bedroom door. Alicia stood at the end of the hallway with her hands folded across her chest and an uncertain smile on her face. In a world of darkness he was her knight in shining armor – he just had a hard time realizing it.
“How’s he doing?” Alicia asked.
“He’s afraid… And he has every reason to be.”
“So am I. What happens next?”
He could see the worry and fear in her eyes and it gave him the nudge he needed to step up to the plate and figure out this mystery. He wanted to protect his family and if solving the mysterious disappearances was how he can do it, then so be it.
“You get some rest.” Jack said, “I’m going to the study. I have to figure out what this is and how to stop it.”
“I’ll make you some coffee.”
She gave him a kiss on the cheek and just as she turned to walk away, Jack pulled her back and gave her a decent kiss on the lips that was redolent of all the great loves that came before them and even outshined that famous last kiss in the movie Titanic.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.” Alicia said softly.
“We’ll beat this. I won’t let anything happen to you or Timmy – ever.”
Those words made Alicia feel a bit more at ease, though deep inside she knew he couldn’t possibly protect them against something of this magnitude. She nodded and walked away; hoping that he couldn’t tell from her demeanor that she was worried even more than earlier. Jack stood a moment and watched as she walked down the hallway and admired that she still looked the way she did when he met her years earlier. She was the best part of him; she gave him the strength he needed to figure out what was happening.
He walked over to the study across the hallway and sat down behind his desk, switched on the computer and started to search for answers on the internet. The first thing that came to mind were the words ‘mysterious disappearances’ so that’s what he searched for on the internet. All that he found were links to websites about missing persons and inexplicable disappearances he knew all to well from his own lectures. There was nothing about entire continents that disappeared, except sketchy news reports about the recent disappearances – reports that didn’t help him at all. How could a vast landmass disappear? Could it be a black hole? Black holes were associated with deep space, but could it be that somehow one of these mysterious tubes landed on earth? He searched for the words black holes and clicked on one of the search results.
“A black hole” Jack read, “is a region of space-time from which gravity prevents anything, including light, from escaping. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform space-time to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that marks the point of no return. The hole is called "black" because it absorbs all the light that hits the horizon - reflecting nothing and allowing nothing to escape.”
That wasn’t it. Ground zero for Australia had water mass… If black holes were behind the mysterious disappearances, there would be nothing – not even water. Whatever happened, black holes were not behind the disappearances and he had to keep searching for answers.
Since his internet connection was slow and ancient, he had to wait a couple of seconds for the results to load. He had been meaning to upgrade to a better service provider for months, but just never got round to it.
Jack sat for a moment and pondered what else it may be and searched the web for the word Eddy
“In fluid dynamics, an eddy is a swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an object. The moving fluid creates a space devoid of downstream-flowing fluid on the downstream side of the object. Fluid behind the obstacle flows into the void creating a swirl of fluid on each side of the obstacle.”
“That’s not it either.” Jack sighed.
He searched for space gamma despite knowing it’s a phenomena that’s limited to deep space, but he was desperate for answers. Again his search came up with no results relating to anything happening on earth. He had hit a dead end; he had no idea what it could be or what he should even search for. He sighed and rested his head in his hands; his concerns of failure were growing.
Alicia entered with his mug of coffee and could see the defeat on his demeanor.
“Any progress?” Alicia asked.
Jack looked up as she entered.
“Not really. I have no idea what to search for. My lectures are about people disappearing, not about entire continents disappearing. I don’t even know where to begin.”
Alicia handed him the mug and he took a sip of coffee as she pulled up a chair and sat down next to him.
“Well, start with what you know.” Alicia said, “What do we know so far? Take a look at the video footage again. Perhaps you can find clues in the video – clues others have missed.”
“Maybe you have a point. I should look at this as a puzzle and just fit the pieces together.”
Jack searched the internet for the news footage of what happened in Kyushu, Japan and with the slow internet connection, the video took a moment to load. They watched the video and every few seconds it would buffer before continuing – something that frustrated Jack because it took precious time away from him; time that could’ve been used more productively.
“This is so annoying.” Jack sighed.
“I told you we needed a new internet provider.”
It was with those words that Jack spotted something in the video footage – something he hadn’t seen before.
“Wait.” Jack gasp, “What was that?”
Jack paused the video, rewound the video frame by frame and paused it again and carefully studied the paused image; he wasn’t sure what he was seeing, but one thing was for sure: the paused footage didn’t belong and could just be the break he was looking for. If it wasn’t for his slow internet connection, he might’ve missed the split second of footage that seemed to be a vital piece of information.
“What was what?” Alicia asked.
“I think I just saw something. A piece of the puzzle.”
Jack kept staring at the bizarre image on the paused video footage and tried to figure out what he was looking at and what it meant. The answer was there right in front of him, but he just needed to figure out what the question was.
12
The next morning Timmy refused to go to school; he was terrified that something might happen to him or his parents and wanted to stay close to them at all times He had a horrible nightmare the night before about both his parents disappearing into dust right before his eyes and then he was left all alone. He was afraid that his dream might’ve been a premonition of some sorts.
While the remainder of the world slept, the entire continent of Asia had disappeared along with all its people. Chaos and widespread panic had taken a firm grip on the European nations. All international travel was suspended indefinitely, not that it would make any difference with the mysterious disappearances that were sweeping across the globe and seemed to have no end in sight. Only time would tell whether or not America would meet the same fate as some of the already disappeared nations.
The imminent, but yet unconfirmed threat plummeted the stock markets and other financial indicators and had most Americans hiding out in their basements or bomb shelters while others packed up and tried leaving major cities before it was too late.
Alicia was working on a story with deadline and had to go to the office to file her work, so she was unable to watch Timmy and Jack had him for the day when he had to report to the Homeland Security field office He took Timmy with him. He didn’t want to force Timmy to go to school and didn’t want to leave him home alone either.
Timmy clung to Jack’s embrace like a little baby and he could tell from the facial expressions as he entered the boardroom that his son was not too welcome there. Sure, they were dealing with sensitive information, but Timmy wouldn’t even understand most of the jargon they used.
“Good morning.”
Agent Smith said, “Glad you could join us.”
“I’m sorry we’re late. My son’s too traumatized by what he saw on the news.”
“It’s traumatizing to everyone.” Agent Smith said bluntly, “That is why I entrusted you to find me answers.”
“And I think I found one.” Jack said and the boardroom fell quiet, “Early this morning after you called me.”
Agent Smith motioned for the junior agent to keep the child busy who then walked over and took Timmy from Jack’s arms, but Timmy protested.
“It’s alright.” Jack said, “I’m right here. This nice man’s going to take you to watch some cartoons.”
“Come on.” The junior agent said with a smile.
Timmy looked at his father and then at the stranger holding out his hand. He knew his dad wouldn’t let any harm come to him and decided to go with the junior agent.
Jack watched as the junior agent took his son into the other room and then turned to face Agent Smith. Everyone in the room was staring at him with wide eyes – staring in anticipation at the only man who seemed to have an answer, but he was simply staring back at them.
“What?” Jack asked.
“What did you find?” Agent Smith said.
“Oh. Right.” Jack said daft, “I did some research last night and it’s not the first mass disappearance; I stumbled upon one case after another once I knew what to search for. Roanoke Island, August 18th, 1590; the entire colony of settlers disappeared without a trace.