[ WP ] war breaks out in earth , while the astronauts on the International Space Station watch from above .

`` We... have our orders.'' 
 
 `` We're scientists. *They're* scientists. It's wrong to kill them. Besides, they're stronger than we are, and there's no way we can afford to kill them besides strangulation. Ever wonder how blood reacts in no gravity environments when you stab a man in the back?'' 
 
 The two astronauts stared out the window as another nuke went off. Poor Chicago. 
 
 -- - 
 
 `` We could kill them. Quickly. Take a belt, wrap it around the neck, no mess...'' The cosmonaut made a jerking movement with his hand. `` Easy.'' 
 
 `` But then what? They are our fellow scientists. We could not run the station for long without them. And they are our friends. It is better to do nothing.'' 
 
 The two cosmonauts stared out the window as another nuke went off. Would that that was Finland, and not St. Petersburg. 
 
 -- - 
 
 They met in the center module, all six of them. Three American, three Russian. Henderson was asleep, the lucky bastard. He had n't yet seen the carnage. 
 
 They stared at one another for a few moments, before Yuri turned to the window. `` Look.'' 
 
 A massive shape loomed at them from space. `` That thing appeared 5 hours ago, and has just been sitting there ever since.'' 
 
 `` Not just sitting. It launched something at Denver just 20 minutes ago, and now look.'' 
 
 Denver was burning in dark, purplish smoke. 
 
 `` Look!'' Another pod shot out from the alien structure, this time hitting Sydney. In minutes smoke covered everything. 
 
 `` An alien invasion during nuclear war. Brilliant.'' 
 
 `` Missiles.'' 
 
 Henderson was awake, his speech somehow not slurred with sleep as usual. `` Columbus Laboratory. Yours,'' he said, addressing the Russians, `` are in Rassevet. I overwrote both of our access codes. Make all preparations and I'll be over in a minute to re-enable them.'' 
 
 `` Henderson!'' 
 
 `` You realize I'm the only one among us who has a military background? Our government is disgusting from the ground up. Only up here, from space, are we free from contamination. Notice how the nukes have stopped? They just noticed what's up happening. But they do n't have anything capable of reaching that mothership this far in orbit, and they ca n't tell us what to do since Orlando was nuked.'' 
 
 `` So we're going to nuke it.'' 
 
 `` Right.'' 
 
 `` Save the world?'' 
 
 `` Maybe then they'll give NASA the funding we've needed.'' Henderson laughed. `` There. 10 minutes to launch.'' 
 
 -- - 
 
 `` Launch bays are open.'' 
 
 `` Targeting systems are acquired. Coordinates received and transmitted.'' 
 
 `` We're clear to launch.'' 
 
 `` T-minus 5.'' 
 
 `` 4.'' 
 
 `` 3.'' 
 
 `` 2.'' 
 
 `` 1.'' 
 
 `` Ignition.''
