It was a cold Sunday morning in August 2095. Matty was preaching at the front of the church tent, reading from a small Bible.
"Scoffers will come. 'They will say, 'Where is this coming he promised? Everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.' " Many people are saying that now. They are all saddened by the earthquake in America but they think that everything's under control. I know the food's a bit different and we're all a lot thinner. There's still enough vegetable oil to fry the chips and the campsite shop now sells tins of beans, peas and carrots. There aren't any beefburgers. But everybody thinks they'll survive. Oh yes, we're clever. Grow vegetables in Africa when the weather gets cold, why not? Let's send up a nuclear warhead to collide with that comet, now that it's just whistling past Mars and they've finally confirmed it's going to hit the earth in the next eight weeks. We'll be all right. 'While people are saying 'peace and safety' destruction will come on them suddenly, as labour pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.' God's judgement is coming on this world. This world and everything in it is passing away. 'The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.' There is still time to save your souls. Repent. Turn from your sins and follow Jesus."
Meanwhile, Terry was watching the television down at the pub.
"There's nothing so sad as a pub with no beer," he said to the barman.
"We have to conserve wheat and sugar," said the barman. "Can't afford to brew luxuries like beer. Fancy another diet lemonade?"
"Yes."
"With a little bit of Romanian paint stripper in the top?"
"Why not?"
"They make it from potato peelings." The barman poured Terry his drink. The people in the pub were excited. The Americans were just about to launch the missile that would intercept the comet. The television showed pictures of it on the launch pad at Cape Kennedy. President Elias appeared on the screen, explaining what would happen.
"The missile will intercept the comet in six weeks time. At this point the comet will be ten million miles away from us. The comet is travelling very rapidly but our scientists have calculated that a nuclear warhead exploding on one side of the comet at that distance would give just enough force to deflect it by a few thousand miles, enough for it to miss the earth." The scene on the television returned to the launch pad at Cape Kennedy. The countdown began. "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." The engines on the spacecraft fired. Everybody in the pub cheered.
"We're saved!" shouted Terry. "Good old President Elias. He's the only person on Earth who can get us out of this mess."
"The comet is not going to hit us," said Steven. "The only people who think it will are Matty and Pauline and the people in that church up there. Oh sorry, I forgot to call them disciples. They're offended if we don't call them disciples, because they're the only people who are real Christians anywhere. Not us, we're going to Hell."
One lunchtime Matty was sitting in the canteen eating a bowl of vegetable broth. Vegetable broth seemed to be the only thing the canteen served now, and she had been given only a very small bread roll with a scrimp of margarine. Stephanie came and sat next to her.
"I can't understand what it is with you people," said Stephanie. "Why do you believe the world's going to end? Can't you see that President Elias is trying to save us?"
"It won't work," said Matty.
"How do you know it won't work?"
"It's in the Bible."
"Don't you think they sat down and worked it all out? These are the scientists who put a man on Mars thirty years ago, I'm sure they know how to deflect a comet. Why don't you have a chip? You need one. You can't go to the doctor now if you're ill, you can't even go to the chemist's to buy any pills because they won't be able to see your medical records."
"Stephanie, I'm fine."
"You won't always be fine, though. You're going to be ill one day, we all are. There again, I don't suppose it really matters to you because we're not going to live very long anyway."
On September 19th Terry and his friends sat in the pub.
"Another diet lemonade with a little shot of Romanian paint stripper," said Terry.
"Have you got any diet coke?" asked somebody else.
"Yes, we got some diet coke this morning," said the barman.
"Got any Jack Daniels?"
"You must be joking. I can give you some of that Romanian stuff in it like he's having."
"Don't bother. I'll just have a coke."
"Well, this is the day," said Terry. "This is the day when they send that comet far, far away from the earth and President Elias finally saves us." They watched the television as the scientists at Cape Kennedy sat in anxious anticipation as their missile was about to intercept the comet.
"The missile is moving into the correct position, just 100 metres above the comet surface, 2 km down the far side," said one of the scientists. "If we send the signal now it'll take sixty seconds for it to actually reach the comet."
"Now would be the right time," said another scientist. "I'm going to give the command to fire after the count of three. One, two, three, fire." Somebody pressed a button at Cape Kennedy and nothing seemed to happen.
"What's wrong? Did it not fire?" asked somebody in the pub.
"It takes a couple of minutes for the signal to get there and back," said Terry.
"I thought you were one of those disciples," said Steven. "The end of the world is nigh. It isn't going to work. Oh no, we're all going to die. Never mind, we'll be in Heaven." They all laughed. The television showed a picture of the spacecraft missile sitting next to the comet. Then the screen went blank.
"What's happened?" somebody asked. The scene returned to the scientists at Cape Kennedy.
"The missile has exploded," one of them announced. At Cape Kennedy people were jumping up and down and cheering. Everybody in the pub was jumping up and down and cheering.
"Let's have another drink to celebrate," said Steven.
Matty was at work. One of the managers came in shouting,
"They've detonated the missile. They've deflected the comet." Everybody looked excited.
"What do you think about that, preacher woman?" somebody shouted at Matty.
"We still don't know that it worked," said Matty.
"Why are you always so cynical?" asked someone else. "Why can't you just accept it?" The jubilation at the Inland Revenue was short lived. A few hours later an urgent email appeared on the computer screen.
"This afternoon a missile was sent to deflect the comet. The missile exploded on target successfully, but there may be complications as it appears that the comet has split in two. The missile has removed the snow from the comet, dividing it into a mass of rock and a gigantic snowball. As the snow absorbed so much of the energy, it is not clear whether the deflection of the comet will be as much as first thought."
"Don't start saying, 'I told you so,' " somebody shouted at Matty.
"Oh come on," shouted someone else, "if they don't succeed the first time, they'll try again."
"They can't try again," said Matty. "That thing is travelling fast. If it's any closer to the earth they won't be able to deflect it. That was our last chance. The comet is coming. The world is going to end. There is still time to repent, there is still time to save your souls."
"Matty, calm down," said the boss. "I'll have none of your preaching in here. Now you can all get on with your work and President Elias will decide what to do next. I'm sure he can cope with any crisis."
It was a clear night and the comet could be seen streaking across the sky. Matty stood in the street in Newcastle city centre preaching through her loud haler.
"So who do you trust now, now that President Elias has let you down, now that your scientists accept that there is no way they can actually deflect the comet? You can see it in the sky. It's nearly here. It's going to be another ten days." The crowd around her were rather drunk.
"Have a drink and forget about it," someone shouted.
"What are you going to do about it?" shouted someone else.
"There is still time to repent, there is still time to save your souls. Turn from your sins. Follow Jesus. You need to be a true disciple. You need Jesus to be the most important thing in your life. You need to live for his pleasure." A young man came right up to Matty and spoke to her.
"Look you, I'm sure that if there is a cosmic disaster President Elias is the one person we can absolutely trust to take care of it. Some of us will survive. We won't be like the dinosaurs. With him in charge, we'll carry on." Matty continued shouting into her loud haler.
"You won't survive this. The earth and everything in it is passing away. The elements of the earth will melt. Repent while there is still time."
Ten days later Matty was at work when an urgent email appeared on the computer screens.
"The rocky core of the comet has landed in the South Atlantic ocean. Many of the government farms near the equator have been destroyed by the huge tsunamis that resulted. Even in this country, some places have been badly effected. Plymouth is a city underwater. Cardiff has been almost completely destroyed. In Liverpool there is severe flooding. Although it was sheltered from the full impact of the oceanic tsunami and the wave had to travel up the Irish Sea, the floodwater was high enough to sweep people and caravans away. Click on this link to see an urgent message from the President." Matty clicked on the link. The president's face appeared on the screen.
"The comet hit the South Atlantic last night causing enormous devestation. Many of the fields near the equator in which we were growing vegetables are now under water. We have enough food to feed those who without it will die very soon. Cafes will be made into feeding centres. Here you will be weighed and medical staff will decide whether you need food. Humanity will survive." Somebody came running into the office from the kitchen. He was holding a cup of coffee.
"Aagh, aagh," he screamed. "This coffee's horrible, it's burning me. I just took one sip of it and I feel terrible."
"Simon," said the boss, "your lips have turned blue. We'd better get you to hospital." A few minutes later another urgent email appeared on the computer screen.
"Don't use water from the taps or water heaters. Most of the water in this country has been poisoned. Scientists are analysing the water and trying to work out if some chemical from the icy tail of the comet could have contaminated it. Only buy canned or bottled drinks." A few hours later Matty went down to the shop to buy a bottle of cola.
"We haven't got any drinks left," said the woman behind the counter. The vending machines were also empty.
In the pub, Terry and his friends were hardly jubilant.
"Could I have another cola?" asked Terry.
"No, you just had one," said the barman.
"What?" asked Terry. A single mother with two children came in from the campsite.
"Do you have any drinks?" she asked. "The campsite shop hasn't got anything, no food, no drinks, nothing. I've had to have my other child taken to hospital because he drank some water from the tap."
"Yes, what would you like?"
"An orange juice."
"I haven't got one of those. You can have diet coke or diet lemonade."
"I'll have a diet lemonade and give these two two diet cokes." The barman poured out the drinks.
"Can I ask everybody not to have a drink unless they're actually feeling thirsty," he said. "Water is going to be in short supply." The television was still playing the news. It was showing pictures of south american cities that had been devastated.
"There's not a great deal left here," said the reporter, who was sitting in a boat going past floating pieces of buildings in what had been a street. "The waves rose to 300 metres, flattening the buildings and breaking them up. Even now, there are still 10 metres of water left and it will be days before the water drains away." The boat passed a floating dead body. "This is all that is left of the people of this town. There are no survivors." The newsreader in the studio appeared.
"We now go over to the president for another special announcement," he said. The president's face appeared on the screen.
"There are those who consider themselves to be different from the rest of us. They don't fit into our society. They don't belong to our society. They call themselves the disciples. They are not the true disciples. My followers are the true disciples of Jesus. When you're looking at me, you're looking at Jesus. They have poisoned the water supply."
Matty was feeling very thirsty. She called in at the canteen at work to see if they had any soup. Two men and one woman were standing in the canteen weighing people.
"I weigh five and a half stone," said a young woman.
"Your medical records say that you're normal body weight is only seven stone twelve. You can only be fed when you're less than two thirds of your normal body weight. Come back when you weigh five stone," said one of the men.
"I'm only half my normal body weight," said a middle aged man.
"Your records show that your normal body weight is sixteen stone and you are now eight stone. Eight stone is much too heavy to be given any soup."
"Is there any soup?" Matty asked.
"There is some. I know the tap water's contaminated but we have brought some water purification equipment."
"We're paramedics," said the woman who was helping. "If you want some soup we're going to have to weigh you." Matty stood on the scales. "Where are your medical records?" asked the woman, looking at the back of Matty's hand. "I can't calculate your ideal weight unless I can see your medical records."
"But I'm dying of thirst," said Matty. The woman laughed.
"If you worked in some of the areas where we work you would understand the meaning of those words. I have seen people die of thirst in America, believe me."
Matty's boss asked to see her. They sat on some chairs around a quiet table.
"Matty, will you stop all this stupid carry on and will you get the chip?" he asked. "As from today, you're not even going to be able to eat or drink anything if you don't get that chip. The paramedics have brought water purification equipment with them. They're the only people who will have water now. There's no way they'll give you any soup unless they can see your medical records. They daren't even give you a drink in case you're allergic to the added vitamins."
"None of us are going to be alive for much longer," said Matty.
"I know this is tough, Matty, but we're not going to be like the dinosaurs. We have the technology. We can pull through this. Look, another year surviving on that horrible soup and the crops will start to grow again, things will be better than they were before."
"Things won't get better. God's judgement hasn't even started yet. There are things in the Bible that you couldn't even believe."
"You will not preach the gospel here, if you want to preach it you must preach it somewhere else. Get out of here, and never come back."
Matty took her megaphone in one hand and her little Bible in the other. She stood in Newcastle City Centre preaching.
"The judgement of God on this world hasn't even begun," she said. "The first four angels have blown their trumpets, there are still three more angels who haven't blown their trumpets yet. There are still seven bowls of God's wrath that haven't been poured out yet. More volcanic eruptions, huge earthquakes, things that you could never believe. Imagine the Sun becoming so hot that it could burn people's skin. Perhaps all those volcanoes will destroy the ozone layer. After that, the kingdom of this world will be plunged into darkness. Then the nations of the world will be gathered together for a huge battle, the battle of Armageddon. Wars like you've never seen or imagined before. There is still time to be saved. There is still time to repent. Turn from your sins. Follow Jesus." Someone on the street began shouting,
"The disciples poisoned the water supply!" A crowd of people gathered around Matty. "These are the people who poisoned the water!" A dozen people surrounded Matty on every side and began punching and kicking her. Eventually she fell to the ground.
"She's dead," someone said.
"No she isn't, she's still breathing."
"We'll make sure that she isn't breathing," said an old man, and stamped several times on Matty's chest. An ambulance arrived. The paramedic looked at Matty.
"She hasn't got a chip," he said. "I can't do anything to help this woman if I can't see her medical records. I can't give her an injection in case she's allergic to it. I'd be sued." He got back into the ambulance and it drove away. Matty opened her eyes and looked at the crowd of people who were still gathered around her.
"God forgive you," she said. "I'm going to see that Jesus I've been telling you about. I pray that you'll still find him too. Heaven looks beautiful today." She then closed her eyes and died.
