Global Cooling (The Time Bubble Book 2)

by Jason Ayres

  They clinked glasses and took a sip, excited and happy about the new step their lives were about to take.

  After they’d got home, he’d showered while she cooked for them both, after which they’d gone upstairs for the moment of truth. Charlie waited outside the door of the en suite bathroom while she went in, full of anticipation.

  A few minutes later, she emerged and handed him a small, plastic wand with a digital reader in it, containing just one word: “Positive”.

  He couldn’t begin to describe the rush of emotions that ran through him at that point. They hugged excitedly and kissed. He was going to be a dad. The love of his life was carrying his child: it just didn’t get any better than this.

  “I must tell Hannah,” said Kaylee. “I promised her she’d be the first to know.”

  “I thought it was bad luck to tell anyone in the first three months,” replied Charlie.

  “Hannah’s an exception,” said Kaylee. “After all, I was the first person she told about Jess.”

  Their conversation was interrupted by Charlie’s smartphone buzzing. He picked it up.

  “It’s Josh. I wonder what he wants at this time of night.”

  Josh and Alice had decided to get out of Oxford for the evening and go somewhere where they could get a better view of the comet, away from the light pollution of the city.

  They’d driven up to Brill Hill, a few miles from Oxford, parked the car and walked up to the windmill. The sun had set a good hour ago and it was now completely dark. There was barely a cloud in the sky: perfect weather for stargazing.

  The comet was dominating the skyline as it made its closest approach to Earth.

  “This makes a change,” remarked Alice. “Usually you can guarantee if there’s anything interesting happening, it’ll be raining or overcast. Remember that partial solar eclipse a couple of years ago? It rained all day. I never saw a thing.”

  The comet looked magnificent. It was a huge white ball, approximately the size of the moon with the tail spread out behind it like a fan. Neither of them had ever seen one so brightly before.

  In fact, few people in the UK had seen a comet at all. When she was studying astronomy, Alice had seen some magnificent paintings and photographs of old comets from the 19th century, but such displays had seemed consigned to history, until now.

  “So you’re absolutely sure about this?” asked Josh again. “You said it would be around half past nine.”

  “Give or take a few minutes,” she replied. “I’m sure NASA has got it tracked to the second. Not that we’ve heard anything from them.”

  “I’m going to give Charlie a call – he won’t want to miss this,” said Josh.

  So it was a very excited Josh that Charlie answered the phone to.

  “Mate, you’ve got to get out into the garden and watch the comet,” he said. “There’s something amazing about to happen.”

  “What exactly?” enquired Charlie.

  “I don’t have time to explain now, but trust me, you won’t want to miss this,” said Josh. “It’s nearly 9.30, I’ve got to go.”

  “Before you do,” said Charlie. “Do you and Alice want to come over for a barbecue on Saturday?”

  “Sounds great!” replied Josh. “I’ll check with Alice and get back to you.” He hung up.

  “What did he want?” asked Kaylee.

  “Something’s happening with the comet apparently. Let’s go outside and take a look.”

  He took his champagne glass in one hand and Kaylee in the other and led her through the kitchen door into the garden. The comet wasn’t anywhere near as bright as it was in Brill, due to the street lamps everywhere, but it was still plainly visible.

  Back on Brill Hill, Josh and Alice continued to stare upwards at the skies. It seemed like an age had passed with nothing happening, but in reality it was only a few minutes.

  “Maybe you got it wrong?” suggested Josh. “Even brilliant astronomers make mistakes occasionally.”

  But as he spoke, something did happen. The head of the comet glowed very brightly for a moment and then faded again. For a moment nothing else happened.

  “Is that it?” asked Josh. “I was expecting there to be some sort of huge explosion.”

  “Remember that it’s a million miles away,” replied Alice. “It’s not going to go off like a firework. Let’s take a look through this.”

  Whilst Josh had been on the phone to Charlie, she’d been setting up a portable telescope she’d borrowed from the university. Now when she looked through, she could see exactly what had happened.

  “Take a look,” she said.

  He peered through the lens and saw what she had seen. The head of the comet was no longer a single white disc, but had broken into a number of smaller objects which were now spreading outwards.

  “You see it?” she asked. “It’s blown the head of the comet apart.”

  “I see it,” he replied. He looked away from the telescope and back up into the night sky. “And I can see it without the telescope now, too.”

  She followed his gaze. The head of the comet was clearly splitting apart.

  “What now?” he asked.

  “We go back to the observatory and try and get a handle on precisely what the implications are.”

  “Are we in any danger?” asked Josh.

  She looked back at him – but didn’t reply. His phone rang. It was Charlie, confirming he and Kaylee had seen it, too. He asked Josh the same question that Josh had asked Alice.

  Josh responded that he’d get back to him.

  Back in The Red Lion, the drinkers were oblivious to all of this. The karaoke was in full swing now, and half the punters were engrossed in that. The rest were watching the tail-end of the Europa League semi-final at the other end of the pub.

  Lauren was relieved to have a young girl called Aimee up next to sing a ballad from a recent Hollywood romcom. At least nothing could go wrong with that. She’d had yet another ticking off from Debbie after Andy got half the pub shouting out “Who the fuck is Alice?” during his song. He was now permanently banned from the karaoke.

  Her phone bleeped. It was Kaylee. “Go and take a look outside at the comet”, she read.

  Aimee had finished to rapturous applause, and the next couple up were going to sing Paradise by the Dashboard Light. That meant she had seven minutes to spare. She was gasping for a smoke, and by that she meant a real one, not an e-cig.

  She headed out into the garden where she could see a few smokers already looking up at the comet and pointing. She could see straightaway that something had happened. The head of the comet seemed to have split into several smaller fragments.

  It was 10pm and the football was finished. The outside screens were still showing pictures from the same channel and the ten o’clock news was just starting.

  The volume had been turned up for those who had been watching the football, and Lauren was instantly drawn in by the first headline, read out by the unmistakeable tones of the channel’s news anchor, Seema Mistry.

  “Major collision close to Earth as asteroid and comet collide.” It cut to a close-up picture taken by a telescope in space. Now it really did look like something from a Hollywood movie. The huge explosion was revealed in all its glory as the head of the comet was ripped apart by the asteroid.

  The news channel had dubbed on some sound effects for added dramatic effect. Most viewers used to watching Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters would expect it, even though it was a little-known fact that sound waves don’t travel in the vacuum of space.

  Lauren looked at the pictures and suddenly felt very afraid. Perhaps some sixth sense was warning her of what was to come.

  She took a huge draw on her cigarette, stubbed it out, composed herself and went back inside. The show had to go on.

  Chapter Seven – 13th April 2029 (8.00am)

  The following morning, the comet’s demise was headline news in all the papers and the lead story on all the news channels. Spectacular footage of the
collision between the asteroid and the comet was being shown over and over again.

  Questions were being asked in the press as to what the implications might be for Earth. Some of the British tabloids in particular were sensationalising the story.

  Charlie and Kaylee were sitting on the sofa watching the breakfast television coverage. Kaylee was drinking a cup of tea, Charlie a rather strong cup of coffee.

  He’d drunk almost the whole bottle of champagne the previous evening and was feeling a little fragile. The familiar image of Seema was once again on the screen, sitting in the news studio with a middle-aged, grey-haired man. Charlie recognised him from a recent documentary series he’d watched about the solar system.

  “I’m delighted to be joined this morning by Sir Simon Davies, the Astronomer Royal. Welcome to the show, Simon, and thank-you for joining us at such short notice,” began Seema.

  “It’s a pleasure, Seema,” replied Simon, smiling.

  “Simon is going to review the papers for us this morning and also talk a little bit about the story on everyone’s lips – last night’s spectacular explosion in space. So Simon, what exactly did happen last night?”

  “Well, it’s quite straightforward, really. As most viewers will be aware, there are thousands of asteroids and comets buzzing around our solar system. Last night, two of them collided. It’s actually not that unusual an event. It’s just that it doesn’t normally happen this close to Earth so we don’t generally notice.

  “So, do we have anything to be concerned about?” probed Seema.

  “Nothing at all. We’ve already passed by the point where the comet was due to pass the Earth’s orbit. We should get a great meteor shower, though, when the Earth passes back through this part of space in a year’s time.”

  Simon seemed relaxed as he spoke, his reassuringly familiar figure calming the nerves of millions of viewers across the country.

  “It seems not all of the newspapers agree with you on that. Shall we take a look at a few of them?” she suggested.

  “OK, well, let’s start with the tabloids. As you can see, the comet is front-page news on all the major dailies today.” He picked up the front cover of one of the red top tabloids. The camera focused on the headline: “DOOMSDAY”.

  “They certainly seem to think that we have something to worry about,” remarked Seema.

  “Well, as you well know, Seema, headlines sell papers. Personally, I think it’s quite irresponsible to scaremonger in this way. It is the sort of thing that starts panic.”

  He picked up another tabloid from the desk and showed the headline to the camera: “END OF THE WORLD”.

  “And then there’s this one,” he said, showing the camera the headline “SEND FOR BRUCE WILLIS”.

  Seema laughed. “I’ve read that one – quite tongue-in-cheek, I thought. It looks like they are treating it as a bit of fun.”

  “I guess that is only to be expected from the tabloid press,” said Simon. “Fortunately most of the quality papers have given a more sensible summary of the situation.”

  He continued as Charlie and Kaylee watched from their sofa. Josh and Alice were also watching. They had been up all night working in the observatory to try and work out what was really happening. Now they were taking a break in the college restaurant, watching the news coverage on the wall screen. They were anything but convinced by what Simon was saying.

  With her astronomical expertise and his mathematical genius they’d worked out the exact angle of impact of the asteroid upon the comet, and come to the same conclusion that Simon was saying on the television. The comet was indeed no threat.

  But they’d also reached another conclusion which was far more concerning. They’d checked their numbers and checked again, and they were convinced. Asteroid Apophis had been deflected by the collision and was heading for Earth.

  “I don’t get this,” remarked Josh. “If we can figure it out in our little observatory on campus, surely the foremost astronomer in the country with access to the most advanced equipment money can buy should have come to the same conclusion.”

  “There’s something not right, here,” replied Alice. “Look at him. He’s smiling too much. He reminds me of a slippery politician not telling us the whole truth.”

  Alice was completely correct in her assessment. Seema wrapped up her interview with Simon with a last-minute joke about Bruce Willis not being required, and the TV coverage moved on to the next news story.

  Simon walked off set and out of the newsroom. A smart man with short, dark hair in his early forties, dressed in an expensive-looking, dark suit was waiting for him.

  “You did the right thing,” said the man, whom Simon had only met an hour previously.

  “I don’t like lying to people. You and I both know what is going to happen later today,” said Simon.

  “But the general public don’t need to know that,” replied the man. “You’ve done your bit for King and Country.”

  “Yes, I’ve done my bit,” replied Simon.

  He walked away, only one thought in his mind: to be at home with his wife and family.

  The same scenario was being played out across the world. At NASA they’d already worked out where and when the asteroid was going to hit. But the party line was to remain silent. No one wanted to create a panic.

  Simon wasn’t the only one not telling the whole truth. Seema was feeling more than a little irked by the situation. She had achieved her position as the UK’s top news anchor with a history of asking hard-hitting, controversial questions. The mysterious man in black had also paid her a visit before she went on air, and had made it quite clear how she was to conduct the interview.

  When she’d protested, the implied threat in his voice was clear. In the interests of national security, people could be silenced – permanently. Seema had dealt with some pretty tough customers in her time in a career that had taken her to some of the world’s most dangerous hotspots, but she could count on one hand the number of times she’d ever felt afraid. This was one of them.

  She hated herself for participating in the cover-up. She’d always prided herself on going that little bit further, where others feared to tread. But if it meant not being killed in an arranged accident, or disappearing in mysterious circumstances, it seemed she had no choice.

  Watching from the restaurant, Alice had seen enough. “They are lying,” she said.

  “Why would they?” asked Josh. “Seema, in particular: I’ve always trusted her.”

  “They’ve clearly been told not to say anything. It’s the same as yesterday. We cannot have been the only ones to have worked out the asteroid was going to collide with the comet, but was there anything in the media about it? No.”

  “What next, then?” asked Josh.

  “We go back to the observatory and try and work out exactly where that asteroid’s going to strike.” She paused, then added, “And pray that it’s not anywhere near here because we don’t have time to get away if it is. It was scheduled to pass by Earth today.”

  They headed back to the observatory, feeling a strange mix of excitement and fear.

  They were by no means the only ones unconvinced by Seema and Simon’s performance. Social media was awash with speculation. Employees had phoned home from NASA and other space agencies across the world to tell their loved ones to stay indoors.

  Before long, the rumours were spreading like wildfire and there was no way that the authorities could keep the lid on things. However, there were so many wildly conflicting theories going around that no one was completely sure what the truth was.

  It hadn’t taken Alice and Josh long to work it out. Even with the equipment in the observatory, which was primitive compared to anything NASA had, she’d managed to more or less pinpoint where and when the asteroid would strike.

  “It’s going to hit around midday, somewhere between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator, on the African mainland.”

  “That’s a bit close for comfort,” replied Josh. �
�Are we safe here?”

  “There is no real way of knowing,” she said. “We’re far enough away to avoid the initial blast, but we can’t be sure what might happen after that. We have no actual experience of an event like this, though there has been plenty of speculation about what might happen. Some theories suggest that a giant shock wave might circle the planet, burning everything in its path. That would certainly explain a lot of the mass extinctions in Earth’s history.”

  “That’s not a very comforting thought,” said Josh. “What was it they used to do in the old days when they thought there might be a nuclear war – paint the windows white?”

  “I can’t see that helping much. Quite honestly, there’s not a lot we can do except watch,” she replied. “It’s already nearly 10am: we won’t have long to wait.”

  “Shall we go home and watch on TV?” suggested Josh. “I can’t see there’s much more we can do here. If we’re going to die, it might as well be in the comfort of our own home.”

  “Agreed,” said Alice. “I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. Not that there’s any way I’m going to be able to sleep today, not with all of this happening.”

  “Come on then, let’s go.” He took her hand and they walked out of the building into another sunny spring day. Josh felt the warm sunshine on his face and for once he really appreciated it. It might be for the last time.

  Chapter Eight – 13th April 2029 (12.02pm)

  At 12.02pm precisely, asteroid Apophis slammed into the Sahara Desert with a devastating impact.

  No one on the ground saw it coming. There was no huge fireball burning in the sky, with people beneath screaming and running futilely away.

  All that happened was a bright flash as the asteroid entered the atmosphere, and less than two seconds later total annihilation as it hit the ground.

  There was a huge explosion, thousands of times larger than that which had devastated Hiroshima at the end of World War Two. At the point of impact, billions of tonnes of sand, ash and dirt were projected into the atmosphere in a huge mushrooming cloud.