The President visited a relocation camp every few days before he and his family entered the Cheyenne Mountain facility. Once he was inside with his key staff the mountain was sealed and no one was allowed out or in. The mountain which monitored America’s air and sea space was on a full war alert. They tracked ‘Robert’s Rock’ as it moved closer and closer to the Earth. A giant red countdown clock showed the time remaining before the asteroid struck.
President Lanoha asked the Secretaries of DHS, DoD, HHS, DoA and DoE, “Is there anything else we should be doing or can be doing in the 51 hours we have left? How many more can we save? Have our founding documents been moved out of D.C.?”
The President went around the table, he learned all of the founding documents were currently stored in a buried shelter in Texas as were files from the patent office and copies of as many text, science, health and medical books that could be made into electronic files. He also learned that over five million laptops and enough servers to restore the internet were stored in three deep mines.
He asked the Secretary of Department of Agriculture, “How many freeze-dried meals do we have stored?”
“Sir, one hundred million and every hour trucks are carrying more to the mines.”
“Are there any issues with the trucks being stopped and stolen? I’ve heard from FEMA that 30% of the trucks are being hijacked and are being sold on the black market. What are we doing to stop this?”
“Sir, we had decided not to provide police escort to the trucks so we wouldn’t tip off people the trucks had something critical in them…”
“That plan doesn’t appear to have worked. We can’t afford to lose these trucks. Someone is tipping off the criminals which trucks are carrying food, I want the few remaining ones escorted.”
The President turned to the Secretary of Defense, “Have you set up your FOBs to assist people moving south once the rock hits and they realize they should have moved when we first warned them?”
“Yes, sir. We have established FOBs along every Interstate freeway that runs North and South. We’re prepared to use every lane south. We’ve stored snow clearing equipment in the bases and arctic clothing for the troops to wear.”
“Equipment?”
“Some tanks, MRAPS, Bradley’s and LAVs. The tanks and Bradleys are tracked so they’ll have traction no matter what the conditions are. We plan to open the FOBs as soon as the weather turns. We are assuming the police will assist the mass of people moving until the weather turns too bad for them to safely operate on the roads.”
“Okay, how long do you expect you’ll be able to keep the FOBs open?”
“Sir, I really don’t have an answer to that. We thought we’d play it by ear. If no one shows up for a couple of months and our recon shows the surrounding areas are either empty or have people who refuse to leave, then it will be time to close the bases down and move south to the next FOB.”
“Do you really believe there will be people who won’t want to leave?”
“Oh yes, there are always people who think we’re full of shit and they know better. Remember how many people stayed behind during the last category four hurricane? People think they can ride out anything Mother Nature can throw at them.”
“Isn’t there anything we can do to convince them to leave?”
“Sir, we, and the local police, have gone house to house. We’ve offered to help them move. We’ve offered to do anything we could to assist them but still many have said they want to remain. We think they’ll change their minds when the weather changes and the snow begins falling in blizzard conditions.”
“I hope you’re right. By the way, how the hell do we get out of here when the shit hits the fan?”
“Sir, we have a plan to move everyone south to the replacement of this facility, however it’s not scheduled to be completed for another two years.”
“Why so long?”
“It takes a lot of time to hollow out a mountain and build a city inside of it. We’re working around the clock. It just takes time…”
“Time isn’t something we have. We’ve been meeting for three hours which means we now have less than 48 hours, two days before the damn thing destroys Moscow. I assume it’s still on target to strike Moscow?”
An Air Force General who had been sitting along the wall spoke up, “Yes, sir. There’s been no change in the rock’s trajectory. Nothing is going to stop it.”
“General, any chance it will hit the upper atmosphere and skip off of it?”
“No, sir. The rock is to large and to massive. It’s going to crash right through the atmosphere and destroy Moscow.”
“Thank you. Okay, let’s get back to work and save as many as we can.”
Chapter 15
Jon smiled and tried to stifle a laugh when he looked at his family dressed in Army arctic uniforms. The girls’ pants and jackets had their sleeves rolled up, the smallest jacket was three sizes too large for Ariden who complained she couldn’t get comfortable while wearing the heavy coat, and she wanted to take it off. Erin smiled, “Honey, we lost all of our clothing when our SUV was shot up, the Army was nice enough to give us these. They’re nice and warm so please just try to deal with it.”
“Mom, speaking of warm, can you turn the heater up? It’s
