Story 24. Written by Jim Waitlord

Man, I gotta tell you, I've always been a fan of the stars. If you look up at them at night, it's like looking at another world, you know? But I never, never in a million years would I have thought that a message out there would turn everything we know on its head. It's not just a science-fiction flick—it's a cosmic wake-up call, a kick in the pants that made us all realize how small we really are and how screwed up we were.

It all started with that guy, Elon Musk. You know him, don't you? The Technical Wizard. He was all about pushing the boundaries of space, putting a car into orbit, building a huge Starlink satellite network. I felt that we could do anything, as if the sky was no longer the limit. But all that pushing and pushing... well, it made a mess, like a nursery after a sugar attack. Orbital trash had become a real pain, not just because of the sight, but also because he had tried to see what was coming from the darkness. The astronomers grumbled angrily, unable to see the sky because all that crap was in the way. It was as if he had created this beautiful, glittering road to the stars, then parked a bunch of broken cars in the middle.

Five years from then, and things on Earth were a hot mess. The climate went crazy, politicians fought like cats in sacks, and everyone felt like something bad was happening. Most of us were just trying to survive the day, blocking it all out. But the scientists, bless their souls, were still yelling at us like a bunch of annoying parents. "We must change!" they said, but it seemed we would never listen.

Then, one night, a random October Tuesday, everything changed. Dr. Evelyn Reed, a very smart NASA scientist, noticed something that made her hair stand up on the back of her neck. A goddamn massive thing was heading straight for Earth, like a runaway train. It was about 15 kilometers across. It was like a nightmare, not real life.

I remember the expression on Evelyn's face when she called the emergency meeting. She looked pale and shaken. "This cannot happen," she said in a slightly trembling voice. "This is a planetary killer. If it hits, we're dead."

And Ben Carter, this young engineer whose face was illuminated by the light of the monitor, made simulations as if his life depended on it. "Three days," he muttered in a voice hoarse with fear. "That's all we have, and there's nothing we can do about it."

The world lost its mind. The news spread like wildfire, and every man on this planet spoke of the end times. I remember seeing panic in people's eyes, feeling it heavy in the air. But the governments, the big technology companies, even Elon, with his imaginary Starlink network and rockets, would not give up. At least not yet.

I watched Elon in his control room, looking too calm, too calm, while his team ran around like headless chickens. And there was Marcus Miller, yes, the famous bassist, one of Elon's finest engineers, a go-ahead figure. I heard Elon say, "Marcus, what happens if we fail?" Marcus freaked out and said, "This is our only chance, sir. If we screw up, it's over." And then Elon said, "Marcus, man, dig in, find a furrow, come up with something!" It was as if he thought they were stuck in a studio, not staring down the barrel of a planetary killer. It was... surreal. But that was Elon, always thinking outside the box.

At NASA, Evelyn and Ben were watching new infrared data. "Look at this," Ben said, pointing at the monitor. "This thing is not solid. That's... that's weird. It's like a dust cloud, but it's like a rock." Evelyn's eyes widened. "It's impossible," she said. "How do you explain that? Physics is all wrong." It was as if the universe were joking with us.

Then came our desperate attempts to save ourselves. We fired those missiles, hoping to push it out of the way, but it was like throwing spitballs at a tank. They went straight through it, as if the thing wasn’t there—a ghost ship crossing a spaceship. We ran out of time, and every second ticked like a bomb.

And then... it happened. The thing hit our atmosphere fiercely and angrily. We all held our breath, waiting for the world to explode. Then... nothing. It just vanished. No boom, no falling, just this strange, disturbing silence.

Then the sky brightened with the most incredible surreal light show you've ever seen. It was like a cosmic message written between the stars. People stopped panicking and looked up in wonder and wonder. Families gathered, all of them, staring at the sky, trying to figure out what was going on. It was the most beautiful and terrifying thing I've ever seen.

The message was, well, like it was spoken in every language, but the essence was the same: "Wake up, people! Take care of this planet. Take care of each other. And for all your good love, look out for the future. 'Cause next time, there won't be a warning.'

After the lights faded, things changed. We were afraid of that, but no one was seriously injured. It was like the whole thing was designed to get us wrong, like a huge hand pushing us back from the wind. I saw people talking to each other, not fighting, not thinking. And Elon... well, he seemed like a different guy. The courage was gone, replaced by something that seemed very humble.

He held a press conference, and he sounded like a man who has seen the face of God or something. He admitted that he had been so focused on pushing the boundaries that he forgot to look around, that he had done big things wrong. "I was wrong," he said, and was very moved. "My priorities have changed. We will clean up the debris and we will concentrate on making this planet sustainable, and we will do so more responsibly."

The mystery in space, well, that's still hanging over us. No one knows for sure what it was or where it came from. But here's the kick: after the scientists ran their checks, they discovered something really amazing. That object? He wasn't there before. It wasn't in the previous pictures, it just... appeared. Like, poof, out of nowhere, just when we needed a cosmic slap. That's when it crashed... not just random rocks. It's like... someone sent him to warn us on purpose. Maybe God finally decided to send us a message that we can't ignore. And I can't help but wonder if Marcus Miller is back on bass or he's still staring at the stars with us, just trying to make sense of it.

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