In all of history, nothing can be compared to that day of January 14, 1987. The event that took place that day was so horrible that words cannot describe it. Let's go back through time to see what took place.
The day was Wednesday. The time was 4:57 in the afternoon. In the remote wilderness of North Dakota, a radar was picking up strange signals from the sky. Numbers appeared in coded messages: 457, 349, 600, 139. The numbers were repeated over and over again. They were decoded as: 4:57 p.m., left at 3:49 p.m., arrival at 6:00, but the 139 did not make sense. The radar showed the object was heading toward the United States.
George Robson, who was head of the Strategic Air Command, identified the object as a missile with a multiple-warhead. General Robson was unable to tell where the missile came from, but he wasn't going to just stand around. He called the President of the United States, Floyd Barker.
Pres. Barker was winding up his work day. He had signed all of the papers and was walking out the door, when the frightening sound of the red phone ringing was heard. The phone was never used except in dire emergencies. Only once had the red phone ever been used, when an airplane carrying the joint chiefs-of-staff crashed. The crash was an accident. There were no survivors. Now the phone was ringing, and it wasn't a laughing matter.
With caution, Pres. Barker approached the phone. He picked up the arm and said with reserve, "Yes, this is the president."
"Mr. President, this is George Robson of SAC. We have an unidentified warhead heading toward the U. S. The estimated time of arrival is 6:00 this afternoon."
"You don't know where it came from?", asked the president.
"No sir, we don't", said General Robson. "Nowadays, it could have come from anywhere. We keep getting a coded message: 457, 349, 600, 139. The only number we have not deciphered is 139."
"All right", said the president, "Retaliate, destroy the missile!"
"Yes sir, consider it done", said Robson.
Floyd Barker felt sick. Since the 1950's, each president had been faced with the threat of a nuclear war, but not until now had anything like this happened. After Pres. Barker had gotten over the shock of the missile, he called the Pentagon. He ordered the Air Force to take appropriate action and the Army to stand by.
General Robson fired an anti-missile missile at the unidentified rocket. Within seconds, the intruding rocket was destroyed. He called the president, who at this time was in the White House war room, and said that the rocket was destroyed. The president was glad.
Suddenly and without warning, another missile appeared on the radar screen. This time, the rocket was traveling very fast, so fast that the radar could hardly keep track of the rocket. Gen. Robson didn't have time to call the president, so he took the responsibility on himself. He fired another anti-missile missile, but it missed. He fired another rocket, but it missed, too. The enemy rocket plowed into Chicago, Illinois.
Two million people died instantly, and 13 million others were doomed to oblivion. The president was immediately alerted. He ordered full-scale war but against whom?
Israel had been a military threat ever since the Chinese takeover of that country in 1979. Israel had become Chinese in ever respect including customs. The Chinese gave the Israeli scientists the hydrogen bomb. Although Israel was completely separated from the government of China, it kept the teachings of the late Mao, who died in the summer of 1976. China had become a pacifist state compared to Israel. The Israelis were barbaric with no regard for human life. At the height of the takeover, 3 million Jews were killed by their own kind. Now, they were shooting rockets all over the world by using a roulette wheel.
President Barker couldn't stand it anymore. He ordered his B-52's to take off and find out where the rockets were coming from. The planes were armed with a new weapon, hydrogen torpedoes. This weapon was like the hydrogen bomb, except these could be used on either land or water at anytime and were twice as effective than the regular hydrogen bombs. The planes were also equipped with old-fashioned air to air missiles.
One of the planes spotted a missile heading for India. India was one of the worst places for a bomb to explode, because it had so many people living there. An estimated two billion people lived in India. The B-52 launched an air to air missile at the foreign rocket. It was a direct hit. There were no official markings on the rocket, except one number, which was D680537. The pilot of the B-52 decided that the number was the serial number of the rocket. He radioed his base. "Donrat, this is B459, Donrat, this is B459, we intercepted a bullet over India. No visible markings, except an apparent serial number. The number is D680537, repeat, D680537. Do not know where it came from. Do you read me, Donrat?"
"Roger B459, we read you loud and clear. We'll check out the number. Thanks. Over and out."
Suddenly, a flash in the sky removes any trace of the B-52. A jet aircraft with the Israeli flag painted on the side turns back toward its home country.
The president's intercontinental phone rang several times. Barker picked up the receiver, and the voice on the other end said, "Mr. President, my name is Lang Hu. I am the leader of Israel."
"I know who you are. What do you want?", said the president.
"We want all the gold in the world or we will destroy it. You have two samplings of our power, Chicago and the B-52."
"What B-52?"
"We just blew one out of the sky!"
"You're not getting anything from us", said the president of the U. S.
"If that's the way you want it, you won't live though the night!", said Lang Hu.
The line went dead. President Barker ordered his missiles to fix their positions on Israel. He gave the go-ahead to fire. The B-52's were told to attack Israel from the sea, using their hydrogen torpedoes to bomb their shores. The missiles were to take Israel by land.
The Israelis fired all of their missiles at points in the world. Paris was eliminated in twenty seconds. The rolling hills of Scotland were nothing more than black ash. The icy waters of Russia turned into a boiling ocean of fallout. The lush rain forests of South America were singed beyond recognition. The Earth was a mass of ash, rubble, and charred remains of the entire human race. Animals, birds, fish, and even insects were wiped out. There were no buzzards to feast off the dead material. Everything was black.
Life in Carson Falls, West Virginia went on just as ever. It was 7:00 in the morning of January 15, 1987. Men were going out to get the morning paper. Dogs were barking. The smell of eggs and bacon came from the houses. The birds sang the song of a beautiful morning.
The news in the paper was the same as usual. The biggest news in the Carson Chronicle was that Sara Craddock had a baby. That made two for her.
Mayor Robinson had a meeting with his city council at 10:00 a.m. Mrs. Robinson fixed her husband the same breakfast that he has had for 15 years. The breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon, and a cup of coffee. He ate his breakfast, kissed his wife goodbye, and headed for work. Robinson knew that this day was going to be very boring. Thursdays were always boring, because it was the day right before Friday, which is the last day of work for the week.
Carson Falls had a population of about 500. That included the animals, too. There were about ten or twelve stores and businesses in Carson Falls. Included in the town were two restaurants, a movie theater, an insurance firm, two law firms, a doctor, three clothing stores, and other assorted businesses. Carson Falls was a typical town. It was nestled in the hills of West Virginia. The valley acted like a giant fan, and it blew all the air pollution from the nearby factories away from the valley. Carson Falls was a middle-class Shangri-La.
No one cared about today. It was a typical day. Mayor Robinson reached the city hall at 8:30. He was driving a '53 Ford, which hadn't broken down once. The city council met with him at 10:00 that morning. The meeting was called to talk about the new gas station that was proposed for the town. Many residents had complained of the traffic around their houses. The city council voted on it, and they voted against the station. That meeting was a prime example of the type government that Carson Falls had. They didn't want change unless it was absolutely necessary. This time it wasn't absolutely necessary.
Judd Waters, the town idiot, was taking his usual morning walk. It was 11:00. He usually walked up to the top of one of the mountain ridges and breathed in the fresh air. When he got to the top of the ridge, he saw absolutely nothing. There were no lush forests, no animals, nothing but black ash. He wondered if there had been a forest fire, but he didn't smell smoke. He remembered that there was a town directly over the ridge. There wasn't any trace of the town.
The idiot went back into Carson Falls and tried to tell the people about what he had seen. Everyone thought that he was an idiot even though he was telling the truth. No one believed him.
(my unfinished novel)
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