Fleataxi
Deceased
Chapter 2
Mike was at the bank at 0745 the next morning. Sam was out front waiting for the armored car. When it arrived, Sam handed the driver a receipt for the gold and sliver, as well as a copy of the wire transfer statement. He asked the drivers to load the metal into Mike’s truck. They suggested Mike pull around and back up to their back gate, and they could transfer the cases of metal over using a roller setup they use to unload heavy boxes. Mike did just that and half an hour later, everything was inventoried and transferred. Mike thanked Sam, and threw a tarp over the bed of the truck so no one could see what was in it. Dan had parked a block away, and was monitoring the situation with mini cammo coated binoculars he had bought at the surplus store. When Mike got in, Dan started his truck and followed Mike all the way home. Dan had a heavy duty dolly in his shop that they used to unload the truck and transfer the metal into Mike and Sally’s room. Dan had suggested that if they wanted their privacy, that they should install a lock on their door, and keep the key. Mike installed a lock, but gave Dan a key for emergencies. All the gold and silver barely fit under their bed, but they wouldn’t have to worry about the mattress sagging ever. Dan suggested Mike keep $10,000 in cash just in case they needed something between now and when the meteor hit. Dan also mailed the payment to the Credit card company, but would be amazed if they ever cashed the check, since it would take 4 days for the mail to get delivered, and the Meteor would arrive in 3 days.
After lunch another delivery truck drove up with all their aquaculture gear including a bunch of live fish. Everyone turned out to unload and assemble the system as quickly as possible. Mary and Sally got some hot water ready to warm up the well water to 80 degrees after they had helped unload. Dan, Mike, Jim, and Dana were working to assemble the tanks, tubing, and pumps necessary to keep the system running. Once they had it all together, they started filling the fish tanks, and adding hot water until the thermometer said 80 degrees. Just like the instructions said, they put the bags full of Tilapia fry in the water to adjust the fry to the new water temperature. Mark got the oxygenation and circulation pumps going and installed the tank heater to keep the water at 75-80 degrees and verified they were working before they opened the bags an hour later. When they were done with the hot water, Mary and Sally were busy transplanting the seedlings they had been growing for weeks under the grow lights into the hydroponic media while Jim filled the tank with hydroponic solution, and added the recommended amount of fish emulsion to the water, then connected the bottle to a metering pump that would add a small amount of emulsion on a periodic basis. When they were finished, they were hot and sweaty, and ready for dinner and bed.
The next day, Dan, Mike and Jim started dismantling Dan’s radio towers, wind generators, solar panels and storing them in the garage. Dan kept up a long-line antenna to his short-wave receiver, but kept the antenna unplugged from the receiver unless he was listening to it. They unpacked their emergency gear and their kits just in case they had to leave in a hurry. When everything else was done, Dan couldn’t stand the waiting, so he went into his shop to build the other .308 rifle and his BMG rifle. The 308 went together in 1/3 the time of the other one, since he had saved the programs he had used to make the last one.
He was still working on the BMG rifle when the Meteor hit.
Dateline March 1, 2005 0600 EST
A Secret Service agent burst into the White House Residence. “Marching Order” he yelled to President Kerry and the First Lady, Theresa Heinz-Kerry. They were practically dragged out of bed and a whole phalanx of Secret Service agents met them in the hall with their sidearms drawn. The sense of urgency almost panicked the President and First Lady. They were escorted aboard Marine One, and it lifted off for Andrews the moment they were aboard.
President Kerry screamed at the Marine Sergeant crew chief “What the Hell is going on?”
“Sir that meteorite just hit a Russian satellite orbiting at 25,000 miles and has split up and is plummeting to earth. Our orders are to get you and Mrs. Kerry aboard Air Force One and to Cheyenne Mountain as fast as possible. Take care Sir!”
2 minutes later the helicopter touched down as close to the jet bearing the Presidential Seal as possible, disembarked the President and First Lady, then used emergency power to get away from the big jet. The President and First Lady were unceremoniously herded aboard AF1 as all 4 engines wound up to take-off thrust. The plane was taxiing before they were seated, and they just barely made it to their seats before the pilot firewalled all 4 engines in his haste to escape the fate that awaited the world. The huge 747 was airborne and headed west minutes before a 5 kilometer wide piece of the meteor struck the Atlantic Ocean just outside the Grand Banks. A few milliseconds later, it impacted the sea bed, and sent a shock wave traveling around the world. Meanwhile, it had displaced several hundred miles of water, which formed a Mega-tsunami that was over 5,000 feet high when it hit the Atlantic Seaboard. There was also a supersonic shock wave caused by the flight of the meteor through the atmosphere. That shock wave caught up with Air Force One seconds after it had turned west, and literally threw the plane into the ground at Mach 1. The plane added a small amount of damage to the total catastrophe that would result from the huge meteor. It also ended the lives of the President and First Lady.
A second piece of the Meteor headed toward the Pacific Ocean just west of California. A 5km wide piece hit the water 5 minutes after the first impact. It too sent seismic shock waves through the earth, and generated a mile-high Mega-tsunami, killing everything within 100 miles of the Pacific coast that was lower than 6,000 feet, and permanently flooding lowlands with salt water, destroying the San Joaquin Valley. The Mega-tsunami wiped every Pacific Island off the map, sinking every ship on the Pacific that day, and destroyed the Hawaiian Islands, wrecking the Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor. The wave sped at supersonic speeds across the Pacific, destroying Taiwan, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and all the low lying countries of Asia. The final 5 km piece struck mainland China with the force of all the nuclear warheads of all the world powers. The heat, blast and shock waves destroyed everything above ground level in China, Siberia, and parts of Central Russia. The Mega-Tsunamis rebounded around the world, killing billions of people. Then the earthquakes and volcanoes started. The entire Ring of Fire blew its top, adding to the death and destruction, and hurling incalculable tons of smoke and ash into the air. Meanwhile the Atlantic Tsunami not only destroyed the entire Eastern coast of the United States and Canada, most of the people in Greenland and Iceland were swamped by the wave minutes later. There wasn’t enough time to warn people, and for the doomed, there was no place to run, and no where to hide. England ceased to exist, and the entire Atlantic Coast of Europe was either destroyed by the action of the huge wave, or flooded by displaced seawater. All the Low Countries found themselves 50 feet below sea level when their dams were destroyed by the effects of the tsunami. Fiords became natural channels for the energy of the tsunami, amplifying the effects of the wave, and destroying entire towns and villages. The coastal cities of Australia and New Zealand were decimated, and finally the wave made its way to the Med and the Persian Gulf. Low lying areas of the Med were flooded by the sudden rise of water, and as the wave swept into the Gulf, its height diminished by half, but still a deadly thousand foot wall of water, destroyed most of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other coastal areas of the Middle East. Iraq suffered a seawater intrusion into the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, rendering the water undrinkable, and destroying food production that was dependent on the river for irrigation. An interesting one-two punch destroyed buildings in Iran and Iraq with the arrival of the Pacific Tsunami, the Chinese shock wave, and massive earthquakes. Millions of people died as un-reinforced buildings collapsed by the hundreds as earthquakes in excess of Richter 7 and some as high as 8 rocked the Middle East.
Meanwhile back at Dan’s house, they were rocking and rolling as Richter 6 quakes shook the ground one after another. Mike decided that now was a good time to sing the chorus to REM’s famous song “It’s The End Of The World As We Know it!” Dan started laughing, but Sally was looking for something to throw at him, and since the entire mountain was vibrating, she didn’t have much luck. Jim and Dana were curled up with their mom, and the dogs had decided that Dad was the best one to hang around with. He kept them close, and was praying fiercely that it would soon be over one way or another. About an hour later, the shaking started diminishing, then stopped altogether. Dan and Mike carefully explored the house to check for damages. Since they were inside a mountain, and they had time to prepare, there was very little damage, most all of it was cosmetic as interior walls cracked from the stresses and strains. The external shell was fine, and all the vents were secure, since Dan had taken the provision of double-walling all vents including the stove, and mounting springs inside the outer casing to suspend the vent pipe and minimize damage. The greenhouse and fish tank had survived with water sloshed out of the tank, and other minor damage. The garage was a mess, but the vehicles were fine, and more importantly, Ol Bessie was fine. The flex hose connection had prevented rupturing of the pipe. Dan just had to hope the diesel tank came through OK, since he couldn’t dig it up and check. He walked outside, and the ground looked fine, and there were no visible cracks in the soil or any smell of leaking diesel. Just then, Dan heard a roar, and trees cracking, and made a mad dash for the front door right as the trees around their house were blasted to splinters by a huge shock wave. He barely made it inside when the shock wave hit. Since it was traveling East to West, and the door opened South, they were OK, as the blast roared over their hill at over 100 mph. Dan decided then and there they were staying inside until further notice. Mary gave Dan a big hug and a kiss when she saw him, saying she thought he was dead. He deadpanned “Not Yet Anyway!” They spent the rest of the day on the floor in sleeping bags, huddled together, waiting for the next aftershock or shockwave.
By the next day, the frequency and intensity of the aftershocks had diminished, but Dan was noticing it was visibly darker outside, and it was 12 noon! Dan remembered verses 12 and 13 of chapter 8, and realized it was happening before his eyes! Since they had plenty of power, and Ol Bessie was more than capable of keeping up with the load, he grabbed his Bible and started reading further in Revelation. Chapter 9 did not bode well for the survivors of the earthquake and tsunami.
Fleataxi