First Astro-Geologist of the HUB space station, July 15th, 2065
I was flabbergasted, to say the least. Portable hard drives had not yet been invented at that time, back in 2003. So I had no idea what to make of the rectangular object that supposedly contained a prophecy of the future. Of my family’s future.
I pulled the hard drive from my pocket and examined it again. On one side there were markings. Eight letters etched in gold, spelling a single word: SKYREACH. Of course, I came to understand the significance of SKYREACH once I read the manuscript several months later, when I started a new nanotech project in a research facility in Dallas, Texas. The facility actually did have a computer with a USB port for the hard drive. I have provided the first part of the text in the rest of this book.
The story was amazing, to say the least, which is one reason I decided to publish it. However, there is another reason. At the very beginning of the text, there was the list of one hundred events that Gregory Grey said would come true by 2012. As of today, December 1st, 2012, I can now verify that every one of those events has happened, exactly as Gregory predicted.
I did much research into the scientific aspects mentioned in the text. I have made footnotes to explain the state of current technology for the more interesting uses of nanotech. I also researched the meteor Apophis. According to many astronomers today, Apophis will pass close enough to our planet in the year 2034 that it has a 1 in 37 chance of striking the Earth.
And that is the reason I published this book. I wish to let you know of the impending danger, however remote that danger seems today. Perhaps this book will convince you that there is a real possibility of a meteor strike in our near future. And perhaps you will try to influence our government to watch the skies more diligently for such threats from outer space. Do what you will with the information, with the prophecy. Good luck.
Chapter 1: The birthday present
Olivia Grey opened her sky blue eyes just as the collision alarm went off. “WARNING! WARNING!” shouted the tinny voice from the commlink near her bed. “COLLISION THREAT! SPACE OBJECT APPROACHING THE HUB NEAR SECTOR SEVEN! FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY, ACTIVATE EMERGENCY EXO-SUITS IMMEDIATELY!” The warning began to repeat itself in the same metallic tone - everyone in the HUB must have been jolted out of bed.
Olivia fumbled with the zipper of her bunk cover and scrambled out as quickly as she could. She had just swung her feet over the edge of her bunk when her brother Duncan floated down from the top bunk above. His boots attached to the floor, nullifying the low gravity. He hastily shuffled over to the viewport, which overlooked the western part of the HUB. “Come on, Liv! Sector Seven is our side of the space station. If we hurry, we can see the action!” Duncan said excitedly. He waved her over to the viewport.
Duncan had forgotten to activate his exo-suit of course, so Olivia reminded him by saying, “Turn on your exo-suit, Dodo bird!”
Olivia touched one of the silver circles on the wall. Immediately the circle detached from the wall, crawling up Olivia’s arm and engulfing her from head to toe in a shiny suit of silvery armor. She was tall for fourteen, so her exo-suit was adjusted for her height.
The suit was smooth and form fitting over her torso and back. But at the shoulders, elbows, knees and ankles the suit was layered with lobster-like slats, to allow range of movement. When the exo-suit was in place, only Olivia’s pale, oval face and long chestnut hair were uncovered. She usually wore her hair unbraided, but now it wound halfway down her back in a braid - long hair was tough to manage in an exo-suit, unless it was held in place. She tucked the braid inside the exo-suit, just in case the helmet activated.
The exo-suit felt tingly all over her skin, a pleasant feeling once you got used to the fact that several trillion micro-machines called nanites were spread over every inch of her body. But the exo-suit was a necessity in space - it functioned as a life support system in emergency situations, and would protect the wearer in case the HUB’s hull was breached. Duncan’s exo-suit had formed into a gray-scale suit of armor that covered him from neck to toes. the suit had the flexibility of silk, but was harder than diamonds. A hood hung from the back, which could be pulled over if a real emergency happened, like a loss of breathable air.
Duncan hurried to the viewport. Olivia thought he looked impressive in the suit, which filled out his tall frame so that he looked very muscular. He resembled a knight from the middle ages, like the videos portrayed in Olivia’s history lessons. Duncan was a skinny fourteen, but almost six feet tall, and had matching blue eyes like his sister.
“Look, there it is!” Across the titanium-hulled arm of the HUB’s western arm, there was clearly a shiny metal object approaching. The object reflected the Sun’s rays, its shape perfectly outlined and almost blindingly bright against the jet-black background of outer space. The endless emptiness made the object look small. But so did the Western arm of the HUB against the blackness of outer space. Olivia and Duncan had learned that distance was hard to measure in space, without the usual reference points like they had on Earth. Even so, the twins could tell that the object was on a collision course with their part of the space station.
As the object moved closer, they could see that it wasn’t an asteroid, which is usually what triggered the alarm. It looked man-made, a pear shaped object that had several metal arm-like appendages sticking out randomly from its body.
“Do you think they’ll zap it with the laser guns?” Duncan asked eagerly. Duncan always liked it when they used the lasers to destroy space debris that wandered into the HUB’s path.
Olivia shook her head. The Human Urban Base, or HUB, had an automated meteor deflector system. But Olivia knew that the scientists aboard would want to reclaim the artifact intact. “If it’s man-made, then they’ll capture it with a tractor beam and try to salvage the metal, at the very least. It looks like an old satellite, like the ones that circled Earth before the Great Collision.”
As they watched, an almost invisible golden beam hit the satellite, which visibly shuddered. In moments, the beam had stopped the satellite dead in space, so it could no longer hit the HUB. In less than a minute, they saw one of the small, spidery two-man shuttles come around the western arm, attaching itself to the golden beam. Then the shuttle began towing the salvaged satellite to the nearest hangar.
The sliding door suddenly opened behind them. Miranda Grey entered their cabin. “Happy birthday, Duncan and Olivia!” she said happily.
“Mom!” they both turned and shouted at once, and ran to give her a hug.
“How are my favorite children doing on their fourteenth birthday?” Miranda asked. Miranda turned her tall, curvy frame to the viewport, her shoulder length mane of strawberry blonde hair waving slowly behind her in the low gravity. Her attractive features, porcelain skin and big smile made her look beautiful. “Enjoying the salvage operation, I hope?” she asked, pointing to the viewport.
The shuttle had just reached the western arm, where the space station’s hanger waited. As they watched the shuttle, Duncan noticed the Earth appearing over the HUB. By this time, the space station had rotated enough to see Earth from their view port. The top third of the planet was mostly white, while the bottom seemed mostly a brownish tan. Very little green was showing, like in the old images from their history class vids.
Duncan smiled brightly as he said, “Mom, this is like a birthday present for us, this satellite. I mean, it showed up outside our window on our birthday, right?” Duncan looked at his twin, Olivia, who rolled her eyes. What a childish comment, she thought.
Miranda smiled back kindly. “I suppose it is, Duncan. But in a way, it’s also a present for your Dad.”
That was an odd statement, thought Olivia. “Dad is an Astro-Geologist - why would he be interested in an old satellite?”
“Oh, your father has quite an interest in Old