The Tipping Point (Surviving the Fall 9)

“The CIA headquarters is north of us quite a way, though, isn’t it?” Rick asked. “Shouldn’t we have gone there by car first?”

“Nope,” Dr. Evans shook his head. “Damocles wasn’t the first project that the CIA and NSA collaborated on. They had a dedicated facility in the heart of D.C. that housed that work since they wanted it to be crystal clear that they were projects owned by both agencies.”

“Why would the NSA work with the CIA, though?” Jane asked. “Wasn’t the NSA in charge of all of the virtual, computer espionage stuff?”

Well,” Dr. Evans said, “The NSA’s primary functions are in code-breaking and code-making. They operate primarily in the digital realm, yes, with very few field agents. Developing a weapon of war that can strike at physical assets through a digital medium is a challenge, though. You have to have intelligence on those systems, understanding not only how they work but how they support a country. That’s where the CIA comes in. They’re the big kahuna of the agencies in some sense, but their primary role for a project like Damocles would be their extensive network of intelligence agents and assets. Where the NSA exists primarily in the digital space, the CIA exists primarily in the physical space.”

“So the CIA would collect intel that the NSA would then use to build out Damocles?” Rick nodded. “Sounds about right. I still want to know who let Damocles out into the wild.”

“Nobody was sure, from what I heard,” Dr. Evans replied. “It could have been a foreign government, but it also could have been a hacker who was poking around and released it by accident as they were trying to access secure systems. We may never know.”

“I don’t buy that it was a government. They’d be crazy to unleash something like this on purpose since it would affect them as much as anyone else.”

“Not if it was a country that was lagging behind on the technological scale. We and other heavily industrialized countries have put so much of our ‘stuff’ on the web and connected everything together which made things easy for Damocles. A country that isn’t as interconnected or reliant on computer-controlled systems wouldn’t experience the same effects. But they also wouldn’t have the resources to do this, so… yeah. It’s a mystery.”

Jane shook her head. “Regardless of who started it, as long as we can stop it then that’ll be good. I can’t ima

gine what it’ll take to rebuild, though.”

“An enormous amou—hang on. What was that?” Rick stopped short in the street and cocked his head to the side, angling it to try and pick up on something. “Did you guys hear that?”

“Hear what?” Dr. Evans and Jane stopped, and he turned to look at Rick as he replied.

“It sounded like an engine starting up, but I don’t… wait. There it is again!” Rick’s voice dropped to a whisper and he looked intently at Jane and Dr. Evans, both of whom had their heads back, rotating them around as they tried to pick up on what he was hearing. Jane was the first to nod, confirming that whatever Rick thought he heard wasn’t just in his imagination.

“Yep, that’s an engine. No question.” She glanced at Dr. Evans, then back at Rick with a worried expression. “That can’t be good, can it?”

“Very few things seem to be good these days,” Rick replied. He unslung the rifle he had been carrying from his shoulder and slipped off his backpack. “Check your weapons, you two. Make sure they’re loaded and you have your spare mags close at hand.” The rifle had been one of the handful of weapons they had taken from the group attacking them in the Kansas City store, along with a few pistols and boxes of ammunition for both the rifle and pistols. An AR-type rifle chambered in .556, it was equipped with an off-brand scope that Rick was certain was nowhere close to being properly zeroed but they had neither the time nor the spare ammunition to do it.

While Rick collected the magazines for the rifle and the 9mm pistol in his waistband, Jane made sure that the magazines for her .380 were easily accessible while Dr. Evans did the same for his 9mm pistol. None of them were happy with their armament but it was better than nothing and would have to do in a pinch.

“It’s getting louder,” Jane whispered as Rick stood up and put his backpack on. He gripped the rifle tightly and gulped as he tried to calm his racing heart. He had known that they would be more likely than not to run into yet another conflict before arriving at their destination, but that knowledge did nothing to make him feel less nervous.

“Yep. Follow me and let’s keep going. We’ll stick as close to the buildings as possible and try to get around these guys, whoever they are. Hopefully we can slip past them and avoid any problems.”

Chapter 4

Earth Orbit

Seven Hours After the Event

“Give it another half second.”

“Direction?”

“Same as before.”

“Got it. Waiting for your mark.”

“Three… two… one… mark.”

The small capsule shudders as its engine kicks on for exactly one half of one second, increasing its speed and making the three occupants tense up involuntarily. When the burn completes, there is another jolt and the cabin of the capsule is once again enveloped by silence. The three crewmembers hold their breath as Commander Palmer studies their position, waiting to see if the burn was executed properly or not.

“We’re in the pipe.” His words are accompanied by exhalations of relief from Ted and Jackie as they look at each other, hopeful for the first time since leaving ISS-2. “We’re synchronized with the ISS’s orbit. Thirty minutes till visual acquisition, then another hour or so till we can make contact.” Commander Palmer extends his arms, bumping them against the wall of the capsule as he tries in vain to stretch.

Built as a lifeboat to escape the ISS-2 in case of catastrophic emergencies, the small capsule was never designed to cross the vast distances separating the second and first space stations. When faced with certain death in a space station whose orbit is rapidly decaying, though, designs are thrown out the window and every effort is made to survive, no matter what. Thus, as the ISS-2 continued its dive towards the earth, the small capsule ejected, heading for the International Space Station – a place that has been empty and dormant for a full six months, ever since the ISS-2 was brought online.

“Either of you ever been to the ISS?” Commander Palmer leans forward and looks to his left at Ted and Jackie. All three crewmembers are dressed in full EVA suits and are wearing extra oxygen tanks. The capsule barely has enough room to fit them, to say nothing of the hoards of food and other supplies they stuffed into every nook and cranny.