There were reports of...

There were reports of methane gas bubbles forming high in the atmosphere of Texas. The ones that had the taken their time to watch and learn about humans and Earth in general considered how the humans own social and scientific issues could be used against them, and then be made to defeat the humans. There was already pestilence, wars, weapons of war, and hate. The Cytom academics kept coming to the conclusion that Earth was a powderkeg primed to explode and destroy itself.

Bubbles of Cytom hate, bubbles of methane gas, ebola outbreaks, earthquakes, rising waters, so close to catastrophe but not quite there.

The ones watching and studying from outer space continued to speculate about how to tip the scales in favor of catastrophe.

They watched how the United States would put one leader in power in a country and then a few years later remove that person and place a different favorite in power.

Destabilization is what it was called, under the guise of bringing stability to a region.

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The air was filled with glitter, chafe, and other particulate matter. Larry was driving through the midst of it as fast as he could to stay ahead of bombardment. Occasionally aerial blasts would ignite the clouds of material floating in the air, setting off secondary, even larger aerial blasts.

When these were low enough, Larry could feel the impact wave. He wondered if he could go any faster. Some of the larger blasts were low to the ground. Larry had to often make turns that were reflexive, and then figure out how to get back on course. He wasn't always ready and when the car would go up on two wheels, he had to judge whether staying balanced on two wheels was a good idea, or should he bring the car down on all four.

He wasn't always left with time to think.