“Oh wow, it’s so beautiful!”
“It’s the view of the century! We’ll never get a viewing like this again in our lifetime!”
Pamela put her phone down and rubbed her hands over her face. She had just been watching videos of Comet Skade, which had arrived a day earlier. It flew across the sky in a beautiful white and blue glow, illuminating the sky. It left behind a trail of dust that slowly disappeared as it passed by.
She wasn’t able to see it because she was working, but she did keep tabs on it. The reason she had rubbed her hands over her face was because that her systems detected something in the sky that evening. She couldn’t figure out what it was at first, then she looked closer. It was a rapidly developing low-pressure storm 100 miles off the coast of New York. White, purple, and blue. As it moved away from New York, it began to change color as it went south. Dark red, orange, green. It was moving slowly towards Ohio at 20 miles an hour. Pamela shrugged. She was concerned, but decided to check in the morning. She needed to get working on other things.
The next day, Pamela looked at the computer monitor again. She saw that the storm had increased in size at least twice, and its speed had also sped up. It would be at the coast of California that morning, by her predictions.
On a hunch, Pamela decided to look at where the comet had been. It’d been over the Pacific Ocean in Hawaii, but was visible for everyone to see. Passing by only a million miles, it was bright and passed by safely. But in its path, particles were left behind and didn’t disperse like they should’ve. What? That doesn’t look normal.
Pamela recorded her findings. Then she logged off her computer.
That night, she couldn’t sleep. Thoughts from work and the comet filled her mind, and Pamela tossed and turned. All night, she couldn’t help asking herself. What exactly was that anomaly? And what does it mean? Eventually, at around 3am, Pamela fell asleep.
The morning sun woke her up early. She checked her phone. It was 6 in the morning. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, Pamela walked over to the window. She drew the curtain, and she almost breathed out a sigh of relief. The sky was clear that morning, with the sun just peaking over the horizon. However, it was short-lived as she considered the direction of the storm. The coast of California. I gotta check the news. Pamela googled the weather and immediately checked California. They had gotten an extremely rare atmospheric river. It flooded three-quarters of the state. People scrambled to get through the waters, and the power was out for over 2 million people. Pamela threw on some clothes and ran to check her computer. As she did so, she got a call. Pamela picked it up.
”Hello?”
“Pam, it’s Rob. This isn’t good. Big storm in California. Any idea where it came from?”
“No, but I have a hunch. Come over as soon as you can.”
“Alright. I’ll see you when I come over.” Click.
Pamela leaned back in her chair. I haven’t had a case like this… in well, I don’t know if I have. She looked over at her kitchen. Might as well make something before Robert gets here. We have a lot of analyzing and categorizing to do. I hope this isn’t what I think it is.
About an hour later, Robert arrived at Pam’s house. He gingerly walked up the steps and knocked on her door before stepping back. About a moment later, she opened the door, and Robert stepped inside. Pam gestured for him to put his coat on the rack before telling him to follow her to the back, where she worked. Pam’s workspace included two large computer monitors and the other junk she had lying on her desk. She sat down, pawing away some of the papers from the keyboard, and logged in.
Robert pulled a chair over and sat next to her. The computer images flickered to life, and he saw what Pam had been looking at all morning. The anomaly.
Robert looked over at it, eyebrows raising.
“It’s definitely….unusual,” he said thoughtfully. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a storm act like this oddly. Last time was…well, it was 30 years ago.” “It caused freak weather that didn’t make sense.”
“Do you know what caused it?” Pam asked.
Robert leaned over the computer more.
“They never were able to find out the cause. Some say it’s government weather engineering.” He shrugged.
“We’ll never know.” Pam managed a smile at that.
Then he turned to her again.
“What did you say your hunch was?”
Pam stared at the screen, then back at her partner.
“You saw that comet yesterday, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I did,” he replied. Pam swallowed.
“Rob..I think…I think the comet is causing this.”
Silence.
Robert scratched his face in thought.
“I don’t know Pam, but any theory is good.”
Both of the scientists nodded before looking at each other again.
“Hey, do you want some lunch? I figure that we’ll be here a while,” Pam said.
“Sure, what do you have?”
The superstorm had made its rounds across the Great Plains. A giant derecho ripped its way across three states, causing massive damage. Pamela chopped on her sandwich, studying the comet’s path and where it had been. Rob looked over the computer. He pointed.
“It went across the Pacific, and then Hawaii, and then California.”
“But then look,” Pam said. There are particles left over that didn’t disappear like they should’ve.” Robert looked concerned about that, but tried to hide it.
Over the next few days, the scientists pored over and watched the storm. It grew bigger and bigger. Then, as it began to sweep over Texas, it suddenly changed direction to the Gulf. She watched as it moved away. She couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Robert shared her disposition.
8 months later.
Pamela rushed across Hobby Lobby, trying to get everything she needed for the holidays. Between work and her family, she was swamped. Robert was working overtime, reporting on the weather for the next few months. His favorite time of the year. I bet he’s having way more fun than I right now. When Pamela got what she needed and walked out the door, she stopped for a moment. It was November in Boston, so it was colder. As she stepped outside, the cold bit into her skin. Pamela took a breath before walking. I guess I’m not as hardy as I used to be. Hell, I am 45 after all. She walked to her car and put her things inside. As she was about to drive away, she got a phone call. It was from Robert. She picked it up, expecting him to talk about how excited he was about his work.
When he picked up, his voice sounded serious. A chill of fear ran through Pam, but she tried to stay calm.
“Pam, we need to meet right now.”
Pamela drove home as quickly as possible. Anxiety flooded her mind as she thought about what it was. There’s no way it’s what I’m thinking…right? She set her stuff down. Then she headed over to her computer to look at the map of where the storm was. It took her a minute to find it, and when she pulled it up, her mouth dropped to the floor. The storm’s proximity had grown so massive. Purple, white, blue, and gray all reached across the United States, slowly creeping upon each state with an icy grip. She looked closer, and she saw it. Specks of something that shouldn’t have been there. It was back.
Her heart pounding, she waited for Rob to get there. When he finally did, she threw open the door. There were no pleasantries of greeting this time. She ushered him inside, and they both looked at the computer.
With a shaking finger, Pamela pointed to the specks she saw. Robert’s eyes widened, and he put a hand over his mouth.
“That’s…the white specks I saw from the comet. I-” He looked at her.
“Pam, we need to call NOAA immediately. This is….” he trailed off.
Pamela dialed the number. But there was no answer. Just a busy signal.
She slammed the receiver down and buried her face in her hands. Rob wrapped his arms around her and held her, without saying a word.
The next day, Robert got word that the storm had begun to engulf the entire West Coast. There were several winter storm warnings and multiple power outages. A deep freeze began to creep slowly across the landscape, dragging an icy sword across it.
After a few more calls, Pamela and Robert got through. Rob explained the situation. Once he did, they told them to come immediately. They apologized profusely for not calling back. Get here now. This is an emergency situation.
So, both scientists drove there as fast as possible.
An hour later, they arrived at the NOAA headquarters and were escorted inside by men in black uniforms. The president greeted them with a polite but nervous expression.
“Come with me.” Pam and Rob made their way down to a room. The president sat down and clicked on a computer.
“Look at this.”
Both Rob and Pam let out gasps of horror. The storm had grown so massive that it covered almost the entire United States. Pam had to look again to make sure her eyes didn’t deceive her. She looked desperately at the president, who gave a similarly somber expression.
“What can we do?”
He took off his glasses and frowned. Pam braced herself.
“It was as we feared. Comet Skade’s tail was unstable and broke apart when it entered the atmosphere. The dust left behind mixed with the low-pressure system that was already developing.” He sighed.
“At this point, we have limited options. We don’t have much time. If we don’t do something, that storm will completely engulf the United States by midnight tonight.”
Pam was stunned, and she stared helplessly. Rob didn’t know what to say. But the president was already two steps ahead.
“Given the hours we have left before we lose power, we have no choice. We need to do the nuclear option.”
Pam stared.
“No, no. That’s too dangerous!” But the president ignored her.
As the freeze continued its icy sweep across the United States, the rocket launched into the air. It went into the clouds. A few moments later, an orange glow emerged as it blew up the clouds. The remaining pieces flew across the sky in a blaze of red and blue colors, speeding towards Boston. It sped up rapidly as the heat from the rising air temperature pushed it. Then, as it reached the city, the pieces broke off and landed on the earth. The night sky was clear, with no clouds, as the rocket piece made its way towards the field. Then, one last piece dropped down towards a neighborhood and impacted the ground. Like an array of falling flowers from the sky above.
Helenmollybooks 