Oleg took another sip from the bottle. The vodka burned his throat, but as soon as he managed to swallow it, the pleasant heat spread throughout his body. He leaned back in his chair and looked up at the almost dark evening sky. Oleg-n038 was no longer one object, but four small bright spots that appeared clearly in the sky. Mankind had done what it could. All available rockets had been armed with hydrogen bombs and sent to the comet. But it had been in vain. The comet had only split up into four larger and a countless number of smaller pieces, which were now all heading towards the Earth at a speed of nearly 80,000 kilometers per hour.
It had of course been a desperate gamble, since all calculations had shown that it was far too close. They had no chance to avert its course. But they had to try, what else could they have done? They couldn’t just sit and wait for the impact? They had to do something, even though the chance of success was minimal. The hydrogen bombs represented humanity's last hope and had, after all, calmed down the large crowds of desperate people in the cities from going total berserk the first week after the catastrophe was made public.
But now all hope was gone and there was total chaos everywhere. They had hardly managed to get to the cabin unscathed. But now, after a two-day long struggle they were finally safe. Oleg coughed, then smiled and took another sip from the bottle. Safe?! What a bad joke! The only thing that was safe was that they soon would die.
He was just about to take another sip of vodka when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Save some for me, my son."
Without looking up, Oleg handed over the bottle and his father sat down beside him, and immediately started to drink the vodka in large sips.
Oleg glanced at him. He looked so old and tired with his gray stubble beard and his thin hair. It was as if he had aged ten years in just a few days. But it wasn’t that strange really. He had struggled night and day the last week to get them safely out of the city of Kirov. And all this hard work just to die in peace with his family. Oleg reached for the bottle and his father gave it back without a word about him still being too young to drink vodka.
In some strange way, all the tensions between them had disappeared as soon as the disaster turned out to be inevitable. Gone were the constant nagging and whining from his father about what he thought Oleg should or shouldn’t do. From one day to another he treated Oleg as an equal adult, and it felt both strange and nice at the same time.
"Oleg," his father suddenly said, "I have talked to your mother and she suggested that we should go down to the lake together and bring something to eat and drink. After all, we have had many pleasant moments together by the lake over the years. Don’t you think it could be nice to go there one last time?"
Suddenly he started to laugh as he looked up at the sky.
"Speaking of the lake. Do you remember uncle Egil, last summer...? After an afternoon of vodka and sausages, he suddenly considered himself to be some sort of Olympic champion in high diving. Even though we tried to persuade him to come down, he wouldn’t listen to us. Stubborn as a mule. He could barely climb the ladder and then hardly stand up on his legs when he eventually reached the top."
Oleg couldn’t help but smile when he thought about it and said, "But he actually managed to make some sort of somersault, didn’t he?"
"Yes, it looked rather graceful, when I think about it. But too bad he didn’t have the same success with the landing! He was blue and green all over his body for two weeks after that... And then Ludmila left him, because she was so ashamed of him... poor bastard!"
Everything suddenly felt so absurd and sick. They had laughed at this story many times before, but now everything was just too much. Maybe it was the death in the sky that reinforced the absurdity? Neither Oleg nor his father could hold back the laughter. First, small bubbling giggles emerged, which then grew stronger and stronger until both were double-folded and gasping for air between the laughter attacks.
"What’s so funny? I don’t know if I think it’s especially amusing that we are all going to die soon, or have I missed something?"
Oleg's mother was standing in the doorway with her arms crossed and his sister Tanja sneaked up behind her with a sad look on her face.
"Egil..." Oleg tried to stifle new laugh attacks. "Egil... we were talking about Egil and his somersault from the ten-meter tower... do you remember?"
Oleg had to bend over again as it started to cramp in his stomach from the intense laughter. But suddenly Tanja's fragile voice broke the enchantment.
"By the way Why isn’t Egil here with us now? We are, after all, his family and he has no one else since Ludmila left him."
Oleg's father stopped laughing and said with a gloomy voice, "Yes, you are right about that Tanja. I tried to find him… I even went to his apartment, but he wasn’t there, and none of the neighbors knew where he had gone. I hope he somehow managed to get out of the city."
No one said anything more. They all understood that Egil probably been busy drinking heavily and that he without doubt ended up in some sort of trouble. It was in his nature to get himself in all sort of dangerous situations, especially when he was drinking, and he was probably dead by now.
"I wish he could have been here with us anyway," Tanja said as she walked up to the fence of the porch and looked up at the sky.
"How much time do we have before it’s all over?" she whispered.
Oleg, who was the one who knew the most about the comet, felt obligated to tell them how it was. There was no point in hiding the truth.
"Not long," he said as he glanced at his wristwatch. "Less than an hour."
"But they look so small," Tanja said, whispering.
"Yes, they are actually very small in relation to the size of our planet, but they come at us with a tremendous speed, and because of that, the energy at impact will be devastating. Once they reach the outer atmosphere, it’s just seconds to impact."
It felt so strange to even talk about it. Everything around him felt so normal. Small animals were running around in the bushes, the wind was slowly bending the treetops above them and the ants were rushing across the ground in a final attempt to gather food for the winter. And soon everything would be gone. It was impossible to grasp. He suddenly felt a melancholy spreading through his body and his eyes filled with tears. Everything felt so brutal and pointless. He was just about to take another sip of vodka when his thoughts were interrupted by his mother's mannered cheerful voice.
"Well, we can’t stand here and wait for the end! Let’s make the best of what’s left and go down to the lake together? I’ve made a little picnic basket we can bring with us."
"Yes, you are right my love. Come on, let’s go!" Oleg's father said, and got up, put his arm around his wife’s hip and waved his hand against Oleg.
"Oleg you lead the way with your kerosene lamp!"
Oleg felt somehow energized by his father's fake enthusiasm and took his old kerosene lamp in one hand and the vodka bottle in the other. Then he quickly passed the others to get first on the small path which led down to the lake.
When they came into the dense spruce forest, they were in a compact darkness, but the lamp created a small, safe light bubble around them while they slowly followed the path to the lake.
After a few minutes the path widened, and they came out on the small beach strip. His mother quickly spread a large blanket in the cold damp sand and Oleg then put the kerosene lamp in the middle and they sat down around it. His mother solemnly shared sausages, cheese and fruit to them, they ate in small bites and in silence. Besides a few "Thank you" and "Can you pass me the bottle," nobody said anything. But what else was there to say? What was there to do? Everything felt so meaningless. All they could do was wait.
He continued to drink large sips out of the bottle while sadly watching his family. Tanja was sobbing, and his mother put her comforting arm around her. His father was sitting completely still while staring with empty eyes at the horizon.
The bottle was empty, and he threw it into the forest. Even though he was drunk, his mind felt somehow crystal clear. He was more aware of the world around him now, than he had ever been before. He could even hear the weak sounds of small animals moving in the forest while at the same time hearing his own heartbeat pounding in his chest. He turned his gaze toward the sky. The comet pieces were now the strongest shining objects in the sky.
It can’t be long now, he thought and looked out over the lake instead. The water lay completely still, and the bright spots in the sky glittered on the blank surface. And just as he looked at them, he knew what he wanted to do.
He got up on his feet and began to undress while he turned to the others and said.
"Why don’t we take one last swim in our beautiful lake? Come on now, let’s do it!"
"Yes, you’re right Oleg," his father said with a voice as if he had just awakened from a dream. He shuddered and got up on his feet.
"We can’t just sit here and wait for death to take us. Come on, take my hands!" he said as he pulled up his wife and daughter.
No one objected to his suggestion and in silence they quickly took off their clothes and walked down to the lake. At the shore, Tanja stopped and refused to go any further. She froze like a statue and was sobbing heavily. But her mother spoke calmly to her and after a while she agreed to be carefully led out into the lake. Finally, they all swam in the dark water and the coldness made Oleg’s limbs go stiff and numb. It was already difficult to move, and he breathed with short, jerky breaths. They swam out to the middle of the lake and rounded up in a small circle while holding each other's hands.
Oleg looked up at the sky. They were huge now and it was almost as bright as the day. There were only seconds left now and he turned to his family.
"When I tell you, we dive!"
He looked at his mother, father and sister. Tears ran down their cheeks as they nodded firmly to each other. Oleg looked up again. He was almost blinded by the light now.
Wait… Wait…
"Now!" he screamed and then they disappeared simultaneously beneath the surface…