Waldorf nodded abruptly and left the room, and Williams' eyes were drawn to a picture of his twin granddaughters, dressed in the uniform of their community soccer program. Neither were old enough to understand what a comet was.

Williams knew all about comets, and he knew where this one was heading and the danger it posed. As he held the picture, a single tear formed at the corner of his left eye.

Chapter Six

DAY 1074

Usually, James Cowan arrived to work at 0700. Cowan was someone who believed in being prompt, and as the director of the team, he held the others to his standards.

Today the clock showed 0700, and James Cowan had already been there for an hour and a half.

Unable to sleep, he'd slipped out of bed early, careful not to disturb his sleeping wife, and headed into work.

He felt like a kid on Christmas morning. The anticipation of the awakening was so intense, he found himself pacing in and out of the rows of capsules. As he walked, he thought of Sullivan. He would have done almost anything to have his old friend and mentor here with him for this fantastic day.

He noticed the dismantled remains of Miller's capsule in his peripheral vision and experienced a wave of anger. He found he was, in fact, angry with the dead woman. No matter what happened, the fact that Miller died would prevent the experiment from being one hundred percent successful, and it was her fault. The woman's irresponsibility had jeopardized the research and years of work.

Twenty minutes later, the rest of the team was in place, including Colonel Matt Fitch. Since most of the team was civilian, working under the Department of Defense, there tended to be an 'us versus them' mentality, tangible on both sides, but this morning it was nonexistent. So much work and time had been committed by everyone, and this was their big moment.

Cowan slowly walked to the front of the room, “I know most of us expected yesterday to be the big day, the day when we would wake up our test subjects. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but don't let yourselves feel down because of the problems we experienced yesterday. Those events are in no way an indication of failure on our part. Our plans and systems worked exactly as they were designed to operate. In fact, the most significant problem, in my opinion, was the primary cooling system failure in Capsule Ten.

“We've reviewed the vital signs and equipment readings for the remaining sleepers and their capsules, and there's no indication any of them are experiencing any problems.

“We'll start with Capsule One, and after she's awake and everything is looking good, we'll start work on the second one. If things are going well after the first two, we'll pick up the pace and start waking them two at a time. Are there any questions?” Cowan asked.