God’s Finger

	Blue was bored. He looked at his globe, poking New York, while his TV droned on. Suddenly, Blue’s TV flashed to a different screen. 
      A lady who looked like she had just gotten out of bed told the world, “Breaking news! God’s finger touches down on New York City, destroying hundreds of buildings, and killing many!” The background was filled with dust, obscuring smashed buildings. Blue stared at the screen horrified. He had just poked New York! “Here are pictures of God’s finger.” The screen flashed with pictures of a giant finger in the sky.
      Blue looked closer, examining ‘God’s finger.’ He studied the patterns of the enlarged rivets on the finger, and then examined his own finger. His finger had the exact same patterns! He watched the TV as he once again poked New York. “People claim that-” SMASH. The view of devastated New York turned on its side, while the TV emitted screams of terrified people. Abruptly, the TV fizzed with black and white lines.

      “General! We did a fingerprint match.” Someone in a white coat with frizzy hair ran up to the demanding figure.
      The General turned to the person, glaring at him uninvitingly. “Excuse me, but I did not invite you to talk to me, Doctor!”
      “I—I’m sorry General!” the Doctor looked down at the ground trying to seem ashamed, while hiding his real feelings.
      “You were saying?” asked the General coolly.
      “We ran the picture of the finger through the computer, and it found a match.” The Doctor informed him.
      “Who?” The General asked, looking genuinely interested.
      “Blue Odin. He lives at 1512 Main Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan.” The General stared into the distance before absentmindedly saying, “You are excused from your duties.”
      
      For the entire day and the next, Blue was terrified of his globe. News stories covered all the front pages in the newspaper, all of which had photos of his enlarged finger destroying the tall skyscrapers of New York City. He continued his life not unlike he was before, except his movements were more forced.
      One afternoon, his mother asked him, “What’s wrong Blue? You were as white as a sheet two days ago, and now you just seem like a robot on automatic.”
      Blue stirred his cereal, unknowingly making it soggy. “I’m fine,” he lied. “It’s just… School.”
      His mother passed the idea over, letting him get away with the excuse.
      Blue sighed, and then left the table along with his now muddy cereal. He trudged up to his room, shut the door, and slumped into bed. He stared at his globe for over an hour, before deciding to tell someone.
      Grabbing the phone, he decided to call his best friend, Jack. Blue had known Jack since second grade, and it seemed Jack always knew what to do. “Hello?” It was a girl’s voice. Blue hung up immediately, pushing the phone into the pillow. Maybe he dialed the wrong number? The phone started ringing. It was the same number he had called. Blue hesitated, his hand tempting to leave his side.
      His mom opened the door. “Blue! Don’t just stand there like an idiot, pick up the phone!” Automatically, he answered.
      “Um, did you just try to call me Blue?” a boys voice said.
      “Jack? Who was that?”
      “Oh, that was just my dorky sister. Ow!” Jack’s voice confirmed his statement.
      “Right… I knew that. Hey, so can you come over to my house? I have something important to show you.” 
      “Um, sure. Now? And what is it?” Jack asked.
      “I just have to show you,” replied Blue.
      “Alright then,” Jack said before hanging up.
      It was only ten minutes before Jack arrived at his house. “So what do you need?” He asked right away.
      “Follow me.” Blue darted up to his room before Jack could even reply. Jack sighed, and did as he was told. He entered Blue’s room to find Blue holding a globe. The globe had a golden ring around it, and on it were strange markings. “Nice globe,” Jack said dismissively. “So what do you need to show me?”
      Blue sighed. “This is what I need to show you.”
      “A globe? Why?”
      “Remember what happened in New York two days ago?”
      “Yes, that ‘God Finger’, crushing the buildings. Everyone in the entire U.S. knows about it. What about it?”
      “That was my finger, and this globe that I got from a pawn shop not long ago.”
      Jack laughed, while Blue stared into him. Jack’s laughter eventually died away. “You’re serious? Nothing like that is possible!” Blue’s finger found Michigan, and then Ann Arbor. Jack gasped.
      Outside, a looming darkness overcame the sun. A large tan finger threatened to poke them to death. He took his finger away, and the sky returned to normal. The reaction was immediate. Looking outside of their window, Jack and Blue watched as people with video cameras rushed back into their house, obviously excited to post this new and rare footage on the Internet. Blue looked back at Jack just in time to see him faint.
      Jack got up not after ten seconds, and then started blabbing his head off, the entire time his face getting paler and paler. “This is insane! Oh my god everyone will kill you Blue! The police will find out who destroyed New York, and you’ll be charged with thousands of deaths! You’ll go to court and the FBI will search your-” Jack stopped, suddenly realizing something. “Oh my god!” He exclaimed again. “The FBI! The government! They can easily know who did this! Just do a fingerprint check, and then the government would take the globe away! They could take over the entire world…” Blue’s eyes widened, thinking about the entire thing. Jack was right! The government probably knows who did it, and that means…
      The doorbell rang. Blue and Jack exchanged glances, then looked out the window again. In their driveway was a black sedan, with no visible license plate.
      “Confuse them!” exclaimed Jack.
      “What?! How?” asked Blue incredulously.
      Jack searched his room, and eventually pulled out a box filled with a small amount of clothes. He pulled the clothes out, and threw them onto his floor. Conversation droned downstairs, ticking away their time. “The globe please,” said Jack. Blue reluctantly handed the globe to Jack, and watched as Jack secured the globe into the box with some string. He shut the lid to the box.
      Outside, the world became dark and silent. Animals looked around, utterly confused. This was too early for night to fall. Nocturnal animals woke up almost immediately, wondering why they slept so little. The voices downstairs stopped. “Out the window, now!” whispered Blue. They climbed out the window, onto the roof of the house.
      Carefully handing the box to Blue, Jack jumped into a pile of mulch in Blue’s garden. “Pass me the box!” Jack outstretched his hands to Blue, while Blue leaned over the edge of the roof, placing the box as far out as it would go. “I’m going to have to drop it, so don’t you dare miss this catch!” Jack nodded, and Blue released his grip on the box. It fell down into Jacks hands, and then tipped to the side. Blue watched in horror as the Earth itself started into an earthquake, making it all the harder for Jack to recover the box. Jack dove for the box, caught it and landed on the ground, chest first, with the box safely upright.
      Jack scrambled to his feet, while Blue safely dropped to the ground. “Come on, let’s get away from here!” said Blue shakily. Jack nodded, and followed Blue over the backyard fence. They crossed through streets, taking cover every time they saw a suspicious vehicle. After a lot of hiding, they finally decided to take cover inside the nearest shop. It wasn’t the smartest idea, and they were beginning to hear helicopters.
      Everyone in the city was in chaos. People ran around confused, as government agents stopped to question them. Women stood outside of their houses carrying their crying babies as government agents searched their houses. Helicopters flew around the city, shining bright lights on anyone suspicious. No cars were visible, for everyone was stopped in their area as the government looked for Blue.
      Jack and Blue looked around as they entered the shop. Strange ornaments hung the walls, and the tables were lined with other weird things. An old man stood at the back of the shop, watching them. “Are you the one who I advised not to buy the artifact?” He asked nodding at the box.
      “I am, and I need your help. Please help me stop this.”
	The old man stood up, and motioned them into the back of the shop. They shut the door behind them and took a seat on some chairs. “There is only one way to stop this. You have to put it where it will never be disturbed.”
	Blue looked at him uncomprehendingly. “Where would that be…?”
	The old man stared back at Blue, as if he was stupid. “Space, naturally.”
	“Um, excuse me, but how in the world will we get this into space?” Jack chimed in.
	“Using my space capsule in the back,” the old man replied casually. “Don’t worry, I don’t work for the government anymore. An angry general fired me, so I decided to steal one of his space capsules to make him mad. He plans to take the globe away and use it for his own purposes. If he got a hold on the globe, it would be most likely he would become the ruler of Earth.”
	“Because we all have space capsules in our homes safely hidden away in the back…” Jack muttered. The old man looked at him, regarding him icily.
	“Well, mind you, I do happen to have one,” he turned to the back wall, which was covered in banners advertising random things. Pushing on a brick, the entire wall swung around, exposing a metal sphere.
      “Well then,” exclaimed Blue. “And you say you stole this?”
	“It was quite easy, really,” said the old man crossly. He took the sphere, and motioned for the globe. Blue willingly handed him the box. The old man opened the box, and unfastened the globe. He placed it inside the sphere, fitting it perfectly.
	The old man pressed another button on the wall, and it slid open revealing some cannon like object. “This will fire the globe into space, and it will travel forever.” He slid the sphere into the object, almost like a cannonball. “If you haven’t noticed, this is a sonic cannon. Basically, it fires things at sonic speed. This is the globe’s ticket to space.”
	Blue raised his eyebrows, thinking how strange it was that this random old man would have this stuff. “Wait! What about the sun! If it’s in the dark the entire time, wouldn’t the earth freeze?”
	The old man rolled his eyes. “Such silly questions! There’s an artificial light inside the capsule, which will go around in a circle like the sun. I modified it earlier for the globe. Watch and learn.” Unhooking a latch on the side of the capsule, he accessed a control panel and pressed a series of buttons. Suddenly, outside, the world became bright again.
	People looked around, once again disoriented. Everyone shielded their own eyes against the new and sudden bright light. Some of the people began to believe that God was actively messing with the Earth, which caused them to run into their houses in fright.
      “Now, we send the globe away,” the old man said. He placed the capsule inside the ‘cannon’, and then sent it off with a large BOOM!
      
      “Sir, we have located the object.” A dark form strode across a metal bridge. “Bring the ship to the north-western side of the asteroid field, and you will find it.” A different form at the end of the bridge stood in front of controls, working them automatically. It turned on a screen, which displayed a metal sphere smashing through asteroids. “Take it to the ship, and find out what it is.”
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