6 The Race Back Home

Rogers shoved everyone back into the buggy, unanchored it from the ground and started it up. As he was driving back to base, he was attempting to contact it the entire time.

"Rogers to Lunar One! Rogers to Lunar One!"

Finally after a long pause there was a response. "Rogers, this is Lunar One. Are you guys all okay over there?"

"We had small impacts but no injuries." Rogers answered as he was still driving as fast as he could. "Did you just see what passed by us?"

"We were all in the bunkers." The voice replied. "What happened?"

"The meteors were all fragments of an asteroid." Rogers informed the station. "The moon had a near miss with an enormous asteroid."

"More like a close shave." Morgan added.

"Are you guys serious?" the voice replied.

"Lunar One, Dr. Taylor can confirm sighting." Rogers replied. "I repeat, sighting was confirmed. The asteroid was seen by all of us and it was a big bastard."

There was a short pause. "Where is the asteroid now?"

"It's looks to be on a collision course with Earth!" Rogers answered. "I repeat... this thing looks like it's heading for Earth!"

"We'll try to get in touch with Houston." Lunar One replied. "Get back to base as soon as possible."

"Already on our way back." Rogers said as he kept driving.

Rogers wasn't taking a leisurely stroll this time so it took a lot less time for them to make it back to base. There were moments when Morgan honestly thought that Rogers's driving was going to knock them all clear of the Moon's surface but that never happened. Once Rogers had the buggy securely attached to the platform, all four of them made a run for the door. Once inside and oxygen was restored, they pealed off their space suits and entered the station. Rogers however only removed his helmet, and for that reason Morgan only did the same until he figured out what the pilot was up to.

Commander Gordon was already at the door to greet them. "This had better be your idea of a sick joke."

Morgan held up a piece of the asteroid that he picked up off the ground. "Does this look like a joke to you, Sir?"

Gordon took the rock which was about the size of a grapefruit from Morgan and looked at back at Rogers. "How big was that thing?"

"It's big." Rogers answered.

"How big?" Gordon repeated.

"Picture watching Mount Everest floating by less than a few hundred miles from the surface." Morgan answered for Rogers. "If that thing hits the Earth, it will be an extinction level event. Nothing will survive, not even bacteria."

"Have you gotten in touch with Houston, Sir?" Rogers then asked.

"Not yet." Gordon answered. "We're trying but there appears to be some interference."

"That's not surprising." Morgan answered as he pointed at the rock that as still in the commander's hands. "There is a lot of metal in there. An asteroid that massive with metal in its core would cause a lot of interference."

"So there's a killer rock heading for Earth and there's nothing we can do about it?" Gordon asked.

"It would seem so." Morgan answered.

"Sir, request permission to launch." Rogers suddenly asked.

"What for?" Gordon asked.

"The ship's communications." Morgan answered. "If I burn the rockets, we can get ahead of that monster, I should be able to contact Earth and at least warn them."

Gordon thought about it for a moment. "Alright, get back into your suit and lift off. I'll send a few people out there to fuel you guys up. You only get one tank of gas so make it count."

"Yes Sir." Rogers answered as he picked up his helmet and went back to the airlock to leave.

Morgan put his helmet as well, which surprised the commander. "Where do you think you're going Dr. Morgan?"

"I'm already half dressed to go." Morgan answered. "The sooner we get out there the sooner we can warn the planet. Rogers might also need a scientist onboard in case some heavy thinking is required."

Commander Gordon thought about it for a moment. "Alright, get going."

In less than five minutes, Rogers and Morgan were already back out in space and walking towards the shuttle that brought them to the moon. Before entering the shuttle, Rogers did a quick one over of the hull to make sure that there was no damage from the meteor shower. The ship was fine and ready to go. After speaking with the two other astronauts that were fueling the ship to make sure it was topped up, he instructed them to get back to base despite their protest. Morgan didn't know why Rogers insisted, but he did. Once inside the ship, Rogers hopped into the driver's seat and started the ship up as quickly as possible. Morgan was sure Rogers had done this before but the speed he was working at was quite impressive.

"Buckle up, Morgan." Rogers ordered, "We're going to get out of here like a bat out of hell."

"Yes, Captain." Morgan said as he strapped himself in.

Once the ship seemed to be humming and reading to go, Rogers hit a button that released the ship from the station and he used thrusters to slowly lift them off the lunar surface. Morgan didn't think he would be leaving the moon this soon but then again, his near death with the asteroid wasn't something he had expected to see as well.

"Hang on." Rogers warned as he kicked the ship into a full powered burn the moment he was at a safe distance from the base. Morgan remembered doing a few of those while on their way to the Moon, but never for any longer than thirty seconds to correct their course. This time out, Rogers kept his foot on the proverbial gas and kept the engines burning for at least a minute. Not only was Rogers heading for Earth but he was trying to increase his distance from the asteroid at the same time to lower the possible interference. About five minutes after shutting off the engines, Rogers attempted to use the radio. "Houston, this is Lunar shuttle... please Respond."

There was no answer, only static.

Rogers took a deep breath. "Houston, this is Captain Rogers onboard the Lunar shuttle... please respond."

There was still static, and the silence was getting to them.

"Houston, wake the fuck up!" Rogers screamed into his mic.

Seconds later there was a response. It was weak but it came through. "Rogers, this is Houston. We read you but there is some interference."

"Houston, I am declaring an emergency." Rogers said as he took a deep breath. "I need to speak with mission commander."

Moments later, there was a familiar voice on the line. "Rogers, it's Ricky. What the hell is going on up there?"

"Sir, we've got a major situation on our hands." Rogers answered. "There was a meteor shower near Lunar One's location and it was caused by an asteroid."

"Did this asteroid hit the moon?" Ricky asked.

"No, it was a near miss." Rogers answered. "But we're looking at the asteroid right now and it appears to be heading for Earth."

There was a long pause at the other end. Morgan could have swore that they lost communication with Houston, but chances are they were just digesting the serious allegation that Rogers just made.

"Can you repeat that, Captain?"

"This is Dr. Morgan Taylor." Morgan said as he stepped into the conversation, "I can confirm for you that there is an asteroid, a big one, and it's heading for Earth."

"How big are we talking here?" Ricky asked as his voice came back on.

"Ricky, it's the size of New Hampshire." Rogers answered. "And it's bearing down on you guys pretty fast. You've got half a day, if that."

"Send us co-ordinates and we'll check this out for ourselves..." suddenly the line went back to static.

"Shit!" Rogers called out as he started to fiddle with the control. "We've lost the signal."

"They have more than enough to work with." Morgan said as he sighed. "All they have to do is calculate where the moon is and that will give them a grid to work with. They'll find it. At least they know about it."

"How fast is that thing going?" Rogers asked as he looked out his window.

"At least a few thousand miles per hour... maybe a lot more." Morgan said as he observed. "That thing is gonna smack into Earth with extreme prejudice."

Rogers looked at his fuel tank and even tapped it a big to check on it. "We've got more than enough fuel to double back."

"What do you mean double back?" Morgan asked.

"We're going to get closer to Earth, try to re-establish communications." Rogers answered. "Maybe even try to get in touch with the space station."

"Oh my gaud." Morgan said as he thought about it. "I forgot all about the international space station!"

"Why do you think I wanted to keep these seats empty?" Rogers said as he set the ship up for another intense burn. "The second international space station has a supply of fuel just in case of emergencies like this. So we can burn everything we got and still have enough to head back to Lunar One. If we can't save the Earth, the least we can do is save all the astronauts on that station."