Louis frowned and scratched his wiry beard. “I can’t tell you anything about the…what did you call it?”
“The Vinces,” Todd said. “Don’t pretend you don’t know.”
“I don’t know anything about the Vinces young man, but I can tell you this. There has been a lot of buzz about a baby…this baby. No one is talking about it openly, but we all know. Dr. James Donahue was involved, is that right?”
“Yes,” Todd said, still leery. “He was involved.”
“That’s what I thought…Gladys, this is the child.”
Gladys slowly raised her hand to her face and looked down at Maria.
A distant clap of thunder reverberated, shaking the barn.
“That’s it!” Louis said. “It’s the sonic boom. The asteroid has arrived!”
“So has the baby,” Gladys said, dropping down on her knees.
Maria screamed and arched her back.
“The baby’s coming now,” Gladys said.
~~~
“This is Professor Nanyang Siang Pau at the Chinese Beijing Astronomical Observatory.
Dante657 has just entered the atmosphere. It is traveling at just over sixty k, moving west, over the Middle East. It appears to be following its anticipated path. I estimate impact in thirteen minutes, fifteen seconds.”
~~~
“Sir,” the pale secretary said, pushing a piece of paper into the hands of the newly named supreme commander of the EU armed forces. “All five geostationary meteorological satellites are reporting that Dante has entered the atmosphere and is traveling due west towards the United States at over ninety-six thousand Kilometers per hour, estimated time of impact, just over ten minutes.”
~~~
“The Admiral has called general quarters, all hands and civilian personnel below deck. Situation Zebra.”
Eric had heard and felt the deafening sonic boom coming from everywhere. He couldn’t help but look into the sky one last time.
“Look daddy,” Sadie said, pointing a tiny finger into the night sky, “a falling star. Twinkle, twinkle little star,” she sang, her big oval eyes glistening in the moonlight, “how I wonder what you are, up above—”
“Come sweetheart,” Eric said, gently pulling on her arm. “We have to hurry now.”
~~~
“Oh my God!” Maria screamed, “I can’t stand this pain!”
“You’re doing just fine,” Gladys said. “The baby’s almost out. One more push.”
Louis moved towards the man-door. “I have to go out there. I have to see this thing.”
“LOUIS!” Gladys called out, tears filling her eyes.
Louis stopped, looked back and quickly moved towards her. “How can we do this?” he said. “How can we say goodbye after all this time?”
“The baby’s coming. I feel it!” Maria screamed. Gladys looked back down at Maria. “The baby’s here,” she said softly.
The sounds of a crying newborn infant echoed off the dark barn walls. Gladys gently lifted the baby and laid him on Maria’s chest. Todd stared transfixed at the beautiful child.
Maria sobbed, rolling her hand over the baby’s back. “My baby,” she cried, “my sweet little baby.”
Gladys pulled the sleeping bag up and wrapped it around the child. She turned and looked into her husband’s old eyes. “I have to stay here with Maria…you go. I know how much this means to you. I love you,” she said, her lips trembling.
“Me too,” the old man said softly.
“Now get out of here before you miss that damn thing!” Gladys yelled.
Louis wiped the tears from his eyes, slowly stood and moved out the man-door into the night.
~~~
“This is Draper at The Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance in Maui. I’ve got Dante657 entering New York City airspace, still holding at sixty k MPH. It’s coming in high…steadily dropping altitude, maintaining, just above its projected course. Estimated time of impact…eight minutes thirty-two seconds…switching to visual.”
The New York City skyline appeared on millions of televisions and computer monitors all over the world.
~~~
“I don’t see anything!” Nate Rosario shouted over the talk phone. “Do you read me? I’m not getting anything on the monitor! This is Rosario at the BBD communications desk. I’m not getting anything on visual. Has it already passed by?”
“Do you have the skyline?” the technician yelled back.
“Yes, but nothing’s happening. Shouldn’t we see—”
Suddenly, a blinding flash of light overcame the visual.
“What happened?” Rosario hollered. "The camera went dead! This stuff isn’t working…wait, it’s coming back.”
Random activity began slowly reappearing on his monitor. Computers switched, automatically trying to locate one of the few surviving rooftop cameras. Within moments, the computers locked on to an active feed. Billowing clouds of dust peppered with flying street signs and billboards came into view. Trees, paper, and turbulent black rolling debris filled the screen.
Entire rooftops were spinning to the ground like gigantic Frisbees.
~~~
Todd was staring at the beautiful child lying on Maria’s chest as Gladys stood and moved away towards the man-door. He noticed a dim red light appear at the door. It began to slowly intensify. He could hear a distant sputtering roar approaching from the east like the sound of a thousand colossal flags flapping in a hurricane. He threw his arm over the baby and lay down over Maria.
“No, Todd, NO!” Maria wailed.
“This is it, baby,” he said. “Hold on…. it’ll be over soon.”
~~~
“This is Draper, at the Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance in Maui. I’ve got Dante coming in high, still holding at sixty k MPH. It’s going to overshoot the projected target. Estimated time of impact…two minutes twenty two seconds….”
~~~
Louis had positioned himself next to the Humvee. Already the roar of the approaching monster was deafening. In the distance, he could see the dull yellow ball careening towards him from the east, well above the thick cloud layer. As it drew nearer, the clouds parted like the red sea in the wake of the massive fiery orb, revealing a crystal clear spray of stars and a huge glowing full moon.
He could see the wave of debris blasting towards him at twenty times the speed of sound.
~~~
“This is Draper at the Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance in Maui. I’ve got Dante657 still holding at sixty k. It’s coming in high…it doesn’t appear to be dropping. It’s maintaining above its projected course.
Estimated time of impact…eight minutes fifteen seconds….”
~~~
Todd clenched his teeth as the roar approached. He pressed himself as hard as he could over Maria and the baby. Maria screamed as the ground began shaking beneath them.
~~~
The immense wave blasted Louis off his feet. He rolled under the Humvee, only to watch it tumble away over his head. Suddenly, he found himself airborne, then he was lying in a ditch, debris whizzing over him. Incredible, searing heat enveloped him. An all-consuming smell…like fire and brimstone invaded his senses. He pressed himself into the cool wet grass. That’s when he saw it… right above him: a Herculean mountain of flame, nearly ten miles long, careening past him less than seven miles directly over his head.
In an instant it was gone. He sat up in the ditch and watched the fiery hot white light turn to a soft amber glow and disappear into the western horizon, its tumbling debris-laden wake following behind like a gargantuan swarm of demonic bees.
~~~
“This is Draper at the Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance in Maui. I’ve got Dante657 completely overshooting the projected point of impact. Still holding at sixty k MPH. Estimated time of impact… Ten minutes thirty-two seconds, somewhere over…Wyoming, God help us if it impacts near the Yellowstone caldera.”
/> ~~~
Louis’s incessant chatter brought Todd back to his senses.
“It went right over the top of me…I think it was…it was so wet…the rain and all…kept us from burning up…flew right over me! Just like that…the biggest thing I’ve ever seen! I looked up and swish…it was gone….”
Todd shook his head, trying to make sense of Louis’s manic ramblings. He unfolded himself from Maria and looked around the dark cavernous barn. The sound of rain had disappeared. The heat from the passing asteroid had burned the cloud cover off and the moonlight was shining brightly through the loft windows. He could see the enormous barn had been literally pushed off its foundation.
Maria was frantically looking for her crying baby who had somehow tumbled into the folds of the sleeping bag. She quickly recovered him and pressed him against her chest.
“Louis, settle down!” Gladys groaned. She was partially buried beneath a sprung bail of straw. “Come over here and help me up.”
“Maria,” Todd said softly. “It’s gone, it went over us.”
Maria looked up at him, her gaunt ashen face glowing in the moonlight. “Are you sure? Are you sure we’re not dead?”
“Don’t get your hopes up, kids,” Louis said cheerfully, moving towards his partially buried wife. “It’s still gonna hit…just not here.”
“Don’t listen to him, kids,” Gladys said. “If it were going to hit, it would’ve hit by now.”
Maria pulled Todd’s face towards her. “We’re gonna’ live,” she sobbed. “It’s gonna be just like I told you, we’re gonna be a family.”
Todd stared at Maria, trying to digest the new data now flooding his mind. He had grown so used to the notion of imminent death and destruction, he didn’t know how to feel otherwise.
Louis had managed to dig Gladys out of the straw and the old couple was making their way back towards Todd and Maria.
Gladys knelt next to them. “Is everyone okay?”
“I’ve never been better,” Maria said, tears glistening in her eyes. “I’ve been given everything I’ve ever wanted.”
“Let me see that baby,” Gladys said, holding her hands out.
Maria grinned and unfolded the sleeping bag. She gently lifted the child and handed him up to Gladys.
“Oh my word,” Gladys said. “This is such a beautiful child.” She turned her head and grinned down at Maria, “just like his mo….”
The look of sobering realization appeared on her face. She stared back at the cooing child. She looked at the tiny fingers, gently working against the sleeping bag. She looked at the eyes, the tiny nose, the mouth…
“Louis,” she said softly, “look at him. Do you realize who we’re looking at?”
~~~
“This is Draper, at the Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance in Maui. I’ve got Dante657 moving out of the atmosphere, folks; it has passed through the atmosphere and is now moving back out into deep space! It is now moving back out into deep space, people! God bless it! It’s moving back into deep space!”
~~~
“Brother Michael!” Pete shouted through the door. “It’s gone. It didn’t hit. The asteroid didn’t hit!”
Michael’s door slowly opened. He stepped out looking unshaven and exhausted. “Of course it didn’t,” he said, grinning. “It’s all so obvious I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”
~~~
Louis slowly moved towards the child. “This is momentous. This is history unfolding before our very eyes.”
“Knock, knock,” an effeminate male voice rang out from the vicinity of the man-door.
Todd wheeled and went for his pistol.
“Well…it looks like we have company,” Louis said cheerfully. “Allow me to introduce myself—"
“Oh stop.” Gladys said, still looking at the child. “They’ll know who you are soon enough.”
“Tell me this isn’t the child,” the man at the door gushed as he stepped in. Another man and woman stepped in behind him. He moved towards Gladys and the baby but was stopped by the barrel of Todd’s pistol pressing against his forehead.
“Oh don’t worry about him,” Louis said. “He did the same thing to me…we haven’t been introduced, I’m—”
“I’m unarmed,” the man said softly, staring at Todd. “I come in peace…see.” He held his hands out.
“I don’t care why you’ve come,” Todd said. “Leave!”
“We only want to see the child,” the woman standing behind him said. “We’ve come a long way. We have no interest in hurting anyone. Please put the gun away.”
“You had better not be with the Vinces!” Todd growled.
“Oh goodness no," the effeminate man said. "We’re from The Wind and The Holy Way astrology clinic. Well actually, that’s two clinics…I’m with The Wind and Meredith is with The Holy Way astrology… anyway…I’m Terrance, she’s Meredith and that’s Stephen.”
Todd blinked as Terrence pushed a limp hand in his direction. He lowered the gun.
Terrence sidestepped him and gasped. “Is this…don’t tell me….” He moved towards Gladys and the baby. “Oh…he…is…adorable. Meredith, come and see Baby Jesus.”
Todd whirled and stared at Maria. She shook her head and shrugged. “Wait a minute,” Todd said. “How did you find—"
“Are you the child’s mother?” Terrance said, interrupting Todd.
Gladys giggled. “Oh no, Maria is the child’s mother.”
“Oh my,” Terrance said, looking down at Maria. “Aren’t you the pretty one? Of course you are…your name is Maria? Isn’t that funny, I guess that makes you Joseph….” He turned to look at Todd.
“No,” Todd said slowly. “I’m Todd….” He turned and glared at Maria, who was staring back. “Wait a minute!” Todd yelled, suddenly taking charge. “How did you happen to find us? How did you know we were here?”
“It was easy,” Terrance said. “We spotted the first house cusp. We knew that Jupiter was 13° Libra, which would place it in the 12th house…oh what am I saying, this is gibberish to you. Suffice it to say, the stars told us that the Christ child would be re-born today. We knew the asteroid was supposed to hit here in Omaha-”
“Shuddup!” Todd hollered blinking. “Just…shuddup! You’re telling me you used astrology to find this place…this very barn?”
“Well, I mean, no one is that good are they?” Terrence said. “Actually, we knew the baby had to be born where the asteroid was gonna hit, but of course, that could be anywhere in Nebraska…I mean, goodness…where on earth are you gonna begin to look for—”
“Get to the point!” Todd yelled. “How did you know we were in this barn?”
“We saw you in Nebraska City,” Meredith said, breaking her long silence. “You drove right past us. We followed you here.”
“I’m picking up a pattern here,” Louis said. “You’re saying you knew the asteroid was supposed to hit here, but you knew it wouldn’t.”
Terrance grinned. “Yes, that’s right. You’re catching on.”
“You took the asteroid as a sign.”
“Keep going…keep going.”
“In other words, you followed the star.”
“Bingo!” Terrence sang.
“Ha, I knew it,” Louis said, clapping his hands together. “Do you remember where the historical Jesus was born?”
Terrance gasped, “Isn’t that strange? What a coincidence!”
“What are you people even talking about?” Todd said, completely confused.
“Do you remember where Jesus was born?” Louis repeated, looking at Todd.
“In Bethlehem!”
“In a stable,” Maria said, grinning.
Louis smiled and pointed at Maria. “He was born in a stable or as we like to call it, a barn.”
Todd stared at Louis. “That is strange isn’t it?”
Maria looked up and shouted. “Wait a minute, wait a minute…everybody stop!
The barn instantly quieted. br />
There’s something you all should know.” She paused a moment, obviously pondering the implications. “I’m a virgin,” she said softly.
Terrence howled with laughter. “That’s a good one. Wouldn’t that be funny—” His face dropped as he considered the serious faces staring back at him. “Come on…I mean…how could—"
“It’s true,” Todd said. “Maria is a virgin.”
Terrance frowned and put his hand to his mouth. “You’re not saying…” He pointed towards the roof.
“Oh, of course not,” Louis said.
“Oh thank God.” Terrance said, giggling.
“The baby was cloned…” Louis said flatly.
“Oh,” Terrence answered. “He was clo….” Confusion reappeared on his face.
“We have something for the child,” Meredith said. “We hope it won’t be too…thespian… It just seemed like the right thing to do.”
Gladys leaned down and laid the baby in his mother’s arms. “I think it's a wonderful thing,” she said, kneeling in front of Maria. “Come over here Louis,” she commanded. Louis moved to her side and knelt next to her.
Meredith moved forward, knelt and produced a small package from her clothing. She unraveled it and pulled out three large gold coins. “What’s the child’s name?” she asked.
“Joshua,” Maria said. “His name is Joshua.”
“Perfect,” Meredith said, “a beautiful name for a beautiful child… The stars told us of the birth of this child,” she continued solemnly. “They also tell us who he will be…his destiny. I give Joshua gold, representing his office…the king of kings and the lord of lords.”
Todd stood back, staring into the surreal scene.
Stephen moved forward and knelt in front of Maria. He pulled a small ornamental box from under his loose clothing, opened it, and spilled a number of large yellow orbs into the palm of his hand. “I give Joshua the tears of frankincense, representing his divinity.”
Maria looked up at Todd, tears flowing down her face.
Terrence moved forward and knelt in front of her. He produced a box filled with smaller, lighter orbs and poured them in his hand. “Myrrh was a sacred and valued commodity of the ancient world,” he said. “It was used to anoint the heads of kings, embalm the dead and perfume fabrics for holy places…I give Joshua the tears of myrrh, representing his manhood.”
Todd could feel the ghosts of another time and place moving within the dark cavernous barn. A new chapter in the story of mankind was about to be written. He knew the world would never be the same again.