out of the frypan, into the fire

A sudden unnatural silence descended over the forest, the air became still and a sense of
dreaded expectation spread through the denizens of the land. The sky became darkened
as a breeze began to blow, increasing in strength as it came. A tremendous flash, brighter
than day was seen followed by a muffled boom that followed a few seconds later along
with the approaching blast wave. A wall of fire five kilometers high and hotter than the
sun roared across the land vaporising everthing in it's path on contact.
The ship, leaving the stratosphere, recorded all below as three hundred million hectares
of the great forest was destroyed with the comets impact. Through the portal of the ship
all was chaos below, and their world, was no more.
The starship fled towards the outer limits of their star system, increasing in speed, on it's
way to the nearest star .almost 60 light years away. The long journey had begun in
earnest. There are forty aboard, an elite fleet of Scientist, Chemist, Doctors, Botanist etc
all within fertile years. These chosen, streaking through space towards a particular world
revolving around a star not unlike their own. A world observed for the past twenty years,
a world with water, a world holding the promise of sanctuary.
Today the cryro pods are sealed, the ship is on auto pilot and it's crew sleep in total
suspension.
T-minus 59.037 years.
T-minus 65 days
Life suspension pod reanimater activated . A row of lights flicker on for the first time
in 60 years, illuminating two rows of twenty pods. There are several beeps, unheard, as
the pods are depressurised and open simultaneously with a hiss of gas.
Forty sleepers have arrived within the target system and the ship is finalising the
deceleration process.
The ship passes silently by the ninth body of the system, a tiny dark and cold world.
The target star is no more than a tiny prick of light among the millions from here.
Their destination is much closer the star, the third body. The blue world they have named
'Sorth' meaning sanctuary.
T-minus 55 minutes
The sleepers have been awake for 65 days as they approached. Awed as the blue world
grows closer and larger. It's beauty is overwhelming and the forty are each touched
likewise. The ship follows the rotation of Sorth as they orbit above Siberia at the edge of
the atmosphere. There is a vast land below, and covering the whole a great forest.
The great land below turns to face the sun as the ship begins atmospheric entry, They are
home.
T-minus 1 minute
The ship sets down on the snow without a sound except the hiss of melting snow beneath.
The ship is the size of a football field but has remained sheilded an unnoticed. Our forty
pioneers await within, anxious as the ship reads the atmosphere outside and scans the
terrain for life forms. The crew watch closeup pictures of ancient forest, exactly like their
own,
The Pentagon, Washington D C United States
Deep inside the war room at Cheyene Mountain ~ Defcon 1
Personel arm warheads across the country from Idaho, Kansas City, Nebraska, Missouri
etc. Silo's open in the middle of cornfields, each armed with seven, 100 kiloton
intercontinental ballistic missiles, aimed at Iran Irak, most of the middle east along with
the soviet union.
"Sequence completed, when your ready Mr President"
All across north America , klaxons howl their nuclear warning. Television and radio go
off the air. It's for real.
Our pioneers are exploring their new world, miraculously without the need of life support
systems, breathing the air, marvelling at it's Flora and Fauna. Even its gravity was well
within exceptable levels and would require little adjustment. It was so much more than
they could have hoped for, it was for all forty alike, a most miraculous experience,
almost too good to be true.
They were celebrating as the sun rose higher above the trees, singing and dancing and
feasting on the ships supplies.
Suddenly from the east, a dozen bright missiles shot out of the forest trailing fire behind
them, interupting joyous event. Roaring into the bright blue sky they went, heading
westward. As the climbed another batch shot skyward, followed by another and another.
As the pioneers watched the contrails path's , from the west appeared hundereds of bright
stars, growing brighter and brighter as they came.
There came from the distance , a series ofsickeningly familiar bright flashes, brighter
than day, followed by muffled booms and a wall of fire approached with the blast waves
several kilometers high, hotter than the sun, vaporising everything in it's path.