The sky may be falling, but what does it matter? Did we think to catch any of the pieces? What use was all that waste then, if we didn't even gain from our failure?
Those were Henry's thoughts as he watched the collapse of the space tower. The tower extended from well below ground to well past geosynchronous orbit. Miles and miles and miles of material that had no purpose now but to be returned to earth and space where it came from.
Henry watched in horror as the portions of a space tower came crashing to crashing to the earth. The discharge that started all of this was still hurting his ears. He couldn't hear all the crashing and screaming.
The tower had stood above Port City for thirty years and Henry had been there for most of them. The tower had started as a skyscraper, tall by even skyscraper standards anchoring an inch thick bucky rope. The rope extended well past geosynchronous orbit and was anchored on the other end by a space platform that was rotating in stationary orbit. The space platform would have flung off into space if not for it's anchor on the earth side.
Another arc raced between heaven and earth, magnitudes greater than the largest lightning bolt ever recorded. Henry heard that. He sighed. At least he knew he wasn't entirely deaf. Maybe his hearing would come back, even if damaged.
When the initial arc of energy had ripped the tower apart, Henry had been deep inside his apartment building in his windowless room. He had seen the flash and gone deaf from the boom. He had thought that the room was going to cave in on him.
He had rushed out to the street. He saw pedestrians on the ground, smoldering, but only on one side. Their burns were on the side that had been facing the tower. Lucky ones had been sheltered by a building or other structure.
Henry was thankful for the first time for the small windowless apartment deep inside a building. He had been willing to put up with it because he had been saving to buy an apartment with a nice view in a security building. Now it appeared that the unpleasant little apartment had saved him a trip to the hospital and maybe even his life.
Henry could hear distant screaming now. He looked about him, scanning the human pain. People were lying in the streets burned, unable to move, screaming. He couldn't do a thing for them. This would be city wide. They may even have to walk all the way to the hospital and that even didn't guarantee treatment if the physicians were too busy to help.
Henry's hearing was coming back, but he didn't need his hearing to feel the rumbling as portions of the tower that had stood for years miles above the earth were impacting in the distance. Shooting stars fell from the sky like fireworks, and in the distance, many miles above the city it seemed to Henry as if the main structure of the tower were hovering without support. It seemed to actually be getting more distant, as if being pulled out to space.
When the tower had been conceived, the world had hesitantly accepted the idea. Then when jobs started flowing to the space platforms, and cheap transport could be arranged on the tower lifts, the space tower had been embraced as a gold gate to happiness and freedom.
Not all were invited though. There had even been wars fought for control of the bridge to space. The countries that now controlled it, were not the ones who had built it.
Henry's hearing had returned enough for him to hear individual cries now. An older woman who looked like a vagrant was stumbling past him in shock. She was severely burned. Henry was amazed that she could stand.
Henry stepped in front of the woman.
"Let's get you to the hospital. You're headed the wrong way."
She stared at him blankly. He wondered if she could even hear him. She stopped moving and just looked into his eyes.
He mouthed the words again, and she shook her head, no.
She spoke softly.
"I don't have insurance or money. I will find a pretty place and die."
Pity welled up in Henry and he realized what it would cost to treat her. Not all had been welcome to partake of the golden tower's stream of wealth. He looked at the ground in shame.
What have I learned? He thought. What have I learned....
"I will pay." He looked her in the eye. "I have money enough. Let me pay."
He doubted she heard him, but she seemed to understand. She sobbed softly as he helped her walk to the hospital.