Collision Earth Page #2

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that hit us this morning.

Biggest one on record,

but the Nautilus should be prepared

- for that kind of event.

- It's not a solar flare.

Okay, look.

Its magnetic signature,

it's off the charts.

Oh, my God.

Are you okay?

Yeah, just a headache.

Any luck on the comm?

Well, we'll only be able

to transmit

and receive

on a very narrow band.

But they'll be able

to hear us?

If they're listening.

Power blackouts.

Communication failures.

Airplanes grounded.

The government wants you

to think it's a solar flare,

but we are here

to give you the truth.

Brooke Adamson's

"Conspiracy Report" is back on the air.

Nice.

What's wrong?

No, it's just, uh,

getting some interference.

- It's not us.

- It's the Feds.

- It's not the Feds.

- It's the Feds.

This is

Victoria Preston of the USS Nautilus

making an emergency

distress call.

Can anybody read?

No way.

What?

This is Victoria Preston

on the USS Nautilus. Come in.

Isn't the Nautilus the spacecraft

that's on the Mercury mission?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Well, it's gotta be a joke.

Well, we'll find out.

First we'll lock on her signal.

Here.

Um...

copy that, Nautilus.

You're breaking up.

- Do you read?

- Copy that.

This is Victoria Preston on

the Nautilus. We are in distress.

Before we proceed,

please encrypt

this transmission using

security protocol 27-46-32.

- What are you doing?

- If it's a hoax, they'll play along.

- How can you be so sure?

- Because that's what I would do.

There's no such protocol.

Who exactly am I speaking with?

Give me that.

This is Christopher Weaver

and Brooke Adamson.

We're seniors

at North Bay University.

You've managed to connect

with our pirate radio station.

Victoria, do you copy that?

Come in.

- What happened?

- We gotta get that signal back.

Let's go to the car.

We'll try new batteries.

Before my telescope went off-line,

I was able to pull these images.

Look at these sun-spots.

They're starting to disappear here,

and here, here, and here.

- What does that mean?

- Magnetism.

It all makes sense now.

For one brief millisecond,

our humble little sun

became a magnetar,

the most powerful source

of magnetic energy in the universe.

A magnetar?

Yeah, it's extremely rare,

but it's the only thing

that could explain it.

The sun-spots, the blackouts,

the magnetic wave, everything.

What was that?

Whoa.

This should not be happening.

There's no way our database

could have missed

this many meteors

approaching Earth.

Buddy,

either you're wrong

or that's not a meteor.

That impact site can't be

more than a mile or two, tops.

Let's take my car. I don't want

to have to ride on your handlebars.

Very funny.

- Get in the car.

- I enjoy riding my bike to work.

- It's something that I like to do.

- Get in the car.

Uh, this is not good.

Do you know

where we are yet?

No.

But we're accelerating

without engine power.

Well, you check autopilot and see

if there's been any false commands

and I'll see what I can do.

Yes, ma'am.

Wow.

Something's definitely wrong.

- There's still no signal.

- I don't know.

Do you think that

was really the Nautilus?

Yeah, I do.

I do.

Whoa!

- What the hell was that?

- I don't know,

but there's more coming.

Get in the car.

Get in the car!

James?

Run. Run!

Get down!

Oh, boy.

Is it over?

I think so.

What the hell happened?

Whoa.

Navigation systems initializing.

Flight path compromised.

Marshall, I've checked everything.

I can't find anything wrong.

Get up here.

I need your help with navigation.

We need to figure out

where we're headed now.

- And we are back up.

Plotting Nautilus location.

Wait, this can't be right.

- What is it?

We're not where we should be.

Neither is Mercury.

How is that possible?

I don't know. It's out of orbit.

No. We're accelerating

towards the planet.

Mercury is dragging us in?

But we're not close enough

to be in its gravity.

Whatever it is,

I don't want to be any closer.

Reverse thrusters engaged.

Victoria, we need

to get a hold of Mission Ops.

Right.

Okay.

Maybe.

Ground, do you copy?

Can you hear me?

Ground, this is Victoria.

Do you copy?

Thrusters are at 70%.

I don't like this.

Ground, this is Victoria. Do you copy?

- Yeah, Victoria. We're here.

- Oh, thank God.

I need you to get in touch

with Mission Control. It's urgent.

Well, if you're trying to warn us

about meteors,

- you're a little late for that.

- Christopher, the Nautilus

has been knocked off course.

I need Mission Ops to guide us.

Come on.

Mission Ops is in Houston.

We're in Oregon and the phones are down.

Oregon, okay.

I need you to get to a facility

south of Seattle called SPEAR.

SPEAR. I know that.

My cousin lives nearby.

Okay, great. When you get there,

ask for a person named Jennifer Kelly.

Tell her what I've told you,

that we need Mission Ops

to guide Nautilus, and give her

this frequency to get in touch.

And, please,

our lives depend on it.

We're on it.

Let's go.

It has an extremely high

iron content.

Way too high for

an ordinary piece of meteorite.

This might sound crazy,

but I think this is a piece of Mercury.

It's a magnetized piece

of Mercury.

If it was hit

by the magnetar wave,

that would explain

why it's magnetic.

Even so,

how are pieces of it

down here?

I don't know.

Thrusters are at maximum.

- We're still being pulled in.

- I can do a manual override

in the engine room

to boost the thrusters,

but it's a temporary fix at best.

- Do it!

- Got it!

This is weird.

You want to read me

those coordinates again?

Yeah. Uh...

- right ascension...

- Mm-hmm.

...13 hours...

- Mm-hmm.

...17 minutes.

- Mm-hmm.

- Declination...

- Yeah.

...negative-7 degrees...

- Yeah.

... 2 arcminutes.

It's not there.

What are you talking about?

- It's not there.

- Where is it?

I don't know.

It's just... it's gone.

- Do you mind?

- It's just gone.

Okay.

They were right there.

Mercury was right...

they were right there.

All right, that...

that's impossible.

A planet doesn't just move.

What are you gonna do?

I'm gonna get some answers.

Marshall, I got you another 20%,

but that's the best I could do.

Let's hope it's enough.

There's not enough power

in the reverse thrusters.

I need to flip us around

and engage the main engine.

That's too risky.

We can't use the reverse thrusters

and turn the ship at the same time.

We'd be pulled in immediately.

- Not if we do it fast enough.

- We?

It's a two-man job, Victoria.

But I'm not a pilot.

Welcome to your promotion.

Victoria, reduce power by 20%

when I boost the main engines.

Copy that.

Now!

Reducing power.

We're being

pulled in sideways.

Marshall?

Marshall?!

Maneuver successfully executed.

Okay, I need you

to take over for a while.

What's wrong?

What's the matter?

I think I might have got hit hard...

Marshall!

Yes?

We need to see

Jennifer Kelly right away.

- And you are?

- We have an urgent message

from Victoria Preston

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