When they were back in his office, no one else was around. They went into a small anteroom and his father closed the door. After Keith took a seat, his father went to a small table holding a laptop computer. He touched the keypad, which brought the computer back to life. He picked up a small remote control device, and walked back and sat next to his son. In the manner of an accomplished orator, he began the slide program.
“Ten months ago this anomaly was discovered by a Spanish astronomer by the name of Dr. Rosa Alves. She, and her staff, calculated the trajectory of this anomaly. It was of no significance at the time, other than the discovery itself. When she found the anomaly once again, six months later,” he said as he progressively went through a number of slides on the power point presentation, “it was not where it was projected to be.”
“Now here is the problem. The size and speed of the anomaly was underestimated, possibly because it wasn’t that important, or more probably because they were limited to best guess information. While the size and speed difference wasn’t a major concern, what became a concern was the change in flight path,” he said as he moved onto another slide, which displayed a small bright object at the bottom left hand corner of the screen.
“What you see there, and here,” he said as he continued on to other slides, “Is our sun. Our nation’s most respected scientists and those of other nations, all concur on a trajectory that is within one-hundred miles from the sun, to possibly colliding with the sun itself. Since the sun is not solid like the earth, the results of an impact, or even anything closer to the one-hundred mile projection, will cause catastrophic conditions here on the earth.”
He advanced the slides forward showing simulated scenes resulting in such an impact. “In any event, the earth as we know it will no longer exist within a few days’ time. Best estimates are less than a twenty percent initial survival rate among all living creatures in the first stages, followed by predictions of less than five percent for any long term survival.” He got up from his seat, placed the remote device back on the table, and closed the top of the computer screen. He turned to his son in anticipation of his response.
“You’re serious,” he said already knowing the answer. While his nature was to be light hearted in relation to just about anything, and humorous when he could be, his father was not.
“Deadly serious.”
“That is what all of those trucks, and all this supposed exercise is about?”
“We have been preparing and planning for this for the last four months. This is just the final phase.”
“Who all knows about this,” he asked with a bit of suspicion.
“There are facilities like this around the world. Arrangements have been made to fill them all to capacity with both people and supplies.”
“And who determines who the people are?”
“People like me, people who are well connected, but most importantly people who can contribute to providing mankind with what we will need to repopulate the surface whenever it is possible to go back out.”
“What about the people on the outside?when will they be told?”
“They won’t. Some already know, others had to be silenced because of what they knew and what they were going to do with that information.”
Keith digested that for what it was. He had taken lives, and made decisions, which cost other people their lives. He was neither a fool nor a coward when it came time to make a tough decision. Nevertheless, at the moment it took some time to digest the scope of how his father, and others, had acted in cold blooded calculations which would knowingly affect billions of lives without their even being aware. Then he thought of his little brother. Frankie, Jr., was not a chip off the ol’ block. While the General was quite formal and conservative, little Frankie was the antithesis. Keith and his brother were always close, with Keith often running interference between the two. Frankie just could not adapt to life as a military brat, always moving from one place to another. In time, he did anything he could to upset the ‘old man.’ Eventually, he even went as far as becoming a journalist who used his platform to embarrass the military in any way he could while knowing his name reflected on their father. Keith did not agree with the lengths of rebellion Frankie went to, and often tried to reason with him. Their father had never been overly hard with his family, and he tried to accommodate them as best as he could. But once their mother died of cancer, Keith’s efforts were no longer enough to keep things from getting out of control. Frankie took her death harder than the rest of them, and even blamed their father. He was wrong, but his stubbornness just would not let him get over it. That was one way the two of them were just alike. “What about Frankie,” Keith asked with concern in his voice.
“I tried,” his father said in resignation.
“What do you mean you tried?” Keith said raising his voice.
“I called him. I tried to get him here with you and Terri. I thought maybe by using your name, it might have succeeded, but it was just a hope.”
“You can’t just let him go without telling him. Jesus Christ, why didn’t you just tell him,” Keith demanded.
“Tell him what,” his father retorted, “Hey son, everyone on the earth is going to be dead in a few days. Why don’t you come out here and live with me underground?”
After the reality of the situation set in, Keith knew his father had done his part, even if he could not really accept it at the moment.
“Honest to God Keith, I tried everything I could to talk him into coming here. After my last call, I think he thought I was just up to something and was even more adamant in refusing than he was with my first call,” he finished in a voice full of appeal.
Keith was actually surprised to hear that not only did his father try, but he did so more than once. He did not think they even talked anymore. And, maybe they didn’t. That was the problem.
“I’ve got things to do son,” he said gathering his composure, “We will talk again, but by now the complex is locked down. No one is entering or leaving. You will have a role here, just like everyone else. I’ll call for you in the next few days. It’ll be up to you to explain this to, and deal with, Terri. I don’t envy you that, but it’s your responsibility now.”
Keith looked at his father, still trying to process the many and varied thoughts racing through his mind, when the words dawned on him that he would be the one to break the news to his wife. She had a family too, and they were very close. It was not turning out to be the day he hoped it would be.
TWO
The mass and speed of Ignatio-17 was greater than estimated. It was even larger than the impressive comet McNaught. This was of little interest though, once its true course had been calculated. There was not enough time to determine where Ignatio-17 had originated from, nor how long it had been in existence. That was of little consequence now.
This particular comet was composed of more rock than ice, and was highly irregular in shape. Coursing its way through the Milky Way Galaxy at speeds in excess of 25,000 miles per hour, there was no stopping what was to come. There was no ill intent on its part, as it had nothing to do with its own destiny. It was such a small thing in relation to the universe around it, yet it would affect so much.
Ignatio-17 exploded as it survived to reach the plasma and magnetically charged fields of the sun. This collision, occurring during the time of a Solar Maxima, set off a series of events that would forever change this part of the solar system. Sympathetic coronal mass ejections in alarming scale displaced massive amounts of electromagnetic radiation. One of the greatest of these was directly in line with the earth. It took less than two days for the full force of the solar charged particles to set off a geomagnetic storm of unprecedented size and scope. The first indication that something significant was taking place was the sight of the Aurora Borealis being visible throughout the world. What followed that picturesque scene was devastating. The massive amounts of solar and cosmic radiation that passed through the magnetosphere caused an almost instant change in the earth’s axis. With this shift came the expected tectonic plate disturbances.
Earthquakes of a magnitude that ripped continents in half took place one after another. Once dormant volcanoes mimicked their active brothers, filling the sky with volcanic ash and the land and seas with molten fluid, rising up from the depths of the earth. The polar caps were no longer such, and began melting as the increasing temperature of the planet and the rising seas claimed their share. Electrical storms crossed the landmasses as they ruptured and broke apart scattering the last vestiges of civil development.
