The two people's eyes widened the instant they heard the news. Shiller rushed to the window and turned back to say to Natasha, "Are you sure this isn't Nick's doing?"
"How could he possibly take such a risk?" Natasha said, "That's tens of thousands of lives at stake; he's not military, he'd have to be insane to do that!"
Shiller calmed down as quickly as he possibly could, thought for a moment, and realized that Nick indeed was unlikely to do such a thing. His moral compass might be skewed, but he took a definite stand on the side of human civilization.
Accidents could happen to the Space Station since this was humanity's first attempt; errors were inevitable. However, the Space Station could not be destroyed. If it suffered a major setback just as it was starting out, it could significantly dampen the enthusiasm of countries to undertake similar projects in the future.
Nick just wanted to create a crisis that everyone would unite to resolve, not to end the world. If such a massive Space Station fell to Earth at high speed, even potentially piercing the continental shelf if it hit land, he would indeed be a criminal against humanity.
Shiller took a deep breath, pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and said, "Hello? Clark, look up at the sky!"
There was no time to worry about training. The first priority was to prevent the Space Station from falling.
By the time Shiller called him, Clark had already flown into the sky. He sensed the disaster in the sky faster than any other human being, but he couldn't be sure he could catch the Space Station instantaneously without injuring everyone inside, so he didn't rush in immediately but kept adjusting his position.
It was the right moment when Shiller called him. As Clark was shooting upwards, he didn't forget to ask, "Can I let them see me?"
"Better not," Shiller said, "For one thing, this universe doesn't have a Superman. Your public appearance might cause some problems. And this is an exercise; try to do it undetected if possible."
"An exercise?! Are the people in your universe always this wild? That thing could hit me on the head and I'd be knocked out for three seconds!"
"That serious?" Shiller was somewhat surprised.
"Isn't it something you made?" Clark was even more astonished, "I can confirm that the thing falling now is extremely tough, containing a metal I've never seen before in my universe..."
Only then did Shiller remember that the Space Station was mostly made of Molten Steel Alloy, with a mix of Vibranium. Although it wasn't as hard as Adamant Alloy, it had better ductility and shock absorption, which indeed made it very tough.
At that moment, Shiller suddenly thought of Howard's involvement in the Space Station's design. Howard had mentioned that some crucial parts of the Space Station utilized the same structure as Captain America's Shield.
The most significant function of Captain America's Shield was that no matter how high Captain America jumped from, as long as the shield hit the ground first, there would be no injury, which demonstrated the wonder of Sound-Absorbing Steel.
If that was the case, the Space Station's design might have foreseen the possibility of a fall. With that in mind, Shiller said, "Clark, just make sure the people inside the Space Station are safe. Adjust the speed and direction as needed and let it fall!"
"Have you lost your mind?" Clark said, "How can you be sure it won't disintegrate the moment it hits the ground? No human could survive such an impact!"
Shiller ran through the track records of Howard and Stark in his mind several times, especially recalling the expression on Howard's face when he talked about his technology and the look on Stark's face when he heard about the drill plan, which reinforced his idea. He said, "Yes, just slow it down at the right time, but don't stop it from falling. It would be best if it could land in the ocean."
"That's not difficult, looking at the trajectory, it will indeed fall into the sea, probably south of Australia, near the South Pole. I'm slowing it down with my Biological Field," Clark said.
"Okay, Clark, stay in touch with me at all times. I need to contact the technical staff who built this thing; I'll get back to you later," Shiller responded.
While keeping Ultron in communication with Clark, Shiller called Howard. Time was of the essence, so he didn't beat around the bush but got straight to the point, "Will there be a problem if the Space Station falls into the sea at this speed?"
It was noisy on Howard's side, clearly arguing with various technical staff. Howard roared, "I know the thing I've built won't have a problem!! Even if it falls at the original speed, the worst that would happen is people getting knocked unconscious or minor injuries, no one will die!!!"
Shiller heard various languages on the line, with the loudest being Chinese. They were adamantly against Howard's attempts.
From the snippets of conversation, Shiller could deduce that there were two arguing parties: one in favor of intercepting in the air and the other waiting for it to fall, with China being the former and Howard the latter.
China had proposed a plan for aerial interception, primarily utilizing the power of their domestic Mutants, demanding that the Weather Witch, King of the Masses, and others catch the Space Station to minimize personnel loss.
Howard, on the other hand, suggested that the Space Station could simply crash onto the water surface. Thanks to the shock-absorbing devices and the shell structure he designed, 99% of the impact force would be neutralized. The worst-case scenario from the remaining 1% impact would merely cause concussion or slight injuries to the people inside.
Obviously, the latter sounded less reliable; it looked entirely like a gamble. Even if he trusted Howard's technical prowess, Shiller wasn't completely sure.