Earth Liberation
Audiobook · Earth Liberation: The Novel (Part I)
Chapter 4
London, the United Kingdom of Northern and Southern England.
June 2, 2077
"Look, it’s rising." Janine Northon put a cup of tea on the table and pointed to the window. "Looks fateful, doesn’t it? "
Marcus Northon, senior client service manager of Greenland Airlines in Woking, looked back. A wide, floor-to-ceiling window in their new studio apartment looked to the west. The morning sky was clear. The rising sun dazzlingly reflected from the walls of the skyscrapers of Northern Harrow. From the right side, above the tunnel, the alien spaceship was slowly rising to the skies.
In good light it seemed as white as the moon, and was of the same size, but its shape was irregular - it was covered with some ends. For almost a week the spaceship was orbiting around the Earth and had become an habitual part of the landscape. The aliens were doing nothing but broadcasting the same video: “Mother Earth, hello, peace we and you”. Panic on Earth had subsided. People stopped being scared of pangolins.
Northon shrugged his shoulders.
"To tell you the truth, I see nothing fateful. It’s just exploring something. A scientific spaceship. It will make some pictures and disappear."
"I hope that our military forces are not so light-minded about it as you are," Janine was slathering jam on toast.
"Do you believe they’re going conquer us? Like in movies?" Marcus drank some tea. "No way! We’re cavemen for them, and they don’t need us".
"You know if they aimed to explore Earth, they would come into contact with us to
ask about everything. But they only learned seven words in six languages. No, darling. They do not need us. Nor the information," Janine rose and began to put the dishes into the dishwasher.
Marcus kept silent. There was sense in his wife’s words. But it was unpleasant to think that the aliens might be hostile. He rose from the table and began to help Janine with the dishes. She anxiously looked through the window over and over again. Marcus put the plate aside and hugged her.
"What’s wrong, Janine? What do you have on your mind?".
She gave him a smile. "Only pangolins, dear. Indeed, this is the only thing. No deep psychological matters, believe me. But thanks for your sympathy".
Marcus cuddled Janine a little bit stronger and felt her relaxing in his arms. He tenderly passed his hand across her belly. "Are you feeling anything yet?"
"Oh, no, it’s only the fourth week! There’s nothing to feel there". Janine escaped smoothly from his embrace and pecked him on the cheek. "Okay, thank you, I’m fine now. Let’s go to work".
In the hallway Marcus examined himself in the mirror, straightened his tie and was satisfied with his look. Everything is OK. They need to get the damned pangolins out of their heads. If they haven’t attacked yet, they’re not going to do it at all.
There was a robotaxi waiting for him outside. Marcus hurried to the parking. Halfway there, a guy in a t-shirt marked with the words, “Alliance of Earth Defence” addressed him.
"Can you spare me a few minutes, sir?"
"I’m sorry, I don't have time". Marcus didn’t stop.
"Don’t you see, sir? The reptilians are about to start landing. These are the last days in which our destiny depends on us".
"I’ve already told you - I’m busy!" Northon touched the scanner on the door of the robotaxi, and it opened. "The usual," he said, making himself comfortable on the seat of two-seater car.
"Destination - the international airport of Herbert Wells, Woking," - the automatic voice said. "Mr.Northon, please, fasten your belt".
The robotaxi drove to the highway and sped up, manoeuvring among the same cars. Marcus tried to relax and stay positive, but he couldn’t. Janine, then that jerk from the “Alliance”. All that bullshit with the aliens began to disturb him more than usually.
He looked up through the transparent roof. The spaceship was just passing overhead and...damn it! Some small sparks were seen around it, they were flashing and fading. That was something new. Who’s that - our military forces? Have these morons decided to attack? No way, the sparks were coming from the spaceship itself, it was creating them, and they were flying out.
"What’s that bullshit?" Northon muttered. He pulled out his tablet and switched on the news channel. The same close-up was broadcasted.
"...the guideline of their motion is unknown - as in the case of the large spaceship," the newsreader said. "The aim of these actions is also unknown. The aliens still don’t answer our requests… Breaking news from the Euro Union Air Force Staff: the fixed-wing fighters have been boosted into the air to follow the alien machines…"
"Damn it!" Northon said aloud.
That was really dangerous. Even if the explorers were peaceful, our militaries could attack out of fear, and unleash war. He put away the tablet and looked up again. There were still small sparks flashing around the spaceship. How many of them are there? Do we have enough fixed-wing fighters? The robotaxi was rushing along the highway. They were about two kilometres away from Woking, but they could already see the control tower. Marcus tried to concentrate on his work, but he couldn’t. He called his wife.
"Janine, are you still home?"
"Walking out". She was clearly in a hurry.
"Did you see that?"
"Yes, everything is okay, darling, I'm staying calm". Janine smiled unnaturally. "Let’s consider these just explorers, okay?"
"Maybe you should stay home today? "
"Frankly speaking, I’m not sure that staying home is safer".
Marcus bit his lip. "Listen, I’ll return now. Damn it all!"
"No, don't worry, I’m fine." With the tablet in her hands, his wife was running down the stairs.
"Please, take care." It was ridiculous, but Marcus didn’t know what else to say.
"Thank you, darling, I’m a smart girl." She ended the call.
Marcus hesitated for a moment. "Taxi, cancel the route!" he commanded. "Let's go back to the collection point".
"Got it, Mr. Nor…".
The alien explorer swooped down at lightning speed, so that Northon couldn’t make out its shape. He only noticed that there were no fixed-wing fighters around.
The explorer broke hard while falling, hovered above the control tower - and then disappeared in a flash of dreadful brightness.
Marcus was struck blind. His eyes could only see a red haze and black marks, like a thick, luminous line. The brakes screamed. He was thrown forward, into the safety bag, then he was thrown up and turned upside down.
When he woke from a stupor, sandwiched between the safety bag and the seat, he felt that he was lying on his side. The alarms were sounding. There were still circles before his eyes, but his eyesight was restored. The door was open wide. Northon barely escaped from the car. It was on the roadside, thrown away by the air blast: one meter more - and it would have fallen out of the enclosure.
Accompanied by the sound of the alarms, people were wandering about the road among the fallen robocars. Ozone and smoke were in the air, the remains of the airport were burning ahead. But behind the buildings of Woking stayed untouched. Thank God they attacked only the airport. The city is safe. Nothing could have happened to Janine...Could it?
Marcus drew out his tablet. There was no connection. He looked up. The spaceship was on the horizon, but swarms of small lights were still around. What else have they destroyed? The only thing Marcus knew was that he needed to go back home.
He made his way towards London, then began to run. He checked his tablet connection every minute. He was surrounded by chaos. The road was blocked with the robocars that had lost navigation. Fire-fighter and police helicopters were flying above his head. And he saw fixed-wing fighters high in the sky. Damn it, after all, it’s war.
His tablet connection appeared. Marcus tried to call Janine, but the line was overloaded - too many people at the same time were trying to call their nearest and dearest. The internet was very slow, the news was only texted. Everything was filled with horror.
The pangolins attacked the whole Earth at the same time. In all states the spaceports, the airports, naval stations, gross radio locators and observatories were destroyed. The militaries had struck back or promised a strike.
When a rumble of thunder was heard from the south, Northon nearly dropped his tablet. A new strike by the aliens? No! A dozen fire tails were rising up in equal distance. Rockets! They must have launched from the submarine in the Strait. Finally, a nuclear response. Several minutes later the warheads would start to explode straight overhead.
To the shelter! Immediately! Praying for Janine and hoping that she had seen the rockets too and understood what to do, Marcus ran to the nearest underground station.
He had barely managed to squash into the crowd, when the sealed doors shut behind his back, separating the lucky men from the doomed.
Rumble, push and darkness. A scream of fear repeated a thousand times.
There's a second strike.
After a few seconds of darkness a feeble light appeared, ventilation started working. The alternate power was switched on. But there was no connection…
The connection didn’t appear any more. It didn't reappear during the hours that Marcus passed in the underground, nor after the sealed doors opened, and the smoke from burning ruins of London was felt in the air. The connection disappeared forever.