Chapter 9

Five hours later.

Time: Saturday, December 22, 2018 10:23 PM

“Hi. Maddy said I’d find you here. Mind if I join you?”

Mark looked up at Jada and waved his arm to the vacant part of the bench. He was sitting near the center of the pine and spruce park about forty meters east of the circular stairwell. Jada sat on the small bench beside him, quietly holding a plate of food.

“Here, try this. You’ve had nothing to eat since this morning.”

Mark accepted the plate and sandwich without comment and held it on his lap. His gaze returned to the dark overcast skies above. His face was streaked with tears, but as he sighed he spoke with a calm voice. “Unfortunate about the clouds. It would be nice to see the stars. I spent so many hours as a boy in my backyard with my telescope. I miss seeing the stars one last time.”

Jada sighed back. “I take it you’re not as optimistic as the scientists on TV?”

Mark sighed again and glanced down at the sandwich. After a moment he took a bite. “Hey, this is good.” Another bite. “What’s in it?”

“Ah, a secret.”

Another bite. “Yeah?”

“Well, not really. It’s a Jada Special with chicken and lots of shredded carrot. There are also chopped scallions and I like to mix tarragon and mustard and a few other things into a spread.”

“You did a great job.”

“Oh, it was easy. The kitchen upstairs is really a dream. It has everything.” She saw Mark staring at her in the dim lights from the buildings. It looked almost like pity. “Mark, what?”

“Oh ... Well, truthfully? I was just thinking it was kind of sad. We all got a chance to call someone, got a chance to call loved ones and say goodbye, everyone but you.”

“Yeah, I’m kind of on my own. I would have wanted to call Emily, but she’s already here with me. Don’t pity me, Mark. I am loved, and I have the person who loves me right here with me. Perhaps I should be the one pitying you.” She paused for a moment and looked around the park. It was filled with the dark shadows of the pine trees. “It is pretty here. Do you think you’ll be staying out all night?”

Mark sighed but didn’t answer. He returned to looking at the dark sky and took a deep breath of the cool night air. “Wonderful air tonight. I don’t think I’ve been taking enough time these last few years, time to savor how beautiful the Earth is.”

Jada inched closer to him. She looked up and breathed deeply herself, and then took a chance and let her open hand rest lightly on Mark’s thigh. A moment later she felt his hand in hers. “You’re cold, Mark! You should put your gloves on.”

“Yeah. They’re back in the lounge somewhere, I guess.”

The time passed quietly. Mark squeezed Jada’s hand affectionately. Jada squeezed back. “As your second-in-command, I held a short meeting with the group around ten o’clock.”

“Hmmm?”

“We’ve all decided to follow your lead. No one wants to spend the last hours of her life watching TV. We turned it off. We’ve all decided to rest, make use of the dorm rooms on the second floor. They’re really lovely rooms.”

“Do you think you can sleep tonight?”

“Well, probably not. But I’ll try to rest. I was raised Jewish. I’ll also try to pray.” Jada sighed deeply and looked at the sky again. “That’s something I haven’t done in years, but I think this is might be good night to start again, huh?”

Mark squeezed her hand in reply. She turned to him, moving her head closer to his. “Our plan is to meet at 5 AM in the lounge. Maybe get up earlier and shower or eat something if we want, but for everyone to meet at 5 AM. We’re going to have a prayer service. Fatima offered to lead us and we agreed. Do you want to come?”

Mark looked at her and nodded. “I’d like that very much.”

“I’ve also made a bed up for you, up on the second floor. It’s next to the double room Emily and I are sharing.” There was another long period of silence. Jada rested her head against his shoulder and sighed. A stiff breeze was blowing through the pine needles, and the night wind sang to them of the beauty of the world and of life.

“Mark?” Jada whispered.

“Hmmm?”

“If you want, I’ll stay out here with you tonight.”

Mark turned and kissed the head that was lying on his shoulder. “That’s very sweet of you. But I think you’re right, lying down in a warm and comfortable bed sounds nice. Thanks for making one up for me.”

“Oh, it was my pleasure. Come on, I’ll show you your room.” Walking hand in hand, the couple left the park.

Time: Sunday, December 23, 2018 2:47 AM

Mark turned uneasily in his sleep, turned again and opened his eyes. He blinked. Jada was sitting in a chair near his bed dressed in a bathrobe. Her eyes were closed, and Mark was just beginning to wonder if she were asleep when she turned her head and gave him a timid hi.

Mark smiled at her. “How’s it going?”

“Oh, I’m okay. I just took another shower. Emily is out like a light. It’s very impressive. I promised to wake her at 4:30.” She smiled at him. “I saw you managed some sleep too.”

Mark turned and stared at a clock. “Wow, almost 3 AM. Yeah, I guess I did. I was having the strangest dream ... Hard to remember now...” He looked up at Jada. “You’re really okay? Is there anything I can do?”

“Well, actually, if you don’t mind ... Could you scoot over? Could we lie together?”

“Sure. Uh ... I’m not wearing anything.”

“Oh, I don’t mind.”

Mark moved over under the covers to one side of the large bed, Jada climbed in on the other side and kept a semi-chaste distance away from him. She gave him another timid smile.

He smiled back. “So, anyone else asleep besides Emily?”

“I don’t think so. I’m not sure about Fatima. Her light is on though. I think she’s still working on her prayer service. She found pen and paper in a desk at the lounge. And as for your sister and friends, all three of them are back in the TV room catching the latest and greatest. Maddy made some popcorn.”

Mark grinned. “Yeah, that sounds like Maddy. Anything exciting on at this hour?”

Jada gave a quiet laugh. “Right. I was there about an hour ago. The Intruder was approaching three hundred million kilometers from impact. There are some new ideas about how it got this close without being observed. It’s not bending the light around it as people expected. There’s more bending very close in, and very little bending beyond a hundred kilometers, much less than people expected.

“Wow. So it might not be a neutron star?”

“Oh, it’s a neutron star all right. Small planetary perturbations are already being measured all over the solar system. They’re consistent with The Intruder have a mass 1.5 times that of the sun. That Yale guy earlier was right. The speed of this thing will keep orbital damage minimal. If it weren’t colliding with the sun, we might actually be okay.”