THE ARK

Day 4

General Fitch looked nervously around the command center. He had been living here in the mountain for over two years. He was not sure if the apprehension he felt was due to the fact that he’d be leaving this home or because his death was so soon at hand. Because he was sixty, it was impractical for him to tie up a valuable space in one of the many shelters throughout the country. He could be close to eighty years old when it would be safe to leave the facility. Knowing that and having been part of the team that had developed the criteria for the people to get shelter, he had not even inquired about getting a space. His biggest regret was that he would never know whether all this work paid off.

Brad Warren stood next to him in the command center. This was only Brad’s second time at the mountain. Most of the last year and a half had been spent coordinating training for the ten thousand sleepers. They were awaiting the arrival of Travers and RJ; they were due sometime in the next hour.

“Were you able to get all your gear stored, Brad?” Fitch asked.

“Yea, it’s cramped, but I’ve seen worse. The hard part was trying to determine what to keep and what to say goodbye to. Actually, I got it better than most, since Jill and I are bunked together, we have the space for two and that makes it much better. The single quarters are much smaller.”

“True, and there are quarters for only seventy-five people. As soon as the sleepers wake up the equipment comes out of the chambers and the partitions go up. Most everyone will get an oversized cubicle to live in,” Fitch reminded him.

“True, just thinking that makes me like my quarters all the more, by the way, are you all packed?”

“Yes, I had to get the commander’s quarters cleared out for RJ. I assume she will move in when she gets here tonight. I have a chopper that will pick me up later tonight.”

“You really have done a fantastic job here Matt.”

“Thanks, I had a bunch of excellent people working for me.”

While they were talking, Nick, one of the communications techs spoke up. “General, UH-60 inbound from the South East requesting permission to enter our perimeter and land.”

“That should be them,” commented Warren

“Good, grant them permission and have them report up here when they can,” Fitch told the technician.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Matt, is everyone else here?” Brad Warren asked.

“Still waiting on a few stragglers, one of which is that young nuclear engineer you’ve been having all the problems with.”

“Carter? I should’ve known. RJ had a chat with him and he was doing OK for about a week, but then he reverted back to his typical arrogant and obnoxious self.”

“It sounds like he’ll be a real handful; better you than me,” the General said with a smile.

“Thanks, I’m more than ready to leave him behind, unfortunately, RJ wants him. That’s because she hasn’t had to deal with him. I’ve had more than enough. He’s one of the most difficult and unlikeable people I’ve ever met.”

At that time, RJ and Travers walked into the room. Fitch looked over at them. “Good evening ladies.”

“Good evening, is everyone here yet?” RJ asked

“Still waiting on a few, including my problem child,” Brad said.

“You may have been right about him. It’s too late now, but I won’t hold anything up because of him. If we have to go without him then so be it,” RJ stated

RJ looked to Fitch. “How are you feeling, Matt?”

“I can’t believe it’s almost that time. I just wish I could know the final outcome.”

“If Carter doesn’t show up, we’ll take you with us,” Travers said with a smile.

“Thanks, Amy,” Fitch smiled back. Looking at RJ, he added, “Before you relieve me, I want to give you a last look around. There isn’t much time to change anything, but I want to answer any last minute questions.”

“Sounds good to me,” RJ commented and the four of them left the Command Center.

They went to the pressurized door of the first chamber on that floor and looked in. There were one hundred and fifty sleepers lying on the pedestal beds. The ends of the tubes and wires were just visible. Each sleeper was covered with a single sheet. RJ shuddered as she thought how they all looked dead.

“They have been out for a week now, so far no incidents. We’ve been monitoring them all from upstairs. There have been no issues with the other chambers either,” Fitch said

They moved across the hall and saw the other chamber; this one was filled with two dozen different capsules. Some could hold a single person and others could hold up to ten. Since the lids were closed it would have been impossible from this angle to tell that half of the capsules were occupied if it were not for the indicator lights on the sides of the capsules.

They headed back down to the main tunnel and went to Main Sleep Chamber One. The view from the window was amazing. There were two levels, each with two thousand five hundred sleepers. The room was immense and there were rows and rows of sleepers that looked like corpses. They moved over to Main Sleep Chamber Two and saw an identical site. Naked, sheet covered sleepers all in clean neat orderly rows. In this chamber alone, there were over two hundred miles of tubing, and almost a hundred thousand different sensors.

The clean sterility of the human sleep chambers was a strong contrast to what they saw in the animal chamber located down a short tunnel from the pit. The animals may have been sleeping but that did nothing for the smell associated with having several thousand cows, pigs, chickens and turkeys crammed in a small space.

There was something unsettling about the animals. There tubes clearly visible connecting to almost every orifice of each animal. It was far more disturbing than the dignified way the same thing was done with the human sleepers.

The four started back up to the main level and Travers was amazed at what she saw in the pit. The area that just three months ago was all but wide open was completely packed with equipment and supplies. The fire apparatus that they had examined was not even visible through the mass of new equipment.

There were dozens of Humvees and off-road motorcycles in the foreground. Travers counted almost as many UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, and even a few AH-64D Apache gunship helicopters.

There were large cargo planes that she thought might be C-141s and even a pair of fighter jets, and beyond that, there was a sea of earth moving and construction equipment. There were massive amounts of other equipment, beyond which she could not even begin to see. She was impressed by the idea that whatever was waiting for them after the sleep, they would be ready.

The group made their way back up to the main level and gathered in the mess hall. The remaining members of the sleeper project had gathered there for a brief celebration. There had been trays of food and drinks prepared. The team enjoyed a last few hours together, they shared stories and many laughs. The whole group grew dead quiet when Amy Travers made a toast to James Cowan.

As the food was running out there was a double beep sound from the intercom on the wall.

RJ walked over to the wall and pushed the button. “RJ”.

“General Fitch’s helicopter is inbound, should be on the ground in five,” the female voice from the command center said.

“Thanks.”

RJ turned and saw Matt Fitch getting up from his chair. She walked over to him.

“Well RJ, this place is now all yours,” He said

“Thanks, General.”

She hugged him briefly.

The remaining members of the sleep project team gathered their stuff and headed for the helipad.

“Sir, do you mind if I walk out with you,” Amy said.

“Of course not, Amy.”

One of the security personnel appeared at the door, and took the General’s bags and started for the elevator.

For the first half of the walk neither Travers nor Fitch said a word. Finally, Matt Fitch gently placed his arm around her shoulders in a fatherly way, “You scared?”

“No, at least no more than anyone else is. I keep thinking about Cowan.”

“Me, too, he was a good friend to both of us,” Fitch commented.

“Yeah, he was. I was wondering, about his family.” Travers paused considering how to word the question.

Before she could ask, Matt finished for her. “Kathy and their son arrived at a shelter this morning. They’ll have a good chance.”

“Do they know the truth?”

Fitch paused before continuing. “I went to their house after the funeral. We had a long talk.”

Amy knew what he meant, and it helped to know that James’ family knew how important what he had been doing was.

“I told her the arrangement we made with James the day he died. I told her she could still have a place as a sleeper. She declined, as I knew she would. She’d never leave her son, even if he had a place in a shelter,” The General added.

“Good” was her only response.

They walked in silence a bit longer. As they approached the main tunnel Amy and Matt got into the waiting Humvee and rode it for the quarter mile to the exit of the mountain.

They stepped out of the vehicle and paused briefly.

“Where are you going to be when it gets here?” Amy asked.

“I’ll probably be at the Pentagon with General Draper. We’ll be in radio contact with you as long as possible.”

“Be careful, Matt.”

“You too”

They hugged for several moments, and then Fitch turned and walked to the helicopter.

Amy stood leaning against the Humvee until the helicopter was out of sight then she started back.

After she parked the Humvee, she started for the elevator that would take her to the main level. She wanted to check on the status of all the sleep chambers from the remote terminals in the command center then she would get her quarters in order. As she walked past the pit there was someone else walking toward her from the opposite tunnel entrance. As they both approached the corridor to the elevators he smiled. Travers could already tell that this guy was checking her out. This was certainly not something she was in the mood for.

“Hey babe, can you show me to the Command Center?” he said.

Travers decided to simply ignore him altogether. He followed her and got into the elevator with her.

“My name is Carter, Dale Carter. What’s yours?”

“Dale Carter, I’ve heard a lot about you,” Amy responded.

“Good Stuff, I bet.

At that time, the elevator doors opened.

“Actually, not one word of it was good,” Amy responded and walked away.