Hailey, Part 1.

Halley, The Comet’s Secret

Part 1, Bringing Secrets Home

Well, I'm not sure if you have any interest in astronomy, but as of today, January 27, 2026, the eyes of the world are turned toward the heavens. The deep space craft EE, or Exo-Earth Explorer, will meet Halley’s Comet as it passes through our system on its closest flyby to date. The crew of the EE consists of the best we, as one race, have for the job—you see, this is a joint country's mission. The U.S., China, the Russian and German space agencies, the Canadian Air Force, and even some guys from South America are involved. We, the people of Earth, have come together to undertake this incredible task. The crew is working exceptionally well together, and so far, the mission is on track, with not so much as a light bulb dying out. The mission is headed by the best captain the world could have asked for: Captain Ulysses Martin. He's a decorated soldier, pilot, and quite an accomplished astronaut. His second in command, or his XO (Executive Officer), is Cydnee Morton, one of the U.S. Air Force's best and brightest cadets. This ship has a massive mixture of brainpower and diversity, but only the best and brightest minds are fit for such an audacious task. The rest of the crew is a colorful bunch, blending like a well-knit high-thread-count microfiber blanket. As we go along, I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew, but right now, the task is calling and requires immediate attention.

Everyone reports to their stations on the EE and prepares to intercept Halley’s comet and collect their trophy to bring home. The comet and the EE are right where they need to be for this mission to succeed. A few hundred miles from Halley, the crew prep the drill probes and get into their pressure suits so that Lt. King can open the cargo doors and deploy them. There are two engineers in the cargo hold as the doors open. Chief Engineer Xao Ziyi helps his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Borzki, manually activate and prep the drills while Tech Officer Sgt. Carter Phillips arms each warhead as the probes come online. These drills are specially designed, diamond-tipped titanium drill heads that should easily drill through... well, pretty much anything, but Earth scientists have only speculated about the possible mixture of ice and stone that we think the comet is made of, plus the question marks hanging over the chemical makeup of Halley’s surface and interior ice. The consensus is that the entire thing is made of water ice and stone, and collecting a significant sample of the comet—whether all ice or all stone—is the EE's primary objective.

The probes will drill 45 feet into the side of the comet and then detonate, dislodging a few large pieces. We hope these will clear the comet's coma (tail), where the EE will collect only the most significant pieces for study on Tera Ferma. All six probes have left the EE and are aimed at the target. The explosion from the drills should be visible from Earth... with the naked eye. The probes will impact Halley in 14 minutes and start drilling upon impact. The process should only take 10 to 18 minutes beyond impact until the warheads detonate, and the comet pieces separate. The EE crew will then scan the pieces for the largest one that can fit into the deep freeze section of the cargo bay and position the ship for an almost effortless pickup. After that, the EE will begin a four-day trip back to the International Space Station in high orbit above Earth, with its precious cargo in the freezer at sub-zero temperatures. I am Captain Wingfield, and this is my log. About six minutes after detonation, we decided on a piece to pick up— a chunk about the size of a small SUV. My pilot moved the EE into position as the piece floated harmlessly into the cargo bay, and the engineers gently pushed it onto a sled built into the floor. They then secured it with three straps to keep it in place. Once the comet chunk was secured, the cargo bay doors closed, and the EE began firing its directional thrusters to reorient itself on a path back to Earth.

I called the science lab and told them that we had confirmed pickup and that they could move in. They were all but too excited, almost 'giddy,' as they made their way to the cargo bay and the freezer section to begin the preliminary examination of the comet piece. I was about to head down and have a look myself, but the pilot had already started the countdown for Earth return, and I only had a few seconds. So, I strapped myself in the captain's seat and prepped for the retro burn. With all the crew in their places and braced for the burn, the Exo-Earth Explorer’s engines fired, and the long trip home was underway. It would take us just over 4 days Earth time to reach the ISS and only a few hours to transfer to the shuttle and get back down to Earth, where I'm sure a massive barrage of uber nerds will be waiting for our cargo. I tuned into the news from Earth via satellite link and watched the success flood the channels. It was on every channel; at this moment, the eyes of the world were on us... The crew of the EE. It's been about 10 hours now, and we are on our way home when I decide to head down to the science bay and check on our cargo, passing through the ship and checking on all the crew along the way. Once I reached the freezer section, I was amazed to see that the science team was in full swing; they had lights and a full scanner built into the room, and to my and everyone’s surprise, the scanner was reading organic material inside the ice portions of the Halley chunk.

At that moment, I ordered everyone out of the room and sealed off the freezer section, much to the science team's dismay. Dr. Porter wouldn't let me pass without voicing her disapproval: “Why have you sealed the freezer lab? Those organisms are alien life forms, Captain, and we can't just ignore this. We have to study them.” I turned, saying, “I know they are and may be alive. The problem is that we don't know anything about them and are extremely ill-equipped to handle bio-contamination. We don't know what they are, and I don't want them getting out.” I pushed through the cargo bay and returned to the bridge. I ordered the pilot to radio home and transfer the call to my quarters. Once I had a secure line to Earth, I connected with the NASA director and informed him of our situation. I told him, “In the preliminary exam, the scanner indicated organic life inside the ice,” and, against my disapproval, I was ordered to allow the science team access to the comet chunk to determine the source of the anomaly. So, I followed orders and unsealed the freezer section, but I ensured they took extreme precautions inside. I waited a full two hours before allowing them in. They secured the entire freezer section and kept the scanners running the whole time. I kept the bio-sensors active as the science team cut into the ice and extracted a small piece. She held it up to the high-output light to get a good look at it, and there it sat, frozen. It looks like a tadpole with legs and a stinger on its tail. It's frozen solid but is still registering on the bio-scan, meaning it must retain some sign of life, or it wouldn't appear on the scan. Dr. White put the sample into the bio-collector, sealed it to be thawed out, and photographed it for the catalog. The bio-collector is covered by one-inch-thick security glass, so it will be contained if that thing is still kicking. They activated the lights in the collector and began to thaw the ice sample so they could get a closer look at the creature. I radioed up to the bridge to check on our flight status, and now we are only 22 hours away from the moon, so the longest part of our trip home is almost over.

The science team kept working on the comet sample, taking pieces of rock and more ice, and separating them because each country will be assigned a piece for individual study. Everyone in the room worked hurriedly, sampling and cataloging everything, and no one even noticed that the collector was up and moving around inside. I tapped the glass, saying, “hey HEY! That thing is moving in there.” Everything stopped, and all eyes focused on the collector and the creature stirring inside it. From where I stood, I could tell, “It’s growing,” said Dr. White. The creature had doubled in size since it thawed and was aggressive, jumping at the glass as people got close to look at it. I stepped in for a closer look as Dr. Von Wvaldeen activated the collector's bio scanner to figure this out.

Dr. Heard took pictures of the creature and noticed that the glass was starting to crack from the creature, striking it with its stinger. He stood up quickly just as I passed out of the door and said “the glass is giving activate the burner", but it was too late the collector burst open and the creature leaped out onto the table and let out a high pitch screech that pierced the ears of everyone then everyone ran towards the door. The Creature leaped to the ceiling and jumped onto Dr. Heard’s back. It rotated itself upside down and stuck its stinger into the base of Dr. Heard’s neck, and then it bit down on the bottom of his spine and dug its sharp legs into his skin and latched itself to his spinal cord as he screamed in agony and fell to the floor. Dr. White said, “We have to help him,” and ran back towards the door, but Dr. Keith grabbed him. She told him, “You know we can't go in there, at least not yet. We don't know what that thing is doing to him or what it will do to us.” I couldn't let them open that door, so they just stood there and watched Heard twitching violently on the floor. It went on for about two minutes, and then it just stopped. I went to the weapon locker and got a rifle from the lockup. We are going in, just me, Phillips, and Valdez. He's not moving, so we need to get him on the scanner and look inside to see what that thing is doing to him. I gave the order for White to open the door, and I went in first, rifle-ready. Heard was lying there, not moving, so I kept the gun trained on him as I walked around. I gave him a little kick and got no reaction.

Phillips and Valdez slowly lifted him, laid him face down on the table, and strapped him in. The room is clear now, so I let Dr. Porter back in. She rushed to the scanner, activated the screen, and then turned on the freezer's nitro pumps to keep the Halley chunk frozen. Just then, my radio crackled in my ear. "It's the pilot, Captain. I'm rotating for docking orientation with the ISS, sir. The ISS commander is on comm for you." I clicked my bone mic and answered the ISS commander. "This is Captain Wingfield. We are on schedule and rotating to begin docking procedures. I require your medical team to be on standby, Commander. We have a medical emergency on board and are coming in fast." After a second or two, he responded, "The medical crew is prepped, and will meet you at docking bay 2, Captain. What is the nature of the emergency?” I exited the room and told him, "It's biological, sir. Some creature frozen in the Halley chunk has attached itself to Doctor Heard. The comet piece is contained in a liquid nitro drip, and Heard is strapped to a scanning table, sir. He's unconscious but breathing.” The commander said, "I'll meet you at the bay. You're telling me that you have an alien life form coming onto my station? Then I want to see it." A security and quarantine team met the crew of the EE at the docking bay door and sealed every walkway, leaving only a clear and direct route to the medical bay and quarantine station.

They brought the scan table in with Heard and the creature still on it, plugged it into the lab's systems, and started a more detailed scan of Dr. Heard. The creature had inserted its tail into the base of his skull and had a tiny ’spine’ inserted directly into his brain. It must be injecting something into his brain to create some euphoria because he doesn't feel anything right now, as far as we can tell, but he should be screaming in pain. After a few minutes of deliberation, we decided to try to cut the creature of Dr. Heard and began setting up a make-shift surgery unit right around the scan table. But from the looks of Doctor Heard I think we might be too late, every few seconds the creature would make this terrifying ’sucking’ sound and Heard’s torso would cave in like someone sucking the air out of a plastic bottle and with every suck the creature physically grew right before my eyes. Once we were set up for surgery and ready to try to remove the creature, it began to change. The creature sprouted two legs violently from just behind its two front legs, and it started to spew some thick mucus from its skin, and the same mucus started coming out of the doctor's skin and dripping onto the table. The mucus began to harden and cover Doctor Heard and the creature in a cocoon; the threshold process took minutes, and now we can't see Heard or the creature. Doctor Turner activated the scan table, and to my surprise, it still functioned. Doctor Herd is dead now, and his bones have been liquified, as have most of his insides, and the creature is still growing. I immediately pulled everyone out of the room and told the commander to radio Earth and have them send up an Exo-Earth tactical team ASAP.

We don't know what that thing is or how strong it might be; the security doors to the lab are down and sealed, but we don't know if they'll hold this thing. The commander suggested we head to the station's armory and arm ourselves in case this thing gets loose, so we went... in shifts, two at a time, while someone was always watching the room. After the commander called for help, the powers that be did precisely what I expected—they hoped they wouldn't. They ordered us to freeze the cocoon and bring the thing back as fast as possible, and I told them that this was a huge mistake, but hey... I just work here. Much to everyone's dismay, we all headed back to the lab. We put on our space suits, hoping they would provide extra protection, and then unsealed the lab door. Guns ready, and even a flamethrower aimed at it, we began unrolling the straps on the scan table again. As SSgt Valdez walked around the table, he stopped at the end and said, ’ The...the cocoon is open’. Everyone froze for about 10 seconds until the creature uncamouflaged itself on the ceiling and grabbed SSgt Valdez by the head, crushing it like a grape between its jaws. Everyone evacuated the room quickly as I fired a couple of rounds at the creature and slammed the door shut so the security door would auto-activate. The commander stepped to the window and said, "Jesus H Christ, look at the size of that thing, we gotta move; those doors won't hold that thing for long!" The creature had grown a full 4 feet in a matter of minutes and was extremely hostile.

I told the crew of the EE to get to the shuttle and prep for immediate evac, and told the commander he and the space station crew should be evacuating as well. Still, the commander wouldn't have it, he said, " I'll keep that thing locked away and at bay or kill it if we can, but your departure window is closing fast, so you have to go NOW!". I didn’t want to leave knowing that we brought that thing onboard, but I had to follow orders, so I did. I headed towards the shuttle as the commander headed to the station control room and radioed Houston to inform them of the situation and request immediate assistance. They told him a containment team was being prepped and would be on the launch pad within the hour, to contain the creature for capture and extraction, but to eliminate it if necessary. The creature looked like a giant Lizard-man with two extra arms and its mouth spread open like a ’predator’, the beast has a line of finned spikes down its back, starting at the apex of its head like a dragon's mohawk. With the space station's crew safe in the control room, the security officer began closing and locking bulkhead doors near and around the lab to trap the alien in a section of the space station, and it worked. He could see the creature in the cameras as it wandered around searching for a way out, he radioed me on the shuttle and said, "We have it contained in the east section and the bulkhead doors are holding. Get your crew out of here before you miss your optimal insertion window and be stuck up here for three more days." I locked myself in my seat and said goodbye to the space station. The shuttle doors shut, and we separated from the station. Then, we heard a massive tearing sound and saw the space station bleeding out its atmosphere above us. The hull breach knocked out power for the station, so I couldn't check to see if they were okay. Still, the bulkhead doors are locked down, so only that section loses atmosphere. I checked the screen for insertion and got ready to fire the engines when I felt a little ’thump’ against the shuttle, but I figured it was a piece of debris from the station..... I had no idea how wrong I was. I had green lights across the board, and I hit the radio to tell Houston we were coming in. The engines fired, and we headed towards Earth.

Just as we reached the upper atmosphere, the pilot adjusted the entry angle so that the heat shield would do its job, and we began our descent back to terra firma. After a rough as usual ride through the atmosphere, we began to glide straight towards Houston after a few minutes we could see the landing strip on the horizon and couldn't have looked any better, the pilot adjusted the course a little and popped the air brakes to slow our rate of decent as the landing gear came down and even from two miles away and a few hundred feet up I could see the mass of media types gathered for our landing. The pilot brought us in without a hitch, the shuttle touched down, and the camera flashes started to fire. It was about 7:30 ish, and the sun was beginning to set as we touched down and coasted within a few feet of the NASA control building, but as soon as we came to a complete stop, I knew something was wrong. The crew and I leaped from our seats the door opened, and Borski was first to step out but never made it down the stairs, the creature sank its teeth into his shoulder pulled him up as it grabbed his legs and tore him into two, swallowing most of the top half then it leaped towards the building and crashed into a window. I got down to the ground and one of the technicians told me as soon as the space station got the power back on, they told them the creature had attached itself to the shuttle, the little thump I heard was the alien hitting the hull, and I thought.... Not only did it survive in space, but it also survived the heat of reentry. How the hell do you kill something like that? I saw the army filing in, pushing out the media, and establishing a perimeter around the building. But they have no idea what they are up against. I told them I had to go in with them. I know what it can do, give me some gear and I'll help them hunt it down.

I have solid intel on the creature and know this building well. We must catch or kill it before it escapes, as a nearby small town could be at risk if the creature gets out. The building is being evacuated while I check my gear and prepare to move out. People reported the creature heading towards the lower floors, following those trying to escape. Since the NASA building is connected to the town's sewer system, we must act quickly before it enters the sewers and escapes the perimeter. I’ve joined the spec ops team to hunt the creature, and we moved out under my command. Although the building should now be empty, I won't be certain until we’re inside. We approached the doors, began breaching, and cleared the lobby. Then, we headed for the main staircase to check each floor, using the stairway as our entry point and reference.

But as soon as we reached the second floor, we could hear screaming and the creature moving around, which sounded huge. I have the order to breach the second floor and fire at will in tight quarters to keep our fire clear of any surviving civvies. Just as we made our way into the second-floor hall, the woman that we could hear screaming came storming around the corner with the creature closing in on her 6. I yelled ’GET DOWN’ and she dropped to the floor. We opened fire on the beast but didn't put it down. It burst through a wall and was immediately out of sight. I ordered my men to secure the civvie and move out. We have to track it while it’s on the move because we don't want to give it a chance to take cover and start to hunt us, it could easily take cover in a building this size and begin to ambush and hunt us because it knows we are after it now since we fired on it. The creature tore a hole in the floor and dropped down to the first floor, so I know it's trying to get out of the building, but my men and I have a little surprise for the creature if it heads towards the base sewer access. I radioed outside and told them,’ The creature is moving downstairs, so prep the strike packet if it reaches the sewer access before we can stop it. ’ With the strike packet online now, we have to find it again, so we jumped the hole it made and went right behind it, and the creature has been injured and is bleeding blue blood all over the place. Tracking it will be easy, leaving a bright blue trail.

We moved through the lower floor of the building and cleared every room until we came to a set of double doors that closed off the meeting and briefing hall. As we approached, I could hear the creature taring it's way through the room I ordered the men to engage and drive the beast towards the lower basement level so we could contain and destroy it the maid down fire all over the place forcing the beast to back into the rear hall and move towards the basement at any minute now it should pass into the strike packet perimeter and then this will be over. The strike packet perimeter alarm chirped on my wrist computer, and I activated the strike packet. I ordered the men back as I loaded my M203 and fired a high-impact frag down the hall and dropped the floor from above to block the hall and trap the creature. With the strike packet online, I ordered the men to evac double time. We only have 20 seconds before the strike packet goes off, and this building goes into history. We hauled ass getting back to the first floor and outside just as the bomb went off and dropped the building on the creature. The explosion knocked me over along with the other guys, and then one of the men from the crew outside came running up, screaming There is another one, sir, there is another one. The lady from the hall said two creatures were in there, and one was outside the perimeter. They found tracks out the back of the building that confirmed one of the creatures was out and on the move. I ordered a chopper in the air and eyes on the tracks. We must hope it hasn't made it to the town yet.

Coming soon. Halley, Part 2.

The Hunt.