Chapter 4
The trip to Mars was a smooth one and the new Feliner was working just as well as the old one. Panthro was proud of his baby and how she handled the trip. Landing her in the designated area given by flight control tower, the group quickly disembarked.
"Greetings friends of Mars. I am President Mwende of the Unified Nations of Mars. While I am glad you could come so quickly, I wish it had been for another reason," the dark skinned human extended his hand and shook Lion-O's. He was tall and thin with closely cropped gray hair.
"We are happy to help in any way that we can. I am King Lion-O of New Thundera and Third Earth. This is my wife, Queen Cheetara, along with Lord Panthro, Lord Ben-Gali, and two of our top scientists, Doctors Summa and Centi. Where should we start?" The lion asked.
"I am sure President Kachi already explained our situation. Perhaps we should head for our briefing room where we can give you more details about the planet and our thoughts on fixing it. Although I must admit, fixing it may not be an option. Our scientists are at the end of their ropes," Mwende explained as the group moved inside the closest building. It was rectangular and appeared to be made of concrete. While not the most attractive building they had seen on their ride in, most guessed it was for security purposes.
"Well perhaps we can be of assistance. Regrettably, we've had experience with planet disruptions such as these," Doctor Summa spoke up. He was an elderly lynx who had survived the destruction of Thundera and he had been studying the planet before it began its death throes.
"So I have been told. It may be our saving grace despite your people having been through such a tragedy," Mwende frowned, knowing that this had to bring back memories for some of the group there. They entered the building and moved down the hall toward a large conference room where shouting could be heard. Mwende shook his head as they entered the room. A man at the door in a military uniform shouted "Ten hut!" and the room quickly fell silent.
"Gentlemen and Ladies, may I introduce King Lion-O and his party from nearby New Thundera. They have brought some scientists with them and hopefully we can work out some sort of agreement for evacuations," Mwende announced. The room remained silent for a few moments and Lion-O took the chance to speak up.
"Doctors Summa and Centi will be more than willing to assist in figuring out the planet's issues. Meanwhile, I think it best we figure out how we can evacuate and do it in an orderly fashion. The less stress that people have to go through the better."
"Agreed. Thank you for coming King Lion-O. I am President Koothrapali from Little India. Our scientists have been working with the other scientists from every country and we have no answer. As far as they can figure, our planet is dying, which of course, is not what anyone wants to hear," the man smiled and greeted them. His skin was lighter than Mwende's but darker than Kachi's. He was balding and wore glasses.
"Where would you like us to get started?" Doctor Summa spoke up.
"The scientists are through the doorway. They wanted to meet you here and then take you to the lab for a more thorough approach," Koothrapali explained.
"Excellent. Ben-Gali, please go with them," Lion-O ordered. Ben-Gali nodded and followed the two scientists to the room where the others were gathered.
"I believe a full round of introductions are in order," Mwende spoke up before he quickly went around the room introducing each President of each Nation that resided on Mars. There were almost a hundred people in the room and Lion-O wondered if he could remember them all.
"So we have about three billion people on Mars. How do you propose we get them off safely without causing mass panic?" President Matsuyama of Little Japan asked.
"Thundera, before its destruction, held approximately four billion. In the ensuing panic from the planet's violent death, we lost a minimum, one-half. Now we have not recouped that amount, but we get ships in that have been wandering space at least once every two weeks. New Thundera's current population nears five hundred million. Third Earth has roughly the same number though it is also populated by others such as the Balkans, Wollos, Warrior Maidens, and RoBear Berbils, just to name a few. I have my people running the numbers but we believe that we could split your number down the middle. Now, this is of course, only if we can get your food stores off this planet as well. There is no infrastructure on either Third Earth or New Thundera to prepare for such an influx of people," Lion-O told them.
"That would be best case scenario. Right now, my people have calculated that we could lose up to two million people in the evacuations. Of course that number will only go up should we not start evacuating biospheres soon," Mwende spoke up.
"Then we need an evacuation plan first," Cheetara said. She had been mulling over all they had discussed and was beginning to wonder if the numbers that Mwende had calculated were a bit generous. They were, of course, assuming every ship functioned properly and that there was no panic during the evacuations. The number of deaths would climb easily into the double-digit millions, maybe triple digits if ships could not get clear of the planet before she destroyed herself.
"We need…" Panthro had joined in the conversation but didn't finish his sentence as the ground beneath him rocked violently.
To Be Continued…