A BURP AWAY FROM DISASTER

LAST DECEMBER, THE EARTH WAS SINGED SLIGHTLY BY GAMMA RAYS FROM A HUGE BURP FROM A MAGNETAR TWENTY THOUSAND LIGHT YEARS AWAY. SO IMAGINE THIS, AT THE DAWN OF HUMAN CIVILISATION, A DEADLY BURST OF GAMMA RAYS WAS RELEASED AND ARRIVED TWENTY THOUSAND YEARS LATER, ITS POWER GREATLY DIMISHED BY DISTANCE BUT STILL POTENT ENOUGH TO CAUSE DISRUPTIONS IN ATMOSPHERE, COMMUNICATION SATELLITES, ETCETERA. IF THIS MAGNETAR WAS ONLY FIVE LIGHT YEARS AWAY, AND THIS BURP HAPPENED ABOUT FIVE YEARS AGO, BY THE TIME THIS BURP WOULD GHAVE ARRIVED, ITS POWER WOULD HAVE BEEN SUCH THAT OUR ATMOSHERE WOULD HAVE BEEN USELESS TO PROTECT US AND ALL LIFE ON EARTH WOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED, OR AT THE LEAST, SIMPLER FORMS WOULD HAVE BEEN HEAVILY MUTATED HAD THEY SURVIVED.
MAKES YA' THINK DOESN'T IT?