unbridled fury.

Four massive
explosions rocked Yellowstone as the super volcano finally erupted as the magma
chamber was fully breached. Smoke and rocks were hurled thousands of feet into
the air. The trees in the surrounding forests were leveled from the blasts, and
then the deadly ash began to fall. The ash cloud in the coming days would cover
a good quarter of the United States.