Deep within the silent, freezing reaches of the cosmos, a monster is moving. It does not carry a name filled with mythic dread, but rather a cold, clinical numerical designation that belies its true power: 52768 (1998 OR2). To the untrained eye, it is simply a rock floating in the void. To the astronomers and defense analysts who monitor our skies with unblinking vigilance, it is a mountain of stone and metal capable of ending civilization as we know it. For months, the warning of its approach appeared quietly in academic journals and technical databases, wrapped in the dry language...
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