“Keep me updated on any changes, Rick. Please give my best to your lovely wife. As busy as I am I never miss The Ellen Bellamy Show, even though I may see it as a rerun at 2 a.m. Often I get better information from Ellen’s show than I do from my security briefings.”
Chapter 44
August 4
“Welcome to our show, ladies and gentlemen. I’m your host, Ellen Bellamy. Today we’re going to talk about, what else, the weather. This morning, Al Roker gave us all an update on what’s going on in the world of weather forecasting. I’m delighted that Al is our first guest this afternoon. Al, please tell us what’s going on ‘in your neck of the woods,’ as you love to say.”
“Ellen, this morning I spoke from the heart as well as from the mind. I talked about the change in weather forecasting, and the most dramatic change is this—traditional forecasting is out the window. Never in my life did I ever expect to see a tornado pop up suddenly—in Manhattan of all places. All we’ve been able to do, and all we can do, is report on what’s happening now, or a short time from now based on radar. It’s no government secret that we’ve lost communications with the space station Stargazer as of yesterday. We know that the recent bizarre weather changes had something to do with the 20 satellites that Stargazer controls. But now the Rosetta Corporation, the company that owns and controls Stargazer, has not only lost control, but has lost communication. What we know now is somewhat good news. The temperatures have moderated worldwide and are approaching what is normal for early August. Right now, the thermometer reads 65 degrees, still chilly for August 4th, but it’s gradually rising. The normal high for today in New York City is 82 degrees. If we pass that number, we may find ourselves as we did a few days ago in a sudden heat wave. So, we’re keeping our fingers crossed, something I thought I’d never say as a meteorologist. Because we’ve lost all satellite communication, as I said this morning, besides short-term help from radar, my two favorite weather forecasting tools are my window and my telephone.”
“Al, we’ve gotten reports that the Stargazer was due for a resupply mission next week. Can you tell us anything about the status of the two astronauts aboard?”
“Studies tell us that, with proper hydration, a human being can live for as long as about 40 days without food,” Roker said. “I had the wonderful experience of visiting an orbital platform—The International Space Station—a couple of years ago. I can tell you that, even without gravity, your body still acts like it always did—you need to feed it. Docking a space capsule, such as a resupply pod, is every bit as complicated at it seems. Without communications between the resupply vehicle and Stargazer, the operation becomes a lot trickier. They’ll have to talk via shortwave radio when the supply pod gets close enough. Our prayers are with Nancy Mullin and Bill Cranston, the two Stargazer astronauts.”
“Thanks Al, for your usual expert opinion on a complex subject. Our next guest is retired four-star Air Force General, Philip Benton. General Benton, do you think some bad actors are involved in this crisis, or is it just a freak of nature?”
“Good afternoon, Ellen. In my opinion, there is nothing about the recent weather changes that is the result of chance. I believe that someone or some group is behind it. The activities are simply too complicated to be happenstance. I have no idea who may be involved, but I’m not on active duty so I wouldn’t have security clearance or the need to know. But logic tells me that somebody is doing things to our weather.”
“Thank you, General, and thank you all for joining us this afternoon. Don’t miss tomorrow’s show, everybody. We’re going to take a closer look at who or what may be involved in our weather situation.”
Chapter 45
August 5
The temperature in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, had moderated as it had all over the world. The temperature was 74 degrees and it was raining heavily. Bartholomew Martin loved the rain, He stood puffing on a cigar on his deck under the overhead and watched the rain wash away the piles of snow.
“I have an update about the status of Stargazer, Bartholomew,” Douglas Merriman said, as he shook the water from his umbrella. “Not only have they lost communication with Rosetta Corporation in Montana, but they have no communication linkup at all. Stargazer is on its own.”
“So it’s going as planned?”
“Yes, Bartholomew.”
“What about next week’s resupply mission, Douglas?”
“Our insider tells us that Rosetta is going forward with the resupply attempt, even though it will be risky. They’re hoping that the crew of the Stargazer will see the approaching supply pod and adjust accordingly. The launch is set for Thursday.”
“Sabotage the launch, Douglass. I don’t know how, and I don’t want any excuses. Make sure that rocket never leaves earth, or if it does, it explodes shortly thereafter. We will launch our own resupply mission from the company that manufactures our rockets in California, the same company that makes Rosetta’s rockets.
Rosetta Corporation employs a reusable rocket system to bring back a part of the launch rocket for use in the next mission. The first successful recovery was in 2015 and the first successful relaunch occurred in March 2017. The company uses SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft as a supply vehicle. Bartholomew ordered the word Rosetta painted on the sides in large bold letters.
The temperature had been moderating, and the thermometer read 75 degrees Fahrenheit in Montana on the day of the supply pod launch. The rocket took off successfully from the Rosetta launch pad on an early August morning. The vehicle climbed to a height of one thousand feet when it exploded, leaving debris across Billings, Montana.
“Get me Homeland Security on the phone,” Rosetta CEO Morgan said to Phil Duncan.
“Mr. Secretary, Frank Morgan here for Rosetta. To put it bluntly, sir, we’re fucked. Our supply vehicle blew up a few moments after launch this morning. The two astronauts aboard Stargazer have only a few days of supplies left, after which they’re out of luck. We’re preparing another launch vehicle now, but it won’t be ready for two weeks.”
“Any indication of what happened to the rocket?” Bellamy asked.
‘No, sir. We’ve launched dozens of those rockets over the years. It simply blew up at an altitude of 1,000 feet.”
“This resupply mission was critical, as you well know, Frank. Does Rosetta have any suspicions about sabotage?”
“We have suspicions, Mr. Secretary, but we don’t have any clues. We’ve already started an investigation. As you know, FBI agents are all over this place. But our critical mission now is to ready a resupply ship for another launch. Bill Cranston and Nancy Mullin are good people. It sickens me to think they may starve to death.”
Chapter 46
August 6
“Hey, smart lady, how many calories does a human being need to consume every day to stay alive?”
“I’ve been working on some numbers and they aren’t making me happy,” Nancy Mullin said. “To maintain current body weight, a woman needs to consume between 1,600 and 2,400 calories a day. A man needs between 2,000 and 3,000 to maintain his weight. No surprise that a man gets to hog the food. I worked these numbers with the supplies onboard, and we have about two weeks of food left. After that we can last for about a month. But even though we can last that long, we’ll be in terrible shape. Our brains will be scrambled, and we’ll suffer from delirium. If we survive much longer than that we’ll have permanent brain damage. The resupply pod was supposed to arrive yesterday, and we know that didn’t happen. So, things are going to get scary, and soon.”