Free Divine Destruction (The Return of Divinity Book 1) by Lester Suggs

comic and his dinner together. Dropping the comic package on his desk, he sat at his workstation and keyed up the latest batch of images. Each night the array would take thousands of images from a pre-programmed section of space. It was Larry’s job to process those images from the Pan-STARRS array. Confirming the connection with password entries, Larry began the feed and review process. Briskly retrieving his dinner and water, Larry settled at his desk and carefully opened his long awaited package.
    Sharing his attention between the triple computer monitors and the unveiling of his latest arrival, Larry pulled the standard comic book sleeve from inside the padded overnight mail envelope. The issue seemed as the lister had described, "excellent condition”. This meant many things to most people, but to a comic collector, it was a specific reference to the exact quality of the issue. No fractures, no bends or creases could be tolerated. No fading of ink. No stains. Larry glanced back at his left screen, then the center, and then right, panning his attention. Images cascaded from one screen to the next. Each new image would appear on the left monitor, then on the center with ten times magnification of the center field, and then on the right screen at one hundred times magnification from the array’s generic magnification.
    Larry noted nothing out of the ordinary and gave his attention back to the comic in his hands. Flipping the comic book protector sleeve over, he inspected the white cardboard insert to ensure it had no bent corners, indicating the package had been dropped. All corners were intact. A sense of gleeful satisfaction rolled across Larry’s mind. It was like a hundred little internal endorphin fireworks exploding together. He opened his pasta container and stirred the contents. Shifting his weight back in his chair and carefully stabbing another mouthful, Larry noticed the image that appeared on the left monitor. It showed what looked like white spheres inside the asteroid belt. As the image was passed onto the center screen, Larry set his dinner down on his desk. The white plumes looked like concussion waves. Then the image landed on the right monitor and Larry reached for the phone, noting the time: 1:28 a.m. PST. He paused to process what he was seeing. It was a visible chain of detonations with a small white comet trail. Larry quickly banged the space bar to freeze the progression of images and send the feed to the hard-disk array. Staring at the right monitor, Larry realized he had dialed the phone when he heard, “Kevin Szymanski, Duty Officer, Catalina Sky Survey.”
    Over the next couple of hours the images and data were confirmed. Next Larry sent the images to the Minor Planet Center within the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, then to NEO Project Office in Johnson Propulsion Laboratory. The Smithsonian gave the comet the designation “Green X2018d.” It was named after the discovering person, “X” as in unknown origin, the year discovered, and the letter “D” indicating the fourth comet discovered in that given year. Once Larry found a few minutes to spare he walked to the far wall’s chalk board and erased the ‘III’ drawn in chalk at the board’s upper right corner. In its place Larry drew ‘IV’. He stepped back and smiled having discovered his fourth celestial body of record.
    Larry’s phone rang and he bounded after it. He was informed by the NEO night officer that after trajectory verification and further analysis, the NEO Program Executive would be briefed. Larry should expect further calls. He didn’t have to wait long. Twenty short minutes later his phone rang again.
    “Is this Larry Green?” asked the voice on the phone.
    “Yes,” Larry said tentatively.
    “I am Dr. Matt Fountain. NASA Space Telescope Science Institute.”
    The conversation was short and direct. After hanging up Larry felt the call had been to gauge his competency more than a verification of data.