Meteor

It has now been a year since the meteor had been detected tracing a close enough orbital course where in flight close observation of it looked to be technically feasible for a scientific mission. After much debate and extensive calculations it was jointly reasoned by a group of theoretical physicist that to land a robotic probe onto the speeding meteor and conduct an array of experiments in its natural environment of the void of space was possible if the mission can begin preparations now in order to reach it in the time that a one month window of best opportunity of approach is optimal in its orbital path. In the promotion of the mission exotic theories and the valued advancement of overall knowledge leaped like frogs in an overpopulated pond and the fact that a successful rendezvous had been made with a comet made it digestible to foot the bill for the mission to the flying rock if not for the sake of knowledge then simply for the sake of doing it, so with a delay of about three weeks or so the mission went into launch mode and liftoff hailed the adventure to the meteor for robotic contact research of stone number UZX19725A which is different in that it has broken free of the asteroid belt and has developed its own unique orbital flight path.

The prospect is for three and a half months in flight at an average speed of sixty thousand miles per hour where at ten thousand miles away the retro rockets of the flight platform will begin a series of controlled burns to slow the projectile so that on a flyby the robotic probe is released to make a soft landing onto the meteor. As the two objects got closer together the excitement at the command center and all other worldwide observation posts grew proportionally in conjunction with the increasing nearness to each other that the objects became. For some time pictures had been transmitted back to earth of the target but at ten thousand miles away what had previously been speculated as being camera abnormalities begin to appear more as being tiny stone flakes sometimes breaking off in noticeable chunks from the meteor which otherwise looked like a very solid mass. This new development caused no concerns about impact hazards or at least none that the earth should be concerned about because of the distance involved with the worst case being that of a failed mission and of course the lost of the investment funds that such a case will entail so all seemed good for the go ahead in-lieu of any unexpected system failures.

At five hours to ejection the excitement evaporated into exasperation as the main viewing camera on the flight platform suddenly shut down for no apparent reason which did not leave the mission controllers in the blind but denied them pictures from the camera that was trained direct towards the meteor but then with only a few moments remaining to robotic ejection a pleasant surprise came in the form of the errant camera switching back online and now with the clearest transmissions to date. A few seconds to robotic probe ejection and the controllers saw a tiny piece of stone speeding towards the flight platform that looked like a spec of light and then the camera shook violently briefly and then the continuation of stunning pictures of the robotic probe disengaging from the flight platform and heading as planned towards a landing upon the meteor. With a audible sigh of relief and a cheerful applause at a series of possible fatal mishaps averted all eyes were now focused upon the pictures of the probe heading towards the meteor which will soon be lost as the flight platform passes by with no other pictures being received again until all of the devices onboard the robotic probe becomes fully activated and begin its detailed scan and analysis of the flying stone.

In the midst of jubilations it is brought to the flight controllers attention that the bypass was not occurring and indeed the meteor was looming larger on the picture frame. Gradually everyone in the control room begin to take note of this and instantly begin analyzing the data being displayed onto they're consoles. The rate of speed of all the objects and they're nearness to each other did not allow for any time to fully interpret what was happening and employ countermeasures to make correction. The flight platform overtook the robotic probe and nearly everyone in the control room instinctively ducked when on the huge display screens they followed it as it plowed into the meteor releasing an enormous explosion of debris before all signals went down. It is assumed that the robotic probe was also destroyed in the explosion of the meteor and speculations ranged far and wide as to how could the impact of the flight platform rip the meteor apart as it did as inquisitive scholarly debate however unbeknownst to everyone by a fluke of natural physics when the meteor exploded into bits these projectiles followed the flight trajectory of the flight platform back to its launch location and in a space of four months after collision thousands of stones begin to plummet the earth bringing with it a contamination that viciously attacks human biology placing the continuation of humanity in desperate peril.

Woe unto those whose learned knowledge transforms them into educated imbeciles with a touch of numskull here and there of astutely enriched embalming fluid for they esteem themselves to be the answer to every question and by force of nearsightedness can only see the shell of the whole. Run excitedly to those who have puffed up minds for the keys of knowledge reside upon the painted picture that has no substance beyond the hanging frame. Ask and you will be given an answer for it beyond the scope of the learned to admit that they have no credible proclamations to your inquiry and what you have been so wisely given drop into the flush when you are done with it. Yearn for more and more will elevate you because the lower levels have much more needed room to improve and the upper stratum will ultimately droop from the bewilderedly hanging lips under the blaze of projected errors that have summarily dismissed them.