by Hatchett
34
Mason and his colleagues were back in his sitting room, having eaten a sumptuous meal prepared by his personal chef.
He had just received another call and quickly turned on his TV to the news channel. The four of them sat in confused but interested silence as the reports came in, occasionally offering a comment on what it might be all about.
At this stage, they had no idea what the attacks were or why they were happening; it certainly seemed very unusual to have similar attacks all around the world at the same time, as if they were coordinated. Mason in particular felt extremely uneasy; there was something about the coordination which didn’t sit right, not that he’d share these thoughts with his colleagues. At this stage, none of them realised that it was Laakuu being attacked or the importance of the electricity.
That all changed about fifteen minutes later when the producer switched to a reporter outside the Houses of Parliament. The reporter was advising that there had been similar attacks in and around Westminster and the Government were considering calling in the National Guard or even the army; the police were overwhelmed with the number of incidents and the ‘999’ switchboard was close to meltdown. All police officers currently off duty were being called in to help deal with the situation; an event completely unheard of.
The reporter managed to grab an interview with a prominent member of the Cabinet, who couldn’t explain the unusual circumstances, but called for calm and for people to return home and stay indoors until peace could be restored.
The reporter had just thanked the Cabinet minister before placing a finger to his ear as if listening to his producer before he looked back into the camera lens and announced that half a dozen MPs had been subject to similar attacks and had been taken to St Thomas’s hospital to be checked over. They were apparently physically fine but were clearly in a state of shock and that they were now switching across to the scene.
The screen switched to another reporter standing outside St Thomas’s hospital. With a bright smile and bubbly enthusiasm, she advised that she’d managed to get a quick word with the ambulance crew and the paramedics who’d brought the first couple of MPs to the hospital. She gleefully mentioned the names of the MPs in question and added that although they were clearly in shock and generally incoherent, they’d both separately shouted warnings about aliens.
“Fuck! They’re all Laakuu,” Mason shouted, jumping out of his chair and scratching his head.
“What do you mean?” Archie asked, a look of concern spreading across his face.
“Those two MPs are Laakuu,” Mason explained, “well, they were.” The pieces were beginning to fall into place for Mason, like a key finding the tumblers in a lock. He paused for a few moments, lost in his own thoughts as the others stared alternatively at him and the TV screen.
“But that must be coincidental,” David suggested, “just luck of the draw bearing in mind the number of attacks going on.”
“Are you fucking stupid?” Mason shouted, rounding on David. “Can’t you fucking see what’s in front of your own face?”
Declan obviously sussed where Mason was going but it was clear that Archie and David were still non-plussed.
Mason looked to the heavens in exasperation. “Somehow, that fucking girl has managed to get in touch with people all over the world and spread the word about us. They also seem to know how to detect us and how to get rid of us, though how they’ve managed to do that in such a short space of time, I have absolutely no fucking idea. We need to speak to the Mothership, right NOW!”
Mason almost ran from the room, Declan getting up from his seat and following. Archie and David remained where they were, helping themselves to another drink, thinking that this was just a storm in a teacup and that Mason was overreacting. Plus, with the mood Mason was in, sitting there watching the TV seemed a far better alternative in the circumstances.
Mason entered his study and sat down behind his desk. He unlocked and opened the bottom drawer on the right and removed a circular device as Declan entered the room, closed the door and sat down in a chair opposite the desk.
Mason placed the device on the desktop. It was about the same diameter as a football and made from a shiny silver metal of some sort. It looked a little like a miniature version of the classic UFO disc shape, almost flat around the edges rising to a thicker dome shape at its centre.
Mason brushed his hand across the surface. Several panels lit up with blue symbols on them and others sprang open to shine a bluish light from the openings, highlighting the dust particles floating around in the room. Within seconds the light and dust seemed to bend and swirl before forming a hologram of a Laakuu figure.
Mason switched to the Laakuu language when addressing the figure in front of them, a series of grunts, hissing, gnashing of teeth, clicks and tutting.
“Are you monitoring what is happening down here?”
“Yes, we have been watching developments,” came the response.
“Are the victims all Laakuu?” Declan asked.
“Difficult to tell as we wouldn’t know if non-Laakuu were being attacked. But, from the number of trackers going cold, it’s clear that this is an attack on us. According to our tracking system, we have lost thousands of Laakuu in the past hour or so and more are disappearing every minute.”
“We need to withdraw and reorganise,” Mason proposed.
“That option is being considered.”
“We don’t have time to consider,” Mason replied. “We need to do it right now. Send the alert message and send the shuttles before it’s too late.”
“The option is being considered.”
Mason slammed his hand down on the desk in anger. “This is not the time for consultation. This is the time for action. I will be issuing an evacuation order here in the UK.”
“You will await orders. The option is being considered.”
Mason passed a hand over the device and the Laakuu figure disappeared, although the light and dust motes continued swirling around like a kaleidoscope.
“The Council are so far removed from reality and couldn’t make a decision if their lives depended on it,” Mason commented, “which they might well be.”
“I have to agree,” Declan confirmed. “Are you really going to issue the evacuation order? You know, the Council will hang you out to dry.”
“Fuck the council. I’m more worried about our brethren, not some bunch of cronies up there.”
Mason passed his hand across the device once again. The light re-formed into a bright cone, like the tip of a missile. The cone expanded until it was almost touching the ceiling. Slowly, the dust motes swirling around inside the cone of light seemed to solidify into thousands of tiny balls, a millimetre or less in diameter, each one representing a Laakuu in the UK.
“This is Mason,” he began. “Code Red. I repeat, Code Red. Immediate evacuation.”
Mason touched the side of the device before passing his hand through the cone of light. The cone began reducing in size as if sucked into the device and once it had disappeared, the panels moved back into their original closed position.
“The message will keep repeating,” Mason said, for Declan’s benefit. They sat there and stared at one another.
“I have a feeling that decades of work have just been wasted,” Mason said sadly.
“Do you really think it’s that bad?” Declan asked.
“Worse than bad,” Mason replied. “The humans can now identify us and can kill us. Worst of all, we have a leadership who have to form a committee every time one of them needs to tie a shoelace. What colour laces should we have? What length and thickness should they be? Which lace should we tie first? Which way should we tie it? Fucking idiots.”
“So, what are you going to do?” Declan asked. “Take the shuttle back up?”
“No chance,” Mason responded vehemently. “I’m not running. It’s time to fight.”
“But, if the humans can kill us, then you’re in as much danger as the re
st of us.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Declan. They can obviously kill us with electricity,” Mason explained as he thought things through, “but only if we’re in human form and nowhere near our own body.”
“But we are in human form if you hadn’t noticed,” Declan pointed out.
“Not for long.”
“What do you mean?”
“I had my body brought down here. I think it’s time to go back to how nature intended.” Mason rose from his seat. “Come with me.”
Mason led Declan into the kitchen, turning on the lights as he went. It was deserted, the chef and helpers having completed their work and gone home for the night.
Mason walked into a walk-in larder, a huge room with fridges and freezers along one wall and row upon rows of shelves holding a wide variety of foodstuffs. Mason went to a thick metal door at the far end, unlocked it with a key from a chain around his neck, and waited as a panel opened in the wall beside it and a small LCD panel eased out. Mason aligned himself with the panel and placed a finger on the screen. A blueish laser shone from the panel and scanned his face. Once it had finished and turned off, the panel disappeared back into the wall and Mason and Declan could hear some humming before the door opened electronically and lights on the far side came on.
“Welcome to my cave,” Mason added as he moved towards the entrance and started following a set of spiral steps going down. Declan quickly followed as the door eased shut behind them.
“Where are we going?” Declan asked.
“I told you, it’s my cave,” Mason replied easily.
After forty or so steps they entered a cavernous space, brightly lit and filled with alien technology.
Declan stared around in awe, although he had already seen everything around him before on countless occasions.
“How did you manage to get all this down here? You’re not supposed to have most of this stuff on the planet.”
“I have friends,” Mason replied. “Many friends. Friends who are not happy with the Council. Friends who’d like to take a different approach to our occupation.” He let that sink in. “Are you a friend, Declan?” he asked casually, but carefully looking at his face for any reaction.
Declan was confused. He had not expected anything like this. To disobey the Council was a death sentence, albeit he would probably die of natural causes long before the liberals among his species reached an actual decision to terminate him. The more he thought about it, the more he realised that their whole approach had been wrong.
“Fuck yes,” he said with a sly smile. “Yes, yes, yes! About fucking time we did something positive.”
Mason was satisfied that Declan meant what he said. “Where’s your body?”
“Back on the ship, like I thought everyone’s was.”
“Not everyone.” Mason walked across to a cryogenic chamber and passed his hand across the control panel. The chamber lit up from within with a dark blue glow. In that glow stood a Laakuu body, all seven and a half feet tall and rippling with muscles. Mason pressed a couple of the flat panels and the chamber started to hum, smoke beginning to swirl around inside until the body couldn’t be seen.
Mason turned back to Declan with a smile on his face. He moved across to what looked like a cabinet and passed his hand across the panel on it. The cabinet opened and displayed a wide range of items. Mason selected two items and passed them across to Declan.
Declan immediately opened his mouth and placed one of the items inside. The other object he held in his hand.
Mason looked back at the cryogenic chamber and saw that it had stopped its machinations. The body inside was now clearly visible and bathed in a light blue glow.
“It’s time,” Mason said, before sitting down in one of the leather-looking chairs in the room. He pressed another panel on the arm of the chair and suddenly metal bands appeared to flow from the chair to pin his arms and legs in place. Mason closed his eyes.
35
Jess was awoken the following morning by her mother and Paula. They hadn’t gone to sleep until the early hours of the morning after a long hard day and Jess had been worn out.
The previous night the group had watched the news for hours, totally entranced by what they were seeing and hearing; they knew that key messages had been circulated around the world, but they’d had no idea how those messages would be received, by how many, and how they would react.
The number of attacks seemed to escalate as each minute passed, but perhaps this was just the news channels getting up to speed. In the end, Jess had just fallen asleep in her chair and had no recollection of how she got to bed.
“How are you feeling?” Di asked with a concerned frown on her face. She could see dark smudges around Jess’s eyes and was concerned for her daughter. “I think you’re over doing it, Jess.”
“NO CHOICE.” Jess continued to use the voice box wherever possible because telepathic communication took its toll on her and she could only direct her thoughts to one person at a time.
“How’s the rehab going? It’s a shame we haven’t got a physiotherapist on hand to get you through your schedule properly,” Di said, as she took one of Jess’s legs and Paula took the other, before stretching them and then pushing them up until Jess’s knees were almost touching her chin.
“SLOW. MY ARMS ARE NOW FINE, BUT WEAK. I CAN MOVE MY HEAD AND EAT BUT STILL CAN’T SPEAK. BUT I CAN NOW MOVE MY TOES A LITTLE.” Jess wiggled her toes for emphasis.
“That’s brilliant darling, we’ll have you on your feet in no time.
“WE BETTER GET DOWNSTAIRS. BUSY DAY.”
“They can wait a bit,” Paula replied. “You’re too important to us and we need to make sure you’re ok.”
Di and Paula continued with the therapy for another twenty minutes before getting Jess ready and calling for Damian to carry her downstairs.
36
Mason was buzzing. Getting his own body back was exhilarating. He felt twelve feet tall and as strong as a bear and couldn’t wait to get going.
He thought back to the previous night and smiled to himself. That had been fun, and it was just the start. Mason had switched back into his body and emerged from the cryogenic chamber like a God. Even Declan cowered a little; perhaps that had been an impulsive and automatic reaction from the puny human body he resided in.
The real Right Honourable Robert Mason Stephenson MP had been drooling in his chair, looking at Declan with something approaching hatred, but when he heard the door of the cryogenic chamber opening and turned to see the monster emerging from it, he almost had a heart attack. He sat there wide-eyed with his mouth open in shock. He knew he had been possessed but until now he’d had no idea by what, and the thing in front of him had obviously only allowed him to see and hear some of the things he was up to. The reality was so shocking he was struggling to comprehend what was happening and wondered if he was losing his mind. ‘I must be ok if I’m thinking about going mad’ he thought to himself.
The huge Laakuu had glanced at him briefly then ignored him as if he was no more significant that an irritating insect. Instead, he had focused on Declan and detailed the next part of his plan and how he would put it into operation. He told Declan that he would continue to be known as Mason and continue to speak in English, albeit a whistling and hissing version of it.
As he dressed himself in the specially made leather police riot gear like the six stormtroopers that were keeping themselves to themselves on the premises, he explained to Declan that he would need to take the shuttle back to the Mothership as part of the evacuation and get back into his own body as soon as possible. He expected Declan to keep him up to date on what was happening via the communication device that had been secreted in his mouth. He explained to Declan who could and couldn’t be trusted on the Mothership, and the key people who he should contact.
“What about Archie and David upstairs?” Declan had asked
“Surplus to requirements,” Mason had responded as he used his own communica
tor to get the six stormtroopers to keep an eye on them until he got there.
Mason had then selected various weapons and devices before leading Declan back to the sitting room. As ordered, the six stormtroopers were dotted around the perimeter of the room, unmoving but fully alert. Archie and David were still sitting with a drink in their hands, but anyone could see that they were extremely nervous and not sure what was going on.
“What’s happening,” Archie had asked, rising to his feet as Mason and Declan had entered the room. It had taken him a few seconds to register than Mason appeared bigger and was wearing the same gear as the guards. Well, he assumed it was Mason.
Mason had purposely worn the helmet and gloves which were part of the uniform and took great pleasure in removing them slowly and watching Archie and David’s reaction.
“Mason! What are you doing? How did you get your body back?” the questions came quickly from Archie as he approached Mason. “Are you mad? The Council will terminate you for this.”
“The Council are irrelevant,” Mason had replied, thrusting out his right arm, his central claw piercing Archie’s chest. Mason then bent his claw and pulled Archie’s scared and shocked face towards him before lifting him off his feet until they were eye to eye. “Never did like you Archie,” Mason spat in his face as he launched Archie’s body into the far wall. Archie hit the wall at tremendous speed, many bones breaking on impact before falling down to the floor and lying still.
David had not moved until that point and had watched everything in growing horror, before dropping his glass to the floor where it shattered on the wooden surface. He didn’t know whether to stand or stay where he was. He knew there was no escape, so he just hoped that he was one of the people that Mason did like.
“Wh-what about me?” he asked, his voice trembling and sounding like it was coming from someone else far away.