CHAPTER 9
The electric propulsion system’s small but relentless push on asteroid Sutter’s Mill was slowly altering its trajectory. Had the high-voltage power supply that fed the thrusters not shorted out, there is no doubt they would have placed the rock on a path that would take it safely into a lunar orbit, making it accessible for Earth’s resource-hungry population to mine. But the power supply did fail, and the beautiful blue glow of the thrusters winked out, stopping before the asteroid was placed in the desired orbit, leaving it on a path that no one had planned or even yet knew. But soon the smart people back on Earth would know where it was heading—and they would be terrified.
* * *
“Monsieur Rosalez, we have a problem,” said Maurice Aubuchon with his characteristic frown.
“What is the problem, Maurice?”
“The thrusters have shut down prematurely on the asteroid and we don’t know why. They shut down late yesterday and we’ve been running diagnostics to try and find the cause. So far, we have not been successful.”
“Well, keep troubleshooting and let me know when you figure something out.”
“Yes, Monsieur, but there is another problem that you should know about.”
“Another problem? What’s that?”
“The astrodynamicists have been looking at the new trajectory of the asteroid. The one it was on when the thrusters failed. It doesn’t look good.”
“It doesn’t look good? I would imagine not. Those thrusters were supposed to run another few months to put it on a trajectory that would make it accessible for us to mine. Other than costing me hundreds of millions of Euros to build and perhaps costing me billions of Euros in lost revenue, what else could be ‘not good?’” Rosalez asked, now sounding more irritated.
“They think the asteroid is now on a collision course with the Earth…” Maurice let the final words of the sentence trail off, as if he were hoping they would not be true if he didn’t say them loudly.
“What? Are they sure? How can that be? I thought we’d shown that the new trajectory would pose no risk of an impact.”
“We did show that; if the system had remained on and functional, we are certain the new trajectory posed no risk to the planet. But they shut down prematurely and, well, now it looks like we have a big problem.”
“Oh. My. God. Don’t tell anyone about this until we’re sure about the analysis. Let me talk to the people who made the calculation and get them someone to double check their results.”
“Yes, sir. Right away. We’ll have them ready to speak to you about their calculations within the hour,” Maurice stammered as he hurried off.
“Great. Just great. Not only will I lose billions, but I might be responsible for killing millions of people if this thing hits…” Had anyone been looking at the dark-skinned Rosalez, they would have seen him turn distinctly pale.
Time until Asteroid 2018HM5 “Sutter’s Mill” reaches Earth: 271 days.