clumsy, groundbased traffic. `They can’t,’ a loud and cocksure voice said from the darkness just behind and to the right of me. I sat up and turned around to try and locate the owner of the disembodied voice. `Why not?’ I asked, aiming my question in the general direction from which the last answer had come. `Because the shuttles are powered by the mothership,’ the voice replied. `They would be able to function for a couple of days, but after that they’d be useless.’ `Did you know that?’ I asked Rob.
He nodded his head with some surprise. `Course I did. Everybody knows that. Christ, haven’t you been paying attention?’
A middle-aged man wearing a flat cap and a shirt (with the sleeves neatly rolled up to just above the elbow) and brown tie shuffled awkwardly down the gentle slope towards us and squeezed himself in between Robert and myself. He had a pair of thick, heavily framed glasses perched on the bridge of his proud, pronounced nose, and had a dark little moustache nestling above the middle of his top lip. In the low light he looked bizarre - the bastard son of Adolf Hitler and a pigeon-fancier. `The shuttles were only designed to be used for short distances,’ he continued, uninvited. `They’re nowhere near as well shielded as the main ship.’ `They’re stronger than anything we could ever make, of course,’ Rob said, picking up where our visitor had left off, `but compared to the mother ship they’re nowhere near as robust.’ `Bloody hell,’ I sighed, `have you done anything this week except sit and watch the TV?’
The other man interrupted again. `I don’t think I’ve missed a single piece of news yet,’ he said with some pride. `I’ve travelled almost two hundred miles to get here today. I was on the train before seven this morning.’ `Were you really?’ I sighed, neither impressed or interested. `I was. What about you two? Have you come far?’
I shook my head nonchalantly. `No. If you stand up and walk to the top of the hill you can see my house.’ `Really?’ he gasped, suddenly appearing to be both rabidly interested and insanely jealous at the same time. `Did you see the ship when it first arrived?’ he asked excitedly. `Where were you when it first appeared?’ `I was just over there,’ I replied, pointing over to my right in the general direction of the twisting path I had been running along when the storm had broken and I’d watched the ship fly out over the ocean. `Could you see much?’ `I saw everything,’ I answered, taking some sadistic pleasure in taunting our new friend. `What was it like?’ he demanded impatiently. `I’ve watched the footage again and again on the television, but to have actually been here when it happened…’ `It was okay,’ I mumbled, deliberately trying to wind him up. `You know, big and black and…’
I was interrupted as a helicopter suddenly reared up from behind us and screeched through the air above our heads, causing a shock wave of noisy, slightly nervous excitement to quickly spread through the tightly-packed crowds like a massive Mexican wave. The unexpected deluge of sound and light was confusing. For a second or two just about everyone gathered on the hillsides thought that something had started to happen. `Damn,’ said the man sitting between Rob and I, `just a helicopter.’
I turned and noticed that he had a pair of battered binoculars hanging around his scrawny neck. `Could I borrow those for a second?’ I asked.
He thought carefully before reluctantly taking off the glasses and handing them to me. `Here,’ he mumbled. `Watch what you’re doing with them won’t you. I’ve had them for years…’
Staring out over the ocean and out towards the horizon I was just able to make out the shadowy shape of the alien mothership.
Its smooth, black fuselage still hung steady and motionless over the calm sea. As my
He nodded his head with some surprise. `Course I did. Everybody knows that. Christ, haven’t you been paying attention?’
A middle-aged man wearing a flat cap and a shirt (with the sleeves neatly rolled up to just above the elbow) and brown tie shuffled awkwardly down the gentle slope towards us and squeezed himself in between Robert and myself. He had a pair of thick, heavily framed glasses perched on the bridge of his proud, pronounced nose, and had a dark little moustache nestling above the middle of his top lip. In the low light he looked bizarre - the bastard son of Adolf Hitler and a pigeon-fancier. `The shuttles were only designed to be used for short distances,’ he continued, uninvited. `They’re nowhere near as well shielded as the main ship.’ `They’re stronger than anything we could ever make, of course,’ Rob said, picking up where our visitor had left off, `but compared to the mother ship they’re nowhere near as robust.’ `Bloody hell,’ I sighed, `have you done anything this week except sit and watch the TV?’
The other man interrupted again. `I don’t think I’ve missed a single piece of news yet,’ he said with some pride. `I’ve travelled almost two hundred miles to get here today. I was on the train before seven this morning.’ `Were you really?’ I sighed, neither impressed or interested. `I was. What about you two? Have you come far?’
I shook my head nonchalantly. `No. If you stand up and walk to the top of the hill you can see my house.’ `Really?’ he gasped, suddenly appearing to be both rabidly interested and insanely jealous at the same time. `Did you see the ship when it first arrived?’ he asked excitedly. `Where were you when it first appeared?’ `I was just over there,’ I replied, pointing over to my right in the general direction of the twisting path I had been running along when the storm had broken and I’d watched the ship fly out over the ocean. `Could you see much?’ `I saw everything,’ I answered, taking some sadistic pleasure in taunting our new friend. `What was it like?’ he demanded impatiently. `I’ve watched the footage again and again on the television, but to have actually been here when it happened…’ `It was okay,’ I mumbled, deliberately trying to wind him up. `You know, big and black and…’
I was interrupted as a helicopter suddenly reared up from behind us and screeched through the air above our heads, causing a shock wave of noisy, slightly nervous excitement to quickly spread through the tightly-packed crowds like a massive Mexican wave. The unexpected deluge of sound and light was confusing. For a second or two just about everyone gathered on the hillsides thought that something had started to happen. `Damn,’ said the man sitting between Rob and I, `just a helicopter.’
I turned and noticed that he had a pair of battered binoculars hanging around his scrawny neck. `Could I borrow those for a second?’ I asked.
He thought carefully before reluctantly taking off the glasses and handing them to me. `Here,’ he mumbled. `Watch what you’re doing with them won’t you. I’ve had them for years…’
Staring out over the ocean and out towards the horizon I was just able to make out the shadowy shape of the alien mothership.
Its smooth, black fuselage still hung steady and motionless over the calm sea. As my
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