“Please join us tonight at nine for the FOX News Primetime Special: Is The World Really Ending In 2012? You won’t want to miss it, believe me. What do you think Erica?”
“You definitely won’t Condi, not from the clips I’ve seen. It is spectacular, and actually, quite frightening.”
Justin McLemore and Sheryl Lasseter met in the Presidential waiting room at the White House for a brief review of the live broadcast getting ready to take place. Sheryl always had a smile on her naturally beautiful face; and Justin had always admired her beauty, no Botox needed. This afternoon though, The Admiral noted a strain in the smile. The last few weeks had been one ordeal after another. Disappearances, disease, bombings, floodings, and now this. They continued to listen to the news.
Walking together through the generous entrance to the Oval Office, Justin noticed that the President looked pretty grim himself. The President wore his heart on his sleeve and was genuinely distressed by the year’s chain of events.
As the countdown began, The President took his place at the dark, cherry podium.
“…three, two, one.”
“My fellow Americans:
“I would like to thank Admiral Justin McLemore and Sheryl Lasseter for joining me. They are here to enhance the details of this not-so-good news.
“As always, it is with great pleasure that I serve you and this great country. I am honored that I was chosen to serve the greatest nation that has ever existed in the history of mankind.
“Today I don’t plan to paint a rosy picture, because you would all know it was fake. As you know, I inherited a distraught and threatened economy from the previous administration. We are in the greatest financial distress since the Great Depression, as is the entire world.
“Last January, it appeared that we were in full-recovery mode, and we were. However, though the attacks on our soil have not resulted in the deaths of as many as those who died, who were murdered, September 11, 2001; the death and destruction has been significant, and very expensive. As a result, at a time when our country didn’t need it, the cost of providing security has increased significantly.”
Muhammed and Medhi watched the broadcast, the digital signal a little iffy because of the early snowfall in Korengal Valley. They had eagerly awaited the speech and wondered if there would be anything said that they didn’t already know. There would be.
“Last spring, not just the United States but the whole world, was hit head-on by the largest solar flare in 50 years, caused by a coronal mass ejection of great magnitude. This CME resulted in electric power grid failures all over the world.
“Coronal mass ejections are violent discharges of plasma from the Sun's corona, or outer atmosphere. CMEs provide the largest explosions in our solar system and hurl billions of tons of plasma gas away from the Sun’s corona at speeds of one to two million miles an hour, sometimes faster. If directed toward Earth, the electromagnetic damage caused to our electronics and electric grid systems can be enormous, not to mention the damage to orbiting satellites.
“I would like to personally thank Sheryl Lasseter for saving the American people from the grid disaster suffered in parts of Europe and throughout China. Much of China has been without electricity since the CME last spring. Had it not been for Sheryl’s quick decision and judgment, we would still be recovering. I know it ticked a lot of people off when the grid systems were suddenly shut down; but believe me, it was the right decision.
“That leads me to my next topic.
“Several months ago, the Goddard Space Flight Center and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory began tracking an unknown object emerging from well-beyond Jupiter, 365 million miles away. Most of you have heard about it on CNN, FOX and the major networks. We have been monitoring this situation carefully with our allies and trying, frankly, to determine whether the people of the world need to be told.
“If the object should directly affect the Earth, as in a collision, it’s kind of like, what difference would it really make? There would be nothing we could do, so do we worry the people of the world with something we can do nothing about? Why create a panic situation?”
“This is boring! Turn it to CNN.” Mehdi was an impatient sort, an impatience that was taking a toll on Muhammed and his usually calm demeanor. Muhammed ignored him.
The President continued. He had great communication skills, but the worry on his face was undeniable.
Jeff listened to the President’s speech in his kitchen but already knew what they knew about the mysterious object. Chad and The Admiral had kept him informed.
“There is a possibility that this object will strike Earth. Many scientists optimistically believe it is possible that the gravitational effect of Jupiter may alter its course. It has changed course two or three times that we know of, but the present course indicates that a collision with Earth looks imminent. At its present speed, the anticipated impact date is next January 16 to 18, 2012. I know that December 21, 2012, at least according to Mayan predictions, has been portrayed on numerous news and cable programs as the date of the end of days. Several other apocalyptic writings seem to indicate that 2012 will be the last year of life as we know it.”
The lone video tech in the Oval Office looked from behind the camera in disbelief at what he was hearing. How could they have not told us sooner was the look on his face. But then again, like the President said, what could anyone do? Why worry? He couldn’t wait to get home and roll himself a big, fat doobie and relax with a gallon of chocolate passion ice cream.
“I want to address one other topic, a topic that the investigative reporters apparently know nothing about.
“Russia reported less than two hours ago, the disappearance of one of its warships in the Pacific. We do not know what type of ship it was, but all indications are it was a submarine.”
The President didn’t tell the whole story, but he had already been informed that it was a Nerpa nuclear attack submarine. There appeared to be no survivors.
Muhammed slapped Medhi on the back of the head, telling him to keep his hands off the television. The subject was interesting to Muhammed, and it should’ve been important to Medhi too; but the only thing important to Medhi was killing.
Muhammed had spoken with Yousef just two weeks earlier and already knew a nuclear submarine would disappear. The Japanese had financed the mission on Dmitry’s last visit to Tokyo. Dmitry had finally met the reclusive Kyoto Kushito for dinner and was surprised at the magnitude of Kyoto’s request. At first he didn’t understand what Kyoto meant when he asked Dmitry if he could score a fish. In all his years smuggling arms, no one had ever requested a nuclear sub. Kyoto said money was no object, and it wasn’t.
The nuclear sub, now hijacked, silently made its way through the Marianas Trench, the deepest trench on Earth, maintaining a depth of 2200 feet below the surface, the maximum safe limit. The Chechnyan sailors took over the submarine, killing anyone who resisted. They then discharged through the torpedo tubes, debris, clothing and bodies of those killed, along with several barrels of crude oil into the sea, leaving a trail of apparent destruction.
The sub moved westward, toward America, and would soon be in position, Insha’Allah, to show the world the wrath of Allah.
“Finally,” the shaken President continued, “there has been an outbreak of the Spanish Flu in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Europe, Africa and Asia have experienced outbreaks of smallpox, but only a few Spanish Flu cases have been reported. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and USAMRIID, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, are working hand-in-hand to find a viable vaccine for this flu; and of course they are researching the latest information about reported cases of vector borne transmission of the HIV AIDS virus in Ghana by the anopheles mosquito.”
Jeff dozed as the speech went on, an effect of the oxycodone he was taking for pain; and he wondered if his hearing would soon be back to normal. One hour later the phone rang. Even under the effect of the oxy, Jeff had been programmed all his life to respond to interruptive noises, and he did.
“This is Jeff.” The salutation was to-the-point, the medication wearing on his patience. Jeff was usually friendlier. Today he was sleepy, his body hurt and the ringing in his ears was driving him crazy.
“Jeff? You awake? This is important.”
“I am. Hey Chad, what’s up?” “You sound groggy.”
“I guess you didn’t hear. Park Place got blown up, and I was the Kleenex. Abe too.”
“Wow! Did you get hurt?”
“Not really. Been hurt worse. What’s up Chadbo?” “Did you hear about the Russian sub?”
Jeff thought about that, something in the back of his groggy mind told him he had.
“No. Tell me.” Jeff tried to concentrate.
“Remember that Russian submarine that had the accident a few years ago in the Sea of Japan? Twenty sailors killed because the fire-suppression system went off and stole their oxygen?”
“Vaguely.” Concentrate Jeff. “Wasn’t it the K-152 Nerpa?” “Exactly. You got a great memory for an old fart. Well, a K-155 Nerpa class was leased to the Indian Navy.”
“Didn’t know that had already happened.” Jeff was waking up, his head beginning to clear.
“Well it did, and today it simply disappeared somewhere in the Marianas Trench. No Mayday. No survivors.”
“That doesn’t smell right. That fish has all kind of redundancy and safety escape systems.” Jeff was well aware of the Nerpa’s capabilities.
“Exactly again. The Admiral sent me a secure email saying the Navy was suspicious. That ship would have to have a really bad day to just disappear. No seismic activity has been reported, so I doubt there was an explosion. At 8100 tons and 365 feet, it’d be pretty hard to hide.
“However, a Russian plane reported spotting a large oil slick and clothing, as well as some bodies.”
Anyone who ever served in a Navy, anyone’s Navy, was well aware of the Marianas Trench. At seven miles deep, sixteen hundred miles long and forty-three miles wide, it was the deepest place on the surface of the Earth. Finding a sunken sub in the trench would be difficult, if not impossible.
Only one manned vehicle had been to the bottom of the Marinas Trench, the U.S. Navy bathysphere, the Trieste. Swiss designed and built by the Italians for the United States, the Trieste made its descent in 1960 and still remains the only manned expedition to reach the Marianas surface, seven miles beneath the waves of the Pacific.
The K-155 Nerpa nuclear sub continued its way westward, the latest Russian technology maintaining a silence that was nearly undetectable.