Normality was returning but with subtle differences; many welcomed the advent of the chip technology feeling safe in the knowledge that they were genuine specimens of humanity, others felt that it was a step too far. It mattered not; it was inevitable due to the newly increased level of alien activity which had now spread from cyber attacks and sabotage to out and out terrorism.
The first bomb to be detonated in the UK was in Cheshire. The Hill Vale power station complex was targeted. Television reports that 16 people lost their lives and two million homes were without power for a couple of days. The next, a research laboratory in Cambridge. A further 3 dead including a leading chemist in his field. Needless to say, the public's perception of the clear and present alien threat changed radically and suddenly the feeling of general safety they had taken for granted was all but snuffed out. Many wondered why such an imposing and powerful threat would stoop to such small scale tactical warfare. Why did the aliens not eradicate the human infestation with nuclear weapons or photon laser beams? The tension on the streets was now palpable and the distrust in their fellow man was evident also.
Joshua had worked hard collating the views of the community and had compiled several A4 folders of statements which offered an insight to the feelings of the man or woman on the street. They did not really uncover any clear evidence to either support or devalue the government's actions; it seemed the lack of networking had limited the public's knowledge to only what they had been told on the television although some were very forthright in their opinions. It never ceased to amaze Joshua how much the average Joe would conform to the accepted truth. If he had gained one useful piece of knowledge in his studies it was that in general, the public had faith in their government and supported their actions.
Joshua had not come any closer to discovering the whereabouts of Sarah or the others who did not make the Censure. The government sector of the City of London was out of bounds and highly protected. Long gone were the days when you could walk down Whitehall or stand at the gates of the Houses of Parliament. Trafalgar Square had become a military base of sorts and was as far as you were ever going to get to the people in the know. Joshua had tried to talk to some of the soldiers who rigidly guarded the area but those who took the time and maybe the risk of talking were very much in the dark too. If anything, they appeared even more scared than the general population. Not knowing who their enemy was or how to recognise them even if they were standing in front of their face made them incredibly edgy and Joshua could feel their apprehension every time someone approached.
Joshua peered out of his window waiting for the removal van. He was fortunate to have found a company who had resumed a normal service although he was paying way over the odds for the pleasure. Prices of any service had risen steeply, fuel costs alone were enough to make travel prohibitive for many but for Joshua, the only place where he could be at that moment was in London and he had pretty much emptied his account in order to move so soon after the crisis had begun.
There was a sudden and startling noise and Joshua's quiet contemplation was rudely interrupted by none other than his telephone. It was a noise he had not heard for many a day and the emptiness of the room served only to make its beckoning chime more impactive. Joshua picked up the handset, more than intrigued who would be calling him on the number which was very soon to be discontinued.
“Hello?” The reported said with more than a hint of intrigue in his voice. There was a pause, a barely perceptible hiss and some crackles, it was a terrible line.
“Hello?” Joshua once again said this time louder.
“Hello, can you tell me who this is?” The reply was unorthodox to be sure, generally people have some idea who they wish to speak to. Joshua played it cagily, anything out of the ordinary was to be distrusted at this point in time.
“Well, if you tell me who you are then I’ll tell you who I am.” Joshua replied with a hint of playful belligerence. There was a protracted silence.
“Look, I don't have time for games, can you please tell me who this number belongs to?”
Joshua was rather taken aback with the tone of the callers voice. It was an American accent, or perhaps Canadian.
“You look, I'm not about to reveal who I am until you reveal who you are. After all, you called me remember?” Joshua stuck to his guns.
“I know that, but I...I can't tell you who I am until you tell me who you are?”
The conversation was getting farcical and Joshua shook his head with mild frustration.
“I can tell you're British, this is a British dialling code.”
“Yes, you worked that one out.” Joshua was obviously receiving an overseas call which explained the very poor line. The silence resumed, the caller refusing to budge.
“OK, mystery man, my name is Joshua.” Joshua gave little away.
“Thank you Joshua, now tell me your surname.”
“This really is getting ridiculous. There's enough going on in this world at the moment that would make me want to hang up right now so you have very little time to make me want to reconsider hanging up on you.”
Another silence ensued.
“Joshua, I'm calling you because your line was on a list of recently dialled numbers...it's very important that you tell me your full name and what you do before I can carry on with this conversation.”
Joshua was more than intrigued and despite his best intentions to remain steadfast, he did not see why it would hurt to play the game.
“OK...this all seems highly irregular and normally I wouldn’t reveal personal details over the phone to a complete stranger who sounds like someone from a Hitchcock movie but...my names Joshua Regan and I’m a journalist.”
Another silence ensued and Joshua wondered if this was a wind up.
“Thank you for being honest with me Joshua. Please understand that I want to be more honest with you but under the circumstances I cannot. I want to know what circumstances took place in order for a you to receive a phone call from Florida, USA on November second this year?”
Joshua furrowed his brow.
“Florida? I have relations there, my half sister and her family.”
“What is her name?”
This was all getting rather creepy and Joshua was starting to feel his stomach tighten.
“Listen mate, this isn’t funny, if some things happened to Jill I want to know about it right now!”
There was yet another painful silence, longer than the others.
“Can I can confirm that Jill Niemechek is your half sister?”
“Yes. What's happened for God's sake?”
“I cannot tell you...I must be very brief, they are monitoring phone calls and have very little time.”
Joshua's heart began to race, there were sinister overtones that he did not like but he had the forethought to start jotting notes down on his pad next to the telephone base.
“OK, go on.”
“You received a phone call on the second, tell me what it was about?”
“Err...it was Paul, Jill's husband which was I guess a little unusual in itself as we don't really talk a lot, maybe the odd internet chat and Christmas card...”
“Go on...”
“Well, I could tell he was a bit stressed, he works for NASA, he's a clever guy. He made some small talk and then made a big thing about sending me a Christmas present this year which like I said is kind of unusual. You see, I don't know Jill very well, she moved to the States when we were barely out of school, I've only ever met Paul once and that was at least ten years ago when I went on a holiday to Florida with my ex...”
The caller interrupted Joshua in full flow, his voice agitated.
“OK, thanks Joshua, your being a great help to me but I tell you what I need you to do. I need to know what Paul sent you?”
“Err...nothing. I never got anything.”
“Aww, come on man, this is important!”
“No, really, I haven’t received any international post. I mean I guess it
's conceivable that it was in the mail when the shit hit the fan and it's still in some sorting office somewhere?”
“Joshua, are you listening to me because what I’m about to tell you is important. Go to the mail office and find the parcel. Don't go to work, don't take a bath and don't stop to chat to your neighbour, go to the mail office right now and find that parcel. I'll call you at the same time tomorrow on this number. I can't tell you how important it is that you find that fucking parcel. The life of your sister depends on it and my life also. This is not some kind of a joke or prank call, go now and find the parcel.”
The line went dead and the familiar beeps that indicated that the call had ended rang out from the phone handset which was shaking in Joshua's hand. At that precise moment, a large shadow was cast over Joshua's living room and the red sun was blotted out by a large square box van pulling up outside. Joshua ran his fingers through his dark hair, his head shook from side to side as he tried to calculate his next actions. Pacing out to the hall way, he had already began to speak as he opened the door to the bulky figure which stood ready to knock on his front door.
“Jesus, I'm so sorry guys, something really important has come up and I'm going to have to...” Joshua stopped in his tracks when he realised the van was not the large green removal truck he had ordered but the bright red hue of Royal Mail vehicle.
“Oh, err...sorry about this but obviously post has been delayed and it's taken us a couple of weeks to sort this lot out.” The postman clutched a handful of parcels and letters bound by thick red elastic bands. Joshua carefully took the load, his hands visibly shaking causing the driver to look at him suspiciously.
“Thanks.” Joshua said breathing in and out deeply.
“Yeah, no bother.” The postman said as he turned away raising his eyebrows.
Joshua slowly walked back into his living room and snapped the feeble elastic band with his impatient fingers. Letters including the usual advertising detritus fell to the carpet revealing one larger parcel of note as the familiar Airmail sticker was seen to be stuck to its face. Joshua sat in the centre of his empty room and studied the exterior of the flat, rectangular package, took a gulp of air then carefully began to tear the brown paper.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Joshua had slept poorly that night. Not only was his bed in pieces waiting for the removal van the day before, but the anxiety of waiting for the phone to once again ring was playing on his mind. After unwrapping the parcel, he had tried to call back the number of the unknown caller but it rang unanswered. More disturbingly, when Joshua consulted his Filofax, he realised that the number was in fact Jill's land-line from her home in Orlando. The ambiguous nature of the package was a mystery in itself and Joshua spent many hours studying it in great detail, wondering what possible meaning it had.
Half past ten came and went, the caller was late. Joshua hoped that this was not some crazy wind up but how could it be? The caller was far to sincere and sinister to have been false. Joshua just hoped that nothing untoward had happened to him as it was clear that he was in some peril by the urgency displayed in his voice. When the shattering of the silence came, Joshua picked up the handset before the end of the first ring. He almost dropped the shiny plastic phone as the adrenaline coursed through his veins.
“Hello?”
Joshua's voice was wobbly and he cough after his greeting trying to compose himself.
“Hello Joshua, did you retrieve the parcel?”
The callers voice was smooth and calm which helped Joshua a little.
“Yes. Yes, I did, I have it here.”
“That's real good Joshua, thank you. Now, tell me what it is.”
“OK. Well, it's a book, some old poetry book by Shelley. It's pretty ancient, the cover is falling to pieces, I think it must have been printed in the fifties looking at the state of it.”
Joshua thumbed through the thin volume which he had studied carefully and read cover to cover the night before.
“A book, that's interesting. Anything else?”
The American seemed underwhelmed with the discovery.
“No, nothing else in the package, not even a note to go with it. I've been taking a look at the book and there are some things which are kind of unusual.”
“Go on.”
“Well first of all, I'm not really into poetry. Novels yes, a bit of classic literature but poetry? No. So I guess it's kind of odd that Paul should send me something like this. Secondly, there are paragraphs that have been underlined in pencil.”
“That's more interesting, can you read them out to me?”
“Look, before we do this, can you let me know what's going on yet? I don't know who you are and it's really disturbing that you know Jill and are calling me from her house?”
“Joshua, I'm not calling from her house and no, I cannot tell you what is going on yet. You're a journalist right? What do you do? Sports? Local newspaper?”
“No, I’m an investigative journalist working for one of the top Fleet Street dailies.”
“Really? That's doubly interesting. Seems to me someone in trouble might call on you for help at some point, you're obviously a guy in a position of influence?”
“I guess so, maybe not so much now, the government have complete control over what we publish right now.”
“OK, well I guess that's to be expected. Now, Joshua, if you don't mind, let's get back to the quotations highlighted in the text.”
“OK. I don't see the relevance, if they are some kind of a message then it's pretty cryptic.”
“Thank you, now if you don't mind read the first passage.”
Joshua could tell the caller was getting a little cranky and so he opened the page which had its corner turned over to mark the place and began to read in his best Queen's English.
“By such dread words from Earth to Heaven, my still realm was never riven, when its wound was closed, there stood darkness o'er the day like blood.”
Joshua felt pretty daft reading the lines, it was as if he were back at school once again reading in front of the class. A silence greeted the prose and the caller could almost be heard to be scribbling down the lines as he recalled them.
“OK Joshua, well read. Now, is there another one?”
Joshua chuckled at the callers dry sense of humour as he flicked to the next section.
“Suddenly fierce confusion fell from heaven among them. There was strife, deceit, and fear. Tyrants rushed in, and did divide the spoils.
This was the shadow of the truth I saw.”
Again there was a period of quiet and Joshua could hear the caller cough hoarsely, he did not sound in the best of health.
“Do you have any idea what it means?” Joshua asked with optimism.
“I mean I’ve been going over and over the words in my head all night. 'Darkness over the day, like blood'. That's pretty current wouldn’t you say? The second paragraph talks about 'fear and confusion from the heavens, deceit and fear. Tyrants rushing in to divide the spoils' etcetera, all very profound stuff!”
The phone line was quiet, it was almost as if Joshua could hear the caller thinking things over in his head. Since Joshua was not in possession of the facts, he could only guess what relevance this had to anything.
“OK Joshua. That's brilliant work. It's starting to make some kind of sense to me but like you said it's kind of cryptic for Paul. It's not his usual style although he was a clever bastard.”
Joshua was also clever and quickly picked up on the callers use of the past tense.
“What do you mean, 'was'? Is Paul alright?”
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