The Worm King (10 page)

Azziz was puzzled. ‘So you were expecting
this?’

‘In a way. It was only a matter of time; pieces
of rock and ice whizzing around space all the time. Always going to happen,
just a matter of when.

‘At first they thought it was an asteroid, the
observatory in Arizona that initially spotted it that is, then they worked out
it was a very fast, long period comet, coming more-or-less in our direction. These
things travel on huge elliptical paths that can get disturbed by the gravity of
other planets, or collisions with smaller asteroids.’

Natasha sat against the opposite wall,
diligently taking notes. Her sister leant over and whispered something in her
ear. ‘You idiot, I’m not asking that, they’re completely different!’

‘What is it dear?’ said Dr Zoy.

‘Our dad had haemorrhoids and Krystal wants
to know if they’re anything like asteroids.’

The doctor looked confused. ‘I don’t think—’

‘She’s right!’ interjected the Hat. ‘The raw
panic, the anal bleeding, it’s all there! The link you’ve been looking for!’ Winston
laughed. Mr Snow scowled.

Dr Zoy pressed on. ‘Asteroids are mostly
rock, rather than ice and they travel much slower. Slower than a comet, that is.
We use Doppler radar to measure the speed and what they’re made of. Each time a
comet passes any sun, and if they keep going long enough they pass one
eventually, they heat up a little, some of their ice melts and they change
shape so their direction alters as they tumble through space. The one we just
had may’ve last come past a million years ago, missing us by a whisker when no
one was here to see it. No people, I mean. As they get nearer a sun, its
gravity gives the comet a minute wobble, making it hard to pinpoint the direction
precisely.’

Āmiria was puzzled. She’d never heard
her father talk about using Dopplers or any of this business? ‘Did all this happen
near Tamworth as well?’

Zoy turned in surprise and everyone else stared
at her too. She felt embarrassed and resolved that before asking any more
stupid questions, she better find a map and see where these places were.

‘This one probably came from the outer edge
of the Ort cloud,’ Dr Zoy continued, sidestepping the Tamworth question. ‘It’s
an envelope of comets surrounding our solar system. A bit like a cloud of moths
around a streetlight. Most of them circle, not-too-close, not-too-far, forming
a rough kind of ball. Occasionally one bumps another, or something else, and whizzes
off in a slightly different direction.’

So the map needed to show Tamworth, and
Sydney, compared with Azores and Ort. Āmiria wasn’t sure if she’d remember
all this and hoped Natasha was getting it down properly.

‘Does this happen often?’ Winston asked. ‘I
mean, if they were—what’d you say? Whizzing. Wouldn’t people have, you know,
got some stuff ready and that?’

Dr Zoy had to lean forward to see Winston
who sat squashed between Āmiria and Azziz. ‘No one I know has any
particular “stuff” that might do it. There’ve definitely been close calls in
the past. The Hyakutake comet passed Earth in March ‘96. And that was only
discovered two months beforehand by a Japanese amateur astronomer with
binoculars. It got as close as fifteen million kilometers—and that’s
very
close—only 40 times the distance to the moon. In 1983 a comet called
Ariki-Alcock got three times closer than Hyakutake—just thirteen times the
distance to the moon. The closest on record was a comet in 1770. That zipped
past and apparently at its closest was only six times the distance to the moon,
about two million kilometers.

‘That veeeeerly close,’ confirmed Mrs Sheng.

‘We know comets
can
hit planets,
because the Shoemaker-Levy comet struck Jupiter in 1996. That strike was a lot
more pronounced than anyone expected and the impact scar was massive, easily
visible from earth with any kind of decent telescope.’

Winston persisted. ‘But have any actually
landed
here
before?’

‘The last comet of any size to actually hit
earth was in Siberia, in 1908. At Tunguska, which is luckily miles out in the
wops. Nobody’s ever found any pieces from it, but something exploded five or
ten kilometers above the ground, completely flattening large trees in a circle
three hundred kilometers wide. The explosion was equivalent to a ten megaton
bomb. It was almost certainly a small comet. The Russians spent ages trying to
find it but all they found was a small, round swamp; below where the impact
should have been, right in the middle of the big circle of flattened trees.’

‘A swamp?’ asked Āmiria, forgetting her
earlier promise about no more dumb questions.

‘Swamp suspiciously have no bottom,’ said
Mrs Sheng. ‘This velly strange, say Russian. American say, can we have looksy? Russian
say, you come over here, we drop bomb on your head. Hahaha! So everyone only get
chance to look at Tunguska last twenty or thirty year. Hey! You creepy boy.’ She
stepped back from the doorway because John the Hat appeared to be trying to
look up her dress.

Winston ignored the interruption. ‘So the
one the other day was like that Russian one?’

Mrs Sheng cautiously returned. ‘No. This big
one.’ The Hat began inspecting a piece of wall near the door, cunningly trying to
look like that was what he’d been staring at the whole time.

‘The one we’ve just had isn’t dissimilar to the
Chixibulb asteroid,’ said Dr Zoy. ‘That landed in the Caribbean, sixty-five
million years ago.’

Mrs Sheng elaborated. ‘That one kill all the
dinosaur. Plenty animal survive after though, so we be okay. No worry.’ She
smiled at Natasha who kept scribbling while Krystal looked over her shoulder.

Āmiria felt short of breath and even a
little dizzy. The room was so stuffy! She couldn’t understand what all this
meant and needed a drink, so got to her knees and hobbled across to the twins,
who had the remaining water bottle sitting in front of them. As she grabbed the
bottle she stretched up to see how much Krystal had written.

She was drawing a picture of a camel.

‘So what do we do now? Winston asked.

Dr Zoy peered at him. ‘Now we wait. Wait till
it gets light.’

‘Wait?’ growled
Mr Snow.

WEATHER
BADGE DIARY

Today we
drove to Mulloolaloo weather station. Dr Zoy gave us a talk about comets. Mrs Sheng
thinks we might get dinosaurs back. Mr Snow said our parents are in Canberra
with everyone else so he’s going to take us there tomorrow. It was dark all day
and the wind was very hot and Mr Snow ran over some kangaroos when he was
driving. The thermometer Azziz gave us says 41 degrees but outside it is hotter.

Natasha

Chapter Fifteen

More Boxies

T
he Hat had taken off his shirt and rivulets of sweat rolled freely down
his pale, hairless chest. ‘According to my understanding of paleoanthropology, only
three things survived the dinosaurs: rats, crocodiles and some small, furry,
angry thing that ended up turning into monkeys. Oh, and that’s right, sharks.’

Winston: ‘Yippee.’

Āmiria: ‘Why didn’t the sharks turn
into anything?’

‘They had the option. A few did go really
bad and turned into traffic cops, but most stayed as is. Sweet.’ He issued a
waggly thumbs-up.

‘Did it get this hot last time?’ asked Āmiria.
It was boiling in the cramped storeroom.

Winston didn’t know. ‘I thought dinosaurs
liked it hot? All the pictures I’ve seen, dinosaurs have always been hanging in
steamy jungles, grassy plains, that sort of thing. Hardly ever in snowy places.
’Cept mammoths, I think they did snow.’

‘Who drew those fuckin pictures anyway?’ grumbled
the Hat.

Eventually, Astrid insisted the boys go back
to their own room and let the girls get some rest because the twins kept falling
asleep. Azziz, the Hat and Winston reluctantly stood and were shaking
themselves off to depart when Dick reappeared. He wasn’t overly happy about the
shift next door either but Li Sheng had been tied up with “station crap” and it
didn’t sound like he was given much option.

‘We should be able to take you on a quick
tour of the station later, if you’re good,’ he told the yawning twins before
being ushered out.

Winston could’ve sworn that sometime in the
last few hours, Dick had re-brushed his hair. It just seemed too neatly
sculptured to be normal, given what they’d been through. He ran a hand through
his own tangled, greasy, black locks.

‘Can I go next door too?’ asked Āmiria.
‘I’m not tired.’ Astrid nodded.

The crap at the station must’ve been easy to
fix because Li Sheng returned within minutes. She dropped off a bottle of tepid
water and left with Dick, who hadn’t even bothered to enter the boy’s room
after taking a whiff of Lord Brown from the doorway. ‘What are
we
supposed
to do?’ Winston shouted after him.

‘You’ll be right as rain,’ Dick called back,
then was gone.

‘Right as rain?’ spumed Winston
disbelievingly. ‘Sounds like some Girl Guide mumbo-jumbo. It wouldn’t surprise
me if that’s where Dick gets all his research.’ He turned on Āmiria. ‘You know
any more handy guide sayings like that?’

‘Yeah. Mate ā moa.’

‘That doesn’t sound like guideish at all. I’ll
start speaking dwarfish if you don’t watch out.’

‘Dwarfish?’ pondered the Hat. ‘That’s the language
jockeys talk, isn’t it? It’s mostly English but more nasal and high-pitched and
delivered in short snatches. They say stuff like, “Come out strong; cut me off
on the turn; shoulda bin a winner on the day; yabba, yabba, yabba.”’

Lord Brown began rocking back and forth,
muttering quietly to himself. ‘Short snatch, short snatch, short snatch . . . ’

The Hat continued. ‘They always look like
angry elves on speed to me. Angry, drugged up elves who get paid to ride
horses. No wonder those horses go bloody fast! “Getthiscrazyfuckeroffmeback!”
the poor nag’s screamin.’

Āmiria said, ‘Mate ā moa means
dead like the moa’. My Uncle Monty says it sometimes. He’s a Tūhoe chief
and has a proper war club, but he likes his rifle better.’

‘What? In the guides?!’ exclaimed Winston.

‘Short snatch, short snatch, short snatch . . . ’

The room stank, and it felt hotter than
deep-fried lava. ‘A cold beer would be nice,’ mused the Hat.

No one replied.

A lengthy pause in conversation ensued while
the Hat and Azziz slept. Winston asked Āmiria what she was doing.

‘What’re you doin?’

‘Trying to jigger up a periscope.’

‘Why?’ He watched her flatten a square of
tinfoil which originally covered the stew, then carefully feed it into a slot sliced
at an angle in the end of a long stick of polystyrene which she’d taken from a
packing crate.

‘Try’na see over some boxes.’

‘Right. And after that?’

‘I’m going to Tamworth.’

Those Girl Guides certainly kept themselves
entertained.

‘Short snatch, short snatch, short snatch . . . ’

Astrid entered, turning her nose up at the
smell then pretending to ignore it. ‘The twins are still fast asleep.’ She
pointed at Lord Brown. ‘What’s he saying?’

Everyone shrugged.

She plonked herself down next to Azziz and
immediately suggested a round of
I Spy
.
There was no disagreement
and after a blindingly obvious sideways glance at Azziz, kicked off with the
letter “A”. Nobody could even be bothered attempting an answer and the game
stalled badly in the opening round. They needed a change of scenery. ‘Let’s have
a look outside,’ proposed Winston.

‘I’m keen!’ replied Āmiria immediately.

Astrid was not. ‘They asked us to wait in
here. No sense getting their backs up. I’m sure they’ve got enough problems
without you causing extra trouble.’

‘We don’t need to worry them,’ insisted Āmiria
enthusiastically. ‘If that drippy guard isn’t out by the door, we can get
behind the boxes then down to the next corridor. There was other rooms and
lights showing.’

Winston peeked through the gap across the corridor
to the boxes on the other side. The door had been held ajar with Azziz’s shoes to
let air drift in. She was right: if they nipped across, he could easily squeeze
in. Astrid could make it too, but Azziz had no chance and the Hat was probably too
tall to do it without risking knocking a box over.

‘Definitely worth a crack. But if the guard
looks this way, from that stool up near the front door, he’ll—’

‘He’s not even there,’ confirmed Āmiria,
squinting up into the tinfoil periscope which she’d edged above the boxes. ‘Nah.
Gone totally.’ She poked out her head then looked back. ‘He could be just
around the corner at the front door though, so I’m still gonna go behind those
other boxes. In case he comes back.’

It turned out to be a tight fit. What
Winston lacked in height he made up for with a broad chest which had to be
shoved through the gap. Āmiria went first, then Astrid who scuttled sideways
and appeared to have a problem squeezing her breasts along the narrow cardboard
canyon. Winston came up the rear, his chest is now pressed up against an area that
her nipples had, only seconds before, been smudging over. Maybe a fraction
below
where her nipples had been, but not by much. The thought was
surprisingly erotic given the circumstances. It’s either that, or he had some strange
sexual attraction to cardboard he hadn’t previously known about.

He popped out. Āmiria pointed down the corridor.
‘See, let’s have a look.’ She took off, ducking around the corner into the
smaller corridor running perpendicular to that which their rooms were on. The
guard wouldn’t be able to see them unless he had some specific reason to come around
here, which of course he might . . . Winston tried to hurry,
following the Girl Guide with his stubby legs pumping up and down on ballerina
tiptoes, Astrid now in the rear. The ceiling lights were off but towards the
end of the corridor a light glowed through a side door with a small glass panel
in the top. The light was strong enough that they could see a few meters past
the lit door, to the very end of the corridor and another door with a large, red
EXIT sign above it.

‘What’d I tell you!’ said Āmiria smugly.

Winston took the lead. After a few steps he
was disappointed to see the door with the light had a
Bathroom Ladies
sign above it. On
the facing wall, the similar
Bathroom
Mens
door remained dark.

Winston pushed open the door to the Ladies and
instantly realized the light wasn’t from within the room—it came from outside! He
had to step around a short blocking wall to see the windows, and then saw the
sunrise, gloriously streaming through the opaque windows above the cubicles. It
was low on the horizon and distorted by the cross-hatched wire running through
the glass, but still one the best sight he’d seen since—

‘You all playing boxies now are you?’ said
the guard from behind them. He’d snuck up quiet as a mouse, so maybe wasn’t so
drippy after all.

Winston turned and stepped from the LADIES to
see two men, the guard and an older scientist-type clutching an armful of manila
folders. He had thin white hair, a pinched face and appeared anxious. ‘I’m Barney.
I work with Dr Zoy.’ He paused and looked at each of the three in turn. ‘Did
you know Dick Snow’s left?’

‘What!?’ exclaimed Astrid.

‘That’s right. I was checking he’s not with
you, so that’ll be no.’ Barney gave the sign above the door a puzzled glance. ‘Ladies?
Why were you . . . ?’ Then he remembered the problem at
hand. ‘He’s gone with Li Sheng in our 4WD. Brian isn’t there either. He was
fixing it and Dr Zoy thinks he’s gone with them. Must’ve just got it started. Dr
Zoy isn’t very happy, as you can imagine.’

The mongrel! Dick must’ve pissed off in the 4WD
as soon as he saw it was getting light. At least they still had Leroy’s van. ‘We’ll
probably head off soon too. Go into Canberra.’ He looked over his shoulder for
Astrid, seeking confirmation, but she’d disappeared. Winston turned back to
Barney and jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the light coming from the
LADIES. ‘Now the sun’s coming out and all.’

‘Sun? You can go anytime you like. Of
course. But, no, there’s no sun.’ He shook his head. ‘Have a look if you want,
come on.’ He walked past Āmiria and Winston to the EXIT door, pushed down
on the horizontal bar while at the same time turning the handle, then swung it open.
A hot blast of wind surged in, pushing them all back a quarter-step.

Now Winston could see in the bushfires in
the distance, stretching right across the horizon. Near the centre of the
inferno, where he thought he’d seen the sunrise, massive licks of flame twisted
into the sky.

Barney waved his hand at the firestorm. ‘That’s
Canberra, and the bush and pine forests around it.’

‘Winston! Winston!’ Astrid’s voice came from
behind them. He looked back to see her running down the corridor, out of breath,
and in a panic. ‘The twins are gone!’