2084 The End of Days

by Derek Beaugarde

  “My Fellow Americans – and my fellow citizens of the world – in February last year I announced to you all the news that scientists had discovered a new comet named Schenkler HMM2, which had passed through the Kuiper Belt and had entered our own solar system. Calculations at that time suggested that the comet would come spectacularly close – about half a million miles – to our planet and that the Earth would suffer significant collateral damage from the comet’s passing tail. Our key scientists have been employed on a 24/7 basis in tracking the comet’s trajectory and only in the last few days Schenkler passed about 100 million miles from the surface of the gas giant Jupiter. I have been informed by NASA that the gravitational pull of Jupiter was strong enough to deflect the trajectory of the comet by the smallest degree. I now have the gravest duty of announcing to the world that the trajectory of the comet has been put onto a direct collision course with Earth. The outcome for the planet and everything living upon it is almost certainly one of complete annihilation, predicted to be on 26 May 2084. I can assure you that it is with a heavy heart that I have to deliver this news to the world. However, I can assure everyone that world leaders have been planning ahead of this worst possible outcome. We have recently launched a joint mission aboard Oceanus II carrying the most powerful interspacial nuclear missiles. These will be launched from platforms orbiting Mars as soon as the Schenkler comet comes within striking distance of the Red Planet. Our fervent hope is that we can deliver enough nuclear blast to deflect the comet just enough to bypass Earth. But, realistically the joint world leaders have agreed that we need a Plan B and that is for the survival of the human species in the event of the expected total impact. The plan is to take as many men and women along with selected livestock and food crops on a mass immigration to new settlements being constructed on Mars even as I speak with you. Our limited resource capabilities plus the hostile environment of Mars puts a heavy constraint on our ability to send as many humans as we would like and thus there will have to be a stringent selection process. Tonight is not the time to discuss this and the details of the process will be provided by every nation’s government, in conjunction with the UN and the LOIN, very shortly to you all. Tonight is, however, a time for prayer and reflection. Most religions have predicted such a terrible event, whether it be the Day of Judgment, Armageddon or the Yawm ad-Din. It would appear that such a day is now upon us, but I can assure you that we will work night and day to stave off such a calamity occurring, and especially to do everything in our power to ensure the survival of the human race. It is my belief that God gave us the brains and the know-how to comprehend our Universe and that ultimately one day we knew we would need to venture out into our solar system and beyond in order to ensure our survival. That day has now come! What we need to do is to keep a clear vision, not to panic and for us all to pull together for the survival of our species. My thoughts and my prayers extend to you all on this fateful evening.”

  The autocue finished with ‘Good night and God bless you all’ but Josh Trueman did not have the heart to say it as he felt there was nothing good about it. He sat staring at the camera until Tony Coccio indicated they were ‘Off Air’. Trueman quickly pushed himself out of the Presidential chair and his intention was to find his wife and two children as fast as he could. As he brushed past the young TV director who was standing dumbly and looking a ghastly colour of grey, he joked darkly.

  “Ya look a little pale, Tony. Want me to get make-up to put a little colour back in your cheeks?”

  *

  Minutes later standing in front of another camera in the NASA press room in Houston, Jill Geeson prepared to announce the breaking news to viewers on the Sky News channel. Her heart was thumping with the surge of adrenalin, even though she was one of the few people who knew that this day would come. She heard the anchor in Sky’s London studio announce her.

  “And for more on this breaking news it is over to our Houston correspondent, Jill Geeson. Jill?”

  “Tonight in Washington the President of the United States has just announced to the world, news of the greatest calamity to ever face mankind, which will befall us in less than a year and a half. In short, barring a miracle, our tiny blue planet Earth is about to be destroyed by a freak comet which has inadvertently stumbled into the solar system. I have with me the Scots scientist who first discovered this comet and who has been working closely with the NASA team to follow the comet’s path, Doctor Ewan Sinclair. Dr Sinclair, am I right in stating that you were the first man to discover the Schenkler HMM2?”

  Ewan, standing a little awkwardly with mic attached, quickly glanced at Aaron Eckler and Beth O’Donnell, a few feet away out of camera. He had been warned to be as guarded as possible with his answers.

  “W-well, I would not like to be overly credited with the discovery on my own. It was really joint team work between myself and others in the UK, along with the Israelis at INSACC, such as Ari Schenkler, who captured the first images, and also the team working at NASA here in Houston.”

  “Would you accept that it was your original theory that predicted that the comet was going to fully impact with Earth rather than the original near miss theory?”

  “Well, again, although I may have made some early predictions, it required months of detailed work by myself and Ari Schenkler to plot out the trajectory of the HMM2. We had to await the recent bypass of Jupiter and the effect of the Jupiter pull before we could state categorically that the comet was on a direct collision course.”

  Jill caught her director state into her earpiece: 30 seconds, Jill, one last question.

  “Dr Sinclair, do you believe that anything can stop the onslaught of this comet from destroying the Earth?”

  “We have got to hope that we can. You have just heard the President announce an interspacial nuclear strike to try and deflect the path of the comet –“

  “And are you an expert on nuclear missile technology, Dr Sinclair?”

  “Umm, no –“

  “We’ll have to leave the discussion there for the moment. This is Jill Geeson in Houston. Back to the studio in London –“

  Before the cameraman could even announce they were ‘Off Air’, Ewan blazed at Jill.

  “Christ’s sake, Jill. You made me look a bit silly there with that nuclear missile question –“

  “Ah was just doing my job as a reporter, Ewan. Ah’ve been holding all this back for a long time now and it just, sort of, came out.”

  Beth O’Donnell pounced in on the scene.

  “Jill, you were a bit out of order there. The bottom line is that somehow we have gotta let mankind cling on to some kinda hope. Otherwise we risk total anarchy.”

  “Hope! Christ, Beth, we are all kidding ourselves on here. If we are lucky, only 99.9% of the human race is goin’ to be obliterated, including you, me, Ewan and Eckler over there. Where is the hope in that?”

  That same evening Marcie Venters had arranged to stay a couple of nights with her unmarried sister Ruth Esther Bloom, who still lived in the Bloom family home in downtown Brooklyn. After listening to Trueman’s speech with Ruth on the 3DTV and after they had hugged and cried together, Marcie walked the few blocks down to the new B’nai Jeshurun Synagogue next to the cemetery where her father was buried. She entered thinking that many distraught Jews would be dragging themselves here to pray for deliverance, but it turned out that the synagogue was empty. Marcie had not brought herself here for deliverance, but to try and seek guidance on what she perceived as an awful and impossible task. A door creaked noisily and an old wizened rabbi entered into the main hall of the synagogue. He spotted Marcie, head bent in prayer, and he walked quietly over to her.

  “My name is Rabbi Israel Moss. Have you heard the news?”

  “Yes, Rabbi, I do believe the Messiah is definitely on his way this time!”

  “You sound a little cynical about it all?”

  Marcie gave a short false laugh.
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  “Rabbi, what have we Jews got to be cynical for? We’ve had it cushy for the last three thousand years and then God tops it off by wiping us all out.”

  “But surely there is hope that this is not the end of the human race. The best people on the planet will be working to ensure the future survival of mankind –“

  “Rabbi Moss, is it? Well Rabbi, you’re looking at one of them and I’m not sure that I want the job!”

  “What do you mean, my daughter?”

  “I mean that today I have been chosen as one of those best people to select who lives and who dies. Rabbi, did you lose any ancestors in the death camps?”

  “I believe so. It was such a long time ago.”

  “Well, my father Ezra etched every ancestor we lost into my brain. I became a doctor like my father before me and our ethos was to perform our duty to our fellow man diametrically opposed to the creed of those Nazi butchers. But taking on the responsibility of saving the so very few at the expense of so many is such a terrible burden, that it makes me feel like one of those Nazi camp doctors.”

  “Daughter, this has been such a horribly confusing evening for me that I do not quite comprehend what you are talking about. However, from what I have read the Nazis systematically planned to wipe out the Jewish race. This they failed to do so and you and I are testimony to that. From the little you have said, I seem to understand that you will be working to help with the survival of the human race. However little that you save, one thing is for sure. If you fail then maybe there will be no human race. Surely that puts your task still diametrically opposed to the Nazis and something your father and your God would agree on?”

  Marcie looked up at the old preacher with moistening eyes.

  “Thank you, Rabbi.”

  Chapter 20

  Earthdate: 10:35 Thursday August 5, 2083 EST

  Jill stood in front of camera on the White House lawn. Although it was just after half ten in the morning it was already shaking up to be a scorching summer’s day and the heat was adding to her feeling weak and shaky. She had just come out of the Press Briefing Room and she could feel her legs wobbling slightly, waiting for the anchorman in London to give her the go-ahead. She could hear him cueing her in on her headset.

  “- And it’s straight over to our Houston correspondent Jill Geeson at the White House for important breaking news. Jill?”

  Jill sucked in a deep lungful of warm air and looked straight into the camera, knowing many millions would be taking in her every word.

  “As some of you may have already watched a few minutes ago, the White House has just issued a press statement regarding the deployment of the interspacial nuclear missiles from platforms on MGals Two and Three orbiting the Red Planet. Ten missiles in total were launched carrying the most powerful warheads ever devised by man. All ten missiles hit the target of the Schenkler HMM2 comet at a range of thirty five million miles out from Mars. Unfortunately, the briefing had to report that the missiles have failed to alter the trajectory of the comet and that it will still impact with planet Earth as predicted on 26 May 2084. The White House statement also reaffirmed that the comet’s collision with Earth will result in a total impact. Our planet and everything and everyone on it will be totally and irrevocably destroyed -”

  Jill gulped hard and she could not stop an involuntary tear from running down her flushing cheek.

  “- And we now have to prepare ourselves for the worst possible scenario to ever face humankind. US President Josh Trueman will be making a Presidential statement this evening and he is fully expected to urge people around the world to remain calm, to continue to live their lives as normally as possible and that all efforts should be redoubled to ensure the completion of the immigration programme to Mars. This now represents the only certain way to ensure the survival of the human race. With this, the gravest of news for all mankind, this is Jill Geeson at the White House, for Sky News, handing you back to the studio in London.”

  *

  Earthdate: 07:30 Saturday August 7, 2083 CST

  Two days after the apocalyptic announcement from the White House, Lex Kosloff arranged an ‘End of Days’ dinner party at his home in Robindale Drive. He and Irene DuPré had prepared a huge buffet spread, including many exotic foods and delicacies that their guests might never have the chance to eat again. Invited to the party was Lex’s old friend Jack Crossan, on extended space leave after returning from the Oh Two mission. Jack had been working at Houston as part of the team overseeing the build of the huge Oceanus fleet and the training of the new astronaut teams which would be required to begin transporting the selected emigrants to Mars. Truth be told, and unbeknown to the masses, there was already almost five thousand essential men and women working and living on Mars. They were mainly technicians, construction engineers, ice miners and various scientists who were busily employed in ensuring that the expansion of the super-glass pods to house the human, flora and fauna were going to be ready for the mass arrivals. The fast expanding glass covered township being constructed on Mars lying about halfway between Mount Olympus and the Martian North Pole was called Capitol Base. The first Oceanus fleet of 25 spaceships carrying around 10,000 men, women, animals and plant stock would ship out from Earth orbit in little more than five weeks’ time and the second and final fleet of similar size would ship out to Mars scheduled for 28 February 2084. This was deemed to be the ultimate safest date for the emigrant fleet to sail in order to ensure that they were beyond the massive blast zone which would be created by the Earth’s destruction. Jack was scheduled to command one of the Oceanus fleet ships blasting off for Mars on that final date. Lex had also invited his three Scots lodgers, Jill Geeson, Ewan Sinclair and Gary Mackintosh to the party. Also invited along was Ari Schenkler, Ewan’s colleague at NASA HQ, who Lex and Irene had met in passing at Houston Control. Jill had also asked if her friend Dr Marcie Venters could join them and Lex was delighted to have Marcie along. Marcie had been working and attending meetings in New York but she had a couple of free days before flying on the Virgin Galactic service back to London. Marcie had invited herself down to Houston to catch up with Jill and pass on news and regards from her daughter Ruthie, who was still working at the London Times. Marcie was staying at the nearby Robindale Ramada.

  Interestingly, following the terrible proclamations by the various world leaders, world order had not broken down into a state of anarchy and chaos. In fact, quite the opposite seemed to have taken place. Areas of conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, in particular, had actually found the opposing sides falling into a state of non-negotiated peace. Violence and crime became negligible around the globe and estranged families and friends were making a serious point of getting back together. People continued to get on with their daily lives and they were tending to fall in two main philosophical camps - the Optimists and the Fatalists. The Optimists still stuck to the view that mankind would find a way to divert the catastrophe even though the interspacial nuclear missiles deployed from Mars were wholly unsuccessful. However, the team at NASA including Ari, Ewan and Gary had looked at all sorts of crackpot ideas and they had reported back to the UN and LOIN that computer models showed that they were all futile. This had included trying to fire powerful lasers at Schenkler to shift the axis of the meteor - landing teams of astronauts onto the surface of Schenkler to deploy more nuclear fission and / or fusion bombs - or trying to erect giant solar wind sails to deflect the comet. They had also considered the impossibility of destroying the Moon in order to shift the Earth’s axis around the Sun. The NASA team concluded that wasting precious time and resources on these futile ideas which was better needed for the construction of Capitol Base on Mars and the Oceanus fleet was reluctantly accepted by the UN / LOIN alliance. The Fatalists tended more towards the viewpoint that the future of mankind was now in the hands of a higher authority in the universe, whether it be God or Nature, and that they were prepared to accept their fate. Ch
urches, synagogues, mosques and temples were packed out with every passing week. Of course, the eight friends who were sitting around the dinner table that evening were very much more towards the latter camp of Fatalists. They all knew the dreadful truth of Earth’s fate. Everyone had gotten on famously around the dinner table and they all had eaten far too much and probably had drank too much. Even Lex and Irene had allowed themselves one small glass of wine each for the toast at the end of the meal. Lex stood up before his guests and raised his glass.

  “Here’s ta sharing good food with good friends and great people. It’s not exactly the Last Supper, but maybe not far off it. So ah give y’all a toast - to the End of Days!”

  The guests all stood and raised their glasses in salutation.

  “THE END OF DAYS!”

  As they all took their seats there was a momentary pause for reflection which, after a few seconds of silence, Irene broke.

  “Well, y’all, have ya all thought about your situations? For instance, will you be applying to get a place on the Mars immigration lottery? Afraid poor ole Lex and me are too old to apply. Ah guess we’ll be too busy shippin’ out the lucky twenty five thou’ anyhow, izzat right Lex, honey?”

  “Fraid so, baby. But ah couldn’t pick a better gal to end ma time with.”

  “Shucks Lexie sweetie pie - you keep saying those sweet thangs an’ ya ain’t gonna go far wrong with me.”

  Everyone laughed loudly and then Marcie spoke out next.

  “I’m also afraid Irene that I fail to qualify by being on the wrong side of forty five.”

  Irene raised her palms outwards towards Marcie and put on a look of mock incredulity as she compared her own rather bulky frame to Marcie’s slim figure and smooth youthful-like complexion..

  “You gotta give me the number of your dietician. Ah need me some of his elixir of youth!”