2021

  ‘But where have they all gone?’ he asked ‘there are not even any bodies out on the battlefield?’

  ‘Who cares, we’ve won that’s all I know, Sir’ smiled a corporal standing right behind him.

  ‘You’re right, young man’ smiled the General, looking very relieved.

  ‘VICTORY! EVERYONE! VICTORY!’ the General now shouted as everyone now shouted and cheered!

  The sound of cheering gradually spread all along the defence wall as the civilians all wondered what on Earth was going on.

  Then when the news reached them, the cheering and applauding became quite deafening as people began to hug each other and cheer and cry with relief that their ordeal was finally over!

  *

  Aboard the airship, they just kept staring downwards in disbelief.

  ‘But what exactly happened?’ asked Stuart as he gazed over the side to see the unbelievable sight of no Migrators anymore.

  ‘I can’t believe it! They’re all gone!’ uttered Jack as he, Andre and Stuart all began to smile and jump up and down in celebration!

  ‘There’s no sign of Tom though’ Alec sighed as he looked very sad.

  Instantly Stuart, Andre and Jack, halted their celebrations and instead looked all around the ground to try and find him.

  ‘I’m sorry, Alec, I think he must have died in that blast’ Stuart suggested sadly.

  ‘He did it though’ Alec stated proudly as he began to cry a little for the loss of his best friend.

  ‘Yes, he did it, Alec, I’ve no idea quite how, but he did it all right’ agreed Stuart as he then gave Alec a big hug.

  ‘He always said the one person he could never pray for was himself’ commented Alec sadly ‘he really was the Prayerman’ he uttered as Jenny cried as she just held him tightly.

  ‘One day you’ll have to explain just what all that means’ smiled Jack, as he just patted Alec on the shoulder.

  ‘I wonder’ smiled Joan as she picked up an electric torch that had shaken free and had fallen down from the airship’s control room.

  ‘IT ONLY WORKS!’ she then shouted as she smiled broadly as she flicked on the switch and then held in the air in triumph!

  ‘Gosh, I never thought I’d ever be celebrating something so simple as being able to turn on a torch!’ she smiled.

  Jack now smiled at Jenny.

  ‘See, Jenny I was right, I told you ‘even in the midst of the worst hell on Earth, you’ll still find something good. Tom definitely was that good’ he smiled.

  As Stuart now looked out again something suddenly struck him.

  ‘Oh gosh! Do you realise everyone that now nothing is left down there?’

  ‘Holy cow, you’re only right, Stuart’ pondered Jack as he now looked down himself ‘but there really is nothing left at all is there. Not only are the Migrators gone, but all the buildings, trees, everything in fact! Absolutely nothing remains at all.’

  ‘That’s quite staggering’ agreed Joan.

  ‘Still, we beat them’ uttered Andre ‘and that’s good enough for me’ he smiled.

  ‘I still don’t really understand how we beat them though?’ puzzled Joan.

  ‘I don’t think we’ll ever know that, Joan’ smiled Stuart as he put his arm around her.

  Alec himself looked deep in thought.

  ‘Do you think we will ever see Tom again? He said we would?’ he puzzled.

  ‘I wouldn’t be a bit surprised’ smiled Jack as he gave him a big hug.

  *

  As the news of the Migrator’s defeat quickly spread, spontaneous celebrations broke out all over the world, with people hugging each other and dancing in the streets!

  At the site of the International Defence Wall, General Iram cautiously led out a small team of troops through a gap they created in the wall, just to seek out any Migrators and check this wasn’t just some elaborate trap.

  He was quite staggered when his driver suddenly drove up in his Jeep!

  ‘Can I give you a lift, Sir!’ smiled the corporal.

  ‘What the hell? I thought all the electric was still cut off?’ queried the General.

  ‘Not anymore, General’ smiled the corporal ‘well, away from the bodies of any dead Migrators behind our lines that is’ he quickly explained.

  ‘Sergeant, assemble a small team of vehicles, anything we have left’ smiled the General ‘we’re gonna explore the rest of the dead zone and we’d better take some of the guns with us too, just in case’ he added cautiously.

  With that, the men all cheered him once more.

  Soon, some vehicles towing guns and ammunition behind them drove through the line. Then the General waved for them all to move off as the all the troops watching from the wall defences just cheered them!

  To the General’s total amazement though, nothing remained in the dead zone at all.

  In fact, it was a quite shocking sight to see, as now as they all travelled along in their small convoy of army vehicles they discovered that all that was left was sand.

  There were no trees, no buildings, but more importantly, no Migrators either, in a land that now seemed amazingly just a perfectly flat desert of a land.

  ‘It’s like everything has just been turned to dust!’ uttered the soldier as he drove the General’s Jeep.

  General Iram’s exploratory team just drove on and on, but there was no sign of anything.

  ‘This is just weird, General it’s like he whole place has been completely wiped off the face of the Earth’ commented his driver.

  ‘That it is, Corporal, that it is’ he agreed.

  Finally, after a long drive, they reached the Migrator’s huge black space vehicle and immediately all their vehicles suddenly stopped working.

  ‘Damn!’ uttered General Iram ‘I thought it was all too good to be true.’

  He then went to light his cigar, but no match would light either.

  All the vehicles engines had cut out around a hundred yards from the Migrator’s gigantic spaceship or ‘building’ as it was originally considered to be.

  ‘Go careful men!’ warned the General as he led his men by foot to the very entrance of the ship.

  ‘God, this thing is big!’ uttered the General’s driver in amazement as he studied the huge structure as they now all stood under its entranceway and all felt very small

  ‘It’s like some strange God dammed cathedral’ uttered the General in amazement.

  General Iram then just peered further inside.

  ‘The Migrators could all be hiding inside there for all we know, God knows, this place is big enough’ he commented nervously. ‘Trouble is, how can we possibly explore it without any lights in there that work?’ he puzzled as he looked at the pitch darkness that lay further inside the building.

  Eventually, some blind army personnel volunteered to go inside and they explored the inside of the ship for several hours, but could find nothing at all.

  Talks went on amongst experts what they should do about the giant ship, but they couldn’t dismantle it as it was far too tough and they couldn’t move it as it was far too big.

  So in the end, they decided to just concrete up its entranceway with fifteen foot deep reinforced concrete. A feat that in itself was a marvel, as they couldn’t use any powered machines within a hundred yards of it.

  Even the new air pressure engine wouldn’t work close to the space ship, nor would even any fluorescent light, glow worm or any other light source they could think of. So everything they did was done slowly by hand as the entire works became something akin to the building of the pyramids with literally thousands of construction workers working on the site.

  Many scientists were against the blocking up of the Migrator’s ship as they wanted to spend time examining it, but in the end the United States government decided they couldn’t risk any chance of the Migrators reappearing out of it again.

 
On the suggestion of an expert in Egyptology they did managed to set up a series of mirrors to reflect daylight into the first stages of the ship, but still no clue was discovered that suggested there were any Migrators hiding inside, but it was quickly walled up tight, just in case.

  A warning had to go out to all airports and pilots, not to attempt to fly over the ship, as it could still drop planes clean out of the sky if they ever tried to fly over it!

  *

  Back on the airship immediately after the huge white explosion, Alec was now devastated at the loss of his friend, so Stuart asked Jenny if she could continue to keep him company.

  ‘Perhaps Alec could help you do some filming on the way back?’ he suggested, hoping to keep Alec’s mind occupied on something else.

  They were all staggered to see that nothing at all now remained in what was previously the dead zone area.

  ‘How is this even possible, Jack?’ Stuart puzzled as he stared over the landscape in amazement.

  ‘Don’t ask me, I’m just glad all those ugly bugs have gone’ Jack smiled.

  ‘My God, Jack where would we have been now, if it were not for Tom?’ questioned Stuart as he just stared over the side at the now ‘nothingness’ that was all that was left of the California area.

  ‘Truthfully?’ asked Jack ‘I think we’d all be dead or fast heading that way.’

  ‘Alec said Tom was the Prayerman? What exactly does that mean?’ puzzled Joan.

  ‘Beats me’ replied Stuart shaking his head ‘you’ll have to ask Alec much later I’d suggest’ he commented.

  ‘Personally, I’d like to see this mysterious unknown last painting by Vincent Van Gogh’ pondered Andre.

  ‘You’d have a job, Andre, Alec says it’s in the Vatican’ smiled Stuart.

  ‘You’d have to become a priest or something’ smiled Jack.

  ‘Oh, God, I’ve just had a thought’ suddenly uttered Joan ‘if everything in the dead zone has been disintegrated, what about all the people back at the International Defence Wall? They were left in the dead zone area after it was moved.’

  ‘Blimey, Joan, you’re right, I never even thought about that, they were all in the dead zone, so does this mean they will have been disintegrated too?’ Stuart questioned.

  ‘Heck, Stuart, I’m almost dreading getting back to the defence wall now in case nothing is left of it’ uttered Jack.

  They all stayed quiet now as they just stared down occasionally at the nothingness below them.

  ‘How could just one man do all this?’ pondered Jack.

  ‘I don’t know, it’s quite staggering isn’t it. It makes you realise how little we really know of our universe’ commented Stuart.

  ‘How many people died do you think?’ now pondered Andre as he just stared over the side.

  ‘I don’t know’ replied Jack quietly ‘but I reckon it could be in the millions already. Trouble is it could be millions more if everyone behind the defence wall died too’ he uttered as he now bit his lip tensely.

  ‘Let’s just pray that didn’t happen’ commented Andre, now looking very worried.

  ‘Logic tells me they must have perished though’ replied Stuart.

  ‘Yeah, but according to logic, one man couldn’t have done all this in the first place could he?’ smiled Jack.

  ‘Yes, that’s true enough’ Stuart smiled.

  ‘There’s always hope’ now added Joan.

  ‘Well that’s more than we had a while ago’ nodded Stuart.

  Eventually they approached the area of the defence wall and standing tall as he looked through his binoculars, Andre almost strained his eyesight in the vain hope of seeing someone still alive there.

  ‘Can you see anything, Andre?’ asked Alec keenly.

  ‘No, nothing yet’ Andre replied.

  ‘Hang on! I can see the walls themselves though’ announced Andre.

  ‘Well that’s good isn’t it?’ nodded Joan ‘I mean, everything else just seems to have been turned to dust, so if the defence wall is still standing, does that mean the people there are all right?’ she now questioned.

  ‘Oh, can we hope beyond all hope’ now uttered Stuart as he just crossed his fingers.

  But then Andre suddenly saw people all waving at them and he fairly exploded.

  ‘YES! THERE ARE PEOPLE THERE! AND THEY ARE ALL NOW JUST WAVING AT US!’ he shouted excitedly.

  ‘YES!’ shouted Stuart as immediately they all began to just hug each other in sheer relief!

  The closer they flew towards the defence walls, the more people climbed up onto it to just cheer and wave at them!

  By the time they finally reached the camp itself, there were more people still alive and waving at them happily than they could have possibly hoped for.

  ‘THIS IS A MIRACLE!’ uttered Stuart happily as he lifted Joan clean off her feet as he then kissed her as he held her in his arms.

  ‘TOM DID IT! HE SAVED EVERYONE! I TOLD YOU, HE REALLY WAS THE PRAYERMAN IN THAT PAINTING!’ cried Alec happily as Jenny just smiled as she held him tightly.

  ‘They’re all welcoming us, like heroes!’ laughed Andre.

  ‘Well we are of course!’ chuckled Jack as he put a friendly arm around him, as they waved to all the people on the ground now all cheering and waving back at them.

  ‘This really was a miracle wasn’t it?’ smiled Joan as she held onto Stuart. ‘I mean, I’m not even religious, but when you look at all these people, all saved by one man just kneeling down and praying, you have to ask yourself what other explanation is there?’

  ‘I’m a scientist like you, Joan, but yes, you’re right’ laughed Stuart.

  When they eventually landed they were completely mobbed by smiling, happy people.

  Quite unbelievably and against all the odds, the seemingly invincible Migrators had been defeated!

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Day Twenty Five:

  31st January 2021

  The Aftermath

  Immediately following the news of the Migrators defeat, celebrations had erupted all over the world.

  Times Square was packed with people as was the Mall in London, the entire Champs Elysees in Paris and it was the same the whole world over as the people of the world all celebrated together.

  In Rome meanwhile, Pope Paul VII gave a brief special blessing to the City of Rome and all the people of the World in front of millions of gatherers.

  Every newspaper now showed pictures of the millions of Migrators, followed by long range shots of the huge mysterious white explosion that had apparently completely wiped the Migrators off the face of the Earth, leaving only a vast wasteland in its wake!

  Towards the end of the day though, more and more journalists were asking exactly how this victory had been won. Was it in fact a nuclear strike? If so, were people in danger of some nuclear fallout?

  The President greeted General Iram in the Whitehouse Oval Office and he shook his hand briskly.

  ‘Well done!’ he told the General.

  ‘Thank you, Mr President’ nodded the General ‘in truth though, Mr President, all we did was just about manage to hold the Migrators back. It was a young man who came to see me who somehow managed to bring about this victory’ admitted General Iram honestly.

  ‘What young man?’ the President puzzled.

  ‘Apparently the Pope spoke to you about him, although it’s weird as when I think of him now, I can only really recall him under the name of ‘the Prayerman’ for some reason’ the General admitted.

  ‘The Prayerman’ Puzzled the President ‘what sort of name is that? It’s true though that the Pope did speak to me about a young man he insisted could help us in some way. I guess he did just that then?’ smiled the President. ‘To be honest, General, I was so desperate by then, I was willing to try anything’ the President admitted.

  ‘Seriously, Sir’ began the General, but then he dec
ided to back out from what he was about to say. ‘Damn it, you’ll think I’ve gone crazy’ the General concluded.

  ‘Say what you’re thinking, General’ requested the President.

  ‘Well, it was like he had some strange kind of power’ explained the General.

  ‘What kind of power?’ the President puzzled as the General now began to just pace around.

  ‘Well I spoke to the people who went with him in the airship we’d sent into the region and they all said he just asked to be lowered down onto the ground in the centre of the Migrators. There he just got down on his knees apparently and well, basically prayed, Mr President’ the General shrugged.

  General Iram saw the President’s reaction and he smiled.

  ‘Yeah, I told you, you’d think I gone crazy!’ he laughed.

  ‘Are you sure you are not just suffering battle fatigue, General Iram?’ asked the President.

  ‘No, Sir, definitely not!’ the General replied firmly. ‘We have witness statements from everyone aboard the airship and they all say exactly the same thing’ he explained.

  The President looked thoughtful for a moment.

  ‘You’ve got to see it from my point of view, General, I can’t go on national television and say we were saved by one man just saying a prayer can I’ insisted the President.

  ‘I don’t see why not, it’s the truth!’ smiled General Iram.

  Just then, there was a knock at the door.

  ‘WHO IS IT NOW? THE ARCHANGEL GABRIEL I SUPPOSE!’ shouted the President in his frustration as the General couldn’t resist a smile.

  ‘COME IN!’ The President then ordered.

  A smartly dressed lady walked in with a piece of paper in her hand.

  ‘I’m sorry to disturb you, Mr President, but we’ve just received this urgent message from the Vatican’ she explained.

  ‘The Vatican?’ queried the President.

  ‘Well, Pope Paul VII to be absolutely precise’ she explained.

  ‘Well that’s almost the Archangel Gabriel’ laughed General Iram as he just smiled at the President.