“Where’s Dalton?”
“Admiral Dalton has the fleet waiting just off the German coast, Mr. President. He’s awaiting your orders.”
“Is Charlie there with him?”
“Yes sir, the Secretary of State is there.”
“Tell them we’re coming…Tell them to get ready to do it.”
“Yes, sir,” the chairman said quickly moving off.
“Sir,” the SECDEF said, moving forward. “The EU has issued a statement condemning our actions…calling them reckless and irresponsible.”
“They wanted those nukes,” the president snorted, “as if we didn’t give them enough.”
“The Chinese government has gone to DEFCON 2. They say another unannounced nuclear exchange will result in a full-scale retaliatory strike.”
“What are they gonna’ do, nuke the chipmunks? Is everybody completely stupid?”
~~~
“Todd, pull over!” Maria yelled.
Todd pulled off the track base and jumped into the back compartment.
“I need for you to check me again…I think the baby’s coming.”
Todd gently checked her. “No, no change yet.”
“Are you sure? The baby feels like he’s coming right now.”
“I think that’s normal, angel. Try to relax.”
“How much further?”
“I’m not sure,” Todd said. “I’m expecting to pull into Omaha at any moment.”
“What time is it? It’s getting dark.”
“I think it’s about seven.”
“Will we be able to get there? Will we have time to get there?”
“Yes, sweetheart, we’ll get there.”
“I think my water broke.”
Todd noticed the moisture. “Yeah…yeah, baby, your water broke.”
“Oh my God!” Maria cried. “We’re not gonna get there in time!”
“Come on, angel,” Todd said, pulling her up. “We need to change your bedding.” He helped her out of the back compartment.
“Stop…stop!” she squealed. “I’m having another contraction!”
He held her head as she buckled against the pain.
“Ok…ok,” she said, after an agonizing moment. “It’s gone, please hurry, I have to lie down.”
Todd dashed to the trailer and pulled the other sleeping bag out. He rushed back and quickly laid it out in the back compartment. “It’s ready, baby,” he said.
She moved unsteadily towards him. Another contraction buckled her over. Todd moved to her and held her head. “Breathe, angel, breathe…keep panting like this….”
Maria tried to mimic Todd’s panting but had to stop after a few moments.
“Try not to hold your breath, baby…try to pant.”
Maria moaned as the contraction finally abated. “Ok, it’s gone,” she said breathlessly. “We can go now. Check me again first?”
“Ok, baby, lie down.”
He checked her again. “You’re starting to dilate, sweetheart. We better stop.”
“No…no, Todd, you have to promise me. We can’t stop till we get to Omaha…no matter what!”
“But, Maria, if you’re—”
“PLEASE!” she screamed.
“Ok…ok we’ll go…we’ll go….” Todd jumped back into the front seat and pushed the Humvee north as fast as he dared.
~~~
Brother Michael stood staring out the high-rise hotel window into the Sydney harbor. The noonday sun sparkled across the calm water normally filled with tourist-clad ferries, jet-cats and sailboats. The harbor was completely empty today. The whole world had stopped today. Today was the day the great asteroid would impact the earth, turning it inside out. Michael knew it was getting late in Omaha, Nebraska. He knew Maria was there. He had prayed night and day for the answer and had concluded that some answers belonged only to the Father.
Barney had been sitting nervously on the couch next to Mallory. “What do you think it’s gonna be like?”
Michael turned. “We won’t feel anything at first, but it will come….The world, as we know it, will cease to exist. It’ll be as if…we’re in hell.”
Barney glanced at Mallory and back at Michael. “I don’t get it. Aren’t we supposed to change the world? How we supposed to do that if there ain’t no world left to change?”
“Shh,” Mallory whispered. “Don’t push him now.”
Michael slowly returned to the window.
“Brother Michael?” Pete said softly.
Michael turned back to face him.
“Is the asteroid the third sign? Remember when you said there would be a third sign that would bring the world to its knees?”
Michael stared at Pete for a long time. “I don’t know,” he said softly, breaking the long silence, “but whatever is going to happen has already begun.”
He turned and looked back out the window towards the harbor. “I’m going to my room to pray,” he said quietly. “I don’t want to be disturbed.”
~~~
Miles Draper was at the helm of the Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance at Maui, Hawaii. He was working with the auxiliary telescope known as ‘Schmidt,’ used primarily for tracking lower altitude objects. Like every other available tracking system on earth, “Schmidt” was currently locked on to Dante657.
Draper was on the phone to Professor David Arno at the Comet and Asteroid Information Network, in the center of Wales. “What do you have, David?”
“I have her coming in at around sixty k, over Nebraska in about three hours.”
“Yeah, that’s what I have. I estimate impact at four fifteen GMT.”
“Yup, that’s just what I’ve got.”
“Thanks, David. Keep me in the loop.”
“Righto, Miles, will do.”
Arno put the phone down and picked it back up again. He quickly dialed Professor Nanyang Siang Pau at the Chinese Beijing Astronomical Observatory. “Yes…Professor, we have Dante coming in at sixteen k over Nebraska in about three hours…Impact, at around four fifteen GMT.”
“Yes, I concur,” Pau said in a thick Chinese accent. “Please keep me posted.”
“Will do.”
~~~
“Maria, we’re here! Look…there’s a sign up ahead, we’re in Omaha!”
Maria painfully sat up before collapsing back into the sleeping bag. “Find a place to pitch the tent,” she groaned.
“We need something bigger than a tent,” Todd said, frantically looking for a place to stop. “Wait, there’s a building!”
“Stop there!” Maria wailed. “We have to stop now!”
Todd quickly pulled off the track bed and pointed the Humvee towards a huge double story barn in the center of a cornfield near a grain silo. The Humvee bounced and jerked as Todd pushed it through the dense furrowed rows of brown, rain-soaked corn stocks. “I’m sorry, baby,” Todd shouted over the noise. “I’m going as fast as I can.”
“Just hurry please. I need for you to check me. I think the baby is coming!”
Todd blasted out of the cornfield and shot over a gravel-covered road leading to the barn. He brought the Humvee to a sliding stop, backed up till he was on the road again, aimed the Humvee towards the barn and pushed the gas pedal to the floor.
“Oh my God, Todd. Please hurry!” Maria moaned.
Todd skated the Humvee to a stop in front of the barn and blasted out of the driver side door. He ran through the rain and threw himself against the barn doors. They were locked. Frantically, he looked around. On the far end of the barn he spotted a man-door flapping in the wind. He ran towards it. He looked inside the dark barn, turned and sprinted back towards Maria. To his horror, she was already out of the Humvee, making her way towards him through the driving rain. “Maria!” he yelled, running towards her, “it’s okay… it’s dry in there!” He jerked his shirt off and threw it over her. “This way, baby,” he said. “Everything is gonna be fine.”
“You need to check me,” Maria said so
ftly. “The baby’s coming.”
He gently guided her through the rain towards the man-door. They stepped inside the dark barn and found a pile of straw. Maria tried to lie down, but Todd wouldn’t let her.
“Let me get the sleeping bag, Baby. Don’t lay down on that straw…ok? We don’t know what kind of bugs are in there.” Maria nodded. Todd could see she was completely exhausted.
He sprinted back towards the Humvee and returned with a sleeping bag and oversized military lamp. He laid the sleeping bag out over the straw, pulled his rain-soaked shirt off her and gently helped her lie down.
She shivered as he pulled the sleeping bag around her and pushed it up under her chin. “Check me?” she said softly.
Todd carefully checked her. “Not yet, sweetheart,” he said. “You’re only six centimeters.”
“Oh no!” Maria moaned. “How much longer? I can’t take much more of….here comes another one, Todd….Hold my hand!”
Todd helplessly watched her wince and fold up against the searing pain.
She threw her head back. “Ohh My GODDDD!” she screamed. “It’s tearing me apart!”
“Maria,” Todd said, looking deep into her terrified eyes. “You have to try to relax. You’re working against your body. When the contraction comes, try panting….Try making your muscles relax between the contractions. Try thinking about the baby…ok? Remember how we used to dream about the baby? Try thinking on those thoughts. Think about what our boy might look like. He might look like you…who knows? Think about what he might be like when he grows up.”
Maria’s contraction was finally starting to abate. She looked up at him. “He’ll never grow up,” she said quietly. “The asteroid is gonna take him away from me...take you away from me; it’s gonna’ take us all. All of this is for nothing.”
“No…no, Maria,” Todd said, lying down beside her. “I think you’re right…I’ve been givin’ it some thought. That Brother Michael was on to something. I don’t think the asteroid is gonna hit us after all…I mean, it wouldn’t make any sense. Why would all of these…prophecies and…things be coming true right and left? You said yourself…you watched Brother Michael do some pretty intense stuff.”
“Really?” Maria said quietly. “You really think that?”
“Yes…I do…I really do.”
“You don’t think the asteroid is gonna hit us?”
“No…think about it….”
“You believe I really saw all those things Brother Michael did?”
“Absolutely, why else—”
“Let me…” Maria stopped, winced against the pain and softly continued. “Let me see your hands.”
Tears filled Todd’s eyes. He paused a moment, looking down at her beautiful face. “Sure…sweetheart,” he said, his voice choking with emotion, “…look.” He gulped down the lump in his throat, and pulled his hands out.
“Wh…why aren’t your fingers crossed?”
“I’m telling you the truth, baby, I really think….”
“Liar.”
“No, sweetheart, I’m not lying….”
“My sweet liar,” she said, gently pushing the wet hair out of his eyes. “I couldn’t have picked a sweeter guy to die with.”
Todd softly smiled.
“I’ll try to relax,” she said, looking up at him, “for you….”
Todd tried holding back the tears but it was no use. He gently kissed her forehead and wiped the tears away. He lay by her side, thankful for the merciful reprieve between contractions.
“I have to go out to the Humvee,” he said after a time.
“Oh no…why?”
“I have to get some supplies. We need water, antiseptic wash.”
“Ok,” she said softly, “but hurry.”
Todd smiled and pulled himself away from her.
She reached for his hand. “Hurry,” she repeated softly.
“I’m just gonna get a few things. I’ll only be gone a second.” He stood and quickly moved out the man-door.
Maria lay in the dim light of the battery powered lamp staring up at the huge vaulted ceiling. Faint moon rays were filtering through large weather protected openings running horizontally along each side of the loft. She could see tiny creatures flittering about above her. She hoped they weren’t bats.
The tightness began to return. “Todd!” she shouted. She folded and grimaced against the onslaught. Within moments, the mind-numbing pain was upon her.
“Todd!” she groaned.
The pain stabbed at her. She screamed and pulled her legs up. “Relax, relax, relax,” she panted, reeling against the pain. She felt something give way. The pain overwhelmed her. She screamed. She reached down, wrapped her hands around her stomach and tried pulling back against the staggering pressure.
“TODDD,” she screamed. “OH MY GODDD, TODDD!”
She threw her head back, screaming through her grinding, clenched teeth.
“TODDD…”
“Finally, she felt the agony slowly abate. She lay in the dark sobbing. He’s been gone to long! she told herself. Panic overwhelmed her. She painfully rolled on to her side and pushed herself to her hands and knees. “TOODD,” she sobbed, crawling towards the man-door.
She stopped.
“Oh my God, Todd,” she wailed, as the man-door began slowly opening. “Where have you been? I’ve been calli—”
Something was strange…he was moving…strangely. She backed away and looked up from the floor at a black figure silhouetted against the dark night. It moved out of the shadows into the lamp light. She could see a thick grizzled beard and dark bushy eyebrows. She gasped and pushed herself away. The black flashing eyes looked down at her as the strange gnarled face drew nearer.
~~~
“Mr. Prime Minister, we must act now. In less than two hours the American impact will render our weapons useless.”
“If I begin this thing the Russians will follow,” the Israeli prime minister yelled. “We will be in an all-out nuclear exchange and it will be me killing my own people instead of the Russians…does that make any sense to you?”
“The enemy outnumbers us ten to one! Without our weapons, we don’t have a chance!”
“What chance?” the Prime minister hollered. “We have no chance! Haven’t you been listening to me?”
“Sir,” General Ben-Gurion said softly, trying to control his temper, “when that thing hits America, we will have less than one hour before our enemies swarm us and annihilate our people!”
“You want me to annihilate them sooner, is that it?” the Prime minister hollered.
“Sir! I’m prepared to go over your head! I’m prepared to step in if I have to…the military is with me!”
“Do what you have to do, General!” the Prime Minister yelled. “I have no plans to kill my own people today or any other day!”
~~~
“This is the darkest day of my life,” the President of the United States said.
The SECDEF nodded as the US101, one of 28 Lockheed Martin helicopters collectively known as Marine One, settled down on the deck of the European Union’s new flagship, the Ronald Reagan.
The SECDEF looked across the cabin at the president. “Sir,” he said over the quiet hum of the rotors. “There is nothing else that can be done. This is all that is left to us.”
The president looked back and sighed. “I know,” he said. “I know.”
The door opened and the president stepped out. Sailors, standing at ease, lined the perimeter of the colossal deck. On command, they snapped to attention and saluted.
High-ranking officers and dignitaries surrounded the president as he walked. He immediately moved towards a large crowd of civilians who had been recently transported off the mainland and began shaking hands. Some moved forward to meet him, others held back, tears in their eyes. Others cried openly. The unmistakable look of pity kept the president’s eyes lowered.
A young man carrying a small child on his shoulders moved towards him lowered the
child to the deck and pushed his hand out. “God bless America, Mr. President.”
“What’s your name?” the President asked.
“My name is Eric Wheeler, sir. This is my little girl Sadie.”
The president smiled down at the child who immediately ducked away behind her father. He pulled his weary eyes back up and leveled them on Eric. His tired smile slowly melted. “That’s right, son,” he said finally, his voice cracking. “God bless the United States of America.”
He reached out and shook Eric’s hand, turned and walked away from the crowd of civilians and into the group of dignitaries. After a time, he moved to a podium.
“Today,” the president’s voice echoed, “the sovereign nation of the United States of America will cease to exist. Our government was disbanded today, effective at noon. Command and control of the American armed forces have already been passed on to the sovereign nations of the European Union.”
The president turned and looked into the crowd of dignitaries. “Mr. Secretary,” he said, “I’m ready now.”
The presiding Secretary of the European Union stepped to the podium. He was joined by other dignitaries.
The president raised his right hand. “Mr. Secretary,” the president began, “I do solemnly swear allegiance to the sovereign governments of the European Union and do hereby subjugate governmental control of the United States of America to the newly formed government of the European Union.”
The Secretary smiled and shook the President’s hand. They were quickly replaced at the podium by the members of the Joint Chiefs. American civilians and military personnel alike wept openly as each member formally passed the torch to their European Union counterpart.
~~~
The black silhouette slowly moved towards Maria. She screamed and scrambled backwards on her hands and knees.
The dark figure stiffened and moved into the lamp light. “Settle down now, mister!” the stranger said as he stepped forward.
Todd stepped through the man-door behind him. The barrel of his pistol was pressed against the back of the stranger’s head. “What are you doing here?” Todd growled.
“My wife and I heard someone screaming,” the stranger said. “I came to investigate…that’s all.”
Todd flashed a military issue flashlight into the stranger’s face. The stranger blinked and looked away. He had to have been at least seventy years old. Todd lowered the pistol.