Back on Earth

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Leaving the stadium, Nikolai felt his pocket vibrate for the fifteenth time. Someone tried to call him insistently, but the reporter did not want to go out and miss the most important game of the season. But something told him that this call was the greatest importance. Leaving the phone from his pocket, he saw that all calls came from France and his partner had left several messages. The young man after listened to all of them, hailed a taxi and went home at full speed.


Arriving at his apartment, he took out the cell phone from his pocket again and began to dial the number of his colleague. His face became more radiant, thinking he would write the article and the Pulitzer price who held out his arms. Obviously, she was likely to have the same idea as him, but he did not care. An opportunity like this cannot happen again, and he had to grab it at all costs.
After a passionate discussion, he reserved a domestic flight for the next morning and prepared his stuff in speed.


When he arrived in Vladivostok in early afternoon, a car picked him at the airport and took him to the port where Arkadii Grivenko, the research vessel of the Russian ocean-going fleet was waiting.


Going up on the deck, he noticed a young woman of twenty years wrapped in her polar and holding a sketchbook in hand. Lisa Dufour was a scientific journalist from the French newspaper le Monde,  and she followed all the scientific developments with great interest, not hesitating to move if the need is felt. Thus, when all the observatories had confirmed the news, she did not hesitate to break her piggy bank and jump on the first plane to Moscow, then in an ancient Tupolev for Vladivostok without even informing her superiors.

Nikolai approached the young woman and introduced himself. They talked for hours about nothing and everything without worrying that a helicopter of the US Navy approached.
Sofiya went down on the deck and headed for the two journalists. She introduced herself as a NASA scientist fielded on a mission.

- Why a NASA scientist is on a Russian ship? Nikolai asked intrigued.

- Let us say that the Russians were quicker than us, Sofiya replied. I'm glad you came. She said, turning to reporters. It is rare for journalists to be interested in this kind of events.

- Say a journalist worthy of the name must sniff all scoops. Said Lisa.

- And she has seen fit to warn me about that shot. Added the Russian

- I was not going to keep exclusivity for such a thing! Said the French

- And you did well, concludes the scientific flashing a radiant smile. I am even surprised that there are only so few people she thought.

She did not know that the news would spread like wildfire and that the ocean would soon be covered by a swarm of journalists eager to capture any picture from this event that would change the world.

Arriving at the scene of the crash, they saw nothing but Lisa began to feel a strange impression around her, as if something magical was at work.
Nikolai noticed the change in his colleague's mood and began to think about the situation.

- What's going on, Lisa? You do not look well. He asked.
- That's fine, but it is just that I feel something odd around me. As if what we are going to see is not natural.
- I do not understand you. The Russian replied, more and more intrigued. What is not natural?
- I do not know, I feel like a buzz in the air, as if we were on a huge machine that still works.
- But yesterday you told me about an asteroid, not a machine?
- I know, but I do not know at the same time. As if we were going to discover something beyond us. When will the captain launch the excavations? She asked Sofiya.
- The captain told me they would throw the robot as soon as they get there. I think it will not be long. She said to make diversion. I will see where they stand. She said as she walked away.

Sofiya went to the stern to check the launch of the excavation robot, leaving Lisa and Nikolai alone on the front deck.

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