Aquapocalypse

Chapter 1

The leviathan loomed large in the distance as a small flotilla of aged ships approached, radioed their presence and waited hopefully for a response. The year was 2170. Sheets of acidic rain pelted the rusty ships and the sea. These changes that happened here on Earth were not new. They were not sudden. In 2006, almost 150 years ago, a politician named Albert Arnold Gore Jr. wrote his summary analysis. An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It, it was called. There was the usual media hype, alarmed scientists warning the world about the melting polar ice, and conservative skeptics labeling the theory as alarmist, and just a natural cycle. These opposing forces crippled any real response to the proposed threat. Limiting CO2 emissions and trading Carbon Credits were good ideas, but were implemented slowly and only regionally. It took a couple decades of changing weather, and continued loss of the polar ice with rising sea levels for governments gradually to take serious notice and plan for an Earth with no land above water. They did start to plan though. That is the governments of countries with enough resources to mount enormous, costly public works projects did. Those requirements knocked out the future of three quarters of the earth’s population straight away. With the sea levels rising not at a constant, but at an ever increasing rate, the amount of time available to save humanity, or at least some of humanity, became obviously limited. Space stations and life on the Moon or Mars were not options. There was too little time to implement that, too many questions, and too much evidence that man indeed could not actually survive out there, that we were adapted only to be capable of life and reproduction of life in the conditions of our own Earth or somewhere just like it. When the dire nature of the rising oceans was no longer a secret, and more importantly, no longer a matter of debate, panic set in, and with panic, war.

India, ally to the United States, naturally was obliged to nuke neighboring Pakistan. The new weapons were environmentally friendly though. They killed people and animals, with lower residual radiation and less destruction of property than the old A bombs. To insure against counterattack from the evil axis, the U.S. launched simultaneous stealth ICBM’s at North Korea and Iran, eliminating those populations and most of their governments in a day. China and Russia, understood that despite their differences with North America, these were necessary maneuvers. This was agreed in advance at a secret summit of The Big Three. Rogue states could not be allowed to become flies in the ointment with so little time available. Keeping with this philosophy, Russia delivered similar treatment to its breakaway republics in an effort to avoid regional conflict and terrorism as they prepared their bases.

The bases themselves were magnificent feats of engineering. The Germans contributed much to the mechanical elements. Japan, China and Taiwan designed electronics, and Italy and the US were in charge of the structural integrity of the massive hulls. It was not possible to conceal the construction of the massive vessels if they were built as ships. Because of this, the hulls were built up vertically, like a rocket ship, with a veneer that made them appear as large skyscrapers. Each vessel was designed not ultimately to be an individual ocean going vessel, but as a piece of a gigantic puzzle that would be interconnected at a future time. Correspondingly, they were not all the same. Some were destined to become perimeter walls of the future ocean Base. These would be uninhabited except for crew members and security. They would take the brunt of the ocean’s crashing waves, leaving interior areas unaffected and oblivious to the conditions outside. Other component vessels contained command and navigation centers, businesses, factories, housing, transportation, and utilities. Each component vessel was the size of an ultra large class oil tanker, and there were thousands of them. Individuals were handpicked, as they represented the future of each country. In the case of the U.S. for example, this would mean that only 35 percent were saved from the flooding. Many who were not included did survive for years in above ground level dwellings. The process of the loss of earth’s land masses took a considerable time. People built up, built their own small arks, and continued to live life the best they could. Some were better at the survival game than others. As the last vestiges of land disappeared under increasing depths of sea water, the component vessels of the massive bases were tipped slowly into their intended positions with those aboard safely locked in, and those not aboard safely locked out. People in their own watercraft watched in amazement as the skyscrapers became gigantic ships. The base components were lightly ballasted at first to avoid running aground. This did cause some of them to have awkward moments of tipping drastically from side to side, but they also used stabilizers to limit this problem. Not long, perhaps 10 days after the launch date, each nation’s base component vessel was navigated closer and closer to its counterparts to ready for the interlocking process. This was quite a feat of naval engineering. To bring several thousand unusual ships together and attach them one by one together into an artificial land mass was no easy task. It was done however, and successfully, by each of The Big Three, as well as the European Union, The Central and South American Drug Cartel Association, The United Arab States and the Scandinavian United Association. This left Earth with seven significant countries on their massive floating bases, plus the various drifters who managed to survive on the open seas using various types of boats and floating homes. Of 15 billion souls on Earth, by the end of year 2055, approximately 3.4 billion remained living. The seas were filled with dead bodies. The massive bases were tethered to the sea floor using giant chains and massive chain stays, hovering over their original territories. They blocked the sun’s rays, and the water underneath them was devoid of normal sea life due to darkness and low oxygen levels.

Politically, Russia maintained its governmental control in their new floating territory. The United States combined with Canada and England/ Scotland in a new joint government. Despite differences, China included Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia and even Japan. The Drug Cartel Base existed due to the availability of cash and the willingness of Ramburton and the other construction materials suppliers to accept it in exchange for constructing a base similar to the others. This did allow for the survival of many people from Mexico, Central and South America though. The crime bosses were already, in private, considering how the trade would work in the new world, and the Cartel Base included factories for the production of synthetic drugs, like Methamphetamine, since the viability of producing plant based drugs was in question.

By the year 2170, three generations of the human race had already been born into the new world, never having known any other kind of existence. Ryan Rivers belonged to this new breed. A 29 year old detective working with the police agency on North American Base; Ryan stood six foot tall, muscular with short cut dirty blonde hair and a clean shaven square jaw. He had a good upbringing by kindly parents who made extra efforts to stay positive in the face of life on an artificial land mass. Not to say that life there was all that bad; it was just different than the life on land his grandparents had known. There were outdoor gardens and fields for sports, with trees and grass, but somehow it just wasn’t the same as on real terra firma. Ryan’s paternal grandfather was a high level electrical engineer with a big aerospace company before the change happened. This was the reason for their inclusion in the group of fortunate ones. Ryan’s paternal grandmother was a kindergarten teacher, and continued her work on the North American Base until her first child, Ryan’s father, was born, at which time she dedicated herself to his care and wellbeing. Ryan and his two brothers were raised by a friendly, although analytical, father and a very sweet and caring mother. This resulted in a mix of the qualities, which he passed on to his son Ryan. Although Ryan was a cop, he wasn’t at all mean, or bullying. He enjoyed the mystery of crime and putting together the clues. He did not mistreat suspects, but precisely deciphered the cases and presented them meticulously in the pursuit of justice. For those qualities, he was well liked at Precinct 12. (There were fifty two Police Stations scattered about the Base’s 10,000 square mile area.) Population density was adjusted to 15,000 residents per square mile. Crime rates on North American Base were fairly low. In picking out who would be included, the government attempted to weed out known criminals, unless they had a particular value to the project. Officers at Precinct 12 were accustomed to responding to domestic disputes, which usually involved a drunken spouse arguing with their partner. Firearms were not approved items on check in to the base vessels at startup, so responding to armed violence was a bit less common than in the old world, at least among normally law abiding citizens. The base had a burgeoning economy, and social stratification, as any large populace would. There was the formation of organized crime in the form of newer Mafia type organizations. White collar cases were a favorite for Ryan. He had taken down several prominent business people who tried to get ahead through illegal business dealings recently.

One such individual was a Mr. Kyle Ashby. Ashby was born the son of an old food production family. Ashby Foods specialized in packaged meat products from bologna to turkey sausages. Production difficulties related to the rising waters plagued the family’s business when the changes began. The large company began compiling large debts, and the Ashby’s wealth dwindled as stock value plummeted abruptly. Kyle’s grandfather’s extravagant life style had required him to sell shares on a regular basis, and he was lucky to make it onto North American Base with the several hundred thousand US Dollars he did manage to transfer in. (Individuals were offered the availability to set up their electronic banking for the new Base and fund accounts in advance of the startup date.) The Ashby family continued to emphasize to their children however, that they were indeed a cut above the rest, from successful old stock, and that they would reestablish themselves in that capacity in time because they were natural leaders and creators of wealth. Kyle and his siblings had somewhat of a competition going with regards to their personal success. Two equally tall and handsome older brothers and a younger sister completed the brood. Frederick Jr. and Carlton, the older brothers, had been working together on a startup venture to improve fish farming methods and deliver fish products to the public of North American Base. With the guidance of their father, they were fairly successful in a short time. Both married and began families of their own. Camilla, their sister, became an attorney, and was busy running her legal practice. Kyle was somewhat the odd man out in the competition with his siblings. He had tried working for one of the large accounting firms on base, with the idea of pursuing an executive position. It wasn’t an unreasonable idea, except that Kyle had several personality flaws that got in the way. First off, he was not adept at concealing his feelings of superiority to others. He felt entitled to be treated better than his peers, and was offended if he was not. He was also extremely narcissistic, bordering on the personality disorder. These traits were particularly against the spirit that the government of North American Base had tried to instill in the general public since the launch. There were regularly aired advertisements on television about respecting your fellow man or woman, and the team effort that we all endeavor in to save humanity. It was clear, that with a reduced population living in a more limited space, that even North Americans would have to become a bit more communist to survive. Due to these impediments, Kyle advanced slowly in the firm, usually with some behind the scenes help from his father’s hobnobbing with one big wig or another who gave the firm their business. This created much resentment among his colleagues, who saw him as a selfish egotist, definitely not a team player. As a 37 year old midlevel accounting manager, Kyle felt stuck and unfulfilled. He certainly deserved to be a Vice President in the firm, if not CEO or COO. During the course of his employment there, an interesting opportunity presented itself to him.

He had become familiar with the company’s own accounting system, and observed that each day’s revenues were totaled and entered into a log that represented the next morning’s bank deposit at precisely 5 pm every evening. He discussed with a software programmer friend outside the company, whether it would be possible to write some code that would intercept the numerical input at 5 pm and relay a different set of numbers to the logging program. This was not difficult at all, and in his greed, Kyle set out to cheat the company. He started small to test his system, lowering the real deposit numbers by 5 or 10 dollars, and then by several hundred each day, progressing to several thousand by the end of two months. The deposits were then smaller than the actual revenue, and Kyle diverted the excess funds into his department’s general fund, where they were then spent. He made up various fictitious vendors and other expenditures, and siphoned the money out for his own use. Kyle hadn’t counted on the fact that the revenue monitoring accountant made a quarterly habit of going back in the books and checking the bank deposit statements for errors, comparing his initial log of daily revenues to the deposits listed by the bank. When Mr. Stebbins performed this task and found errors, he contacted the bank and looked at his company’s internal deposit logging on the computers. He noted every deposit to be lowered in both the firm’s own logs and the bank deposit records, indicating that something or someone had changed the numbers from those in his own records. This was when he contacted the police. Ryan was sent to investigate, and began with a comprehensive review of all the financial records. It seemed that the problem was relatively recent, less than a year of errors or potential fraud. Analysis of the where money flowed within the accounting firm to look for illegal withdrawal of funds showed nothing unusual, except for the increase in expenditures by Kyle’s office. Ryan began to contact all individuals receiving funds from Kyle’s office, and soon found than many did not exist at all. It was then only a matter of figuring who in Kyle’s office was operating the scam. He interviewed Ryan’s secretary and the junior accountants on his staff. All seemed honest and disclosing compared to Kyle, who couldn’t conceal his snobbish arrogance.

Tell me Mr. Ashby, Ryan inquired of his suspect, How do you explain the lack of actual existence of a number of the vendors and consultants paid from your department budget?

Detective, uh what is it? asked Kyle.

Rivers, Detective Rivers, answered Ryan.

Yes, Detective Rivers. Not to offend, but you really have no idea of the extreme complexity of running an accounting department like mine in a huge firm like this, said Kyle.

Inside his mind, Kyle Ashby was squirming, caught like a raccoon with its paw in the trap.

Wow, thought Ryan, this guy can’t even play the nice guy to conceal his crime!

Having been brought up with honesty and kindness as the most respected virtues, Ryan always felt sorry for criminals like Kyle. They had given up precious freedom, and sometimes life itself, all for the pursuit of a few extra dollars they didn’t earn. North American Base had a prison system, but because resources and space were limited, an individual convicted of offenses leading to more than ten years’ incarceration could instead be ejected onto the open ocean in the simplest recycled plastic, 20 foot skiff with sun shade, 10 days’ worth of water and food and an oar. This was at the judge’s discretion and was used often if the judge deemed the convict a high risk for recidivism. Survival at sea was low. Sometimes the convict managed to find a flotilla of boaters, and convince them that he or she was not too dangerous to deal with. Regaining entrance to North American Base once deported was unheard of, although once a conviction was overturned as the ejected convict’s lawyers continued working, and a search party retrieved the lucky individual from the sea to be returned home a free man.

Kyle Ashby’s was a typical white collar arrest. Several uniformed officers along with Ryan arrived mid day to announce the charges. Kyle