Apocalypse Orphan

Book One of The Fractured Earth Saga

by Tim Allen

Apocalypse Orphan

Book One of The Fractured Earth Saga

Copyright © 2016 by Tim Allen

First Edition: January, 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or using any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except for brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialog in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any individuals depicted in stock imagery are models, and such images are used for illustrative purposes or as design elements only.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Cover photo credit: Fotolia

Cover design: Tim Allen

Mobi (digital) 978-1-988236-00-1

EPUB (digital) 978-1-988236-07-0

Paperback 978-1-988236-01-8

Hardcover 978-1-988236-03-2

Large prt (paper) 978-1-988236-02-5

Large prt (hdcvr) 978-1-988236-04-9

Collectors 978-1-988236-05-6

Audio Edition 978-1-988236-06-3

Published simultaneously in Canada and the United States

The Warrior of Legend has arrived...

Trulane stared at Wolf with fear and awe. After a long silence, he said, “A legend has been told for many generations throughout the lands. Long ago, we had one moon in the sky, and the blue moon was not there. Then a blazing star came from the heavens and the world was made anew. According to the legend, a traveler will come from the sky in a flying chariot that talks but has no tongue. He will be a giant among men. He will be immortal, and no blade, poison, or claw will mark his skin. Men will follow the traveler as he leads our people to victory over all the kingdoms. When the world is under his dominion, he will lead a chosen few to the stars.”

Wolf said to the young man, “That’s a fascinating myth, but I am not that man. Look…” He pulled out his Bowie knife and sliced it across his hand to show he could bleed. Gazing at his hand in stunned silence, he saw no blood, no cut, not even a scratch. He jabbed the knife into the palm of his hand, but it deflected harmlessly and left no mark.

“I…I don’t believe it,” Wolf stammered. “What has happened to me?”

Trulane’s face broke into a broad smile. “You are the Spirit Warrior of the legend!” he exclaimed. “You have come at last to lead our people to freedom and victory.”

“No, I am just a man. Please say nothing about this to anyone,” Wolf pleaded. “I know you are excited, but trust me. This can’t get out until I have time to adjust. Promise me, Trulane, as my new friend.” Wolf had a strange, sinking feeling that gave him a chill, and his whole body shuddered.

About the Author

Tim Allen is a 28-year veteran fire captain for the Peoria (Illinois) Fire Department. His writing career began the day he responded to a structure fire. Tim and a fellow firefighter were nearly cooked in the inferno, and his supervisor told him to write a report on the incident. He was so upset by the experience that he left out details and wrote a brief summary that glossed over the terror of that moment. His supervisor felt that Tim's report wasn't detailed enough and ordered him to write a more descriptive fire report.

In the rewrite, Tim gave a highly descriptive narrative of the event. He titled it Faraday Street and included vivid details about what he had seen and felt during those two minutes of hell. His boss stated that this report contained too much detail, and it earned Tim a reprimand with the most severe punishment possible: an insubordination charge and a day off without pay.

Over the next few months, word of Tim's Farraday Street narrative got around, and the incident flared into controversy. Eventually, the report began circulating among his fellow firefighters, and when several co-workers wanted to read more of his stories, he began writing in earnest. Today, Tim devotes most of his free time to writing, while teaching courses on Hazardous Materials Response, Confined Space, Rope Rescue, and Structural Collapse to firefighters and local businesses.

Tim is currently writing a murder mystery entitled Tethered, but his primary love is science fiction. He has nearly a dozen sci-fi novels in development that run the gamut from planetary colonization and aliens to time travel. He also writes horror stories based on well-documented crime reports and true stories.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank all my friends for coming over and listening to me drone on about my books. They were kind enough to laugh when necessary and show amazement when asked. I would also like to thank my editor Richard De A’Morelli for his edits, critiques, suggestions, and straightforward criticism. He has taught me so much in the last few months, and I consider him a very good friend. My brother Jimmy, who keeps reading my books, also gets special thanks. I must also mention my son Tim and my daughters Alexandria and Victoria. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Martha Patricia Allen, for giving me the love and support I needed to finish this book. I love you all.

—Tim Allen

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Through space and time my path has led,

Across infinite miles I have sped,

No planet has beckoned to become my home

Forever wandering, I remain alone.

I’ve never stopped to wipe my feet,

I’ve never found that life so sweet,

But through the eons I have seen

What finally belonging can mean.

No longer traveling to and fro

To far out places no one knows,

I’ve seen the faces changed by time

And mystic wonders that warp my mind.

Now I have returned to see you again,

Meet me smiling as a friend.

For I may threaten your world’s sky,

Or I might quietly sail on by,

To travel deeper into the black,

But mark my words…I will be back.

-Commander Orlando Iron Wolf

Part 1

Nomad

Chapter 1

January 31, 2025

The early morning light was brilliant, illuminating the heavens in a way most humans have never seen. The sky, devoid of an atmosphere, yielded a vision that was so clear it seemed it could shatter like fragile glass. In this crystal-like moment, Commander Orlando Iron Wolf was hovering 255 miles over the earth on the International Space Station. He had been assigned to the ISS by NASA to oversee a team of research scientists working on various assignments.

Wolf peered out the thick window as he finished his shift. The final orbits of the day were about to be completed. This day had started just like all the others. The current crew consisted of two botanists, two physicists, one biologist, and Wolf floating through the heavens, observing the planet Earth and doing mundane chores and experiments to keep themselves busy. The scientists had left Earth months ago from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) capsule. The rocket belonged to a private company, and NASA leased it to deliver new workers and supplies to the station. NASA had found it was cheaper to let someone else do the dirty work of moving people from Earth to the station—no ships, no maintenance, no fuel. Most of the expenses had been reduced by half, allowing for other project funding and making many NASA scientists exceedingly happy.

A few weeks earlier, the crew had been scanning an area in deep space near the red hypergiant VY Canis Majoris, which had already ejected half its mass and was surrounded by a reddish-orange nebula cloud. Against this bright background, a small shadow—a pinhole in the nebula’s light—had drawn the crew’s attention. The discovery had been placed on the back burner until yesterday when Wolf gazed through one of the ISS telescopes and noticed that the “pinhole” was larger and seemed to be growing. He fed the readings into the computers, and the instruments confirmed what appeared to be a large comet or asteroid moving at a high rate of speed towards the earth’s solar system. He peered through the optical telescope and adjusted the filters to block some of the light from the hypergiant’s glow. There it was. He looked away and then back over the same area. The anomaly was still there. It seemed remarkable to him that something so far away could be viewed with such a low-powered telescope, and he reasoned that it must be enormous. Tapping the communications module, he said, “Wolf to Command, do you read me?”

A bored, male voice came over the radio. “Yes, Wolf, we read you.”

“I want you to look at grid fifteen. Look closely at VY Canis Majoris. There’s a pinpoint of a shadow on its lower hemisphere in the nebula cloud. It’s the anomaly I reported two weeks ago. I’ve been monitoring it. It’s growing larger and has moved from the spot where I first detected it. I’ve fed all my current readings into the mainframe, but the computers up here have gone crazy, and warning lights are going off every few minutes. Can we have them turn the Hubble?”

“Turn the Hubble?” A long pause, then: “That’s a little extreme, don’t you think, Wolf?”

“I’m telling you, something is out there, and it’s getting bigger and brighter.”

“Oooh, little green men coming to get you…you got a gun in space?” laughed Charlie Richards, NASA’s current mission director.

“Charlie, I’m serious. Have someone turn the Hubble or get the WISE explorer, Kepler, or the New Horizons to scan the area. We need to move those expensive pieces of shit into that sector to see this thing because whatever it is, it’s coming fast.” Wolf said with a sense of foreboding, not realizing that moving the satellites was harder than just flipping a switch.

“Okay, okay, I’ll get someone on it. The astrobiologist we assigned to look into it went on maternity leave three days after you reported it. We only have the one scientist right now, thanks to budget cuts. That’s probably why it fell through the cracks. In the meantime, upload your data to Cap Com.”

“You better hurry. I’ve got a very bad feeling about this,” Wolf muttered, reaching inside the collar of his flight suit and pulling at a leather necklace. It was connected to a small medicine bag that had been passed down through his family for generations. Made from buffalo hide and decorated with a wolf’s head in white beads, it contained his “power items,” including bits of rock, bones, herbs, and claws. He uploaded the data and then gazed pensively at the blinking lights on the computer.

Two hours later, Wolf was still sitting at the computer, reminiscing about how he had become a NASA astronaut. He had been top of his class at the reservation, which was not saying much. He went to college for free on American Indian scholarships and excelled in linguistics. Able to learn languages with ease, he astounded his linguistics professors, who passed him around from one to another like a coveted book. His downfall was engineering and mechanical design. He just couldn’t remember the technical jargon and mathematical formulas; but he managed to squeak by and finish college. During his final year in school, he helped design a lunar rover that won NASA’s “Great Moon Buggy Race” and put him on NASA’s recruitment radar. A few months after graduation, he was approached by an Air Force recruiter and persuaded to join.

Standing six foot five and built like a Greek statue, Wolf was of Native American descent. His skin was a rich, copper color, and his eyes were light hazel. His black hair was long, well past regulation length. Deep dimples and straight white teeth added to his masculinity. Yet, he was unaware of how his good looks affected the opposite sex. Women threw themselves at him, but Wolf remained oblivious, which only added to his naïve charisma.

Wolf piloted jets in every minor skirmish America had during his tour of duty. He was highly decorated, and he had received the Air Force Medal of Honor during his last tour. He was debating whether to continue his military career when a NASA recruiter approached him and asked if he’d ever considered becoming an astronaut. The recruiter’s name was Charlie Richards, and he was very persuasive. Wolf and Charlie became instant friends, so when Charlie offered him the job, Wolf couldn’t refuse. After several years of intensive training, he became one of NASA’s most respected astronauts. He was no rocket scientist—he could handle mechanical problems, but astrophysics and all the other learning just wouldn’t stick. Everyone liked Wolf, and his high moral values, loyalty, personality, good looks, and single-minded dedication to duty made him someone people went out of their way to help.

Charlie came back on the radio, sounding alarmed. “Wolf. This is Cap Com. Do you read?”

“Yes, I read you.” Wolf moved to a computer panel and used one of the many cameras to look in the direction of the mysterious object. “What do you have?”

“You won’t believe this, but a large comet has come out of its heliocentric orbit. It’s an unknown rogue. History does not mention it anywhere.”

Wolf searched his memory but came up blank and asked, “A helia-what orbit?”

“Heliocentric…an orbit around the sun. How the hell did you get out there?” Charlie laughed. “Oh, never mind, I put you there. Almost everything in space is in a heliocentric orbit.”

“So what’s the deal—anything we need to be worried about?”

“We’re running simulations right now. Early predictions on the Torino scale suggest it’s a seven; we’re calculating its mass now. It’s on a hyperbolic trajectory with Earth. It might use us to slingshot back out into space. At least, that is what we’re hoping. This comet’s speed is incredible. We think it’s a longer-period comet that may have originated in the Oort cloud. This one is unique, though, because we’ve never seen anything that moves this fast before. Wolf, we want you to tow the WISE further out into space. Take the shuttle that’s docked to the ISS.”

“That thing’s a piece of shit,” Wolf protested. “It’s been sitting up here for months. Hell, it's so beaten up it can’t even land back on Earth.”

“Yes, but you are not landing back on Earth. We’ve prepped the ship so you can tow the satellite to its new coordinates. It will be a ten-day mission. The satellite can’t take itself where we want it, so it’s up to you,” Charlie said.

“I don’t have a co-pilot. It’s against protocol for me to fly solo that long,” Wolf replied.

“The solo mission has been approved, Wolf. It’s a priority one mission that we have to launch ASAP.”

“All right, send me the coordinates and I’ll be gone in the next few hours,” Wolf agreed reluctantly

“The coordinates have already been fed into the computer, and you’ll leave in the next thirty minutes. This is urgent, Wolf. We’ll let you know as soon as we get the final data. Cap Com out.”

Wolf looked out into space and tried to visualize the comet, wondering where it had been all these years. What incredible wonders had it seen as it drifted on its lonely journey through time and space? He flipped a switch and announced, “All personnel…this is a priority one alert. Report to the mess area immediately.” Wolf turned off the mic and headed off to the kitchen area to update his colleagues on what soon would take precedence in all of their lives.

The ISS crew assembled in the kitchen, grabbing snacks. The researchers on board were all from different backgrounds. Ron White was the most educated and next in command.

“I have news from NASA,” Wolf said. “We’ve found a comet. That is nothing unusual, but this one is coming fast. It’s a rogue from the Oat Cloud.”

“Oort, Commander,” Ron White corrected with a faint smile. “It’s the Oort Cloud, not the oat cloud. How did you get up here?”

“Whatever. Oat, Oort … anyway, it’s a seven on the Totino scale. It could hit the earth.”

Ron laughed. “Torino scale, not Totino scale. Wow! My friend, did you pay any attention in school?”

Wolf ignored him and continued. “NASA is moving the Hubble into position, and some other telescopes and satellites are studying it. Until we get more info, I want all your efforts focused on this comet. All research on your pet projects is to stop, and the new word of the day will be trajectory. Even though NASA is turning the Hubble and using the other satellites, I want any additional information you can gather. I’m taking the Endeavour out to reposition the WISE satellite. I’ll be gone for ten days. Ron will be in charge here.”

“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 twentieth 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 years 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 terrorism 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.

France devised an Orbital Mass Projector comprised of three large iron balls filled with liquid mercury. The mercury was spun inside at high speed, simulating a planet's core, while the iron created electricity and produced an electromagnetic shield around the balls, giving each one a small amount of gravitational pull. The three devices were set to orbit the comet at high speeds, producing a gravitational effect. Each was programmed to emit its strongest point of gravity at a certain region on Nomad to nudge it just a degree or two at a time. The science was exact and it might have worked if Iran hadn’t launched its whole nuclear arsenal at Nomad, destroying two of the OMPs and knocking the third out of orbit, frying its electronic circuitry.

Two shuttles were equipped with 64-megajoule rail guns. These electromagnetic guns could shoot non-explosive shells at a speed of Mach 8—eight times the speed of sound, or about six thousand miles per hour. No explosives were required; the kinetic energy alone was enough to vaporize most objects. The plan was to position the two shuttles and pummel the comet, attempting to blow off huge pieces and affect its spin. On the day they were to launch, Al Qaeda suicide bombers attacked the installation, destroying the facility and the two shuttles.

The next idea was to use titanium tethers attached to gigantic Mylar parachutes. They were put into spacecraft that would self-drill into the back end of the comet and auto-deploy. Theoretically, they would slow down the comet enough to allow Jupiter’s massive gravity to pull it off course. Ten gargantuan spaceships were quickly built by the Russians to carry out the plan. It worked. The comet’s speed decelerated slightly; then, the Mylar chutes froze and cracked into thousands of pieces. The Russian citizens went mad at this failed attempt, protesting that several more evacuation ships should have been built rather than wasting precious resources on a crackpot idea. Riots erupted and thousands died as the Russian military enforced a shoot-to-kill strategy to restore order.

Mexico built a thermonuclear laser fashioned after one at the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California. At the time, it was the largest laser in the world. Mexico’s mega-laser combined six hundred lasers, all focused at the same spot on the comet and designed to dump one hundred megajoules of energy into a narrow beam in nanosecond bursts. It was hoped that generating temperatures of two hundred million Celsius would induce nuclear fusion in the comet's core and cause it to blow up. It was spectacular and might have worked if Mexican cartels hadn’t taken over the facility and seized the weapon in a daring raid. They turned it on a military installation in the U.S. and destroyed it, roasting thousands in the underground bunkers in seconds. The brazen attack was launched to prove that the cartels would use the weapon on the moon bases if their demands that cartel leaders be included in the evacuation plans were not met. When the UN refused and they turned the weapon on the moon bases, the U.S. and Russia nuked the facility. They had no choice.

By that time, the world’s super powers were working on desperate, last-ditch efforts to stop the juggernaut of death. Everyone who could be evacuated off the planet’s surface or housed in bunkers was already there. The Saviors had been built and flown several trips to the moon. The domes were operational, and six additional domes had been constructed, prompting another lottery. Those who occupied the underground bunkers were relocated to the moon, and the new lottery winners were admitted to the underground bunkers. The rest of the world’s inhabitants had one month before Nomad’s impact. Based on its current trajectory, scientists predicted it would smash into Antarctica at incredible speed, melting the southern ice cap instantly and flash boiling the planet in seconds. But that was just one theory. So many other theories had been advanced, no one knew who or what to believe anymore.

Charlie Richards had become the go-to guy for the government agencies, scientists, and citizen groups tasked with preserving humanity in its darkest hours. Earlier that morning, he had received a call from Dr. Cynthia Mason. He had heard about this woman for the last few years but never had the chance to meet her. What he did know was that she was young, beautiful, and extraordinarily brilliant. According to her personnel records, her IQ was off the charts, and her inventions were responsible for the domes on the moon, the Savior engines, and a new computer software prototype with incredibly advanced, artificial intelligence capabilities. When she called and asked him to set up a meeting with the world’s top scientific minds, he readily agreed.

Dozens of scientists gathered in a conference hall in the newly christened Moon Base Resurrection, or MBR as it was called by those who occupied it. Many were angry about being required to attend this meeting on short notice. They were engrossed in their own pet projects and believed every possible strategy to stop Nomad had been tried. Arguments erupted and tempers flared as the scientists debated when and where Nomad would strike and the mundane question of why they had been summoned to this meeting.

The grumbling stopped and the scientists took their seats when a woman in her early thirties stepped up to the elevated podium. She tapped the microphone several times and then announced, “Ladies and gentleman, may I have your attention? I’m Doctor Cynthia Mason, and I want to thank you all for attending this meeting.” The woman seemed shy and nervous as she explained, “Earth is lost. When Nomad hits, the planet will be devastated for hundreds of years. We will not be able to reclaim the earth in our lifetimes. Our leaders have chosen Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, as our new home. It will take the Saviors a year to make the journey, and then we will work to make it habitable.”

Dr. Mason paused, looking out over the gathering of scientists, and then she continued. “You are all aware that we have been landing habitat ships and offloading building materials on Enceladus. Soon, we will commence our new lives there as apocalyptic orphans. However, living on an inhospitable ice planet with cryovolcanoes is a short-term fix. It is possible humans won’t be able to acclimate, and we don’t know if it will even be feasible. If it doesn’t work, we need a backup plan. That plan should not exclude creating a new earth.”

Laughter erupted. One scientist yelled, “You’re crazy!” Another muttered, “Stupid idea!” A renowned astrophysicist from Russia argued, “In less than a month, Nomad will turn the earth into dust. You want to make a ‘new earth’ to replace it? Waste of time!”

Dr. Mason looked down at her notes and bit a fingernail, waiting for the laughter and insults to subside. When a researcher in the back of the room shouted, “All beauty, no brains,” she glared at the audience and exclaimed, “Fools! Do you think I would present a concept without scientific evidence? What I have discovered may save the human race from extinction.”

“Let her finish,” Charlie Richards admonished. “Show Doctor Mason the respect she deserves. The MBR dome you now live in is the product of her intellect. Please, Doctor Mason, tell us what you are proposing.”

“Our research shows that most large celestial bodies are endowed with a certain magnetic resonance. In theory, everything that generates a magnetic field can be repulsed or attracted to a certain fixed point. The strongest force in the universe is the strong nuclear force, which holds the particles in an atom's nucleus together. If I told you I could safely break—or create—the bonds of the force that holds that nucleus together and control it, what would you say?” Dr. Mason asked the crowd. Without waiting for an answer, she added, “Recently, I was able to develop a Meson Field Disrupter. My device will allow a planet’s magnetic field to be neutralized. The gravity that holds it to its orbit can be temporarily interrupted. We can then move the planet into a different orbit. In essence, we can make it go ‘rogue’ and control its path and destination.”

The gathering sat in stunned silence, digesting Dr. Mason’s words. Finally, Charlie asked the question on everyone’s mind: “How can you accomplish that? Enormous power would be required, and the inherent risks in what you suggest could end all life in the galaxy. Besides, the technology currently doesn’t exist to create what you propose.”

Dr. Mason gestured to several assistants who began handing out a document package with the details of her research and accompanying schematics.

“When France used its Orbital Mass Projectors, or OMPs, on Nomad, and Iran detonated its nukes destroying them, I discovered a new type of radiation had been created. I was calculating Nomad’s speed at the time, and for a few seconds, the comet lost its magnetic pull. It slowed down measurably. I replayed the video feeds many times, studying the effect, and I concluded that the nuclear radiation had released a new type of anti-matter. I was able to recreate the effect in my lab. My Meson Field Disrupter creates a polarity wave. My calculations show we can use this wave to move any celestial body with a magnetic field. I can reverse the planet’s polarity and break it free of its orbit. Using the Meson Field Disrupter, I can steer it wherever I want it to go.”

“So why not use this wave to stop Nomad?” several researchers asked in unison as they began to grasp the concept.

“That was my initial thought, but I believe Nomad is moving too fast,” said Dr. Mason. “By the time we deploy satellites around it and initialize the anti-matter wave, it will be too close to Earth for us to control. My concern is that our deep-range scans show micro-fractures along Nomad’s x-axis. My device could split Nomad into several smaller comets that would impact different areas on the planet and cause even greater devastation instead of just hitting the South Pole. The only way to confirm whether these fractures exist is to send a shuttle mission to survey and map the comet. That will confirm whether OPM deployment would work. If this is going to happen, the mission needs to commence immediately—within the next few hours.”

“We’ll need to send an ace pilot who is fully aware of the mission’s risks,” Charlie interjected. “I have two pilots on the ISS with shuttle clearance. Commander Joshua Randle just landed to replace Commander Orlando Wolf.

“Isn’t Commander Wolf the fellow who discovered Nomad? Perfect!" Dr. Mason gushed.

“Why is he perfect?” Charlie asked.

“He’s already on the ISS, his replacement has taken over his duties, and he’s the best, isn’t he? If I’m not mistaken, he’s multi-lingual and can communicate complex data to our international scientists in their own languages so they can double-check my theories and confirm my calculations.” A dreamy look came over Dr. Mason’s face for an instant, and then she was back to business.

“I agree. Commander Wolf is an excellent choice,” Charlie said. The problem I have is that the ISS needs to have one command person assigned at all times, so we don’t have the manpower to fly a full shuttle mission. Protocol requires that two pilots be on board the shuttle for extended space travel.”

“It won’t require a full crew…and you have already violated protocol once by allowing Commander Wolf to reposition the WISE. The shuttle Commander Randle used to reach the ISS is equipped with my latest artificial intelligence programming. Only one human is required to initiate its neural network.”

“Relocating the WISE was an urgent priority. We are short on qualified pilots presently,” Charlie replied, looking embarrassed at being called out. “But if you are certain your AI will give Commander Wolf the support he needs, I’ll make it happen.”

“Believe me, my AI will support Commander Wolf better than any human crew possibly could,” Dr. Mason said with another dreamy smile that caught Charlie’s attention and provoked a curious frown.

“Excuse me,” another researcher interrupted. “Why not just move the earth? Wouldn’t that be a better solution?”

“The earth is too large and we can’t construct a sufficient number of emitters in time,” Dr. Mason replied. “Another risk is that we might alter the earth’s axis or send it careening into the sun. Remember, this science is experimental, and if it does go awry, I want it as far away from us as possible. If we had the time, we might be able to accomplish it safely, but not in one month—our time has run out.”

Charlie was intrigued by the idea of moving a planet. He thumbed through the documents and studied the schematics, marveling at the complexity of the data Dr. Mason had compiled in just a few weeks. He glanced up at the woman who stood at the podium, admiring her beauty and brains, and then asked, “Since we can’t move Earth, what planet do you propose to move, and where do you plan to put it?”

Not a planet, actually,” Dr. Mason replied. “I intend to capture Jupiter's moon Ganymede and move it into orbit around the earth.”

The room exploded in noisy conversation and Charlie bellowed, “Quiet! I want to know her plan.”

“Thank you, Charlie. In sixty days, Ganymede will be the closest it has been to Earth in several hundred years, and it will be the farthest from Jupiter’s gravitational pull. My plan is to initiate the Meson Field Disrupter at that time. If we work with the French, I can have the OMPs ready in two weeks.”

A Pakistani scientist with coal black eyes and a condescending sneer waved a hand in the air and said in a thick accent, “Young lady, everyone knows that the nucleons must be extremely close together for this meson exchange to happen. That distance is about the diameter of a proton or a neutron. Now, only if a proton or neutron can get closer than that will the exchange of the mesons occur, allowing the particles to stick to each other. If they can't get that close, the strong force is too weak and other competing forces, like electromagnetic force, will influence the particles and make them move apart. How are you compensating for this?”

Dr. Mason bristled at being called “young lady,” and her anger emboldened her. “Sir,” she replied, “I don’t have the time to educate you, so I’ll explain it with these five words: speed, extreme heat, and pressure.”

The scientist threw Dr. Mason’s documents into the air, sending papers raining down on his head as he glared at her with displeasure.

“How can you create OMPs that quickly?” asked another researcher with thick bifocals and unruly, snow-white hair who was seated in the front row.

“It’s just a vimana. The science is very old. Sanskrit texts hint at them as ancient UFOs. France’s OMPs gave me an idea, and I took the science to the next level. America has had Vimana models for years. Using the OMP science, I can retool them to carry out our plan.”

“Why Ganymede?” the same researcher asked, squinting through his coke-bottle glasses.

“It’s the only moon in our solar system that generates its own magnetic field. It has a liquid iron core that will allow it to generate its version of the Van Allen belt. Simply put, it will hold an atmosphere and shield itself from the solar winds and the sun’s radiation. Its icy crust will melt and form fresh water oceans once we heat it up by bringing it closer to the sun. It has the chemistry we need to sustain life and create a new home for humans until the earth can be repopulated. It’s not much bigger than our moon, and I’ve run the numbers—we can bring it into orbit around Earth and leave two hundred thousand miles between it and our moon.”

“Placing another moon so close to Earth will throw its tidal forces into overdrive. It will cause a new degree of wobble in Earth’s axial tilt,” the man in the front row persisted. “Won’t this cause a further extinction event?”

“Earth will already be in an extinction event. It will undergo planetary chaos on a level unimaginable. With the new moon orbiting just outside the old one, we may be able to stabilize the Earth’s wobble. It is speculation, of course, but I’m convinced we can do this. We should get the OMPs ready and on their way.”

“How long will it take to break Ganymede loose from Jupiter’s influence, and how long until it is placed in its new orbit around the earth?” Charlie asked.

“Once the satellites are deployed, it will require seventy-two hours to create enough matter to initiate the anti-matter wave. Ganymede will slowly move out of its orbit. The OMPs will fire occasionally and emit their strongest point of gravity at certain regions on Ganymede to nudge it a few degrees at a time and keep it on target. The process will take about a year. Once it is in orbit around the earth, the planetary ice will melt, and Ganymede will be geologically unstable for several years. The OMPs will remain in orbit, continuing to fire until Ganymede accepts its new orbit. If my calculations are correct, we should be on its surface building a new world within a decade.”

Chapter 3

Less than an hour later, Charlie had received the go-ahead to conduct the mission. Wolf had agreed to pilot the shuttle alone and carry out the tests. He went looking for Ron to inform him of the change in his assignment and found him watching a live feed of earth. Wolf observed the images of civilization disintegrating in famine and despair with profound sadness and he remarked, “We’ll have a front row seat to watch the planet die.”

“It could be worse. We could be down there on Earth watching the world die,” Ron said stoically. “It’s strange they ordered the ISS moved into orbit around the moon…really strange.”

“Yes, it is,” Wolf agreed. “I have a new assignment, Ron, and I need to brief you and get going. Mission Control wants me to take the old shuttle that was mothballed at Kennedy Space Center out to survey the comet.” Wolf didn’t go into the details Charlie had shared about the shuttle. NASA had equipped the antiquated craft with an experimental nuclear engine and a supercomputer. It also had been re-skinned with a material harder than diamonds that would not rust or deteriorate. The engineers claimed it was practically impenetrable.

“The Atlantis? Lucky you…another solo shuttle mission. What’s up?”

“Some lady scientist on the moon wants me to survey Nomad and take pictures from all angles. Then I have to set up a satellite to record the impact and do a Doppler mass calculation to determine the composition of the comet’s core. I’ll be gone about two weeks. NASA wants the rest of the team to ride out the impact on the space station. We are to record the strike for posterity, so get her locked down,” Wolf said as he fastened his boots.

“It's your own fault they chose you,” Ron said. “You speak every major language on the planet, and with all the foreign scientists and dignitaries on the moon base waiting for data, you are the perfect choice to relay it—no middleman to translate and mess up the details. In fact, I was told that a lady scientist has been asking all sorts of questions about you.”

“Languages are easy for me. I’ve always had a knack for them,” Wolf replied. “I hear them for a few days and then I can speak them. It’s the math and engineering I can’t get a lock on. As far as asking for me by name, I don’t know any lady scientists.”

“Apparently one knows you. She’s probably the one who wants the information you’re gathering. You do realize that the ability to speak any language is amazing? Not many people can do that. You definitely have a gift,” Ron said. “Okay, Commander, let’s do this. I’ll walk you to the rear airlock and help you suit up.”

“Thanks. I’ll have to fly into Nomad’s neon tail…they want a sample.” Noticing Ron’s face break into a grin, Wolf snapped, “What’s so funny?”

“Neon tail? You mean ion tail. How the hell did you get this job?” Ron chuckled.

“You know I’m no scientist. I’m just a pilot. I didn’t ask to come up here, but I’m glad I’m not down there.” Wolf gazed out at the earth, framed in the window, and shook his head. “My people are descendants of the Hopi Indians. When I was a child on my reservation, I saw people die of hunger and drink themselves to death. My father was proud, a warrior, but he had been worn down by poverty and the government’s policies. One day, he sat me down and told me I should honor all women, treat them as princesses, and never raise my hand in anger against them. Later that day, he attacked the Bureau of Indian Affairs office with a knife, and the police killed him. He could have slain many of them, but he only touched them with his blade, cutting their clothes. Not once did he draw blood, yet they shot him down. I was eight years old and saw the whole thing.”

“Jesus, Wolf, I am sorry.”

“With death heading towards the planet, all I can think of is that moment he was dying. He turned and smiled at me. Our Hopi rituals reflect our belief that all life—plant, animal, and human—are one. All living things are temporarily differentiated parts of a single, powerful life force that exists throughout the cosmos. In my view of the world, animals, birds, and plants have spirits from the same source as human souls, with their own plane of existence in which they, too, will someday manifest in human form. When my ancestors killed an animal for food or fur, they made an offering to the spirit of the animal, asking it to sacrifice its physical life, and then they expressed their gratitude. With this comet coming to kill all life, who do we pray to now? Where in the cosmos will man return if the world is destroyed?” Wolf asked.

“Only in war were my people allowed to kill. The Hopis could be fearsome in battle. Our elders told stories of warriors going crazy and killing indiscriminately. My grandfather once told me I had an ‘old spirit’ and I was Koyaanisqatsi, which sort of means ‘crazy life.’ He looked at me with fear riding him hard and told me my spirit would delight in battle. He warned me never to release my full anger. I have tried to control my temper, and I’ve succeeded where others of my tribe have failed,” Wolf said, thinking back to his days before he joined NASA.

“We have a prophecy about the end of the world,” Wolf continued. “The elders spoke of it when I was young. The Fourth World will end soon, and the Fifth World will begin. The signs over many years have been fulfilled, and only a few are left. The first sign: The coming of the white-skinned men, who took the land that was not theirs and struck their enemies with thunder. The second sign: Our lands will see the coming of spinning wheels filled with voices. In his youth, my grandfather’s father saw this prophecy come true with his own eyes, as the white men brought their families in wagons across the prairies. The third sign: A strange beast like a buffalo but with long horns will overrun the land in large numbers. These were the white man’s cattle. The fourth sign: Snakes of iron will cross the land. The white man called them railroads.”

“How long ago was this vision?” Ron asked.

“It was before the white man came to the lands,” Wolf replied. “The fifth sign: The land crisscrossed by a giant spider’s web. Our power lines of today fit this one. The sixth sign: The land crisscrossed with rivers of stone that make pictures in the sun. Is this not our highways? The seventh sign: The Sea turns black, and many living things die because of it. Our oil companies pollute the planet every day. The eighth sign: Many youths who wear their hair long, like my people, come and join the tribal nations to learn their ways and wisdom. Many embrace the old ways and return to the reservations. The ninth and final sign: You will hear of a dwelling place in the heavens, above the earth, that will fall with a great crash. It will appear as a blue star. Soon after this, the ceremonies of my people will cease. These are the signs that utter destruction is coming. The world will rock to and fro. The white man will battle against people in other lands who possessed the first light of wisdom. There will be many columns of smoke and fire. There is more to the legend, but that is the gist. Now here we are with a bright blue comet coming at us. Fits a little too perfectly, don’t you think?”