The Meteor
Image by Free-Photos from PixabayThe helicopter deposited the two figures in hazmat suits and immediately dusted off.“Now can you tell me why I’m here?” Dr. Phillips asked. “I’m an exobiologist, not a forensic scientist. I can’t tell you what burned these trees.”
“Nothing burned these trees,” Major Brennan said. “Until 4:15 this morning, this was grassland.”
“I don’t understand. Are you saying these bare trees grew this way? Today? What about the barren earth… the smoke in the air?”
“Follow me, Dr. Phillips.” The major trudged toward the center of the devastation, and Dr. Phillips followed.
“At 4:07 AM, Edwards Air Force Base picked up a meteor entering the atmosphere. Initial projections had it impacting Palm Springs, but before any evacuation could be issued, the object turned ninety degrees, landing here.”
“A meteor strike could certainly cause this level of destruction—”
“Grasslands, doctor. There was no fire. There was barely an impact crater, as you will see in a moment.”
“You’ve already been out here?”
“Negative. Everything we’ve learned so far has been through satellite imagery. The boys at Palomar recommended you be first on scene. We’re here.”
The two men stopped at the edge of a crater some twenty feet across. The pit was dominated by a porous gray sphere perhaps half that.
“That’s impossible.”
“Impossible has new meaning today, doctor. Near as we can tell, that sphere is producing this atmosphere, causing those lifeless trees to grow.”
“It’s terraforming the area around it! Making the area suitable for some other lifeform! Major, this is an alien artifact!”
“You’re here to tell us what sort of alien.”
Dr. Phillips set down his kit and opened it. “I’ll need air and soil samples, scrapings from the artifact… I—” He broke off.
“Yes, doctor?”
“Major, were those tree trunks so close a moment ago?”
~~~~~~~~~~
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