by Chad Josey
“Yes, but first take your plates to the kitchen,” Charlie said in his fatherly tone to the girls.
“Okay, Daddy,” the twins responded in unison.
“Oh, that’s so cute. Do they do that a lot… speak at the same time?” Mary asked.
“Yeah. To be honest, I find it creepy sometimes.” Becky tapped Charlie on the wrist.
He understood Becky’s unspoken request as Charlie left the table and followed behind the twins. “Here let me help you with those,” Charlie said with sounds of running water coming from the kitchen.
Everyone’s heads turned to the kitchen and smiled. Charlie appeared in the doorway. Both of his daughters hung on the opposite sides of his hips, their legs wrapped around his pudgy belly. “Okay, girls, what do we give Daddy for dessert?” he asked.
On cue, each of his daughters leaned over to his cheek and yelled, “A raspberry,” as they blew air out their puckered lips against his face.
Charlie lowered them to the floor to the roaring laughter of everyone seated at the table. “Yum, delicious. Okay, go watch TV now, but not too loud.” Small running legs rushed by the table as the twins went into the living room.
“That kind of thing in unison though is too precious.” Becky reached for Charlie’s hand as she spoke looking at him.
It was the look. The look two people give each other that are madly in love. The same look Joe and Mary still have for each other. But, Joe was now seeing the look from someone else. From his best friend.
The look bothered Joe. I… I’ve got to tell Charlie.
The conversations continued. Laughter from the girls floated into the dining room. The food on the table disappeared. The hands on the clock turned into late evening.
“Wow, I should go put the girls to bed. It’s eleven-thirty.” Becky jumped from the table oblivious to where the time had gone. “Mary, can you help me, please?”
“Sure.”
“Charlie, can you and Joe clean the table?” Becky asked.
“Sure, but let me go give them a goodnight kiss first,” Charlie said running passed Becky and Mary into the living room.
“He loves those kids so much,” Becky said smiling at Joe and Mary.
As everyone left Joe alone in the dining room, Joe picked up the plates and silverware.
“Here let me help,” Charlie said when he returned.
On their second trip into the kitchen carrying the dirty dishes, Joe stopped Charlie at the sink. “Hey, Man. What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?”
“I’ve got to rake the leaves in the morning, and then I’m watching football. Want to come over?”
“I was wondering if we could meet at our spot. I need to talk about some things.”
When Becky had gotten pregnant, Charlie was under a lot of stress, especially when he had learned they were having twins. He had asked Joe if they could take a walk and talk. They had found themselves along the creek that flowed through campus at Stony Brook.
During that walk, Charlie broke down to Joe in tears as the stress had been building too long. At the end of their talk, to lighten the mood, Charlie said, “Man, we’ll consider this our spot from now on, when we need to have another deep talk, again.”
Charlie sensed the seriousness of Joe’s request to go to their spot. “Uh, sure. What time?”
“Does two o’clock work okay?”
“Sure. I’ll bring us a couple of beers.”
“What’s this, you’re now going to start drinking at this time of night?” Becky said returning to the kitchen.
“Uh, no. But, that sounds like a good idea,” Charlie said laughing going over to Becky to kiss her.
“Well, thank you guys for inviting us over tonight.” Mary walked over to Joe placing her arm around his waist. “We really enjoyed it.”
“Anytime, Dear. Love having you guys over, and we’ll do it again, soon,” Becky said patting Charlie on his butt out of view from their guests.
Joe and Mary left out the kitchen back door. Joe said, “Thanks again. And, Charlie, see you, tomorrow.”
PRESENT - Stony Brook, NY, 2:15 p.m.
1,727 Days Prior to Impact
JOE PACED along the dirt path covered in golden leaves from the trees. The path led along the length of the creek flowing through campus and was a popular jogging route for the students.
Where is he? Okay, I made sure if anyone was following me I ditched them. Joe continued pacing back-and-forth.
I did as they do in the movies. I went inside the mall and the movie theater. I snuck out the back entrance. Hell, I even ran through the woods to get here. I’m positive no one followed.
“Boo!”
Joe’s heart stopped beating for a moment as he jumped spinning around in the air. “Dammit, Charlie! Scared the shit out of me.”
“Sorry, Man. Couldn’t resist. You’ve been fun to watch walking and talking to yourself.”
“Oh… um… yeah.”
“That’s okay. I do it now all the time… here’s your beer.” Charlie reached into his backpack. “Sorry, I’m a little late, but the leaves took longer than I had expected.”
Joe popped the top of his beer can; a little foam slipped down its side. “That’s okay. Thanks for coming. No one followed you, did they?”
“Followed… followed me? Aren’t we too old to play cops and robbers?”
Joe ignored Charlie's joke. “I mean, uh… no one that you know of was following you, were they?”
“No, Man, I guess not. You okay? You’re acting kind of strange?”
“I don’t know? I'm not even sure where to begin?”
“How ‘bout starting with what’s got you all messed up lately.”
Joe motioned to Charlie to follow him to a quieter place along the path away from the passing joggers. “My funding… the organization that wanted me to come out to Colorado to present to them?”
“I knew it… they’re the Mafia, and they want you to deal drugs on campus?”
“Dammit, Charlie. No. I’m serious here.”
“Sorry, Dude. Just trying to lighten the mood. What gives? What do you need to talk about?”
The golden leaves floating to the surrounding ground gave the appearance of Charlie and Joe trapped inside a bright, yellow snow globe. A colorful scene of contradiction to the darkness of Joe’s confessions to Charlie about Colorado… of meeting Gabriel… of the information Joe had learned.
Minutes had passed, as did many joggers. Joe told Charlie everything about Salvation. Charlie listened not saying a word.
Each, on their third and last of the six-pack, Charlie said, “Joe, you’re my best friend, right? But, have you lost your mind? You sound like a crazy person.”
“Exactly. I’m going crazy here. I reviewed all the data myself. I saw the pictures and videos.”
“And, you don’t think they made this shit up as part of an elaborate scheme?”
“But, why include me in this?”
“Why does any cult include any of its members?”
“That was my first belief. They were a cult or something,” Joe responded finishing his beer.
“And, it sounds like that to me, too.”
“But, Gabriel knew things… things about me, like he’s been watching me for a long time.”
“So, he's a stalker?”
“It seems like he’s telling me the truth about everything.”
“So, let me get this straight, a planet-like thing will destroy Earth. It’s orbiting the Sun in a different plane than all the other planets?”
“Yes, and its path will intersect Earth’s in five years.”
“You know how crazy you sound?” Charlie asked.
“My brain is melting. I just can’t process it all.”
“No, not that… you’re crazy, Man. No way in hell is that going to happen. I mean we both are scientists, right?”
“Uh-huh,” Joe grunted shaking his head in agreement.
“We’ve taken tons of science courses and attend
ed many lectures. And, even though neither of us studied astronomy, a discovery like this would make its ways through the scientific community.”
“Man, I know. I know,” Joe said shaking his head side-to-side. “That’s why I’m struggling with this. And, Gabriel told me his organization had done many things to keep this a secret.”
“Like what kind of things?”
“I don’t know for sure. But, when he talked about the things the organization had done, Gabriel seemed like a totally different person. I got a terrible vibe about it, and that makes me imagine the worst things as far as how they’ve gone about keeping Salvation a secret.”
“Sounds like all this conspiracy theory shit about 9/11 being perpetrated by the government or some evil corporation or something.”
Should I even tell him about my weird email and my Grandma’s encoded matrix?
“I mean, there’s no way something like this could be kept secret for what… how long did you say, since the ’60s? Next, you’re going to tell me you know who the second shooter was who killed JFK?”
”Dammit, Charlie. I’m telling you about what happened in Colorado, and why I’ve been acting the way I have.”
Charlie crushed his beer can and threw it into his backpack. “Sorry, Man. I’m giving you a hard time about this because it sounds too unbelievable. So, if this Gabriel guy told you not to tell anyone, why in the hell did they tell you now instead of waiting until February when you’re leaving?”
“He said they wanted to give me time to assemble my work and identify equipment needed for the lab.”
“Your lab on Mars?” Charlie laughed as he sat on the side of large rock outcropping along the creek side.
“Man… that does sound crazy when it’s spoken out loud doesn’t it? But… um… yeah, on Mars,” Joe said.
“So, that’s why you’ve been cleaning out your office? Are you going to put all that shit in a suitcase?”
Joe sensed Charlie did not believe him from his sarcastic responses. “Those men who came by our lab last week… they’re taking everything I boxed-up to digitize everything. Now, I’ve been working on what equipment I will need on Mars.”
“Okay, okay… but, what about Mary?”
“What about her?”
“What did she say when you told her?”
“Charlie, you’re the only person other than Gabriel who I’ve even spoken to about this.”
Charlie sat silent staring at his friend. Joe knew Charlie was attempting to process the information.
“Assuming this is real, and you’re leaving in a few months… and by leaving, I mean you freakin’ going to Mars… You’re just going to surprise Mary?”
Joe crushed his last beer can and handed it to Charlie to place in his backpack. “Gabriel gave me explicit instructions not to tell her or anyone.”
“But, you’re telling me?”
“I had to… to tell someone. After last night… after I saw you with the twins and Becky… I just… just had to tell you.”
“What? So, I can throw an ‘Earth is going to end’ party before 2020?”
“No, Jackass… I told you so you could live the next few years together, you know what I mean?”
“Oh, like running away together and spending every moment with them?”
“Uh… I… thought that—”
“Wait, a minute. If this shit really is true. They’ve been building equipment on the Moon and assembling it on Mars. How much would that cost? Who the hell has funded something like that?”
“I asked, and Gabriel gave me some cryptic response about various world governments funding programs for their military efforts. In reality, the money is diverted to Project Salvation.”
“Yeah, but we are talking about trillions and trillions of dollars.”
“Charlie, this is where my mind has been going. What if Project Salvation has caused things like… uh, hell… I don’t know… like AIDS or the stock market crash? How much funding goes into programs to fight diseases and there’s still no cure. Or, the amount of money flowing in-and-out of the markets… uh… I don’t know; maybe that’s how?”
“Jeez, that’s a leap there don’t you think? Hell, if that’s true, are you sure you want to be part of an organization like that?”
“No. I… don’t know. I’ve gone back-and-forth a million times. Do I run through the streets yelling the end of the world is coming or call up CNN? No one would believe me anyway.”
“Yeah,” Charlie replied. The tone of his one-word response made Joe realize Charlie, his best friend of fifteen years, did not believe him.
“See, you think I’m crazy… everyone will. That’s why I am going along with it… if it’s not real, then I’ll have a good laugh about it in a straight jacket. But, if it’s real, then… then…”
“Then, we’re all going to die, and you and your research will help humanity continue to live… on Mars.”
“Yeah, something like that,” Joe said.
“Now, not to piss you off or anything, but you’re not the only one researching for a cancer cure… so, why you?”
“What Gabriel said was my research is very specific to the human genome and predicting various cancers from our genes. And, the Eden Foundation feels my research seemed to be the most promising to find a cure someday.”
“Plus, you never know what kinda cancer-causing stuff you will find up there on Mars?”
“True.” Joe laughed unsure if Charlie was serious or not.
“Any idea on the number of people on Mars or planned to be there before the end of Earth?”
“From my research, the least amount of people is five thousand to ensure genetic diversity and a healthy population. But, I’ve read other research, which indicates ten thousand. Numbers fewer than this requires genetic screening to make sure reproduction can occur with no problems.”
“Joe… that’s not my question. 7.4 billion people are on Earth… how many of this number will be saved by this Project Salvation?”
Silence fell between them as they sat on the large rock looking at the creek and back at each other. “I’m not sure?”
“You’re not sure? You’re being asked to help save the human race and you don’t even know how many will be there?”
Joe shook his head and said, “Damn. I was so in a fog when Gabriel told me everything… I… I… never asked?”
“Well, Dr. Savior, you’ve got some homework still to do here before you leave? And, while you’re at it, is Noah taking with him any animals?”
“Awe, shit… the animals… I was thinking about those the other day.”
Charlie held his hand firm on Joe's shoulders, who sensed his attempt to comfort him.
“Man, has our conversation helped any?” Charlie asked.
“Uh… yeah… it has…” A sense of relief overcame Joe, who now had even more questions for Gabriel.
“Well, I’m happy I helped. But, I have to go. Since the world is ending in five years, I better get back to my family,” Charlie said with a hearty laugh as he stood from the rock.
“Hey, Man. I know you don’t believe me, and I’m still working on believing it myself… but, thanks for listening.”
“No problem. That’s what brothers are for,” Charlie said.
“Just promise me you won’t tell Becky what we talked about here.”
“Um, yeah. She’ll think I’m totally nuts anyway, so I'm not saying anything.”
“Charlie, I’m not joking here. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone, and I don’t want you to share what I’ve told you with anyone else either.”
As Charlie swung his backpack over his shoulders, he said, “I promise. Your secret is safe with me, Brother… I’ll see you tomorrow in the lab, right?”
“Sure, I’ll see you, then. Thanks again for meeting and for the beer.”
“Later, Man,” Charlie said. He left Joe standing beside the rock outcropping. Charlie disappeared up the dirt path back to the Student Quad area on campus.
/> As Charlie walked out of the woods and into the Quad, he looked up toward the sky.
He’s really lost it. So, a planet will destroy Earth in five years? And, there’s a colony on Mars that Joe and Mary will be joining?
As this thought entered Charlie’s mind, an audible laugh escaped his body. A group of nearby students, who had been talking to each other, stopped to look at Charlie. To them, Charlie was a crazy man laughing alone to himself as he walked.
“Oh, don’t mind me? I just learned the end of the world is coming,” Charlie said as he passed the students.
5:55 p.m.
EARLY OCTOBER is an inviting time on Long Island. Visions of golden, autumn leaves fill one’s view. The air has turned crisp but not yet cold enough to lift the smell of chimney smoke.
An hour outside New York City, the University of Stony Brook sits on a small campus nestled among the suburbs. Today, the campus bustled with laughter and yelling. Coeds in different groups spoke of their conquests of last night. Cheers rang out at the flag football and soccer games played in the Quad.
But, for Charlie, his mind was elsewhere. He passed everyone enjoying the relaxing afternoon on the Sunday before mid-terms. Across the Quad was his chained bicycle among the dozens of others in front of Harris Hall.
When Charlie had agreed to meet Joe at their spot, he thought his friend needed to talk about Mary or financial troubles. Instead, Charlie left concerned for his friend’s mental health in hearing his wild tales.
Charlie walked across the Quad to his bike. He stared at his shadow stretched out in front of him on this late afternoon. Given his familiarity with the campus, he could have walked to the bicycle rack blindfolded.
Joe's crazy... What he told me can’t be real?
After unlocking his bicycle, he retrieved his helmet from inside his backpack. The cold, wet spots caused by the empty beer cans comforted his sweaty brow.
2020… that’s in only five years…
The sun fell below the golden treetops. Charlie peddled through campus. Sunlight passed in-and-out between the trees creating a strobe-light effect.
Should I believe him? Has no one heard about this before?
The only traffic on campus was from pedestrians, bicycles whirling by, or the occasional rollerblader. Campus police restrict vehicles over the weekends only allowing maintenance crews to position equipment in various locations for building repairs or landscaping.
