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was nothing there. But what on earth was going on? Hans had no idea what to do. Should he open the door and dive out of the car? Or step on the gas and speed off?
    As if trapped in a nightmare, he found himself rooted to the spot. He was finding it harder and harder to breathe. He tried to inhale and began to choke, tears welling in his eyes as he coughed and sputtered. In just a few brief moments, the world had gone mad. But he didn’t even know what it was that was strange. Outside, Soda Lake glowed ever redder in the chasm between the mountains.
    As if in response to the reddening surface of the lake, Hans felt a hand reach out from behind him and tickle his earlobe, whispering sweetly in his ear. Indescribable seduction. Hans knew what the thing wanted. It wanted him to turn around. It wanted him to see once and for all what was in the back seat.
    Come on. Look back here. Hurry
.
    Hans struggled desperately, but he knew it was inevitable. In a matter of ten seconds—no, less, probably—he would have to turn and look.
    9:34 p.m., December 13, 2012
    Summit of Mauna Kea, Island of Hawaii
    Even in Hawaii, where summer was said to reign all year long, at 4,200 meters above sea level the temperatures were below freezing. Mark Webber, a member of the Hawaii outpost of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, had just returned from the dome that housed the Subaru Telescope and was taking a seat at the monitors in the adjacent control building. He hadn’t walked far, but the frigid air had chilled him to the bone, and he was still shivering.
    All Mark had to do was descend the mountain into the town of Hilo, and he could stand on the beach in the summery sun. When he returned to the summit it would be winter again. Mark had now been living in this summer-winter dichotomy for five years. Of the two, he preferred the warm sunny beaches, but with Christmas approaching, the mountaintopscenery certainly had its charms. His plans to spend Christmas vacation with his fiancée Miki were coming along smoothly, and the very thought made him hum a cheerful melody. They would make a long overdue return to the mainland and stay in Las Vegas for a week, taking in as many shows as they could. The plan had been in the works since last year, and Mark had managed to obtain tickets to everything they wanted to see. It was finally really going to happen. He buzzed with excitement anticipating his last prenuptial Christmas.
    Leaned all the way back in his computer chair, he reached for a sandwich on a nearby cart. When he sat back up again, the motion brought into view a section of the distant sky. The monitors he sat before displayed light patterns gathered by Subaru’s 8.2-meter-wide lens, the largest single one on the planet.
    Mark had peered into countless telescopes since junior high school, when he’d first taken an interest in astronomy, and each time he was utterly enchanted by the glittering views of space they contained. At an altitude of 4,200 meters, with air pressure two-thirds that of sea level, the sky was usually clear and dry at Mauna Kea’s summit. The conditions here were ideal, and the Subaru was one of the world’s most sophisticated telescopes. Not surprisingly, the view in the monitors was breathtaking. It bore almost no resemblance to the sky he’d viewed through the telescope he’d gotten for Christmas as a boy.
    As Mark finished his sandwich and reached for his mug of hot coffee, his hand froze in mid-air. It was an unconscious response, and for a moment he didn’t even know what it was that had made him freeze. Probably some slight disturbance in the monitors before him. The telescope was currently pointed at the Sagittarius constellation, towards the Milky Way bulge. He was investigating the electromagnetic waves surrounding the black hole thought to be at the center. Had he spotted one such wave? No, that wasn’t it. It was something more basic, something even a child could notice.
    Mark entered a command