2021

by Martin Wiseman

  ‘You know sometimes when you just instinctively ‘know’ when something is right?’ replied Tom as he continued walking fast.

  ‘Not really, but carry on’ Alec replied as he just shook his head.

  ‘Well this is it’ answered Tom.

  When he finally came across some large army tents he then began asking for Professor Keys.

  Eventually someone pointed to the right tent and Tom immediately headed straight for it.

  ‘I hope you know what you are doing, Tom, I don’t fancy ending up inside a Mexican jail’ uttered Alec looking worried as Tom just laughed at him.

  ‘We have potentially millions of indestructible aliens on the rampage and all you can worry about is ending up in a Mexican jail?’

  ‘Well, I’ve heard some bad things about them’ replied Alec as he shivered at the very thought of it.

  ‘Back at General Iram’s makeshift headquarters it was his time to inspect the progress on the building of the huge wall defences and the deployment of the guns mounted up on them. So followed by a host of military men he came marching on through to board an army Jeep.

  There were literally hundreds of thousands of men and women now working on the giant defences that in turn were to be manned by now over a million army personnel once completed.

  Military men and women had been flown in from over a hundred and sixty different countries from all over the world, all determined to make a stand against the Migrators and finally stop their advance.

  Upon arriving at the Western defence side General Iram rubbed his chin in thought as he considered what Tom had suggested.

  ‘Hmmm, have some more guns put on the Western wall will you and some more beyond it to pick off any Migrators that might breech it. In fact, do that all along the line if you can’ he suggested.

  ‘Yes, Sir’ his sergeant replied as he quickly saluted him before he ran off to pass on his orders.

  Alec and Tom had finally made it to the tent shared by Stuart, Joan, Jenny, Jack and now also Andre.

  Tom now poked his head through the tent flaps and just peaked inside.

  ‘Professor Keys?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes, who’s asking?’ asked Stuart as he came out to meet him.

  ‘My name is Tom and this is my friend Alec’ Tom smiled as he shook the Professor’s hand.

  ‘Oh yes, I have this!’ smiled Tom as he suddenly remembered the note he had obtained from General Iram.

  Stuart gave them both a quizzical look before he then gazed down to read the piece of headed notepaper General Iram had given Tom.

  ‘This is an order from General Iram for us to do anything you ask. Is this some kind of joke on false notepaper or something?’ queried Stuart as he looked at them both suspiciously.

  ‘It’s no joke’ Tom assured him.

  Just then, Joan appeared and Stuart immediately handed her the note.

  ‘Is this for real do you think?’ asked Stuart as Joan now read through it.

  ‘This is asking us to do anything you request?’ she puzzled.

  ‘Yes’ replied Tom ‘well, not anything exactly’ he smiled. ‘I need to somehow reach the centre of the Migrators and the General told me you have some kind of transport that would allow me to do that? Something that I presume, must work even in the dead zone?’ queried Tom.

  ‘You know about the dead zone?’ puzzled Stuart.

  ‘Well, yes’ replied Tom cautiously ‘I thought everyone knew about the dead zone by now?’ he smiled.

  ‘Yes, they probably do’ nodded Joan as she held out her hand. ‘I’m Professor Mellows by the way, but you can call me Joan’ she smiled as she shook Tom’s hand.

  ‘Oh, I’m Tom and this is my good friend Alec’ Tom smiled as he introduced Alec to her.

  ‘And I’m Jenny!’ she smiled as she poked her head out from an inner section of the large army tent.

  ‘Oh yes, she’s my daughter’ added Stuart, with a smile.

  ‘He’s Stuart by the way’ giggled Jenny ‘you’ll have to forgive him he has no social skills’ she smiled.

  ‘Well, what do you expect, he’s a scientist, they’re not very good with social graces are they’ Joan joked.

  ‘Are you a scientist too?’ smiled Jenny as she directed her question directly towards Alec.

  Alec now looked quite embarrassed as he began to blush bright red.

  ‘Oh, no, I’m…no, I’m nothing like that’ he finally stammered out a reply.

  ‘And I’m Jack by the way and this is our new friend, Andre’ smiled Jack as the two men suddenly appeared from the two back sections of the tent.

  ‘Andre’s French, but don’t let that put you off’ joked Jack as Andre just smiled at him and shook his head.

  ‘I understand you are looking for some transport, Monsieur?’ queried Andre.

  ‘Yes, to get to the very centre of the Migrators’ explained Tom.

  ‘Why?’ queried Joan looking at Tom suspiciously.

  ‘I don’t know why anyone would want to go anywhere near these monsters, let alone get to their very midst?’ puzzled Jack.

  ‘I think we need to know more if we are to risk our very lives taking you there, Monsieur’ added Andre.

  ‘He has a direct order from General Iram’ explained Stuart, handing the letter to Jack and Andre to read.

  ‘What, print if off on the internet did you?’ asked Jack looking at Tom with a sceptical eye.

  ‘No, I’m not that clever’ smiled Tom.

  ‘Yeah, I can vouch for that!’ laughed Alec.

  ‘Thanks a lot, mate’ commented Tom sarcastically.

  ‘You’re welcome’ smiled Alec.

  Tom now looked a little pained.

  ‘To be honest it’s really hard for me to explain any of this’ he shrugged.

  ‘Let’s all sit down and have a cup of tea and discuss it’ suggested Stuart with a smile.

  ‘Ah, the Englishman’s answer to everything’ chuckled Andre ‘the world could be crumbling down all around him and what does an Englishman do? He makes himself a cup of tea!’ Andre smiled and everyone laughed.

  Truth was though it was very difficult for Tom to explain what he was doing there, as he was still trying to come to terms with it himself.

  ‘I don’t know how to explain all this’ uttered Tom truthfully ‘I just know I need to reach the very centre of the Migrators and then just stand there on the ground amongst them’ he explained.

  ‘But you’ll get killed!’ uttered Jenny looking very concerned as Tom just shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘You’re not going to do that as well are you?’ she asked Alec.

  ‘Not bloody likely!’ he replied firmly.

  Then he just looked over at Tom before he tried to explain for him.

  ‘Tom believes that every time he prays for something it comes true, he’s been able to do it for as long as I’ve known him’ explained Alec.

  ‘And how long have you known him, just out of curiosity?’ asked Joan.

  ‘All my life!’ smiled Alec.

  ‘So let me get this straight, the future of mankind relies on you saying a prayer?’ puzzled Stuart as he now just stared at Tom.

  ‘Join the club then’ chuckled Jack ‘almost everyone in the world is just praying for some help right now.’

  ‘I realise that, but I’m somehow different’ answered Tom truthfully.

  ‘You’re different?’ responded Joan sceptically. ‘So you’re expecting us to simply drop you off in the middle of these monsters so you can say a prayer? No way!’ she uttered.

  ‘Order from General Iram or not, I ain’t doing it’ Jack told Tom firmly.

  ‘It would just be suicide, Monsieur’ agreed Andre, shaking his head in disapproval.

  Just then though, something happened to Tom and he became quite excited.

  ‘EVERYONE JUST HOLD HANDS!’ he suddenly shouted.


  ‘Christ, Tom! You nearly scared me half to death suddenly shouting out like that, what do think you were doing?’ complained Alec.

  Tom though, just grabbed his hand and Stuart’s next to him.

  ‘Form a circle!’ he ordered as they all at first just shrugged their shoulders.

  ‘Oh brother what’s going on now?’ groaned Joan.

  ‘What? Are we having a séance now?’ commented Jack ‘all right I’m up for a laugh’ he added as he grabbed hold of Stuart’s hand. ‘No squeezing too tight’ he joked as Stuart just shook his head at him and then laughed.

  Jenny immediately chose to sit next to Alec and she just smiled away at him as she quickly grabbed hold of his hand and then Andre just shrugged his shoulders and sat next to her and held her other hand.

  ‘Oh what the hell’ shrugged Joan as she finally sat down and completed the circle.

  The moment all their hands were connected they simply all ‘knew’ exactly why Tom was there.

  ‘How the hell did you do that?’ uttered Stuart as he immediately broke free ‘Christ! It was like an instant download right into my head!’

  ‘What the hell happened?’ queried Jack ‘wow, this is awesome technology! If this is some sort of secret, experimental communication system our government is working on, then it’s truly amazing!’

  ‘That was incredible!’ smiled Joan ‘I know your name, where you come from in England and exactly why you’re here. You’re here to reach the very centre of the Migrators, but why?’ she puzzled.

  ‘Even I don’t really know that yet’ Tom shook his head ‘I just know I have to get there that’s all and it’s vitally important’ he shrugged.

  Alec meanwhile, was quite taken with Jenny and he just sat there still holding onto her hand.

  ‘I think you can let go of my hand now’ she giggled as Alec suddenly looked embarrassed as he finally released his grip.

  ‘But how exactly does this work?’ puzzled Stuart ‘it’s fascinating’ he enthused.

  ‘To be honest, I don’t even know that myself yet’ shrugged Tom.

  ‘Maybe they feel this technology could influence the Migrators somehow?’ pondered Jack.

  ‘Who exactly do you work for? Is it for British Intelligence?’ queried Jack.

  ‘No, it’s nothing like that, I don’t work for anyone’ shrugged Tom.

  ‘You don’t want to tell us, Monsieur, we understand, you are not allowed to say’ nodded Andre.

  ‘I’m still not sure about this’ shrugged Stuart ‘even with this experimental ‘mind control’ or ‘hypnotism’ thing your may have going on, just the same I don’t fancy us dropping you off in the middle of the Migrators.’

  ‘No, neither do I’ agreed Joan.

  ‘But you know that you must!’ insisted Tom.

  Jack looked worried now as unusually for him he just sat there in silence.

  ‘What’s wrong, Jack?’ asked Joan.

  ‘No, I was just thinking, that soon we might want to grab any opportunity we can against these things, however unlikely it may seem’ then he looked up. ‘You all know as well as I do our defences won’t hold the Migrators for very long. Let’s face it, we’ll do well to last until nightfall. We won’t be able to see a thing then. So unless they stop at night, we’ll be done for then’ he commented sincerely.

  ‘I know’ nodded Stuart ‘and the moment they start flying we’ll be in even bigger trouble everywhere then, as nowhere in the world will then be safe from them.’

  ‘Flying?’ queried Alec ‘I didn’t realise the Migrators could fly?’

  ‘Not yet, Monsieur, but soon’ nodded Andre as he looked quite worried.

  ‘Christ! Then we really are done for!’ uttered Alec just saying out aloud what they were really all thinking.

  ‘You should see them, Alec, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life’ uttered Jack as he described the Migrator’s relentless advance. ‘They cover entire buildings and blacken or redden the entire ground. There are simply millions of them out there now. I seriously wonder how any defences can stop the advance of these things, especially when you realise how virtually indestructible their bodies are.’

  ‘But can’t our armies just nuke them or fire our rockets at them?’ queried Alec.

  ‘They’ve tried everything, Alec’ explained Stuart. ‘The Migrators can turn off our electricity and even make lighting a fire impossible. No generators work, no battery run devices work, we can’t even light a fire or a candle to see anything at night, absolutely nothing works around these things’ explained Stuart ‘and we’ve tried every kind of weapon you could imagine against them, guns, nuclear missiles, conventional missiles, germ warfare to insecticides. Simply nothing works against the Migrators. They are virtually indestructible!’

  ‘These creatures are simply designed for warfare’ nodded Andre ‘whereas we aren’t.’

  ‘We even wondered if certain metals may block whatever it is they use to neutralise our electricity. We hoped we may be able to encase our electrical devices in a certain metal casings that may make them work, but nothing we’ve tried works yet’ explained Joan.

  ‘That’s why we’re restricted to old technology like basically firing super sharp spears at them’ explained Stuart.

  ‘NASA recently designed an air pressure engine that powers both our weapons and my transport’ explained Jack.

  ‘And what is your transport?’ puzzled Tom.

  ‘Oh yes, you don’t know do you?’ smiled Jack ‘it’s a blimp!’

  ‘What’s that?’ Tom puzzled.

  ‘He means an airship’ smiled Stuart ‘you’ll have to excuse him, he’s speaking American’ he laughed.

  ‘Both me and Andre pilot it’ Jack smiled.

  ‘I wondered how you could fly something over the Migrators’ smiled Tom, but then he appeared more serious ‘but there’s no time to loose, we must leave immediately.’

  ‘Hold your horses!’ smiled Stuart ‘we can’t leave today its beginning to get dark.’

  ‘So? You can fly in the dark surely?’ puzzled Tom.

  ‘Yes, but we can’t see where we are going because the Migrators stop us from lighting up any lights’ he explained.

  ‘Not to mention somehow blocking out any light from the night sky over the dead zone’ added Joan.

  ‘They can block out the night sky?’ queried Tom.

  ‘Yes’ nodded Andre ‘so you see, we can’t see anything at all at night.’

  ‘In the pitch dark, the airship could just sail into the ground and that would end your mission a bit quickly wouldn’t it’ added Jack as he looked at Tom curiously.

  ‘We’ll leave at first light tomorrow if that’s all right with you?’ suggested Stuart.

  Tom went to speak, but then he paused for a moment as he gazed out into the distance.

  ‘Do you speak to General Iram at all?’ he then asked.

  ‘Yes, I speak to him quite often’ explained Stuart ‘why?’

  ‘Because he needs to know the Migrators are planning to attack our wall defences just before dawn tomorrow. They will extend the dead zone area this evening, but will withhold letting you know that fact in an attempt to fool you into thinking that the hidden barrier still exists so as to keep our people prisoners there’ Tom informed them.

  ‘But why would they do that?’ puzzled Jack.

  ‘Because they know the moment your lights go out you will know they are coming. I think it takes them time to extend their hidden barrier, that’s why we need to get our trapped people out somehow before dawn’ explained Tom.

  ‘Are you telling me the invisible barrier is no longer there?’ puzzled Stuart.

  ‘Yes!’ smiled Tom.

  ‘Are you absolutely sure about this, Tom, as we don’t want to tell people it’s safe only for them to end up being disintegrated?’ queried Stuart.

  ‘No, it’s
safe, but we will need to hurry to get all the people through, before the Migrators attack us just before dawn tomorrow’ emphasised Tom urgently.

  ‘Christ! Then we need to get this message out and passed all along the line immediately’ announced Stuart as he jumped up and ran off to tell one of the Captains in charge.

  Then he paused for moment.

  ‘That’s why we could all see the people trapped inside’ he suddenly realised ‘it’s because the invisible barrier is no longer there! Oh, what an idiot! I should have realised this before, it’s so obvious’ uttered Stuart as he now ran up to the defence wall.

  ‘TELL ALL THE TRAPPED PEOPLE THE INVISIBLE BARRIER IS NO LONGER WORKING!’ Stuart now shouted.

  Immediately, the soldiers began shouting to the people to come forwards, but they were all too afraid to move.

  ‘TELL THEM TO THROW SOMETHING AT THE MIGRATOR’S WALL IF THEY DON’T BELIEVE US!’ Stuart shouted.

  Soon after, a few of the trapped people threw bits of wood at the spot where the invisible barrier was and they all became excited as nothing at all happened!

  Seconds later, it was a veritable stampede as people all rushed towards the defence walls as the soldiers all opened up gaps for them to climb through!

  A message was soon passed to General Iram who immediately called for every vehicle possible to be driven through to pick people up and bring them through just as quickly as possible.

  ‘No troops are to leave the defence walls!’ he ordered as many soldiers then ran back to their posts.

  General Iram had ordered a special observation post to be built where he could use a loud hailer and he now manned this himself as he gave out the orders.

  ‘We need every available volunteer to drive any truck, van, anything we can lay our hands on, but we must get the people trapped in the dead zone through before the lights suddenly go out!’ he announced urgently. ‘Pass this message all the way down the line!’ he ordered.

  In a mass movement of people that must have resembled something from the Bible’s ‘Exodus’ over a million people were rapidly moved through gaps in the defence wall to the relative safety on the other side. In a stroke of extra good luck, General O’Dowd’s horses that had all bolted upon the onset of battle also came through. So many people were able to hitch a ride on horseback to further speed up the process.