America One: War of the Worlds Read online

  AMERICA ONE

  War of the Worlds

  Book VII

  T. I. WADE

  AMERICA ONE – War of the Worlds

  Copyright © 2014 by T I Wade.

  All Rights Reserved.

  Published in the United States of America.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address: T I WADE, 200 Grayson Senters Way, Fuquay Varina, NC 27526.

  Please visit our website TIWADE.com to become a friend of the AMERICA ONE Series, and get updates on new releases.

  T I WADE’s books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. For information, please write: T I WADE, 200 Grayson Senters Way, Fuquay Varina, NC 27526.

  Library of Congress Catalogue-in-Publication Data: Wade, America One / T I Wade.

  Editor – Jim Doak, Hayden, Alabama

  Cover design – Jack Hillman, Hillman Design Group, Sedona, Arizona

  Formatted by

  Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter 1 The Reunion

  Chapter 2 The Briefing and Return to Earth.

  Chapter 3 Ryan Richmond Takes Over Command of Astermine Co.

  Chapter 4 Visit to China

  Chapter 5 Mission Four to Mars

  Chapter 6 Lots of Gold

  Chapter 7 Mars Underground

  Chapter 8 Oh Hi!

  Chapter 9 A New Home for Many

  Chapter 10 A New Plan

  Chapter 11 Return to Earth

  Chapter 12 Earth and America Three

  Chapter 13 Israel, Mars Attacked and New Engines

  Chapter 14 A New Revelation or Two

  Chapter 15 War of the Worlds—Act One

  Chapter 16 War of the Worlds—Act Two

  Chapter 17 The Other Half of Mattville

  Chapter 18 War of the Worlds–Act Three

  Chapter 19 The Secret Base

  Chapter 20 War of the Worlds—Act Four—Ceres

  Chapter 21 One Giant Leap for Mankind

  Epilogue The Martian Club Retreat

  Mattville

  Ceres Base

  Base Nevada

  Ryan and Kathy Richmond

  The Astermine Crew

  Jones

  Noble

  Astermine’s Secret Society (ASS)

  Books by the Author

  About the Author

  Dedication

  AMERICA ONE – War of the Worlds is dedicated to Buzz Aldrin

  Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr. was the second man on the moon, and a man I had the pleasure to meet in 2014. I dedicate the last book in his series to a man who has gone further than any man before him, and will forever grace the history books of time.

  One person can create a miracle, a team can create many miracles.

  Chapter 1

  The Reunion

  “What the hell did you guys do to my legs, put them through a ringer?” asked Jonesy trying to stand on his own two feet. “I‘m committed to sleep and you do horrible acts to my body while I’m in la-la land,” he continued wincing with pain while having to cling on to his daughter and weak wife for support as he tried to stand. “Last time I’m going to be put to sleep like a damn dog.”

  “Dad, I’m sure your legs will get better after a few hours,” stated Saturn winking at her mother, who looked as pale as, and only a little better than her husband.

  “Maybe they should have just chopped those things you call legs off before they put you to sleep,” replied Maggie his wife.

  “You OK Jonesy?” asked VIN. “It sounds like you are, since I can hear complaints.”

  “Next time I’m flying Cathy Pacific,” replied General Jones.

  “Who?” asked his young daughter not understanding.

  “An airline that existed before your time dear,” answered her mother.

  “Oh! One of those flight companies in the old movies,” added Saturn.

  “Stop gabbing ladies, I need to sit down,” added the tall astronaut, and he was helped to the nearest chair where he was belted in. “If these legs hurt so much with little to no gravity, I had better ask Lieutenant Noble if he has a spare pair of metal legs before we reach earth.”

  Young Mars Noble rushed up and was asked to help move the poor man.

  “And you are?” Jonesy asked bluntly.

  “Commander Mars Noble, sir, in charge of getting you guys back to earth in America Two, sir.”

  “Good. Any cold beer left on this rock. I need one right now?” Jonesy added. Mars looked towards his father, who nodded no.

  “No, sir, but we have tons of it back on earth ready for you, sir” replied the young man Jonesy thought looked a little like his old partner.

  “Mr. Jones, you survived I see,” stated Ryan Richmond being helped over by two young ladies towards the older man.

  “You been partying during our sleep absence boss? All those young girls around you. You remind me of Hugh Heffner,” Jonesy asked being belted into the seat.

  Ryan could see that Jonesy wasn’t looking too healthy. He was sure he wasn’t either as his wife Kathy also looked worse for wear, and so did Maggie, Jonesy’s wife.

  “Not quite Mr. Jones,” replied Ryan happy to see that the tall man, and his weird sense of humor had survived.

  You remember my daughter Lunar?” Ryan asked. “And this is Jenny, one of the Burgos daughters.

  “I remember Lunar and Jenny a lot younger. Hell, I don’t even recognize Saturn, my own daughter. These old kids are all a bunch of real aliens if you ask me. Real Twilight Zone stuff. How long were we under, or asleep? You guys said it would take fourteen years. Apart for my legs that now feel a hundred years old, it only feels like I was put in that test tube a few hours, actually only a few minutes, ago. How come all our kids look so old?”

  “Because we are 14 years older, Dad, or do I have to whack it into you,” replied his daughter. That shut Jonesy up, as well as he was needing to puke into a bag one of the youngsters was holding and ready for.

  “America Two?” questioned Ryan looking at his elder daughter, Lunar. “She is flying?”

  “A real beaut, Dad,” replied Lunar excitedly. “This was her maiden flight into outer space to get you.”

  “The wagon wheel design?” he asked.

  “Exactly as you, Boris and Igor designed her, but with six times more fire power,” Lunar replied.

  “Who is her Flight Commander?” Kathy Richmond asked being helped towards the other astronauts by another young girl. Kathy was still groggy, but in better shape than her husband.

  “Commander Mars Noble, no less,” replied her daughter Lunar pointing towards Mars. Kathy still didn’t believe Lunar had grown up so much. “And guess what, Dad, Mom, we NextGeners have fantastic news for you. Captain Pete and Dr. Nancy survived the America One explosion. They are now retired in Australia, and on our very own island with Joanne and Roo. It’s a beautiful island, you are going to love it.”

  “Yes, once we get over the gravity conditions. Something I’m not looking forward to in this weak condition,” stated Kathy Richmond leaning over and giving her white-faced husband a kiss on the cheek. “We are not really with it, so give your father and me time to digest all this news. I can’t believe that we have been asleep for 14 years. You look so grown up Lunar…and we have three grandchildren to meet?”

  “I have two good-looking boys, Mom, James and Mark, and Pluts has a two-month old baby boy, baby Titan,” replied Lunar with feverish excitement. “He’s a darling and needs his grandmother.”

  Throughout the two cryogenic levels of the base inside the a
steroid, the same conversations were taking place between parents and their very grown up children they had left as mere teenagers.

  “Where is Penelope?” asked Michael Pitt to nobody in particular as he was helped to sit up in the cryogenic chamber. He then watched as his wife Penny who had been lying next to him was assisted by the same young lady to also sit up.

  “Vice President, Dad, I’m Shelly” replied Shelly Pitt helping her mother sit up. Shelly was Penelope’s younger sister.

  “Vice President of what, Astermine?” Penny asked as a much older-looking Jenny Burgos, and someone she didn’t recognize, came over and literally lifted her husband out of the chamber and helped sit him down an a soft earth deck chair. Once Michael was tied into a chair they lifted her out.

  “No, Mom. Vice President of The United States of America,” Shelly responded excitedly helping the two others sit her mother down next to her father.

  It took her father a few seconds to respond as her mother Penny also regained composure and together the three of them hugged as a family for several seconds.

  “Our Penelope, a politician? What is this world coming to?” stated Penny Pitt aghast. Michael Pitt said nothing but a weak smile crossed his face, like he might have known something his wife didn’t.

  Allen Saunders felt worse than his worse hangover during his Air Force Academy days. His head felt even worse than a Jimmy Hendrix drum solo.

  He was very dizzy and was laid down on the floor of the room by his eldest daughter Pluto Jane. He would have fallen if it wasn’t for her help. Allen looked around for his wife Jamie and felt even worse when he saw her puking hard into a bag.

  He closed his eyes, gripped his daughter’s hand weakly and rested. He certainly wasn’t doing this cryogenic stuff again, until he remembered that a human could only do it once, and now he knew why.

  Slowly they all regained some sort of composure but it took many minutes for every person to begin to feel human again.

  Igor was very weak, it seemed that it hit some harder than others. Boris was even worse, and luckily Mars and crew had all of Dr. Nancy’s interns with them.

  Boris’ heart stopped when he was lifted out of his horizontal chamber and tried to stand up. He immediately slumped to the floor. His fall was cushioned by two of the crew, but he still hit the floor with his head hard, and lay very still.

  Immediately two of Dr. Nancy’s “PAs’” she called them rushed over and shouted for the Defribulator one of the crew had carried in. As one ripped open Boris’ Tee-shirt the other powered up the machine and within two jumps, Boris was once again alive, although still unconscious.

  Boris would be the first to be carried aboard into SB IV to fly back to America Two, which was thirty miles off the starboard bow of DX2017 and under the captaincy of Jane Burgos.

  Jane and her younger sister Jenny had lost their parents in the last attack on The Martian Club Retreat 16 years earlier, and many remembered that they were one of a few who wouldn’t have parents waking up.

  Dr. Rogers hugged his wife Nurse Martha once they were awake. In turn they had no son waking them up, as he had died in the same attack.

  They were very excited to be told, once they had regained their composures that their good doctor friends, Dr. Nancy, now many years older than them, and Captain Pete were retired and looking forward to the return of the medical team back to earth. Dr. Nancy had given the outbound crew a letter to hand to Dr. Rogers and his wife when they were awakened.

  Lieutenant Walls was awakened, so was Vitalily with the more senior Russian crew asking for vodka. Anything was better than they felt. Even a massive hangover would be sweet compared to this cryogenic crap!

  After several hours of work making sure that all the waking crew had fluids and drips entering their bodies, and that they were strong enough to survive transfer to America Two, they left DX2017 for the last time.

  To all the crew, who had a window to see out of, the new Mother ship did look grand as they left the asteroid and headed in its direction. America Two grew rapidly as they flew towards it.

  Ryan and Kathy were adamant to be in SB-IV’s cockpit as they drew near. Together with his daughter, and Jenny Burgos who were piloting the shuttle, they watched as the latest Astermine shuttle approached a brand new mother ship which grew in their forward windshield.

  “Twelve laser guns powered by what?” asked Ryan of his daughter as they neared.

  “Each of our craft including this one, SB-IV, have new cold fusion power systems instead of the old Plutonium-238 units,” she answered. “Remember, Dad, you sent one of the Matt fusion systems down to Australia when I was a kid to be copied?” Her father nodded. “They have copied that system into several different sizes, and now many parts of planet earth are powered by these cold fusion systems. Mars, Saturn and I will bring you “OldGeners” up to date when you are comfortable aboard the mother ship in our new cafeteria.”

  “What did you call us Lunar?” asked her mother with a half-smile on her face.

  “Sorry, Mom. Over time we had begun to call you guys “OldGeners”. We have the Matts, the Tall People, the earth scientists, you called us the “NextGeners” and somehow you guys asleep up here got called the “OldGeners”.

  “I would assume Captain Pete, Dr. Nancy, Bob and his girls are now older than your mother and I, and are really OldGeners?” asked Ryan.

  “You won’t believe the difference 14 years can make,” replied Lunar. “I forbade Dr. Nancy who wanted to be up here to help you guys. She is becoming frail and certainly too old for space flight. How she and Captain Pete made it back to earth, only God knows. Also I forbade Joanne and Roo to join us. Since she is an ex-president, many, it seems, are worried about her coming up into space. They are on the island and will meet us in Nevada once you guys are strong enough.”

  “Tell me how Pete got back?” Ryan asked, his face its usual color again.

  “We will have a complete briefing on the mother ship. First we need to get you onboard, allow you at least twelve hours of rest, and then Mars, Saturn and I will bring you up to date. Dad, there is a lot of news we need to tell you, so rest for now, and enjoy the sight of America Two, your new mother ship, and a gift to you from all us ‘NextGeners’”.

  Chapter 2

  The Briefing and Return to Earth.

  The “OldGeners” slept. Not only did they sleep the twelve hours Dr. Nancy had suggested was the minimum rest needed, many slept close to 18 hours. Jonesy was the last to wake up after looking like he had passed away 19 hours 33 minutes earlier.

  Mars Noble manned the ship’s Bridge while the crew slept with Lunar heading in to take over every eight hours. America Two had already departed DX2017, and was heading back to earth leaving the asteroid to its wayward journey around the solar system.

  The latest space ship was a dream to command, and walk around. The Bridge‘s interior layout had been copied from America One’s Bridge, and was slightly larger than its predecessor. The Bridge had been designed with an astronaut briefing area, and still had its three different command sections, Captain’s Command console, Laser Command console and the ship’s flight control center.

  The spinning outer “wagon wheel” was a perfect system to walk around—upside down on the roof. There were twelve sections to the circle where doors whooshed open once somebody got within a few steps of them. The extra wide corridor took up a third of the outer half of the wheel, and the living apartments the rest, which comprised of different-sized, two-level apartments,

  Below the accommodation area and in the inner wheel area was the cargo bays, twelve of them around the wheel of the ship. These cargo bays were twenty feet high and each section was sealed off by space-proof doors which were opened by the crew using terminals with codes.

  The crew could continuously exercise around the upper wheel without stopping, as there were exercise lanes. Set between the two lanes was a white painted line on the magnetic floor boards which hid the underfloor magnets.

&
nbsp; With full speed rotation, the outer area of the wheel rotating through space at over 70 miles an hour giving centrifugal force equal to 80 percent of earth’s gravity. For the joggers, or for the crew in their apartments they were stuck to the “floor”, the roof of the ship, and upside down like flies on a ceiling.

  One of the outer twelve sections was the medical area, another housed the cafeteria and kitchens, and the other ten sections had up to 20 apartments in each section.

  Below this walkway, and inside the cargo bays were the operational departments. There were offices and sections for all the sciences, as well as one section where live plants, and animals were protected in special areas for the passage across to Mars.

  America One had been designed by Ryan as a solar system exploration ship. America Two had been changed from Ryan’s initial plans from an exploration ship to a cargo ship, a transporter between Earth and Mars. This ship wasn’t equipped with the seven biological growth cubes in America One to sustain the crew on decade-long journeys.

  There were two large columns from the revolving wheel section to the central wheel hub, and the two elevators inside them were far bigger than on America One.

  The hub, the central part of America Two was a quieter area of the ship. Here there was no centrifugal force like the spinning of the outer wheel. Only the magnets under the metal floors stuck the crew to the floor, right side up this time.

  Towards the rear was the massive thrusters and engine bays looked after by the build crew and mechanics. The central part of the hub was the elevator connection area to the outer wheel, and the forward area lead to the Bridge.

  The Bridge on America Two was round in design compared to the oval Bridge on Captain Pete’s ship, and stayed stationary while the rest of the ship above and around the hub moved around it. The forward wall of the Bridge was totally silicone glass and felt like half of a round atmospheric bubble. Inside the Bridge one felt as if they stood in a bubble in space, and could look out forward and sideways without much hindrance. The thin, but extremely powerful and strong skeleton around the dozens of panes of silicone glass was hardly visible.