The Black Clouds

by Steve Matthew Benner

  Jeff: “Several other teams have investigated the craters that didn’t develop Clouds. What they found is that the makeup of the meteorite was similar to the basic building blocks I found, though the specific molecular makeup was different, especially with respect to nitrogen and oxygen, which were much less. I would assume that these elements were added from our atmosphere.”

  Mike: “Remote sensing has found a number of interesting characteristics of the Cloud. One is that very faint electric pulses travel through all parts of the Cloud and that these pulses seem to radiate from a central core with a chemical make up slightly different from the majority of the Cloud. The feeling is that this is the “brain” of the entity.”

  Carol: “Some military leaders have suggested trying to destroy this so-called brain, but no one is sure that it can be destroyed by conventional means or that trying to destroy it won’t may make things worse.”

  Alan: “I picked up those same pulses from the sample we took. But they’re getting weaker with time.”

  Jeff: “Scientist all over the world are working on developing a means to destroy this thing, but the speed with which it moves and grows gives us a very small window to do anything. The more obvious attempts like hitting it with flamethrowers and trying to freeze it with liquid nitrogen didn’t work. It seems immune to temperature. Hitting it with high explosives and running electric charges through it didn’t work either. The explosions dispersed it slightly but it re-coalesced almost immediately, and it actually seemed to like the electric charges. So far we have nada.”

  Alan: “What about the few craters that didn’t have Clouds and the ones that landed in the ocean? What was different about them?”

  Jeff: “We don’t know. In a desperate attempt, Russia dropped tons of seawater on their Cloud to see if it would have any effect. It didn’t, but it was worth a try.”

  Tim: “What I don’t understand is how it could have survived the journey through space and then the tremendous pressures and heat of the descent through our atmosphere?”

  Carol: “That’s what puzzles me as well. I can’t imagine the thing we have in the lab surviving those conditions. I feel we are missing something. Alan, you said that the pulses are diminishing?”

  Alan: “Yes, they’ve dropped by half since we took the sample. I wonder if that means it’s dying?”

  Tim: “I would say it is. I guess we’ll know when the electric charge gets to zero.”

  Dr. Snowden spent the rest of the meeting discussing what each individual’s task would be for the day. He planned to get some sleep.

  ~

  At 6:03 AM on Day 3, everyone was jolted awake by the alarm system going off. The same thought ran through everyone’s mind, ‘Has the Cloud penetrated our sanctuary?’

  Dr. Snowden was on the telecom in seconds, “Who or what set off the alarm?”

  Mike: “I did.”

  Jeff: “Why?”

  “I came into the lab this morning, and the box containing the Cloud sample was empty. I couldn’t see it in the emergency evac chamber, so I thought I’d better set off the alarm in case it got loose in the lab. Whadaya want me to do?”

  Jeff: “I can’t get to the lab with all the security doors closed.”

  “Should I turn it off?”

  “No, leave the security protocols in place for now. Shut off the alarm before I lose my hearing.”

  “Okay.” The alarm stopped.

  “Evacuate the emergency chamber. At least, that’ll clear the chamber so you can get to the sample box.”

  “Okay.” Mike hit the big red button on the side of the chamber and all the air in the sealed chamber around the sample box was evacuated to the outside. It was then replenished with fresh air. “Done.”

  “Now open the chamber and attach the gas chromatograph to the port on the sample box.”

  Tim: “What the hell’s going on?”

  Jeff: “Tim get off the intercom, I’m walking Mike through a test on the sample box. The Cloud sample that was in it seems to have escaped.”

  Tim: “How could that happen?”

  “Tim, let me finish with this test and maybe I can answer that. Mike, did you get my last message?”

  “Yes, Doc, I did. Hook up the GC to the sample box, and I assume you want me to turn it on and get a composition of the interior.”

  “Exactly. I also want you to check the sensor readout for the electrical charges coming from the box while the GC is working.”

  “Can do.” There was a pause of about two minute while Mike performed the requested actions. “The read out on the charge is zero and has been since the middle of last night.”

  “That’s what I thought. It had been decreasing steadily since we took the sample. I would assume that meant it was dying. Anything on the GC readout yet.”

  “Not yet, it’s almost done. Whad’re you expecting?”

  “I’d rather not speculate.”

  Carol: “I think I know. But I’ll wait also.”

  A minute latter, Mike spoke up. “It says there are a number of hydrocarbons with lots of oxygen and nitrogen.”

  Jeff: “It’s what I thought. Reseal the ecav and release the protocols. There is no danger; the Cloud sample is still in the box. Everyone meet in the lab in ten minutes, and I’ll explain.”

  All seven team members were there in less than ten minutes. Sheryl was as white as a ghost and visibly shaken. The alarm had terrified her, and she had mostly recovered while Dr. Snowden had talked to Mike. She had assumed the worst - that the Cloud had penetrated the lab and that she would be dissolved like those people she had seen on the news. She got a grip on herself and swore she wouldn’t react that way again.

  Dr. Snowden began, “I know some of you have already figured this out. But the condensed version is that the Cloud sample we took a couple days ago has died and lost its cohesion. It components spread out to fill the whole box like any inanimate gas would do; thus the brownish gas we normally would see in the box is now diluted to the point that there was only a light brownish tint to the box’s content.”

  Dr. Weisz said, “I suspected as much. I thought the electrical charge was what was keeping the Cloud together.”

  Mike: “How can you be sure that it’s still in the box?”

  Jeff: “The GC reading that the box still contained hydrocarbons convinced me that the it was still there. I’ll make a much more detailed analysis of the sample gas to make sure all the components are still there.”

  Sheryl: “Does this mean that we have found a way to kill it?” The hope in her voice was clearly apparent.

  Jeff: “I guess if we could break the Cloud into little parts, those parts would die over time, but we haven’t found a way to do that to something that covers square kilometers. Sorry I don’t see a solution here.”

  Tim: “I guess the question is where do we go from here?”

  Carol: “My analysis is almost done and that may give us some insight into what makes this conglomeration of hydrocarbons a living entity.”

  Tim: “So we wait?”

  Jeff: “No, I want to bring a much larger sample into the lab, maybe 20 cubic meters. What do you think, Alan and Mike, can you build something like that with an emergency evac around it?”

  Alan: “It should be easy. I’ve got the materials.”

  Sheryl: “Isn’t that very risky?”

  Jeff: “Yes, it is. That’s why we’ll have the evac around it.”

  Carol: “I agree with Dr. Snowden, we need to see how a larger sample would behave.”

  Tim: “I concur.”

  Sheryl: “Okay.”

  Alan: “Why do I feel like saying ‘We need a bigger boat’?”

  Mike: “Don’t worry, Alan, I’ll protect you from the big bad Cloud.”

  Alan: “Now that’s scary.”

  Jeff: “Dan, you didn’t say anything.”

  Dan: “You’re the smart ones. I’ll go along with whatever you suggest though I will pray for God’s guidance on this.”


  “Let me know what he says.” Alan said sarcastically.

  Jeff: “Alan, shut up. It doesn’t hurt, and we need all the help we can get.”

  Dr. Snowden spent the next hour going over assignments, and the group broke up to attend to their actions. He began talking with Alan about what he wanted for the chamber. Sheryl returned to her room to sit on her bed and worry. Dr. McLoeb went back to his office to pursue an idea he had about the Cloud’s behavior.

  Dr. Snowden joined Dr. Weisz in the operations room where there were cameras that monitored all the rooms in the facility and the surface around the facility’s entrance. They sat at the monitors watching the Cloud moving around outside. It seemed to move randomly, like smoke responding to unseen forces in the air.

  Carol: “I still find it hard to believe it’s alive.”

  Jeff: “Me too. It doesn’t match any life form we have ever seen or even imagined.”

  “The key must be the electrical charge and the nucleus from which it emanates.”

  “I agree, but I’m not sure how that helps us find a way to kill it. We tried to electrify it, and all that did was make it a little stronger.”

  “We have all this equipment, monitoring its temperature, pressure, charge, composition, etc., and we’re essentially helpless.”

  “I don’t see it being much different from an outbreak of disease, only on a macro level and not a micro one.”

  “At least with microbes, they have DNA and RNA that we are familiar with. This doesn’t have anything like that. We really need to find out what makes it tick.”

  “Well, Carol, that’s what you’re here for. You tell us.”

  “I should have results today. What about taking the new larger sample of the Cloud?”

  “Alan said he and Mike would have it completed by tomorrow. It’s going to contain about 25 cubic meters.”

  “That’s a lot of Cloud. Better make sure it’s safe. I think Sheryl wasn’t too hot on the idea. She seems to be losing her nerve.”

  “She may, but there’s not a lot we can do about it right now. We need to keep working on a way to destroy this thing. Personal problems come in a distant second.”

  “I know. Just the same you should keep an eye on her.”

  Carol left to work on her analysis while Jeff stared at the images of the Cloud and watching the data displayed on screens. He was deep in thought trying to come up with tests that could provide them with a way to deal with this menace: kill it, neutralize it, throw it back into space, something, anything. He had already begun thinking about new tests that they could run on the larger sample. He felt confident that it would survive longer than the small sample and allow them to study its behavior more closely, determine its reaction to different stimuli, and subject it to procedures that could kill it under controlled conditions.

  ~

  It was early evening when Dr. Weisz announced over the intercom that she had her results and that everyone should meet in the conference room where she’d present them.

  Fifteen minutes later, the team was assembled in the room, and Dr. Weisz’s results were projected into the air above the presentation table. She stared talking.

  “These are some of my results. I had to make about five thousand runs to get something that finally gave me some insight into how this Cloud came about. Even then it is just a theory based on the meteor’s composition prior to entering Earth’s atmosphere and what we are seeing now in the Cloud above us. Dr. McLoeb, your question about how could it survive the trip through our atmosphere, gave me an idea. What if it wasn’t alive when it hit our atmosphere? What if the forces of heat and pressure exerted on the meteors as they passed through our atmosphere and impacted with the ground actually created the life form we now call the Cloud?”

  Tim: “Interesting. I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “It could also explain why some of the meteorites that hit the Earth and those that hit the Atlantic Ocean did not develop the Black Cloud. The conditions of the impact were not right to create this life. The impacts must have had to be of sufficient size, and I think that the type of soil in which it took place may have had some effect. I have managed to simulate this in a very crude form though I have not been able to reproduce the Cloud that we are seeing now, but this is because there is no way I can know all the conditions that existed during its decent and impact. The presence of oxygen and nitrogen in the living Cloud when it is minimal in the original material of the meteor also gave me a clue. The hydrocarbons in the meteor must’ve combined with these components in our atmosphere to create the amino acids and the other advanced HCs we detect now. The main problem I’ve had is recreating the electrical current that infuses the Cloud. That seems to be what makes the difference between a living and non-living entity. But if I add an electrical current to the original impact mixture, I can get something very similar to the thing trapping us here.”

  Tim: “Wouldn’t each Cloud have its own special composition then?”

  “That is true. The conditions would be different for each impact, and from the data I’m receiving from other sites, each one is unique.”

  Alan: “Does this info put us any closer to finding a way to kill it?”

  Jeff: “The more we learn about the Cloud, the closer we get to being able to deal with it.”

  Sheryl: “I’ve developed a mechanical model of the Cloud and have been working with some different ways of dispersing it. I have some ideas that I’d like to talk to you about later.”

  Jeff: “Sure, meet me in my office after this meeting. Every piece we can add to the puzzle puts us one step closer to solving this.”

  Tim changing the subject, “I have been studying this thing, and it seems to have some of the characteristics of an ameba. It seems to have a nucleus that is the control center for the rest of the Cloud, which gathers, processes, and passes food to the nucleus. In that respect it’s not that different from what must have been early life on Earth before RNA and DNA. Also, as far as I can tell, there is no way for it to reproduce itself. It just grows. I think it will eventually reach a maximum size at which point the electrical impulse can’t reach the extremities. I don’t know what happens then.”

  Jeff: “I’m hoping this larger sample will give use some answers.”

  Carol: “I agree that there doesn’t seem to be any other option.”

  Jeff: “That’s it for now.”

  ~

  Mike visited Sheryl later that night in her quarters. She had on shorts and a light top, both light blue. Her eyes were red and her red hair disheveled; she had no makeup on. Mike came in wearing his trademark cowboy boots with jeans and a long-sleeve checkered shirt. The large buckle on his ornate leather belt had a cowboy riding a bronco. He was very proud of that belt, having won it at an amateur rodeo. They sat close together on her bed.

  Mike: “Are you okay?”

  Sheryl: “Yeah, I’m okay, just tired. I’m working too hard. I sometimes feel like we’re a fish in a bottle with an octopus outside trying to get in to eat us.”

  Mike: “We’re safe in here. The seals are checked daily, and they’re fine. The Cloud will be moving on soon, and we’ll be able to get to out of here. You DID volunteer for this.”

  “Don’t remind me. It may go down as one of my dumber moves.”

  “Well, I’m very glad you did.” Mike put his arm around her, and they kissed passionately.

  “You know this isn’t the best time for this.”

  “You’re right, but I’ve wanted to do that for some time and now seemed like the right time.”

  “I’ll admit that I’ve felt the same way, but considering the circumstances we’re in, I think we should wait.”

  “But we may end up dead, and this may be our only chance.”

  “Wow, that is really lame. Did you get that from a war movie?”

  “Actually I did. Did it work?”

  “Not really. But it was a valiant try.”

  “Thanks, maybe when this i
s all over.”

  “Definitely, when this is over.”

  Mike may have felt some disappointment, but he also felt elated when he left Sheryl’s room. He knew that there would be more if they managed to survive this.

  ~

  Alan found Drs. Snowden and McLoeb in the lab looking at something on the large computer screen on the wall. Jeff was wearing his lab coat over brown dress pants and a white shirt. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Tim also had on a lab coat, but his was over a blue sweat suit. He had on a scowl that had become his normal countenance over the last couple days. When Jeff had asked him if he was mad about something, he said he wasn’t and that he didn’t realize he had that look on his face. However, he kept the scowl.

  Jeff: “So how’s Dan doing?”

  Mike: “He’s a real bible thumper. At breakfast, he went on about God’s will and God’s punishment.”

  Tim: “Well that’s different.”

  Alan: “I think he looks at all of us as non-believers, and he’s probably right.”

  Jeff: “Aside from the biblical references, does Dan seem okay to you?”

  Alan: “Yes, he seems to be very interested in what we are doing and has made several very helpful suggestions. I don’t think we have to worry about him.”

  Jeff: “Good, we have enough to worry about without being suspicious of each other.”

  Tim: “So you don’t think he’s a danger?”

  Alan: “No, just the opposite.”

  Jeff: “Well, keep an eye on him anyway, just to error on the side of caution.”

  Alan: “Will do, Doc.”

  ~

  The next morning, Day 4, Mike and Alan had the next chamber completed and the whole team assembled to have them go over its operation and the strategy. The new container covered about half the lab. Alan started the description.

  “As you can see, it’s essentially a large sample box inside another box that serves as the emergency evac chamber. We draw the sample into the inside box through the same outside port we used on the smaller sample. We’ve pressure tested both boxes to two atmospheres to make sure there are no leaks, so we should be ready to go. The outside box is the emergency evac chamber that can be instantly flushed to the outside by hitting this large red button, right here next to the chamber. This small black button is to flush the sample box. We have also installed sensors in the lab that should they detect a preset composition of hydrocarbons will go off and seal only the lab area. This is so we don’t trap everyone at different locations around the facility. There is also a verbal command that will do the same thing should anyone feel the need. It’s ‘Emergency command: Seal the Lab.’ I wanted to keep it simple. It’s also on the sign here above the buttons. Okay, that’s about it. Any questions?”