“One month before the comet's arrival, the primary sleepers will arrive and immediately be put to sleep. Two weeks later, the two-hundred-man advance team will start to arrive and be put to sleep, except for your immediate command staff. They'll enter the mountain a week later and immediately be sealed in. Then you and any others of your choice will remain awake and in communication with the rest of us. You'll witness the comet's arrival, and we'll maintain communication for as long as possible. You'll enter the sleep capsules when you decide it's optimal. This was all decided some time ago, but can be modified as necessary,” explained the General.

RJ thought about it for a minute. Inwardly, she was horrified at the realization she would soon be sitting in the command center, watching the world die all around her. Despite that knowledge, the plan sounded good, and the timeline was close to what she'd envisioned.

“That sounds good me. I'm curious to see some of the living quarters and the completed sleep chambers.”

Cowan spoke up. “If you don't mind, I need to make arrangements to head home for a couple of days. Kathy and I need to have a long discussion about what we're going to do.”

“In that case, I'll show you what we've accomplished while you've been gone,” Travers offered.

“Sounds good to me.” The two of them got up to leave.

Once the doors closed behind the two women, Matt looked over at his friend. “Do you think Kathy will really sign on?”

“If she realizes it's the one chance to guarantee our boy gets in a shelter, I think she'll do anything.”

“Good, let me know how things go.”

Cowan got up to leave, and as he went, Fitch made a mental note to contact General Draper. Cowan's son would have a place in a shelter, whether James and Kathy chose to sleep or not.

Cowan climbed aboard the UH-60 Black Hawk and was quickly airborne. Checking his watch, he realized it would be about seven PM when he arrived home. He sat back and enjoyed the fast flight across the desert, and as he traveled, he mentally rehearsed the fantastic story he was going to tell Kathy. She'd been curious about his work, and up until now, he'd been somewhat vague. Tonight, the unbelievable story would come out, and in truth, he had no idea how she would take the news.

Chapter Twenty-Five

DAY 302

During the drive to work that morning, Air Force Colonel Roger Barrett thought again about the highly unusual events which had taken place over the last few weeks.

As the commanding officer of the remote, desert missile testing facility, he and his team were responsible for scheduling and conducting the tests of many different types of military hardware.