Normal morning

CHAPTER ONE( Normal Morning)

Ben woke after hearing the sound of the alarm. He opened one eye, leaving the other still closed, he looked on their eyes ock with the single eye and noticed it's already 6:00am in the morning, he stretched his left arm towards the clock to stop the alarm. Ben rolled to the side of the bed where his beautiful wife; Helen was sleeping, but she's not opening her eyes. Ben pecked her on the lips and she responded with a brilliant smile, " morning honey" she said and continued sleeping. Ben rolled back to the other side of the bed and got on his feet. He stretched himself getting into the bathroom and brushed his teeth and then left for his usual morning workouts. He had ran eight kilometers away from his home, but while coming back, the blood pressure metre attached to his wrist signaled to him about his state of health, his blood pressure is raising to a dangerous zone. He immediately reduced the intensity of his stress to take a breath. He needed to get home in one piece, so he had to avert the danger of him collapsing. After a while, his blood pressure became stable and he proceeded home gently. Helen had set the table for breakfast, expecting her beautiful kids to show up. Ben opened the door and Helen greeted with a countenance showing a reflection of worry. Ben knew immediately what was the cause. "I was alerted again on my phone about your raised blood pressure. Honey, you need to be careful and stop putting yourself in danger, you should realize your heart is now fragile more than ever." Hellen said to Ben. He moved closer to cuddle her, and placed a kiss on her forehead, "Don't worry about me Honey, I'm always careful," Ben said.

Grace came down the stairs looking set for school. "Hey Dad, Mum,"Grace greeted." Sweetheart, what took you so long?"Hellen inquired. She took a sip out of her coffee cup. "Where's your brother?" Ben asked Grace." I don't know, but he should be coming down soon, " Grace responded. Ben went upstairs to take a shower."Mum, I want Lucy to come over after School today, " Grace requested. "Who's Lucy?" her mum asked. "She joined our class lately and we seemed to be getting along pretty well, we even had the same project work." said Grace. She kept pestering her mom to accede to her request. "Okay, you can ask her over, but you need to be conscious of the people you associate yourself with," Helen said to her. "Morning mum," Henry greeted. "We've been expecting you honey, Come have your breakfast." Said Helen. "I don't think I'll be taking anything for now, I think I lost my appetite. So I'll be off to school now." Henry responded. "What's wrong with you, you are not looking good?" His mum asked. "Nothing maa, I'm not just in a good mood," he replied. "But won't you take your breakfast?" asked Grace. "Am not, he said leaving the door." Helen turned to Grace, what's wrong with her brother, "I don't know, he's been like that since yesterday, even at school," Grace explained "But I think it has to do with his girlfriend; Haley," she added. Helen dropped her coffee cup and call on Ben with a loud voice, "Honey we're set." Ben raced down the stairs to have his breakfast. He took a bite on his bread and swallowed with a coffee sip, He looked around the room hoping to see Henry, but couldn't find him. "I thought I heard Henry come down, Where is he?" he asked facing Grace, but she looked away. Ben switched his attention to Helen, "He's off to School," Helen replied. Grace turned to her parents," You guys will have to drop me off at School since Henry left." They got in the Car and drove off.

Ben was on his way with his family when his phone rang. He answered the call and inquired to know who was on the line. "It's Jason from National Climate Research Agency (N.C.R.A)", the caller responded. "What can I do for you Jason?" Ben asked. "We need you at the agency," said Jason. "What for, I don't work there anymore remember?" Ben said to Jason. "Please Ben, it's urgent and the country's survival might depend on it," Jason convinced Ben to honor the invitation."I'll see what I can do, but I'm not making any promises," Ben said and went off the phone." What's that about?" his wife asked. "I'll need to make a stop at the agency. That was the director's secretary on the phone, he said i need to come to the agency, but he didn't say what it was all about." Ben explained. "but you didn't ask, did you? " Helen said. " I forgot to ask, but he should have disclosed to me the reason," Ben explained. "Do you need me to come with you?" Helen asked. "There won't be any need for that sweetheart, It'll be fine, " Ben assured. He dropped off his wife and daughter and headed for N.C.R.A. He was there around 11:30am. He met Tommy by the entrance already feeling guilty and waiting for him. Tommy was his best friend and colleague while working with the agency, but he hadn't been checking up on him lately. "Welcome Ben, it's been a while," said Tommy. "Yes it is, old friend. I learnt about your publication on the news, congratulations buddy," Ben responded. The two took a distant gaze at each other, they hugged each other all of a sudden and laughed off the tension. They were both quite smiley and chatty as they went in. They met with Richard in his office, he was the assistant director, and all came together to the director's office. Katherine was the new director at the agency. The three of them arrived in her office. She offered Ben a seat and pleaded to him for inviting him on such short notice, regardless of his schedule. "Do you want to tell me why I'm here?" Ben asked. Katherine called in the head of logistics; Roy and the head of the tech uni; Chris to be part of the meeting. They both came into her office. Katherine signaled to Chris to open the monitor and show the slide containing their reasons for such quick and important gathering. He opened the screen and it was a satellite imagery and video showing the conditions outside the Antarctica, heading for the U.S. "You want to explain to me why I'm being shown this?" Ben said. Chris then offered to share what was on the screen. "These was a satellite feed received earlier this morning. It covers the cloud formation within the Antarctica and outside of it, under very low pressure and cold airs are surrounding the Earth's north and South poles. This condition was earlier, which means could already be beyond the Antarctica and inwards over the US. Ben glanced into the screen carefully and at Katherine," The Antarctica is expanding towards the US. That means there's polar vortex, it is a catastrophic effect of global warming," Ben said. "We calculated the distance traveled from when the signal came in and where it is now, it could be upon us within four to five hours. By then, the cold arctic air would be southwards over the US, the wind could be moving at closely hundreds of miles an hour, but if the temperature is down to around negative 92 degrees centigrade (-920 c), and the pressure dropped significantly to around 20Hg, surely we'll then have more than just cold arctic air on our hands to deal with," Chris analysed. Ben doesn't seem concerned, "I've heard your analysis, but it's your jobs to avert it or alert the citizens of the impending doom, how does this involve me?" Ben said to Richard and Katherine. Richard shrugged, and said to Ben, "We all knew how much you gave to the agency and how you lost your job. So, asking more of you would be a joke, but we really need your help for the survival of our planet and nation." He continued,"we remembered your research on the menace of climate change, which was yet to be published before your incident, and we hoped maybe there's anything in there that can show us where to start the fight against this thing." Ben looked more angrier than ever. " How ironic my last effort and struggle for my country got me sacked, just because of useless protocols and now the same country is asking me to rescue her using the same findings derived from the purpose to which i was punished,"Ben argued." Tommy moved closer to him "Sometimes things happens that goes beyond our comprehension and control, but always for a reason or purpose. I know you're in doubt about helping out, but see this as helping your family and friends and not the agency, because all our lives depends on it, " Tommy said. Ben brought out his phone to call Helen. Katherine realized and asked who he intended calling. "I'm calling my family to warn them, "He responded." But you know that goes against the protocols, should this leaks out now, it will cause panic and all could end before it even started, let's work this out and avert the disaster, because nowhere and no one is save," she said. " Same old story about protocol", Ben said with sarcasm". "Please assist us on this," Tom interjected. Ben took a deep breath, his hands by his hips, facing the window. "What do we do now?" He asked the entire room. " We need to see your discoveries, "Chris said. " Well, I no longer have it, " he replied. Everyones heart skipped in their chests. " What happened, Why don't you have it?" Richard inquired. "I was in a pretty bad place after the incident, I kept wondering why my immeasurable service to my country warranted sack instead of commendations. Since the project was the last thing done to deserve being laid off, so I decided not having them was the best thing to do, so I burned them. It's the only way I could forget the past and look to the future, " Ben explained. Everyone was lost of words either to console or to commend. They were all quiet for a while before Tom could summon some courage to address the dilemma. "I'm really sorry you had to go through that dear friend, but the past is a journey, while the future is our destination. Now the future needs us to survive today." "Can you please remember any section of the findings or anything that explains what we may be going against today and how we can survive it?" Richard asked. "Well, I do know we are about to face a nightmare that so many of us might not wake up from to narrate "Ben responded.