Dark Star Rising Second Edition (Pebbles in The Sky) (53 page)

             
“What about the dikes around Cape Canaveral?  We cannot afford to lose the heavy space launch facilities there.  The western facilities are at risk from earthquakes and really not safe to use at the moment,” the President replied.

             
“Those dikes were raised to seventy five feet in height.  Unless there is a large Tsunami in that area that affects the entire east coast of Florida, we feel they will hold.”

             
“And earthquake activity on the west coast?” the President asked.

             
“We are already having almost continuous moderate tremors all along the major fault zones,” replied the FEMA director.  “The geologists are watching Mount Rainier very closely, and it is inevitable that Mount Saint Helens is going to erupt again.  The geologists are saying that the magma dome in the mountain there is already expanding.  It is also only a matter of time before the San Andreas Fault lets go and when it does, the geologists say it will be a big one.”

             
“God help the fools who refused to leave the danger areas,” sighed the President.  “Keep me posted on any developments, but please pass those along through my chief of staff.  I am getting deluged with reports and there are some major issues that require my attention.”

             
“Yes sir, Mr. President.” The FEMA director faded from view off the monitor.

             
Just as President Walden was hoping to relax and have a bite of lunch his secretary knocked once more on his door. “Excuse me sir, I have one more video call for you.  It is General Seale of Space Force.”

             
President Walden hung his head in exasperation.  “Now what?” he said to himself.  He was rarely bothered by the Commander of Space Force unless it was for new funding. Then it hit him, the David Honstein was supposed to be docking today.  The ship was returning from its scientific mission at Elpis. “Put him through Rudy, I forgot that he was to contact me upon the David Honstein’s arrival back at Earth.”

             
Once again the President’s desk monitor came to life, this time with video feed from Space Station Alpha.  “Mr. President, I am calling to inform you that the Honstein is docking as we speak.  I wanted to inquire about the state funeral that I had requested for Colonel Pierce.  They have brought back his body for burial on Earth.”

             
“I have thought this matter over General, and I want to wait until after the encounter to hold the funeral.”

             
“But Mr. President, the Colonel deserves a hero’s funeral.  He may not have died in combat, but if you look at all he did up here in space, he is every bit of a hero.  He was at the forefront of the Earth Defense setup.  He personally tested practically every single space ship we have designed and flown up here.  I feel very strongly about this Mr. President,” the General pleaded.

             
“General Seale, I agree with you a hundred percent about the Colonels contributions, both to our nation, and to the world in general.  Hear me out though.  If we have a funeral now, it would be lost in all the catastrophes taking place as the Dwarf gets closer.  The nation is fixated on floods, earthquakes, and people are dying.  The new national cemetery just south of New Washington is almost complete.  There is going to be a new monument there dedicated to the Space Force.  I know that you were not aware of this, as only a handful of Congress and myself are presently aware of the construction.

After the encounter is over this country is going to be in a state of despair.  The people are going to need something to give them hope, something to be proud of, and to give them reason to re-build and think of the future.  I want to dedicate the new national cemetery and the Space Force monument at Colonel Pierce's state funeral.  He will be the first person to be buried in the new national cemetery and his name will be the first engraved on the monument to those that have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country far above its atmosphere.  The Colonel will get that honor, I promise you.”

              “I am sorry, Mr. President.  The Colonel was a very close friend.  I did not want his sacrifice to get lost in all the events unfolding down on Earth.  I was not aware of the monument.”

             
“I understand completely, General.  I will let you know that I personally will give a eulogy at the ceremony honoring the Colonel.  I am also going to let the citizens of this country, and the world at large know at that time about the alien artifacts that we have discovered on Elpis.  I hope that I can give hope to the people of our country and the rest of humanity at a time when they will be in great need.  I would like you to make the arrangements to return the Colonel’s body back here to Earth as soon as possible.  As you know, you may be isolated up there for a while if we lose our launch facilities due to flooding or earthquakes.  I have been advised that your people and facilities can survive several years if need be without re-supply, is that correct?”

             
“We can, Mr. President.  We are self-sufficient on all but some of the more complicated manufacturing processes and occasional food supplies.”

             
“Very well, General, you are in command up there and neither I nor military command is going to micro-manage you.  We have our hands full down here.  Just make sure you are ready to stop any rocks that may get thrown our way.  Carry on General.”

             
The President leaned back and looked out his window at the green ground slowly moving by miles below.  He called the steward and asked for a sandwich and called up his in-basket on his desktop assistant.  He had never realized that as the President, he had more paperwork to do than he did when he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.  “Oh hell,” he thought.  Putting it off just makes the pile grow taller.  With a sigh he started pulling up messages from congressmen and the other multitude of federal department heads.  The flight home at least gave him a little time to catch up.

Chapter 59

May 27
th
, 2043

Pasadena, California

             
Eric Casselman was grilling the rabbit on his propane grill when the helicopter went over the first time.  He had shot the rabbit that morning when he was making his habitual daily walk around the neighborhood.  Of all his neighbors, only the Adams couple five houses down and he had signed relocation waivers and stayed put when the rest of his southern California neighborhood was fleeing to the relocation areas. The power to the city had been shut down four weeks ago and that had been an incentive for a large number of the hold outs to finally heed the government’s request to evacuate.

             
He had put enough food stores away to last him at least a year.  He had water purifiers and had about a thousand gallons of propane in four tanks that he had buried beneath the patio in his back yard.  A small collection of rifles and handguns and his ability to use them were hopefully a deterrent to any gangs or looters in the area.  The regular military air patrols seemed to be keeping the looters away. The military’s proclamation that looters and gangs would be shot on sight seemed to be a good deterrent.  Or maybe the gang members were just savvy enough to have fled to safer ground.  It really did not matter to Eric.

             
Three nights ago, the really big earthquake that had been predicted hit.  He had gone running out of his house to the safety of his back yard.  For what seemed like an hour, the ground had heaved and bucked.  He had no way of knowing for sure but he would guess that the quake had been up close to the upper sevens on the Richter scale.  His house was a demolished pile of timber now.  He had lost the solar cells on his roof that had provided him electricity.  His phone as well as his backup phone had been destroyed when he had run out of the house without them.  He had dug down to the basement and managed to get to his dried food supplies out, but his frozen goods were now spoiled since the destroyed solar cells could no longer power his two freezers.

             
The Adams had come by yesterday in their cross country vehicle.  They had decided to call it quits and were going to attempt to escape to the east.  He had wished them good luck.  He doubted that they would get very far as most of the bridges and roads were probably impassible until you reached the area where the desert began.  He was not really saddened by all of this though.  He still had food, his pool was still half full of water, and he was where he wanted to be.  He knew that his daughter Susan was probably frantic down in Houston, but she would all right.  She just did not understand his reasons for not wanting to leave his home.

             
Peter, his son in law, had come by about six weeks ago with a military escort and tried to talk him into leaving with him.  He had politely refused.  He was haunted by memories of his past and love lost.  He was getting up there in age and felt that his time on this world was approaching its end.  He looked up into the morning sky and could see the faint disk of the Dwarf.  It was growing closer and larger every day now.  In about three weeks or so it would be at its closest approach and it would then be nearly one third as big in the sky as the full moon was now.  The almost constant tremors beneath him told him that Earth was straining hard against the opposing gravitational tides of the Dwarf and the sun.  He knew that the world was going to be forever changed when the Dwarf finally faded back into the dark of space whence it came.  Something told him that his own life would also probably end with the passing of the Dwarf and he wanted his last days to be here in his beloved Southern California.

             
Eric flipped the pieces of the rabbit on the grill.  It had been a long time since he had eaten rabbit.  The rabbit had made the mistake of not running from him when he had walked through the shambles that had been his neighborhood that morning.  The smell of fresh meat cooking was making his mouth water.

             
The helicopter came back over his house and started circling.  It was a standard military issue transport.  He could see a door gunner staring at him.  He waved to the crew and it flew on down the street and dropped from view.

             
Eric had just sat down to enjoy his rabbit when three armed men in military fatigues came around the pile of rubbish that had been his house.  “We are looking for a Doctor Eric Casselman,” the young captain who was leading the trio said.

             
“Well, you have found him, but I am afraid that this rabbit will not feed all of us.  How can I help you captain?"

             
“Doctor Casselman, we were requested to attempt to locate you and bring you back to base with us so you could be flown out.”

             
“On whose orders captain?” asked Eric.  “I have not requested any evacuation, and you have endangered yourself and your aircrew by landing here.  We are still having some pretty powerful aftershocks.”

             
“Evidently you have some friends in high places, Doctor Casselman.  Our Colonel received a request from the head of NASA to attempt to locate and evacuate you if you were still alive. If you can gather up what you can easily carry, we need to get back to the chopper and get you out of here.”

             
“Captain, do your orders say that you are to forcibly take me back with you?” asked Eric.

             
“Well, no sir.  I don’t understand. We are here to rescue you, and help you get out to safety.  I was not told to arrest you or anything.”

             
“Captain, you have carried out your orders then.  You have found me, but as I have already signed a waiver of relocation, I do not desire to be rescued.  I chose to stay here after the evacuation order and I still choose to stay.  I am afraid your trip was in vain.”

             
“The young army captain just gaped at him.  "Are you saying you want to stay here, sir?”  He waved his arm to indicate the piles of debris that had been beautiful houses not a week ago.

             
“I am Captain.  I wish to stay.  But, I would ask one favor of you.  Could you please take a hand written note and see it is delivered to my daughter Susan Rockwell.  She is the wife of the head of JPL in Houston.  Give me just a minute to write it. Eric went in the tent he had set up and found a piece of paper and an envelope he had pulled from his old office in the house.  He hurriedly wrote a letter and sealed it and gave it to the young captain.  “If you will make sure that this gets delivered I will be eternally grateful young man.  Now you and your crew had best get back in the air before we have another aftershock.