A Hard Rain: Book Two Of The Shift Trilogy

Chapter 26

Stubb Foundation

Laurel, Maryland

February 2013

Rita sat staring at the computer-generated projection of asteroid Rayne 2005, which will impact in a matter of weeks and destroy all life on the planet. Jamil, the organic computer, had delivered the devastating news to her in a voice that held both the innocence of a boy and the cold precision of an omniscient machine. She saw the calculations, and what's more, they made sense to her. Now, she knew how that was possible.

Apparently, some of the conspiracy theorists were right. There were things that the government hid from the people. It wasn't just this dazzling super computer that was immune to the effects of an EMP. More fundamental was the asteroid, the massive chunk of iron eighty-five miles across careening towards them. Jamil did qualify that back in 2007, Rayne 2005 was just another near earth object, a new discovery by this amateur astronomer, and there was still a lot of wiggle room in its potential trajectory at the time. It was just more data to a government too preoccupied with more concrete matters like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Besides, what could the U.S. government do had it known? What could anybody do, even with the technology available before the Shift?
That was the question facing her now. Rita caressed the golden AA chip representing nineteen years of sobriety in her hand. The serenity prayer was about the most relevant prayer in her daily life. Every morning she asked her higher power, now in the form of Gaia, to grant her the serenity to accept the things she cannot change, the courage to change the things she can and the wisdom to know the difference. Now, more than ever, that prayer resonated with her.

Jamil had demanded the scientists over at the Stubb Foundation bring her of all people over to him because it said she would help save the world, though so far it was short on specifics. Why her? How was she going to save the world? She was good at math. So what? So were the Stubb Foundation scientists. And speaking of, how did they even know about her existence in Monticello? A lot of the questions remained that had not been addressed. More important matters came to the fore, matters like the end of the world, the real end this time, not the ambivalent scourge by the earth turning off the electricity like last time.

This was the end of all human history, the end of all life, the entire genetic heritage was going to be incinerated into the basic elements, everything that happened on the earth was to be erased in a global fire like none of it ever existed. The planet itself, the physical structure would survive, but everything that ever was special about it would be dead. If it had been a pandemic, genetically designed to kill all humans, Rita could live with that. At least the rest of the world, all of the plant and animal life would continue on. If it had been a nuclear holocaust even, she could make peace with that. Even then there would be survivors and a recovery.

As Jamil explained, the impact from this asteroid will completely sterilize the earth; the seas will boil, the air will burn, and the earth will become a molten rock. Rita now understood the content of Gaia's warning, and she now understood why she appeared unnerved. This wasn't just about one species. In essence, the very life of Gaia herself existed as the intertwined biosphere of all life. Once the biosphere gets extinguished, so too will Gaia.

Rita caressed the coin, and whispered. "Gaia, if you have something to share, now is the time to tell me."

Others sat throughout the command center, some gawking at the computers, others just sitting catatonic. The news was too much. Akil had disappeared. She knew hearing his missing son's name affected him more than anything else, perhaps even more than the news of earth's imminent end.