The Chronicles of the Milky Way Galaxy : Gaia

Chapter 1 : Detection and Preparation

Archytas International Space Observatory

June 5, 2072

Professor Alan Wilson was staring at a screen. He pushed himself away and floated                             
toward another. He frowned while thinking, Something is wrong with the data again.
He continued to move from one screen to another while contacting his fellow
astronauts. Soon, the station came alive with the excited yet scared voices of the
crew. They were joined by the voices of those on the ground. The data was
repeatedly tested. An anomaly was detected in the ort cloud, an area of space filled
with icy rocks and dwarf planets just outside of our solar system. Professor Wilson let
himself slowly float away from his station. The voices around him were fading away,
while a new thought flooded his mind. Is this for real? Hundreds of years ago, a
group of asteroids was knocked out of their orbit, and they were heading toward the
interior of the solar system. A gigantic rock with a diameter of about forty-five
kilometers, along with a few smaller but still destructive ones, was falling toward the
sun at ever-increasing velocities. Earth stood in their way. The impact was going to
take place just forty-four years into the future.

August 12, 2072

"Hello, everyone," Professor Wilson said to the public. "I wish I could start this speech
with a smile or a warm welcome, but as most of you already know, the news is
anything but good. An asteroid with a diameter of about forty-five kilometers is
closing in on Earth. The asteroid is currently traveling at lower speeds, but it
freefalling toward the sun. Its speed is continuously increasing, and by the time it
meets Earth, it will be traveling at 120,000 kilometers per hour. After having thought
of all possible ways of avoiding the collision, we came to the realization that the
impact is inevitable. We can't destroy it because it is too big, and we can't alter its
course for the same reason. Bombarding it with missiles runs the risk of breaking it
into smaller chunks, which will most likely impact the Earth at various locations,
rendering the disaster even greater. It's traveling too fast and it's too massive to be
threatened by anything we throw at it. Its trajectory has a 93 percent chance of
colliding with Earth, with an projected date of forty-four years. The impact location will
be eastern Australia. Professor Haze will take the stand to give us a prediction of the
aftermath."

"As Professor Wilson explained" said Professor Haze with clear discomfort,
"this is an asteroid with a size unlike anything that has impacted the planet since the
time of Earth's formation. It dwarfs the asteroid that took out the dinosaurs. The
damage to the planet will be incomprehensible. Virtually all advanced life on planet
Earth will become extinct in a very short period of time. The immediate effects will be
felt throughout the world, with tremendous earthquakes, possible volcanic eruptions;
the largest tsunamis ever seen will be overshadowed. And this is only the beginning.
Burning winds will wrap around the planet, igniting everything in their path.

They will be followed by a rain of burning rock, which can last for weeks. The after effect will be
a cloud of dust and carbon, which will envelop the Earth, leaving us hidden from the
sun for perhaps hundreds or thousands of years, leading to a global ice age. Ladies
and gentlemen, we are facing the complete annihilation of our species and with it, the
annihilation of every species other than bacteria life on Earth." He swallowed, looked
around him, and continued, "No matter how slim the chance, we need to innovate
and put our combined effort in a plan to avoid the collision. The small chance that it
will miss should not be our comfort. We need to fight this thing. Our current
technologies cannot match it, but if we work together, we might make something to
shield us from it."