The encounter (Earth)

Carl parked his car near uncle´s house. It was not only one house with a garden, but huge complex with paddocks for cattle that did not even have any end. The main building that served for living was situated in the middle of the quadrangle. There were two stables on each sides. One stable was built for cattle, the other one for horses and donkeys.

Sara spent a lot of time at his farm when she was little. Memories came up every single time she passed by with her dad.

"Oh hi! Haven´t seen you in a while Carl, and what about my little princess?!" "I am not a princess anymore uncle…" Carl gave John clear stare saying: Teenagers.

"Come on in, take your things… Tell me how is life and stuff like that!" Uncle John was friendly and welcoming as always. He loved to have people around and took everything with ease. Sara was interested in one thing only. "When should the meteorite strike? I cannot wait! It´s so exciting." "Don´t you worry. I´ve got everything under control. It´s getting closer minute by minute. But we got some time for some old good beer. What do you say brother?"

While Sara´s dad and uncle had a very loud conversation around beer, she went out to search for her cousin Peter. Since they were little, there was a special bond between them. They know things about each other that nobody else does. Not even their parents.

"BOO!" Sara found him in the horse stable in one of the stalls. He jumped a little and scared a horse he took care of. "Sara! You are here! I thought I heard a car, but did not know it was you! You should let me know you´d come." "Surprise I guess?"

They entered his room. Sara felt sudden nostalgia. The smell, bookshelves, bed in the same spot. They had so much fun in this room when they were little kids. It´s been a while since Sara entered this room. Moving through different cities made it hard for making small visits to her cousin. She is lucky they live relatively close now.

They talked for hours about their lives, family, friends, school and their childhood of course. "So… Are you excited? This is my very first time I will get a chance to see meteorite with my own eyes. It´s not so long my dad bought that telescope." "Are you kidding? I could not even sleep how excited I am! That telescope must have been pretty expensive purchase right?" "Not really, he got it for a limited time. But with fee of course. He would not be able to purchase anything near this price. If he returns it undamaged, he will get the fee back."

The time of the strike was getting closer. Sara´s heart was about to jump off her chest. Her leg was bouncing while trying to sit patiently next to the telescope. John made last adjustments so they all could see the meteorite in the best light.

"Seems fine. Here, take a look." Carl leaned to the telescope and carefully looked through. "I don´t see anything." "That´s because it´s not arrived near the atmosphere yet. I can see it, because I know where to look. But it´s very small."

Sara wanted to take a peak too.

A few long minutes later the meteorite was already getting close to the surface in it´s fullest speed. Sara was following it with her eyes through the telescope. All of a sudden something hit the meteorite from the opposite way. From the Earth. "What was that uncle? I saw something hitting the meteorite." "What?" "Could have been a missile maybe. To make sure it is not too big?" Carl had a good point. "Nonsense. Little pieces of meteorite are potential danger for people on the ground. It´s little particles spread on larger area so there is bigger possibility it would damage someone´s property or kill someone…"

John seemed to be confused. After a while he stated, that what Sara saw was not what she thought it was. He took a peek through the telescope just to be sure. "Hah… See? Meteorite seems to be intact. You must have seen some reflection or something. Don´t worry about that."

Meteorite was getting closer every single second. Sara could feel how tense the atmosphere around has become. John was nervous that the meteorite could potentially damage his farm. He kept reassuring himself that the calculations he made were right.

It hit the ground. All of them held their breath. "Wow, there we go! It´s down."

John sat back on chair and relaxed his muscles. Huge stone fell from his heart.

"Now we should go and check it out!" Sara felt butterflies in her stomach. She was so excited to see real meteorite. Where is it from? What did it live through? How old is it? People are oddly curious about things they don´t fully understand.

All of them went out to the quadrangle. Sara was the first one to wait at the car. "Come on dad!" Sara waited inside for the others. They were about to enter the vehicle but then everyone froze. "What´s happening? Let´s go." Her father pointed to the driveway that led to Carl´s farm. There were army vehicles everywhere. Full convoy. They were heading to the spot where meteorite had struck.

"Weird… We should not enter that area now. Let´s wait until they investigate the object. Hopefully they won´t take it with them." "We can watch from safe distance though. Can´t we?" Sara tried her best to see that piece of space rock. "I don´t think it´s a great idea to go anywhere near by. Let´s stay here and after they are gone, we can go check it out by ourselves.""Well, the meteorite will be gone by that time…"

Sara´s spirit sank.

After a few minutes sitting in front of TV trying to search for some news about that meteorite, Sara´s got crazy idea. While Carl and John were trying to figure out, why the meteorite has not shown up in news yet, she excused herself from the living room. She winked on her cousin who followed her a while later.

Within a few minutes they both were on their way to see the meteorite. "Don´t you feel that weird pressure on your chest? I don´t think it´s a great idea to go see it right now Sara. What if they see us? They can arrest us or something!" "Shut up Peter! If you are scared, go back. You are ruining it."

Peter kept quiet all the way through the forest.

"Did you hear that?" "Yeah. It was from the right side. But the meteorite fell on the other side of the forest, so it cannot be soldiers." "Maybe they are trying to protect whole area around. But why?"

They both hid behind the bush in case someone was about to see them. "No. Look. I think it´s some curious observer just like us." Sara got up and followed the steps in the forest. "What are you doing?" She left Peter behind, but soon he followed too. He did not have any choice.

She got very close to the spot she heard the steps from. But what she saw afterwards was far beyond her wildest imagination.