by Hatchett
A couple of minutes later there was a quick tap on the study door before it was opened, and Jason and Andy strode in.
“You wanted to see us?” Jason asked.
“Yes. Take a seat and close the door,” Harry ordered, and waited until they had both sat down.
“One day I’ll get used to Jess talking in my head,” Andy remarked.
Harry then explained what Jess wanted to try to do. Jason and Andy listened carefully, nodding occasionally and asking the odd question here and there before ending up with large grins across their faces.
“Let’s do it,” Jason agreed.
They pulled out some maps to study the land just to the North of the M4.
45
Kinaejah looked down on his silver pyramid from the Mothership, pride written all over his face.
He hadn’t left the Mothership for the past three years and had enjoyed watching the eighth Wonder of the World being constructed. He was now looking forward to putting his feet back on the ground, but first he had some unfinished business.
He had sent all but one of the other elders to their own pyramids, keeping Thaejah back as his second in command and confidante, although he didn’t actually confide all that much in him.
“How are the others getting on?” Kinaejah asked, still gazing down.
“All progressing,” Thaejah confirmed. “Washington and Moscow are almost finished. The rest are a couple of weeks away.”
Kinaejah had given Thaejah the responsibility for allocating each of the Elders their own region, so Thaejah had ensured that his closest colleagues, Judaejah, Torjah and Badaejah got the most desirable locations closest to London. So, Judaejah had got Paris, Torjah got Madrid and Badaejah got Rome.
“Good,” Kinaejah replied absentmindedly, “and they’re all smaller than this one?”
“Of course. They will be half the height,” Thaejah confirmed.
“Good. What about Joshua and the girl?”
“No news, I’m afraid.”
Kinaejah had been asking the same question every day for the past three years and Thaejah was fed up with it.
“Do you think they’re alive?” Kinaejah asked yet again.
“I doubt it. You managed to wipe out most of the humans, and what’s left aren’t in a position to do anything,” Thaejah replied as usual.
“But you’re making every effort to find them?”
“Of course.”
Actually, Thaejah had done nothing about trying to find them because it would be a complete waste of time and effort, not that he was about to admit that to Kinaejah.
“Good. I want them found,” Kinaejah stated.
“I know.”
“Now that the pyramid is finished, we can use more resources,” Kinaejah suggested.
“We still have a lot to do,” Thaejah countered, “especially if we’re ever going to sort out everything below the line.”
“I couldn’t give a toss about the shitholes below the line,” Kinaejah replied. “I would prefer to find Joshua and the girl.”
“But don’t forget the resources below the surface,” Thaejah reminded him. “Some of the countries in Africa and Australia have significant minerals which would be of use. And don’t forget under the oceans.”
Kinaejah thought about it. He wanted everything at once but accepted he couldn’t have it.
“OK, but we keep looking for them. Find and torture a few humans outside the wall to see if they know their whereabouts.”
“Of course,” Thaejah replied, although he had no intention of doing so.
As far as Thaejah was concerned, Joshua was either dead or hiding, and whichever it was didn’t matter, except to Kinaejah and his long-standing feud.
“Is his body still frozen?”
“Of course.”
“Good. Keep it that way. I want him to be in his proper body when I slice his head off.”
Thaejah almost yawned, he’d heard the same shit every day for as long as he could remember and was thoroughly bored of it.
46
The following evening, Jason drove one of the SUVs down the long drive and out from under the dome and out of the gate and turned right towards the village of Aldbourne, just a few minutes away. He had Andy next to him and Jess, Matt and Joshua sitting in the back.
Weeds grew from cracks in the narrow road and the hedges and verges on either side were severely overgrown, partially blocking the vehicle’s headlights.
They soon reached the village, where the roads narrowed even further, and they were met with what used to be a quaint English country village with the odd thatched roof in view and row upon row of cottages sitting right next to the road with no pavement in sight. There were no lights shining from the buildings and the vehicle’s headlights showed that many were in a state of disrepair, from flaking paint to broken windows and water damage. It was like driving through a ghost town.
They continued straight through the village and took Lottage Road, heading towards the M4, relying on Jess to give them a heads up if any Laakuu craft happened to be in the area, but they were fairly confident that they were on their own.
The moon appeared from behind some clouds and lit up fields upon fields of nothingness on either side of the road. After three kilometres, they came to a ‘T’ junction and Jason swung a left, heading to a hamlet made up of a dozen houses called Foxhill, a further two kilometres away.
After just two hundred metres they approached the short tunnel they had seen on the map which went under the M4, and their headlights picked up a blockage across the road. Jason applied the brakes, wondering what was going on as Andy pulled out his pistol and wound down his side window.
“What the Hell is this?” Jason said as he brought the vehicle to a stop.
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it,” Andy replied. “Jess? Any ideas?”
Jess closed her eyes and sent mental probes ahead of her, searching on the other side of the blockage.
“People…twelve of them…armed…six adults…four older kids and two younger ones. I’m picking up fear. They’re hiding, preparing to fight.”
“We come in peace!” Andy instinctively shouted out of his window, regretting his words as soon as they had left his mouth. Such a ludicrously clichéd statement in the circumstances, one which would never be believed! Well, he wouldn’t believe them if someone had said them to him. He could hear Joshua sniggering in the back and was momentarily tempted to turn around and give him a slap.
There was a few seconds of silence before a muffled response came from the blockage.
“Who are you and what do you want?”
“We’re friendly,” Andy shouted back, closing his eyes and regretting his choice of words once again. He mentally slapped himself to think before he spoke. “We just want to get through the tunnel.”
“Does this remind you of ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’? Joshua remarked sarcastically, “and they’re the trolls.”
“Shut up, Joshua!” Jason barked, just before Andy could respond. “Save your shit for another time.”
Joshua was sitting right behind Jason and just stuck his tongue out, then saw that Matt and Jess were staring at him in disgust and quickly withdrew it.
“Get out of the car with your hands in the air,” the voice ordered. “I’ve got a gun and I’m not afraid to use it.”
Andy thought his words had been bad, but here was some other guy who had obviously watched too many movies in the past. He looked to Jason, wondering whether they should do as they were asked or pull out their own weapons. Before he could say anything, Jess was out of the vehicle and had slammed the door behind her.
“Stay,” Jess ordered.
“Jess! No!” Jason shouted, as Andy made to open his door to grab her.
He found that his hand wouldn’t reach for the handle as he wanted, but instead found himself pressing the button to put the window back up. Jason tried to open his own door and found that his arm wouldn’t obey his instruction.
>
“I think Jess is stopping us,” Andy stated the obvious as they watched Jess walk to the front of the vehicle.
“How the fuck are we supposed to protect her?” Jason hissed, clearly annoyed.
“We’ve gotta trust she knows what she’s doing,” Andy replied, worrying what the Harry’s would do if any harm came to her.
Jess walked forward, lit by the vehicle’s headlights, looking from side to side and noticing two shotguns sticking out of gaps and pointing in her direction.
“Don’t come any closer!” a man ordered, and Jess stopped, still five metres from the blockade.
She now saw that the blockade was in fact a mishmash of separate tarpaulins stretched from one side of the tunnel to the other and appeared to be held in place by metal frames, a little like the ones you used to see on market stalls.
“We’re not here to harm you,” Jess explained. “We just need to get through this tunnel.”
“Why? Where are you going?” the man asked.
“We’re on a mission, and time is running out,” Jess explained.
“What mission? the man asked. “We’ve been taken over by aliens if you hadn’t noticed and a girl like you shouldn’t be wandering around the countryside if you know what’s good for you.”
Jess knew that she could force these people to get out of their way, but she didn’t want to go down that route, and she didn’t have time to go through lengthy explanations.
“We’ll go around,” Jess replied, turning to go back to the SUV.
“Wait!” the man said. “Have you got any food?”
Jess paused and looked back.
“Not here, but if you let us through, we’ll take you to safety and food when we come back.”
Jess could hear some talking behind the tarpaulin and sent out a probe to listen in. She was usually a very trusting person, but these days she needed to be extremely careful.
As she listened to the conversation, she picked up four contributors, three men and a woman. She could tell that although they were extremely wary of her and her colleagues, at the same time there was an underlying need for human bonding and a glimmer of hope that they might have found other people to improve their miserable existence.
“You promise to help?” the man’s voice came again, once the conversation was over, and Jess could feel the need behind the question.
“You have my word,” Jess confirmed, turning back to face the blockade.
A section was pulled back and a woman came forward, stopping a couple of metres in front of Jess, the shotguns still trained in her direction.
Jess could feel the hope coming off the woman in waves and she smiled encouragingly.
“You have nothing to be afraid of,” Jess reinforced the message. “We’re on the same side.”
The woman smiled tentatively back, clearly praying that what Jess was saying was true and not some trick. Jess’s heart went out to the woman and in that instant, she saw the hardship the woman and her group had suffered.
“You will be safe with us,” Jess said, “but we have to move quickly, or we’ll be too late.”
The woman watched Jess carefully and finally decided to take the chance that what she was saying was true.
“We will let you past,” the woman said in an Irish accent, and turned to shout the order.
“Thank you. If we’re not back by daybreak, take the road to Aldbourne. Then take Stock Lane towards Marlborough. We have friends that way who will be able to help you.”
The woman nodded as the tarpaulin and frame were pulled to one side, allowing enough of a gap for the SUV to pass through.
Jess turned and indicated to Jason that he should drive forward and turned back to the woman, who was now staring at her.
“Who are ye?” the woman asked.
“Jess.”
“I’m Rosy.”
“Pleased to meet you Rosy,” Jess said, and they shook hands.
The SUV came up alongside and Jess quickly said ‘goodbye’ before running around the vehicle and jumping back in.
“Let’s go,” she ordered. “Quickly! We’re running out of time.”
Jason floored the accelerator and the SUV sped through the tunnel, whipping the tarpaulin about in its wake.
“That was a fucking stupid thing to do,” he said, over his shoulder.
“Never in doubt,” Jess replied.
47
Jason hammered the SUV along the straight road leading to Foxhill, avoiding potholes as best he could, but unable to avoid the bumps. On a couple of occasions, all five occupants of the vehicle would have smashed their heads against the roof of the vehicle if they hadn’t been wearing safety belts.
At Foxhill, Jason took a right and slowed, not sure exactly where he was heading.
“Turn right here,” Jess said from the back seat.
Jason took the turn, leaving the road and joining a single-lane dirt track heading deep into the countryside. He sped up as fast as he dared, knowing they couldn’t have too far to go, but equally knowing that time was of the essence.
Jess had her eyes closed, seeing the track in her mind’s eye as they wound their way uphill, passing a dilapidated barn and a copse of trees as they went. After a kilometre of bouncing and skidding on the loose surface she opened her eyes.
“Turn right,” she ordered.
Jason did as he was told and continued along yet another track which dissected more fields.
“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” he asked, beginning to wonder if they’d taken a wrong turn and were heading to the arse end of nowhere.
“I’m sure. Not much farther,” Jess replied.
A couple of minutes later Jason saw the outline of a hulking great building at the extremities of his headlights and as he drew closer, he could see that it was the massive hangar-like barn which they’d identified from the maps. He slowed as he approached the building.
“This is the target barn. Pull over next to the other barn,” Jess instructed.
Jason saw a smaller barn a short distance away and sped over to it and around the corner before skidding to a stop. The headlights lit up a whitewashed farmhouse a little further along the track, but the key point was that the SUV was now hidden from the target barn. He was about to check if this was OK, but Jess had already opened her door and had climbed out. Jason grabbed his pistol, undid his seatbelt and followed, edging around to the back of the SUV and opening the cavernous boot space.
As everyone gathered at the rear of the SUV, Jess walked off a few paces and looked all around. They were in a slightly elevated position and she could see fields flowing away into the distance under the moonlight. She walked a few metres to the side of the barn and smiled as she saw the open space behind the target barn and the wooded area a little beyond that. Just as it showed on the map.
“Get the gear and let’s go.”
“She’s getting bossier by the minute,” Joshua complained.
“Shut the fuck up and do as your told,” Andy hissed, hefting a large black bag out of the vehicle.
The others followed suit and soon they were ready to move out. While Andy entered the target barn, the rest all trooped off across the open space in the direction of the trees.
“Remind me why we’re heading for the trees?” Matt asked, as he walked alongside Jason.
“In case our little experiment goes pear shaped,” Jason replied. “The trees should give us cover to hide and run.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“It is what it is.”
“How confident are you?” Matt asked.
“Totally. If it doesn’t work, then we’re all fucked anyway.”
“Great.”
They walked along in silence until they were just inside the treeline. The bags were placed on the ground and the contents emptied and readied.
“Make yourselves as comfortable as possible,” Jason ordered as he settled onto a tree stump.
“I’m not sitting on the ground,” J
oshua grumped, “you don’t know what bugs and shit might be around here.”
“Then stand,” Jason retorted.
Matt pulled out the radio transceiver and turned it on as he had been shown earlier. It was already dialled into the right frequency so all he had to do was hit the transmit button and speak.
“The party is ready to start. I repeat, the party is ready to start,” Matt said.
“Roger. Keep us posted. Good luck,” came the crackled response from Hannah.
“Now what?” Joshua asked.
“We wait,” Jess replied, eyes closed yet still scanning the sky.
48
They had selected the farm because it was remote, but more importantly because it was situated along the direct line from London to Cardiff and roughly halfway between the two cities.
After ten minutes, Andy had returned from the target barn and Joshua was beginning to get fed up and was stomping around huffing and puffing.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked, for about the hundredth time since they had arrived.
“For fuck’s sake,” Andy hissed. “Why don’t you just sit down and shut up?”
“There’s no seat,” Joshua whined.
“Well, it’s not a five-star hotel is it? Why don’t you go to the farmhouse and make us a drink? You’re no use to us here,” Andy suggested.
He was getting seriously pissed off with Joshua and it had been brewing since they left The Manor.
“I’m not going down there on my own…” Joshua started.
“Hush!” Jess ordered, and everyone looked up in anticipation.
“Is it coming?” Jason almost whispered.
“Yes. I can feel it,” Jess confirmed, as she closed her eyes. “Get ready.”
The regular Laakuu shuttle from London to Cardiff was heading towards them.
When searching the skies for Laakuu craft back at The Manor, Jess had felt this particular craft on numerous occasions over a period of months. It flew at the same time every day, and always the same route. It had only missed a couple of journeys over the past month and on these occasions, it had been replaced by another shuttle. Jess guessed that even spacecraft needed repairing from time to time.