THE RED WAKE

INTERLUDE-CHAPTER 4

INTERLUDE 

                                                 "Now, Signior! What News?"

                                                                 -Much Ado About Nothing.

     "Well Bryant, as I'm sure we've all heard by now; an object of unknown origins appeared directly over the North Pole yesterday morning. As of 12:03 pm Eastern Standard Time, no one is claiming ownership of this gigantic intruder, whose size is estimated to be nearly half that of our moon. 

     “Its composition at this time is under furious debate by every space- faring nation on Earth. And its purpose is even more mysterious. Now as we speak, Bryant, NASA has remained absolutely silent about the Object.  And the Space Agencies of the other nations are staying quiet as well. 

     “Bryant, it's believed that the Internet which offers easy access to satellite imagery, as well as hundreds of thousands of long range photographs of the Object, have stymied any possible attempts by World Governments to cover up the presence of this phenomenon. And when you look at the Object with the naked eye it's easy to understand their inability to hide it.  It's simply too darn big.”

                                                                                      

                                                                                  -The Morning Program.

                                                                         *

      The massive object appeared over the North Pole at two o'clock in the morning EST. By eight o'clock the news of its arrival had spread like wildfire all across the world. Soon telescopes and binoculars from NORAD to the Kremlin were trained on this most recent arrival. 

     So large it was visible to the naked eye, the bright, crystalline structure hung just below the North Star, relative to an observer on Earth. Its highly reflective surfaces glowed a deep, ruby red.  

     Initial reports of its size were incorrect. It was only a third the size as the moon. But its presumed mass should have ignited havoc on the Earth's surface. Its gravity alone should have been enough to disrupt the tides, causing aberrant seismic activity all across the world. Its extreme proximity to the Earth should have spelled doom for a great portion of the planetary population. 

     But other than horribly snarled traffic patterns as millions of people stopped to try and catch a glimpse of the extraterrestrial newcomer, there were no visible effects attributed to its presence.  

     Amateur astronomers and telescope owners in the Northern Hemisphere could step out onto their back porches and balconies, their inner city streets, their rural pastures, and see it plainly for themselves, at any time of the day or night. 

     This fact in itself was a mystery. The object was visible overhead from all points across the Northern Hemisphere simultaneously. This physical impossibility perplexed scientists and amateur astronomers alike. The moon appears to travel across the sky as it orbits the earth, seeming to “rise” and “set.” The illusion is repeated, as the sun appears to traverse the sky. But in both cases the Earth rotates while performing its own elliptical orbit around the sun.