Janeen O'Kerry, Author of Historical and Time-Travel Romance

Excerpt from
Chapter One of THE DARKNESS OF THE DAY
a science fiction novel by Janeen O'Kerry

The Center Of All Things trilogy:
    Book One: The Darkness of the Day
    Book Two: The Brightness of the Night
    Book Three: The Coming of the Dawn

Please send your comments to: Janeen O'Kerry
Thank you for reading!

CHAPTER ONE         Ah, darkness. Nobody loved pure, clear darkness the way Sasha O’Brian loved it.
        He’d often thought he should have been a vampire, or maybe a werewolf -- whatever those creatures were that lived only for the night and couldn’t bear the sun. Driving along the narrow road through the deep pine forest of northern Arizona, he took an increasing joy in the deep blackness surrounding him.
        It was perfect.
        Coming to this place was something he’d planned on, and hoped for, and looked forward to, for just about as long as he could remember. There was nothing he wanted more than to find his place here and finally put his long years of training to good use.
        He was tempted to turn off the garish headlights on his little red four-door Saturn. They were spoiling his cherished darkness and he feared they might be spoiling it for the others, too. But it would not be long now. In just a few moments he rounded the last curve and pulled into the parking area of Lowell Observatory at the Anderson Mesa Dark Sky Site.
        Vampires and werewolves had nothing on astronomers when it came to a love of darkness.
        Miles away from the lights of Flagstaff, with only Prime Lake and the Coconino National Forest for neighbors, Anderson Mesa lay surrounded by a great moat of darkness. Sasha got out of the car, picked up his backpack and walked through the quiet night, breathing deep of the fresh mountain air. It was quite a change from the heat and haze of his home city of Phoenix.
        The stars hung thick and brilliant over his head, but he barely spared a glance for them. He could think only of how anxious he was to get a real look at some stars through one of Anderson’s powerful telescopes.
        At last he was inside the control room. The scopes themselves resided just outside, safe within their individual white domes, but no one had to go out and look through an eyepiece. All of the tracking and positioning and gathering of data was done right here in this room by the astronomers and their assistants.
        It was clean and modern and state-of-the-art. Sasha felt that he had come home.
        A little group of people stood gathered around one of the screens, and among them he spotted Dr. Winter. Sasha moved a little closer. “Hello,” he said, a little shyly, hoping he was not interrupting at the wrong moment. “I’m Sasha. I -- “
        But they paid him not the slightest bit of attention. Even Dr. Winter, the senior astronomer he was supposed to report to, never turned his head.
        Well, he could understand that. The data from these telescopes would be far more interesting than looking at some new guy who had just wandered in. But still -- he’d hoped the others might be a little more friendly. It was hard enough starting a new job in a new place without having co-workers who considered him a stranger.
        The group continued to stare at the screen, whispering to each other and occasionally pointing at the glowing data. A couple more people pushed right past Sasha to look at the same screen. He stepped back to give them more room, and set down his backpack on a metal table beside him.
        To his horror the flimsy table crashed to the floor with a terrible noise. Everyone at the screen jumped, and finally they turned to look.
        Sasha wished mightily that they’d just gone on ignoring him. “Sorry,” he said, reaching down for the backpack. “I’m Sasha. I’m supposed to -- “
        But then he realized that they were looking right through him, as if he were not even worth noting. Their eyes were large and shining, their faces pale and sweating, their hands trembling. Without saying anything to him they turned right back to their screens and continued whispering to each other.
        Suddenly it hit him. “You’ve found something,” he said, dropping the backpack to the floor and starting toward the group. “What is it? What have you got?”
        Dr. Winter pulled himself away from the screen and came over to take Sasha by the arm. In a moment the taller, older man had grabbed up the backpack and was hurrying his new assistant toward the door.
        “You are Alexander O’Brian?“
        “Please. Call me Sasha. What’s happening?”
        “Mr. O’Brian. You are right. We have found something.”
        Sasha stopped just in front of the door. There was no force on earth that could have made him take another step. “Found what? Can I look? What is it?”
        “We’ve been watching it for weeks, and now we’re sure.”
        “You’re sure,” he repeated, trying to look back towards the screen where everyone stood. “Comet? Asteroid? What?”
        “This is not a comet, nor is it an asteroid. This is like nothing we have ever seen before.”
        Sasha began to feel cold. “I don’t understand,” he said. “Is it a signal? Like the WOW signal, years ago?”
        Dr. Winter shook his head. “No. That was just a one-time radio blip. This is a visual.”
        “A visual. You’ve seen something.”
        “Something is moving in the constellation of Sagittarius.”
        “Moving . . . “
        “Of course, it is much closer than those stars. I should have said that it is in the apparent location of Sagittarius.”
        “If it’s not a natural object -- then you’re telling me you’re tracking something artificial?”
        Dr. Winter glanced back toward the screen. “This object, whatever it is, is moving very deliberately. As if it were making course changes.”
        “And which way is it moving?”
        "As of tonight, it’s moving toward Sol.”
        Sasha tried to swallow. “Toward us.”
        “That is what we are seeing right now.”
        “How far away? When will it arrive?”
        “We’re not sure yet. We think at least a year, if it keeps the same velocity and doesn’t change course again.”
        “A year?” Sasha could scarcely breathe. “How fast is it moving?”
        “Our best estimate is half the speed of light.”
        His voice nearly failed him. “Maybe it is artificial,” he said at last. “No natural object could move that fast.” Sasha looked closely at Dr. Winter, trying to think. “If I remember right -- didn’t the WOW signal also come from Sagittarius?”
        The other man stared at him, his eyes widening. “I -- I believe you may be correct about that,” he said faintly.
        Sasha made a move toward the screens, screens which contained information and images that he had only dreamed of ever actually seeing. “Can I see it? Can I see what they’re all looking at?”
        But Dr. Winter caught him by the arm and led him firmly back toward the door. “We need you up on the Hill. We’re going to use every available resource to monitor this. We want someone to make images with the Pluto telescope.”
        “The Pluto scope? On the Hill?” Sasha stopped and stared at the older man, not believing what he was hearing. “The Pluto telescope is over seventy years old! Mars Hill is a museum. The real work is done here!”
        “Well, we should like you to do some real work up on Mars Hill now, just as many others have done over the years. And it was indeed seventy years ago that Mr. Tombaugh used that very telescope to discover a small planet which was later given the name of Pluto. If he could do that, I’m sure you can manage to make a few simple photo images with the same instrument.”
        “But -- you have some of the best equipment in the world right here! Why would you want to use a rusty old antique when you’ve got all this?”
        The old doctor released Sasha’s arm, and drew himself up. “It’s hardly rusty. It still works perfectly, thanks to some fine astronomers who did not think that using older and simpler equipment was beneath them. And as to why we would use it for this project, I already told you why. We want every available resource trained on something so unusual so that all results might be compared.
        “So tell me, Mr. O’Brian. Do you still wish to assist us in examining this new object in the constellation of Sagittarius? Or would you rather return to your home city of Phoenix, where the city lights are so bright and lovely that one can barely see the full moon at midnight?”
        Sasha closed his eyes. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I walk in -- and you tell me you think you’ve got the most exciting find in the history of the planet -- and you want me to leave?”
        Dr. Winter pushed open the door and walked Sasha out to the parking area. “You know as much as we do. And you are the member of the team having the least seniority.”
        “I have no seniority whatsoever,” Sasha muttered. “I’m the new guy.”
        “If you want to participate in this observation, you can do so by providing us with images from the Pluto telescope. And Mr. O’Brian -- “ he pointed his finger straight at Sasha -- “you will say nothing to no one. If anyone asks, they’re seeing a nova.”
        “A nova that changes course?”
        “A nova. Go on now. They’re waiting for you up on the Hill.”   And with that he was gone, back to the screens and the discovery of a lifetime, leaving Sasha standing outside alone in the windy darkness.

Please send your comments to: Janeen O'Kerry
Thank you for reading!

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