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The recently inaugurated astronomy facility in Chile had only been in active service for a matter of weeks. It boasted the Worlds most powerful telescopes to date. Mankind could now see further and deeper into space than at any time in its history.
It was not long before the facility justified its huge cost. A giant meteor cloud had been spotted. It was quite possibly the greatest ever accumulation of space junk to have been discovered in deep space to date. It was too early to be sure, but was possibly more than a thousand kilometres in length and at least fifty in width.
Hand in hand with the publication of the discovery was a proviso. The trajectory of the meteor cloud would carry it hundreds of thousands of kilometres away from earth. At the time of its first sighting it was approximately two million kilometres distant from planet earth. Would it pose a danger if its projected trajectory altered, undoubtedly, but if its current course remained stable, not at all?
It was not an item considered newsworthy by much of the Worlds press, at most receiving a brief mention within the inner pages of those few that ran it.
The giant meteor cloud had been trawling its way through deep space for eons, perhaps since the beginning of time. In shape it was almost slug like, the head fat and the tail tapering to a fine point. It was enormous and travelling at great speed, but within the enormity of deep space was as a mere coma within an epic tale.
It had not always been the monster that it now was, but through the millenniums had grown. Like a giant vacuum cleaner it had sucked up and absorbed whatever lay in its path. It was impartial, accepting whatever came its way. It now consisted of rocks the size of mountains and grains of dust invisible to the eyes of man. It might well have been motionless
Would it continue its lonely journey until the Universe was no more, growing ever larger with each passing millennium? The meteor cloud possessed not one grain of intelligence; it simply was and would remain so until its timeless passage through the vastness of space was impeded. Had it possessed intelligence it might have felt a sense of futility, weariness. It had been following its lonesome journey since the dawn of time
A smattering of the Worlds leaders were informed of the sighting as standard procedure. The leaders of America, Russia and China, of course included.
It was not long before the facility justified its huge cost. A giant meteor cloud had been spotted. It was quite possibly the greatest ever accumulation of space junk to have been discovered in deep space to date. It was too early to be sure, but was possibly more than a thousand kilometres in length and at least fifty in width.
Hand in hand with the publication of the discovery was a proviso. The trajectory of the meteor cloud would carry it hundreds of thousands of kilometres away from earth. At the time of its first sighting it was approximately two million kilometres distant from planet earth. Would it pose a danger if its projected trajectory altered, undoubtedly, but if its current course remained stable, not at all?
It was not an item considered newsworthy by much of the Worlds press, at most receiving a brief mention within the inner pages of those few that ran it.
The giant meteor cloud had been trawling its way through deep space for eons, perhaps since the beginning of time. In shape it was almost slug like, the head fat and the tail tapering to a fine point. It was enormous and travelling at great speed, but within the enormity of deep space was as a mere coma within an epic tale.
It had not always been the monster that it now was, but through the millenniums had grown. Like a giant vacuum cleaner it had sucked up and absorbed whatever lay in its path. It was impartial, accepting whatever came its way. It now consisted of rocks the size of mountains and grains of dust invisible to the eyes of man. It might well have been motionless
Would it continue its lonely journey until the Universe was no more, growing ever larger with each passing millennium? The meteor cloud possessed not one grain of intelligence; it simply was and would remain so until its timeless passage through the vastness of space was impeded. Had it possessed intelligence it might have felt a sense of futility, weariness. It had been following its lonesome journey since the dawn of time
A smattering of the Worlds leaders were informed of the sighting as standard procedure. The leaders of America, Russia and China, of course included.
