Carl Strickler had earned his doctorate. But he didn't crave fame. Not anymore.
* * *
It wasn't long before a tabloid television show discovered a passage by the sixteenth-century French astrologer Nostradamus that began:
In the year 1999, in the seventh month, from the sky will come a great King of Terror...
With gleeful relish, the reporter reminded his viewers that Reyes, the name of one of the discoverers of the asteroid swarm, was a variation on the Spanish word for king.
5
MEETINGS
Wednesday, May 19, 1999, 8:55 P.M.
Project Valkyrie headquarters
Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada
When he heard the knock, Kip looked up from the textbooks, graphs, and schematic charts that were spread across the top of his desk.
"Come in," he said anxiously.
The door swung open and Tia Shimura, looking relaxed in her off-duty uniform, smiled at him.
"Are you coming to the lounge?" she asked. "There's another news conference about the asteroids. Everyone will be there."
"I'm not sure..." Kip hesitated. "I'm not done yet."
Tia stepped into his room and closed the door. It was against regulations to have another student in your quarters, but like Lori, Tia liked to ignore regulations.
She sat down and stared at Kip.
"What?" he demanded.
"You can't just hide in your room, you know."
Kip closed a book and looked at her. "Why not?"
"Listen," Tia replied. "Everybody screws up. You're not alone. Look at Lori, look at Toby, look at me!"
"But seven times, in seven straight simulations? That's got to be a new record," Kip snapped back. "Nobody messes up that much, and stays in the program for long. Krupp said so himself!"
"Krupp isn't in charge," Tia argued. "Taggart is -"
"I know I've let him down," Kip interrupted. "He took a big risk signing me up. Have you heard that Dr. Markham was against letting me in the program? Said my childhood was too unstable."
"Don't worry about Dr. Markham. The lady shrink has gotten into all of our heads at one time or another, and she can be pretty harsh."
Kip sighed. "Maybe Dr. Markham is right. Maybe I'm not cut out for this Project."
"Just what is that supposed to mean?"
Kip's eyes avoided Tia's. "I'm not sure we're doing the right thing..."
Tia stared at him, puzzled.
"I can't... I can't bring myself to think of Godzilla as the enemy. Every time I see him, in the simulator, on film, and in our classes, I see an animal. Confused. In pain. But just an animal. So I just freeze..." Kip looked up, finally meeting Tia's eyes. "Godzilla isn't evil," he whispered. "And I can't force myself to believe he is."
"That's ridiculous!" Tia cried. "You saw the films of Tokyo. You know what kind of destruction Godzilla brings with him! Thousands died in the past, millions more could die in the future if Godzilla shows up again."
"I know," Kip replied a little too defensively. "But when I see him, a voice in the back of my mind says we're doing the wrong thing. I can't bring myself to pull the trigger. Even in the simulators."
Kip's voice faded away. Tia gazed at him.
"So that's the problem," she said.
Kip nodded, and Tia shrugged her shoulders. "Quit then," she said simply.
Kip stood up and crossed the room. He stared out the window at the stars shining down on the barren desert of Nevada. The silence stretched on.
Finally, he spoke. "I don't want to leave. I've found a home here."
Tia sighed. "Then don't forget that what we're doing is important. The scientists will save the world from asteroids. Our job is saving it from Godzilla, or whatever other monster crawls out of the woodwork. Were fighting the good fight, Kip."
Kip nodded "I know that, but..."
"Forget your doubts," Tia insisted. "The Project needs you, and you need the Project."
Kip nodded but said nothing. He still had primal doubts about his mission, but he decided he would not share them again. With anyone.
Tia hopped to her feet. "Come on, Kip," she said, taking his hand. "Let's go watch the press conference."
* * *
"Earth is too fragile a basket to keep all of humanity's eggs in," Dr. Jacob Bermeister announced to the assembled journalists and the millions who watched the conference on television.
As the astronomer spoke, the news people crowded around the podium. The journalists were packed together like sardines in the jammed auditorium at Kennedy Space Center.
"The Reyes-Mishra Swarm stretches from near Earth's orbit to a part of space millions of miles away," Dr. Bermeister continued, pointing to a map of the solar system with the asteroid cloud highlighted in red. "But only the three large asteroids in the center of the swarm pose a real threat to human life. The rest will provide a colorful show when they burn up in our atmosphere, nothing more.
"However," Bermeister warned, "a strike by any one of the three large asteroids could mean the end of life as we know it. That is why Operation EarthFirst is being implemented."
"Dr. Bermeister!" a reporter cried out, much louder than the rest. "What are the chances of success?"
Cameras flashed, and cameramen vied for position before the half-dozen scientists on the stage as Dr. Bermeister considered his answer.
"With the help and cooperation of all the member countries of the United Nations, we have formulated a plan. The United States, Canada, Russia, Japan, France, and Great Britain have already begun the work necessary to implement that plan -"
"But what are the chances of success?" the journalist interrupted rudely.
"It has a good chance of success," Dr. Bermeister declared.
"Can you give us a mathematical probability?" another journalist demanded.
"No," Bermeister replied curtly. "I'm not Jimmy the Greek." A chuckle rippled through the room.
"Is it true that Operation EarthFirst will involve nuclear Weapons?" a French television anchorwoman demanded hostilely.
"The plan does involve the use of nuclear weapons, yes," Bermeister stated. Before he could continue, the room erupted in chaos, with a hundred questions being shouted at once.
Finally, Dr. Chandra Mishra rose from his chair. The journalists quieted, waiting for the co-discoverer of the asteroid swarm to speak.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the dignified Indian scientist said, "there are no guarantees in science. We have checked and rechecked the calculations and used every resource available on this planet, as well as our satellites in space.
"As far as we can deduce, these asteroids can be vaporized by using nuclear warheads delivered in a precise sequence while they are still far away.
"To accomplish this task, Operation EarthFirst will use the Russian Mir space station as an orbital base of operations. The shuttle Atlantis will carry the nuclear warheads into orbit -"
A young journalist stood up. "But isn't it dangerous to take nuclear weapons into space? And aren't there international laws against doing that?"
Dr. Reyes rose to the challenge. He defended his colleague and the plan. "The United Nations has agreed to suspend the laws against nuclear weapons in space for the duration of this crisis."
"But, Dr. Reyes, Dr. Mishra," another journalist demanded, "isn't there a danger that the bombs will do nothing more than break up the asteroid into smaller parts - pieces that could still pose a significant hazard to life on Earth?"
Dr. Mishra nodded. "That is a possibility," he agreed. "But it is a remote one. We have carefully estimated the density of each of the three asteroids and have concluded that they can be almost completely vaporized by the nuclear warheads."
"So the smaller pieces won't be dangerous?" asked Nick Gordon, a young science correspondent for the Independent News Network.
Dr. Mishra shook his head. "No, Mr. Gordon," he replied, recognizing Gordon from his award-winning science reporting over the last few years. "The r
eal danger lies in doing nothing."
"Yes," Dr. Reyes agreed. "After all, hundreds of smaller asteroids - we call them meteors or shooting stars - strike our planet every day. Most of them burn up in the atmosphere; a few even reach the surface of the planet. But compared to the menace the human race faces from the asteroids, the smaller meteors pose almost no danger..."
* * *
Several hours later, the very tip of the Reyes-Mishra Asteroid Swarm crossed Earth's orbit. Small space rocks began to enter the atmosphere.
Over the Midwestern United States and Canada, the meteor shower lit up the night sky for thousands of miles. Millions of North Americans gathered on hillsides and rooftops to witness the celestial show of bright lights and brilliant colors.
True to the scientists' predictions, the vast majority of meteors that fell in that night's shower burned up in the Earth's atmosphere. The meteor shower continued for three hours, then ceased.
Only a few fist-sized space rocks actually made it to the surface of the Earth. One struck deep in a Kansas grain field with enough force to shake loose a dozen green apples from Oswald Peaster's fifty-year-old trees, a good two miles away.
Farmer Peaster never noticed what had been delivered to his property. Nor did anyone else in the little rural town of Natoma, Kansas.
But they would soon take notice.
Very soon, in fact, the eyes of the whole world would be on this sleepy American town - or, more precisely, what would remain of it.
6
BACK FROM
THE GRAVE
Sunday May 23, 1999, 1:12 P.M.
Fifteen miles northeast of Merida, Mexico
On the Yucatan Peninsula
Robin Halliday gazed through the helicopter's window at the rough, deep blue and aquamarine Waters of the choppy Gulf of Mexico far below. She gripped her microphone with a sweaty hand as she waited for her cue from the director. Below her, Robin spotted a group of long-necked pink flamingoes flying gracefully in formation over the green canopy of the rain forest.
As the helicopter climbed into the brilliant blue sky, Robin peered farther along the coast of the peninsula. Through the late afternoon haze, she could barely make out the tower of another one of the massive modern resort hotels that dotted the white beaches all along the Yucatan Peninsula.
Not a bad place to be when the world ends, she thought.
"Thirty seconds," she heard the director say through her headphones. Robin hoped that her long, dark hair covered them and the thin electronic wires that ran, down her blouse. Robin didn't want to look "wired up" on camera.
This is my first report on live television, she thought, tingling with excitement. It had taken a lot of work to get this far, though she knew she'd impressed her boss with her audition tape.
And flirting with him didn't hurt, either.
Now Robin Halliday, of Avalon, Pennsylvania, was in a helicopter over the Mexican coast, waiting to do her first ever network news story.
Pretty good for an almost-eighteen-year-old intern, she thought proudly. Today's live report was a lucky break for her career, and it only happened because her boss, Nick Gordon - chief correspondent for the Science Sunday program on the Independent News Network - got the chance to cover an even better story at the last moment. So while Nick went off for a one-on-one interview with Dr. Ramon Reyes in Mexico City, Robin got this plum on-camera assignment over the Yucatan Peninsula.
Luckily, there was no one else around to do it.
Robin suspected ulterior motives for Nick's last-minute change of assignments. Gossip at the bureau says he hates helicopters, she recalled with a smile. If it's true, then thank goodness for airsickness!
"Twenty seconds," the director announced.
The cameraman, sitting on the seat opposite hers, lifted the heavy camera and focused it on her face. The technician who operated the satellite link gave Robin a thumbs-up, then turned the tiny monitor so that she could watch herself on-camera.
Here goes, she thought, her heart racing.
"Ten seconds," the director warned, holding up the clipboard with Robin's lines printed on it in big, bold letters.
"Five... four... three... two... one... action!"
Robin Halliday smiled at the camera and lifted the microphone to her perfectly made-up face. "This is Robin Halliday, special correspondent for INN Science Sunday," she began smoothly.
"Below me is the breathtakingly lovely Mexican coast of Yucatan, a resort mecca for tourists from the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan.
"As the twenty-first century dawns, this is one of the most natural, peaceful settings in the world."
The director switched to a camera mounted on the exterior of the helicopter. The viewers were treated to a bird's-eye view of beautiful white sand beaches, even as Robin's voice took on a more ominous tone.
"But sixty-five million years ago, this part of the world was very different..."
The director cued the special effects, and back at the INN studios in New York an animated segment began. As Robin spoke, she watched the images on the satellite monitor, images of a computer-generated asteroid hitting the Mexican coast.
"This area was the site of the most destructive event in the history of our planet. Right below us, buried under the sand and sediment of eons, lies the original impact crater left behind after the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs struck Earth - with a force equal to every nuclear weapon ever built..."
The director cued the cameraman, and Robin's face filled the monitor once again. "Some people call this crater the Graveyard of the Dinosaurs."
The director signaled for her to speed it up as he flipped the page on the clipboard. Robin skimmed the words as she picked up the pace.
"Scientists estimate that the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was twice the size of the largest one now heading toward the earth."
Again, Robin modulated her voice to sound grim and portentous. Again, the director signaled her to pick up the pace.
This time, Robin ignored him.
"It took nature millions of years to recover from that first cataclysmic asteroid impact... millions of years to restore the rain forests below and the varieties of animal and vegetable life that abound all around us."
For dramatic effect, Robin turned and looked out of the window as if she were meditating on the fate of our puny planet.
"How long will it take nature to restore Earth if another asteroid should strike the planet in the next two months?" she asked dramatically.
The cameraman never wavered, though he wanted to burst out laughing at the director's obvious annoyance with the intern's theatrics.
Fortunately, the segment was winding down.
"In the next half-hour, INN's Nick Gordon will pose these questions to Dr. Ramon Reyes, the co-discoverer of - oh my God, what's that?"
The director ripped off his headphones and almost choked. Luckily, the cameraman was on top of things. He shifted the camera and focused in the direction Robin was pointing.
Through the lens, the cameraman saw an immense dark green blur in the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Hastily, he tried to focus.
As the cameraman worked the lens, the director whistled in amazement and the pilot dipped the helicopter lower. The pilot was also a seasoned journalist, and he knew when to chase a story.
Suddenly, the image on the monitor sharpened, and the astounding vision was revealed to the viewing public on live, nationwide television.
Science Sunday had just been interrupted by the appearance of a giant prehistoric monster swimming in the Gulf of Mexico!
"Keep talking!" the director screamed through Robin's headphones. The intern snapped to attention, then turned away from the creature in the water, to stare, wide-eyed, at the camera. She looked like an idiot.
Fortunately, the camera's eye was focused on the creature swimming in the surf far below.
"Talk!" the director shouted again.
Suddenly, Robin Halliday regained her comp
osure and began to report on what she was seeing. As she spoke, Robin was able to summon up a measure of calm, poise, and professional detachment, much to the director's surprise.
"As we watch, a gigantic animal is moving through the Gulf of Mexico toward the resort complex below..."
The director fumbled with his headphones. As he put them back on, he nodded encouragement to the intern, who continued to speak.
"Though I can't make out the details of the creature from this distance, I think I can say with some certainty that this animal is a totally new species. This creature is not a whale, and it is not Godzilla..."
The helicopter swooped over the monster, and the cameraman switched to a wide-angle lens so that the creature was clearly visible to the television audience. More and more details of the astounding monster were unveiled.
Pleasure boats swept past the creature, fleeing its path. A speedboat, pulling a water-skiing couple, capsized in the churning waters. The monster swept the sinking boat and the floundering swimmers aside as if they were toys bobbing in a bathtub.
As Robin described the event, the creature emerged into shallower waters close to the white, sandy beach. More details about the leviathan's anatomy were revealed.
"The creature looks like a long, thin iguana," Robin observed, "though its legs are arranged more like a toad's. It has very long legs and a leg joint below thick thigh muscles. I believe that the claws and feet are webbed.
"The head is round, not wedge-shaped, and the mouth seems frozen in a perpetual sneer. The jaws are lined with irregular teeth. I would describe its overall color as brown and gray, but there are blue and green splotches on its back and sides.
"The eyes are large and narrow, and seem to follow movement..."
As Robin Halliday spoke, the monster pulled itself onto the beach, directly in front of a twelve-story glass and steel resort hotel. Frantic vacationers on the beach fled in terror as the mysterious creature approached the hotel.
The pilot began broadcasting a general warning in Spanish over the radio while maneuvering the helicopter deftly. The aircraft was hovering to the right of and above the strange monster. Robin continued to describe the creature to her viewers.
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