Leah let her little boy run off to the playground to play and sat down on the park bench, exhausted. She had worked fifteen hours a day every day for the past week because her family needed the money and she was enjoying the time off - though, admittedly, she'd rather be sleeping.

Her husband of four years, a theoretical physicist named Dr. Price, came up behind her and kissed her on the back of the neck, proceeding to ask how dinner at a nice restaurant sounded.

Thousands of miles above them in the sparsest part of the earth's atmosphere a giant flying wing bomber that was twice the size of the B2 sped forwards at several times the speed of sound, which was barely enough to keep it elevated in the thin upper atmosphere.

In the two-man cockpit a Russian pilot checked some gauges and the flight computer that had a number that was counting down rapidly.

The other one was busy fishing a key out of a pseudo glove compartment that required a key code to access, and once he had it he inserted it into a slot on the roof. He then turned it and a small metal door slid opened revealing a small red button.

"Выпустите в 30 секундах," he said to the other pilot in his gravelly Russian voice as he pulled the button out.

Thirty seconds later he pressed it down and for five seconds a bay door in the bottom of the aircraft opened, closing as soon as the large sphere had been released.

Back in the park below Leah and Channon held eachother as the sun watched over them cheerfully. Their son was busy laughing and playing with the other children, just like a child should.

After a few minutes Channon stood up and kissed Leah, a sweet and lingering kiss, and then jogged over and played with his son, the two of them laughing as they enjoyed themselves.

In the plane the co-pilot watched the satelite feed of the city, waiting for the sign that their job was done.

Two minutes later he was rewarded with a bright flash and a growing orange spot on the screen.

How were the two pilots supposed to know about what had been going on below? Their superiors hadn't told them of families playing in parks and going out to dinner, of mothers that loved their children, of husbands who loved their wives.

No, their superiors had simply said, "Do it." All they were doing was obeying orders. How could they have known?