Biography

Peter Donovan was born in the beautiful and historic city of Bath, England in 1974.  After moving around the United Kingdom, he finally emigrated to Melbourne, Australia in 2005 where he now lives with his wife, Joanne and his two British Blue cats Cobalt and Sapphire. Peter has worked as an aircraft engineer and power station operator. He has always been interested in science, both fact and fiction. From an early age he remembers pulling things to pieces and trying to improve them driving his mother and father to distraction; only later in life learning how things went back together again! Peter’s wife of eleven years has listened to many weird and wonderful ideas from Peter that he thought would make a good story. Eventually her comment, “For Christ’s sake stop talking about it and write it!” gave Peter the nudge he needed to begin writing.

2013 Nibiru’s Shadow is the sequel to 2012 Nibiru Rising, which was his first published book. Both books are available from Zeus Publications or from www.peter-donovan.com.

ONE 

December 2013

Daniel had been watching the night sky from the rooftop of his Sydney apartment. It was a habit he couldn’t get out of, almost becoming an obsession, even after everything that had happened to him at the Parks Observatory. The hot wind howled past the makeshift shelter he had managed to build, enabling him to stay out of the worst of the weather. The heat in the air made him pull at the thin shirt that was sticking to him from the sweat around his neck and he pushed his long blonde hair out of his eyes. Looking into the night sky, he could see the clouds racing past through the hole in the shelter roof where the top of his telescope showed through. The full moon, reflecting across the cloud’s surface, illuminated them with crimson, dust-filled iridescent light.

Through the roar of the wind he could hear a faint banging sound, loud enough to get his attention. It was coming from the fire escape, maybe ten metres from his rooftop shelter. It was the only access to the rooftop, the door of which Daniel had bolted and barricaded.

Within this shelter were the basic provisions that Daniel needed; two drums of water, a camping stove, a pan and tinned food, the last he had. There was also a battery powered radio which could still pick up any emergency broadcasts, a fluorescent lamp and his telescope together with a blanket which remained unused, still folded in the corner.

The banging came again, this time accompanied by a female voice – lost on the wind but one he recognised – suddenly changing his mood from utter despair to ecstasy as he realised that Jessica was still alive.

Throwing back the canvas door of the shelter, Daniel ran towards the fire exit, fighting to stay on his feet against the wind, which at this altitude of ten storeys up, was blowing fiercely across his path. He reached the door and pulled the large metal beams away, grabbing at the bolt and wrenching the door open.

Jessica stood on the other side, tears rolling down her muddied face, her long brown hair blowing wildly in the wind.

She almost collapsed into Daniel’s arms as she stepped out onto the rooftop. Daniel had to help her from the door to the shelter and out of the wind. Then, leaving her briefly, he went back outside to secure the door again.

“I’m sorry,” Jessica sobbed, as Daniel came back into the shelter, “I should never have opened the door.” She put her head in her hands.

“Hey, it’s not your fault,” he said, putting his arms around her. “I’m just glad you’re safe, I thought that was it, I thought you were gone.” He tightened his grip on her.

“I managed to jump off the truck several blocks from here, but I couldn’t move in the daylight, so I hid until it was dark, it’s worse than hell out there.” She stopped, obviously terrified by what she had seen.

“You’re bleeding,” said Daniel pointing to her jeans which were blood stained and torn.

“It’s just a scratch, I’m fine,” Jessica replied, covering the tear with her hand.

Daniel grabbed one of the water containers and poured Jessica a drink, which she gulped down without stopping. She really did look as though she had been through hell, but then they were all going through hell. The last few weeks had been almost unbearable for them, but was nothing to what the next few hours were about to bring.

What was about to occur was unique to the history of the human race, the last such event happened before humans had even evolved from Neanderthals into the dominant species on this planet, Earth.

Jessica looked longingly at Daniel, “Is there nothing we can do?” she asked, sounding frightened.

“I don’t know anymore, but I’m not going to spend our last night in some concrete bunker,” said Daniel sounding adamant.

“From the truck I saw the people being dragged out of their homes, being beaten by the soldiers, hauled along the ground.” She stopped briefly to drink again, “I think they were being taken away, probably underground by truck into the bunkers as the reports suggested. What if they come for us again?”

“That’s why were up here, out of the way, it’ll be fine, don’t worry,” said Daniel reassuringly.

They both went quiet, silently gazing up through the small hole in the roof of the shelter, into the dust-filled burgundy night sky.

The world had been given twelve months’ notice that the human race’s tenure was up, and humanity had responded to this news in the time-honoured tradition; selfish stupidity and panic.

In the first few weeks the global financial system, or what was left of it after the 2009 and 2010 crashes, went into freefall. Stocks and shares were literally wiped out, even money itself became worthless scraps of paper, as the banking system collapsed completely, the promise to ‘pay the bearer’ on the bank notes of the majority of countries went unfulfilled.

Gold became the primary currency, it was bartered for food, clothing and safety. The media called the period the ‘Great Leveller’, as the rich became the same as the poor. A house was a house, large or small. Expensive cars became just as worthless as cheap cars, their value based on the fuel in their tanks rather than their model.

Deliveries from depots to the large malls dried up as fuel deliveries to service stations became scarce. Power outages initially lasted days, then weeks and became commonplace as only the few automated coal fired power stations continued to produce electricity into the grid. The natural gas system required electricity to power the pumps that pressurised the pipelines. Without the pumps, the gas pressure in the mains collapsed rendering the whole system inert. The same problem occurred in the water mains, which also required electricity for the pumps to maintain pressure and remove the sewage.

Without the basic essentials coming into people’s homes, they soon began to starve, not knowing the lost skills of farming and tending livestock, they stole what food was left from abandoned shops or houses. Tinned food became as valuable as the gold used to buy them.

It was a traumatic time for most people used to buying food from supermarkets, travelling by car, having home computers, TV’s, washing machines, fridges and dishwashers. Many people did not even know of life before these wondrous inventions which had become necessities of life during the previous four decades.

The anarchy predicted by the world’s media in the few days following the discovery of Nemesis slowly took hold, as the precious chains of business broke. Countries that were no longer self sufficient and had relied on large scale importation of basic food groups, found their stock piles declining incredibly quickly as people began to hoard essentials.

 Soldiers fighting abroad were recalled to protect their own streets from disorder. It was frightening how quickly the socioeconomic system, which had taken over two hundred years to build, fell apart in a matter of weeks, as people became selfish and hostile. Most had been affected by Nemesis already, everyone knew someone who had either lost their home to floods, fire, storms, or were affected by the diseases associated with the carnage.

In the final weeks, the government had decided that getting as far underground as possible was all they could do, they offered nuclear bunkers to the people as shelter from the coming Nemesis, but this had only served to increase panic.

The scientists’ predictions had indicated total destruction to a depth of several hundred metres, with no escape anywhere on the planet’s surface – over the airwaves, this made for extremely grim listening.

This was the reason Daniel had opted to sit and watch. With no way of avoiding death he had said, “We may as well sit and watch the end, it will be the greatest show mankind will ever see.”

“I still can’t believe everything that’s happened,” said Jessica, staying as close to Daniel as she could. “Everything you told me was true, about how it all started.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“Hey, stop that, even I have trouble believing it, it all seems like a dream now, but the scar left by that door hitting my forehead always reminds me it happened. Anyway, feel sorry for Rachael and Jack, they were never heard from again, I think they were killed for what they knew and luckily I was only the technician, they must have thought I knew nothing so they left me alone, but I wasn’t going to push my luck, you are the only one I’ve told. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter now, does it?” He shuffled closer to Jessica.

“But if the government knew Nemesis was coming, why didn’t they do something, blow it up, anything to stop it?”

“I don’t know, maybe they couldn’t, maybe they’ve tried, who knows? I’m pretty sure they can’t stop it now, otherwise they wouldn’t be trying to move all these people underground,” said Daniel, a hint of despair in his voice.

They both fell silent again, thinking back through their short lives, wondering what the next few hours were going to bring.

Daniel’s watch bleeped, indicating it was midnight; he looked anyway, studying the digits as they ticked past, a random collection of numbers indicating the passage of time, time that was rapidly coming to an end. If the stories they had been told were to be believed, this was the last time they would see midnight and Daniel watched the seconds count along, suddenly realising the value of time. It was a shame he had not learnt that lesson before now.

Jessica shivered, more from fear than cold, the wind was now starting to increase in its gusts, making the makeshift shelter rattle and vibrate, although there was no danger of it collapsing, Daniel had built it to last for what it was worth.

“I reckon after Nemesis, this shelter will be the only thing left standing, probably full of cockroaches, all hiding out,” he joked with Jessica after he had finished building it several days before. It was only stacked concrete blocks stuck together with two-pack adhesive, but strong enough nonetheless.

Looking out across the jumbled shapes that made up the rooftops of the buildings, mostly hidden in shadow, they could see several faint lights. They were the lights from other shelters housing like-minded people who would rather have been at home with their family at the end, pulling together for the last time.

“What if they got it wrong?” asked Jessica suddenly. “It wouldn’t be the first time, we may have days left, even weeks, we should have bought more provisions as we don’t have enough food to last more than the next few days.”

Daniel gave a resigned chuckle, “If only you were right, wouldn’t that be great, another week, even the richest person alive couldn’t buy another week at the moment.” He went quiet, he was desperately trying to stay positive, upbeat, it would be easy to sink into utter depression again at this point, and he thought, quite justified, as there really was nothing to live for.

The rate of suicides had increased exponentially as the days to Nemesis had counted down, now they were down to literally hours, even the strongest of minds couldn’t be blamed for faltering.

Looking out through the canvas flap, Daniel and Jessica could just make out a slight glow on the horizon, looking like the beginnings of a sunrise, feeling just as strange after midnight as a total eclipse did at midday. It was just a faint thin line of scarlet luminescence against the black sky above, quenching the remaining bright stars that ten minutes before, could still be seen through the rapidly graining atmosphere.

The last television signals had been broadcast one week earlier, the world leaders had met for the final time and each reported back to their own country, making a live address simultaneously around the globe. It was believed that this broadcast had been the largest ever in the history of television, reaching almost ninety percent of the remaining population of the world, now only five and a half billion people.

The message had been clear, the scientists had calculated the orbit of Nemesis and contrary to the rumours that had been going around since the discovery, it was not going to strike the earth after all. This news was followed by the largest cheer the world had ever heard, but this was short lived as the leaders went on to say that even though it would not strike directly, the proximity of Nemesis to Earth was still going to destroy every living thing on the planet’s surface. This fly-by was coming closer to Earth than it had since the death of the dinosaurs. The announcement was deliberately blunt, fearing that people would not fully understand.

“We have deep, military bunkers, designed for people to survive in the event of a nuclear attack,” said the Australian prime minister on all the television and radio channel’s. Daniel and Jessica had been listening on their radio, still at this stage living in their apartment.

“With the assistance of the military, I advise you all, please leave your belongings, and go to your nearest train station in an orderly fashion where you will be given further instructions; I ask at this time for you all not to panic, may God be with us all.”

What followed was a complete breakdown in order, people panicked, trying to be the first to the stations, the roads became clogged, people were trampled in the stampede, thousands of lives were lost around the world as the same mass migration occurred in all countries with some form of underground shelter.

Daniel had watched the streets outside fill up with people, looking like cattle stampeding through the streets, each one trying to push forward, selfishly trying to save themselves – it really was anarchy.

It was at that point that Daniel and Jessica had both decided to stay, watching the streets below heave from the apparent safety of their apartment window. Once they had made that decision, everything suddenly became clear, almost peaceful, they knew their fate, where they would spend their last days, and the end of the world didn’t really matter as long as they were together.

Daniel couldn’t believe how simple the world could be once he had resigned himself to the fact that they would die very soon. Between them, they had enough food and water to last until the end, they had the shelter of their apartment, also providing protection and they could use the roof if they needed to go outside. It had almost been enjoyable spending their last days together, reminiscing about the first time they met, talking about experiences in their life, forgotten memories, things that stuck out in their minds.

But many people felt as Daniel and Jessica did, and with space remaining in the bunkers, the governments had started the forced evacuations. It had become frightening, hiding within the shadow of their own home, hearing the screams of people now being taken from their homes by force. When one of their neighbours had knocked on their door, shouting for help, Jessica had opened it, only to be grabbed by a soldier who was using this scare tactic to get people out of their homes. Thankfully all that was behind them now as they watched the red glow slowly start to grow in the east.

 The wind direction was becoming erratic, vortices began to swirl now and the temperature was beginning to climb. The last few weeks had seen the temperature during the day climb to the mid forties, not really dropping below thirty at night and without electricity to keep the air conditioning functioning, it had become sticky. The air smelled from what Daniel imagined were dead bodies, probably left where they died in the now-deserted streets. He wasn’t about to go and look.

Neither of them were sure what to expect. Daniel had imagined seeing a dark circle start to slowly grow in the sky, each day getting bigger and bigger, until it filled the entire sky as Nemesis beared down upon the planet, blocking out the stars and the sun. But in reality, they really hadn’t seen much of a change. The air had become filled with dust from the constant winds and storms that had raged continuously for several weeks, making breathing difficult and turning the daylight into a dismal crimson colour.

It was only now, right at the end that they finally saw Nemesis appear on the horizon, preceded by the red glow that Daniel suspected was Earth’s atmosphere beginning to burn away as Nemesis made its spectacular fly-by, condemning life on Earth to death.

It was only a thin sliver of black, barely visible through the red glow, but it was formidable, growing in size, slowly, menacingly blacking out the stars and the night sky with this vision of destruction.

Even now, he stared, mesmerised by the spectacle unfolding in front of him. Even with the knowledge of what this spectacular vision meant, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from it, watching the colours grow across his entire field of vision.

“It’s like an aurora,” he said quietly under his breath, “quite beautiful.”

He was again aware of Jessica beside him.

“I don’t know how long we have,” said Daniel quietly, suddenly aware of everything he should have done with his life, but hadn’t.

“I’m frightened,” whispered Jessica, slowly looking up into Daniel’s eyes.

The last kiss Daniel and Jessica shared was filled with love, regret, fear, passion and life.

“I love you,” said Daniel as the roaring of the wind outside reached a crescendo.

The fire front tore across the planet’s surface, burning the very air as it swept along much faster than man had ever managed to travel. There was no point in running, in trying to avoid the coming wave, which at its peak was several kilometres high. Even the few aircraft that were still flying were simply incinerated, leaving nothing but raining molten metal.

The ocean’s surface was superheated behind the wave front, the steam exploding upwards behind the white-hot flame, filling the vacuum left behind from the burnt oxygen, destroying anything on the surface or under water. Large traces of civilisation were wiped clean down to the last insect as the wave continued, separating into three distinct fronts which raced across the continents reducing all plant and animal life to carbon particles which rained down on the scorched, dead ground.

Buildings which had once signified some of humanity’s greatest achievements reaching high into the sky simply vanished, reduced to their base elements, fulfilling the long cycle of matter and energy as they were returned to the ground where they originated.

The waves of destruction took only a matter of minutes to circumnavigate the globe leaving great swathes of charred earth until the air which fed the flames was all but gone. The fire burned itself out, leaving a smouldering sphere hanging in the blackness of space, blistered, lifeless and alone, no longer the blue green marble of wonder.

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