Barren Waters - The Complete Novel: (A Post-Apocalyptic Tale of Survival) by Julia Shupe

Author:Julia Shupe
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2016-08-22T06:00:00+00:00

For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it.

—Jacques-Yves Cousteau

CHAPTER 13

JANUARY 3RD, 2124

THE GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH

PACIFIC OCEAN

Representatives from the environmental agencies of four different countries, including the United States, had been summoned to this most private of conferences. It had been a long day at sea for all of them, a long day of disappointing tests, contentious arguments, and tense discussions. And this was about to be the worst one of all. The international team was collectively battered by the severity of the information they were about to relay. They were gathered close, an intimate group of scientists, called forth to diagnose and offer treatment protocols for a critically diseased body, a body that had begun to show symptoms some hundred years prior. The room was an energy field that throbbed with anxiety as all leaned forward in rapt attention, their foreheads creased with deep lines, eyes focused on the center of the table. From there, a voice crackled from a small communications unit.

“Have you concluded your tests Dr. Colt?”

All eyes darted to Liam. He pulled deep from his glass of water.

“Mr. President, Sir. I have…Um. We have…Sir.”

Liam felt too warm, almost as if the temperature of the room had increased ten degrees in a matter of seconds. He was about to deliver the worst of news to none other than the President of the United States of America.

“Sir, the situation here is dire to say the least.”

An electronic sigh filled the room, and Liam could envision the President sitting back in his chair, the members of his cabinet clustered tight around the comm unit. “Okay Liam. Let’s have it then. And don’t spare the details for those of us without PhD’s.”

Liam froze. Where would he even begin? He was quite sure this was his final mission for the offices of the D.C. Institute of Marine Sciences and he wanted to be thorough. Thorough, yet compassionate. But there was no sugarcoating this. This was it, the end of the line. The situation in the North Pacific was the same as it was in the South Pacific, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, and Indian Oceans respectively. There was simply no turning back from this.

It wasn’t that he was fearful of detailing the news to the highest office in the land. It wasn’t even a fear of staining his professional reputation. He had no reputation. At times he hadn’t understood why he’d been chosen for this committee in the first place. It was simply that this was likely to be his very last assignment at all, and the thought of this as his final professional act was nothing if not depressing.

People wanted to leave a legacy behind them, to retire with a sense of pride and accomplishment. Liam, on the other hand, would be tendering a resignation without any kind of closure. He’d be abandoning the pursuits of a lifelong passion as one who’d failed, one who’d given up.

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