by Phoenix Hays
“SPACE VISION AIN’T THE WAY, GOD CHOSE OUR FINAL DAY!”
The masked man looked down, reached into his pocket and pulled a phone out. He looked at it for a moment, then turned away from the crowd. His stride was quick, as if late for something and he raised the phone to his ear. The Fatalist took the next side street, turned behind a building and out of view.
“That guy comes and goes throughout the day. The protesters seem to get stirred up pretty quickly once he arrives. There are a couple of others with those masks, but he seems to be the main organizer of this little rally.”
Joe relaxed a little.
“I’m hungry,” he said. “Can we eat something?”
“Sure,” Victor said. “There’s a bench down this street a little ways.”
The three turned away from the crowd and headed off toward a bench further down the street to take a meal break.
CHAPTER 21
A beep from the COM on the wall announced an incoming call. Patrick stopped organizing the data pads, coding print outs and CDs on his desk and turned to the device.
“Patrick.” The sound of Duke’s voice came through loud and clear. “Did I wake you, my friend?”
“No, Duke,” Patrick chuckled as he continued cleaning up his desk. “Just because you didn’t schedule any meetings for me this morning does not mean I slept in. I’m taking care of some things and then heading to the lobby in just a minute.”
“Great. I’ve called for a press conference for this afternoon. I’d like to have you in the planning session.”
“Press conference?” Patrick stopped what he was doing, his full attention fixed on the COM. “What for?”
“Patrick, honestly, I’d like for you to join us in the planning session to help answer that very question.”
The intercom clicked off.
Duke obviously has a clear purpose in mind or he wouldn’t have called a press conference. So what does he want me to do? I wonder...
Patrick left his room, locking the door behind him. He headed to the elevator and waited a few seconds for it to arrive. The doors opened, he stepped inside and after a short ride, he strode out to the lobby balcony, looked out to the street and saw the protesters were still there. Looking to his left, he saw Victor in his usual position, watching the protest. Patrick leaned forward.
Does he have a kid with him?
He strained his eyes to see if it was really a young boy with the man. The building wall partially blocked Patrick’s view of the boy, while Victor was positioned between the crowd and the kid.
“Patrick! Good morning!”
Patrick turned to see Clarence and smiled. He reached out and shook Clarence’s hand.
“I imagine that we’re already late?”
Clarence nodded and gestured in the other direction. “Come on, Patrick. We’re meeting in the Saturn room.”
The two men headed down the hall and turned a corner to see a large conference room already full of Space Vision staff. The familiar image of Saturn was on the far wall. Richard was standing just to the side of the glass entry door.
“Good morning, Richard!” Patrick said.
“Hrmph,” the security chief grunted.
Patrick followed Clarence into the conference room and took an empty seat on the other side of the table. He watched two staffers hurry in just before Duke began the meeting.
Thank goodness I’m not always the last one to these meetings.
“Welcome, everyone! Thank you for joining us. I know this was unexpected and unannounced. As some of you know, I’ve called a press conference for this afternoon. What many of you don’t know is that I’m planning to have it in front of our building.”
Nervous murmurs rippled through the room.
Patrick’s eyes moved to Richard, still standing outside. He saw the frame of the security chief tense and his head tilt.
Did Richard not know about the announcement? Or does he disagree with having one outside the building?
The sound of speaking grew louder in Patrick’s ears.
“Patrick!” Duke bellowed.
Patrick turned to face Duke, feeling the eyes of everyone in the room on him. His cheeks flushed from being caught not paying attention.
“I’m sorry. I was thinking about something else.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Duke said. “I was asking about some direction on the press conference we are going to have.”
“Yes,” Patrick said. “It could be a challenging situation at the least. You’re going to be outside in front of the main entrance?”
“Yes.”
The single word hung in the air. No one was willing to follow it. Their eyes locked onto Patrick.
“What is the purpose of the press conference?”
“I’m going to announce the Space Vision mission,” Duke said. “There have been too many rumors put out into the press to keep our credibility without doing something. We have to go public about the Oppenheimer String and our efforts.”
“If you think that’s the best course of action, then we need to do what we must,” Patrick said.
The silent room focused on the man at the corner of the table.
“But we must also realize that there are a lot of people out there that don’t want Space Vision to succeed. We should start the planning session for the presser by deciding exactly what we do and don’t want to make public.”
Duke rubbed his chin. “You’re exactly right, old friend.”
The team of people began to work on logistics for the press conference. Some started making calls to media outlets. Others started laying out security protocols.
“Security should push the crowd back as far as possible, and you should be prepared for the Fatalists to try something,” one person said.
“Get me the networks. No, all of them,” another said into a cell phone.
Patrick looked over at Duke. He could tell the beaming CEO was proud of the people working alongside him. Duke stood up and started to bounce from one discussion to the next. The seriousness of the task at hand was being answered by the hustle of professionals moving at the speed of purpose.
Within an hour, the meeting was adjourned, and Patrick followed the staff out of the conference room. Preparations continued in smaller groups scattered throughout the rest of the floor. Patrick decided to join the staff writers as they prepared the speech that was to come.
***
Victor looked across the street and saw the crowd pushing back against the security staff that was increasing the radius of the barricades. They screamed and shook their fists and signs in the air but were unsuccessful in preventing the security team from moving them back away from the Space Vision building. He looked back to the entrance of Space Vision and noticed staff setting up a podium and running wires back into the building.
Joe saw the commotion and looked up to his dad. “What are they doing?”
“I don’t know, Joe,” Victor said.
Joe and Ayrin followed Victor back to the corner of the street where they had been standing before lunch.
“Are they going to make some kind of announcement?” Joe asked.
“Can’t say for sure, bud. It’s the first time they’ve done anything like this.”
As the three looked on, a few news vans pulled up and parked next to Space Vision, blocking their view of the podium.
“Come on,” Victor said. “Let’s move so we can see what’s going on.”
He led them down the sidewalk away from the protest until he could see the front of the Space Vision building. Joe and Ayrin climbed onto a nearby bench and stood on it to see the Space Vision staff finish their work and head back into the building.
CHAPTER 22
Patrick looked around the Space Vision lobby and saw a lot of worried faces. Security team members near the front of the room kept watch over the preparations being made outside. Messaging teams surrounded the lobby’s round glass tables and leather chairs as Duke and some of the upper management
sat and worked on final changes to his speech. A handful of scientists in white lab coats milled around the room – some exchanged hushed conversations while others nervously looked around the room.
The front doors opened, and the team setting up the podium and press area started filing back into the building.
“All set!” The last man said, walking back inside the building and pulling the door shut behind him.
Duke stepped up to the front of the lobby and turned to face the Space Vision staff gathered there.
“Ladies and gentlemen.” Duke paused to take a moment to survey the packed room. “You are all working on what I consider to be the most important mission that mankind has ever embarked upon. Great moments in our collective history including Pythagoras’ discovery of Earth’s sphericity, Copernicus’ works on the Solar System, and Einstein’s theory of relativity pale in comparison to an effort to save the entire human race. Every milestone and discovery in science have led up to this moment.
“Like those great explorers, we, too, will be shouted down and doubted. Our efforts are more important than the opinions of those who think we are wrong. I believe your work is more important than even those that preceded us. They were all working toward knowledge. They were working to better the human race. We are working to save it.”
He stopped again to let the moment sink in.
“Thank you. All of you. It’s now our job to tell everyone how important it is to support this team and our efforts! If you are comfortable doing so, please join me to present a unified team to our viewers.”
Duke turned and started toward the door. Security staff moved into place in front of and behind him. Some of the Space Vision staff exchanged nervous glances.
Duke stepped to the door and paused for a moment. Richard headed outside with members of his security team behind him. Patrick walked forward and stopped next to the security guard behind Duke. A few more people, including Clarence, stepped forward, too.
***
Space Visions doors swung open.
“Look,” Joe said. “Someone’s coming out!”
Joe, Ayrin, and Victor looked on as a group of large men burst forth from the building. The one in the lead stopped slightly around the corner of the building. Others moved to either side of a man in a navy suit as he stepped behind the podium.
“Could that be Duke Evensen?” Victor asked.
Men and women in business attire, followed by others in white lab coats filed out of the building and lined up on either side of the navy suited man. The group of reporters in front of the podium stood and burst into a commotion, waving their arms to draw attention to themselves. The navy suited man raised his hands in an effort to quiet them.
***
Patrick just barely closed the distance to Duke’s right shoulder before the explosion of voices erupted from the reporters in front of them.
“What do you plan to do about the threats made against Space Vision?” One reporter yelled.
“Is it true that your company is working with NASA on a project to blow up the Oppenheimer asteroids?” Another reporter asked.
Duke raised his hands.
“Please. Everyone, be seated,” he said. “I will answer your questions in due time.”
Slowly, the reporters started sitting down. Eventually, the scene calmed to the point where the CEO could speak. Even the protesters had stopped chanting to hear what he had to say.
CHAPTER 23
Joe craned his head to try and hear every word coming from across the street.
“...will answer your questions in due time,” the voice from the loudspeaker said. “Space Vision has amazing employees that solve unbelievable problems. With that said, we know that our planet is up against the tallest of challenges. Our very survival is at stake.”
Joe looked down as the speech continued. He reached into his pockets and shuffled his feet. He felt the cube of one of his dice and lifted it from the pocket. As he removed his hand, the die shifted and started to fall. Joe tried to catch it, missed and the die bounced off of his leg. It hit the ground and bounced away. Joe hopped off the curb and took off after it.
Victor looked over and saw his son moving into the road. “Joe, stop!”
Focused on the die, Joe didn’t hear the command. He ran after it, ended up a couple of steps into the road, and picked it up. He suddenly felt a hand on his arm as he was yanked further into the street.
Victor pulled Joe out of the way of a passing car and guided him to the other side of the road. Ayrin crossed after the car had gone by and followed them to the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Victor let go of Joe, threw his arms out in the air and scowled.
“Joseph! What in the world were you thinking?” Victor asked.
“I’m sorry,” Joe said, looking down. “I dropped my dice.”
Victor turned back to the press conference and realized that they were now directly across from the Space Vision podium with only an alley between them. More of the right side of the conference was visible but the alley on the side of the building was partially blocked. A flash of movement at the edge of the alley caught his eye. He rubbed his eyes almost to reset his perception. Nothing moved.
“Maybe it was just a shadow,” Victor said.
Joe looked up at him, puzzled by his comment.
Victor led the kids up to the corner where the alley and street met. They watched the press conference from this new position.
***
“...Our very survival is at stake.” The voice of Duke boomed out. “Our teams of astronomers, engineers and analysts have been hard at work figuring out exactly what affect the asteroids will have on our lives.” He paused and looked at the quiet crowd, which hung on his next sentence. A few clicks of cameras broke the silence as members of the press snapped pictures.
“There are a lot of rumors swirling around. It’s hard for the public to know who to trust. It’s impossible for anyone to really know what is going on with so much wrong information being passed through social media. I thank all of you for coming here so that we can set the record straight. What we have to say is tough, but it will be impossible to gain the support we need — from the government, possibly from those who are protesting, but most importantly, from the general public without some level of transparency. The success of everyone here will totally depend on—“
An inaudible shout from the left interrupted Duke. Patrick turned to look as did everyone else. Another shout came from further away and then gun shots rang out. Shrill shouting came from the crowd as the people started to scramble in every direction away from the shots. Several people, including a reporter, were knocked to the ground in the jumble of bodies.
Patrick started to head back to Space Vision’s front doors. He looked over his shoulder and saw two security staff grab Duke and yank him toward the building’s entrance. Patrick followed Clarence as he made a hard right into the building and kept going until they made it partway up the staircase leading to the second floor. Clarence kept going, but Patrick positioned himself where he had cover and could still look out of the lobby windows below.
***
Victor, Joe, and Ayrin focused on the speech happening on the other side of the alley.
“I thank all of you for coming here so that we can set the record straight,” Duke continued.
Victor became distracted by the security man at the edge of the news conference that had started walking down the alley.
Joe watched as Victor mirrored him and took a step to his right, partly into their side of the alley. He stopped and looked back.
“Stay here,” Victor said as he took another step into the alley.
Joe couldn’t see what had his dad’s attention but watched him pull his rifle around from behind him.
“I don’t see anything,” Ayrin said.
Joe leaned forward trying to see something, anything.
And then it happened. Joe watched a dark-haired man in a business suit appear from behind a van
and walk up to a brown and tan station wagon with tinted windows. In response to his approach, a door swung open and another man got out. Joe froze.
Ayrin took a step away from the cover of the building. She drifted forward with almost no regard to her safety.
“It’s one of those masked people,” she said as she turned back to Joe.
The Fatalist walked up to the other and reached out, handing him an envelope. Pocketing the envelope, the well-dressed man drew a handgun.
Joe’s breath was caught. Suspended. Time seemed to slow down.
The masked man took the gun handed to him, stepped past the security man, and started rushing up the alley toward the press conference.
“Blasphemer!” the Fatalist screamed.
Just as he was about to exit the alley, Joe heard another voice. It was his dad’s.
“Stop!” Victor yelled. “Stop right there!”
The masked man ignored him and took another step.
Joe saw Victor raise his rifle and start stalking the masked man.
“Put the gun down!” he yelled.
The Fatalist didn’t even acknowledge Victor’s presence.
An explosion of gun fire filled the alley. The cracks from the rifle echoed back and forth against the buildings. Joe covered his ears, stepped back, and looked at his dad.
Victor lowered the rifle as he saw the masked man fall to the ground. He turned to see the security guard step around a car and move toward Victor. The guard pulled a handgun and raised it.
More shots rang out, and the security guard dropped his gun and stumbled backward.
Joe looked to his dad and saw him step backward and lower his weapon once again. Two men ran around the corner to see the masked Fatalist laying on the ground. One stooped down to check for a heartbeat. The other moved past and did the same with the security man. They looked at each other and both shook their heads. They stood and turned to face Victor.
