Chapter 2: The Mission
"Is everything alright here?" napalingon kaming lahat sa pintuan nang makita namin si Commander Smith sa pintuan.
"Yes,Commander" we said, ngumiti lamang siya at tuluyan nang umalis sa kinaroroonan namin ng mga maintenance and engineers. As of now, we are preparing the nuclear missile that we are going to use to attack Apophis B ( Asteroid's moon/satellite), All engineers are here to assemble this and they're doing their best to advance each and every part of this missile, which means that these nuclear weapons are so strong, we only have 3 missiles so we only have 3 chances to nuke the moon, If we are going to use this weapon here on earth it will surely kill billions of people and destroy millions of constructions and buildings, if this nuclear missile did not work on Apophis B then it means that the asteroid is much bigger than we've ever expected.
"I'll just get some coffee" paalam ko sa mga kasama ko.
"Wait—" hindi kona nilingon pa kung sino ang nag salita at dumeretyo na ako palabas.
Pagkatapak ko sa exit door ng building ay tumambad sa akin napaka raming media galing sa ibat-ibang bansa.
"Good morning maam, we are from national television,How big is the asteroid that is heading to our planet? " tanong ng unang reporter na humarap sa akin.
"What's your solution to this? " tanong ng isa pa.
"Are you doing anything to stop this? " sunod na tanong.
"How can we help? " napatingin ako sa huling reporter na nag tanong.
"I dont know either, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) team are doing their best to solve this problem, all we have to do is to trust each and everyone of us, you don't have to go here to search for more informations, I advice you all to go back to your home and be with your family, we'll never know how much our life will last, You should spend it with your love once" humakbang ako papalayo sa kanila nang may mag salita.
"Is t-this the e-end?" tanong ng isang babae sa akin, bigla akong napatigil sa pag lalakad sa tanong na 'yon.
"No. We'll do everything to stop this, I'll make sure of that" nag lakad na ako palayo sa media at dumeretyo sa starport cafe, gaya ng inaasahan ko ay umalis na ang mga media, hindi nila dapat sinasayang ang natitira nilang oras para lang sa trabaho. umorder ako ng kape at nag madaling inubos ito bago ako muling bumalik sa team.
Nakarinig ako ng tatlong magkakasunod na palakpak, galing ito sa lalakeng sumundo ss akin kahapon sa starport cafe.
"Ano nanaman kailangan netong lalakeng to? " bulong ko sa sarili ko, hindi ko ito pinansin at nag madali akong nag lakad papunta sa pupuntahan ko.
"You really like the spotlight huh" I rolled my ayes at him.
"We all know that we can't do anything about this, Masyado tayong mahina para kalabanin ang ganong kalaking bagay" nanlaki ang mga ko nang marinig kong nag salita ito ng Filipino.
"Pilipino ka? " tanong ko, He just chuckled.
"Yes, half. But even though I'm a filipino I still dont like your attitude" napangisi ako sa kaniya at dumeretyo na sa pinanggalingan ko kanina, nanlaki ang mata ko nang makita ko si Commander smith sa loob.
"Commander" bati ko sa kaniya as a sign of respect agad naman itong lumingon sa akin.
"Astronaut Amara, I just want to inform you that we are going to fire Apophis B today—"
"Now?!! It's too early!" hindi pwede, masyado pa itong malayo, mas malaki at tiyansa na hindi ito matamaan.
"We have to, There was a sudden change to its movement. Now it's moving 3 times faster than its normal speed" para akong nanghina sa sinasabi niya, nakita kong nireready na ng mga Engineers and scientists ang Nuclear missile at maya maya pa ay bumukas na ang isa g side ng ng silid na kinaroroonan namin and to my shock, it was an open area! I didn't know that this place exist here at NASA, isa itong quadrangle na kasing size ng football field.
"We built this field incase of emergency, like this one" paliwanag sa akin ni Commander smith,tumango lamang ako.
Nag lakad kaming lahat palabas ng silid na pinag lagyan ng missile at ang mga asteronomers at lahat ng mga naka assign dito ay nag punta sa kani-kanilang mga computer para obserbahan ang galaw nito, nag umpisa nang mag count down si commander smith at nang sabihin niya ang '1'ay bigla nalamang lumipad ang missile papunta sa kalawakan. Lahat ng tao ay nakatingin sa dalawang malaking manitor, ang isa ay live video galing sa NASA na nag rerecord ng pag lipad nito at ang isa naman ay galing sa mismong camera na naka indicate sa mismong missile.
And that's it, all we have to do is to wait for a couple of days, We're lucky at the same time, our advance technology helps us to build a very fast shapeship and missile, this shapeship had been made in America last year October 3,2052. Because of this we can reach our destination quickly,
AFTER 5 DAYS ay pinatawag na kaming lahat, ngayon namin malalaman kung magiging successful ba ang plano namin, Isang oras na lamang ang hihintayin bago mag tagpo ang missile na pinadala namin at ang Apophis B, lahat ng tao sa paligid ko ay kinakabahan sa maaaring maging resulta nito.
"Team, relax we did our best okay? " sigaw ni Commander Smith sa aming lahat, kanina niya pa pinapalakas ang loob naming lahat ngunit bakas din sa mukha niya ang pagod at pangamba.
"We're going to reach Apophis asteroid B in 10,9,8,7" Lahat kami ay nakatutok na sa monitor hinihintay ang magiging resulta..
"6,5,4" sobrang tanaw na namin ang ground ng Apophis B (Satellite) which means that the statistics are correct and we are going to reach it's ground.
"3,2,1" nag black ang paligid ng monitor, matagumpay itong tumama sa ground ng satellite/moon ng Apophis A, lahat kami at nakatingin sa isang monitor kung saan makikita namin kung nagkaroon ba ng pag babago ang rotation ng Asteroid... We just waited in a couple of seconds,and minutes and hour...
Nothing happened..
The nuclear weapon is too weak to push the satellite of Apophis A,we need more energy... We need much stronger impact! Ang buong silid ay tahimik, walang ni isa ang nag sasalita, lahat lamang ay nakatingin sa monitor ang iba ay para nang iiyak sa takot.
No.. Noo this is not happening.
Masyadong malayo ang pinanggalingn ng missile kaya hindi naging ganon kalakas ang impact nito sa asteroid.
"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!" sigaw ng isa, nag simula nang mag-ingay ang buong paligid, akoy nakahawak lamang sa sariling noo..
"We have to try it agai—"
"No" sigaw ko, lahat nag tinginan sa akin at ang iba ay kinwestyon ako.
"We have to change our plan! If the nuclear missile is too weak we have to—"
"Astronaut Amara, The materials that we've made is the most powerful equipment that we can use to advance the explosion, That's our maximum materials, there's nothing that we can do to readvance the missile's power" sabi ng isang engineer.
"If we can't create a stronger missile then we have to do something that we've never did before " I said, lahat ng mata ay nasa akin.
"We need to bring that missile closer to the asteroids Satellite which is Apophis B,we're going to fire that asteroid even closer to create a massive impact to the asteroids moon, The impact of the explosion will cause a distraction to the moon that leads to a sudden change of its rotation... That's our last option" tahimik ang lahat sa sinabi ko.
"We can't risk someone's life with that project Astronaut Amara, That is too Dangerous! We might encounter a lot of asteroid belts it can destroy the spaceship" Paalala ni Commander smith sa akin.
"I'll do it" matapang na sabi ko.
"But Amara!" sigaw nito sa akin.
"I can do it... dad" sabi ko sa kaniya, "I'd rather die doing something than staying here doing nothing.. Waiting for that asteroid to kill our planet"
"I'll come" sabi ni Commander smith sa akin, "You know you can't do that, you have to lead them" turo ko sa lahat ng tao na nakapaligid sa amin, "The whole team needs you" I replied.
"I'll do it" The man paused, napatingin ako sa nag salita. Siya yung lalake na sumundo sa akin sa cafe "I'll come with you" matapang na sabi nito, nginitian ko lamang siya.
"But we need 6 astronauts to do that" sigaw ko, may apat na tao ang nag prisinta na sumama sa amin 3 boys and 1 girl napangiti ako nang makita kong sabay silang humakbang papunta sa harapan ko.
"We'll come with you" tinanguan ko lamang sila ng isang beses bago muling tumingin kay commander Smith
"Commander Smith Abella, We're ready to go to space as soon as posible" nakita kong may tumutulong luha sa mata ng tatay ko, habang tumatango.
"We must ready the missiles and the space craft ASAP." pag papatuloy ko, nakita kong tumalikod ang tatay ko para itago ang nga luha niya, kahit ako ay nasasaktan, gusto kong umiyak ngunit kailangan ko Magpakatatag.
Kung ito man ang magiging huling kabanata ng buhay ko, sisiguraduhin kong magiging kapaki-pakinabang ito.
☆☆☆
-Voi-a-Sirius ♥