Wake-up Call: 2035

by Robert J. Traydon

  The President made his way towards the Supercopter’s automated cabin door which was now fully open. He entered the Hind’s luxurious confines, followed by one of the Secret Service officers who pressed a button to close the cabin door behind them. A second later the Supercopter floated back into the air, turned and banked forward aggressively towards Merrinov.

  Inside the quiet cabin, the television was already switched on showing an array of news channels. The President selected the Soviet News Channel, which was now airing live footage from America where it was currently daytime. He muttered a Russian profanity of disbelief when he saw that New York was one of the cities being enclosed by a hemisphere.

  The broadcast picture then split into six sections showing live feeds from different cities around the world – Chicago, Manaus, Barcelona, Accra, Kolkata, and Melbourne. All showed similar scenes of gigantic hemispheres enveloping cities. Of great concern to the President was the fact that these strange phenomena still did not have any valid, or even theoretical explanation.

  12:03 p.m. Earth: Jameson Country Manor

  Sally and Harold Jameson could not take their eyes off their television. On CNN, the hemisphere’s expansion had begun to slow down, and eventually stopped once the entire greater metropolitan area of New York City had been enclosed within its interior. The giant hemisphere was now estimated to be over 50 kilometres across. Just three and a half minutes had passed from the time of the hemisphere’s inception, to the time it had reached its assumed full size.

  Sally Jameson checked the landline and then her mobile phone. Both connections were down. Even their broadband internet connection was offline. She looked at her husband and shook her head confirming as such. The remediation was for real and this was only just the start. Fortunately, the satellite phone network remained unaffected at this stage.

  Jameson made a quick call using the sat-phone, and confirmed to her husband that their loved ones were all still safe in Canada. She then dialled Serena Harpon to see how she was doing. The phone rang nine times … then, much to Jameson’s relief, she heard Serena’s familiar voice on the other end of the line.

  “Serena here,” she said in a slightly shaky tone as she answered the call.

  “Serena! It’s Sally. You’re watching aren’t you?”

  “I am, Madam President. What a relief to hear from you. I must admit that I’m very afraid – this must be the remediation we were warned about!”

  “Yes, I agree with you. These things are utterly terrifying. I don’t want to contemplate what they are, or what must be going on inside them,” said Jameson.

  The news anchor came back on screen and reiterated that the expanding hemisphere in New York was not a unique occurrence – other cities around the world were being similarly affected*.

  [* Other affected cities shown on CNN included: Phoenix, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Houston in North America, and Mexico City in Central America; Bogota, Sao Paolo, Caracas, Lima and Mendoza in South America; Naples, Barcelona, Milan, Stuttgart, and London in Europe; Delhi, Dhaka, Karachi, Ho Chi Minh City and Manila in Asia; Lagos, Johannesburg, Mombasa, Alexandria and Kinshasa in Africa; and Melbourne, Perth, Auckland, Makassar and Jakarta in Australasia.]

  This was a global phenomenon.

  Serena Harpon was quick to point out that, at this stage, there had been no mention of any Chinese cities. They were notable in their absence. Other people might have argued that no footage was being shown of any Chinese cities due to them being censored by their media before reaching the outside world. This was however not the case and the two of them knew it.

  The anchor then stated that the hemispheres were emanating from the strange metallic spheres that had created the vapour trails, and settled over many different parts of the world – predominantly urban centres.

  He went on to explain that no communication could be established with the CNN studio in New York, or anyone presumed to be within the confines of the hemisphere. It was as though everything contained therein had been completely cut off from the outside world.

  Serena felt conflicting emotions while watching her television and speaking to the former President. On the one hand, after her spectacular fall from grace in the wake of the summit, she was feeling vindicated by the events. On the other hand, her heart wrenched for all those people who were likely to become casualties of the remediation. She knew thousands of people, many of whom were good friends, living in the cities that were being enclosed.

  She and Jameson spoke for a short time thereafter before ending the call.

  The former President needed some fresh air, so she asked for her husband to open the lounge’s bay windows. She considered just how widespread the remediation appeared to be and wondered how the world would cope in the aftermath. She knew that she had had a critical role to play in the lead up to the event she was witnessing now, and the same question kept running through her mind … could she have changed anything?

  Were the Galacians correct in believing that the vast majority of human beings were incapable of moderating their lifestyles? Were humans truly unable to adopt large-scale change, stabilisation and sustainability? A deep sadness overcame her, as she was powerless to do anything other than be a spectator to the unfolding crisis.

  Jameson then refocused her full attention on the remediation event itself. She flicked through the news channels and noticed that only four of the usual top 10 international news networks were still broadcasting. These included: CNN, CNBA (Canada News Broadcasting Agency), RT (Russia Today), and CCTV-5 (China Central Television’s English News Channel 5). All were broadcasting similarly extraordinary images and footage from different parts of the world. She and her husband were both amazed to see what the hemisphere’s looked like at night.

  They returned to the CNN channel, which now showed a bold headline emblazoning … ‘EARTH UNDER ATTACK?’

  Jameson was grappling with the colossal scale of the remediation. Devastation across the globe was no longer a fictitious threat; it had now become a reality. The action of last resort had finally been taken by the Supreme Beings. It was a tragedy that this measure of remedial intervention was needed to avoid environmental collapse. Even more tragic was that humankind could not be reasonably persuaded to follow a sustainable course.

  She wondered what the world would be like after this catastrophic event. How would people cope and come to terms with the loss of almost everything they knew and loved? She thought of all the people that were trapped inside the hemispheres and what they must be going through. It was too awful to contemplate.

  12:04 p.m. Earth: India – Kerala, Alleppey

  On the other side of the world the former Prime Minister of India was watching similar images being broadcast on the ‘India Now’ news channel. He was equally shocked by what he saw especially since he knew that it had to be the remediation. This was a scene of terror like no other ever witnessed before by humanity.

  The news presenters debated what the origin of these extraordinary growing hemispherical shapes could be, and speculated on what might be happening inside them. It was night time in India and the hemispheres were glowing with a blueish hue.

  It was reported that the hemispheres were engulfing numerous large cities across India. One by one the video links from within the cities were lost as the growing hemispheres enveloped their sources. The news networks were being forced to switch over to other live feeds that were still available, but their options were dwindling fast.

  Eventually there were only three live feeds left: one of Mumbai, a fair distance away from the still-expanding exterior surface of its hemisphere; another of Delhi, within seconds of being consumed; and the third of a much smaller hemisphere that had surrounded India’s biggest coal-fired power plant in Madhya Pradesh.

  In Mumbai, the hemisphere’s rapid expansion began to slow until it attained what appeared to be its definitive size – over 100 kilometres across. It sat there threateningly, like a gargantuan shiny marble half submerged in the E
arth’s surface.

  12:05 p.m. Earth: New York City

  Within two minutes of the hemisphere in New York reaching its full size, an immensely powerful shockwave emanated from its centre and propagated rapidly through its interior, right up to its edge. Nine equally powerful shockwaves followed at 30 second intervals … unleashing wave after wave of terror and destruction.

  The initial expansion wave appeared to have little affect other than to establish the hemisphere’s outer extent and prevent communication from within. But the 10 shockwaves that followed had significant effects.

  The first shockwave neutralised the city’s power grid, causing a complete blackout. Office lighting, air conditioning, traffic lights, escalators, lifts, underground trains – everything connected to the grid went offline.

  The second immobilised all fuel-powered equipment including emergency generators which had started up, almost all types of vehicles and most other kinds of active machinery. Even helicopters and aircraft that were caught within the hemisphere and flying around in circles, slowed to a stop in mid-air and remained stationary at altitude by some unknown means.

  The third was an electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) of some kind, which shut down all the remaining computer systems, electrical systems, vehicles and other equipment that were still running on battery backup or renewable energy supplies.

  The fourth shockwave was the most devastating of all, as it appeared to vaporise every living creature contained within the hemisphere’s interior. As it passed over fleeing people, they disappeared – as did all the animals and vegetation. People, who could be seen massing along the hemisphere’s edge and hammering on its inside surface in a futile attempt to escape, literally vanished from sight as they were hit by the shockwave.

  The fifth unleashed comprehensive destruction by obliterating the entire enclosed portion of New York City. The scene bore a stark resemblance to those documented in nuclear tests that had been conducted by the United States in the 1960s when they were developing thermo-nuclear weapons. This shockwave in the hemisphere could be seen ripping through buildings, bridges, and whatever other structures stood in its path – literally blasting them into billions of tiny pieces. Nothing remained.

  The six shockwaves that followed were visible but obscured by a dense concentration of debris being hurled around as if in the throes of a violent hurricane. After the tenth shockwave, nothing was visible but a swirling brown and grey dust that had filled the hemisphere. It had taken just five minutes from the first shockwave to the last, to completely incapacitate and destroy the city … and its occupants.

  12:05 p.m. Earth: Soviet Airspace

  Two minutes after take-off, the Hind Supercopter had undergone its transition to cruise-mode and was accelerating towards Merrinov. Within the next three minutes it would be at a 20 000 metre altitude, travelling at a shade over Mach-2. Inside its cosy interior, the Soviet President remained transfixed by the footage being broadcast on the Soviet News Channel. At that very moment, he was watching a live airborne night feed of the hemisphere which now surrounded the brightly lit megacity of Mumbai.

  Unexpectedly, a bright blue shockwave expanded from the centre of the hemisphere through its interior. As it did so, almost all the lights across the city went dark. After two more shockwaves, there were no lights left whatsoever. Although the city was shrouded in darkness, it was still vaguely discernible from the eerie blue glow being produced by the hemisphere’s exterior surface. But two shockwaves later, it appeared as though the entire city had been wiped out and was no more.

  Five further shockwaves followed at equal intervals and by the time they were finished, there was nothing left but a dull, greyish-blue churning mass within. It was impossible to guess what was going on inside them but President Rivensky assumed the worst. The world was under attack by an unidentified foe, and the hemispheres were some kind of radical new weapon.

  The President scratched his chin with a clenched fist. The timing of this event was very worrying to him. He was vaguely aware that it had been three years since the Ultimatum had been handed over to humankind by the supposed Supreme Beings, but he had given it scant regard. He had bought into the global scepticism, denial and ridicule that had brought the whole encounter saga into disrepute. This had caused many nations, including his, to largely ignore or even forget the threat.

  A welling up of dread flooded through the President’s veins. Planet Earth was potentially under attack from the extra-terrestrial beings which he had, for three full years, shrugged off as nothing more than a fallacy. It could only be them … these hemispherical weapons were advanced far beyond anything human technology was capable of.

  If it was the case that the Supreme Beings really did exist and the Ultimatum was genuine, then both his nation and the whole world was in for a self-inflicted disaster of unfathomable proportion.

  This now explained the reason why various nations around the world had been mobilising their defence forces. He immediately recognised that most were predominantly compliant nations that had obviously been preparing for this potential attack. The correlation was clear – everything was falling into place for him now, and it scared him to the core.

  He quickly checked his mobile phone to see whether he had any new messages. He was aware of numerous unread messages in his Intra-Globe Treaty forum account, going back months. He had overlooked them all, as he had long since lost interest in the treaty. He was taken aback to see that the latest message’s subject line stated: ‘Imminent Threat to Earth’. The message had been received just over an hour earlier and contained an urgent notification from the Chinese President himself.

  It read that remediation by the Supreme Beings was imminent and that the whole world should brace itself for whatever was to follow. All nations should prepare for the remediation as best they could, and focus on evacuating areas where non-compliance with the Ultimatum was prevalent as per the latest GCMA report. It then gave a brief summary of the Principals’ second encounter with the Supreme Beings.

  The Soviet President sat back in his seat, dejected. If only he had read this message earlier, he could have taken pre-emptive action against the incoming threat. He was just grateful that his nation’s defence force had been placed on alert, hours before. His precaution had fortuitously paid off.

  Rivensky was staring blankly at his mobile phone, when it rang in his hand. He answered it straight away, which was a first in his long presidency.

  “Yes!” he said with an unexpected urgency.

  “Comrade President, General Drashenko here. I need to inform you that we have, so far, identified 124 of these hemispheres on Soviet soil.”

  The President’s skin tingled as his immediate fears were slowly being realised. He expected the very worst, and envisaged these hemispheres devouring his beloved Russian cities and their irreplaceable historical heritage. Also of concern was the great Russian industrial heartland of the Urals.

  “Where are they located, General?” he asked reluctantly after a noticeable pause.

  The General replied, “Comrade President, at this stage none of our cities appear to have been affected. Our two major cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg are definitely confirmed to be in the clear.”

  The President let out a big sigh of relief and was able to settle down slightly. In his opinion there were cities and towns that he considered expendable, but that certainly did not include these two cities. The Soviet President wondered whether fate was the primary reason his cities had been spared. He thought back to the estimated three million people that had died eighteen months earlier from a lethal strain of influenza. It now occurred to the President that this epidemic had unintentionally, yet conveniently, reduced his nation’s population to within whatever the Ultimatum target was.

  The General continued, “So far, 41 of our fossil fuelled power plants, 26 different industrial centres, 11 open cast mines, 10 aluminium smelters and 19 of our operational oil refineries have been surrounded by hemispheres. The ot
her 17 are located across the countryside, predominantly over cultivated land. I must warn you though, that there may be more of them. We will only know once our continental satellite surveillance scan is complete, which should be within the next 10 minutes. We will give you a full briefing once you have arrived at Merrinov.”

  The Soviet President spoke, “Thank you, General. Please ready all of our retaliatory nuclear strike options, including the one where the threat is from space. We might need them once we establish who is responsible for this attack.”

  The General replied without hinting at his surprise, “Yes, Comrade President. Right away.”

  The President continued, “General, I am expected to land in the next 35 minutes, weather permitting. We will discuss an appropriate course of action then.”

  He hung up relieved that Moscow and St Petersburg were safe, but also angry at the events that were unfolding. He considered what he would have done had the Soviet Union lost its two iconic cities. It would have been disastrous for both the nation’s morale and its ability to be governed. He shook his head in relief and said a prayer of thanks to God for the very first time since he was a young child.

  Rivensky then lifted his window shutter to take a look out into the night sky, but did a double take at what he saw. In the distance he could make out the faint, glowing blue exteriors of at least 20 hemispheres of varying sizes. This was the first time he had seen them first-hand, and they looked like nothing he had ever seen before. Some were absolutely massive, even higher than the altitude he was flying at. The President stared at them in a state of incomprehension – these hemispheres were as fearsome as they were formidable.