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SENTINEL ASTEROID TRACKING SATELLITE, LOCATED BETWEEN THE SUN AND THE PLANET.
Since his discovery, Keven Sterling spends most of his time at his desk in the monitoring station. The footage he sent to his friends on the Internet gets hits and comments from people all over the world he doesn’t even know. Many of them ask him to name it the Sterling Asteroid, after himself, but he refuses. Instead, he names it Emerald 101, because of its green color. He looks up when a woman wearing an Air Force Officer’s uniform walks in. She appears to be in her late forties, and she extends her hand and smiles as she walks over to greet him.
“Hello, Mister Sterling. I’m Captain Sheri Larson.”
“Is this an official visit?”
“Yes and no. You know, you’re creating quite a stir on social media.”
“So I’ve noticed. It’s the most fun I’ve had in years. I’ve got more followers now than ever before.”
“Please tell me more about this Sentinel satellite, and how it managed to discover this unusual asteroid.”
Keven brings up the streaming video feed from Sentinel on the monitor. “Sentinel is orbiting around our sun, always keeping its telescope pointed out across the universe. That way it can sense the temperature difference between warm asteroids heated by the sun, against a cold background of space. Sentinel is designed to determine the speed and trajectory of any large object. As luck would have it, its telescope was pointed at our sector of space when it detected an unusual object. When Sentinel determined it was shooting across our small piece of the universe, it let me know about it.”
“Will it keep watching the asteroid, or is it programmed to move on to another sector?”
“Last night I gave the command to stay on this quadrant, which will take a few months to search, so we can continue following this asteroid’s trajectory.”
Keven’s phone rings and he recognizes the image of his friend at JPL. He looks at Larson. “Excuse me a minute.” He steps away and answers. “Hey, Jadin. What’s going on?”
“I’m sorry I took so long to get back to you with the information on your jewel. I just received a call from my team in Pasadena, and I just sent you the digital composition of the asteroid. It’s raw emerald on the outside, with a solid gold core, so it has a tremendous mass.”
A knot forms in Keven’s stomach. He enters the information into Sentinel and the computer crunches the numbers. When the updated trajectory appears on the monitor, his jaw drops. “Good grief! We’re in deep trouble, Jadin. I have an Air Force representative with me right now, and I think both of you should hear what I have to say.”
“Is it Captain Larson?”
“Yes, do you know her?”
“I do. Put me on video conference.”
Keven rolls another chair over on his way back to his monitoring station and indicates for Larson to sit down. He enters a command and Jadin’s face appears on the monitor.
Sheri smiles. “Hello, Jadin. From Mister Sterling’s expression, something has changed.”
“That’s correct. How bad is it, Keven?”
“Sentinel’s early estimated trajectory was wrong, because we didn’t know the asteroid’s exact composition. I hate to say this, but the damned gold rock is going to change direction when it passes by Jupiter.”
“Do you know if it will come close to us?”
Keven gives Jadin and Larson a grim expression. “I’m afraid so. The gravitational attraction of both objects will alter its course enough to sling it on a new trajectory. Even though it won’t hit us straight on, it’s traveling at 800,000 miles-per-hour, and it will clip the edge of the Earth with enough force to send shockwaves through the planet. Entire continents will be ripped apart, and thousands of volcanic eruptions will cover the surface in lava and ash.”
No one speaks until Larson breaks the silence. “How much time do we have?”
“Six days.”
Jadin can’t believe this is happening. It’s one crisis after another. “That’s not much time, Keven. Do you know which areas will receive the worst impact?”
“I do. Central Europe, but it doesn’t matter. When it ricochets off the side of our planet like a pool ball, nothing will survive.”
Sheri stands and grabs her purse off the desk. “I need you to stop posting video clips on the Internet. As of right now, this has become classified at the absolute highest level. Excuse me while I call this in. I’ll be right back.” She turns and hurries out through the front door.
Keven looks at Jadin. “Who does she work for?”
“It changes, but at the moment, she’s working for the Director of National Security.”
Keven leans back in his chair. “I guess that means she has some clout, for whatever good it will do us.”
“Well, I have a little clout myself, so let’s see what develops.”
“It doesn’t matter how much clout you have, Jadin. It just isn’t possible to stop an asteroid with that much mass.”
Sheri walks in and sits down. “I know Sentinel is privately funded, but I hope you understand that if word of this gets out, there will be mass hysteria.”
“Oh, I understand completely. So what’s the plan?”
“I’m heading back to Washington, D. C., and if you don’t mind, I’ll establish a secure link to your information from Sentinel. I’ll keep an eye on things from there.”
Keven gives her a nod. “Under the circumstances, do whatever you need to do.”
Sheri looks at Jadin. “That means both of you are now under a government gag order, so you’re prohibited from discussing this with anyone but me.”
Keven crosses his arms and leans back in his chair. “Now hold on a minute. I don’t own this facility. I only work here. My bosses are going to want to know about this.”
Sheri shakes her head no. “I need your full cooperation, Mister Sterling.” She can tell he doesn’t like being told what to do and changes tactics. “I’m sorry. It’s just that if news about a coming apocalypse should reach the public, people will panic. History has taught us a valuable lesson about what happens when civilizations are threatened. People can become very ugly when it comes to self-preservation. Remember a few years back when people went insane at the mere thought of our planet losing all its oil?”
“Yes, that was not pleasant at all. Don’t worry, I’ll keep it a secret as long as I can, Captain.”
Sheri stands and shakes Sterling’s hand. “Thank you.” She turns to the monitor. “Also, I have just been informed that your transfer has been approved, Jadin. So good luck to you.”
When Sheri leaves the building, Keven looks at Jadin. “What transfer?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you just yet.”
“All right. Good luck, my friend.”
“Thanks, Keven.”