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Chain Writing [team 2] Invasion of the Zernoplat

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Chapter One; Vacuum and Vacuous.

Hakt thought back to the past few days and realised he knew very little about the invasion. After all he had been informed by none other than the media, just like all the other common folks and the media only told him what they wanted him to know. It had been his decision to get off his butt and do something about it, rather than lie in front of the tube and worry when the mushrooms would start sprouting. He went down to the shed, took out the shovel and started digging at the far end of his half acre. When that got too taxing, he went to the super mart and bought a whole heap of tinned foods, that had been almost as sweat inducing as the digging. The mart was full of panic buyers taking just about anything off the shelves.

In addition to the digging he got the concrete ready mix delivered and being particularly handy had the port-a-loo installed and even electric arcs. The generator was in the next day and then he took the station wagon down to the pumps and got several Jerry cans of fuel ready for the big hide out.

The most disconcerting thing about the alien vessels had been that they never fought back! As soon as they had been detected just inside the orbit of Uranus, the military had been on amber alert, or what ever it was they did when an armada's of ships from beyond the solar system were first spotted by Hubble. Messages were sent out in all languages known to man and the ships; silently; just continued on their merry way, straight toward Earth. It was at this stage that the media had started their coverage, it was also at this point that the panic started.

While Hakt was busy digging and preparing, the rest of mankind was going to hell. Violent crime suddenly went through the roof, rape, murder and robbery were the order of the day. It was as if mankind, thinking itself on the brink of extinction, wanted to get in all the bad doings before it all came to an abrupt end.
The ships came on!

The summit in Washington was held with all the world leaders, messages were being constantly sent out to the armada and the result was a big fat zero. Nothing, silence.

The ships came on!

The decision was made. Draw a line in the sand; or in this case in space and defy the aliens to cross it. After protracted debate as to the exact position of the line, it was finally hammered out in the small hours of eastern standard time and messages were once more sent to the ever tacit invaders. Travel within the orbit of the asteroid belt and nuclear warheads would be launched. Only France, India, Iran and America had the necessary weaponry to follow up with the threat, but it would be enough.

The ships came on!

More urgent and stern messages were sent, an ultimatum couched in no uncertain terms. Stop the journey short of Earth, or the full might of the planet would be deployed against the invaders. Hakt had the concrete bunker finished by then, the port-a-loo was in and he was working on the wiring. The following day the armada of alien vessels


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crossed inside the asteroid belt.
The French backed down, but Iran launched at precisely the time agreed and India and America hurried to support them. For those that were enjoying night when the explosions went off, there was a sudden bright cascade of unknown stars in the sky, so intense as to make the moon look waxy by comparison. It had taken the missiles fourteen days to reach their target, but their success rate had been one hundred percent. the fleet of unknown vessels was totally annihilated. It was all so anticlimactic, for a while. everyone was given time off work, time to celebrate the saving of mankind. Three weeks later the news hit the globe once again!

A second fleet of vessels almost exactly the same as the first were just entering the solar system, inside the orbit of Uranus. At first it was thought it was some cosmic joke, albeit one of blacker than black humour. The laughter soon died down however and the world's leaders convened this time in New Delhi. It seemed after exhaustive talks, that some world powers had secretly been hoarding nuclear missiles with the capability to be deployed at any conceivable target. Now they were needed for the quadruple of nations that had destroyed the first armada had exhausted their arsenal.

Scotland agreed to launch if the other nations paid the bill, while South Africa, New Zealand and China offered their nuclear might gratis, for the honour of saving mankind. once again the line was drawn. Once again it was the belt of asteroids roughly half way between the planets Mars and Jupiter.

Once again the ships came on!

Silently; never acknowledging a single message, never sending the most rudimentary of signals in response.

Scotland launched once the line was reached, careful to have secured the appropriate cheque's before hand. In quick response New Zealand and South Africa followed suit. China did not launch their missiles. Their reason was simple; maybe, just maybe, enough warheads had been sent to destroy the current fleet and maybe, just maybe there would be a third armada!

Fourteen days later the southern hemisphere was treat to a pyrotechnic display of unrivalled proportions and the second armada of alien vessels was completely destroyed. Could the Earth now breath a sigh of relief? Had Johnny Alien finally learned his (or her) lesson? World leaders were uncharacteristically silent. Except for the enraged Scots, who having deposited their cheque's into the bank of Zurich, discovered that the one from the government of Ireland, was more rubber than Michelin.

Hakt was now emulsioning the interior of his shelter in a tasteful and calming pink. He continued to refine the basement stronghold and after five days, the world was rocked for the third time. An armada of alien vessels was on it's way to Earth and had been detected just inside the orbit of Persephone! By that time the Hubble was getting better at finding the invasion!

To say that the Chinease were not confident of total and permanent victory was something of an understatement, but they did indeed launch.



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New Zealand doesn't have nuclear weapons nor does South Africa and Scotland is a part of the UK.

Scotland appears to be an independent nation in your story which is strange because one of the Scottish National Party's pledges is to get rid of the nukes.

Why's Russia Missing?

Satire or what?
 
New Zealand doesn't have nuclear weapons nor does South Africa and Scotland is a part of the UK.

Scotland appears to be an independent nation in your story which is strange because one of the Scottish National Party's pledges is to get rid of the nukes.

Why's Russia Missing?

Satire or what?

All that would be reasonable if the story was set in 2014 Cons.
It isn't!


If you spot anything else you don't like please message, that's exactly why I chose to post my effort on here unlike the other team who don't have the bottle (throws down gauntlet). I will make some reference to the time of the setting as soon as the story allows me, quite useful thanks.
 
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All that would be reasonable if the story was set in 2014 Cons.
It isn't!

Then it's not working.

You've chosen to write in a science fiction humorous style using real countries and as such you need to be on the ball with the facts.
 
The strike was once again successful, the third and hopefully final wave of silent invaders was put to the nuclear sword. Once again the southern hemisphere of Earth watched the pyrotechnic display that was their deadly nemesis. There was no rejoicing this time, no thanks in the Pentecostal (the only sect of religious bent surviving) Churches wishing to praise that most elusive of characters, for his blessing of deliverance. A lull followed, it stretched into a second week, a third, people almost dared to believe that the crisis was over? Until, that was, the fourth armada of vessels were detected just inside the very boundary of the solar system.

This wave was twice that of those journeying previously. It was almost as if the alien's thought that the might of Earth had now been expended and the doubly large fleet would be able to proceed unmolested. Speculation was rife. What did they want? Had they not perceived that destruction of three armadas meant that their welcome would be somewhat less than convivial? How could a race of beings who had managed to conquer the limitations that light placed upon interstellar travel be so blaze' about keep out signs? The pundits hit the radio and TV stations in their dozens. The most revered being Professor Dato of Minsk. He opined at considerable length while the ships got ever closer. His feeling was that the aliens were so advanced, they had little to worry about when they reached Earth and the warnings should be changed to greetings. With a sorry for the earlier mass slaughter, he added.

The famed TV presenter Svetlana Raspunsul then wished to know from the Professor, if the race currently getting ever closer were so very advanced, why had they endured such massive casualties when a simply hello would have saved them lives and material?

Perhaps, Dato had reasoned, they simply could not understand any of Earth's languages and were willing to make sacrifices to achieve their eventual goal in very much the same was as termites or ants? If they were also as indefatigable as insects (albeit large ones) then welcoming them would be preferable to genocide of the human race?

It was the best theory anyone could supply. World leaders convened for possibly the last time, in Oslo. All the nations were there with the exception of Scotland and Ireland, following the declaring of war by the former against the latter, due to monies being owed.

After much debate, most of it quite heated, it was decided by a vote, that three of the leaders would be the welcoming committee, once the aliens arrived. A series of ballots was then held to determine whom the three should be. Finally the trio was decided. They were Abebe' Umowayo president of Nigeria, Orjan Olander prime minister of Sweden and Sultanate Amid Khulood of Oman. The trio enjoyed several days of high profile and then attention swung back toward space. The ships were slowing as they passed the moon, some of them broke away from the others, continuing on their way to Earth, while the rest disappeared around the back of Earth's massive satellite. Either they were going to orbit the moon, till needed, or they had landed on the dark side of it. Professor Dato seemed to favour the latter possibility. All the attention was focused on the vessels that were then entering the Earth's atmosphere. Hakt was in his bunker watching the tube, whilst also listening to the sound from his radio. As usual the radio was supplying



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the more detailed reports, but he also wished to see what the ships would look like and what they would do when they landed.

As he munched away at a microwave meal, the satellite pictures of the vessels coming through the atmosphere was on the TV. There were ten vessels. The radio announcer told him that forty vessels were behind the moon. Reinforcements perhaps?! The announcer on the radio continued, while the ships suddenly darted out of camera range. The radio reporter had a line to the tracking stations that were monitoring the aliens exact location. To everyone's astonishment the vessels were landing on the west coast of Africa, the listeners were asked to wait while their exact location was verified. Hakt was not particularly surprised at the landing site. In science fiction stories describing scenario's similar, the alien always landed in London, Washington or Moscow. These alien's being real, had no knowledge of the politics of humanity, they simply touched down where fate dictated.

The announcer finally told the listening public, the crafts had all landed in the tiny strip of land know as The Gambia. Well at least that would suit Abebe Umowayo, for it was practically his back yard. Planes would be jetting off now from Oman and Sweden, to rendezvous with the president of Nigeria. To make the point even more defined, the aliens had not even managed to find Banjul, but touched down instead in the area north of Mansa Konko. Ironically the name translated as, 'The Hill of Kings', of course it was near the Gambia River, all towns in the Gambia were, for the smallest country of Africa was little more than two banks that lay at the heart of Senegal.

For twenty seven hours there was nothing to report! Satellite photographs showed that the ten vessels remained in their location, with no sign of movement of any kind. The three elected representatives of the whole world congregated at Dakar, from which, the Senegali forces, under French supervision, headed for the ships. Still no movement of any sort from the aliens. By the time the trio of Nigeria, Sweden and Oman arrived at Mansa Konko, every major television company had cameras there. Hakt turned off the radio, for once he wanted to 'see' what transpired.

He wondered briefly which of the three dignitaries would be the one to approach the landed ships and speak the first words. The armed forces flanking him and with planes overhead and artillery at his rear, President Umowayo began to walk toward the aliens. He would address the vessels in English it seemed. The flashguns of the world press were lighting him up with uncomfortable brilliance when picking up the microphone the address system squealing in readiness, he spoke,

"Visitors from space, I am the representative of the whole globe's nations. On behalf of the human race, it is my honour to welcome you and ask you to come out of your vessels and meet us. We regret that some of your ships were accidentally destroyed by our planet's automatic defence systems and assure you we only wish to meet you and to form this world's first inter planetary alliance".

The silence which followed was deafening in it's intensity, minutes ticked by and nothing happened. There seemed to be some discussion between Umowayo and



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Then it's not working.

You've chosen to write in a science fiction humorous style using real countries and as such you need to be on the ball with the facts.



Great stuff and thankyou for letting me know.
Have you any suggestions as to what I should do to make is right?
 
Great stuff and thankyou for letting me know.
Have you any suggestions as to what I should do to make is right?

Given that you now know New Zealand and South Africa don't possess WMDs and Russia does, amend your nuclear attack. If you're also going to include the UK it's worth bearing in mind that control of the Polaris/Trident nukes is held by the US.
 
Then it's not working.
You've chosen to write in a science fiction humorous style using real countries and as such you need to be on the ball with the facts.


the story seems to be set in the future. so I do not quite understand what you mean?
you could also look at it as an alternative reality vehicle?
 
the story seems to be set in the future. so I do not quite understand what you mean?
you could also look at it as an alternative reality vehicle?

The future by definition has a past and this future is radically different from the apparent past. Alternate reality/possible future storylines without backstories have to rely on extrapolation. I can't extrapolate a set of circumstances that would make South Africa and New Zealand nuclear powers while at the same time leaving Russia nuke free. I also consider that the US and Iran cooperating on the deployment of nukes is a bit of a stretch without a provided explanation...

When I made my remarks only sections one and two were posted, I wasn't expecting three and four and the story isn't finished yet. Perhaps member will make up for these apparent deficiencies.
 
The future by definition has a past and this future is radically different from the apparent past. Alternate reality/possible future storylines without backstories have to rely on extrapolation. I can't extrapolate a set of circumstances that would make South Africa and New Zealand nuclear powers while at the same time leaving Russia nuke free. I also consider that the US and Iran cooperating on the deployment of nukes is a bit of a stretch without a provided explanation...

When I made my remarks only sections one and two were posted, I wasn't expecting three and four and the story isn't finished yet. Perhaps member will make up for these apparent deficiencies.


you never know, do i take it that you wish to read more?
 
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