“I suppose not,” Abby laughed, “So Dan, what brings you from Washington all the way to Arizona?”
“I just happened to be in the neighborhood and thought I would stop in?” he said, keeping a straight face.
“You know Dan. You are spoiling my perception of what military people are supposed to be like. I though you guys walked around frowning and lacked any sense of humor,” she said smiling.
“Gosh. I guess I had better get with the program,” he said and frowned deeply.
“Nope, isn’t working,” Abby laughed again.
“Okay, the truth is, I’m just not the frowning, everything is deadly serious type. I happen to think life is pretty darn good,” he said.
Abby sensed she was seeing the real Dan Fowler and that he wasn’t just putting on a show for her. She glanced at his hands but all he had on was a graduation ring of some type. Why had she done that? It was like she was checking him out. Well, why not? He was certainly attractive, fit, had a sense of humor and unattached as far as she could tell. She flushed. Get a grip girl, she thought to herself.
“Why I am really here,” Dan was saying, “Is because the President thinks it is very important to know what is going on with the meteor.”
“Planetoid. An asteroid of other body doesn’t become a meteor until it enters the Earth’s atmosphere.”
“So the thing in Russia was an asteroid first until it streaked across the sky and landed?”
“Yep.”
“Oookkkay,” he said dragging it out.
“Don’t worry about it. A lot of people don’t realize that,” Abby assured him.
“So if the Russian asteroid had missed the Earth it would still be an asteroid and not a meteor.”
“Exactly.”
“And you think the military is weird,” he said smiling.
“Touché,” Abby said returning the smile, “So what is it exactly the President wants to know?”
“The best way I can put it is, he wants to make sure the human race isn’t wiped out on his watch. He is concerned about the panic that this could cause as the met… asteroid or planetoid gets closer. We have already started to see a few doomsday forecasts. He doesn’t want to cover up anything that is the truth but he doesn’t want a bunch of half-truths and just plain false information causing panic,” Dan told her.
“I can certainly understand that. It doesn’t take long for the conspiracy nuts to start running off at the mouth,” Abby agreed.
“So his concern is what does this mean to Earth? How close is it going to come and does anyone know what the repercussions will really be?”
“Dan, the truth is, a lot of people, brilliant people, are working on this exact issue. Honestly, that is precisely what I was working on when you snuck in her and tried to give me a heart attack,” she said not showing any emotion.
Dan just stood there looking back at her, saying nothing.
Finally she broke, “Okay Mr. Cool. You win,” she said smiling and he did the same.
“Anyway. My team has worked on this non-stop. We have looked at this from every possible angle and scenario. Brian’s calculations appear, to me at least, to be dead on,” she told him.
“Brian?”
“Sorry. Brian Ashton. The smartest mathematician I have ever had as a graduate student. He is actually more advanced than anyone on our faculty. I have a hard time following him at times. I’m absolutely convinced he will be in a league of his own.”
“Whoa. That is some praise coming from someone like you. I tried to read one of your books and was lost after the title,” Dan kidded.
“Brian is astonishing.”
“So what do his calculations indicate?” Dan asked.
“Something different than what others will say I can assure you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“We have to tell the President,” Weldon said.
“I don’t think we should say anything to anyone just yet. I mean, think of the problems this could cause if it isn’t accurate.”
“Tony that is your job. You get paid to make sure this information is accurate. What do you think I should do? Gee Mr. President, our top mathematician, whom we pay 175,000 dollars a year to make these calculations, thinks it may be right but isn’t totally sure. Somehow I don’t see that going over too well with the President,” Weldon said.
“Come on Dan. This isn’t like figuring out the trajectory of a missile. Other planets don’t have an effect on them. We can change course if we miscalculate a small amount. We can’t do the same thing with KA5,” Tony replied.
“Then all I can say is get it right. I talked to Montgomery and they have a different trajectory plotted than what you have come up with. I’m not saying they are right, I’m just saying that it is different.”
“How different?”
“Oh not much, maybe 200,000 miles.”
“What? No way. That is total bull. They are saying it will miss the Earth by 200,000 miles?”
“Something like that,” Weldon replied.
“They are flat wrong. It won’t be nearly that far away. The damn thing is just going to miss us. It is going to scare the crap out of everyone. You know our projection. 12,000 miles plus or minus 1,000 miles,” Tony said, holding up his calculations.
“Tony, I am not saying you are wrong. I’m not saying they are right. What I am saying is we have to make damn sure what we tell the President is accurate and can be backed up. I know the man. He doesn’t take guesses for answers. You are in the hot seat on this so I am suggesting that you make darn sure you haven’t overlooked a single thing. Got it?” Weldon said.
“200,000 miles. No way in hell are we that far off. I sure would like to know how they arrived at that theory.”
“You want me to set up a meeting? I can call and tell them that we would like to go over their calculations with them.”
“Have any other projections been presented?”
“Not to my knowledge but I’m sure we will get a flurry of them in the next day or so.”
“I’ll go over everything one more time but I doubt it will change much, certainly not by 200,000 miles.”
“I think that is a wise decision,” Weldon agreed.
THE EVENING NEWS WITH ALLEN SMALL –
Have you been to the store lately to try to buy a telescope? You can’t find one anywhere. I went to four different stores and was told that they were sold out. I even went to a high end store that specialized in telescopes. Everything from their most basic models to the top of the line are totally sold out.
Not to be deterred, I went online. I couldn’t even find one on e-Bay. I tried Amazon and got the same results. In desperation I looked at Craigslist and you know what? Nothing. Not giving up I did find one after scouring newspapers from several different cities.
In Miami, Florida a telescope was listed for three hundred and fifty dollars. When I looked up the model number and brand if found it originally sold for sixty-nine dollars. This is reminiscent of the run on ammunition a few years ago just before congress decided to play with the gun laws. Ammunition that cost twenty dollars was suddenly showing up at a hundred dollars.
I did pass on the Miami telescope but I would imagine if I wait just a little longer, I can find a better one that costs around two hundred dollars. Of course the owner will be asking two THOUSAND for it by then.
I am proud to be an American, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I just have to marvel at the stupidity. This is Allen Small; Goodnight.