13 The Illusions Become Reality While Reality Become Illusions(3)

Ten hours had passed since the strange sound first appeared.

It was July 31, 2019, at 1:20 AM GMT+8 in China (37°59'59").

Inside the space station, two male astronauts were looking out at the sun.

"Hey, look! The sun seems less radiant this time," said one of the astronauts as he bumped his co-astronaut's forearm.

"Are you crazy? When did the sun ever lose its radiance?" the other astronaut replied, mocking his colleague.

"No, seriously, look and observe carefully. The sun seems really dim," the first astronaut insisted.

"You're nuts. Ha ha ha," the other astronaut laughed.

"Don't laugh. I'm serious here. Haven't you noticed that the temperature in the station has become unusually cold compared to normal?" the first astronaut asked.

"Has the heating system malfunctioned again?" a female astronaut's voice echoed.

"Annie, have you noticed it too?" the first astronaut asked.

"Yes, I thought it was just my imagination, but after I heard Bob saying that the sun seems to lack its usual radiance, I'm sure that it's not the heating system that has a problem, but rather the sun," Annie replied.

"Annie! Bob!" Victor, the first astronaut, called out to his colleagues, his eyes wide with horror.

"What's the fuss, Victor?" Annie asked.

"L-L-Look at the moon," Victor stuttered, pointing in the opposite direction. The moon was emitting a dark mist.

"You're making too much of a fuss right now, Victor," the two astronauts tried to mock him, but before they could finish their words, they were horrified by a bone-chilling scene.

"What was that?"

"Look! There's something there!" Victor shouted again, waking up the other two from their daze.

"T-T-That! Isn't that the asteroid Bennu?!"

"How did it suddenly appear behind the moon?!" the three astronauts were startled, sweating profusely.

They had been informed the moment the Catalina observatory discovered that Ben-nu was headed towards Earth. All of them were already prepared to face any consequences the moment they flew out into space, but now, the three were afraid.

Any human being that could see what they were seeing would also be petrified, horrified, and scared.

The moon, already a daunting view, was now enveloped in black mist, and the asteroid Ben-nu was beating like a heart.

The usually temperate and dangerous sun was slowly fading, and the moon, which usually showed its one-sided face, was now...

The three looked at each other in silence. Bob was the first to regain his wit and said, "We need to inform headquarters and prepare for the worst."

Annie was still in a frightened state.

Victor muttered to himself, but it was enough for the two to hear. "Then the one flying towards Earth was not Ben-nu. Then what was it?"

"You mean one more Ben-nu-like thing was coming to Earth?"

"No, it's more frightening than Ben-nu."

"The current situation is scary enough. Then Ben-nu was there," Victor analyzed, pointing in the direction of the moon, with his forehead full of sweat.

"Hey guys, what are you doing there? And, Victor, why are you sweating so much?" Someone called to them.

But before the three could respond, the main system of the ISS sounded.

"Warning! Warning! Warning!" The main computer issued a continuous warning.

"Warning, all equipment has been damaged!"

"War..."

"THIS!"

"Evacuate immediately! This is an order." The telecommunication that connects the ISS and Earth sounded.

"An intense gamma ray may hit the Earth in four hours."

As the six people from the ISS boarded Soyuz-TMA, Bob nervously turned to the two and saw them nodding. Taking a deep breath, he said to the commander, "Commander! We saw the moon, and it was…"

"What was it, Bob? Is it normal for you to see the moon? Stop talking nonsense right now. Prepare yourself; we are setting off in 10 minutes!" the commander interrupted him and ordered everyone to get ready to take off.

"Commander! The moon…" Bob tried to explain, but the commander cut him off.

"BOB!" the commander shouted at him.

When the two saw that Bob was being ignored, they hesitated for a moment, and then Annie said, "Commander, we saw the moon covered by black mist and the asteroid Ben-nu."

Everyone was startled by Annie's words. They thought Bob was just making a fuss, but now seeing the frightened faces of Annie and Victor, they were shocked and scared.

"What do you mean, Annie? Can you explain it to us?" the commander asked.

"Five hours earlier, the temperature in the station dropped. Didn't you feel it?" Annie pointed out and continued to explain what they saw and what had happened earlier.

"So you mean all this time, the asteroid Ben-nu was already in the orbit of Earth, and we were still oblivious about its existence, and the one that was detected by CSS was not Ben-nu?" the commander gasped for breath when he heard the full story. His back was now covered in sweat, even though he was wearing a space suit with its own power cooling system.

"We need to report this to the headquarters, Commander!" Victor exclaimed.

"Yes, I will make the call now," the commander said.

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At NASA Headquarters, everyone had the same reaction upon hearing the commander's explanation. "What is happening?" was the thought running through everyone's mind.

Recently, they had detected a star that was likely to experience a star quake, and this would have an impact on a Magnetar outside of the Milky Way. The gamma radiation from the affected Magnetar could reach Earth, which is why they had decided to call back the astronauts. Even if the gamma radiation only affected less than 1%, it would still immobilize all of the satellites and technology on Earth for three days, and permanently damage the satellites.

"Is this what they call God's Will?" someone wondered.