Prometheus and the Dragon (Atlas and the Winds Book 2) by Eric Michael Craig

Author:Eric Michael Craig [Craig, Eric Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: scifi drama, asteroid, scifi apocalyptic, asteroid impact mitigation strategy, global disaster threat, lunar colony, technological science fiction, scifi action, political science fiction, government response to impact threat
Publisher: Rivenstone Press
Published: 2016-05-30T06:00:00+00:00

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil:

Rio was at once one of the most modern cities in South America, and one of the most harsh. For all that Brazil had pulled itself out of the Third World, it seemed to suffer more keenly with the things the First World had begun to outgrow. Wealth and poverty existed intermingled on every street. The high and the low, staring at each other, but unable to connect across the gap that held them forever locked in a titanic clash of culture. Both born of the same spirit, twins of different fathers, and only separated by a transparent wall of circumstance.

When he was much younger, Colton had traveled to Brazil, visiting both Brasilia and Rio, for conferences on global climate change. He’d loved the culture, while at the same time finding the abject poverty terrifying in its overpowering presence. Cardboard favela, barely more than boxes and tape, clung to the hills at the edges of the city. Washed away during the frequent rains and rebuilt overnight by their tenants, only to face the same thing the next day. A cycle of survival that kept them entrenched in their misery, never gaining a foothold deep enough to push out.

That was why the very first Archangel flight was sent to this human wasteland, where the people’s pride and determination kept them clinging to the thin membrane of their lives, even when man and nature threatened to sweep them away. And where Antu would certainly tip the scale with a final certainty.

No announcement had gone out before hand, and none was needed when the Archangel Michael hung above the open hilltop, waiting for a chance to land. The word spread like wildfire. People swarmed around the ship as it settled into the grassy field. Thousands. More people than Dave had ever seen in one place, even in his old rock and roll days.

“Colton should be here,” he said, to no one in particular.

“There are so many of them.” Angelyne Hoagland, their team doctor, stood on the bridge nearby. “And we’re only supposed to pick 600. How do we do that?” she said. “Tell me, how can you look them all in the face and tell them that we can’t take them. Which kids do we leave behind?”

“I don’t know,” he whispered, suddenly understanding what Cole saw in his nightmares. “He knew it would come to this day. It’s no wonder he fears his dreams.”

“What?” she said, turning to face him.

“Colton. He once told me he was afraid to dream. He never explained why, just that he had ongoing nightmares. Now I know what it was that tore at him. He knew all along we’d be here,” Dave said, feeling a wave of crushing sadness roll over him.

“Do you think he really saw this?” she asked.

“Maybe not this specific moment, but he knew what we’d be facing,” he said. “I felt this same anguish coming from him the night before we launched the Star. We were sitting alone, and he was trying to explain it to me.

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