Simon's Ark

For two years they had been laughing at him.

No one was laughing now.

It had started back in a small home laboratory, just off of the Stanford University campus. Simon Shummer had stumbled upon what he considered to be the single largest threat to mankind since a meteor killed off all of the dinosaurs.

At first he had gone to the university’s Earth Science department looking for someone to check his work. He wanted to be told that he was wrong; that everything was going to be okay. The idea of being right in his final conclusion was almost too much to get his head around.

Rebuffed by the scholars, Simon tried the press. This got some attention alright, but not the kind that he was looking for. One “expert” after another denounced his work as shoddy, not worthy of closer examination. Simon found this unbelievable since to his knowledge, no one had even asked to review his work.

In the end, he simply did what he could to save himself and any remnants of mankind that he could. An abundance of inherited wealth had helped facilitate his efforts. Simon collected everything he could. Huge digital storage banks were filled with the knowledge of man. Refrigerators held DNA samples of every plant and animal imaginable. He packed everything into geodesic structures specifically designed to protect against the threat. Inside there was food enough to last thirty people for five years.

With time running out, Simon completed the final step of his project. He hired a gang of men to help him kidnap twenty-four women and five men from the university. They had been chosen for their health, sex and area of expertise.

Now , Simon and his twenty-nine “guests”, all held at gunpoint, sat silently as the clouds approached. He hoped his Ark would survive the coming storm.