AN: I realized that there is another website called 'Fictionpress' where I can post original stories. I moved The Melody there and will continue to post and update there. I'll just leave this prologue here for now but if you want to read the other chapters, please look for The Melody in 'Fictionpress,' it's under the same name 'LightbulbHD.' Thank you!
"Hope": To mean a wish, being its strength is the strength of that person's desire.
30 years ago before the present: the year 2017, in the Kuiper Belt
Asteroids, millions of them. spanning several miles wide and several miles long. They go on about their infinite orbit, lazily bumping into each other. Crashing, breaking and forming smaller new asteroids to join in their orbit. But beyond that, something approaches their cluster. An object 15 kilometers across, charging through with no intent of stopping. Asteroids thrown off by it, barely even scratching it. Batting away the smaller space rocks as it pierces its way through their cluster. It breaks off and continues its path, bypassing Mars and towards Earth.
Computers rang in the control room as alerts popped up in the big screen alerting the presence of the incoming asteroid. Staff rush around the room scrambling to the ITs to see what's causing all the ruckus. ITs furiously type checking the coordinates of the asteroids and estimating how fast it's approaching Earth.
"What the hell is going on?!" barked an officer at an IT technician who furiously input codes and calculations into the computer.
"I don't know sir, everything was fine and then suddenly our satellites picked up an enormous object heading in our direction. I-i'm still trying to find it's coordinates and how long before it reaches here."
The IT did some calculations and estimated the asteroid to be about 10-15 minutes away before it reaches the earth's atmosphere.
"Mother fucking hell," The officer whispered in dread. He barked out orders to alert headquarters on what actions to take and to alert the president at Washington about the current situation.
A few minutes later, a slender man with round glasses entered the control room wearing a long-sleeved polo shirt paired with grey khaki pants. He looked panicked and confused when the officer filled him in on what was happening.
"You can't be serious," Gasped the Overseer staring at the giant screen showing the coordinates on where the asteroid is and a countdown bar showing that they had 12 minutes and 34 seconds left before the asteroid hit the Earth's atmosphere. "How did our satellites not notice this sooner, and no object that size can travel that far in less than 20 minutes. It can't be real."
"Well, sorry to break it to you sir but no shit that asteroid is real and it's gonna be killing us in a few moments less we do something about it," The officer addressed rather calmly.
The overseer, still looking panicked, took a deep breath then began addressing the situation as boldly as he can, doing his best trying not to break down.
"Alright, report."
A young hispanic IT typed furiously as she answered the overseer's question while doing some calculations on her computer "Sir, the asteroid's size seems to be about 10-15 kilometres from our estimates. And it's traveling at break-neck speed unlike anything we've seen before. And considering how fast it's moving, it's almost impossible to hit it with one of our satellites in order to misdirect it unless we have the right calculations and timing."
"Then get to calculating then! The fate of the whole human race lies in your hands! Get those calculations and then have our satellites nearest to the asteroids path get into position!"
Several dozens of ITs furiously began calculating on where the asteroid would be and what amount of force or mass do they need in order to pick the right kind of satellite to bump the asteroid off course.
The overseer, officers and guards watched helplessly as the countdown went to 6 minutes.
"Got it!" One of the ITs shot up and announced suddenly looking hopeful. The IT told the others of his calculation and the other ITs checked to see if it was right, they ended up getting the same calculations as him.
The overseer, finally having a feeling of hope and relief in him, ordered them to have the nearest satellite closests to the asteroid's path to get into position. Now all they had to do was sit down and pray to God this worked…
The large satellite moved into position as the Asteroid 5 times its size came shooting towards Earth, at an unbelievable speed. The satellite, once used to help map out the Earth is now going head to head with this monstrous asteroid.
The asteroid was getting bigger now, getting closer by the second. In ten seconds the satellite will blast itself in full throttle towards the asteroid in order to lead it off course.
"Ten," It's computer counted.
"Nine."
"Eight," in a sudden burst, the satellite propelled itself with a backup reserve of fuel towards its target.
"Seven."
"Six," It kept forward, gaining speed.
"Five."
"Four."
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
With all It's force, the satellite crashed into the asteroid, pushing it off course. It's unintended-purpose served, saving mankind from near destruction.
The control room erupted in cheers as people hugged each other in joy and relief. The overseer felt a huge weight off him as he sighed and smiled. He looked around, watching the happy people celebrating when he noticed that one IT was still sitting, staring at his screen.
"What the fuck." Came low from the IT at first.
"What the fuck, what the fuck, WHAT THE FUCK!"
Everyone's cheer and laughter abruptly came to a stop as the IT looked at his screen with a devastated expression on his face. Seeing this, they turned to their screen and saw his devastation. The asteroid arched back to it's direction as if something were actually controlling it. Silence filled the room, the only sound that can be heard is the heavy breathing of everyone as if in unison, the beeping of the screen and the now whimpering IT who held himself in a cradling position.
"What- In the actual fuck," The overseer choked as he watched the 2D pixelated gps map show the asteroid return to it's original course towards Earth.
The satellite really did move the asteroid of course. But as if it had a mind of its own, it arched itself back towards its original path. Heading straight for Earth.
It broke through the atmosphere in almost like a sonic boom and sped its way to the enlarging landmass. Fire surrounding it as it burned, Pieces of it ripped off, but due to its huge size it barely shrunk. Soon it was only a hundred thousand feet from land; then ten thousand, a thousand, and out of nowhere, an unbelievable sight to the mortal eye. Huge amounts of jet-fast air erupted from the ground. Pushing the Asteroid with unbelievable force slowing it's crash into more of a descent.
People who saw the asteroid from miles across watch in awe as the massive object descends beside Samuel R. McKelvie National forest in Nebraska. It lands with a shudder as a small rumble shakes the ground.
The people in the control room look at the screen in utter confusion. Some began saying out loud "what the fuck" and immedietly began pinching themselves to check if they were dead or not. The overseer looks at the screen showing the pixelated asteroid standing in place in literally the center of the United States.
It takes a moment before most of the people in the control room finally understand that they aren't dead and sigh and they now look at the screen with utmost curiosity.
The overseer finally snapping himself from his trance, gives a half-sure order to one of the guards to bring him a phone. Seconds later, the guard hands him a government landline and he immediately contacts the US president, really unsure what to tell him.
The US president was escorted back to his office after the false alarm. Just a few minutes ago, he was told by somebody from NASA that an extinction level asteroid was coming their way and that they better prepare for the worse. Since there was no time for evacuation, he, the vice president and most of the important members of the government at present were escorted by the secret service to the whitehouse fallout shelter. Just as they entered the shelter, he received a call from NASA that informed him of what happened and no crash occurred. Confused, the president returned to his office to further understand what they told him, holding his dizzy head with his left hand.
A ring suddenly sounded on his desk and he halfheartedly reached for the phone and answered it. "Hello?"
"Mr President? This is NASA."
The president pressed his index finger and thumb into his eyes and gave a low sigh. "What is it now?"
"Mr President sir, we'd just like to report to you about the current situation. It seems by some phenomenon of some sort the asteroid didn't crash and destroy life on Earth, instead it kind of- uh, landed. On. Nebraska."
"Alright, what the fuck are you honestly trying to tell me now? Is this some kind of degraded independence day bullcrap and that you're telling me aliens are gonna begin popping out of that asteroid and that you want me to issue an order to attack it?"
"Uh, not exactly Mr President Sir, we're actually really dumbfounded here in NASA and we're just asking permission to investigate the asteroid with maybe a military escort?"
"Alright, alright, just do your thing. I've gotta give my head a break for today," after that, the president hung up and groaned at his aching head. He's getting too old for this kind of crap.
"Why, out of all countries, do extraterrestrial bullcrap choose the United Fucking States every single goddamned time." The president mumbled to himself returning to his documents.
Within minutes, the military and NASA set up a small camp by the large asteroid as a crowd began to form. Local media began arriving and tried to break through the crowd to get a closer view of the asteroid but was blocked off by the local police. Several M60A3 tanks began taking defensive positions around the asteroid as infantrymen continued setting up more barricades and a couple of watchtowers. M1025 Humvees patrolled around the asteroid, securing the areas where the soldiers haven't barricaded yet. Three OH-58D, light attack helicopters, hover around the Asteroid, cocking their guns back and forth as if looking for prey amongst the space rock.
Reporters tried sneaking in through the back but were cut off by a patrolling Humvee, whose driver yelled at them to get lost. An ABC news channel chopper flew around the asteroid a few miles back away from the military choppers, filming the strange phenomenon. Civilians and tourists who were near the event crowded around the asteroid taking pictures.
Captain Davis Wesley watched as his company set up camp near the NASA scientists RVs. He glanced at the crowd taking pictures and felt there really was no hiding this phenomenon. Usually things like these were kept classified, but he figured that it'd be pointless to try and cover it up since thousands have already witnessed the asteroid before it even landed.
Captain Davis was a man who always wanted his questions answered. In his past, he was once an interrogator for the war in Syria, mentally breaking prisoners of war and getting his job done one way or another. He looked at the huge asteroid and was very curious about what the scientists would find when they'd begin poking at it, being someone who've once had an interest in space. The asteroid stretched from the edge of the national forest until the center of the highway up north. As informed to him by local police, about several cars crashed and the victims were brought into a hospital. From what he heard, they'd live.
Captain Davis watched as scientists brought a huge drill near the asteroid, setting it up.
"Looks like they plan on going inside," Davis thought to himself as the scientists started up the drill.
The drill made a huge buzzing sound as it penetrated the asteroid, drilling into it.
Davis felt a low rumble on the ground as the drill drilled into the asteroid. He assumed that it was just the vibration of the drill but the rumble became louder. Everyone stopped what they were doing and held their breath as the asteroid began to shake. It started vibrating lightly then soon began to vibrate violently, as if something was shaking it from the inside.
Then a crack appeared on the top of the asteroid, a huge noticeable crack. People and soldiers backed off as something shot out of the top of the asteroid, something that resembled a hand, a huge rocky hand.
The rocky hand felt around a bit before grabbing hold onto the edges around it and lifting the rest of its body out. A huge rocky head popped out, resembling what looked like a mix between a dinosaur and godzilla, followed by its rocky torso which had an aqua-green gem like object in the center of its chest with a dark green slash horizontally in it's center.
Silence followed after the extraterrestrial emerged, pulling out half of itself out of the asteroid. Half of its body alone ranged from about 20-30 feet tall, it's whole build was a rocky-like structure. With rough jagged edges and bumps running across its body. The extraterrestrial shook its head and squinted its eyes as it adjusted to the brightness. It then turned to look around, examining the strange species staring at it in awe. It's dark cat-like eyes showing intelligence.
Captain Davis stared at the extraterrestrial in shock, unable to believe what he's seeing. The civilians, being the ones to break from the trance first, began taking pictures and recording the alien in their phone, mumbling some comments. They were followed by the media who began filming the alien, reporters half-excitedly reporting the event as a huge clamor began to rouse from the crowd.
The extraterrestrial then pulled the rest of itself out of the asteroid, standing to its full height of 60 feet. This action caused an excited uproar from the crowd as they oohed and aahed at the exotic being as it stood on the asteroid, curiously looking at the crowd below it.
Soldiers weren't sure whether they should point their guns at it or not, a few did but was ordered by their lieutenant to lower their weapons.
Captain Davis couldn't believe his eyes. After graduating highschool, he had come to deny the fact that aliens existed in this universe of theirs, but this event has led him to change his point of view. He felt something fill him, thousands of questions popped up in his head in a flash, one overriding the other. He wanted to know more about this alien, he wanted all his questions answered. He began to smile dumbly as he looked at the alien with newfound curiosity.
Suddenly, a part of the extraterrestrial's head began to bloat, expanding to a huge size before releasing a green like gas into the air. People watched in confusion as the gas began to spread through the air. Davis stared at the gas in shock, "Was this being releasing a poisonous gas to kill us?" He thought.
Davis immediately took action, he signalled to his lieutenant who paced toward him, a look of unease on his face.
"What do we do captain?"
"Order the men to detain that creature," Davis said in a humorless tone, his face grim.
The lieutenant gulped but followed his superiors orders. He picked up his transceiver and contacted the OH-58Ds. "Kiowa warrior 152D, Helicopter Crew Chief. You have been given permission to detain the extraterrestrial, please refrain from killing it and aim for the arms or legs."
"Copy, detain extraterrestrial but do not kill it," the chief of the OH-58Ds gave order to the two other choppers and they advanced towards the alien.
The alien, only noticing the roar of the choppers turned to look at them, was greeted by several 70 mm Hydra-70 rocket pods, which struck it in the left shoulder. The Alien roared in pain as the OH-58Ds began firing at its legs with .50 caliber bullets.
The alien roared in anger and suddenly its whole body hardened. Layers upon layers of rough stone and iron form body armor on it, deflecting the .50s.
"Order the tanks to fire at it's legs!" Davis ordered his lieutenant. The lieutenant barked into his transceiver and within seconds that tanks were fixing their barrels onto the aliens legs. One by one the tanks fired, the AP shells striking the armored legs of the alien.
The alien roared in anger as smoke and fire swirled around its legs. The tank crews began loading the tanks, getting ready to fire the next barrage.
Before they could even fire, the air around the alien suddenly began to swirl, swirling the smoke and fire along with it, surrounding the alien with a brownish whirlwind sphere of air.
The tanks fired, one by one releasing their payload. The AP shells went straight for the aliens legs, but were tossed off by the whirlwind of air, AP shells began striking at the ground around the site, killing a couple of unsuspecting soldiers and blowing up parts of their camp.
Civilians screamed and ran from the battle scene, while bold and excited news reporters held their ground, reporting this unsuspected event of a battle between humans and their first encounter with the asteroid alien.
"Detain it before it causes more damage!" Davis yelled at his men. Soldiers began firing at the alien, aiming for its arms and legs.
But bullets began raining down on the soldiers, striking at the ground and seeking out flesh as the whirlwind of air sped up around the alien, deflecting the projectiles thrown at it.
"Cease your fire!" One of the soldiers yelled just as several bullets struck him in the neck, arms and legs.
"We need stronger bombs," Captain Davis thought as he went and grabbed his lieutenants transceiver from his hand and ordered for heavy air support.
The choppers attempted another strike of missiles at the alien but faced the same result as of the tanks and soldiers.
The alien gave a roar and began backing off, raising its arms as if trying to communicate. But suddenly, dozens of cracks appeared all over the asteroid. Dozens of aliens similar to the alien on top of the asteroid shot out, roaring at the soldiers surrounding them. The aliens weren't as big as the alien on top of the asteroid who may be their leader, they were only about 50 feet tall, yet still huge in human terms.
As if on instinct, frightened soldiers began firing at the sudden appearance of aliens, backing off as the aliens hardened their body, deflecting the bullets.
Tanks turned their barrels at the advancing giant aliens, firing at them. The AP shells struck the aliens, putting them off balance, yet they recovered instantly and roared. Earth erected from the bottom of the tanks, flipping them as the earth rose from the ground in the shape of a small mountain. Fire blazed on the arms of the aliens as they blasted at the terrified soldiers who still continued to fire at them, soldiers screamed as they caught fire, running or falling to their knees as the flames devoured them.
Suddenly the bigger alien roared, the aliens seemed to grunt as they stopped blasting flames at the fleeing soldiers, instead they backed off and raised their arms, putting them together in a defensive position as they knelt. Their arms hardened and appeared to form into shields as they surrounded the bigger alien protectively. A wall of earth erected around them, rising to form an earthly wall.
Then out of the blue, several objects shot down into the opening of the walls and exploded. The aliens roared in anger as five jets shot overhead in the sky, their roar screaming across the sky as they flew and arched their way back towards the asteroid, readying another shot.
Davis was already fleeing in a Humvee with his lieutenant as the jets bombarded the extraterrestrials. He turned to look in the side-view mirror as the jets arched their way back to fire once more at the giant aliens.
Then thunder struck, a loud bang erupted out of nowhere from the skies as several lightning bolts appeared out of thin air striking two of the jets.
Davis watched in horror as the two jets exploded, their huge metal bodies ripping apart as the flames engulfed them, tearing as it devoured the metal body. Parts and wings flew back as the three other jets attempted to evade the airborne debris coming at them. The front most of the three jets attempted to evade to the right but was struck by the left wing of one of the destroyed jets. Striking it square in the pilots seat, the three planes fell to the ground as the two remaining jets shot past the flying debris. They fired everything they had at the group of aliens, guns bursting and missiles roaring as they screamed toward their targets. A gust of wind suddenly formed a vortex surrounding the aliens, bullets and missiles flew back towards where they came from, bombarding the jets, leaving a huge explosion in the sky. Parts of the crippled jets fell from the sky, leaving a smoke trail as it fell burning.
The aliens surrounding the bigger alien roared and jumped off the asteroid, they then began destroying everything in their path. Devastating amounts of Earth erected from the ground, destroying everything in its path. A flood came out of nowhere, drowning fleeing civilians. Tornados appeared from the cloudless sky, growing bigger as they mowed down everything in their path. The aliens shot bursts of fire from their hands, the flames spreading like wildfire in an unbelievable amount of time.
More of the army came as Davis' humvee shot down the road, passing convoys of tanks and troops as they drove to meet the berserking aliens.
There was a loud roar from the asteroid. Davis looked back and saw the bigger alien, roaring at its kind, yelling at them to perhaps destroy everything. Then suddenly, thousands, no maybe even ten thousands of aliens, smaller, about 9 to 16 feet tall burst out of the asteroid. They screamed what sounded like a battle cry and charged forward attacking everything in sight.
"What fucking monstrosity is this-" Davis murmured in despair as he watched the armies forces get destroyed effortlessly by these things. Elements wreak havoc everywhere as if the aliens controlled them, using them as their weapons of destruction.
Davis watched in horror as a flaming ball of fire shot towards his humvee. He let out a scream of agony before the flaming ball struck their humvee, engulfing them in flames.
4 minutes before the aliens attack.
CNN reporter: "We show you live footage of what appears to be US forces attacking the mysterious extraterrestrial."
During aliens attack.
ABC reporter: "Oh god- the a-aliens are attacking our forces and they're- Oh my God!" Screams can be heard as bright flames engulf the camera.
BBC news reporter: "The United states is currently under attack by extraterrestrial forces-"
France 24: (In French) "In a matter of days the aliens have conquered more than half of central USA, authorities state that-"
FOX news reporter: "The US president has announced that he is fleeing overseas to the UK. He strongly urges authorities to evacuate every fleeing US citizen overseas through the west or east-"
CTV news reporter: "We stand here by the docks of maine and watch millions of fleeing citizens attempt to board ships to escape the raging Earthens-"
DW news reporter: (In German) "The army, calling the aliens Earthens, reports that they have begun to attack Canada and Mexico-"
BandNews TV news reporter: (In Portugeuese) "The South American countries gather their armies to fend off the horde of Earthens coming their way as millions of citizens flee overseas-"
Alkompis Tigrinja news reporter: (In Swedish) "Argentina forces make a last stand as the rest of the Earthen forces invade-"
NHK news reporter: (In Japanese) "The world watches in unease as Earthens took over the west continent in just mere weeks-"
BBC news reporter: "The prime minister meets with the now exiled US president, where they meet in the UNA-UK with the rest of European leaders where they now discuss the next plan of action of the world-"
eTV news reporter: (In Russian) "After the fall of the United States, Mother Russia now takes the spot as the world's strongest superpower-"
BBC news reporter: "European navies and what's left of the US's navy prepare to defend the Atlantic Ocean from Earthen water forces as Japan and Australia lead the eastern asian countries to defend the Pacific-"
France 24: (in French) "Russia, China and India remain silent as the world looks for a new leader after the fall of the United States-"
VRT NWS news reporter: (In Dutch) "In desperation and from public opinion, France has now been elected as the World's new leader-"
BBC news reporter: "Sea Earthens have broken through the line of defense in the Atlantic ocean-"
France 24 news reporter: (In French) "Slowly, Earthen forces begin to mass by the borders of Great Britain, European military provides air and ground support but it seems inevitable that-"
CNN news reporter: "It seems that some kind of superhuman with the power to- bend, no erect iron from the ground appeared alongside British military-"
BBC news reporter: "More of these superhumans have appeared alongside military and they seem to be helping push back Earthen forces-"
Alkompis Tigrinja news reporter: (In Swedish) "They call these superhumans Melodies-"
France 24 news reporter: (In French) "From reports it seems that these Melodies have similar powers to the Earthens, the power to bend the elements-"
VRT NWS news reporter: (In Dutch) "An anonymous witness states that when these superhumans use their powers, you could hear a low hum, almost melodic-"
BBC news reporter: "Humanity has finally claimed its first victory after military successfully pushed back the invading Earthens-"
France 24 news reporter: (In French) "The people have begun calling these superhumans- er, Melodies symbols of hope."
BBC news reporter: "Is there finally hope for mankind?-"
NHK news reporter: (In Japanese) "-Can these beacons of hope help reclaim the rest of our world back?-"
France 24 news reporter: (In French) "Can we truly hope?-"
VRT NWS news reporter: (In Dutch) "These beacons of hope-"
Alkompis Tigrinja news reporter: (In Swedish) "This Hope-"
CNN news reporter: "-Hope-"
A combined din of everybody: "-The signs of Hope?"
THE MELODY
AN - I just wanna let everyone know that this isn't a fanfiction. It is completely original, I actually plan on turning this story into a manga later on in my life and I came here to test out my writing skills and get some reviews early on so I could fix any mistakes I might end up making in the future. I know there are websites for novels or original stories like this, but they all require a full completed story. Honestly, all I want is to be able to post a chapter in at least a month or two so I could get feedback on any mistakes I made and be able to fix it easier and faster compared to a full completed story. Now I did my best on the NASA scene, sorry, I don't know much about the control room or how they work. Also I did my best on research for military codes and military arms in the fight scene in Nebraska, hope you guys like it, same goes for the international news channels, hope I got them right cause when I did my research they were all in a different language so I just gunned it. Anyways, I'll try to complete the first chapter (this a prologue btw) in about a month or two, I'll just say that I won't really be focusing on the superhumans as mentioned by the news reporters. Instead I'll be focusing on different and younger Melodies in present day Earth. So expect a barrage of characters cause I'm excited to throw them all in in that next chapter. Anyways, If I made any mistakes, knock yourself out and message me or leave a review on any of the mistakes I may have made, I'll be more than happy to fix them. Also if you have any suggestions, questions or you just wanna chat with me about this story I'm totally open to conversation and thank you for reading The Melody. Sign of hope out!