"The Boundary?!" Star asked, frowning at Mr. Timothy Agpar.
The Military Commander of the USA nodded. "What do you know of the Outer Space Explorations?"
Star's frown deepened.
She hadn't even processed the matter of these three Orders, and how they forced a country like the USA to sit on its haunches. All Might's confession still lingered in the back of her mind. And this was all supposed to be linked with something called The Boundary?!
"… Not more than any other citizen," Star admitted. This was not her area of expertise, anyway. "The only one I remember is the Joint Mars Program… was that the name? The one between the USA, Japan, and India… right?"
Timothy looked up at Star's confused face and sighed.
"Yes," he nodded, looking away. "That one, and hundreds of others from different nations, all across the world…"
"… I see, so what about it…" Star continued.
"All lies."
"…" Star's head snapped toward the Military Commander. "Excuse me?!"
Timothy took a deep breath, his white mustache quivering. "All space programs, claiming to reach the Moon, Mars, and beyond… are lies."
It happened slowly.
But, as she kept looking at the old man, Star's eyes kept widening like they had never before.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" she cursed. "… Are you really saying that those conspiracy theories all over the internet are true?!!"
Timothy sighed. "No, they are not."
"… What?!" Star had never felt so confused before. "Is this some psychological test, Mr. Timothy?! You do know that we have innocent lives to save out there, right?"
The Military Commander allowed himself a rare chuckle. "No, it's not a test, Star," he replied. "To understand what's happening, you must know the timeline of events first."
"The timeline of events?"
Timothy nodded. "Quirks began appearing some 150 years ago, Star," he explained. "The initial Vigilante Uprising, which ended up birthing the profession of Heroes, occupied some 50-60 odd years. 50-60 years don't sound much from a broad perspective, but these years sent the human civilization more than a hundred years back, stagnating all advancements."
Star listened silently, remembering her history lessons.
"There were no remarkable innovations in this period," Timothy pointed out. "No research. No new technology. And… no space missions. After things had settled, the world resumed stepping forward toward advancement once again. Every day, we were innovating because of the free and stable use of Quirks. And the USA was at the helm of it, leading others by miles."
It's coming… Star could sense it from the Military Commander's grave tone.
"However," Timothy said, "we didn't see a space mission much later. It was only some 72 years ago, around halfway between now and the first appearance of the Quirks, that the USA sent its first lunar satellite. Not the Artificial Satellites that circle our planet, as we were already sending them by the dozens by that time. This Lunar Satellite was the first probe of its kind that was meant to continue where our ancestors had left off."
Star knew that Space Exploration Missions were common in the times before the Quirks.
Some of the earliest missions' probes had already surpassed monitoring capabilities, reaching other systems of the Milky Way galaxy.
So, the first Lunar Satellite after the Quirks, after a 72-75 year dry spell, was a big thing, etched into the History books.
And… it was a lie… Star's heart slightly sank, remembering Timothy's claim.
"It never reached the Moon," the Military Commander said with the gravest tone. "It never even went past half the distance."
Star and Timothy looked at each other in silence.
"… Nearly 100,000 km above the Earth's surface," the old man continued after a while, "… so around three times the radius of geosynchronous Orbits, we met a wall. Literally a Wall, Star."
"… The Boundary…" Star worded, finally knowing how grave the matter actually was.
Timothy nodded. "The first probe just exploded because of the impact," he told her. "It took us three more Lunar Missions to finally learn that we weren't experiencing a glitch in the system, but were head-on colliding with an invisible wall… A wall that shouldn't even be there."
"… You are not saying what I think you are saying…" Star licked her lips.
Timothy's stare meant exactly what she was thinking, though.
"At first, we thought it would be best to keep it hidden from the other countries," he said. "But soon, others began sending Lunar Missions of their own, experiencing the same fate. So, we established a joint team to share our findings. That was the first Global Coalition of the World's Governments. In the coming years, confidentially, we continued these Lunar and Mars Missions, fooling the people, trying to learn more and more about the invisible wall that we began calling… The Boundary."
Timothy lifted the remote again and pressed a button, a massive image of the Moon appearing on the screen.
"… This is what we have confirmed so far, Star," he said. "The Boundary is invisible, but tangible. It covers the Earth entirely. It appeared with the appearance of Quirks. We do not know if it's the Cause behind the Quirks, or just an Effect. It is related, though. Also, it has a thickness that can be measured. And that thickness had been thinning out at a constant rate."
Star's heart skipped a beat. "… had been?"
Timothy nodded. "The rate of thinning increased exponentially recently," he said. "Scientists have claimed that it will disappear entirely in the next 7 years."
That shouldn't have mattered to Star, but a chill ran down her spine, anyway.
Now, she knew why the Military Commander had said that something big was coming. With these three Orders' increasing activity globally, coupled with The Boundary's thinning rate increasing exponentially…
But Timothy had an even bigger bomb to drop on her.
"… That isn't all, though, Star," he said, playing the paused video. "We captured this recently…"
Star looked at the screen.
At first, she couldn't tell anything.
However, she spied an oddness quite soon, her eyes narrowing… making her take a step closer in the very next moment.
The space… was caving in.
Something… Someone… a titanic handprint… was pressing down on The Boundary.
Brokenly, and, if she was being honest, with a touch of fear, she looked at the Military Commander.
"We have decided to probe The Boundary again under the guise of another Lunar Mission," Timothy said. "… A manned Lunar Mission. Star, would you be willing to go to The Boundary and find out…
"… what kind of horror are we dealing with?"
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