“I suppose that is the natural reaction. But imagine what happens when this finally goes public, not just here in America, but across the globe.”
Oh, that was it. The President just wanted to bounce ideas off of him.
“Tim, before we can attempt to convince the people that we can and will survive, we have to have a survival strategy in place that’s fair yet does what’s necessary. We don’t have the luxury of turning inward and thinking of how it will impact us personally, we have to think of our country and our citizens. I know you, we go way back together, you are tough as nails, and I’m going to need you now more than ever.”
“I know Mr. President; it’s just so hard to fathom this. But I’ll be here for you and as always we will get through this. Is there any hope that we can stop these things or divert them somehow?”
“I’ve got NASA and the DOD putting together several scenarios to present to me tomorrow, I think you have them on the agenda along with The JPL in Livermore. The JPL will outline potential defense scenarios for the incoming threat, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Louis Felson wanted a little more insight into an upcoming PBS special on the “Life of an Asteroid”. Felson had produced several award winning earth and the universe oriented specials over the years for PBS. That’s why he was contacting one of his subject matter experts at the National Science Foundation.
“Hi, Chris, it’s Louis Felson with PBS, I need to pick your brain again about an upcoming special. Guess what it’s called “The Life of an Asteroid”.
There was silence at the other end.
“Hello…Chris you there?”
“Louis is this some kind of joke?”
“What joke already?”
“I…listen——I can’t talk right now, no, I mean I can’t talk about this period.”
The line was silent. Felson hung up the phone. What could Chris be thinking they had worked together for years? Oh my God——
Felson sat at his bistro type table and munched on a sandwich contemplating how he could verify his suspicions. He finished eating, downed his pino grigio, and decided to call his buddy at the Washington Post, but before he could dial the number his doorbell rang. When Felson opened the door, he was confronted with two very official looking men.
“What’s going on here?” he said. Without a word they handcuffed him, put a black bag over his head, and took him away. What the hell…
It was because he knew. They were shutting him up because he knew. Felson didn’t know whether to be more scared of their silencing him or of what they were silencing him about.
They dragged him out to a car—an SUV from the height—and started driving. He could tell by the direction of the turns that they were not headed to FBI headquarters. The ride length convinced Felson he was being taken out of the DC area, maybe Baltimore, maybe Langley. He could hear other traffic now, trucks, air brakes, then an overhead door opening. He felt the attitude of the car change they were going up some kind of steep grade, and then the car stopped. Doors opened, someone grabbed him and pulled him out of his seat.
“Hey, you know you can get a ticket for not putting a seat belt on someone you just kidnapped,” he yelled.
No response.
He was led down a hallway, then through a door, and placed in a metal chair, black bag still over his head, hands handcuffed behind his back. Then silence.
“Hey is anybody there?” he screamed.
Minutes passed that seemed like hours...then he heard a click and felt a warm sensation on his face through the nylon bag over his head. He heard footsteps, big feet it sounded like. Then the bag was pulled off his head, and the lights were so bright he had to close his eyes. The lights were focused directly on his face.
Then a booming voice. “Mr. Felson, how are you today?”
“I am a United States citizen, I’ve done nothing wrong, you have no right to hold me against my will.” It was worth a try.
“Ah, now that is where you are wrong,” the deep pitched voice explained. “You see Mr. Felson, there are circumstances that require us to override your personal rights in the interest of National Security. Do you understand Mr. Felson?”
Just how deep did the security go? “Do you know what’s happening?”
The man walked around behind him and unlocked the handcuffs but kept a hand on his shoulder. That hand was enough to hold him in his seat. “I do. And the people whom you will meet directly do as well. And no one else will. We intend to keep it that way.”
“How long do we have?”
“I don’t know. They don’t tell me everything.”
“Listen, I’d like to help.”
The deep voice nodded. “I’ll pass that along. But there may be nothing you can do.” The man turned to leave.
Felson jumped up and grabbed his arm. “Wait! You can’t leave me in here alone; I’ve got to do something.”
The man shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mr. Felson, but we have no choice at this point. But don’t worry, I suspect you won’t be alone for long. In fact I’m afraid it’s going to get crowded in here before we’re done.”
Eldon Huart nervously scoured the figures before him hoping to find some evidence of error, but was having no luck. The earth would be hit by multiple asteroids. Nothing between them and earth was strong enough to stop them. His phone rang and he picked it up reflexively.
“Eldon Huart.”
“Eldon, it is Ivan Borosky calling from Russia.”
Oh damn. He took a quick breath to force some calm into his voice. “Ivan, how are you, it is so good to hear from you, what time is it there?”
“It’s 9:30 at night here in St. Petersburg. Eldon I have some disturbing news that I want to share with you before I take it to our people.”
“Yes go on,” Huart knew what was coming. Well, at least he didn’t have to lie to an old friend.
“The Ussuriysk Astrophysical Observatory has been tracking a mass of asteroids that apparently were accelerated by a massive solar flair. Eldon we have gone over the calculations many times, these asteroids—thirty or forty of them—are going to hit earth sometime in late summer of 2017. I fear it will be the end of life on earth as we know it, Eldon are you there?”
“Yes. Can you send me your numbers so I can go over them first?”
“My friend that is why I called, I knew you would offer your help in this matter. You knew didn’t you?”
“We’re still double checking the simulations. You’ve got to be sure with something like this, which is why your numbers would be helpful.” Eldon thought of the tap on his phone, of the security officials who had read him the riot act. He hated what he was about to do, but he had no choice. “Who knows about this besides you Ivan?”
“Just me and my assistant Anna.”
“Okay, I’m going to give you the entry code and a password to our computer here at Cal Tech; I want you to send your data to it. Then let me run some simulations and get back to you before you report this to anyone.”
“Thank you my friend, I have the codes now. You think maybe in a couple of days you can get back to me.”
“I’ll run it until we get the answer, if I have to stay up all 48 hours.”
“Ah, I know you will. Thank you my friend. Goodbye.”