In Vol. 1 “Hope for Humanity,” a swarm of interstellar proto-planet objects similar to asteroids is detected headed for the inner solar system and the Earth has less than 400 days to react. A nuclear weapon defense is the only option, but all of the early intercepts take weeks to get to the targets. The following takes place at the Integrated Intercept Control Center (I2C2) outside of Colorado Springs as the world awaits the fate of the first interceptor which has been in hibernation during the long coast period. The interceptor and Earth separation were sufficient now that over two minutes was required for the speed of light transmissions between the two to travel the distance, meaning that an agonizingly long period of time would elapse before confirmation of a live interceptor. The same time delay applied to confirmation of an intercept, as well as the post-intercept analyses. Director Bond was quietly mulling over all of this as he waited with everyone else for confirmation of a live interceptor. Some very minor course corrections had been transmitted, so there would be another wait to find out if they were implemented. His reverie was interrupted by the calm, almost mechanical voice of the Mission Director on the comm net. “We have confirmation that I-1 is alive and stable. Stand by for course correction confirmation.” The guy might as well be announcing a bingo game, Bond thought. (Scene Break – Text Deleted for This Post) At T-5 minutes a 2D video stream began showing up on the wall display devoted to I-1. It was the onboard camera looking for the intended target. The illumination in the I2C2 dimmed considerably to assist in seeing any points of light that showed up on the display. The I-1 digital wall clock had changed modes to display two times. One was the estimated time to intercept, and the second was the estimated time left before receiving confirmation of intercept from telemetry and Earth or near-Earth sensors. The real-time clock, counting the passage of time in one ten thousandth (0.0001) of-a-second intervals, suddenly froze at all zeros. Everyone collectively held their breath as the second clock continued to count toward zero. The seconds truly seemed like minutes as no one spoke, and many hardly breathed. All of the monumental effort that had been expended by so many thousands of people around the world for almost a year was now coming down to a few points of light on a display in a dark room in Colorado. Everyone knew that there were a lot more intercept attempts to come, but everyone wanted this one to work soooo badly. The display flashed and the clock zeroed. The two events were too close together to see any difference in the time of occurrence. A collective gasp was followed by silence, broken a few seconds later by the Mission Director. “We have sensor verification of a nuclear event occurring at the predicted time of intercept. The images from the interceptor bus are being reviewed and will be available for display momentarily.” The room erupted into applause and laughter, with everyone talking at once. The warheads were fused to detonate on impact, so it seemed reasonable to assume that an intercept had indeed occurred. Bond sat quietly and waited. Minutes dragged by even slower than the second countdown clock. Finigan was talking with unusual animation to one of the DOD engineers she had worked with when the bus-to-booster integration was taking place. “Come on,” Bond muttered to himself. “What could take so long? They either have it or they don’t.” Finigan sat back down. “What are you muttering about, Willis?” Bond frowned and then smirked a little. “Just wondering what the hell is taking so long.” (Scene Break – Text Deleted for This Post) The room lights dimmed, and a dark display with one bright spec came on. A second display came on with a bright splotch offset from the center. The third display showed an irregular bright splotch that almost filled the screen. Some murmuring broke out as realization dawned. Someone yelled “Yes!” General pandemonium broke out. Bond finally exhaled. “We did it, Dorothy, we actually hit that sucker!” Suddenly he was standing and hugging Dr. Finigan, then pulling away and running around shaking everyone’s hand in a throwback to tradition. It did not matter whether it was a Russian interceptor or not. Everyone felt the same way: WE did it! The next intercept attempt would take place in three hours, this time on a Scandinavia-bound object. It would be two more days before the Sarasota and Oklahoma boomers were engaged. God! Bond contemplated; it sure would be a lot easier on the stomach if these intercepts just all took place all at once like in the movies.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 16:16:59 +0000
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