Goodbye Planet Earth

By Rich Giesbrecht

The novel Goodbye Planet Earth provides close looks at the personalities of human characters in a not-too-distant future. Their situations and the future conditions of the entire world take a giant step into the only remaining choices that might need to be faced if many humans today ignore current conditions. The characters are confronted with ever-changing and unforeseeable challenges beyond imagination.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664197480

Rich Giesbrecht

Rich Giesbrecht has a diverse background. He was a Hospital Corpsman in the U.S. Navy, trained at three Navy hospitals, and served on independent duty, responsible for the safety and health of four hundred men and officers, aboard an ammunition ship. Rich is Senior Vice Commander of the famous Sullivan Brothers VFW Post in Waterloo, Iowa. His wife Kathy is President of that Auxiliary. Rich has worked forty years as a health insurance specialist. He also has fifteen years of experience in radio and television broadcasting. His goals are to continue to help save lives by encouraging and inspiring other humans to work together for prevention and cures of injuries and diseases, and to promote the availability of healthcare for everyone. Rich believes that when millions of persons throughout the world diligently work together with these goals in mind, life will exist forever on Planet Earth.

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Copyright © 2021 by Rich Giesbrecht.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 10/27/2021

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

835080

CONTENTS

Chapter 1     Destruction in Major Cities

Chapter 2     Arid Hills in Devastated USA

Chapter 3     Surprises in Australia

Chapter 4     Angel Yearns to Travel

Chapter 5     Speaking of Killing

Chapter 6     Possible Escape

Chapter 7     Desperately Searching for Answers

Chapter 8     Dangerous Travel

Chapter 9     Conditions Out of Control

Chapter 10   Dilemmas

Chapter 11   Frantic Follies Beyond Planet Earth

Chapter 12   First Impression of This Beautiful Planet

Chapter 13   Surprises on Angel’s Paradise

Chapter 14   Horrible Hunger

Chapter 15   Despair

Chapter 16   Problems Unlike Black Holes

Chapter 17   A Possible Return to Planet Earth

CHAPTER 1

Destruction in Major Cities

A T THIS TIME in our lives, you and I may recall some serious sickness that struck us or a financial tragedy that took our incomes or some other frightening event that is no longer troubling to us. We worried then whether there was a remote possibility that we could recover. Because of our experiences, both pleasant and unpleasant, we have learned some lessons that can be valuable to us in making decisions for the future.

We are not alone on this planet. We read about and hear about problems that hundreds of persons endured hundreds or thousands of years ago. Only a small number of persons successfully figured out the solutions and were able to survive those situations. In the twentieth century, two world wars were fought, which destroyed millions of lives. A few of the important goals were accomplished, and dangerous groups with evil schemes were defeated.

Recently, a contagious illness spread across this planet.

We have frequent ideas to solve all our problems, and we realize that we need to concentrate and apply everything we know.

Some groups and some circumstances seem to prevent what many of us would like to happen or to do.

Even our best efforts may fail, or at least, that is what we often think. We are now becoming more aware of the fact that we must work in every way with determination to defeat what will be our demise if we do nothing. Today, we are aware that what is already terrible is getting worse. We also need to relax on this beautiful night in New Orleans, Louisiana. Several of us walk toward a street with nightclubs that have flashy signs. We come closer and gaze across the street to see the light fog that is over the bars. We see and hear and feel the earth cave in under one of the bars.

The building shatters, crumbles, and falls. Dozens of persons dart from four of the neighboring bars. We watch every remnant of the building sucked into the earth. We shake from a tremendous burst of pressure that moves the ground under our feet. We scream as more bars disintegrate one by one in a chain reaction. Water rushes in where the bars once were.

New Orleans has an array of colorful homes. Mark and Mavis, both slim and dark-haired and thirty-five years old, own a small purple house with blue doors and shutters. They and their seven-year-old daughter, Nancy, watch a studio interview on a New Orleans TV channel. The female TV reporter is forty-five-year-old Carol Conway. She has long blonde curly hair.

Carol interviews fifty-two-year-old Sam, a man with short black hair. He fidgets. Carol asks, You witnessed earthquakes in California when you served in the Navy. What was different about this one?

Sam looks like he sees a ghost and answers, Last night was spooky. I began to walk across the street and stopped when I spotted something I had never seen.

Carol leans toward Sam and requests, Would you please describe exactly what you saw?

A misty fog was high in the sky. It swooped toward the buildings across the street. Then the fog circled like it was looking for a place to land. Suddenly, I saw red flecks in the fog.

Carol grins. Red flecks? Are you sure, Sam?

Absolutely. The fog thickened and settled over one building. A bright light shined on the top of that building. He takes a deep breath. As soon as the light hit the top of that building, I heard a blast, and I felt a forceful thud—like a heavy object hit the earth. Then three buildings fell apart. Bricks and dust were flying at me. I ran away.

Was there anything else you noticed?

I smelled something like sulfur. Also, there was a loud sucking sound that I had never heard before—like the earth swallowing entire buildings, and it did.

Carol glares at Sam and then faces a camera. Someone found a cell phone across from the bars that were swallowed. The owner of that phone is in a hospital. She gave us permission to use the video she shot with the phone.

The TV channel runs a video of buildings being sucked into the earth and water emerging.

Mark stares at the TV, raises his head, and moves it back and forth. Mavis bites her lower lip.

Nancy is frightened, squints, turns away from the TV, and asks her mother, Is that true?

Nancy’s mother, Mavis, is aghast and cannot answer her.

*       *       *

The sun shines on a merry-go-round near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. Several adults of various ages walk toward the tower. A young man leans his back against a tree; a young woman runs to him and kisses him. Flocks of birds fly away from the tower. A dark cloud forms over two small boats and a yacht sailing on the Seine River. The current intensifies and causes the vessels to rock and roll. The small boats and the yacht capsize. A light fog envelops the Jena Bridge. Water swooshes from the Seine onto the bridge and floods the bottom of the Eiffel Tower.

Crowds gather and gaze as the tower shakes. From the tower’s upper levels, old and young humans gape down from the edge and scream as they fall into the rising water. The Eiffel Tower crashes into the river.

In a Paris bar, women and men enjoy watching a soccer game on TV. The screen flickers and blanks out.

*       *       *

In a bar under a bridge in Chicago, three women and two men are engrossed with the TV news of a newly developed rocket ship. Breaking News suddenly appears on the screen. The black male news anchor declares, Catastrophic events are occurring worldwide as I speak. The acts of destruction seem to have been initiated by some type of electronic beam. The Weather Bureau tells us that it currently has no explanation except that these extreme situations are probably due to drastic climate changes.

At a Lake Michigan beach, women and men in swimming attire frolic on the sand and in the water. A geyser erupts from the sand. Another geyser erupts. Dozens of geysers blast steam. Swimmers come out of the water. Everyone along the beach runs away from spurts of fire and rushes toward Chicago skyscrapers. Newspapers sold in downtown Chicago display the headline, EIFFEL TOWER VANISHES!

*       *       *

Sixty-year-old Tom is an American traveling in Athens, Greece. He is clean-shaven and has short brown hair and wears a business suit. The midafternoon sun shines on Tom as he steps out of a taxi in the Plaka district. Tom carries a newspaper to an open-air restaurant. No customers are at the tables or the bar. A slim waitress of about fifty approaches him. Her white blouse contrasts with her skirt, which has red flowers on a black background. She smiles and offers him a menu. He holds up his left hand and orders, Moussaka.

She sets the menu on his table and titters. You are American?

Yes. I look like an American?

No. You sound like an American. You like Greek moussaka?

Moussaka is one of my favorite foods when I travel. What’s your name?

Sarah. Who are you?

I’m Tom.

Tom, would you like a drink?

Do you have red wine—a somewhat spicy one?

Of course. Sarah picks up the menu and saunters to the bar.

Tom holds his newspaper and glowers at the headline: Chicago Beaches on Fire. He reads the article.

Sarah returns from the bar with a glass of red wine, sets it in front of him, peers into his eyes, and asks, Do you have family, Tom?

He sets his paper on the table. My brother died in New Orleans in the earthquake and the flood.

I’m sorry. Do you have children?

Never had children.

Do you have a wife?

She died from cancer.

I’ll check on your moussaka.

Sarah returns with Tom’s moussaka and leans toward him as she places it on the table. She turns and moves to the bar.

Tom enjoys his food, sips his wine, and stares at his newspaper. He hears a distant rumbling. Lightning flashes, and he sees huge waves from the beach moving toward the restaurant. He puts money on the table, notices a taxi parked nearby, runs to it, and tells the driver to wait a moment. He dashes back to the restaurant. Sarah, a storm is coming. I have a taxi. You need to come with me.

No. I have to stay here at my restaurant.

You will die here! He picks her up and swiftly carries her toward the taxi.

She kicks him and screams, Put me down!

He struggles against her resistance and carries her quickly to a seat in the taxi.

From the taxi, she espies a tsunami rolling toward them. She shouts, Go up!

Lightning flashes as the taxi speeds toward higher ground. Water hits the taxi, tips it over, and floats it for seven yards. Another torrent of water submerges the taxi. Huge waves move in with unrelenting intensity, cover the city, move much higher, and completely cover the Acropolis. The sky is gray, and red flecks are floating in the air.

*       *       *

Crows fly in the steaming sky over New York City skyscrapers, die in flight, and fall upon lifeless city streets in Times Square and lower Manhattan.

CHAPTER 2

Arid Hills in Devastated USA

F OR MORE THAN a hundred miles, purple specks fly through smog over small hills with rocks as well as vast areas of sand and clay that are devoid of any vegetation or other forms of life. Crowning one hill is a translucent disc that is five feet in diameter. On a side of that hill, gray stones and white stones surround an oval pewter door that acts as the cave’s entrance.

Dim light radiates in the cave from walls onto slim and tall Grandpa Dave, who stands with his back toward the door. He is eighty-one years old and wears a gray skintight shirt with no pockets, gray plastic shorts with no belt, and gray plastic sandals. Stalactites hang from the ceiling. Stalagmites are on both sides of him, attached to a clay floor that slopes downward into a dark passageway. With his throaty voice, Grandpa Dave hollers, Hue!

Grandpa Dave hears no answer from Hue, only a distant sound of splashing water that is followed by the sound of approaching footsteps. Pudgy thirty-five-year-old Hue meanders upward to Grandpa Dave with two pale-blue mugs. Hue has short blond hair and a full beard. He is almost as tall as his grandfather. His clothing is like Grandpa Dave’s. Hue has never attended school, and he behaves like a young boy. He grimaces and hands one of the mugs to Grandpa Dave. With a depressed soft tenor voice, he says, Samples from a new batch, Grandpa. With his green eyes, he studies Grandpa Dave’s spiked white hair, hairless and wrinkle-free face, and steel-blue eyes.

Grandpa Dave slurps his beer and announces, This is fine. It’s story time.

Hue eagerly follows Grandpa Dave out of the front room, and they go left at the following corner. Both duck and enter the short doorway to the library room.

Dim yellow light radiates from the ceiling. Blue and gold glimmer from the walls. Petrified stumps provide seats next to a crude wood table with gray hardcover books with neither titles nor images on their covers. Hue’s eyes gaze sleepily yet steadily at the book Grandpa Dave picks up, opens, and reads. In those days, eight hundred families were greedy. They gave themselves the name Supers and positioned themselves to make most of the planet’s resources their property.

Hue inquires, How could the Supers own most of the Earth?

They used papers with numbers. They called the papers ‘money.’

What did they do with the money papers?

Grandpa Dave peers into the book and reads, The Supers traded money for land and gold and food. Then they printed more money. They gave workers only a small amount of the money for their efforts of assembling vehicles and growing food.

Did the workers build things?

Yes, machines to drive and travel that the Supers called cars, trucks, boats, and airplanes.

How many?

Millions of vehicles.

Hue has doubts about this story. He smirks. Were there enough Supers to drive that many machines?

Grandpa Dave holds the book aside, chuckles, and answers, No. They sold most of them so they could receive more money.

What is the name of those travel machines?

Vehicles.

Hue watches his grandfather close the book and set it down on the table.

No, Grandpa, I would like to hear more.

Grandpa Dave grabs the book, pages through it, and finds where he left off. He brings words from the page into his brain and states, The vehicles were operated with gas engines, so workers were tricked with money to drill that fuel out of the ground. To buy gas for their cars, workers paid Supers much money. He pauses and then growls out, Supers referred to the workers as Cruds.

Are we Cruds?

He glances at his grandson, pulls his spiked white hair, and sadly sighs. Yes, we are Cruds. He returns to the book. Supers could do anything they wanted. They raised prices that the farmers had to pay to grow food. When farmers did not have enough money, Supers bought the farms for only a small amount of money. Supers had more money than Cruds. Money made the Supers powerful. They were rulers over the Cruds. War resulted when Cruds tried to stop Supers.

Terrible!

Grandpa Dave bursts into tears. The Supers murdered the Cruds and even other Supers. He shuts the book and places it gently on the table.

Grandpa Dave’s grandson shuts his eyes tightly and bites his lower lip. He opens his green eyes and peers mournfully at his grandfather. Both stare at each other for a moment. Hue insists, Next time, tell me a better story. Supers are scary. We need to find some nice Cruds.

We are the only humans left on this planet.

Hue stands up. We should go to another planet and find more humans.

The air is poisonous outside. We make our own food and beer. It’s nice in here.

Hue angrily screams, We need a new planet so we can play outside!

The light coming from the walls and ceiling flickers.

Grandpa Dave stresses, Do not scream again. Some loud vibrations turn off lights.

Hue disregards the warning. He angrily and emphatically screams, We need to say, ‘Goodbye, planet Earth!’

All the lights go out. Nothing is visible in the library room. Their breathing is the only sound that can be heard.

Almost like when a new day dawns, an infinitesimal amount of light appears in the library room, and it increases very gradually. Blue and yellow radiate from the walls and ceiling and then reach their peak with an intensity that is lesser than their previous peak. Grandpa Dave is sleeping on the floor. As he awakens, he peers awhile at the walls and books; he then stands up and slowly exits the room. As Grandpa Dave strolls downhill, the passageway walls radiate dim blue light onto him. He ducks to pass through another short doorway and goes into the garden room. A dim blue light and a dim red light radiate from the ceiling and intensify to a brightness that somewhat imitates an outside sunrise.

Ceiling rows of small cylinders intermittently spray mist onto separate rows of red peppers, tomatoes, beans, herbs, butternut squashes, strawberries, sweet corn, barley, and hops. Grandpa Dave scans the garden and loudly calls out, Hue!

Grandpa Dave hurries out of the garden room, goes to the library room, glances around, and moves at a swift pace to the front room. He pauses to catch his breath, becomes upset, marches downhill, turns right, passes the control room, and cautiously makes his way through a dark brewery room with a dozen wooden barrels. He stops at the spa room’s entrance and stares at the steaming spring, which is next to the waterfalls. With his deep voice, he says, Where are you? Come out!

Grandpa Dave once again checks the brewery room and hears footsteps coming from somewhere else.

In the front room, Hue wears a gray protective suit with gray plastic boots. He puts on a transparent helmet and faces the cave’s entrance door. Grandpa Dave approaches him and warns, Danger. That’s dangerous for you.

Without speaking or turning, Hue opens a metal box on the wall next to the door. He pulls a lever from left to right.