XL
The Man Who Fell To Earth
Two hundred and fifty miles above the earth, the eight-mile-wide CERN low-orbit satellite housed the most powerful particle accelerator ever created. By far, the largest structure in the sky, its massive circumference was visible as a small white ring from the surface of the Earth. A rotating crew of twenty astronauts and scientists manned the enormous, zero-gravity space station capable of separating matter from anti-matter and isolating Higgs boson particles.
How surprised these scientists were to view a strange spacesuit floating outside of their air locks. The members of the CERN space station were perplexed. The suit may have even damaged their external satellite equipment as they were suddenly unable to broadcast.
They all knew that early explorers had ejected trash in old suits to burn into the earth's atmosphere. Had one accidentally achieved orbit? If so, it would be extremely dangerous to impact something like that spinning around the Earth at 15,000 miles an hour. The impact would be capable of destroying a satellite should it be left out there.
The decision was made to retrieve the suit. Doctor Gregor Markewitch volunteered for the mission. Within thirty minutes the suit was retrieved.
Ten minutes later, everyone aboard - excluding the mysterious stranger and Gregor Markewitch - were executed.
The man in the strange spacesuit, David Cain had never performed wetwork at zero gravity before. He had been extremely careful to keep his spacesuit intact but had still managed to have a little fun. He met back up with Markewitch at the storage compound.
"Nineteen in total, Gregor?" asked the assassin.
"Yes, Mr. Cain. There were nineteen others. That was extremely quick."
"We're on a schedule, Gregor. I did not expect to be left floating in space so long."
"Yes, I apologize for that. Bureaucracy. The storage compartment in your suit, please open."
Dr. Markewitch then shifted over to an elaborate control panel disabled the locks on the satellite's zero-degree storage chamber and slowly removed a highly-labeled canister from it. With the utmost care, he slid it into the back of Cain's spacesuit and initiated the powerful magnetic device it held. With a slow exhale, he released a lifetime of tension.
"My mission is accomplished, Mr. Cain. Quickly and cleanly - if you would." From behind the solar shield of his spacesuit, David Cain smiled at the old scientist and then put a bullet through his brain. Members of the League were prepared to pay the ultimate price. Markewitch was certainly no exception.
Cain made a final check of his suit and proceeded back to the airlocks. This incredible height had made him a little reflective. This truly was the view of the gods. Somewhere 250 miles down, just west of the blue of the Atlantic Ocean, the American president would be speaking.
"Just like jumping out of a satellite," he said to no one but himself. No one could hear him in this monkey-suit anyways. Funny… some of the first astronauts were monkeys. Had they gazed at the Earth below as he did? He wondered if he could train a monkey to kill? Would have turned out better than his daughter…
David Cain really didn't much care for living anyway. He was well past his prime and constantly watching the rooftops for the sniper rifles he believed followed him wherever he went. He was the ghostwriter of human history, content to let the League of Assassins sign their name to his masterpieces of 50-caliber artistry.
David Cain killed people. Period. He didn't enjoy the killing part so much as the challenge of it. Killing someone was easy. Any fool could do it. Killing the president of the United States of America days after a nuclear weapon had detonated in Kahndaq?... That was a challenge.
No one could ever connect the vice-president to the green-light application or the four hundred million dollars that had been deposited into the League's accounts when Cain's light turned green…but he had to be behind the hit. Luthor was going to get much more than he bargained for, courtesy of the League.
You could really see the curvature of the Earth from up here. He watched as a corpse floated by him and off into space, the blood from its back forming weird frozen globules at this gravity.
"Sorry I couldn't stay longer. History to make and all that…"