Orbital Maneuvers (29 page)

Nicholas had joined them by the table and was listening to the conversation quietly.  He smiled a knowing smile, and said, “You know, Susan, I too had those same fears.  The fear that the United States was going to attack us, unprovoked, was always kept fresh in our young minds.  I did not know whether it was true or not.  At that age, one does not know enough to ask the right questions.  After the fall of the Berlin wall those fears subsided for me, but there were other things in the country that drove our fears, including food shortages and unemployment, to name a few.  With growing older, learning and understanding how things work in nature, the fear of an asteroid impact was there too, but not with any priority.  It was a popular topic in our media also and frequently discussed in our science classes.  That was a real fear that was not man-made.  It was one I knew would one day happen.  The nuclear war, I did not think it would happen.  I could not conceive why America would want to attack us, we had nothing one would want.” Nicholas snagged a wayward grain of rice that floated off the table and passed it to Alexander for the trash.

“Sometimes it seemed like it was just a good excuse for the military to spend money,” Susan added.  “Then again, without the military and its driving force, we probably would not have this station or the space programs that we did develop.  It is just a shame that—”

Ivan interrupted with an announcement that they were cutting to the President of the United States for a press conference.  The group gathered around the display for a second time, once again the room fell silent. 

The display showed a podium on a stage that was not the usual affair for a presidential press conference.  There were no banners or flags behind the podium, and the room appeared to be in quite a state of chaos with a lot of people in military uniforms, and a few in civilian clothes, milling about waiting for the President to enter.  Very abruptly a man ran to the podium and announced the president’s entrance and everyone took a seat.

The President made his way to the podium with a hurried pace.  His face was pale with large bags under his eyes; his suit was wrinkled and his hair was a bit disheveled, not typical for this president.  He stepped up to the podium, took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he waited for the room to quiet down. 

“My fellow Americans and my fellow citizens of planet Earth, who may be able to hear this,” he began.  “I am sorry to have taken so long to speak to you, but I wanted some concrete information about our situation before I could talk to you in good faith.  I will not minimize our situation.  Fate has dealt us a devastating blow within the last sixteen hours.  Late yesterday afternoon, approximately two o’clock in the afternoon, Eastern Time, two large asteroids struck the continental territory of the United States.  One impacted in the state of Florida, and another in the state of Texas.  A third asteroid crashed in the ocean just east of Florida.  The damage is very widespread and we do not yet know the full extent of it.  We do know that coastal areas as far north as Maine have suffered damage from the tidal waves that were generated.  The west coast of Europe, England and the Caribbean also suffered extensive damage from the tidal waves.  I must stress that we are in a very serious situation, and I have declared a national state of emergency to allow the proper agencies to begin to handle this situation.  All federal, state and local agencies have trained for this type of an emergency and will be doing their best to see to the needs of everyone who needs assistance.  The National Guard is fully mobilized and moving into the disaster areas to provide assistance and security.  Martial law has been declared in numerous areas around the impact sites and will be
strictly
enforced.  Our military forces are on high alert and are assisting in disaster relief.  This catastrophe has affected us directly, but the rest of the world is not immune from its effects.  The United Nations has called an emergency session for the General Assembly for tomorrow, for all nations to discuss the ramifications of this disaster.”

The President hesitated, as his voice was growing raspy and he asked for a glass of water, which was quickly brought to him.  He drank the water with an unsteady hand and then blankly looked about the room.  Putting the glass down, he continued.  “We do not know the full scope of the damage, or the total loss of life.  Obviously, this information is going to be difficult to gather and will take some time.  It will be presented to you as we are able to confirm it.”

Stopping again, the President finished his glass of water, and with some effort he continued, but was obviously distressed over what he was about to say.  “I have more information that I must share with you now, and it is with a very heavy heart that I tell you this.  Vice President William Thompson was in Texas yesterday.  His duties placed him directly in the middle of the Texas impact zone, and he is missing…and is presumed dead…He was a very dear friend and colleague, and he served his country with pride and dignity.  I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to his family, and friends.” The president paused for a moment to collect himself before he pressed on.

“There have been offers of support from many countries at this time, and we are working with them to see how we can best use their assistance.  I know that I speak for all citizens of the United States in saying thank you to those countries and their fine citizens for their support. As more information is available it will be distributed through the state and local channels.  I will hold another conference as soon as I have information to pass on to you.  Lastly, I must ask that all citizens of our United States work together, and provide their utmost cooperation with the government and military officials, so that everyone receives the assistance they need.  I ask that everyone give as much help as they can to each other in this time of need.  With your cooperation we
can
survive this disaster!  Thank you and God Bless America, and our Mother Earth.” The President was immediately whisked off the stage by his Secret Service agents and was gone without responding to the barrage of questions the media threw at him.

The display flashed back to the news anchor who turned to her guest to discuss the President’s speech.  Susan wasn’t interested in the babble on the display; she was taken aback by the appearance of the President.  “He sure didn’t look good, did he?” she said.

“No, he didn’t,” Paul said.  “I bet that the last twelve hours have been total pandemonium for him.  I’m surprised that he wasn’t on the air sooner than this.”

“That is kind of odd, now that you mention it.  Ivan, did they say where the broadcast was coming from?” Susan asked.

“No, I did not hear anything about where it was coming from, if they mentioned it.”

“I’ll bet that they have him sequestered in some bunker somewhere,” Paul offered.  “Maybe they have him at NORAD.  That’s in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, isn’t it?”

“Yes, I think so,” Susan said.  “I’m not sure if they would fly him there.  There must be secured shelters at various locations throughout the US that he could take refuge in, in an emergency.  He really didn’t have much to say, though.” Thinking about this for a moment, she added, “I guess at this point and time, they are just speculating on where the impacts were and how extensive the damage is.”

Ivan finally turned from the display.  “Other than the images they may get from the various satellites in orbit,” he said, “they probably have no real good information as to the boundaries of the areas of destruction.  I would imagine that they are still only getting sketchy information from the survivors and emergency people on the periphery of the impact zones.”

“Yes, it is more like they are doing it by feel,” Alexander added.  “With the heavy dust and cloud layer over the impact zones, getting a clear picture of the surface will be difficult, if not impossible.”

The conversation was interrupted as the intercom crackled, followed by Lieutenant Carol Barnes’ now-familiar voice calling to make contact with the station.

“Space station Alpha, this is NORAD, do you copy?”

Susan floated over to the intercom panel and switched on the microphone.  “We copy you NORAD.  Lieutenant, it’s good to hear your voice again.”

“Thank you, it is good to hear you, also.  How are you all doing up there?”

Susan looked around at the well-fed, but shaken group and tried to respond in a light tone, “We are doing all right at the moment.  We celebrated and had a feast.  You should have been here!”

“I am glad that you got a chance to take a break and relax for a few moments.  Things are still as chaotic down here as they were before.  We did get an announcement from the President.”

“Yes, we saw it up here.  Did he shed any more light on the catastrophe than you had before?”

“No,” the Lieutenant responded.  “He probably doesn’t know much more about the extent of this than anyone else down here.  You guys probably have more insight as to what has happened down here than we do.  Not to change the subject, Commander, but I have some information for you and a couple of surprises, and we have very little time before we lose the communication link.  So if you don’t mind, I’ll get down to business.”

“Okay, let’s have the information first.” Susan was unsure as to what the surprises would be.  She thought that after the events of the day, there was very little that would surprise them. 

“First off, we are trying to find someone for the information you wanted on the CRV.  We have a couple names and locations of engineers who did the systems programming for the vehicle, and we are trying to get them on the line.  Communications is not the best at this time, as I am sure you understand.”

“Totally, I admire the dedication you and your group are showing at this time.  I am sure you all would rather be with your families instead of watching satellites going overhead.”

“You’re right.  But, this is important too, for a lot of people.  I don’t think we will be able to secure these people on this pass, but I will try to have them on your next pass.  Right now, from what we can see here, it looks like you might have a window to set down in California, within the next two or three orbits.  Europe and Russia have a much wider window to shoot at, if you can’t make it here.  We will try to refine that information on the next pass, too.”

The encouraging thoughts of getting back to Earth brought a spark of light to everyone.  Susan thought about waking Jerry, but decided to wait until things were more certain.  “Thanks Lieutenant, that sounds very promising.”

“We also have located a file on the operation of the CRV.  We can upload that to you now, if you would like.”

“No, we already have that online here.  It doesn’t cover what we need to do, an oversight from the tech writers.  We will have to dock their pay for that when we get back!” Susan said mockingly.  Ivan nodded and Paul raised his water container in agreement. 

“If you can’t get the engineers on the line, maybe you can find out if we can manually enter the coordinates for a new landing site and if the CRV has the smarts to calculate the deorbit trajectory,” Susan said.

“Will do.  Now for something better.  Susan, is Paul there?” Paul looked up, with a very surprised and apprehensive look on his face.  He shot a questioning glance at Susan, as he slowly floated toward the intercom, but she only shrugged her shoulders in response.

“Yes, Lieutenant, he’s right here.” Susan moved aside to allow Paul access to the microphone.

Paul moved up to the mic, “Hello Lieutenant, this is Paul.  What can I do for you?”

“Well, it is more like what I can do for you, Paul.  We received a call, during your last orbit actually, from your sister Celia,” Paul pushed away from the mic, staring at it in disbelief, as if he had just seen a ghost.

“No…there must be some mistake,” he said.  “My family…they were all in the Texas impact zone.”

Lieutenant Barnes’ voice was a little softer.  “I’m sorry, Paul.  Celia told me that she was called out on business to San Francisco two days ago.  She heard about our contact with the space station on the news, and she managed to get through to us to see if she could get a message to you.”

“I can’t believe it!…I just can’t believe it!” Paul’s eyes welled up with tears, which he tried to quickly wipe away.  “Is she there, can I talk with her? How is she?” He suddenly had a thousand questions to ask, but more importantly, he now knew that he had a real reason to return home. 

As close as he was with his entire family, he was the closest to Celia. She was his older sister by five years, but they had many interests in common.  Horseback riding, hiking, shooting, music; they both enjoyed these activities immensely.

They spent many hours together taking long rides on horseback as youngsters around the family ranch before college separated them.  She earned her doctorate degree in chemistry and was Paul’s inspiration to also pursue chemistry as a profession.  Celia had always looked out for him, and as he got older, he found a few opportunities to return the favor.  This would be another one, but ironically, she was still helping him by giving him the motivation to return.

“I am sorry, Paul, she is not here,” said Lieutenant Barnes.  “I will try to set up a phone link before your next pass—no promises though.  She did say to send her love to you and the rest of the crew.”

“Thanks,” Paul was shaking his head, still in disbelief.  He looked to Susan and she smiled and hugged him tightly; she was very happy knowing that he was no longer alone.  The rest of the group gathered around him to give him a reassuring pat on the back or arm and to share the moment of happiness.  In the face of what the world has just gone through, this was a small piece of sunshine in an extremely horrific day.