It is the tilt of the earth that ensures that from the point Earth enters the cloud, every square centimeter of the planet will be blanketed by it. The cloud will be the most significant global event since the last major extinction, sixty-five million years ago. You might say, it has people on edge.
The anomalies do not stop there. There's spectroscopy. Much like a prism, light is refracted differently by each element. Astronomical spectroscopy uses spectral lines to interpret wave patterns to determine the chemical compositions of far-away objects.
This phenomenon is used to determine atmospheric conditions on planets in other star systems far away; we only know they exist due to star wobble.
This cloud demonstrates no known signature, meaning we cannot determine what the composition of this cloud is.
Except for "dark matter," which remains a mystery to science to this day, we have come to determine the composition of everything around us, from nearby planets, to far-away galaxies.
Therefore, the most enigmatic question remains if we can determine the elemental composition of everything around a body in space, and the body appears to have nothing in common with said matter, where did it come from?
The matter in the cloud appears to range in mass. The bulk of which is the dust-sized particles, but it ranges all the way up to the size of a city bus.
Optimistic astronomers hypothesize that the more massive objects will break up in the atmosphere all over the planet. Hopefully, the cloud will do little more than create a dazzling display of fireworks across the world. Truthfully, we know very little, and fear abounds.
Kelly found herself consumed by this knowledge, like so many times over the last few months as new information had arisen. When she snapped out of it, she realized Mika had fallen asleep.
She kissed her on the forehead. "Goodnight, my sweet Mika. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me."
She then re-committed herself to this child, as she did every night. "My dear Mika, you are my heart and my soul, my very reason for being. I vow to spend every ounce of that, for the rest of my existence, to you, to protecting you and making you happy. This I vow to you, my sweet girl."
Chapter 4: Onyana
Onyana looked in the mirror. She was not just beautiful, but the epitome of beauty. And she knew it. From the time when memory first served her, "You're beautiful" was the mantra everyone sang to her.
Upon meeting people, they would treat her with the same regard as one might give a noble. They would give her whatever she wanted and say, "No charge, sweetie," or "I couldn't take a beautiful girl's money."
She turned her head to the side. Her jawline was perfect. So elegant, soft and tender, the line veered off and ran gently down her neck to her collarbone. She kept looking, slowly rotating her head. Her chin was petite, framing the most perfect lips humankind could produce.
They were smooth, plump, sensual, and with just a tiny tilt upward at the ends, giving her a natural smile. They had just the right amount of fluff, and they expressed a longing to be kissed. They looked like that even when she was mad.
Her smile could stop traffic, and her body had caused accidents. She felt horrible at the time, even though she had done nothing to create them. She had been wearing something more provocative, in retrospect.
To be fair, small shorts and tops are comfortable on a hot day. Who wants to run in a burka? Onnie, as she was called, had stopped running in little shorts after that incident.
Her face was the depiction of perfection. She always found people staring at her. If she looked at them, they would snap out of it and either be embarrassed or pretend they were looking at something else. So she pretended not to notice them. A girl gets used to it, I guess.
Alas, even with a face so lovely, it was her body that stole the show. Really, her body was the only thing that could steal your attention away from her face. It was a curse, and she hated it.
She kept looking. Her nose was cute, with the tiniest little dimple in the end. It crinkled when she was happy or excited. People loved her nose. They were always telling her jokes, just to see her nose crinkle inadvertently.
The bridge of her nose was a delightful slope that washed into the endless swirling pools that were Onyana's eyes. Soft brown with flecks of copper, they seem to glow when she was happy.
Often men had made themselves into pseudo court jesters, acting a complete fool to evoke a happy response. Endless suitors laid everything from flowers, jewelry, and cars, to promises of Queenship and billionaire wifehood with no prenup.
She kept looking into the mirror. Her face was perfectly symmetrical, or at least the closest anyone has come. Her eyebrows were full, but always looked freshly sculpted.
Her brows, of course, had never been touched. The flare that caught everyone's eye was natural and unintended. As you were mesmerized at her eyebrows dancing around on her forehead, you were drawn to her thick, full hairline of long, voluptuous hair.
She studied her ears, mesmerized in their wavy lines that draw you in and make you want to smell her hair, to kiss her adorable earlobes. She straightened her head and looked herself in the eye, flawless, literally and figuratively. She could not find a single flaw, ingrown hair, zit, wrinkle, blemish, or imperfection.
Not a single indiscretion dared impair her glowing complexion. She could examine the entirety of her body to the same extent, and find the same.
The nearest thing to a blemish was a single birthmark one quarter the size of a dime. It was located about an inch in from her left hip, a perfectly formed heart-shaped freckle. One that bikini photographers were obsessed with. Come to think of it, everyone was.
When she was young, her parents were laborers: good, honest, hard-working people who had adopted her when she was three. She loved her parents with all her heart.
When they looked at her, she knew they loved her. You could see it in everything they did; they loved her for who she was, regardless of how she looked. They were the only ones. How could anyone else like her for who she was, when all they could see was beauty?
When she was young, they worked hard, and they had lived well. Though they couldn't afford much else, they drove an older minivan with no features and rented an apartment.
But they were there for her, every birthday, every Christmas, family meals, barbecues, road trips, and even Disneyland! She loved Disneyland, but more so, Disneyland with her parents.
When she was older, despite her parents' lack of income, they were able to travel a great deal and became very well provided for. Disneyland, Disney World, Hawaii, Universal Studios – they had even taken cruises to Alaska, the Caribbean, and Australia.
Onnie and her family always had the newest stuff, the most expensive brands, and designer whatever they wanted. At age sixteen, she had received a brand new Audi, and her parents received the same.
The gifts had started when she was ten years old, near Thanksgiving. A scout had said she was "the poster child for an American Christmas."
He had promised a sizeable check and a fantastic Christmas for all three of them. They let Onnie decide everything.
They respected her and did their best to be her guides, rather than dominate her life. She did the ad, and the scout delivered on his promise, plus some.
Ever since that ad, she has been constantly bombarded with offers, gifts, and compensations. Her family was never to want again. She did select a few jobs and maintained strict ground rules.
It had to be tasteful, respectable, and it had to be a pleasant, clean, friendly environment. Even at a young age, people wanted her to pose more provocatively, so