Chapter 10:

Bleed Italian

William ran his fingers over the slick pages of the book. The dual senses of wonder and longing washed over him as he studied picture after beautiful picture. From one page of the over-sized book to the next, William witnessed the idealizing of a nation: the sun over the topaz Mediterranean on a cloudless day, the ancient Imperial Forum meshed with modern traffic, the snow capped Italian Alps fronted by vineyards before harvest. The pictures were sharp, grabbing, inspired, all things good, as one would hope in such a book; and the information was interesting, intelligent, and brief. Truly, the book was riveting.

“I’m not really seeing the point here,” admitted Valerie, standing in the door to his office, her look inquisitive.

William offered a pained smile, “Emily asked me to pick up a book, and I just happened to find this too.”

“Yeah? What’s she reading now?” Valerie asked.

“I got her a new Sebastian Sinclair, and some new gossip book about Herbert Nathaniel Marvelous,” William shrugged.

“The old boxer?” Valerie asked, then shook off the question. She only feigned interest as she wondered at Emily’s voracious and eclectic appetite. “How is she?” Valerie changed the subject.

“Good. Really good. Her mom flies in on Friday, so she’s excited about that.”

“Just in time for you to leave,” Valerie noted.

“Yeah.” William said, scrunching his face. “If you didn’t know better, you’d think I did it on purpose.” This was far from the truth, in fact. William was blessed with possibly the best in-laws ever. He’d never openly admit it, but he liked her parents more than his own.

“Speaking of leaving, you finished churning out scenarios?”

“Pretty much,” William said as he sat straight. “I had a few new variations I wanted to work.”

And now the two were on the only subject they really talked about anymore. William still couldn’t believe it, still couldn’t come to grips with what they’d discovered. It seemed so far fetched, so out of the movies. Upon first discovering the rock, William figured they’d all be dead in days, the world obliterated, shattered and strewn through space.

Equally alarmed, but far more steady, Valerie worked with him every step, correcting his mistakes, feeding him ideas and simply doing good work. Together, they triangulated the asteroid’s position, velocity and whatnot, double checking with associates, verifying that the rock would indeed impact; and then working on the where, when, and with how much force. Considering that it was small and still so far out, William was surprised he’d ever seen it. With independent verification came all sorts of official protocols, people to notify, and not surprisingly, a gag order from the Pentagon. They also received a moniker for this rock from officials at NEAR: they were calling it Lucifer 6.

Yet, despite the dramatic discovery, the feverish first days, this calamity was playing out in a rather mundane fashion. When things were known, when measurements were taken, when the calculations were all calculated, the asteroid proved to be pretty far out. They had seven months to devise a solution, seven months before this rock punched a hole in the Mediterranean Sea, just east of Sardinia.

The rock was small, the damage anticipated was much lighter than initially conceived. It wouldn’t destroy the world. It wasn’t a planet killer, just a crippler, like getting shot in the knee. They were calling it ‘localized damage’. Some joked that it wouldn’t do anything more than burn up a lot of ocean water and kill a bunch of fish.

Still gleaning information, William and Valerie checked and double checked their findings: composition, shape, velocity, density... Soon, they had scenarios running, calculating what would happen, why and how. Initially, William thought this would pan out to be a snipe hunt, a red herring, a little bang in a big pond. False alarm people, good work getting all the information out, but forget-about-it. Not only are we going to live, but most of the world will never know anything happened. Just don’t go fishing off Sardinia on May 28. The weather will be a little rocky.

But the numbers came back bigger than expected. Who knew such a little rock could do so much damage? The people at NEAR were certainly concerned. They asked for all sorts of scenarios. Endless calculations, and since William and Valerie were tapped to produce the numbers, they had all the scary information first hand.

William and Valerie ran on in horrified fascination. They adjusted the variables, modified for a land impact instead of water, adjusted density settings up and down to give them a better scale. As for a solution—well—they had no idea. They were astronomers, after all, not engineers. Besides, asteroids weren’t their field. They did deep space. They were studying nebulae, star clusters, and galaxy dynamics when they happened to trip on Lucifer 6. Still, they calculated everything they could think of, keeping what they were doing as hushed as they could. They were only too happy to comply with the gag order. What would they say anyway? How do you tell family and friends you’ve discovered the end of the world? No, William wasn’t looking forward to telling Emily, and now, thanks to the Pentagon, he didn’t have to.

But Emily noticed. She was bound to, what with the long hours and the sudden tension in her husband’s face. William told her in generalities. He let her know they’d stumbled onto something, that it was a matter of interest to the government, that he wasn’t allowed to talk about it right now, and that he supported the confidentiality.

She took it in stride, kissing him on the cheek as he made his way out the door. “Say hi to your aliens,” she quipped with a smile.

That little action did a lot to ease his mind. Emily was always so good at small, impacting gestures.

William checked his watch. He had four more hours before they flew out for Washington DC. Officials wanted to see them in the flesh. They wanted answers in person, and so, William and Valerie were going to the Capitol to tell what they knew. They had a jammed itinerary. On Day Two they had twenty minutes with the President.

William turned to the printer, which was still spewing out pages. They wouldn’t need all this, he knew, but they’d bring it just in case they had any troubles with the laptops. Unnecessary, perhaps, but it eased his mind. The steady, familiar whiz of the printer had a calming affect.

“You ready for all this?” Valerie asked as he stuffed his briefcase.

William, shook his head. “No,” he confirmed.

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