Fractured Earth Saga 1: Apocalypse Orphan Read online

  “Thanks, just what I’ve always wanted—a command of my own! Come on, Captain America, I’ll help you suit up.”

  The crew drifted out of the mess area as Wolf and Ron walked to the ISS airlock. Wolf stopped to remove a flight suit from a locker and began suiting up. Ron checked the auxiliary breathing apparatus and seams of the suit as Wolf donned the bulky outfit.

  “These suits are as old as that shuttle out there, and I don’t like that you’re being allowed to take the shuttle out alone for an extended mission,” Ron said with a note of concern. “No way NASA should send you out in that antiquated heap without a co-pilot. It barely made it up here.”

  “I know. They’ve authorized me to fly solo for a priority one mission. NASA thinks this thing is bad news, and I’ve got a very bad feeling about it myself.”

  Ron helped Wolf with his boots, fastened the suit, and then helped him stand up, pushing him towards the airlock. He shut the door after Wolf and walked into the small tunnel connecting to the shuttle's interior. Pressing the speaker button, he said, “See ya soon, Wolf. Be careful out there.”

  Wolf boarded the shuttle. It was prepped and ready to go. NASA wasn’t playing when they said to leave immediately. The sense of urgency gave Wolf an uneasy feeling. He eased into the pilot’s seat, detached the locking clamps, and fired the port retrorockets to ease the craft away from the space station. Patching into the coordinates for the WISE, he headed out to the satellite.

  An hour before he reached the WISE, he prepped the arm and reviewed the repositioning assignment to place the satellite in the projected path of the comet. When he spotted the satellite in the shuttle viewport, he radioed, “Endeavour to Cap Com. I am coming up on the WISE.”

  “Roger, Endeavour, we have shut down the WISE. You should be able to grab it with the robotic arm.”

  “Copy, Cap Com. I will be within range in sixty seconds…”

  Wolf left the flight deck after executing the rendezvous and went to the payload bay. Once there, he put on his helmet and opened the bay doors. Using the remote arm, he grabbed the WISE and pulled it into the ship. As the bay doors closed and air pressure normalized, he removed his helmet and radioed, “WISE is on board. I am programming the new coordinates for redeployment.”

  “Roger that, Wolf. Get it into position and then head back.”

  “Endeavour out.”

  Wolf returned to the flight deck and, after verifying the coordinates, he fired the orbital maneuvering engines and headed towards the comet. He wished he could hold his medicine bag. Was it his imagination or were his ancestors crying out in fear? He used the shuttle’s remote telescope to look out towards the comet. There it was. He could see the pinpoint in the heavens like a harbinger of doom and thought, I don’t like this ship, I don’t like this assignment, and I’ve got a terrible feeling about this.

  Chapter 2

  July 28, 2025

  In the early twenty-first century, the earth had two primary Near Earth Object Detection agencies: NASA’s Sentry program and the NEODyS/CLOMON at the University of Pisa. In 2025, these were still the main organizations that tracked and mapped the skies. In the years since they were set up, neither had ever reported a new object that posed imminent danger to Earth, so budget cuts were inevitable. Massive layoffs had been announced three years ago, and world leaders were now pointing fingers at one another, blaming these cutbacks for the anomaly slipping into the solar system undetected. Something just outside of the Kuiper belt had caught the world off-guard, and despite state-of-the-art monitoring systems, satellites, and robotic artificial intelligence, it had gotten through.

  It had been six months since Commander Orlando Iron Wolf discovered the anomaly. Based on scientific data gleaned from research as well as satellites and telescopes trained on the object, it was estimated to be the size of Rhea, one of Saturn’s moons, and it was racing towards Earth with incredible speed. NASA had put Charlie Richards in charge of research into the anomaly because of his credentials in science, management, and the political arena. Everyone knew him, and everyone respected him. He was given the best of every department and division that NASA, the European Space Agency, the Chinese National Space Agency, and several others could offer.

  When Charlie ran the numbers, he realized that the distances involved were staggering. The fastest ships available were still no faster than the New Horizons spacecraft that had visited Pluto in 2015. New rocket technologies had not panned out as the world’s space agencies had hoped. Using 2015 technology, it would take eleven years to travel the 2.66 billion miles to Pluto. Although some new technologies showed promise, Earth had nothing that could travel the distance to get a close look at the anomaly. Whatever was out there was just behind Pluto and moving at incredible speed towards the inner solar system. After months of study, two of the world’s top astrophysicists had reached the same conclusion—it would take eleven years to reach Pluto and observe the object if it were stationary; but the anomaly was streaking toward earth at incredible speed, reducing that distance to earth by the second. Its speed would bring it near Earth in approximately two years, and it would pass close to Mars on the way. If a probe was launched immediately, it would take two hundred and eighty-nine days to even reach a Mars orbit, and if it did manage to intersect with the anomaly, it would leave the earth’s governments less than a year to prepare. The astrophysicists based their conclusions on gravitational lensing, direct imaging, radial velocity, and the simple transit method of briefly blocking some of the starlight behind the object.

  The WISE that had been repositioned six months ago by Wolf had malfunctioned, and it was sending only blurry, low-resolution pictures. But there was no mistaking in the images that the pinhole had grown to a large pockmark on the VY Canis Majoris nebula cloud. The photos weren’t sharp enough to reveal the shape or size of the anomaly. The Hubble might have given useful details about its shape and size, but a meteor shower had damaged its mirrors on its redeployment mission. NASA concluded it would be easier to fix the Hubble than the WISE, but it still took time to manufacture the mirrors and more time to get them into space. A crew had just completed the task of replacing the massive mirrors a day earlier, and everyone at Mission Control held their collective breath waiting for the first images to arrive from the Hubble after it was brought back online. The first photo it sent revealed the bad news—the anomaly was a comet. Within 24 hours, NASA had run the numbers, and preliminary data indicated it was the largest comet ever recorded. It was named Nomad, and the new mission was dubbed Nomad One. As the weeks went by and new data poured in from the Hubble and other resources, trajectory simulations confirmed Nomad would pass close to Earth—so close it could do some damage, whether it hit or not. Its relentless approach scattered meteors and small asteroids throughout the solar system. Spectacular meteor showers were reported on Earth, and several large meteor strikes were recorded on Jupiter. The gas giant’s massive gravitational fields sucked them in, sparing the inner planets.

  As more data was compiled, it became clear that the comet was on a collision course with Earth. The consensus of the world’s astronomers was that Nomad would strike Earth far to the south, slamming into the South Pole at an approximate 135-degree angle. A few scientists theorized that the comet would “skip off” the South Pole without doing much damage, but they were in the minority. No one could predict with certainty how bad the damage would be, but there was no avoiding the fact Nomad was coming, and the world’s governments scrambled to take steps to stop it. Amateur astronomers were able to see the comet as clear as day, now that they knew where to look. NASA’s Sentry monitoring system gave off constant alarms, and the earth was bombarded daily by smaller meteorites as their orbits were affected by Nomad’s translational kinetic energy. Near-earth objects like Apophis, 101955 Bennu, 2009 Fd, and their massive asteroid orbits were severely altered, and concern for additional impacts now ran high. Nomad streaked towards Earth majestically, and the world’s governments had an estimated two ye
ars to prepare. All of the popular doomsday scenarios, from the Mayan Calendar to King Tut’s revenge and Revelations, were in the news and on the minds of humans as fear of imminent catastrophe gripped the planet.

  The major players in devising plans to rescue the earth were the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, China, Japan, Mexico, and both Koreas. Japan and the U.S. contributed resources and engineers to design and supply the building materials for a proposed moon colony. Mexico was tapped to provide most of the moon’s workforce. Multi-skilled, well-mannered craftsman were needed, and America’s southern neighbor was full of them. A female scientist came up with a design for a space vehicle equipped with a new type of engine that was nothing short of a modern scientific marvel, using sound waves to generate propulsion. Fast, easy-to-build and controlled by advanced artificial intelligence software, these new spacecraft were hailed as the saviors for humanity. The name stuck. Savior I, II and III would be enormous spaceships, each capable of carrying twenty thousand people and equipped with state-of-the-art nuclear generators. The power in just one ship was enough to light the planet for a full year. The ships were multi-trip carriers, designed to take off and land repeatedly. As soon as the moon bases were completed, these ships would transport people and supplies to the new lunar colony. The UN decided North Korea was the best place to commence the construction of the Saviors. Border defense posts were already in place and quickly reinforced by the Allied nations as the ships began to take shape.

  Other nations were busy constructing large bunkers underground in capital cities around the globe. The U.S., Mexico, and Japan were busy on the moon, excavating terrain for enormous, permanent structures being built to house the world’s refugees. Multiple temporary glass domes had been erected by the UN to house workers who were starting the construction process. The only setback was when specialty workers were briefed on their assignment and declined to go. They refused to leave their wives and children on Earth to face certain death while they risked their lives on the moon to save the world’s elite. After days of contentious deliberation, it was decided that the workers’ immediate families would be allowed to accompany them, but with one caveat—any family member with a genetic defect or debilitating illness would be sterilized to prevent breeding and passing on the disease.

  The world’s governments had agreed to set up a glass-domed city on the moon to shelter and preserve the world’s greatest minds. A worldwide lottery was established to populate the underground bunkers that would house men, women, and children with certain IQ levels. No adult who scored below ninety was considered. An outcry erupted when various government officials, entertainers, religious leaders, and the extremely wealthy learned they were not automatically included in the evacuation plans. Money and fame no longer mattered since no one wanted or needed it. Where could one spend or use currency and what good was fame when the end of the world was mere months away?

  The only people guaranteed a berth in the new moon bases and the underground bunkers were major world leaders, scientists, doctors, clergy, a few military leaders, and their immediate families. No senators, Congress members, governors, unrecognized rulers, or political lackeys were given a free pass. Security personnel entrusted with protecting world leaders were not included either; the United Nations Military Coalition was now in charge and would handle protective services. UNMC personnel were chosen from elite military and police candidates around the world. Their sole function was to ensure the successful relocation of major world leaders and their immediate families to the moon base. It was an uncompromising, difficult job because “immediate family” meant husband or wife and unmarried sons and daughters who still lived with their parents. Married dependents were to be left behind, and so were their children. This caused a firestorm of trouble that only trained personnel dedicated to preserving the world’s leaders could handle. UNMC members were hated by not only the world leaders they served but also their families.

  Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim clerics, clergy from Christian denominations, and those of the Baha’i and Hindu faiths, met to debate the role of religion in the coming catastrophe. Who would go? Which religions would endure? Only a limited number of spots were available. Finally, the UN decided that the only guaranteed spots on the list would be for the reigning Pope and a certain top Muslim cleric. Both had declined the preferential treatment at first. Meetings quickly erupted into arguments and then turned deadly with riots erupting around the world. The UN was adamant about the Pope and the Muslim cleric and begged them to reconsider. The Pope agreed but then promptly convened a council to choose someone younger to succeed him; that honor fell on a lowly, humble priest from South Wales. The Muslim cleric was well respected, and after a call from Russian and American leaders, he accepted a berth on the moon base.

  Medical and psychological testing was stringent, and many people were excluded. All who didn’t score within the set parameters were disqualified without exception. Those lucky enough to be chosen were advised that they could not take their families—only the individuals themselves would be saved from the coming holocaust. Some argued that the specialty workers were allowed to take their families, but the protests fell on deaf ears. Hard choices had to be made, and those in charge of humanity’s preservation agreed that the future of civilization hinged upon this last act of evil. Humans would face the ultimate challenge of rebuilding a new world and didn’t need sickness of any kind gumming up the works. A healthy breeding stock would be needed to repopulate. Plants, animals, and select humans were gathered from around the planet to prepare for the horrible days ahead. Family histories were examined carefully. Those who had a history of twins or multiple births in their genealogy, and those who came from unusually large families, were favored. They would be needed to repopulate the earth if possible, and if not, a new world would have to be colonized. About one million people would go to the moon base, and it would be protected by a garrison of two hundred thousand soldiers and their families chosen from around the world. The new station would be called Resurrection.

  The plan was to preserve a limited number of males and females of every race, from the smallest rain forests’ indigenous tribesman, who all refused to leave their forests, to citizens from the world’s largest countries. If members of a race were already included in the specialty workers or other diverse jobs, their numbers would count towards that race’s quota. Those selected would be moved off-planet to preserve the ethnic diversity of the human species. The selection criteria were straightforward: anyone with a criminal record, genetic abnormality, or physical disability, and those living in industrialized nations who had not been continuously employed for the last eighteen months, were ineligible. The survival of mankind depended on workers, not slackers. Those over the age of fifty and not on the scientific, military, management or agricultural teams were out of the lottery. Only those who would be of use to a future society were eligible.

  The strict new rules triggered a wave of rampant crime. Rape and murder spiraled out of control, and local police were given judiciary powers to deal with those apprehended for crimes. The new justice system had one rule: lawbreakers were to be executed immediately—no trials, no appeals. Prisoners in maximum-security facilities were euthanized; non-violent offenders were released, as law enforcement no longer had the means to care for them. Those turned loose were cautioned about the new justice system, but many fell victim to it, committing petty crimes within days of being released for which they were executed.

  Rumors surfaced that terrorist groups had infiltrated North Korea to steal the Savior spacecraft. The UN moved three hundred thousand troops around the construction sites to protect the ships and workers. Another half-million troops were placed along the country’s borders to try to secure the region. Offshoots of the ISIS wing of radical Islam that had maimed and tortured thousands a decade earlier still existed, and familiar names resurfaced in 2025. People flocked to their banners, and the reborn ISIS, ISIL, and Boko Haram unleashed a wave of ter
rorism on the world. These groups and other petty warlords consolidated and attacked North Korea. The battle was intense, and suicide squads devastated the Allied troops. Fanatics who had infiltrated the Allied ranks nearly doomed the world. Ultimately, the renegade armies were defeated by the UN forces, but the battles took a bloody toll, leaving more than a quarter-million dead.

  The underground bunkers were being built ahead of schedule, and they were designed to hold thousands. Secret military bases around the world were made public, and these facilities would support another million. The new civilization could sustain a mere five million of Earth’s seven billion human inhabitants—saving everyone was not an option. Murder around the globe skyrocketed, claiming tens of thousands of victims daily, and the violent crime rate soared.

  Super engines were developed that could reach the approaching comet in weeks, modeled after the Savior technology. Nuclear-capable nations equipped their nukes with the same engines and fired every weapon they had at the comet against the advice of the scientific community, but desperation raised the people’s hopes in any mad plan. Coordination between countries was nonexistent, and some nations inadvertently foiled the plans of others. North and South Vietnam had gone rogue and tried to “ripple effect” the comet’s course, throwing their entire stockpile of nuclear weapons at Nomad. It was beautiful and calculated perfectly, but it never slowed or changed the comet’s course in the slightest. Saudi Arabia sent forty nuclear warheads to blast the comet head-on in a dazzling nighttime display. The comet absorbed them.

  After several other failed nuclear attempts, some strange ideas were put into action. The asteroid Apophis was equipped with four huge engines that would propel the massive rock into Nomad in the hope that its path would be altered just enough to miss the keyhole to the Earth. The world held its collective breath as Apophis thrust into Nomad’s gravitational field, engines fully powered to provide added impact. Satellites displayed the spectacular event as the two heavenly bodies met in a titanic collision. Apophis was obliterated, shattered like an egg thrown against a brick wall. Nomad never slowed and continued on its inexorable path to Earth.