Nemesis

Chapter 1

Throughout the dawn of human history, humanity has always been intrigued by the cosmos and what lies beyond. But little does humanity know that there awaits a dangerous hidden object yet to be discovered. ...And it could spell disaster upon the human race, and even life on Earth itself.

...

I've always been into astronomy since I was a young boy. There was something about the stars, planets, and the universe itself that has always intrigued me. I would beg my parents to buy me a telescope for Christmas or my birthday whenever I had the chance, but they never seemed to have the funds. When I eventually moved out on my own and got a job, I started to save up some money each month so I could buy a decent one.

Now the day finally came. I stood outside of a store called Astronomics. They sold high quality telescopes at a decent price. When I walked through the door, I noticed that there were only a few shoppers inside. Various telescopes were displayed throughout the store, showing their prices. As I browsed a bit more, an employee walked up beside me.

"Good day, sir. Find anything that piqued your interest?" a young woman asked.

I smiled a bit. "Not yet. I'm just looking for a good quality telescope with what money I've saved up. I only have about one hundred and eighty dollars on me, so it's not much."

The employee nodded and said, "There are plenty of decent telescopes around that price. In fact, we have one around one hundred dollars and fifty. It's displayed right over here, if you'd like to take a look."

I nodded, and followed her to a tall telescope near the back of the store. It looked to be good quality.

"How far can I look into the night sky with this?" I asked.

The employee thought for a moment.

"I'd say around nine hundred million light years. You can easily see the moon, Mars, Jupiter, and even Saturn. Given if the night is clear. What do you say? Would you like to buy it?"

I couldn't contain the grin on my face and I nodded.

"Yes, please," I told her.

I watched as she went into the back of the store and brought out the box that held the telescope.

"There will be some assembly required," she told me. "But overall, it shouldn't be that hard if you follow the instructions. Follow me to the front desk and I'll get you all set."

Smiling, I followed her to the front desk and I paid the money. She then handed me the huge box that contained the telescope.

"Have fun looking up into the night skies," she told me, smiling.

I nodded. "Thank you. I appreciate your help, ma'am."

With that, I walked out of the store and to my car. I opened one of the back doors and gently placed the telescope in the back seat. Luckily, it was just small enough to fit.

It was difficult to contain my excitement as I drove back to my small apartment. Once I got back, I pulled the telescope from the back seat of my car and carried it inside. It was still too early to use it. The sun was still up, and it would be quite a few hours until it was dark enough to properly see anything.

I yawned and placed the telescope near the door to the small balcony area of my apartment before grabbing some lunch. After eating, I lounged around and watched the news until my eyes gave in and I fell into a deep slumber...

When I awoke, I found that the entire apartment was in darkness. I stumbled off the couch and reached for the living room light. Once the room was decently lit, I glanced over towards the telescope I had purchased earlier. Excitement raced through me as I immediately sprinted over and got to work unboxing it. It seemed to be mostly put together, except for its stand and a few more pieces that I had to assemble myself. I found the instruction sheet and followed the instructions as best as I could. Eventually, I had the stand put together and carefully brought the telescope outside to the balcony. I gently placed it on its stand and pointed it at the moon.

After fiddling around with it a bit, I learned how to focus in and out on certain objects. The moon looked absolutely stunning when seeing it in this much detail. After observing the moon a bit longer, I decided to move the telescope around to see what else I could spot in the night sky. I didn't see anything but a few stars at first, and after several minutes of trying I was about to give up.

But then I noticed something. It glowed a dull reddish color. And it looked closer than all of the other celestial bodies around it. I stared at it for a few more minutes, wondering if it was the planet Mars. But I quickly ruled it out. Mars shouldn't be this close to our planet... I made a quick note to myself to check out the strange anomaly later, and went back into my apartment. As much as I wanted to stay outside on the balcony and observe the mysterious object, I did have a job. And I needed to get to bed early in order to preform my best. As I made my way to my bedroom, I heard a notification go off on my phone. It was from my boss, asking if I could come into work early to complete some tasks. I reluctantly agreed, sending him a text. After that was done, I went to my notes app on my phone and made sure to save the exact spot where I had seen the strange red celestial object. I quickly typed in the longitude and latitude and shut off my phone for the night.
As I laid in bed, my thoughts always returned back to my strange discovery. What was that strange red celestial body? Had I discovered a new planet or star? ...What if it wasn't either of those things at all?
My mind continued to race until I finally managed to drift off to sleep for the night.