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Apophis (2004MN4)
“Honey, did you see this?” Ben asks, as he carefully folds the paper in half, rustling the burnt toast and coffee stained kitchen air. He runs his thin-skinned, age-spotted hand along the crease as he lays it on the breakfast table, and then clears his throat in preparation for his orator’s voice.
Ben reads aloud: “NASA announced today there was an outside chance that Apophis, a stadium-sized stony asteroid, could strike the Earth in 2036 with the force of 100,000 times the energy of the nuclear blast over Hiroshima.”
“So,” Anna says with detached disdain before sipping her de-café coffee. “You’d be 109 and I’d be 107. We’ll probably be dead. So who cares?”
Twenty million miles away, bathed in blackness, its rocky surface dimly reflecting the distant Sun, Apophis (named after the ancient Egyptian enemy of Ra, Apep, the Un-creator, a serpent spirit who tries to swallow Ra in his nightly passage) tumbles slowly as it races towards a gravitational “keyhole” which would lock it into a catastrophic collision course with Earth.
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Comment by: mark22 - 2008-09-23 23:51
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This is a lot of fun, and got me thinking.
The phone rings and Ben takes the call; the President needs him to stop Apophis. The keyhole has advanced the asteroid's date with Earth. Ben sighs; given early retirement from NASA for his increasingly non-scientific views, he is now a believer in cosmic coincidence. However, the President is currently looking at all options; his advisors say the collision is inevitable.
Ben looks at Ann's cup, and puts his hand to his head. She has just changed her coffee brand, to decaf. For the supposed health benefits. Ben looks at the picture on the coffee jar: a bright sun beams down on an African coffee plantation. The blue "decaf" label bothers him; he, and Ann, were used to the red "regular" label. Back then, everything was all right. "Honey," says Ben, "I'm just going out to the store. I've thought of something that might help."
Testament to you Phil for such an interesting opening. This gave me an idea about a new style of challenges, where the writer is given the start of a story, and the challenge is to carry it on. |
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| Hmm, I read this and thought about the Shoemaker-Levy comet that hit Jupiter. Good explanation but there is something missing here... |
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Liked this a lot, especially the switch of perspective at the end. I also got something to chew on with your nugget of information about the asteroid's name, which felt good.
great piece |
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Comment by: Jarfuls - 2008-08-10 20:14
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| I rather enjoyed this Phil. Anna's apparent lack of interest in something that would occur years into the future. And yet, despite her lack of interest, it is coming. I can see this as part of an old Twilight Zone episode. Very good |
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Comment by: karjon Online- 2008-08-08 14:41
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Brilliant.
I loved the descriptions, loved the switch to seeing Apophis at the end. Hmm - yes, as you may have gathered, I liked this.
Erm, 'distain' - did you mean 'disdain'?
Thanks for the read.
Cheers
Karen |
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