Chapter 53 - The Party's Over

The asteroid hit the atmosphere at 105,000 km per hour, leaving a hard vacuum in its wake as the air had no time to fill the space left by its passing. This was the mailed fist of a cold brutal universe that cared not for the fragile beauty of life on Earth. The asteroid missed the migrating Red-Necked Stint that had come all the way from Western Australia by 20km. The bird was instantly blinded by the flash and began flying haphazardly.

The asteroid took only seconds to ram into the Yellowstone caldera, the impact itself releasing an explosion equivalent to millions nuclear bombs. The entirety of Yellowstone National Park was larva. Not from the magma below, but from the impact of the asteroid. With everything above it suddenly liquid the magma made an explosion of its own. Millions of pieces of rocks were blasted into the upper atmosphere and beyond. Two of those rocks were on the exact same trajectory. A large one in front and a smaller one following in its vacuum wake. In a vacuum there is no temperature and the remains of the bird got caught in this turbulence and its skeleton embedded in the cracks within the second piece of rock. The birds DNA, along with much of the DNA of its microbiome survived the impact as it was carried off into space. This was just one of many types of information leakage that the alien species was relying on. At the speed of the rocks it would be decades, not centuries before this sample would be retrieved.

Meanwhile back on Earth Brent turned away from the Yellowstone Web cam and raised his eyebrows toward Andy. "Wait", said Deidre, "the screen refreshes once a minute. Hey, what's a 404 error".

"Nothing at the other end.", said Tracy. Andy looked at here. "I picked up a few simple facts from Daniel", she added.

"I've got an Aunt in Salt Lake City I could try Skyping her." Deidre got out her phone, no answer. The second most powerful nation in history didn't survive long enough to tell the world it had been swatted like a fly. So there was no news of a disaster, only a lack of contact.

"Ok, lets see if we can bring up the New York Times", suggested Brent as he got out his smartphone. No luck. "Lets do this properly and crank up a laptop."

Tracy switched one on. "Ok", said Andy. "Search for London webcams".

"Google's not working."

"www.rambler.ru", suggested Deidre. Nightwatch is my favourite movie.

"Stupid bastards put it in Russian", exclaimed Brent. "Still, at least its working. Try searching for Russian Television, I guess."

The site was quickly found with a live feed, the Kaiser report. Thankfully this was in English. A Russian economic guru was proudly predicting the end of the American empire when the shockwave from the blast flattened the studio. The camera lasting just long enough to record the distortion of the structure.

"So how long until it gets here", asked Deidre.

"Can you..", Lü Zhi could feel a deep tremor getting more intense. Oh, God. I hope this doesn't cave in. She could feel her heart race as pictures and other decorations fell from the boardroom wall. Imogen shouted over the rumble. Not under the table, but close to it. That way the table won't crush you if it collapses and if something big falls its likely to form a triangle between the floor and the table." Triangles of life. Daniel had heard it before somewhere. The three of them hit the floor. Then the tremor had gone. The structure had held.

"Is this place still safe?", asked Daniel rhetorically.

Lü Zhi buzzed Roger. "There are no reports of any falls so far, Ma'am. What's got me a bit worried are the aftershocks. If we can get through them as well we will be home dry. It's the biological nature of the concrete. If the shape holds after the aftershocks then we turn on the nutrient solution, the piping is already in place, and the cracks will heal themselves good as new."

"Let me know of any new developments. I'll just let Imogen know that her Dad's one hell of a builder."

They tidied themselves up and got the room in order. "Just to get you up to speed on this bunker", began Imogen. "As you know there are 10 levels. There is also a central pillar of stainless steel holding up the floor on each level. On the top level there is a domed ceiling 30cm thick of titanium. Above that is the rock which may or may not have fractured. This whole bunker is strong enough to carry the weight of the rock above it. Nevertheless the nutrient solution will be used if needed. The biggest problem could be from the tsunamis caused by the force of the impact. We need to be water tight. That needs to be my fathers priority."

"You've convinced me. Work in with him to make it so", Lü Zhi's tone was congratulatory. "Anymore good news"

"The cellulose microbes are up and running. We won't have a fibre problem."

With everything under control Lü Zhi made the following announcement: