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.” “Wel that lets out Anchorage and Fairbanks”Captain Sorenson said to no one in particular.“Shuttle four to Arton Four I am taking a reading from 66 degrees North Latitude, just inside the Arctic Circle, the air is not, I repeat, is not contaminated.” “Shuttle five to Arton Four, I am taking a reading from Barrow, Alaska, 340 miles North of the Arctic Circle, the air is clean, I repeat, the air is clean.I see people on the ground, there must be three thousand of them, send more shuttles.” “Captain Sorenson sent all nineteen remaining shuttles to Barrow and they began to evacuate refugees.Within four hours they had received five thousand people on board the Arton Four.The Arton One, Arton Two and Arton Three all responded.The Arton Two and Arton Three stil had cargo on board but they could take on refugees.The Captains threw the safety book out the window and accelerated to Warp speed.The A1made Earth Polar orbit in just under three hours.The Arton Two and Arton Three weren't far behind.The A1immediately launched their 15 shuttles.Within six hours they had completed the evacuation of Barrow and some thirty seven Alaska villages.The radio room of the Arton Two picked up an SOS on a Navy frequency.Between the four ships they had rescued eighteen thousand people from the Arctic.They were all safely on board the ships within eight hours of when the rescue of Barrow had began and the air stil tested clean.There were traces of radiation showing up but the atmosphere was stil in the safe zone.“SOS This is USS Patrick Hudson, does anybody copy.SOS” “Patrick Hudson this is USSS Arton Two, we are in Arctic orbit around Earth.What is your location?” “We are just below the ice cap near the North Pole, at 69 degrees North Latitude, the air is not, I repeat, not contaminated.” over.”“Patrick Hudson, please proceed south until you find ice thin enough to break through.Then surface but keep the vessel sealed.We wil spot you and pick you up once you have surfaced.How many of you are there?” “There are 92 in our crew, we were under the pole on maneuvers when things went bad.” “Arton Four launched the three Shuttle which headed for the North Pole and made radio contact.We have three Shuttle looking now they wil be near your location an prox one hour.They should be able to spot you but they are on this radio connection now.Shuttle one to Patrick Hudson do you know the approximate coordinates where you wil be able to surface?” “The skipper of the sub gave them a coordinates then said we wil surface in prox one hour, just about the time you arrive.” “This is Shuttle One, we wil get readings before you surface.” “This is Patrick Hudson, we are in place to surface, our exact coordinates is, and he gave the coordinates.” “Copy that, Patrick Hudson, our three Shuttle are approaching now, We are only getting a trace of radiation, You couldn't live in it for years but it wont hurt you to be exposed for a few minutes.”“Surface, surface surface.” Then the pilots saw the Ice mound and saw the Patrick Hudson.They maneuvered their so as to pull up within 50 feet of the sub.“Get your people out now and make a run for our shuttle.Send your people in three groups and have each group go to a different Shuttle.” “Roger that” The main hatch popped open and the 92 crew members made a beeline for the Shuttle's.Once inside the ships were sealed and took off.Little over an hour later they were docked beside the Arton Four and Air locks were secured.“The crew of the sub were the happiest people the crew of the Arton Four had ever seen.During debriefing they said they had picked up scattered radio traffic after the destruction but one by one over the next several days the radio chatter had stopped as the people had died of radiation poisoning.“The only people on the planet who could have survived would be people that were in sealed chambers such as we were in the Patrick Hudson.“There may be other submarine crews but I doubt it.Once they surfaced anywhere on Earth anywhere other than where we surfaced they were exposed to a lethal dose of radiation, and were goners in a few days.We know that from the radio contacts that we had.Also most of the ocean is also pol uted with radiation.It was working it's way North but hadn't reached us yet.If you hadn't come along when you did we would have been dead in two weeks, or less.Even the people in the Ant Arctic would have a lethal dose by now.” “My question is what do we do now?” “We are returning to Mars, I think our work here is done.” Two hours later the Arton Four pulled out of orbit and headed for Mars.”“Boy are we ever glad to see you guys, but now that you have rescued us where can you take us, Arton?” “Hardly, We, and you, I am afraid are going to have to live out our lives in those miserable caves on Mars.” With that remark said the questions began to fly at Captain Sorenson from all the leaders from Barrow, the vil ages and the Patrick Hudson that had met in the dining room for the briefing that Captain Sorenson had requested.“Does the colony on Mars have room for us?” “Wil they share their food with us?” “What will happen when they run out of food and there are no more supply ships coming from earth?” “I would hate the thought of living out my life in a cramped little cave!” “Well I am afraid that is just going to have to be your fate” The answers to your other questions are “yes they wil share their food with us, yes, they have enough room for us.The two Mars Supply ships were retired five years ago but Mars Runner stil makes regular runs to Mars, they haul more people to Mars and Mars exports back to Earth.They also have been hauling luxury items to Mars on their way up.Things Martians have ordered off the internet and paid for.You wil just have to wait and see your new home when you arrive on Mars [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]