CHAPTER FIVE
In the depths of space, clusters of meteors flew on a straight course, making its way to the planet Earth, as if the metoeirs were plotted on that straight, slipstream course.
Many meteors had fallen on a nearby moon that neighbored Earth. But a huge percentage of those meteors were propelling themselves towards Earth.
Meanwhile, in an STAR Labs solar observatory in Metropolis, a young tech named Joe Jurgens was just sitting, relazing, and reading Adbusters. Not much happened on his shift in the three months that he had been working at STAR LABS. So he wasn't too worried about anything big happening. So he just relazed and his desk. Then, he heard a BEEP!
On his computer radar screen, he saw an unbelievable sight. It looked like a cluster of unidentified space debris. He thought that was strange because he had looked at his screen not five minutes ago, and there was nothing there. Now there was a whole cluster of activity. He immediately began to panic.
"Dr. Loeb, sir?" Joe called out.
Dr. Jeph Loeb was a respected scientist at STAR Labs, and was commissioned to the solar observatory after Dr. Virgil Swann left, and went into personal exile after he was paralyzed in a car accident. Dr. Loeb had not seen any abnormal activity since Dr. Swann claimed to have seen a clister of space debris sixteen years ago. It was as if the phenomenon had just . . . died.
Then, Dr. Loeb got a call from one of the techs that worked in the solar observatory. So he went to see what the disturbance was about.
"Sir, you better check the screen, here. Look. I've never seen anything like this," replied Joe.
So, Loeb went over to check out the screen, not expecting to find anything really. It was probably just some prank by local kids. But as soon as Dr. Loeb looked at the screen, his eyes widened. It was unbelievable. He had never seen anything like it. It was almost the same thing that Swann had described sixteen years ago. Immediately, Loeb asked the tech, "How long has there been activity, Jurgens?"
"There was nothing there five minutes ago. It just . . . came out of nowhere," asked Jurgens. Jurgens thought it was nothing, but then he saw the look on Loeb's face. It was a look of shock. "Sir? What's going on?"
Loeb just couldn't believe it. When Swann said he saw a cluster of space debris in '89, he thought, like everybody else, that Swann had just gone nuts and decided to follow little green men. But now Loeb knew that Swann must've been telling the truth the whole time. "Sir?"
The tech's question brought him back to reality. "Jurgens, I want you to get on the horn with the military services in all surrounding areas. Got that?"
Jurgens nodded and called all military personnel in areas such as New York City, Edge City, Coast City, Keystone City, and Gotham. Loeb saw him call those military personnel for those cities. Then Loeb intejected. "Jurgens! Call Metropolis Military Services and have them go to Smallville, Kansas."
Jurgens just gave Loeb a perplexed look. "Sir? Smallville is the smallest town this side of the US. Why do you want the City of Tomorrow's top military service to go there? What's going on?"
Loeb told Jurgens. "Jurgens, that cluster of space debris is a meteor shower headed for Earth. Now, sixteen years ago, Virgil Swann tracked a similar meteor shower in '89 and tracked it to Smallville, Kansas. Everyone, including myself, thought he was crazy. But the meteor shower hit Smallville just as he predicted. So, I figure lightning is due to strike again. So just get on the horn with MMS. 'Kay, Jurgens?"
Jurgens nodded and made the call to MMS, and said a prayer in his heart for all the people in Smallville, Kansas, who would be devastated by this cosmic disaster. Surely, something huge was about to commence in Smallville . . .
