Page 71 of Taurus's Quest
She squirmed to turn in his lap. “Are you saying I have a job?”
“I’m not, but sure seems like Tower thinks so. Given how close that alien asteroid came to destroying us, might be useful to have someone who’s smart about stars and shit keeping an eye on our solar system.”
Her lips curved. “Guess you’re stuck having me around.”
“It won’t be easy, but I’ll do my best to manage,” he drawled, totally earning an elbow to his ribs.
She snuggled back down. “Just for that, you can forget growing out that beard.”
“Aw, come on. I won the bet when I beat you at Mario Kart.”
“Do you ever want sex again?”
“Clean-shaven it is.” He sounded so morose she leaned close to whisper. “Tell you what. I’ll join you in solidarity.”
“You already shave your legs and pits.”
She said nothing, and a moment later, when he figured out what she meant, he exhaled, “Oh hell yeah, honey. Need a hand with the razor?”
She didn’t, but that didn’t stop her from ditching everyone and dragging him back to the much-larger apartment they now shared. Because, while meteors were cool and all, only Taurus knew how to make her see the most epic stars.
Meanwhile, in Toronto, a rooftop party paused as those gathered oohed and aahed at the flashing streaks in the sky. Everyone had breathed a sigh of relief when the asteroid blew up, and now, to celebrate, they had music, booze, and a meteor shower for entertainment.
“Holy shit, Rory. That one looks like it’s coming straight for us.” A drunken partier nudged his buddy.
“Damn.” Rory took a swig of his beer. “Looks huge, too.”
“Because it is, and it’s coming right for us!” screamed the blonde whose top barely held her boobs.
The music died, and no one spoke as they stared, wide-eyed, slightly afraid, as the meteor kept getting bigger and bigger. The bright blue flame of it hypnotized, and as it whizzed past, close enough to cause a breeze, more than a few shivered.
The space rock didn’t hit any buildings, but did smack hard into Lake Ontario, sending up a massive geyser that had everyone watching with dropped jaws.
When the droplets spattered back to the surface of the lake, there was a moment of silence, then wild cheering as the party resumed.
The following day, the news made mention of the meteors that had been spotted crashing in Toronto and a few other places around the world. Divers were dispatched to see if they could locate them. Not a trace was found. Not even an impact crater.
Expert astronomers had several theories, the most bandied one being that, when it hit the cold water, the smoking-hot meteor shattered into such small pieces it couldn’t be recovered. One scientist did opine that the force of the impact might have embedded it in the soft mud bottom of the lake, which instantly covered it. Either way, nothing was ever found, and within days, the meteors, the asteroid, even the fact the world almost ended, were forgotten.
A mistake, because those fragments that reached Earth’s surface were about to cause major problems for humanity.
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