Collision Earth

During orbital insertion, a sudden solar flare erupts from the Sun and magnetizes Mercury. The Nautilus barely escapes the initial blast, but its engines fail and the ship is drawn into the magnetized field. Mercury fractures yet remains intact, and its altered trajectory sets it on a collision course with Earth.

James Preston stands in a university auditorium and explains how unpredictable space hazards—asteroids, solar flares, comets—can be. He then describes Project Seven, a planetary defense system designed to intervene in such events. After the lecture, mission ops confirms they have lost contact with Nautilus.

Preston hurries home to reach mission ops, but contact is patchy and the power goes out. He calls Jennifer Kelly at Sphere, desperate for any fix, but the line cuts out as a magnetic pulse sweeps the planet. Satellites are damaged and metal objects are unpredictably repelled, signaling a wider threat.

The Nautilus drifts in space with low oxygen and damaged navigation and communications. Marshall Donnington and Victoria Preston survive; Lee is dead, his body burned. The crew stabilizes oxygen levels and begins repairs to navigate and reestablish comms.

The Sphere facility in the Seattle area crunches the data and reports that Mercury will miss Earth by about 500,000 miles. The calculation reduces the urgency but confirms a dangerous near-miss scenario. The team uses the information to calibrate their next moves.

Crew members fix the oxygen system and begin repairs to navigation and communication. With oxygen stabilized, they push to reestablish contact with Earth and coordinate a response to the looming threat. The ship gradually regains modest operational capability.

Victoria fixes the comms enough to reach a pirate radio station run by two North Bay University seniors in Oregon. Nautilus then connects to Christopher Weaver and Brooke Adamson, but the signal is lost again as the situation deteriorates. The relay offers a fragile foothold for Earth-Nautilus communication.

Preston’s friend Matthew Keyes explains that the sun briefly became a magnetar, a burst that magnetized Mercury’s fragments. Magnetized debris begins entering Earth’s atmosphere, and Preston retrieves a meteorite he can confirm is magnetized. The evidence confirms a planetary-scale magnetic threat is real.

Brooke and Christopher reach Sphere to reinforce the effort, but guards don’t believe their urgency. Victoria sends them toward Preston’s house in Pacific Grove, where Preston arrives and communicates with Victoria; they use Preston’s radio to verify a personal connection and legitimacy.

Inside Sphere, Edward Rex decides to pursue Operation Recourse instead of Project Seven and orders a recalculation of Mercury’s path. Preston discreetly steals Rex’s security badge to access restricted areas and learns the Project Seven plan first-hand. Brooke and Christopher arrive at Preston’s residence and the team begins to coordinate a response.

Preston learns that the Project Seven guidance is damaged and that a bold plan is needed. Matthew Keyes suggests using Nautilus to tug the energy field between planets to reroute the defense. Preston heads to a fallback facility to retrieve top-secret files, while Brooke and Christopher race to join him in their effort.

Victoria docks with Project Seven and guides it toward Mercury, activating the energy field and moving Mercury away from Earth. The life-support strain is intense, but Victoria repairs it within 15 minutes. Rex’s missiles are drawn off course by Mercury’s magnetism and fail to reach the planet, and the final shot shows Mercury moving away as asteroid debris forms rings around Earth.