“That’s weird, right? I’m not seeing things that aren’t there on the screen?”
“It’s on the screen. Doesn’t mean that it’s correct. Calibration error?”
“Maybe.”
“System identifies it as… 48I/2150 J11. But that can’t be right.”
“Collision event?”
“A collision big enough to change its vector that much? We’d see a debris field. We would’ve seen it already.”
“Someone would’ve noticed a cloud that size heading towards the inner system.”
“You’d think so.”
“Hey, Dr. Petrov? Dr. Petrov! Could you take a look at this?”
“Hm? What? I’m in the middle of something.”
“Either the network is wrong, or we have a problem.”
“I’ve got confirmation from the lunar array. It’s a catalog match.”
“Let me see.”
“Do you want my chair, Doctor?”
“No, no. What is this? 48I/2150 J11? That was only significant briefly, over a decade ago. Other than size and velocity, it was unremarkable.”
“Yes, but—”
“This has to be a sensor error.”
“We thought collision, but—”
“No. A collision would have been obvious and detected by automated scans. Inner-system debris at that scale doesn’t hide.”
“All three datasets match: lunar array, orbital scopes, and tracking feed.”
…
“I’m going to need that seat.”