Extinction
No one is there to see them, for they lie far beyond the orbit of Mars. Fifty thousand asteroids tumbling and jostling in the blackness of space. Unobserved.
They have done so for nearly 5 billion years, answerable to no one, obeying nought but the laws of gravity. They are space debris – pieces of a planet the mighty forces of Jupiter refused to allow. Some are giants over a hundred miles across, but most are babies chasing each other around the oh-so distant Sun, it’s heat and light, feeble this deep into space.
And every once in a while they collide and splinter. Today, one, less than a mile across, is nudged by a neighbour and begins its two year journey to Earth. No one witnesses the rock as it gracefully, silently, speeds through the void towards a blue dot in the blackness.
Men go about their business, unaware that a countdown has begun.
* Nick Allen is a mental health nurse from Manchester, England.
Really enjoyed this Nick; very good imagery. You seemed to capture the beauty of space, but also the lurking dangers. Chilling to think this could be happening right now!
Karen G
Thanks for the feedback Karen. It's nice if you can make people think about things they would not usually consider.
Nick
A great little story – makes you wonder what's out there ready to kill us!!!
Give us a few more years and we might have the technology to cope with one. But if one arrived soon I think we'd be stuffed! Thanks for Commenting
Nick
Just call in Bruce Willis – get Aerosmith to sing the theme tune and Liv Tyler to look weepy – problem solved. Oh, you mean that was just a movie …Charles Christian
Remeber, Mogan Freeman has to bring some gravitas to the situation as well [or was that another one?!]
Thanks for commenting.
Nick
Ah wonderful Nick; but what about that infamous Oort Cloud and those faraway asteroids far out beyond the mighty Jupiter? What about those unheard clunks and scrapes so far out, so far out there ……………………??
Gwilym I'm impressed, fancy knowing about the Oort Cloud! To be honest, that is where the danger most probably lies. Thanks for commenting
Nick
It makes you wonder what the landscape would be after such an event- not geo speaking but life form wise. Mighty intelligent cockroaches pearing at a thousand year old i pod,
wondering
What the hell?
Of course we are right to be concerned. That one in 1908 in Siberia was mean critter. Imagine a thing like that landing on Milton Keynes.
'They' said one is coming towards us in 2023 (?), then a bit too quickly for my taste they said it would 'pass beyond the moon'.
cheers,
Gwilym
They say cockroaches will rule the world in the event of a disaster. I used this idea in a short story called 'After The War' which is on the microhorror website. Hope you check it out Flavious.
Thanks for commenting.
Nick
Sounds interesting Nick. How do i get to it?
Just google 'microhorror' then click on 'list all authors' and when you find me, click on my name. I have about 5 stories on there, but 'After the War' is the one with the roaches!
Nick
Ah I thought it was on this site! How does one navigate ink sweat and tears? I don't see a link for the various genres- poetry, short story, etc. Is everything just jumbled into “previous 20 articles”?
We have a categories listing just above the monthly archives box BUT because we don't distinguish between verse poetry, prose poetry and flash fiction (ie very short, short stories) we include them all in the 'new writings' category. The whole point about this site is that we cover the borderline between poetry and prose and do not hamper ourselves with artificial demarcation lines – Charles Christian
Thats cool Charles. It pretty much mirrors my own philosophy on poetry. I was just hoping I wasn't missing an obvious link because of dancing monkeys in my contacts- you really have to nip those suckers in the bud before they multiply.