by Jason Ayres
“I guess that is only to be expected from the tabloid press,” said Simon. “Fortunately most of the quality papers have given a more sensible summary of the situation.”
He continued as Charlie and Kaylee watched from their sofa. Josh and Alice were also watching. They had been up all night working in the observatory to try and work out what was really happening. Now they were taking a break in the college restaurant, watching the news coverage on the wall screen. They were anything but convinced by what Simon was saying.
With her astronomical expertise and his mathematical genius they’d worked out the exact angle of impact of the asteroid upon the comet, and come to the same conclusion that Simon was saying on the television. The comet was indeed no threat.
But they’d also reached another conclusion which was far more concerning. They’d checked their numbers and checked again, and they were convinced. Asteroid Apophis had been deflected by the collision and was heading for Earth.
“I don’t get this,” remarked Josh. “If we can figure it out in our little observatory on campus, surely the foremost astronomer in the country with access to the most advanced equipment money can buy should have come to the same conclusion.”
“There’s something not right, here,” replied Alice. “Look at him. He’s smiling too much. He reminds me of a slippery politician not telling us the whole truth.”
Alice was completely correct in her assessment. Seema wrapped up her interview with Simon with a last-minute joke about Bruce Willis not being required, and the TV coverage moved on to the next news story.
Simon walked off set and out of the newsroom. A smart man with short, dark hair in his early forties, dressed in an expensive-looking, dark suit was waiting for him.
“You did the right thing,” said the man, whom Simon had only met an hour previously.
“I don’t like lying to people. You and I both know what is going to happen later today,” said Simon.
“But the general public don’t need to know that,” replied the man. “You’ve done your bit for King and Country.”
“Yes, I’ve done my bit,” replied Simon.
He walked away, only one thought in his mind: to be at home with his wife and family.
The same scenario was being played out across the world. At NASA they’d already worked out where and when the asteroid was going to hit. But the party line was to remain silent. No one wanted to create a panic.
Simon wasn’t the only one not telling the whole truth. Seema was feeling more than a little irked by the situation. She had achieved her position as the UK’s top news anchor with a history of asking hard-hitting, controversial questions. The mysterious man in black had also paid her a visit before she went on air, and had made it quite clear how she was to conduct the interview.
When she’d protested, the implied threat in his voice was clear. In the interests of national security, people could be silenced – permanently. Seema had dealt with some pretty tough customers in her time in a career that had taken her to some of the world’s most dangerous hotspots, but she could count on one hand the number of times she’d ever felt afraid. This was one of them.
She hated herself for participating in the cover-up. She’d always prided herself on going that little bit further, where others feared to tread. But if it meant not being killed in an arranged accident, or disappearing in mysterious circumstances, it seemed she had no choice.
Watching from the restaurant, Alice had seen enough. “They are lying,” she said.
“Why would they?” asked Josh. “Seema, in particular: I’ve always trusted her.”
“They’ve clearly been told not to say anything. It’s the same as yesterday. We cannot have been the only ones to have worked out the asteroid was going to collide with the comet, but was there anything in the media about it? No.”
“What next, then?” asked Josh.
“We go back to the observatory and try and work out exactly where that asteroid’s going to strike.” She paused, then added, “And pray that it’s not anywhere near here because we don’t have time to get away if it is. It was scheduled to pass by Earth today.”
They headed back to the observatory, feeling a strange mix of excitement and fear.
They were by no means the only ones unconvinced by Seema and Simon’s performance. Social media was awash with speculation. Employees had phoned home from NASA and other space agencies across the world to tell their loved ones to stay indoors.
Before long, the rumours were spreading like wildfire and there was no way that the authorities could keep the lid on things. However, there were so many wildly conflicting theories going around that no one was completely sure what the truth was.
It hadn’t taken Alice and Josh long to work it out. Even with the equipment in the observatory, which was primitive compared to anything NASA had, she’d managed to more or less pinpoint where and when the asteroid would strike.
“It’s going to hit around midday, somewhere between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator, on the African mainland.”
“That’s a bit close for comfort,” replied Josh. “Are we safe here?”
“There is no real way of knowing,” she said. “We’re far enough away to avoid the initial blast, but we can’t be sure what might happen after that. We have no actual experience of an event like this, though there has been plenty of speculation about what might happen. Some theories suggest that a giant shock wave might circle the planet, burning everything in its path. That would certainly explain a lot of the mass extinctions in Earth’s history.”
“That’s not a very comforting thought,” said Josh. “What was it they used to do in the old days when they thought there might be a nuclear war – paint the windows white?”
“I can’t see that helping much. Quite honestly, there’s not a lot we can do except watch,” she replied. “It’s already nearly 10am: we won’t have long to wait.”
“Shall we go home and watch on TV?” suggested Josh. “I can’t see there’s much more we can do here. If we’re going to die, it might as well be in the comfort of our own home.”
“Agreed,” said Alice. “I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. Not that there’s any way I’m going to be able to sleep today, not with all of this happening.”
“Come on then, let’s go.” He took her hand and they walked out of the building into another sunny spring day. Josh felt the warm sunshine on his face and for once he really appreciated it. It might be for the last time.
Chapter Eight
At 12.02pm precisely, asteroid Apophis slammed into the Sahara Desert with a devastating impact.
No one on the ground saw it coming. There was no huge fireball burning in the sky, with people beneath screaming and running futilely away.
All that happened was a bright flash as the asteroid entered the atmosphere, and less than two seconds later total annihilation as it hit the ground.
There was a huge explosion, thousands of times larger than that which had devastated Hiroshima at the end of World War Two. At the point of impact, billions of tonnes of sand, ash and dirt were projected into the atmosphere in a huge mushrooming cloud.
The asteroid had landed in a sparsely populated area in Southern Algeria, close to the border with Mali. This was one of the driest parts of the Sahara and, apart from a few nomadic dwellers and travellers along the road from Béchar to Gao, there were few people in the area at the time.
Those who were unfortunate enough to be in the immediate impact zone didn’t stand a chance. Death was instant. As the mushroom cloud rose up into the atmosphere, on the ground a shock wave spread outwards at devastating speed, incinerating everything in its path. Within 100 miles of the impact site, all that was left was a smoking black hole.
Those poor souls who saw it coming had nowhere to hide. They stood horrified as a huge, rolling wave of burning black smoke bore down on them at hundreds of miles an hour. They had as much chance of escaping it as they’d have had if they had
been standing on a beach watching a tsunami approach.
A number of smaller settlements in Mali, Algeria and Niger were completely destroyed.
Gradually the shock wave began to thin out and the devastation lessened as it spread outwards. By the time it reached the capital cities of Niamey and Bamako, hundreds of miles away, it had lessened to the point that it blew out all the windows in the cities, and knocked anyone standing in the street clean over, but most of the inhabitants survived.
The massive boom created by the blast was heard thousands of miles away, across the whole of Africa, as far north as Scandinavia, and as far east as India.
By the time the sound reached those areas, the people knew it was coming. Within minutes of the impact there were few people in the world who didn’t know about it, such was the speed of social media and global news coverage.
Within an hour, the news channels were showing satellite pictures of the impact zone. The whole area appeared as a large black stain, spreading outwards. More pictures, taken from a space telescope in orbit, soon emerged, showing the asteroid actually hitting Earth. Josh and Alice were watching from their home in Oxford.
“You see, they must have known where it would hit,” remarked Alice. “It can’t have been just a coincidence, the telescope being trained on that exact spot.”
All over the UK, offices, shops and factories ground to a halt as employees rushed to the nearest screen to see what was happening.
Not since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 had so many people been glued to their screens, horrified and fascinated in equal measure by what was unfolding in front of them.
The news coverage had cut to the front door of 10 Downing Street where the Prime Minister was insisting there was no cause for alarm. He expressed his sympathy for the people of the Sahara and pledged that British aid would be forthcoming.
Back in the studio, Seema had another expert in for interview, this time one of the channel’s own people, a popular geologist- turned -TV presenter. He had recently had an award-winning documentary all about earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural phenomena broadcast on the channel, so seemed the ideal choice to reassure the populace.
“So, James, we’ve just heard from the Prime Minister there, who has assured us we are not in any danger. Can you elaborate any more on the situation?”
“Well, the first thing,” he began, “is to say that we’ve been extremely lucky.”
“In what way?” asked Seema. “With all due respect, it’s hard to see how Earth being hit by a 350 metre-wide asteroid can be classed as lucky.”
“What I mean is,” continued James, “that we’ve been extremely lucky that the asteroid hit where it did.”
“Unless you happen to live in Mali, presumably?” responded Seema.
“Obviously my thoughts go out to the people of that region, and I wasn’t suggesting they were in any way less important than us. What I mean is that it could have been a lot worse. For example, had it hit a densely populated area, the loss of life could have been enormous.”
“Can you give us some indication of what sort of scale you are talking about?” asked Seema.
“Well, to put it in perspective,” he said, “if it had hit London, the entire city would have been instantly vaporised. Most of Southern England would have been wiped out in the shock wave. Anyone this side of Birmingham would have had very little chance of survival.”
“That’s quite a terrifying thought,” remarked Seema.
“It certainly is.” replied James. “But even that is nothing to what would have happened had it landed in the sea. If that had been the case, then the huge tsunamis it would have created would have absolutely devastated coastal areas around the world. We could have been talking about a death toll in the billions.”
“In other words, it could have been a lot worse,” said Seema. “Thank-you, James, for joining us this afternoon. Now I am just hearing that, due to concerns about ash in the atmosphere, all domestic and international air travel is being temporarily suspended. More on that as soon as we have it.”
Like 9/11, it was one of those days that everyone watching remembered where they were when they heard about it. Most had been busy going about their daily business.
Kaylee was working in her office at home, a spare bedroom that she was planning to turn into a nursery, ready for the patter of tiny feet. A message flashed up in the news feed constantly running on the interactive desk she was using: “BREAKING NEWS: ASTEROID HITS EARTH”.
She immediately flicked on to a news website to be confronted by the apocalyptic images in front of her. She sent a message to Charlie: Turn on the news.
Charlie was sitting in yet another tedious meeting when his smartwatch buzzed. All around the room, others were getting similar messages. The meeting was abandoned and they headed back to their open-plan office where small groups of people were already gathered around the screens.
Kent and Debbie were in the pub, watching on the big screen along with Andy, their only customer.
“If this is the end of the world, then can I have a free pint?” enquired Andy, hopefully.
It was unlike Kent to give anything away, but on this occasion he relented.
“I think we could all do with a large brandy,” he said. Even Debbie, who didn’t normally drink, had one.
Dan was in the factory, loading pallets with a forklift truck when he heard the news. One of the younger lads gave him the details. Once Dan had heard the details of where it had hit and the expected casualties, he callously remarked, “Good – they were all foreigners.”
The young lad was shocked by Dan’s comments, but he didn’t say anything. Nobody ever did. Dan had a reputation for being not only a racist, but also a workplace bully, and it was easier to say nothing than risk becoming a victim.
Hannah was at home on a rest day. She was listening to the radio and doing housework when the news came in. She thought about going in to work in case she was needed, but it seemed there was no immediate problem at home. People weren’t running riot or panicking in the streets.
She also thought about whether she should get Jess from school early but also decided against it. The news coverage was stressing that there was no danger to the UK, so she saw no need to worry her daughter by upsetting her routine.
Jess herself didn’t find out until later in the afternoon. The teachers became aware of what was happening quite quickly but decided to keep it from the children until they knew exactly what the situation was. At 2.30pm, the headmaster called an extraordinary assembly, and the whole school shuffled into the hall.
He picked his words carefully, stressing that there was no cause for alarm. Even so, some of the younger children looked scared and there were a few tears. By the time the assembly was over it was home time, and the children were able to return to the comforting arms of their parents.
One of the last people to find out was Lauren. She’d gone home with a slightly rotund man in his forties who’d been singing old nineties indie hits. He wasn’t really her type, but he’d made her laugh with his cheeky banter, so when he suggested she might like to come back for a “coffee”, she’d jumped at the chance.
She’d eventually crawled away from his place around 7am when he had to get up for work, having had very little sleep. Not due in the pub until the evening, she headed straight to bed where she slept off her night’s exertions. When she eventually woke up, around 4pm, she’d missed the whole thing.
Chapter Nine
Nearly six months had passed since the asteroid strike and the after-effects of that day had been felt across the whole planet.
The initial estimates put the death toll from the direct impact at about 25,000 which seemed a remarkably low amount. But this figure took no account of the long-term effects, many of which were not immediately apparent.
The huge cloud of ash and dust thrown up by the impact had circled the world in a matter of days. Air travel was grounded for several weeks due to safety concerns. This ha
d happened on occasions in the past in regions where there were active volcanoes, but never on a global scale or for so long.
Things were exacerbated by an increase in seismic activity around the area of the impact. The force of the asteroid strike had done more than merely blow away the surface of the area it had hit. The effects had reached deep underground.
Over the next few weeks there were a series of earthquakes along the sides of the African tectonic plate, adding to the woes of the people in the region. But it was the accompanying volcanic eruptions across Africa, the Canary Islands and Europe which really did the damage. These eruptions spewed huge amounts of sulphur dioxide into the upper atmosphere, adding to the ash and dust already thrown up by the asteroid.
During those weeks there were some spectacular sunsets around the world. People gathered on the banks of the Thames each day to marvel at the vivid red and gold skies.
It was an artist’s dream. It may have looked very pretty, but the effects of the poor air quality were already having a noticeable effect on the more vulnerable among the population. Asthmatics suffered an increasing number of attacks, and there was a sharp increase in the number of other respiratory illnesses being reported. These were just the short-term effects. The longer-term implications were not immediately obvious.
With the world covered by the ash cloud, the sun’s rays began to struggle to get through. In the UK, the gloriously sunny start to the spring gave way to a cloudy, dull and cool May.
This didn’t raise many eyebrows among the British people. Despite global warming, they had long memories and were used to disappointing weather in the warmer months. It was something to talk about in the street when bumping into friends.
Elsewhere in the world, things were a lot more noticeable, particularly around the North Pole. In recent decades, the amount of Arctic sea ice had fallen dramatically. Year after year, the minimum amount of ice in the ocean at the end of summer reached new records. The Northern Sea Route, once almost impassable, had been opening up to more and more traffic every year and for longer and longer periods.