Jenny In Space: Chasing The Killer Comet

by Michael Coles

Chapter 6

  Inevitable Impact

  Far away from the city lights and high atop a hill, sat the Lester B. Pearson Observatory, where Roy Thompson and his colleagues now discussed the fate of the world.

  "I think we had better alert the appropriate authorities, Ben," Roy Thompson suggested to his supervisor. "The comet is definitely heading straight for us. Our calculations show impact in approximately eight days. I've compared our data with other agencies around the world, and they agree, this huge chunk of space debris is going to hit us."

  The supervisor frowned. "The data we have collected over the last few days indicates an object of at least seventy kilometers in diameter. There just isn't enough time to prepare."

  "Even after our atmosphere reduces its size, the comet will still be enormous," added Mr. Thompson.

  "I'd better get in touch with Parliament. The American observatories will notify the White House," his supervisor said as he walked over to a phone.

  "It's hard to believe this is actually happening during our lifetime Roy. The last time something this big hit the Earth was 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs became extinct."

  "Forty percent of all life forms will disappear as a result of this one. It's an ironic twist of fate, isn't it?" Roy Thompson mentioned.

  "What do you mean, Roy?"

  "Well, over the past few years we have entertained the theory that billions of years ago, comets may have delivered the building blocks for life to this planet, and now a comet is threatening to take away a lot of the life developed and evolved from those early deposits."

  "Hmm, I see what you mean."

  The long night of formulating and calculating equations was over, and Roy Thompson headed home for something to eat, and a few winks of sleep before he would have to return to the observatory to meet with military and government officials. He got home just in time for supper with his family.

  He looked exhausted and depressed, which concerned Jenny greatly. In the kitchen, he collapsed into a chair, took a deep breath, and looked into everyone's eyes.

  "Kids, the first thing I want to say is, I love you very much. What I am about to tell you is highly confidential. You are not to breathe a word of this to anyone. Do you understand?" He waited for everyone's response before continuing. "If word of this spread, there would be a mass panic, and there is really nothing we can do about it."

  "You're starting to scare us, Dad," Martin pointed out.

  "Yeah Dad, what's going on?" Jenny asked, already knowing the answer.

  "I'm sorry, guys. Do you remember at supper yesterday, when I was telling you the reason I had been working so much lately, was because of a large comet we have been tracking for the past several weeks?"

  "Yes," they all answered as they edged closer.

  "Well, the object we have been tracking, is on a collision course with Earth," he said, and he studied the shocked expressions on everybody's faces. No one spoke for a few moments, until Jenny finally broke the silence.

  "How big did you say it was again?" she asked.

  "It's massive, close to seventy kilometers in diameter," he answered.

  "Holy," Martin exclaimed.

  "We just notified the Prime Minister, and the President of the United States," added Jenny's father.

  "What are they going to do about it?" Martin asked nervously.

  "The United Nations will convene tomorrow to try to figure out a course of action. They will likely send up a nuclear explosive device, to try to deflect the object away from Earth," he replied.

  "Do you think it will work?" Martin asked hopefully.

  "Well, anything is possible, but the object is gigantic, and moving at a high rate of speed, and it will be difficult to rocket a nuclear weapon into space and somehow guide it into the path of the comet."

  He studied their bewildered faces, and realized they were looking for a more definite answer.

  "No, I think it's useless. If we blast it with nuclear weapons, the comet may just break into smaller pieces. Then, many pieces will bombard us, instead of just one enormous mass. Either way, the result will be the same. We just don't have the technology to avert this disaster, and we are not even prepared for it with the technology we do have."

  "How much time do we have left?" Jenny asked.

  "Eight days or so," Mr. Thompson said. His eyes dropped, and everyone fell into a dumbfounded silence for a while.

  Jenny and Relli glanced at each other, and Relli gently nodded her head, as if to say, here we go, just as I predicted.

  There weren't too many words spoken, and appetites weren't extremely hardy during supper, and again Jenny and Relli waited until Mr. Thompson and Martin had cleared out of the kitchen before they began to discuss the validation of Relli's vision.

  "Well, it's not really new information, it just confirms our suspicions, so we shouldn't let it upset us any more than it already has," Relli suggested.

  "Relli, I've got some new information that could be important," Jenny said. "Martin told me there have been UFO sightings in the area today."

  "So, how is that relevant?" Relli asked.

  "Maybe it's the faint hope you foresaw," Jenny put out there.

  "Hmm. But there are lots of UFO sightings every year. How many of those are real, and how many are explainable, or just false?"

  "What if I have some possible back-up proof?" Jenny added.

  "What kind of proof?"

  "Well, when I was at the lake today, I found a strange sweat suit." Jenny paused.

  "Go on."

  "Well, it has the ability to defy gravity," Jenny said, and she studied Relli's blank expression.

  "What do you mean?" Relli asked.

  "Just what I said. The person wearing the suit can control the amount of gravity imposed on their body. Come on, I'll show you." Jenny realized only a demonstration would make a believer out of Relli. Leading the way to her room, Jenny closed the door, and pulled the incredible garment out of its hiding spot in her closet.

  "See, I told you," she said, and she passed it to Relli. "Now, watch this," Jenny said, as she detached the control, and powered up the suit. It suddenly felt lighter in Relli's arms, and continued to lighten as Jenny adjusted it, until it was floating freely in the air.

  "Oh, my goodness!" Relli exclaimed, and she stood stock-still.

  "This can't be of this world, Relli. It must have been accidentally left behind by an alien species, and like I mentioned, there have been UFO sightings in the area. This must be it. This must be the faint hope you foresaw. Think about it. You predicted it would come from the cosmos, from the same direction as the danger, but it would get here first. Well it's here, and I have one of its belongings. Maybe it will miss the suit, and come looking for it. This must be it, don't you think?"

  Relli sat down on the edge of the bed, as the sweatsuit, shoes, and hat levitated in front of her.

  "You're right. This has to be it. The owner of this suit is obviously of a very advanced race. Maybe they have the ability to alter the course of the comet. Hopefully they realize the suit is missing, and come looking for it. If we can make contact and communicate our predicament to them, they may be able to help. You must hide that suit; it's our only bargaining tool."

  Jenny gulped. "Make contact? Can't we just write a ransom note with our demands...'Move the comet, and we return your suit,' something like that."

  "No, you are our secret weapon. Believe it or not-you are our best chance to survive this looming disaster, Jenny. You are perfectly suited and thus selected for the task. Verbal contact must be made, but he must make the first move, and I feel that he will."

  "I'm scared, Relli."

  "I know, honey. But just think of the alternative."

  Jenny pictured a huge streaking comet coming straight at her.

  "Good point. Okay, I'm going to hide the suit," Jenny said, as she powered it down and gathered it up. She hid it in an old trunk in the attic, and made her way back down the stairs, suddenly feeling like
someone was watching her. The slightest noise, or movement, including her own shadow, startled her, and she peeked around every corner. Jenny hurried to the kitchen and helped with the dishes. She stuck close to Relli for the rest of the evening, until it was bedtime.

  While the Thompson household got ready for bed, a terrified Born skulked around outside. He was looking for the best way to enter the home to retrieve his suit. He waited until everyone was in bed and asleep, before he made his move.

  Jenny was very restless in bed, with thoughts of UFO's, aliens and anti-gravity suits running through her head. She got up and went downstairs for a glass of milk.

  Born selected the back door as his point of entry. He began manipulating the lock with the small keylike tool he had made back at the Traveler. He managed to get the door open, just as Jenny turned on the light in the hall leading to the back door. Their eyes met, and both drew in their breath sharply, each one shocked to see the other. They stood transfixed for a moment, and then they both screamed. Born sprang straight up into the air, banged his head on the veranda ceiling, and quickly turned and ran away, in a long bounding stride with the suit's ornamental balls and streamers bouncing and flowing as he ran.

  Jenny recognized the long weightless bounding of the creature's stride. This must be the owner of her wondrous suit, she surmised. She also realized, this strange creature was as scared of her, as she was of it. Her father, Martin and Relli came running downstairs, half asleep, and bleary eyed, to see what was causing all the commotion.

  "Jenny! What's the matter?" they asked.

  "I'm sorry, I saw a mouse run across the floor, and it scared me," Jenny fibbed.

  "It must have had huge fangs on it for you to scream like that," Martin teased.

  "Yeah, something like that," Jenny said, as she chuckled nervously. "I just got up to get some milk. Sorry to wake you guys."

  "We're all under a lot of stress right now. Let's go back to bed. I'll call the exterminator tomorrow," Mr. Thompson said.

  "What's the point, we're all going to be exterminated in about a week anyway," Martin pointed out, as he and Mr. Thompson returned to their beds.

  "I saw it!" Jenny whispered urgently to Relli, once the others were out of earshot.

  "You saw what?" Relli asked.

  "The alien! It opened the back door, and then ran away!" Jenny said in a frantic tone.

  "Good," Relli said. "Things are starting to take shape, as I hoped they would. I don't think it's dangerous."

  "Maybe not, but it sure scared the heck out of me," Jenny said, beginning to calm down.

  "So, it knows, or suspects we have its valuable suit. I expect we'll see more of it soon. Try not to be frightened. This is meant to be, and you are the one who was chosen to carry the responsibility of the future of the human race. I know you won't let us down," Relli bolstered Jenny's level of confidence.

  "I wish I was as sure as you seem to be," Jenny said with a sigh and a slight smile.

  "You'll see," Relli promised.

  Jenny went into the pantry, collected some empty pop cans, and took them upstairs to her room. She closed her door, propped a chair against the doorknob, and strategically placed the pop cans against her door, so if anyone tried to open it, the sound of the falling cans would wake her up.

  Understandably, Jenny did not sleep very well. Her head was spinning and swirling with thoughts and images. She realized she was probably the only person in the world with a chance to save her planet from destruction in a gigantic cosmic collision. Thoughts were spinning and blending in her confused and terrified mind.

  She knew she would need to communicate with the alien in order to convince it to help her. She was scared, but she also wondered, really, what were her options? After all, there was a mountain-sized chunk of ice and rock hurtling through space straight for them.