Chapter 49 - A Very Small Step Actually

Mars can be as close as 55 million Kms from Earth. This being 0.0000001372% of the way to the nearest star. Imogen took comfort in that, the likelihood of any aliens within the next couple of thousand years were slim indeed. But tomorrow still could not be ruled out. While her immediate goal was to get The Entity on Mars and learn a few secrets from Space X she was already quietly working on sending a human mission to Mars without any subsidies from NASA. The company could afford it damn it. This mission had to work and work perfectly.

A way of feeding the creature had been devised. There was sufficient electricity on-board for the electrolysis of water. The resultant hydrogen being fed to bacteria for the production of single cell protein. This consortium of bacteria formed large colonies from which the octopus could take bite sized pieces off. A form of artificial meat genetically edited to contain all the nutrients needed. There is a hyper abundance of radioactive elements on Mars. More than enough to produce the electricity to make the hydrogen to feed the creature over its 10,000 year lifespan. Not that anyone seriously considered that it would live this long.

The creatures readings looked fine as the rocket, the Boudicea 3, blasted into space. Once into orbit its engines got refueled and headed off to the red planet without a hitch. It would be 8 months before the seven minutes of hell.

A week later one of the engineers looked up from his screen and addressed Lü Zhi. "You may want to take a look at this Ma'am". He played the video. "It was a near miss, the spacecraft is untouched and unharmed."

"Then why am I being told this", asked Lü Zhi.

"Because its 2.3km in diameter and headed for a direct impact with Earth. Not as big as the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, but the damage it will do is still going to be beyond anything you've ever imagined."

"Civilisation?"

"Will collapse. The cost of globalisation. Once too big a portion goes then all of its goes. It's too interconnected not to. I haven't done the modelling yet to be scientific about this, just my gut instinct. But believe me, if you have a back up survival plan now is the time to fire it up, at least until it can be proved that you don't have to. But don't hold your breath." The engineers face was white.

"Does anyone else know anything about this?", asked Imogen.

The engineer shrugged his shoulders. "As in NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origin. They haven't said anything to us, but then again we haven't said anything to them. Space is a big place to keep an eye out. Its only by luck we've picked up on it."

"How long have we got?"

"Four days?"

"The only thing I want modeled is where it's going to strike. When can I get a reliable answer from you?"

"Five hours"

"Do it", she commanded. "I shall tell the other organisations and the US government. After you've ascertained the impact site work with your external counterparts. Our back up plans are ours and ours alone."

Tracy received the call. "Imogen, where have you been."

"Oh you know. Job 2:2. I'd love to have a catch up natter but you've got 4 days before an extinction level asteroid changes the face of the Earth. I've already recalled my Dad back to Forvik Island, mum couldn't make it. This is not a maybe, this is a definite. Don't worry about clocking up debts you can't afford to pay, money will be meaningless before you get your first reminder. Get whatever you need to survive. I don't know when its going to hit yet. I may have the time to tell you when I do. If not maybe we can meet again on the other side of hell. Take care Ciao."

The line went dead. Tracy took a few deep breaths to steady herself. She had done all that she could do in the way of preparation. She called Andy.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Crystal as. I'm not betting my life on the chance that Imogen may of screwed up. Not much point in having a back up plan if you're not going to follow through with it."

The message sunk in for Andy. He was in the thick of it preparing hearings for high level clients. Suddenly all that meant nothing. He buzzed his receptionist. "Deidre. I've got a killer migraine and feel fluey. Get Brent to take up the slack. I'll be away for a few days. Tell the staff that I look forward to giving him their full support."

"Sure. I'll send some flowers over.", hell she thought. Brent was the student on work experience. Things must be bad.

Andy drove home, got his clothes together, knives, guns, bullets. Any gadgets he could find. The list, yes the list of things to bring. He packed his SUV and had some space to spare. Cans for fuel. Thermal clothing. Some of this stuff was already on the farm. Most of it. Anyway, no harm in duplication. His Genesis of the Daleks (GOTD) DVD from his boyhood - what the hell, damn it it's in there now. The velcro black velvet curtains. Hold on, Andy he told himself, calm the fuck down. And you're not going to speed there are you, because there is no need. The last thing he wanted was for the authorities to find out about the preparation at the farm. Otherwise he would simply lose all his provisions and it would all be for nothing.

Andy drove carefully up to the farm, making sure that he wasn't followed either intentionally or casually. He had the keys to the house and let himself in. He found a note from Tracy saying that she had gone out shopping for perishables. He would unload his stuff from the SUV but he needed to take a crap first - the explosive desperate and stressful kind where you could feel your abdomen decompress. Somewhat to his surprise the composting toilet was as effective as Tracy had claimed. At least they got that bit right.

Next he checked all the curtains on the place. Tracy had gone one step further on this. She had pulldown shutters over each window installed. The idea being to block out all light leaving the house at night. If the house was to ever come under siege then at least make it during the daytime. That way at least his crew and the enemy could see each other. Without the shutters and curtains then at night the enemy would be able to see them but they wouldn't be able to see the enemy.

Next step, check the water tanks and if not full then fill them up with the scheme water. Apart from one tank which was full the others needed heaps. It was toward the end of summer and Tracy had been seeing how well they could cope with the dry. The scheme water taps had not been used for over a year and it took some effort to turn them on. He let the rusty water run through first and checked the plumbing for leaks while the tanks filled. All good.

Tracy was in the IGA supermarket when she got the text, presumably from Imogen. 84 Hrs, 37m to impact @ Yellowstone. Number of Hiroshimas unknown. What the hell did she mean by Hiroshimas? 'Rules of Survival' applied now. Imogen explained to her some time ago that in an emergency any message from an unidentified source was not to be replied to. A new number had been used and Imogen hadn't used any names. In the event that the text got traced she could claim that she thought it was spam and ignored it.

Tracy could only buy so much. With a full SUV she went back to the farm where she met Andy. "You've prepared well", he exclaimed with appreciation.

"We've got to get this food into meal sized pieces and get it into refrigeration. We can't go looking around choosing food with the door letting the cold out. I'll have to commit to memory where I have put everything", she explained.

"I'll pay the card off"

"No need is there"

"Well maybe not. If civilisation collapses then my savings account balance is worthless anyway. If however civilisation doesn't collapse then someones got an incentive to start looking for me. That puts our provisions at risk."

"Shit, you are on the ball"

Andy made the transfer and took a walk outside while Tracy got on with the uninterruptible job of storing the food. Realising what he had done she called him in when she was finished. Grateful for the understanding. She showed him the message. "Do you know what Hiroshimas are?"

"Hiroshima is the city in Japan that had a nuclear bomb dropped on it at the end of World War 2. So if an explosion is say 1,000 Hiroshimas then it went off with 1,000 times the force of that nuclear bomb. Needless to say, don't expect a firecracker. The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was about a billion Hiroshimas."

"Have you called up the rest of the crew?", Tracy asked.