The Gift Read Online Free PDF Page B

of pretzels for himself.
    “I’ve asked you all to take a break from what you’re working on to review and discuss some new tracking information Rui’s team has come up with. Please hold your questions until Rui has had a chance to brief us on what he’s learned. Rui, please proceed.”
    “As you all know, at 4:49 this morning the anomaly reformed into 18 objects, with 17 of them continuing along roughly the same vector as the original anomaly. A little over 10 minutes ago, at 12:15, all 17 of them changed vectors. We’ve plotted their new projected impact points. The results are disturbing.” With that, he pulled up a map projection of the Earth.
    “There is one impact site in the US, just outside of Lebanon, Kansas. It is the only impact site in North America. There is one impact site in South America: Brazil, and one in Australia. There are two impact sites in Africa: Ethiopia and Nigeria. There are four impacts sites in Europe: Germany, France, Turkey and the UK. There are eight impact sites in Asia: China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Japan and Indonesia.” As he spoke, he highlighted the countries he was listing. “With two exceptions, each of the impact sites appears to be targeted at the geographic center of the country in question. In the case of the United States, the geographic center of the contiguous states is the projected point of impact. In the case of Indonesia, the impact site appears to be at the center of Central Kalimantan. We have formed no theories as to why these sites were chosen, although I have a few thoughts of my own, but I will point out that these countries represent about two-thirds of the world’s human population.”
    Rui turned away from the screen and looked at Web. “Those are the facts. We will advise you immediately if they change, of course, but I don’t think they will.”
    “Why not?” Web asked.
    “The anomaly changed twice. Both times the change was precise and seemingly complete. This change did not result in courses that will impact somewhere inside each of these countries, but, as I said, in the precise geographic center of most of them. There were no intermediate corrections leading up to the change so I would not anticipate a wholesale change, or even a single sphere retargeting prior to impact. They have demonstrated the ability to ignore inertia, so it is possible they will not impact with the force we would normally assume from the speeds they are traveling relative to Earth. They may slow, but I would expect them to do so in a way that will result in their arrival at the points I’ve illustrated. This is all based on conjecture, of course. We have very little to go on.”
    “Why didn’t they take these courses when the anomaly first transformed?” Jack asked.
    “We have no way of knowing. It is possible they needed to observe us before selecting their targets," Rui answered.
    “Has anyone on your team tried to correlate the impact sites with other biological populations, aside from human?” Asked Doctor Camilla Parkington, the team’s (exo)biologist. In her mid-fifties, Camilla was the oldest member of the team. Her years on Earth were reflected in her calm, consistent demeanor and her generous spirit; they were not yet reflected in her clear green eyes or her melodious voice. She was an Irish beauty growing older as gracefully as she conducted herself each day.
    “I’m afraid what I’ve briefed is pretty much all the new information we have, Camilla. I was hoping to start more of a discussion than a Q&A.” Rui’s smile softened his comment.
    “A bit of wishful thinking on my part, Rui. I’ll get my team on it while we discuss the implications. Please forward me a link to the data.”
    “I’ll forward it to the entire team right now.” Rui took a moment to do so while the rest of the team considered the map of impact sites.
    “This pattern does result in solid coverage of humanity’s most populous countries and regions,