Zero 'g' (10 page)

Henry put his head in his hands. “I know. I know.
Geez
, and you just reminded me
that I have no idea if my dad is still alive. Do you think he’s
even looking for me?”

“
I’m sorry
, sweetheart.
I’m sure your dad is OK; he’s a smart guy. He’s probably somewhere
just like us, working his mind off to fix this. I have no doubt
he’s searching for you; any parent would. He loves you. But in the
meantime, it’s just us, and we need to focus on that,” Carly
said.

He nodded. “You’re right
. So, what are we going to do? Any ideas on how we can
increase the mass of Earth?”

“
Yes
, I do, but it’s
going to sound nuts,” Carly said with a small smile. She couldn’t
even believe she was going to say the words, but she didn’t know
what else to do. For now, it was the only plan that made any
sense.

Linus laughed
. “It
can’t be any more nuts than what’s going on right now.”

Carly laughed along with him. “Yes
, very true. But you might be surprised.”

“
So
, what is it, Carly?
Knowing you, it’s a brilliant plan,” Henry said.

“
Well
, thank you for
the vote of confidence.” She took a deep breath before continuing.
“I don’t think we have any other choice but to cause an asteroid to
collide with Earth. Hopefully, that will be exactly what we need
for Earth to increase its mass.”

There was a silence as loud as a
shotgun blast.

“
Oh
, my God…that is
nuts,” Linus whispered finally.

“
Are you insane?” Henry
said incredulously. “That’s a terrible idea.”

Both
of their mouths
hung open.

“
Henry
…hold
on…”

“
No, that is not what we should be planning on at all.
Arranging for an asteroid to hit
Earth will kill a multitude of people. We don’t want that.
Too many people have already died. How could we make a plan that
will only kill more?”

“
Henry
, there is that
risk, yes, but it could be the only way to stop all this. We have
to try. If we do nothing, then everyone on the planet will die,
anyway. We have to do this.”

“
I guess you’re right
,
but I just can’t believe that it’s our only option.”

Chapter Fourteen

Carly could tell that Henry was having a hard time
accepting her plan,
even
though he knew it had to be done. She knew it was a dangerous plan.
She wasn’t foolish. She also knew that it could result in a lot of
people all over the world dying. But Carly knew deep down that they
had to do it. They just didn’t have a choice. She felt exactly the
same way that he did, worried about the future. But every time that
she thought about Rose, she knew she had to go through with her
asteroid idea. They had to get the gravity back sooner rather than
later. Without it, they were doomed, and it was just getting worse
every minute that passed.

Carly’s thoughts were intruded upon when Linus spoke up.
“Henry, she’s right. As much as I agree that it’s an extreme idea,
it’s still the only option we have. There really is no other way of
increasing the mass of
Earth
in such a short time. We have to do this.”

Carly smiled
, thankful
for the support. She didn’t want to have to convince everyone of
the plan. Though she was the only adult there, the boys were
brilliant for their age. She wanted them to be on board because the
plan, once they came up with one, would run so much
smoother.

“
Please be on board with us
, Henry. I know this is not an easy pill to swallow, but we
just don’t have any other choice. This may be the only chance that
we have to save the planet.”

“
OK, OK. I get it. So
,
do you have a plan? How are we going to do this?” Henry said with a
sigh.

“
Well
, we would have to
find a place that would suit an asteroid crash, right? You know,
try to minimize the damage as much as possible,” Linus
added.

“
Exactly,” Carly said. We just need to take a look around
and find a suitable place. If we can somehow control this
situation
, then we can save
the planet with minimal damage and loss of lives.”

“
OK
, let’s get out
there and take a look.”

“
Ugh, just when I was getting used to some
normalcy
,” Linus
said.

Carly laughed
. “I hear
ya. Let’s go, boys; we have a world to save.”

Linus opened the door and slipped out. As soon as he
stepped outside
, he began to
once again float in the air. Carly and Henry both followed suit and
began to float around as soon as they left the moon room. Henry and
Linus floated right to the laptop and started the search. The goal
was to scour various image feeds all over the world. The hope was
to find a way to safely crash an asteroid into the planet. They
were going to search until they found a suitable place to do so.
Carly wasn’t entirely sure there would be a perfect place. After
all, the world was pretty populated; they might not be able to find
an area safe enough to spare all life. But they were sure going to
try.

Carly glanced up at the ceiling where David resided. He
looked awfully lonely up there. Just looking at the child pained
her. Not only did he remind her of Rose
, whom she wasn’t sure she would even see again, but
she couldn’t imagine how such a small child would ever understand
what was going on around him. She was desperate to do the right
thing by him. Was sending an asteroid plummeting to Earth the right
thing? She wasn’t entirely sure, but it seemed the only option they
had.

She moved up alongside him and pulled him into her arms.
His eyes snapped open
, but he
seemed to relax when he saw Carly.

“
Hi
, David. How are
you?”

He shrugged
, looking
as if he wanted to say, “I miss my mom.”

She smiled softly. “I know you do
, and I’m sorry this is happening to you. But you have
been a very brave boy today. This is going to be all over soon, and
then we will find your mom, OK?”

He nodded.

“
Just hang in there a little longer. I just need you to be
brave until we are done
, and
everything will be back to normal.” Carly smiled as she said it,
hoping it sounded genuine. She had no idea what was going to
happen, but she needed him to believe that things would be OK from
now on. She also hoped that somewhere her daughter also felt safe.
She needed to believe that her own family was safe at home, waiting
for her to return.

She looked down at the boys working.
“How are you guys doing down there? Did you find
anything?”

Linus looked up at her and chuckled.
She imagined she was quite a sight up there with David. “Not yet.
We are still looking, but there are people everywhere. It’s hard to
pinpoint an area that’s completely cleared. We would at least need
an area the size of Texas to allow for the asteroid’s size. Where
are we going to find an area that big?”

An area that big
…Linus
was right. Where were they going to find an area that big? Maybe it
had been a pipe dream to think that they could really fix things.
The size of the asteroid meant that they would need a huge area.
Where could they send it? She puzzled until a smile broke across
her face.

“
I got it
!” Carly
shouted.

All three boys looked to Carly with
surprise. “You know where we can send it?”

“
Yeah
, I do. The
Bermuda Triangle. It’s perfect.” Carly couldn’t believe she hadn’t
thought about it before. The Bermuda Triangle was the ideal spot
for the asteroid to hit. It was a loosely defined region located in
the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean, and it was one of the
most mysterious areas known to man. It had a reputation of causing
hundreds of mysterious crashes, one of which had killed her uncle,
who was a pilot. It had been a family tragedy and one that was
painful to remember because she had been close to her uncle. No one
ever knew what happened to him. So many people had been lost there.
It was known as a doomed place where a number of aircraft and ships
were said to have disappeared under mysterious circumstances. The
whole place sort of creeped her out.

“
The Bermuda Triangle?”
Linus asked.

Henry chuckled
. “Ah,
yes, the Devil’s Triangle. What better place to send an asteroid?
We know there is no one alive in there that the asteroid would
kill, and it’s big enough to swallow anything. So, why not? You’re
right, Carly. It’s perfect.”

“
OK
, guys. We have some
serious planning to do. This is no easy task, but at least we know
where to send the asteroid. Once it gets swallowed by the Bermuda
Triangle, Earth should have the mass it needs to stabilize once
again.”

The boys turned back to the computer
to begin planning.

Chapter
Fifteen

Carly was pleased that things were finally starting to go
right for them. It had been an exhausting day for
them
, and they still had a lot
of work to do. She was so thankful that she had managed to come up
with some sort of solution to the problem. They had to do
something, after all; things were just getting increasingly
dangerous out there. She didn’t even think it was safe to leave the
house because you could go out in the street and get hit by a
building. She had completely tried to avoid thinking about Rose
because any time the thought crossed her mind, she felt like she
was going to go insane wondering if Rose was OK. She wished she had
some way of knowing if her mother and daughter had lived through
the crisis so far.

She knew she had to focus on the problem at
hand
, but it wasn’t always
easy for a mother. Rose was all she had ever thought about, even
before the world fell apart. Now that Rose was in danger, Carly
could barely concentrate because she was worried sick. She just had
to hope that her mother was still alive and able to care for Rose.
The best thing for everyone at that point was for Carly to help get
the gravity back.

Now that they had a solution to the
problem
, everyone was happy.
Carly wasn’t so sure, however. There was still the matter of how to
implement the solution. That matter still had Carly a little
confused about it all. It was no easy task to control an asteroid
and make sure they could get it to land in the Bermuda Triangle
without killing the rest of the people left on Earth.

She was waiting to see what Linus could find out about the
Bermuda
Triangle before they
tried to put any plans in place. It was hard not to think about her
uncle at that time. She wondered whatever had happened to him. Was
there another world on the other side where people could continue
to live, or was it immediate death when you passed through? If
anyone was alive on the other side, would they be killing them by
sending the asteroid through it? The Bermuda Triangle still held so
much mystery to the world. She hoped the plan wasn’t going to be a
disaster.

Henry made his way over to where Carly
floated with David.

“
How’s he
doing?”

“
As
well as can be
expected, I suppose.” She squeezed David, and he
giggled.

“
I had some questions
,
Carly, that I’m hoping you can answer for me.”

“
Sure
, if I’m able to,
I would love to help in any way that I can.”

“
Why am I having difficulty
breathing?”

“
Are you?”

“
Yes
, since we have
been here.”

Carly thought for a moment before answering.
“Well
, you’re not the only
one. I mean, I think everyone is feeling it differently, but there
have been times when I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. You’re
having difficulty breathing because gravity is the key to holding
the environment together. Since there is almost no gravity left in
the environment, things like air and water have all begun to move
from Earth and into space. I imagine the breathing problem only
will get worse. If we don’t get things together soon, the air will
be totally displaced from Earth. Then it’s good-bye for all of
us.”

“
Holy crap.”

“
Yes
, exactly. That’s
why I said we had to try this despite the risk. Otherwise, we are
all dead, anyway.”

“
OK, if
Earth has no
gravity, then the human beings and all the other living creatures
will be pushed into space. The same, of course, will happen to all
the buildings as well. And if that’s the case, then they’ll be
moving at a rate of 1,040 miles per hour, which, if you bear with
me here, is the speed of the rotation of Earth.”