Days of Anarchy by J. D. Martens

Author:J. D. Martens [Martens, J. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABDO
Published: 2018-05-15T04:00:00+00:00

Suri and Robert sat in the conference room speaking to Dr. Ivanov, the nuclear physicist who had come from Russia to help stop the comet. He was a tall man, and well built. Robert thought he would make a good villain in a Rocky movie. Dr. Petrov was also in attendance—another Russian physicist—and so was Dr. Campero, a Chilean astronomer and expert in comets. Secretary Brighton and General Diaz, leader of the U.S. Armed Forces, sat in the background listening.

“Ve have ze use of ze American military . . . ” Dr. Ivanov intoned.

“I agree,” Robert replied, looking back to General Diaz.

“I vould also like to see zem in action,” Dr. Petrov agreed.

“To do what, exactly?” General Diaz asked.

“Well,” Robert explained to Secretary Brighton, “Chile is one of the best places in the world to view space. It has a very high elevation, and is extremely dry. Chile recently built something called the LSST, or Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, which will allow us to make short movies of the night sky. If we can gain access to it, we can train it on Shiva so we can look at it at all times. We’ll basically have a live feed, which will be very important in projecting its trajectory toward Earth for precision targeting.”

“Okay, so what’s the issue? To my knowledge we were using this telescope already.”

“We were, yes,” Robert responded. “The problem now, is that it’s not on. We need to turn it back on.”

“On? What do you mean it’s not on?”

Dr. Campero, the Chilean astronomer and one of the scientists who had helped build the telescope, spoke up. “We lost contact with the telescope. This led us to believe that some anarchists in Chile may have purposefully disabled it. We believe the cabling that allows us to remotely move the telescope on its base rotationally has been cut. Basically, we can’t follow the comet’s path unless we fix this issue. We have to go there and fix it.”

“There isn’t someone working there now?” Secretary Brighton asked.

“Well, there was, but not since the Chilean Revolution. It seems like a local militia is trying to sabotage our plan,” Robert replied angrily.

“What about the other telescopes? We have several pointed at the comet at all times, right? What makes this one special?” Secretary Brighton asked.

“Well,” Dr. Campero responded, “the LSST will help us determine the comet’s trajectory more accurately than the others. The more data we get on the comet’s position, the better off we are.”

I get that some people have lost hope, Robert thought with dismay, I just can’t believe they would intentionally sabotage the equipment that’s trying to save it.

Secretary Brighton agreed that they needed to send a team to Chile, and said he would speak with the President and the Secretary of Defense as well.

“Where, exactly, is this telescope?” General Diaz asked Robert, looking up from his computer.

“It’s on a plateau near the mountain Cerro Pachón, around sixty kilometers from the coastal city of La Serena,” Dr. Campero replied.

After

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