The Ark of Apocalypse

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Wormwood

America had been spared the full impact of the world wide economic crash and the resulting civil wars although for several months after the crash drastic measures had to be taken to keep peace in many cities. The crash of the Dollar did not affect America for very long. The world no longer accepted the Dollar for foreign exchange for oil, China goods, coffee, or any other foreign import. However, American citizens kept using it by faith. Almost all imports were things that were not necessary for life, but more or less luxuries. America produced most of its own food and no longer needed foreign oil. Inflation was out of control but no one was starving.

Unemployment went to 25% but started dropping a percent a month after the government took all taxes away from business. Projects started up converting away from foreign trade. It was looking as though America was going to avoid the worst of the problems. Tents were set up in the central plains and all who were out of work were given jobs planting and picking corn and oil and water pipe lines. Even the military was used to build oil and water pipe lines and to set up moving cities for the labor.

America, the most perfect government in the history of the world, had twice saved the world from war. It was the most charitable country in the history of the world. It was in fact the most religious country in the world.

But, the steady erosion of morals in schools, in the courts, and even in the families, gave America a reputation as immoral. A combination of Hollywood, the Courts and the Schools were contaminating what once was the most perfect country in history. Abortions were killing millions of children per year and homosexuals were not only increasing but were being given preferential treatment in schools. God was angry.

The phone rang in the President’s office. It was the hot line from the Pentagon.

“President Thomas” said a voice from the hot line. “We have a huge problem. Come as quickly as you can to the war room.”

In the war room he was shown satellite photos of an Asteroid appearing suddenly from behind the sun. The gravitation of the sun slung in around in a direct path towards earth. One computer set up replayed the path and the sling around the sun, but the big screen showed the live Asteroid.

“Where is it headed?” asked the President.

“The Pacific Ocean just off Northern California, about 250 miles off shore between San Francisco and Los Angeles.”

“What damage is expected?”

There were over 30 people in the room including generals, scientists and most of his cabinet. Everyone just stood looking at Thomas or bowed there heads.

“I asked a question. What damage is expected?”

“Sir”, said the scientist, “it is huge, about two miles long and about a mile in diameter.”

“When is it expected to hit earth?”

“We have 14 days and 7 hours.”

“What damage is expected?”

“We have not assessed this yet. But it will be major. In fact it will affect the entire world one way or another.”

“What do you mean? Give me some of your best assessments.”

“The last Asteroid of this size that hit the earth may have flipped the earth over and even changed the magnetic north and south poles. That would be the worst scenario. At the least it will cause a title wave from one to two hundred feet high traveling at the speed of sound. … When it reaches the shallow waters of the continental shelf it could clime to 1000 feet. It will flood California all the way past Los Vegas in Nevada. We are working on a map that will show the path and projected damage in a circle from the projected impact zone.”

“Can we stop it?”

“No! We could hit it with a hundred Nuclear Bombs but all we would get is a hundred Asteroids and now they would be radio active.”

“What are your suggestions? What do we do? Where will it flood?”

General Macarthy: “You must start now to evacuate all low lands in California, Oregon and Washington State and even from Nevada to New Mexico. We can give plans to Mexico and Canada so that they see the danger. Baja California will be almost gone. The army must be used as quickly as possible to evacuate Hawaii because the mountains cannot hold them all. We have to move our navy out of Hawaii and out of all western coast cities. We will head south and hope we can get far away in time.”

“I have already ordered all Trident Subs out to sea and air bases are preparing to move all assets to mid states.”

President: “I cannot wait for all the information and every possible scenario. If the people have only 14 days they must start moving now. Give me a map of the areas to be flooded. I am going on Television a soon as possible.”

All Television and Radio stations were warned to give time to the President for a very important message to the people.

“Fellow Americans, we face the biggest challenge to our nation in history and we must act now to minimize the damage and loss of lives.” He turned to show a photo of the Asteroid. “This Asteroid, which I have named, Wormwood, is headed for earth. It is two miles long and one mile in diameter. … It will not hit America. … But I cannot lie to you, it will do a great deal of harm to the world and to America.”

Thomas changed photos.

“This is a map showing the possible areas of the West Coast that may be flooded as a result of the impact of the Asteroid. It will hit about 250 miles off the North Coast of California and may cause a wave up to two hundred feet high traveling at the speed of sound. In the deep ocean it will not be high but when it reaches the continental shelf of the coast it will quickly raise to maybe 1000 feet and much higher when it hits land. It may go as far inland as Nevada and even New Mexico. … We have less than 14 days before impact and there is nothing we can do to stop it. Fourteen days is plenty of time for people in the path of this map to leave the area and move to higher ground in an orderly and charitable manor. The Army and Coast Guard will help monitor the movement of people and cars and we will help take care of people in their destinations. I ask all others to open your doors to these people until they can return to their homes.

“I ask everyone to be prepared with extra food, water and whatever else you can think of because this could be much worse than what I have shown on this map. We do not know what impact this could have on the rest of the world. The impact will cause other problems throughout the world other than the tidal wave. Prayer would help all of us.”

Of course, evacuation did not go well and in spite of the army many people were killed by those trying to gain an extra hour or two ahead of others. No logic can be made of this. Fear has no logic. Fear is selfishness. The opposite of fear is not bravery but love. The Rocky Mountains packed with cars and bulldozers had to push cars of roads in many cases to keep cars going. On the way out of California people ravaged stores for food and warm clothes but the police and army did not try to stop them. These stores would be crushed by the wave anyway.

By Tuesday you could see the Asteroid without a telescope. Its tail did not trail its path but pulled towards the sun. Hawaii was evacuated by 70% and Pearl Harbor was empty. Fear hit Japan, Taiwan and China. All beaches emptied.

Scientists met and argued all over the world as to what might happen when the Asteroid hit. It was argued that at one time in history the entire world was affected by an impact including flipping the world upside down. No consensus of scientists came forward but all agreed that it would affect the entire world one way of another. No time was left to do anything about it.

As the Asteroid hit the upper atmosphere it began to burn up and put off a huge red ball of fire around it and a tail of fire. Fear hit everyone who looked up at it. Churches all over the world filled up with people on their knees before God. Some Protestants stood out in the open expecting to be raptured up to Heaven before the Comet hit.

Wormwood came in on a 40 degree angle from North West to South East. The atmosphere burned up half of it but it was still large when it hit. When it plunged into the Pacific Ocean the fire of the Comet disappeared in a second and at the same time a tunnel of water and smoke vaulted into the sky miles high. Rings of waves came out from the impact a hundred feet high traveling at hundreds of miles an hour. At the same time the entire Earth shook. Most people throughout the world felt it, but few noted that the entire sky shifted including the location of the sun. The reason for this was because the Earth shifted and the North and South poles moved by 20 degrees. The inner molten lava shook and moved drastically at huge speeds crushing against the crust in China creating instant breaking open of new mountains and volcanic activity. Then moving back the other way it crushed open mountains and volcanoes on the other side of the world in South America and all the way to the North.

On the West Coast from Baja California to Canada the Ocean sucked out to sea leaving the coasts empty of water all the way to the end of the continental shelves. This was the massive wave’s undercut drawing the water into itself. All became quiet and calm for several minutes until you would see the giant wave in the distance. When the wave hit the continental shelf it rose from three hundred feet high to over six hundred feet high. It moved so fast that when it hit land it took out everything like a blast from an atomic bomb and rose to eight hundred feet. Every building, tree, bridge and even the high rising buildings tumbled to the ground like a blast from a atomic bomb but it was water. The speed and massiveness of the water took it up the sides of mountains to a height of 4000 feet crushing trees and homes. Moving around the mountains and through the open plains the massive wave continued across California to Nevada to the foot of the Rocky Mountains and all the way to the Golf of Mexico. It crossed all of Baja California and nothing remained alive or standing.

In Hawaii everything below 400 feet was flooded and destroyed. In Alaska, the entire city of Anchorage disappeared. After a time the wave hit Asia. Japan was flooded from one side to the other and millions of people died. The same happened to the coast of China and all its coastal cities flooding and two hundred and forty million people died.

Cracks in the Earth’s crusts bringing up molten lava occurred all over the world and in America these cracks were greatest in the Great Lakes region and in the upper Mississippi River. The Great Lakes flooded all the way to New York City and the Mississippi disappeared into the earth and dried up. All over the world old and new volcanoes destroyed towns and many more people died, especially in Italy, China and Turkey.

When all calmed down, President Thomas met in the war room with the Generals and cabinet. “Give me an estimate of the damage.”

General Macarthy:

“It can only be an estimate. We sent out jets over the areas of damage. Probably a hundred million Americans died! California as a state is gone, everything destroyed. In the world there may be one billion dead, mostly in China and Japan. Japan is gone and China had many earthquakes. New York has probably lost a million people and most of the city destroyed. China suffered the most damage, but Russia had earthquakes and new Volcanoes. Italy, England, Scotland and Spain had earthquakes and that is just information that we can get. Most of the world has not communicated with us.”

President: “What is our best plan now?”

It was silent for a long time. Again General Macarthy spoke:

“The first and most important thing is that we must burn or bury the dead and quickly. I have talked with doctors and their biggest worry now is an epidemic of many different kinds of diseases because of the rotting bodies of people and animals. We must also see to the feeding of those who have moved and are without homes.”

President: “Are we going to use the army to do this?”

“The army, the police, fire departments, coast guard, navy, everything we have and as fast as we can.”

President: “What else do I have to know?”

Prior to President Thomas coming into the war room, the Generals and Cabinet were briefed on a bigger problem by two Physicists. After a moment of silence and everyone looking around to see who would speak out. Macarthy addressed one of the Physicists.

“Doctor Grinstead!”

“President, have you noticed the location of the Sun?”

“No! I have been busy.”

“Well! Sir, the sun is not where it used to be. It is 28 degrees off the equator.”

“What does that mean?”

“A great deal! It means that the Earth has shifted 20 degrees more off its true North and South Poles. The Sun and Earth have not changed but the Earth’s angle of rotation has changed. We don’t know all of what this means but we have figured out one problem. The North and South Poles will melt a great deal of their ice caps over the next few months.”

“I understand some of what that might mean, but what is your assessment in the near future and in the long run?”

“The first thing that will happen is that the Ocean floors will rise little by little until they are 10 to 25 feet higher than they are now. You can imagine what that will do to all coast lines throughout the world, and coastal cities. For example, a great part of California will be under water for a long time. New York City will be flooded. Winds will reduce by 50% so that rain will be less throughout the world. In the long run (about 8 to 10 years) the ice will return to the new poles and the oceans will withdraw somewhat but not all. For a few years the world’s temperature will rise by up to 8 degrees.”

“Gentlemen, thank you for the briefing and before we leave here today we will map out a plan of action to clean up the mess, feed the people and prepare for future flooding and the lack of rain. However, before we start making these plans I want to place one more problem on the table. The Moslems are unifying to go to war against Israel.”