The asteroid was hurtling straight for Earth, at what Xenophilius' peers at MESA (The Multinational Earthspace Security Association) had estimated to be between 20,000 and 30,000 metres per second. Worryingly still, it seemed to be slowly accelerating. Xeno had explained to several clueless bigwigs in charge that this was due to the pull of the Earth's gravity.

Currently at the asteroid's rate, it'd reach Earth's atmosphere in about 48 hours. Plans had hastily been drawn up in the past week on how to deal with it. As per usual (and uncannily like a retro Earth film) blowing it up was the current option. Xeno was naturally worried about the fallout- what if the chunks created by the explosion reached Earth, thus creating several smaller explosions? But he had been assured that enough firepower, used correctly, would conveniently obliterate everything contained in the asteroid into "neat" nuggets and simple dust.

Normal life on Earth was panicked, to say the least. Riots here and there had broken out worldwide, and Xeno often travelled home with a companion nowadays. Of all the cliched doomsday scenarios played out in the movies, Xenophilius had not expected a fucking rock. Aliens would have been more exciting.