2084 The End of Days (30 page)

“Control to Eagle One. We saw you take a lightning strike head on there. Can you give us a status report? Over.”

Captain Alexander reported back.

“E-Eagle One to C-Control. All systems still go here but ah’m p-pretty shook up. If this gets any worse ah think we might n-need to delay the launch a few hours. Over.”

Lex looked back up to Irene DuPré and Aaron Eckler who both slowly shook their heads in unison.

“Control to Eagle One. Sorry guys, but no delay. Launch must go in T-minus-28 and counting. Report your status. Good to go? Over.”

There was a long pregnant pause and Lex again pressed the crew for an answer.

“Control to Eagle One. Repeat. Are you good to go? Over.”

The German Flight Lieutenant crackled a response.

“Eagle One to Control. Vibka here – I am good to go. Over.”

“T-minus-26 and counting.”

Jill was still on the derrick reporting although she had been pretty shaken by the near lightning strike a few minutes ago. She carried on bravely, now shouting at the top of her voice, as the huge Lockheed-Rolls Royce rocket engines began to thunder into life and compete with the fierce oncoming storm.

“We are now just twenty six minutes to lift off and it as if a great battle between man, machine and nature has begun. In less than six minutes I will need to get clear of the gangway along with all remaining ground crew as the huge engines rev up to full lift off power. The gangway will be drawn clear of the Jupiter shuttle, in effect, cutting the last umbilical lifeline between we billions left on Earth and the few humans destined to become our surviving descendants on the hostile Red Planet. At this point we can only wish them all - bon voyage.”

At that very split second Jill let out a scream live on 3DTV to the watching billions, who would all have seen the lightning strike the hull of the Jupiter
s
huttle just yards behind her for the second time. A startled Jill kept on reporting.

“Who says lightning doesn’t strike twice?”

Lex saw the second lightning strike on the shuttle as he was still trying to communicate with the crew.

“Control to Eagle One. Got Vibka’s okay to go. John need your good to go. Over.”

Again there was a momentary pause, then Captain John Alexander’s frighteningly high-pitched tones came across the airwaves, but he was garbled and incoherent. Irene DuPré came on to Lex’s headset.

“Jeezus, Lex, what the hell’s goin’ on in that cockpit? Over.”

“Control to Eagle One. Vibka! Vibka! Please respond? Over.”

In the cockpit Vibka was struggling to control John Alexander and she did not know if he was having a heart attack, a seizure or a nervous breakdown. She yelled at a cabin crew member to find a doctor on board. While she fought to calm the captain down she called back on her headset.

“Eagle One to Control. Captain Alexander currently unwell. Seeking medical advice on board. Please advise situation? Over.”

Lex swivelled in his seat and looked back up at Irene and Aaron then he spread his arms out questioningly seeking an answer. He watched them have a quick conflab and then he saw Eckler put on a headset.

“Control to Eagle One. Mission Director Aaron Eckler here Vibka. We are delaying lift off by one-five minutes, repeat one-five, until situation stabilises. New lift off now T-minus-40. If Eagle One unable to lift off in T-minus-40 and counting then mission abort will be announced. Please acknowledge compliance. Over.”

“Eagle One to Control. Vibka acknowledging and Wilco. Doctor now attending Captain Alexander in cockpit. Will update ASAP. Over.”

The booming time check was recalibrated and announced to the watching world.

“Mission delay. Launch in T-minus-39 and counting.”

A huge gasp arose from the crowd of a million watchers who were now being utterly drenched in the increasing downpour. It did not take a technical genius to know that this storm would play a part in whether the launch would happen or not. The rest of the watching world held its collective breath. Jill had called in to her director and asked what was going on and he screamed back at her.

“Jill, how the fuck would I know! Just wing it, kiddo, the whole fucking world is watching you!”

The static camera light signified she was back on air.

“This is Jill Geeson still reporting from the gangway of the Jupiter Galaxy V shuttle awaiting the launch of the last immigrants to join the Oceanus fleet up in Alpha Base. In the last minute or so Houston Control has just announced a fifteen minute delay to the actual launch. At present we do not have any details as to what has caused this delay. It may be the atrocious weather conditions or that a technical fault has been found or – or – hold on – hold on – the door of the shuttle is being reopened and –“

Jill was momentarily interrupted as two fully suited medics hurried along the gangway past her.

“- and it now appears that there may be a medical emergency on board the shuttle. When we get further details we will get these to you all when we have more on this developing story.”

“T-minus-35 and counting.”

Lieutenant Vibka Liebherr called in to Lex.

“Eagle One to Control. Sit Rep on Captain Alexander. Doctor on board has diagnosed a small but significant stroke. Medics now on board will take Captain Alexander off for hospital treatment. Over.”

Aaron Eckler ripped off his headset and slammed it down on the desk beside Irene. Well, he thought, that is it all fucking over now. He was about to suggest aborting the mission when an instantly recognisable voice came on the tannoy.

“Eagle One to Control. Commander Jack Crossan here. You there Lex ya old fart? Copy?”

“Control to Eagle One. Lex here Jack. Over.”

Crossan threw communications convention to the wind.

“Here’s the deal Lex. I’ve basically never flown one of these babies except in simulators, but Vibka here has some flying experience on the Jupiters. What say we Vibka pilots an’ ah’ll be her co and let’s get this thing to fuck outta here?”

“Jack. Eckler here. Vibka has only got ten hours flight under her belt! You’re really a Big Oh pilot. Even John Alexander with all his experience would struggle to get the Jupiter safely through that storm out there. It’s too big a risk –“

“Well, Aaron, it’s an even bigger fuckin’ risk if we abort an’ end up stayin’ down here on a doomed fuckin’ planet!”

Lex looked up pleadingly and he received thumbs up from Aaron and Irene. Houston Control broke into loud cheering and hollering.

“Control to Eagle One. Lex here Jack, old buddy. You are cleared for lift off in T-minus-32 and counting. Copy?”

“Eagle One to Control. Lex, ah just need five minutes to do somethin’ an’ then we’ll do final checks and countdown. Over.”

Back out on the gangway Jill was reporting the dramatic news of the sick captain. She was still shrieking above the roar of the engines and the storm, both of which seemed to be coming to a climactic crescendo.

“It appears that the male taken off the Jupiter shuttle by medical staff was indeed the pilot Captain John Alexander. It would also appear that this must put the actual launch in serious jeopardy –“

A member of ground crew approached Jill as she was still reporting.

“Please Miss Geeson, ah have been asked to request that you vacate the gangway immediately.”

“Fuck off! You’ve given the shuttle an extra fifteen so ah’m staying for an extra fifteen too. It’s not T-minus-20 yet?”

She heard the director in her ear screaming at his controllers to keep the camera rolling. Prime time 3DTV!

“Yes, Miss Geeson, but there is a serious risk of you bein’ harmed by the storm. You must leave now –“

“Hey, buddy, will you take your fuckin’ hands off me! Ah’m not going anywhere and by the looks of it, without a captain, ah don’t think your fuckin’ shuttle is goin’ anywhere either!”

Jill tried to squirm out of the ground crewman’s tight grip on her arm as he slowly moved her out of camera shot and tried to pull her along the gangway away from the shuttle. Suddenly they were both stopped in their tracks by a shout from the door of the shuttle. Jill turned around and saw a widely grinning Jack Crossan standing in the open doorway. He shouted above the din.

“Jill! We’ve now got an empty passenger seat – you up for a trip to Mars?”

“B-but ah’m only in first reserve?”

“You’re the only one here ah see that’s suited an’ booted. So get your ass in here an’ let’s get the hell outta here!”

Jack organised a quick seat reshuffle before final countdown and he managed to place a tearful Jill beside a totally gobsmacked Ewan. Jill was completely speechless too. She had lost her voice temporarily as a result of having to shout above the din of the engines and the storm. The shuttle take-off through the storm was pretty hairy but Vibka and Jack pulled the Jupiter through all the thunder and lightning into the calm of the Earth’s upper atmosphere and they glided safely towards the docking station on Alpha Base.

Chapter 23

Earthdate: 19:30 Tuesday February 22, 2084 EST

T
he following evening President Trueman was the host of a gala dinner in the White House State Dining Room to celebrate the success of the immigration programme. Twenty four ships of the first Oceanus fleet commanded by Xi Xhu Pan had successfully arrived in Mars orbit. For the past few weeks they had been shuttling the immigrants, livestock, flora and fauna, DNA stockpile and other freight in a huge operation down to Capitol Base. So far the transfer had gone smoothly enough. There had been only two major downsides to the project so far. Firstly, the tragic loss of the five hundred immigrants on the Oh XIII commanded by Bethan Jones. Secondly, Dr Marcie Venters had been horrified to hear that a small percentage of the human DNA stock had been compromised and had to be destroyed. The core temperature of one of the liquid nitrogen containers had accidentally risen due to a fault in the cooling system on the Oh IX. Marcie was distraught, however, Aaron Eckler assured her that the loss was much less than had been included for in the project risk assessment. Eckler even cajoled Marcie with black humour stating that she was fortunate that the losses had not been greater. Due to her own superstitious nature Marcie had demanded that no human or animal DNA materials be carried on board Oh XIII. Eckler had Beth O’Donnell reengineer the freighting plan to comply with Marcie’s wish. O’Donnell even managed to find some space on Jack Crossan’s Oh LII for some additional DNA stock to be shipped that Marcie did not have in her original programme. In six days’ time the second Oceanus fleet of a further twenty seven spaceships would set off on the fifteen week trip to Mars. By the end of March Gary Mackintosh’s team would hand over fully functioning control of the E2MSN to Mars Control. One by one the network satellites orbiting in Earth’s critical blast zone region would be destroyed by the comet’s impact. Those satellites and the space station Midway Island, which had been evacuated, would be taken out of the E2MSN system. Basically, everything that could be achieved on Earth had been effectively completed. Trueman had gathered a great number of the men and women who had worked towards the survival of mankind to tonight’s gala dinner. The great and the good were all there in full formal attire. Amongst the many world leaders were Ravinder Gupta-Chaudry, PM John Ralston, Mullah Abdullah Suleiman, PM Moshi Shalomon, the Chinese, French and German Presidents and the Russian Premier. Royalty was represented by Queen Elizabeth III and the Prince Regent David of Great Britain, the Kings of Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Queen Sofia of Spain and the Sultan of Brunei amongst others. Representing the NASA team were Aaron Eckler, Beth O’Donnell, Ari Schenkler, Marcie Venters and Gary Mackintosh. Marcie had been seated at one of the long tables beside Suleiman on her right and they were enjoying themselves enormously. Through the project they had become great personal friends. On Marcie’s left hand side she had been privileged enough to get an invitation for her daughter Ruthie. Ruthie was also getting on famously with the US President’s handsome young son Jak Trueman. Jak Trueman had been seen as a potential rising talent in politics but his career in the Democratic Party was destined to be cut short. Josh Trueman solemnly realised that this would be the last time that he would have to address such a formal state occasion. He indicated to the Master of Ceremonies that he was ready. The MC rose his voice above the amiable hubbub.

“
Your Royal Highnesses, Excellencies, Ministers,
My Lords
,
Ladies and Gentlemen – I give you the President of the United States of America!
”

Trueman arose from his seat at the top table and quickly surveyed his last big audience. He had no notes or autocues.

“Ah ain’t gonna be speechifying to you all tonight. Tonight we are just goin’ to eat an’ drink an’ party till dawn an’ just have ourselves a real good time. Suffice to say, however, that the world owes a big debt of gratitude to the many men an’ women who have sacrificed their time, their talents and effort to bring this Mars project to a conclusion an’ to give the survival of the human race a fighting chance. It would be remiss of me not to add my own personal thanks. All of you here tonight have played your part. Ah salute you an’ to your valiant teams - the whole world salutes you all. It was Mother Teresa of Calcutta who said, ‘not
all of us can do great things, but we can do
small things with great love
’
. It is my belief that it was through our love for each other, that in the end, we have pulled this mission together. We have found a way to send our descendants out into the uncharted waters of the solar system to explore the next step in human history. Hopefully, they will have learned that for mankind to survive they need to set aside the old hatreds an’ the old prejudices an’ work together for the whole of humanity. So, before ah do end up speechifying – ah propose a toast to you an’ all mankind – great love!”

The assembled guests all rose in unison and raised their glasses, cheering as one.

“GREAT LOVE!”

The doors of the State Dining Room were swung open and in marched the United States Marine Corps Band accompanied by the Field Marshall Montgomery Pipe Band playing Robert Burns’ Auld Lang Syne. The assembled guests were still standing and they linked arms and sang their bursting hearts out. When they all sat down to eat there was hardly a dry eye to be seen.

*

Earthdate: 19:30 Monday February 28, 2084 CST

The second Oceanus fleet of twenty seven spaceships had been taking off from Alpha Base space station at half hourly intervals since early this morning. So far everything had gone without a hitch. The time had now come for Fleet Commander Jack Crossan to fire up the conventional rocket engines designed to pull Oceanus LII away from Alpha Base and out of Earth’s gravitational pull. In thirty minutes he would fire up the fusion drive engines on the Iranian-built craft and bring his ship into fleet formation. He clicked on the tannoy and spoke directly to the passengers back in the huge cabin area.

“Okay folks, this is Commander Crossan speaking. We are about to be given the all clear from Houston Control to depart Alpha Base. So make sure that you are firmly strapped in and helmets locked on and let’s all say goodbye to Mother Earth.”

Jack flicked the switch off and he gulped hard and bit down on his lower lip. He thought of Peggy Sue, Milner and Jack Junior watching on 3DTV down in Cucklington and he fought back the tears.

“Ell-Eye-Eye to Houston Control. Clear for launch from Alpha Base. Copy?”

Jimmy Soderline was on shift, but Lex and Irene both stood behind him teary eyed and clinging on to each other.

“Houston Control to Ell-Eye-Eye. Copy - clear for launch from Alpha Base. God speed Jack. Over.”

Jack turned to his Indian co-pilot Rajeev Subhinder and his Brazilian navigator Joanna Cespao and they both indicated with a thumbs up. Jack powered up the rocket boosters to full thrust and the Oh LII glided away from the space station, which had anxious faces crammed against every porthole. They knew they were watching the last flight to Mars from Earth’s orbit and all they could do now was return back down to their homes and await the end. In their flight seats Jill and Ewan tried to hold hands awkwardly through their thick spacesuit gloves and they tapped their helmets together lovingly. The tears streamed as they both thought of their loved ones being left behind down in Glasgow and Islay. They had a private mic connection which allowed them to communicate until they got the all clear to remove their helmets. As they felt the forward thrust begin on the big Oceanus, Ewan checked how Jill was feeling.

“Well, Jilly, here we go. No turning back now. How are you feeling?”

“Ah’m feeling pretty awful. The thought of leaving all our family and friends behind. Ah’m feeling sick to ma stomach, Ewan –“

“Me too, baby. The thought of never seeing my beautiful Islay again. God, it all doesn’t bear thinking about it. Hey, that’s a couple of times that you’ve been feeling sick today?”

Jill looked away from Ewan, paused for thought, then she turned back.

“Ah’m four weeks pregnant, Ewan. Ah hadn’t told you ‘cos ah wasn’t supposed to be here an’ then our baby would never have been born.”

“My God, Jill, does that mean - ?”

“Yes it does, Ewan –“

“No, what I was going to say, Jill, does that mean that we are going to give birth to the first Martian?”

Jill banged her helmet against Ewan’s in pretend annoyance, as they both grinned broadly at each other. Fifteen minutes later they saw Jack Crossan come half floating towards them in the zero gravity of the cabin. He patched his mic into their loop system.

“Had to take a leak, so ah’ve left Rajeev in charge for five. You guys look happy? Jill, you look like the cat that got the cream”

“We’re going to have a baby.”

“Jeez, guys, does that mean - ?”

“Duh, yes, Jack we’re goin’ to have the first Martian!”

Back on the flight deck Jack took the controls back from Rajeev and they all made their preparations for the switch over to nuclear fusion drive. Five minutes later after Jack had called through all the final checks he set about t
urning on the fusion engines. Jack hit the switch and the green light came on and the fusion engines fired into life. Seconds later the big Oh gave a violent shudder and a red warning light came on and a klaxon sounded in the cockpit indicating that the fusion engines had not fired up properly. He switched off the fusion drive, continuing to burn the rocket boosters, and they went about going through their check lists again. Jack hit the switch a second time and again the ship shuddered followed by the red light and klaxon. He could hear some screams coming through from the passenger cabin. Rajeev looked at Jack with worry etched on his brow.

“What do you reckon, Jack?”

“No idea at present, Raj. Let’s continue to burn on rockets. The slingshot we got from Earth still has us heading for Mars, but without the fusion drive it will take us six months to get there. Six months we don’t have. At this velocity we will still be well within the blast zone perimeter.”

Jack called back through the E2MSN to Houston and he caught Jimmy Soderline just about to come off his shift. He reported the failure to fire up the fusion drive. He said there was no imminent danger to the ship, but as the LII was now falling behind the fleet, Jack’s command should be delegated to Commander Mohmed Malik in charge of Oceanus XXVI. Jack then asked Jimmy Soderline to get through to the Iranian nuclear tech boys ASAP and to quickly come back with a solution. Jack let Jimmy know that the solution had to come sooner rather than later or else it would be too late for the Oh LII to get clear of the blast zone. There was enough rocket fuel on board to propel the ship at rocket thrust speed for another 24 hours or so. Thereafter, without the fusion drive the spaceship would be free-falling towards Mars. However, Jack ordered Rajeev to keep the rocket burn at full thrust to try and eke out as much forward momentum as possible, even though they both ultimately knew it would not be enough. Back in Houston Jimmy handed the problem over to Lex Kosloff, who had just come on shift. Lex passed the problem up the chain of command. This meant pulling Josh Trueman back along to the Oval Office from a quiet family supper. Trueman made the call to Tehran getting the President of the LOIN out of his bed in the middle of the night.

“Suley, sorry to wake you at this late hour.”

“Josh, my esteemed friend, please do not worry about it. Not too many sleeps to go anyway as your American kids would say.”

Josh laughed then fell serious again.

“Suleiman, we still have one last fight on our hands. Your last Iranian built ship the Ell-Eye-Eye has failed to engage its fusion drive.”

“Alluha akbar! Josh, I am so sorry. I know we had to cut corners to get it ready on time. Sounds like we cut one too many.”

“Look, Suley, we don’t have a lot of time. Can you get your best tech guys over to Houston an’ maybe they can work somethin’ out?”

“Josh, I will bring them personally on my private supersonic jet.”

“Okay, ah’ll meet you down there an’ we’ll knock a few heads together!”

*

Earthdate: 05:45 Tuesday February 29, 2084 CST

The Iranian technical team had arrived in Houston Control just after five in the wee small hours of the last Leap Year in Earth’s history and they had now been debriefed. Trueman and Suleiman stood up beside Irene DuPré’s station, alongside Eckler and O’Donnell. Alongside Lex sat the two Iranian fusion drive experts and Gary Mackintosh was called in for his computer expertise. The worry was that over nine hours of fusion drive thrust had been lost by the Oh LII. Every minute lost meant the ship might not make it beyond the blast zone perimeter. However, the aim was to get the fusion engines firing and give Jack and his ship a fighting chance. The two Iranians, Saeed Mohammed and Hossein Tehrani, had Lex submit instructions for Jack to transmit a diagnostic report. The two experts had pored over it for hours and it seemed to Lex that no enlightenment was forthcoming. Gary also tried to make sense of it, however, he was no nuclear physicist and most of it was gobbledegook to him. At eight in the morning, with nothing seeming to be happening, Trueman called for a conference in one of the meeting rooms.

“Okay, guys, we are badly losing time for those guys up there. What is the bottom line?”

The senior Iranian expert Saeed spoke in his own Persian language and Suleiman translated.

“Josh, the diagnostic reports seem to indicate that there is no intrinsic fault with the nuclear fusion cells nor does there seem to be any fault with the engines.”

“Well where does that leave us? Are we to just let them sink or swim!”