CHAPTER TEN
“My God,” said Simon, his voice a stunned whisper.
Huddled around the computer screen, Emily could see exactly what Simon saw: a panoramic view of what looked like Venezuela, Colombia, and Mexico. Of course, she could only assume it was the uppermost part of South America because the majority of the image she was looking at was obscured by a red haze. The only way she could be sure of what she was seeing was because she could still make out the rough outline of the Gulf of Mexico on the right side of the image. The east coast town of Veracruz was just vaguely visible, but everything else was covered by the same cloud.
“Are you looking at the first image?” Commander Mulligan’s voice crackled over the speaker.
“Yes,” replied Emily.
“Jump to the second image, if you would.” Again Commander Mulligan caught a gasp of astonishment from the two civilians; this time it was followed by an expletive from Simon and a quick apology.
“That image was taken twenty-four hours later. It’s the same location as the first image. I’m sure you can see now why I thought it was so important for Jacob to let you see these pictures as quickly as possible.”
The image on the screen could have been anywhere for all Emily and Simon knew. It was impossible to tell because there was nothing but a swirling mass of red that looked like some kind of crazy kid’s finger painting or Rorschach image. No land or sea was visible at all.
“This cannot be happening…” Simon whispered.
“I assure you it is, Mr. Keller,” came Fiona’s voice from the phone. “And I am sorry to tell you that the news does not get any better. Please skip ahead to image three, if you would.” The third image was of a clearly distinguishable US East Coast. Small spots of red were splattered over the image like drops of blood. Emily could see the largest spot was hanging over New York. “That was taken two days ago,” continued Fiona. “You can see the phenomenon is less pronounced than you just saw over South America, possibly because, as Jacob has already postulated, whatever we are seeing here is retarded by colder climates. But if you would be so kind as to move to the fourth image.”
Fiona waited a second before continuing.
“You will see that although the progression is slower on the US mainland, there appears to be a much larger storm, if that is the right word, rapidly approaching from the east. The picture you are looking at now was taken six hours ago.”
Emily sucked in her breath as she looked at the aerial photograph on the screen. It was mind-blowing. While the outline of the coast was still clearly visible, what had been spots of red in the previous image had now grown to three or four times their size. She could just make out tendrils of red extending out from each spot; each one seemed to be reaching in the direction of the nearest red splotch of its neighbor. Here and there she could see some of the tendrils had already made connections, and the originating red stains seemed to be uniformly larger than the ones that had not yet connected.
But that paled into insignificance next to the huge red storm that occupied most of the right side of the screen, a swirling mass of red hues with thick branches extending out in front of it, as though searching blindly for the land mass that lay just a few hundred miles ahead of it.
“What we believe you are seeing is a huge body of this substance you called ‘red dust’ that we first saw amassing in Europe. It broke off from the main body of the red storm over that continent and began heading in your direction several days ago. You may already have experienced some preliminary effects from its approach. If this was a normal meteorological event, I would be recommending you simply hunker down and try to ride it out, but given the information I have received courtesy of Jacob and Emily, my only advice to you is to reiterate what Jacob has already advised you: run as fast and as far north as you possibly can.”
“Daddy, what’s that?”
The sound of Rhiannon’s voice shattered the shocked stillness that had settled over both Simon and Emily. Simon’s hand flashed out and slammed the screen of the laptop shut. “It’s nothing, sweetheart,” he said as he turned to face his two children, who had somehow managed to sneak into the house unheard. “Just some photos that Emily took that she wanted me to see.”
“It’s pretty,” said Benjamin, standing next to his big sister, a coloring book in one hand and a green pencil in the other.
While the implication of what the kids had just seen had passed by Benjamin, Rhiannon didn’t look convinced by Simon’s explanation.
“Who were you talking to?” she asked, nodding at the sat-phone next to the computer, as Benjamin, apparently already bored by the conversation, took a chair next to Simon and began coloring the remainder of his picture.
Before Emily or Simon could reply, Fiona’s voice filled the kitchen. “Hello, children. My name is Fiona, and I am a friend of Emily’s and your father.” The ISS commander’s strong British accent instantly grabbed the children’s attention. “I was just telling your daddy how nice it would be if you and your brother might like to come see me and my friends. Would you like that?”
Rhiannon’s response was to simply raise her eyes to the ceiling, spin on her heels, and head out of the kitchen toward her bedroom. “Whatever!” she called back over her shoulder. Ben continued to concentrate on filling in his coloring book, biting his bottom lip as he carefully worked the color between the lines.
Simon watched his daughter disappear, then took his son’s hands in his own. “Why don’t you go and take Thor to the kitchen and give him some cookies?” he asked. The little boy’s face instantly brightened as he turned toward Emily, his eyes fixed on the carpet.
“Can I?” he asked.
Emily tried not to let the surprise she felt creep into her voice. Benjamin had barely acknowledged her existence since she had stumbled across his family. She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
The little boy turned to the dog: “For. Want a cookie?” Emily smiled at the sheer sweetness of it. The malamute didn’t seem to have any problem understanding the boy, though. He rolled to his feet and trotted after Benjamin, and they both disappeared into the kitchen.
“We have some other problems to contend with,” said Emily when the boy was out of earshot. She explained what they had seen happening over the hill, quickly filling in the commander on her experience in the Valhalla forest and what the empty sack might mean for their safety.
“This is a very interesting development,” said the commander after a pause. “And you have no idea what this egg sack contained?”
“No, all I know is that when I encountered the first one, I was almost overwhelmed with fear. Just take my word for it, whatever is on the loose out here isn’t thinking happy thoughts.”
There was a burst of static, then Jacob’s voice cut through it. “…all that you have told us, I’d advise you leave as quickly as possible. While I can’t speak with any certainty about the storm, given your previous experiences and observations, and the unprecedented size of the storms, I can only assume that this is the next phase in the geoengineering of the planet. In short: you don’t want to still be there when that thing makes landfall.”
Emily stared at Simon. She could almost hear the cogs in his brain whirring as he tried to process this avalanche of information.
“Okay,” he replied, finally. “We leave now.” The tenseness Emily had seen in him seemed to drain from his muscles in resignation, all resistance finally leaving him.
“If there’s nothing more? I think Simon and I need to get cracking. There’s not much of the day left and the sooner we’re out of here the better.”