by Hatchett
“But according to what we’ve been told, they come in peace and want to talk,” Matt pointed out. “They’ve taken Mason back to deal with him, then they intend to meet with the World’s leaders.”
“Intentions do not always materialise and it’s always better to be safe than sorry,” Harry noted.
“Yes, but surely it would be better if he was with MI5?” Karen suggested.
“Maybe,” Harry conceded. “Maybe not.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if there was an attack, I would have thought MI5 would be a top target, whereas no one knows about this place.
“Hence the blindfolds on the way here,” Matt added knowingly.
“I have another question, and I don’t mean this to sound disrespectful or anything, but what’s all the fascination with Jess?” Karen asked, looking at Jess and smiling. “From the rumours circulating around Thames House, you’d think we were witnessing the Second Coming.”
“Jess is very special,” Harriet replied, and left it at that. If Matt and Karen could be trusted, they would find out soon enough.
“I don’t doubt it,” Karen replied, more confused than ever.
“Let’s get a drink and take a seat,” Harriet suggested as she moved across to the kitchen while the others settled in the lounge area.
When Harriet got back with a tray of steaming drinks, she restarted the conversation.
“Perhaps you could answer a few questions of our own?”
“Go ahead. We’ll answer if we can,” Matt replied.
“Why were you chosen to escort Joshua here?”
Matt looked to Karen and she replied.
“We’re not entirely sure, although we’ve been involved since last night. We were called in and first tasked with interviewing Mason and his goons, then we escorted him to Brize Norton where he was picked up. We were about to go home when this new assignment came through.”
“OK, just checking,” Harriet said. “Did you get anything out of Mason?”
“Nothing, except sarcasm,” Matt replied.
“You’ll have to tell us all about what happened at Brize Norton,” Harriet suggested, “quid pro quo and all that.”
Matt and Karen looked at each other a little confused about the reference to ‘quid pro quo’ until the penny dropped, and Karen replied.
“Oh, I’m beginning to get it. You thought we were sent here to spy on you.”
Harry nodded slowly.
“The thought had crossed our minds.”
“Well, we weren’t,” Karen confirmed, with a mixture of surprise and annoyance. “We don’t even know how long we’re supposed to stay here or when or how we’re supposed to get back.
“We believe you,” Harry confirmed, “otherwise we wouldn’t have shown you this basement area.”
“As a matter of interest, and not that I’m trying to change your mind about us, but how can you be so certain?” Matt asked with interest.
“Jess would have told us,” Harriet said matter of factly.
“What do you mean ‘Jess would have told us’?” Karen demanded, starting to get more annoyed. “Why are you talking in riddles?”
The two Harrys’ looked at Matt and Karen, then looked at each other before they both turned to look at Jess.
“I WOULD HAVE TOLD THEM IF YOU WERE HIDING ANYTHING OR LYING.” Jess said through the voice box.
Matt and Karen turned to look at Jess.
“And how exactly would you know whether or not we were lying? Is there a hidden lie detector around here that we don’t know about? Part of the wheelchair perhaps?” Karen demanded, looking more closely at Jess and her chair.
Harry chuckled and Karen glared at him.
“I CAN READ YOUR MINDS.”
Karen started laughing.
“Jesus! I was beginning to think there was something off about all this and now I’m absolutely certain of it. Read our minds! Have you all gone mad?”
No one was laughing, they just continued to watch Matt and Karen.
Karen took out her pistol and held it pointing towards the floor. Matt stared at her in surprise before deciding that he should also have his weapon on display.
“You are all nuts,” Karen muttered under her breath, “I think it’s time we left, Matt.”
“WHAT MAKES YOU THINK WE’RE NUTS?” Jess projected to Karen.
Karen turned to look at Jess.
“Reading minds? Seriously?” she stated, although for some reason something didn’t feel quite right, and she couldn’t put her finger on the reason why.
Matt looked sideways at Karen, wondering what he had missed.
“MATT IS LOOKING AT YOU AS IF YOU’RE LOSING YOUR MIND.”
“What? No, he isn’t,” Karen replied, turning to look at Matt.
“Are you OK?” Matt asked considerately, “Am I missing something here?”
“I’m talking to Jess,” Karen explained, “are you deaf?”
The two Harry’s sat watching with a smile on their faces.
“Jess hasn’t said anything,” Matt pointed out.
“Of course, she has! She’s just told me that you were looking at me as if I’m the one who’s nuts.”
“I repeat, Jess hasn’t said anything,” Matt said slowly.
Karen stared at Matt before turning back to look at Jess, who was sitting sweetly with a smile on her face.
“I’M SORRY. IT’S A TRICK I LIKE TO PLAY TO PROVE A POINT,” came out of the voice box.
Matt turned to look at Jess.
“What do you mean?”
Jess looked directly at Matt.
“I LIKE TO SHOW PEOPLE WHAT I CAN DO RATHER THAN TELL THEM. THAT WAY, THEY BELIEVE.”
Matt involuntary shook his head, still not realising what had happened.
“I still don’t understand.”
Karen turned to Matt.
“What don’t you understand?” she asked.
“What Jess said,” Matt replied.
“She didn’t say anything.”
Matt and Karen looked at each other before Karen turned to Jess
“What the Hell is going on here young lady?”
Jess looked back at Karen.
“I CAN DIRECT MY THOUGHTS TO ANYONE WITHOUT ANYONE ELSE KNOWING.”
“Did you hear that?” Karen asked Matt without taking her eyes off Jess.
“No.”
Jess looked at Matt.
“I CAN TALK TO YOU AS WELL WITHOUT ANYONE KNOWING.”
“Did you hear that, Karen?” Matt asked quietly, little more than a whisper.
“No.”
“Shit! It’s true, she can talk to us telepathically!” Matt exclaimed loudly.
He didn’t know whether to laugh or run away but turned back to stare at Jess.
“Who knows?”
“Everyone here,” Harry replied, on Jess’s behalf, “although I have a sneaking suspicion that the PM might know somehow, which is why she wants to meet Jess so badly. That’s why we needed to be sure you hadn’t been sent to spy on us.”
“But that doesn’t explain how you know we weren’t here to spy. How do you know that?” Matt asked.
“I CAN READ MINDS.”
Matt and Karen’s heads spun to face Jess like synchronised swimmers going through their routine.
“You’re kidding, right?” asked Matt, afraid of what the answer was going to be.
“She’s not kidding,” Karen answered for Jess. “You can, can’t you?”
Jess nodded.
“How long have you been able to do this? It’s supposed to be a theoretical ability, or fantasy, whichever way you want to look at it. All that stuff about humans only using part of the brain blah, blah.”
“SINCE MY ACCIDENT.”
Matt and Karen thought about it some more.
“What else can you do?” Karen asked in awe.
“She has other talents,” Harry interrupted, “like suggesting you do something you wouldn’t normally do, and we thi
nk she can probably do other things, but we’re working on it.”
“If word gets out about this…” Karen began, but Harriet shut her off.
“We need to keep this on the QT. We’re trusting that you won’t say anything when you go back.”
“I’m not even sure when we’re supposed to go back, and anyway, who’d believe us? We’d be laughed out of MI5 and relocated to the funny farm, strapped up and given some electric therapy.” Karen said.
She looked to Matt and there was an unspoken communication and agreement between them. She looked back to her hosts.
“We won’t say anything.”
“I BELIEVE YOU,” came from the voice box, “AND I WOULD KNOW IF YOU WERE LYING.”
“I think it’s time we re-joined the others,” Harriet suggested, rising from her seat and collecting the empty cups, “then we should all get something to eat.”
15
It was early evening in the UK and Kinaejah sat in a large padded chair behind a desk in a large conference-type room with various screens floating around him showing him some of the activity going on around the ship.
Standing at different points around the room were a handful of Stormtrooper guards.
Seated around the room were eleven of his most trusted lieutenants; the ones to whom he had bestowed an amulet of power and a new name. Collectively, they now made up a new, younger and more dynamic Council of Elders. However, there was absolutely no doubt that Kinaejah was in full control, as evidenced by his new selection process which betrayed traditions and protocols which went back centuries.
Kinaejah turned to Thaejah.
“Is everything set?”
“Everything is ready,” Thaejah confirmed.
“Good. Does anyone have any questions or need clarification of their roles?”
There were shakes of the head all around. Many of the new Elders had screens floating around them as they went about their new duties.
“Then send out the drones and move us closer.”
Thaejah conjured another screen and gave the command. There was a slight hum as the Mothership started moving, closely followed by the Inter-Galactic Cruisers on either side.
On the double height level 51/52, thousands of silver ovoids half a metre long and quarter of a metre wide glided towards the outer wall of the Mothership and slipped through the outer skin into space. Like miniature versions of the Mothership, the drones spread out and hurtled towards Earth.
The majority of the drones spread out around the planet at a distance of between 200 and 2,000 kilometres, known as Low Earth Orbit or LEO, while the rest hovered between 2,000 and 35,000 kilometres out.
For Kinaejah, space, but more specifically LEO, was the first step in his intended invasion of the planet; it held the majority of all manmade objects in orbit such as satellites, telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope and the Space Station. The variety of satellites included observation satellites, spy satellites and communications satellites for phones, TV, navigation and the like, each of them moving at a minimum speed of just under 8 kilometres a second. Most held circular orbits, orbiting the Earth 11 times or so a day or roughly every couple of hours.
There were also satellites which followed an elliptical pattern, dipping in and out of the LEO belt.
There were also satellites wholly outside the LEO belt; there were communication and weather satellites in Geostationary Orbit 35,000 kilometres above the Earth, their position sitting above a specific fixed point on the Earth and never changing. There was also a Graveyard Orbit a few hundred kilometres outside Geostationary Orbit and this was where all old satellites were dumped to prevent them accidentally colliding with others.
The LEO belt was also packed with thousands of pieces of space debris making collisions at high velocity more likely, and Kinaejah intended to create far more debris. Far more.
He gave the order and the rear section of the drones’ outer skin retracted to reveal a blue energy ball, similar to the ones on the end of the rods, but bigger and far more powerful.
Thousands of blue bolts of energy pulsed from the drones simultaneously, hitting their targets with precision, causing many to explode and others to career out of their normal orbit to collide with other satellites and debris. In a matter of seconds, thousands of satellites were destroyed, creating millions of pieces of debris.
Much of this resulting debris was pulled towards the Earth, some of the smaller pieces burning up as it entered the atmosphere, but a significant proportion of larger pieces made it through and continued falling, the majority landing harmlessly in water, which covered around 70% of the planet’s surface, but the rest hitting land.
16
Across the planet people looked skywards to watch the unexpected light show, gazing up in awe at the spectacle, wondering what was going on and calling on friends and family to join them outside to take a look.
It didn’t take long until social media was streaming videos of the phenomenon until the platforms and devices suddenly died and left people with blank screens, adding to the mounting confusion and the first stirrings of doubt and concern.
As people continued to look skywards a rain of metal and debris descended upon them. Pieces of various sizes fell at well over one hundred kilometres an hour and it was far too late for most people to react.
Whilst some managed to scramble to shelter, there were far more unfortunate ones who were left stranded in the open. They were sliced apart where they stood, and blood flowed. Even some of those who managed to get under cover found to their horror than the buildings were simply not strong enough to withstand the metal raining down on them and many buildings were seriously damaged, with roofs falling in on the people cowering inside.
Nearly all the thousands of commercial planes in the sky at the time were affected. Many were hit by satellite debris, smashing wings, the fuselage and cockpits. These dying planes fell to earth along with the satellite debris causing yet more death and destruction.
The planes which weren’t hit directly by debris lost their navigational systems and communications, so the pilots had no option but to try and fly by sight. This meant reducing altitude, and with no traffic controllers to guide and organise them, there were mid-air collisions and planes flying into mountains all over the world. There was also carnage around the airports as more than one plane tried to land at the same time.
Those further out had absolutely no chance of landing safely because all airports and runways were turned into blazing infernos within minutes. Secondary attempts to land on motorways and other large open areas in the countryside were mainly unsuccessful.
Kinaejah watched the devastation on his holographic screens, a smile plastered across his face. From his point of view, the level of destruction was far higher than expected.
The humans did like their fireworks, so he hoped they appreciated his little display.
17
At The Manor, whilst some of the group were still working in the barn under the powerful lights, the Harrys’ and their guests had eaten and retired to the lounge area and sat discussing current events over a drink, with the TV on low in the background.
Matt and Karen were still sceptical about the aims of the Underground and the movement’s negative feelings about the aliens. They liked the Harrys’ and though they meant well, but believed their views and actions were misguided.
“The Government has known about the presence of aliens for decades, possibly centuries for all we know,” Harriet argued.
“How do you know that?” Karen asked. “There’s been conspiracy theories about aliens for, like, forever, but they’ve never been proved.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Harriet countered. “There is proof, but most has been kept under lock and key. Can you imagine what would have happened if the Governments around the World confirmed that there was evidence of aliens?”
“Much the same as we’re seeing now,” Matt interrupted, “but people seem to be taking it in their s
tride.”
“It sounds like you think this was an organised Worldwide cover up,” Karen suggested.
“It is, or was,” Harriet agreed.
Karen smiled, humouring her host.
“You may smile,” Harriet said as she got up and walked to a large cabinet in the corner of the room.
She took a small key from a chain around her neck and opened the doors, revealing various alien artefacts.
Karen had risen and followed Harriet across the room and now looked over her shoulder at the array of items.
Harriet reached into the cabinet and retrieved a skull, which she presented to Karen.
Karen took the skull and looked at it carefully, turning it over in her hands to study it from all angles.
“How do I know this is real?” she asked. “You could have had it made.”
“We’ve had it tested,” Harriet confirmed. “It is over a thousand years old and was discovered during an archaeological dig in Egypt in the 1920’s. It is different to the Laakuu, I might add.”
“OK, but I still don’t see the proof,” Karen pointed out.
“What do you want?” Harriet queried. “A certificate of authenticity? A live specimen? We can hardly advertise this stuff and we had to be very careful about how we obtained it and who we got to do the tests.”
By this time Matt and Harry had joined the two women. Harry leant past the women and brought out a small metal object. As the others watched, he walked to the centre of the room, placed the device on the coffee table and pressed a button. Suddenly the room darkened except for a bright ball of light directly above the table, and various holographic spheres dotted around the room, which appeared to move very slowly.
Harry gave Matt and Karen time to take a good look and work out what they were seeing.
“It’s the Solar System,” Matt was first to react. “Cool. But again, it doesn’t prove anything.”
“You’re a sceptical pair,” Harry said, shaking his head and smiling.