friends was that their own planet, Nibiru, was approaching rapidly and in just seven earth days would intersect the Earth's orbit. According to their Elders' calculations, one of its seven satellites would come so close as to almost touch the planet, causing a series of climate disruptions comparable to those of its previous passage, which had been summed up in a single definition: The Great Flood.
In the first part of the story (Back to Earth - The adventures of Azakis and Petri), we left all four of them inside their awe-inspiring spacecraft, the Theos, and that is where we will resume the tale of this fantastic new adventure.
Theos spacecraft
For the last few hours, Elisa had been swamped by such a vast amount of information that she felt like a little girl who had eaten too many cherries. Those two strange but lovable characters, who had suddenly appeared practically out of nowhere, had very quickly undermined many "historical certainties" that she and the rest of mankind had always pretty much taken for granted. Events, scientific discoveries, beliefs, cults, religions and even human evolution itself, were about to be completely revolutionised. News of the discovery that beings from another planet had so skilfully manipulated and guided the development of mankind, since its very earliest days, would have an impact on society like that of the revelation that the Earth was round, not flat.
Azakis and Petri, his trustworthy friend and travelling companion, stood motionless in the centre of the command bridge, their eyes trying to follow Elisa who was pacing nervously around the room, hands in her large trouser pockets, muttering incomprehensible words.
Jack by contrast was slumped in an armchair trying to support his head, which suddenly seemed incredibly heavy, with his hands. But it was Jack who, after a few endless minutes of silence, decided to take matters in hand. He abruptly stood up and facing the two aliens, said in a firm voice "If you chose us for this task you must have had a reason. All I can say is you won't be disappointed." Then he looked Azakis directly in the eyes and resolutely asked, "Could you show us a simulation, with that little bit of wizardry of yours," and he pointed at the virtual image of the Earth that was still slowly spinning in the centre of the room, "of your planet's approach?"
"With pleasure," answered Azakis immediately. He retrieved all the Elders' calculations through his N^COM implant and conjured up a graphical representation, right there, in front of them.
"This is Nibiru," he said indicating the largest planet. "And these are its satellites that we were talking about."
Seven, considerably smaller, celestial bodies, were spinning around the majestic planet at very different distances and speeds to one another. Azakis placed his index finger on the one orbiting the farthest away of them all and enlarged it until it was almost as big as himself. Then very solemnly he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present Kodon to you; this imposing rocky mass has decided to create a lot of trouble for your beloved planet."
"But how big is it?" asked Elisa, intrigued, as she observed the lumpy dark grey globe.
"Let's say that it is slightly smaller in size than your moon, but its mass is almost double." Azakis made a rapid gesture with his hand and the entire solar system appeared before them, with the planets slowly moving in their respective orbits. The trajectories of each one represented by thin, different coloured lines.
"This," continued Azakis, indicating a dark red line "is the trajectory that Nibiru will follow in its approach to the sun." Then he accelerated the planet's movement until it was close to the Earth and added "and this is the point where the orbits of the two planets will intersect."
The two terrestrials watched the explanation Azakis was giving them of the event which, in just a few days' time, would upset their lives and those of all the other inhabitants on the planet, in astonishment, but with great attention.
"How close will Nibiru come to us?" asked the Colonel quietly.
"As I was saying earlier," replied Azakis "Nibiru won't bother you excessively. Itâs Kodon that will almost touch the Earth and create quite a lot of problems." He brought the image a little closer and showed a simulation of the satellite when it would be at its closest point to the terrestrial orbit. "This will be the moment of maximum gravitational pull between the two celestial bodies. Kodon will only be 200,000 kilometres from your planet."
"Heck!" exclaimed Elisa. "That's a pittance."
"The last time," replied Azakis "exactly two cycles ago, it went by at about 500,000 kilometresâ distance and we all know what it managed to do then."
"Yes, the famous Great Flood."
Jack was standing with his hands clasped behind his back, rocking slowly back and forth, rising slightly first on his toes then on his heels. Suddenly, in a very serious tone, he broke the silence, saying, "I'm certainly not one of the greatest experts on this subject, but I'm afraid that no terrestrial technology would be able to do anything to counteract an event like that."
"Perhaps we could launch missiles with nuclear warheads against it," hazarded Elisa.
"That only happens in science fiction films," replied Jack smiling. "And anyway, assuming we could land vectors of that type on Kodon, we would risk shattering the satellite into thousands of pieces, causing a deadly shower of meteorites. That really would be the end of everything."
"I beg your pardon," said Elisa addressing the two aliens. "But didn't you say earlier that, in exchange for our âvery preciousâ plastic, you would help us solve this absurd situation? I hope you really do have some good ideas to help us out here, otherwise we're done for."
Petri, who had been standing quietly on the sidelines, smiled slightly and took a step towards the three-dimensional scenario represented in the middle of the bridge. With a rapid movement of his right hand he conjured up a kind of silver-coloured doughnut. He pointed at it with his index finger and moved it until it was exactly between the Earth and Kodon, then he said, "This might be the solution.â
Tell el-Mukayyar â The escape
In the laboratory tent, the two fake Bedouins who had tried to steal the shuttleâs âprecious contentâ from the two aliens, were gagged and securely tied to a large drum of fuel. They were sitting on the ground with their backs against the heavy metal container, facing in opposite directions. One of the doctor's helpers stood guard outside the tent and looked inside, every so often, to check on them.
The thinner of the two, who definitely had a couple of broken ribs from the Colonel's blow to his side, despite the pain which was almost preventing him from breathing, had not stopped, even for one moment, looking around in search of something that might come in handy to free himself.
The light of the afternoon sun timidly penetrated inside the tent through a small hole in the wall, throwing a thin beam of light into the hot dusty air. That sword-like ray of light painted a small white ellipse on the ground, that was moving very slowly in the direction of the two prisoners. The thin guy was watching the slow progress of the bright patch, almost hypnotised, when a sudden flash of light brought him back to reality. Half buried in the sand, about a metre away, something metallic reflected the sunlight straight into his right eye. He moved his head slightly and tried to figure out just what it was, but in vain. So, he tried stretching a leg in that direction, but a terrible stab of pain in his side reminded him of the state of his ribs and he decided to desist. He thought he probably wouldn't reach it anyway and, trying to talk through his gag, whispered "Hey, are you still alive?"
The
