We accidentally found out where all the missing planes went to.
We also discovered a new species of spider.
I wish these two things weren't connected, I really do.
I say we, I mean a group of students who attached a camera to a weather balloon and let it drift up and up and up to see why the clouds above their school looked to strange. They'd been recorded before, lenticular clouds, and were usually seen around mountains where they disrupt the stable moist air that flows over them. So seeing this kind of cloud formation in one of the flattest countries in the world was a bit unusual to say the least.
After a few days their camera was found in a farmer's field a few hundred miles away and the hastily scrawled address was still legible through the mud. Though the students wondered where the balloon might have gone, they were more interested in the footage itself and the chance to see inside such a unique cloud.
The first half hour or so showed the world falling away as the balloon floated higher and higher and up into the murkier skies. They didn't expect the clouds to clear so quickly and they certainly didn't expect for the balloon to bump off the suspended cockpit of a commercial plane.
As the wind buffeted it about they caught jegged glimpses of what appeared to be webbing that linked to several dozen other planes, some very recognisable and recently declared missing. As it spun back to the cockpit they finally saw what remained of the pilot, tangled up in thick webs with several dozen gaping holes in their torso.
Shortly after that, something began rhythmically tugging at the strands their balloon was trapped in, gently pulling it towards a familiar, and ungodly out of proportion, shape. Eight spindly legs and an abdomen larger than any of the planes there had just about come into view when the balloon was jolted and the camera came loose.
As it fell they clearly saw the spider in its entirety and it saw them, slowly crawling down its carefully camouflaged nest. Several thousand smaller ones were on and around it, a few even jumped towards the camera, using a thin strand like a bungee cord but all falling inches short.
Now we look up at the clouds and worry exactly what they might be hiding, if not this then worse.
We also discovered a new species of spider.
I wish these two things weren't connected, I really do.
I say we, I mean a group of students who attached a camera to a weather balloon and let it drift up and up and up to see why the clouds above their school looked to strange. They'd been recorded before, lenticular clouds, and were usually seen around mountains where they disrupt the stable moist air that flows over them. So seeing this kind of cloud formation in one of the flattest countries in the world was a bit unusual to say the least.
After a few days their camera was found in a farmer's field a few hundred miles away and the hastily scrawled address was still legible through the mud. Though the students wondered where the balloon might have gone, they were more interested in the footage itself and the chance to see inside such a unique cloud.
The first half hour or so showed the world falling away as the balloon floated higher and higher and up into the murkier skies. They didn't expect the clouds to clear so quickly and they certainly didn't expect for the balloon to bump off the suspended cockpit of a commercial plane.
As the wind buffeted it about they caught jegged glimpses of what appeared to be webbing that linked to several dozen other planes, some very recognisable and recently declared missing. As it spun back to the cockpit they finally saw what remained of the pilot, tangled up in thick webs with several dozen gaping holes in their torso.
Shortly after that, something began rhythmically tugging at the strands their balloon was trapped in, gently pulling it towards a familiar, and ungodly out of proportion, shape. Eight spindly legs and an abdomen larger than any of the planes there had just about come into view when the balloon was jolted and the camera came loose.
As it fell they clearly saw the spider in its entirety and it saw them, slowly crawling down its carefully camouflaged nest. Several thousand smaller ones were on and around it, a few even jumped towards the camera, using a thin strand like a bungee cord but all falling inches short.
Now we look up at the clouds and worry exactly what they might be hiding, if not this then worse.
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