Judgment Day (66 page)

CHAPTER 143 ROLAND'S REVELATION

—JOHN 20:23-29

R
oland remained hidden until Proctor had gone, terrified by what he | j | had witnessed. Roland had found Proctor's and Rachel Waters's cars M empty and called 911 asking for police to be sent. Then, guilt^W stricken because he had put an exclusive ahead of Ms. Waters's safety, Roland took his gun in hand and went looking for her. Turning into the empty lot, he had followed the sound of voices, creeping through the brush, ready to take Proctor by surprise. When he found them, Proctor's back was to Roland, Rachel opposite him, hands on her hips, laughing. The laugh was like nothing Roland had ever heard. Studying the pair closely, he realized something was wrong—something about Rachel. She was glowing. Then when she leapt in front of Proctor, it was with inhuman speed, and when she threw him aside Roland had frozen in shock, gun in his hand. It wasn't Rachel Waters that needed protection, it was George Proctor.

Huddling in fear, Roland witnessed the fight, saw the unearthly glow surround Rachel Waters and then George Proctor. Then, when Proctor finally killed Waters, Roland had seen the spiritual being emerge from her body, heard it threaten Proctor and those who followed God, then shoot into the sky and disappear in a flash. At that moment Roland realized he'd chosen the wrong side.

Fearful that the spirit being would return and reanimate Rachel Waters, Roland remained hidden. After several minutes, when the being didn't return, he found the courage to walk up to the body, staining his shoes and pants with blood. Ms. Waters was there, motionless, in a patch of bloody grass. Roland looked to the sky where the being had disappeared—nothing there. In the distance he could hear the sirens of a police car. He should go, he knew. Standing next to a dead body, his clothes covered with her blood, his explanation would sound psychotic. Still, he didn't move,- he couldn't move. He had lived his life betting there was no life after death—no judgment to come. He'd gambled with his eternal soul and lost. Remembering his role in the capture of Mark Shepherd, Roland felt like Judas holding his pieces of silver.

When the police arrived he was still standing in Rachel's blood, nearly catatonic from guilt.

CHAPTER 144 COURSE ALTERATION

At the end of the twentieth century there was a move to outlaw land mines since they were indiscriminate killers, taking civilians as often as soldiers. Of course hidden bombs are too effective to be given up easily.

—
A HISTORY OF GOOD AND EVIL
, ROBERT WINSTON, PH.D.

T
he captured Fellowship shuttle
Rock of Ages had
been repaired and repainted, now carrying the U.S. flag and the name "American Eagle."

American Eagle
was deep in space, between the Earth and Mars, its mission to deflect the Fellowship asteroid bombs. Archie Cox was in command of the mission, although two air force pilots actually flew the ship. They were flying parallel to one of the leading asteroids now, their lone sphere circling.

"I've found something," the sphere pilot reported. "They've attached something to the asteroid."

"Is it a docking ring?" Cox asked.

"I don't think so. You better take a look at this."

Cox watched his monitor, the camera from the sphere panning the rugged surface of the asteroid coming to a stop, focused on a man-made object.

"It looks like one of their drives," Cox said.

Cox hadn't anticipated this, assuming that the Fellowship had sent the asteroids toward Earth with a simple push, letting gravity and orbital mechanics do the rest. The presence of a drive suggested the asteroids were guided missiles, not random bombs. Either way, the asteroids had to be diverted and President Crow had given him only one shuttle and a sphere to work with.

"Ignore the unit on the asteroid for now," Cox ordered. "We'll deal with it if it interferes with the course alteration."

The sphere pilot acknowledged, then maneuvered his sphere in close, finding a flat surface along the oblong rock. Spreading the metal frame attached to the sphere, he pushed up against the asteroid until it was solidly set.

"Ready here," the pilot reported. "I'm elongating the field."

The sphere's electronics were echoed in the shuttle and Cox watched the sphere's gravity fields elongate and spread around the asteroid. The fields expanded normally at first but then a bulge appeared—near the drive.

"Hold it," Cox ordered, watching the readout.

"I see it," the sphere pilot responded. "It looks like the drive attached to the asteroid just powered up. It's creating its—"

Without warning the drive on the asteroid exploded, the asteroid splitting into three large pieces and hundreds of small ones, expanding in a ball of destruction. The transmission from the sphere was lost and Cox had only a second before the fragments from the shattered asteroid reached
American Eagle
.

The shuttle's hull was pierced, the ship losing power—lights and gravity gone. Geysers of precious atmosphere shot from a dozen holes. Other fragments pounded the hull of the shuttle, knocking the crew senseless. When the bombardment ended, Cox and the crew of the
American Eagle
roused themselves, ignoring injuries, and hurried through the ship with flashlights, patching leaks. It took two hours to find and seal the last leak. Power was still out and it took another hour to get the backup batteries running. By then they were working in environment suits, the oxygen-poor air unbreathable. With the life-support system functioning again, they stripped off their suits and took stock of what was left.

The sphere didn't answer radio calls and it wasn't visible in nearby space. If they could get radar working they could search for it, but without control of their own ship they couldn't rescue the pilot even if he was alive. Cox divided the crew into teams and they traced electrical systems, jury-rigging bypasses where they couldn't repair the systems. Twelve hours later, batteries nearly exhausted, they once again had the drive generator supplying power. With full instrumentation restored, they now fully understood their situation.

Environmental systems were severely damaged, oxygen reserves nearly exhausted. The shuttle's environmental recycling system was ninety percent efficient, but required supplemental oxygen and water. Worse, the drive control systems were malfunctioning. The drive was operating, they had restored gravity in the ship, but they couldn't manipulate the gravity fields for propulsion. In other words they would float in space for a couple of months, until the shuttle's recycling system finally shut down. The only other ships capable of rescuing them were on their way to planet America. Cox and his crew wouldn't give up hope, but there was none.

The end would be ugly, Cox knew. Madness and hostility would infect the crew before the end, as they fought over rationed resources. Some might even resort to murder, to stretch dwindling supplies. There was no realistic hope. The Fellowship's booby-trap had done its work.

Staring out at the stars, he ran over the inventory of the ship in his head, particularly the pharmaceuticals. Archie Cox was planning to die in his own way, in his own time.

CHAPTER 145 GRANDMA'S RULE

When it comes to slavery there's plenty of shame to go around. White folks should be ashamed of buying African people and making them slaves in America. African folks should be ashamed of selling their own brothers and sisters to the white folks.

— SELMA (GRANDMA) JONES

C
laustrophobic, Simon Ash would never have returned to space on his own accord. Only his dependence on Crow—and his fear of him—put him back in the converted submarine
Prophet
, which had been rechristened
Voyager
. Meaghan Slater was on board too. They were to act as guides for Colonel Watson's troops, who filled the passenger deck of the huge ship. Kent Thorpe was part of the mission too. The long voyage to planet America would give him time to study the Ark-class ship and perhaps winnow out more of the Fellowship's technological secrets.

Mr. Fry was in command of
Voyager
, carrying presidential authority to confiscate all Fellowship property and occupy planet America, which would be a U.S. protectorate. The occupying force carried by
Voyager
was a mixed group of men and women, prepared to occupy, pacify, and administer the new world. The Fellowship colonists were to be rounded up, identified, registered, and assigned an identity number. All guns would be confiscated. Men sixteen and over would be incarcerated while they pacified the population. Many of the Fellowship men would ultimately be deported, the women and children dispersed to new communities to keep them from organizing a resistance.

The deep-space cruiser
Genesis
, renamed
Nova, had
flown to America attached to
Voyager
. When they reached planet America's system, Colonel Watson took
Nova and
separated from
Voyager
, taking one of their two spheres with him. They approached planet America slowly, searching space actively with radar and listening passively across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. No signals were coming from America, or anywhere in near space.
Voyager
stopped just outside the orbit of America's one moon, while
Nova
searched it, finding nothing. Colonel Watson then took
Nova
to the planet, orbiting America, searching for a Fellowship space station. They found nothing. Puzzled, Thorpe, Ash, and Slater were called to the flight deck.

"I thought there was a space station orbiting America," Fry said to Simon.

"There was, and there were cargo modules floating everywhere."

"Colonel Watson found nothing on the far side or anywhere in orbit. We're picking up nothing on radar," Fry said.

"He's right," Slater said. "Space was thick with cargo modules."

"They must have landed everything," Simon said.

Fry looked dubious.

"We need that space station," Thorpe said. "They manufactured drives there. Nothing else is important."

"Colonel Watson is bringing
Nova hack
to dock," Fry said. "You three will accompany us to the surface in the shuttle to scout out the settlements.
Nova
will stand by with an assault force."

Simon knew cruisers weren't designed to land, although the Fellowship had done it once. He was glad to be in the shuttle.

They packed the shuttle with soldiers, Simon riding on the top deck with Meaghan Slater. They dropped through the atmosphere fast, clearly worried the Fellowship would attack. At the threshold of regurgitation, they leveled out and slowed. A few minutes later he and Meaghan were called to the flight deck.

"We're coming up on a farm. Do you recognize it?"

They were a hundred feet above the forest, moving slowly. A sphere flew a parallel course, just below them. In a clearing ahead Simon could see a tilled field and buildings along one side. The shuttle accelerated and they shot over the buildings—no missiles were launched, no guns fired. Turning, they made another pass,- the only response was a few flying mammals startled from trees.

"Put us down," Fry said, and Colonel Watson ordered the pilot to land the shuttle in the middle of the field. The sphere continued to circle, acting as lookout. As soon as the door of the shuttle was opened, fresh moist air flowed through the ship. The smells of planet America brought back memories of Simon's previous stay and he trembled.

Simon watched from the flight deck as soldiers poured from the belly of the shuttle, encircling the ship. Working across the field like waves approaching a shore, the heavily armed men and women reached a dormitory, kicking the door open and rushing inside. Another squad entered a barn. Soon both groups were back, signaling all clear. Ordering him and Meaghan to stay, Fry and Watson left the shuttle and inspected the buildings, then returned to the ship.

"Abandoned. No personal items inside, no bedding, no linens, no food,"

Watson said. "The layer of dust shows it's been empty for a while."

They left the farm traveling west. The three largest settlements were in a valley a hundred miles from the coast. They found another farm, but the buildings had burned to the ground and there were no signs of life. Next they found a sawmill, abandoned like the farm, the buildings standing but the equipment removed. Stacks of lumber still sat in the drying shed.

The sphere raced ahead now, bolder, scouting the large community west of them, the pilot reporting no sign of life. They approached the small town cautiously, landing near the outskirts, searching building by building, finding nothing. Again there was no food, no personal items.

"They must have dispersed into the country," Colonel Watson suggested. "Somehow they were tipped off that we were coming."

"Or they've retreated to a fortified position," Fry said.

At the next village they let Simon and the others off and they explored the buildings with the others. It wasn't the town Simon had lived in, but it was nearly identical—buildings lining both sides of a muddy street, a church with a steeple at one end.

Simon recognized the third town they dropped into as the one he had lived in—New Jerusalem—the paved street clearly distinguished even from the air. There were also more buildings than any other town they had surveyed, and more cleared land surrounding the town. The streets were empty, however, and no animals could be seen. This time they landed near the edge of town, the soldiers more casual now, searching the first few buildings, then signaling the town was empty. Simon and Meaghan Slater led Watson and Fry up the street, explaining what the buildings had been used for. Every window was dark and lifeless. Then a soldier shouted from a porch. Holding up an apple he shouted, "Someone's been living in this one—there's food."

Hurrying to that building, they found signs of life: personal belongings, beds made, food on the shelves. Next, Thorpe shouted from the porch of the dormitory he and Simon had lived in.

"The lights work," Thorpe said, flipping the switch, turning the lights on and off. "They use drives for generating electrical power. We need to find it."

"They took to the hills," Colonel Watson concluded as they walked up the street toward the church. "We'll take their town and their food. They'll come to us when they get hungry enough."

"There's someone at the church," Fry said, pointing.

A black woman sat in a rocker in front of the church. They paused long enough to let the soldiers check the buildings on either side, then walked slowly toward her. With soldiers on each side of him, rifles ready, Colonel Watson led them up to the old woman.

"Who are you?" Colonel Watson demanded.

"Selma Jones," she said, "but everyone calls me Grandma. You can too."

"Who's in charge here?" Colonel Watson said.

"You're looking at her," she said, with a touch of sadness.

"You're with the Fellowship?" Colonel Watson asked.

"No," Grandma Jones said.

"Where's Ira Breitling?" Thorpe demanded.

The old woman looked Thorpe in the eye and gently said, "He's not here, honey. He and his people are mostly gone. You should
go
too. Go and leave us in peace."

"Gone where?" Colonel Watson asked. Then when she didn't answer, "It would be better for you if you helped us."

"You don't understand," the old woman said. "They're not anywhere on this planet. God led them to a new home."

"She's lying," Fry said. "She would have gone with them if they left."

"It's the white people who left," Grandma Jones said. "They offered to take us, but God had a different destiny in mind for me and mine. There's just too much history between white and black folks for us to live together. This way we get this whole planet to ourselves. We're totally free now, free to become whatever it is God intends us to become. We can live in harmony with nature like our ancestors, kill each other in tribal warfare, or reach for the stars like our white brothers and sisters did. And we got nobody to blame for what happens now but ourselves."

"How many of you are there?" Colonel Watson asked.

"You should go while you still can," Grandma Jones repeated.

"We're here to stay," Fry said. "Planet America is now an official protectorate of the U.S. government."

The old woman looked genuinely sad and hung her head.

"You said they were mostly gone," Thorpe said. "There are still some around here?"

The rumble of thunder sounded in the distance. Simon looked at the sky, it was overcast but didn't look like rain.

"There are a few out there that couldn't bear another long journey in space. A few others had been shunned and couldn't be found when it was time to leave," Grandma said. "A few more had gone crazy and took to living in the hills like hermits. They don't bother us and we don't bother them."

Then Watson heard a radio crackle to life and his radioman stepped forward, face ashen.

"It's
Voyager
, sir. They're under attack."