The Mammoth Book of Apocalyptic SF - Mike Ashley [100]
She put her arms around my chest and gave me a hug. "It doesn't matter what happens, does it?"
"Not any more." Nothing matters any more but us.
It took about fifteen minutes for the expanding ball of burning silver to reach Mercury, momentarily a brilliant pinprick of silver light. Just before the wave front struck, it exploded in a muddy orange gout of flaming magma, flying apart like a bursting tomato, then it was gone.
The whole room fell silent. "What happens when it gets here?"
I looked at my watch. "It'll reach Venus in another fifteen minutes or so. If that goes ... I guess we've got about half an hour."
Her eyes started to panic. "Oh, Scott ..." Not quite above a whisper, she said, "Oh, not now."
Why not now? Isn't that what God does? Lets you think you have a shot at happiness just before he pulls the rug out from under your feet? I bet that's a real knee-slapper up in heaven, the way we all go splat on our faces every time.
I stood, taking both her hands in mine, and pulled her to her feet. "No sense staying here."
Maryanne said, "Where can we go? Back to our room?"
The classic thing, in keeping with my character. Go to bed with the woman of my dreams, and wait 'til darkness falls, once and for all, now and forever. Die with my boots on, like a trooper. I said, "We need to go get our spacesuits, Maryanne. If we go outside, we can watch."
Watch. I saw her eyes light up, just for me.
We walked hand in hand then, up the aisle and out the door, almost running down the long corridor toward the elevators, headed for the industrial complex near the surface. Just before the elevator came, I heard Paulie's voice call out, "Wait! Wait for me!" He was alone, no Olga now when it mattered most, running towards us, hair and beard flapping.
Maryanne reached out and pressed the elevator's hold button, smiling. "It doesn't hurt to be nice. Not now."
We got to the big airlock and got in our suits with a few minutes to spare. There were a surprising number of people already there, more pouring in as we racked up. I thought about the ISS crew. Talk about a grandstand seat! They'll be the last ones to go. Jonas clapped me on the shoulder as Maryanne, Paulie and I climbed into his cart. "Where we headed?"
He said, "Awww, just out onto the shoulder of the mountain. Remember where we watched the launch?"
Somebody tripped the depress valves and the air started hissing away, tension forming on the door, our suits ballooning out slightly, then it was gone, the floor vibrating as the door rolled up.
"God!" That was from Jonas, not me.
I whispered, "Maryanne ... " She turned and looked at me, face bathed in silver light as the cart rolled forward, out under a brilliant noonday sun. The sky was black, the mountains lit up all around us. Up in the sky, where the sun should have been, was a huge silver ball, full of twinkling sparkles, tumbling glitter, bits and streaks of magical fire.
Maryanne said, "Oh! It's pretty, at least."
Paulie cried out, "Look! It's the Moon!"
Gibbous. Lit up silver like everything else.
The ball of silver fire was swelling fast, perspective making it look like some enormous steel sphere, falling on us out of the heavens. The Moon exploded, flying apart in a liquidy gout of magma fire, little black dots of solid material almost invisible in the spreading mass.
I wrapped my arms around Maryanne, holding her hard as I knew how, and before I could open my mouth to speak, we were snatched from the cart, falling into the sky as the world turned upside down.
Screaming. People screaming.
Falling with us.
Over her shoulder, I could see the mountains, the land, everything dropping away, a world made of brilliant liquid silver, melting as I watched.
I heard Paulie screaming somewhere: