Space Knights: The Arrival

between the ship and the doomed world. The solar bomb exploded, erupting in a fireball that started out as a pinprick on the screen, but expanded extremely quickly. In moments it had covered the entire planet. Everyone on the ship watched. The experiment appeared to be a huge success, yet the fireball continued to grow.
Suddenly alarms sounded on the ship and the cockpit crew began checking all their instruments to locate the source of the alarm. “What’s going on?” asked the captain, looking nervous.
“It’s the blast sir. It’s still growing. It’s going to hit us!” shouted a terrified Sax.
“What! That’s impossible!” exclaimed the captain. “We’re outside the designated safety line. How can it be approaching us at this distance?”
“It’s the blast back sir!” shouted Valondox as he checked his instruments and saw that his original suspicion had been correct. Three more crewmen verified Valondox’s statement.
With feverish reactions the crew scrambled to turn the ship around and tried to activate the deep space drive that would send the ship past the speed of light and away from the approaching fireball. However, at the moment the drive was activated the ship was vaporized.
Melthor was reduced to two-thirds its size and blasted into its huge moon, now approximately the same size and mass of the planet. The collision of the two galactic bodies caused the moon to be launched out of its orbit. The blast expanded for another five minutes before collapsing, and Melthor’s moon continued on its way across the vastness of space toward a nearby galaxy. Ultimately it would be responsible for the destruction and redemption of many worlds.

Chapter 1
Before the End of the Earth
Across space and trillions of years later in the Milky Way galaxy on planet Earth, a small group of astronomers looked through their telescope and were stunned. They had spotted something monumental that totally took them by surprise. They had been looking well out past the planet Pluto where they saw what appeared to be a new planet.
“Well Dr. Walters, what do you think?” asked the excited assistant Mr. Daniels as he peered into the giant telescope.
“Looks like our system has a tenth planet after all,” said Dr. Walters to the rest of the astronomers as he took command to study the distant planet. They spent the rest of the night taking notes, making telephone calls, and sending telegrams to other astronomers and scientists around the world. The phones had been installed new three years ago in 1950. News of the new planet spread across the globe in record time as more and more astronomers and scientists turned their telescopes toward the new planet.
***
Weeks passed as scientists in observatories all over the globe watched the distant planet. The scientific world reached the same conclusion. They determined that the planet was the same size as Jupiter, and that it was moving closer to Earth every day. They were astounded that this was even possible.
The prestigious scientist Samuel Sonderson from the United States of America headed one group studying the planet from the observatory located at Mt. Evans, Colorado. His group’s examination of the planet produced a very startling fact. They found that in one hundred and fifty years the planet was going to hit and destroy the Earth. The information was of vast importance to the entire world. The scientists agreed that Dr. Sonderson should be the representative to bring the information to the United Nations.
“Mr. President and worthy delegates, my colleagues and I have been studying this planet-like mass which was brought to our attention by Dr. Walters and his assistant some weeks ago. We found that it is approximately the same size as Jupiter and is solid. Unlike Jupiter and Saturn, which are gaseous planets, this mass has a surface more like Mars or Mercury, solid and rocky. The planet’s mass is also tremendous; roughly fifty times that of Earth. Now I know that you have already heard about this, but our information is critical because of a development that we discovered. That is why I am here.” Dr. Sonderson stated gravely, “My group and I have calculated that our planet has roughly a hundred and fifty years left before this planet collides with the Earth.”
Around the room, delegates turned to each other and murmured about Dr. Sonderson’s last statement. It had startled them all. Some thought he was mad. Some thought he was just stirring up trouble. Maybe he had made it up. Was it a joke, and if so wasn’t it in very bad taste? The President restored order by repeatedly banging his gavel and calling for order.
“What does your group suggest that we do? Is there some plan we can use to escape this disaster?” asked the President.
Dr. Sonderson thought a moment and consulted the scientists near him and they talked quite vigorously and nodded in agreement with the plan they had all discussed for weeks before this UN meeting. Finally he turned and spoke, “My group and I have studied this situation thoroughly and we have examined all of the possibilities and we have come to a decision. Our proposal is a global evacuation. We have time to devise rockets that could carry the Earth’s population to a new planet where they could start again.”
Silence engulfed the hall as everyone took in the idea and pondered whether or not it could be done. Where would they go? Could such rockets be built? Was there enough time? How would the population live on these ships? There were even those who thought about who would be saved. What about the profit from this venture? The contract for the rockets would be worth billions. Who would build the rockets? Where would they be built, and what about the countries that could not afford the rockets? Would each country have to build their rockets?
“Do you have a destination in mind?” asked the chairman.
“Actually we don’t. Not yet at least. We’re still searching our galaxy for a suitable planet. If we don’t find a