The Defenders: Meteorite, Part 1-2

[Kitten Kong Destroyed Wotan]

“Attention all defenders. Emergency alert. Stand by to receive further instructions, repeat, stand by to receive further instructions.”

The enormous rock soared silently through space dodging the orbits of planets as its journey continued, then it rose up over a moon to and gazed upon its target: Earth. It hovered over the moon for a second then shot towards the planet, bursting through the atmosphere. The heat it experienced as it plummeted towards the planet’s surface would have killed a man, and should have destroyed it. The steep angle it travelled at would cause a huge crater on impact, but then it levelled out, and touched the ground skidding across ice and snow before finally coming to a stop

Planet under threat: Earth
Galaxy: Milky Way
System: Solar, 3rd planet
Natural Satellites: 1
Diameter: 12,756 kilometres
Population: 6,000,000,000
Dominant Life Form: Human
Atmosphere: 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% Argon, 0.03% Carbon Dioxide, 0.0001% Other Gases
Oher Info: 80% of surface is covered by sea

Defenders Assigned

Name: Simon Pelat
Age: 15
Species: Human
Location: Manchester, England
Defender Rank: Assignment Leader

Name: Amy Grant
Age: 14
Species: Human
Location: Manchester, England
Defender Rank: Investigator

Name: Ben
Age: 21
Species: Dog
Location: Manchester, England
Defender Rank: Investigator

Simon turned off his DVD player and went to put his laptop away. While he continued tidying up his bedroom the draw where he’d place his laptop opened and it then drifted through the air until it bumped into him. Simon turned round to look at it signed to himself.
“Here we go again he,” he muttered as the laptop opened.
The screen came into life to reveal a green oscilloscope line on the screen. Simon waited for the voice that came out of the speakers.
“Simon, another threat has arrived on Earth,” the voice said, “I want you to investigate.”
“Ok, what’s happened this time,” Simon said.
“A meteorite has landed in the North Polar Ice Cap,” the voice said.
“Landed?” Simon said surprised.
“Yes, it landed. It didn’t crash or impact,” the voice explained, “And a meteorite that size would have burnt up before reaching any surface.”
“So this isn’t your standard meteorite then,” Simon commented.
“No, and more importantly, Earth authorities haven’t picked this up,” the voice added.
“Ok so am I working alone or do I get a team this time?” Simon asked.
“I’ve already asked Amy and Ben to join you,” the voice said.
Simon was glad to hear this, Amy was a school friend of his, and Ben was her dog.
“Good, so how are we getting there?” Simon asked.
“I’m sending the Defender Taxi to pick you both up, and then you’ll proceed to Manchester airport where you’ll board the DefCon which will take you to the Ice Cap.”
“Good, what should we do when…” Simon started but the Laptop was closing and then drifted back into its draw, “…we get there,” he finished slowly.

Simon waited outside his house as the Taxi drove up in front of him. It wasn’t a normal taxi, it had a sloped front and back and it only had two wheels. The door slid open and he got in. Amy was already inside and Simon sat next to her.
“Well what do you think of this one?” he asked as the taxi set off.
“The only really dangerous part of this one is that its freezing over there,” Amy replied.
“Don’t worry about that,” Ben the dog said, “I’m sure he’ll give us something to keep the cold off.”
Ben didn’t communicate through speech like the others; he could talk to other defenders telepathically. When Amy had first found out that her dog was a defender she was looking forward to see him talk, only to hear him think.
“What I want to know is why he choose us for this and not any of the adults,” Simon said.
“Well I don’t know,” Amy replied, “Like Ben said he has his reasons.”

The taxi continued on until it reached the airport, becoming invisible as it got onto the runway. Simon and Amy got out after it had stopped at one end and they saw in front of them a silver Concorde. Simon chuckled, he was glad to see that someone had a use for these fast planes not that they’d been grounded. They boarded the plane and it took off, as it reached its top speed, they were on there way.

In the North Pole the meteorite opened...

[Kitten Kong Destroyed Wotan]

Simon opened an equipment locker and found the usual items they were supplied with in there, handheld communicators, a few guns and a clothing manipulator. This was a small disc with a button on it. There were three of these, one each. Simon gave one a try and then he was wearing a synthetic fur coat and boats also lined with synthetic fur.
“Well that’s good to know,” Amy said as Simon handed her one.
“Yes but what about me?” Ben asked.
Simon fixed one around Ben’s collar and activated it, Ben turned into a polar bear!
“Switch it off,” Ben said, “There isn’t enough room for me in here.”
Simon deactivated the clothing manipulator and then had a look at a piece of equipment he didn’t recognise. It had a strap on it which suggested that it was supposed to on someone’s wrist. Simon put it on and activated it, a large metal disc spread out from the centre.
“That must be a shield,” Amy said, “Here toss me one.”
Amy put her’s on and she also activated her clothing manipulator.
“I think we’re nearly there,” Simon said looking out of the window to see a large white landscape below.

The three of them walked across the ice, Ben now a polar bear again. Simon was holding an advanced GPS system, it was telling him where they were and it also had a marker for where the meteorite had landed.
“We should be pretty close by now,” Simon commented.
“Yeah it’s over there,” Amy replied pointing in front of them.
They ran towards it and got a shock when they reached it. It had opened up to reveal a interior lined with metal, there was also a ramp descending from it which had a trail marked out by small tank tracks at the bottom.
“This must have had something inside it,” Amy said looking at the tracks.
“Well it probably wasn’t very big,” Simon replied, “But it certainly had a bumpy landing,” he added indicating the long trail behind the meteorite which had been made with it glide across the ice.
“Yeah, well I suppose we’ll have to follow the tracks and find out what’s made them,” Amy said.
“You’re right,” Simon replied, “Come on.”
The set off in the direction of the trail led them; it stretched on for quite a distance then after about an hour they spotted something ahead of them. It was metallic and reflecting the sun light. The three of them ran towards it until they could see it more clearly. It was a dome shaped vehicle, and very small, only about a foot high and with a diameter of about two and half feet. They approached it cautiously; it didn’t seem to know they were there as it continued across the ice.
“I think we’d better tell him about this,” Simon said, “I’ll go and get a closer look at it while you contact him.”
“Alright,” Amy said pulling out her communicator.
When she activated it a screen came to life on it revealing the oscilloscope line.
“What have you to report Amy,” the voice asked.
“There was something inside the meteorite,” Amy said, “A small robot I think, Simon just having a closer look at it now.”
“Right, report again when you’ve learnt a few more things about it,” the voice said.
“Will do,” Amy replied and the communicator switched off.
Simon was now kneeling beside the robot which had stopped moving. Amy joined him.
“Well what do you think?” She asked.
“Its made of something resembling steel with small solar panels incorporated into it,” Simon said holding his communicator and using it to scan the robot, “Shame it didn’t land here in winter I suppose.”
Then a small hatch in the top of the robot opened and Simon and Amy both jumped to there feet, they started backing away slowly as something that looked like a weapon appeared out of the top.
“What’s it doing?” Amy asked.
“I don’t know,” Simon replied.
Then two beams of purple light shot out of the weapon hitting both of them in the chests, they stayed standing but they couldn’t move. Another beam of light came out reaching Amy’s feet, it then spread out and moved up her body until it reached the top of her head then it deactivated along with the first beam of light, it did the same thing to Simon.
“What was that all about?” Amy asked as the top of the robot closed again and it started making moving again.
“I think it might have been scanning us,” Simon replied, “I think we’d better take this back to DefCon to analyse it a bit more.”
Simon pulled his gun and set it to disable, then fired a bolt of energy at the robot which stopped moving.

After a while of carrying the robot back Simon and Amy were now putting the robot through a computer scanner, the computer was giving them information about where the robot might have come from.
“Well the computer says the technology for this thing comes from the planet Pilate,” Simon said, “Do you know anything about that that planet?”
“I went there once,” Amy said, “They seemed to be suffering from a food shortage.”
“Anything else?” Simon asked.
“Well I didn’t manage to solve the food problem but I suggested that they could find sources of food on other planets,” Amy replied.
“So that could be why they sent this robot here,” Simon said, “To find more food.”
“Yeah you’re right,” Amy said having a look at a new print out of information from the computer, “Look, this is its basic task: TO FIND ANY LIFE, WHETHER PLANT OR ANIMAL AND SCAN IT FOR POSSIBILITY OF FOOD,” Amy read out.
“And it scanned both of us,” Simon said.
“Yes and the print out says that we’re the only ones it did scan,” Amy said.
“And how did it respond?” Simon asked.
“Lets just say we’d make a good meal,” Amy replied.