Countdown Amageddon (The Spiral Slayers Book 2)

by Rusty Williamson

  On the second day, millions, already in shock over the news of the approaching alien, were reading the pamphlets and electronic messages Radford’s team had sent out. Then, a few hours later and still unknown by the government, millions were being converted every hour by Radford’s town meetings.

  However, on the morning of the third day, The Radford Revolution overwhelmed the proverbial radar screen when an estimated 1,200 demonstrators appeared out of thin air in front of the Loud compound in Hillcrest and an estimated 3,000 marched in the capital city of Axis.

  While the government was still asking ‘who’, ‘where’, ‘why, ‘what’, and ‘how many?’ the Radford Revolution's official lunch hour estimates had grown to 7,500 in Hillcrest and 100,000 at the capital.

  The president called Woodworth demanding answers, but Woodworth, as well as everyone else, had been caught completely off guard; they were clueless as well as completely unprepared.

  There was panic in Wicker’s voice, “Most of the signs the protestors are carrying say, ‘It’s not our war’. What the fuck does that mean, Woodworth?”

  ---

  It had been raining all day in Hillcrest and torrents of water ran through the gutters, occasionally spilling over onto the sidewalks. It was only 1:00 p.m., but the dark gray clouds made it seem like late evening.

  Jan and Lenny shared an umbrella as they made their way down the street. Both were dressed casually, wearing jeans and jogging shoes. Before leaving the office, Jan had raided her workout bag and thrown on a worn gray sweatshirt. Lenny had done the same and had on an old yellow t-shirt under a dark brown hunting vest he borrowed from Trevor.

  They could not help feeling nervous. They were going into the camp of the enemy on a spying mission and they couldn’t help feeling that they were in weak disguise, might be recognized and possibly be in danger. However, someone had to find out exactly what was going on.

  “There,” Lenny pointed. Across the street, set back behind a full parking lot, was a large older one-story building that stretched for almost a full block. Across the front of the building, a large banner had been hung above the six sets of double doors. It read:

  The Loud

  The Truth and the Test.

  Do We Have To Fight Their War?

  The rain increased as they crossed the street and they ran the last 20 feet around the parked vehicles and into one of the open doors.

  A soft roar of voices rolled over them. Lenny shook out the umbrella and folded it as Jan looked around. It was standing room only.

  Everyone was in rain gear and wet. They looked afraid and Jan felt a sudden pang of sympathy for them. They were just ordinary people looking for answers. Jan estimated there had to be at least 200 people packed into the building.

  There were pamphlets on tables just inside the doors—Lenny grabbed two and handed one to Jan, then they made their way along the wall and found a place to stand fairly close to the stage.

  Jan noticed a speaker box on the wall. This reminded her and she reached into her purse and turned on the audio recorder they’d brought along.

  They killed time reading the pamphlets, which told them that the speaker would be Dr. Alex Radford himself, professor of statistical analysis at North Western University and founder of the movement. As they read the pamphlets, the rumble of voices poured over them. Lenny’s head started to spin slightly and his stomach became a little upset. His breath became short and he could feel his heart pounding. He was excited. He really hated to admit it, but what he was reading made an incredible amount of sense. It seemed like a light had been switched on—here was truth, he thought.

  He looked up, surprised by the thought…what was he thinking? He looked back at the pamphlet…no, he thought, what had he been thinking? What had they all been thinking? Why hadn’t he seen all this before?

  He noticed Jan seemed short of breath as well. When he looked up at her, her face seemed a little pale, her eyes a little wide. She looked at him, shaking her head in wonderment it seemed. Her mouth parted to say something, but before she could speak, the event started.

  Right on time, the lighting subtly changed, getting darker, the speakers crackled to life and the platform lit up. A man stood behind a microphone, “Ladies and Gentlemen,” the voice that came over the PA system was deep and smooth, “I wish to thank all of you for coming, especially considering the weather.” Anxious laughter came from a few people. “However, I think you will all be grateful for making the effort when you leave.”

  “We have a very special treat. The founder of The Radford Revolution, Dr. Alex Radford, professor of statistical analysis at Northwestern University, has flown in from Snow Summit, arriving just an hour ago. He will be personally speaking to you and the next few groups.” There was a fair amount of applause.

  From the right side of the stage, a tall man entered. Despite his youthful appearance, he had thin brown hair around the ears and the back of his head surrounding a bald spot on top. In the back, he had tied his hair into a ponytail. He was very tan and wore a brown tweed suit with a white shirt and brown bow tie. He stood very straight with an almost regal poise. He looked very distinguished and intelligent. He looked like a man you could trust.

  “Well,” the announcer said, “without further ado…please give a warm welcome to Dr. Radford.”

  Both Jan and Lenny applauded enthusiastically with the rest of the room.

  The announcer retreated and the tall man took the microphone from its stand and held it to his mouth. His other arm came up, beseeching his audience. His voice projected loud and strong across the crowd before him. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I want to thank you for making the effort to attend. I guarantee you that you won’t regret your decision.” He looked at the people before him with empathy. “You know…there is absolutely no doubt about it…these are…well…they’re confusing and…damn, such scary times.” A lot of nervous laughter erupted from the crowd, but the laughter also had a warmth to it. With the way he’d made his last statement, the tall man had suddenly become just ‘one of them’.

  Radford then did something unexpected. He walked forward to the edge of the stage and then proceeded to sit down, his legs dangling over the edge of the platform. “Please forgive me, but I’ve been on my feet non-stop for two days.”

  More warm laughter.

  Dr. Radford slowly shook his head, “I want you to ask yourselves one thing: Does any of this make sense? Does it make any sense at all that an alien race, advanced and enlightened enough to travel between the stars, would want to expend the enormous amounts of energy and the hundreds of years’ worth of time required to come all the way to our little planet…and then…simply destroy it then just leave?”

  Now he raised his free arm upward, pointing toward the sky while at the same time he bent over, looking uncertainly at those before him, “I mean think about it…really think about it. They don’t know us.” He moved his free hand forward, palm up, “We don’t know them. Furthermore, we can’t bother or affect them in any way. They…”

  “They want our planet,” someone from the audience yelled.

  The speaker stopped and zeroed in on the person who had yelled. “They want our planet?” he asked meekly but incredulously. “They didn’t want the Loud’s planet. They blew it up.”

  A woman in the first row stood up, “They don’t need a reason…they just do it.”

  Radford now turned toward the woman and pointed toward her as if she had made his point. “Exactly. Exactly. That’s exactly what they want us to believe.” His voice rose in volume and tone, “And I tell you it makes no sense.” He paused, inviting more discourse. When none came, he said in a calmer tone, “And please believe me, things always make some kind of sense.”

  He continued, “These aliens are expending enormous amounts of time and energy. There is a reason. But, what we’re being told is that there is no reason…no reason at all.” He shook his head slowly, his eyes drifted downward—someone in the audience co
ughed.

  Radford looked up. “There is almost always a reason for doing things. Oh, on rare occasions, things might be done for no reason, but these are very few and very far between. And the more effort it takes to do something—the more energy, time and expense—the more likely it is that there is a reason and the sounder that reason is.”

  “Let’s look at what we’ve seen so far. The Loud came and gave eternal youth and immortality to our entire species. They didn’t have to but they did, and they went to a lot of time and trouble doing it. Doing this, they then built thousands of off-world settlements, fusion energy stations and farm moons to accommodate the inevitable population increase—enormous time, effort and expense.”

  “Why?” He waited, but the room remained silent.

  “Why?” He asked again.

  “Trade,” someone offered.

  Radford shook his head, “They didn’t need to do any of that to trade with us and more significantly, trade what? While they have lots of things we’d like to have—any of their advanced technology—what do we have that they’d want?” He looked around. “Actually there is something we have that they want, actually need…manpower. But we’ll be coming back to that.”

  “What the Loud as well as our own government would have us believe is that they did all these things because…they are just nice guys.” Laughter erupted. “Well, maybe…maybe. However, given the enormous effort they went through, it would be far more believable for them to have some reason for doing it. And I now believe, given what else we’ve seen, that they had a very good reason for doing each and everything that they’ve done.”

  When he next spoke, his voice was subtly different—stronger, more confident. “About eight months ago, I watched the news, and again, I felt confused over events and our understanding of them. Afterwards, having some free time, I sat in my office trying to make sense of our new friends the Loud, our new immortality, our new space settlements, moon farms, power stations, the unknown alien force that had destroyed the Loud’s home system—for no reason—and that we now know were headed here…presumably to do the same…again, for no reason.”

  “In my office, I took out a piece of paper and a pencil, my intention being to look at everything statistically…digitally, if you will. After all, that’s what I do and know best. I intended to list the events that had happened chronologically on the left side and then our understanding of each event on the right side, and using this simple approach, zero in on exactly what was confusing me.”

  “So…I carefully listed each event starting a little before what I considered relevant and continuing a little after the relevant events. This is standard practice, starting before and ending after…to make sure you have captured all of the relevant events.”

  “However, as I was about to list our corresponding understanding of the events on the right side, I was interrupted—I heard my wife calling and knew it was time for us to leave for dinner.” He gave the audience a look that resembled a child who must stop playing and put away his toys. This brought the desired laughter.

  “After dinner and several glasses of wine, I forgot about my analysis and several days passed before I returned to my office.”

  “On my desk, my wife had placed several bills I needed to pay. These covered up the list I had started. I picked up the first piece of paper to look at it and this uncovered part of the list I had made. After looking at the invoice, I reached for the next one and noticed that between the other two bills part of one line of my list showed. The words I saw were ‘planet is attacked’ and as I started scanning the next invoice I thought oh, there’s my son’s handwritten draft of his thesis on the USIMD war…but, then I realized that the writing was my handwriting.”

  “I looked back down, picked up the paper and immediately realized what it was. I scanned down my list from top to bottom; however, a thought was still lingering in my mind…the USIMD war. And as I scanned down my list of events, a chill went up my spine. You see, the list suddenly made perfect sense.”

  Radford looked over the audience, “Before that moment, what was going on seemed haphazard or coincidence…odd or, in some cases, made no sense at all.”

  “The facts,” he shouted, startling the room. Then, enunciating each word, “the…facts…and…only…the…facts. For just a moment, let us set aside everything we’ve been told by the government, by the Loud, the news…anyone,” he acted out picking something up and setting it off to the side. “For just a moment, let us just look at the events that we know for certain have taken place because they have been seen or in some way verified. What do we have?”

  “Remember I told you that to make sure everything in a related sequence is included, you start a little bit before you think it has started and then end a little after. In this case, once I saw things in this new light, I backed up even further.”

  “First off…we need to remember that our people started pouring radio waves into outer space over three hundred years ago, ergo, the Loud have been receiving our audio and video and therefore been aware of our presence for hundreds of years. And this is significant, they did nothing…they did not make their presence known until recently…when certain things were happening.”

  “What things? One thing we know is that an alien ship approached then attacked the Loud world and destroyed their entire star system. We know that right after this, an alien ship left their star system and headed here. What a coincidence—just when the Loud decide to make contact with us, they are also attacked and destroyed by an unknown alien.

  “Why did this alien attack the Loud? We can’t know this but, since it destroyed their star system, we know that the alien did not attack the Loud to occupy the Loud world or to steal any of their star system’s resources.”

  “So, and as I indicated, we are going to assume that there was a reason and that that reason was that the Loud and the alien were at war. This is a fact by the very definition of the act itself—the alien attacked the Loud.”

  “This mysterious alien and the Loud very possibly were and are now definitely at war.”

  “Four Loud ships that escaped the attack come to us. And what do the Loud do? First, they hide their presence but they allow partial, mysterious sightings of their space craft. Then, just when one of our most cherished and beloved heroes goes to investigate, there is an unexplained accident—another coincidence—and it seems certain that Adamarus Maximus is killed. But the Loud just happen to be in the neighborhood—another coincidence—and somehow they find him and save him…thereby endearing our entire star system to them.”

  “One thing the Loud do not do is mention any kind of war. What they do instead is bestow everlasting youth on us by returning all of us to our prime age and turn off the aging process. They also supercharge our immune system so we never get sick. Since all of us are now immortal, our population will explode exponentially, so they expend enormous effort to build off-world settlements for housing, layered moon farms to feed us and power stations to support this growth.”

  Radford paused to let his words sink in then continued, “My, what a perfect work force. Then they offer to share their advanced technology with us, giving us many wonders including instantaneous communications. They give us tools. Then they give us a Tachyon scope just in time to see that their star system is destroyed and that the alien who did this is coming here.” He held up his hands, “Yet another coincidence?”

  “So, we are massively indebted to the Loud for all they have done for us. We now have billions of people in the prime of life who can go to work and do so without ever having to call in sick. And what a fortunate ‘coincidence’ that is! Because out of nowhere, we have a hostile alien coming to destroy us…oh, for no reason just as they did the Loud. And suddenly we must in all haste focus all our newly acquired manpower, tools and technology on building a war machine to defend ourselves. Oh, and the four Loud ships that just happen to be here.”

  “Let me spell it out for you! The Loud are at war and they
have come here and cleverly enslaved us for the purpose of building a war machine to fight that war! Their war!”

  “Well people…we have no war with anyone. The only war that we can see is between the Loud and the alien…who is chasing them here.”

  Radford paused. There was complete silence.

  “So,” he stretched out the word, “what makes more sense, an advanced alien civilization that wanders the galaxy mindlessly destroying other civilizations and leaving? Or, two alien civilizations at war? One is coming here because they are following their enemy, the Loud. The Loud are staying here so we can prepare a war machine to fight their war for them…I repeat, their war, not ours!”

  “Now everything that they did suddenly has a very good reason, doesn’t it.”

  “But, I’m afraid that there’s more. How did we first meet the Loud? Why, they returned a beloved hero to us. One who was seemingly killed in a mysterious accident while investigating a rash of strange sightings—strange sightings that we now know were the Loud ships.” Dr. Radford slowly looked over the audience, letting the meaning of his words sink in. “Why, the Loud could not have planned a better introduction to us…could they?”

  “In fact, the entire timing of the alien’s attack on the Loud’s system, the two Loud ships leaving to ratify the trade agreement, their chance encounter with the fourth ship coming from their system and their sun going nova just as that happens—what are the chances? Well, that happens to be my job and so I can tell you, over three billion to one!”

  “Oh, and do you have any idea how hard…no, how impossible it is for two outgoing ships to just happen to ‘bump’ into one inbound ship? The chances of that, ladies and gentlemen, cannot be calculated for they go beyond infinity.”

  “I’m telling you that all of this is pure bullshit. The Loud have made us all young, able to ward off sickness and stay this way so our numbers would increase and we could become their slaves, working around the clock to build a war machine to fight their enemy, the enemy that destroyed their star system—slaves to fight their war.”