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Strange Asteroid Stalks the Earth


Nyrath

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http://www.universetoday.com/2009/01/25/strange-asteroid-2009-bd-stalks-the-earth/

 

A 10 meter-wide asteroid named 2009 BD discovered earlier this month is making a slow pass of the Earth, coming within 644,000 kilometers.

 

This is almost half again as far away as the Moon (400,000 klicks), so it isn't much of a danger.

 

But 10 meters is kind of small for an asteroid. But it is about the right size for a space ship. Of course, there are no space ships that large, from Earth...

 

It is acting like a derelict. Which means it could be full of all sorts of valuable alien technology, like death rays and star drives. The first nation to seize it would have an advantage.

 

Or the first corporation. Or supervillain.

 

Of course the ship sent to seize it could get a rude surprise. The alien ship might have automated defenses. Or the crew might not be dead, but instead in a state of suspended animation...

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Re: Strange Asteroid Stalks the Earth

 

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/01/25/strange-asteroid-2009-bd-stalks-the-earth/

 

A 10 meter-wide asteroid named 2009 BD discovered earlier this month is making a slow pass of the Earth, coming within 644,000 kilometers.

 

This is almost half again as far away as the Moon (400,000 klicks), so it isn't much of a danger.

 

But 10 meters is kind of small for an asteroid. But it is about the right size for a space ship. Of course, there are no space ships that large, from Earth...

 

It is acting like a derelict. Which means it could be full of all sorts of valuable alien technology, like death rays and star drives. The first nation to seize it would have an advantage.

 

Or the first corporation. Or supervillain.

 

Of course the ship sent to seize it could get a rude surprise. The alien ship might have automated defenses. Or the crew might not be dead, but instead in a state of suspended animation...

 

 

Who says they're even in suspended animation? They could just be lying low and radiating the waste heat away from the only know observation point (Earth). In which case they're stealthed and approaching our planet. Sounds hostile to me.

 

"If my people are cloaked, they intend to attack" - Worf.

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Re: Strange Asteroid Stalks the Earth

 

Derelict my adipose ass. It's a monitor.

 

From Sir Arthur C. Clarke's The Sentinel (which was later expanded into 2001).

 

Spoilers (highlight to read):

 

Once we had passed that crisis, it was only a matter of time before we found the pyramid and forced it open. Now its signals have ceased, and those whose duty it is will be turning their minds upon Earth. Perhaps they wish to help our infant civilization. But they must be very, very old, and the old are often insanely jealous of the young.

 

I can never look now at the Milky Way without wondering from which of those banked clouds of stars the emissaries are coming. If you will pardon so commonplace a simile, we have set off the fire-alarm and have nothing to do but to wait.

 

I do not think we will have to wait for long.

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