The Day The World Ended

CHAPTER 1

***

As the earth wobbled on its axis, millions of people around the world fell to their knees inside churches, synagogues, and temples and prayed to God to save them. Wild animals fled from the forest, birds took to the sky in mass, and dogs barked and ran in circles. Continuous lightning bolts discharged and electrified the Eifel tower in Paris. Sandstorms consumed Australia's continent, while in the United States, New York was rocked by a series of massive earthquakes. The Brooklyn bridge swayed and caused cars, trucks, and people to fall into the bay far below. Skyscrapers in Chicago were pelted by basketball-sized, flaming hail that ignited trees, grass, and homes. The coast of Northern California broke off and disappeared beneath the sea, and in downtown St. Louis, panicked citizens stared in disbelief as the Arch twisted and bent like silly putty. Lightning blazed around them as violent crashes of thunder shook the ground they stood on. The skies became electrified and were illuminated in hues of red, yellow, green, and purple. Outside the city limits of Las Vegas, a massive crack opened in the desert and swallowed roads, cars, and buildings as it raced toward downtown. In a matter of minutes, casinos along the Vegas strip disappeared into a fiery chasm.

Thirty-three-year-old Alicia Rains suddenly awakened inside her darkened bedroom. Visibly shaken, disoriented, and sweating profusely, she bolted from her bed, flipped on a small desk lamp, rushed to her window, and peered outside through the blinds. Everything appeared to be normal. She realized that what she had witnessed was nothing more than a dream, even though her visions felt so real. She strode over to her desk and booted up her computer. The glow from the white screen illuminated her worried face. Her fingers moved in a blur as she attacked the keyboard, and almost instantly, a series of mathematical equations appeared on the screen, followed by a molecular structure. But within seconds, the structure collapsed. Frustrated, she slammed her fist against the desk. Damn it, she shouted. Frantically, her fingers struck the keyboard again. The molecule, in a slightly different form, appeared on the screen. She waited a moment, chewed on her bottom lip, typed a few more keystrokes, and leaned back in her chair. Nothing happened. The stressful look on her faced diminished as she ran her hand across her sweaty forehead, took in a deep breath, sighed, and rubbed her tired eyes. When she opened her eyes and looked at the screen again, the molecule started to collapse rapidly. Damn it. God damn it all to hell, she shouted as she reached for her iPhone and dialed a number.

Inside another Las Vegas bedroom, a cell phone lying on the nightstand rang. A clock next to the telephone flashed three thirty-three a.m. Thirty-five-year-old Scott McReynolds stirred awake. Still groggy from his deep sleep, he turned over and reached for the phone. Hello. Who is this? he asked angrily.

Scott, it’s me, Alicia.

He glanced at the clock. Do you know what time it is? What could be so important as to call me at this time of the morning?

The end of Mankind.

He sat up and switched the phone to his opposite ear. What are you talking about?

The experiment, the one we've been working on, it's unstable. The molecular structure collapsed, said Alicia as she paced the floor.

Collapsed? If that’s true, you're talking about the creation of a..., a...

A black hole. A black hole that could conceivably destroy the world.

Are you certain of this? he asked.

I had a dream, but it was more like a vision.

Wait a minute. You called and woke me up because of a dream?

Yes. It was an epiphany I had about the end of the world.

He paused a moment and then said, Look, we both know there are always inherent risks in any experiment. But the odds of us creating a black hole in the laboratory that could destroy the world is... is next to impossible. It must be a glitch in the computer. I'll take a look at it tomorrow.

Maybe you're right. Maybe I am overreacting.

You’ve been working too hard. Relax. Nothing's going to happen. We've taken every possible precaution. Now, go back to sleep. Goodnight, Alicia.

Goodnight, Scott, she said as she hung up the phone and stared at the monitor. As the molecule continued to disintegrate, a tiny black dot appeared, rapidly increased in size, and enveloped the computer screen in a black veil.

CHAPTER 2

***

At the base camp in Mercury, Nevada, a sign outside the Badge Office read, NELLIS COMPLEX - WARNING – RESTRICTED AREA. In big red letters at the bottom of the signboard was the warning, USE OF DEADLY FORCE AUTHORIZED.

A small group of scientists, wearing white lab coats and badges that read, Pulsed Power Team, emerged from the building and boarded a waiting bus with blacked-out windows. Among the group of scientists were Alicia Rains and Scott McReynolds. Following close behind were several workers dressed in white jumpsuits. Once the scientists and workers were on board, the bus pulled away and motored down Mercury Highway, leaving behind a black diesel exhaust trail.

When the bus reached the Rainier Mesa Test Site, it stopped beside a set of railroad tracks. The scientists and workers exited the bus, walked up a platform, and boarded the train. The Metro-type subway vehicle entered the mouth of the dark tunnel in the side of a mountain and quickly disappeared inside.

As the subterranean train came to a stop at Area 12 inside the test site, the door opened, and Alicia, Scott, and the rest of the scientists disembarked and boarded an electric-powered shuttle. The shuttle took them down a long corridor, the P-Tunnel Complex, and came to a stop beside a wall lined with stainless steel doors. Scott and Alicia exited the shuttle, pushed a button, and the steel doors slid open. They entered the elevator and descended rapidly down the shaft to a highly classified area that housed a particle beam fusion accelerator.

The research facility, located almost a mile underground, was designed to bombard isotopes of deuterium and tritium with high voltage chemical lasers to produce a small, controlled thermonuclear explosion.

Alicia and Scott stood toward the back of the elevator and made small talk as the numbers above their heads flashed past.

How are the wife and kids, Scott? asked Alicia.

Great. Jennifer loves Las Vegas and her allergies haven't acted up once since we moved here. She definitely doesn't miss the family back in Texas, and the kids love the lights on the strip. It reminds them of Christmas.

Alicia smiled a thin smile and nodded her head.

How’s your fiancé doing? he asked.

Great, considering that he almost got killed. I knew when I got engaged to an Air Force test pilot that there was always the chance that things could go wrong, but I never expected this to happen to Greg.

Yeah, I saw the plane crash on the news. That was a pretty bad accident. It was a real wonder he survived.

Yes, it was. The day it happened, I got a call from his base commander. He told me Greg might not make it but thank God he was wrong. The doctors expect him to recover fully.

The elevator slowed, the doors opened, and everyone except Alicia and Scott exited. Alicia looked at the lighted numbers over the door and sighed. We’re almost halfway there.

The elevator doors closed, and they continued their rapid descent. Suddenly, the elevator came to a stop with a jolt. She reached out and grasped the wall. I hate it when that happens. Damn elevators, she said as sweat formed on her brow. She began breathing in rapid, short, shallow breaths, placed both hands on the wall, and fought hard to control her anxiety.

Obviously enjoying his associate’s uneasiness, and not wanting to miss the opportunity to enhance Alicia's phobia further, Scott placed his hand on her shoulder. You don't look well. It’s a little hot in here, don't you think? he said.

In an effort to relax, Alicia closed her eyes as if she were meditating, breathed in deeply through her nose and out through her mouth.

The elevator kicked in, continued its descent, and gently swayed from side to side. Alicia swallowed hard and opened her eyes.

That happens every time there's a power surge, said Scott. Somebody should look into that before we end up getting trapped down here with no way out.

The elevator came to a stop at the bottom of the shaft, and the doors slowly slid open to reveal a corridor bathed in blinding white light. Alicia squinted and stepped off the elevator. As the doors closed behind her, she turned briefly and listened as it ascended to a higher floor.

Are you all right? he asked.

Yes. Let’s go get this over with and do what we were sent down here to do.

She and Scott walked down a long corridor, passed through several sets of metal security doors, and arrived at the Control Center. Along the far wall of the room was a bank of whirring computers, and hanging on the wall above the computers was a sign that read: TO ERR IS HUMAN—BUT TO REALLY SCREW THINGS UP REQUIRES A COMPUTER.

Alicia looked at Scott. Are you ready to get started?

Yeah, let’s rock this place.

The fear that was on Alicia's face earlier was replaced by anticipation and enthusiasm. She sat down at her station, took a deep breath, and clicked a button on her computer.

Outside of the Nellis Complex, massive amounts of electricity were instantly sucked down the line from the Las Vegas power grid to the Rainier Mesa Test Site and activated an enormous bank of generators located on the surface high above the control center.

Inside the building, sirens sounded, and lights flashed. Massive metal doors automatically closed with a bang and locked shut. Workers several stories above Alicia and Scott retreated to a small copper-coated room enclosed in a foot of cement.

Alicia toggled her computer a second time, and electricity from the generators flooded into the machine. She read the numbers aloud as she stared at the gage. Forty Kv... Sixty Kv... Eighty Kv... We're almost there.

At one hundred Kv, the gates opened, and a massive surge of electrical energy flooded from the generators down a thick cable into a ring of giant capacitors. It passed through a series of gas switches at the speed of light toward a vacuum chamber filled with tungsten wires.

Both scientists, wearing dark goggles, watched the reaction from inside the fusion chamber through a thick Plexiglas window. They stared at it as if they were witnessing the birth of creation, or possibly the end of it.

Scott flipped another switch and smiled. And God said, let there be light!

The tungsten exploded and vaporized into an orgy of plasma ions. Lightning filled the chamber, and the temperature inside rose to hotter than the surface of the sun. The underground building rocked as one hundred and eighty terawatts of energy burst to life inside the fusion chamber. Within a nanosecond, it was over.

Scott raised his goggles, smiled, and nodded his head. Was that beautiful or what?

Beautiful? Maybe. But how will this power, once harnessed, be used? Will it ensure peace among nations or be used to destroy them?

Being a little melodramatic, aren't you? he said as he looked at the instrument panel and jotted down some notes on a yellow pad.

Dramatic? said Alicia. Remember Hiroshima? I can't help but feel like we're playing God.

Scott glanced up at Alicia and smiled. What's wrong with that? Supposedly, God created the earth in six days. I think I can do it in five.

You and I both know we're playing with fire, she said as she removed her goggles and laid them on the desk. The fusion, if large enough, could create a tear in the universe, create a black hole and suck the earth and every living thing on it into oblivion.

Scott ignored her comment and continued to jot down notes on the yellow pad. In theory. But you're preaching to the choir. We've been over this before. You're worrying about nothing.

Alicia walked over, flipped the switch, and shut down the power to the generators. You call the end of the world nothing? Where's your conscience?

They don’t pay us to have a conscience. We get paid to produce. Get over it.

CHAPTER 3

***

Inside the Department of Defense building in Washington, D.C., an assortment of high-ranking military personnel was gathered around a briefing table. General Edward Brown, a burly fifty-year-old man, began the discussion. Gentlemen, we have before us the technical knowledge and know-how to put us light years ahead of everyone in defense capabilities, he said as he passed a map of Nevada around the table.

Our installation Twelve, at the Nellis Complex in Mercury, Nevada, has successfully carried out the first experiment to create a controlled thermonuclear reaction. He handed a printout to each person and then continued. "If this same experiment can be duplicated using twice as many tungsten fibers, it will be possible to develop a plasma laser that can be mounted aboard our satellites. We can literally vaporize any enemy submarine, battleship, airplane, or nuke in a counter-offensive action with this capability. It would make us undefeatable and free from attacks from foreign invaders.

CHAPTER 4

***

As the rising sun burned away the early morning shadows in a Las Vegas suburb, an old lady driving a beat-up Toyota drove past a white stucco house with a red tile roof and threw a newspaper on the drive. As it rolled to a stop, the headlines read SIX POINT TWO TREMOR ROCKS LOS ANGELES.

Inside the stucco home, two kids, Shane, age seven, wearing metal braces on his legs, and Katie, a rambunctious five-year-old, ran up the stairs, into the bedroom and jumped onto their parents' king-sized bed. Shane's braces rattled.

Daddy. Daddy. Wake up, said Shane. Today's the day you said we’re going to go and get a puppy.

Both kids pried Scott's eyelids open with their little fingers.

Yeah, daddy. Wake up, said Katie.

Kids, kids. It's barely past six o'clock, he said as he glanced at the clock through his half-closed eyes.

Shane and Katie ignored his comment and started to jump up and down on the bed.

Come on, guys. Give me a break. It’s Sunday, and the shelter doesn't even open until noon. Let mommy and daddy sleep a little while longer.

But, Daddy. You promised, said Shane.

All I said was that we're going to go look at puppies. I didn't say we're adopting one.

I know what, said Katie. Let's go fix mommy and daddy breakfast.

Shane turned toward his sister and shouted. Great idea. Let's go.

The kids jumped off the bed and stormed out of the room. After they left, Scott turned toward his wife and kissed her on the shoulder.

Jennifer, a thirty-year-old athletically built woman, laid on her side with her head buried beneath a pillow. He ran his hand beneath the blanket, squeezed her tanned leg, and kissed her on the shoulder again.

Are you awake? he asked.

Unfortunately, yes.

Would you like to...

She turned over toward him and scowled. You've got to be kidding. With those two Indians running in and out of here like it's Grand Central Station? No way. Forget about it.

He smiled, kissed her on the forehead, got up, and walked into the bathroom.

Jennifer propped herself up against the headboard and said, Scott. We need to talk.

What about?

Alicia called me yesterday.

Alicia? That’s strange. Why did she call you? said Scott as he flushed the stool and walked back into the bedroom.

She said we could all be in danger and told me to ask you about the project you’re working on.

"The project is top secret. She knows that we can’t talk about it to