INVASION.
Chapter Two.
The world was in crisis even before the invasion. We were polarized. Nations were crumbling, crushed by immense pressure. Pressure from within, pressure from without; civil wars and the clash of entire civilizations. Then the aliens invaded and changed everything.
When the Emergency Alert System first triggered, most of us in the United States thought we were under nuclear attack. That notion wasn’t far-fetched given the world situation, the spirit of the times. The eerie, grainy beep ... beep ... beep, followed by the long tone. That dredged up multiple levels of fear. Especially for older folk who had grown up in the duck-and-cover days of the cold war.
All throughout the Midwest and southern portions of the nation sirens began to wail. In recent times, those were normally used as a warning for an approaching tornado. Not this time. The message delivered by the Emergency Alert System was clear, seek shelter immediately. More grainy beeps, leading to the announcement ... this is NOT a test. Shelter in place. Seek below ground shelter when available. For more details go to the website...
Communication lines were overloaded. Tom and Bill kept calling their dad. They managed to get through just as Bill was heading for the door to run home and bring him to Grandad’s house. A mobile home was no place to weather whatever was coming. Mom and dad had already arrived.
Some nations had a more robust civil defense program. In those countries, the general public ran to underground concrete spaces reminiscent of the old fallout shelters once used in the U.S. They hunkered down, in fear, to await their fate. Not everyone chose that course. Some stayed in the comfort of their own homes to await the end of humanity.
Dad said something to the effect, they finally did it then, someone launched. Grandad said no, this was something else entirely. He pulled out an odd-looking phone from a desk drawer. Military Sat-phone? That sort of odd equipment just seems to pop up regularly at Grandad’s place. He called a friend in the military. Sure enough, the nation’s defense forces were at DEFCON One. The U.S. military expected an imminent attack. But not from an Earthly source.
No one will forget August 21st. A Tuesday. Thankfully, for our family, the warnings started early in the day. Mom and dad commute together and start their workday later than most. They had not yet gotten to work and were able to make it back home. Most people decided to leave work and go home to be with their families. The traffic jams were epic. So much for the initial attempt to have people shelter in place.
The spacecraft of the invaders streaked through the atmosphere as the world held its breath.
***
August 24th. It’s day 4 of the invasion.
“They have been watching Earth for a long time,” said Grandad.
He says the government has known for a while that something was going on. Government officials have known for years that the Solar System had received visitors. The main base of our enemy is on Mars, but they’re not Martians. They came from somewhere else entirely. Somewhere far, far away. But their main base in the Solar System is evidently on Mars. It likely isn’t a coincidence that humanity has been sending a lot of robotic exploration ships there. The early 2020s saw a push to send people too.
We, the public, thought the intent was exploration and possible settlement. It could be the real plan was for spying and war. This invasion seems to put the lie to any coincidence. Also, the governments of Earth have been putting up a decent fight considering the technology they are up against. The enemy can travel between stars after all. Humanity has barely started to travel to the worlds of our own sun.
The invaders knew about DARPA. They blew up the DARPA lab because it was a center of high technology. But their evil act turned into something good. The good thing is, that explosion resulted in our capabilities. Those would be helpful in the fight against the horrible invaders.
Grandad likes Bible stories. Once in a while he uses one as an analogy. “It’s a little like the story of Joseph and his brothers. Just a little. I think our gifts are from God.”
Rock shook his head just a little. “So, God was involved in the lab explosion?”
Grandad shook his head back. “Not exactly. His involvement would be an intervention with regard to result, turning something evil into something good.”
Rock wasn’t so sure. “Hmmm. Some help from a benevolent omnipotent force would be nice I suppose. We’ll see. I’m wishing for a secret government program that has developed a high-tech version of the AC-130 Spectre gunship.”
That engaged Roll. “How about equipping them with high-powered fiber lasers?”
“A particle beam weapon would be nice.”
“There’s the propagation problem, beam spread in atmosphere.”
“Yeah, that’s true, directed energy is likely better in atmosphere.”
“Power problem though.”
“Better fusion plant technology.”
“Still, there are effective countermeasures. Ablative material, or even reflective surface.”
“Maybe, if the specs for the laser are known.”
“Tesla Howitzer?”
“Probably fiction.”
“You don’t have the math.”
“No one has the math.”
“Like I said.”
“You heard of the Casaba Howitzer?”
“Those are awesome. Wouldn’t want to use that in the atmosphere though.”
“Yeah, that would be messy.”
Hey guys. We’re all still here. This could go on for an hour. Best to help them move along before my head explodes.
However you look at it, the lab explosion resulted in an unintended consequence. The enemy did something that was evil but our resulting capabilities will end up being used for something good. Rock, the agnostic, sees an odd twist of statistical probability. Roll sees a smile from the universe in the happy consequence. Para-
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