Evacuation Earth E-Book

Stig Granfors

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

The fate of Earth is sealed, and the population must be evacuated. The oganesson, which Pyrrus and Kerk deliver, is not enough to protect against the increasingly strong radiation from space. Only a fraction of the population can be evacuated. The choice is hard but must be done. Pyrrus and Kerk choose to evacuate minorities from all corners of Earth. How to manage the chaos? How to make room for all the refugees in the few spaceships available? Will the refugees have a place in the new Andromeda colonies? An old family secret also has devastating consequences for Pyrrus' and Kerk's participation in the evacuation. The disaster is closer than ever. The tenth and final novel about the space adventurers Pyrrus and Kerk, whose motto is 'It will get better'.

Leseprobe

Stig Granfors/Marcus Granfors 

Adventure novel

Original title: Evakuering Jorden – Pyrrus och Kerk 10Translation: Stig Granfors

Books by Stig Granfors

Non-fiction

Civilisationens gåtor (2005)

Skapelsens gåtor (2006)

Livets gåtor (2008)

En skön ny värld (2010)

Historiska gåtor (2019)

Biologiska gåtor (2019)

Fiction

Liv (2011)

Glimt av hopp (2012)

Skärseld (2013)

Strid (2014)

Botnia (2015)

Varningen (2017)

Hotet (2019)

In English

Stonehenge threat (2021)

Books by Stig Granfors and Marcus Granfors

In Swedish

Neodym – Pyrrus och Kerk 1 (2020)

Västvärlden – Pyrrus och Kerk 2 (2020)

Östvärlden – Pyrrus och Kerk 3 (2020)

Sydvärlden – Pyrrus och Kerk 4 (2021)

Nordvärlden – Pyrrus och Kerk 5 (2021)

Ökenplaneten – Pyrrus och Kerk 6 (2021)

Vildarnas uppror – Pyrrus och Kerk 7 (2022)

Skräcködlorna – Pyrrus och Kerk 8 (2022)

Intelligent liv – Pyrrus och Kerk 9 (2022)

Evakuering Jorden – Pyrrus och Kerk 10 (2023)

In English

Neodymium – Pyrrus and Kerk 1 (2020)

Westworld – Pyrrus and Kerk 2 (2021)

Eastworld – Pyrrus and Kerk 3 (2021)

Southworld – Pyrrus and Kerk 4 (2021)

Northworld – Pyrrus and Kerk 5 (2021)

Desert Planet – Pyrrus and Kerk 6 (2021)

Savage Uprising - Pyrrus and Kerk 7 (2022)

Horror Lizards – Pyrrus and Kerk 8 (2022)

Intelligent Life – Pyrrus and Kerk 9 (2022)

Evacuation Earth – Pyrrus and Kerk 10 (2023)

© 2023 Stig Granfors and Marcus Granfors

https://stiggranfors.jimdofree.com/

Publisher: BoD - Books on Demand GmbH, Finland

Print: BoD - Books on Demand GmbH, Germany

ISBN: 9789523300842

The runaway

What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step.Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The rope cut into her wrists. Still, she struggled feverishly with the knots. One was loose and now she worked on the other. The attempt to get free took an infinite amount of time. She cried in pain every time the rope cut into the open wounds. But she didn’t give up.

Beside her, one of the de Klerk’s men was snoring. He had fallen asleep after first caressing her half-naked body with dirty and sticky fingers. But drunk as the men often were this late at night, this mercenary had also passed out quickly.

The man belonged to de Klerk’s ”Spesiale troepe vyf”. Vyf meant five. The number was everywhere on the soldiers’ green uniforms. The girl had heard the name of the troop mentioned many times around the campfire, around which the men sat in the evenings and boasted of their deeds. She had also heard alarming news about an evacuation that had been set in motion. The men had joked that they were among the last to be evacuated. In the meantime, they intended to spend the waiting time hunting. Hunting human prey. As a reward for all the services they had done for this de Klerk.

The girl didn’t know who this person was, but he must be a monster, because he unleashed these savages among her people.

Her name was Natinka. She was sixteen years old and had been taken prisoner with ten other young girls. They had all been taken to this village, which had previously been emptied of its inhabitants. The inhabitants had fled to the savannah as far north as they could. There wasn’t much room left for them. The border where the heat and radiation destroyed all life drew closer and closer to the villages out in the countryside.

From the men’s comments, Natinka understood that all this was part of a diabolical plan. The villagers had been deliberately scared away without major loss or damage. The fate of the inhabitants would be sealed later.

Natinka didn’t know what had happened to the other girls. They had all been placed in different huts. But Natinka could imagine what horrors her companions of fate were exposed to. She had heard the cries. Sometimes the screams had stopped as suddenly as they had begun. It was this subsequent and ominous silence that frightened her the most.

From the men’s stories, she understood that most of the refugees had walked diagonally across the savannah. The destination to the coast was a hundred miles or more. The men had also joked about this at the campfire. Others in Spesiale troepe were waiting for the refugees on the other side of the savannah. These special forces would chase the refugees back. Once the villagers were suitably spread out over a large area, the final hunt would begin.

This troop had been assigned a quota of fifty black victims. The distribution had been made so that everyone would have their appetites satiated.

The girl shivered.

Not just because of the night cold.

The soldiers scared her.

Because of their hunger for blood.

The special forces were not satisfied with a simple hunt. They had armed some of the refugees to make the hunt more exciting. The villagers had indeed been given knives as weapons. These were good in close combat, but most of the refugees were still shot from afar by the eager soldiers.

These were older soldiers, scarred by countless skirmishes and similar purges over the years. Depopulating the villages was the ultimate strategy. The last opportunity before ”Die aarde sterf”, as the men put it.

The girl didn’t exactly know what that meant, but it didn’t sound like anything positive. Was Earth about to die? However, she had more serious and more immediate concerns to deal with right now than understanding the Afrikaans the soldiers spoke.

She wouldn’t survive another day. The man in her company had already cut her with his knife. Her arms and legs were full of sore wounds. She had managed to lick some of the wounds clean. But many wounds were still covered with dirt, which had penetrated into the deepest cuts.

She continued with the rope.

Another knot untied.

And one more.

Finally, she had one hand free. After that, it was faster to get the other hand loose as well. The rope around her feet wasn’t that tight and suddenly she was completely free. She looked greedily at the knife at the sleeping man’s belt, but the man had swung to one side so that he was half on top of the knife hilt. Natinka didn’t dare to take the knife. Her best chance was to flee immediately.

She crept quietly and carefully to the exit. Two soldiers, who had woken up and were relieving their bladder a few steps away, made her retreat at once back into the hut. She wondered anxiously if the men had heard her. Apparently not, because a moment later they went back to their hut. After that, silence settled over the village again.

Natinka waited a moment and then crept up to the opening. This time she saw no one nearby. She ran crouched on light feet to the edge of the village.

Her heart leaped for joy.

She was free!

She continued out into the savannah. A few minutes later she stopped to examine the wounds. Two of the deepest wounds were still bleeding. That was a bad sign. The predators and especially the leopards could smell blood from far away.

She changed direction and headed towards the river, which split the savannah in two. After an hour, maybe more, she heard gurgling water. She stopped and listened intently. The leopards hunted at night and used the narrow river as a watering hole.

Natinka wanted to avoid the predators in this darkness. Now she regretted not taking the knife after all. However, she found a thick branch, which she peeled into a six feet long spear. One tip she worked with a stone into a sharp edge. It wasn’t a great weapon but better than nothing.

A deep silence reigned everywhere. Even the birds had fallen silent. She stiffened. The silence probably meant that one or more predators were nearby.

After a while, however, the chirping of the birds and the sounds of the monkeys started again. The danger was over. Natinka crept down to the river and washed her wounds carefully. The smell of blood must be removed. She peeled long strips of bark from small bushes by the river bank and used these wet strips as bandages. When this was done, she anxiously scanned the terrain.

Farther away, tall, gnarled trees could be seen as black silhouettes against the starry night sky. She went to the trees and climbed the highest. At the same time, she scared away the birds and monkeys that had the tree as their home. The monkeys chattered loudly in anger and tried to fend off this new intruder. But Natinka waved her spear and made them give up their intended fight for territory.

Natinka found a comfortable place at the top of the tree and lay down to rest. The tree didn’t offer sufficient protection against the predators and especially the leopards, which were good climbers.

But Natinka wasn’t going to sleep.

She was just going to rest for a while.

Soon she was fast asleep.

The birds returned to the tree and kept their watchful eyes upon her. It was as if they knew that this human wreck had been subjected to great torment.

She deserved a rest.

Natinka woke up early the following morning. A violent headache tormented her. She noted that her head had rested on the remains of a sharp branch all night. Gently massaging the sore spot didn’t help much.

She examined her wounds. The pus from the two deepest wounds had disappeared and was replaced by a thick scab. She gently ran her index finger over her many wounds, both deep and small. More than thirty, but most were very small. Still, they tormented her as if someone stuck a thousand needles in her every second.

Her spear had fallen to the ground. She climbed down from the tree and picked up the weapon. She saw now how inadequate the thick branch was as a weapon. It was heavy and crooked, and the edge wasn’t sharp enough. But it was the only weapon she had.

She briefly considered sneaking back to the men’s camp and stealing a weapon. She knew how the guns worked, because during her captivity she had studied every movement the soldiers made.

Her stomach grumbled. Thirst and hunger called for attention. Without thinking, she ran to the river and threw herself into the water. She washed her wounds again and then drank some water. The red berries of the bushes by the river bank satisfied her worst hunger. But her stomach was still grumbling.

Suddenly she heard a low growl.

Then another one.

And one more.

Three leopards crept about in the bushes. Natinka froze and hid where the river was deepest. Leopards rarely splashed into the water. They used to be content to stand on the river bank and lap water with their long tongues.

Natinka lay on her back and breathed through a thin reed straw. It felt cooling to lie there under the water. Shadows appeared in her field of vision. She lay very still and breathed lightly through the straw. She was careful not to move her arms and legs.

The speckled shadows on the river bank lapped water and sniffed around for a while. The leopards apparently sensed the smell her. But it disappeared by the river. The prey had probably gone up the other side. The leopards ran off to look for a better place to cross the river.

The scent resembled that from a human creature.

The prey wouldn’t escape.

The humans were slow in their reactions.

Their weapons were, of course, dangerous. But the leopards felt no scent of the dangerous metal sticks used by the humans. This lonely creature was unarmed.

An easy prey.

If the leopards had human emotions, they would have shown a wide smile at this point. But these three leopards just ran quietly and purposefully on. Food was scarce on the new savannah. This prey wasn’t allowed to slip away.

Natinka knew she had no time to lose. The water rushed off her as she struggled out of the muddy river and waded towards the shore. Once on solid ground, she quickly ran towards the tree, which had been her place for the night. On the way there, she picked up a fist-sized rock and another thick branch.

She quickly climbed up the tree with her new acquisitions and waited. Leopards didn’t give up easily. They would return and follow the scent of her back to the tree.

This realization made her moan loudly. Leopards were good at climbing. Natinka decided to climb even higher and hide in the dense foliage. The thick branch she placed pointing down, while she held the stone and the spear in her hand. Then she changed her mind and chose the thick branch instead.

The nervousness made her tremble. Waiting was always the hardest part. The fight itself was relatively simple. Then you reacted out of instinct. When there wasn’t much time to think.

However, Natinka realized that she was easy prey for three leopards. They could surround her and attack her from different directions. This realization made her drag herself further and further back onto a branch, until its swaying motions forced her to stop.

The chirping of the birds and the sounds of the monkeys fell silent. Natinka heard the sneaking paws in the tall grass below. Even the slight rustling of the wind seemed to subside for a moment as the leopards crept up to the tree. The leopards had found her scent trail, which led them to the only conceivable place. The tall tree in the middle of the savannah.

She caught a glimpse of the first leopard. It peered up through the foliage but didn’t seem to spot the small creature hiding in the foliage.

Another leopard appeared. The black spots on its orange-yellow fur were clearly visible. This leopard caught sight of Natinka. It roared angrily and vented its displeasure at being forced to climb the tall tree.

The leopard jumped up and grabbed one of the lowest branches. The predator growled angrily and began to climb. The leopard was the largest specimen Natinka had ever seen. It was taller than her from head to tail and seemed to weigh twice as much. Natinka knew that leopards living out on the open savannah were generally larger than the leopards living in the big forests. And this specimen apparently broke the record.

The increasingly warmer climate had also changed the behaviour of these predators. Now they hunted almost always. Previously, the leopards had been active mainly during the dark hours of the night.

Natinka didn’t see the third leopard. It had apparently given up. Perhaps it had found some other prey. But these two angry leopards were more than enough for her.

Natinka was especially afraid of their sharp claws. She backed further out onto the branch she was sitting on. The branch creaked alarmingly. The big leopard roared as it heard the sound and approached slowly. The other leopard was content to stand at the foot of the tree and watch. It yawned widely and laid down on its stomach to await the easy prey, which would fall down from the tree at any moment.

However, the leopard that climbed was the heaviest of them. The branches were already swaying when the leopard came halfway. The heavy feline now climbed more and more cautiously, putting its paws down only after thoroughly testing the bearing capacity of the next branch.

The leopard bared its teeth as it finally met Natinka’s gaze. Natinka sat completely motionless. The leopard crawled closer, inch by inch. Every muscle in its body seemed to be strained to the limit.

The leopard was an impressive animal.

But dangerous.

If only they could leave me alone, Natinka thought. But her wish wasn’t fulfilled. The leopard was now sitting on a sturdy branch about six feet below her. It braced itself for the last and deadly jump.

The moment the leopard took charge and flew towards her, Natinka lifted the thick branch and thrust it with all her might into the leopard’s mouth. The leopard flew still further and impaled itself on the thick branch.

In the moment of death, it clawed with its paws and was able to scratch new wounds on Natinka’s right leg. But she barely noticed it. Instead, she trembled with fear and exhaustion as the tension released for a moment.

She watched the leopard’s eyes until its gaze faded. Then she let go of the leopard, branch, and all. The animal’s body fell from tree branch to tree branch until it finally landed with a big thud next to the other leopard. This quickly flew up and ran away frightened. The easy prey in the tree wasn’t defenceless after all.

Natinka climbed down on trembling legs. She skinned the leopard with the sharp end of her spear. A large piece of meat was the only thing she took. She left the rest to the vultures and the hyenas in the area.

Hungry as she was, she immediately made a fire. Her father had taught her how to start a fire by banging two stones together. The dry grass in the hastily fixed fireplace quickly caught fire. She first threw thin sticks onto the fire and then progressively coarser twigs. She made sure the flames were small. She didn’t want to attract the soldiers. These must have gone looking for her by now.

Natinka cut the meat into smaller pieces and fried them on sticks, which she clamped between the stones of the hearth. She ate the meat half-raw. It was chewy and didn’t taste good, but at least it quenched her hunger and gave her the proteins she needed.

She fried the whole piece of meat and wrapped what she didn’t eat in a simple sack made of twigs and long blades of grass. She threw the sack over her shoulder and prepared to leave the dead leopard. The hyenas had already gathered some distance away and were eagerly awaiting their turn.

Natinka took a detour around the hyenas and went back to the river. She intended to follow it downstream. That way she would reach the coast at some point. A very long trek lay ahead of her.

What would she do when she got to the coast?

She had no idea.

One day at a time.

And if that was too much.

One hour at a time.

She again went down to the river, drank of the water, and then continued the long and arduous walk along the stream. If only she had something to cover her upper body with. The hot rays of the sun tormented her very much especially during the hottest hours of the day.

She hid in the shade of a thicket and decided to resume her walk at night.

Sleep during the day and walk at night.

This would be her strategy.

The decision was made.

She intended to survive.

Why?

That question had no answer.

Not yet.

Natinka thought about her companions. The screams and tormented sounds followed her constantly and gave her no rest. But there was nothing she could do. Just run away.

She thought of all those who had died in the first attack on the village. Natinka had seen the coming of death several times before, but not on such a scale. She felt a bitter hatred growing inside her. Life had been extinguished completely unnecessarily and it made her feel sick. Her friends in the village had just laid down to die.

Alone and abandoned.

Natinka’s heart screamed a silent protest at all this injustice and despairing futility. She would never see her family and friends again. She didn’t even remember what they had looked like. They had all turned into grey, faceless creatures.

But she wasn’t going to forget them.

This de Klerk would have to pay a heavy price for the atrocities his men had committed.

Revenge.

That was her only thought now.

Revenge had to take the time it took.

She would never forgive.

Gloomy news

The threat to life in the galaxy was averted. How the invisible Shadows on Pyrrus’ and Kerk’s home planet Neodymium had caused the two stars to explode at the edge of the galaxy was a mystery. The grey creatures’ macabre plans to exterminate all life in the galaxy had been prevented. Once again, a rare calm reigned in the new colonies of the Andromeda Galaxy.

Pyrrus and the others began planning for the future. But the calm didn’t last long. Late one evening, Kerk came in with the grim report.

”Now it’s confirmed,” he noted. ”Earth must be evacuated, and they are requesting help from all colonies.”

”The cosmic radiation?” Pyrrus wondered with raised eyebrows.

Kerk nodded briefly.

Pyrrus wasn’t particularly surprised by the news. Earth had been living on borrowed time for a long time. But he hadn’t expected the end to happen this quickly. Apparently, the situation had taken everyone by surprise, not least the Earth’s population of a few million inhabitants.

Pyrrus grimaced slightly. There was no way to evacuate everyone on Earth. Many would perish with it. It wouldn’t be easy to accept that truth. Pyrrus wondered at the chaos that would follow. Or had the inhabitants on Earth already resigned and accepted the idea that the planet wouldn’t exist much longer?

This also put an end to his and Kerk’s plans to introduce the new Neo religion to Earth’s population. He had already prepared himself to be the new Messiah, as the invisible Shadows had predicted he would be. His promise to them would thus not be fulfilled.

Kerk eyed the report in his hand. ”The harmful particles from space are bombarding Earth more and more often. They are now penetrating the Earth’s atmosphere, because the strong rays from the Sun have damaged the outer layer. Even the magnetic field doesn’t protect anymore.”

”Then they’re really short of time,” Pyrrus stated with a sad voice.

”Yes, a year, maybe two, according to the most optimistic calculations,” Kerk replied. ”Shall we participate in the evacuation?”

Such serious reports had arrived before, but now the remaining population on Earth faced an ultimatum. Evacuate or die. The cosmic radiation wouldn’t decrease, but rather increase in intensity.

The population on Earth had already previously fled to the outermost parts of the southern and northern hemispheres. From ten billion inhabitants, the number had quickly decreased to just a few million.

Pyrrus didn’t answer Kerk’s question right away. He thought for a long time. The oganesson in their cargo hold could improve the discs that were deployed in Earth’s outer atmosphere and that protected against space radiation. At best, the improved discs would buy them more time.

The best would of course be to stop the radiation completely before it reached Earth. But that didn’t work. The cosmic rays were still a mystery. No one knew where the most energetic of these particles came from.

However, there were some clues or assumptions. The sources of the particles were traced in some cases to nearby, active galaxies. It seemed that the supermassive black holes at the centre of the active galaxies accelerated the cosmic particles and sent them into space. How or why remained unclear. The only thing that was known for sure was that the particles bombarded habitable planets like Earth with their harmful content.

Pyrrus looked up at Kerk and said, “Of course we have to help. But there will be no question of a mass evacuation for us. Our spaceship holds forty people at the most, maybe sixty if we squeeze some into the cabin as well. It will be uncomfortable for everyone.” He gave Kerk a questioning look. “But sixty rather than forty, right?”

He studied the brief report Kerk gave him. ”Who is coordinating the evacuation? The World Council? It will be a difficult job. It says that there are only five large spaceships left on Earth. Each holds perhaps eight hundred. And the smaller spaceships in the galaxy are few, maybe eight or nine capable of flight at best.” He looked up at Kerk again. ”Why haven’t they started the evacuation a long time ago? Why now when it’s almost too late? Only a minimal percentage of the population will be able to evacuate.”

Kerk regarded Pyrrus with sad eyes. ”The members of the World Council haven’t agreed on the necessary actions. Some think they should wait and see. The different regions are quite helpless.” Kerk sighed deeply. “At first they decided to ignore the scientist warnings. There is plenty of time, the Council President de Klerk said just a few weeks ago. Now he too has been hit by the harsh reality. The latest progress reports are stunning to read. But of course they have been kept secret from the population. The residents don’t yet know how little time they have left.”

”Have you seen all the reports?” Pyrrus wondered.

Kerk nodded. ”The astrobiologists on Eastworld sent me the classified copies.” He looked up at Pyrrus. “I don’t know how they got hold of them. Straight from some scientist on Earth, I guess. But as I said, I’m not authorized to tell you about them, because they are classified. So you haven’t heard this from me.”

Pyrrus smiled but then immediately turned serious again. ”Why do they have advisers, if they don’t listen,” he blurted out.

Kerk shrugged. ”It’s probably too hard to swallow all at once. The World Council members assumed they had several hundred years to begin the evacuation. Now it has to happen faster than expected. And as you say, a large part of the population will be forced to stay in any case. Also if they had reacted in time. Now there will only be significantly fewer that can be accommodated in the available spaceships.”

Kerk looked up from his notes. “The good news is that the black hole to Earth is wide open. According to the astrobiologists on Eastworld, it will be open for five to six months.” Kerk quickly counted in his head. ”Five large ships times five trips – the trip here takes about three weeks thanks to the new engines – that’s almost twenty thousand people. And our at best eight smaller ships provide two thousand four hundred people. A total of about twenty-two thousand, in other words. What will be the percentage?” He thought and counted on his fingers.

Pyrrus was faster. ”It will be less than half a percent. A depressingly low number.” Then he looked up at Kerk. ”There are, of course, habitable planets in the Milky Way as well. They can try some of them.”

Kerk looked at Pyrrus in surprise. ”But the journey to the nearest habitable planet in the Milky Way is very long. That’s why, as a first measure, we began to explore the Andromeda galaxy, because the black hole shortened the journey to habitable planets considerably.” Kerk slowly shook his head. “Evacuating to other planets in the Milky Way is only a last desperate option. Not that realistic. I don’t know why you even mention it.”

Pyrrus sighed loudly. ”I’m clutching at straws.” With a pained expression on his face, he stood up and stated, “Let’s inform the others. We should probably get ready immediately.” He looked questioningly at Kerk. ”Is the spaceship in order?”

Kerk shook his head worriedly. ”I haven’t had time for the annual service yet. All engine parts should be removed and cleaned. And the hull should be sealed. It took a beating during our long journey to the edge of the galaxy.” Then he met Pyrrus’ gaze. ”If we are to cope with the strong gravitational forces in the black hole, all parts must be carefully examined. Otherwise, it will be our last journey.”

Pyrrus looked at him questioningly. ”How much time will that take?”

”Three or four days, if everyone helps,” Kerk replied. ”Most of us have experience of using welding and soldering irons. Also Daphne and Julia. In addition, Alun and his two chemist colleagues can jump in. The laboratory can wait a while.” Then Kerk grinned. ”We can work in shifts. Then the welds will be in constant use. We can shorten the time to two days.”

”We need to gather provisions as well,” Pyrrus pointed out.

”Alun and his chemists can take care of that,” Kerk said. “Schuu can help too.”

Schuu was their new pet, which Kerk had taken care of. Schuu had helped them escape the intelligent beings on the dying planet at the edge of the galaxy. Schuu was a cross between a small lion and a furry lap dog and had quickly become everyone’s favourite. Even Pyrrus was forced to admit that Schuu was useful, though he had been suspicious of the small animal at first.

Pyrrus admitted that he sometimes jumped to conclusions about people or animals he encountered. First impressions weren’t always fair. He had also grossly misjudged Kerk when they met and teamed up to fight the pirates who had invaded Neodymium.

He smiled as he remembered his first reviews of Kerk. Again he asked himself the same question as before.

Should he be kinder to Kerk?

No, never.

Kerk was annoying.

A difficult person.

Sometimes a complete idiot.

That perception had, of course, changed. Admittedly, Kerk was still a troublesome type, but he had also proved to be a good companion, when it really mattered.

They acted in unison.

No problems at all.

But Kerk was troublesome.

He required infinite patience.

Something that Pyrrus lacked.

The important thing, however, was that their collaboration worked. Despite their differences, the two space travellers were now a well-knit team. They understood each other without having to discuss all the details.

Kerk had the same opinion, Pyrrus thought. He had never asked. Maybe because he was afraid of the answer?

Pyrrus caught Kerk’s eye.

No, they had the same thought.

No doubt about it.

”We also need to make a plan for our part of the evacuation,” Pyrrus said. ”Who should we prioritize?”