I found some interesting stuff while working on this story. For instance, Mars and WestHem use thermonuclear torpedoes with a 200-megaton yield. In more than one instance, the Greenies mention nuking Denver if WestHem nukes a Martian city. That got me to thinking, just how bad would that be? The largest nuke ever tested on Earth was the 50-megaton Soviet ‘Tsar Bomba’; the largest ever designed was the 100-megaton version. So, what would be the effects of such a big bomb?
The Internet has a multitude of fascinating website. One of them is NUKEMAP, nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/, where you can select the detonation site (New York, Denver, Moscow, wherever) and select a detonation up to 100 megatons. A 100-megaton airburst over Denver would damage or destroy everything from Fort Collins down to Colorado Springs, and from Silverthorne over to Wiggins. 200 megatons would be even worse. Remind me not to be around when anybody starts tossing these things around.
Another useful website was 3D DIAGRAM OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM, in-the-sky.org/solarsystem.php. Enter the date and you can see where the planets will be in their orbits. That way I can see if Mars is near another planet or far away, etc. I tried to be accurate in the story.
Sorry, but SOL rules prevent me from putting the full URL in for the above websites. You can find the sites with what I entered or add https and a colon and a couple of front slashes in front of the address.
Chapter 28 isn’t too long, but it provides some useful background for future chapters. Enjoy!