All plants operated on a three-shift basis. Rockets were not only being completed; all unnecessary equipment had been taken off, both civilian and military. Only oxygen cylinders, water and food were being loaded.
Only the equipment, necessary to land a spaceship on Earth, was left.
Separate modules were filled with seeds and genetic material, together with the equipment, necessary to reproduce Earth’s flora and fauna.
Crews were completed with men and women. In case of trouble, they would be able to spend five years in space, then land and try to continue living under the ground, in dugouts, which would remain after the destruction.
Each crew was provided with a code, marked on thin titanium plates, to open any well-fortified underground bunker and even towns, available on Earth. Their exact location was also pointed out on the plates.
The codes to open state depots, filled to the brim with food, water, oxygen, and scientific literature, were marked on the other side of the plates. It was a small chance, but still a chance.
Under special control, in each depot there were sealed laboratories, fitted up with extended, or to be more exact, Earth’s full flora and fauna gene pool. Scientists from all over the world had collected it.
Books also took a lot of space. Standard libraries contained descriptions of all knowledge and technologies of the sixth civilization of Earth people. They also included fiction and enormous photographic material on arts.
In addition to the above, huge basic depots contained working models of conserved machinery.
Reservoirs with fuel were not far from the dugouts. They were deep in the ground, only pipes with faucets were on the surface.
Powerful war ships were hurrying to designated points to launch a nuclear strike.
Submarines emerged to the surface of the seas and oceans and also took to jump-oft lines.
Their crews were urgently changing active point positions to empty ones, which were in standby mode, to be filled in with new data they would receive from the headquarters on nuclear and conventional weaponry control.
Heavy silo-based missiles were undergoing the last dispositions before the start. Heavy covers, shielding them, were ejected with a bang. Firing pins of warheads were looking into the sky, ready to scorch out the target by intense nuclear charge after the «Start» button would be pressed.