Astronomers Spot Mysterious Object Hurtling Toward Earth, Crash Occurs Three Weeks Later

Normally, sharing this information would likely result in severe consequences for me. However, given the current circumstances, Uncle Sam has bigger issues to deal with. In the middle of the night, I was awoken by two marines who told me I had to come with them and that they didn't want to answer any questions. I was taken by helicopter on a two-hour flight across the desert after being driven in a black Jaguar with tinted windows to a nearby airstrip.

The pilot set us down outside a military convoy consisting of a curved wall of utility vehicles and personnel carriers. Beyond the soldiers, I saw that they were rapidly constructing a makeshift base, hammering together scaffolding and hanging camel tarps. I was quickly ushered inside a metal shipping container where there were foldable tables scattered about. Inside the container, there were two other individuals who looked like they had just been dragged out of bed - a woman in her mid-30s with a blonde ponytail and sharp cheekbones, and a man with a wild beard and half-frame glasses who looked like Colonel Sanders. Before I could ask what was going on, a uniformed man with a collection of colorful metal pins on his jacket appeared and told us that the US government needed our help. He explained that we were three scientists, leaders in our respective fields, and that we were the ones who had come closest to solving the problem at hand. Before he could say any more, he demanded that we each sign an NDA."

The uniformed man told us that the information was highly confidential and that we would face jail time for any leaks. He slammed a form down on the table and told us to sign it, handing us a pen. I and the woman with the ponytail signed without comment, but the man with the beard held out for a minute or two, muttering about how outraged he was at being dragged all this way without warning before eventually relenting. As soon as the pen hit the desk, a female soldier began taking our measurements while the general turned off the lights and walked over to the side table at the back of the room. He turned on an old school projector and clicked through a series of photos, starting with satellite imagery showing what he called anomalies that astrologists had been tracking for weeks

The officer showed us a series of images, starting with security footage of a white streak piercing the night sky above a series of sand dunes. The final video showed teenagers running around in the back of a pickup truck when, just over the shoulder of one of the boys, there was a blinding flash of white light. A few seconds later, a giant tidal wave of sand rolled towards them and the footage became garbled. After the lights came up, the officer explained that he needed our help investigating a crater several miles east of our current location. The military had already sent a scouting party, but they couldn't explain what they had encountered. All three of us were stunned into silence while outside, engines roared and helicopters took flight. The sounds of metallic clangs and shouts added to the uproar as the general explained that we would be going in with a full squadron of marines and some serious firepower. He sat behind his makeshift desk, fingers steeple, and asked us what we wanted to do. Greybeard asked for more details and clarification on several points, but the general just stared at us over his hands. Ponytail and I agreed immediately, followed shortly by greybeard, who eventually grudgingly agreed. We were led into changing facilities, where chem suits had been draped over metal hangers and the room was divided into segments by roll-down tarps. At the far end, two soldiers guarded the exit, rifles strapped across their chests."

The lady told us to get changed quickly, and as I walked around inside the suit, I felt awkward. Beside the suit lay a pack containing all the equipment I would need - prongs, jars, swabs, and more. At the far end of the facility, the other scientists and I met up and stood around with our helmets under our arms. Greybeard kept shaking his head, saying he must be nuts. Finally, a marine also kitted out in a protective suit stepped through the entrance and explained how things would work. Our helmets was equipped with lights, cameras, and a radio that we could use to communicate. A personnel carrier would drive us six seals out to the crater, where they had prepared a pulley system that we could use to repel down into it. All we had to do was walk backwards. From there, it was a short track to the objective. "No hassle," he said. "Got it? We don't have time to stand around if anyone has a panic attack. Follow my instructions at all times. If I tell you to move, you move. If I say stop, you stop." He asked each of us in turn if we understood, and we all said yes.

For the next 15 minutes, we all rocked and bounced around in the back of the carrier, a dust storm trailing behind the rear wheels. That first pang of fear didn't hit until the vehicle ground to a halt. At that point, I deeply regretted signing up for this. I felt like Alice, tumbling into Wonderland. We were told to strap on our helmets, and then we all climbed out together. Cables had been hitched around the grill of a Humvee parked about 10 meters from the mouth of a crater larger than a Texas football stadium. One by one, the first three marines clipped on and stepped backwards into the gloomy chasm, while the rest of us hooked up our belts to the cord. By now, Greybeard had reached a state of complete panic. All he needed to do was walk backwards into the crater, but 10 minutes later, we were still watching him give himself a pep talk, like a child terrified of plunging off the top diving board. I didn't really blame him."

The commander, who had already climbed into the hole, radioed repeatedly, checking on the delay and becoming increasingly agitated each time. It took 20 minutes of coercion before Greybeard finally mustered up the courage to go, stumbling several times before the darkness even had a chance to swallow him. Ponytail descended without protest, and then it was my turn. My boots lost their grip every 20 steps or so, and each time I felt them scrape roughly against the rock wall, sending rubble cascading into the unseen pit. Over the radio, the commander's voice said, "Nice and steady." It felt like I was being lowered into a hungry mouth, and I kept waiting for the stars overhead to disappear as the cavern sealed itself. At some point, my eyes closed and refused to open again until my boots touched a horizontal surface. A marine unclipped my belt, and then I waited with the others. Marines were positioned on either side of us, with two in front, two on each side, and two bringing up the rear. The tunnel sloped down at a 30 degree angle for a long time as we marched in a straight line over hard rock. But after that, we trudged through puddles of a sticky substance scattered here and there. The green lights on our helmets and rifles barely lit the way as the puddles grew larger. The tunnel opened into a large hollow roughly the size of an Olympic swimming pool. The ceiling was an uneven height, but at its tallest point, it stretched at least 100 feet from the ground. Toward the far side, there were the beginnings of a sizzling meteor half buried in the wall, its intensity radiating through my face mask. The area was ablaze with light sticks spaced out every 20 meters or so around the outer edge. A few steps into this space, the marines spread out, coordinated by a series of complex hand gestures.

As we approached the center of the cavern, navigating through sticky patches of ooze, the commander signaled a halt and the troops split into two columns. I strained to listen for my instructions. From the darkness, there came a babble of sounds - thrashing, wriggling. I could just make out a silhouette - a writhing mass of flesh with no discernible features, except for a facial tube containing a hole the size of a dinner plate at the end. Its black pupil probed the ground as the creature marched around on claws at the end of six swollen, maggoty appendages, seemingly uninterested in us visitors.

I stood there with my jaw propped open as a shrill yell became audible over the radio. Behind me, Greybeard fell into the dirt and scrambled away on his hands and knees. The nearest marines hooked him by the armpits and hauled him up, holding him in place. I spun back towards the creature, my feet rooted to the spot, giddy with excitement. Ponytail took a step closer, exclaiming, "Incredible! What is it?"

"That's what you're here to tell us," the commander replied. "All we know is that it arrived in the meteor. She grabbed a small metal rectangle off her waist and waved it over the creature, adjusting the dials on the side with her free hand. "What can you

As we rushed towards the tunnel, another creature blocked our path. Greybeard broke free from the nearby soldiers and frantically ran towards the tunnel, pursued by the men he had shaken off. The group came to a sudden halt when Greybeard's light revealed another alien. Greybeard fell to the ground, his torch illuminating the creature like a spotlight. Ponytail asked the commander why he had told them there was only one creature, and the creature began to shuffle towards Greybeard as he tried to get back on his feet. The creature's face opened up, revealing a hole the size of a car tire, and a long tube shot out, swallowing the top half of Greybeard's helmet, which began to melt. The suit also melted as the creature's mucus burned through the material, sizzling and boiling Greybeard's skin. The creature pulled back on the tube like a fishing line, consuming more and more of Greybeard and his protective suit. Once it reached the halfway point, a pair of legs covered in boils, blisters, and exposed muscle were all that was left, as the creature lifted Greybeard into the air. Greybeard's screams were still audible on the radio as the life form swallowed him whole, like an anaconda swallowing an antelope. When only a pair of melted boots were left poking out of the cavity, the screaming stopped, and Greybeard was gone. The soldiers pointed their weapons at the creature as several of them spread out and formed a semicircle. At the commander's signal, they unloaded their rifles, the light from the rounds illuminating the dark cave.

I was standing there, frozen in horror as I watched the creature divide into two, each with its own set of writhing legs and glistening eyes. The sound of gunfire filled the air as one of the creatures engulfed a marine, its long tube of a mouth melting his helmet and suit as it swallowed him whole. The commander shouted for us to fall back, and I was grabbed by the waist and pulled away from the scene. We zigzagged through the cavern, dodging the expanding pools of slime and the creatures that seemed to be closing in on us from all sides. As we were hoisted out of the pit on cables, more and more aliens emerged from the darkness, their tentacles reaching out for us.

We were rushed into a carrier and sterilized, surrounded by soldiers rushing back and forth in a frenzy of activity. The radio crackled with static and urgent chatter as we were debriefed by the general, who asked us to evaluate what we had seen. My mind was still racing with the terror of the experience, and all I could think about was getting as far away from that hellish cavern as possible.

As I sat at the airport, waiting for my flight to board, I couldn't shake the feeling of unease that had settled in my gut. I had just returned from a mission to investigate a mysterious crater in the desert, and what we had discovered there was beyond anything I could have ever imagined. The military had deployed a full squadron of marines to accompany us, and we had been prepared for anything, but nothing could have prepared us for the horrors we encountered in that dark, underground cavern.

We had encountered a series of grotesque, writhing creatures that seemed to replicate and divide at will, engulfing and devouring anything in their path. I still couldn't believe that one of our own, a scientist named Greybeard, had been swallowed whole by one of these monsters. As we fled back to the surface, we had been surrounded by more of these creatures, and it had taken all of our strength and determination to make it back to safety.

Now, as I waited for my flight to take off, I couldn't help but wonder what was happening back at that crater. Reports were coming in of authorities rounding up residents and shipping them off to the area, and photos showed a significant military presence heading in that direction. I had no idea what was going on, but one thing was clear: this was not going to be a Merry Christmas.