“The shockwave itself would be greater than the sum of all the worst volcanoes we’ve ever seen in the last hundred years, Todd. Worse than the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii. It’s impossible from today’s physics.”

“But there’s quantum theory. What about the possibility of everything, everywhere, existing in one plane all at the same time. That, we’re learning, is possible. We’re making nanosized computer chips. Surely you aren’t excluding the possibility that we have three-dimensional physics all wrong, are you?”

“Todd,” the senior scientist responded, “everything we know about science and physics says it’s not possible. If it did happen, it would disrupt all natural laws on our planet. And you know, hell, I know, if that were to happen, we’d all be dead in minutes, maybe less than minutes. Every living thing would cease to exist. You. Me. Plants. Animals. All of it. And then what? Does some mysterious ‘God’ figure come out of the sky to judge all of us? Come off it already, Todd. You are a scientist. God isn’t real. If He was, we’d have proven it.”

Todd dug deep into his lab coat pockets, feeling a few different pens, random shapes and sizes. One was an odd shape, like a triangle. Conversations like this were reserved for Dr. Bancroft’s or Todd’s office, not in an open hallway. His other pocket had the keys to the various doors around the facility. Only he and Dr. Bancroft had keys to all the doors. Dr. Bancroft because he was the executive director of. Todd because Todd was Dr. Bancroft’s right hand. As Todd felt the various keys and listened to his friend and supervisor rant about the impossibility of God, he thought about the impending wave, the wall of water disrupting all life on the planet. And as he thumbed the keys, he remembered that God promised He would never wipe out all life on our round, blue planet again. It was a promise sealed with a rainbow. So, if this were to happen, it would negate God’s promise. Then again, if God chose to use the water to wipe out only so much life, then He would go back on his promise, right? Then He’d be fallible, right? But what if it was like Sodom and Gomorrah? What if it was only so much life that would killed? What then?

“Don’t you get it, Todd? There is no God. God wouldn’t allow this much suffering on our planet if he really loved us.”

Todd had been down this road multiple times with Dr. Bancroft. Today could be another one of those days, but he decided it wasn’t worth the fight. Pulling out his keys, Todd looked at Dr. Bancroft. “One of these keys opens every door in this facility,” he jangled all fourteen keys.  

“What’s that got to do with our conversation, Todd?”

“Well, if only one of these keys opens the door, that means if we don’t know which one it is, we keep trying until we find it.”

“Unless someone gives us the right one beforehand.”

“Mhmm. What if we already have the key? What if the key is right before you, and you choose not to see it.”

“I don’t have time for any more of these philosophical discussions, Todd. We need solutions. We needed them yesterday.”

“Yes, Dr. Bancroft.” Bancroft spun around and marched down the hall toward his office.