Endangered Ch. 10

"Our next story might not seem quite so dramatic, but we've been told it's a big deal," John spoke out of the big flat screen as Chris' heart began to race.

"That's right folks, get your tinfoil hats ready for this one," Penny effervesced obnoxiously. "Amateur astronomers across half the globe have reported a bright flash of light on the Moon. Some are even saying it was visible with the naked eye during the middle of the day!"

"It happened last night at around ten sixteen pm here on the East Coast, but most of the country wasn't aligned to observe the incredible event."

"I guess they're not just lucky with the weather in Hawaii, Jim," the blonde joked. "They're calling it the most significant lunar observation in modern history, and the conspiracies are already flying."

"It certainly didn't help that North Korea claimed it was a test of their latest missile, but China, Russia, and our own government were quick to point out that they were decades away from any such capability. The theory gathering the most momentum is that the light was from the impact of a large meteorite. Our research team tells us that the Moon is regularly hit by such meteorites because it doesn't have a protective atmosphere. These space rocks travel at speeds of forty thousand miles per hour and faster, creating brilliant explosions when they hit."

"No wonder it looks like swiss cheese!"

"Oh, Penny," Jim chuckled, shaking his head. "NASA has been tight-lipped so far, but we're about to go our sister channel's coverage of a press conference getting underway at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland."

Hailey squeaked from the couch, pulling the blanket up to hide her head.

On screen, a lean, greying man approached a podium proudly displaying NASA's heraldry. Cameras began clicking rapidly, flashing at the man who by his posture alone, wasn't happy about his role in this. He clutched a paper coffee cup in one hand, and his brown suit jacket was slung carelessly over his other shoulder. His tie was loosened, and he squinted resentfully out at the bright lights shining on him from above the small sea of expectant reporters. The darkness under his eyes and carefree dishevelment suggested hadn't gotten any sleep the previous night.

"Let me be clear," he started firmly, adjusting the microphone to the correct distance as the room quieted. "I am not here to speculate or fuel conjecture. If I can't answer your questions or you don't like my answers, that's too bad. It hasn't even been twelve hours since the event, and we are still gathering the data, let alone assessing it."

He paused, leaning away to take an unmistakably satisfying gulp of hot caffeine. The reporters looked on with bated breath.

"Very well. At twenty-two seventeen local time, a high-intensity energy burst was recorded from the surface of the Moon. Multiple observatories, as well as enthusiasts armed with sophisticated equipment, have sent us their observations, and we're once again humbled by the cooperation of the global space science community. We're confident, the event originated very near or inside Sosigenes crater, a relatively unremarkable formation near the north-western edge of the Mare Tranquillitatis. We're still analysing, but the initial consensus is that this event is inconsistent with a typical meteorite impact."

He held up a warning finger as several hands shot into the air and a few cameras started flashing again.

"I'll answer what I can at the end," he sighed, looking down at his meagre array of talking points. "Corresponding to the event, we experienced interference in several of our orbital solar monitoring assets. More specifically, our venerable RHESSI satellite reported an intense influx of photons in the X and Gamma spectra. Unfortunately, INTEGRAL, wasn't in position to confirm these readings. However, both Van Allen Probes are starting to report small, I repeat small, perturbations in the outer radiation belt. I don't have any more detail than that at this time."

"Deputy Director!" One reporter stood, desperate to be the first to voice a polarising headline. "Will you reply to the statement by retired cosmonaut Andrei Khariton, that the recorded light spectra were consistent with that of a thermonuclear detonation and that if this were the case, the yield of the device would have been well over one hundred megatons. Director, that's more than twice the size of the largest bomb test carried out by the former USSR at the height of the Cold War!"

"It's in the ballpark," the man admitted reluctantly. "But I'll repeat it, we don't know what happened so until we gather some more data, it's all just useless speculation."

Chris winced, the man didn't seem to realise that was like dipping a bloodied toe into piranha-infested waters in the middle of the dry season. He was about to get eaten alive. Worse, the world's militaries were probably on high alert, dicks in hand for a good swinging contest. The situation was unlikely to fade quietly without him weighing in. Best to fess, that was one of Jethry's lessons.

"I think I'd better go own up before someone gets twitchy with the nuclear football. Damn, the Synod is going to be pissed, too."

"Was it really necessary, honey?" Susan tutted.

"Well, no," he answered truthfully. "But it was probably worth it."

"He's got to flex his..." Annabel glanced meaningfully at Amy. The girl seemed to have shrunk inward an attempt to remain inconspicuous. "He needs to flex the new 'muscles' we all found out about recently. It might be even more important after what we learned yesterday."

That drew a speculative look from the dragonesses, they were not as averse to conflict as Susan tended to be.

"I can't believe I thought it was a good idea," Hailey peeked from behind the blanket as the NASA representative shot something back at another reporter. "We're in so much trouble. There's a treaty about..."

"Nonsense. And it still is a good idea," Chris reassured everyone in the room, meeting their eyes one by one. "Even better that we tried it on the Moon first time around. Go grab a shower and get freshened up, you're going to have to be the brains to my brawn when we talk to the President."

"Me?" she meeped.

He shuffled to the base of the couch on his knees and pulled her into his arms. Her hair was soft against his lips as he whispered to her.

"You are brilliant, Hailey. I might have done the heavy lifting, but you did the heavy thinking. As far as I'm concerned, we're equals in what we accomplished yesterday. Okay?"

She shook her head against him.

"Absolutely," he chuckled, setting her on her feet and starting her toward the main bathroom with a playful swat. "I was probably supposed to be helping your dad today. I think he'll understand if I'm off shoving your foot in the door at your dream job."

"I'll start breakfast, but don't push too hard with her," Annabel advised, rising with an affectionate ruffle of his messy hair as Hailey took a final terrified glance at the devolving press conference and disappeared into the bathroom. "You should get a shower too, babe. And say hi to our little blue friend while you're at it, she was probably the most worried out of all of us."

"I will, I will." He assured, unable to help his morbid fascination at the spectacle still playing out on screen. She had a point though, Immi couldn't come out while Amy was around, that would be driving her crazy. With a grunt of protest at his complaining muscles, he clambered to his feet and left it to the ladies to tell him how the trainwreck ended.

Back on screen, the Deputy Director was starting to get buried under increasingly outlandish questions.

"No, I don't think it was an alien species!" he snorted in disgust. "Why would anything capable of travelling between stars bother with such a thing. Don't be ridiculous."

"How are you going to prevent something like this happening in the future?" asked some other journalist.

"Prevent?!" He shot a disgruntled look at someone off-screen. "Mason, where are you finding these heathens? Don't we bother vetting anymore?"

"Budget cuts, Sir, it's not the sixties," Mason's disembodied voice only barely got picked up by the microphone, but his delivery was flawlessly dry.

The deputy director snorted, then began laughing almost maniacally. He was wiping tears from the corners of his tired eyes, and the reporters just gobbled it up. Eventually, he sobered enough to address them again.

"Look. People. This is space we're talking about, there is no preventing. All we can do is retask the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter for a series of flyovers in the coming months and do our best to capture some pictures. If that's not enough for you, write to Congress."

Claire picked up the remote and flicked the power off. A silence followed as everyone just sat, listening to Annabel humming to herself in the kitchen.

"So, munchkin," she paused, drumming out a nervous tattoo on the thighs. "How about that hot chocolate, huh?"

"Did he blow up the Moon?!" Amy's little mouth hung open for a moment before she clapped both hands over it. Only a mortified squeak escaped, her eyes wide and apparently appalled by her tongue's betrayal.

"He only blew it up a little bit, dear," Susan reached over the couch to put her hand on her shoulder. "The Moon will be just fine."

"And it was for a good cause," Petra assured.

***