Exodus (The Exodus Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF Page A

it was Havelar who stood up and took charge.
    “ This is the most important meeting you will ever attend.” It was a short and blunt statement that immediately got the attention of every person in the room. Havelar let it hang in the air for a few seconds before he continued.
    “ What you are about to be told is the worst news you could possibly imagine, probably worse. I’m sorry about that. After you are presented with all the information that currently exists, we will have a discussion, a very important discussion. The results of that discussion will set the course for every corporation represented in this room, for the government, and for all our lives for years to come. It will be like a pact, and it will bind us all together, more than ever. I know I can trust you all to keep quiet about what is said in this room today. And when I say quiet, I mean it. Not a word to your wives, husbands, kids, your closest friends, anyone. Get it?” They all nodded, slowly. None hesitated about the secrecy; they just wondered what could cause Havelar to be so … Ramon was unable to find the right way to put it. He just got a very bad feeling about it all, and once again wished Isabella had been here with him.
    “ So, having said that, I’ll let the president’s science advisor tell you what’s going on.” He turned toward the short, balding man to the president’s left, whose ashen face matched that of his superior. “I can’t say I envy you the task, Harry, but however that may be, you’re the messenger ...”
    The science advisor rose slowly from his chair, took out a small projector, and set it up facing the white wall at the front of the room, so that everyone could see. The first image to appear was one of a starry sky, with one tiny white dot having a red ring drawn around it.
    “ Ah … You’ve all seen this in the news for the last few weeks. This is Devastator’s position at the moment … What you see here isn’t 100 percent correct, as the image has been both enhanced and magnified. Devastator reflects very little light, and it’s hard to see if you don’t know where it is. For the time being.” He took a sip of water before he continued.
    “ As I said, you’ve probably seen a lot of these images on the news.” A new image appeared on the wall, this time of Devastator and the cloud of debris surrounding it.
    “ A week ago, we believed that Devastator would either find an orbit close to that of Mars, or be sucked in by the sun’s gravitational pull, and that would be the end of it. Now we know better. Devastator is on a spiraling course inward toward the sun. The bad news is that our orbit and that of Devastator will converge in a few years.” He paused for a second. When he saw that not everyone had realized what he’d just said, he rephrased.
    “ It’s coming our way, folks.”
    T wenty minutes later, the presentation ended with the image of Devastator still projected on the wall, and Ramon couldn’t take his eyes away from that image of impending doom. The room had gone completely silent. Not even Havelar spoke. Finally, one of the other business leaders spoke, in a shaky voice.
    “ Is there anything we can do? What about our nuclear rockets, if we launched them all at once, maybe we could divert it? Or, I once saw a documentary about a scheme to divert comets with lasers …” He was abruptly interrupted by Havelar.
    “ Forget about missiles and fucking laser defenses. It wouldn’t even kiss the surface of this thing, and to divert it, we’d have had to discover it years before now. It simply can’t be done. So forget about all those fancy schemes. It seems a few other nations have seen what’s coming too, and they’re planning all kinds of futile countermeasures. In fact, the Chinese and the Russians are fantasizing about the very comet-diverting notion you just mentioned. I guess they’ve seen the same TV shows ... Ah, hell, as long as they’re not pointing those nukes at us …