Chapter 6: The shoots of disaster.

All was quiet, too quiet. No screams could be heard. The oppressive silence was broken only by the deafening crash of the asteroid's decent, followed by an impact that sent heaven and earth reeling, even shaking the walls of Reiner's apartment. The tremors were so strong that they even knocked one of the glasses off the edge of one of Reiner's kitchen cabinets.

The black screen that followed the impact let no sound escape, plunging the room into a heavy silence that seemed to last an eternity. Realizing this, the TV station crew switched screens to show some journalists sitting at a desk, motionless and stunned. They clearly hadn't even realized they were live. They were staring straight ahead, into the void where a screen was undoubtedly projecting the situation, leaving them to see themselves. Yet none of them moved.

Alice and Reiner were no different, at least at first. Reiner came to his senses at the same moment as Alice, and both wanted to change channels in the hope of finding out more about the situation, but there was absolutely nothing they hadn't seen. Sometimes a black screen, sometimes another team of journalists or experts sitting in front of their respective desks, not saying a single sentence of interest.

The screen suddenly went completely black for a few seconds, before displaying the search bar of an Internet browser. Reiner quickly wrote "situation desert Mexico live", but there was no amateur live broadcast, and logically, no video could be seen.

Faced with a fait accompli, Reiner gave up trying to find out more. He took a few seconds to think things over, then turned off the TV and turned to Alice, who was standing still, looking deceptively calm.

"How about we wait and see how the situation develops, and in the meantime, pretend nothing's happened?"

"How can you pretend nothing's happened after seeing that?"

Alice replied, an indignant and confused expression etched on her face.

"Honestly, I can't pretend nothing's happened. But is there anything we can do other than wait and find out what happened? I...I don't think there's any point in stressing out when we literally don't know anything, the most important thing is that we're not in danger."

Reiner replied in a trembling voice, accompanied by slight spasms in his hands. This left Alice with a sour expression, who replied with a short sentence.

"But...these people are dead..."

Reiner replied in return with a somber expression, masking his true thoughts and feelings, as he stood up.

"We don't know these people, can we honestly care about the death of strangers we only saw seconds before their deaths? It's true that it's horrible and sad for their families and loved ones, but... even without that, people die every minute... in the alleys around us, for example..."

Reiner then headed for the kitchen. Once there, he spoke in a voice loud enough for Alice to hear him properly.

"I'm sorry if I seem blunt...feelings have never been my strong point... Besides...could you help me please, a glass has fallen and there's broken glass all over the kitchen..."

Hearing Reiner, Alice stood up, taking some utensils from a kitchen cupboard to clean up the shards of glass, only to turn back to Reiner with a sigh.

"Don't you think it would be easier with this..."

She then handed what she'd brought to Reiner, who hadn't listened to her sentence, a worried expression written on his face as he picked up the debris with his bare hands.However, when he saw Alice handing him something, he was quick to change his expression, awkwardly moving his hands to catch what she was handing him, while mechanically clenching both hands.

However, as a result of his movements, he cut the palm of his right hand while gripping tightly one of the pieces of debris he had grabbed. He felt a sharp pain run through his but as he let out a scream, throwing the bloody piece of glass which shattered on contact with the ground, letting some of his blood splatter everywhere.

"Ah fuck! It hurts!"

Alice dropped everything she was holding onto the floor to approach Reiner, and ask him hurriedly.

"Are you okay, Reiner?"

Reiner stood up quickly, heading for the bathroom while clutching his right hand, which was dripping blood, with his other hand, before answering awkwardly with a forced smile.

"Yeah, it's nothing serious, I just need to put a bandage on it to stop the bleeding or I'll get blood everywhere."

Alice followed Reiner accordingly towards the small bathroom that held some medicines and bandages behind the mirror above the sink, which Reiner had just opened as a door, staining it with some of his own blood. He tried with difficulty to unwind his bandage, leaving it clean above the sink, but Alice stopped him, saying.

"At least let me do your bandaging, and since when can your mirror do that?"

Reiner handed her his roll of plaster, speaking in a voice that sounded deliberately silly.

"Well, I used to see this a lot in old American movies, and I wanted the same thing so I tinkered with it myself, how cool is that?"

"Er...if you like. But you were just going to put this on, when your wound...is still pretty deep? Plus, you've got lots of little splinters in the wound."

Alice replied, observing Reiner's right hand, which she had placed in front of her face and held with both hands. Reiner's hand contained a surprisingly deep gash given the small size of the piece that had injured him, as well as being strewn with glass dust.

"Bah yes..."

Reiner replied as Alice went off to fetch a compress with a small bottle of disinfectant. She quickly cleaned Reiner's hand, which showed a painful expression. Alice then looked him in the eye and said.

"Honestly, if you'd done that, you'd just have been in pain...lucky I followed you..."

"At the moment, I'm under the impression that it was you who hurt me..."

Reiner replied, a very slight sneer on his face. This made Alice sigh as she replied.

"If I ever get hurt, remind me never to let you heal me...I'd end up with more wounds than before..."

"Thank you, and I'll remember that, but I'll still heal you after reminding you of what you just said."

"Only if you follow my instructions...if we don't take into account that we can't really heal an android."

Alice replied, casting a wary glance in Reiner's direction. But he nonchalantly changed the subject.

"Well, now that this hiccup is over, let's finish cleaning up the bits of glass."

Then he sighed before adding with an ironic smile.

"And my blood too..."

Alice and Reiner quickly cleaned up even those parts of the house that contained no traces of blood or glass, despite Alice's nagging, telling Reiner not to use his right hand too much, but he always ignored her warnings, saying "Don't worry, I'm being careful". Although Alice could clearly see that he wasn't paying any attention to his hand.

It wasn't until they had finished cleaning up, and were sitting down in front of the still unlit TV, that Reiner's phone vibrated. Reiner picked it up out of curiosity, before immediately deleting the notification from his mother-in-law and muttering an insult.

At the same time, Alice turned on the TV again, flipping through all the channels, which spoke of only one thing: what had just happened. But as the situation on the spot was still unclear, the news crews had been denied access beyond a newly established perimeter. Each journalist could only reassure the population or explain possible theories, while several armored military vehicles crossed the security perimeter unceasingly, some carrying weapons, others men, androids and war robots.

Some of these vehicles were even the latest humanoid titan models, displaying frightening destructive capabilities.

When the journalists asked for an explanation of what they were seeing, the military men in uniforms or full armor and armor, answered only the same thing over and over again.

"As the situation is still unclear, we are taking various security measures for the safety of civilians wishing to cross this perimeter by assigning a deterrent force around the point of impact, in addition to providing an escort for the scientists working with the army who have come to analyze the situation."

As none of the journalists were satisfied, they pressed for more details. But each soldier apologized to them, before handing over one by one to androids in light military garb, rather dated due to their poor protection against today's plasma weapons or miniature electric cannons. They only answered some of the journalists' questions in a cold, precise manner.

"The possibility of the presence of a virus dangerous to humans requiring the destruction of the fragment of celestial body that landed on the surface is not negligible, and would require great destructive power. In addition, the possibility of contact with another dangerous, non-intelligent life-form that has taken up residence inside the fragment of celestial body, albeit a weak one, is present. The possibility of newly-created environmental hazards due to the impact in the middle of the desert, such as ground collapses if an underground cellar has had its ceiling weakened by the impact, not to mention the presence of radiation on site requiring appropriate treatment and the utmost suspicion. These are just some of the reasons for our presence, so please stand back and let us do our job, and you can access the site once any potential danger has been averted."

One of the androids left, leaving his place to a military man in blinder uniform who had left a short while ago, saying only one thing after standing in front of the journalists.

"Are you satisfied? Please leave now.

The journalists complied accordingly, cutting off their translators and the TV station itself, leaving the incomprehensible words of the military in the background. And although some of the journalists did so only with difficulty, or the more determined didn't leave, they were forcibly removed from the area by the military.

It wasn't until the journalists were no longer on screen that the broadcast content changed. Now showing various experts sitting in an office, theorizing about what might be hidden, what minerals might be extracted or what other dangers might be caused by this event, not to mention the possibility of an attack by the larger countries that hadn't abandoned their designs expressed during the unification war on the smaller countries that had sent their missiles to help cope with this unexpected situation.

Reiner turned off the TV, not even trying to go on the Internet, and got up instead, knowing full well what theories he would see. But Alice intercepted him, saying.

"Do you think it could be what kind of danger to move so many men in such a short time?"

"No idea, but I think it's nothing good, although the hypothesis that the asteroid is made of rare resources is possible, and would justify securing the site to make sure all resources are secured and excavated as soon as possible. On the other hand...we'd better stay at home, as some gangs or just normal people from the slums might get restless and take advantage of the tense atmosphere to loot stores or houses with contraband weapons, just like when the first asteroid was spotted..."

"It's not a bad idea, but shouldn't we go and see your brother just in case, before things get out of hand? Besides, you've only just got back in touch...this is your chance to show him you're thinking about him."

"You're overthinking this...but if you want us to go we'd better block the windows first..."

Reiner paused in his sentence, then continued with a thoughtful air.

"When the first asteroid was spotted, a lot of houses and stores were broken into by the poorest people when the commotion was at its peak, and I don't really want some guy barging into my house with an old gun through a window, I think you can see why. I'm not going to be the only one to do it, and my brother probably will too, we got robbed last time, so we have some bad memories about that..."

"Should we go? "We?"

Alice replied, surprised by the first sentence.

"Well yes, you're not going to be alone...and this is the time to get to know each other don't you think?"

"Yes...that's true, but do you really think we're at risk?"

"If we lived on the highest floors no, but we're on the second floor. Plus, there's not really a landing, so if several people want to, they can break a window and get in without too much trouble.

Reiner paused, his expression becoming more thoughtful as he added.

"It may be unnecessary, but I don't want to incur any risk to be honest. Just putting a piece of furniture in front of the windows should be enough, the point is just not to be the target, not to barricade yourself...I don't really want to spend an hour for nothing blocking windows...but I don't want to leave anything to chance for all that, trusting to fate isn't my thing, and believing in my luck even less."

Hearing this, Alice put on a resigned expression.

"All right, then, let's make this quick."

"Yes, don't worry, but do you mind if we go and see Clovis before my brother? He lives on the first floor of a building not too far from here...plus he tends to panic quickly. So I'd like to take him with us, because knowing him, he'll be running around all over the place without knowing what to do first..."

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't really mind, I'd like to meet the guy who made you buy me."

"It's not really him...well, he's the one who got me to buy a synthetic, but not you specifically...anyway that's decided."

After nodding, Alice stood up, followed by Reiner, who did the same and headed for their room.

Once there, they quickly moved Reiner's wardrobe to block the only window, which Reiner had just made as opaque as possible to reveal nothing but the blurred appearance of a cupboard in front of the window. The two of them then did the same in all the rooms, moving furniture wherever possible, except for the living room, which had no windows.

As the apartment had very few windows, this was quickly completed, except in one place. The only location that posed a problem was a window in the kitchen above a sideboard that was impossible to move, but as it overlooked a slight slope it was the most difficult to access in the apartment, so Reiner increased the opacity of the window as much as possible to reveal nothing of the apartment, hoping this would be enough.

Alice arrived in front of the kitchen just as Reiner was about to turn around, looking at Reiner who said with a thoughtful face.

"Well, it's not transcendent, but it should be good..."

"I hope we're worrying about nothing and that nothing happens..."

"Don't count on it, on my way out I'll make a detour to pass by a department store, I'm sure there'll be a crowd at the entrance to stock up. After that, I also hope there won't be any violence this time..."

"Why would they be stocking up?"

"No idea, people must all be thinking like us, except instead of thinking about their short-term protection they're thinking about the long term."

Replied Reiner with a forced smile, then added.

"Anyway, let's go see Clovis, and the state of the stores, I'm sure it'll be fun to see."

Alice nodded in agreement, as Reiner lit a cigarette after going out, which left Alice looking at Reiner as he said.

"I didn't know you smoked."

"Afterwards, I don't smoke very often, just when I'm stressed or when I'm feeling bad, in which case it's the former."

Alice said nothing more, gazing at the city's magnificent scenery as they drove in. Everything was illuminated by the sun and the lights coming out of all the surrounding buildings bursting with activity, giving a magnificent sense of harmony to this city, which was only a façade.