"02 - Birth of an Age" - читать интересную книгу автора (BeauSeigneur James)

For some, especially those prone to depression, the fear of impending doom was more than they could bear. Appointments at life completion clinics filled up so quickly that service for walk-in clientele was entirely suspended. They simply did not have adequate medical and disposal staff to meet the needs. Some of those who found the tension of waiting for completion assistance intolerable even chose unassisted self-termination rather than waiting for the proper medical authorities at the clinics.

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July 3, 2021 Ч The Italian ambassador's residence, New York City (1:49 a.m. local time, 6:49 a.m. GMT)

In his private study at his official residence in New York City, Italian Ambassador Christopher Goodman sat with Robert Milner and Decker Hawthorne watching television coverage of the asteroids. The commentators and news directors appeared to be having a hard time filling the final hour before the first asteroid began to traverse the sky of the western hemisphere. By now every conceivable person had been interviewed time and again and every imaginable side-bar story had been aired several times.

Decker switched channels and caught the last moments of a report on how small groups of people around the world had gathered to chant and visualize in order to create a 'positive mental envelope' to protect the earth from the asteroids. Decker shook his head. "Can you believe these guys?" he asked rhetorically.

"What they're doing is not that different than what John and Cohen did to cause the calamity that is about to befall us," Christopher answered.

"Can they prevent this?" Decker asked, pointing toward the chanters, suddenly encouraged by this unexpected glimmer of hope.

Christopher shook his head. "No, John and Cohen are too strong; and our chanting friends are still far too weak. But it is important that they try. They're like children now: with the wisdom of youth they see what must be done but do not have the strength to bring it about; and yet they try. Of such will the New Age be built."

Another half hour passed and those watching on television and at the observatories began to see more clearly the first asteroid's shape. Now just over 43,000 miles away, it was possible to see that it was pockmarked with small craters. Its odd shape, which resembled a slightly bent and crumpled cigar, and its span of nearly 12 miles, made it quite similar in both size and shape to the asteroid Eros. It rotated on an axis approximately one-third of its length from each end, giving the impression that it was slowly tumbling, rather than rotating. The second asteroid, now about the same

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distance from the earth as our moon, was far more spherical and approximately one and a half miles in diameter.

From time to time the picture on the television screen changed, sometimes focusing on only one asteroid or the other, and sometimes showing a split screen with the asteroids side by side. The asteroids were now so close to the earth that every such change in orientation revealed a dramatically new portrait of the interplanetary visitors.

The astronomers of Sacramento Peak Observatory were making final preparations for their experimental work and observations. Of the thirty-five staff scientists and twenty-two assisting graduate students, only eight would be working in the Hilltop Dome where Man,' Ludford was observing the events. The reporters spread out, a few going to each of the other observatories to chronicle every moment of this historic event. Mary would have preferred to be actively involved in the work, but she wasn't familiar enough with the nuances of Sacramento Peak's equipment. Besides, the press kept her far too busy to allow her time to do any actual work.

With nearly even,' reporter in the world covering one aspect or another of the asteroid story, there was never a time when at least one of them was not asking her questions, or noting her reactions to the unfolding drama, or just hanging around in case she might say or do something that someone might think was newsworthy. Right now there was only one reporter and a cameraman with her, and since Mary didn't seem to be saying or doing anything newsworthy at the moment, the reporter's questions focused on what was going on around them. Mary was able to answer most of his questions. Even though she had never used equipment exactly like that at Sacramento Peak, she knew enough to answer any layman's questions.

When he was finally out of questions he sat down on a stool to watch the asteroids' approach on the giant monitor. After about five minutes, he began again. "Why is the picture shifting?" he asked, referring to the side-by-side display of the two asteroids.

Mary looked at the screen. "What do you mean?" she asked, not noticing any shift.

"The picture of the first asteroid, there on the left of the screen: it's shifting slowly toward the right." Man' watched the

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screen closely for a moment. She thought perhaps she saw it, too, but it was so slight she couldn't be sure. '"Perhaps it only appears to be shifting because of the asteroid's rotation," she suggested.

"No, really," he insisted. "A few minutes ago it was farther to the left on the screen. It's definitely moving to the right."

Mar}7 tried to remember if it had looked any different earlier. It did seem as if it might have been a little better centered on the screen before. "It's probably that the picture we're getting now is from a different observatory than the picture we were getting a few minutes ago. The asteroid isn't as centered in this telescope's field of vision as it was in the other telescope's."

"No, that can't be it," the reporter insisted. "I've been watching. The satellite feeds are still coming from Dominion Astrophysical Observatory' in Canada." He looked at his notes and tapped his pen to indicate where he had made note of it, then added, "It hasn't changed in the past twenty minutes."

Mary looked at the monitor, which indicated the point of origin of the satellite feeds on the composite picture. She wasn't sure, but she thought the reporter might be right. It really didn't matter though; it was now even more apparent that the first asteroid was moving ever so slowly to the right. "I'll go find out," she said.

Mary walked over to Dr. Alvin Taylor, the senior scientist at the John W. Evans Solar Facility of the Sacramento Observatory. The reporters had been told to stay back from the equipment and out of the way so as not to interrupt the scientists' work, but Mary felt no obligation to accede to those rules.

"Excuse me," Mary said to Dr. Taylor. who was just finishing a conversation with one of the staff scientists.