Reaper: The Novel

The Beginning Of It All

Let me tell you something.

The invention that started it all was the Hyperdrive. Yes, you heard that right. Compared to the ones you've seen in all the sci-fi films on earth, this hyperdrive was big. Not as big as a room, per se, but it was bulky to the point where the scientists said "Eh, frick it. We're making only one". How it works is a secret known only to the superpowers of the world. It is rumored that it works by tearing a hole in our dimension, taking energy out of the hole, sealing it up again, and concentrating the energy into a point so small that the intense gravity would cause all the fuel provided to it to explode in one short burst. This burst, despite being an incredibly short one, was able to blast a spaceship all the way across the Galaxy.

The reason why mankind sought for said invention was an event called
The Glimpse. In the Year 2377, everyone was minding their own business (The human race did not advance that much entirely during those 3 centuries and 6 decades, and the reason why is still a mystery.), when suddenly, Earth's scientists discovered that an incredibly small spherical object emitting extremely lethal rays of radiation had entered the stratosphere. A Worldwide Crisis was announced. Every human from the face of the Earth was quickly ushered into reinforced underground bunkers. In less than 77 hours, not a single human in their right mind was on the surface of the planet.

They waited.

Nothing happened.

They continued waiting.

Then, all of a sudden, the Thing twinkled.

First once, then twice.

In a split second, the bright object in the sky had suddenly expanded to the size of a football field. It was completely flat, standing vertically in the sky. No matter what angle you looked at it, it always seemed to face sideways.

Then it hit them.

That was a portal.

A second one formed directly parallel to the first one, just a few meters apart. Then came a sight that no one in the world forgot.

A gargantuan mass started to appear from the first portal. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that it was not just a mass, but in fact the sleek black hull of an unknown spacecraft.
The spacecraft continued its entrance, leaving through the second portal. For the next 77 minutes, the entire world watched in awe as a Vortexian Stormrider committed a Stridian Jump through the Earth's atmosphere. But just before the last vestiges of the spacecraft disappeared, a large shiny black cube dropped from the spaceship.

The world was not prepared for what they would find inside.