PROLOUGE

ARMAGEDDON ARRIVES UNANOUNCED

In the hot autumn days of 2085 there was a sudden burst of excitement and activity at every space port on the planet. The skies were alive with the fiery contrails of launching rockets. Every vehicle that could get into orbit or beyond was used. This did not go unnoticed by the people, especially those who lived in space faring nations and near space ports. The news information that filtered to the street was about vast newfound wealth in the asteroid belt in the form of diamonds and other precious stones. This was the given news to quell the curiosity of many for a sudden seeming desperate dash to space. Within the space of a few days, every available space vehicle had launched off the planet. None appeared to be arriving from off Earth ports. What was even more perplexing was what was abandoned at virtually every space port; high end cars, unlocked, some with doors and trunks left open, containing personal possessions and even left idling. This was especially true in the last day when it became clear that nothing that had been tried would avert a now certain fate. Unknown to all but the selected members of the race, was the certain knowledge of an approaching visitor that was to have a horrific and fateful encounter with the planet, civilization and humanity. The visitor was days ahead of schedule and considerably off its normal course.

Those in the know had another encouragement other than precious stones and metals. It was the five hundred billion credits for the captured dead or alive of two named arch fiends who were implicated in the redirecting of the doom’s day visitor. By now, the names and faces of Tyrone Wu Wang and Tomas Jeremiah Fenton were common knowledge to all the space born escapees from Armageddon. This impromptu army of millions was interested in gathering to themselves, the huge amount of wealth that could literally buy a minor country lock, stock, barrel and population. Even fewer knew the truth and they were at the head of the dash to space. This chaotic dash to destinations of hoped for success led off in myriad directions on rumors and hints, mostly unverified and circumstantial. Most settled toward the Moon and Mars as a stop over.

Approaching the Earth, unseen by almost all, a tiny speck in space that was to have extreme consequences for everyone and everything Earth bound. Almost all telescopes were trained to the buzz of activity in space by departing rockets. One was not so distracted, but was trained on the approaching asteroid Toutatis 4179, due to pass by Earth in the days ahead. What the astronomer watching saw, was shocking in its implications after he realized the asteroid was not where it should be in its regular, though somewhat chaotic orbit. It was not supposed to be particularly close to Earth in this pass. The last closest approach was in November of 2069 when the initial colony was dispatched to it and set up. After doing some calculations he learned that it would not only be close, but would intersect the Earth days ahead of its previously calculated path. He realized the Armageddon was almost upon the Earth, less than a week away. Toutatis 4179 and Earth were to have a fateful collision. Immediately, the astronomer attempted to contact the authorities but found himself unaccountably blocked. Failing this, he and his family packed off hastily to a perceived zone of safety. For he had learned that it would hit in the western Pacific and they headed inland to a region where there were abandoned mines, taking with him a much supplies as he could muster. All those whom he could convince personally, joined him with their families.

On October 20^th, 2085 the asteroid fragment intersected the Earth at a low angle over Oceana and struck just north west of the Philippines into shallow ocean amid an archipelago of small uninhabited islands. The resulting explosion from the high speed impact of a heavy iron object about two kilometers in diameter in its longest part changed the Earth forever. It was a day unlike any that had been seen and described in all of recorded history and in the annals of legend and myth. The fireball dug a crater some 23 kilometers wide and eight kilometers deep at initial impact. The final oval crater wound up about 35 kilometers across and nearly a kilometer deep. A small rebound mountain formed in the center. 45 cubic kilometers of water and sediment were vaporized and lofted into the stratosphere with rapid consequences for the whole world. All the super volcanoes in the Malaysian region exploded into life. The ensuing earthquake, ash, falling debris and shock front spread out rapidly, leveling much in its path. First there was the great world shaking earthquake, such as never seen outside of scriptural description. This was followed by falling debris that set the world ablaze. All those around the pacific and Indian Oceans faced mountainous tsunamis up to several hours later that scoured the coast and mountains clean. A terrific blast of wind rounded up the horror; a wind that would circumnavigate the entire world in 33 hours and 45 minutes for each cycle. Almost every 17 hours, blasts in one direction, then the opposite way would strike. The antipode of the impact located in eastern Bolivia would experience a horrific implosion nearly 17 hours after the initial strike. This repeated itself at regular intervals thereafter, here and in the South China Sea after the impact. In coastal areas, a mega tsunami added to the terror. In some places, the wind and super wave doused the fires. After a week of quaking and wind blown hell, the planet began to super freeze under an obscuring ejecta, ash and soot blanket of darkness. The unfolding horror that had previously been the hallmark of scripture and scientific speculation was now reality. But, the horror was entirely preventable and had insignificant beginnings on the cosmic scale of things. It began to unfold with the seeming insignificant events of the November days of 2081. It was the butterfly that stirred up a mega storm.

To To the E-Novel "The Toutatis Conspiracy" by W. J. Prest è