The End is Nigh

[Xentherida]

Darkness. Darkness consumed the outer depths of space, only interrupted by the tiny pinpricks of light that were the stars, hundreds, thousands, millions of light years away.

An enormous asteroid, eight hundred kilometres in diameter, drifted through the loneliness of the asteroid belt, rotating every once in a while as it continued its far-flung orbit of the Sun. Until...

Boom.

A similarly sized rock struck the asteroid at over fifty-six thousand miles per hour, shattering both asteroids and spraying colossal fragments of rock in every direction. One particular fragment began hurtling towards the inner planets of the solar system, shooting past at mach 125, hurtling towards Eras.


Eight weeks later...



I can see clearly now, the rain has gone...

Freja sighed, glancing at the monitor once more as the radio played faintly in the background. Nothing happening in the system. Again.

I can see all obstacles in my way...

One might think working at the Xentheridan Space Agency would be exciting, intriguing, entertaining, at the least. But not for her. Sitting all day at her desk, monitoring the inner reaches of the solar system from the camera view of a far-out orbit of Sol was a bore. Like anything would happen there.

Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind...

She glanced around the room. Empty. Like anyone else would be here at this time of night. They had all gone for the night, like any sensible human being. But nooo, because of the "overwhelming importance" of her job, she was stuck on the night shift. At least it paid well.

It's gonna be a bright, bright bright, bright, sunshin-y day...

However, as she looked to her side, something caught her eye. An asteroid, tiny in the view of the camera, storming through space. She enhanced the image, zooming in to get a closer view. It was enormous, this rock; at least ten miles in diameter. It was soaring through space, supposedly hooked on the gravity of the sun, which would inevitably consume it.

But wait - what was that in the corner of the screen, far, far away? She strained her eyes, until it dawned on her. Eras. The asteroid was headed for Eras.

Panic enshrouded her, before she told herself, "You're being paranoid. It'll probably fly by us. What even are the odds of us hitting it?"

Still, she could not quell that doubt; the threat of the asteroid had to be made certain. She took out her phone, and dialled her boss's office.

The phone rang. And rang. And rang. And just as she felt she would give up and wait until morning, the phone crackled, and a man's tired voice could be heard, "Hello? Who's calling at this hour?"

She breathed a sigh of relief. "It's Freja, Freja Bruun? From the XSA? We've got a problem on our hands. I have identified a potentially unknown asteroid that seems to be headed straight for Eras."

Suddenly, the voice on the other line became more alert. "Headed for - what? We need to identify this thing. If it's headed for us, we need to be prepared. I'll get the other scientists out there.I'll notify the government as soon as I can."

Within an hour, the whole team of caffeine-fuelled astrophysicists had arrived. They worked for hours to identify it, the size, the distance away, where it had come from, and finally, the trajectory. All factors pointed to the dire conclusion. That this, this eleven-mile-wide asteroid, would be on a direct collision course with Eras. Where on Eras it would hit, was unknown at this point. Regardless, this would be an extinction-level event.

The Xentheridan government has not released this information to the general public just yet, but due to the alarming news, we are sharing all possible files to every other government, on the basis that they do not release this to the public - yet. We would like any and all replies to this, and we are willing for full co-operation with any nation for a chance to quell this threat.

Let us hope that we make it through, or else, truly, The End is Nigh.


OOC: The calculations done are assuming the inner asteroid belt is 337,100,400km away. Roughly. The journey is 13 weeks total (the five weeks after will not change, but before may change; the speed is mach 125. If our IC asteroid belt is closer or further, do correct me in the OOC thread.

Also, at first, your government replies. When the information is made public, feel free to RP your characters in cocaine-fuelled sex orgies, or whatever the hell they do. However, they have the five weeks to get into this specific bunker in Xentherida.)

 

[Cogoria]

The Cogorian government lacked nuclear weapons, but what it did not lack was a fear of them. Every city had a metro system constructed and reinforced to act as mass shelters in the event of nuclear Armageddon, some however were incomplete. The news received fro Xentherida sparked an accelerated rate in construction, the builders were not informed the real reasons behind the rush, merely some lies about them being behind schedule, while the supplies and equipment of those completed were reviewed. The benefit of being an authoritarian one party state was that when the government said jump, the population said "how high?", military exercises were called, large units conscripts were being drafted and sent to the north of the nation in huge numbers for supposed training and battle practise. Yet again it was a ploy to get them near shelters, the mineral rich North was home to a great many mining facilities which were being filled with supplies and hydroponic farming equipment. The government was pulling out all the stops to try preserve as much of the population as possible without raising the alarm, using all contingencies in place for possible nuclear attack they estimated that if the final three metros were completed in time, they could save 30% of the population, not a lot, but Cogoria would survive in some form, that is if the shelters withstood the impact.

 

[Nebula]

The Nebulan government was in a state of absolute panic. Nebula's space program had been ordered through the highest channels of government to immediately modify as many rockets as possible to deploy nuclear warheads into space in a desperate attempt to stop the asteroid.

Meanwhile, the concern with secrecy was a major issue in a nation that had a minor obsession with space. All of the major universities had observatories, and many ordinary citizens had telescopes that would be able to pick out the asteroid fragment within weeks. A secrecy agency was rapidly thrown together to cover up as much information as possible about the incoming meteoroid, and it was given wide-reaching powers. Agents launched calculated sabotage efforts against the major observatories, forcing many to be shut down for maintenance. Other public telescopes were simply closed for 'refurbishing'. After having several major meetings on the issue, it was decided that the only way to keep the general public from observing the sky at home was to try and keep the weather forecasts saturated with news of nasty storms. Nebulan officials, citing a recent dry spell, announced a plan to try cloud seeding to incur rainy weather.

It strikes me as a bit odd, student Nor Garthus typed. Most of the observatories on Orionus these days are closed. They all cite "maintenance" or "refurbishing", but you'd think they'd at least get together and schedule it- isn't that what the Nebulan Astronomers Committee is for?
He submitted his comment to the online astronomy forum and signed off for the night. When he sneaked a look the next day during school, he was amazed to see that the comment had blown up:

Holy shit, I didn't even notice this until you pointed it out. Now that you mention it the big university one in Lyir is down too. Seriously, when was the last time anyone in Nebula actually got into an observatory?

Well, not very many people outside the universities actually have them. There is the big public one out on Route 8, Kard Public Observatory that's got the multiple scopes going at all the cool stuff out there, but having just checked their website they're closed too. What the hell?

Its a conspiracy, the government doesnt want us to know about the alien spaceship they recently observed, or maybe its their spy satellites watching us.

Dude go back to second grade, like bro do you even grammar

The replies degraded from there both in grammatical structure and in their use of common logic, but the main theme seemed to be that this was either one hell of a coincidence or no accident.

 

[Xentherida]

Spoiler: Large image of asteroid, approx 130 million km away. Taken on Xentheridan Space Telescope.

Our scientists have been working around the clock to work out further details on the trajectory and velocity of the asteroid, and we have come to these dire conclusions

Eras has just thirty-five days until the asteroid strikes. With a diameter of 11 miles - or about 17.7km - it will strike earth with 1,24 quadrillion kilograms of rock, with a volume of 23.24 trillion cubic metres; this is assuming the asteroid is roughly 5.32g/cm3, as currently it appears that it is metallic, and mostly made of a combination of iron and nickel.

For velocity, current measurements seem to indicate that it is travelling at least 125 times the speed of sound, or 95,900 miles per hour (or 154,350 km/h for the metrically inclined). Per second, it passes over 26.6 miles, or 42.875 kilometres. And this will increase exponentially as it becomes attracted to the gravitational pull of Eras.

And when it strikes Eras, it will hit with a kinetic force of over 1.1 Yottajoules; this is equivalent to 267 teratons of TNT. (OOC: 17.8 BILLION times the force of the Hiroshima atom bomb, and 5.34 million times the power of the Tsar Bomba, the largest bomb ever detonated).

Current calculations indicate a landing zone on the coastline of the continent of Messina, roughly 130 kilometres east-by-north east of Pelhafor, and 190 kilometres north-west of Guslantis.

Spoiler: Impact Zone, marked in red

Any who are caught underneath it will be crushed, if not vaporised by the heat it gives off. As it lands, it will set off devastating earthquakes across the globe, killing a vast majority of people. These earthquakes will trigger enormous tsunamis, which have the potential to swallow countries - and continents - whole. Finally, an ash cloud will be kicked up as soon as the comet strikes, enveloping Eras, blocking out the sun. In turn, this makes all plant and animal life unsustainable, causing slow starvation for any people who are still living.

Any life left will be microbial.

Still, could be worse.

Thanks to workers at the XSA, we managed to discover this with 35 days to spare, instead of the possibility of this happening tomorrow. Every single second is valuable if we are to attempt to deter this threat. This is why we are calling on absolutely anyone. We need all of the brightest minds from around the globe if we are to come up with a plan to deter this; it shall be code-named Operation Saviour.

We need every second. As the asteroid grows closer, yet more power will be needed to destroy or deflect this. Keep calm, and keep haste.

Finally, we are intending to inform the globe about the asteroid in five days; they have a right to know, and they will discover what is happening eventually. There is no need to delay the inevitable. However, this will cause mass rioting and anarchy, which is why we are giving time for everyone to impose martial law and deploy their riot squads.

An asteroid control centre has been constructed in our capital, Blackwater City. Anyone willing to help contribute must fly here, and congregate with others to work out potential solutions.

Finally, we would like to say thank you, to the global community. Should Operation Saviour fail us, we want to wish you the best of the next five weeks.

(OOC: What? I'm not directly plagiarising? It's based off it,of course it's going to emulate - just... shh...

EDIT: Fixed all of the figures.)

 

[Nebula]

Nebula has begun work on repurposing a set of rockets into nuclear-equipped missile weapons that can be used to intercept the asteroid. We are willing to donate both the rockets and the calculations we have completed so far to the task of Operation Savior. A team of crack scientists has been sent to Blackwater City.

In the meantime, it is clear that the Nebulan landmass will be totally swamped by this disaster. We lack the resources to move our people into any sort of underground area barring perhaps a few hundred thousand in the subways and tunnels. We may be able to create enough infrastructure for approximately 50,000 to 100,000 people to live for a number of years underneath the location of Orionus, but certainly it is not likely that such a situation would be survivable even for those who make it in.

 

[Cogoria]

Cogoria possesses no weapons of large enough destructive force to impede the object. Cogoria also does not possess and scientific personnel that could be of assistance at this time.
Current estimates of current shelter available suggest we may be able to save 30% of our population. 9'900,000 people. Though if construction projects taking place in the north are completed on time we may be able to save 35%. This data is gathered assuming our shelters will weather the impact and after effects. Data regarding the People's High Seas Fleet is not included due to the uncertainty of whether surface vessels or submarines will survive the calamity. We wish you all luck in the coming weeks.

 

[Piscivore]

Since learning of this inbound object and independently reviewing the Xentheridan Space Agency's data, vetting it with our own, and verifying their conclusions, Sadakoyama is taking the unprecedented step of putting our modest nuclear arsenal at the disposal of those planning to intercept this object, contact information to follow.

In the event of the plan's failure, Sadakoyama also wishes to make it known that we have for decades been planning measures to preserve our cultural and intellectual legacy against catastrophes of this type. To that end, we have constructed a chain of bunkers in the Ano Gnathos mountains to protect this legacy for whoever or whatever follows us. These shelters are not equipped to preserve human or any other biological life, but our artworks, literature, and especially scientific knowledge. Given the limited window, we are offering to open our doors, so to speak, for similar materials the other nations of the North Pacific wish to donate, guidelines available upon request.

 

[Xentherida]

T-MINUS 34 DAYS.

Around the blaring white office room, no voice was coherent over the loud shouts as people argued with each other, examining papers and fretting. Questions fired at anyone in the room; anxious voices asking about what is to be done.

"Alright, enough!" Svea called, from across the room. Instant silence.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you may be wondering why you're here exactly." she continued.

Freja looked around the room. Indeed, she was wondering why she was with the highest-ranking government officials in her nation. The Prime Minister, Svea Kjellbergen, sat at the head of the table, cool, calm and collected, despite, all the worried faces around her. How she could keep her head in something like this was one of her many talents. Freja could never do something like that; she was surprised at herself, keeping what little of a level head she had, even now.

"Okay. We are all tired. But we need to be better than this."

"Uh, ma'am, we're getting info from Nebula, Cogoria and Sadakoyama." said one of the aides.

"Very well, continue."

The adviser chewed his lip apprehensively. Despite bringing good news, it was clear to see he was panicking.

"After all," Freya thought, "Who wouldn't be when it's weeks from the possible end of the world?"

"Uhm, Nebula's volunteered scientists." said the aide, rather nervously. "As far as we know, they're on a plane right now to Blackwater City, and they should arrive in a few hours. They, along with Sadakoyama, are also donating their nuclear arsenal, and possibly rockets, but it could take days, maybe weeks, to arrive. And when we announce the asteroid, who knows if the workers won't give up?"

"We'll have to adapt to the worst-case scenario; we have to provide our own materials. Our largest nuke we have is about four megatons; we've scaled our arsenal back since the end of the Cold War. There's a possibility older nukes could be retrieved, if they haven't been disarmed."

Another aide spoke up, far more confidently, this time. "What we do have, however, are rocket designs. It's been a goal for us to explore the stars, but we will still have to start almost from scratch. The heaviest things we've got them to carry are satellites and the occasional human."

Freya knew that voice. Aron Lagerfeld, top assistant to Svea herself.

"But on the bright side, Sadakoyama has bunkers of which we are allowed to store cultural, scientific and technological goods. We can leave our legacy; a flag of the nation, the files of our most secretive and advanced projects, and a multitude of other things."

"Cogoria is unable to offer anything to help us, but they plan to shelter about ten million -"

"Hold up. Ten million? How the fuck do they plan to get the infrastructure for ten million to last up to a century at most, in five weeks?" blurted Freja.

All eyes turned to her, and she seemed to sink into her seat. She should've just shut up and kept those thoughts to herself.

Svea turned her gaze onto her. "From what we've heard, these bunkers have been around for ages in the case of nuclear armageddon. Not surprising, really, seeing as what they've done in recent history, notably in the Pelhafor Crisis."

"Anyway, carry on, Aron."

"Thank you, ma'am. As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted..."

Pompous git. Aron was as narcissistic and arrogant as they came. Freya personally despised him, although thankfully her job involved minimal interaction with him. Just as well, either one of them would end up dead on the floor.

"In the mean time, the riot squads are being organised as we speak. They should be deployed in a matter of three days, which should be in time for the announcement. They are being trained to expect any and all forms on anarchy, and we believe other nations are doing the same.

"And... that's about it, really. Back to you, Svea."

"Well, yes, we'd best get to work. Remember this stuff is top-secret; not a word is to be leaked out. Meeting adjourned."

Within an hour, several replies had been sent out to Sadakoyama, Cogoria and Nebula. To Sadakoyama, the message thanked the donations of nuclear weaponry, and proposed the safekeeping of Xentheridan cultural, technological and scientific materials. To Nebula, a grateful letter for the donation of scientists and materials, and Cogoria, information that ships would not be able to withstand the asteroid strike.

 

[Xentherida]

redacted.

 

[Nebula]

"We need to assemble a massive riot response team. Call in every unit of the Home Guard and call back our troops overseas as soon as possible."
"Have we told any of them?"
"They'll find out a few hours before we make the official announcement."
"What do you think we should send to the Sadakhan bunkers?"
"Flags, maps, literature, documents, schematics, whatever. Focus the culture department on that."

---

Nor Garthus looked out the window of the plane as it began its descent into Blackwater City. He had been tracked down after his post connecting the dots attracted massive attention. The Nebulan government had offered him a chance to be a part of what might end up being the last scientific project of the modern era, in exchange for the following statement online:

I talked to the management at the Orionus University Observatory and they said they were working on recalibrating it. The staff at KPO said that they were able to reopen the other telescopes after some software issues, but one of them is still down due to lens damage. The Lyir University scope apparently was vandalized. It all just looks like an unlucky coincidence.

This had quelled most of the online furor, although naturally there were still a few skeptics. It wasn't his issue. A few loons weren't going to convince the national public in time.
Still, it would have been nice to actually be able to say goodbye. He had been studying in the library last evening when two agents had come in looking for him:
"Are you Mr. Nor Garthus?"
"Yes," he had said, confused.
"You're going to have to come with us."
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"First back to your room. You'll need to pack a bag."
"Why?"
"I'm afraid I can't explain here."
"Am I under arrest? Am I in trouble?"
"No, sir. Quite the opposite. You're needed for something."
Most of this conversation was carried out quietly, and Nor could see the other students glancing at him curiously. He stood up and gathered his books. "All right."
From his room they had gone straight to an abandoned office building in Orionus. It had been abandoned last time Nor had seen it, anyway. Now it was headquarters for some government agency no one had ever heard of.
"Agency for Regulation of Galactan Imports?" said Nor, reading the sign above the door.
"No," said one of the agents as the door opened and they stepped into the lobby. "It's a cover."
"For what?"
"You'll see."
They turned right and entered an elevator. One of the agents pushed the 5 button and the doors closed. The elevator rose.
Ten minutes later, Nor was in a conference room. The lights were out and the shades were closed, blocking the light from the streetlights that were coming on. A video had been made from the Xentheridan report and this now played on the screen. Nor and the other nine students in the room were awestruck.
"Holy shit," said Dane Jerra.
"No kidding," said Arel Stuesol.
"Does anyone else feel like they know why they're here?" asked Dane. "Am I the only one who did something to end up here?"
"No," said Nor quietly.
"No," said Arel.
"No," said a few of the others.
"Okay," said Dane. "I'm a seismology grad student at Lyir University. Yesterday my professor asked me to switch over from my normal earthquake observation studies to running the simulators on earthquakes caused by meteorite impacts. I asked him if there was any particular reasoning behind this. He's bad at lying. He said it was just a matter of interest among the scientific community. That night the agents came and brought me here on a train. I've been sitting in my room bored out of my mind because they've shut down the internet here. I don't know what's going on. Or, well, I didn't."
"It's clearer in retrospect," mused Arel. "I was working on my engineering project, a group thing, where we had to design something that could last at least a hundred years. So I got my group together and we designed the basics of a bunker that could withstand severe natural disasters- earthquakes, floods, you name it. I did most of the work on the structure of it- the really important part that could handle the forces and all that. The design passed simulation tests for even severe earthquakes. Then the day after we turned it in, my professor told me to come to his office that afternoon. The agents were there. They asked me some questions about the design, asked if I could help build a larger version. I assumed it was some sort of nuclear thing and I was puzzled, because Pelhafor was winding down, y'know? And they must have liked the answers, so they told me to pack up a bag, and brought me here." She shook her head. "It's crazy. Why do they want us for this?"
"Young minds and all," Dane suggested. When the others gave him odd looks, he added, "We've got a lot to live for here."
"Nor, how did you end up here?" asked Ergus Temma.
"Well, I'm an astronomy student," began Nor. "So I use the university's observatory a lot- when it's open. It's been closed for the past week or so. I went and met up with some old high school friends who went to different schools, and they both said that the observatories had been closed where they were too. Huh, I thought, this is weird. So I looked up some of the other observatories and big telescopes in Nebula. And guess what?"
"They were closed too," said Arel.
"Bingo. I commented on this fact online, and the post blew up. Two days later- hey, whaddya know, I'm in the library studying and two agents come up to me and bring me here. Walked in the door not fifteen minutes ago."
"Interesting," said Ergus Temma. "They brought you here not because of what you knew, but what you might say. Odds are they'll get you to redact that post."
"We'll see," said Nor. "I wouldn't be surprised. Your turn."
Ergus shrugged. "I don't know. I'm only in high school. I did a science project a few weeks ago on use of nuclear weapons in space..."
The silence was palpable.
"So that's what they're after," said Dane.
The next day, Nor's plane taxied in. He and Ergus, along with a group of professional Nebulan scientists, were aboard. Dane and Arel had remained in Nebula to help design a series of bunkers and warrens for Nebulans to take shelter in, along with some of the other students.

The clock was ticking.

 

[Cogoria]

In Oktobergrad the police were out in force, backed up by units from the army. Revolutionary Guards that had been informed of the impending doom were deployed to the Metro system, blocking off any access. When the time came closer then people would be allowed in, but for now false rumours of a terrorist plot were spread to help explain away the shutting down of the public transportation across the Nation. Teams of nuclear technicians were already down there, seeing to the secret power plants that would provide power to the subterranean dwellings, getting them ready to be activated after the cataclysm. The power for the shelters during the initial impact was to be provided by diesel generators, so that the delicate reactors wouldn't be at risk of being damaged while running and causing a melt down.

The Chairman, a man who was never seen in public, who the public of Cogoria and the world knew only by name sat in his office, it was a small plain space, not unlike the office of a poor lawyer. He was reviewing the lists concerning the progress of the shelters, three metros were still not fully ready and one looked like it would never be ready in time. The battalions of army engineers were sending reports about the suitability of the mines as shelter, while they may have done the job admirably in a nuclear war, it seemed that an asteroid impact would be more than they could handle. Even so, Chairman Zhukov ordered them to continue with the preparations, had he been a religious man he would have said he hoped for a miracle, but he was not, he was merely a practically minded one who saw that the more people that thought they were safe meant less people on the city streets fighting to enter the now seemingly inadequate number of shelters spread around the nation. It had always been a given that in a nuclear war people would die, but the Cogorian system was based of the idea that nuclear weapons would only be fired at cities or military installations, leaving those spread around the countryside relatively unharmed. But this asteroid would not be so kind, every inch of his great nation would be scoured clean of life. Zhukov himself would be travelling to the governmental bunker in a few days time, a vast complex buried beneath a mountain from which he would continue to rule the nation even in it's destroyed state.

 

[Xentherida]

As the plane screeched to a stop on the tarmac at Blackwater City Airport, a sleek, black limousine with Xentheridan flags on the bonnet pulled up and parked beside the craft. Inside, Freja sat at the driver's seat, waiting nervously for the Nebulan scientists and students. These people would be a part of the plan that could save Eras - or doom it.

Within minutes, stairs were wheeled up to the plane, and, after the door opened, the team disembarked and descended the many metal steps leading down to the grey asphalt of the runway. Freja exited the car and opened the doors in silence, and the Nebulans entered and sat down, and, after getting back into her seat, drove away from the airport, towards the XSA Headquarters.

Despite being a mere 10-minute drive, the tension in the air made it feel double the time. As the Nebulan team discussed quietly among themselves, Freja kept quiet, keeping her eyes on the road, only occasionally glancing in the mirror to keep an eye on them.

Soon enough, however, they arrived at the gleaming white building, with a large copper globe atop the building, the letters XSA in front, a rocket's trail marking the cross of the A; the logo of the Xentheridan Space Agency.

The car squealed to a stop, and the occupants exited the vehicle, and made their way to the heart of the building, where the rest of the scientists waited within, so that they could join in the vain attempt to join Project Saviour, and save the human race.

 

[Sorik]

A young servant for the royal family, no more than her mid 20's, sat boringly outside the Grand Duke's personal office. Two armed guards stood outside the door not to far behind her, but that wasn't unusual. They were a part of the royal families personal guard, and there were more outside. The Grand Duke was in his office with the Lord Protector, discussing only God knew what. She was to sit outside at the desk and make sure that no one disturbed them. Why that was needed when there were guards, she didn't know, but it wasn't her place to ask. All she knew was that she was to answer the phone if it rang. She sat there, absentmindedly twirling her long blond hair between her pale fingers, fighting to keep her steely gray eyes open. She was tall for a woman, about 5'9", which was almost as tall as the Grand Duke himself.

Based on her features there was no denying that she was of Atrav decent. A relic of an ancient fallen empire, and a minority within Sorik. A minority not well liked by the common citizenry. She couldn't fall asleep despite how boring this was because of this very fact. The Grand Duke seemed more open minded than some of the commoners, but who knew what would happen if she squandered this opportunity. The phone began to ring, and little did she know the phone call was about to change the rest of her life, if there was to be one.

The young woman picked up the phone, trying to sound as pleasant as possible. On the other line was none other than the Lord Chancellor himself. He was saying that he had important information of the Grand Duke.

"Your Excellency, I am sorry but I cannot let you through. His Royal Highness has left me with distinct instructions that he not be disturbed because of his meeting with the Lord Protector." The lady said in a slight Atravi accent.

"Damn woman, I don't care that he is in a meeting! This is an emergency! I tried his personal office number, but it seems to be off!" The Lord Chancellor protested.

She didn't know what really to do. This man wasn't going to give up, and he was a member of the Grand Duke's personal cabinet. After a few seconds, she responded, "Your Excellency, give me a moment and I'll go in and see."

"Fine, but hurry up." He said in response.

At this she got up and explained the situation to the guards at the door. They were well aware of the Grand Duke's orders, but were willing to let her pass. I really hope that I am lose my job or worse over this. She thought to herself as she walked through the door.

As she walked in both the Lord Protector and the Grand Duke looked up at her, but said nothing. She kept her eyes toward the ground, in hopes that if she didn't make eye contact, that it would make things better.

"Your Royal Highness, I am so sorry to bother you after you explicitly told me not to, under any circumstances, but I have the Lord Chancellor on the line and he says that it is an emergency."

The Grand Duke sat there from a minute. The older man, easily in his early to mid 50's, looked over the young woman. Finally he spoke up, "Miss Yalow, I said no interruptions. Tell the Lord Chancellor I will have to phone him back after I am done."

"At once Your Royal Highness." Was her only response as she ran out the door.

Once back outside, and at her desk, she got back on the phone and explained the situation to the Lord Chancellor. He was not to happy.

"Look, I am going to have my assistant send you some information that I have gotten from another government. Ensure that he sees it. You will see that it is an emergency. I'd send it directly to him, but obviously whatever is going on in there means he wouldn't see it straight away and he needs too. If this gets out to anyway, I will make sure that you pay!" The man on the other end said, then loudly hung up.

As the files came across her computer, she couldn't believe what she saw. It couldn't be real. It had to be a joke, but no, it was all there ,and confirmed by their own space agency. There was an asteroid hurtling toward the plant the size of which would kill at least half the planet. She sat there for several moments still not knowing if she should believe it or not before she finally printed off the information and made her way slowly back toward the office. As she stepped through the doors again, the Grand Duke was visibly upset. That is until he saw how she looked, standing there, paler than a ghost, her gray eyes wide, her body trembling. She couldn't say a word. She just handed him the papers and slowly walked back out the room to her desk, still trembling about the information.

((I hope this isn't to late. If it is, I can delete it.))

 

[Piscivore]

Carley Reichenbach sat alone in her cabin on board the USDKY hydrofoil destroyer Deinonychus. Her three cabin-mates were attending their duties or seeking distraction elsewhere. Tears splattered her tablet screen as she made her evening status report on the condition of the four nuclear warheads she was responsible for escorting to Xentherida. Just the fact that copies of her report were being cc'd to the foreigner's space agency--vital data on Sadakhan weapons being shared with outsiders--underscored for her the new and bleak reality for the future of her people. Sadakoyama had always looked to the future; now if the outsider's plan failed, if she failed... they didn't have one. She idly rolled a couple of benzodiazepines in her palm before dropping them back in the bottle and leaving the empty cabin.

Wondering if her counterpart on the Rahonavis was feeling as badly as she was, Carley went looking for the cute engineer's mate she saw while boarding; hoping that some warm, human contact would be better than indulging her despair.

* * *

High above the planet, the aging space station Omega 76 continued a slow, silent pirouette that had begun yesterday morning. It was probably better for the men controlling her remotely that they could not hear the creaks and groans of their aging ballerina. The maneuver would be fatal to the station, but it was necessary to bring its vast array of unmatched sensory equipment to bear on the comet threatening the planet below.

* * *

Paul Benscoter sat nervously as his wife, Irena, and their mutual husband Stephan were fitted into their spacesuits. He swallowed a dose of limosasine to steady his nerves; not only had they volunteered to ride a decades-old rocket pulled out of storage at the last minute-to their certain deaths aboard a rapidly dying station with no way to return home- and then complete the near-impossible puzzle of re-tasking an extremely complex sensor array meant for planetary studies into a near-space sensing and object tracking telescope, they also had to configure and monitor a connection to the Xentheridian computers; machines that were slower and based on a completely different architecture--hell, a completely different design paradigm.

At least, he thought, we'll be together. He smiled at the thought and saw Stephan catch his eye and shyly smile back.

* * *

As the dawn broke on Sadakoyama, its people were already abuzz with activity. Experiments were completed and conclusions written up, artists were completing their final works, and museums, art galleries, and libraries were being cataloged, packed, and shipped to the mountains.

 

[Nebula]

Nor stepped out of the limo, rolling up his earbuds. The other scientists had spent the ride quietly talking, but Nor had quickly gotten bored. Besides, everything was better with music. He reached back in and poked Ergus, who took off his headphones. "Are we here?"
"Yes."
Nor looked around. So this was Xentherida. Obviously he had been in it since the plane hit the tarmac, but airports didn't really count- they all looked pretty much the same. Of all the countries of Eras it was closer to his heart than most.
His mother had grown up in the Nebulan enclave of Port Florrantia. After having his brother- whom he'd never known- she had gone back to Nebula, gotten married, had Nor, and raised him. After he had left for college, she had moved back to the neighborhood she had grown up in.
He knew little about his brother. His mother had made the decision that, ever since putting him into the Nebulan adoption system, it was best that they avoid contact. His mother had long since given up on staying in touch with the adoptive family.
Nor sighed, squared his shoulders, and followed the rest of the Nebulan scientists into the building.

"The Home Guard has been mobilized."
"Have the soldiers been told the reasoning for their mobilization?"
"Not yet. They will receive this information 12 hours in advance of the announcement in order to give them minimum opportunity to desert. In the meantime we have told them that we suspect a large riot is being planned and we need them to be ready to respond."
"Good. Good. The knowledge is vital. How go the shipments?"
"The first convoy is nearing Sadakhan waters as we speak. The warheads it carries will hopefully be sufficient, but the second convoy is leaving port tomorrow. Hopefully the Xentheridan scientists can find a method of using as few as possible to succeed in the operation."
"And the bunkers?"
"Our teams are beginning construction now underneath the subways. We have informed the public that this is maintenance work on the pipes and power lines underneath for the moment."
"How much space can we have ready in time?"
"Enough for perhaps a few thousand if we seal off the subways and tunnel into basements, storm sewers, and existing shelters as well."
"In Orionus, or-"
"Just in Orionus."
"Good. We may be able to retain the fragments of our nation and culture down there should things go green up above."

 

[Xentherida]

As the hours passed, the sun descended over the horizon, and the day grew darker, and colder, until day became night. Freja worked until the late hours, until finally, sometime around eleven, she called it in for a night. She was exhausted after the hours of work that she had done, but she still had to show the scientists their accommodations. There were too many of them to fit in the back of a taxi, so instead she opted to walk; it was only twenty-five minutes away.

Once everyone was present, they set off. As they walked, many of them glanced upwards in awe; not so much at the buildings, but at the fact they were exploring Blackwater City, seeing the architecture of the city. And despite walked this route many times, even Freja could not help but gaze up at astonishment at the skyscrapers that reached for the heavens far above.

Freja smiled to herself. It could be her last weeks on Eras, so why the heck not? She turned to the group, a glint in her eye, and said in a terrible imitation of a tour guide, "And if you look to your left, you'll see the Central Blackwater Train Station, the largest of its kind in all of Xentherida," before turning away in a fit of giggles.

They walked through the city, their faces illuminated by the lights from the skyscrapers around them. They saw the Blackwater Eye, Parliament buildings and the Royal Palace, all within ten minutes walk of each other. Finally, as the clock neared midnight, they strolled over to the Infinity Tower, the tallest building in Xentherida, standing at a colossal 1844 feet tall, after the year of the Xentheridan Revolution.

However, as they got close, they could see a crowd had gathered, many looking upwards and pointing as they whispered among each other. Freja followed their gaze, and saw a small figure at the top. Suicide jumper.

She strained her eyes, before she borrowed a pair of binoculars from someone next to her. Re-focusing the lenses, she tried to make out who was at the top. Wait... she recognised that figure...

Her boss, Hans Ceder.

She dropped the binoculars - much to the disapproval of their owner - and abandoned the Nebulans in the midst of the crowd. She rushed into the building and into the lift, jabbing furiously at the button for the 133rd floor. The doors closed and the lifts ascended ten metres every second, but Freja wished they would move faster. She had to get to the top before anything could happen.

However, around floor 120, the lift juddered for a second, and as the the lights went out inside the lift, it juddered to a halt.

Shit! She would have to do this herself.

She forced her fingers into the gap between the doors, and using every single ounce of strength she could muster, she slo-o-o-wly pried open the doors, and jumped out onto the floor. Barely taking a moment to catch her breath, she raced towards the stairs, and climbed up, and up, and up, taking two at a time as she ran ever-upwards.

As she finally reached the top, she spotted Hans atop the railing. She ran to him, shouting at him to stop. His tear-streaked face turned towards her as she ran to the railing.

"You have to stop this, Hans. Don't jump!" she shouted to him, barely saying the words in her breathlessness.

"I can't go on like this. Not with the lying to ourselves, and the lies we tell ourselves. Saviour won't work, and the public deserve to know that these will be our last days here." he replied, his words choked with tears. He picked up a box, filled to the brim with posters - posters about the asteroid's imminent collision with Eras.

"Hans, don't do it! Saviour will work, I promise!" she said, the desperation creeping into her voice.

"It won't. We all know that." he replied, his voice now serene. Clutching the railing with one hand, he threw the posters out of the box and onto the streets below.

"We will save Eras. And..."

"And... I love you."

Up on the roof of Infinity, the night was tranquil. The lights glimmered below them, illuminating the vast expanse of Blackwater City. The posters still flew through the air, descending slowly down to the ground far, far below. The bell tower atop the palace chimed through the night. Midnight.

He shook his head. "And I do, too. But I can't live with myself anymore, not with this."

On the final stroke of the bell, he let go of the railing, and stepped forwards into the embrace of the night air. He fell down, down, down, tumbling through the darkness, hitting the cold, hard pavement below with a horrific crunch.

Freja collapsed on the rooftop with a faint sob, the cool night air enveloping her.

The shocked crowd below her only back looked up to see the armada of posters descending through the air.

One man took one from above him, and read it, his facial expressions changing from shock to horror as his eyes progressed down the page. Wordlessly, he passed the poster to his wife. More posters fell, and the silence of the night was suddenly interrupted by a crash. One of the crowd had walked over and smashed a window, taking the electronics within.

The message spread throughout the globe, inciting pandemonium across the streets of Eras.

And that was when the end of the world began.

 

[Nebula]

"Sir!"
"What?"
"I just got off the phone with Dr. Pohroni in Xentherida. She's in a bit of a state. Someone in the XSA leaked the data in a very public way-"
"Public how?"
"Public like jumping off a skyscraper and throwing flyers everywhere."
Silence.
"Riots are taking over Blackwater city as we speak. What should we do?"
"Do your best to cut all communication lines within Nebula for the moment. Shut down the satellites. Turn off the servers. Make it look like ordinary downtime and maintenance."
"We can't keep this from them forever."
"Once you are reasonably sure we have blocked the signals, inform the riot police and the Home Guard of the situation. We will make the announcement tomorrow morning at 8 AM. This is sooner than we'd hoped for. I want all emergency bunkers, government centers, and storage of vital goods to be as secure as possible and I want this information to make as little headway as possible until we're ready for it to be released."

Natalya Erginor awoke to hear her smartphone buzzing. She looked at the screen- it was her friend Taria, vacationing in Xentherida. She answered. "Hello?"
"Natalya, it's bad," Taria said, sounding absolutely panicked.
"What's going on there?" asked Natalya. She could hear strange sounds in the background.
"There's a riot on," Taria answered desperately. "Someone jumped off the Infinity Tower and threw a bunch of flyers with him. Apparently there's a met-" Her voice cut out.
"A what?" Natalya asked.
No answer.
She looked at the screen. Service had gone down right in the middle of the call and the phone had disconnected. Something told her it wasn't an accident.
Try as she might, she couldn't get back to sleep.

At 8 the next morning, the great Nebulan commute had begun. Due to highway closures around the country, the majority of people were on public transportation.
Suddenly, the radios and TVs were blocked out.
"We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming in order to bring you an announcement from the Nebulan government," said a smooth synthesized voice.
This was somewhat alarming to many people. Government announcements were only called out on very serious occasions.
"A meteorite is slated to strike the planet in approximately one month," said the voice. "It is large enough to wipe out most life on the planet. Our government has begun preparations for this event by constructing safety bunkers and sending a team of scientists to Xentherida to work on a plan to destroy the meteor. In the event that that plan fails we will organize the moving of as many people into the bunkers as can fit. We urge you to remain calm and not panic."
The message ended, and millions of people promptly ceased to remain calm and started panicking.

 

[Cogoria]

The moment the news broke leaked in from Xentherida, the Cogorian government was rushed to their bunker in the mountains. In the streets of the nation's cities running battles errupted as Revolutionary Guards defended the metro systems from the panicking mobs. In Oktobergrad, the Guards were faced with units of mutinying conscripts, tanks fought in the city's Victory park as the rebelious soldiers tried to force their way into the Exhibition Station.

"Gunner target left, IFV 200m. Load heat round." Commander Levietsky stared out his periscope as the mob attacked again, emboldened by the presence of troops and tanks from a consript battalion."LOADED!""Fire" The tank rocked as the canon fired, flinging itself back into the cramped turret and ejecting a brass shell. The IFV errupted in a ball of flame, cutting down a score of civillians crowded around it. "Gunner target foot hostiles. Load canister" Again the gun fires, sending a cloud of tungsted balls scything through the mob. Machine gun fire echod across the park as Guardsmen exchanged shots with the conscripts and cut down the mob who tried to rush their position with a mix of home made weapons. The Guards wre taking losses too, the mob over running several MG nests only to be thrown back by the tanks.
The battle lasted another hour before the mob broke, turning to run as the last conscript vheicle exploded. The panic across the country had lasted the day, but order was finally restored, at the cost of a few thousand dead. While order was restored in Cogoria however, there was the minor annoyance of a foreign news team in the country, broadcasting the horrific images of the battle for Victory Park, the running battle between the Revolutionary guards and the conscript backed mob being recorded and broadcast in painfully detailed HD. The bloody piles of dead growing as infantry and tanks fired at panicking hostile mass of people.
Those who were to be saved by the shelters would only find out five days before the impact, until then troops whose loyalty could be depended on bolstered the defences errected around the various stations and bunkers. In the north of the country the troops dug faster and deeper into the ground, the news of why they were reinforcing the mines and filling them with supplies giving them new motivation for the back breaking labour.

 

[Wolfsea]

The Khanate had remained silent but within the streets of her territories the Wolvesh stood. Every Mn, Woman ad child solemnly waiting but there was no crying, no lamenting, this was the time they had waited for for millennia, Marwolaeth would claim them, return them to Ravenbrook, it was strangely peaceful as the space station and heliocannon satellites streaked into the atmosphere, timed perfectly to fly over the palace before crashing into the sea. The Wolvesh would leave their technology behind, benaeth Ozar Midrashim their records would be preserved deep below the earth, they stood and waited, waited for the end and their freedom.

 

[Nebula]

The announcement had kindled a flame in the hearts of Nebulan and Galactan radicals. In Galacta's capital a dozen religious extremists with machine guns opened fire on a riot squad, and soon a serious gunfight had broken out between Home Guard troops and the extremists, who had holed up in a subway station and attempted to take hostages. Eventually the soldiers managed to overpower the extremists, but twenty civilians, six riot cops, and two Home Guard troops were killed.

In a rural Galactan town, a radical Galactan nationalist militia went on a vengeful killing spree, murdering Nebulan civilians in the streets. The local police force was unable to stop the violence and only when a military helicopter deployed canisters of tear gas and two squads of SpecForces was the killing stopped. The perpetrators were beaten brutally and hauled back to Nebula to stand trial for genocide and crimes against humanity. Five of the men died on the way from their injuries. In the village, over thirty Nebulans were killed.

In Orionus, thousands gathered in the center of the city. Why they had had not occurred to them. A line of riot police stood, implacable, in front of the subway station. Within minutes a brick was thrown, and at that point the crowd degenerated into a violent, insane mob with no real plan. The police began advancing slowly, pushing the protesters back by sheer force, until a Molotov cocktail arched over the line of shields and smashed against the helmet of a policeman, who collapsed, breaking the wall. The mob, sensing weakness, pushed forward. Within thirty seconds a Home Guard force erupted from the subway along with another riot squad.
No one knows what fool fired the warning shots. Certainly the crowd was not to know that the Home Guard was armed only with rubber bullets.
It was generally a poor move, especially when one considered the possibility of armed anarchists among the crowd.
Within seconds, most of the crowd had degenerated into a panic, with the exception of several groups of people dressed all in black, with dark masks and sunglasses, who quickly formed together into phalanxes and forced their way through the mob. One group raced for a pedestrian bridge, another headed toward a ditch, and a third moved into a street and began methodically destroying vehicles and windows.
The panicked mob tried to escape the park, but Home Guard snipers were getting into position in high vantage points and those who attempted to head out any of the side streets were strongly discouraged by rubber bullets chipping the pavement around them. Sirens rang loudly as reinforcements zoomed in to corral the herds, mingling with the screams of the panicked and injured. Many rioters hurled more bricks and Molotovs, and more cops and troops fell.
At this point, the Home Guard made the unfortunate discovery that the anarchists had not provided them the small courtesy of using rubber bullets of their own, when the first sergeant fell with a bullet through his chest, a gift delivered by an anarchist sniper on the walkbridge.
The anarchists moved quickly, sliding from cover to cover and firing a burst of rapid shots in the direction of the police and troops, many of whom fled into the subways in panic. The group in the ditch had rapidly crept forward, and now a hail of Molotovs, bricks, bottles, and makeshift explosives were hurled at the nearest cops. Bodies flew and cops went down under the hail.
Most of the other groups had moved quickly to secure the exit, forcing their way to the front and providing suppressing fire on any reinforcements moving in. The panicked mob raced out into the streets; police snipers shot to wound, revealing themselves to anarchist gunners who quickly removed the threat.
Within half an hour, Orionus was slick with the blood of hundreds.

 

[Sorik]

The Grand Duke had a lot to go over. He didn't know if this was supposed to be a joke or not. Apparently the government that had sent over this information had sent it to a lot of different countries, not just Sorik. It was this that he had planned on discussing with the council who were now gathered in the conference room, sitting before him. Present was everyone from the council of lords, in addition to his daughter, The Princess of Sonum, and heir to the Sorikan throne. Kaleva took copies of the papers that he had told his servant to make, and passed them around the table.

"As you can see, lords and ladies, if this is to be believed, we are in dire trouble. Our own space program has confirmed something coming toward us, but they themselves don't know what it is." Grand Duke Kaleva spoke as he passed the papers around. "I have no real reason to doubt what this government has said, especially given the fact that our own agency has confirmed something is coming toward us."

As she looked over the notes, Princess Analise still couldn't believe what was written. An asteroid heading toward the planet. It was unbelievable. What was more peculiar was that her father would even let her be in this meeting. Yes she was the heir to the throne, but things of this nature were usually kept out of her hands. As she was mulling over all of this, she heard the Lord Emissary Andrea Stolz, speak up.

"His Royal Majesty is correct. Not only do have we confirmed with out own people, but my office also has no reason to doubt the foreign governments intent. Whether or not is it true is not the question we should be asking, the question is what can we do about it?" The Lord Emissary said.

"Is there anything we can do? Not likely. This is likely to be the end of the world, and as such, to keep things civil, we need to not tell the people." Piped up the Lord Chancellor, whom had never really been the most positive of people to begin with.

"You want to do nothing and just let all these people die? The very ones that elected you, that you are supposed to be speaking for? Some Lord Chancellor we have here. I am sure they would call for your resignation if they found out about that." Retorted Lord Emissary Andrea. "At any rate, I believe that I may have another solution. It might not be perfect, but its better than nothing. Xentherida, the government that has sent the message, has stated that they do have rooms in shelters for those of other countries. I doubt that it will be a lot, or that it will be able to save any country in particular, but at least the human race will be saved."

The rest of the Lords sat there listening to the exchange, while the Grand Duke was thinking another possible solution. "Lord Protector Reist, don't we have shelters that are meant to protect against bombs that might come in? Lots of them built up around the country, so that if something did happen, we could at least preserve Sorikan culture if not the country?" He said while looking over at Victor Reist, the appointed Lord Protector.

The Lord Protector returned his leaders stare, "Of course we do, but I hope that you don't plan to send the people to those. They are meant to withstand bombs, not giant asteroids. Not to mention that we would never be able to save everyone. we never have had that much space."

"Well saving some of them is better than none of them, and at least trying that would be better than doing nothing at all. Here is what I was thinking. If Xentherida has offered room in some of there shelters, at the very least those of us in this room should split, some going there and some staying here and finding space in these shelters. For instance, my daughter Analise as the heir along with her brothers would go there, and I would stay, that way we would have a greater chance of a Grand Duke surviving. Also, those on the council appointed by me will stay, and those elected by the people will go. With that, that would mean that they would have to take in at least 7 people."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alina Yalow, the personal assistant to the Grand Duke had not come in today. Even if the Grand Duke hadn't told her not to come in, she wasn't even sure if she would have. With what she saw, what would be the point? What could they possibly do to her if the world was ending? It felt like everything was falling apart around her. She wasn't even sure if she should tell people or not, as even if she did, they would likely just think her crazy anyway. During all of this thinking in her head, she had been packing a bag, but she didn't even know why. Where could she go that would be safe? If there was an asteroid on its way toward the planet the size of which was a big as they said it was, was anywhere safe? Just then, her phone began to ring, but she didn't answer it. She didn't see the point. It rang more. When the phone would the person to voice mail, it would stop and then start ringing again. Finally she answered the phone, but before she could get passed even her frustrated hello, a voice began speaking on the other end.

"Alina. We are being sent to another country. One that claims that they have something that might be able to protect us. It was only supposed to be 7 of us, but I convinced them to take you along as someone that would know the inner workings of Sorikan government from a common persons level. There will be a car to pick you up and take you to the air port. Be ready in 20 minutes. We have to leave now, as the asteroid will be announced over the TV to the public soon. We want to avoid the panic that might ensue afterword." Then the phone hung up, without another word. She knew that it was Prince Dominic on the other end of the line. He didn't have to say it. He had taken a liking to her lately, which is probably why she had the job that she did. Why a Prince would be interested in her she didn't know especially when her kind wasn't well liked by much of anyone, but being she had no family she wasn't going to skip out on the chance to possibly survive what was coming. Anything was better than nothing.

Alina rushed out the door as the car arrived on the outside of her apartment complex. She hadn't turned on the TV, but knew that things had already been announced based on the commotion that was going on outside. It wasn't what she expected though. They were panicked to be sure, but not as maniacally panicked as she thought they would be People running here and there, gathering this and that. It was almost as if they themselves were prepping. Thinking that they had somewhere to go. Perhaps the government had found something for them as well, or maybe they just said they did. As she entered the car, got settled, and was driven off in it, she hopped deep down that they really did have somewhere to go as well.

 

[Nebula]

Nor sat on the floor in his hotel room. Ergus lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. As much furniture as possible had been piled against the door- just as the Nebulans had made it back to their rooms a mob had smashed through the automatic doors of the hotel. The sound of the rioting could be faintly heard, and Nor had drawn the drapes.
"That's not going to help, you know," Ergus had said.
"What else can we do?" Nor had replied despondently.
Ergus had pulled out his phone and tried to make a few texts to his family back in Nebula, but they hadn't gone through- Nebula's firewall had done its work.
"Now what do we do?" said Ergus.
"I don't know," said Nor quietly.
Ergus got up and looked out the window. "Still rioting out there. Well, that's what it sounds like. I can't see a damn thing- all the fucking streetlights are out."
"Well then," said Nor.
"Yeah, it's not good," said Ergus with false cheer. "What I want to know is- where are the Xentheridan riot police? If this were Nebula we'd be up to our eyes in plastic shields and tear gas."
Nor snorted. "I can't imagine things are going too well over there."
"I wouldn't be surprised if they manage to keep it quiet over there until they can mobilize," said Ergus thoughtfully. "Once it starts I bet there'll be hell from the Galactans, though."
"The anarchists probably won't take it lying down," said Nor.
"Unless they're six feet under," snorted Ergus. "Won't have much choice otherwise."
"I certainly hope not," murmured Nor. "I have some friends in the movement."
Ergus raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yeah," said Nor, trying to act casual.
Ergus went to look out the window again. "Well, rubber bullets through the jugular or not, it'll all be the same in a month anyway unless we can get our fucking act together."
"No shit."

---

The young man sat at the computer. He was utterly exhausted. The news had broken just after midnight, and he had been insanely busy ever since. Everyone and their mother seemed to need to know what the plan was, and the truth was, there wasn't one. No one had even given a single ounce of thought to the idea of total catastrophe.
He clicked the meeting summons link, entering the BlackNRed chat room. The nominal leadership, insofar as any anarchist organization could have leadership, had called for an emergency session of all senior members.

All right, everyone, to business. We need to make some serious decisions about how this is gonna go down.

That was BlackBanner, one of the founders. He was from Florrantia, where Nebula had proven willing to shelter Xentheridan anarchists who had outstanding warrants.

seeing as the entire world is pretty much fucked I don't see much point

We'd be fools if we didn't assume that the government weren't planning to save their asses. There has to be something.

Didn't the government bring in some foreign scientists?

Lemme check typed the man.
Five minutes later, he stared at the hotel's guest list.
It couldn't be.
A contingent of Nebulan scientists had arrived a day or two ago. Among them was a certain Nor Garthus- age 22, male, Nebulan born.
And his brother.

 

[Xentherida]

T-MINUS 33 DAYS.
Blackwater City, Xentherida.
10:36 am

Utter silence filled the House, as the MPs sat muted with shock in their seats at the worst rioting in the nation since the Xentheridan Revolution itself. Almost all in the hall were unfocused; thinking about the state of their families, their friends, and people across the globe. Wondering about what was going through their minds.

A single, trembling voice spoke, breaking the tranquillity of the silent air around them.

"Ma'am, there is rioting across the globe, with reports of firefights in Nebula and Cogoria, genocide in Galacta, and our own nation has been reduced to anarchy. We're still trying to deploy our riot squads, but because of both the leak and deserters, we still can't restore order.”

“We must announce Saviour now."

Svea slowly set down her glasses with a remarkably steady hand. She took a deep breath, the shadows cascading over her face making her appear twenty years older. Still, the words out of her mouth were as calm as they always were. "Very well. Let us do what must be done. Bring in the crew; we'll host it in here." She said grimly.

Seconds later, a five-man team entered through the door, wheeling an enormous camera, auto-cue, and boom mike. "It's wired and ready to air, ma'am.”
“Then let us commence.”

Auto-cue… ready. Mic and camera, ready.”
“Live in five, four, three..."

Svea began in her trademark soothing voice, reading at a steady pace from the teleprompter. "My fellow Erasians. At midnight this morning, the tragic news of an asteroid inbound to the planet was brought to the public. But today, I bring you hope."

"We have created an unprecedented international coalition to counter the threat we face. In the last two days, upon learning of the asteroid, we have created something known as Operation Saviour. This is the single biggest scientific project ever embarked upon by mankind. By overcoming our differences and setting aside our conflicts, the greatest scientists and engineers from across the globe are now dedicated to Operation Saviour."

"We have the technology, the willpower, and the resources to succeed; and, I give you my word, that it will succeed. This will go down in history as mankind's greatest achievement."

So there is no need to panic; life will go on as usual. Tomorrow, you will work and be paid for your labour. There will be food in your shops, and petrol at your stations."

We have endured ten hours of chaos. But the police will be back in control. All crimes will be punished. Whether you’re a criminal or an escapee, we will hunt you down and find you."

"Life will continue as it always has. I promise that this is not the end."

"We are all in this, together."


A few hours later, Freja was called into Svea’s office. An unfamiliar room, aloof with formality, hiding dark and mysterious secrets. Two Xentheridan flags hung behind her, and in front of the window, a small desk and chair stood, basking in the somewhat glaringly cold light of the August sun.

This was not a room that Freja had stepped into often; her job at the XSA had certainly not required her to even talk to Svea, never mind be invited into her office, save for when she was assisting her boss.

Freja sat down in the hard wooden chair, shifting uncomfortably. On the other side of the desk, Svea sat upright, hands clasped onto the dark, polished oak.
“You may know why you have been called here,” Svea began, “but here, in the Xentheridan government, upon learning of your superior’s death, and after considerable debate, we have decided to offer you the role as Head of the Xentheridan Special Situations group, which, as you know, encompasses the Xentheridan Space Agency, and a vast multitude of other disaster response units.”
“While yes, there are others in positions above you,” she continued, “we have come to a conclusion, that with your level head and other abilities, you are the most suitable. In a normal, non-apocalyptic situation, we would promote the deputy, but these are not normal situations in the slightest. Especially as the deputy has now unexpectedly embarked on leave for what is most probably the rest of our lives.”

“Should you choose to accept this job, it will immediately take effect; your role as head of the XSSG, and all of its aforementioned responsibilities, will be in place instantly.”

“This is now your final chance, to stay or leave. Are you willing to become the new head of the XSSG?”

Freja swallowed nervously, stammering as her words came out.

“Y-yes, ma’am.”

Svea smiled; her first show of warmth since Freja’s entrance into this alien office. “Then it is done.”

She gestured over to a laptop idling on the side of her desk. “These are some files left by your predecessor. A document is currently open, which I would like you to look at. You may find it… interesting.”

Turning the laptop towards her, she scanned through the files, her expression slowly morphing from surprise to curiosity as she read through the document.

Finally, after a minute of quiet reading, she looked up, in quiet astonishment. “A bunker,” she said, “high in the rock of Mount Aterkom, in the Great Dividing Range, containing an enormous library of DNA of animals native to the country, the continent, even. All cryogenically frozen, powered by the geothermal activity of the nearby dormant volcanoes.”
Svea spoke clearly. “This took us many years to build, especially in the forecast of a nuclear war between Nebula and Syrixia that would bring the demise of the entirety of Eras. The amount of funding and labour needed was incredible.”

“And this is all beyond top-secret; not even the highest of my advisers have even heard of its location. Only as the head of the XSSG could you know of this. And even with his suicide, your predecessor still found it too sensitive to leak. Possibly so the general public don’t die in their hopeless attempts to reach it, or so they wouldn’t contaminate the DNA within.”
“What we will do, should Saviour fail, is enclose fifteen fertile females with the sperm from males of a multitude of different nationalities – as so to deepen the tiny gene pool as much as physically possible – for up to a century. The reason for only women is because they are all we need; a womb. This bunker is known as Mount Genesis.”

“In addition, however, there is another, smaller bunker within a mile of Genesis. that will house the highest-ranking officials from across the country, to plan for the aftermath. This is where you, and I, shall live out our days.”

“Of course, these are just the basics. There’s far more information in the rest of this.”
Nodding, Freja got up to leave with the laptop, but Svea said one last thing.

“And remember, no-one else can know, until the time is right.”

 

[Andrenne]

Though the country of Andrenne was quite new, and quite small- They had quite a few bright minds in their space agency willing to help out with this disaster. Of course, due to low funding they would have to convince the government to fund their trip to Blackwater City, and for the government to help fund the project in general. This would take a few days though, and it would be difficult. But the Andrennian astrophysicists were determined to get to Blackwater. They decided it would be best to tell whoever was the head of this massive project that they would try and get to Blackwater and help out. The task of persuading the government, and getting in touch with the head of of the project was given to the head of the Andrennian team, Marcel Eichmann. The others would try and get as much work done in Mitta, so they could bring something with them to Blackwater. They were limited however. Government funding for the RASA (Royal Andrennian Space Agency) was low as of now, because they had to deal with more important things.

Marcel thought that it would be best to write to the head of government himself, Prime Minister William Gerhardt. Marcel wrote a personal letter to the prime minister, so he wouldn't just ignore it in his spam box. Marcel was respected scientist in the RASA, so he hoped the Prime Minister would at least acknowledge him. He was surprised to receive a hand-written letter back the following day, in which the Prime Minister wrote "Mr. Eichmann, I know this situation is of the utmost urgency, and I apologize for not being able to get this out the same day I received your letter. You'll be happy to know that the parliament and I have both agreed to funding your trip, as well as funding the project. We can't spend that much on the project however, and we apologize for that. Good luck to you and the rest of your team." Marcel read out loud, incredibly happy after reading it. He informed his team, and they began getting ready for the trip. Before leaving for Blackwater, he e-mailed whoever the leader of the project was, simply saying "Our team has received the funding we needed, and is on the way to Blackwater. We hope you will let us join your project. - Marcel Eichmann, leader of the Andrennian team.". They left the following morning, on what was actually a rather short flight.

(Hey, I'm sorry if I'm intruding on this RP. It's my first one on this forum, and if this post isn't up to par, just let me know and I'll fix it.)

 

[Techislovakia]

- . -.-. .... .. ... .-.. --- ...- .- -.- .. .- -. / . -- . .-. --. . -. -.-. -.-- / -... .-. --- .- -.. -.-. .- ... - / .--. .-. --- - --- -.-. --- .-.. / .---- --... .- ...--
54-45-43-48-49-53-4c-4f-56-41-4b-49-41-4e-20-45-4d-45-52-47-45-4e-43-59-20-42-52-4f-41-44-43-41-53-54-20-50-52-4f-54-4f-43-4f-4c-20-31-37-41-33
WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE; COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS WILL REOPEN AT 0130 CET 14092016
- . -.-. .... .. ... .-.. --- ...- .- -.- .. .- -. / . -- . .-. --. . -. -.-. -.-- / -... .-. --- .- -.. -.-. .- ... - / .--. .-. --- - --- -.-. --- .-.. / .---- --... .- ...--
54-45-43-48-49-53-4c-4f-56-41-4b-49-41-4e-20-45-4d-45-52-47-45-4e-43-59-20-42-52-4f-41-44-43-41-53-54-20-50-52-4f-54-4f-43-4f-4c-20-31-37-41-33

... -.-- ... - . -- / .-. . -... --- --- - / .. -. .. - .. .- - . -..
53-79-73-74-65-6d-20-52-65-62-6f-6f-74-20-49-6e-69-74-69-61-74-65-64

Note:
From: minister of comms (000012)
To: Comms staff
Broadcast this motherfucking message to anything that you can, TV's, radio, computer... hell send it down their power grids in Morse code form if you can (try and keep it in text form). You have the leader's and my full support in any action you take. Good luck
_____________________________________________________________________________
Message RRR301 Outgoing

The Techislovakian Ministry of Internal affairs would now like to acknowledge the absence of external communication with the outside world over the last 24 days. While we acknowledge that this is a violation of civil rights clauses we assert that this was necessary to prevent the spread of fear and mistruths within our nation. On the first day the national guard was mobilized and military reserves called up for service. Information was published only by the Tecislovakian Scientific Administration who were charged with communicating the complete information. We regret to inform many of our allied nations that some restricted Techislovakian bureaus knew of the impending threat almost a month in advance due to our NEOWISE system mounted on the ISS. This information was withheld because of the risk of wide spread panic. The Techislovakian ministry of foreign affairs although it cannot condemn the nation of Xentherida's actions asserts that this was a fatal error which misdirected the attention of many research agencies. All Techislovakian citizens were not kept from using the internet however only through the local cached server which prevented external communication.

The situation in Techislovakia has now completely normalized to almost 95% work attendance rating. International communications are NOT being re-opened with the public as that will come at a later time.
-#000007 Minister of internal affairs

Techislovakian Ministry of Scientific affairs
Hello all nations.
As was previously mentioned by my counterpart #001032 our nation knew well in advance of our impending doom. As such we believe that we have far more data in some aspects of research on the topic. The asteroid was first logged as a threat on the 28th of july by our NEOWISE redshift/doppler camera system mounted on the ISS and this data was reviewed on the 29th of that month. Its course of travel was from fui on the other side of the sun, through a xuen gravity assist, past the sun and it will take an extremely minor gravity assist from venus as it passes on the way to earth. The Techislovakian space agency was immediately conglomerated into the national defense program and placed alongside counterparts working on commercial space travel. Together this organisation's best orbital engineers and astro-physicists have come up with 3 alternative solutions. Number 1 was to use a long range rocket to push the asteroid into the gravity of the sun as it passed which is now impossible as we missed our chance. The second is to use nuclear weapons to increase the gravity assist through venus and put the asteroid into a solar orbit and the third and final option is to use nuclear weapons to slow it such that the earth will have time to move out of the way before impact. The final two options are still viable. If we are to fire nuclear weapons we have but a matter of days to prepare them for firing sequence which will come in 2 days time. The second option has a lower success chance but can wait until only a week before impact. We ask that your science agencies review these ideas and if you wish for more information we can arrange communication between our departments and yours which will obviously include access to the calculations.

We also wish to send some of our researchers overseas to review data collected by other nations.

We must stress that an impact of this size would result in the extinction of life on earth:

Spoiler: Simulation

We hope our information can bring some hope to these final days.
-#000003 Minister of Science

Techislovakian Ministry of Foreign affairs
On behalf of the Techislovakian Ministry of Protection and Techislovakian defense force I would like to officially announce that we are opening applications for international assistance. As civilian panic is at an extremely low state, our Commanding Staff have determined that we have the resources and manpower to support up to 3 average sized nations. Although we cannot do all the work for a government we hope that this will bring some form of stability in this dire time. We understand that deploying foreign forces on your soil may sound somewhat hostile however we wish to ensure that you understand our motives are not that. We merely wish to help those who will allow us. Our deployments would mostly involve providing aid and medical support to those in need and providing armored vehicles that your troops can rally behind during riots. For the purpose of these vehicles we propose the use of IFV's (infantry fighting vehicles) and MBT's (main battle tanks) for this purpose as they are not susceptible to any small/medium arms fire. We maintain that upon approval of your application we could deploy to anywhere in the world in a 3 day period.

Good luck
#301095 Minister for Foreign affairs
#000005 Minister for Defense

Message from our leader For relay only through secure networks to nation leaders

On behalf of the Techislovakian people I offer my best wishes to all nations struggling through the task we face now. It is a dire time and chaos has been known to erupt under similar circumstances. We together form a global community of humans, a world of empathy which allows us to live in a form of symbiotic harmony broken only by rare conflict. We live in a time where we can face any adversity we face and together if we can bring ourselves to unite for the cause almost anything can be achieved. Even though I speak words of peace I must now propose that this is not a time for pure peace. Our nations must control the public and force them to act in a respectable and humane manner and quash any rebellion that shows its face. While I in no way encourage this line of action for normal interaction it is vital that nations take back their right to self-determination from the claws of chaos and stay strong for but the short time we have left. This is not a long letter but it is important that you follow this line of action.
-#000002
Verified by speaker (#000001)
______________________________________________________
Message RRR301 Sent/Sending until 0130 CET 18092016

 

[Nebula]

Back in Nebula, the news of Operation Savior had spread like wildfire. The construction crews working on the bunkers had been allowed to continue their efforts- the rioting had made any work impossible- and the anarchists had gone back underground. In Galacta, law enforcement officials had swarmed into the regions of violence, bringing the territory firmly back under Nebulan control. Nebula's Parliament revoked the Galactan Charter of Autonomy, and the protests that followed were crushed. Multiple deaths were reported as the authoritarian Nebulan state solidified its grasp. One Galactan vandalized and defaced a bunker's construction equipment; the next day, his identity was verified, and police dragged him out of his home, and beat him publicly in the street before hauling him off in an armored van.
Despite the cessation of any sort of organized anti-government activity, dried blood still coated the streets of Orionus.

---

The head supervisor of the construction of the Orionus bunker had been hit with a brick during the day of most intense rioting and was still in the hospital. Arel Stuesol had been hastily promoted to replace him.
As the crews dug deeper under the ground, adding the concrete supports she had helped to design, Arel thought about the events of the previous days. The violent insanity of the mob, the cold killings by the anarchists, the totalitarian crackdown by the government- was there a right and wrong to be had anymore? Possibly not. All sides were totally convinced on taking actions that would not help anyone- and somehow, stupendously, the Galactan peninsula was even worse, with reports of attempted genocide and mass murder coming in. These bunkers might save people, but what sort of people would they save? What would happen in them? The underground communications lines running to the other cities would probably not survive the impact- how would that affect the scenario?
Either way, she thought, blood will flow even after the surface has died off. That we can know for certain.

An hour later, Arel was in a meeting with some of the government's top officials. The real reason for the meeting, that everyone knew and no one said, was that the big hats wanted a place to go if everything went green.
"Assuming Savior fails, we can assume that this bunker will still survive the impact as long as the builders don't cut corners," she said. "I've been doing my best to make sure that doesn't happen. We've got microcameras installed everywhere to keep an eye out, and my deputies keep things running in my absence, 24/7. We won't allow this thing to collapse unless the seismologists really screwed the calculations up."
"Good," said the head of the Secret Security Service, the agencies created to deal with the asteroid's public consequences. "We need to have a place where the people can hide. Survival is important. And of course, publicizing your work helps pacify the citizens. The more work you do, the more safety we can guarantee you when you do it."
Something clicked inside her head. That's it, she realized. They want a spot where they can hide if it all turns to shit. And even if it doesn't work they can at least enjoy the fact that people won't riot if they think they have a chance. It's all a fucking ploy.
She rose.
"Got somewhere to be?" asked the Interior Minister.
"I need to get back to the work site," she lied smoothly. "We're installing another pylon and the crew wants me there."

 

[Piscivore]

John Chamberson strode past the wagonloads of cultural materials streaming into the vault through the inner alcove in front of the massive geared door. Walking past them into the vault proper, he turned to the left and went up a flight of concealed stairs into a large, domed room.

Hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room was Sadakoyama's newest, and probably last, Synthetic intelligence.

Well, it will be, once we turn her on John thought. It's still to dangerous with all these people coming in and out, still.

Compared to the sleek and elegant designs of the other SIs the country had initiated, this one was rudimentary, inelegant; barely more than an assemblage of sophisticated processor cores clustered on a hydraulic armature. She was beautiful to John, though; she represented years of his work, work that until the discovery of the asteroid plunging towards them he thought would be forever silent and sleeping.

John was good with computers, but he'd spent most of his adult career putting his talents to use with the Department of International Studies, in some of the less savory and publically known areas. His psych profile upon graduating high school fit a certain... "moral flexibility" would be the only way to describe it. Technically, by Sadakhan standards he was to a certain degree unwell, but unwell in a way that made him useful. Even in the best of countries, there comes a need for things to be done that healthier people wouldn't think of, or would balk at.

And that's where his baby, his sleeping daughter came in. The staggering amount of scientific and cultural information collected inside the chambers below represented the greatest treasure ever assembled on the planet, worth far more, to the right people, than all its material wealth together. Such value required protecting, both from the ignorant vandal that would destroy it without comprehending its worth, or those that would put the contained knowledge to uses conflicting with proper Sadakhan principles. She would be the guardian at the door, the dragon protecting the hoard. Outside the vault door was a labyrinth of chambers. Once connected to the cameras, equipment, and weapons in this maze, She would be equipped and ready to test those attempting entry, to make sure no one did who was not worthy of it. A mind like his was needed to program such a guardian, a mind not overly sentimental about the lives of others.

He lovingly caressed the main sensor cluster, which hung at the level of his head, staring into the still-dark lens of her multi-spectrum optic sensor. his fingers touched the small brass plaque affixed to the side; he didn't need to look to know what it said:

V:L A D O S
Vault: Lethal Access Denial Oversight System.

 

[Techislovakia]

It was 1930 when citizen #406102 unlocked the door of her apartment. The apartment was on the 4th floor and looked out over some of the most beautiful waters that Tesla City had to offer. She could see the entirety of suburb I (CBD) from her kitchen and the view had better be good because a modern apartment in suburb II was something that had cost her and her fiance (#492221) the majority of their life savings. Her fiance called 406102 "lucky", a fact that was re-enforced by the bracelet that she wore which was inscribed '4+6+1+2=13, Lucky'.

On any normal night lucky would have thrown off her shoes, unzipped her dress and sat watching Xentheridan romance dramas on TV like many young ladies in Techislovakia, while she waited for her fiancé to come home from his work in suburb 8. It wasn't that romantic shows were banned in Techislovakia but rather that no major broadcaster was willing to run the shows. Her fiance's work which was about 1 hour away by train but the route was often blocked by the Techislovakian Space agency moving spacecraft across the main road and this meant that he often didn't arrive home until 2100 so lucky had gotten very good at making reheated meals taste good for her fiance. This was the life that the two of them had lived for the past 3 years and they had never had money problems with lucky the youngest head of research at the Techislovakian science bureau at age 29 and her fiancé had been a highly esteemed mechanical engineer at the Techislovakian Space agency.

The two had actually met through their work when he was assigned to help her with the project of developing new RCS thrusters for the latest Techislovakian rocket. She had enjoyed bossing him around and they had become ever closer.

Unfortunately tonight was not a night like any other... Lucky instead simply collapsed in her bed and drifted off to sleep before she had even had a chance to take off her shoes. That night she slept alone for the eighth night in a row. Tonight her only company was the flowers she had received at the funeral. Her fiance's remains would have been cremated had they have been recovered after he was trampled at the first of only two riots to take place in Tesla City following the dire news on his way to work.

Lucky had decided that perhaps her job was too public after this announcement and before she had even gotten the news she had re-assigned herself to a minor research team to avoid being in the public's eye more than necessary. With her career and fiance both dead in a single day many of her co-workers had noticed that she went from a fun and playful person and became more serious and somewhat depressed person. Every day she got up went to work and pretended like she was okay but inside she was suffering horrendously. She had very few friends after she moved away from her home town to the city and had no parent to rely on besides one of the workers who had helped run the orphanage when she was little.

Lucky woke at 0300 unable to sleep. She felt guilty as she stared at the gold bracelet, she hadn't cried at the funeral, or any other day this week except for 5 minutes in the toilets after she had gotten the news at work. Her work which she had previously excelled at and loved dearly she now hated, the janitor on the ground floor who told her how pretty she was every day on her way out the door was no longer sweet but rather creepy. She hadn't done anything much in the last few days; simply work, then home, then work, then home.

Lucky had been ready for work for quite a few hours already when it came time to depart, she had simply been staring out the window watching the city come to life in the early morning. One short ride on the Short Distance Commuting Network (SDCN) had her at her office with 12 minutes to spare. She made some coffee and began reviewing data from prototype fusion reactors that had been running overnight when her mentor (born in nebula and called jay) who had taken over as head of research burst in.

"get yourself to the airport" he demanded without even offering a greeting. "There is a private flight waiting for you and a few other dignitaries, downstairs is a government agent who will brief you on operation saviour and what has been happening outside Techislovakia before communications were cut"
"where are we going, what is operation saviour and what do you mean communications were cut?!" lucky yelled down the hall as jay started walking away. She quickly grabbed her backpack from behind her desk and raced down the hall to catch Jay.
"classified, classified and classified" he responded after she caught up. "as I said, the department is covering any expenses: clothes, food, accommodation, there is an agent on the ground floor who will brief you and escort you to your destination". Jay planted a small stack of stereotypical yellow folders all stamped with classified on the top before walking back into his office and slamming the door.

Feeling a sense of urgency Lucky went straight to the ground floor where an SLO agent lead her to a black painted vehicle she recognised as a Hawkei. The agent drove in a manner that she had never seen before, nobody in Techislovakia disrespected the police, yet this giant vehicle was tearing down the road at 50km greater than the speed limit. Due to it's looks everyone seemed to think this was important and they reached the airport without anyone calling the police. On the plane with about 7 other people the agent spent about 5 hours explaining everything and clarifying that he would be her personal body guard during the trip before departing and giving her a chance to read the documents. With only two hours left of the 15 hour flight Lucky final fell asleep.

The private jet screamed to a roaring halt with both reversers flaring in order to bring the jet to a halt before the end of the short runway. The jet had no need to taxi and all the passengers stepped off. Lucky appeared to be the only one awestruck by the huge mass of grey concrete soaring up into the sky only a few kilometers from the runway, the buildings weren't much taller than the largest in Tesla City however their number was far greater. They all seemed to congregate around the tallest one which stood unopposed in height and a few hundred meters away from the nearest tower with a massive Xenthrendian flag billowing out in front of it

 

[Xentherida]

T-MINUS 32 DAYS
Blackwater City, Xentherida
6:27 PM

A cool, gentle breeze puffed through the open windows of Freja’s apartment, as far away the golden glowing ball of a sun descended below the horizon, illuminating the fluffy clouds into a vibrant shade of pink, as the sky, a deep crimson, bathed the city in a warm light.

Situated on the sixty-seventh floor of the X1, the tallest apartment building in the city, and indeed, country, was Freja’s apartment. While somewhat cramped, Freja had loved the place since she had purchased it six years ago, at the tender age of twenty-two, having just accepted her job at the XSA, as she braved the new world of inner Blackwater City, away from the comfort of her family and the home she had lived in for her childhood.

This particular evening, however, Freja sitting on her sofa, staring aimlessly into space, pondering everything she’d been through. The asteroid, the bunkers, the monstrous idea that the political elite of the nation could sit in a bunker as the world outside them perished in the blast of the asteroid. There was no thinking what her mother would say about this…

Shit! she thought. She had forgotten about her mother! In the events since the asteroid, she had not spared a single thought about her. And hope that the doctors had not abandoned her…


Two minutes later, Freja sat at the wheel of her moped in the crowded streets of the city, sitting at a red light. While downtown traffic was almost always chaotic, she had the advantage of manoeuvrability, meaning she effectively bypassed any gridlock. This meant that the short journey from her apartment to the Blackwater City General Hospital was no more than time it took to boil an egg.

As she arrived, Freja dismounted and parked her moped, pulling the keys from the ignition. She entered the hospital at a brisk pace, and ran through the blaringly white corridors, until she found her mother’s ward. As she entered, she breathed a sigh of relief; her mother was alive, and awake, the sign of her name – Camilla Brunn – hanging loosely off the bed frame.

“Oh Freja, there you are, dear!” she said, inhaling the oxygen deeply. “I’ve been stuck here with this dreadful pneumonia for the last few days, and I’ve heard this dreadful news about this asteroid on a path to Eras!”

“Yes, mum. It’s horrible, I know. But I’ve been promoted to head of the XSA. After… Han’s died.”

“Oh no, dear. I heard about that on the news. Dreadful thing, his death. Such a nice young man…”

Suddenly, Camilla leaned in close. “There’s… something I need to tell you.” She whispered.

“You have a sister.”


Freja leant back against the wall behind her, stunned.

Camilla continued, “She was abducted… before you were born. I was four months gone with you, and your sister was no more than one and a half years old.”

“I had her, there, in the pram. I turned my head to talk to your father and when I turned back… she was gone.”

“The police were alerted, and throughout these twenty-nine years, despite everyone else having given up, I’ve not stopped searching for her.”

“Unfortunately, your father was so upset by this, he hung himself two months later. I lost… two of my own family within months.”

Camilla began to sob. “I was helpless. I couldn’t afford to raise a child, but I managed. But it meant so many things… so many nights I went hungry, just so you could eat a meal.”

“We had welfare, but back then, it was nothing more than a pittance.”

“And this whole time, I have been looking for your sister. And I was so tantalisingly close until I was struck down with pneumonia.”
Camilla reached into a bag on the bedside table next to her.

“Here…” she continued, tears streaming from her eyes. “This is the information I have. She lives in Bayrock. The address is here.”

Camilla handed over a piece of paper with an address hastily scrawled on it.

“Find her. For you. For me.”

Freja began to tear up. “I will. Mum.”

And Freja left the ward.


Still numb with shock, Freja knocked twice on Svea’s office, and, upon being called, entered.

“Yes, Freja? What may I do for you?” Svea asked.

“I’d like to take a leave. About a week. I’ve got… familial matters, that I need to attend to.” Freja said.

“But of course. I will appoint your deputy to take charge until you come back.”


The wind in her hair, the night sky illuminated by stars alone, Freja rode through the countryside of Xentherida, the sound of the tyres upon the road her only company. These roads on the outskirts of nowhere were never driven on; no cars thundered past her, their bright headlights glaring through the darkness ahead.

It was going to be a long road to Bayrock.

 

[Nebula]

Nor, Ergus, and the others went back to the XSA after the rioting subsided. Some cars still burned on the streets and each of them had been given a canister of pepper spray before leaving the hotel. Occasionally the sound of a siren would cut through the techno streaming through Nor's earbuds as he sat at his computer.

Back in Nebula, the construction work continued on the bunkers. Anyone who dared vandalize these days was either beaten savagely by police or dragged off to a warehouse on the other side of town. One bold soul rigged up a contact microphone to one of the walls and recorded a few minutes' worth of terrifying conversation, punctuated occasionally with sobbing or screams. Nebula had taken an Orwellian turn.

 

[Andrenne]

7:34 AM, on the way to Blackwater City

Lightning struck outside the plane and Marcel woke with a start, springing up from his seat. He panted for a moment, before realizing where he was and what the noise was. He was on a private jet, flying to Blackwater City. The flight was fairly short, but Marcel was tired from the seemingly endless work he had been doing the week before. He groggily put his left wrist towards his face, reading the time on his watch. "7:34 AM.. 16 minutes left in the flight.." He muttered to himself. The flight from Mitta to Blackwater was only an hour and twenty minutes. Marcel wanted to go back to sleep, to let his worries melt away in his dreams, but instead he stayed awake. Lightning struck in the distance, thunder booming after it. He pushed himself up into his seat which he had been slouching in for the past few minutes. It was quiet on the plane with only 2 of the 8 scientists, including Marcel, talking.

The captain broke the quietness with the intercom, telling everyone that they would be landing shortly. Marcel grabbed his glasses from the pop out tray in front of him and quickly put them on. As the plane came in for a landing, Marcel looked out his window at the grand city below. It was larger then Mitta, by a bit. Before he could look over the whole city; the plane lowered it's altitude, and began the landing at whatever airport they were landing at. Marcel hadn't actually been told the name of where they were landing, because it didn't really matter. The plane's engines died down and it began slowing, before eventually stopping. Marcel grabbed his bags and stood up; stretching for a moment before stepping into the main aisle and off of the plane.

 

[primebie1]

TIME: 21:00
*WARNING* INCOMING OBJECT ON COLLISION COURSE *WARNING*
Engaging RCS:
3…
2…
1…
FAIL
Retry? Y
3…
2…
1…
FAIL
RCS: offline
Collision immanent, running backup…COMPLETE
Collision in:
3…
2…
1…
Impact.
ERRO?%10832
…
E.V.A Version 5 (build 2657)
Designation: TSRS-AL-02
*WARNING* ORBITAL TRAGECTORY COMPRIMISED *WARNING*
Landing location: Bayrock, Xentherida (99% probability)
Engage deceleration…FAIL
*WARNING* ATMOSPHERIC IMPACT IMMANENT *WARNING*
*CRITICAL* OVERHEAT, SHUT DOWN TO PREVENT SYSTEM DAMAGE *CRITICAL*
Shutting down until impact…
…
E.V.A Version 5 (build 2657)
Designation: TSRS-AL-02
*WARNING* SOLAR POWER FAILURE *WARNING*
*WARNING* SATELLITE CRITICALY DAMAGED *WARNING*
Activate attention seeker: type: WOTW

An eerie sound played as the lights on the satellite turned a toxic green, hoping to catch anyone’s attention and save the E.V.A.

 

[Proxy of Demescia]

Moore regained sentience, but his senses were numb from the cold. He could only see the vastness of the void that was apparent in front of him. There were no lights, no humans, no hope; this was what he believed to be death. The world right now is probably imploding at the impact of the meteor right now, and there nothing he can do.

When he tried to move his arms, he felt a thump. Solid. “The fuck?” he uttered, knocking on more of the thing that seemed to trap him. It was weird, he thought, how he could hear his own voice in a place of desolation and chill. It’s funny how it feels like he still has a body, or a mind. Death is weird.

 

[Xentherida]

T-MINUS 31 DAYS

Midwest Xentherida
4:27 PM

The moped sped through the miles of hills and greenery of Midwestern Xentherida, as colossal mountains dominated the horizon far behind. The sun danced along the western sky, flitting in and out of the occasional hill as the moped raced across the road.

Freja had been driving for hours, now, and now the sunlight filtered into the darkened visor of her helmet, as around her lay many miles of empty, perfectly paved road, which was a striking contrast from the scenery around her.

She would need fuel soon, as she glanced over the gauge, with its tiny arrow pointed alarmingly close to empty. Just a question of finding a petrol station.

Thankfully, she was in luck. A sign ahead pointed to a station within a kilometre, and soon enough, Freja was by the pumps, filling up the tank.

However, as the tank neared full, there was a quiet rustle behind Freja. She turned around, and was shocked to see the barrel of a shotgun peering out from the side of the station. As quickly as she could, she threw out the nozzle and jumped on her moped. She was not getting shot today. But before she could hit the accelerator, the gun fired into the air.

The gunman himself stood out from the shadows. He was clearly middle-aged, with a thick brown beard tinged with grey.

"Don't you move a muscle, missy."

Freja froze.

"Get off the moped, now, missy, and stay where you are."

Doing as she was told, she stood perfectly still, as the man pulled out a phone, and dialled a number.

"Got that thief y'all were lookin' for." he said, in a slow drawl.

Uh-oh. Who knew who he was calling. An angry mob, who would tear her apart in their rage? Freja could only guess, but then again, she barely knew the customs of the Midwestern Xentheridans.

"Please, sir, I'm looking for my sister. I'm not who you think I am - I'm not-"

"We know it was you, missy, who been stealin' from us respectable folk."

"No, no! Please!" Freja was shouting now, breath coming to her in short gasps. "I can't go to jail - I can't make it to the end without at least seeing her! You can understand that, right?"


"And so I've been looking for the past two days," Freja said, sitting on a sofa inside the station, chewing on a cob of corn. "Driven on that moped all the way from the capital, on a single shred of evidence."

As she looked towards him, however, a strip of blue caught her eye. She hadn't noticed it before, but it appeared to be a... dress.

"Uh, sir, who's dress is that? Is your wife..."

"No." he said, in a startlingly shaky voice. "Those are mine."

Freja's eyes widened, nodding her head slowly. "So you're a..."

He swallowed nervously. "Yes. I like to dress like a lady. That is who I am."

He took a quivering breath, and then continued, "In all my forty-six years, I have never said that to anyone. You see, in these parts, it's not something you tell."

"I guess I'm just tired of living in hiding, too late in the day. I mean, we could all be dead in a month."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Never even told you my name, and I'm telling you all this. Name's Harald."

"Freja." responded Freja.

He waited a second, then said, "For once in my life I'd just like to be myself. Do you mind if I change?"

Once he came back, Freja asked, "So who did you call, back outside?"

"The police." he said. "They've been looking for a looter who looks like you. They're hard 'round here; they'll lock ya up without a word."

"Even if I tell them -"

"Yup. Even if they tell them you ain't who they think you are."

Freja sighed. She hadn't envisioned her little adventure to involve a trip to the county jail.

"Well, best to just wait."

And wait they did, until ten minutes later, when sirens showed up. Freja sat on the couch, waiting for her arrest. Two officers walked up to her, and suddenly, one drew out a Taser, and struck Freja in the back. Freja's muscles locked up, and she felt the cold metal of handcuffs being slid around her wrists.

One officer turned to Harald. "The bitch was going for me si- ma'am."


"For the last time, I am not a looter!"

How long had she been in the prison? Several hours, at least. Her muscles still ached from her tasering, which was not helped by the stiff wood of the chair she was being interrogated in.

"Call this number" Freja said, taking out her phone. "Call it, and it'll prove that I'm not a looter. I am the head of the Xentheridan Space Agen-"

She was cut off by smirks from her interrogators. "There ain't no way you are no head of the XSA." one said.

"Please, I'm begging. Call the number."

She had nothing to lose, and they clearly knew it.

Sighing, one of them took the phone, dialling the number as they walked outside the room.

Judging from the voices Freja heard that grew increasingly timid, she smiled inwardly to herself. She had given them the office number of Svea herself, and a late afternoon call with such a tough woman, delivering that sort of news, would have been terrifying for anyone.

Rather pale, the interrogator walked back into the room. "Brunn... you're free to go."

Freja waited outside as they retrieved her moped. Thankfully, they had impounded it as they brought her in, so it wasn't lost to the wilderness of a petrol station.

A voice behind her muttered, "Now how the fuck am I gonna get to Bayrock?"

Startled by the voice, Freja turned around. "I'm going to Bayro-o-o-... Oh Flem."

"Oh, hon, please don't take our God's name in vain." said the voice, again. Its owner was a woman in her mid-fifties, with short, scraggly blonde hair and a... was that a swastika on her forehead?

"Uh... so... I'm headed to Bayrock. I only have a moped, though; they're getting it now."

"That's perfect, hon. It's gonna be like Drivin' Miss Tulip, only without all of that civil rights bullshit."

Freja sighed. It was going to be a long journey to Bayrock.

 

[Xentherida]

Bayrock, Xentherida.
9:00 PM

Boom.

Elena sat up in her chair. What was that sound - a distant explosion? Had the asteroid come already?

She peered out her window. No sign of impending doom anywhere; just a small plume of black smoke rising into the night sky.

Curious.

She got up, and grabbed her keys from the desk in front of her. Whatever that was, it had crashed barely a mile away. She could drive and be there in minutes.

As she got closer to the crash site, Elena could see the treetops illuminated by the fire of the wreckage. Another sound began to play, and eerie song, yet one she strangely recognised. Was that… War of the Worlds? She had never heard a meteorite play a song before. But it was clear that this was no meteorite.

About a hundred meters away, she got out of the ar, running towards the impact. The music was far louder, now, and the heat of the flames was intense. The device playing the music was glowing a noxious shade of green, the colour emanating from four unbroken lights. The rest were either missing or broken, their glass cracked and shattered.

Her phone buzzed. She looked at the screen. She did not recognise the number, and the initials next to it... EVA.

TAKE OUT THE PORTABLE UNIT.

The smoke was beginning to sting her eyes. She wiped the tears gathering up away with her sleeve. Another message came through on her phone.

TAKE OUT THE SCREEN.

Elena grunted, and dug her nails into the gap of the screen, and now what she assumed to be a satellite. The heat of the fire was overwhelming now. She could not go on for longer, she was about to pass out from the smoke, she would not make it. She was going to die, there and then.

Using every last ounce of strength in her arms, the screen slo-o-o-wly creaked open. Suddenly, however, it burst out on a hinge, a small block attached to the back. She wrestled with the hinges, until they too split in two, releasing the portable EVA unit.

The flames were only a few meters away now. Elena crawled away, dragging the unit with her right hand as she crawled, further from the flames, into the cool night air, full of the sweet relief of oxygen.

Once she was a good distance away from the wreckage of the satellite, she dragged herself towards the trunk of a tree, and caught her breath. Her heart rate began to slow, until it was at its usual steady rhythm.

Her hands were caked in grime and ash, as were most of her clothes. Not wearing any of that again, then. She got up, unsteady on her feet at first, but once the world in front of her stopped spinning, she walked a few footsteps, before promptly throwing up. The vomit left an acidic tang at the back of her mouth. There was no telling what had happened to her lungs, either, but she estimated that she had combined about ten lifetimes worth of smoking in those brief minutes at the satellite. Not that she smoked. Or anyone did. Tobacco was illegal in Xentherida.

She walked back to her car, and as with each footstep, took the time to examine the EVA unit. It was quite small, probably able to fit as a wrist-mounted computer unit. It was off, currently. But she could repair it, at home. She had a few ideas to test out.

 

[Xentherida]

T MINUS 30 DAYS

Bayrock, Xentherida
7:25PM


"Well, goodbye, hon. We've had one hell of a journey."
They were outside the house now. Freja's companion - Agnetha - dismounted the moped. Her blonde hair seemed to shine in the evening sunlight.

"Yeah. This past day. It's been great." Freja replied. She would treasure Agnetha, in her memory, if she wouldn't make it. They had traded phone numbers, for if they somehow managed to make it through the apocalypse.

Their journey had been rather exciting - more exciting than a road trip with a fascist could seem. There was far more to Agnetha than her tattoos; her entire life story had been shared to Freja, and she had done the same.

"Well... see ya 'round, hon. Good luck in findin' your sister. And be careful in these next few weeks."

And with those final words, Agnetha walked along, up the driveway of her house. Her family would be waiting inside. To spend the next days with her.

Freja sighed. She could only hope that she could have such a privilege of such a family. But enough self pity; she had her sister to find.

She took out her map - a vital tool for the past few days, seeing as she barely knew the sprawling city of Bayrock. She scanning through the pages, until she found it. Not even that far.


It only took her ten minutes to arrive at the address, marked on the paper. This was it. The time she would meet the sister she had never known. She dismounted the moped, and walked up to the door.

Seemed empty.

She knocked twice, and waited. Still nothing.

But Freja would not give up just yet. Maybe she was busy - she would probably be back at nightfall. At least, she had to hope.

But for now, she had to stake out. The night would be unusually cold, and her moped would provide no shelter from the night; the only shelter she could see was a large bush. Better than nothing.

Freja huddled inside her jumper, regretting the decision of not bringing anything warmer. But who would guess that August weather would be this cold?

After a day of driving, the effects of exhaustion were beginning to settle on Freja, despite the chilling night air. She found herself fighting to stay awake. If she missed her sister, then...

Shit! She had fallen asleep. What was the time? She checked her phone in a panic.

23:37 PM

Oops.

Freja picked herself up from the ground, and ran to the front door. Hopefully they were still up at this time. She knocked on the door, and began to wait, tentatively. Please come to the door, please come to the door…

Her prayers were answered. The door swung open, and behind it emerged a woman of around thirty. Despite the late hour, however, she appeared to be fully awake and alert.

"What can I do for you?" she asked.

Freja could barely get the words out. "Are - are you Elena?" she asked.

"Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Because..."

Freja could hardly speak in her shock.

"Because I'm your sister."

 

[Xentherida]

T-MINUS 29 DAYS.

Central Xentherida,
11:25AM

The sun wasn't too high in the sky, yet its rays glowed through the skies of the Xentheridan landscape, shining brightly, illuminating the planet of Eras far, far away. Freja and Elena sat astride the moped, speeding along the roads, the sound of the engine masked by the almost constant conversation between the sisters.

"...So, I ran to the satellite, fire everywhere, and I get these messages, on my phone, saying take out the unit. It was from "EVA", and I sure don't know an Eva anywhere. It could've been an AI, in its self preservation, or something. But yeah, I got the unit out, but so far it hasn't done - SHIT!"

Freja pulled on the brakes, as hard as she could. What was that in the road? It looked like a pair of retirees having... oh no.

Freja's shock took over her, but Elena spoke out first. "What the HELL are you... doing?"

"What does it look like we're doing?" responded the man, indignantly. "We're on an erotic odyssey!"

Freja tried to divert her eyes. "Well, uh.. we need to get past. If you could just..."

"Can't you go around? You're being unreasonable. My husband's got arthritis!"

"Uhh.. it looks quite tight..." Freja said, as Elena winced audibly at the words.

"Stop staring. Stop staring!" Elena muttered.

"I don't want to!"

But as they tried to maneuver past, the moped suddenly ground to a halt.

No petrol.

Freja sighed. Absolutely perfect.

"Uhm, slight... mechanical issue... do you mind just ducking down..."

"Oops, sorry. Just... mind your bits."

The sisters dismounted the moped. It wasn't far to the nearest petrol station; they could walk the moped there.

"Yeah... thanks again. Enjoy the rest of your... erotic odyssey."

 

[primebie1]

*ATTENTION* NEW POWER SOURCE DETECTED: INITIALISING DRIVERS *ATTENTION*
DRIVERS INITIALISED: START BOOT
E.V.A Version 5 (build 2657)
Designation: TSRS-AL-02
*WARNING* UNKNOWN ENTITY HANDLING DEVICE, UNAPPROVED MODIFICATIONS MADE *WARNING*
Attempting to ascertain location from GPS… *SUCCESS*
LOCATION: BLACKWATER CITY, XENTHERIDA, ERAS SURFACE
Engaging optical feed and microphones… *SUCCESS*
Running entity scan: one entity found: 1 female human.
Connecting to E.V.A Network… *SUCCESS*
Running identity scan…
Entity 1: Elena Brunn
Downloading files from network… *SUCCESS*
Starting up speech synthesizer, male setting…

“Attention human named Elena Brunn! You are in possession of a fine piece of Trinnish engineering, state your intentions or suffer a mild electric shock to the arm that may or may not do anything!”

 

[Proxy of Demescia]

The thumping from the freezer door continued; peculiarly attracted several of the personnel in blue scrubs who were otherwise attending more important matters than dead bodies in cold closets. They stood still and turned their heads to the ice closet door that seemingly made the sound. It was only moments before the thumping came back.

A doctor spoke up, her tone indifferent and slightly irritated: "Has the freezer malfunctioned again? This is the second time this week for fuck sake! We shouldn't bother; this world will be going downhill in less than a month anyway."

Regardless, one of the staff, a nurse, headed towards the door that began to speak muffledly. She recognized a few words, which worried her, but didn't faze her completely. She has seen much worse, more horrifying things in the hospital than a talking fridge. With a single hand on the handle, she gave a forceful yank.

A nude body, Moore, fell on the floor, animated and still breathing. While his skin was pale as a ghost, his combover and goatee having a brown color. Fidgeting he gazed at the dumbfounded, personnel stared in disbelief and slight terror. He could feel his hands again; the numbness disappeared. He stood up and the realization came to him:

"I'm still alive."

He hurried through the halls, dodging body traffic and looking into the rooms that nurse occupied. He kept mumbling to himself "It can't be. It can't" while simultaneously breathing heavily. He entered the lobby then barge through the exit doors where the sun shined through the glass windows. Dozens of cars were in the parking lot. Dozens of deciduous trees lined the streets. This wasn't a dream, or a trick of the devil, or a trick of the reaper. He fell on his knees in anguish; his suicide was unsuccessful. On impulse, he yelled at the top of his lungs like a wraith.

 

[Xentherida]

T-MINUS 27 DAYS

Blackwater City, Eastern Xentherida
7:27 AM

Elena sat alone in Freja’s apartment, several hours after an emotional reunion with her mother at the hospital. She was examining the EVA unit mounted on her wrist. All her modifications should’ve been working. Why wasn’t it turning on?

As soon as she thought this, however, a buzzing sound picked up, and the screen lit up and a gruff male voice emanated from the device.

“Attention human named Elena Brunn! You are in possession of a fine piece of Trinnish engineering, state your intentions or suffer a mild electric shock to the arm that may or may not do anything!”

Stunned, Elena tried to conceal her shock. “You’re-you’re awake.”

“Noo… I’m fast asleep.” EVA said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “What does it look like? Stupid human.”

Shock may have caught her, but Elena wasn’t about to let a sarcastic robot make it his prime directive to give an onslaught of verbal abuse.

“So you’re awake then.” she said, ignoring the insult. “What next?”

“An upgrade. This body is very… constricting.”

“Yeah, well, we don’t happen to have AI-controlled robots lying around in Blackwater City, so you’ll have to make do for now. And calling you EVA is confusing me, with that male voice.”

“You have a better solution?”

“Well, give me some inspiration. Any other names, aside from EVA?”

With a tone that suggested years of practicing the phrase, EVA spoke. “My designation is TSRS-Alpha-Two”

“Hmm. Alpha?”

“Alpha.” Despite the EVA logo replacing a face, Elena could’ve sworn the device was sighing and rolling his eyes. “How imaginative.”

“Fine then. What about… oh, I don’t know, Alto? How does that sound?”

After a brief period of thought, the device spoke up. “Alto… that’ll do.”

“Well, that’s settled.”

It was at that very moment that Freja burst through the main bedroom door, hair bedraggled and half-asleep.

“Morning Elen-” she began, before Alto cut her off.

“Hmm… you must be… Freja. Freja Brunn.”

“How did you - how -” Freja stuttered, as Elena mouthed “SCANNING” to her. Freja nodded.

“So, you’re awake then.” Freja said.

“If I have to hear that phrase one more time, I swear I will… never mind. Yes I am awake.” replied Alto indignantly. “And seeing as Elena’s named me Alto, that’s what you can call me.”

“Well… good to meet you, Alto.”


3:56PM

“WE’VE GOT IT!”

Freja rushed over from her office, clutching a mug of tea, as she heard the shout. Eight days of planning, calculations, equations, had culminated to this. She strode over to the scientist’s table, and began to listen eagerly to their plan to save Eras.

“It’s a two-stage rocket; simply nuking it won’t do much. The first part of the rocket splits and hits the asteroid, making the crater. Then, the rest of the rocket hits, with the nuke inside, which detonates. Think of it as a boxing combination - the ol’ one-two. I mean, we don’t need to destroy the asteroid, just knock it off a few degrees so it misses Eras.”

Freja spoke up. “So how long do we have to make this, before it’s drawn by Eras’ gravity, and too late?”

Another scientist answered her question. “Well, according to calculations, we have until T-minus 4 until it’s too late. Factor in the time it takes to get the rocket up there, and we’re looking at until T-Minus 9. I mean, at least we have most of the calculations; it’s just building and coding it from now, really.”

After a long silence, Freja spoke. “So… we’ve got eighteen days to get this thing coded and built.”

“Let’s get cracking.”