The Long Way Home

by Phoenix Hays

  The graphic showed the objects collide with Jupiter, which then traveled out of the image after consuming them. The screen snapped back to the two in conversation.

  Carol leaned forward. “What if Jupiter doesn’t consume them?”

  “Our real concern is if the String makes it past Jupiter and heads in our direction. The outcomes from our projection models in these instances could be far worse. If the String gets inside of Jupiter’s orbit, the asteroid belt beyond Mars comes into play. Just like the Oort Cloud, the Oppenheimer String could disrupt objects in the asteroid belt and send some our way. And like the previous scenario, it is still very unlikely that we would see anything sent directly toward Earth.”

  “But you said it could be worse?” Carol asked.

  “If, in fact, the Oppenheimer String gets past Jupiter—”

  “Wait,” Carol interrupted. “You keep saying ‘Oppenheimer String.’ Why are you calling these asteroids that?”

  “Robert Oppenheimer created the atomic bomb. After the first test, he recounted a Hindu scripture: ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’”

  “That seems pretty ominous,” Carol said.

  “Our models are clear,” Duke said. “If these objects pass close enough, they could become planet killers. It remains to be seen if they do. If that’s the case, we’ll have to worry about how many and which ones.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Unfortunately, these objects are of a decent enough size to be extraordinarily dangerous. We know the impact that resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by something between six and nine miles wide.”

  “That’s big,” Carol said.

  “It is, but the asteroids we are talking about are in the range of 300 miles wide. Essentially, they are miniature planets.”

  Carol nervously shuffled the papers in front of her. “So how does the human race survive if one of these asteroids hit the Earth?”

  Duke chuckled, shaking his head. “We don’t.”

  The graphic of the Solar System reappeared at a different angle. This time, the Oppenheimer String approached along a trajectory in line with the Earth.

  “In this scenario, we avoid the shooting gallery from the Oort Cloud, Jupiter doesn’t sweep them up, and we stand together waiting to see if even just one of these rocks hit Earth and essentially wipe everything off the face of the planet.”

  “How much time do we have before we know what is going to happen for sure?”

  Duke straightened his tie. “We’ll know for sure where the Oppenheimer String is headed in the next few weeks. Early effects of their passing through the asteroid belt may be seen in a little under three months, but if these asteroids are headed toward the Earth, they could be here in about four.”

  Carol shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Wait. Four months? Why didn’t we see this happening sooner?”

  “It is impossible to scan every part of the sky for any dangers heading our way. Asteroids don’t emit light or any kind of radiation. Without having had a project working to catalog the outer parts of the Solar System, we never would have seen these things coming.”

  “So what should we all do?”

  “Everyone should stay calm. We all need to go about our lives like normal because the odds are likely that the Oppenheimer String will pass us. If one of the other scenarios become more likely, we’ll need the cooperation of everyone to deal with the challenges we may face. But we have time to worry about those things.”

  The Bayhams stood in stunned silence. Nobody could tear their eyes away from the TV. Both Joe and Ayrin instinctively leaned back away from it.

  CHAPTER 4

  Patrick Weaver looked out at downtown Memphis through the window in front of him. From his view on the 14th floor, the city stretched out ahead of him to the right. The Mississippi River curved along its path on the left. People and cars hurried along the streets below as the morning rush hour began.

  It’s amazing to see so many people have carried on life as usual after the news of the Oppenheimer String broke last night.

  A smile crossed his face as he noticed the balcony and roof gardens mixed among the sea of steel and concrete.

  Maybe people just don’t want to accept the potential reality.

  Patrick turned back toward the center of Duke Evensen’s office. His tall and slender frame was swallowed by size of the room. He touched the gray wisp of hair on his temple and looked around the office. For a man at the helm of a company responsible for so many of the most groundbreaking achievements in recent space exploration, the CEO’s office was pristine and orderly. A large oak desk sat at a perfect 45-degree angle between two oversized windows that anchored the corner office. Outside the windows, joined images of the Memphis cityscape created a powerful scene that no purchased office decor could deliver. He moved away from the window and walked past the desk, immediately noticing the three monitors on it – their chrome frames and stands created a stark contrast to their dark screens. Like the monitors, an ergonomic keyboard and mouse sat in front of them with no wires attached.

  How much information has flowed across those screens?

  He rounded the oaken throne and looked down at the decorative runner that extended out from the front of the desk. Patrick recognized the image on the runner was of Hokusai’s “Dragon of Smoke Escaping from Mount Fuji.” To the right, two comfortable-looking leather chairs were parted by a small glass and wrought iron coffee table. A matching lamp sat at the center of the table. Above the chairs were two large posters hung slightly offset from each other. The upper one to the left showed a black-and-white image of Albert Einstein writing at a desk, face furrowed in thought. The caption below him read: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” The other poster was a blown-up image of a Time magazine cover of a strong man in an expensive suit. Thin pinstripes ran through the high-end material. A black handkerchief was smartly tucked into the coat pocket. His jaw was tense and his eyes were squinted as if he was searching for something in the sky. Words in bold font next to him read: “My work in astronomy and astrophysics is to understand how the universe works on the grandest of scales.” – Duke Evensen, Space Vision CEO and Founder.

  The wall to Patrick’s left was split evenly by a credenza and the door to the hallway beyond. The man walked over to the credenza. On top of it was a simple decorative pot containing a pair of bonsai trees. Two miniature junipers reached out away from the center. The branches mirrored each other like twins reaching out in opposite directions. Balance.

  Duke blasted through the door like a rocket. “Patrick! It’s great to see you, my old friend!” Duke walked up to him and nodded at the miniature trees.

  “Do you remember when I got those bonsai?”

  “How could I forget, Duke? I remember meeting you for the first time at the inaugural Science and Technology Summit in Osaka. What was that, eight or nine years ago?”

  “Ten years this fall!”

  “Ten years. Wow. The organizers of the summit gave you the bonsai as a ‘thank you’ for supporting the event, right?”

  Duke smiled and nodded.

  “I remember the first time I saw you walk into the lobby of the convention center. I had seen so many like the guy who walked through the door. Well-dressed big shot businessmen who knew nothing about science or technology but wanted to use a donation to drive down their tax liability. They couldn’t care less about the content of the conference and never showed up once the photo ops were over. But you, Duke? You were unique. Even though Space Vision was the title sponsor, you were never required to attend anything but I saw you at every lecture or brainstorm session I attended. You were attentive, took part in discussion, and were engaged. And if that wasn’t enough, you even found me after my lecture on programming scalable smart grids to ask more questions.”

  “Well, I thought it made sense to find out more to see how my company could benefit.”

  “Su
re and that made sense. But what raised the most eyebrows was the fact that you paid for the sponsorship in a way that couldn’t be considered a charitable donation even though it was set up that way.”

  Duke’s eyes locked onto Patrick’s with almost an uncomfortable certainty. “I’ve always felt good science should be driven by the visionaries of the day. And as a person in my position, I don’t want to support a conference and be seen as taking advantage of it. My support was about the science, not about me.”

  “I know, Duke. I’ve always found your point of view remarkable. It’s rare to find a successful businessman who is so invested in science.”

  “Patrick, it would be impossible to do the things I ask of myself, of this company, and break through the barriers in front of us if I thought like everyone else. As if we are the masters of our own destinies. Mankind is small. We are just specks in this grand cosmos we live in.”

  Duke’s gaze wandered as he crossed his arms and brought a hand up to his chin, a million miles away in thought.

  “Current events demand that people get their minds right,” the CEO said. “To appreciate the situation we’re all in. To work together to accomplish great things, and most importantly, for leaders to step up and take charge.”

  Duke snapped back to the present. He reached out to shake Patrick’s hand and then enclosed the handshake with his left. His stare was piercing.

  “My old friend, I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.”

  “It’s no problem, really,” Patrick said. “I would imagine your time has been at a premium since the news broke.”

  “Indeed.”

  Duke’s face changed to a look of both concern and determination. A fire lit in his eyes. “We are in deep waters. Men like us were born for times like this.”

  “Duke, if any of the situations you talked about last night come about—,” Patrick paused for a moment. “There’s a great potential for a lot of people to lose their lives.”

  “I know,” Duke said, then looked down for a moment before looking back up, beyond his old friend. “But I can’t believe it’s coincidence that we would be put into a scenario now that would have guaranteed human extinction just 10 years ago. We have the chance to act in response to the threat.”

  “Why are you talking like this is already a sure thing? Like something needs to be done about it?” Patrick searched Duke’s eyes and his own suddenly opened wide. “I know you better than that. You’ve not only determined what is going to happen, but you are already working on a solution of some kind.”

  “Our models are a lot more exact than the information that’s been released to the public. Space Vision is operating under the expectation that the Oppenheimer String will in fact pass through the inner solar system.”

  “Pass through the inner solar system,” Patrick said. “You’re talking like you’re already sure of the outcome.”

  “We have run the models multiple times and are sure. And we aren’t the only ones. My contacts at NASA have confirmed their projection models are similar to our own. In fact, the leading astronomers all around the world agree we are looking at a close pass to the Sun being very likely. Many are starting to use the word ‘collision’ on a more regular basis.”

  “A collision with the Sun?”

  “No, Patrick.” Duke locked onto Patrick’s eyes again. “We are expecting a collision between at least some of the Oppenheimer objects and Earth.”

  Patrick’s face became ashen. The certainty in the CEO’s voice shook him. There had still been hope for a clean miss just 10 seconds earlier. He took a few steps to the leather chairs and sat down in the nearest one.

  “But again,” Duke said. “We are already operating under this expectation and are overhauling Space Vision’s personnel and operations accordingly.”

  “You are talking about the end of life on Earth. How do you stop it? What could you possibly do, blow them up?”

  The CEO looked down with a slight smirk on his face and strode through the office toward his desk; his walk presented an aura of power. Rounding his desk, he briefly glanced out to the city beyond his office. He turned toward Patrick without sitting down. Duke leaned forward resting both hands on his desk and looked at the man sitting on the other side of the desk.

  “We are planning something unprecedented.”

  “And that is why you have asked me to be here?”

  “Exactly.” Duke said. “As a matter of fact, my company is working on a way to carry humanity not just through this event, but beyond it so we can thrive in our collective future.”

  The CEO sat down in his chair and his shoulders dropped as the weight of the situation now seemed to affect him.

  “And I believe we will only be successful if we have strong programmers that can tie together our various efforts. I want you to join us here at Space Vision.”

  Patrick sat back in his chair, eyebrows furrowed, and his hand rubbed his chin.

  “You don’t already have programmers capable of handling the tasks?”

  “To be honest, old friend, you are one of the best large network programming, augmented reality and 3-D modeling designers in the world. I’ll double whatever you are making now to bring you on. Deal?”

  Patrick’s jaw dropped and his eyebrows rose.

  “Double isn’t necessary. If we can agree to something around what I’m making now, I’m happy to work on such a project. When do you need me?”

  “You’re going to need to get started right way. How soon can you move to Memphis?”

  CHAPTER 5

  Joe looked around. In the four weeks since the announcement of the Oppenheimer String, his classroom still had the same old desks surrounded by the same old lockers on the walls, but his class had changed. Half of the students no longer came to school, and so many of the desks had been pushed up against the wall. Ms. Jenkins was doing her best to lead the children who did still come to school. She wrote a math problem on the whiteboard at the front of the room. Most of those who were in attendance ignored her and just talked among themselves. Joe and Ayrin were the only ones paying attention. Joe tried to take notes. He closed his eyes for an instant, he could hear his mom’s voice.

  Joseph, you have one job. You go to school and you learn everything you can. You get straight As. Our family is counting on you.

  Ms. Jenkins spoke up. “Does anyone know what x equals?”

  Joe checked the paper he had been writing on, looked up and raised his hand.

  “Yes, Joe?”

  Joe spoke loudly to overcome the background noise of conversation. “12?”

  “Well done!” Ms. Jenkins’ eyes sparkled as her smile beamed her happiness at Joe. It was rare that any student actually participated now that “the news” was out.

  The bell rang. The kids looked up at the clock. 3:30 – time to go home. Joe and Ayrin passed under the same kind of clock above the school entrance as they walked out the front doors. In front of them was the normal procession of cars where parents waited to pick up their kids. To the right, yellow school buses were parked and kids climbed up their steps. It was the typical after-school process, just with fewer people than before everyone heard about the Oppenheimer String.

  “There’s usually 10 or more buses,” Joe said. “I only see five.”

  The walk home wasn’t far. The neighborhood was quiet for a midafternoon. With hands in their pockets, the two kids trudged their way home in silence. They passed old man Sanderson’s house and saw the gray-haired man on his porch, holding a shotgun against his shoulder. He nodded to them.

  “Everything OK, today?” Sanderson asked, shifting the gun from one shoulder to the other.

  “Yes, sir.” Joe answered.

  “Good. Go straight home. There have been groups of kids walking the streets all day. Dollars to doughnuts they’ll give you a hard time if they get the chance.”

  Joe nodded and they picked up their pace.

  As they neared the house, they cut across the grass and walked up
to the front door. Joe unlocked it and walked in with Ayrin at his heels. Joe tossed his book bag into the hallway and walked back, closed the door and locked it.

  Sounds from the TV reached into the hallway. “—and with many grocery stores now running out of food, demonstrations have begun in numerous cities. Officials in Washington are discussing the creation of a rationing system to ensure—”

  Joe and Ayrin walked around the corner to see Mary turning the TV off. They stopped just short of the doorway into the kitchen. Victor was sitting at the kitchen table with his back to them. His head rested in his hands. Mary walked to his side and put her arm on his shoulder. Something was wrong.

  “Dad?”

  Joe’s mom looked up. Her face was clearly communicating not to say anything. Victor stood up anyway, walked past Joe and disappeared out the front door. The boy couldn’t tell if the look on his dad’s face stemmed from sadness, anger, embarrassment, or a combination of all three.

  Joe heard the car engine start followed by the squeal of tires. He looked back at his mom.

  “Mom, what’s wrong?”

  “Your dad got some bad news today, Joe. It’s OK. We’ll be alright.” Mary quickly changed the subject. “Do you have homework?”

  The kids nodded.

  “Let’s get that finished, then. Let me know if you need any help.”

  With that, Ayrin and Joe headed down the hallway, heads hung low.

  CHAPTER 6

  Patrick looked up at the monitor on the wall of the Space Vision cafeteria to see the intro from the Carol Wilcox Show. Carol appeared on screen and addressed the audience.