Asteroid World
Dimensional Coordinates: 467.908.993.835
Divergence Date: July 16, 1943
Ever wanted to visit a world spared a grisly Apocalypse? Head on over to newly re-opened Asteroid World, where people are slowly readjusting to a life thought doomed by a pesky asteroid.
Parallel History
In 1943, Albert Einstein declared that The Trinity program, the progenitor of the Nuclear Age, was a failure. Einstein and his colleagues attributed the failure to the fact that there wasn’t enough fissionable material in nature to create a nuclear explosion. Such a variable is called “The Adiabatic Limit” theory. In reality, Einstein felt guilty about unleashing the nuclear genie on the world and flubbed his finding purposefully.
Without nuclear weapons technology, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was unable to drop hydrogen bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. World War II ended in 1950 as a result, although it’s unknown how this affected the economy or the social structure of the United States. Einstein’s bomb prototype became museum piece with simply labeled “Einstein’s Folly.”
Forty years later, astronomers began tracking an asteroid entering the inner solar system. Yeoman 2956, it was called, was charted to be on a direct course that would intercept Earth’s orbit around the sun. The Union of Concerned Scientists met to consider what could be done to avert the threat.
As the asteroid came closer to the earth, alliances were formed. People in Northern and Southern Ireland shared a day of prayer. The six month truce between Serbs and Muslims continued to hold. Unfortunately, Israelis and Pakistanis continue to fight. Pope John Paul II was told by his doctors to rest because his unwavering in preparation for the last day has left him exhausted.
Fortunately, at what seemed like the last minute, a young physicist named Conrad Bennish, Jr. was able to re-rig the atomic warhead and aim it towards the asteroid, breaking into small enough pieces that it no longer posed a threat to the planet. Bennish is now a Nobel laureate.
In the aftermath of the last days, people are slowly returning to normal, and Ivan Boesky’s purchase of Beverly Hills has turned into a lucrative real estate deal that was fully covered in a special episode of 90210.
Travel Advisory
After the end of the world panic, this Earth is still recovering from a near death experience. Chaos, looting, and wild parties in the previous days have trashed most cities. Now people realize that they have to go to work tomorrow and deal with the consequences of their actions.
With schematics that Conrad Bennish stolen from Professor Maximillian Arturo, the power of the atomic bomb is now in the hands of a psycho! The potential for nuclear holocaust is substantial.
The Zimmerman Telegraph
Burned in the looting of downtown Washington, D.C. in 1995. A shame, really.