100
101
“Will that thing really have the power to destroy 
the spacecraft?” she asks.
Chen replies, “Yes. It will be flying in the opposite 
direction at orbital speeds. They’ll collide at 
thousands of kilometres per hour. The kinetic 
energy will be huge. Here we go… 7… 6… 5… 4… 
3… 2… 1… ignition. Blast off!”
They see it launch like it’s been fired from a gun. 
The camera must have been set up to track the 
vehicle, because it pans upwards so they can see 
the rocket flame shooting out of the back. Even so, 
it goes to being a dot in just a few seconds.
“I guess rocks don’t suffer in high G,” comments 
Devon.
Kiran chips in. “Hey, Sasha. Earlier I set up a 
telescope to track the spacecraft. It should be in the 
camera list.”
Sasha finds it and nods. She shares it with 
the others. They all gasp. It is nothing like any 
spacecraft they have ever seen before. It is not a 
Ending 1
Shoot it down!
“That’s great,” says Chen. “That really is the right 
decision. Honestly, we’re going to save their lives.”
Sasha shakes her head, but the decision’s been 
made. She punches through the security feeds 
until she finds a view of the sample-return launch 
pad and shares it with the team. It looks more 
like a dumpy dustbin than a rocket, only about 
a metre tall.

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