When Earth Stopped Moving

Chapter 1 : COUNTDOWN / Part 12 : Mission (2)

-"A mission ? I asked totally confused .
As a response , Richard Hikes put his hands on his pocket and took out what resembled to a USB Key , inserted it in one of the holes in the cockpit , and big screen suddenly appeared on the windshield , showing an enormous amount of data .

-" Don't worry , you don't need to understand all of this . Richard Hikes remarked .

But my curiosity couldn't be hidden that much.

-"All of the other kids have been kidnapped in the spaceship and I can bet that more than a half of them is gone. This certainly means that...well, no matter how we could think of it , I don't know how to introduce this in a non-chocking way . Shawn Drauless said looking at the screen .

What he said wasn't a mystery anymore . As far as my mind could assimilate , there were apparently even more terrible things happening without me knowing. I have been in the rocket for 178 days , so close to 6 months ...half a year . This simple fact itself was enough to chock me . However, deep in my mind , I had the feeling that something else - something more horrific - was occurring behind the doors.

As if Richard Hikes read in my mind , he suddenly interrupted the silence :

-"Many things happened since you took off from earth with your comrades, number 999 . Earth has lost the integrity of its magnetic field and as predicted , it's as habitable as the rest of the Solar System's planets now .

-"So ...so everyone is dead ? I asked my heart beating even more .

-" Fortunately , we had almost 2 decades to build underground basements for all the registered inhabitants of the country . We could save as many lives as possible . Shawn Drauless added after minutes of silently looking at the enormous amount of data .

After all the despair I faced these last days -or shall I say those last months - knowing that they were survivals even few managed to boost my moral . Our families were may be there , unaware of what was happening above their heads . They may be desperate about finding their children , while some of them don't even know that their son, daughter , brother , or cousin with whom they never grew up and whom they never had the opportunity to see , just died in the deep space. I could almost feel compassion for them.

-"6 months earlier , while the drastic climatic changes were at their early stage , we have been hacked , exactly 8 hours after the planet's rotation stopped. Richard added.

Mr. Drauless finally turned around , and I could distinguish horror in his face .

-" We normally successfully deal with the majority of these ransomware attacks. This time, however nothing happened like expected . This still-unknown-hacker managed to pass trough our defensive system and stole a copy of all this data you are seeing now .

-" The problem is , Richard Hikes continued, that this data mainly concerns our last chance of survival: KEPLAIDE-1A.

And I was the one to think that things couldn't get worse . The bad feeling I had earlier was confirmed . There really were terrible things happening behind our backs during the last 6 months. So what Mr. Shawn Drauless told us when we were in the canteen was only the calm before the real storm:

KEPLAIDE-1A , a powerful weapon capable of generating enough magnetic force to make the planet rotate again. A weapon this powerful can not possibly hold only that property .

There must be another reason why someone would have wanted to hack the data concerning it.

Therefore, if I sum the things up , the conclusion appeared to be obvious.

-"They will certainly be reaching it before we do.
And if we stay hands crossed , who knows what they might do with it. Richard Hikes added.

-"It would take another decade to build another rocket , and the ones that belong to the countries are destroyed as we couldn't remove them from the surface. Now we can't do nothing about it . The only person who stands a chance to them is you number 999. The only human left that is close enough to the moon.

Slowly , I started to calm down and think properly again , something I judged the wisest thing to do with this sudden set of new information.

-"So , the reason why you came here is ...

-"You saw it right number 999 . Richard Hikes suddenly interrupted again . We are here to tell you about your mission. We want you to go and save as many of your comrades as possible then go straight to the surface of the moon where KEPLAIDE-1A will be waiting for you to be used .

-"But ..., I hesitated. How can I...

Unfortunately, they never had the time to answer as just at the very moment they were about to do so, an explosion shook all of the rocket and the lights went suddenly off for a second . My leg which was already hurting , hit the ground and I felt like it was being cut of my body . I could barely open my eyes because of the pain .

-"Main electricity system , shut down . Secondary electricity system up . The integrated-computed- voice said .

During the few seconds where I could open my eyes , I could notice that Hikes and Shaun were easily standing still even though the turbulence was very high . It was clear now , they were holograms since the beginning.

-"Number 999 , I took control of the rocket from Earth , we'll be entering you into the spaceship now.  We have to be fast. I think they have just found us.

His calm tone made a deep contrast with the actual urgent situation . At least , I could feel the rocket slowly moving . When I looked through the windshield of the cockpit , I realized they were taking me straight towards that white hole . The same that aspired Leilah and Kyle , and may be everyone else .

-"You'll be entering in 6 seconds so be ready number 999 and take your medal with you, it might be useful .

-"Wait ! I STILL HAVE QUESTIONS !"

5" the robot voice said . It was all messed up . I had to save people of whom I didn't even know the whereabouts . I thought those 5 seconds would be the longest of my life . But no , it happened quickly and within that short moment , I found myself into events I never thought myself capable of facing . But there I was , entering to an alien spaceship ,praying the stars that I'll be able to save Kyle and Leilah in the least.