Contingency Plan 327

            “The meteor is approximately twelve kilometers in length,’ said Krensky, the colony’s chief scientist.  “We have twenty-nine days until impact.”

Pierson, the chief administrator, sat impassively at the head of the conference table.  “Doctor Krensky, what will be the effects of the meteor strike?”

“A meteor that size will cause catastrophic damage.  I calculate the explosive force of the impact itself will be equivalent to at least 60 million megatons of TNT and leave a crater over 150 kilometers in diameter.  The impact will scatter hot debris that will start fires globally.  Nitric and nitrous acids will be produced that will cause acid rain for months. Particulate matter thrown up by the impact will block out sunlight for at least several months.  If the meteor lands in one of the oceans, we can add tsunamis to the equation.  This is very much the definition of an extinction level event.”

There were gasps from most of the council members at the table. 

“How could this happen?” blurted a woman in shuttle pilot gear.  “Why wasn’t it spotted sooner?”

“All the surveys of the star system missed it, Miss Stanton,” Krensky said dryly.  “Space is big and this meteor is relatively small.  If I hadn’t been observing that portion of the system’s asteroid belt we might not have noticed it for another week or two.”

“That extra time doesn’t mean much,” Stanton replied.  “We don’t have the capability to deflect something that size in twenty-nine days.”

That comment set off a new round of angry reactions.

Pierson waited until the noise settled down.  “Shouting accomplishes nothing, people.  We have a crisis and we need to deal with it.  We’re on our own until the next supply ship from Earth arrives.”

“So what do we do?  Hunker down and go on short rations for five months?” Stanton replied.

“That’s exactly what we do.  The Colonial Commission considered a large meteor impact a low probability event but they did consider it.  Contingency Plan 327 covers this situation.”

Pierson’s voice grew in volume.  “Most of the colony structures were built with nanofiber composite material.  They will withstand anything short of a direct hit.  We’ll lose the crops but we can house the livestock in the barns.  Combine that with the food rations we have on hand and we can easily last five months.”

“Will the colony still be viable?” someone asked.

“Abandoning the colony may be necessary but we’ll deal with that when the supply ship arrives.  Right now we have a lot of work to do.”

            The council spent the next couple of hours discussing logistical requirements and how to break the news to the rest of the colony.

            As the meeting broke up, Pierson gestured to Stanton to stay behind.  When they were alone in the conference room, Pierson spoke.  “There’s a provision of CP 327 I didn’t bring up in front of the others.  It covers the worst case scenario and I thought it best to only discuss it with those with a need to know.”

            “And I need to know?”

            “You’re the lead shuttle pilot as well as a council member so I need you to do the planning and preparation work.  Only Krensky, you, and I know about this and that’s all who will know.  What I’m about to tell you cannot be discussed with anyone.  Not your husband, not your friends.  Absolutely no one.”

            “I understand.”

            Pierson called a meeting of everyone not on duty that evening.  Most of the colony’s eight hundred residents were gathered in the central square when Pierson stepped onto the raised platform at one end.  As he spoke, his words were amplified across the square and transmitted over the colony wireless to those who could not attend.

            There were a few angry outbursts when Pierson described the situation but overall the colonists remained calm.  They were all volunteers who had been through extensive screening before being selected.  There were no children since they were not allowed on new colonies.  

            The meeting ended with Pierson vowing that the colony would survive.  After the meeting Stanton talked to the shuttle crews and the spaceport personnel about preparations.  She managed to sound upbeat but the secret provision of CP 327 was nagging at her.  That night she slept fitfully.

            The next four weeks passed quickly.  Engineers conducted structural inspections of buildings.  Food rations, medicine, and other critical supplies were inventoried.  What crops could be harvested early were collected.  Most of the farm animals were moved to barns.  The rest were slaughtered and processed to provide meat.

            Twelve days before impact Krensky announced to the council that the meteor was projected to strike on another continent on the other side of the planet.  After the meeting Stanton barely made it to a bathroom before vomiting.

           

Early in the morning on impact day, a colonial security officer knocked on the door of Stanton’s quarters. She told the officer to wait and went to wake up her husband.  “Michael, get dressed.  We have to go. Hurry.”

The officer escorted the couple to the spaceport where several colonists were gathered. 

“What’s going on, Stanton?” one of them said.  “Why is Security rousting us out of bed?”

She put on what she hoped was a convincing smile.  “This is just part of the contingency plan.  All the shuttles have to be up before impact.”

“Why are we taking husbands and wives and these other people?”

“Like I said, it’s in the contingency plan.  We have to have the shuttles and some of the colonists away from the planet just in case things don’t go as expected. 

“You know Pierson.  He’s doing this whole thing by the book.  We’ll go up and be back in a few hours.”

There was some grumbling but the shuttle crews headed to their craft.  Stanton got the eighteen passengers that had been chosen at random together and assigned them to shuttles.  As she headed to her own shuttle with her husband, Stanton gave an inward sigh of relief.  That confrontation went better than she had hoped.

An hour later the twelve shuttles lifted off.  Stanton led the formation past the colony world’s moon and clear of the path of the approaching meteor.

The waiting was the hardest part for Stanton.  She wanted to tell Michael, her co-pilot, everyone on the shuttle what she knew.  But she couldn’t, not until she was sure.

Everyone was watching the viewscreen when the meteor struck.  There was a collective gasp is the meteor blazed a fiery trail through the planet’s atmosphere and struck less than 200 kilometers from the colony. 

It was the worst case scenario that Stanton had been preparing for.  When Krensky had announced the meteor would strike on the other side of the planet, he had been lying.  He had informed Pierson and Stanton earlier that the meteor would definitely strike on the same continent as the colony.  Even if it missed the colony itself, the earthquake triggered by the impact would be at least a 12.5 on the Richter scale.  There was little chance the colony would survive. 

Pierson had been adamant about total secrecy.  As long as the colonists had hope, they wouldn’t panic.  Keeping the colonists busy with preparations for surviving the impact made it easier to prepare the shuttles and get them safely away.

The initial shock was wearing off among the colonists on the shuttles.  The rest of the council was dead and now Stanton was left in charge.  She opened a communication channel to the rest of the shuttles. 

“This is Councilwoman and Lead Pilot Sheila Stanton.  We have just witnessed the destruction of our colony and the deaths of our friends.  But we are alive.  We have enough supplies to last until the supply ship arrives.  We will survive.”