I. Worldshake

Blushspark clung tightly to Bluntspear's broad, rough back; the big, stolid haulfin gripped even more tightly onto the mass of wild spearweed, as the world roiled around her. Spearweed. Good choice, Bluntspear, good choice. That won't break off in your arms.

Of course, that wouldn't save them if this part of Hotwall collapsed. She could hear the deep-thunder splitting of rock in the distances, a sudden shrieking of a vent pinched almost shut; her skin visioned the panicked movement of flakefish and giant orvanel, discharges of life-signals bright and urgent; she thought she picked up Jetgrab's cursing from the other side of the valley. And above all, the sharp, shattering, groaning howl as the sky broke far above.

This is the worst worldshake I've ever felt. Worse than anything the Elders, even Steadyglow, ever told about. Worse than anything I've read about in the Archives!

A shockwave of current erupted from the depths below, and she felt both her and Bluntspears' grips beginning to slip. No! If we let go –

If they let go, the currents could carry them anywhere – smash them to pieces against rocks, suffocate them in concentrated feedfumes, even into a fresh vent to burn alive or to the sky where they might vanish.

The clump of spearweed began to lift, telling her that part of the bedrock had come loose.

But before their anchorage was entirely torn away, the current hesitated, shifted, and began to die down. The water was now so clouded that she could barely make out Bluntspear's panicked flickerings under her own body, less than a quarter-spear from her higheye. She chirruped and fluttered against him, reassuring him with bright flashes. "Good Bluntspear. GOOD work. We're going to be okay."

Introduction: The Cosmos Comes to Earth

Modern civilization has many advantages. People live longer and are generally healthier than in past eras. Infant and child mortality are greatly reduced. More information is available than in any past century. And this can be accessed at the click of a mouse. In the not-too-distant past, most people never traveled more than a few miles from their place of birth.

But the inertia of the modern world is quite frustrating. Getting complex and sophisticated societies to change their ways apparently requires a present danger or visible catastrophe. The promise of eventual catastrophe or the lure of eventual riches just does not seem to work.

Such was the case a few weeks ago. Many people were aware that Near Earth Objects (NEOs)—celestial objects of asteroidal or cometary origin—occasionally strike the Earth. In parts of the world, some people followed the progress of asteroid 2012 DA14, which was scheduled to pass within 27,000 kilometers of the Earth on February 15, 2013. Only a small segment of the populace actively followed plans to divert Earth-threatening NEOs or mine them for their vast resources.