“Thanks.” Roger dug a business card out of his shirt pocket and handed it to her.
“Nuke Mars NOW!” Tom said, coming abruptly back to the moment. “Wait a minute. The University At Home?”
“Never mind him, Traci,” Alan said with a grin. “He’s a foreigner from the left coast. They’re not all that swift iffin’ you know what I mean.”
“I forget you’re from California, Doctor Powell,” the waitress cooed, causing another meltdown. “I meant the University of Alabama in Huntsville or UAH. We affectionately refer to it around these parts as—”
“The University At Home,” Roger and Alan chimed in.
“I get it,” Tom said, grinning.
“I’m so glad for you,” Traci replied, widening her eyes in mock surprise. “After all, it ain’t rocket science.”
Roger and Alan tried not to fall off their stools laughing as the waitress bounced over to get their order. Tom just sighed.
Chapter 2
Time: Present — all contact with Mars probes lost
“Well, sir,” the president’s science advisor George Fines explained, “scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute have actually discovered that the bolometric albedo — that is what astronomers call the spectral content or colors of a planetary image — of Mars has changed over the past year dramatically. But what is even more alarming is that within the past month it has changed at an incredible rate. The current spectrum when compared to the previous one shows that there are now many different metals, gases, and other compounds on the surface and in the atmosphere. This is an unprecedented change.”
“Yes, George. I realize that, but what does it mean?” President Colby replied as he looked out the window of the Oval Office. He was a businessman — top of his class at Harvard. Economic recessions, inflation, hell, even depressions, he could handle. Planets changing colors during his administration was something he wasn’t sure he was prepared for. “How’s this going to affect us? I’m interested and all that, but it’s not like there’s a great big comet headed this way that only Bruce Willis can save us from…”