Imus beamed, “Just give me fifteen and I’ll be ready.”
@@@@@
Professor Wright reviewed the numbers and images. He made three calls before turning back to Imus. “Come, you won the lottery. The Dean has agreed to allow us to use the computer in the basement of the science building.”
“No shit!”
“Come on, we can use it, but we don’t have much time on it.”
Professor Wright sat at an empty desk in the computer room staring at the numbers the university’s supercomputer had spit out. He checked and doubled checked the numbers. “Robert, we need to see the Dean. Wait here while I call her.”
“What did “Big Bertha” say?”
“She said we’re in deep shit and I’m not so sure you’ll want your name on this thing.”
“Huh? You mean I did discover something?”
“Oh it looks like you did and I wish you hadn’t. Yeah, I wish you hadn’t. I would rather have not known what I’ve seen. Do you have any idea what you’ve discovered?”
“I have a rough idea, but I wasn’t able to confirm the orbits. As you saw my computing power was quite limited.”
“What does your gut tell you?”
“I discovered a rouge asteroid which is flying through the solar system that will pass between the moon and Earth, but I don’t know if that part of my calculations is correct. I filled two spiral notebooks attempting to solve the formulas.”
“My son come with me. We have a Dean to see.”
“Won’t you tell me what “Big Bertha” said?”
“Not until we see the Dean.”
Chapter 2
Months after the event.
Erin looked over to see if Jon was awake. She whispered so as not to wake their daughters, “Did you get any sleep?”
“A little. Not as much as I wanted, but enough for what I need. I’ve been thinking…”
“Me too. I think it’s time, past time we leave.”
Jon smiled remembering why he loved Erin so much, she was his soul mate. “I agree. Now that you’re up I’m going to start checking the Denali. It’s been sitting in the cold garage for a few days. I want to make sure the fuel and other fluids haven’t frozen.”
“What can I do?”
“When the girls wake, begin packing. First priority is our food and second any medications, first aid kits and all OTC drugs we have, then warm clothing and boots.”
“Where are we going?”
“As far south as we can go, I hope we can make it all the way to the American south. I’m praying the American President keeps his word and welcomes us as he’s promised to.”
“Has something happened you’re not telling me to make you think he’s changed his mind?”
“Not him, before the internet went out…”
“WHOA, what do you mean before the internet went out? The girls are going to be crushed without the internet. What happened?” Asked Erin.
Jon lowered his voice, “I have no idea. Around an hour ago I lost it on my phone. No matter what I do all I get is the spinning sand clock. I saw posts on social media from a group who calls themselves America for Americans.”
Erin’s voice had a sharp edge on it, “We are Americans, we live in North America…”
Jon attempted to sooth her, “You know what they’re talking about. I think the average American, excuse me, those in the United States are very warm hearted. They are always the first to show up for any disaster. I’m sure they’ll welcome us with open arms.”
“I hope so because we can’t stay here, Canada is finished. That damn rock finished us…”
Jon nodded, “We’re not alone. A lot, if not most, of the northern hemisphere is going to be a wasteland very soon. Before the net crashed, I saw a map of the projected ice cover and it’s not good. All of Canada, half or more of the United States, most of Europe, and of course Russia and a lot of China are all going to be dead zones.”
“How long do you think it’s going to take us to reach the south?”
“It depends on the route. The last map I saw showed the coastal region grayed out with no detail was available. My initial plan was to take Route 2 into Maine where we’ll pick up their Interstate 95 which runs all the way down to the tip of Florida.”
“Along the coast? Didn’t you just say their coastal area had no detail? Do you think there’s a reason why it’s grayed out? What’s your back up plan?”
“Back up plan?” Asked Jon.
“What are we going to do if Interstate 95 no longer exists?”
“I don’t know. With the internet down, I can’t pull up a map on my phone. We don’t have any paper maps around, do we?” Jon began to get worried about the trip. 1,800 miles along the coast is a long way. If we have to drive inland first then we’re looking at maybe over 2,000 miles. That’s going to be a long trip with the four us in the Denali packed with everything we own. I’m not sure hotels are still open or what gas costs in the States. There’s so much I don’t know. I DO know if we stay here, we’re going to die so that means we’re leaving.
Erin nodded, “Paper maps? No, we don’t. Do gas stations still have paper maps?”
“Not that I’ve seen in years. We’re going to have to play it by ear.” Jon attempted to remember the old maps of the United States he once studied. He wondered where
