It had smashed itself into a crater under the sea, three hundred kilometres wide and only fifty kilometres from our landing-place.
Spike was reading and analysing the debris data at fierce speed, Handsome sitting beside her, hunched and tense.
Spike said, 'The lower atmosphere of the planet is filling with sulphur dioxide. At higher altitudes a sulphuric-acid haze is forming. We have triggered a mini ice age.'
Everyone was silent.
'How long before the atmosphere clears?'
'We had intended months, enough to block out the light of the sun for long enough to break down the food chain so that the largest creatures could not feed. What we have done is at a much greater magnitude than we predicted. It may be years — perhaps decades.'
'Years?' said Pink. 'Decades? In the dark?'
'I do not know,' said Spike. 'Chain reactions cannot be predicted. It may be that a tidal typhoon or hurricane will clear the atmosphere.'
Handsome laughed. 'Well, this will wipe out the dinosaurs, all right.'
'Yes,' said Spike. 'The planet will recover in a different form.'
'But what about the colonization from Orbus?' I said.
'Impossible until the climatic conditions have stabilized.'
'That might be too late for Orbus.'
'So how we are going to get away from here?' said Pink.
'We're not,' said Handsome.
While the crew were securing the Ship and activating emergency systems, Handsome was trying to get a link to Orbus. 'Dead,' he said. 'The signal is going out and bouncing back from the moon. Look, I relay, and two seconds later it's back.'
'They'll send a rescue mission,' said Spike.
'If they don't know the conditions, they can never land—darkness, ice, no satellite link. Spike, it may be that no one ever comes here again.'
She nodded. 'Then the planet will have to evolve in its own way.'
Handsome laughed. 'Ironic, isn't it, if that is what happens, and then millions of years in the future some bright geo-scientist will find evidence of the asteroid collision that wiped out the dinosaurs, and they'll call it the best coincidence that ever was, even though the chances of a gigantic asteroid hitting the planet right here, on a sulphur deposit, are — well, what are they, Spike?'
Spike paused a moment. 'Sulphur is a rare element, the ninth most abundant in the universe, and only 0.06 per cent of this planet's crust. Let's suppose that a twenty-kilometre-wide asteroid might strike here once in, say, a hundred million years on past evidence of asteroid collision, and that its hit-rate on a sulphur zone like this might be one in twenty. If that is so, then the chances of an asteroid this size hitting this planet, right here, would be a hundred million multiplied by twenty - so, once in two billion years.'
'Two billion years?'
She nodded.
Handsome ran his hands through his hair. 'But what do you bet that coincidence will feel like a better explanation than the thought that someone might have been involved in making human life possible here?'
'Any civilization will think as we did — that they are the first and the only.'
'Wait till they find the remains of Orbus — but, then, nobody believes me about Planet White, so why will anyone believe it about Planet Red? Orbus will disappear into space history, light years away.'
'It might be possible for you to survive,' said Spike. Handsome looked at her. 'What do you suggest?'
'Take the Landpods and travel to the colony. There are sixty of them there. They have a food depot as well as crops they are farming. They have strong-built shelters, and more than they need, because you were bringing others on this trip until the Central Power decided otherwise. Your best chance is together — and the Central Power knows where the colony is so there is a landing place there. If they return, it is likely that is where they will begin.'
'It's a long way,' said Handsome. 'We may not make it in time.'
'I will stay here, and keep trying to make a connection with Orbus. I will contact you daily.'
'Stay
Spike was reading and analysing the debris data at fierce speed, Handsome sitting beside her, hunched and tense.
Spike said, 'The lower atmosphere of the planet is filling with sulphur dioxide. At higher altitudes a sulphuric-acid haze is forming. We have triggered a mini ice age.'
Everyone was silent.
'How long before the atmosphere clears?'
'We had intended months, enough to block out the light of the sun for long enough to break down the food chain so that the largest creatures could not feed. What we have done is at a much greater magnitude than we predicted. It may be years — perhaps decades.'
'Years?' said Pink. 'Decades? In the dark?'
'I do not know,' said Spike. 'Chain reactions cannot be predicted. It may be that a tidal typhoon or hurricane will clear the atmosphere.'
Handsome laughed. 'Well, this will wipe out the dinosaurs, all right.'
'Yes,' said Spike. 'The planet will recover in a different form.'
'But what about the colonization from Orbus?' I said.
'Impossible until the climatic conditions have stabilized.'
'That might be too late for Orbus.'
'So how we are going to get away from here?' said Pink.
'We're not,' said Handsome.
While the crew were securing the Ship and activating emergency systems, Handsome was trying to get a link to Orbus. 'Dead,' he said. 'The signal is going out and bouncing back from the moon. Look, I relay, and two seconds later it's back.'
'They'll send a rescue mission,' said Spike.
'If they don't know the conditions, they can never land—darkness, ice, no satellite link. Spike, it may be that no one ever comes here again.'
She nodded. 'Then the planet will have to evolve in its own way.'
Handsome laughed. 'Ironic, isn't it, if that is what happens, and then millions of years in the future some bright geo-scientist will find evidence of the asteroid collision that wiped out the dinosaurs, and they'll call it the best coincidence that ever was, even though the chances of a gigantic asteroid hitting the planet right here, on a sulphur deposit, are — well, what are they, Spike?'
Spike paused a moment. 'Sulphur is a rare element, the ninth most abundant in the universe, and only 0.06 per cent of this planet's crust. Let's suppose that a twenty-kilometre-wide asteroid might strike here once in, say, a hundred million years on past evidence of asteroid collision, and that its hit-rate on a sulphur zone like this might be one in twenty. If that is so, then the chances of an asteroid this size hitting this planet, right here, would be a hundred million multiplied by twenty - so, once in two billion years.'
'Two billion years?'
She nodded.
Handsome ran his hands through his hair. 'But what do you bet that coincidence will feel like a better explanation than the thought that someone might have been involved in making human life possible here?'
'Any civilization will think as we did — that they are the first and the only.'
'Wait till they find the remains of Orbus — but, then, nobody believes me about Planet White, so why will anyone believe it about Planet Red? Orbus will disappear into space history, light years away.'
'It might be possible for you to survive,' said Spike. Handsome looked at her. 'What do you suggest?'
'Take the Landpods and travel to the colony. There are sixty of them there. They have a food depot as well as crops they are farming. They have strong-built shelters, and more than they need, because you were bringing others on this trip until the Central Power decided otherwise. Your best chance is together — and the Central Power knows where the colony is so there is a landing place there. If they return, it is likely that is where they will begin.'
'It's a long way,' said Handsome. 'We may not make it in time.'
'I will stay here, and keep trying to make a connection with Orbus. I will contact you daily.'
'Stay
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