The Serene Invasion

by Eric Brown

  Kath smiled. “I know, and I do not ask lightly. But let me assure you that you would find Mars conducive to a happy life. The brochure I gave you sets out in detail everything you might need to know. Browse through it at your leisure. There is no real hurry…”

  Allen caught something in her tone. “But..?”

  Kath frowned. “But… we are eager to set up a vital, viable colony on Mars before the Obterek find new and potentially more lethal ways of going about their goals. We are recruiting colonists daily, and we need people like you to join us.” She finished her tea and checked her watch. “My train for London is due at twelve. I’d better dash.”

  Allen smiled to himself. The banality of human concerns after such mind-stretching issues as galactic conflict…

  Kath stood and hugged Sally.

  “Look through the brochure, and consider what I’ve said. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me. If I don’t hear from you in a couple of weeks, I’ll be in touch.”

  Allen embraced Kath and murmured goodbye, and Sally saw her across the garden and down the front path.

  She returned a minute later, smiling to herself. “Well…” she said.

  He tapped the softscreen into life. “Let’s take a look, Sal. But we can’t do this without a cup of tea.”

  “Good idea,” Sally said. She sat down on the bench and took up the softscreen.

  Allen picked up the tray and retreated to the kitchen.

  CHAPTER NINE

  JAMES MORWELL STARTED work at nine that morning and by eleven he was through with his duties for the day.

  He sat at his desk and considered the appearance of the blue figure last week, its pronouncement that he and the Obterek were working towards the same end, and its gift of the shimmering blue discs. For a few days he had allowed himself a flicker of hope. He had contacted Lal and demanded the latest information regarding the suspected Serene representatives… And the news was not good. The two latest suspects had vanished days ago without trace. Lal assured him that he was working personally to track down other suspects, and promised that within weeks he would be able to present Morwell with a dossier of likely candidates.

  The news had dispirited him, and for days he’d sunk into a depressed state, where nothing he did mattered at all and no hope glimmered on the horizon.

  His life, of late, was becoming meaningless.

  Three days a week he and four other once eminent businessmen, all of them self-made millionaires, met for a round of golf and dinner at their club on Long Island. But he was becoming jaded with the game of late; he detected that his passion to win was not matched by that of his colleagues, and what was victory against apathetic opposition? He blamed the Serene, of course. Their charea had affected not only humanity’s ability to commit violence, but also robbed the human spirit of something vital, the spark of life, of fight, that made individuals, tribes, nations, want to win.

  So golf accounted for three afternoons a week, and sex — such as it was — the other three. On Sunday he rested by taking his yacht out to sea and losing himself in the blue immensity for hours on end.

  Increasingly these days he enjoyed the luxury of being alone. On his yacht he cut all communications, deactivated his softscreen, and simply sailed.

  It was while out on the ocean just a week ago that the idea had occurred to him, and he had greeted its sudden emergence in his head with uproarious laughter.

  Along with other forms of violence, suicide was a thing of the past. These days, no one was allowed to kill himself. You spasmed if you tried to slice your jugular, or insert a rifle into your mouth and pull the trigger; you were unable to jump off buildings, or under trains. He was sure, idly thinking about it, that people must have found ways around the self-harming edict. But, if so, they had not survived to pass on the information, and Morwell himself could think of no way to subvert the Serene’s charea — which was a pity as, these days, he was increasingly wondering what was the point of being alive.

  He had been out on his boat, staring into the clear blue sky and day-dreaming about possible suicide methods: somehow infect oneself with a lethal botulism, or lay oneself open to a fatal disease… but he suspected that at some point in the process one would begin spasming.

  Could he purposefully allow himself to be pitched over the side when the boat yawed, and so drown — to all intents an accident…?

  The next time he’d taken his yacht out, he’d tried to do this, and spasmed well before he got anywhere near the safety rail.

  Then a few weeks later, while lying on the deck under the full might of the sun, he’d had his brainwave.

  Rather than do something to kill oneself — perhaps the answer was simply to do nothing to stay alive?

  So excited was he by the idea that he sat up and almost punched the air in elation.

  He would board his boat with no provisions, no food or water, with his emergency radio left at home, lifebelts and safety jackets jettisoned; he would set the tiller and point the yacht east and simply… sail into the vast unknown.

  He would starve to death — a protracted, painful death, no doubt — or the boat would find itself in a storm and, if he did nothing to steer it through, would capsize and take him with it. Surely then he would achieve his desire to end his life?

  But always a niggling doubt remained: before he even set off, would he begin the involuntary spasming that would thwart his dreams of putting an end to himself?

  His softscreen chimed, interrupting his reverie.

  He answered the call. Lal’s sleek Indian face smiled out at him.

  “I wonder if I might come up and see you, sir?”

  “Is it really necessary, Lal? I was just about to leave.”

  Lal’s smile widened. “If you could spare me just ten minutes, sir.”

  Morwell sighed. “Very well. Ten minutes.” And it had better be good, he thought as he cut the connection.

  A minute later Lal strode into the office and lounged in the seat across the desk from Morwell.

  “You look, Lal, if you don’t mind the crudity, like a dog that’s learned how to fuck itself and suck its balls at the same time.”

  Lal smiled. Morwell was sure his frequent vulgarisms offended the man’s deep-seated Hindu puritanism, but if so he didn’t let it show.

  Lal said, “Did I ever tell you that I had a sister, sir?”

  Morwell sighed. “No, Lal. No, you didn’t. And I don’t think I ever enquired, either.” Don’t tell me that you’re fucking her, he thought to himself, but refrained from asking.

  “Ana,” Lal went on. “I was parted from her at the age of sixteen, when Paul Prentice found me in Kolkata.”

  “That part of your life story, Lal, I am aware of.”

  “We lived on Howrah station, and it was hard enough looking after oneself without taking into consideration a puling kid sister. I found Ana a millstone.” He paused. “I never said goodbye to her when Prentice enrolled me at the business school…”

  Morwell smiled to himself and said, “With the greatest respect, Lal, why the hell are you telling me all this?”

  “Because, sir, yesterday Ana tracked me down.”

  “And should I be delighted that the Devi siblings are at last reunited?”

  Lal smiled. “Not at all, sir. But I think you will be interested in what I have to tell you.”

  “Go on, Lal,” Morwell said with heavy forbearance, “but make it quick, hm?”

  “Very well.” Lal crossed his legs and leaned back even further in his seat. “After she’d shed her recriminations at the manner of my leaving, we shared a little history. I excused myself by saying that I’d not wanted to hurt her by telling her I was leaving — and that it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I think she was mollified. She told me what she was doing these days — working at the Andhra Pradesh wilderness city as a production manager. She’s done very well for herself.”

  Morwell interrupted. “And I’m delighted for her, Lal. But I
don’t quite see…”

  “She told me that she is also,” Lal said, “a representative of the Serene.”

  Morwell stared at the Indian. He felt as if his innards had been scooped from his torso, stirred up and returned. “Go on.”

  “We chatted for a couple of hours yesterday, and I met her again this morning. She told me what she does for the Serene — not that she knows exactly what that is. Every month she leaves India for various cities around the world. She travels aboard what she calls a Serene jet — though it is interesting that we have never detected the flight of one of these planes. For the past five years the cities visited, she has noticed, have always been those that are occupied by Serene obelisks. There is obviously some link, sir.”

  Morwell nodded, his pulse racing. “Well done, Lal.”

  The Indian smiled. “There is more. This morning she told me about an incident in Fujiyama, Japan, which occurred a few days ago. Apparently there was an attack by extraterrestrials opposed to the Serene. Many humans were killed, though Serene self-aware entities apparently restored them to life. My sister was one of these people, along with two other Serene representatives.” Lal smiled at this point. “She mentioned their names in passing, and later I checked their identities. I have all their information here, sir.” He held up a memory stick. “One is a citizen of Italy, the other of the UK.”

  Morwell nodded, letting Lal’s information percolate slowly through his consciousness.

  At last he said, “This might be the break we’ve been waiting for, Lal.”

  “The discs?” asked the Indian.

  Morwell laughed. “The discs indeed, my friend.”

  “I was wondering, as I have arranged to see Ana tomorrow, might I have the honour of…”

  “We need to plan this carefully, Lal — but yes, I see no reason why not.”

  He sat back and stared out at the vista of Manhattan. Suddenly, life did not seem to be so lacking in purpose.

  In fact, for the first time in years, Morwell felt optimistic.

  CHAPTER TEN

  SALLY AND GEOFF did not mention Mars for a couple of days after the meeting with Kathryn Kemp.

  The softscreen brochure remained on the kitchen table, waiting to be either considered or discarded along with all the other detritus of family life: notices of local events, bills, flyers from Hannah’s school…

  Sally went back to the surgery the day after seeing Kath, and Geoff worked in his study editing the shots he’d taken at the Fujiyama arboreal city.

  At dinner that evening Hannah chatted about school, who was friends with whom, and what Miss Charles had said about the forthcoming Serene Party, marking the tenth anniversary of the alien’s arrival on Earth. Mars was not mentioned until after dinner when, Hannah tucked up in bed, Sally opened a bottle of red wine and they sat in the garden and enjoyed the clement summer evening. She said, “Have you…?”

  He glanced at her. “Mars?”

  “Sometimes I think we’re telepathic.” She reached out and took his hand. It was good to have him back.

  “Well, I suppose we really should look at the brochure… I’ll fetch it.”

  While he was in the kitchen, Sally refilled their glasses and looked around the garden. It was, she thought, idyllic, with the wisteria in bloom and filling the air with its heavy scent, and the roses banked against the cottage wall. She would miss the house, the garden, their friends in Wem and London, if they did agree to the move.

  She laughed, and looked above the horizon at the faint red pin-prick that was the planet Mars.

  Geoff came back and activated the softscreen, and for the next half hour they sat side by side, the screen propped on Geoff’s lap and angled so they could both see it.

  A series of images showed a terraformed Mars, a greened and rolling terrain under a blue sky streaked with brushstroke clouds. A vast area of land in the southern foothills of Olympus Mons, so they were informed, most corresponded in geographic aesthetics to rural southern England, and it was to here that the Allen-Walsh family would be located if they agreed to the migration.

  There was a section showing artist’s impressions of towns and villages on the red planet, and they were not unlike towns and villages here, a combination of old architecture and new poly-carbon dwellings, with the odd dome thrown in for the sake of ultra-modernity.

  Sally laughed. “They’re going out of their way to make us feel at home. Look, that building there…” Between a poly-carbon tower and a silver dome nestled what looked like a Tudor inn.

  “Looks like some American theme park,” he grunted.

  Aloud she read a little of the blurb, “The settling of Mars is the first step from planet Earth, the first small step in what is hoped will be the diaspora of humankind to the stars…”

  They came to the end of the brochure as the sun was setting. The air was still warm. Sally sipped her wine and looked across at Geoff. She could tell, without asking, that he was in favour of the move.

  “Well?” she asked at last.

  He pursed his lips. “Well… there is that line about the move not being permanent. A minimum stay of two years, and if we don’t like it for whatever reasons…” he shrugged, “we could always come back. What do you think?”

  “I… I must admit I’m attracted to the idea.”

  “I’ll tell you what, let’s sleep on it. Let’s go to the Horseshoes for lunch tomorrow and talk it over, okay?”

  She smiled at him. “Let’s do that, Geoff.”

  They sat side by side in companionable silence as twilight descended and Mars twinkled above the horizon.

  THEY WALKED ALONG the tow-path hand in hand.

  Sally recalled coming this way with Kath just the other day, and what had happened a little later. The sun beat down and butterflies jinked above the surface of the canal.

  Sally selected a table in the beer garden while Geoff went to the bar and ordered beer and food. There were only three or four people in the garden beside herself. She watched the koi navigate the confined waters of the pool, occasionally nudging the surface for food.

  “You’re miles away.” Geoff set the beers down on the table.

  She smiled. “Just thinking about the past ten years, and how different it would have been if the Serene hadn’t intervened.”

  He watched her as he sipped his drink.

  She said, “I’d be dead, killed by Islamic terrorists back in Uganda.”

  The silence stretched. Geoff said, “I’d be alone, no you, no Hannah. And the world would be plagued by wars, murders… the same old routine of mindless violence and not so mindless violence — which was probably worse. When you think about it, all in all, we are a pretty despicable race.”

  “Are?” she asked. “Or were?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know.” He frowned, considering. “I mean, if the Serene lifted the charea, then it would be back to square one, wouldn’t it? We’d be killing each other, invading countries, bombing.”

  She took his hand. “It will take more than just ten years for us to be able to turn our backs on violence,” she said. “Perhaps in centuries… perhaps then if the charea was lifted we might have become civilised to the point where the need, the desire, to do violence would be no more.”

  He looked at her. “Do you think it is a need, a desire? Or just a response to circumstance?”

  She considered this, then said, “I’d like to think the latter. Maybe violence was the end result of our inability to work things out in any other way. And with the influence of the charea, we’ll learn over time that there are other ways to resolve conflict and settle differences.”

  “I’m sure you’re right,” he said.

  Their food arrived, cheese soufflés and salad, and Geoff ordered two more halves of Leffe.“Right,” he said, “Down to business, Sal. Mars. Pros and cons.”

  “Cons first,” she said, puncturing her soufflé with a fork.

  “We’d miss England, Wem, London, our friends. Nothing would be fa
miliar — and that counts for a hell of a lot. Also, Hannah would miss her school, her friends.”

  “As you said the other day, children are adaptable. She’d soon make new friends.”

  “And…” he said. “And I think that’s it. No more cons.”

  She nodded. “And the pros?”

  “The pros,” he began. “Well, we’d be living on Mars.” She smiled at the big grin on his face as he went on, “We’d be experiencing life on another planet, part of humanity’s first outward push from Earth. We’d be… and I know this sounds corny… but we’d be pioneers. And it needn’t be forever. If we don’t like it, we come back.”

  “And we can always return to visit friends.”

  He nodded, looking at her. “The thing is, do you want to go?”

  “Yes, Geoff, I do. And you?”

  “Me too. I’m ready for a change, a challenge.”

  She laughed as if with relief, squeezed his hand. “I’m glad that’s settled, then. We’ll talk to Hannah about it later. There’s bound to be tears.”

  She stopped and looked up, aware of something in the air.

  “Sal? What is it?”

  “I don’t know… Don’t you feel it? Like before a thunderstorm, a charge in the air.”

  He shrugged. “Sorry…”

  She looked around the garden. It seemed to have filled suddenly with a dozen well-dressed drinkers, but she thought the sudden odd atmosphere had nothing to do with the newcomers. She looked beyond the garden, as if searching there for the answer.

  She shivered. “I don’t know… for a second there I certainly felt something.”

  The people on the next table, two men and two women Sally had never seen before, drank and chatted amongst themselves. As Sally’s gaze passed over them, a woman happened to look up and catch her eye. She looked away quickly, and Sally felt uneasy.

  “Sal, are you okay?”

  She had the strangest feeling of premonition, as if something was about to happen that should concern her — the strange intimation she’d had once as a student when Kath Kemp and other friends had thrown a surprise twenty-first birthday party for her.