Escape to the Stars!

Escape to the Stars!

  Book One: Eviction from Earth

  By

  Glenn L. Erickson

  Copyright 2013 Glenn L. Erickson

  All rights reserved

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1: Unwelcome Wake-up Call

  Chapter 2: Seeing the Future

  Chapter 3: The Ultimate Elevator

  Chapter 4: Lunar Orbit

  Chapter 5: Moon-Base Charlie

  Chapter 6: Lagrange Five

  Chapter 7: Sabotage!

  Chapter 8: Milestone

  Chapter 9: Conspiracy

  Chapter 10: Confrontation at the Space Elevator

  Chapter 11: The Trip to Midway

  Chapter 12: Vacuum Practice

  Chapter 13: GenStar One

  Chapter 14: Launch Day!

  Chapter 15: Watching the End from Afar

  About the Author

  Chapter 1: Unwelcome Wakeup-Call

  “Less than two minutes to impact!” Professor Keene stated quietly. He glanced around and noted that even the military-types were glued to their screens. Several people were on phones relaying the event to remote locations.

  “I thought that we would have more time…” he muttered to himself.

  The video feed showed a massive solar-generated plasma-ball headed directly towards North Africa. There hadn’t been time to issue more than a few days’ warning to the affected areas. The news channels were showing scenes of panic and selfishness throughout the region. Many religious types were gathered at the base of the pyramids in Egypt, thousands of prayer rugs in neat rows.

  The airports were empty now. All planes that could leave the area had already escaped. Air traffic around the world had ceased. Ships had fled the area days before. The roads leading east to the Sinai and towards South Africa were jammed with cars, trucks and hand-drawn carts piled with families. Their efforts were doomed but…

  “One minute!” someone called out. The atmosphere above North Africa was roiling and the winds at the surface were ferocious. The Northern and Southern Lights were visible all over the world. The temperature had risen well over 130 degrees west of Cairo, and it was only 9 AM!

  “Impact!” All cameras near the point of impact flared and went dark. Those more distant showed an eye-searing blast of light. As the light faded, the shock-wave radiated from the impact site, leveling Cairo and rippling the ground for hundreds of miles. The North African Rift Valley responded with explosive eruptions and rivers of lava. The Nile boiled away and the Suez Canal disappeared completely

  Volcanoes all around the area answered the assault with eruptions. Everything within 2500 miles of the impact site was seared. The Mediterranean Sea itself steamed and sent huge tsunamis to all shorelines. Deaths numbered in the dozens of millions and burn victims were nearly numberless.

  Stunned silence throughout the bunker bore witness to the immensity of the disaster. Some sobbed quietly and others just shook their heads in amazement. Professor Keene pushed away from his station and keyed his headset. “Okay people, we have seen the results, now let’s see what we can do to get out an earlier warning next time.”

  “Next time! What the HELL do you mean ‘The NEXT time’?” General Evers exploded, ripping his headset off and throwing it at his console.

  Professor Keene eyed the pudgy officer with disdain. “I mean just what I said General. We will be seeing more CMEs as the Sun grows more unstable. IF we very lucky, they won’t be aimed at us!”

  Seeing that their dispute had attracted the attention of everyone in the bunker, Professor Keene glanced around and added “What we saw today was just the first CME-strike on the Earth in recorded history. And, as they go, this was a small one! We were very fortunate that the mass of the plasma-ball had largely dissipated by the time it reached Earth.

  “As time passes and the Sun becomes more unstable, we can expect many more CMEs. They will not all be aimed at the Earth, but we will see them lashing out into the system. Mercury has already been hit twice and Venus once. Venus’ atmosphere has been largely blown away. Both planets have more or less survived but their orbits have been affected. We just don’t know to what extent yet.”

  The General leaned on his console, his face paler than usual. Around the room, people were absorbing his statement and weighing its significance. One woman burst into tears and was hurriedly escorted out by two others. Professor Keene turned away from the room and headed to the elevator. He was joined in the elevator by a quiet man he had noticed standing at the back of the room, but who had not participated in the monitoring. As the doors sealed and the lift started, he turned to the professor and said “I heard what you said in there. That was a sobering assessment.” Keene nodded absently, already thinking of what he needed to be doing next. He was still upset that his warnings had gone unheeded. While he was saddened to witness the event, he was more upset that his recommendations about the future of the Earth were being ignored.

  As the elevator reached the top level, the quiet man reached over and pulled the emergency stop button. Over the ringing of the emergency bell, the man showed Keene a badge and ID card. Unimpressed, Professor Keene slapped the button in, allowing the doors to open. He stepped towards the opening and then spun about to thrust his face into the smaller man’s face and snarled “I am not interested it anything you might have to say! The government ignored my attempts to warn them and to urge them to act! Now, after the fact, you’re trying to tell me that they are now willing to act! Bah!” He turned abruptly and stalked away, missing the stunned expression on the other man’s face entirely.

  Professor Keene slammed through the entry door, startling the guards posted there. Ignoring them, he stalked to the driveway at the front of the building, jerked open the rear door of the limo he had arrived in, climbed in and then slammed the door closed. He slumped into the seat dejectedly.

  “Where to Professor?” the driver asked quietly.

  He took several seconds to respond. It wasn’t right to bark at the driver as the man had been completely professional and responsive in seeing to the Professor’s needs during the days leading up to the events of today. “”Please George, just drive to somewhere where I won’t have to see anyone for a while.”

  Nodding, George put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb. He guided the car past the angry protestors at the main gate and then took a small side-road that led away from the base. A couple of news crews tried to catch up to them but George powered the limo around a corner and then ducked into garage and behind a wall.

  He watched as the news-hounds barreled past and then quickly backed out and turned the limo the other way. After a couple more dog-legs down side-streets, he powered onto the highway.

  The Professor quietly thanked him and settled back in the seat to watch the countryside glide by.

  When several miles had faded behind them, George reached under the seat for his surprise for the Professor. He reached back over the seat and offered a paper-bagged bottle. Professor Keene, hearing the paper crinkle, glanced away from the window and saw the proffered gift. He smiled weakly and said “Thanks George. You seem to know what it takes to soothe the savage beast.”

  “I may not know about space and the Sun and such, but I know that when things aren’t going your way, it sometimes helps to drown your sorrows away from others.”

  Keen snorted and grabbed the bag. He twisted the cap off and sniffed. It was a top-notch Scotch. Saluting George’s back, Keene took a careful sip. Hearing a clink in the bag, he glanced inside and spotted two small glasses. “Find a quiet spot where we are not likely to be accosted by the police and lets’ toast the stupidity of governments everywhere.
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  George chuckled and glided down the next off-ramp. Turning the car out of town, he pulled over at a scenic over-look a few miles later. Leaving the car idling to keep the A/C running, George turned to find a two-finger portion of scotch awaiting him. He took custody of the amber liquid and raised it to the Professor. “To the Future!”

  Professor Keene glanced at George to see if he was being sarcastic. All he saw was a sad smile. Responding to the salutation, Keene raised his glass as well and muttered, “Such as it is…”

  A few minutes later, a dark sedan pulled up next to the limo. The man that had tried to talk to the professor in the elevator got out and knocked on the rear side window. Professor Keene glanced over and groaned quietly. Lowering the window, Keene was about to blast the man for interrupting his solitude when he notice the man’s solemn demeanor. Swallowing the angry outburst he had been preparing, he asked “What can I do for you Mr…”

  “Jamison, Special Agent Kurt Jamison.” Keene opened the door and invited the man inside. Jamison waved his driver away and then sat down and closed the door. The sedan slipped down the road a ways and then pulled over to wait. Intrigued in spite of himself, Professor Keen waited for the agent to start the conversation.

  Offering the agent the bottle, Kurt hesitated only for a moment and then took it with a quiet sigh. “I haven’t touched the stuff in years. I guess today is as good a day as any to have a drink!” He wiped the opening with a sleeve and sipped. Lowering the bottle to his lap, he inhaled through pursed lips and said in a tight voice “That is good Scotch!”

  George held out his empty glass and the agent gently refilled it. Offering to the Professor, Keene obliged and watched as Kurt carefully tipped the bottle. “Sorry we don’t have another glass for you Agent Jamison.” George said quietly.

  Kurt shrugged and said “I wasn’t expected.”

  Intrigued, Keene focused on the agent and asked “Not that I mind your company but why are you here?”

  Taking another small sip, Kurt sighed and answered “I work for a little-known agency that is responsible for guiding individuals, groups and corporations towards desired goals.”

  George glanced at the professor to see if the Professor had understood the statement. Keene’s eyebrows were getting tangled with his hairline with astonishment. “That is the most ridiculous statement I think I’ve ever heard! Would you care to rephrase that? In English please!”

  Jamison chuckled and said “That is the official response to any questions about to our purpose. What we really do is actually just that: we search for people pushing the limits of technology and help where we can with funding or information or whatever is needed”

  Intrigued now, Professor Keene shifted around to face the agent directly. “That was clearer, but doesn’t answer why you’re here.”

  Jamison squirmed to settle deeper into the luxurious upholstery. “Our department was founded nearly a hundred years ago with the express purpose of guiding humanity towards space and beyond.”

  Plainly puzzled, Professor Keene asked “We’re already in space!”

  “True.” Jamison answered. “But not far enough!” he said with a quiet smile.

  Professor Keene and George exchanged glances. George responded first. “I guess I’m slower on the uptake than the Professor here. Why not ‘far enough’?”

  Jamison frowned and replied “The events of today show that the Earth is doomed. We have no way to alter the Sun’s continued deterioration, so, most likely, we will be hit by more of these CMEs, eventually.” Professor Keen was nodding. “So, if humanity is to survive, it needs to not just leave this planet, but this solar system entirely!”

  Stunned, Keene sputtered and said “We haven’t got the technology to even reach Mars on a regular basis yet! And you say we need to leave the Solar system itself?”

  The Agent agreed and replied “You have probably been so caught up in recent events that you may not have turned your thoughts to as to how humanity might escape eventual obliteration.”

  “Escape? How?”

  Jamison responded. “A lot of people have known for many years that the Sun was becoming unstable. They have been quietly promoting certain technologies with the end-purpose of developing spaceships that will carry many thousands, perhaps millions of people to other planets.”

  Professor Keene grasped the importance of the statement immediately. George was a few beats slower but his astonishment was apparent to both of the other men. He sputtered “Thousands of people?”

  Agent Jamison nodded seriously and answered “Hopefully millions! And the sooner, the better!”

  Silence reined for a few heartbeats, each man pondering the significance of that statement. Turning to face the agent, Professor Keene stated quietly “That is a magnificent quest, but just how much more time do you think we have here? The events of today are going to stall economic progress world-wide. How are you going to get humanity thinking of escape when we are facing almost certain extinction in the not too distant future?”

  Jamison actually smiled at that point. “We have been at this for nearly a hundred years. With our continued investments in space science and research, we are at the threshold of ever greater space-related expansion. That will stimulate growth worldwide.”

  “How about giving me an example.” The Professor asked.

  “Well, we can now actually build things like the Space Elevator and even some form of tethered space platform. Once that is in-place, we can begin to travel between Earth and the Moon quite readily. We can then establish facilities on the moon to supply raw and finished materials for constructing ship-building facilities at the Earth’s Lagrange-points 4 and 5.”

  The Professor smiled sadly and said “The Space Elevator is a pipe-dream! And without it, our chances of ever accomplishing any of the other things are nil! With our current level of technology, we will never be able to build any kind of ship capable of leaving this solar system with any significant number of people!”

  The agent pulled an envelope from inside his jacket and handed it to the Professor. Curious, the Professor held the envelope to the light and then tore off the end of it. He looked inside and then dumped the contents into his palm. He studied the black ribbon that lay there. Glancing at Jamison, he stated quietly “I’ve seen Carbon-fiber ribbon before. It is an interesting technology but hardly relevant to our conversation.”

  Pointing to the bit of ribbon, Jamison said quietly “That is a cross-linked carbon nanotube ribbon. It was recently developed in a laboratory and is more than ten times stronger than any carbon-fiber technology we’ve seen.”

  George grasped some of what the agent said, but it was the professor’s reaction that interested him. Wonderingly, the Professor looked at the agent and asked “What can I do to help?”

  George was mystified. How could a bit of ribbon change the Professor’s mind and attitude so rapidly? “Uh, Professor? Please tell me why that bit of ribbon is so significant”

  Facing him with a distant look, as if he was already at work elsewhere, he said “With commercial quantities of such a ribbon, the Space Elevator is possible. Along with that, everything else that follows is also possible!” Focusing back on the driver, he added sadly “We now have the opportunity to save humanity!”

  George’s glee was tempered by the professor’s lack of enthusiasm. “That’s good, Right? So, why the gloomy outlook?”

  Smiling wryly, the Professor said “You and I will not live long enough to see most of this come about.”

  “Oh.” George responded, then he brightened and said “But at least we can get things started! Our children will benefit, and humanity will survive!”

  Agent Jamison nodded. The Professor agreed and then slowly brightened. Turning to Jamison, he announced “Count me in!”

  Jamison pulled a device from his coat pocket and spoke into it. The car that had ferried him there pulled away, leaving them alone. Turnin
g to George, he asked “I assume you want to play a part in this too?”

  Stunned, George said “Uh, sure! But what can I do for you? I’m no scientist or anything so…” He shrugged.

  Agent Jamison smiled at his self-effacement. “This effort will take a lot of people, with a wide range of abilities. You have already have the security clearance needed and you know how to keep what you know to yourself. You will possibly become a behind-the-scenes facilitator, enabling the science types to work without distractions.”

  George nodded. “I can do that.”

  Jamison handed a slip of paper to him and said “Enter those coordinates into your GPS and we’ll start immediately.”

  Settling back into the seat, Jamison reached a hand out to the Professor and said “Welcome to the future Professor!” The Professor shook the hand and started asking about where they were going and who they would be working with.

  The Agent raised his hands in an effort to stem the flow. “Patience Professor! When we arrive at our destination, all will be revealed. Enjoy the scenery! You are likely to be too busy from now on to really take the time to enjoy it. We have a lot to accomplish and an unknown amount of time to do it in!”

  Nodding, but still brimming with questions, Professor Keene settled back and started a mental list of things to ask and people to contact. George volunteered “Settle back gents. We’ve got a couple of hours before we reach our destination.”