Twilight Earth (6 page)

“The original report and findings of the HST at the time were believed to be accurate. However, we have since discovered that a non-ecliptic, high-intensity, solar event caused the image of the objects to be reflected off of the high-energy solar particles. If you’ll remember, all the original images were blurry? That’s because we were trying to get the HST to focus on the reflected image. Think of the whole episode like a hologram being reflected off of a cloud of smoke.”

“So basically you’re saying ‘Objects in Mirror are closer than they appear’?” Marcy asked.

Wilcox chuckled at the reference. “Exactly, thank you for the layman’s description, Miss Carmichael. Ah, excuse me a moment.” He leaned over to listen to an aide whisper urgently in his ear. Dr. Wilcox gave some urgent instructions before the aide all but ran out of the room. Dr. Wilcox turned back to the audience and the cameras.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I must apologize. Something very pressing has come up that requires my immediate attention. Miss Carmichael, I hope to meet you one day. Please excuse me.” He turned and hurried for the door and the two men in familiar looking black suits.

“What was that all about?” Jorga asked from the easy chair she’d been reading in.

“Have you ever seen a highly respected Scientist and Nobel Laureate knowingly lie through his teeth?” Marcy asked.

Jorga raised an eyebrow. “No...”

The younger girl looked at her friend and snorted. “You have now.” Marcy started typing furiously on the keyboard for the big screen, and then started working on her laptop. She stopped to look over some information, before typing into the terminal. Going back to her laptop, Marcy started chasing down more information.

Jorga was just starting to get back into her story, when she heard Marcy say “Oh shit!” softly, then chanting ‘please be wrong' over and over again. Marking her page, Jorga set her book down and moved closer to Marcy to see what the girl was working on.

Both screens seemed to be filled with rapidly changing numbers as Marcy typed and chanted. When Marcy stopped typing to watch the results of the data she just entered, Jorga put her arm around her.

“Marcy, honey? Do I need to get Kaitlin for you? What’s wrong?” Jorga asked.

Marcy just shook her head. “No, thanks. We are so screwed. Let me get all this put into an understandable format and I’ll explain it all after dinner, Okay?”

“Sure Sweetheart. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Nope, just get ready for a really long nap,” Marcy said sadly.

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Jorga spread the word to try not to disturb Marcy while she was working. Marcy herself made that easier by moving her whole project into her and Kaitlin’s room. Finally, Jon, his wife Ellie, and their twin twelve-year-old girls arrived for dinner. Deirdre and Ben visited with Jon and Ellie while Kait and Jorga took off with the Lyam youngsters.

Ben explained that Marcy was busy with something she discovered earlier and wanted to share it with everyone. Ben warned them it had something to do with what was going on above and that it was most likely bad news.

When Marcy finally reappeared, the girls were sent for and the table was set. Marcy said she’d show everyone after dinner.

Dinner proceeded and finally it was time for Marcy to share what she’d learned. With after dinner drinks, both families gathered in the living room. Marcy called Bob so she could fill him in as well, then she began.

“Before I get too far into this, I think I should tell everyone that I’ve always been a major geek, I love science and math, especially math. More specifically, the area that’s called astrophysics. Well, I got to attend, via our terminal system, a lecture being given by the foremost Astrophysicist in the country, Dr. Harold Wilcox of the Jet Propulsion Laboratories.

“As you all know, a few weeks ago, the ‘Wilcox-Locke meteor swarm’ was sighted by the Hubble Space Telescope. At that time, it was believed their course would have brought them through our solar system outside the orbit of Jupiter, in thirteen point six years. The probability of a near-Earth event was so low it didn’t even register on the scale.

“The scientific community was very excited because it presented a once in a thousand lifetimes opportunity for study. However, most of the hype was held to a dull roar so as not to get the general population panicking.

“Anyway, as I was listening to Dr. Wilcox today it was like he was talking about something completely different! He tried to tell me that the original sighting was actually a reflection of light off of a solar wind!

“That’s complete and utter bullshit! Photons are either absorbed or negated by high-energy particles. Also the images he was using supposedly are from three days ago. However, if the initial trajectory plot was a mistake, why would the more current images have the same background?

“I used our terminal’s special access to get into the real images and data; the original images were completely accurate and so was the original estimation of time. However, both were based on an erroneous assumption; that the objects in the image were naturally-occurring, planetary fragments.” She paused to let her audience’s minds catch up.

“You’re saying they’re artificial? Spaceships?” Jon asked.

“I’m afraid that’s exactly what I’m saying, Doctor."

“Let’s see whatcha got, Marcy,” Ben asked kindly.

Marcy nodded and began typing on the keyboard. “I used all the data that JPL still had and cross checked with the observatories at Arecibo and the VLA at Socorro, New Mexico. This animation is a compilation of all the data, from all three sources.”

A graphic of the solar system quickly zoomed out to show a cluster of objects a great distance away. Marcy narrated. “This is where they were first detected, by accident, when the Hubble telescope was on a different mission. These objects simply crossed the field of vision. On the left is the actual video captured by the Hubble.”

A bright, clear image of a nebula appeared on the screen. It took the watchers a moment, but they all saw something moving across the frame. It appeared as little more than an area of distortion moving across the image of the nebula.

Suddenly, the nebula lost focus, and the areas of distortion slowly became clearer as the big telescope readjusted its focus. It revealed a huge cloud of what looked like small objects. Once again, Marcy picked up her narrative.

“This is what was originally believed to be the remnants of a planet that was destroyed in some type of event millions of years ago. As you can see, they look exactly like what you would expect a meteor swarm to look like. Please let me draw your attention to this star; please remember its relationship to the objects.

“NASA, JPL, and a good portion of the planet’s astrological community spent the next three days intently watching these objects and, based on distance and direction traveled, concluded that the objects would pass through the outer solar system in roughly thirteen and a half years. That may seem like a long time, but considering that at this point they are almost three light years away, it means they are really moving.

“Three days ago the images of the ‘swarm’ were mostly obscured by an object appearing between the Hubble and the swarm. Once again the Hubble was adjusted, this time to almost its closest foci, what it found had to have given the astronomers a heart attack and almost panicked the governments.

“Before we get there though, this is the first pucker-causing event. I asked you to remember the star and its relationship to the swarm? Take another look,” Marcy paused so everyone could see that the star was now on the other side of the swarm.

“There are only two explanations for that star to appear to be on the other side. One – the HST is looking from a different angle. Two – The objects being observed have altered course. The first thing I checked when I noticed this was the Hubble’s position; there was only a four-degree orbital rotation difference between the first image and this one. That means that those ‘inanimate’ objects, somehow made a course correction that put Earth dead center in their flight path.

“Now, just as a point of reference; a light-year is a unit of measure for how far light travels in one year. Therefore, the images we just looked at are really almost three years old. Is everyone still with me?” Marcy asked.

The twins looked confused, but Jorga and Kaitlin were quietly explaining it. When they looked up they nodded, but still looked confused.

“I’m getting there girls, just hang on. Three days ago, something else obscured the ‘swarm’. After refocusing the telescope, and a hell of a lot of computer analysis, it was found that the new, closer objects were in fact the same ones as the originally observed swarm.

“Now, here is where Einstein has a stroke. How did those objects travel such distance in so short of an amount of time? Since we can still see them at their original location, they had to have traveled at an average of close-to-light-speed. Something we know can’t happen. The kicker is, the longer we can see them at the original position, the higher their speed of travel to get here.

“This next image is of one of the larger objects that ‘appeared’ about the same distance from our planet as Saturn is." The image that came up was of an obviously artificial construction. It was a ship, albeit a very large one.

“If that image isn’t enough to convince you; then consider that all of the roughly two-thousand, five-hundred objects in the... fleet, have been decelerating at well over a thousand gravities since their arrival here, late last night.” Marcy concluded.

“A thousand gravities? That means we’re either being invaded by bacteria, or they have artificial gravity,” Jon added quietly.

“I’ve heard of artificial gravity on some TV shows and books and stuff, but I never really understood what the big deal about it was,” one of the twins, Olivia, said from beside Kaitlin.

“Think of it this way, Sweetheart; at one gravity, like we are now, you weigh one-hundred-twenty pounds. Those ships are decelerating so fast, that if you were on one, you would weigh one-hundred-twenty thousand pounds. Basically, your own body weight would shatter your bones and crush you into a reddish goo,” Jon replied.

“Gross!” Persephone, the other twin replied. “Nice visual, Dad!”

Marcy smiled at the girl. “He is, unfortunately, correct. The ‘big deal’ is that somehow, these aliens have figured out how to artificially create and regulate the forces of gravity on objects that have mass. Like faster-than-light travel, it’s supposed to be physically impossible. I should mention though that researchers in certain secret government facilities have supposedly made a break-through in artificial gravity. There is also a rumor that NASA and JPL had a working theory on faster than light travel too. However, there is no official proof of any of that."

“I hate to point this out, but I don’t think they took physics,” Olivia said.

“At least not at any of our schools.” Persephone added.

“Are you still with us, Bob?” Ben asked since they couldn’t actually see him.

“Yes I am, I just had my microphone muted. I’ve been acting on Marcy’s information and made a few discoveries of my own. First of all, if Marcy is trying to get more images out of the Hubble, she should probably stop trying; it’s been destroyed along with most of the satellites in orbit. CNN is completely off the air. It looks like the attack started about an hour ago,” Bob said sadly. "Orbital bombardment started in Asia. All the major cities have been hit with high-yield nuclear weapons and some sort of beam weapon fired from orbit. Millions of people have already died."

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The quiet discussion was interrupted by the sustained irritating noise of the National Emergency Broadcast System or NEBS. “Ladies and Gentleman, this is not a test, I repeat this is not a test. By order of the President of the United States, The National Emergency Broadcast System has been activated. At this time, you are advised to proceed immediately to the nearest Civil Defense Bunker. Leave immediately, the nation is under attack. I say again, leave now. Get to the nearest Civil Defense Shelter and prepare for nuclear attack. Remember, if you see a detonation, immediately take cover and shield your eyes...”

Ben muted the terminal. “Idiots, that detonation will be the
last
thing you’ll ever see.”

“I guess that answers the question about their intentions,” Deirdre said. “Now what’re we going to do?”

“Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Carla and the kids are freaking out and calling for me. I’m gonna go try to calm them down. Remember, we’re as safe as we can be down here. Talk to ya later,” Bob said.

Ben nodded and said ‘Take care’ as the call ended.

A warning chime was heard, and the border of the terminal screen flashed yellow. The words ‘Condition Two’ scrolled across the bottom of the screen. The whole room lurched slightly and a hum could be heard from all around.

“The pod is being lowered!” Jorga cried.

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S
urvival Pod 0001a

Fulton's Prairie, Missouri

United States

––––––––

M
arcy sat down and started typing very quickly. “I’m asking why the pod is being lowered prior to Condition Three.”

NBC Protocols now in effect.

Nuke: zero-one.

Bio: zero-one, alpha.

Chem: zero-two.

Status: Condition two NBC

Marcy typed again;
Define condition two NBC.

Condition Two NBC; see Condition Three-Modified.

Condition Three-modified;

Pod descent: engaged

Pod ascension: disabled

Sealed biosphere: enabled

Hyper-sleep: recommended (chambers activated)

Define protocol series ‘bio’ and ‘chem’.
Marcy typed.

Ben felt the little hairs on the back of his neck stand-up when the answers were displayed.

‘Bio’ is used to denote the use of biological weapons. Numerical code designates percentage of lethality. Zero-zero is one hundred percent, zero-one is ninety percent, zero-two is eighty percent, and so on. Alphabetical code designates proximity to local surface marker. Alpha is less than a kilometer; beta is between one and two kilometers, etc. No alpha designator indicates detection at another installation.