A higher-dimensional incarnation, starting by leveraging the stars.

Chapter 61 Prometheus Steals Fire from the Gods

November 13, 3025, 11:00 AM, Eastern Capital Time

At an altitude of 320 kilometers above the Earth's surface, the "Keyhole-12" reconnaissance satellite, belonging to the Western Eagle National Reconnaissance Office, is passing over the Pacific Ocean at a speed of seven kilometers per second in a sun-synchronous orbit.

Synthetic aperture radar and ultra-high resolution optical sensors routinely scan the azure ocean and scattered islands below. Data streams are transmitted in real time via encrypted links back to the underground command center in Spring, Colorado.

Suddenly, a tiny redundant sensor in the satellite's attitude control system detected an anomaly: two heat source signals that should not have been present entered near space at an extremely high angle in the blind zone at the very edge of the satellite's planned scanning path.

"Alert: Unauthorized orbiting object approaching at high speed. Origin: Possibly an off-center object from the near-Earth asteroid belt. Quantity: 2. Relative velocity: 19.2 km/s. Estimated time to atmospheric entry: 47 seconds later."

A cold, synthesized electronic voice rang out on a secondary monitoring screen in the Spring Command Center, but it did not trigger the highest-level alarm.

Similar incidents of small space debris or tiny meteorites intruding occur several times a month. The system automatically initiated a tracking procedure and attempted to share the early warning information with the Xiying Air Defense Command and the Near-Earth Object Research Center at the Xiying Space Center.

However, a problem arose.

The orbital angles of these two objects were extremely tricky, falling precisely in the blind spot where multiple monitoring satellites' fields of view intersected. Furthermore, the final segment of their path before entering the atmosphere was even more bizarre, as if countless coincidences had collided, perfectly avoiding the main beam of most ground-based radar arrays.

As the "Keyhole-12" barely managed to adjust its attitude and attempt to lock onto one of the targets with its side-looking radar, the target had already plunged into the ionization barrier of the atmosphere.

"Signal lost. Target has entered a blackout zone," the system notification reads.

The operator frowned and quickly retrieved data from other monitoring sources.

At the same time, Dong-guk's two early warning satellites also seemed to have captured the momentary trail, but the data was incomplete, and Dong-guk Space Center did not pay attention to it, assuming it was the tail flame produced by the friction between the asteroid and the atmosphere.

Almost simultaneously, a site on the Western Eagle Space Agency's Deep Space Network in the Sauer Islands received an extremely brief, severely distorted electromagnetic pulse noise.

"Damn it, this angle of attack..." A veteran monitor stared at the few conflicting data points on the screen, realizing something was amiss. "This insane speed! Calculate the impact point! Quickly!"

The supercomputer began operating at full speed, attempting to reconstruct the trajectory from the fragmented information. But it was too late.

※※※

Between Japan and the West Eagle, in the Pacific Ocean, this area is marked as a reef area on any public nautical chart, satellite imagery, and even most military maps. The "Prometheus" ecosystem experimental base is bathed in the scorching midday sun.

From the air, this small island, covering only about 1.2 square kilometers, appears lush and green, much like any other island in the ocean. Only by venturing deeper can one discover the anomalies hidden beneath the clever camouflage: domed buildings covered in simulated vegetation, specialized air filtration towers concealed among the trees, and a vast cluster of laboratories extending dozens of meters underground.

This is the core demonstration base of SPACE X's "Mars Biosphere Colonization Pre-research Project," jointly funded by West Eagle, Yingwo, and several multinational biotechnology giants. President Ma himself has secretly visited the site three times. The 128 researchers on the island are carefully selected elites from various fields. Here, they simulate the Martian atmospheric composition, extreme temperature differences, and radiation environment, and attempt to cultivate and raise genetically modified plants, insects, and even small mammals, accumulating crucial data on life support systems for future extraterrestrial colonization.

Of course, since it's for the purpose of colonizing extraterrestrial planets, and for the sake of humanity, humans will inevitably be used as experimental subjects.

Inside the central control hall, Chief Scientist Dr. Eric Sen was listening to a report on the "survival time of the third batch of ordinary humans without protection." A huge circular screen displayed real-time data from each of the enclosed ecological chambers; everything appeared to be in perfect order.

Suddenly, a piercing shriek, unlike any conventional alarm, resounded throughout the entire base!

"Highest priority alert! Unidentified high-speed object detected entering the atmosphere! Orbital analysis... God, it's coming for us!" The researcher at the orbital monitoring post's voice changed, and his face turned deathly pale.

The main screen switched instantly, and on the blurry remote sensing image, two points of light trailing long, incandescent white streaks were magnifying in the field of vision at a despairing speed.

The computer's rough estimate of the impact countdown ticked crimson: 03:47…03:46…

"Impossible! This isn't on any known meteorite path!" the security chief roared, his fingers clicking rapidly on the control panel. "Activating all defenses is impossible... Contact home! Request emergency analysis! Activate full evacuation procedures! Enter the deepest fortified bunkers!"

However, the so-called "reinforced shelters" were designed primarily to withstand storms, small tsunamis, or accidental technical incidents, and certainly not to withstand a direct collision between two celestial bodies with diameters of hundreds of meters.

Despair spread like wildfire, like a virus.

The once orderly laboratory, culture chambers, and living areas were thrown into chaos.

The glaring red warning lights spun and flashed, illuminating people's terrified and distorted faces like ghosts.

Researchers in white coats dropped their samples and data boards and rushed like headless flies toward the passageway marked with refuge symbols, shoving, screaming, and crying filling the air.

Some tried to salvage the core data hard drive, some rushed to retrieve the rare samples they had carefully cultivated for years, and many more simply instinctively fled into the depths.

Dr. Mori was forcibly lifted up by security personnel and dragged to the core bunker below the command center. Looking back, he could see with the naked eye, through the observation window, two rapidly approaching, growing larger and brighter flames of death on the horizon. They were one after the other, with the power to crush everything, precisely locking onto this secret island that was isolated overseas and should have been unknown to anyone.

"No...it's impossible...this is not normal, this shouldn't be happening..." Dr. Mori, who was being held up, had a gloomy face, but he was not as panicked as the others. He was just surprised by the sudden disaster that was beyond his expectations and...the losses that were about to occur.

Countdown: 00:15…

The base's external communication channels were filled with desperate cries and the hissing of electrical interference.

The last fragment of the signal was emitted after intense electromagnetic interference: "...encountered an unknown...impact...unavoidable...coordinates...request..."

Countdown: 00:05…

The scorching, high-temperature plasma arrived first, instantly scorching and burning the camouflage vegetation on the island's surface. The air was torn apart, emitting a shrill, eerie wail.

Everyone who was outdoors or near a ground-level window was temporarily blinded by the intense light that almost melted their retinas.

Just as the shadow of the first asteroid loomed over the entire island, and the shockwave at its tip had already crushed the tallest observation tower, the sea surface was forced open by the terrifying pressure, forming a giant bowl-shaped depression—

Hu Biao grabbed the small figurine that he had already cut from the seabed and threw it onto Proxima Centauri B.

The entire "Prometheus" base, along with the hundred-meter-thick rock foundation beneath it and the small patch of seawater around it, vanished instantly as if gently erased from the real world by an eraser.

Almost simultaneously, the jagged tip of the first asteroid slammed into this area of ​​the ocean.