Peter looked at Tabitha with confusion and even Nara looked up at the sudden movement.
“If atmospheric changes are happening because of an electricity surge, what if there was no electricity to surge through? It doesn’t solve the orb planet thing problem, but it could stop us from being a theoretical magnet for meteors? I’m going to mention it to Jane”, she said as she gently stood up so she didn’t rustle Nara too much. Peter got her favorite blanket out of one of his bags and made a little nest she eagerly plopped down on. Poor girl was having a big night.
Peter walked over to Troy and Oli who were talking to two researchers he didn’t know the name of, he caught the tail end of, “We could send people to Earth so they survive, since we know it’s survivable?” One researcher responded with, “But the past injuries reappearing would narrow down the people if it’s a mirror there, plus that wouldn’t be able to save the millions here on TF.” After a pause, she added, “Not trying to be a Grumpy Gus.”
Troy and Oli looked at each other and in unison said, “Debbie Downer” and chuckled at each other.
Peter pushed away pangs of envy that they had each other, especially through this. They were his new friends and they couldn’t help it that they were cute as fuck, and that he was emotionally closed off, he told himself. Lynn was the closest thing he’d had to a parental figure in decades, and his love life was a whole other disaster.
The door slid open and Mark walked in and Peter felt some relief. Maybe he had a solid plan in mind. Everyone fell silent as he walked to the center of the room. Peter noticed that he had a folder in his hand, and worryingly, was trembling.
“With the orb now steadily being on our map and being able to research closer, it appears that depending on your genetic makeup, it is likely that it will affect your cognitive abilities in some way; for some with more rare genes, it can alter your emotions, making you volatile or impulsive, or a whole list of other things. It’s atmosphere is much like ours and Earths’ which is why we believe it can pass through us or maybe is being drawn here. I don’t know if it is outer space and alien related, with an agenda in mind, or something mindless that is just being pulled here that happens to appear to spell out bad news.
A few researchers from NAOSA were kind enough to show us a makeshift satellite system roughly the size of a small wall and propel it towards the orb. It’s moving relatively slow, and moved off course as the wall came close. It corrected itself after slowly dodging it and continued towards us, so it appears that it does not like metal, it maybe perhaps be unable to penetrate it.
Luckily, we had this building reinforced with two feet deep metal, and even metal walls through the ground. Due to research and a possible chemical spill, the floor above the earth is reinforced by metal.
A lot of you do not know all of the research we do here, and a handful of researchers operate on their own time around the clock and mostly stick to themselves.
I’m explaining this all to you because I believe we are safe. But I’m sure Jane has mentioned that we need ideas to keep the people of Terra Firma safe. We are a science based research team that sometimes has tunnel vision and gets stuck. We need every type of mind to think about what we can do with the information that we’ve got. Every idea matters. NAOSA has been on hold to talk to a representative in the Grey House for over an hour, so it appears we can’t do much for spreading news that way to warn people. There has to be something to fight at least one of these risks coming up.” The mention of news made a thought pop into Peters’ mind. He raised his hand without thinking and immediately felt sheepish like he was in school again. “We could call a news channel for something we know they will come for, and when it’s live, tell people to find a metal shelter?”
Tabitha grinned at him from across the room and raised her hand, “If we could convince everyone to turn off their electricity before midnight, maybe the atmospheric change won’t be so bad and we could spare being a magnet?”
Hands started raising around the room and everyone took turns proposing ideas while Mark pulled out paper and started writing down the more viable ones. They were losing time fast, but some of these could actually work.
He asked people to now think of the best way to get the news people there. Their priority was saving as many people as they could.
A scientist decked out in odd looking protective gear entered the room and went up to Mark and waved Jane over. Mark bellowed, “Ten minutes, guys, and let’s talk about News ideas!”
Peter leaned his head against the wall where he was sitting, and immediately drifted off.
In his dream he was in another lab with Tabitha, Lynn, Troy, and Oli, and felt deep panic. The technology surrounding them looked weird, and all of their hair had started to gray, aside from Troys’ which was now pink. Tabitha was in a wheelchair, and he felt funny; he broke his arm in two spots as a kid, (well, he didn’t break it, it was from accident as he was trained to say) and the pain there was like he had felt when it first happened. He looked at one of the computers, and at the top of a document it said, “2012 and the Mayan Calendar: What it means for Terra Firma”
There was a giant clock counting down the hours, minutes, and seconds, on the wall. In his dream he turned to Tabitha to ask what a Mayan Calendar was, and he was suddenly jolted awake… by Tabitha next to his face.
“Are you okay? You seemed like you were having a nightmare! I wanted to let you sleep but you were groaning and it looks like Mark is wrapping up with that guy.”
Peter rubbed his eyes and thanked her, what a strange dream. He would have to ask Lynn about 2012 and what he saw. It felt too real, he was starting to do the breathing she showed him again as nervous bile rose up in his throat.
The man exited the room and Mark asked if anyone had ideas for getting a news team there. It seemed the raising of hands took on and Peter felt less self-conscious as Mark called on them. He was like a nice, possibly life-saving teacher, he laughed to himself.
“We could say there was a threat of nuclear warfare seen on one of the maps?” “We could say we had a giant chemical spill that was going to decimate our town and move to the city and through the water supply through the grates?” “We could say that there was a disgruntled employee turned mass murderer fed up with his job, holding someone hostage for money?” “We could say a viral infection is spreading?”
Mark got a tense smile on his face and said that he was so grateful to every single person there, idea or not. Any of them sounded like something that would draw them out, and on the off chance they took a while arriving, if it hit midnight they could shelter them in the building.
He paced back and forth, presumably thinking, stopped, and called out, I think the hostage idea will get them here fastest. I am going to go to my office to look up news channel numbers in the phone book and call them. I don’t think they double check with the police before they head out, they just want a juicy story. Jane is going to look into the theory about turning the electricity off and if that would help. Cory, people need to walk around to shake off sleepiness and get to know the building in case we have more company, or if we might be here for a bit. Will you take them on a quick tour? We put a box of flashlights on the table by the door that people can grab.”
A man with glasses and a lab coat on stood up and said, “You got it, boss”, and started walking to the door, motioning for everyone to follow him. Most of the group grabbed a flash light (or torch, Troy proudly said with a smug aura: is what they called them in other countries on planet Earth) Oli immediately smacked his shoulder and told him to stop being a know-it-all and their ragtag group snickered.
Cory cleared his throat as he led them down a dark hallway, “We’re gonna go down to the lower level and work our way up. We’re currently on the third floor and there are five floors, so we’ll make this quick. Please don’t open any doors or touch anything. This place has been around for as long as I remember, I had a friend in college in the same field as me that said it was a great place to work, so I ended up here as well”, He said leading them down the stairwell, the multiple footsteps echoing. Peter intentionally went slow to keep pace with Tabitha, who seemed to be in pain.
“Do you need a break?” He asked her, and she replied with a soft, “No, but thank you”, and smiled at him. There were those butterflies again.
They reached the ground floor and Cory swiped a card on another keypad and led them into a hallway with many doors, some of the rooms having see-through glass.
“As Mark mentioned, we do other things here. The teleportation device didn’t appear out of nowhere, we experiment and build things and this is the wing where that magic happens.”
In one of the rooms they saw what looked like to be a welder, working on something massive as sparks flew everywhere, him in his own protective gear.
In another, someone was sat at another giant piece of technology and typing rapidly.
As they were about to get to the end of the hall, a breathless man burst through the door. “Mark got through to a news station and they’re on their way!!!”, He declared.
Everyone looked at each other with relief clear on their faces.