“Yeah,” I said, “that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”
We stood in silence for a while as the last portion of the moon disappeared into the meteor cloud. Each of us was totally absorbed in our own thoughts about what was ahead of us.
“Ever wonder what it’s going to look like when the meteors begin to fall?” John asked.
“I’ve taken a look at the timing,” I said. “The meteors will start falling over the Atlantic Ocean at about two in the morning, local time. The front edge of the meteors will follow the time zones, so at approximately two in the morning all across the country the meteors will begin. The impact zone will move from east to west and intensify until dawn.”
“How long will the meteors be visible before they start hitting the ground where we are?” John asked.
“My guess is that we will be able to see the meteorites about an hour before we start getting hit,” I said. “They will probably start near the eastern horizon and gradually climb into the sky overhead.”
“Do you think it will be safe to watch them before they get here?” Tia asked.
“I don’t see why not,” I replied, “as long as we are in the cave before the meteorites hit.”
“It sounds like you are planning to be there to see them,” Tia said.
“I am,” I replied. “This whole thing got started because of me. I want to be there to see it actually happen.”
“You want any company?” Tia asked.
“Sure,” I said, “I’d love some company.”
“That include me?” Ed asked.
I chuckled. “Yeah, that includes you,” I replied.
“This sounds like one I’m going to sit out,” John said. “How about you, Nancy?”
“My responsibility is taking care of you,” she replied. “I’ll be wherever you are.”
“So it’s a date?” I asked.
“Yes, it’s a date,” Tia replied.
“Yeah,” Ed said, “a date with destiny.”
“I see what you mean about the mouse and the Titanic” John said. “This is the most ominous thing I have ever seen.”
“Yeah,” Ed said, “It’s absolutely overwhelming. It makes me feel so insignificant that… Well, I don’t know what to compare it to. I’ve never had this feeling before.”
“Neither have I,” Nancy said. “It’s almost like the hand of God reaching out, ready to crush the world.”
We stood in silence for a while staring up into the blackness that would soon engulf the world in total destruction. Without another word, we made our way back to the cabin and went to bed.
CHAPTER 21
I awoke at six feeling tired and restless. I wandered around my room not knowing what to do. I got dressed and went down for breakfast. John was already up making pancakes and eggs.
“Care for hash browns?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I replied, “that would be good.”
John opened the freezer, took a package of hash browns out and spread them on the grill. Nancy came out of John’s room and joined us.
I began feeling anxious but didn’t understand why. As I was eating my eggs and hash browns the feeling intensified. I started walking around the great room, pacing, trying to figure out what was happening.
“Carl,” John asked, “you all right?”
“Something’s wrong,” I said. “Seriously wrong.”
“Like what?” John asked.
“That’s just it… I can’t tell what it is. I just know something is very wrong. We have to do something — I just don’t know what it is.”
Nancy came over and checked my pulse rate and looked at my eyes. “I don’t think it’s anything physical,” Nancy said. “Maybe if you sat back down.”
“I can’t sit down,” I replied. A sense of panic was starting to build in my chest. “I have to…” I looked over at John.
“The media center,” I said. “Oh God no! Get everybody out of the media center NOW!”
John grabbed his cell phone and speed dialed. “This is an emergency! Get everyone out of the building NOW! RUN!” John shouted.
“Carl, what the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know. Are they out of the building yet?”
John asked if they were out yet. I could hear the sound over John’s cell phone. It was loud. “There’s been an explosion,” John said. “How many?” he asked. He waited for a response. John looked over at me. “Two dead, more than a dozen injured,” he said. “How did you know?”
“It’s not over,” I said; the feeling of panic was still building inside my chest. “Go get Tia! Bring her down to the communications room, NOW!” I shouted as I headed for the stairs.
I ran to the computer console that controlled the dish antennas. I quickly checked the program that had the satellite locations on it and aimed it at the most likely satellite. No unusual activity. I tried the next one. Nothing. I aimed the antenna at one of the military spy satellites overhead. Nothing there, either. I stopped to think. There was another satellite, a new one. I aimed the antenna at it.
“Carl?” Tia said as she entered the room wearing her pajamas. “What the hell?”
“Get on the console over there,” I said. “I’ll have data for you in just a second.”
There it was. Two different frequencies were being used. I picked the first one and routed the data to Tia’s terminal, sending the second one to the terminal next to her. I ran over and sat at the terminal. I connected to the Internet and downloaded a program from my personal secure storage site.
“I’m sending you a program,” I said. “Once you get it, open it and enter the frequency you have on your screen now.”
“Okay,” she said, “I have it now. What am I looking at?”
“In the upper right corner of the screen are the GPS coordinates and direction. The altitude is right underneath it. Read them to me.”
As she read the numbers to me, I quickly translated them to a position and direction.
“Okay,” I said, “the drone is just north of Denver heading toward Colorado Springs.”
“Drone?” Tia shouted. “What do you mean by drone?”
John entered the communications room. “Drone?” John said.
“A military drone,” I replied, “like in Afghanistan. Only it’s here. It just bombed our media center. John, do you have any buildings in Colorado Springs?”
“Yeah,” John said, “a distribution center.”
“Get everybody out NOW!”
John speed dialed his cell phone, ordering everyone out of the building.
“Tia, in the upper left corner of the screen is the status box. What does it say?”
“2LGB,” she said. “No, wait! It just changed. Now it’s 1LGB.”
“Shit!” I said. “They just dropped a Laser Guided Bomb. What’s the altitude?”
“Sixty one two eighty feet.” Tia answered.
“Less the five thousand feet for the ground here in Denver… John you’ve got just under a minute and a half to get your people out of there. The bomb’s on its way!”
“It takes that long?” Tia asked.
“Yep,” I answered, “it takes time to fall through ten miles of air.”
I checked the status of the drone on my screen: 1LGB. This was the drone that hit John’s media center. I checked the GPS and direction. It was headed here, to John’s cabin.
“John,” I yelled, “get out of the cabin, take Tia, Ed and Nancy with you. The second drone is headed here.”
“What about you?” John asked.
“I’m going to see if I can take control of these drones.”
“You can take on only one drone at a time,” Tia said. “If you’re staying, I’m staying.”
“No. I need to know that you are safe. You need to get clear of the cabin.”
Tia looked over at me with determination in her face. “There’re two drones. I’m staying.”