She shook her head, snapping to, “crack the binder!”, she shouted, and with those three simple words she instilled a sense of order and calm into her panicked team. No one could train for the disappearance of a planet, but everyone knew what to do if a CTB was issued. For the next 3 hours they all frantically prepared briefings for the heads of state of all of the countries on Earth, well, for all who believed the end of earth was a viable outcome. She waited for the go ahead from her top analyst and then she called the Secretary of the Office of the Planetary Observation and Strategic Relocation (POSR). When the phone line clicked on the other end, Ingrid slowly and emphatically relayed the most important message of her life, “we have a Code Purple”.
The POSR leader was a government careerist, he earned his gruff demeanor over the years by wading through swamps of red tape. He listened to Ingrid’s message and for the first time in a decade, his pulse quickened while he sat at his desk. Cliff sat down the receiver and cleared his throat. In case of a Code Purple his next call was to the President. The red phone on his desk had never been used, in fact, it had never been touched. It was one of those phones that called out immediately if it was picked up, and you only ever called a president if you had something important to say. Cliff slowly picked up the phone, the woman’s voice on the other end was already speaking. “Hello Cliff”, the voice said. Cliff got the slightest impression that the news he was about to share was already known.