“Impressive,” Janice said to Jeremy.
Jeremy felt a little inexplicable pride toward his girlfriend at how fast she climbed. If they made it an Olympic sport, she would win the gold. Within two minutes she was at the top—so high that the wind swayed the tree precariously back and forth.
“Be careful!” Jeremy called, hoping his voice wouldn’t arouse suspicion.
She scanned in every direction for about a minute before heading back down, taking care to step firmly on each branch. Jeremy caught her when she jumped from the last branch to the forest floor.
“They didn’t even go into the forest,” she said, brushing the pine’s sticky needles off her shirt. “They just aimed their guns into the trees and looked a bit. Then they walked back. The view up there was amazing, though. The spaceship—the Ark—is truly remarkable. That circular contraption, what is that for?”
“I think it’s for artificial gravity,” Jeremy replied. “There’s something I don’t quite get,” he said, looking at Janice. “With the drag from the atmosphere, it’s going to be difficult to get it into space, right?”
“You’re right, Jeremy. It is for artificial gravity, but they’ll deconstruct it and reconstruct it in space, so they don’t have to worry about the drag.”
“So they really are going to do it,” Jeremy said. “They’re really just going to leave Earth behind?”
“Just until the literal ‘dust’ settles on the planet after impact. Then they’ll return.”
“Why aren’t you with them?” Anna asked.
Janice paused. “It’s just wrong. They’re greedy and selfish, leaving Earth when they have the resources to help try to save it. One of them even told me the comet was a blessing—that the Earth would be saved from the overpopulation problem. Isn’t that disgusting?”
Jeremy didn’t answer, and they decided to return to the cabin. They hiked back down the mountain and toward the car, reaching it just before dark. Jeremy felt a strange sensation in his mind as he thought about the huge Ark being sent into space. What am I doing? he thought. I’m living out my last years like the anarchists, just waiting to die, when I could be helping. After what Janice said, he wondered if she felt the same way.
When they returned to the cabin, they found Karina and Dustin making dinner.
“Right on time,” Karina called. “Oh and Anna, your mom called. Can you call her back?”
“Oh! Yes, thanks Karina.”
As Jeremy set the table and excitedly told Dustin what he’d seen, Anna spoke in hushed tones on the phone. When she returned, she made an announcement.
“My parents have decided to join us in the cabin!” she exclaimed.
“No more partying?” Dustin asked in dismay.
They were set to come in a few weeks’ time.
Robert sat in the conference room with Suri and Secretary Brighton at his side. A haggard President Chaplin sat waiting for the most recent developments in the fight against Shiva.
“With LSST, we now have a daily near-live feed of the comet,” Robert began. “Through a combination of three-dimensional modeling based on the optical, radio, and x-ray spectroscopy from the observational scientists, Dr. Campero’s team has found the weakest points of the comet. We have identified two main locations to target, and have set the course for our IMPs to detonate at these locations.”
“When will this occur?” President Chaplin asked.
“Unfortunately, Madam President, because the comet is still outside Saturn’s orbit, our IMPs won’t be able to reach the comet for another six months.”
“I see in your notes here that the speed of the comet will change. How?”
“According to Kepler’s Law of Orbits, all orbiting bodies move faster the closer they are to the body they are orbiting,” Suri explained. “The photographs taken by the LSST and other telescopes are giving us tons of data to mine through and discover new things about the comet. For example, yesterday I found out that the comet comes from a special region of the Kuiper Belt where—”
“Excuse me,” President Chaplin chided. “But you are looking at where the comet came from? Shouldn’t you be more focused on where it’s going?”
“Where it came from gives us a better indication of its composition,” Suri explained, unaffected by the president’s interruption. “Things that are in the same area in the Kuiper Belt tend to be similar in composition.”
“The closer the comet comes, the more accurate we will be, and the more nuclear weapons we will use. As you can see here,” Robert said, pulling up some photos on his computer, “we are also monitoring our IMPs as they fly through space toward the comet.”
President Chaplin looked over the photos on her own computer and said, “This is good work, Dr. Miller. Thank you. Is there anything else?”
“Well,” Robert replied enthusiastically, “we’ve made two big discoveries about the comet. Firstly, as Suri was stating, we learned a lot more about the composition. We’ve learned of a massive pocket of gaseous ammonia just under the comet’s surface. It’s a perfect target for our nuclear weapons.”
“Why is it perfect?”
“Well, the surface of the comet just over the pocket is thin enough that we can expose the pocket to space. The gas will then slowly trickle out of the comet, allowing us to begin diverting the comet.”
“Excellent, and secondly?”
“Our nuclear and rocket scientist team designed a nuclear-powered rocket that could decrease the travel time of the IMPs, but this would mean increasing our production of weapons-grade plutonium.”
Immediately in the conference room, there were objections to adding nuclear weapons to the IMPs, especially since Miami was so fresh in everyone’s mind.
“I don’t know if we can allow that,” Secretary Brighton said.
“I know Miami was devastating,” Robert said, “and that the public will be unhappy about this possibility, but using oxygen fuel was fine in the beginning. We need to get more IMPs on their way to the comet, and nuclear-powered rockets will help. We already use nuclear power for submarines, and honestly, the impact of another failure would be just as devastating with or without this addition.”
Everyone was silently watching the screen where President Chaplin was deep in thought.
“Okay, start work on these nuclear-propelled rockets, but I want to be kept one hundred percent in the loop about this project,” President Chaplin finally said. “Now,” she said, changing the subject, “due to the recent security breaches and attacks, in the coming month we will be relocating your entire team to an undisclosed location to ensure your safety.”
Suddenly, Robert felt his pocket buzz. It was his cell phone, which he quickly silenced.
“I’ve also spoken with Secretary Brighton, and I am green-lighting the project with Gerald Jan. Please do whatever you can to help him. We now have just under two years before the comet arrives and . . . ”
Robert immediately looked back to his computer to the plans created by the nuclear scientist team working on the integration of the nukes to the Vishnu spaceship. Then his mind drifted back to his cell phone. Aside from the people in the room, he could only remember giving that number to his daughter. He hadn’t heard from her for a few weeks. He thought about her every day, hoping she was safe, hoping she would reach the cabin or find some other shelter.
His daughter’s safety was of paramount importance to him, yet he could do nothing to help her. It was agonizing. He had to stay focused on the much larger problem. His only hope was saving the world from the comet, and in the process, save his daughter. When the meeting adjourned, Robert listened to the voicemail that Jennifer had left.
“Hey Dad, I hope you’re doing well saving the world. I was hoping to hear your voice, but I’ll leave this message. Isabel and I are safe at the cabin, but it took a lot longer to get here than we thought. We decided to go through Grand Junction and hit Vail from the west instead of the east, because we heard Denver was unsafe. Anyway, around one
hundred miles away from the cabin, we ran out of gas. None of the gas stations around had gas, and so we had to walk the rest of the way. We’re all okay. Even little Isabel made it. Anyway, now you have this number if you want to get in contact for any reason, and . . . well, I just wanted to say I love you. And good luck.”
Robert listened to the message three times before putting the phone back into his pocket. Robert was supposed to view a rocket leaving from Cape Canaveral—a test for the upcoming bombardment—so he made his way to the Situation Room. As he walked with Suri, he was aware that she did not know where her parents were or how they were doing. The last she had heard, they had gotten on one of the last flights to New Delhi and were hoping to return to their home village. Robert wished there was some way he could help her, and then his phone started to buzz again.
Annoyed, Robert answered the phone.
“What?”
“Dr. Miller?”
“Who’s this?”
“This is Jeremy Genser, sir. You gave me your phone number before I left Houston . . . ”
“Jeremy, of course! I’m sorry. I assume you made it to your girlfriend’s cabin?”
“Yes, I did, and I wanted to apologize for not checking up on your daughter. I tried the phone number you gave me but Jennifer never picked up the phone.”
“I actually just got a voicemail from her. She is all right,” Robert said. “Is that why you called?”
“Well, sir, I’ve been thinking a lot, and I wanted to call you to ask if there was anything I could do to help in the effort against the comet? It doesn’t feel right just living my days out in this cabin while there are other people trying to save the world. I want to help in any way that I can. I know I’m not the most qualified or experienced person, but if there is anything at all I can do, please let me know.” Jeremy hung on the other line, holding his breath.
Suri looked at Robert quizzically, wondering who he was talking to. Robert frowned, thinking for something a trustworthy high school student could do to help stop a big ball of ice and rock from hitting Earth.
“I need to think, Jeremy. As of now I can’t think of much. I will, though, just sit tight. I can call you at this number?”
“Yes, you can.”
“Good, then stay put for now. I’ll call you back as soon as I think of something.”
Suri and Robert continued walking, and Dr. Campero came up behind them.
“Robert, can I speak with you?”
“I’m just on my way to the Situation Room for some testing. What is it, Francisco?”
“The current projections for our bombardment rate. I spoke with Dr. Suarez about Shiva’s composition and structural integrity. We think that considering a gravitational-pull method might be more successful.”
Robert considered for a moment before replying. “You think that we might split the comet up. Break her in half, maybe?”
“Or more than half. I don’t know; it seems risky.”
“A gravitational-pull method could help the comet, but we don’t have enough time to send an object massive enough,” Suri answered. “There is no other choice, don’t you agree, Dr. Campero? If Shiva falls apart from our bombing, then we’ll regroup and adjust, but we can’t risk its entire mass hitting us.”
Francisco tried ignoring Suri, but Robert was shaking his head at him.
“Listen to Dr. Lahdka, Francisco. If we had maybe four years, we’d have more options. Direct and indirect bombardment is what we have to do.”
Dr. Campero looked at them both, snorted, and walked in the opposite direction away from the meeting.
Suri and Robert both decided to ignore the behavior and continued to the situation room. The gravitational pull method was simple enough. Launch massive objects to one side in order to use gravity to pull the comet away from a collision course with Earth. However, it was too costly, and Robert feared it wouldn’t work in time to move the comet out of the way before the expected collision date.
Jeremy sat next to the corded phone hanging on the wall. He was anxiously waiting for it to ring, but to his dismay, Dr. Robert Miller hadn’t called yet. He felt helpless, restless, hopeless. Even if he was safe from the increasingly anarchic United States, being at the cabin was wearing on his mental health. When he’d called his parents, they said that they were scared of going out at night, and their house had been broken into three times.
“I’m just happy you’re safe up there in Vail,” Earl had said.
Jeremy didn’t tell him how boring it had become. The first few weeks had been great—like a vacation. No school, wake up whenever you want, and Jeremy could go hiking and exploring around some of the most beautiful nature in the Western Hemisphere. However, he often found himself looking up toward the sky, wondering if he was just wasting his time. He longed for excitement.
Shiva, although still invisible, was up there in the sky somewhere, a constant reminder of the world’s end. In the two weeks since he had called Robert saying he wanted to help, he had returned to the huge spaceship built by billionaires—the Ark. He had wanted to take some photos and see it again, maybe get closer.
He went with Dustin and Karina, and this time they got closer to the ship. They hadn’t seen any guards around the base of it, but there were some large cabins, if you could call them cabins, on the hillside opposite the clearing. The cabins looked more like big log mansions—like something the Yeti would live in.
“It’s huge,” Karina gasped when she saw the Ark.
Dustin agreed, but all three of them were too scared to go any farther and explore around the base of the ship, even though it looked deserted.
“It doesn’t have wings,” Dustin remarked. “Shouldn’t it have wings?”
“It’s not really a spaceship; it’s more like a big satellite,” Jeremy explained. “It’ll launch and begin orbiting Earth, so it just needs to be aerodynamic enough to get through the atmosphere.”
Jeremy found the second time looking at the rocket meant he could take in its prodigious magnificence more clearly. There were nine gargantuan inverted cones on the bottom of the ship, which was where the exhaust came out.
“Aren’t they going to come back down again?” Karina asked. “Will this land?”
“I’d guess they’d have a bunch of escape pods and land in the ocean or something,” Jeremy mused.
“If the ocean still exists, right? I mean, what if the comet just hits it so hard that all its water is moved . . . ” Dustin considered bleakly.
“Weird,” Karina said, as she looked up at the tip of the rocket. “If somehow we do escape out of this mess alive and see the world after, it’s crazy to think it could look nothing like it does now . . . ”
When they headed back toward the car, Karina walked ahead and Dustin hung back to walk alongside Jeremy.
“So I wanted to talk to you about something,” Dustin began.
“What’s up, D?”
“Well, you know that Karina and I have been, well, seeing each other recently.”
“I guessed that.”
Dustin laughed nervously before continuing. “Well, right after you spoke to Dr. Miller about helping out, Karina and I started a little plan of our own. We want to go to Europe.”
Jeremy started to laugh, but then stopped when he saw Dustin’s emotionless expression, and asked, “What? You’re not joking?”
“We decided that now would be a better time than any to travel, since there’s not much time left, right?”
“Right . . . but Dustin, how could you possibly get to Europe? Commercial flights aren’t available.”
“I know, but I spoke to Janice, and she said that if we can get to Houston then we can get on a boat going back with some supplies to a place called Rotterdam, which is in The Netherlands. I just wanted to ask you a question.”
“Is it, ‘Do I think this is a stupid idea?’”
“No . . . do you trust Janice?”
Jeremy thought for a spell, knowing this was the moment where
he would be able to do everything in his power to change his friend’s mind; all he had to do was fabricate some story about why not to trust Janice Effran, the woman they had only known for six weeks, and Dustin would stay. Jeremy looked up at the sky as they walked, thinking about the comet, and decided.
“I trust her, Dustin. Do what makes you happy.”
They walked for a time in silence.
“What do you think you’ll do if that scientist doesn’t call you back?”
“I’ll call him again, or I’ll call the government hotline number and work in a factory or something . . . When would you leave?”
“I’m not sure. Probably soon, though. Enjoy the mountains a bit more, you know, and then start walking. Enough time has passed; maybe the anarchy is bad enough that we can find a car somehow, or pay someone if money still works.”
“I agree, man. And there’s always food, or other ways to pay aside from money. I didn’t think that would happen, but now it’s kind of crazy. I feel like I wasted too much time up here already.”
When they got back home, Jeremy went to the bathroom and then watched Karina and Dustin play a game of chess.
“Jeremy!” Anna snapped from the bathroom.
Dustin and Karina stopped playing. Karina looking alarmed, but Dustin wore a sarcastic smile.
“What’s up, Anna?” Jeremy asked, walking toward her.
Anna had her arms folded and looked visibly tense and annoyed.
“Go into the bathroom,” she commanded.
Jeremy tried not to roll his eyes. “I left the seat up, didn’t I? I don’t get why this is such a big deal for you . . . ”
Anna groaned and stormed off to the bedroom. Jeremy followed, and the argument descended from there. Jeremy argued that both men and women use the toilet, so it’s up to the individual to use it how they like. He knew it was an age-old argument, as old as the toilet itself, but one that somehow the woman has, and always will, win. Only this time, the argument got so bad that at one moment, Anna burst into tears.
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