The alarm wasn't just a noise; it was a physical blow. A metal scream ripped through the hull of the Victory, followed instantly by a shockwave that threw Captain Jason against his straps. The lights on the command deck flickered and died, replaced immediately by flashing red emergency bulbs.
"Stabilizers are down! The gravity drive is surging!" a technician yelled over the groaning metal. "We're getting hit by a massive pressure wave!".
"Report!" Jason shouted, gripping his armrests until his knuckles turned white. "We cleared the Earth's atmosphere hours ago. What hit us?".
"It's... it's coming from the surface, Sir!".
Jason unbuckled his straps and moving on the shaking floor to reach the main viewport. In the mysterious, distant, and silent space, he expected to see a missile trail or satellite debris. Instead, he saw the end of the world.
Below them, the blue Earth was gone. In the Southern Hemisphere, right where Australia used to be, a light as bright as a small sun had erupted. It wasn't just an explosion; it was a hole blown in the planet. As Jason watched, the blinding light expanded, completely engulfing the entire continent of Australia and swallowing the surrounding Pacific Ocean in a single gulp.
"Sir, Sensors are red lining!" the sensor officer yelled, his voice cracking. "Mushroom cloud altitude...with altitude of thirty thousand kilometers! It's wider than the planet! And the temperature is spiking... three hundred degrees and climbing!".
The Earth's diameter is only 12,700 kilometers; the dust cloud rushing out of the atmosphere stretched more than twice the diameter of the planet.
"It's a super-explosion," another officer stammered, staring at the numbers. "The most powerful hundred-megaton nuclear weapon in human history, Big Ivan, was not even one-hundred-millionth as strong in comparison".
"Captain! The navigation computer is going crazy," the pilot yelled. "The explosion... it blew away a chunk of Earth's mass! At least one-sixtieth was blown away, but that's still larger than the moon! The gravity anchor is gone. The Moon's orbit is shifting! We have to adjust our course or we'll miss the landing!".
The bridge went quiet. It was a heavy silence that blocked out the screaming alarms. In the silent universe, one could almost hear the final lament of the planet. Global volcanic eruptions continuously erupted on Earth, and massive blast tore open the entire crust, spewing out scorching lava like bright red blood.
Seven billion people. Gone. In the time it took to blink.
To his right, Vice-Captain Austin stood frozen, his face pale in the red emergency lighting. The Victory, built by over twenty countries at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars, was the most advanced spaceship in the world, carrying 500 tons of supplies. Now, it has became a lifeboat floating over a graveyard.
"Captain!" The communications officer snapped them out of it. "The passengers! They're panicking!".
Jason turned away from the burning planet with a heavy heart.
"Switch the screen," he ordered.
The main view changed to the interior of the passenger cabin. The ship carried two hundred survivors, mostly scientists, engineers, over a hundred technical personnel and some rich kids who came for vacation. Now, chaos has broken out. Passengers were screaming, clawing at their seats, or rushing towards the airlocks. A man in a lab coat screamed, hitting the glass, "Let me out! My wife is down there! Turn around!".
"They're going to force the airlocks if they keep crowding the doors," Austin warned, his training finally kicking in.
"And they'll kill us all," Jason said.
He didn't wait any longer. He activated the magnetic system in his boots, the metal clanking heavily under his weight against the floor. The ship utilized magnetic technology extensively; the crew's clothes and shoes were made of materials that created attraction with the floor to prevent weightlessness.
"First Battalion, come with me!" Jason commanded.
Twenty-five special forces soldiers stood up. They were young and old, the older ones thirty, the younger ones only twenty-three or twenty-four, but their eyes held the unique steadfastness of men trained for this. They were humanity's top-tier space unit, and perhaps the last one left.
"Secure the cabin. Use non-lethal force if you have to, but get them seated. Now!".
Jason marched into the passenger cabin, his boots heavy on the metal floor. The sight of the armored soldiers pushing through the crowd stunned the passengers into silence.
Jason grabbed the inter-communication handset. "Sit down!" His voice boomed through the speakers.
"Earth is gone," Jason said. He didn't sugarcoat it. "Seven billion people are dead. Our homes are ash now. If you panic now,then you will also join them".
The scientist who had been pounding on the window slumped to the floor, crying. The cabin went quiet.
"We are fortunate; we narrowly survived. We are also unfortunate; we have forever lost Earth, lost our loved ones," Jason continued, his voice low and hoarse. "But as long as we are breathing, humanity isn't finished".
He pointed toward the front of the ship, away from the crimson ruin of Earth.
"Our mission hasn't changed. We have a destination. Moon Base No. 1. There are still fifty thousand humans alive there!".
A ripple of relief went through the crowd. Yes, The Moon Base One, They are not alone.
Jason turned back to the bridge and signaled Austin to follow. He sat back in the command chair. "Set course for the Moon," Jason ordered. "Get us in orbit".
"Captain," the communications officer whispered, leaning in close so the passengers wouldn't hear. He held a datapad with shaking hands. "We... we just got a coded message from Moon Base".
"A distress signal?" Jason asked.
"No, Sir. It's an intelligence packet sent by the automated defense grid before it went offline," the officer swallowed hard. "There has been a rebellion inside the base".
Jason froze. "The convicts?".
"Yes, Sir. The death row inmates used for construction. They overran the guards and now the administration is dead".
Jason looked at the data. The "sanctuary" was burning just like Earth, overrun by thousands of desperate, violent criminals with nothing left to lose.
Austin saw the data and cursed softly. "We're flying a ship full of scientists and five hundred tons of food supply straight into a slaughterhouse".
Jason looked back at the passenger bay. The civilians were finally buckling in, believing they were going to safety. He couldn't tell them this news. Not yet.
"Austin," Jason said, his voice dropping. "Tell the squad to prepare their weapons.".