“Teams are scouring the country looking for places to develop more shelters. As sites are located, we're determining the requirements. There's minimal concern regarding surface contamination, any radioactive debris will burn up in the atmosphere; the problem is that while the stuff is in orbit, it'll be hitting everything with its radiation. Consequently, there's no concern regarding clean up after the fact. NASA is still sticking to their current timeline, the comet is still on the same course and gaining speed at the anticipated rate. Remember, the closer it gets to the sun the faster it'll move.

“Our next issue is the selection process for residents of the shelters and the sleeper capsules. I'm willing to hear arguments on this matter, but I fully agree with the preliminary requirements proposed. The sleepers need to predominately be young single people who have the specific skill sets we need. I still believe a high percentage of military or prior military should be included in the group because they know how to follow orders and understand discipline. Any comments?”

“We probably want to maintain close to an even balance for male and female.” Secretary Baker suggested. The others all agreed.

“Sir, how are you planning to contact and recruit roughly a hundred thousand shelter inhabitants, and ten thousand sleepers, without the word getting out to the rest of the population? There will no doubt be people who turn down the prospect of being involved, and then they become a huge risk for revealing the situation to the greater population. It's a perspective problem which can't just be ignored,” Fitch questioned.

“If we pre-select them, we can always just kidnap them off the streets as the date draws closer,” Admiral Atkins responded.

“True,” Draper said. “But I think we'll need to have these people cooperative.”

Baker spoke up. “We are going to split this into two completely separate projects. This group will focus on the sleepers. Another team will work on Project Anvil. That is the shelter side of things.