Been a bit busy and forgot to post earlier in the week, but at last here it is; the chapter where the story really starts... again.
Chapter 23
Boat 54: Where Are You?
Professor Adisa agreed to let Blue stay at the beach on two conditions; first he must stay sitting or lying down for a while, and secondly he would return to the complex with no argument if he didn't improve soon.
"So you've really never known a meteor strike before" Emerson asked as he sat with Blue.
"We do experience the effects down in the complex, but I've never been outside when it happened."
"Because you've never been outside before."
"Exactly right!" Blue nodded and wished he hadn't when his head began to spin a little.
As Blue convalesced and work continued on the ship, Maynard was down on the Star Runner retrieving a well packed water tight case. Inside this container was something very precious and almost irreplaceable; and eighty three year old communication device known as a Ham Radio. As he exited the rear hatch with his precious cargo, Maynard looked up at the mast of his small vessel. With all the problems he'd been having in losing his only daughter, the Star Runners captain had completely forgotten about the broken main forestay. He would have to make it the next priority when his current task was complete.
"I was wondering when you were going to report in" Emerson said when his father arrived back at the camp site.
"You can set up the antenna while I go get the yacht battery."
"Oh may I father? You do spoil me so" Emerson declared sarcastically.
"Just get to work."
As Maynard strolled back to the yacht, Professor Adisa waved for him to wait.
"Excuse me Mr. Linwood but is that a radio antenna your son is setting up?"
"Yes it is; I have to make contact with our friends back in Darwin."
"Could I ask you to hold off on making any transmissions for the time being?" the professor asked earnestly.
"You can ask but I have people depending on me so you'd better have a pretty good reason; you can tell me all about it while I get set up."
"You see Mr. Linwood, the reason we were sealed up inside the complex your daughter fell into, was because fifteen years ago there were people who wanted to stop us and I do not doubt they would have killed us, if they had found out where we were at the time."
"And you think I may be about to contact them?"
Maynard was not sure how worried he should be about these people who greatly outnumbered his small family.
"I doubt the EFA is still searching for us after all this time but if they still exist as a military force and happen to listen in on an unrelated radio conversation, I would not want them to hear about the ship or hear the name Linton Adisa. Let's just say I would like to avoid the risk until we know more about the state of the contemporary world."
"I think it's time you told me exactly what is on this ship and what you are doing here. I've have the future lives of a considerable number of people resting on my shoulders and I don't want to bring them into a fight over a shipwreck."
"What is on this ship Mr. Linwood could be vital to the future lives of your friends and everyone else left on Earth."
"I'm sceptical, but listening" Maynard crossed his arms.
"After the Sholf-4 meteors began raining down on Earth, it became clear to us there was no real future for humanity, if Earth was its only home; and so work stared on the construction of a colony on Mars."
"I do remember hearing a little about it and I always assumed they had either failed or were still out there cut off from the rest of us."
"As you can probably tell by looking at me, I was alive before the first meteorite hit. I was one of the many thousands of people who dedicated their lives to making the Mars colony happen, even though we knew we would not be among those saved. Things went well for us at first with every major government one hundred percent behind the project but when the first five hundred future colonists names were announced, things got hairy very quickly."
"Hundreds going, millions left behind; I can see how it would cause some tension" Maynard agreed.
"We hadn't even sent the first construction crew at the time. Everything was being done robotically or remotely from orbit. Most of the discontented voices were from a few panicking people with no hope of ever being chosen for the future lists of evacuees. Work on Mars Base never stopped but we did initiate a higher level of security. Everything changed though with the formation of the EFA; the Earth First Alliance. The EFA was the result of disgruntled government officials and wealthy individuals who were very upset at their inability to control the Mars Colony selection process. They had put many years of time and effort getting the best training and education for their own children and grandchildren but of course with such limited numbers, most still missed out and they were not going to stand for it."
"So they tried to take over the Mars project?" Maynard asked.
"At first they lobbied to have it cancelled completely. Down below us Mr. Linwood is a vast underground complex featuring self sufficient farming, recycling, manufacturing and everything else needed to sustain life. Several of these complexes were built around the world both as design tests for Mars and shelters to protect vital parts of the project. The EFA propaganda stated, if the time and effort put into the Mars Base was redirected into building more complexes like the one here, then millions would be saved instead of two thousand."
"You have to excuse me but that seems to make a lot of sense. Your young friend sitting with my son has obviously never had to worry about shockwaves, tsunami or ground strikes for his entire life; whereas we deal with it constantly" Maynard stated.
"True it is safer down there, but not completely. What started all this was an object in the asteroid belt known as Sholf-4; a massive mostly metal asteroid. It unexpectedly collided with and shattered an even bigger rock asteroid. The resulting debris cloud settled into an elliptical orbit between Venus and Mars. Unfortunately Mr. Linwood, the Earth is of course also orbiting the sun between Venus and Mars."
"Hence the occasional space bomb" Maynard said flippantly.
"Precisely Mr. Linwood and one of those so called space bombs, is what remains of the original Sholf-4 asteroid and to put it in very basic terms, it is big, solid and if it hits the Earth will kill us all no matter how deep underground we are."
"Oh... that's depressing to say the least."
"Incredibly depressing; so the idea of everyone staying here just did not make any sense and Mars Base went ahead, but no longer with complete global backing and eventually, during an all out war" the professor sighed.
"But you succeeded in the end I assume."
"We did Mr. Linwood; by the time young Calla was born, Mars base was fully populated. Blue and his mother were meant to be on the last ship to leave Earth but she was killed in an EFA attack the day after Blue was born on this very ship. We were then transported here and on our arrival I was informed by my superiors that the EFA had destroyed the ship. We were sealed inside the complex soon after and we have spent the last fifteen years sending supplies and equipment into orbit to be collected by the Mars Transfer Vehicle."
"So what is on the ship; more supplies?" Maynard thought he was beginning to understand at last.
"More than that Mr. Linwood" Linton Adisa smiled.
"Maynard, please."
"More than just supplies indeed Maynard; assuming everything is still intact, this ship holds the next part of our plan. Until the EFA reared its ugly head, a settlement of two thousand people on Mars was just the beginning. We hoped to be able to continue evacuating Earth until the end came for us all; whether it happened in a year, a decade or a century. What we have standing in front of us, could mean a new life for thousands more; and so we have to do our best to protect it and keep it from the EFA."
"Sounds like you want to keep it secret and save yourselves?" Maynard accused.
"I did say a new life for thousands" Linton explained "and there are fewer than a hundred of us here. Also I am over eighty years old so I'm not planning to go anywhere."
"Okay then" Maynard nodded "tell me everything."
"Well that's a long story but to start, the whole point of this ship was to provide all the equipment needed to make the railgun capable of resuming the evacuation of Earth. We wanted to get all this equipment underground before the EFA could get wind of our plans. We were to start sending more people as soon as Mars Base had grown large enough" Linton Explained.
"The makings of a good plan" Maynard agreed as he and the professor contemplated the massive vessel.
"But there were a few people in leadership positions who greatly disagreed with the idea and the overseer of Mars Base, Olive Roux was one of them. She and many others believed we were taking a huge risk by human rating the railgun."
"Human rating?" Maynard had to ask.
"Basically ensuring it's as safe for human use as we can make it. Some of the council members believed we were setting the Mars colony up for inevitable failure by making it possible to sending too many people in a shorter time frame and they were right, but we all understand the need to only send numbers the base can safely handle."
"If you know what you're doing, I don't see the problem" Maynard noted.
"Olive Roux put forward several disastrous scenarios including the EFA capturing and using the complex or an internal panic and take over but fortunately those who did not like the idea were voted down. I believed the report when I was told the EFA had destroyed the ship, but now I suspect it was just a way of keeping us from proceeding to the next phase."
"So now you've got it, what do you plan to do now?"
"I'm not quite sure yet Mr. Linwood. I don't mind you and your friends knowing about the ship and its contents, but I would feel much safer if nothing was said about it over your radio for the time being."
"Alright then, you've convinced me" Maynard nodded "I still need to make contact but I'll keep your secret for now; you can even listen in if you like."
"Thank you; I appreciate what you're doing" Linton smiled.
"Well you did keep Calla safe" Maynard returned the smile.
"Perhaps you could let me know your plans and destination?" the Professor asked.
"It's all very simple; not only New Zealand but all the smaller land masses of the south pacific are under constant risk of tsunami. It doesn't matter if a space bomb misses us; we still get hit by the resulting wave. We thought things would be better in Australia but the east coast has been hit pretty hard over the last forty years. We've met a lot of people on the way and we all decided to take the risk of a long trip to the middle of the Eurasian land mass and see if life is any better there."
"And what if life is no better there?"
"Then we find somewhere nice and just do our best till the end comes."
"If everything works out as I hope it will, we may be able to offer you a risky but ultimately safer alternative on Mars, but first I must see if Willow is ready to blow the nose."
"Err, come again?"Maynard asked.
Sometimes I ask myself questions like;
If Tin Whistles are made of tin, what are Fog Horns made of?
Why is the word Abbreviation so long?
If the number 2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still number 2?