PROLOGUE
It started as a worldwide catastrophe on a day that seemed as
normal as any other.
The year was 2056, when a meteor cloud suddenly appeared
in space, becoming visible only as it approached Earth. It was
traveling at an astonishing velocity.
All of Earth’s astrophysicists marveled. They had never seen an
astronomical event like it. Their amazement quickly turned into
alarm, which spread through the scientific community nearly as
fast as the meteor cloud approached the Earth’s atmosphere.
Scientists attempted to assess the cloud, but they were unable
to see into it. Space shuttles and satellites were launched toward
the approaching cloud to determine its chemical composition
and measure the size of the meteors.
But the speed of its approach was much faster than had been
calculated by the world’s finest scientists. Before any satellite
could approach it, the satellites failed, losing all power—some
even exploding as the cloud engulfed them.
Before shuttles could be launched, the world’s space station
exploded.
Everyone watched with growing fear and horror as total
darkness spread quickly across the sky.
With no way to stop the cloud, all the world’s governments
targeted the biggest meteors they could with their missiles.
Citizens watched in shock as millions of rockets filled the sky.
But there were millions of tiny meteors, none of which seemed
bigger than twenty to fifty feet across. Nonetheless, missiles
were launched, hoping they would help destroy the biggest
before they hit Earth.
To everyone’s dismay, as soon as the missiles left Earth’s
atmosphere and neared the meteor cloud, they too seemed to
fail. Occasionally, one would burst into flame as if its fuel had
exploded. None of the missiles reached their targets.
The world’s leading scientists all confirmed this while
government officials sought bomb shelters. The scientists
quickly assured their governments that there should be no
significant impact damage, as most of the meteors they could
see would likely burn up upon entering Earth’s atmosphere.
But even they were worried, for the chemical components in
the meteor cloud were unknown, and they were asking the same
questions as their governments:
Why had their satellites stopped working before the cloud
had enveloped them? Why—and what—had caused all the fuel
to explode and destroy the space station before the cloud had
enveloped it? And why had not one missile reached its target?
Those questions went unanswered as the meteor cloud quickly
surrounded Earth and entered its atmosphere.