That was good reporting, for a change. Jack would like to meet that lady. His eggs were getting cold so he quickly devoured them, and then got up to rinse the plate. The TV anchors were now talking about rumours the asteroid was an alien ship, telling viewers to ignore the images floating around on social media.
“Some of these images have been attributed to NASA, who have refuted them and advise that this fake news has to stop before people start to panic.”
They interviewed an astronomer for an update on the status of the discovery. He stressed it was only his opinion but there was something weird about Adventus, as though it was not of this world.
The hosts giggled. “Appropriate words,” one of them said.
He corrected himself. “Not of the known universe. It’s weird in the sense that it does follow—"
“Well, there’s a lot we don’t know about the universe and weird things.” The female host raised her eyebrows and tilted her head towards her co-host. “Sorry, but we have run out of time. We may get you back on in the future for an update.”
“You mean, back to the future?” the male co-host said.
It was rude to cut off the expert’s final comments. What had he said? The hosts’ straight-lipped Botox smiles and wide-eyed looks masked their true feelings about what they really thought about Adventus. The show broke for advertisements, then they were back into their giggle and fluffy mood.
Jack changed channels to a serious news show. The news reader provided an update on Adventus. There was no getting away from it.
“According to astronomers at one of Queensland’s leading universities, Adventus’s path passed through the Kuiper Belt, which is in the far reaches of our solar system. There’s talk that it originated from a different solar system and is on a journey towards the sun. There is concern that it could collide with other objects in the asteroid belt located between Jupiter and Mars but the experts tell us that’s unlikely, that it’s hard for things to collide with each other in the belt because, basically, there’s a lot of space in space—material in the asteroid belt is thinly distributed.”
An image flashed on the screen.
“As you can see, it’s a long, long journey. Save your panicking for a few years.”
Jack thought of Cath’s dad and the images. Frank believed they were real. Interesting that the media was happy to talk about Adventus but were avoiding references to the Bible. He needed to sit down and talk about this with Erica. “The astronomers say Adventus is just another mysterious object like the cigar-shaped object dubbed ‘Oumuamua’ that visited in 2017. Curiously, Oumuamua is a Hawaiian word meaning ‘a messenger from afar arriving first’. Could Adventus be another, a messenger from afar? Oumuamua orbited the sun and shot away, never to return. It’s hoped Adventus is on the same journey.”
Oh, the dramatics of it all. But the reporter was right, Adventus was a long, long way away.
“In other Adventus news, Christian groups are being criticised for preaching that Adventus signals the return of Christ as described in the Book of Revelation. They refer to it as the second advent and say the name of the asteroid is not a coincidence. But they’re arguing amongst themselves, discussing the great tribulation, rapture, and asking about the Antichrist.”
The look on the newsreader’s face said it all. At least there was some reference to the Bible—totally negative, but that was typical for the news. What a mess. Christians needed to present themselves as a unified group. If Adventus signalled the Lord’s return, he had a lot of work to do to sort the mess the world was in. Jack shook his head. He best get into the office to do his bit in sorting out the worldly mess.
Outside, a mist hung over the sky and the roads had a few puddles. It must have rained during the night. He’d obviously slept well, as he hadn’t heard the rain, although he did have a recollection of his room lighting up at one stage.
He was still peckish and decided to get some eats for the team brief this morning. He pulled into the local grocery store and noticed a security guard patrolling the carpark. Odd. Must be to deter non-customers from using the car park. The sign advised of a two-hour parking limit, but people didn’t obey signs. He knew that. It was all about them. A self-centred world. But he knew he was generalising. There were good people in the world, people who obeyed the laws but were there enough to stop the man in charge of the universe casting Adventus upon the world?
He entered the store and headed towards the cake shelves. The shelves appeared almost bare—also strange. They were usually filled overnight. He decided to get some bottled water. The shelves were empty. A shop assistant walked past.
Jack caught their attention. “Hi, mate. You got any bottled water?”
The assistant stopped and turned towards Jack. “Nope. Sorry. All out.”
Jack raised his eyebrows.
The assistant gave a slow nod. “Panic buying.”
Here we go again.
26 - Ticks on the moons
Jack entered the large open-plan area carrying a bag of cinnamon donuts. He passed the workstations of his fellow officers, their screens alive with video footage or covered in text as they beavered away at their keyboards. He headed into the meeting room and sensed good energy. Cath was placing images on the whiteboard. The rest of the team were seated, laughing at the clown of the team.
“No, Matt, I don’t want to hear the joke.” Jack screwed up his face.
“You know you do,” Cath said.
“Alright then, give it to me.”
Matt hesitated. Those around him gave some encouragement.
“Okay. What do you call a tick on the moon?”
Jack thought. Moon tick. Cheese tick. No idea. “Give it me.”
“A luna-tick”
Jack shook his head. “You can have the rest of the day off, Matt.”
Matt pulled his chair out and pretended to depart.
“Come on, Jack. Give him some credit. The context is good. A space feel, and we do deal with a lot of lunatics,” Cath said.
“Okay, Matt. Context is impressive. Now let’s get to work.” Jack placed the bag of donuts on the table.
“Can I get you a coffee, Jack?” Sally asked.
“Yes, please. Thanks, Sally.” He pointed to the bag. “Help yourselves.” Jack grabbed a donut and paused before taking a bite. He held it up. “See this donut? Well, it can represent what is known as the Kuiper Belt, which circles all our planets and our sun.” He pointed to one side of the donut. “This is where Adventus was first discovered. See this speck of sugar here? That could easily represent Adventus making its way through the Kuiper Belt. NASA has calculated the rock’s orbit, and it won’t track close to Earth. It will still be millions of kilometres away at its closest point, so I don’t want any of you panicking like what’s starting to take place out there. Okay?”
