First Contact

A tale from the archives of the mid 21st century

Image credit: SETI Institute

17th March 2043, Томская газета (translated) Local astronomer Lyudmila Ivanovitch Petrov claims to have detected a large but anomalous comet that is currently passing within the orbit of Jupiter. According to our telescope-owning resident, the calculated trajectory of this celestial visitor will bring it to within 1,000 kilometers of the Earth. Scientists at the Russian Academy of Space…