Sally Jameson squinted as she watched the television. “What on Earth are those? There are so many of them!”
Her husband, who was a full time physics lecturer at Howard University, knew exactly what they were.
“They’re vapour trails … but their simultaneous worldwide distribution is very odd,” he said.
“What could possibly create them?” she asked.
He explained, “Vapour trails are caused by meteoroids entering the Earth’s atmosphere at enormous speed. Smaller meteoroids burn up at high altitude, due to the frictional heat that is generated as they race through the air – we see them at night as ‘shooting stars’. But larger meteoroids and asteroids can penetrate much further through the atmosphere, sometimes even reaching the Earth’s surface as meteorites. Their high speed causes a ‘ram pressure’ and intense heat, which literally squeezes water vapour out of the air, creating long, cloud-like trails – very much like the ones we’re seeing now.”
Another amateur live feed from a mobile phone was now being broadcast on CNN. This one was looking directly upwards at the descending vapour trail, with New York’s Empire State Building clearly in view to one side of the frame. As the trail approached, people could be heard screaming in terror in the background. The live feed moved to show the chaos around the intersection. The person filming cursed in fear as he lost his nerve, and then began running. The feed shook violently with intermittent views of the growing vapour trail above and the surrounding turmoil.
The feed was cut as the broadcast returned to the CNN news studio. The news anchor looked stunned by the distressing footage and was momentarily dumbfounded.
Former President Jameson’s blood began to run cold as she stared at the television. She leaned forwards and whispered to herself, “It’s started …”
“What was that?” her husband asked. But his question had fallen on deaf ears.
The CNN producers were no doubt scrambling to find an expert in astronomy who could explain what was happening. In the meantime, the anchor tried to talk through the perturbing situation as calmly as possible.
But the former President already knew what was happening – her worst nightmare was materialising right before her eyes. She was certain that these vapour trails marked the beginning of the Supreme Beings’ remediation.
11:58 a.m. Earth: United States – New York City
Pedestrians and drivers who happened to be next to the Empire State Building, at the intersection of 5th Avenue and East 34th Street in New York’s Lower Manhattan district, looked up above them in states of bewilderment and fear. High above, a daunting vapour trail was bearing down on them at treacherous speed.
Cars crashed into the back of one another as distracted drivers watched the sky in terror. People in the streets began screaming and running for cover. Those who couldn’t get away in time, ducked at the last moment convinced that they would be hit by whatever was creating the strange trail … but the object slowed and stopped just before striking the intersection. There was momentary silence as everyone looked up and saw a strange mirror-like sphere that had mysteriously arrived from above. People pointed up at it wondering what it was, and called others to come and look.
It was mid-sized, about 10 metres across and levitated ominously in the air 50 metres above them, somehow defying gravity. The sphere’s perfect, silver surface shimmered with scorching heat – the intensity of which could be felt from the road.
On hearing the commotion outside, people swarmed out of shops and adjacent buildings to see the strange object. Some fought their way back indoors to take cover, while others turned hysterically and ran away from it. Many were scared of what it could be, or that it might fall to the ground at any moment. Most people stood dumfounded with terrified expressions on their faces. A few pulled out their mobile phones to capture the extraordinary event on video. The footage would surely score them popularity points on the numerous social networks they were subscribed to.
Traffic was at a standstill with thousands of onlookers inundating the streets. There was hooting and shouting. One distraught mother ran down the sidewalk with her baby in her arms screaming at people to run for their lives. It was a scene of chaos that only became worse as it started to dawn on people that this phenomenon might have something to do with former President Jameson’s crazy warnings about the Supreme Beings and their Ultimatum.
11:59 a.m. Observatory: Remediation
The terraspheres decelerated as they neared the Earth’s surface and then came to a total stop just 50 metres above their respective ground/sea levels. On the hologram of Earth, the spheres turned from green to yellow.
Sergeant Rayon spoke, “Final target positions attained and confirmed, Commander. We now await the final ‘Phase 3’ joint command from the Federal Alliance. This will initiate the terrasphere formation and subsequent irreversible remediation sequence.”
The glide screens in front of the Commander, the Empress and the other four Chancellors, lit up with the sentence: ‘Final Authorisation for Commencement of Remediation’. Just below it, a small green icon appeared with the word: ‘Execute’.
The six looked at one another, then the Empress spoke the words: “For the planet … and its abundant diversity of life.”
They all indicated their affirmation of the action that was about to be taken.
“On my count,” said the Commander. “Five, four, three, two, one … Execute!”
The six of them pressed their respective ‘Execute’ buttons simultaneously.
Their screens flashed in acknowledgement of having successfully received the command. There was absolute silence across the spacecraft’s bridge and in the Council Chamber. On the hologram, the spheres turned red.
The remediation was now irrevocably in motion.
11:59 a.m. Earth: Jameson Country Manor
Former President Jameson held her hands on her cheeks in dread of what might follow. She spoke, “This has to be the remediation we were warned about. It’s happening!”
Her husband could offer no other logical explanation – this was not a conventional meteor shower of any kind. “I think you may be right, Sally,” he said in a sullen tone.
Harold then stood quickly and hurried outside to scour the clear skies above. He returned a few seconds later and told his wife that although a few vapour trails were visible, they were a great distance away and should not affect them. Sally sighed in relief. They had made the right decision to stay in their country manor, which happened to be well within the boundary of one of Maine’s largest demarcated Human Activity Zones.
They held hands tightly in the full knowledge that so many human lives were at risk. Harold said a prayer of protection for their family and friends, and also for everyone else around the world.
Moments later the CNN anchor stopped midway through his sentence and said that they had just secured another video feed from New York. The network immediately switched over to a better quality video, streaming live from another onlooker’s mobile phone.
In the near distance it showed a mid-sized metallic sphere suspended above an intersection, with the Empire State Building rising up in the background. The surrounding city scene was being reflected off the object’s spherical surface, like a mirror. The video then zoomed out and showed swarming crowds of people, some running frantically and others looking up into the sky in awe. Above the sound of street level chaos, was a strange humming noise coming from the object – slowly increasing in pitch and intensity.
Suddenly, an iridescent flash of light was emitted from the sphere. A split second later the videoing source was enveloped by a visible expansion wave and static replaced the feed. The broadcast immediately switched to an alternate live video feed. Its origin was much further away, somewhere from an elevated point in New York’s suburban outskirts. The CNN anchor spoke in the background apologising for the momentary cut in transmission and assumed technical difficulty.
On screen, the Manhattan island city centre was
clearly shown in the distance. As the Jamesons watched, a rapidly expanding hemispherical silhouette started to rise up and above the Empire State building, and then over the city skyline … enveloping everything in its path. The anchor was struggling to find words to describe the startling footage being shown.
Corporate helicopters, most likely with CEOs on board, could be seen taking off from numerous building rooftops in an attempt to escape the approaching wall of the hemisphere. Some of the faster helicopters managed to outpace its expansion, but most were overtaken by it and trapped inside. Those that tried to fly through the hemisphere’s interior wall, collided into it and fell to the ground as burning wrecks.
It was devastating for the former President and her husband to watch.
12:00 p.m. Earth: USSR – Moscow
The President of the Soviet Union sat at his majestic desk in the Kremlin in Moscow. It was undeniably the most luxurious presidential office on the planet and he prided himself on that fact. The office was lavishly decorated with ornate Russian furniture, magnificent oil paintings and other priceless cultural ornaments dating back centuries.
It was nine o’clock in the evening and the Soviet President had just finished reading a high-level internal affairs report. He was dealing with a brewing domestic dispute over internal trade tariffs, which needed swift and decisive resolution. He was also receiving constant updates on the inexplicable defence force mobilisations of various nations around the world, including China, India, and within the last 15 minutes, the United States.
Rivensky had placed his own Armed Forces on ‘Medium Threat Status’ six hours before in response to intel regarding China’s readiness alert increase. It had only been done as a precautionary measure, but at this stage there was still no perceived threat. He would, however, continue to monitor the escalating situation very closely.
A television screen filled the wall adjacent to his desk. The volume had been muted and live feeds from four separate news channels divided the screen into quarters.
The President’s lower back was beginning to ache so he leaned deep into his chair and clasped his hands behind his head to stretch. He moved his head from side to side. As he did so his eyes swept past the screen and onto the roof’s magnificent fresco … and then straight back to the screen.
The top right news channel showed some extraordinary footage. An odd hemisphere-like shape could be seen sweeping through what appeared to be a night time vista of a large city. He scrunched his eyes to get a better view. It looked like a science-fiction film trailer, but deserved a closer look nonetheless.
Within seconds he had maximised the relevant channel to ‘full-screen display’ and un-muted the volume. His office was instantly filled with dramatic surround sound. It was the Soviet News Channel, and he saw straight away that it was a live news feed. He went pale in shock.
The growing hemisphere was slowly filling the night sky behind the reporter who was saying that the strange phenomenon had begun within a minute of the arrival of the unidentified spherical object. Scrolling script ran across the bottom of the screen below a thick green banner titled: ‘BREAKING NEWS’. The script read, ‘Mumbai’s falling fireball and glowing vapour trail* caused by spherical object of unknown origin’, and then, ‘Large hemispherical shape emanating from unidentified object’.
[* The technical term for a trail of glowing vapour is a ‘persistent train’. As a meteoroid rams through the air, gases are ionised, effectively stripping electrons from their parent atoms. As the parent atoms slowly regain their electrons, they emit light which traces the path of the meteoroid. This light is clearly visible at night.]
The Soviet President was completely stunned. How could this possibly be real life?
His eyes stayed glued to the television, while his mind tried to make sense of the astounding images. The hemisphere shimmered with a blueish hue as it continued to expand, rapidly approaching the reporter who was standing in the foreground, facing the camera. The reporter looked back and suddenly realised that he was in danger. The cameraman and reporter immediately abandoned their equipment and ran for their lives shouting out in fear. All that could be seen was the approaching blue wall. Moments later it hit the camera and static followed.
The news presenter reappeared with a horrified look on her face. Pandemonium could be heard in the background as panic engulfed the studio. She hesitated, but regained her composure and spoke, “Incredible images coming to us live from Mumbai, India. At this stage we cannot confirm what these strange hemispheres are but we will be getting expert opinion shortly.”
She then looked down at the screen in front of her and said, “Just in, we have another live video feed. This time, coming from India’s second biggest city, Delhi.”
The camera filming the scene was located some distance away from the city centre. The feed showed the dazzlingly lit megacity of Delhi being enveloped by another rapidly expanding hemisphere. It was immense and appeared to the Soviet President to be some kind of force field, rather than a nuclear detonation of sorts. Its relentless expansion continued toward the camera until it too was engulfed, terminating the video feed.
The Soviet President doubted the credibility of what he was seeing since they looked like cleverly created special effects. But if they were real, then the situation was extremely serious.
He reached out to grab his landline telephone but as he did so, it rang. He picked it up.
“Yes!” he said gruffly.
“Comrade President, General Drashenko here – calling you on behalf of Defence Minister Kurosnovich.”
“Go ahead, General,” said the Soviet President.
“Comrade President, I’m phoning in connection with the alarming events that are currently unfolding across India and other nations, including America.”
The President responded, “I am aware of them, General. What do we know at this stage?”
The General replied, “Not enough, Comrade President … as this whole situation started just a few minutes ago with the emergence of strange vapour trails in the atmosphere. But it is safe to assume that whatever these things are, they present a grave danger. We have not ruled out a nuclear attack of some kind, but since this is a worldwide event, it is unlikely. The one thing I am able to confirm, however, is that none of these hemispheres have appeared over any Soviet cities up to this point.”
“That is good news, General. Make sure I am notified the moment any Soviet infrastructure comes under threat,” said the President.
“Understood, Comrade President.” The General paused for a brief moment and then continued, “Pending your approval, I strongly recommend that the alert state of our Soviet Armed Forces be raised to ‘Imminent Threat Status’, and that you yourself, together with the Defence Command and Intelligence Unit (DCI Unit), be immediately evacuated to the Merrinov War Operations and Command Centre.”
The President responded, “Before we go that far, General, have you independently verified whether the events we are seeing on television are true?”
“Comrade President, I received a phone call from our Soviet diplomat based in Mumbai informing me of the growing hemisphere. He watched it approaching him and described it up until the moment his line was cut. I have also received reports from four of our military outposts, confirming sightings of vapour trails and emerging hemispheres on Soviet soil. I am considering this to be sufficient verification for me to recommend the ‘Imminent Threat Status’ and evacuation,” said the General.
That was confirmation enough for the Soviet President. He spoke, “Recommendations approved, General. Proceed accordingly.”
General Drashenko was relieved. “Comrade President, please prepare for immediate air transfer to Merrinov. Most of the DCI officials are already here monitoring the Armed Forces’ mobilisations of the Chinese, Europeans and Americans – as per the ‘Medium Threat Status’ alert. The other officials will be arriving shortly.
He confirmed, “The full Defence Command and Intelligence Unit
will be assembled in the Merrinov War Coordination Room by the time of your arrival, which should be within the next hour.”
“Thank you, General,” said the President.
As the President put the phone down, he could already hear the drone of his Supercopter approaching the Kremlin offices. The high pitched whine immediately identified the machine as his ‘presidential-spec’ Hind Gen-1 Supercopter*.
[* The Supercopter – short for ‘Supersonicopter’ – was the Soviet Union’s latest addition to its multi-faceted Air Force. It was the result of a full decade of design and development that had combined both supersonic jet fighter and fast-attack helicopter technologies into one hybrid aircraft. This was followed by another five years of intensive testing and design refinement, until absolute perfection had been achieved.
The aircraft had two modes, ‘hover-mode’ and ‘cruise-mode’. Integrated wing rotors located in each of the main wings and tail wings, allowed for vertical take-off and landing as well as low speed flight; while ‘speed transition slats’ would cover the wing rotors once the aircraft exceeded an airspeed of 250 km/h. At this point its jet engines would ramp-up allowing the aircraft to reach an astonishing maximum airspeed of over Mach-2.
The Soviet Union had defied global sceptics who believed that what they were attempting to build was impossible. Now they were in possession of the most sophisticated and lethal flying machine in history.]
A knock on his door followed seconds later and he rose from his chair.
“Enter,” he shouted.
The door burst open and two Presidential Secret Service officers raced in to usher the President to the helicopter pad. They took the emergency evacuation elevator to the top floor, where they exited and climbed a short staircase to an exit door leading onto the roof. Once open, the President stepped out into the cool evening air. He did a 360-degree turn, looking in every direction to see if any of those strange hemisphere things were close by, but to his immediate relief there were none in sight. The Hind Supercopter suddenly swooped over the roof of the Kremlin’s Central Intelligence Hub. Rivensky watched it perform an impressive slowing manoeuvre before setting down precisely on the centre point of the roof’s landing pad.
Wake-up Call: 2035 Page 40