what to tell people. So they lean on people to keep it
quiet. Observatories don’t come cheap, they’re built
by big money. Universities get government grants. And
the government can always come in and say it’s a
national security issue.
Danny is confused. Why is a passing planet special?
National security, like, don’t cause panic? They
didn’t do that for the Near Earth Asteroid scares,
they were all over the news, TV and everything. How is
this different?
Isaac explains - those on top fear losing the upper hand.
These asteroids either wipe life out or pass by, black
or white, but this monster passes by and causes a pole
shift, the globe survives, but civilization is pretty
much wiped out, crashes. That’s what happened during
the time of Moses. Egypt lost their slaves, they
walked away, and Egypt was in chaos for centuries.
This is what they’re really worried about. They’re
worried about the working man questioning their
masters, gaining the upper hand. They’re worried about
mob rule.
Danny is beginning to connect the dots.
They think it’s going to happen? This thing is coming?
For sure, this is for sure? Boy, that explains Maya
jumping on me. It was like somebody had leaned on him,
like he knew more about it than he was telling me.
It’s not just a theory, says Isaac.
My friend says they were looking for it, they found it
and now they're tracking it.
An astonished Danny says,
They found it? They found it? Where’d they find it?
Isaac gives the long suppressed history, the discovery of Planet X in 1983.
14
In 1983, they were sending up infrared cameras above
the clouds, in those days they didn’t have the Hubble,
and were looking toward Orion because astronomers have
known there’s something out there, something pulling
comets and planets in that direction, some
gravitational force, and by gum, they found it. Scared
the heck out of them, and it hit the papers before
they could squelch it. Was in the Washington Post,
front page, in 1983.
But Danny is still missing the point.
Damn! But I don’t understand why mob violence will
ensue. I mean, so this thing passes. Why would
civilizations crash?
Isaac points to the extent of devastation that accompanies a pole shift.
It doesn’t just pass. Take a look at mountain
building, fresh mountains like the Rockies or the
Himalayas. If all we’re having is a few quakes now and
then, what would drive those mountains thousands of
feet in the air? What force would overcome the
resistance?
Isaac glances sideways at Danny, gauging his skepticism to be slight. Like
most young people, he is loath to let go of his idealism, not believing the
government would lie to the people. Isaac is familiar with this resistance
and these arguments, and takes them in stride. Danny says,
Uh, well quakes drop buildings, and ..
Isaac quickly interrupts,
That’s from the shaking.
Isaac is pondering a mountain building scene, where flat rock snaps and starts
to angle upward at a 45 degree angle, climbing over foothills nearby, climbing
up into the sky to the height of a Mt Everest. He says,
I’m talking about picking up a mountain and driving it
up, up, thousands of feet. Whole mountain ranges, up.
And look at the issue of Ice Ages and wandering poles!
We just don’t get it, we don’t get it! You know the
last Ice Age had ice over France, 11,000 years ago or
so, but at the same time the grasslands of Siberia
were warm and lush! Now, what did the Sun do there,
blink on for Siberia, and off for France?
Isaac pulls his line in and slings it back out again, both men quiet for a
moment. He says,
It's going to be a pretty rough ride, son.
15
Isaac is envisioning a mammoth is standing in grasslands, snow and howling
winds descending. The mammoth is backing away from the direction of the winds,
trunk high as though trying to defend itself, eyes crazed with fear at the
maelstrom descending. The end of the trunk has grass with buttercups in it, as
though this were a sudden event, mid-munch for the mammoth.
Mammoths were found flash frozen in Siberia, been
frozen like that for thousands of years, with
buttercups in their stomach. Buttercups, where there
isn't a blade of grass for hundreds of miles, now.
The Earth turned under them, son, and moved them to a
polar zone. They weren't the only species to go
extinct for no obvious reason. They've been dozens.
