Anonymous asked Justine about aliens: Is that why they were building rockets that could leave Earth with nuclear weapons?
Still, Justine and Daniel had decided that making something up about the weapons was unwise (what could they say, that the U.S. was planning to blow up satellites with nuclear weapons? In the name of national security?), so again they had decided to say nothing. The NSA shut down and enacted what they called “Cyber–Martial Law,” which, in conjunction with Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites, severely restricted the information that could be seen by Americans on the internet.
So Anonymous called back a third time, threatening that they would doctor evidence about an alien invasion if the NSA didn’t come clean on what the missiles would be used for, to which the NSA predictably replied with silence.
Then, a previously unknown, unaffiliated hacker had exposed the United States as the people who had mysteriously shut down communications between the U.S. and three South American nations: Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. This unaffiliated hacker went by the handle “@OneUnionAnarchist.”
A great deal of distrust was stirring among the people. Daniel felt that honest and sincere communication was the best possible method. He felt that it was paramount that they get the initial anarchy out of the way, and just tell the American people the truth. It would be ideal if they could stop the comet hitting Earth without telling the public like the president wanted, but this was looking increasingly unlikely. The internet was simply too vast to secure. Daniel fidgeted with his fingers while his laptop started up. Justine began to speak without turning her attention away from her computer.
“So, the most likely scenario for how the public will begin to know what is happening is through a leak or a hack, and the internet will spread out the information to the population,” Justine began. “Frankly, I’m surprised Americans—especially those with family in Chile—are not more angry about us shutting down their communication with their families. Then again, we are also silencing their protests in the West and other large cities . . . ” Justine seemed to be talking to herself about what to do.
“Justine,” Daniel interrupted, “what about when it does go public? We need more of a plan than we have right now. We can’t just tell them we are going to shoot a bunch of small rockets at the comet; we need a plan to make sure the people don’t lose faith. Maybe we should be honest with the people?”
“Yes, but no matter what we tell them, the people will be incredibly scared. Like the president said, we will focus on delaying the truth for as long as possible.”
“What if telling the people makes them motivated to work?” Daniel replied. “Motivated to help in the cause?”
“It’s not worth it,” Justine replied flatly. “Too risky.”
“You know,” Daniel accused angrily, “since when did you become Minister of Propaganda? I thought this was the land of the free?”
“Not when a comet is about to destroy the entire world. Few things are more important than freedom, but survival is one of them.”
“This is a mistake,” Daniel growled, to his own surprise. He then stormed out of the office, and drove to the airport to get back to Houston.
Dustin showed Jeremy the computer screen at his house. Anna and Karina were there too, looking over at the curious file that had gone viral. “This is it,” he said. “This is when the world we know is ending . . . ”
Jeremy squinted his eyes at the information. It was a document circulating through social media, which was a file from someone called “@OneUnionAnarchist,” and seemed to show some information about Shiva, but it was difficult to decipher what it was. There were certain parts of the document that were highlighted in bright yellow on the screen. It spoke about “Comet J312 arrival date approximately June 14th, 2018” as well as “40km diameter,” and “Extinction-level Event.”
“We should leave as fast as we can,” Jeremy said, “I think people will start to lose their minds, don’t you? I don’t know what’s going to happen but it can’t be good.”
Jeremy was nervous. He had read in history books about WWII, and how a lot of the people that stayed behind thinking everyone would be okay ended up caught in the middle of a world war, but Dustin and Anna were more reluctant to leave. They convinced Jeremy to wait at least until the end of the week to see what would happen. Jeremy reluctantly agreed, but packed everything up for the trip just in case.
One week after the news had leaked, Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, most of those who read the leaked document were already conspiracy theorists, so most people shrugged the news off like anything else. And since Fox News, CNN, and The New York Times all agreed with each other, people relied on major news networks like they always had. You’d be surprised what people refuse to believe, even if it’s right in front of their face, Jeremy thought.
There were some outliers, though. Little reports on fringe news sites of “anarchist” communes being set up, and even an “ark” being built for the über-wealthy. Unfortunately, these were also websites that said aliens were real, so for many it was hard to tell fact from fiction. Jeremy watched the news as the wars in Syria and the fighting in Afghanistan had stopped, and there were celebrations of all the troops coming home.
There were huge parades for the military’s return home—one even in Houston—but Jeremy thought it was odd when he didn’t see smiles on the returning soldiers’ faces. They should have been happy, but instead their faces looked as grim as when they left for war.
By the eighth day after the @OneUnionAnarchist document, a few religious groups had begun preaching about the coming apocalypse, and projected its end date. When Karina had come over to Anna’s house that night, Anna had planned on telling her the plan to go to Vail before the news became any more public, because for now everyone acted more or less the same. Karina beat her to it, though, when she stepped into Anna’s room.
“The priest at my church today said that the world is going to end, and I don’t believe him, but he is a smart guy. It is weird to see him so sure of something so crazy . . . ” Karina shook her head, confused.
“Yeah . . . about that,” Anna said, and confirmed for her the priest’s thoughts.
After the initial denial came distraught weeping. Anna then told Karina about the plan to head to Vail. She agreed to go, but wanted to bring Milo, her German Sheppard.
“You’re not worried about your parents?” Anna asked.
“I don’t get along with my parents,” Karina said flatly.
After Karina left Anna’s house, Anna called Jeremy to tell him that Karina was on board for Vail. They agreed to leave in five days, in Dustin’s car.
Suri and Robert had organized their final push into the three distinct projects that President Chaplin had asked for. They researched deeper into a “gravitational pull” plan, which, as it turned out, would be useful when Shiva came closer to Earth. It consisted of firing a large amount of heavy material to one side of the comet, which would exert a gravitational force on it, making it move. It would change its kinetic energy only slightly, but if “almost nothing” is the difference between extinction and life, it could definitely come in handy.
The second plan was also their current strategy, which consisted of sending nuclear missiles to poke holes in the comet’s solid exterior to produce the propulsive jets to push it away from Earth.
The last plan to leave Earth was, according to Robert, “beyond stupid,” and he planned to tell the president this. It was impossible for human life to exist without Earth for any meaningful amount of time, and Robert felt that they should focus on saving the almost seven billion people on the planet instead of “letting a chosen few ride around in a spaceship” as Robert put it. He refused to speak about it.
As always, this meant more work for Suri. Unfortunately, when they arrived at the normal conference room to meet with the president, they found Secretary Brighton sitting there instead. Robert groaned.
Suri and Robert explained th
e three different plans of attack and the Secretary said he would brief the president. To Suri’s credit, Robert did note that her design for the ark was quite intelligent, and that if it didn’t require so many resources to build, he would actually want to work on it. Maybe, if they did manage to save the world, it would be a fun future side project.
They were about to leave the conference room when Secretary Brighton cleared his throat. “I’m sure you heard that someone has leaked the information about the meteor to the press—”
“—Comet,” Suri mumbled.
“Huh?” Secretary Brighton blinked at Suri, then resumed his speech. “Now, Fox, CNN, NBC, and the other news networks haven’t published the information yet, and we tried to shut off all the direct sources as fast as we could, but it wasn’t enough. San Francisco and Seattle are both experiencing areas of civil unrest, and from phone taps and computer taps we know that most people in these cities believe that a meteor will destroy the Earth.”
“Comet,” Suri mumbled, “again.”
“Whatever! Anyway, there have been numerous break-ins, people are buying guns, emptying their bank accounts, and stockpiling food. It’s only a matter of time before the rest of the country does too, so we decided we’ll have a press release in six days. We’d like you two to be there to answer any questions the media has about the comet, and do us a favor. Tell them that it’s not that big of a deal—that you are going to save the world without a doubt. That will give us all a lot of much needed peace and security.”
Suri spoke first, “But sir, we have no idea right now, and to be honest it’s not looking too good—”
The Secretary overrode her voice. “It’s not about that now. We must make sure that our people do not descend into chaos like the rest of the world is starting to. We have little choice at this point; our world is depending on you and your team to find a solution to this problem. We have to give them faith.”
Robert had found his mind wandering during this speech, and after leaving work, he went to where it had wandered off to. He walked along the familiar sidewalk on Forty-second Street, his hands in his pockets. He saw the Victorian houses, nestled neatly alongside each other. He walked past the white picket fence, and turned right at small house with the red painted door.
Robert walked along the path to the front porch, and hesitated before knocking on the door. All of a sudden, in the window to the right of the front door, two eyes appeared. They startled him, and he could hear a small child’s voice from inside the house.
“Daddy! Someone’s here at the door!” the little girl yelled, still looking at Robert.
When the door opened, a man in his thirties greeted Robert with a warm smile, and the child hugged the man’s legs, a little scared. The kid gazed up at Robert, who looked down at the small child, and found himself trying his hardest not to cry.
“Can I help you?” The man asked, cheerfully.
Robert lost courage when he saw the child. “Um, yes. I’m sorry, I think I have the wrong hou—”
Suddenly, a voice from behind Robert spoke up as he turned to leave.
“Hey honey, I think this is for me.”
“Jennifer,” Robert gasped, seeing his estranged daughter again. She looked breathtaking, if it wasn’t for the scowl across her face. She had his eyes, and from her countenance, he guessed his stubborn personality.
“Hi, Dad.”
At this point, the man shifted uncomfortably at the front door, and told the little girl to go inside.
“So, it’s you,” the man said, turning to Robert and closing the door, his child still inside the house, now peering out of the window again.
“Listen, it’s nice to meet you, uh—” Robert began.
“Frank,” the man said, steely-eyed.
“Right, well. I just need a quick word with my daughter and then you can say or do whatever you want. It looks like you want to punch me in the face, so you can even do that.”
“Dad, what is it you want? Whatever you can say to me you can say to Frank. I’m glad you two are finally meeting, by the way,” Jennifer said, sarcastically.
Robert sighed deeply, wishing his daughter was a little less stubborn than himself.
“The world is going to end, Jennifer.”
Jennifer rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, I know, Dad. Nothing is permanent, and we are all just atoms in this great big—”
“June 15th, 2018, give or take a few days, a comet of around forty kilometers in diameter will come into contact with Earth, and most likely kill everyone on this planet.”
Jennifer, always the skeptic, asked, “Most likely?”
“Unless I stop it.”
“ . . . Dad?”
Jennifer tried to find any trace of deception in her father’s eyes, but only found a mix of sadness and determination. Then Jennifer asked, “When did you find out?”
“Around the middle of February.”
Jennifer punched her father in the chest.
“And you waited until now to tell me?”
Jennifer looked irate until Robert spoke again. “I’m sorry, Jennifer. I wanted to come sooner, but, well, I wanted to be sure, and I also haven’t had much time to get away.” He sighed. “Jennifer, I think you and your family need to get out of the city.”
“You mean leave?” Jennifer asked, dumbfounded. “Leave where? You just told me a comet is going to destroy Earth. I’m not moving to Mars.”
At this, Robert started tearing up, but tried to keep his voice stable. “I’m not asking you to move to Mars. This isn’t about me, Jenn, I’m trying to protect you. President Chaplin is going to publicly announce the comet’s arrival in one week, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the country dissolves into chaos. Who will follow laws when the world will end, right?”
Robert noticed that Frank was looking blankly from Robert to Jennifer.
“Jenny, you don’t really believe this man, do you?”
“Frank, my father hasn’t spoken to me in ten years, and we haven’t seen each other a long time before that, but he is a brilliant astrophysicist working for NASA. He wouldn’t break this silence for anything. He’s telling the truth.” She took a look back at her daughter before continuing. “You think we should go somewhere less populated, right? A place where the crazy anarchists won’t hurt us.”
“Exactly.”
They were quiet for a while, and Frank excused himself to take care of their daughter, leaving Jennifer and Robert alone. They sat on the front porch next to each other, and finally, for the first time since Robert heard about the comet, he began to cry. Slowly at first, but slowly the small tears turned into weeping sobs, and Jennifer put her head on his shoulder and rubbed his back.
They sat together for half an hour, watching the cars go by Jennifer’s house.
“You know, my friend Danielle called me yesterday, saying that she heard something about the world ending, but I told her not to worry, not to believe everything she reads,” Jennifer laughed. “She called me two months ago to tell me about some 9/11 conspiracy theory they released, too, and I brushed it off. Maybe that one was right, too.”
Robert laughed warily.
“You really think it will get crazy?” Jennifer asked.
“Chile has already overthrown its government. We aren’t all that different from one another—Chilean, American, Ghanaian, whatever. We are all people, all scared of death, all trying to live some way we think is right. If Chile descended into anarchy it makes sense we will too, and when you think that everyone here is armed . . . ”
“I’m not armed,” Jennifer mumbled.
“Well, maybe you should be. I’d say, head north, get into the Rockies, where there’s more space—Canada maybe? I’m sure if you have a head start, you could find an unused cabin. I’d say it would be smart to start driving as soon as you can. Oh, and bring toys and books to educate the little one. Education is important . . . ”
“I don’t really think everyone is just going to go crazy.
I mean, won’t people still want to just live their lives?”
“Maybe. But if I’m right—and I might be—it would be better to find out in the safety of the mountains, no?”
Jennifer thought a little bit, and brushed her brown hair out of her face. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. It’s going to take us a few days to get ready for this. Then, we’ll go.”
“Thank you, daughter. Thank you.” Robert wiped a tear from his eyes.
Jeremy and Dustin looked at the pile of things in front of them. Above the pile was a white board and there was a huge list on the board and almost everything was crossed off of it. On top of the board was the title: “Days until Departure: 2.” Jeremy looked over at Dustin, who had his arms half-crossed, rubbing his stubble in thought.
“We have it all?” Dustin asked.
Jeremy looked at the bags. They had a generator, a drill set, a bowie knife, two big tents, rope, plastic bags, matches and lighters and flint, two-way radios, a GPS, road maps, topographical hiking maps, iodine tablets to purify water, waterproof spray, three compasses, an outdoor stereo, ten gallons of water, four water bottles, seventeen packets of Costco Beef Jerky, flashlights, an ax, two big foldable solar panels, clothes for each of them, day backpacks, three utility knives, instant coffee mix, three big boxes of Cliff bars, Gatorade powder, two computers, a book on outdoor hiking, War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy, and last but not least, two vintage Playboy magazines that Jeremy stole from his dad.
“The only thing I don’t understand is the War & Peace,” Jeremy said, picking up the heavy book. “This thing must weigh like ten pounds.”
“Yeah, could come in handy since anarchy might take over. Plus, who knows, it might turn out to be a pretty good weapon.”
Jeremy had rented a small U-Haul trailer for one day, and just planned on not returning it, thinking to himself, The anarchy has begun!
It was around ten in the morning and he got a text from Anna:
Heyy, I’m at school, can you meet me on the roof?
The Sky is Falling Page 8