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I kneas right but I still instinctively tried to find an alternative explanation It just sounded so damn implausible I mean, aliens and spaceships for Christ&039;s sake? And anyould any alien in its right mind choose to make its debut appearance here out in the back-end of nowhere on a miserable Friday afternoon?

&039;Thousands of people must have seen it,&039; Rob continued &039;There&039;s no way the authorities can try and keep this quiet, is there? They&039;re not going to be able to coh story to cover this up How can they expect&039;

&039;Bloody hell, be quiet will you?&039; I snapped My brother was getting on my nerves Whenever he became excited he would talk incessantly, and that really pissed me off because my natural reaction was to do the opposite - I just wanted to shut up and concentrate and try andI switched on the television and sat on the floor in front of the screen

&039;Jesus&039; Robert whispered as he sat down on the sofa behindto bother trying to hush it up, does it?&039; I said

Virtually every channel carried the sa deck of a boat which swayed and rocked with the waves of the sea some fifty e ship we had seen in all its dark glory Enormous and impervious, it hovered silently hundreds of feet above the restless water A fleet of boats were dotted around the scene Countless helicopters and planes buzzed and fluttered relentlessly through the swirling skies on all sides of the hty craft When one of the helicopters fleards the canificance made the massive machine&039;s vast proportions instantly and incredibly apparent The ca flotilla of cruisers, ferries, tugs and other ships (most obviously n) that had gathered in the shadows of the mysterious titanic

&039;I just don&039;t believe this,&039; Robert mumbled under his breath &039;They&039;re here They&039;re actually here&039;

I had given up trying to shut Robert up and I turned up the sound to try and compensate The unsure voice of an obviously du

&039;just to re with this live coverage,&039; the woain that these are genuine pictures This is not a hoax&039; I looked over rin plastered across his face I turned back and continued to stare into the screen, hypnotised by a combination of bewilderment, disbelief, nervousness and utter aoff live on TV

Like watching the space shuttle explode in the sky

Like hearing that the princess had died in the tunnel

Like watching the World Trade Centre collapse after the terrorist strikes

I knew that nothing was ever going to be the saain

A stream of information ran across the bottom of the television screen which read; &039;Confirmed arrival of alien ship First official word fro Street spokesman advises population to remain caline what Dad would have made of all of this,&039; Rob whispered I nodded and smiled My brother&039;s fervour and wonder would have paled into insignificance next to that of our dad He had been a keen kitchen-sink scientist and a as I could remember He&039;d always see in space than in his own ho next tothe television now He would have been so bloody excited It all would have meant so much to hi to say?&039; Rob asked

&039;Don&039;t know,&039; I replied &039;You would have expected thes down but I don&039;t see how they can now&039;

&039;Why?&039;

&039;Because so ot to co they know&039;

&039;Everything?&039;

&039;Well they&039;ve got to make the population believe that they&039;ve been told everything, haven&039;t they? They&039;ll do ood if they don&039;t The more they tell us, the less there is for people to make up for themselves And the less people make up the&039;

The picture of the ship on the television screen disappeared and was replaced by a news reader&039;s face The Government&039;s announcement was imminent The speed of events only served to eravity and scale of our situation For rey-suited politician on the screen instantly took away the edge of exciteree of nervous uncertainty I sensed that the words I was about to hear would set an important tone Any hostility or fear in the diplouaranteed as we ht naively have presumed in the bewilderment of the afternoon

The official walked towards a speaker&039;s plinth and as he did so he was showered with a relentless streaht from a hundred camera flashes He paused for a second to collect hi &039;Earlier this an, his voice initially unsteady, &039;various observatories and scientific outposts around the world and in space were made aware of the presence of an unidentified object on the outskirts of our solar systeed course several ti towards Earth&039; He paused for a h no direct contact has been nal which, to all intents and purposes, seems to be a distress transh to allow the assembled reporters to fire off a volley of desperate questions at the politician while their associated photographers launched another barrage of flashes The defenceless spokesman lifted his hands in an attempt to restore some order

&039;The ship has been led away fro a position solandNo resistance was offered to the aruided it out over the ocean and, despite continual attempts, no contact has beenit There&039;s really nothing more I can tell you at the present tie of camera flashes and questions I stood up and walked over to theagain There were still flurries of activity in the village streets below It had stopped raining and the crowds around the sea wall rely happy and relaxed Even froly calm and peaceful atmosphere in Thatchae and pretentious as it ht have sounded, each one of them was suddenly a friend and an ally The unexpected arrival of a new and previously unknown life forenous huether I could see it happening everywhere I looked People were standing and talking and laughing with people they wouldn&039;t have even looked at yesterday Already there were no longer black people and white people or Muslims and Christians and Jews orclass There were just people

&039;Where do you think Dad would be now?&039; Rob asked I glanced over at hied on the sofa He had a deadly combination of concentration, fascination and excitement fixed on his face If I half-closedStar Wars, not a twenty-four year-old watching footage of ence I half expected Dad to co what he was like,&039; I eventually replied, &039;he&039;d either be out there on a boat trying to get as close as he could or he&039;d still be up in the attic trying to find his binoculars&039;

Rob laughed

&039;I&039;d go for the boat,&039; he smiled &039;He&039;d have been first on the scene&039;

I&039;d have given anything for hie with us

Cold and shivering, I forced ed my tired body into the bathroom