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Saturday, September 1, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
It's Done.
Welcome my friends. My mind is open to you once more and I give you these insights.
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
If you like what you've seen so far the full book is now available on the Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/Blink-Eye-Scared-Earth-ebook/dp/B008XRICAC/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345041431&sr=1-2&keywords=blink+of+an+eye
Chapters 1 through 3 of Blink of an eye
Chapter 1
It
had felt like the last time the sun had shone on his stress wrinkled skin had
been another lifetime, in reality the sun had only been around hidden behind
clouds for a month at most but that fact was of little comfort to him as he
stared out of window. A month of heavy snowfall had clocked the city and
chocked the streets and roads which turned the proud and beautiful “City of
Embassies” into a veritable prison city with Mother Nature as guard, warden,
and on a few sadder cases executioner. After three power disruptions, two
structural faults, and approximately five deaths due to the blizzard he was
happy to greet the return of the sun as his ancestors had thousands of years
earlier when the world was frozen over and the land connected and thick sheets
turning once free waters to still and dead bridges, not to mention the endless
white blanket of snow had left him more than a little snow blind.
But
now as he rested his arm on the deceptively warm glass of the bank of windows
which looked over the city and were one of his office’s focal points, he caught
a clear glimpse of his wife and daughters playing with their dog. This brought
a slight smile to his weather worn face and that saddened him, only partial
smiles were playing on his face, never the full smiles he had worn only four
years before. In a weird way as he rested on the window his reflection scared
him, his own face looked foreign to him and that scared him more than the
closet when he was a child, the shadow of trees that came through his window
when the storms came or the wind blow.
A
strong knock took a firm hold on his mind and blew his thoughts out of his mind
and his introspection as he tried to focus his tired eyes on the white wooden
door. An official looking man with his pressed black suit and inner ear mike
held a stiff military grip on the open doors plan metal knob and though he came
across as relaxed his invisible eyes walled behind thick black glass and the
outline of his gun pressed against his the breast pocket of his sport coat gave
him and eerily dangerous air, behind that man entered another man and a well
dressed woman.
“Mr.
President.” The man said to forcibly inject calm into his otherwise quivering
voice, his own nervousness could not be more obvious if he had worn it as a
bright yellow dress with blinking neon lights. “This is Dr. Jennifer Cahill of
N.A.S.A.”
Dr.
Cahill extended her arm for the president who took a firm hold of her hand and
found her grip surpassingly strong and assertive, then waved her and the man
toward the couch opposite the one he sat upon. As they took their seats he
asked the question which burned into his mind like a brand. “So what’s this all
about Dr. Cahill?”
Dr.
Cahill adjusted her glasses on her slim ridge of a nose before she leaned over
the table and clicked her attaché case’s locks open. “In case you don’t know I
am an expert in astrophysics and asteroids, I hold two PhD’s on the subjects.”
She said completely without boasting, it was simply a way to inform the president
what she said she did not say lightly in the least. She took out two piles of
paper from her suit case, she handed one to each man and then took a calming
breath before she continued. “These photos are of an asteroid we have named
XRCT-3671.”
“You’ll
have to pardon my ignorance, but why is this so important, aren’t their
thousands of asteroids in space?”
“Well
Mr. President XRCT-3671 is around nine hundred and fifty kilometers in diameter
and is more or less spherical in shape, what’s more while there are thousands
of asteroids of this size floating all over space as we know, only this one is
on a course to intersect without solar system, in other words it’s proof of the
planet X theory.”
The
doctor’s words set a chill colder than the snow outside into the room and took
icy skeletal hand around the hearts of the two men.
The
president took a short shallow breath and took control of his lungs and took a
true breath and let them fill with the icy chill around his heart gave him a
hairs breath of comfort as the breath tried to shatter the cold around him and
return warmth to his blood. “Is there…,” he stopped his words for they shook as
they left his lips and he composed himself as best he could. “Is there any
chance that this could impact the Earth?”
Dr.
Cahill sighed as she took off her glasses and gave the bridge of her nose a
quick rub the way a headmaster would do before confronting a problem child for
the sixth time in as many days. In a way she was since she had been the one to
find XRCT-3671, and since then she had been doing briefing after briefing about
it and had been asked that same question more times than she cared to remember.
She put her glasses back on and locked her eyes on the president’s and held his
gaze in her own with vice like intensity. “To be honest Mr. President we only
have enough information to tell you there is a twenty five percent chance that
it will collide with us, but even at its current speed XRCT-3671 is still
around three too three and a half years out.”
“When
will we be able to focuses on this thing again?” The president asked truly
afraid of the answer to come.
“Around
July, August perhaps, it all depends on its speed and if it’s coming anywhere
near us.” Dr. Cahill estimated but tried to sooth the president and protect him
from the truth she already knew was most likely much bleaker, given when the
pictures were taken and the date they had gathered. “But I won’t be able to
tell if the impact probability will be over fifty percent until around this
time next year.”
“Are
the asteroid deflection plains we have in place in any way near enough to deal
with something of this size or this close?” The asteroid deflection plains and
processes the president was speaking of were just what you’d expect from a low
budget science fiction film. Things like solar sails attached the surface of
the asteroids or detonating a series of nuclear bombs in front of the path of
the asteroid to hopefully change its directions, but with an asteroid of this
size no solar sail on earth would ever big enough and to use nuclear weapons to
change its course would call for a highly choreographed launch and detonation
of every nuclear weapon on the entire planet, the number of variables with the
plain were mind bogglingly, least of the which was the size of the asteroid.
They had thought about trying to attach rocket motors to maneuver the asteroid
but they would need more fuel than the planet would be able to provide too
simply slow the asteroid let alone change its direction. The last, and only
real, option left to them came straight out of the movies.
“Frankly
Mr. President,” Dr. Cahill said with a sad sigh and closed eyes, “I have
reviewed all the current plains for asteroid deflections, even the rejected
ones, and none of them are in any way viable against something like XRCT-3671,
it is just too big and too close.”
“What
about putting a team on the asteroid to detonate a subterranean nuclear
weapon?” The president hazarded.
“Barak!”
The man said obviously shocked by the president’s question.
“Joe
we don’t have the ability to be coy about something like this. So Dr. Cahill is
the landing a viable option?”
“Not
as its set now but…”
“Dr.
Cahill,” President Obama said sternly cutting her off mid sentence, which was
very unlike him. “You will have anything you need as well as unlimited funds
and as much international cooperation as we can give you. If this thing gets up
to fifty percent likely to impact us I want to be ready, hopefully thought we
won’t need to be ready.”
“Yes
Mr. President, I will get right on it.”
“I
don’t have to tell you this is to be kept higher than the CIA director’s,
understood?”
“Of
course sir.” Dr. Cahill got up and made her way to the door and left the men
alone with their thoughts, which were many and confused.
“Don’t
start with me Joe, I will not be the president that let the planet die.”
“I
understand that but are you prepared to be the president that sent men to their
death in secret.”
“We’ve
done it before Joe, what is a little more blood on our hand when they are
already bathed in it?”
Chapter 2
Snow
hadn’t fallen in the City of Embassies in over half a year and in all the time
he had been president, the man in control of the biggest, strongest, country,
and economy on the planet had been like a nervous child. As always the tabloids
grabbed a hold of his condition and speculated on everything from an
assassination plot to an affair going on behind the reclusive walls of the
White House, one even said he had been replaced by an alien. They though were
not the only people speculation about what was going on behind the president’s
trademark smile, which looked more make up rather than emotion. He's political
allies and enemies, for which he had many, descended upon his emotions like a
pack of famished hyenas.
Outside
of himself only the vice president and Dr. Cahill, and her team, knew of XRCT
hurtling toward the planet like a bull charging toward a matador.
Not
one moment, not one breath, had gone by without even a fleeting thought of
XRCT-3671 and the death gliding in its wake. He had asked to be informed
constantly about the asteroid's position, speed, and its probability of impact
which was why he stared out of the windows and tried to see the car he had sent
to pick up Dr. Cahill from the airport. Sadly in a city filled to the brim with
black cars and black SUV’s spotting one was near to impossible and recognizing
one in particular from another was even harder. After fifteen minutes of
looking and watching the traffic of a political city with more diplomats than
toilets and more security than the gates of heaven, he started to get more
nervous than any other time in his life. His wife’s labor and waiting for the
call that told him he had won the presidential election was nothing to this
waiting.
Finally
after what must seemed to be two eternities a car turned into the drive of the
White House and he left the seclusions of his office to meet Dr. Cahill, he
hopped. He walked through the halls with a quite yet overwhelming sense of
importance, urgency, and purpose. None of the staff realized what was going on
but they were all trained better than to ask, people of great importance always
came and went from the White House so much many of them had joked that they
should install a revolving door, so they had all learned long ago that it was better
to be told then to ask in situations like this.
He
opened the door and for a split second was overcome by the beauty of D.C. in
the early summer. The sun rained down its light which warmed the air,
accompanied by the soft breeze and light humidity it felt like a lover’s
breathe on his skin. That moment of serenity was gone in the wink of an eye and
showed no sign of returning.
Dr.
Cahill took a steady step out of the SUV a smile on her face, but to even the
untrained eye even a blind one this smile was insincere at best, blatantly
insincere, there was simply no hiding the weight of the information on her
slender shoulders, nor the sadness.
“Dr.
Cahill.”
“Mr.
President.”
“You
don’t have good news I assume.”
“I
think we should finish this discussion in privet sir.”
“Of
course,” Barak said realizing all the people around him and felling all at once
stupid and self aware. He stepped aside to let Dr. Cahill into his home and
lead her to the Oval Office and the security it promised.
Once
they got to the Oval Office President Obama made sure ever lock was shut tight
and made sure his secretary knew that he and Dr. Cahill were not disturbed.
“All
right Dr. Cahill we are now in the most secure room in the country, so please
tell me you have some good news for me.”
“I
truly wish I did Mr. President, but I don’t.” Dr. Cahill sighed as she lifted
open the lid of her suit case and took from it the latest information on
XRCT-3671. “I believe I told you XRCT-3671 was about nine hundred and fifty
kilometers in size, well that is the only thing that hasn’t changed. We believe
that it was a smaller planet or even a large moon from a yet undiscovered solar
system, it could have been ripped from its solar system from an infinite amount
of reasons.”
“Not
to be rude Dr. Cahill but what good is that information, it is still immense
and what’s worse it’s still coming toward us.”
“Well
Mr. President, I understand where you are coming from but this information is
of such importance because we don’t know what XRCT-3671 is made up off nor do
we know where it faults are. That means our best standing defense plans cannot
work. If we launched a controlled sequence of nuclear devices there would be no
way we can know if they would deflect the asteroid or simply slow it down, or
worst it could break it apart and the pieces would rain down on the world.”
“So
what can we do?”
Dr.
Cahill sighed long and hard and before she took off her glasses and folded them
shut in her lap. She pinched the bridge of her nose and then opened her eyes
slowly and stiffly.
“Sadly
Mr. President our best bet it the most dangerous plan, we will have to land a
team on the asteroid and place subterranean nuclear explosives and try and
split the asteroid on of its faults or better yet cause the asteroid to explode
into hundreds of pieces.”
“Wouldn’t
the destruction of an asteroid like that be more dangerous?”
“Not
if we destroy it well outside of the solar system.”
“How
do you propose we do that, it takes years for a probe to leave the solar
system.”
“We
launch a highly modified shuttle with a team of highly trained astronauts. To
get the shuttle out of the earth’s gravity we launch it through a rail gun
system and then launch solid state rockets to accelerate the shuttles as hard
and fast as we can, and hope it’s fast enough, once the ship is as fast as we
can get it to go we deploy solar sails to try and increase the speed even a
degree or two more. This should work, but this is most likely a kamikaze
mission though.”
“Are
you sure that this will work?”
“We
can have the shuttle modified in approximately six months if we start now and
don’t stop any time soon, if we use existing parts from super colliders we
should be able to make a large enough rail gun to launch the shuttle in around
seven months, then a month to launch and assemble. Hopefully everything that is
to be done can be done in around nine to ten months.”
“Is
that a fact or are you just saying that?”
“It
is a best guess.”
“The
faster you start the faster you finish correct?”
“Yes.”
“Lie,
barrow, steal, hell murder if you have to, do whatever you have to to keep this
quiet but get it done.”
“Yes
Mr. President.”
Dr.
Cahill took off her glasses and ran her fingers thought her hair like a comb as
she pressed her eyes tight and sighed. Soft smooth hands slid along the side of
her waist and the arms close tight around her waist while the hand slide up
toward her bust. Warm soft breath floated over her neck and smelled the subtle
fragrance of lavender, cherry blossoms, and cinnamon. The warm breath grew hotter,
moister, and faster and the soft warmth of full lips pressed on her neck.
Dr.
Cahill leaned her head away from the kisser’s lips as she reached up and took a
gentile hold of the head and felt the warmth of their hair.
The
lips moved, pulling softly off the yearning skin of Dr. Cahill neck, getting
only slightly stuck and pulling away softly, slowly, and sensually. They did
not stay away from Dr. Cahill’s neck for long. Only a lust filled breath later
the lips returned to Dr. Cahill’s neck.
Dr.
Cahill flexed her fingers in the hair of her lover while her free hand reached
back behind her and took hold of the firm flesh of her lover’s thigh and wadded
the silk cloth keeping her hands from her lover’s skin. She began to open her
eyes and turned around but she couldn’t.
One
of the soft hands left her chest and slide over her eyes and kept her from
seeing, only seeing flickers of light fluttering between her lover’s fingers.
The other hand only slide down to the buttons of her sport coat and with
skilled grace undid them one by one while still holding her firmly from moving
with its free arm.
The
first kiss had been on the nape of Dr. Cahill’s neck, the second only
millimeters higher. As the first button opened the kiss rose to a hair's breadth
below her chine, as the second button opened the kiss rose to the back of her
jaw, millimeters below her ear, as the last button opened and the blouse below
became exposed and the kiss went from tender and moist to a soft but piercing
bite of Dr. Cahill’s ear.
Dr.
Cahill opened her mouth and let out a long, low, soft moan, she tried to close
her mouth but it was kept open by a soft finger placed between her teeth. She
didn’t bite the finger but instead she flicked her tongue against it and
wrapped her full lips around the finger and sucked it like a babe suckling from
its mother’s breast.
She
kept sucking the fingers even as her lover pulled the hand from her mouth.
Eventually the finger was pulled from her mouth and then slide slowly down her
chest, between her breasts, and between the overlapping cloth of her blouse and
into the gaps between the buttons. Her lover hooked the fabric and the hand
attached to it took a firm hold of the soft cotton blouse. With one firm tug
the blouse ripped open, exposing the cream colored velvety soft skin of Dr.
Cahill’s bare chest, and the elaborate lace of her bra.
The
hand let go of the cloth of the blouse and slid down the soft skin of her side
to the top of her skirt. The fingers took hold of her zipper and pulled it down
until the cloth fell off her hips and down her black lace stockings.
The
arm that held her in place finally loosened from around her waist and turned
her to face her love as her teeth let go off her ear.
“Now
you can kiss me.” A woman wrapped loosely in a silk robe joked with a
tantalizing peak of her cream colored lingerie underneath.
Dr.
Cahill slipped her hands between the woman’s skin and the silk of her robe,
though she found it had to tell the difference in their textures. “Come here
Lala.” Dr. Cahill said as she pulled Lala against her skin, “make me forget.”
Dr.
Cahill kissed Lala’s lips and held her tight and they rolled but Dr. Cahill hit
the hard tie floor of her office not the soft carpet of Lala’s apartment.
“Took
you long enough.” A cigarette graveled but friendly voice said from her desk
and Dr. Cahill trying to focus on the voices body but her vision was too blurry
without her glasses, but she didn’t have to see the person to know who it was.
She
saw him put something down on the desk and then picked something up from the
pile of things that covered the wooden surface. “Here, you’re giving yourself a
headache without your glasses.”
Dr.
Cahill took her glasses and put them on and looked up at the man. “What are you
doing here Bobby?” She asked as she took the sheet off of her legs and stood
up. Her clothes were still on but they were ruffled and crinkled, which made
sense since she had last seen her closet three days ago, she had last seen Lala
two months earlier, after President Obama told her to find a way to make
science fiction into science fact.
“You
told me to inform you when we’re ready to do the solid booster test.”
“You
were able to calibrate the engines so fast?”
“Fast?”
Bobby said with a glace to the ceiling after he plucked his cigarette from his
ear and put it between his lips. “It’s been almost thirty-six hours.”
“Thirty-six
hours,” Dr. Cahill said as she jumped out of the sofa, “Why did you let me
sleep so long?”
“Simple,”
Bobby said piercing Dr. Cahill with his gaze, “you haven’t got any sleep in
five days and only god knows when you last ate. Jen you may be the head of this
project but you are still human, you seem to be forgetting that. Letting you
sleep was the least we could do, it’s not like we can bring Lala here, she may
be a Marine but she doesn’t have the clearance for this place.”
“The
Joint Chiefs don’t have clearance for this place.” Dr. Cahill said as she tried
to fix her clothing. “Come on Bobby let’s get going, the faster we get this
done the faster we get home.”
“Home,”
Bobby said with a shiver as he fallowed Dr. Cahill and searched his pockets for
his lighter, “that means I would have to deal with Martha again.”
“I
thought your wife’s name was Lisa?”
“It
is, she just does whatever Martha Stewart tells her to do, I’m just glad Opera’s
going off the air.”
“You’re
a real understanding guy Bobby.”
“Tell
that to my wife.” Bobby said with a laugh. “Where the hell is my damn lighter?”
“Here.”
Dr. Cahill said tossing him a box of matches.
Bobby
shook the box by his ear and heard the matches that rattled inside of it. He
opened the box and pulled out a match and lit it on the painted concrete walls
of the bunker that was now their home, right over the no smoking sign. He
brought the flame to the tip of his cigarette, his breath stopped and his eyes
closed, a strange calm washing over him that both aged and de-aged him at the
same time. He drew a long steady breath, the tip of the cigarette burned as
bright as a falling star and then became embers once more as the smoke fell
from his nose as water from a tap.
They
get to the observation room just as they begin testing on the MZ-34 shuttle’s
solid booster engines. “Solid boosters’ ignition confirmed, output at five
million pounds and rising!”
“Estimated
speed?” Dr. Cahill yelled over the roar of the engine, the room was supposedly
sound proof but the roar of five million pounds of thrust would be loud even in
the depths of hell. “What’s the damn speed?”
“Estimated
speed is now Mach four point nine, wait it’s now Mach five!”
“Thrust
output is increasing, now at one hundred and five percent of estimated
maximum.”
“We
are now at Mach five point zero two five four and rising!”
“Thrust
now at one hundred fifteen percent, one hundred twenty-one percent, one hundred
twenty eight percent!”
“Thirty
seconds reaming in the test!”
“No
damage to either engine, all seals report pressure within tolerances!”
“Thrust
output is now at one hundred and thirty five percent and still rising!”
“Ten
seconds remaining!”
“Thrust
at one hundred and forty two percent and holding!”
“Mach
five point nine two!”
“All
structures within safety parameters!”
“All
engines stop, the test is over.”
“Looks
like you’ve done it Jennifer, now you’ve got to find a crew crazy enough to
pilot the damn things.”
“That should be the easy part.”If you like what you've seen so far the full book is now available on the Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/Blink-Eye-Scared-Earth-ebook/dp/B008XRICAC/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345041431&sr=1-2&keywords=blink+of+an+eye
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