Annihilation of a Planet III

By Antonion Borges

An arc of light across the sky and shots fired from a U.S. Navy Blue Angel F/A-18 supersonic hornet fail to collide; the light vanishes from the sky, and the light energy of the android Lawrence streaks to the earth and into the labs of C&L Automation, straight to the alien disc brought previously from Mars.
Dr. Paul Linsdale, unaware of Lawrence’s return, celebrates the birth of his son, Lawrence Love Linsdale, and goes to congress to request approval and funding for a project that will quell the dangerous supervolcano in Yellowstone National Park.
Congress gives the go-ahead, and for nine years the project proceeds. A ring of 1,000 manmade geysers operate to help Old Faithful bring an end to the supervolcano.
Dr. Linsdale’s son, visiting C&L and exploring on his own, happens upon the alien disk. There he is enlisted by his namesake, Lawrence, to help him flee the planet he has saved twice. Now he seeks only to live in peace, far beyond the Milky Way, with Lilah, the elder care robot who loves him.
Is a nine-year-old boy up to the task? Can Lawrence finally succeed in his quest for true love? More important for Earth, can the Yellowstone be saved?
Antonion Borges leads us from the historical roots of mankind to the far reaches of an unknown time and space. Interspersed with the quests of Linsdale and Lawrence, TV news broadcasts offer a glimpse into life in 2262.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: May 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781528982924

Antonion Borges

Antonion Borges's far-ranging curiosity and inventiveness belie his formal training. Having graduated from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Department of Harvard Medical School as well as the Sawyer School in Radio and Television Broadcasting, he works in the field of ophthalmology and pathology. His books testify to the truth that he is a modern version of the Renaissance Man.

Book preview

Goodbye

About the Author

Antonion Borges’s far-ranging curiosity and inventiveness belie his formal training. Having graduated from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary Department of Harvard Medical School as well as in Radio and Television Broadcasting from the Sawyer School, he works in the field of ophthalmology and pathology. His research into the supervolcano at Yellowstone National Park and his ideas about how to resolve the problem are particularly perceptive, and they inform this novel in a way that is educational and entertaining. His books testify to the truth that he is a modern version of a Renaissance man.

Dedication

To my mother, Eugenia D. Borges (1928-1981), who led me to this long, exciting journey of becoming an author. She nurtured my talent from the time I was two years old, knowing in her heart I would one day write to help the world, poetically and compassionately. I love you, Mom.

Copyright Information ©

Antonion Borges (2021)

The right of Antonion Borges to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781528982900 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781528982917 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781528982924 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2021)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

Acknowledgement

I gratefully acknowledge my editor, Drollene P. Brown, who joined me once again in a fascinating, scientific adventure, exploring God’s creation, the Universe, and completing the final volume of this trilogy.

The wheel of time will one day

spiral us into an endless time of eternity,

as the milky way galaxy reaches its final voyage

toward God’s Kingdom.

Chapter 1

Ring of Fire

Immediately after the large explosion that destroyed Lawrence and Caligula, a beam of light arced across the night sky and into the stratosphere. Traveling ten times the speed of sound, the light was detected by military intelligence, and the US Navy sent out a squadron of jet fighter planes for a surveillance sweep.

This is Captain Shane Romano, triangular lead, reporting. We see the arc of light traveling at Mach 10. We have him locked into our sensors.

Giving the orders for three other Blue Angels to accompany him and separate from the formation, he thrust his jets to get closer to the arc of light that was beneath them. The four planes went into a nosedive to come up underneath the light. No longer a team for demonstrating flying skill and precision, the US Navy Blue Angels were now used as a Homeland Security task force, flying F/A18 supersonic hornets equipped to seek and destroy. Budget cutbacks had dictated the change from demonstrations of skill to useful forays for Homeland Security, but members of the Blue Angels continued to be highly trained and famous for their precision flying.

Shane’s hands were steady, and his eyes never left the arc of light. A Providence, Rhode Island, police officer, Romano was full of confidence about his ability to handle any given crisis. The rapid descent brought him close enough to engage his computer scanner, which showed no weapons on board the entity transmitting the light.

Perfect, the veteran pilot whispered to himself, before relaying the information to his team. Setting his firing gauges on the center of the arc of light, he ordered the other three fighter pilots to position themselves to surround their target. There was no path for escape. Shane dived closer, his engines roaring, and he fired away at the arc of light, aiming in such a way that his team members were not in the crossfire.

Suddenly, the arc of light created a sonic boom, which propelled all the attacking jets away into a star formation. The three pilots who had followed the captain close to the arc lost control of their planes, going into wild, rough tumbles. Gauges went haywire.

Nick Campanella to Captain Shane Romano, we have lost all functions. Permission to evacuate. The sonic boom has damaged our control panels. My plane is completely dysfunctional.

Permission granted. All pilots cleared to eject or return to base.

While two fighters headed toward the base, three pilots ejected from their cockpits seconds before their planes tumbled straight for the Atlantic Ocean. Just as the planes splashed down and were torn into bits by a roiling sea, the pilots’ booster seats, deploying without parachutes, transformed into rocket backpacks. Each pilot detached the chair pad and jetted over the crash site, cruising safely toward the shore. They slowed their rockets but landed hard, causing them to sprint forward a few feet before coming to a complete stop.

As Campanella opened his helmet, concern for his teammates showed on his strong, handsome face. He looked at the other two members of the crew. Is everyone okay?

All here and accounted for, Angie Foreman said, as she opened her helmet.

Breaking voice tone discipline, Thomas Peters said, What in the name of almighty God was that? Breathing hard, he accepted the back pats from his fellow pilots, as he tried to get control of his emotions.

Nick stood tall between his crewmates, putting his right hand on Angie’s left shoulder and his left hand on Tom’s right. His smile was broad, as he said, Wow! That was some adrenaline rush, wasn’t it guys? You don’t feel speed like that every day.

A loud, shearing sound over their heads caused the pilots to look up quickly. Their captain was in a low, descending flight over their heads, and the pilots on the ground ducked their heads and covered their ears. Laughing and shaking their heads, they gave the thumbs up sign to show they were okay.

Captain Romano nodded his head and smiled, as he continued his pursuit of the arc of light. He thrust the jets to Mach 11, and the rockets put out blue flames, as the supersonic jet drew closer to the object.

The radios from the Pentagon erupted. So you have the UFO in range?

Certainly do, preparing to fire.

Once again, Shane put the arc in the center of the triangle cross hairs. The visual gauges began to beep and flash red, and Romano reported, Object locked in, preparing to fire.

As he began firing at the object, it disappeared into thin air; the red light ceased to flash, and the beeping sound was no more. In vain, Romano looked around for the bright arc of light; it had vanished.

This is Captain Shane Romano. The object is off radar. I was only 25 kilometers away from it when it vanished.

Do a 360-sweep, and then report back to headquarters. If you have nothing to report, abandon mission, came the order from the Pentagon.

Roger that!

When the arc of light went off radar, it reappeared for a few seconds in Pennsylvania, going straight through brick walls into C&L Headquarters, known for its robotics as well as other scientific inventions. From a diameter of 11 feet, the arc shrank to the size of a dime and made its way into the alien disc the humanoid Lawrence had given to Dr. Paul Linsdale. The disc was under close observation in a laser force field lab, but no one saw the disc swallow the dime-sized light.

A mild tremor occurred, with glasses and pens and office materials shaking and spinning for 10 seconds before coming to a complete stop. Scientists throughout the building looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

In one lab, scientists were working on a classified project to create manmade geysers with a filtrations system. A detailed map of Yellowstone Park was on the screen. The mission was to deactivate the supervolcano in the popular national park. While most of the scientists were still holding onto their chairs, Charles Wright, lead scientist in the venture, said, Computer, check for any possible earthquake in the vicinity.

Dash lights percolated in a lime-green line. Seconds later, came the automated voice: No. There was no earthquake, professor.

Wright and 19 other scientists had looks of dismay on their countenances. Charles shook his head and shrugged. Okay, let’s proceed. We have only one more week to prepare for Dr. Linsdale’s presentation to Congress. He’s going to try to talk them into funding the project.

Several of the scientists shook their heads. Sylvia Moore spoke up. I have every confidence in you and Dr. Linsdale, professor, but I have very little faith in the US Congress to make the right decision on this. For more than two centuries, scientists, philosophers and well-read citizens have tried to get the government to act on this problem. They’ve been rebuked for their efforts.

Charles nodded. I know that, Sylvia, but we have to try. Millions of people will die if we cannot get the funding and stop the supervolcano.

The mind of the scientists’ boss and CEO of C&L Enterprises was far away from the problem of the supervolcano. He was at the hospital with his wife, Eliven, showing off their newborn son to family and friends clutching their visitor’s passes. Dr. Paul Linsdale had been handing all his male friends multi-vitamin e-cigars with the label, It’s a boy!

The men gathered in the lounge, some sitting and others standing smoking their cigars, as water vapor flowed freely and the men’s systems received vitamin nutrients. The doctor who delivered the baby nodded to the men as he ushered some visitors into the Linsdale suite.

Look who’s here! the physician said.

Eliven’s parents and two sisters, Valentina and Daria, rushed into the room to see Paul’s mother, who had arrived early that morning. She was holding the baby in her arms. Her daughter and son-in-law were standing behind her, cooing at the child.

May I hold him? Valentina asked.

Just for a moment, the older woman said, glowing about holding her first grandchild. He’s tired from all the excitement. He’ll need to be put down to sleep soon.

He looks wide awake to me! Valentina declared, as she took the child and hugged him carefully.

Who does he favor? Daria asked, looking closely at the baby’s face.

As the new visitors took turns holding the baby, the paternal grandmother turned to Eliven, seated on a soft couch. Your father-in-law, if he were alive today, would have gotten teary-eyed right now. Maybe there will be yet another scientist in the family.

The man to whom she was referring was Dr. Simon Linsdale, who had secretly put some of his own DNA into Lawrence when he was turned into a Cybernaut. Simon was killed by a fellow scientist who was behind a robot uprising on Mars that left Lawrence hanging on a death pole for his bravery in thwarting the revolt. Twenty-nine years after Simon’s secret use of his DNA, his son, Paul, initiated the rescue of Lawrence.

Mrs. Linsdale thought about her martyred husband as she sat beside Eliven. Simon was a loving man, the older woman said, tears coming to her eyes. She put a hand over her daughter-in-law’s hand and wiped tears away with her other hand. Eli gave her a tissue, smiling and placing a kiss on the cheek of Paul’s mother.

Smiling and nodding to the others in the room, Paul kissed his wife and walked out to the lounge. His colleagues were discussing the Yellowstone project, conjecturing about their chances of getting Congressional approval.

We have no choice in this matter, Linsdale said. We must deactivate the supervolcano. As a country, we have run out of time. We have to save this great nation and avert a global climate change that would affect farming and bring a severe food shortage throughout the world.

One of the men shook his head. Paul, people have been saying this for centuries. My great-great grandfather was sure the supervolcano was going to kill millions of people back in his day. My grandfather told me about how his grandfather went to all kinds of effort to get NASA and the Congress to act. Not only that, the great-grandfather of my great-great-grandfather got on the same hobbyhorse. Their pleas went unmet, and we’re all still here.

Dr. Martel Nails, sitting next to speaker, elbowed him and laughed. Hey, Nate, how come you didn’t get on that hobbyhorse?

My mother made me swear I’d let it alone. She didn’t have to twist my arm. I’m not into being thought of as a crackpot.

Several men chuckled, with a third man asking, You think Paul’s a crackpot?

Linsdale smiled and waved his hand to show he wasn’t offended. I know about the history. In fact, a member of our team has a similar history, but we’ve gotten away through good luck all these years. He took a puff of his e-cigar, looking up toward the ceiling, as he blew out vapors. Watching the vapors rising, he thought of the supervolcano and the way it would look when the fumes of the first eruption stage began to rise.

Martel also followed the rising vapor with his eyes. Paul, you’re even less likely to have success with Congress after our big plan to use Lawrence as a greeter at the Smithsonian in Boston crashed and burned. Literally. We made a Lawrence replica that turned out to be like the original Bad Seed. To us, he was Lawrence II, but he renamed himself Caligula—an apt name.

The other men nodded, remembering the day when Lawrence held his evil twin in a death grip as they plunged down together from the Empire State Building, wreaking havoc on the city, creating millions of dollars of property damage as well as destroying both robots.

It’s now seen as a waste of government money, Nails continued, from the beginning of the plan to rescue Lawrence right through yet another robot rebellion led by Caligula.

Nate laughed. Now there’s a shining endorsement from your colleague, Paul. Aren’t you Martel’s boss? He looked at Nails. Aren’t you afraid of getting fired?

Paul sighed, as he looked at the men, who in varying degrees showed their agreement with Martel Nails with small nods and shoulder shrugs. His eyes stopped at Martel. I know it’s going to be a hard debate. He took a strong puff and then put out the cigar in a smoke dispenser before continuing. "Look at us smoking in a hospital setting, getting nutrition instead of poison