Christopher Golde

          Chapter sixty eight
                   The Comet

When he opened the sixth seal,                 

I looked, and there came a great earthquake;                                      The sun became black as sackcloth,

The full moon became like blood,

And the stars of the sky fell to the earth.                                       


 John                                  Revelation 6.12

Date:               12th January 2005                                            Location:         Cape Canaveral, USA

 

 

             Nigel Stansen greeted Jason as he walked into the Mission Control room.             

              “No doubt your first space launch,” he beamed?         
              “Yes Nigel my first space launch,” replied Jason. 

He was not surprised that a scientist would be so excited to be front and centre at a space launch. He had to admit he could feel the energy in the room and he guessed it was a special privilege to be allowed to be in the room.

              “You have not explained yet why exactly it is that you wanted me to be here for a space launch,” Jason added. 

Nigel turned fully to face Jason, changing his smile to a more serious professional look.             

              “Yes it is time to share it with you,” he said, almost apologetically. “Come we still have thirty minutes to lift off, let’s go somewhere quiet.” 

They had been standing at the back of what NASA called the Mission Control Room and there was a considerable noise as the preparation continued towards launch time. Nigel indicated for Jason to follow him and led the way towards a meeting room off to the side of the control room. 

Once they entered and Nigel closed the door the noise evaporated immediately. 

              “That’s better,” said Nigel, “have a seat, Jason.” 

Both men sat down at a small meeting table. The wall of the Mission Control Room was glass, so they could both still see everything that was happening, just not hear it anymore. The room was obviously completely soundproof. 

Jason sat looking expectantly at the English professor. 

              “The last time we actually met was in Australia, a couple of days after the earthquakes and tsunamis had devastated a huge part of South East Asia and as we know now, killed about a quarter of a million people.” 

Jason just nodded quietly, remembering how his vision had come to be so true. 

              “Since then,” continued the professor, “you know we have been making plans on a global scale to prepare for the likelihood that now it will come to be that your other visions will also be correct. We are building early warning devices along coastlines all around the world, we are building a Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer satellite which should be circling the planet in about two to three more years, so we can get even earlier and more accurate information about earthquakes and then there is the ‘Time Capsule Project.” 

Jason nodded, aware and involved in all of these projects.

              “You also know that Gatwick has invested billions into these projects, as so have many of the world’s governments and major corporations, but you also know we cannot tell the rest of the world we are doing this all based on a vision of prophecy. Apart from global hysteria and massive population shifts that might occur, it would cause a massive religious shift and could impact on you and your life to a point where you could not help us.” 

Jason also understood this. They had about twenty years to change the world without the world even being aware of a change to try and save as many lives as possible and they had to deal with not having any specific data on what was likely to happen. 

              “I have not told you the following because I believed you have had enough to deal with and in reality, there is nothing till now we could do about it.” 

Jason looked at him puzzled. 

              “As you know, we have been for the last forty-odd years of my life, chasing large metal balls I call time travellers. For some reason, your world and your prophecies have collided with my world of these time travelling balls of information from the future, or I should say from the future of an alternate dimension that exists parallel to ours and influences ours and vice versa.” 

Jason again nodded. 

              “The last ball you found was the largest, and it had been buried under a temple that was pivotal to your whole prophecy lineage as well. Apart from you finding the orb at the bottom of the Pacific and having your experience in Australia at Uluru, this was the first time prophecy and science had collided. The outcome was much more disturbing than anything else we had ever discovered. That Orb was sent to warn us that an asteroid was on a collision course with Earth.” 

Nigel paused watching the expression on Jason’s face. Jason did not move. More than likely it was because he was in shock, Nigel thought. 

              “Jason, this could be even worse than your prophecy. They are warning us about what could potentially be a global extinction event.” 

Jason just sat there and said nothing. 

              “It’s not all bad though and it is amazing how it has tied in with everything we were doing about your prophecy.” 

              “Not all bad,” exclaimed Jason, incredulously?

              “Well,” continued Nigel, “we at least now know. If we had not had the warning, it may have been detected too late. We do have a program that watches for these space objects approaching near Earth but it had not been picked up because it actually passes the Earth harmlessly the first six times, slingshotting around the Sun each time. What we discovered after the warning and with closer examination, is that after the sixth rotation, it then collides with a smaller asteroid and is redirected onto a collision course with Earth. We would not have noticed it for years and just as our inter-dimensional future fathers discovered it too late to do anything about it, we also could have been doomed to extinction. The only thing they have been able to do is to warn us and hope we have enough time to maybe do something about it.” 

Nigel was silent for a while and Jason sat there looking grave.
              “So today is what,” Jason finally broke the silence?

Nigel looked relieved that Jason seemed ready to start dealing with the situation.       

              “Today we are launching a spacecraft we call ‘Deep Impact’ towards a harmless Comet we have named, or I should say, our German counterparts have named ‘Tempel 1’ in honour of the Temple we discovered the Time Traveller under. In fact, if you think of it, the very first message that started this whole journey was in the temple Abu Simbel, so quite appropriate really.” 

Jason just nodded still in deep thought. 

              “The plan is to impact Comet Tempel 1,” continued Nigel, “with a three hundred and seventy-kilo mass. On impact, the crater produced is expected to range in size from that of a house to that of a football stadium, and two to fourteen stories deep. The effects of the collision with the comet will also be observable from certain locations on Earth. It is the first step in understanding how we can deal with the pending collision with Earth of the asteroid Apophis.”

              “How long have we got before Apophis is scheduled to hit,” asked Jason, looking out at the control centre.

              “Well at this stage the future scientists and our data indicate between 2036 and 2046,” answered the professor.

              “Why such a big margin for error,” asked Jason, looking back at Nigel?

              “Well we are not sure, it is just that our calculations say 2036 but their warnings say 2046. We are not sure why at this time.”

              “And your thoughts on avoiding catastrophe,” asked Jason, as he stood from the table?

              “With twenty years I think the chances are good. With thirty years I think they are excellent.” Nigel stood as well and they both walked to the door.

Just before Jason opened the door, he turned to Nigel.

              “At least we will have the Time Capsules in place for the first disasters if you are wrong.”

Nigel just nodded and before he could reply Jason opened the door and the buzz of the control room greeted them. It was now only thirty seconds till launch.