Act Two

Earth Line

ESA · ESOC Planetary Defence Office · internal note, not for circulation · M. Kessler · 12 September 2028

The 2025–26 search shows it was not at L5 then. It arrived between late 2026 and this spring, and nobody saw it come. Most paths that would bring it here in that time put it above a survey limit at least once. The rest stay within about 45° of the Sun, as seen from Earth, for nearly the whole approach. It came in on one of those.

In pencil, beside the last line: Lucky. Or it has done this before.