Dateline

New Year's Eve, 1415 local / T plus 8 hours, 15 minutes

New York City

"Speak to me, Kelly."

"You were right, it's moving west at the speed of Earth's rotation. Or rather, the Earth is rotating beneath whatever the phenomenon is. So, yes, you have until local midnight before it gets to New York."

"And the source? Any clues as to what it is?"

"That's more tricky. Given the timing, our first assumption was that it was a state actor releasing a world-wide cyber attack, as is still being reported in the news. But now we're almost certain that theory can be excluded. For one thing, there's increasing evidence that not a single human being is still alive in the affected areas. We cannot raise anyone, and we think it pretty likely no-one else can either. Also, we're starting to see network failures. Probably these are resulting from state actions as a response to the threat, partitioning networks. The whole of China and Russia went dark first, even in areas not yet affected. Other countries are following suite, but they could just as easily be the result of no-one taking action on server faults."

Abel Stone took the phone from his ear for a moment and called out to his personal assistant, busy throwing clothes, laptops and various chargers into a suitcase on the bed. "Ally. Alison! Forget the clothes. Just the HP laptop, the sat phone and the extra battery packs. put them into the holdall; forget the rest, we'll travel light."

"Okay Mr Stone."

"Sorry Kelly, continue."

"Right. Some of the analysts and modelling team here have done a fast and dirty pass at the phenomenon. Initial results suggests a possible off-world source. And I mean really off-world. Nothing in near-Earth orbit could do this. They made an assumption that whatever it is, it's impacting at right angles to the equator so as to reach both poles, giving total coverage as the Earth rotates. That means it has to be far away. They found only one object of interest; a charted asteroid, out beyond the orbit of Neptune in the Kuiper Belt. It's only conjecture, but perhaps this object is more than it seems."

The implications of what Kelly was saying shook him for a moment. On off-world source so far out? The word formed in his mind, but he didn't wish to utter it. Despite the real danger, excitement bloomed in his stomach.

"Kelly, confirm my understanding. The phenomenon only impacts the Earth when it's pointing directly at this object, with the effect taking place at midnight, local time."

"More or less. There is some timing differences due to time zones being around 15 degrees in longitude, so plus or minus half an hour around midnight, yes."

"Okay, and the phenomenon first started to the east of New Zealand?"

"As far as we can tell, it began on the dateline, around 180 degrees longitude, yes."

"So... if it began there, and the Earth will rotate exactly once in 24 hours..."

"I see where you're going with this, and yes, we have wondered if it will stop once a full orbit is complete."

"Right. Kelly, is there any way you and a handful of key team members can get to Edwards by twenty hundred hours, local time? Say, no more than 5 people."

"Edwards?..." Abel could hear Kelly breathing as she thought through what Able was saying - what he was proposing to do. "Possibly. But most have families, Able. They may not want to go without them."

"I understand. Look, I need to get going. I'll leave the choice to you. Tell the others to get supplies and go down to the hyperloop test tunnels; they're the deepest underground spaces nearby, and pretty well shielded. Tell them to get their families too. Kelly, I'm sorry to put that on you, but I may not be contactable until I get to Edwards."

"Okay."

"And Kelly, if I'm not there by twenty-one hundred ... leave. I mean it."

"...Okay."