Kelly had woken up to find her little sister suckling away.
“Lindsey!!”
Lindsey stirred, her eyelids fluttered, then with a surprised squeal she bolted up in bed.
“Kelly…what happened…did I…” She felt her belly, sloshing full of liquid. “Oh God…” The deeper implications of what she had done sank in quickly. Cold fear swelled in her stomach.
Lindsey felt a strange tingling sensation all over.
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On the big island of Hawaii, Keck Observatory, Dr. Kiko Saragawa had been the first to witness a massive impact between Mars and Jupiter, the primary concentration of asteroids in the solar system. The comet had been unnamed and undetected – until it slammed into one of the larger asteroids.
The impact was enough to force TK44 out of an already irregular orbit into a much tighter one around the Sun.
Audrey Cohen of Spacewatch at the University of Arizona took the information recorded by Dr. Saragawa and waited for the simulation to play out. Only so much information could be gathered in such a short period of time, but as days went by, they would be able to more accurately calculate the path of TK44
TK44 had been discovered in 2002. At 1947 meters, it was substantial, but not overwhelming, an irregular combination of iron and basalt traveling at 87,224 kmh. Not that any of the scientists were aware of this, planetoids of this size cannot be accurately measured by a mathematical estimate.
Dr. Cohen’s brow furrowed as he puzzled over the information fed to him by the computer. More measurements would be taken, but right now it was looking like it would pass closer than Apophis would in 2029.
“Okay, Tee-Kay, you are, for now, Torino Level Two.”
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“Matt, this is Jennifer.”
“Oh hi Jen, how’re you doing?”
“Matt, I could be better. Look, I know you wanted to go out tomorrow night, but some things have come up with our ‘special little club.’ I still want to go out with you though – can we make it next Friday?”
A pause. “How about this Friday?”
“W-wait, you mean now?”
“Well, if you aren’t busy, I mean. Nothing big, you understand, just hang out and talk.”
Jennifer looked at her watch. Seven twenty-six. Sure, she replied, they could hang out for a few hours. “Just to talk,” she said warningly.