A moment later the Dean heard, “Hello Dean, my name is Eric Getts, I’m a Secret Service agent. Mr. Richard Weinstein disappeared around a month ago. He returned from a trip to the west coast, he checked in at his office, and wasn’t heard from again. His government issued phone was left on his desk as was his laptop. It appears he took his ID card and vanished. We’ve checked his home. His wife is also missing and she disappeared the same time Mr. Weinstein did. I assume either harm has come to both of them and for some reason we don’t understand, he simply disappeared. Would you have any information you could add to assist us solving his disappearance?”
The Dean considered her options, “I may be able to assist you, but I can’t over a phone. I am willing to discuss the subject he and I met about in my office or one of yours. It’s an extremely sensitive subject.”
“Sensitive?”
“As in national security of the highest level.”
“I see, madam, do you have a security clearance?”
“I don’t. However, I do understand when certain information has national security implications.”
“Okay, since I don’t seem to have any options, I will send you to our nearest office address and I’ll personally fly out tonight to meet you in the morning.”
“I’ll find it.”
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Getts was tired and frustrated. He hated having to fly across country for what he assumed would be a waste of time. When Dean Whitmore finally arrived, he smiled and asked, “This conference room is very secure. Here is my TS ID card, can you now tell me what’s so secret and has national security implications?”
“Agent Getts, what do you know about the dinosaurs?”
“Is this your idea of a joke?”
“I should have said, what do you know about how they died?”
“If I remember correctly, a large rock landed in the Mexico where it meets the Gulf. The rock was so large it threw up enough debris it blocked the sun and all of the plants died or something like that. Why?”
“Excellent. The reason why I asked was the topic Rick and I discussed was one of my grad students discovered a rogue asteroid which is headed our way…”
“So, don’t asteroids hit us all the time? What’s so special about this one?”
“Agent Getts, if a one-mile-wide asteroid struck the Earth, it would do so with the explosive force of a 1 million megaton nuclear weapon. The largest weapon ever exploded was a Russian hydrogen weapon of 57 megatons. A million megatons are 10 million times greater than the bomb that fell on Hiroshima. If it struck the Earth it would flatten everything for 100 to 200 miles out from ground zero. In other words, if a mile-wide asteroid were to directly hit New York City, the explosion would completely flatten every single thing from Washington to Boston. That’s not all, it would also cause extensive damage 1,000 miles away, think all the way to Chicago. Everything in between would be damaged. The amount of dust and debris thrown up into the atmosphere would block out the sun for years. Not only would most plants die, so would most animals and it might even kick start a new ice age. If such an asteroid were to land in the ocean, it would cause massive tidal waves hundreds of feet high that would completely scrub the coastlines and every city along the coast would be destroyed.”
Agent Getts’ face paled.
“The rock coming is maybe a mile and half or larger. Our initial projections show it is going to strike us and it will hit someplace in the northern hemisphere. The damage is going to be something we called an EL or ELLIE event.”
“I’m sorry, Ellie?”
“An extinction level event, one that can end all life on the planet. This asteroid could be our reset button. We could be following the dinosaurs.”
“Mr. Weinstein knew this?”
“Yes, that’s what we discussed. I gave him copies of print outs proving what I had just told you.”
“I understand now. I’m going to guess he decided to run, where would he go?”
“Someplace in the southern hemisphere, I’d say a large land mass, my guess would be Australia.”
“Thank you. We will check to see if he’s there. Now what can we do to save our people?”
“Agent Getts, I’m not sure if we can do anything in the time we have left which is less than six months.”
“Six months?”
“Yes, and I’ve not known government to ever decide anything in six months. I think I’ll follow my friend, I don’t want to stay around knowing there’s nothing we can do to stop the rock and our time is running out.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid you’re not going to be able to leave the country. I think you should return to Washington with me and brief the President. After all, who else knows as much as you? Someone he can trust has to brief him. I can’t answer his questions. I, the nation needs your expertise.”
“I think you have the wrong woman, I’m a university Dean…”
“You’re the closest thing we have to an expert…”
“No, the real expert is the grad student who discovered it. I’d like to bring him with us. I brought his file so you can check his background.”
“Thank you. If you’d wait here a moment, I’ll have the staff run his and yours.”
“Why mine? I told you, he discovered it…”
“He’s a grad student, you’re the Dean. Who do you think the President will want to listen to?”
“I don’t care, I didn’t vote for him and I don’t like him.”
“What about the country? Do you like America? If so, then you need to do your duty to the 350 million of us. Where do we locate the grad student?”
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Bob Imus
