Realization
ID4/War of the Worlds
by Petra Berghofer, translated by Birgit Staebler
The two men stared at the passing disk-shaped space ship
in disbelief. The face of the taller one showed his desperation and horror
quite clearly while the other's was a mask hiding the emotional upheaval
inside. His dark eyes showed what he felt quite clearly, though. Both knew
that the giant ship had already leveled two cities and it was probably,
no, quite likely, on its way to destroy the next.
"We could have prevented this somehow. We knew they were
out there, planning to conquer our world!" Harrison Blackwood curled his
hands into fists, radiating helpless frustration.
Lt. Col. Paul Ironhorse laid a calming hand on his friend's
shoulder, but his eyes never left the imposing form of the space ship.
"I don't think that those ships have anything to do with 'our' aliens.
Those we could figure out somehow. This...." He didn't have to continue.
One of the men of Ironhorse's Omega Squad appeared and
reminded them that the car was waiting. Within the next minutes they would
leave for a secret government facility dealing with alien life forms, researching
everything connected to otherworldly visitations. Even though both projects
had never known of the other, at least officially, now they might need
each other. General Wilson had informed the members of the Blackwood Project
that they would work together against this new enemy and that the expertise
of the Blackwood team might be of value.
Blackwood just hoped that they would arrive in Area 51
soon enough to make a difference.
And the space ship moved over the wide expanse of untouched
nature beneath it, ignoring the few tiny humans traveling east.
Today was the 3rd of July.
