Rain of Death

The Earth floated lazily through the void of space, steady in its orbit through the blackness. Drifting along with the moon bobbing off to the side. The amazing view was obstructed only by the beeping and whirring of the myriad of metallic creations zipping back and forth like a raging storm of gnats on a hot summer day. A clanking sound seemed to echo through the universe as a shuttle floated into position and opened its cargo doors. Two suited bodies slowly emerged from the belly of the white beast as the arm began to come alive. It slowly extended into the void, attached to another new satellite. The two astronauts diligently set to work on the latest addition to the orbit.

"Hey John," Sarah stated dreamily as she began to drift backwards, "isn't the Earth so beautiful from up here?"

"Stop being such a girl and get over and help me put this last solar panel on. This is why women shouldn't be allowed in the astronaut program. You gettin' all this crap in there, Rich?"

"Will you two hurry up out there? My son's birthday is this weekend and I promised I would be home for it." Rich replied from inside the shuttle.

The two astronauts began to work together out in the void of space. It was quite lovely, with the planet floating just beyond them. All three of them kept wondering just how many of these defense satellites the military could ever possibly use. Here they were setting up some "observation" hunk of metal to float around in space until it eventually was pulled back to earth in a fiery crash. It was almost to the point where the orbit was like a giant junk yard in the sky.

"Finally! Can we go home now?", John pleaded. "If we jet now we should be out of sick bay by your son's birthday, Rich."

"Pack it up kids, we're going home." Rich stated with a sigh of relief. "Houston, the satellite is complete and ready for power up."

"We copy, Columbus. Stand by for test run." crackled the distant voice. Seconds later the sate