Thomas Koloniar - Cannibal Reign

He took a brand new pay-as-you-go phone from his pocket and dialed Susan Denton’s number, realizing he was taking a risk.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Hey, it’s me,” he said, relieved to hear her voice. “You okay?”

“Marty, where are you? You have to come back.”

“No can do, Sue. I only called to make sure you were okay.”

“I’ve signed a confidentiality agreement,” she said. “Linda said you’ll get the same deal if you come back.”

He snorted. “Sure, I will. Listen, I gotta go. They might be listening. Talk to you soon.”

“But Marty—”

He tucked it back into his pocket and moved off through the shadows. Creeping along between the houses, he made his way through several backyards and over fences. In the night, no one noticed him except for a dog barking in a kennel. Arriving at Ester’s back porch, he waited several moments to be sure no one was watching, then knocked at the door. A short time later the back porch light came on and Ester peered out the window. She was of medium height and wore her long gray hair in a single braid that came over her shoulder. Her grayish eyes were keen and alert, just like the photo on the back cover of her book, only older.

“Who the hell are you?” she said.

“My name is Martin Chittenden. I’m an astronomer with the Mesa Station Observatory in Flagstaff. I’m here because I need your help. I know you from your college textbook— Heavenly Bodies and Their Origins .”

Ester Thorn opened the inside door and stood leaning on her black lacquered cane. She looked him over and said, “Why the hell are you at my back door?”

“Because I don’t want anyone to see me,” he said. “Mrs. Thorn, I need to talk to you about an NEO that’s going to collide with the Earth in eighty-six days.”

“An NEO?” she said, visibly confused. “Why don’t you want anyone to see you?”

“Because the government is trying to keep it a secret. Mrs. Thorn, if you’ll just give me five minutes of your time, I can explain.”

After deciding that Marty looked a little too soft to be a dangerous criminal, Ester unlocked the storm door and let him in. “You try anything, boy, and I’ll crack you over the head with this thing.” She gestured with the cane.

“No ma’am. I’m only here for your help. Honest.”

She led him into the kitchen, where they sat at the table. Ester put on her glasses and took a hard look at him in the light. “Boy, you need some sun.”

“Well, I burn easily,” he said. “And I’m usually asleep during the day.”

“Mm-hm. I remember those days well enough.” She sat back in her chair with her right hand propped on the cane. “I prefer sleeping nights now. It’s better for my constitution.”

“I’m sure it is,” he said.

“Is Ben Stafford still down there at Mesa Station?”

Marty shook his head. “I’ve never heard that name. He must’ve left before I was hired.”

“No, he didn’t,” she admitted. “I made him up.”

Marty smiled.

“What about Ben Gardner?”

“Now that’s a name I remember,” he said. “He retired a year before I came on.”

“So you drove all the way to Idaho just to see little old me, eh?”

“I sure did.”

“Well, I don’t know whether I can help you,” she said. “There have been so many discoveries since I retired, I’m not sure I even speak the language these days.”

“I’m sure you speak the language as well as ever, Mrs. Thorn. I’ve—”

“Call me Ester. Will Thorn died twenty-five years ago.”

“Okay, Ester,” he said, smiling. “So this might be a little hard to believe, but two months ago I spotted an asteroid that has turned out to be on a collision course with Earth. It’s—”

“Which class?”

“M-class, mostly iron.” He was glad she was still sharp-witted. “And after making sure that it was definitely going to hit us, I took my—”

“How big is it?”

“Three point two kilometers across at its widest point,” he said patiently. “And it’s tumbling on three different axes.”

“All three, eh? It must’ve hit something pretty hard,” she muttered. “When did you say it was due?”

“It’s due to hit North America in eighty-six days.”

“Velocity?”

“It’s fast,” he said. “Thirty miles a second.”

Ester made a face. “That’s pretty fast for an asteroid,” she said thoughtfully. “It can’t be coming from the belt.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s coming from the high north, almost straight down from the pole, not quite, but close.”

“So it’s coming from the Great Beyond, then,” she said.

“I believe so,” he said, recalling the term Great Beyond from her book.

“I’m not surprised so few have seen it, nor that the government wants to keep it a secret. How do you know they know?”

“Because there are two agents parked up the block watching your house.”

Ester looked more taken aback over that than she had over the asteroid. “You’re kidding.”

“I wish I was. I took my findings over to JPL, and it turned out they already knew. Now they want to keep me quiet.”

“So what do you want from me?”

“Advice.”

“On what?”

“On how to take it public. The people have a right to know.”

She looked at him. “Boy, do you know how stupid the people are?”

“I suppose I do, but they deserve a chance, don’t they? I know it’s going to create chaos, but chaos is inevitable. At least if the world is told beforehand, some people will be able to prepare.”

“Oh, well, some people are preparing. You can safely believe that. The wealthiest passengers always get first crack at the lifeboats.”

“I guess that’s the part I don’t like,” he said. “The passengers in steerage deserve the same chance.”

Ester smiled. “You do know that it won’t much matter, don’t you? Mankind is only barely going to survive this—and only the most barbaric of us at that. It’s going to be a lot like starting over from the Bronze Age… only much less civilized.”

“But if we can get word out now,” he said in earnest, “there are people out there with the resources to manage civilized attempts.”

“And they’ll be hunted by the barbarians,” Ester persisted. “But you’re right. A few pockets of civilized people might make it through if they’re able to find a way to feed and defend themselves.”

Marty grimaced. He had conjured a number of repugnant scenarios in his imagination over the past few weeks, but hadn’t yet thought in terms of people hunting people.

“Do you know anyone we can go to?” he asked. “Someone with access to a telescope who can verify my findings and take them to the media? All of my personal colleagues are being watched.”

“I know one or two old-timers still in the business, but that’s not really the problem. The problem is how do I contact them without those government boys knowing about it? I’m an old woman, you know. If they see me suddenly driving off to the airport, they’re going to know something is cooking.”

“And they’re probably tapped into your phone so you can’t call anyone either. We need to think of a way to make them lose interest in you.”

“Well, that’s easy. Get caught.”

“Get caught?” Marty asked doubtfully.

“Sure. After they’ve got you, they’ll forget all about me, and I’ll be able to go wherever I need to without them knowing anything at all.”

“I wonder if they’d take me back to JPL or stick me in some secret government prison.”

“Regardless,” Ester said, “after the asteroid goes public, there won’t be any reason for them to hold you.”