"No," the big Starman answered. "There are plenty of recurring symbols,
so I assume it's a language like our own, with letters and words.
Somebody will be able to decipher this without too much difficulty.
It's far beyond my skill, though." He rubbed his chin. "But I can
recognize a lot of the machinery."
Zip was sitting nearby. He hadn't spoken much during breakfast. The
images of the farm pulled at him again. "Mark, Joe," he began. He
hesitated a moment while they turned to him. They could see he was
puzzling through something, and waited patiently for him to continue.
"SE says that Zimbardo has targeted Earth with an asteroid over forty
miles long. What'll that do to home?"
Mark was suddenly deeply saddened. Zip always referred to the Moon as
home. He spoke softly.
"One of my professors at Starlight University talked about a study
conducted in the early 21st century. Back then, scientists started
becoming concerned about asteroid impacts, and they built a complex
computer model to see what would happen if a large asteroid struck
Earth."
"What did they find?" whispered Joe.
"Well, the model found that, depending on the angle of entry, the
impact can produce a massive corridor of incineration ahead of the
impact site. In that area, just about all life ends in minutes.
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