A Brush With Destiny

[Knight Errant]

Its a clear summer night. Out in a campsight far enough away from civilization to see the stars... three friends sit on folding chairs. They were young adults... freshly graduated from high school, their whole lives ahead of them. But tonight, fate intervenes. Changing their lives forever.

One boy, slightly overweight with messy brown hair... a goatee... and glasses, sips a soda. He wears bluejeans and a black shirt. Jason looks slightly bored, but not ready to break out his Gameboy. "So, when is this meteor shower supposed to go on?" He asks...

[muffinstud]

Another boy, also a little overweight for his short height, looks through a pair of binoculars. "I'd give it another five to ten minutes. You should be able to see them with the naked eye." He sets the binoculars down and stares up wide-eyed at the stars. "I'm telling you guys, this is gonna be awesome. I can just feel it."

He stands there looking up in his jeans and a plain green polo shirt. His mussed up hair sticks up in the light breeze.

[Zoey]

The third is on his smartphone updating the latest Social Media network. "Ten minutes? The Sky is even a bit cloudy, how are we even supposed to see anything, Richard" he says to the one who invited him before standing up, and holding up the binoculars that were hanging from his neck. "Oh look!... Another plane" he says with a sigh, but joins the effort before his girlfriend replies to pictures of tonight's adventure.

He was wearing a long sleeve black sweater and blue jeans over. His Black hair was short and punk styled with only the a faint beard as facial hair.

[muffinstud]

Richard rolls his eyes. Other people just never had the patience for this kind of thing. "Just hold on for a little while longer, okay? Trust me, this is gonna be great. It's like a hailstorm, but it never hits you and it's on fire." He looks to his two friends and shakes his head. There goes his hope for them joining him in his interest. Still, he can at least enjoy himself. He pulls his binoculars back up and idly scans the night sky for signs of it starting.

Richard frowns. He rubs his looking glasses clean and looks again. "What the... that's not right." He drops them down and scans the sky. "I see something, but it's in the wrong part of the sky. Look, guys. Right there." He points to a darkened part of the sky... where there appear to be a few tiny streaks of light slowly making their way across the inky void.

[Knight Errant]

Jason raises an eyebrow... looking up in the direction mentioned. "Huh... thats kinda neat." He admits, watching the light in the skies...

[Zoey]

Kevin turns in the direction Richard pointed out. "Where I-... Huh? Is that it?" he asks not sure.

[muffinstud]

"I don't know what it is. It's in the wrong part of the sky. By the looks of it..." He stares at the objects for a moment. "If they don't burn up, they could be heading close by." He looks at the other two as the red streaks seem to grow bigger and brighter. He smirks. "And I bet you thought this was going to be boring.

Meanwhile, in space...
"What do you mean they're gone? They were on his ship, weren't they?"
"Yes, Ma'am. But it looks like he jettisoned them just before he hit the self destruct. Their signals were lost with the rest of the shrapnel."
"Well, you can tack them now, can't you?"
"Yes, Ma'am. They're currently entering the atmosphere of the deserted planet near here. Once they cool down, we should be able to send in a retrieval team."
"Hmm. This is acceptable. Prep a landing squad. I want those things on this ship two minutes ago. Understood, corporal?"
"Y-yes, Ma'am..."

Meanwhile Meanwhile, on Earth...

Richard sets down his binoculars. "Guys? Those meteors aren't burning up. If we're lucky, we might even be able to triangulate where they land!"

[Zoey]

Kevin looks in surprise at the event. "Woah man... I think you were right... this is cool..." he says in astonishment.

"Wait... yeah. It's not burning up... but it looks very close... dude, are we safe?..."

[Knight Errant]

Jason definitely sits up at that. "I've always wanted a meteor to put on my desk. That would be rad. I hope it isn't radioactive or something, though... Like the Colour Out Of Space."

[muffinstud]

"Relax, Kevin. The odds of those things landing that near to us are... astro...nomical." Richard looks through his binoculars again and slowly starts walking backwards. The meteors are getting bigger, brighter, and they can even hear the whistling friction of the air against them. They are also heading straight for all three of them.

"Umm... maybe we should take cover..."

[Zoey]

Kevin is already moving back. "Cover? Run is better like it!" he says despite not running at first as he traces the balls of fire with his binoculars. He finally drops them and scrambles inside the house!

[Knight Errant]

Jason blinks... flaming balls of death not good... He scrambles to his feet and runs for it! "Crap crap crap crap crap!"

[muffinstud]

Richard's mind is in awe of the true majesty of the events before him. Never had he seen a falling star so close, nor had he seen one light up the night sky so brightly. It's as if it was mid-day around the three. The whistle of their descent sounds more like the roar of a jet now, with how close they are. Truly, it is a thing of beauty to be contemplated.

Richard's body, thankfully, does the work for him and runs him the heck out of dodge. Thank goodness for fight or flight mode.


All three young men manage to make it to a small ditch by the time they feel the impacts shake the earth beneath them. Rocks and splintered trees fly through the air for a moment... and then all is still.

[Knight Errant]

Jason takes a few deep breaths... then. "Anyone horribly crushed by space debris?" He says, lifting his head and looking around.

[Zoey]

"Everyone ok?!" calls out Kevin as he slowly gets up, his whole body trembling from the shock. "W-what the hell was that?...."