Chapter Text
Dr. Grace was surprised the first person to get hurt was Leclerc. The environmental scientist was fairly quiet since his conscription after revealing the half-life on humanity. Most likely because Stratt has tasked him to reverse all of his life’s work towards decreasing greenhouse gases and increase the rate of global warming to counteract the dimming sun.
To say the Frenchman was finding joy in his role in saving the planet was a lie, according to the times Grace has seen him crying into his breakfast.
Then Stratt greenlit his idea of breaking the glacial icecaps in Antarctica. The meeting went as well as anyone would expect.
”That wasn’t a real idea. That was a complete exaggeration! A-a last ditch effort idea. We can’t start there!” Leclerc pleaded in the department meeting.
Grace, for his limited knowledge, also believed that it was a big ask. Stratt had brought Leclerc’s idea up while they camped out in her office for a long research night.
”It is the fastest way to release methane into the atmosphere, you said it yourself Doctor Leclerc.” Stratt said, tipping her head towards the man in question.
He was standing at this point, leaning over the table and reaching out to her in an attempt to reason. “Please, Director. We have to try the other options first. Switch as many people as we can back to coal and natural gas. Bring decrease the cost of petroleum and people will drive more—“
”And cut down the Amazon Forest? Please Dr. Leclerc, you know as well as I do that all those methods combined will not be as fast as breaking the icecaps. Especially when we use the ICBMs to do it.”
Leclerc slammed his hands onto the desk, “You’re going to nuke Antarctica?”
Stratt raised an eyebrow, giving him a look of contempt, “We are not nuking Antarctica. That wouldn’t be as productive.” Ryland couldn’t hide the smirk that crossed his face, instead pretending to itch at his beard as Stratt gave a flippant hand wave to his left, “There is no use for nuclear payloads. We will use conventional solid fuel missiles that will also discharge higher amounts of carbon dioxide.”
”But-but, there’s wildlife there. And in the water the pollution alone will destroy millions of sea-life!”
”And if we wait too long, the temperature could be too low and there is no point to blanket the atmosphere. Dr. Leclerc, I understand your worry, but some wildlife compared to global extinction is negligent.”
The room was quiet. Leclerc looked around desperately to anyone else to speak up on his behalf, to understand what he was feeling. His eyes landed on Grace, attempting a silent plea to be seen, but Ryland broke away, looking down into his notebook.
Grace still felt somewhat conflicted when that Wednesday Stratt, Grace, and Leclerc spent 9 hours inside of an Arihant-Class Indian submarine. He knew why it needed to happen. He also knew that emperor penguins were very cute. Hopefully zoos and animal rehabs will still be working into the apocalypse so they can repopulate one day.
At the stroke of noon in UTC-3, Leclerc launched 6 missiles into the South Pole. He wept the 4 it took to resurface in Ushuaia. When they disembarked, there was a crowd near the base of the pier. The majority of them looked like Argentinians, but there was also people holding signs and press cameras held high in the air.
”Uhh, why are they here?” Grace asked as he climbed onto the deck.
Stratt was halfway up the ladder, when catching sight of the crowd she rolled her eyes, “Media probably got hold of information when we landed from the Gansu. It will be in public records that the missiles and Indian sub were procured for us.” Grace reached out a hand for her to leap onto land. “I assume they’ve linked the recent explosions to us.”
”Uh, so that’s not a welcoming party?”
Stratt glared up at him, “I did have the PR team plan to release papers on our research towards the plan to quell the media storm.” She turned and watched Leclerc struggle his way up the ladder. Grace rounded her and helped the man off board. “Francois, you will be the one to talk to the media.”
Leclerc sputtered, “Why? Haven’t you tortured me enough?”
Stratt continued to stare the Frenchman down, the cool, commanding expression never budging, “Pas de repos pour les méchants.”
He sighed, his body listing to one side before finding a fire inside him and throwing up his hands, “Ça va!”
Leclerc stomped up the pier towards the crowd. The flashes increased as the throng tightened around him. The crashing waves were too loud to hear what was happening but the man was waving his arms emphatically. Grace was thankful that he wasn’t the one up there right now. Paving the Sahara is one thing, but this seemed much more destructive. There is no physical product that is being created unlike the thousands of tons of astrophage, and the connotation of greenhouse gasses is quite negative. Explaining to laypeople that doing this is actually a good thing may be harder than figuring out what astrophage was.
The voices began overlapping each other, both media and what must be protestors crowding in at the environmental scientist. Stratt mumbled something next to him before striking a match to light her cigarette. Grace grimaced openly, he didn’t like the smoking habit, but leaned down to hear her better, “What?”
”I said at least he stopped crying.” She said, Grace shook his head and she shrugged, “He is empathetic, that is a good thing. He can relay that it is an unfortunate thing to need to happen. But a man outright crying may not give us the best image.”
Grace opened his mouth to argue multiple problems with what she said but was interrupted when the voices turned into shouts. He looked back and the media had backed up, catching what must have been b-roll of Leclerc interacting with the protestors. They held signs and had no mikes but one man was close to Leclerc, sticking his finger into the other man’s chest. Leclerc had both hands up in a placating manner but his voice was just as loud as the others.
”Should we stop this?” Grace asked towards his boss who was also engrossed in what was happening before them. He took a few involuntary steps forward but teetered on his toes, waiting for an answer. As he bounced he turned back to the crowd and watched as the man shoved Leclerc off balance.
“I think there’s your answer.” Stratt called from behind her cigarette.
Grace nodded and trotted closer to the others. Between the time he crossed the pier, Leclerc was back in the man’s face. He said something that Grace didn’t absorb and watched the man’s face start to turn red. His stomach turned as he watched him reel back and throw a punch directly into Leclerc’s face.
Everyone winced, the cameras followed the scientist to the ground and Grace sprinted the last 20 feet to the scene. Francois hit the ground ass first before splaying out on his back dazed and frozen to the boards. Grace could see the blood covering his top lip. The other man loomed over Leclerc shaking his hand out and yelling in a language Grace couldn’t understand.
When he stopped bending over the fallen man he braced himself and cocked a foot back. Grace was close enough to see the man aiming for the other’s gut. There wasn’t anytime to think, so Grace rammed directly into the protester at top speed.
Having one foot in the air knocked the man off balance enough to fall to the ground, rolling onto a side. Grace however, got to relearn Newton’s third law of motion in action. The bounce back was enough to make him almost lose his footing. He flailed his arms to keep upright and not end up in a pile with Leclerc. Once his footing was stable, he looked back up to the protestors and watched as the end of a line of security walled off both the agitators and the media.
Grace wheezed as Carl came to his side, patting the scientist hard on the back before leaning over Leclerc. The man on the ground winced as Carl helped him to his feet. Upright, the blood leaking from his nose increased and Grace didn’t have to have a medical doctorate to know that his nose was broken, angled to one side. Leclerc was speaking in French, but Grace didn’t need any translation for the obvious swears. Between a wheeze he hissed in sympathy.
The crowd was being pushed back into a side street, the noise slowly fading as Stratt came up to Ryland’s side. “Can you walk? Medical will meet us at the airfield.”
Leclerc looked at her with more ire than when she told him to push the firing button. Francois’ temper was something to behold. Grace remembered a time while drunk that he tried to climb across a table to get at someone arguing that environmental science wasn’t a hard science. In his half bent position, Grace could imagine him going in for a tackle. Before that could happen, both Grace and Carl stepped in between the two. Carl placed a handkerchief into Leclerc’s already bloody hand and brought it up to his nose. He moaned and walked with Carl into the waiting vehicle at the corner. They entered and the car pulled away from the pier and off towards the airfield.
As sudden as it happened, it was just as calm. No crowd or bleeding Frenchman. Just crashing waves and his own labored breathing. Grace turned around back to Stratt who had a look he couldn’t decipher on her face. Grace tilted his head as she continued to stare before minutely shaking her head. “Did you have fun? I’m sure your stunt will be more talk than the punch was.”
Grace blushed, remembering all the cameras that were around. He groaned, tugging on his cap until the brim covered his eyes, “Christmas.”
”It was very heroic.” Stratt commented, “But very stupid. I would restrain from running into attackers in the future.”
”It was a teacher reflex.” Grace said as he pulled his cap off to readjust it. Stratt furrowed her brows and he squirmed, “I mean. I don’t bum rush kids who get into fights but I usually end up in the middle… and well.” He trailed with a shrug, not wanting to get into the semantics of what to do when middle schoolers fight.
”We have security for a reason.” She said, waving her hand towards the four others walking the perimeters. “Though I do not think we were fairly prepared for a fight to start, we will be ready for the next landfall for safety. I doubt Leclerc will come again anyways. He did what was needed. Won’t need to be in the public eye until after the Hail Mary launches most likely.”
Grace huffed, hands planting on his hips. “You think he’s going to still work with us after this fiasco?”
”He may be whiny but he is a good man. I think Dr. Leclerc knows his knowledge is irreplaceable for what is to come in the next thirty years.” She said in the way she knew she would be right. Grace didn’t like being reminded about what would happen after the Hail Mary project was completed. It would be a dark time for the world, depressing and pessimistic. Millions would go hungry and freeze as temperature drops, land would become a commodity to fight over. He hoped that he would be back in class to help cultivate some hope for the next generation, maybe Stratt would let him work remotely after the launch.
“I hope you’re right.”
”He will stay.” Another black car pulled up where the last one left. Stratt started towards it, Grace trotting to keep up. “And if the promise of helping humanity isn’t enough, then the imported wine that will be delivered to his cabin tonight may help change his mind.”
Grace shook his head and laughed as he opened the car door.
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Petrova Taskforce Bombing Antarctica - Greenhouse Gas Renewal at Large
India and North America Aided in Attack in South Pole
Francois Leclerc - Reversing Progress or Saving the World?
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@rosapadilla:Enviroscientist here. If the real goal is to keep the planet warm, that is one way to do it. Permafrost holds a lot of methane, which is one of the major greenhouse gasses. But did it have to happen so soon? The sun has only dimmed 6%?
@gatorgated:Yeah let’s punch the people trying to save the world, thatll rlly help.
——-Reply from @little440:These people don’t care about the world. It’s just fucking millionaires playing god. The leader is married to the head scientist.
——-Reply from @67us67:People have the right to express if they think something is wrong. I think one punch is nothing compared to blowing up a continent!!!
—————Reply to @67us67 from @minilimi: Did anyone die tho? No? Exactly
@aniokay:Soooo…..what about Happy Feet 3?