2009: EXTRATERRESTRIAL UPROAR
A LITTLE FLASHBACK
THE KENNEDY SPACE STATION. Tension was brewing everywhere as all scientists focused on nothing but the launch of the T-29. Many scientists had put in their efforts for about seven years to construct this enormous spaceship. It was the first spaceship in the world to be launched unmanned. As the countdown started and the Spaceship Commander said ‘GO’ for all settings, everyone was fixed like boulders before their PCs, watching the launch. 3…….2……..IGNITION!!……..1……..BOOM! The elegant T-29 soared into the skies, showing all clear signs. And as the spaceship cleared the atmosphere without any problems, people all over the United States cheered.
People were hugging and congratulating each other in their launch stations. All was going well, until one of the scientists, Bradley Smith noticed a great rock storm approaching the T-29. He became extremely frightened and tried to alert everyone. But no one was prepared to listen to him. He hastily, then told the people of the Control section. They immediately listened to him and became vigilant (this was because they did not have time for celebrations) and tried to alert everyone. On this horrifying note, everyone turned to their stations again. But, it was too late. The giant rocks of the rock storm had completely mutilated the spaceship. The spaceship floated with the storm and crashed into Mercury. The then delighted people were now horror-struck. They could just watch as the wreck of the T-29 went far into the vast space…
THE FIRST THREAT
“HONEY!! WAKE UP!!”
A sweaty and frightened Bradley Smith sat upright in his bed. He realized that he had just seen a flashback of what had happened 47 years ago. It was AD 2009. Bradley Smith had settled in Miami and was a family man now. He was earning a handsome amount by teaching astrophysics in the University of Miami. He switched on the TV to see the morning news.
First thing he heard was:
THE SCIENTISTS OF NASA HAVE SPOTTED SOME UNWANTED MOVEMENTS IN THE PLANET OF MERCURY. IN ADDITION TO THAT, RADIO SIGNALS HAVE BEEN RECEIVED. I AM HERE AT THE HEADQUARTERS, SAM. AND THE SCIENTISTS ARE SAYING THAT THEY ARE WORKING ON IT.OVER TO YOU, SAM.
Smith remembered his dream. Could it be the same thing? He forcefully pulled himself out of his thoughts and got ready for the University. He got dressed and ate a wholesome meal of Oats cereal and set off to work.
Today, he had special plan in his mind. He stealthily sneaked into the physics lab of the University and silently locked the door. There was a telescope over there which was kept only for academic purposes. Smith at once set the slides and position in the direction of Mercury. The telescope was not much good, but his retina did the rest of the work.
He did not see anything at once. But, when he observed carefully, he did see something. Some organisms were sending some radio signals towards Earth. Now, the awesome fact was that no one in the world except Smith knew how to read them and decipher them. This was because its study was done only in the times when he was working in NASA. Nobody now taught all this. And he was in the section where all that was taught. With him was only his friend, Alex Clare. Just a year before, he had got the news of his death. So, practically, only he in the whole world could understand this language.
Though he was rusty, he still noted down the signs and deciphered them. What he got was something like this:
We are the ones clad in black,
Get ready for a massive attack!!
Bradley sat there, lost in thoughts, and puzzled, whether his deciphering was correct or not. The bell rang, indicating the start of the class. He reluctantly got up and went to his class, holding different thoughts in his mind.
INDEED, THE SCIENTISTS PAY NO HEED
Though he was distracted the whole day while teaching, his thoughts came back to him the following night. He still could not believe it. Can it be a threat from the aliens of Mercury? Were there aliens in Mercury? His mind was filled with questions and speculations and opinions. He then decided to make a cup of coffee and observe the planet again.
When he looked through his old and withered telescope, apparently, he saw something again. He again brought his tools and started deciphering the radio signals. What he got was:
Paying to my threat no heed,
I would have not done that deed!!
This time, he was confident that something was going to happen. He could never go wrong in his deciphering. He decided to show it to the NASA Office the next day. With miscellaneous thoughts running in his head, Smith went off to sleep for what seemed like forever.
The next morning had a surprise awaiting a weary Smith. He had just got a message that the University was closed for about 2 months due to exams and maintenance. This relieved him, as this would give him time to concentrate on the recent mysteries brewing up. He took his notes and sped off to the Office.
After a long drive and a flight of stairs, he reached the luxurious and beautiful Office. He knocked the door few times just to be unanswered. Not wasting time, he went to the scientists’ room. Their staff room was not as good as the one in Washington D.C., with cracked walls and fewer racks. He told a scientist who he actually was, to get greeted and shown some respect. He showed his notes and translations to him. He looked at Smith’s notes and heaved a sigh. “With all due respect, sir, I don’t think I can issue an evacuation showing some retired scientist’s translations as proof. They won’t believe it, sir. And I personally don’t think that something like this could happen in the near future.”
Smith left the office in a fit of rage. He had no option left, but to solve this case all by himself. He decided to go home and watch for more messages. But, it seemed like the aliens lived the other side and could only be visible from Earth at night.
The rest of the day, Smith spent boringly, waiting for the sun to set. After about eight, he sat near his telescope, set it to Mercury’s course and carefully peered into it. Naturally, a message was being sent by the aliens. On deciphering, this is what he got:
Put on your gear and coat,
‘cause first is 38.8893° N, 77.0502° W
In 24 hours
Of this,
PLEASE TAKE A NOTE!!
THE FIRST ATTACK
The previous night had gone in a series of nightmares. So, he found himself lying on a sweaty bed, hugging a poor pillow that had got crushed. He got up and instantly remembered the previous night’s incidents.
He took his breakfast, reading his translations alongside. Those figures would have to be the latitudes and longitudes of some important landmark in some place in the world. When he put it up on Google, he found that they were the latitudes and longitudes of an important place: THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL.
Now, during the course of the past few days, he started believing that some aliens were going to do a large-scale attack on Earth. He had a poking urge to go to Washington D.C. and see the aliens. He did not even know for sure whether the aliens were coming or not. His urge was so great that he overlooked the fact that the arrival of aliens will cause devastation in that area.
He told his wife, Katherine, that he was going for a very long journey. He booked a flight to Washington and reached his destination just before the estimated deadline. He waited for the right time to come. After exactly 24 hours, a loud siren-like voice started reverberating in the skyscrapers of Washington. A big and majestic space ship’s silhouette started appearing in the clouds. They took out things what seemed like tentacles. What came next was only and only destruction and bloodshed. BOOM!!!!!
SMITH EXPIRES
Smith got extremely frightened and ran for his life. It was a massive attack, and he had to move faster, or else he would also be part of the massacre. He fortunately, found a car, with an engine start button. He started it, revved it up, and sped off, in an attempt to get away from the foul aliens.
It was a great adventure for Smith. Aliens were spread out everywhere. Before long, Smith reached the epicentre of the attack: The Lincoln Memorial. He stopped the car on one side and observed their body.
A spherical and geoid head consisted of two bulging eyes, a small nose and two antennae popping out of the top of the head. The lower body had nothing much to describe. Though they looked cute, they were fierce destroyers.
But, they seemed to have some shield or some force protecting them from something. This could be visible when they broke some sewers or water pipes, and when water gushed out of them. He took a photograph of the aliens, to show the scientists of NASA.
When he got into his car, an explosion occurred just under his car. And this was the petrol caught fire, and burst.
This marked the end of Smith and his desire to fight the aliens. His helpless and mutilated corpse lay there until help arrived, while Smith’s soul drifted into dreams…
SMITH IS RESURRECTED
As his eyes opened, he felt extremely tired and somnolent. But, when he fully opened his eyes, he saw his late mother stand before him. He thought, ‘Now, I am definitely dead.’ Almost like reading his thoughts, she said in a fairy voice, ‘You are not dead yet, son. You are still alive. The doctors in the actual world are healing you. You are just in the dream world.’
‘I am going to tell you something very important. It will help you defeat the rogue aliens. You must have noticed their shield. It is iron. It protects them from something very toxic. And that element is wa………’
He again opened his eyes, this time for real. He could not see anything clearly at first. But then he heard someone say, ‘Good work, guys. Now let’s keep him in the waiting room until he wakes up’ Just then, another lady came and said, ‘Emergency, people! This man here is dying. I need help.’ With that, everyone left the room in a hurry.
As he came to his senses, he started thinking about his dream. Could what his mother told be true? And what was the toxic element? He now confirmed that he was alive when he felt his legs and hands and started moving them. He got up and removed all the pipes and tubes attached to his body. He, then, very silently, slipped out of the building, to find a world in flames and wrecks of buildings. He wandered around until, he found a car. Overlooking his unfortunate story last time, he got into it and started it and got on the freeway, leading to a place called Alexandria. It was a 20 minute ride from the heart of Washington D.C. Smith was sure that the aliens must not have reached there. There was a chemistry laboratory in Alexandria. It must be locked up now, with the evacuation processes. But he had special pass that could unlock the door. He reached Alexandria and saw that the city that had been crowded once, was now deserted. He took the pass and unlocked the door. He ran into the chemistry lab and took out many things; vials, beakers, heavy textbooks, maps, and many bottles of chemicals. And then he sat there for two days just like that.
SMITH’S BRAINSTORM
For a complete two days, he sat there, experimenting and writing his conclusions in his notebook. At the end of this toil and strain, he finally came to a conclusion about the aliens’ shield.
‘If what my Mother told was right and the shield they had was to protect them from something, then it has to be: WATER. These aliens are from Mercury, where the temperatures fluctuate a lot; the days experience sweltering hot climate, and the night experiences frosty and bitterly cold climate. That is why water cannot exist over there. This makes water extremely toxic for them. And the sewage water of America is mixed with toxic chemicals, like perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, which causes cancer. And, by the looks of it, they have a zinc shield. So, if I electrocute them, the zinc will melt and break, like what happens in a fuse. Their shield will disappear, and they will be completely unarmed. Then what is to do is to just collect sewage water and fling it on them. They might melt or burn due to the acid.’
With this idea set in his head, he started packing up for his journey. At once, fatigue took over him and instead of packing, he set out for a pillow and a bed.
THE LAST INVASION
The next day, first thing, he set his telescope and looked for signals. He caught them just in time, as they were just about to disappear into the other side. He read them and what he got was:
34.0522° N, 118.2437° W is next
And this is going to be last.
Say goodbye through text,
As it is going to be a blast!!!
He quickly checked in his great map and searched for the coordinates. And it was the sprawling and well-planned city of Los Angeles in California. It was going to be tough for him to get there, as he did not know the time and LA was in the other side of the States. Nevertheless, he booked a flight and immediately set out for the airport.
The flight was comfortable throughout the journey. He leaned back and enjoyed the flight while thinking over his plan once again. He did not know how he got whisked into this turmoil and how he had to go through the rigmarole of defeating aliens. If he looked back, he saw that he was so engrossed those times in defeating the rogue aliens. But he decided to come out of his thoughts and just hit the sack for a while.
He was suddenly woken up by the automatic alarm that always rings when the plane reaches the destination. When he woke up, he found that complete mayhem had broken out and everybody was running helter-skelter. He also got to know that it was the emergency alarm. On enquiry, he got to know that the aliens had arrived and the pilot was desperately trying to land the flight in LA.
Through the window, he could see their shiny and metallic body, looking like flying saucers, deploying their landing gear and flaps. Fortunately, they did not attack on their plane just yet.
Meanwhile, Smith’s plane had successfully touched down, and as soon as it stopped, everyone took their suitcases and rushed inside the airport. Even Smith rushed in and started making arrangements for his plan of action. If he had to electrocute those aliens, he had to create some big electricity hub or source from where he could draw electricity.
When these thoughts were running in his mind, Smith spotted a giant alien, one bigger than all of the others, hiding behind the building. He had his eyes closed and could not see Smith. And it was seeming like he was struggling a lot and trying to wade off something and thus, slapping and shooting in the air. He realized that this gigantic one might be the leader of the whole squadron, and will be controlling them from his mind. To confirm this, he went into the fight and chose a spot where he could see the leader’s face as well as the other alien’s face. He took some water and threw it on that alien. In spite of the shield, the Leader Alien winced and grimaced. This confirmed that Leader Alien was controlling the whole squad.
This discovery just made his work easier. He was constantly trying to get some idea for a large- scale attack to perish all of them at once. But, if he just destroyed that one Leader Alien, it will definitely affect everyone.
With the last scraps of hope of destroying the aliens once and for all, he made a circuit using a battery, a switch, a couple of metres of wires and fixed the wire into the alien’s body. The alien was too preoccupied in fighting the US Army and the Air Force all at once. He did not show any changes when Smith completed the circuit and made the Leader Alien the bulb of the circuit.
He prayed to God and switched on the current.
SEE YOU LATER, ALLIGATOR!!
Fortunately, Smith was standing far away from the alien. The alien was successfully electrocuted and his zinc shield successfully destroyed. Smith, in a buoyant mood, watched, as the shield melted and the Leader Alien became unarmed and mortal. This incident exerted influence even on the fight going on outside. The Army and the Air Force started gaining an advantage over the other aliens.
Smith, contentedly, now, tried to find some sewers for sewage water. He finally found a connection to the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant, where all the sewage of Los Angeles flows. But the problem was, how to throw it on the aliens? Since he needed sewage only for a single alien, he just took a 20 litre bottle that he found lying on the roadside, and filled it with sewage water.
He then again drove to the airport, where the humans were very close to winning this war. He again went to the Lone Ranger alien, who was almost unconscious, bearing everyone’s attacks and injuries.
He was felling pitiful for that alien. Nonetheless, he threw the sewage water on to him.
The sight was a very beautiful one. The sewage completely melted that alien and the aftermath of this was truly enchanting. Gases of different colours rose up into the sky, and disappeared into the thin air, as everyone in LA rejoiced and celebrated the end of the aliens.
Smith was extremely weary and his abundant happiness was like one that could not be of any other’s in the whole world at that moment. He rested on the ground, a million thoughts running in his mind, and sleeping, contented and cheerful.
WAKING UP TO A NEW DAWN
As dazzlingly bright sunlight entered his eyes, Smith regained consciousness and found himself lying on the hospital bed. He had no disease as such to be lying in the hospital bed. Then, he realized that it was not any hospital. It was his own sweet home, and his wife was sitting beside him, watching the television. She had not realized that Smith had woken up. She was seeing the news. It said:
APPARENTLY, THIS LEADS US TO A CONCLUSION THAT THE ARRIVAL OF THE ALIENS WAS BENEFICIAL FOR EARTH. WHEN THE ALIENS SUDDENLY WENT POOF!! , SOME CAPTIVATING AND SPELLBINDING COLOURS WENT UP. IT HAS BEEN CONFIRMED BY SCIENTISTS THAT THESE GASES HAVE RESTORED THE OZONE LAYER. THEY HAVE ALSO TOLD THAT HERE IS ONE SPECIAL MAN WHO PREDICTED THIS TO HAPPEN. ITS BRADLEY SMITH.
On this note, Katherine exclaimed, “WHAT!!!,” and Bradley said, “Yeah, about time.”
Katherine turned to him and suddenly had sparkle in her eyes. Her face gleamed with happiness and she hugged Bradley tightly, leaving behind all perils and risks behind, to start a new life.
–END–
