Fotonchev
Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
“Come on darling, turned off the TV and come to eat your breakfast. We’ll be late for school again!” the mother’s voice rose like a bird in flight, then descended rapidly.
“Val, can you hear me, stop clicking the remote. Quickly – come – here!” said Jana with indignation, losing her patience, her last words a staccato.
“Mom, it’s so interesting, come and see! That’s all everyone is talking about!”
An irritated Jana walked to the living room where she could hear the journalist’s live commentary.
“Valentina, I think you will be in serious trouble if you do not come right now!” she burst in angrily but froze in front of the TV.
On the screen was a huge sign reading EXCLUSIVE in red letters. Apparently the journalist was in a field. Something very strange loomed in the distance. It looked like a giant pole stuck in the ground. The camera tried to capture it but it was so high that it disappeared into the clouds. They were filming from a distance and it couldn’t be seen very well, but the view was impressive and at the same time frightening. Jana listened to the comments:
“... As reported earlier, this morning at ten past four an unidentified space object crashed into the ground near Derby, North Dakota, causing an earthquake of low magnitude that was felt throughout the United States and Canada.”
Jana remembered the slight tremor that had awakened them.
“Most scientists we spoke with were adamant that an asteroid this size should cause the end of the World if it collides with full speed. What do you say on the subject, Professor Brown?” The camera turned to a rather unsightly dressed man with glasses, whose forehead dripped a shameless trickle of sweat that cared not of the millions of viewers.
“Indeed so, an asteroid of this size would cause a global catastrophe. You know how the dinosaurs died out, I suppose? Imagine an asteroid with a diameter of between 10 and 30 kilometers, moving at a speed exceeding 10 kilometers per second. The collision would cause a massive explosion, melting, evaporation and discharge into the atmosphere of a huge amount of rocks, accompanied by powerful movements of the earth’s crust, tsunamis over 300 meters high (in the event that it fell in the oceans), and widespread fires. Earthquakes of magnitude more than 10 on the Richter scale, landslides of continental scale... The consequences of the asteroid impact on Earth were billions of times more destructive than the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. At the same time the release of sulfur, dust and soot into the atmosphere caused a very long winter throughout the planet and destroyed about half of the species. But what we see behind us seems to have never developed its full speed and a serious blow did not occur. We, as scientists, have no explanation for this, not to mention that no one had been warned by the authorities of the existence of such a giant asteroid close to Earth...”
“Thank you, Professor,” interrupted the journalist. “So far we have no information about casualties and destruction but these are not final figures, as the area was sealed off by the military. Unfortunately we did not get any response to our questions. The only thing we were given is the assurance that when they have more information, it will be communicated in due course. The question everyone’s asking is but one – if the object is not an asteroid, then what is that behind us? Reporting live from the scene...”
Jana turned off the TV and sat on the sofa, trembling. Her legs could not hold her up. She was trying to grasp the magnitude of what they had just seen but her mind refused to accept it. A hot wave flushed through her despite the morning breeze coming from the window.
“What was that, Mom?” Valentina interrupted her thoughts.
“I don’t know, Baby, I don’t know. Everyone says that it must be an asteroid, but it seems that no one is sure.”
Valentina thought long and hard about what she had just seen.
“Mom, does it mean that we would soon die?” the worried child asked suddenly, watching intently.
Jana was startled by the question and almost jumped off the couch.
“No, dear, no one is going to die. Don’t worry, everything is fine. I am here and I will not let anything happen to you,” she said and, in an outburst of maternal love, she grabbed Val and squeezed her tightly. But her intuition was saying that nothing is fine. She was no longer sure if she could keep her promise.
***
Sleep! Shock! Darkness! They felt. They knew. Another trip was completed. They traveled a long time, why did they even travel? Should they continue? Or stay. Only thoughts betrayed their questions and worries. They were not awake, not yet. There was time still. But soon!