by Hatchett
Mason had turned in his direction and stared at him silently for a few heartbeats. “I’m afraid I can’t trust you David.”
“But you can, Mason. You can!” David pleaded, getting to his feet for the first time. He had taken one step towards Mason before one of the stormtroopers speared him with a miniature javelin-type device, known as a rod, before flicking his arm and directing the device towards the wall where Archie now lay. The rod shot towards the wall with David still attached to it before piercing and sticking in the wall about halfway up, leaving David hanging a few feet off the ground, allowing his blood to fall like a waterfall all over the immobile Archie below him.
Mason had then accompanied Declan to the shuttle and wished him well. “Just remember, I’m one of those who were attacked and killed by the humans,” he reminded him. He had then removed his tracer, destroyed it and gone back to the house for some well-earned rest.
What memories! Mason shook his head and brought himself back to the present, a huge grin spread across his face.
He looked around at the six well-armed stormtroopers then signalled that it was time to move out.
37
The Council of twelve were sitting in a circle in one of the secure rooms aboard the Mothership. Various holographic screens and images moved around the room within touching distance, any one of which could be grasped and used within seconds. The majority of the screens were currently showing satellite type images of the Earth’s countries with red dots representing the Laakuu still alive down there.
The number of dots had dwindled significantly the previous evening and continued to disappear at an ever-increasing rate. The Council didn’t understand what was happening. Unfortunately for them, many of their ‘spotters’ had been randomly attacked in the first wave so feedback from the ground was sparse and inconsistent. They had considered mass evacuation but felt that this would be a knee-jerk reaction to something which was not yet fully understood, so they had left things as they were.
They had received advice and feedback from Mason, their highest ranking official in the UK, but were far from convinced that his cavalier approach was one which should be adopted. He had blatantly disobeyed orders and instigated a mass evacuation when the Council had been split down the middle by the recommendation. As it happened, the move had probably saved thousands of Laakuu, not that the Council would ever admit it, even to themselves.
Mason would have been brought up on charges and would probably have been ‘spaced’ for his insubordination – ejected into space from the spaceship without any protection – but the Council had been saved from making such an unpalatable decision by the unfortunate demise of Mason at the hands of the humans.
Mason’s number two in the UK, Declan, had returned to the Mothership with extraordinary tales of the humans’ brutality and how he had only just escaped with his life, whereas poor Mason had died as a Laakuu hero.
The Council had been well aware of Mason’s influence amongst some of the more aggressive Laakuu and now that he was gone, the easier their lives would be. They were secretly pleased by his demise, especially as he was now unlikely to be seen as a martyr to the equivalent of their ‘right wing’ supporters. Instead, those supporters would now be like a rudderless boat riding the ocean waves.
The Council had considered an all-out attack on Earth, but their natural conservatism prevented this option gathering pace. Instead, they sent more cloaked shuttles down to the ground to try and save as many of their kind that they could.
From the screens all around, they could see that the number of Laakuu still left in the UK was small as those still alive had managed to evacuate. The numbers in other parts of the World were also small or non-existent. Some of the smaller countries had few to begin with, and communications in some parts of the world being what they were, it was unlikely that the original inhabitants of these countries even knew what was going on outside their borders.
The Council rued the advent of the internet and social media as it gave the humans too much information and allowed them to communicate globally far too easily and too quickly. In just a few hours, the Laakuu had been devastated, not that the Council would acknowledge this fact.
The USA had the largest Laakuu contingent, closely followed by Russia and China. After all, these were the biggest countries with the biggest fighting capabilities and therefore considered strategically important. The Laakuu had spent years infiltrating their kind to senior positions and overnight, all this preparation had been wasted.
The Council continued to ponder the situation without really coming to any conclusions. They recognised that many of their brethren were angry and hurting, especially for any lost family members, and there was an increasing number demanding that the Laakuu fight back. What they didn’t appreciate was that if they hadn’t invaded the Earth in the first place, they wouldn’t now be grieving their losses.
The Council discussed amongst themselves whether they should have just introduced themselves many years ago and tried to form a bond with the humans, but it was too late for that now. Slowly but surely, they were being dragged into a combat situation, whether they liked it or not.
They could continue to survive on their spaceships but what kind of life was that? The only other alternative was to find another habitable planet, one without the aggressive humans, but the nearest one which they were aware of was many many light years away and they didn’t know enough about it to determine whether the trip would be worthwhile. No, they had come this far, and it was their destiny to live on Earth.
38
Following breakfast, Jess was helped into one of two white vans parked in the barn. The van she was allocated would be driven by Sam and they were joined by Daniel, John, Pete and Jimmy. Harry, would take the second van with Jason driving, Andy, Hannah and Kate. Errol would stay with Di and Paula who, with the assistance of Hilda, would help him to recuperate.
Both vehicles pulled out of the barn into some light drizzle and headed onto the track leading to the main road, ready to join the A4 towards Newbury then the A34 and A339 towards Basingstoke and junction six of the M3. Then they would head North East until they joined the A331 then the A31 Hogs Back to return to Guildford and their final destination of Foxton Hall in Ewhurst. It was about seventy miles in total and with a fair wind should take around an hour and a half to get there.
In the end the journey took just over two and a quarter hours before they arrived in Ewhurst; they’d had to wait at a designated rest stop for another van containing more of their Underground contacts to join them, bringing with them some different weapons, before they could proceed on their journey. They used the opportunity to refill the vans with diesel and get some food and drinks at the same time.
Once in Ewhurst, they stopped briefly outside the local village pub, The George and Dragon, to go over the final details once again, and although tempted to do this over a nice pint, they forced themselves to stay away. ‘Maybe on the way back’, Harry had suggested to quell the growing temptation.
Once ready, the three vans drove the short distance to the Right Honourable Robert M. Stephenson MP’s entrance at Foxton Hall and were surprised to find the electronic gates were wide open.
As arranged, Hannah jumped out of her van with a spray can, ran up to the cameras around the gate and proceeded to spray the lenses so they would be useless. She then climbed back into her van and all three set off at speed up the drive.
The vans screeched to a halt next to the fountain and all, but Jess exited the vehicles, most of them with new tasers at the ready. Daniel and John helped Jess out of her van and into the wheelchair; it would be their job to look after her while the rest of them took care of other tasks.
While Pete and Jimmy kept their eyes on the vans, the six burly members from the new van split into pairs and started scouting all around the outside of the building, heading towards the back. The rest cautiously approached the front door of the mansion, Daniel and John having to lift Jess and the
not-inconsiderable weight of the wheelchair up the steps.
Their second surprise was that the large heavy oak door was ajar. They all stopped and listened carefully, but everything appeared still until they heard a muffled shout which seemed to emanate from somewhere deep inside the house.
“Careful everyone,” Harry whispered, “it could be a trap.” He looked towards Jess. “Have you picked anything up?”
Jess shook her head for everyone’s benefit but said direct to Harry, “I GET THE SENSE THAT THERE IS SOMEONE HERE, BUT NOT CLOSE.”
“Ok,” Harry said. “Jason, Andy, you two take the lead. We’re going to check each room as we pass them. Don’t hesitate to shoot if you need to.”
Andy walked in front of Jason and took the lead. He slowly entered the door and pointed to his left, so that Jason would go in that direction. They both reached the first doors and looked back at one another before nodding and entering the rooms. Jason took a quick look around and came back out shaking his head to indicate the room was empty. Andy was still in his room and staring at the far wall, his mouth slightly open. After several seconds he looked back at the doorway and briefly put a hand across his eyes. Jason got the message and indicated that everyone should stay where they were while he joined Andy to investigate. Jason saw what Andy had alluded to but still couldn’t understand how someone was hanging from the wall. He was about to turn back to the door when he heard Harry whispering ‘fuck me’ next to him. Jason and Harry looked at each other, raised their eyebrows and retreated back to the hallway where they described the scene to the others. Daniel and John were happy to remain in the hallway, but Sam and the three women all wanted to see what they might be up against.
They were all back in the hallway within a couple of minutes, looking a little paler, but with determination showing in their eyes.
The group moved forwards, checking each room they came to but there was nothing to see. They continued to hear the odd muffled shout as they progressed, obviously from the same source as before, but ignored it for the time being. They eventually arrived at the kitchen, to find more blood and bodies; what looked like a chef and a couple of female servants. There was no avoiding the grisly scene because they needed to move past the bodies to follow the shouts they’d been hearing, which seemed to be coming from somewhere behind a door at the far side of the kitchen.
They approached the door carefully, and almost jumped out of their skins when someone knocked on the back door. They looked up to see two of the guys from the third truck who were shaking their heads as if to say they hadn’t found anything. Harry pointed at them then pointed upstairs and the two guys disappeared from view. Harry and the rest returned their attention to the doorway and Jason led them into the large larder.
The larder was undisturbed, but they could all see the other door open on the far side of the room and it was clear that this was where the sounds were coming from. With Jason in the lead, followed by Andy, they made their way across the larder, entered the doorway and started down the spiral staircase. Daniel had to lift Jess out of the chair to carry her, and John helped guide them and make sure Daniel didn’t slip on the steps.
At the bottom, they entered the brightly lit room and were amazed at what confronted them. They looked around in awe at equipment and unrecognisable stuff all around before eventually settling on a figure sitting in a chair in the middle of the room. That figure had raised his head and was now looking in their direction.
John stepped forward past Jason and Andy, both of whom were ready to drag him back out of danger until John signalled that he was ok.
“Is that you Rob?” John asked, fully aware that he could be dealing with the imposter.
Robert nodded, but struggled to speak.
“Jess, is he human?” John asked, before going any closer.
“YES, IT’S OK,” Jess replied, switching back to her voice box, not that she deemed the situation totally safe.
John moved forwards more quickly. “Rob, can you hear me? Are you ok?” As he reached the MP, he saw that he was shackled to the chair but there didn’t seem to be any way to release him. “Can someone go get some water?”
“I will,” Sam replied, turning back to the stairs.
The rest of them gathered around the chair, wondering who the man was and what he was doing.
“Rob,” John said, lifting the man’s chin. “Do you know how to get rid of these shackles?”
Robert looked at John slowly, obviously trying to focus his eyes. He then looked at one of the metal shackles holding down his right arm and muttered ‘touch screen’.
John looked around Robert’s right arm and right hand but couldn’t see anything resembling a screen. He wondered if he’d misunderstood and went to press the material on the arm when a panel lit up. John paused looking at the panel. He didn’t understand what the two lit areas meant, nor the symbols on them, but he didn’t think pressing them was likely to turn the chair into anything too dangerous. He held his breath and pressed the first panel, but nothing happened, so he pressed the second panel and the metal shackles automatically moulded themselves back into the seat. John checked the symbols again to make sure they were imprinted on his mind before he and the others helped Robert out of the chair and sat him on the floor.
“Is he ok?” John asked Jess.
She looked towards Robert and entered his mind. Once she was satisfied, she withdrew and looked back at John.
“HE IS CONFUSED BUT STRONG. HE WILL BE OK.”
“Thanks Jess.”
“Let’s check out all this gear!” Sam suggested as he came back into the room carrying a jug of water and a glass.
“Not so quick,” John cautioned. “You saw with the chair that their technology seems to work off hidden panels. We don’t want to set something off which we can’t control, or which could harm us. Jess, can you help with any of this?”
“NO. SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT THE DOCTOR WITH US.”
“Shit!” Harry exclaimed. “You’re right. I forgot all about him.”
“I suggest we stay here, try to find out what we can from Rob and arrange for the Doctor to join us,” John suggested.
“Yes, good idea. We can get him here quite quickly in the helicopter now we know there’s no one around. An hour or so delay won’t hurt, and to be honest, after what happened to them last night, they’re likely to come back fighting, so I’d rather know what we might be up against weapons-wise,” Harry said. “Let’s get back upstairs for now.”
They all trundled back upstairs and found a second sitting room where they could all make themselves comfortable.
As Harry started making calls, Pete and Jimmy came in with the six men from the third van. The newcomers advised that they hadn’t found a thing except for some scorch marks on the grass near the garages.
“I can guess what that is,” Jimmy remarked.
“Oh yes, and what’s that?” Kate enquired.
“Well, we now know where crop circles come from,” Jimmy opined.
“What do you mean?” Kate asked, confused.
“UFOs,” Jimmy explained.
At any other time, he would have been laughed out of the room, but there wasn’t a murmur from anyone.
39
Mason and his six colleagues were driving up the A3 in two cars they had taken from the garages back at the house. One was a racing green Jaguar and the other was a royal blue Audi A8. Both were fairly large saloon cars by human standards but were positively cramped for the seven feet tall Laakuu in riot gear.
Mason was not happy, cursing human design with every breath; human car designs did not really work for the Laakuu with their massive bodies and large feet and claws. He was driving the Jaguar, which had a sunroof, and he was sorely tempted to open it and drive with his head stuck out of the top. However, he thought that someone looking like a motorcycle outrider driving a car with his head through the sun-roof might attract a bit of unwanted attention so he stayed within the car and just dealt with the
cramped conditions.
Thankfully the cars were automatic, so he only really needed to hit the pedals and steer. But, between the two cars, they had already caused three accidents in the space of about five miles.
The first had been in the centre of Guildford when the Audi following Mason had accelerated to run a red traffic light to try to stay directly behind him, broadsiding another car that had had the audacity to try and get into the gap.
The second had happened a couple of streets later when the driver of the Audi’s large foot hit the brake pedal at the same time as the smaller accelerator. The car braked suddenly with the engine revving wildly and there was a massive crunch as the car following rammed them from behind. This bump dislodged the driver’s foot from the pedals and the Laakuu was then able to find just the accelerator.
The third incident occurred on the dual carriageway of the A3. Although Mason and the other car were both travelling at speed, an Aston Martin slowly edged past them on the right, gaining a metre or so every second. The driver of the Aston obviously fancied himself and was looking across to Mason and his colleagues and laughing as if egging them on to go a bit faster, especially as Mason looked like a version of ‘the Stig’ from ‘Top Gear’, with his black leathers and matching black crash helmet. Mason thought about slamming the Jag into the side of the Aston but realised that it might cause him to crash as well, so he lifted his visor and turned to look back at the Aston’s driver. The Aston driver’s laugh disappeared immediately and was replaced by a look of horror as he reacted automatically and steered the car away from Mason. The Aston hit the central reservation at over one hundred miles an hour, flipped over the barrier and was airborne and arrowing down the wrong side of the road. It was eventually crumpled into a car less than half its original size – a combination of driving at one hundred miles an hour and hitting another car head-on coming from the opposite direction which was going eighty miles an hour. Mason left the carnage behind, the crash making the road impassable on both sides of the carriageway.
