Page 23 - Tales the Maggid Never Told Me

Comet Klenzer

much as an exercise as for any other reason I recalculated its orbit.
To my amazement it had changed. Something had perturbed it,
perhaps a concentration of dark matter in the region of the asteroids.
I ran the numbers again, and, to make a long story short, concluded
that the comet would now return in the year 2000 and make a direct
hit on our planet.”
Reverend Blood gasped and blinked, the dawn of comprehension
blinding the virginal retina of his rationality. “But—but, how can that
be? There was nothing on television about that!”
“It was my assistants. I had entrusted the crucial evidence, the
photographic plates, to their safekeeping for them to review my
findings while I went to the chairman of the department. Of course I
was very excited, and tried to get his support for further research. I
knew that going public would cause a panic, and I needed guidance
from a wiser, more experienced person. He looked at me as though I
were mad, then asked me to produce the data. I ran off to fetch the
plates; my scribbled computations meant nothing. To my shock and
horror the butter-fingered fools had managed to drop them in the
hall of the physics building. They smashed into a million glass
splinters. I had nothing but the original photos, which showed
only the original orbit. My desperation made me into a madman,
banging on doors, buttonholing colleagues, screaming into
telephones after I had been disconnected. It was too unbelievable,
and the comet had gone beyond the range of optical
instruments. Nobody wanted to hear that an event possibly on
the scale of the cataclysm which ended the Cretaceous period—
Nemesis, the ‘doomsday asteroid’ whose impact resulted in mass
extinctions, including the dinosaurs—was going to happen in
twelve years. My employment was terminated, and no university
in the country would give me another job.”
“And that—that is why you—”
“Yes, Reverend Blood. That is why I have become Brother
Daniel. I am trying to raise several hundred million dollars to
prepare for the worst.”
Blood gripped the arms of his chair, as though it were suddenly
about to accelerate. “Are you serious? Do you really believe that?”

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