The message had not only adorned the television sets of the people of Britain. In Florida, Roger Coffey sat poised in his armchair experiencing the same discomfort and fear as those across the channel. Unlike Joshua Regan, he had been alone; isolated from his friends in his home he had eagerly awaited an update as he watched troops mobilising from the bottom of his garden. His distinguished house was situated in solitude atop a lofty orchard covered peak, a high price worth paying for such a privilege on any normal day but now, he would have settled for a semi in some friendly suburban community. He did not even have his faithful bulldog companion to distract him from the disturbing sight of the blood red skies and the distant sounds of gun shots. It seemed that nowhere escape the chaos as normality gave way to anarchy.
Despite his desire to do otherwise, Coffey had obeyed the solemn message when it arrived upon his 64 inch home cinema system. At first, he had braved a careful stroll down the hill towards the city. He was inquisitive and not one for conforming to suggestion but as the tell tale signs of increasing unrest appeared across the skyline of Orlando, he knew that it was safer to retreat to the isolation of his home and await further information. He feared for Jill whom he had left that morning under the ruby hue of the morning sky. He had tried to reassure her but knew that he was unconvincing. He could not explain the anomaly despite his scientific savvy but he had promised that he would return later that day. That promise was broken after the display of the initial message which so succinctly put the fear of God into any mortal man. Roger quickly grew bored without the aid of the things which he had so come to rely on for his entertainment and enrichment. The loss of the Internet drew the biggest despair, it was not only his lifeline to his social network but also to the greater world. Without it, he felt cut off from civilisation especially in the uncertainty of the recent developments.
Roger attempted to hypothesise what had happened to cause such widespread disruption. He was open minded but not fanciful, he knew that the red skies could and would be explained in due course, but he was also acutely aware that for something to have occurred which would so dramatically reduced the government to cryptic warnings and martial law, it must be significant on a global scale.
He knew that he was in danger, even in the sanctity of his own home, no one was safe. Roger had seen and heard the scream of military jets tear over his house on a regular basis, he had seen the massing of military convoys in the distance. If this was some kind of war, he thought, it was very different to anything he could have imagined.
At last, after agonising minutes of tension, the black vacant screen flickered into life and the 'civilised' world drew its breath. Another plainly detailed banner appeared briefly, merely stating that a 'Public Safety Announcement' was imminent. Roger Coffey yelled out in frustration.
“Oh come on!” He groaned as he threw the empty beer can he held in his grasp across his plush living room. There was a sudden loss of picture then finally, after all this time, a face, a human face appeared much to the relief of the watching public. The face was a Caucasian male, suited and not familiar. He was not a regular recognised television presenter although he sat in a basic studio with a dark backdrop. His hair was black but receding, his face clean shaven. He had the air of a politician about him, not a military man as one might have expected at this time. His accent was American, his English was immaculate. As he spoke, subtitles were flashed across the bottom of the screen, firstly in English then subsequently in various other languages as the bulletin looped over and over indefinitely. The man visibly shook as he read the Autocue.
“To the united people of the world, we offer gratitude for those that have patiently awaited information with dignity and courage in these difficult times.”
The announcer paused and swallowed hard, uncertain of how to present the next sentence.
“Five days ago, government scientists detected communications from an unknown source originating from beyond our planetary boundaries. These communications initially appeared benign in their design and attempts were made to understand and respond to these signals. A number of hours later, contact was lost with the Yeung Chow and European space stations and a number of observatories across the globe began to report a series of anomalies entering Earth’s orbit. In the subsequent hours, unusual communication and interruption was detected across the global satellite networks and a series of cyber attacks were carried out rendering both military and civilian computer networks redundant. These actions were construed as attacks on the global communication infrastructure and it is vital to stress that these apparently hostile actions are not believed to be originating from Earth. It was quickly understood that these attacks are widespread and have affected all nations in equal measure. I repeat, these hostile actions are believed to be of an 'extra-terrestrial' origin and have affected all nations in equal measure. Attempts to communicate with these aggressors are ongoing and it is not known at this time what their intentions are. For your continued safety, you must remain in your homes until further notice. If your homes or families are threatened, defend yourselves without fear of reprisal. Further bulletins covering your local area will be forthcoming and instructions to follow for your continuing safety announced. Do not take to the streets, violating this directive may result in lethal force being issued. Lawlessness of any form will result in the most severe consequences. Conserve your supplies, we are addressing utilities issues and you may experience power or water outages in the coming days. These issues will be addressed with all immediacy. We are working tirelessly to restore communication networks, until then do not attempt to use them as there may be ongoing security concerns. More information will follow as it becomes available. Protect yourselves and be safe by remaining vigilant.”
Coffey slumped back in his chair, incredulous at the statement which paused for a moment then started again. He listened again as the announcer repeated the words which would no doubt rock the foundations of the human population, cause them to reconsider their outlook on life, the universe and their most cherished beliefs.
Despite the cataclysmic nature of the broadcast, Coffey was immediately sceptical. If all of the telecommunication satellites were down or destroyed, how had this message been beamed across the world? How had the 'aggressors' as the announcer put it, managed to derail the Internet, a vast network of independent machines with no central core to corrupt or control? How had the observatories only discovered these 'anomalies' as they entered Earth’s orbit when their vision stretched far beyond our solar system and into the depths of the galaxy? How had the government managed to mobilise their forces with such speed under such circumstances?
Coffey paced around the room, his mind racing. He had seen something unusual whilst on the mission, an irregular looking object in orbit around the Earth. Was this connected in any way to the apparent 'extra-terrestrial' attack? He could not say, although his cynical mind was at play and this all seemed too irregular. Even the unfamiliar announcer offered too much scope in the way of promoting scepticism. Who was he and who did he represent? The presenter had made claims that 'they' were doing all they could to ensure the safety of the worlds citizens, but who were 'they'? Why was the President not the voice of the nation? Where was she? Had these otherworldly visitors shown their faces and exhibited violence, or was this just a misunderstanding, an overreaction, lost in translation scuppering a new age of universal kinship?
Coffey wandered outside into his garden and across the lawn. He paused and looked up to the skies, his hand resting on the bulge of the Glock pistol nestling in his belt. He was not one to be easily swayed, he was a free thinker. Even the most patriotic American at some point must have had concerns over the transparency of their government's actions; the Kennedy assassination, 9/11, the Iran War, however this was seemingly not a national issue, it was a global event. Coffey may not have truly been convinced by the telecast but he would be ready for whatever the next step in the crisis would be, with an open mind and steady hand he would do wh
atever was required to protect himself, his neighbours and his country.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The Messenger, Fleet Street
November 16th 2020
Joshua had been roughly awoken when the television crackled into life, his nervous colleagues shaking him to his senses as the broadcast was played out. A tired and hungry group of young men and women stood around the screen, some of them embraced each other as the facts were delivered by the solemn dark haired, olive skinned presenter.
“Bloody hell, I knew it!” Cried out Sprake as it became clear that the crisis was one engineered by alien minds. Joshua laughed incredulously and it took a couple of replays of the message before it all sank in. Joshua recalled Jimmy's horror and was ashamed at his own apparent lack of empathy at the time. The young reporter moved towards the large curtain-less window and looked out to the curious darkness and the bright full moon which was a glorious pink colour. The human race had for so long laughed at the seemingly unhinged band of individuals who had reported sightings or abductions; now their stories became far more significant and impactive. Joshua wondered where Jimmy was right now and how he was coping with the dire news.
“There's going to be a lot of very unhappy religious sorts right now.” Bashir said, perhaps understating the profound nature of his comment.
“Mass suicide, civil unrest, alien wars...holy shit, this all sounds like a bad sci-fi novel!” One of the staff mumbled as he scrunched a drained coffee cup. Joshua raised his eyebrows and shook his head, his young colleague was right in some respects, these events would change the world forever.
Suddenly there was a new feeling of peril which was felt throughout the office. The fear of the unknown was now palpable and Joshua watched as it took hold of his colleagues and manifested itself in different ways. Some broke down in tears, some stood fast and defiant. A few talked of arming themselves ready for a fight, some talked of running and hiding. Joshua sat on the sofa and contemplated his actions. He felt compelled to share with his colleagues Jimmy's story which now seemed so real. If anything, at least he had some kind of vision in his mind what these alien creatures were according to how Jimmy had perceived them.
Joshua thought about how the classic 'alien' features had become iconic in the modern pop culture, the bulbous head and large oval eyes had become ubiquitous on everything from t-shirts to company logos, skateboards and computer games. To accept that these entities were now very real defied every logical fibre in Joshua's being. Like all the others in the office, the main concern that ran through his mind was their motive. Were they really on a mission to disrupt, destabilise and then dominate the human race or was this some kind of interplanetary misunderstanding, something which could be rectified in time with diplomacy? It was always discussed in the forums of the scientists and 'space' enthusiasts, what the motives of a potential galactic neighbour would be. It was the scientists view that if an alien culture had the means to travel from one planet to another and in essence, cross the light speed threshold (if that were at all possible), it seemed logical that they would also be advanced and civilised enough to have transcended violence and selfish motives.
Joshua was a cynical sort and he wrangled with the prospect that his short sighted government had a dubious role in all of this. It would not surprise him one bit if there was more to this than a surprise attack, an invasion without apparent cause. In his mind, there were very few citizens in the U.K. who would have trusted their politicians to boil an egg, let alone negotiate the fate of the world with an alien race.
If there was one positive to come out of all of this, Joshua believed that at least the human race might pull together and set aside their petty squabbles for a moment and stand together in unity for the first time in history. However, like the looters, there were always those who sought to make the most of a delicate situation and he guessed it was only a matter of time before those with a position of power would start to cut deals with the alien invaders and bargain for their slice of the pie after the initial struggle was over. Time would tell how this would pan out, but one thing was for sure, Joshua was just another tiny voice in a race crying out for some kind of mercy, whether the aliens would deliver that noble human trait remained to be seen.
Hours passed like days as the office staff peered out of the large windows as if waiting for a flying saucer to whizz by and confirm the television broadcasts message. The proliferation of 'alien' films since the 1950's had inspired wild imaginations to sculpt a varying image of the typical alien monstrosity. It was these images that played on everybody’s minds. Joshua sought to convince them that if indeed these were the same characters that played out in Jimmy Stock's story, at least they were not metal teethed, acid spewing horrors that spawned from the air conditioning system with deadly effect.
Joshua felt compelled to recount Jimmy's tale even though he toned down the agonising torture aspect, at least it gave the comfort that these were intelligent humanoid creatures and not hunters or killing machines set on genocide. Jimmy had lived to tell the tale, he had awoken with his body and mind intact although the anxiety remained. He had clearly been abducted, studied, tested and then put back into the water like some under-sized fish. If these were scientific minds then there was maybe a chance to settle any differences peacefully, a fact that Joshua reiterated to those in the office who had taken the news particularly badly.
Joshua eventually returned to a fitful slumber. There was no point in holding a vigil, there seemed little any one could do except wait for the next announcement. When the dishevelled reporter awoke as the bright light of the day streamed through the office windows, nothing had changed. The city was so quiet. Sarah Palmer sat at the window which she had opened as far as it would go and gazed through the narrow opening out into the street.
“You OK?” Joshua asked as he pulled himself upright from the sofa. His suit now crumpled and his immaculate white shirt decidedly dirty.
“Yep. Fine.” She replied not for a moment averting her gaze.
“Do you wonder what the significance of the red sky is?” She asked quizzically.
Joshua stood and walked over to her. The cool November breeze blew in through the gap and helped widen his tired eyes.
“Perhaps it's some by product of a kind of gas that's meant to make us all subject to their bidding.” He replied with a smile.
“Well I’m not feeling that at the moment. If one of those bubble head fuckers walked in here I’d chin the bastard.” She laughed allowing her sense of humour to escape through her usually tightly woven veil of feminist candour.
“Yeah, I believe you would.” Joshua chuckled and pulled up a chair beside her.
“I want to see them. I'm tired of waiting. I want some kind of proof that it's real and that we're not just sitting here as part of some rich oligarch's last wet dream before he pops his clogs. You know what I mean?” Sarah was even more cynical than Joshua.
“I know what you mean. It all seems to incredible, but I don't think its within any individuals power to put on a show like this no matter how rich they are. I guess it's like the giant meteorite thing, we know at some point in the next zillion years it's going to land and wipe us all out, it's a matter of time. It's also logical to expect there to be alien life on other planets, maybe we have been given clues that they were coming from years back but we just haven’t listen hard enough to the people that knew. We've laughed at those poor bastards and now we understand exactly what they've been trying to tell us.”
Sarah turned and looked at Joshua, her immaculately presented face was now a little reddened, bags had appeared under her eyes and her makeup had been smeared by tears.
“I don't believe it. Not any of it.” She said with a steadfast assuredness. Joshua raised his eyebrows.
“Is there not enough proof already to suggest that this world has changed forever?” He asked, looking up at the red sky.
“I guess it all depends on how willing you are to accept the 'facts'.” She sa
id turning back to the window, the red glow of the morning sun tuning her features pink.
“Maybe if I hadn’t heard Jimmy's account, I’d be more like you, more sceptical. I saw the look on his face, I felt the pain he had experienced. Do you know, what I find amazing is that until now I think I have genuinely accepted everything that has happened as the truth. You've made me think a bit, I guess that's a good thing.”
Sarah once again turned to Joshua.
“You know, if you went to the Brazilian rainforest wearing a wetsuit and an oxygen tank, there would be people there who would believe you to be some kind of demon, or 'Star Man'. They'd either bow down to you in fear for their lives or kill you with their poison darts. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Joshua fell silent as he tried to comprehend Sarah's clumsy analogy. He got it though, and in many ways she was right. Ignorance breeds fear and sometimes fear breeds ignorance. There was no doubt that of the seven and a half billion souls on Earth that had woken up that morning and looked upon the darkened burgundy atmosphere, the vast majority would have fell to their knees in terror and disbelief. How they wished to interpret the knowledge that had been slowly drip fed to them was another matter. Joshua had himself been swept along in the waves of fear but maybe Sarah Palmer had just done enough to throw him a float. Her refusal to give in to the accepted facts had empowered him to think a little more carefully about how he perceived the information he had been given. It inspired his natural curiosity and caution, some of the traits which had made him such a formidable journalist. Maybe what Joshua needed now was exactly the very thing Sarah had joked about, he needed to see with his own eyes the dreaded threat that they had been told was a very clear and present danger.
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