Chapter 12

Mr. Possible came home one afternoon, and immediately sought out Kim. He found her and Shego in the gym. Kim was doing bench presses, and Shego was spotting her. To get their attention, he lightly rapped on the wall.

Shego glanced at him, then back to Kim. She was just lifting the barbell. "Okay, hold on," Shego said, and helped Kim put it back in the cradle.

Kim sat up, and wiped her face. "What's up, Dad?" she asked.

"I need to see both of you in the living room," he answered, and turned up the stairs.

"What did you do now?" asked Shego, "And why are you framing me?"

"Me? Talk to the Tweebs," answered Kim.

Shego chuckled, and followed Kim up the stairs.

In the living room they found Mrs. Possible. "I called the Stoppables, and Ron will be here in a few minutes," she said.

Mr. Possible nodded. "Thanks, hon," he said. Then he turned to Kim. "Would you get Wade on the line? He needs to be in on this."

Kim's eyes got wide, but went and got the Kimmunicator. As she was coming back down, Ron let himself in.

"Hi, everyone! The Ronster's in the HOUSE!" he said.

Wade appeared on the Kimmunicator's screen. "What's up, guys?" he asked.

"I think we've got a mission," said Kim, as her best friend sat down beside her. Rufus popped out of Ron's pocket, and sat down on the coffee table.

"Indeed you do," said Mr. Possible, in his best dramatic voice, "A mission of... WORLD SHAKING proportions!"

"Are the dramatics really necessary?" asked Shego with irritation.

"Just trying to lighten the mood," said Mr. Possible, with a sour look.

Shego rolled her eyes, but didn't comment further.

Mr. Possible looked at his wife. "Where did you say the twins were, dear?"

"They went to that new water park with the Smithsons," she answered.

He nodded. "Good. Now, here's the 'sitch'," he started, and everyone groaned.

"I'm just not appreciated around here," he muttered. "A month ago, a new asteroid was found, designated 2005KP by the International Astronomical Union."

They heard Wade's fingers fly over the computer keyboard. "That's wierd," he said, "I can find the IAU notice for it's discovery, but nothing else, not even the orbit, in any online catalog."

"There's a reason for that," said Mr. Possible, "Computations indicate there is a 100 percent chance it will hit the earth. It will be here in just thirty-three days."

There was silence around the room. Rufus looked puzzled.

"Um, I'm going to take a guess and say that's bad... isn't it?" said Ron.

"Very," said Wade, "Sir, what's known about it?"

"Well, measurements indicate it's about seven kilometers in diameter, so it's about the same size as the Martian moon Deimos. Spectral analysis shows it's a Type "C" asteroid, so it's mostly rock. That's one break, since if it was iron and nickel, the damage to the world would be much greater."

"Wait, wait, wait," said Ron, "You're talking about a rock. In space. Right?"

Mr. Possible nodded.

"Oh, yeah, a meteor. We don't have anything to worry about. Those burn up when they hit the air," said Ron, laughing.

"Ron, meteors are tiny," said Kim, "This one is huge. It ISN'T going to burn up!"

"Well, what are we talking about, then?" asked Ron, with a nervous quaver in his voice.

"We're talking about the end of civilization," said Wade.

Ron pondered for a few seconds, while everyone waited for him to catch up. Suddenly he dived under the coffee table. "TAKE COVER!" he yelled.

"Amp down, Ron," said Kim, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling, "And get back up here!"

Shego ignited a finger and pointed it at him. "And stop acting like a goofball!"

"Evacuate the planet!" he said, looking around, "Teenagers and naked mole rats first!"

"Ron, it's not going to be here for a month!" said Kim, trying to calm him down.

"Oh," he said, looking embarrassed.

Shego growled, but extinguished her finger.

"What's going to happen, sir?" asked Wade.

"Well, the original plan was to launch a nuclear missile at it, and blow it up. But no launch system available can get a warhead out of orbit, and that's too close to do any good.

The second problem is that even if a bomb could be delivered to it, simulations show that what would probably happen is that it would break up into several pieces..."

"And THEY burn up! Problem solved!" said Ron, grinning, and leaning back on the couch.

"No, Ronald," said Mr. Possible, in a low voice, "The pieces would still be too big to do that. And most or all of it would still hit the earth."

"So that's it?" asked Shego, "We're doomed? I don't even get to live out my last days?"

"Well, not quite. Kimmie, you remember the Space Plane I built? The one you and Ronald went to the Space Station in?" asked Mr. Possible.

Kim nodded.

"You'll have to tell me about that sometime," said Shego to Kim in a low voice.

"That's the only vehicle on the planet capable of reaching the asteroid while it's still far enough away to do something about it. We, and I mean all of us, (except you, Wade) are going to fly it to the asteroid, and blow that giant rock up!"

The click of Wade's keyboard could be heard. "Well, that's do-able, but what's the point? Wether it's delivered by missile or Space Plane, the results would be the same."

"Not if we drill a hole to the center, and blow it up from there," said Mr. Possible, "That would be enough to change the orbit of some or most of it. There would be a lot less damage, and fewer lives lost then."

"Okay..." said Wade, "I can see how that might work, but it's still pretty iffy."

"True. It's a poor plan, but it's the only one we've got, considering the asteroid was discovered only a month ago," said Mr. Possible.

"Dad, you know I'm in," said Kim, "But why are we having to do it?"

"The Space Plane hasn't been flown since that excursion of yours. There's nobody qualified to fly it but me and you. And Ronald has experience with the Plane, and in space," was the answer.

"I guess my role will be support and analysis," said Wade.

"Right," said Mr. Possible.

"I have a question," said Shego, "Why do I have to be involved?"

Mr. Possible sighed. "The device has been delivered to the Space Center, but the drill is still in the design stage. I've read Jim and Tim's files on your power, and I believe you can do the drilling."

Shego blinked, thinking. "I've never done anything like that. I'm not sure I can."

"You have to try," said Kim, "You can save a lot of lives."

"Shego," said Mrs. Possible, "We're talking millions dead, as opposed to billions."

Shego shrugged. "It's all the same to me. I won't be here in a few months anyway. So, thanks for the invite, but no thanks."

There was stunned silence around the room. Both elder Possibles started to say something, but couldn't think of anything.

Suddenly Kim got a sly look. "You still work for me," she said.

Shego looked at her sharply. "What?"

"When you agreed to work for me, we didn't set a time limit," she explained.

"Well, no, but that doesn't mean..." started Shego.

"Are you going to break our contract?" asked Kim, in a quavering voice.

Shego opened her mouth to say something, and Kim hit her with the Puppy Dog Pout.

"What are you... argh, stop that!" said Shego, and looked away, directly at Mrs. Possible, who was also giving the Pout.

"I'm surrounded!" shouted Shego, and closed her eyes. There was dead silence. A minute passed, and Shego opened an eye and looked at Kim, who hadn't moved or dropped the Pout.

"Grrr... okay, okay, I'm in, just stop doing that!" she said.

Kim smiled. "I thought I could count on you," she said sweetly.

Shego glared at her. "I'll get you for this," she growled, "And I want a raise... boss!"