space rocks

“Professor Jane Craig, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Moorland appears on the screen.  He pushes his glasses up and smiles awkwardly. 

 

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“Shut it Moorland, you know exactly why I’m calling.  Why do you always put me in situations like this?  When I get down there…”  Professor Jane points to the screen and shakes her finger at Moorland.

“Oh, Professor, now I know you wouldn’t go doing something you’d regret later…” Moorland says pushing his glasses even further up his nose.
 

“Yes, exactly, I won’t regret it.”  She swipes her hand from one side to the other abruptly.
 

“Jane, you know how these things go, we need to make tough calls sometimes.  We thought you’d explain thing better than we here on the ground would.”  He leans forward and smiles stiffly while pulling up his left shoulder.

 

“Don’t try and sweet talk me Moorland, I’ve known you for too long.  Give me the truth straight up or I’m sending the kid back when I hang up on you.  You owe Charlie here an explanation too.  Don’t even try to sweet talk him, I’ll get down there myself and make sure you never see another day at NASA.”  She pulls you on the arm to where Moorland can see you.

 

“No, no, no need.  Uh, so, the psyche evaluation showed that the kid wouldn’t go if he knew the true reason.  So in the interest of the survival of humanity, of earth, we decided to only give some information and leave you to fill in the blanks or for him to find out by accident.  We figured that way we could create a strong sense of duty in him.  And, Professor, you really are so very good at ….”

 

“Give it a rest, Moorland.  I’m not doing your job for you, tell the kid everything.  And keep it short I don’t have time for political shenanigans.”

 

“Uh, so you see, Charlie, there is a large group of interstellar space rocks heading to earth.  It is coming from the top of our solar system.  It’s moving at 58 000 miles per hour.  We discovered it a little too late so we all will die if you don’t do your job.  So you just do exactly what Professor Jane Craig tells you, okay kid?”  He takes off his glasses and fidgets with them in his hands. 

 

“Sir, you owe me a much better explanation than that.” You say shaking your head in disapproval.

 

“Just forget about this pawn.  Goodbye Moorland, I’ll deal with this when I get back down there."  She slaps the laptop shut and turns to you.