the ISS had watched the impact from the satellites positioned around the planet. As the devastation unfolded, the massive amounts of data Synthea was downloading went unnoticed. Planetary debris and meteors that followed destroyed the ISS and several of the domes on MBR. Of the one million people inhabiting the moon base, less than five thousand survived. Meteoric debris had smashed into the population domes, and thousands were killed instantly, blown into space, or suffocated as the atmosphere was sucked from the domes’ interiors. The science dome was buried under tons of rock, and several of the world's top minds were presumed dead. Among the missing was Dr. Cynthia Mason, who had gone to the underground storage area to try to help Wolf. Only the farming domes were spared.
The three Savior ships had been manned as a fail-safe measure. One ship was exclusively military; another was designed for scientific research; and the third was a state-of-the-art farm ship equipped with areas for livestock and food processing. Fifty large farms occupied ten floors of the vessel. Each farm was the size of three football fields, or roughly four acres. The soil had been scooped from the rich, black earth in Illinois and Iowa. Artificial light was installed to photosynthesize plant life. A nitrogen freezer held several thousand species of eggs and sperm from man and animals. Only the crew and food animals were allowed on the ship. An enormous seed repository stored all the current plant life in stasis. If humans were ever going to reclaim the earth, at least they would have the means and the building blocks to do so.
A badly shaken Charlie broke the silence. “Oh, my God! Everything is destroyed! It will be thousands of years before we can resettle there.” He stared at the faces of his command crew and then radioed, “MBR from Savior Two. Do you copy?” Static answered his call. “Rotate satellite three-two-one to view the moon base. Move people! We have to know what’s going on.”
“MBR from Savior Two. Do you copy?” More static. “ISS from Savior. Do you read me?” Static.
“Is the Hubble still operational?” Charlie asked, and someone answered that it was not. He tersely ordered, “Move satellite two-fifteen to high moon orbit, and get me General Mitchel on Savior One. Prepare this ship to move to the MBR landing zones.”
“Savior Two, this is Savior One, I have General Mitchel on Com. Go ahead,” said a distraught female voice on the radio.
“General Mitchel, are you able to raise anyone on MBR or Earth?” Charlie asked.
“No, we lost contact with the bunkers a few minutes before impact. We were preparing to land on the MBR landing zones,” a gruff voice answered on the radio.
“Yes, General Mitchel, we were of the same mind. Once we know what is going on, we need to meet face to face. Most of the world’s leaders were on MBR, and as of now, General, you are driving this train if no one else is alive.”
“I know. Let us hope it is only temporary. Savior Three, stay put. Savior One and Two move to position to check out MBR,” General Mitchel ordered.
The giant spacecraft moved silently, like sharks gliding through surf. There was so much debris surrounding Earth that it was impossible to determine the extent of the devastation, though the outline of the planet could be seen through the rubble. Looking beyond the earth, one could see Nomad speeding away, barely affected by its glancing blow with the planet. As the ships entered geosynchronous orbit, the damage became evident. MBR had been destroyed. Scattered life signs appeared on the screens, a few deep underground, but most in the agricultural dome. The central glass domes had shattered. Bodies floated in space like dust in the air after a bag of flour has been dropped. The agricultural domes were intact, so food would be available, but the other domes might be beyond repair. Thousands had died on MBR and tens of millions on Earth.
“Savior Two
The three Savior ships had been manned as a fail-safe measure. One ship was exclusively military; another was designed for scientific research; and the third was a state-of-the-art farm ship equipped with areas for livestock and food processing. Fifty large farms occupied ten floors of the vessel. Each farm was the size of three football fields, or roughly four acres. The soil had been scooped from the rich, black earth in Illinois and Iowa. Artificial light was installed to photosynthesize plant life. A nitrogen freezer held several thousand species of eggs and sperm from man and animals. Only the crew and food animals were allowed on the ship. An enormous seed repository stored all the current plant life in stasis. If humans were ever going to reclaim the earth, at least they would have the means and the building blocks to do so.
A badly shaken Charlie broke the silence. “Oh, my God! Everything is destroyed! It will be thousands of years before we can resettle there.” He stared at the faces of his command crew and then radioed, “MBR from Savior Two. Do you copy?” Static answered his call. “Rotate satellite three-two-one to view the moon base. Move people! We have to know what’s going on.”
“MBR from Savior Two. Do you copy?” More static. “ISS from Savior. Do you read me?” Static.
“Is the Hubble still operational?” Charlie asked, and someone answered that it was not. He tersely ordered, “Move satellite two-fifteen to high moon orbit, and get me General Mitchel on Savior One. Prepare this ship to move to the MBR landing zones.”
“Savior Two, this is Savior One, I have General Mitchel on Com. Go ahead,” said a distraught female voice on the radio.
“General Mitchel, are you able to raise anyone on MBR or Earth?” Charlie asked.
“No, we lost contact with the bunkers a few minutes before impact. We were preparing to land on the MBR landing zones,” a gruff voice answered on the radio.
“Yes, General Mitchel, we were of the same mind. Once we know what is going on, we need to meet face to face. Most of the world’s leaders were on MBR, and as of now, General, you are driving this train if no one else is alive.”
“I know. Let us hope it is only temporary. Savior Three, stay put. Savior One and Two move to position to check out MBR,” General Mitchel ordered.
The giant spacecraft moved silently, like sharks gliding through surf. There was so much debris surrounding Earth that it was impossible to determine the extent of the devastation, though the outline of the planet could be seen through the rubble. Looking beyond the earth, one could see Nomad speeding away, barely affected by its glancing blow with the planet. As the ships entered geosynchronous orbit, the damage became evident. MBR had been destroyed. Scattered life signs appeared on the screens, a few deep underground, but most in the agricultural dome. The central glass domes had shattered. Bodies floated in space like dust in the air after a bag of flour has been dropped. The agricultural domes were intact, so food would be available, but the other domes might be beyond repair. Thousands had died on MBR and tens of millions on Earth.
“Savior Two
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