章 6: Chapter 6: Space Visitor
The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration, known as NASA, is a federal government agency responsible for formulating and implementing American space programs and conducting research in aeronautics and space science.
Its most famous and well-known achievement is the "Apollo Moon Landing Program."
However, since August 11, 2013, a colossal monster named "Axehead," standing at 92 meters tall and weighing 2,700 tons, emerged near the Golden Gate Bridge on Earth through a wormhole. Three cities in San Francisco were destroyed, and initially, the U.S. military and the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom conducted extensive bombardments on "Axehead." After a week of continuous bombing with no results, they were forced to drop three nuclear bombs to eliminate "Axehead."
The blood of "Axehead" directly turned Oakland into a dead city.
Everyone initially considered this a sudden event involving a mutated creature similar to Godzilla. However, just six months later, a second monster attacked Manila, making everyone realize that the appearance of these monsters was not an isolated event.
After scientific analysis, it was determined that the initial wave of monster attacks was of a suicidal nature. Conventional human weapons had no effect on them, and while nuclear bombs could destroy them, they released a massive amount of toxins from within their bodies.
This was a form of "natural selection" intended to alter Earth's atmosphere, soil, and water sources, leading to the extinction of Earth's life forms.
In other words, although nuclear bombs could kill a certain number of these monsters, humans would die out before the monsters did.
As a result, the "Pan-Pacific Defense Coalition," consisting of 21 countries including the United States, China, Japan, Russia, Chile, Canada, Australia, South Korea, and others, was established. Its goal was to create giant mechs that could match the monsters' size and cause them to die from "internal bleeding" through purely physical attacks, thus preventing the contamination of the atmosphere by their toxins.
In this survival crisis, a large amount of funding was redirected to the "Pan-Pacific Defense Coalition" to create mech hunters to deal with the monsters.
As a result, NASA, once at the height of its glory, was left with the basics and no longer had the funding to initiate space programs.
NASA had become more of a place to monitor Earth's "safety."
One day, a warning suddenly rang out within NASA, and the red alert lights were flashing incessantly.
Robert, who had just brewed a cup of coffee, was startled by the alarm. He shivered, and the scalding coffee spilled onto his hand, causing his face to contort in pain. He inhaled sharply through clenched teeth, steadying his arm, placing the coffee down, and taking out a black patterned handkerchief from his pocket. He gently pressed it against the scalded area, alternating between wiping and pressing as he walked into the rows of satellite monitoring screens.
"What's happening?" Robert inquired of Director Gail, looking directly at the large screen where flames caused by friction completely enveloped the "meteorite," as it descended towards the ground.
"Director, the reconnaissance satellite detected a 'meteorite' suddenly appearing in the stratosphere, approximately 45 kilometers above the Earth," Director Gail replied from the side.
"Suddenly appearing?"
Robert furrowed his brow in bewilderment. Suddenly appearing?
How could it suddenly appear? The United States had nearly 3,000 artificial satellites orbiting Earth, monitoring the globe almost entirely. If any meteorite appeared in space hundreds of thousands of kilometers away, posing a threat to Earth and heading towards it, it would be detected by the satellites. The trajectory of its flight would be calculated, and whether or not to use missiles to destroy it would depend on factors such as the size of the meteorite and its landing location, among others.
So a 'meteorite' suddenly appearing in the stratosphere without being detected by satellites is practically impossible.
"How is this possible?" Director Gail, who was reviewing satellite monitoring records, covered his temples with his hands, ran his fingers through his thinning, sandy hair, and widened his eyes in disbelief.
"My goodness."
"Am I seeing things?"
"Damn it, I don't think you're seeing things."
"We might be seeing a God."
"How is that possible, it's impossible."
"Oh my God..."
Many operators and staff looked at the surveillance satellite records pulled up by Director Gail. At first glance, they saw H'el appearing in the stratosphere. Although the image was not clear, they could still see a humanoid figure.
Some staff found it hard to believe and said, "Maybe it's a humanoid meteorite. It's not that unusual."
But their argument was soon refuted.
"This thing has a nose and eyes." Although the image was not very clear, it was still apparent that the 'meteorite' had facial features, intact limbs, and fair skin. It really didn't look like a rock.
He wasn't a meteorite.
The space agency fell into a stunned silence, and you could hear a pin drop.
Director Robert was completely dumbfounded for a moment. The image of the humanoid figure kept echoing in his mind. No one could fathom how a person could reach the stratosphere, let alone suddenly appear there.
"Slow the footage down by 10 times. I need to know how he appeared," Robert said, snapping back to reality with a shock, and shouting somewhat hysterically.
Director Gail immediately operated the controls and slowed down the footage by 10 times.
In the footage, you could see H'el suddenly appearing and then being pulled down by Earth's gravity, resembling a falling meteorite.
"50 times!" Robert shouted again.
The footage was further slowed down, but it still showed H'el suddenly appearing without any warning.
"At the highest speed, Gail, I want the frame just before he appeared," Robert yelled loudly. This surreal scene had instilled a sense of fear and hysteria within him.
Gail promptly adjusted the footage.
This time, as if frozen in time, the world came to a standstill, and suddenly a vortex appeared. H'el emerged, and the vortex vanished, incredibly fast. Even when slowed down to the maximum, you could only see the vortex disappearing in an instant.
"It's a wormhole!"
"An extraterrestrial visitor?"
"Oh my God."
"It can't be, it can't be!"
"A physical body passing through a wormhole?"
NASA erupted into loud exclamations. Everyone saw that distinct vortex wormhole, even though it existed for a very short time, just long enough to deliver one person.
The scene challenged the psyche of many personnel.
Everyone at NASA was a carefully selected high intellectual, fully aware of the enormous significance of opening a wormhole, something Earth was entirely incapable of.
A human body traveling through a wormhole? This... how was that possible?
To witness an extraterrestrial visitor or perhaps the arrival of a deity?
"Director, the 'meteorite' has accelerated to Mach 2 and shows no signs of slowing down or disintegrating. It's headed toward the Alaska Anchorage base of the Pacific Joint Military Defense Force," one operator calculated the meteorite's impact point and reported.
"Inform the general at the Alaska Anchorage base to be on alert."
"Contact the President."
Even while in shock, with thoughts racing, Robert continued to issue the right commands, his eyes filled with disbelief, staring intently at the falling 'meteorite.'
"It's impossible, it's already accelerating to Mach 2."
"How could the human body withstand this kind of speed and friction?"
"Beyond Mach 1, flesh would separate from the bones, and the high-temperature friction would burn the bones to powder."
"He's accelerating to Mach 2; in mid-air, he should have been incinerated by friction."
"This defies logic."
"Unless he's made of steel."
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