The Big Wobble

“Well, that’s something you don’t see every day,” said Alex to his empty Jeep. Of course it should be shocking, but since the Big Wobble, nothing surprised him. He had learned to expect the unexpected. Polar ice caps breaking apart into massive icebergs, blizzards in the rain forests of Brazil, the east and west coasts of North and South America slowly returning to the ocean floor, volcanoes erupting in people’s backyards. It’s all considered normal now. So, what caused the world to change?

The answer to that question will vary depending on who you ask, and each answer will probably sound correct. That’s because what happened is a compilation of multiple answers, so let’s start with the one that almost everyone will agree on. The Earth was struck by a massive meteor. The impact from the strike, plus the added weight of the extremely dense space rock in one specific location of the globe, knocked the Earth off its axis by several degrees. Our planet began wobbling, similar to a toy top losing speed. Now you know why it’s called the Big Wobble.

From this point on is where the conspiracy theories take over. Many people claim that the rock could have been diverted the same way Bruce Willis did in the movie Armageddon, but the world leaders couldn’t agree on which country should be in charge of the operation. Another heavily favored theory is that a cabal of billionaires wanted it to strike Earth so they could mine any rare minerals it may be made of or whatever ores the impact might unearth. The bottom line, no matter which theory you choose to believe, it’s irrelevant. The rock hit the Earth, knocked it off its axis, and changed human life forever; or that’s what I thought, until today.

Picture our planet spinning in space at a speed of 1,040 miles per hour. You start at the equator where gravity is the strongest and move directly north or south until you get to the poles where there is no gravity. Now the only thing pinning you to the planet is centrifugal force. Ocean and wind currents, weather cycles, and clouds moving across the sky are all a result of gravity. Our lives, and everything we have grown to accept as normal, is a result of gravity’s influence. Now imagine normal has been knocked out of kilter by 15 degrees and the planet’s rotation has slowed by 40 miles per hour.

You may think 15 degrees and 40 miles per hour are small numbers; what’s the big deal? Let’s start with the stars. The North Star may still point true north, but the place it used to point to has moved. Longitude and latitude lines no longer cross over the same places they once did, meaning navigational maps must be redrawn and GPS must be recalibrated. Line-of-sight communication towers may no longer be in alignment with one another. The slower-spinning Earth would also have an unexpected impact on us. Minimal though it may seem, everything, including people, would become heavier, especially as we got closer to the equator, which had shifted because of the tilt. But all this science stuff isn’t what shocked Alex; it was a glimpse into what life was before the Big Wobble.

Throughout his travels, Alex had grown accustomed to weird things like snow in July, heavy rains in a former desert, and large flocks of birds flying in circles unable to orient themselves, but he never expected to see a 1960s-style village complete with a general store and ice cream shop. A place like this would have been rare before the Big Wobble, but now, he felt as though he had driven through a time warp. Alex parked along Main Street and decided to go exploring.

The people were friendly, offering a smile or a wave and a tip of the hat. He felt immediately at home within this little town in the middle of nowhere. Maybe his traveling days were finally over. This little Mayberry look-alike shouldn’t exist, but since it did, why not take advantage of it? Off in the distance, he thought someone was calling his name. How could that be? He had just arrived and knew no one, yet the voice kept getting louder and closer.

Alex felt a hand on his shoulder shaking him gently awake. He slowly opened his eyes and found he was gazing sleepily into his wife’s smiling face.

“Come on, sleepyhead, get a move on, or you’ll be late for work.”

He sat up, kissed Becky, and headed toward the bathroom only to stop dead in his tracks. The TV was blaring, “Breaking News! Massive meteor on a collision course with Earth. World leaders unable to come to a workable solution. More updates as they happen.”

A panicked look shot across Alex’s face. “Becky, start packing. This is not going to end well.”