Read Online The Filter Trap by A. L. Lorentz - Free Book Online

world powers have instituted martial law and, for the time being, kept their casualties to a minimum. Since most Americans were already at home for the Christmas holiday, the country is remarkably stable. The worst of it for Middle America are a few riots for food. The bad news is, with this coordination we have others, like Dr. Sands, who have managed to get ahold of a telescope and point it up, creating more questions than answers.”
    The major pointed his index finger directly up in a swift move. Allan silenced an urge to correct him: a telescope never looks directly up.
    “The public might panic more when they do get communication networks back and start asking those questions.”
    “Something easily quelled by a few M2-equipped Humvees and a man at the ready,” Nana quipped.
    The major snapped his neck to stare at Nana.
    “Sorry for the interruption, sir.”
    “Despite yourself, you’ve got it right, airman. C-30s started making deliveries to places usually flown-over a few hours ago. They were offered ostensibly as protection, our own little gifts from Santa, but the local NRA members sniffed the threat of martial law and things got tense. Dropping a few larger gifts, soldiers and tanks, put a stop to that. However, this crisis is still young, and 300 million people haven’t been informed yet that our satellites didn’t disappear, we did.”
    “Pardon me,” Allan started, hoping his assumptions were wrong, “what do you mean, we ?”
    “You. Me. Us. Everyone. We appear to have been moved out of our regular orbit. Since we’re in daylight in the Western Hemisphere we really only have sparse reports from the East to verify, but from what we’ve seen it’s undeniable.”
    “I’m sorry,” Allan had to interrupt, “I just wanted to make sure the military came to the same conclusion I did. The Earth is definitely off course, or worse.”
    “Hey! Why you lettin’ egghead interrupt?” Nana protested.
    “Look, pilot, rank doesn’t grant either of us the privilege of the full story. If Dr. Sands chooses to run his mouth, and you don’t interrupt, we might learn something new.”
    “What do you mean, ‘or worse?’” asked SIMI. “How could it get worse than the whole planet getting picked up and pushed around? I can’t even get my head around that.”
    Allan bit his lip. “Our recent lack of geocentric orbiting material may have affected our new orbit much less than the gravitational effects of the nearest star, which has broader implications than a longer year.”
    “Hold up, stop!” Nana put up his hand. “Doc, you know what a green apple is?”
    “I’m assuming pilot slang.”
    “Damn right. It’ll save your life in a pinch, but not if you don’t know what it is, and it ain’t a piece of fruit. What you know could save all our lives, but stop assuming we all have an astrology PhD.”
    “Astronomy,” Allan corrected. “One is superstition and the other science.”
    “Exactly!” Nana said with frustration, slapping SIMI’s arm for support. “If I tell you the green apple in your cockpit is gone, it won’t mean shit to you, but if I told you your emergency oxygen supply is gone you’d get the picture real quick. Pretend you’re explaining this to your kids or your wife . . . or the president.”
    “The airman’s not far off,” Britely reminded him. “You made the president’s list for a reason, Doctor Sands”
    “Well I hope I do get to explain all this to my wife. Is she here?”
    “No.”
    “Well where is she?”
    “I don’t know, Doctor. If command says she’s safe, then she’s safe, and the only reason they’ve kept her safe is so you can answer questions like what this airman has posed. I’m sure you’ll be reunited with your family in due time, but we have more important things to worry about first, like the security of our entire nation-nay, the planet.”
    Allan closed his eyes, pausing to start fresh and set his concerns for his family aside for the moment.