The Story of Ethan Myhers

Chapter One

Chapter One

                My Story begins a while back, I was a young scientist working for a government funded program. We had been tracking an asteroid for some time, and today was the day it was going to hit our small blue rock. We had been tracking it because it was giving off what appeared to be its own energy which had us all very interested, naturally. It was due to come into contact with our outer atmosphere around 3am. We had a team in place monitoring its progress. I was at home getting ready to head in when I received a phone call.

                ‘Hello Ethan its Simon’ he was my fellow researcher and friend a hard worker clever guy. He sounded excited which took a lot for Simon. ‘Yea I’m on my way in now, everything ok?’

‘Um depends Ethan the asteroid it’s slowing down, I, I, I, don’t understand why, but I’m telling you it is!’

‘I’m on my way in now’ I hung up the phone grabbed my glasses and keys as I made my way out the door to the car. This didn’t make sense it shouldn’t be slowing down that was insane. It wouldn’t be near our outer atmosphere yet, I remember being excited by that mystery.

                I got in the car and began my 20 minute journey to the office, my mind going a million miles an hour thinking about what all this could mean. As I reached the building and pulled up to the main gate, the guard came out of the security booth to greet me. ‘Morning Sir, funny hours they have you on this week?’ Barry was always a friendly and polite man, a deep husky voice and always a happy smile to go along with whatever he said. ‘You know me Barry love my job, why else would I be here this early?’ laughing I handed him my ID to swiped on the logs ‘sure as hell isn’t the money any way’. Laughing away Barry returned my ID to me beamed at me ‘head on up Sir’ and with that headed back into his booth. ‘Later Barry’ as I drove up to my usual space I seen him give a half hearted gesture good bye as he walked away.

As I got out of the car and grabbed my usual shoulder bag, I began the walk to my main lab, passing through the different check points. We had got this building a few years back from the military and we were still the only ones in it! As I swiped my id at the last check point I could see my lab and Simon was running about in what seemed like chaos. As I walked into the lab I expected the usual hello but instead I got a very frustrate ‘we need to talk now’ he gestured towards my office, so we walked and took a seat. ‘Well what’s up?’

                ‘Ethan its slowing down more again, changing its course and now its split in two’ in a hush voice, ‘and I’m not talking a bit broke off, I mean it broke perfectly in half down its centre!’

                ‘How? When? That just doesn’t make any sense at all, have you doubled checked the data this isn’t a satellite or some messed up training mission some agency is doing?’ I was gripped by an interesting combination of fear and excitement. ‘I’m positive! It will hit in approximately an hour and a half, one over Europe and the other over South America. I’m getting calls from all over about this people knew this was our rock but now they are seeing the same data as us and want to know what is going on. I don’t know what to say and do here.’ Neither of us wanted to say it, Christ it was hard enough to think about it, something not of this world was about to come crashing down to our planet and whatever it was it was moving with intelligence!

                I took a deep breath calmed myself and began talking to Simon ‘OK, ok lets slow down I need all the info on what’s been happening on my desk ASAP, I want a breakdown of its speed where that thing has come from everything we have got, we also need to contact the owners of this building let them know what is going on and get any resources we need in place!’ Simon was talking notes and nodding in agreement ‘Ethan we have our team in Europe ready to see what hits the ground, and I have sorted the landing area for us to have priority, but the Americans are much harder, they are asking a lot of questions and such and I can’t stop them going into their own back yard to look and see what’s coming down.’