Impact

Astrophysics. Dr. Dahlquist, can you tell us what we're seeing up there?'

'My initial guess, Joe, would be that the Moon was struck by a major asteroid, perhaps two fragments at once, striking simultaneously on either side.'

'Why didn't anyone see it coming?'

'Good question. Evidently we're dealing with an asteroid that escaped the attention of Spacewatch and other near-Earth asteroid search programs. Here at Harvard-Smithsonian we've turned our telescopes on the Moon, and I understand the Keck Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope are also looking at it--as well as thousands of other telescopes, amateur and professional.'

'Is there any danger to us on Earth?' the announcer asked.

'There are reports of an electromagnetic pulse or a shower of charged particles causing scattered power failures and computer network problems. Other than that, I'd say we're safe here on Earth. The Moon is two hundred and forty thousand miles away.'

Ford turned off the radio. As he drove down the interstate, the light in the sky continued to increase, slowly but steadily, as the debris cloud extended out. It was yellowish in color, grading off to reddish hues at the edges-- hot, condensing debris from the strike. But the show would soon be curtained; the intermittent clouds that had earlier covered the sky had given way to a squall line of black weather, looming on the horizon, flickering with internal lightning.

He glanced at the clock: he was half an hour from the Portland airport; he'd catch the midnight flight to D.C. and be there by two or three A.M.

But first, he had to set up a little sting.

71

Dawn never breaks in a Vegas casino or the White House Sit Room, Lockwood thought as he followed the duty officer into the windowless, cocoon-like Situation Room, already packed with people. Lockwood recognized the ferret-like demeanor of the national security advisor at the head of the conference table, Clifford Manfred, whose Italian suit and Thomas Pink tie were perhaps a touch sharp for Washington. Seated with him was the director of central intelligence, a gray man in a gray suit with alert gray eyes; several nondescript intelligence analysts and a communications specialist. A huge flat-panel video display at the far end was split into multiple screens, one with a real-time image of the Moon--now with two jets coming off it--and the others showing silent news feeds from the U.S. and foreign media. Other screens around the walls displayed images of people attending by video conference, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, a small, precise man with snowy hair, wearing an admiral's uniform.

Lockwood took a seat in one of the big black leather chairs. There was a low murmur of voices around him and the clank and rattle of spoons in coffee mugs as coffee was served. Everyone was awaiting the arrival of the president.

A few minutes later a hush fell in the room, almost by intuition, and the door opened. A duty officer appeared, followed by the president's chief of staff and then the president himself, dressed in an impeccable blue suit, tall and lean, his once black hair salted with gray, his roving eyes taking in everything, his jug ears sweeping the room like a radar beacon. His unflappable demeanor cast a spell over the room like oil on water, dissipating the air of tension. Everyone made to rise and the president waved his hand. 'Please, please, stay seated.'

They rose anyway and reseated themselves as the president himself took a seat, not at the head of the table, but in an empty chair halfway down. He turned to Lockwood. 'Stan, I've got a country on the verge of panic. Every talking-head astronomer in the country is spouting off and saying something different. So start from the beginning and tell us what's really going on--and keep in mind some of us are scientific idiots. Is this just a light show or should we be worried?'

Lockwood rose, a slender manila file folder in his hand. 'Mr. President, I regret to say it's more serious than anything you might imagine.'

A silence. Everyone was staring at him.

'Some background. On April fourteenth, a meteor streaked over the Maine Coast. At the exact same time, our worldwide seismic system--designed to locate underground nuclear tests--registered an explosive signature in the remote mountains along the Thai-Cambodia border. We located what appeared to be an impact crater, and we sent out a man to investigate. It turns out it wasn't a crater--but an exit hole. Later, our man discovered the entrance hole--on an island off the coast of Maine.'

'Wait a minute--are you saying something went through the Earth?'

'Correct.'

'Who's this man you sent?'

'An ex-CIA officer named Wyman Ford. We're trying to find him now.'

'Go on.'

'We've determined the thing that passed through the Earth was probably a small lump of strange matter, also called a strangelet. This exotic form of matter is superdense--the entire Earth, if made of it, would be the size of an orange. It has a very alarming property: it converts normal matter to strange matter on contact.'

'So why's the Earth still here?'

'It was a very small piece, perhaps not much larger than an atom, and it was going fast. It blew all the way through the Earth and kept going. If it had been going slower and ended up caught inside the Earth, we'd be gone now.'

'My God.'

'That's just the beginning. We extrapolated the orbit back and found it originated at Mars.'

'Mars?'

'We've no idea yet what the Mars connection is, if anything. As we speak, the military is flying a contingent of senior scientists from the Mars mission at NPF here to join the team, along with the director of NASA.'

'Good.'

'Here's the bad part, Mr. President. It appears this thing happening to the Moon is identical to what happened to the Earth in April, except a much larger lump of strange matter was involved. It appears to have gone straight through the Moon, producing the spectacular display you see on the screen.'

'Is this stuff flying all through space around us? Is the Earth passing through a swarm of this stuff?'

'I don't think so. There are indications that the strike on the Moon might be . . . aimed.'

'Aimed? Are you saying some country launched these things?'

'The physicists assure me it's absolutely impossible for any nation on Earth to possess the technology to make strange matter.'

'Then what the hell do you mean by aimed?' The president was out of his seat, his legendary cool rapidly deteriorating.

'Because the shot at the Moon . . .' He paused and drew a breath. 'The shot took out Tranquility Base. A direct hit. Tranquility Base is, of course, where humans first landed on the Moon. It has great significance to humankind.'

'My God. Are you saying this is an attack of some kind?'

'That would be my guess.'

'By who? You just said no one on Earth has the technology to make this strange matter!'

'It isn't anyone on this Earth, Mr. President.'

A long, extraordinary silence followed. Nobody said a word. Finally the president spoke, his voice quiet. 'Are you suggesting aliens did this?'

'I would not use that word, sir. I would simply say that it appears like a deliberate shot by some entity not of this world. It could also be a coincidence, but I somehow don't think so.'