Nibiru Returns

by Tod Eten

  Chapter 7 - Revelations

  It was Sunday morning and Aiden woke up feeling better than he had any right to, for some reason the worries about losing his job Vanessa and even the events at the demonstration seemed to be distant memories. Instead it just felt good to be alive! Aiden decided that he would pay a visit to the cinema followed by a good meal in China town. Then he would make the most of another glorious day. Aiden turned on the TV but as he had expected there was no reception just interference, but even this did not spoil his mood . He slipped on a light jacket and set off towards Leicester Square. Aiden his mind blissfully blank drank in the spring sunshine as he walked through the streets. Even London seemed quieter that morning as if the whole city had decided to chill out and put its feet up. When Aiden got to Leicester Square he headed for the Odeon Cinema and started scanning the list of films that were showing. He ignored all the kids films as well as the romantic ones and narrowed his search down to two films, a new SciFi and a comedy film. In the end he picked the SciFi film which was due to start in another forty five minutes. Aiden decided to go get a drink or an ice cream to pass the time and was walking away from Cinema when he heard the deafening roar of an aircraft engine. Looking up he was stunned to see a passenger plane pass by close over rooftops above. That was flying low was Aiden's first thought as the plane was lost to view behind some buildings and it didn’t sound very good either almost if the plane’s engines were screaming in pain. Just then there was the loudest explosion Aiden had ever heard and the ground beneath his feet shook. Aiden took a moment to collect himself then looking up towards where the plane had so recently gone he watched as a great ball of fire rose up through the air.

  Without stopping to think Aiden began running towards the source of the fire ball his heart hammering in his chest, it can’t be he kept thinking to himself. People in shops and bars were now spilling out on the pavement each person looking around trying to work out what had happened and seeing now a column of black smoke in the sky they all pointed at it in confusion. Aiden ran through the streets heading towards the river which was the direction the column of black smoke lay in. He could now hear the noise of sirens first one then two, soon there seemed to be sirens coming from every direction. Breathing hard he turned down a small street which opened out onto the Victoria Embankment, the road that ran beside the river Thames. Aiden could see that all the cars were at a standstill on the main road, the drivers and their passengers standing beside their vehicles their car doors open looking out across the river. Aiden ran between the cars and on crossing the road he too could now see the smoke and flames that were rising on the far bank of the Thames. On reaching the other side of the road he made straight for the wall that separated the pavement from the river where he could get a clear view of what had happened. The scene that met his eyes was like something straight out of a disaster movie. The plane as he had feared really had crashed. It looked like it must have first struck Waterloo Bridge, which was a few hundred yards down river from where he was standing. After hitting the bridge the plane had continued on to smash into the National Theatre on the far bank of the Thames which was now engulfed in flames. The bridge although still standing had great gouges and rents in it from the impact of the plane and along its length cars and busses stood abandoned. The National Theatre had the remains of the plane’s tail sticking out from it, flames licking all about its base as thick black smoke rose from devastated building creating a mile high marker in the still clear blue sky. As Aiden watched there was a second explosion, not nearly as large as the first one but still loud enough to make him jump. The explosion came from inside of the fatally wounded building. The sirens of the emergency services soon drowned out any further explosions as Aiden stood transfixed still not quite believing the sight before his eyes. More people now joined Aiden beside the wall all asking the same question, what had happened! But Aiden didn’t say anything for the large tail of the passenger plane protruding out of the burning building would have given enough answer. The growing crowd remained there watching in silence as the emergency services now did their best to contain the fires and help the injured.

  ‘My god its true’ cried a balding middle aged man with glasses who had pushed his way up beside Aiden. ‘They said on the news, but I did not believe it! Oh those poor people, all those people’

  ‘They are already reporting this on the news that's quick!’ someone else said as Aiden turned to look at the man.

  ‘You don’t understand it's not just this one its all of them!’ the man cried out.

  ‘All of them?’ another person asked.

  ‘Not just this’ the man said pointing across the river, ‘all of them, it’s all of them!’ the man said holding his head in his hands.

  ‘What do you mean all of them?’ Aiden now asked.

  ‘All of them!’ the man pointed again at the scene across the river. ‘All the planes, they are saying that all the planes have crashed, all the planes everywhere, they say they don’t know how many people have been killed.’

  There was a gasp from all those that heard what he said.

  ‘What news said this?’ another person demanded.

  ‘The BBC I think’ the man replied.

  ‘But there is no signal how can you get a signal?’ another person asked.

  ‘We have cable’ the man replied simply.

  ‘Where?’ Aiden asked quickly.

  ‘Over there on the other side of the street the Piano Bar’ the man pointed.

  Aiden did not need telling twice he made his way through the growing crowd closely followed by a few others and headed over to the bar the man had indicated. The Piano bar was a small long and narrow bar with lots of polished chrome surfaces and mirrors. There was a TV that was hung on the wall at end of the bar around which a small group of people were gathered. As the man had said the TV was showing the BBC news and the picture was perfect.

  ‘Yes thank you Justin, our apologies for the poor line there, we are still having some trouble with our communications’ the news reader, a blonde haired woman said. ‘That was Justin King reporting from the United States where there have been unconfirmed reports of aircraft crashing throughout the country. We have also been receiving similar unconfirmed reports from around the world of planes simply falling out of the sky as they have across Brittan. Let me now pass you back over to our scientific correspondent Dr Andrew Brown.’ The image of a bespectacled grey haired man in a tweed jacket came on the screen.

  ‘Good morning Dr Brown, what more can you tell us about what is going on?’ the news reader asked.

  ‘Well if the reports are correct and these aircraft have all fallen out of the sky at the same time then this for me points to some sort of common cause that has affected all these aircraft.’ Dr Brown answered,

  ‘What would you believe this cause could be?’ the news reader pressed.

  ‘Well it could be any number of things, it may be that a specific part on all of these aircraft has simply failed or that there has been some kind of atmospheric condition that has caused this.’ Dr Brown replied.

  ‘Could the same part malfunction on all these planes at the same time?’ The news reader asked dubiously.

  ‘Well I must say that this would seem highly improbable. It would be far more likely that you would see one or two instances of a part failing first. Not for all of them to fail at the exactly same time as you say.’ Dr Brown said pursing his lips.

  ‘Surely if this was the cause for these aircraft crashing then the planes would all have to be of the same age and make doctor?’ The news reader asked.

  ‘Yes that is also correct if we find that all these aircraft are all of the same age and make then this might point to a specific technical malfunction’ The Doctor nodded.

  ‘But if they are not all the same age or make! Because it seems from the unconfirmed reports in so far that there have been many different types of aircraft involved in this incident, our understanding is that Boeings and Airbus that ha
ve crashed’ The news reader countered.

  ‘Yes well if that were the case then it would, as I think is more probable, be some sort of global atmospheric anomaly that has affected these aircraft’ Dr Brown nodded.

  ‘Atmospheric anomaly Doctor, what exactly does that mean?’

  ‘Well the Earth has been experiencing a lot of interference as a result of the solar flares it could be that this interference may have caused these planes to crash. You see modern planes are now run mostly by computers and if this and the electronics fail. Well then the plane will simply drop out of the sky. Dr Brown said.

  ‘So Dr Brown are you saying that this catastrophe could be a direct result of the sun’s solar flares!’ the news reader shot back.

  ‘Based on what I have heard this would make the most sense yes’ Dr Brown nodded again.

  ‘Do you think the authorities should have put better safe guards in place to have prevented this from happening. Especially given that we have known about solar flares interfering with our communications for some time now?’

  ‘Yes I would say that they should have done this’ the Doctor nodded.

  ‘Thank you Dr Brown’ the news reader said her image once more appearing on the screen. ‘Now we have Richard Mayhew the transport minister, good afternoon Mr Mayhew can you tell us what is happening?’

  The image on the screen changed to a fat almost bald headed man who looked to be in his mid to late sixties with a triple chin and a red sweaty face.

  ‘Yes good afternoon Sally’ the minister replied out of breath.

  'Good afternoon minister can you tell our audience what is going on?'

  ‘Yes Sally, it seems that some aircraft in Brittan and around the world have suffered catastrophic systems failures causing them to crash’ the minister puffed red faced.

  ‘You say some aircraft minister are you saying not all the planes have crashed?’ the news reader asked.

  ‘That is correct Sally from the information we have a number of planes that were taking off managed to land again safely, as well planes that were coming into land when this er.. event happened. Also smaller light aircraft seem to have been unaffected’ the minister wheezed.

  ‘You mentioned event minister, so are you confirming that these planes fell out of the sky at the same time?’

  ‘Well yes it does look as if this all happened at the same time Sally’ the minister nodded.

  ‘Minister you say the light aircraft were not affected do you know why this is?’

  ‘We are unsure at this stage as to the reasons why I am afraid’ the minister replied.

  ‘And minister what help will you be giving for those who are injured and for those who are worried about loved ones?’

  ‘Well Sally we have declared a state of emergency. All our hospitals are on high alert, all leave has been cancelled and staff have been called back to deal with casualties. We have also mobilised the army to assist with the emergency services and we are setting up emergency centres to deal with the situation’ the minister puffed.

  ‘Thank you minister I can confirm that we now have a helpline phone number for any viewers worried about a loved ones. The number is now at the bottom of the screen’ the news reader continued. ‘Minister how many aircraft do you believe have crashed during this event as you call it?’

  Someone had obviously had had enough of the overweight minster for the channel was turned over to another American news channel.

  ‘What I am saying is that there is no way that this is being caused by solar flares our records show that that solar activity peaked over a week ago and is now back to normal’ said someone called Professor Newton Baldwin whose name was in a box below his image.

  ‘So if there is no interference coming from our sun what is causing all this?’ a deep resonant male voice asked the professor.

  ‘I didn’t say that there was no interference, there is lots of interference but it comes from another source not the sun.’ The Professor said excitedly.

  ‘And what is the source of this interference Professor?’

  ‘It comes from the same place as your previous guest mentioned’ the Professor said waving his hand about.

  ‘Are you saying that you agree with previous guest when he says that there is a new planet heading towards us’

  Aiden's heart missed a beat.

  ‘Well I am no astronomer so I can’t answer that, but I can tell you that that is the region in space where all this interference is coming from and it is getting stronger!’ the Professor acknowledged.

  ‘So you are standing by your assertion that this interference is somehow affecting our modern technology Professor?’

  ‘Of course I am those planes that crashed are highly technical pieces of equipment and this interference would have caused all their systems to fail’ the Professor nodded.

  ‘And if as you say this interference is getting stronger then what should we all expect?’

  ‘If this affect keeps getting stronger all our modern technology will cease to function, we will be sent back to the stone age’ the Professor stated.

  ‘Thank you Professor’ now the image of a brown haired male news reader appeared on screen. ‘Now let’s go straight back to Nick Ashworth. Mr Ashworth it looks like the Professor seems to be corroborating your story about this strange new planet! Have you detected any strange type of energy being emitted by this planet?’

  The picture changed to a rather dishevelled looking bespectacled man in a brown jumper who had a round chubby face surrounded by an unruly mass of curly black hair.

  ‘Well no we have only looked at it using optical telescopes but I am sure radio telescopes will confirm if that is the case.’ he answered hurriedly.

  ‘So as you told us before you discovered this planet, that was two days ago is that correct?’ the news reader asked.

  ‘Yes nearly two days ago now’ the man agreed.

  ‘Can you tell me why no government agencies have seen this planet of yours?’ the news reader demanded.

  ‘I have no idea' the man replied honestly.

  ‘We have joining us at short notice Senator Wiseman who sits on the Science and Ethics committee' the newscaster interrupted. The screen was split in two halves with Nick Ashworth in one half and a grey suited elderly man with immaculately groomed grey hair and steel rimmed glasses in the other.

  ‘Senator Wiseman thanks for joining us. Can you tell the viewers if there is any truth in what our previous two guests have been saying. Have these fatal plane crashes been due to some sort of interference that is coming from this newly discovered planet?’

  ‘Good morning Richard, what I would like to say first’ the Senator said in a deep southern drawl, ‘is that we should all remain calm at this deeply disturbing time and that we should send our prayers to those that have been affected by this awful tragedy’

  ‘Yes Senator but is there any truth in what our previous guests have said?’ the news reader persisted.

  ‘Well Dave we are doing everything in our power to verify the causes of what has happened and let me assure your viewers that we will leave no stone unturned to identify what has happened’ the Senator intoned.

  ‘So you are unaware of any causes that may have made these planes to fall from the sky! Is that right Senator’ the male newscaster dug.

  ‘Now hold on Dave I did not say that! We are looking at a number of possible causes for what has happened.’

  ‘And would interference be one of the possible causes?’ the newscaster interrupted him.

  ‘Well..‘ the Senator hesitated, ‘well yes it is one of the avenues that we are investigating.'

  ‘So it is possible that this interference is the cause of all this’ The newscaster pressed.

  ‘Well as I said we are looking at a number of options but yes there is that possibility’ the Senator agreed.

  ‘And is this interference getting stronger as Professor Baldwin has suggested, would that be correct?’

  ‘I am afraid I d
o not have the answer to that Dave’ the Senator shook his head.

  ‘But if this interference is getting stronger will it, as the Professor says, stop all our modern technology from working?’

  ‘Now Dave I think that really is a little bit over the top!’ the Senator said with a chuckle. ‘As I said we are using all our resources to identify the cause of this and to finding a solution. I think talk of a breakdown of technology and such is a bit too much and that this is now a time for cool heads to prevail. Let us not start jumping to any panicked conclusions!’

  ‘OK senator but what about this planet that Nick Ashworth has discovered, can you verify if this actually exists?’

  ‘Well I don’t rightly know if you can call it a planet as such’ the Senator stalled.

  ‘Then there is something up there Senator’ The news reader pounced.

  ‘Yes we have identified a cosmic body but it is more than likely a comet or asteroid which will pass harmlessly between Mars and Jupiter’ the Senator drawled with a smile.

  ‘That is no comet or asteroid it is far too big we estimate its size as being nearly ten times that of Earth!’ Nick Ashworth interrupted.

  Aiden’s head was whirling. What was it that Aya had said, that there would be a new planet! Well she had been correct about that and what about the rest of the stuff she said, the breakdown of society and disasters. Well all the planes falling out of the sky was a pretty big disaster and what about what happened at the march. It is happening just like she had said it would he realised. Aiden his mind suddenly made up took out his mobile and dialled the number on the card Aya had given him, but to his annoyance the mobile network he was using was down.

  ‘Do you have a payphone’ Aiden shouted urgently to a girl behind the bar who pointed over to the far corner of the room. Aiden following her directions found the payphone and once more dialled Aya’s number which this time thankfully started ringing. On the fourth ring someone picked up the phone.