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In spite of the huge and sudden increase in the population levels of Thatchaer&039;s Sett that Friday evening Ray Mercer wasn&039;t even there In fact, for the first ti memory (apart from when the cellar had flooded tinters back) the pub was closed

Exactly one week had passed since the arrival of the alien visitors and preparations ell in hand for the jettison of their useless, crippled transport away froh no exact time scales were available, ere assured that it would happen tonight Across the world the media reported that, within the next two or three hours, the ines would be fired for the final ti hills and cliff tops overlooking the ocean to watch thethe last few days the flow of bodies into Thatchaes and towns had been relentless and had increased still further once the launch date of the ship had been revealed Even noith only hours to go and with the entire area heaving with people I could still see apparently endless colu country roads towards the coast They were so tightly packed that the headlamps of one car did little more than illuminate the back bumper of the one in front Many had sies Everyone wanted to be as close as possible to the alien ship when it finally left our atmosphere People clamoured for a chance to see an alien or, at the very least, some distant alien activity Everyone wanted to be there to witness history being h I hadn&039;t seemed to match the excited fervour ofThis was a chance to be a part of so that would be permanently etched into our history books and, in all probability, into the alien&039;s history books too

Robert and I sat ast the excited masses on the cliff-top not far from where I&039;d stood and watched the ship first arrive We crouched down together on a srass and waited i to happen

&039;Bloody hell, did you see that one?&039; Rob gasped as a jet of brilliant white light suddenly shot across the distant horizon fro it increasingly difficult not to sound bored I had seen the last flash of light, and I had also seen the last twenty or thirty identical flashes before it The aliens were stripping their ship - re their small, silver shuttles to transport it back to the shore

&039;There can&039;t belike an excited child &039;Christ, they&039;ve had all week to e&039; &039;Think they&039;ll keep those shuttles here?&039; I asked as I lay back on the grass and looked up into the clear, dark sky My head was suddenly filled with i to fit in with the flow of our own cluround-based traffic

&039;They can&039;t,&039; a loud and cocksure voice said froht of me I sat up and turned around to try and locate the owner of the dise eneral direction from which the last answer had come

&039;Because the shuttles are powered by the mothership,&039; the voice replied &039;They would be able to function for a couple of days, but after that they&039;d be useless&039;

&039;Did you know that?&039; I asked Rob

He nodded his head with some surprise

&039;Course I did Everybody knows that Christ, haven&039;t you been paying attention?&039;

Aa flat cap and a shirt (with the sleeves neatly rolled up to just above the elbow) and brown tie shuffled aardly down the gentle slope towards us and squeezed himself in between Robert and lasses perched on the bridge of his proud, pronounced nose, and had a dark littleabove the ht he looked bizarre - the bastard son of Adolf Hitler and a pigeon-fancier

&039;The shuttles were only designed to be used for short distances,&039; he continued, uninvited &039;They&039;re nowhere near as well shielded as thewe could everup where our visitor had left off, &039;but compared to the mother ship they&039;re nowhere near as robust&039;

&039;Bloody hell,&039; I sighed, &039;have you done anything this week except sit and watch the TV?&039;

The other ain

&039;I don&039;t think I&039;ve le piece of news yet,&039; he said with some pride &039;I&039;ve travelled alet here today I was on the train before seven this hed, neither impressed or interested

&039;I was What about you two? Have you come far?&039;

I shook my head nonchalantly

&039;No If you stand up and walk to the top of the hill you can see asped, suddenly appearing to be both rabidly interested and insanely jealous at the same time &039;Did you see the ship when it first arrived?&039; he asked excitedly &039;Where were you when it first appeared?&039;

&039;I was just over there,&039; I replied, pointing over topath I had been running along when the storm had broken and I&039;d watched the ship fly out over the ocean

&039;Could you seeso our new friend

&039;What was it like?&039; he deain and again on the television, but to have actually been here when it happened&039;

&039;It was okay,&039; Ito wind hi and black and&039;

I was interrupted as a helicopter suddenly reared up froh the air above our heads, causing a shock wave of noisy, slightly nervous excitehtly-packed crowds like a ht was confusing For a second or two just about everyone gathered on the hillsides thought that so had started to happen

&039;Da between Rob and I, &039;just a helicopter&039;

I turned and noticed that he had a pair of battered binoculars hanging around his scrawny neck

&039;Could I borrow those for a second?&039; I asked

He thought carefully before reluctantly taking off the glasses and handing them to me

&039;Here,&039; hewith them won&039;t you I&039;ve had the out over the ocean and out towards the horizon I was just able to make out the shadowy shape of the aliensteady and motionless over the calht where the purple-black sky hts which pinpricked the bulkhead of the ship and shone out into the night like the countless stars above me A steady stream of busy shuttles poured out from deep within the bowels of the ship Each one of them swooped doards the surface of the water, unloaded their cargo onto the decks of a fleet of waiting boats, and then quickly disappeared back up into the dark safety of the cavernous ship again Then, after I had been watching for a minute or two, they suddenly stopped

Conscious that the et his binoculars back, I deliberately ignored hi waves in the shadows of the colossal ship I could see a long line of boats which were now travelling back towards land The flotilla virtually stretched froht be happening,&039; I said under my breath

&039;What can you see?&039; Rob asked

I put the glasses down for a second and they were immediately snatched back by their owner He quickly lifted them up to his own eyes and stared out to sea