A faint glow shimmering on the table top caught Willard's attention. He slowly looked up. "For example, if a shower of glowing spheres were to crash into the outer hull, would we be prepared for it?"

"Fiction is not something we prepare for," Choi said.

Willard looked her straight in the eyes. "Maybe it should be."

Choi looked at him, her eyes reflecting her confusion.

Willard made the most sarcastic face he could manage and then thrust his index finger toward the transparent ceiling.

All eyes went to the ceiling.

"Oh my God," Peterson said.

Connelly's eyes grew wide as she looked up at the view, which minutes ago, was Europa and Jupiter alone. Now there were hundreds, maybe thousands of glowing spheres, the size of golf balls, hurtling towards them. They were beautiful, shimmering like living stars, but caused Connelly's muscles to tense.

This isn't right.

All eyes remained glued to the clear ceiling, watching as the closest of the spheres approached the outer hull. The glowing orb struck the hull and began moving along the side. The brightness of the orb became dazzling for a second and then it exploded with the force of a quarter stick of dynamite.

The room shook and the lights flickered.

Harris leapt to his feet and headed for the door.

"What the hell?" Peterson said.

"What's happening?" Connelly asked.

"I don't know," Harris said as he neared the exit.

Connelly returned her eyes to the transparent ceiling and watched as the cloud of glowing orbs closed in.

This is definitely not right!

Willard shot an evil eye at Choi. "If we live through this, I want to know everything."

Choi nodded, all traces of annoyance gone from her face. Then she bolted after Harris, who had just exited the room.

Willard looked up at the ominous view. "Fiction my ass."

The room shook as a second explosion rocked the hull, then another, and another.

Stumbling across the shaking room, the rest of the crew headed for the door. Connelly looked up at the cloud of shiny bombs headed their way. Instead of wondering how they were going to survive the massive pummeling, her thoughts jumped ahead to the next obvious question.

Where did they come from?

CHAPTER 8 -- THE ATTACK

The ship's violent shaking reminded Peterson of the time his brothers tricked him into riding his bicycle down a very long staircase. Every jolt shook his body so much that his teeth began to chatter. He clenched his jaw tight to stop the annoyance and set to the task of moving through the ship.

Twenty seconds into the attack, the lights had gone out. They were replaced by dim, red emergency lights. So now, not only did the shaking floor make it hard to walk, but the dull light made it nearly impossible to see.