Original Design

by William Latoria

  Zahera shook her head, “Not at all. Well, not yet anyway.” she answered, before bringing up a video and posting it on the wall. “The Russians have taken notice of the ship, and they’re powering up a weapon system unlike anything we’ve ever seen!” she told him, pointing to the display.

  What he saw gave him his second substantial shock of the day and terrified him to his core. Three massive, glowing turrets with red pulses of light running down their lengths were rising out of the ground all around Moscow. According to the display, the turrets were a quarter mile in length and using up more power than a nuclear power plant could supply in a week. How the Russians had built something like this, and so many of them without Intelligence knowing, deeply disturbed him. How they were powering the massive weapons was beyond him as well. None of the foreign intelligence reports he had seen had indicated the Russians were working on anything like this.

  In total there were six of them. The barrels had been hidden underground and covered by some of the wider streets of the city. When they were activated and ripped out of the ground, the damage they caused to those roads would take years to repair. As they came online, Blackshade noticed the lights in the city began to go dark.

  “Holy shit, Zahera. What are they?” he asked, dumbfounded.

  “Head Quarters isn’t sure, but our analysists think they’re some kind of massive, electromagnetically propelled, artillery weapons.” she said, equally dumbfounded.

  Unable to tear his eyes away from the display, his tactical mind kicked into gear, “What is their estimated destructive capability? Range? Rate of fire?”

  “As far as Intel can surmise, each turret can fire a super dense projectile at incredible speeds, at a range of up to five hundred miles.” she said in almost a whisper, “They’re estimating the destructive capability of each projectile to be the equivalent of ten to twenty high-yield nuclear bombs.”

  Shaken to his core, Blackshade couldn’t respond right away as he processed what Zahera was telling him, “How could the Russians have something like this without us knowing about it?”

  A single tear rolled down Zahera’s cheek, “I don’t know, Bill. What the hell is happening to the world?” she asked, grabbing his hand for support. So stunned by what he was seeing and desperate for support himself, he gripped her hand tightly in return. “Yesterday, the world was whole, safe, and made sense. We were the main superpower in the world, and aliens didn’t exist. Today, aliens are coming right to our doorstep, and the Russians have technology decades beyond our own.” she said, close to hysteria. She took a few deep breaths to bring herself back under control, “Head Quarters believes that Russia intends to shoot down the alien space craft should it come into their range.”

  Blackshade felt the blood drain out of his face. “Will it work?” he asked optimistically, “Does HQ really think that the Russians can shoot them down?”

  Zahera shook her head, “We have no idea. None of our scans are picking up the ship, so we have no way to analyze their composition. If the Russians know something we don’t, they aren’t sharing.” she said, releasing his hand and turning to face him. “What we do know is that if the Russians fire those weapons at the aliens and they don’t destroy them, they could start a war...one that we would have little hope of winning.” she said dejectedly.

  “Can we do anything to stop them?” he asked half-heartedly; he already knew the answer.

  “Not in time.” she said, beaten, “Maybe if we had known, if we had been better prepared for this…but now? With only minutes to go? There’s no way, and the Russians know that. They out-maneuvered us, Bill. All we can do is hope that this is a bluff and they don’t shoot.”

  Blackshade slumped his shoulders, “When in their history have the Russians ever been known to bluff?

  Before Zahera could reply, a display began flashing red on the table. Zahera ran to the table and transferred the display to the wall. The computer arranged the windows to display both the Russian weaponry and the new display, which showed the alien craft settling into orbit above the planet.

  Blackshade’s mouth went dry as he tried to process the sheer size of the space craft. According to the readout on the display, there was nothing there. The only reason they had anything to look at was because someone had manually positioned a voyeur in such a way that visual recording was possible. Now that they had a close up view of the ship, it was impressive beyond words. The size and shape of the ship remained the same, but now that they had a closer look, he could see details that had been hidden before. The five spherical sections of the ship were not smooth surfaces. What looked like impossibly large tubes snaked all over the surface in no discernable pattern. Each section of the ship looked like it had been individually made and then attached to each other separately in order to create the overall shape of the ship. The center sphere bristled with numerous thin extensions of varying length. Blackshade wondered if they were weapons, but after a few more minutes of scrutinizing, he decided they were most likely some sort of antennae or scanning arrays. What he found the most interesting about the ship was that it had thousands of tiny, multi-colored lights that decorated the entire exterior of the vessel. What they indicated, or what they were for, he couldn’t begin to guess.

  Blackshade found the ship design to be confusing. He couldn’t tell where the front or the back of the ship resided, he couldn’t discern if it had any weaponry, or if it did where the weapons were kept, nor could he see any sort of propulsion system. At the rate the ship traveled, it clearly had to have some sort of propulsion, but where it was, or how it was moving was not apparent.

  The urge to take action was almost overwhelming. Unfortunately, there was nothing to do but wait to see what the aliens did next. Blackshade took it as a good sign they hadn’t started bombarding the planet from space, but part of him was still waiting for them to begin doing just that. Minutes went by, with Zahera and himself doing nothing more than staring at the wall display, open mouthed, trying to understand the alien ship. The weight of the situation was not lost on either of them. As surreal as this all was, this was as real as it got, and they knew if anything was handled inadequately the entire human race might become extinct in the near future.

  After what felt like decades, lights on the southwestern rectangular section of the ship went out.

  “Did you see that?!” Zahera asked apprehensively.

  Blackshade nodded, “Yes, but what does it mean?”

  Zahera didn’t answer him. They both watched and waited to see what happened next. They didn’t have to wait long. After a few minutes, the section of the ship that connected the southwestern sphere of the ship to the center, fell away from it and began coming towards the earth. Panic hit Blackshade like a truck.

  “Is that a bomb? Is this an attack? Where is that thing going to hit?” he shouted at Zahera, as he began frantically tapping in commands at his table trying to determine what was coming at them. Zahera was faster than him and reported her findings.

  “Head Quarters says its ten miles in length and two miles in width. Unknown density or composition. It’s…. It’s…” she trailed off.

  “It’s what, Zahera!?!” Blackshade shouted at her.

  The woman jumped as she came back to her senses, “It’s leveling off and changing course! HQ thinks it’s a ship. A scout, maybe?” she said in awe.

  “Where is it heading?” Blackshade demanded.

  “Unknown. It could go anywhere, or it could just fly around without landing anywhere. HQ says to standby.” she replied, her eyes glued to the display.

  “Please, stay away from Russia.” Blackshade pleaded to the alien ship as he watched it enter Earth’s atmosphere. He had expected to see the ship become engulfed in flames as it passed through the atmosphere, but there wasn’t so much as a spark. The ship passed into the Earth’s stratosphere without incident and seemed to simply glide through the air. Just like with the bigger ship still in orbit, this smaller ship had no obvious propulsion systems th
at he could make out. The ship didn’t seem to have any noticeable frontage and changed course without altering its facing. He saw nothing that looked like a window or cockpit anywhere. From what he could tell, it was just a massive, flying, black rectangle that gave no clue as to its final destination, or its intent.

  They watched silently, as the ship flew at amazing speeds over the eastern hemisphere. The spacecraft moved so quickly, and changed course so suddenly, that the voyeur drones tracking it could not keep up. To compensate, other voyeur drones were activated and strategically placed around the world, so that when one drone lost the ship, other drones could activate and continue to document and display it. This changed the perspective of the feed frequently and made watching the progression of the ship very difficult. Blackshade had to shake his head to clear it from the dizziness the differing perspectives were giving him.

  “Where in the hell is the damn thing going!?” he asked in irritation.

  Zahera shook her head, clearly still in awe, “Unknown. It seems to just be scouting the land in the south eastern hemisphere. It seems to be quite interested in China judging from how much time it has spent in their air space.”

  In all the confusion, Blackshade had forgotten all about China and the mass suicide committed by their government less than twelve hours ago. “What’s China’s status?” he asked curiously.

  Zahera gave him a grim look, “Unknown for sure. HQ isn’t getting any more Intel from our informers in the country. Last we heard, the citizens had figured out what their leaders had done and began looting. This quickly turned into rioting, and now it’s a total communication blackout. What the voyeurs have shown us isn’t pretty. I think it’s safe to say that China has fallen.” she said sadly.

  Blackshade’s jaw clenched at the thought of what it must be like to be a citizen of China right now. “No wonder the aliens are interested in China; what an awful show they must be putting on for them right now. What a terrible first impression humanity is making.” he said, frustrated. He hated that the first act the aliens were seeing from humanity was a country wide riot. The atrocities they must be witnessing made him feel ashamed.

  “Has Russia taken notice?” he asked, curious.

  Zahera shrugged, “I haven’t seen anything to suggest that they have, but even if they knew, I don’t think they would care enough to do anything about it right now. Their turrets have been slowly following the path of the alien ship ever since it entered our stratosphere.” she said, slightly annoyed. “The only thing they’re interested in currently is the alien spacecraft.”

  Blackshade realized the stupidity of his question far too late, “You’re right. Irrelevant question.” he said, shifting his attention back to the massive turrets surrounding Moscow. He noticed that the turrets were now glowing brightly, and he wondered if that meant they were ready to fire, or if it was just part of the powering up process.

  “Has anyone been able to contact the Russians? Has anyone asked them to hold their fire?” he asked bleakly.

  Zahera was about to answer when she instead pointed at the display. “Too late! The ship is heading towards them! Oh God, Bill! I think they’re going to shoot at it! Those stupid bastards are going to get us all killed!” she said, terrified.

  Blackshade placed his hand on her shoulder to try and calm her. She reached up and clutched at his hand, squeezing it hard. Together they watched as the ship traversed the thirty-six hundred miles between Russia and China in less than a minute.

  Glancing at the display that was still showing the real time status of the turrets, he watched as they began moving to target the enemy ship. Clearly, the speed of the craft had caught the Russians off guard, not that he blamed them. The way a ship that massive maneuvered like that was incomprehensible to him.

  The alien ship hovered a few miles above Moscow and then just sat there, just like it had done over China. It couldn’t have positioned itself in a better spot for the Russian weaponry to fire at them. Blackshade’s tactical mind recoiled at the obvious stupidity of the aliens’ position, and his respect for their military ability dropped significantly.

  “That has to be the worst possible position for them to be in! They HAVE to see those turrets targeting them! They have to know what’s coming!” he said in disbelief.

  Zahera squeezed his hand again, “I don’t know, Bill.” she said in a whisper, “Maybe our technology is so foreign to them that they don’t realize what’s about to happen.”

  It took the turrets over Moscow a full five minutes to shift their aim and lock onto the alien craft. Blackshade’s jaw dropped as he watched all six of the turrets surrounding Moscow begin pulsing with energy. The rows of glowing red lights began to pulse as the weapon prepared to fire.

  “Come on, damn it! Move out of there! You have to see what they’re about to do! Move, you idiots! MOVE!!!” he bellowed at the display futilely.

  All six turrets fired at almost the same time. The voyeur drones they had broadcasting the situation locked onto the projectiles and tracked their movement impeccably. The intelligent display program highlighted each projectile’s path and showed all the trajectories passing right through the alien craft’s position, although their display didn’t show the craft itself, it still being undetectable to humanity’s sensors. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he thought about how billions of people all over the world were about to watch the first alien visitors Earth had ever received be blown out of the sky by Russia’s super weapon. The absurdity of the thought was plain to him, but he couldn’t help but think it.

  Zahera gasped as the projectiles struck the alien ship. And then they both froze as absolutely nothing happened.

  One of the voyeur’s feeds zoomed into where the projectiles had struck. On the display, Blackshade could see all six of the projectiles as they seemed to stick to the hull of the alien ship. A few of the projectiles seemed to be slightly deformed where they came into contact with the hull of the ship, but there was no obvious damage to the space craft.

  Both he and Zahera released gasps of relief upon seeing this. Zahera’s gasp changed into a startled scream, as suddenly, all six of the projectiles began falling down towards the Earth. Each of them headed straight for different parts of Moscow.

  Blackshade heard Zahera say something, but he couldn’t comprehend anything other than the six objects falling towards the Russian city. Logically, he knew what he was watching. Emotionally, he could not accept what was about to happen; it was too horrible. Six ultra-high density projectiles were falling at terminal velocity straight onto Russia’s capital. With each projectile unleashing an explosive yield equal to that of ten to twenty nuclear bombs. The complete annihilation of Moscow was guaranteed.

  Blackshade felt helpless as he watched the projectiles continue their downward progression straight towards the city. He felt like he should do something, like he should be warning them or trying to help somehow. Then, another thought occurred to him just before the projectiles hit.

  They did this to themselves.

  All six projectiles hit at the same time, within ten miles of each other. The explosion was so large, and spread so fast, that most of the voyeur drones transmitting near the city were caught up in the blast and destroyed. In minutes, other voyeur drones were activated and arrived near the city, keeping far enough away so that they weren’t caught up in the expanding blast as well. Any drone in the northeastern hemisphere could easily see the massive mushroom cloud that had formed over the Russian capital. The explosion was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Massive, bright white flames roared into the sky, the voyeur drones activated their dimming filters to make viewing their feeds possible. White, hot flames billowed up from the ground, reaching thousands of feet into the air. The flames didn’t roll or wave like the flames of a camp fire, instead they rushed up into the sky almost as if they were furious for being created. The roaring inferno just kept going, the intensity of the flames increasing to the point Blackshade thought they would never end
. Then, after minutes of incredible fire, the white hot hue of the blaze took on a more modest, yellow tone before slowly becoming a familiar, orange-red. Finally, a full fifteen minutes after the initial explosion, the flames had died down enough that the voyeur drones could get close enough to broadcast the devastation. There was nothing left.

  Every building, every store, every home was eradicated. There was almost no debris, the fires that still covered the glowing, red-hot ground seemed to be scorching the earth itself; there was nothing left but devastation. Almost one-thousand years of Russian history and culture had been erased from the planet in less than twenty minutes. Blackshade knew from the images he was seeing, that nothing could have survived. The absolute destruction of the city was the most awful thing he had ever witnessed in his life, and he had seen the classified pictures of Mexico after the Anti-life weapons had been used. This somehow seemed more horrible, more absolute, and the fact that the Russians had technology like this without his country’s knowledge shook him to his core. He wasn’t sure if he should feel pity for the people of Russia, or if he should feel relieved that the threat was gone.

  The destruction reached well beyond Moscow. Geological readings being posted by the voyeur drones showed that the worst was yet to come. Earthquakes, averaging 8.2 on the Richter scale, were ravaging the country. Blackshade watched as buildings inside the city of Kazan, some eight hundred miles away, began to tumble and fall. Earthquakes ran through the countryside like tidal waves causing massive destruction with their magnitudes and intensity.

  “Zahera.” Blackshade said quietly, as they stared at the destruction being displayed. “Analyze the blast range. How far out will the damage radiate?” he ordered numbly.

  Zahera didn’t move at first. Then, with obvious effort, she began punching commands into her forearm inputs. Within moments, an animated display showed an estimated projection of the damage the explosions were going to cause to the world. Finland, Sweden, Kazakhstan, the Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, and Estonia were on the outskirts of the damage radius. According to the projections on the display, each of those countries was looking at a 45% casualty rate, with property damage in the 60% category. Everything closer was projected to have much higher rates in both categories. The death toll was well into the millions, with those numbers rising every day, as aftershocks and residual explosions occurred. It was too awful for him to accept. He wanted to believe that the computer’s numbers were wrong.