Dark Star Rising Second Edition (Pebbles in The Sky) (28 page)

“I see,” said the President.  “So, the next generation of women will not be sterile, at least the girls who do manage to be born to these women.”

Jessica nodded her affirmation.

“Thank you, very much Dr. Driskall, for explaining a little better how this vaccine works.”

“You’re welcome, Mr. President.  I am sorry all this happened, we really had no idea about any of this.”

The President started to stand and then sat back down.  Dr. Driskall, I understand that you and your husband are in charge of the DNA Ark project, how it that going?”

“We are making progress, but it is slow tedious work.  We are trying to collect the DNA for those creatures and plants that are at the highest risk of extinction as well as those that are considered the most essential for a healthy ecosystem first. So, it takes some careful consideration and forethought.”

“So is it true that if say, the Gorilla’s become extinct, if you have  saved and stored a replica of their DNA, you could bring them back some day?” the President inquired.

“Technically yes,” replied Jessica, “although there are some issues we have yet to resolve.”

“What are those?” he asked.

“Well at the moment we could take the DNA data from a Gorilla we have stored, reproduce that DNA, put it in a Gorilla egg cell, implant it in a female Gorilla, and then if everything goes right a baby gorilla is born.  The issue is what if there are no Gorillas left, no Gorilla egg cells, and no surrogate Gorilla mothers.  We have no solution to growing that DNA into a baby gorilla.  Having the DNA stored is the most important part though.  The other parts we will eventually work out, although it is probably many years down the road.  We cannot take gorilla DNA, plop it in a cow’s egg, and grow the gorilla baby in a cow’s uterus.  We will have to invent an artificial egg of sorts and an artificial womb to do all that.  As I said, we have a lot of work ahead of us on that.”

The President stood. “Thank you Doctor Driskall for coming all the way to Washington.  I guess in about fifteen more years you could just drive over to New Washington, the new capitol, from your home.”

Jessica laughed. “Yes, It would take about an hour and a half, unless the traffic there is as bad as the traffic is here in Washington.”

Jessica stood and turned to go as the President’s Chief of Staff, who was waiting outside opened the door.  As she was leaving the President stopped her.

“Doctor Driskall, you are aware that we will need to provide your family some security for a few years?”

Jessica looked shocked. “Why is that?”

“Because there are about a billion very unhappy women in the world right now that are very jealous that you have a baby and they cannot.  The security should not be needed forever, but at least for a few years.  I know you do want to keep your daughter safe.”

“I had not thought about that,” said Jessica, “But, please yes, I would die if anything happened to Brianna.”

After she left, the President looked at his Chief of Staff.  “You better get some federal agents assigned to them right away.  They are too important to lose to some crazy asshole with a gun that is pissed about his wife not having more children that would grow up and be more adult crazy assholes.”

Chapter 30

February 23
rd
, 2025

Houston, Texas

Peter Rockwell sat in Mike Banscott’s office at the new JPL headquarters in Houston.  They were both looking at the latest observations that had been taken of the Brown Dwarf over the past four weeks.  “We have had no real surprises in regards to information on the Dwarf,” explained Peter. “Although we are learning new things daily about it, there are really no real changes in what we have predicted for trajectory or it’s interactions with our solar system.  If anything, we have firmed up what we have suspected from before.  Jupiter will be ejected from the solar system as will all but two of its moons.  Those two will be captured by the dwarf, just like it captured the planet that is orbiting around it now.  Saturn is toast.  The Dwarf will overtake Saturn and pass within ten thousand miles from center of mass to center of mass.  That constitutes almost a direct hit.  Saturn and its moons will cease to exist and be absorbed in the Brown Dwarf.  The dwarf will still be far from the mass needed for fusion to start however, and except for the heat produced from the collision,
it will be as before.  It will need a couple of thousand years to shed that heat so for a short period of time it will glow almost as brightly as the moon. The dwarf will be so far away at that point though; it will just be a bright star to us here on Earth.”

“There are no updates to its closest approach to Earth?” asked Mike.

“Unfortunately no,” said Peter. This is where it gets interesting though, and that is why I flew in to talk to you.  As you know, we are getting better and better data on the planet in orbit around the Dwarf.  It is approximately seventy eight percent of the diameter of Earth, and approximately eighty four percent the mass.  It appears to have an active magnetic field caused by a liquid, molten core.  This is probably a result of radioactive decay as it is here on Earth. In addition, it is subjected to immense tidal forces in that highly eccentric orbit around the Dwarf it is in.  It is really quite amazing that it was captured at all and not ejected from its home system like Jupiter is going to be from ours.  From what spectrographic data we have gathered, the planet seems to have had a nitrogen/carbon dioxide/oxygen atmosphere in its past. All the gases are frozen now, but, as the planet and the dwarf near the sun they will thaw and the atmosphere will become gaseous again.  The planet appears to have quite a bit of frozen water ice on its surface as well.”

Mike sat back and whistled. “We need to have a probe standing by to study it as it goes through our solar system.  It will be amazing to actually study a planet from another star system that close up.  It may be centuries before we can manage a probe to another star and you and I will sure not be around to see it.  I will have to get David to squeeze some money out of the budget for a probe.  We could technically call it an asteroid spotting probe or something like that so Congress would approve the request.  We could just make sure it happened to pass close by the planet as it looked for errant asteroids.”

“Actually, that may not be necessary Mike.  You may want to ask for something other than a small probe.  We are probably going to want a fully instrumented orbiter to study this planet.”

“I doubt that will be possible,” said Mike.  “With all the other money being spent on the space stations and the asteroid defense systems, there is not much to spare.  Since the planet will only be passing through our system, we would lose contact with an orbiter in a year or two anyway.”

“Not exactly,” grinned Peter.  He pulled out his laptop from his briefcase and started the simulation he had prepared. He then pushed the laptop over to Mike.

Mike looked it over and looked at Peter incredulously.  “How the hell do you discover all this stuff first?”

“Well,” laughed Peter, “The first time with the Dwarf was an accident. This time it was not really me, but the Brown Dwarf team that made the discovery. Also, remember that we have every major observatory on the planet sending us data.  I am just the messenger. I thought you would want this news first.”

“Mike ran and watched the simulation again and said, “So, there is ninety eight percent confidence in this data?”

  “Yep, and that will probably firm up in the next couple of months.  Now you see why I think we need an orbiter prepared. The guys at over at NASA and Space Force are going to go crazy over this.  It looks like we are trading two gas giants from our solar system with associated moons and stuff for a planet from another solar system,” said Peter.

“Damn, I think you are absolutely right. Everyone is going to go crazy over this one, especially when they see the projected orbit.  Damn
Peter, you really have a way of stirring the pot,” exclaimed Mike.  “Well, we might as well get a plane ready to go to Washington.”

“Why me?” asked Peter.  “I am just the messenger.”

“Because,” said Mike, “Peter’s Star is going to leave us a little present as it passes through the solar system is why.  Since it is your star, you should be the one to brief everyone,” he said as he picked up the phone.

Chapter 31

February 24
th
, 2025

Washington, DC

“Alright guys,” Donald Masterfield said.  “Every time you guys want to see the President, it is all doom and gloom and I just can’t stand any more at the moment.  With all the fallout from the vaccine thing and the issues with E-Day planning, my job is getting very old. How they talked me into staying over as scientific advisor for this administration, I will never know.”

“Because,” said David Honstein, “You already knew everything going on with the preparations for E-Day and beyond and it allowed a level of continuity as the administration changed.  That is the same reason I agreed not to retire for another year.”

“Ok, Ok, just give it to me straight,” moaned Donald. “Let me guess, the Dwarf is inhabited by aliens that have an appetite for bipedal primates or something like that right?”

“How did you guess?” asked Mike.  “Peter, you cheated and told him already!”

“Come on guys, cut the crap, why did the three of you fly up here?”

“We need to brief the President on an important development about the Brown Dwarf,” said David Honstein.

“Not until you tell me first.  This President is a real stickler about his schedule and does not like adhoc meetings thrown in without good cause.”

“That will ruin the surprise,” kidded Mike.

“I don’t care.  I have had enough surprises to last me a life time now, and this President definitely does not like surprises.  So, if you think you need to brief the President, you brief me first if it is a scientific matter.”

David sighed and motioned for Peter to speak.

“Well, you are aware of the planet that is orbiting the Brown Dwarf, right Doctor Masterfield?”  When Donald nodded yes, Peter continued. “We have determined that when the Brown Dwarf leaves our solar system, the planet is going to stay behind.”

“Please don’t tell me it is going to hit the Earth or something like that,” groaned Donald.

“Actually, no. The sun is going to capture it and it is probably going to settle in to an orbit slightly better than the one that Earth is
going to end up in.  Because of the very elliptical orbit it has around the Dwarf, the planet is going to swing very close to the orbit of Venus and be captured by the Suns gravity.  Computer simulations show that after several orbits, due to all the varied gravity fields interacting with the planet, it will settle into an orbit that is about ten million miles closer to the sun at its closest approach, and slightly farther out than what Earth’s orbit is now.”

“Ok, you have my attention, what does that mean for us?” asked Donald.

“It means that we are going to have a very close planetary neighbor that just might be marginally habitable,” Peter replied.

“So, is this supposed to be good news?”

David answered.  “It is potentially the most important thing to happen to the human race, after the Dwarf that is.”

“Ok, said Donald, you convinced me.  Wait in the Situation Briefing Room and I will try and convince Marius, the new Chief of Staff, the President needs to hear this.”

“That was fun,” said Mike as they had a seat in the Situation room.  “Peter, I want you to brief the President.  You need experience doing these meetings and besides, this is good news.   Maybe he will not have you shot,” said David.

After about twenty minutes, Donald Masterfield opened the door of the Situation room and announced, “Gentleman, the President.” President Bailey entered and took his seat, motioning everyone else to stay seated.

“I understand that you are the young man who discovered the nemesis that is coming our way,” the President said as he extended his hand and shook Peter’s.  “Doctor Masterfield informs me that you have more momentous news for the world, and I cannot help but cringe before I even hear what it is.  It seems only bad news is broken in this room and never good news.  I can understand why President Montgomery used to call it the “Room from Hell”.  This time, however, I am told the news is a little more on the positive side,” said the President.  “I believe I already know Doctor Banscott and Doctor Honstein, so someone fill me in on what you discovered.”