Never Again Page 39

Pursing his lips, Dave nodded. Somehow he knew that he’d carry the emotional scars of each of those lost lives. All of them sons, daughters, husbands, wives. People who he felt responsible for.

  “Sir!” The engineer pointed at the screen. “That’s coming from the Asteroid Survey Ship. They’re located approximately in the same position as Earth would have been, had we not left.”

  “Only forty-five days too late, I’m afraid,” Dave muttered dejectedly as he looked up at the screen.

  Then he gasped as he saw something that sent a chill through him.

  The space station’s wide-angle camera feed was broadcasting across many millions of miles showing the beginning of the end.

  Undulating yellow streamers of hot gases snaked out from the sun.

  The black hole’s influence was now near enough that the sun itself was being visibly affected.

  Billowing clouds of gas reached across the darkness of space toward the dark sphere, the ends quickly twirling around the rapidly spinning black hole. Suddenly, two jets of super-heated gas blasted from the top and bottom of the black hole.

  Dave had seen evidence of such things from hundreds of millions of light-years away.

  He knew that searing waves of energy had to be billowing from the event.

  More streamers from the sun’s outer surface were being pulled like threads toward the incoming doom.

  Not having been mic’d, Dave hopped up on his feet, pointed at the comms engineer across the room, and yelled, “T-COM, make sure that’s being broadcast! I want everyone to see how narrowly we escaped total annihilation.”

  The camera angle veered wildly as the space station was obviously being pummeled by unimaginable gravitational forces, yet the camera’s direction shifted and pointed back at the black hole.

  “Someone is still alive there,” Dave whispered with awe. “They’re sending this to us as their last selfless act.”

  The black hole was no longer recognizable.

  The darkness was gone, replaced by a tiny, pulsing ball of glowing destruction, with beams of unimaginable energy spearing into space from both its bottom and top.

  Over the next ten minutes, Dave watched the image of destruction draw closer and closer.

  He’d known from the beginning that the space station was doomed, but now everyone watching would know it as well.

  The licks of spinning hellfire drew ever closer as the video became grainy.

  “The transmission from the space station is likely being warped. The signal itself is being bent by the tremendous gravity of the black hole.”

  And suddenly, the transmission ended.

  Dave grabbed a mic and spoke into it, “Let’s pray for those twenty-two souls and the other 125 that never made it. We’ve all just witnessed what could have happened to us all if we’d stayed behind.”

  ###

  Dave frowned as he watched the video feed with the president on his left.

  “This is Nigel Collins with BBC News reporting on the great purge of 2066. The wave of chaos that has plagued Britain is now officially over as the last of the death cult known as the Brotherhood of the Righteous have been arrested or killed. From as far north as the Shetland Islands and as far south as St. Agnes on the Isles of Scilly, Britons have rooted out this festering evil that had laid waste to so many innocents over the years. Thousands are now dead, but that pales in comparison to the reported millions who have been killed worldwide.”

  Dave winced as he watched macabre scenes from all over the world. Funeral pyres in India, mass burials in China, and a veritable slaughterhouse of blood where groups of the fanatics had banded together and were destroyed by the world’s armies.

  “And to put an end to this scourge, I’m happy to report that a Borislav Rakovsky, the charismatic leader of this cult, has finally met his maker in a bloody battle outside the city of Pernik in Western Bulgaria.”

  Dave was taken aback by the gory image of a bloodied face with paper-white skin. “An albino?”

  Margaret nodded. “I should have gone public sooner about the threat of those assholes….”

  Taking in a deep breath, Dave watched as more images of gore and death displayed on the screen and shook his head. “I’ve had enough of anger and violence.” He glanced at the president. “Don’t get me wrong, I wanted all of them dead. But I have to admit that for a little while after Bella’s death, I wanted to flush all of us down the astrological toilet that was the black hole. I didn’t care anymore. But I don’t think that’s what Bella would have wanted, and it’s not what I want anymore. I’m on this Earth for a reason, I know that. At least I know that now.”

  A ringing sound echoed from a speaker hidden in the president’s desk. Dave looked down and saw the name “Karen Fultondale” just as Margaret tapped on the phone icon. “Karen, what’s up?”

  “President Hager, I have some unfortunate news. It seems there’s been ongoing incidents throughout all of the prisons ever since we went public with what the Brotherhood cult has done. The factions that normally formed a stalemate in the prison system had turned to the members of the Brotherhood, and it seems like a wide variety of so-called accidents have happened. Thousands of them. Greg Hildebrand was one of those accidents.”

  Memories of that asshole raced through Dave’s mind, and an anger that he thought he’d laid to rest bubbled up within him.

  “Madam President, Hildebrand is dead. I strongly suspect that many of the guards have been complicit in these accidents that are happening throughout the prison system. I wanted to let you know about Hildebrand, but I’m wondering what actions you’d like to take.”

  With a sneer of disgust, Margaret barked, “Nothing. I might even consider commuting some sentences if we wipe every last one of those medieval animals from the face of the Earth.”

  Dave smiled as the FBI Director stammered her response.

  “Y-yes, ma’am, understood. That’s all I have to report.”

  Margaret winked at Dave and shared his smile. “Thanks, Karen, I’ll talk to you during our next scheduled briefing.” She tapped the phone icon, disconnecting the call.

  Despite the news of the rampant death and destruction, Dave’s spirits were surprisingly buoyant. “Soon enough, they’ll all just be a memory.”

  “I certainly hope so,” said Margaret, and nodded. “I also asked you in here for another reason. I don’t know if you’ve been outside the compound at all, but the world’s getting much colder.”

  Dave hadn’t been outside since he’d arrived from Ecuador. He imagined that the warming effect of the Warp Ring wasn’t exactly meeting everyone’s hopes in fighting off the icy fingers of interstellar travel.

  With a slide of her finger on the table, Margaret raised the volume so that they could hear what was being said nearly 1,400 miles away in Cleveland, Ohio.

  “Good morning, folks. This is Peter Weston from WKYC, hovering over the Lake Erie waterfront. And I know for some of you, you’re wondering if we should just start calling it the Erie ice rink from now on.

  “It is currently one degree Fahrenheit in Cleveland, and it looks like today’s high is expected to top out at a chilly fifteen degrees. For those of you keeping track, it has now been forty-six days since our departure, and as you all know, this winter has been one for the record books here in the Rock and Roll Capitol of the World. I just now received a report that says for the first time on record, all five of the Great Lakes have actually frozen over. Yes folks, you heard it here first, ice across all of the Great Lakes. All I can tell you is that you should all bundle up, because it looks like it’s going to be a long winter.

  “Oh, and if any of you ice fisherman are going out on Lake Erie to try your luck today, I’ll be out there with you in a couple of hours, looking for some walleye. Save some for me.

  “This is Peter Weston with WKYC saying, ‘Keep warm and hug your loved ones tight.’”

  Dave felt the president’s gaze and he knew what
she was thinking. She wanted to know if there was anything he could do about the cold.

  Margaret tapped a button on the table and the video feed disappeared. “I’ve gotten reports that the polar ice caps are expanding at an unprecedented rate and sea levels have already dropped several inches worldwide. From what the climatologists are saying, they’ve estimated that globally, we are about twenty degrees cooler than we would normally be.”

  Dave turned his gaze toward the president and completely empathized with her concerns. He had the same worries. “I’d heard that food isn’t a problem. People are otherwise getting by okay and not hungry, right?”

  “Yes,” Margaret confirmed. “Food supplies are actually fine. With the round-the-clock light near the equator, they’re hitting records on food production, and luckily that excess is offsetting the food deficit we’re seeing in the more northern and southern latitudes. Dave, do you think there’s anything that can be done about the temperature ahead of getting to our destination? I’m just afraid that we may have some serious issues if it gets too much colder.” The president cocked one of her eyebrows and gave him a half smile. “If you don’t have any ideas, I understand–but you’re usually full of surprises.”

  Dave turned to the president and said, “I may need to go get some lab equipment to test a few things—”

  “Done.”

  “I’ll need climate reports across all the latitudes north and south of the equator, and I suppose I’ll need to talk to somebody who has a clue about meteorological models.”

  “No problem.” The amused expression on the president’s face grew obvious. “I’ll make a few calls. Consider it done.”

  “After we’re all settled, I’m taking a long vacation and hiding in a cave somewhere.” Dave groaned as he stood. “Once I have the data, I’ll need a couple days to crunch the numbers, but I’ll see what I can do.”

  “I have complete faith that you’ll do what you can.” Margaret winked.

  ###

  Standing in one of the half-dozen dining halls, Stryker and Lainie stood in front of the screen, waiting for one of the regular communications from NORAD.

  Nearly everyone in the evacuation center tended to gather around the many video feeds to get the latest regularly scheduled news. If nothing else, it was soothing to hear from the people steering them to a new place.

  Stryker blew a smoke ring with his breath as Lainie leaned against him, shivering.

  Ever since they’d left the sun and everything humanity had ever known behind, it had gotten much colder.

  The temperature had fallen so dramatically that some of the pine trees had literally exploded from the cold.

  He and the rest of the MPs worked constantly to keep as much heat in the homes and gathering places as possible.

  It wasn’t enough, but everyone was coping as best they could.

  Sometimes, Stryker wasn’t sure what to make of Lainie. One moment she desperately wanted his company, and the next, he sensed some deep-seated fear within her. If nothing else, he and Lainie were living under the same roof again, though not always in the same bed.

  He glanced at his kids who were rolling a ball back and forth with some of the younger kids. Either way, Emma and Isaac seemed excited to have everyone together.

  He wrapped his arm around Lainie’s waist and pulled her close. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m still freezing.”

  Isaac and Emma broke away from the other kids and rushed toward them. The youngest slammed into his leg and gave him a big hug.

  “So,” Stryker asked, “are you two excited about the stuff the president said? I mean, when I was a kid, I could only dream of going to visit a new star. It’s like stuff from my fantasies is becoming real.”

  With a pensive expression, Isaac nodded. “I think that’s all pretty cool.”

  “Um, Daddy?”

  “What, Emma?”

  “Are vampires going to become real?”

  Stryker laughed and shook his head. “No! What in the world would make you think that?”

  “Well, you said sometimes fantasies become real. Aunt Jessica was reading a book about vampires to us and I was just wondering.”

  “No, vampires aren’t real,” Stryker reassured her.

  “But what if they become real?” Isaac suddenly held a worried expression.

  Stryker reached over to one of the strands of braided garlic hanging from the ceiling and broke off two cloves.

  “Here,” he said, handing Emma and Isaac one clove of garlic each. “Don’t worry, but if you see a vampire, just show him this and he’ll run away. Trust me, that’s how it works.”

  Emma held the clove tightly in both hands and nodded. “It’s true, they said that in one of Aunt Jessica’s stories.”

  Stryker tousled both kids’ hair and grinned at Lainie.

  She’d been staring at him, and just before she turned away, he thought he’d caught a glimpse of her smiling.

  ###

  After lots of tedious discussions with climatologists, who he at times felt were pulling answers out of their butts, and with the results from some of his own experiments, Dave had enough information to risk making a few changes.

  He clipped a microphone to his lapel and glanced toward the Public Affairs Officer, who gave him a thumbs-up.

  “This is NORAD Mission Control reporting in on the fifty-sixth day of our travels. Dave Holmes speaking again.” Dave spoke into the microphone as he took his seat in the Mission Director’s chair in the middle of the Control Center. “So far, we have travelled nearly 451 billion miles, which is about the same distance as light travels in approximately twenty-eight days.

  “T-COM, bring up the video feeds from Mount Palomar and the GALEX2 orbiting telescope and put them on screen three.”

  Dave glanced at the constantly-updated telemetry data displayed on the screen on the left-hand side of the auditorium. They were at nearly ninety-nine percent of the speed of light, and he knew that in the next five minutes, they were going to make history yet again.

  Hearing the door open and close behind him, and with the way that many of the Command Center staff began staring in his direction, Dave didn’t have to look to know that President Hager was approaching.

  “Doctor Holmes.” The president’s voice had a tinge of excitement in it. “This is another momentous occasion, isn’t it?”

  Dave muted his microphone. “It is. We’re knocking on the doorstep of light speed.”

  The president took a seat to the right of Dave and asked, “I know I missed your call earlier, so do you think you’ll be able to help with the cold weather?”

  Dave nodded. “I did some testing, and it’s not a perfect answer, but I think we’ll be able to push a little bit more power through the Warp Ring. That’ll end up making it a little brighter and should hopefully hold off some of the chill.”

  “We’re now on average about twenty-two degrees lower than our previous average temperatures across the globe. How much do you think it will help?”

  “Truthfully, I don’t think it’ll do much. Talking with some of the climatologists you hooked me up with, the best I think we can do is hold the current temperature. Maybe warm things a degree or two.”

  “Oh.” Margaret sounded disappointed.

  Dave turned to her, pointed to the ceiling, and explained, “You have to realize that the light we’re getting from the Warp Ring can’t compare to the overall power of the sun. Heck, not even close. And besides, it turns out we could probably push a bit more power than I’m planning on putting in with a good safety margin, but that’ll end up scorching the areas along the equator. As it is, with the adjustment I’ll be making, those folks will end up being about ten degrees warmer than normal. We can’t exactly risk going much more than that.”

  The president nodded. “I understand.”

  “I should probably tell you the good news,” Dave quipped.

  Margaret leaned
forward and stared quizzically at Dave. “Good news?”

  “Yes,” said Dave. “With the extra power I’ll be putting into the Warp Ring, it’ll change our acceleration curve quite a bit. It should shave about two months off our travel time.”

  “That’s fantastic news!” Margaret’s eyes widened, and she smiled from ear to ear.

  Dave leaned back into his chair. “I figured that might soften the blow when you explain to everyone about the weather and what we can expect.”

  Margaret peered at the video screen displaying the contents from the telescopes and asked, “I know hitting the speed of light is a huge milestone, but what’s with the telescopes? What are you looking for?”

  “Well, I actually wanted to confirm something I’d always suspected.” Dave raised his hand and pointed toward the video screen on the right side of the auditorium. “The video on the upper half of screen three shows what’s behind us. None of the light is actually visible to the naked eye. We’ve red-shifted everything so far that it’s at a longer wavelength than we can see. It’s deep into the infrared.”

  Margaret shook her head and gave Dave a crooked smile. “Doctor Holmes, pretend for a moment I’m not well-versed in science. Red shift?”

  “Oh, sorry. The way you see an object is based on the light that’s being projected from it or reflected off of it. In the case of stars, they’re projecting light.” Dave paused and rubbed his chin, trying to think how to best explain the concept. “Let’s say that you have a long string that you’re waving back and forth. Imagine that the waves in the string is what light really looks like. It’s simply a series of energy waves. Those waves all have a certain length to them. If you ran farther away with the end of the string, the waves would get longer. Light does the same thing when you move away from it. The wave still catches up to you, but from your perspective, it seems to be just a little bit longer. The longer the wave, the redder it appears. Eventually, the wave gets long enough that our eyes can’t detect it. That would be when the light enters the infrared range, and that’s what the upper half of screen three is showing. The stars behind us might not be visible to the naked eye, but for a telescope that can sense infrared, we can see it just fine.”