Blessed Be The Meek (eBook)

Al Anzalone (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
188 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-9662-3 (ISBN)

Infos

In the near future an asteroid scraping of Earth's atmosphere causes catastrophic destruction. Through the chaos one man, Warren Kirkland, emerges to help restore civilization as he rises to become a world leader. His grown children help him to achieve this goal through new divisions of government. But the mysterious death of the eldest son sets in motion events that will ultimately reveal Kirkland's diabolical plan of total domination.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, AL ANZALONE is dedicated to the genres of science-fiction, mystery and adventure. A graduate of Long Island University in 1965, he later joined the US Air Force and served as 2nd Lieutenant during the Vietnam War. In 1972 he married his beloved Joanna, and they raised two sons. In 1982, AL entered the writing scene when he created a sinister character, 'The Cesspool Phantom', a creature that has survived throughout the ages wreaking havoc in world-wide sanitary sewer systems. In 1983, AL penned a full-length novel, 'The Venus Factor', in which an atmospheric plague threatened humanity. His short story, 'Star Challenger', appeared in the April 1985 edition of Teen Magazine about a teenager who was obsessed with a video game only to realize it was not a game. After the tragic death of his younger son, John, AL wrote a tribute to his son's life in the January 1996 edition of Fate Magazine. Married for 48 years, AL spent most of his career in banking, real estate and retail until Joanna passed in 2020. AL has since returned to his fancy: Writing. In 2021, AL wrote 'Future's Past', a science-fiction novelette that claimed that our planet is much older than prevailing scientific fact and that an advanced civilization had flourished long before the age of dinosaurs. AL also wrote a short story, 'Lovestrings', a murder-mystery about the death of a popular musician. The case was assigned to NYPD Detective KC Jones, who solves his cases while working on his hobby: model railroading. Now retired, AL resides in Toms River, NJ, but remains loyal to his Brooklyn heritage: 'fuhgetaboutit'.

Textauszug

3

The Presidential Campaign of 2056 was indeed a joke. Now that general electoral procedures had been reestablished, Warren Kirkland was destined to rule for yet another term through an absolute landslide. Surely his RUN program alone would secure his reelection. Electrical power was almost at fifty percent recovered, as promised. The air and land were nearly breathable, as promised, except for the portable air mask filters still required for outdoor labor. The Oceanic Directive Canal Project was underway, as promised, which would eventually restore a normal balance of seawater and fresh water to those regions which were most impacted by the inferno wrought down from the heavens over two decades ago.

One of the most innovative accomplishments of the Kirkland administration was the funding and building of the magnajets. Based upon the theory of magnetic pole repulsion and attraction, the aircraft was powered by eight large magnetic discs placed opposite each other. When power was needed to lift and propel the aircraft forward and upward, the pilot would pivot the magnets closer and closer, the similar poles repelling at high speeds generating as much power as needed for liftoff. The craft would simply aerodynamically soar at supersonic speeds until the magnets were gradually parted for landing. The first successful flight in 2054 ushered in a new era of hope and promise in a world saturated by death and despair. Gradually, people were becoming more and more internationally mobile once again.

Kirkland’s feeble opponent could only issue dire warnings of deception and misinformation during her campaign, knowing that she would never overcome Kirklandism, and her absolute defeat was eventually sealed in early November 2056.

At his second inaugural address, once again in Denver, Kirkland expounded his ideology that it was God who bestowed upon the human race “another chance” to redeem itself: “. . . and I stand before you in the light of the Almighty that mankind will seek to rise up in total redemption of our souls.” Warren stood with both arms raised high above his head, his piercing gaze splashing over the throngs obedient to his presence. “That we must accept and thank our creator for this glorious day of redemption. We have thwarted the hammer of Lucifer and with the Lord’s guidance, we will rebuild civilization better than before Apophis.”

He lowered his arms as the tsunami of cheers flooded the entire arena as he turned to his vice president, extending an embracing arm across her firm shoulders. They raised their arms in unison amid the deafening roar of the masses.

*******

Vice President Lucille Boudeau resided in Kirkland’s shadow throughout their first term and earned Warren’s complete trust. Born in 1998 of French parents, Lucille adhered to a strict European background and subscribed to a strong Catholic church with a devout ethereal study in the teachings of Jesus, an attribute that lured Warren Kirkland into selecting her as his vice president. It was thought that she would become a nun, but at the age of eighteen, Lucille decided to adopt a baby girl and was then pressured by her parents to marry a non-ordained Ecumenical priest whom she divorced a few years later. Lucille then decided to pursue a career in political science. Her intense coal-dark eyes were highlighted by bold, arched black eyebrows that lent them an almost cathedral-like stare. Blessed by pouty full lips, Lucille could camouflage her likes and dislikes with a simple flick of her mouth. She kept her straight inky-black hair short to avoid the maintenance of longer, fuller hair. An athletic girl in her prime, she later found that many dinners and political obligations soon took a toll on her lean figure. By the time she was twenty-one, her course was already laid out: she would seek to become a senator representing her home state of Texas. She won her bid in the 2024 race, mainly because of her youthful charisma.

Determined to overcome the negative campaign ads launched against her by an unscrupulous but worthy opponent, Lucille embarked on a more pious platform in which she incorporated those ideologies supported by religion and guided by the hand of God. Her interpretation of the Bible became more poignant when in March of 2028, scientists around the world warned of an impending doom from the asteroid Apophis. Lucille Boudeau believed that God had sent a “deacon of destruction’” to cleanse humankind from immorality, corruption, and all evil transgressions that had saturated civilization’s political and religious creeds. Along with her senate colleagues in Washington, DC, safely underground, she witnessed the distant blazing inferno that seared across the upper atmosphere, raining down molten ash from the Yellowstone volcano, burning the world she so tried to embrace. She watched on several worldwide projection screens in total helplessness as the nation’s electrical grid succumbed to the fire droplets brought down upon the earth from the fugitive asteroid.

“NASA’s mission failed!” Lucille heard her comrade’s cry.

Fools! she thought. How could they think they could stop God’s wrath?

There was a brief darkness before the backup generators kicked in as the blinking video screens revealed to the group the devastation above them. Countless fires smoldered around charred buildings and monuments with an occasional burst of electrical wires signaling the end of life as they had known it.

“We’ve lost contact with the president,” General Gannon announced. A career military man, the general immediately issued direct orders to the others to remain at full alert and to secure the area. His brigadier uniform draped over his rather large, muscular frame and his stony Mount Rushmore face reflected the toppling of society, as if he were Atlas himself trying to hold up a broken planet. Lucille tried to focus on the flashing monitors receiving data from some of the surviving satellites from around the world depicting floods and fires enveloping India, China, portions of Eastern Europe, Australia, and Russia. Earth’s oceans churned and boiled into thousands of whirlpools generating tsunamis in all directions across the Indian Ocean.

“That blasted asteroid hit us!” he shouted.

“Sir!” cried Lieutenant Colonel Williams, “it was only a glancing blow, sir. There was no impact!”

“There had to be!” General Gallon roared back. “The damage is too widespread!”

Lucille stood from behind her desk. ”If Apophis hit us directly, sir, we’d all be dead by now.” She slowly walked to the main vista screen and ran her hand across the viewer to the point to where an impact would have occurred. “As you can see, there is no ground zero here in India.”

“Sir, I have the president and vice president transmitting from Iron Mountain . . . should be coming up now.” Lieutenant Colonel Williams announced.

“Put them on speaker,” General Gallon said gruffly.

“Not good here.” The president’s wavy image flashed across the entire communications room. “What is your situation?”

“We are in Code Red Emergency status in DC. Many buildings were bombarded by fireballs from the sky. All emergency and military personnel are immobilized. We are solely operating on backup generators.”

Lucille’s courage and fortitude during the ensuing darkest ages earned her the respect and admiration of her colleagues, especially the governor of Utah. And when he announced his presidential campaign in 2050, he chose two strong women to share in his glory: Lucille Boudeau as his running mate and Joanna Forrester as his third primary mate (he had betrothed wives one and two in the early 2040s in accordance with Mormon customs, but due to worldwide chaos, any ceremonies were indefinitely postponed).

*******

Warren Kirkland expounded the theory that God created humans in His own image, and therefore the human body should be more vibrant, enduring, bigger, and stronger than ever before. Soon after his second term as president, he embarked on a national program that required all children to begin rigorous physical and religious training as early as three years old. His “Strong Mind in Strong Body” (SMSB) concept met with much opposition from parental guidance groups and scholars, but their voices were overwhelmed by a “corporeal philosophy” that reminded the masses of the horrors of the recent past and that the survival of our species is dependent upon a “strong mind in a strong body,” guided by a strong, unified government. Strength through strength soon became the New Testament in the 2060s.

Never in history was the development of the human body as magnificent as during the period 2059–2072, known as the “Great Redemption.” Advanced techniques in exercise equipment rivaled that of the magnajets, resulting in anatomical enhancements of men and women far exceeding any previous bodybuilding programs prior to Apophis. Physical prowess reached a preponderance whereby society now focused its energy toward physical and spiritual behavior. Only mankind’s crowning achievements in music, art, science, literature, and architecture were spared Kirkland’s wrath. All other hedonistic books, magazines, cultural, and social endeavors were either burned or abolished. Anyone attempting to obtain banned material would be subject to imprisonment.

The Great Redemption freed the human spirit from the bondage of social depravity and moral decline. Kirkland’s concept of government through physical strength gained worldwide acceptance, and by 2075 all nations had...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 27.3.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-9662-3 / 9798350996623