Global Cooling

It was a nice, hot day. A perfect one to call summer. Everybody was outside with their children taking walks or playing outside games. All the children were thinking about how much they missed school and the adults were wondering if they were going to need sunscreen. However, the workers at NASA were all inside, trying to decide what to do.

"We don't want to call on a worldwide panic." Said the systems administrator. "The less they know, the easier it would be for us to work fast." The others nodded. The pressure was the one thing they had and needed no more of.

"If it goes out how we have predicted," an employee asked, "Then we would have to send everybody to Australia until we figure out a way to fix it. Everybody would know something is wrong and ask. We might as well just tell them." Several heads nodded in agreement. 

The door opened, and everybody turned and looked at him. The head of NASA, Dr. Adel Lancaster, walked into the room. He has a perfect height, and from the looks of him, you would say he is not very smart. However, once you got to know him you would see that he is much smarter than you.

“Have we decided on anything yet?” Dr. Lancaster asked.

“We have not sir.” Marie Swanson said. She is one of the most valued employees at NASA. She works with computers and made sure everything is running smoothly.

“Well, we need answers!” Dr. Lancaster shouted. She slammed the closest desk to him. “We have not yet figured out why there is Global cooling yet either, I presume.” 

“Oh yes, we have,” Marie said. “Apparently, the moon’s gravitational pull has gotten too strong and is pulling the Earth away from the Sun at a rapid pace, more than usual, that is.” 

“I see. Now have we figured out how to fix this?” Dr. Lancaster asked.

“We have not sir…” Marie said, but quickly added, “We have thought of protocols for us to follow through.” 

Dr. Lancaster smiled. “We have had some improvement. Now, what are those protocols?” 

“The first thing would be to get the people to Australia. That would be the warmest for the longest amount of time. We would make greenhouses to keep fruit and vegetables growing too.” Marie said. “Our sociologist is going to take care of that.” 

Dr. Lancaster nodded. “I have thought of a few things too…” He began saying. His face turned to worry. He snapped his fingers and pointed at Marie. “Go check the cloud radar.”

Marie quickly shoved people out of her way. She zig-zagged through the desks and reached the radar. “A lot of clouds are forming sir. We have to get on the news and tell the people about this now!” 

...

The sound of children laughing and shouting filled the air. Clouds were forming, but it was no big deal. Summer is usually the time for thunderstorms anyway. There was a brisk wind blowing around. Children and adults jumped out of the pool, shivering. The sun was blanketed by clouds.

 The adults thought it was about to thunderstorm, and ushered the children inside their houses. The older children looked out the window, hoping to see the lightning strike in its zigzagged pattern. The younger children were cuddling with their parents, afraid of the thunder and flashes of lightning. 

When the adults turned on the news to check the weather, they did not get what they expected.

“There is a storm front headed to…” The newsperson started to say. Someone handed him a clipboard. The newsperson looked at it wide-eyed. “Sorry for the interruption right there.” He continued. “NASA has stated that the Global warming threat is no longer an issue!” He pumped his free hand in the air. “However, these clouds are not normal. They are blizzard clouds. Prepare for a summer of freezing temperatures. NASA is calling this Global cooling, and it can be fixed.” 

That is when it went into a commercial break. The older kids looked out the window again, and sure enough, it was snowing. 

...

Marie walked back into NASA. “Now that is taken care of, we better figure out how to fix this, otherwise we just lied on national television.” Her face showed her worry, even though she tried to hide it.

Dr. Lancaster stated, “Not to worry Marie. We have already figured out how long this is going to last.”

“Well?” Marie asked.

“We already have discovered that the Moon’s gravitational pull is too strong, and is pulling Earth off course, and toward Mars. This time of year is when we are closest to Mars.” Dr. Lancaster explained. Others nodded their heads. Marie nodded her head in agreement. Dr. Lancaster walked to the other side of the room and opened the window. “It has already dropped to cold- even freezing temperatures. And we can expect a lot of snow.” 

Marie sighed, “We need to get to the point. The quicker the better.”

“When we get to the closest point to Mars, which will be in three days, Mars will hopefully grab hold of the moon and push Earth back into its path. The tides will be affected greatly though.” Dr. Lancaster sadly added. Oceanography was always one of his favorite things to study before he worked at NASA.

Marie walked toward Dr. Lancaster. “Assuming we don’t hit Mars or our calculations are incorrect…”

“See the moon? Isn’t it a lot bigger than it was before?” Another employee asked. Marie stopped walking. “We are getting closer to the moon due to its gravitational pull. If you look in a telescope, you would see that Mars is getting “closer”, and Venus is getting “smaller”. You could also see that the sun is getting ‘smaller.’”

“So how do we keep the people under control and not fearing an outbreak of winter storms IN SUMMER?” Marie asked.

Dr. Lancaster stepped back and opened the garage. There was a jeep inside. It had the NASA logo on the sides of it. “If you drive around,” he said, “You will see families outside playing in the snow.” 

Marie stepped into the jeep. She buckled up and turned it on. The engine roared. “See you later.” She said to Dr. Lancaster. Marie drove off into the distance and town. 

Dr. Lancaster closed the garage door and faced his employees. “Now that we got Marie out of the equation…” He evilly said, “Now we can make sure we get as far away from the Sun as possible. The Sun’s exploding date is near, and we must leave.” Dr. Lancaster, the world-famous NASA scientist, walked out of the room still with high authority.