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“Worst case scenario, Dr. Hassleman,” the director asked her. “What would be the situation if six astronauts returned from space to find the earth had been wiped clean from a plague?”

“That would be impossible,” Meredith said. “Everyone on earth? No. There would be survivors. There would be those who didn’t get it, It would appear, though, that the world was empty.”

“What would be the obstacles for them?”

“How long are we talking about? Is the plague or virus still in the air, are they completely safe from being victims. If it were long enough for it to be safe, then they face a whole different battle.”

“How so?”

“First let’s look at the emotional side. Their family, friends, civilization in general, gone. They will be desperate and in disbelief until faced with the reality and that reality would be to seek the truth and find resolution with family. Therein lies the next problem. Every resource, already in place, will be useless. If it is years, then food on the shelves is bad. Water is a problem. They’d have to rely on ground sources. Any animals that remain are deadly and they could possibly be without weapons. How would they find their families? Unless every member of every family is within walking distance of their landing site, they’re out of luck. Gasoline will be bad, batteries… dead, horses, if they could find them would be wild.”

Meredith emerged from her recount of the meeting and said, “Then they asked me to make a list. What would be needed for them? Honestly, I thought they were doing a just in case scenario with all the recent space exploration.”

John said, “Plausible. I’d think the same way. Did you do the list?”

“Of course. It took me months. I was thorough. I told them the supplies would have to be stored airtight or some way to preserve. Everything down there was on my list, John, everything in that storage. Those solar batteries are for vehicles somewhere on this base. Where? I don’t know.”

Jason asked. “So you knew all along?”

“No.” Meredith held up her hand. “I’m guessing on the solar batteries because they were on my list. Power vehicles similar to the rovers they place on planets. If the batteries were there, the vehicles are somewhere. All those boxes were in an airtight preservation room, that door opened when the units released. The design is called the time capsule vault.”

John spoke up. “Summer’s design. She did it years ago, so that in case the world was destroyed and aliens found it or people in the future, they could taste and experience all that we had. You acted like you didn’t know her.”

“When we discussed Summer,” Meredith stated. “I was frightened to say anything. And I would have, had the president not stepped in and talked.”

“So he was lying,” Jason asked. “When he said you weren’t part of the plan and that you didn’t know.”

“No, he wasn’t lying because he had no idea that I knew. I knew Summer. Summer knew.” Meredith faced John. “She knew. It was her cryogenics design, her units down there. She gave me enough information about the plan, problem was neither of us knew when it was going to be implemented. For it to remain secret, no one was told. She found out hours before the event. That was why she didn’t show. In fact, my phone died and when she finally sent me a text, I didn’t have time to leave. Or else I would have. I didn’t want to be a part of this.”

Exhaling slowly and loud, Nora moved to Meredith. “You didn’t plan this. You were just part of the plan.”