Page 12 (1/2)

Part II

RELEASE

12

The last Wednesday in August Almost a ot up at eight I had a shower, got dressed, and then ate so on a deckchair out on the lawn Robert was already up and about He was hiding indoors in the shadows, glued to the television There was an earlymyself to watch The subject of debate was the release of the aliens from their camp at Brymer

It felt like the last three weeks had passed by in threeback, the days and hours seemed to have disappeared in a continual ind blur of new alien revelations and cascaded information Every newspaper I&039;d picked up, every poster I&039;d seen, every television prograramme I&039;d listened to and every website I&039;d visited seehter had been born I rein her cot, and it had seemed impossible to believe that there had ever been a tie way I felt much the same about the alien visitors today It was like they&039;d always been with us The very idea that we had ever considered ourselves as being alone in the universe now seemed as preposterous and far-fetched as the prospect of alien contact itself had done just five or six weeks ago

Within a week of the visitors settling into their temporary home at Bryh tests had been run and enough checks carried out to ensure that their presence ast us caused no threat to any life on Earth They carried no germs, bacteria or disease that would harm us

Within teeks the first official human-alien summit had taken place and the results of all discussions held were quicklyconsultation and education programme was immediately drawn up and put into place to educate the masses and prepare them for the very real possibility of direct and individual alien contact

Within three weeks further communication had been ies and objectives of an ongoing relationship were clearly identified, defined and agreed upon

Yesterday the aliens were released

The progra broadcast frohton, a small town some twelve miles north of Thatcham which had, by fate, been chosen to be the first place in the universe where aliens and huht brief snatches of the prograh the room, and the town appeared to be busy but calht

We had both sat and watched live coverage of the alien&039;s release yesterday They had been presented as heroes and accorded an unexpected celebrity status There had been thousands of athered at the re-enforced gates of the holiday ca sun to be aood look at the unique visitors in the flesh We had all heard y, their mothership and their sleek shuttle crafts, noas tiood look at the aliens theed from the shadows of the complex just before midday The creatures ht with an inity and pride which seeance and superiority There was not the slightest sign of any nervousness or trepidation as they walked towards the vast crohich had gathered to greet theht have felt in their position Not only was this a foreign land to them, there were also thousands of people crowded around to watch their everywas the probability that there were hundreds ofon television from every country around the world and, possibly, even beyond

There were three hundred and sixty-eight aliens on the crippled ht of theher ranking visitors were seconded to ith the authorities but most - their equivalent of workers and the labourers perhaps - were given the freedoroups of three, four or five, they athered to see theood-natured The creatures even stood and posed for photographs which would take pride of place in otherwise &039;ordinary&039; family albums They seemed happy and relaxed and well-suited to their sudden superstar status

Today the ht and warm and I didn&039;t yet feel fully awake I went inside The shadowsrooht?&039; Rob&039;s voice asked froloorunted

&039;Anything happened?&039; I asked

&039;What do youhappened with the aliens? Has there been any trouble?&039;

&039;Trouble?&039; he repeated, surprised

&039;Yes, trouble&039;

&039;Not that I know of Why, were you expecting any?&039;

&039;Don&039;t know There are a lot of people around Dreighton, and I guess most of them are there just to see the aliens In just about every science-fiction film you see you expect someone to&039;

&039;But this isn&039;t science-fiction,&039; he interrupted

&039;I know, but&039; &039;But what?&039;

I thought for a moment

&039;I don&039;t know I&039;o this smoothly, that&039;s all&039;

&039;What do youto go wrong You&039;ve got to get rid of your attitude probleive the aliens a chance The rest of us intend to&039;

&039;I haven&039;t got an attitude,&039; I snapped &039;Listen, I want this to work just as much as you do, it&039;s just that&039;

&039;Do you really? You don&039;t sound like you do&039;

The venom in my brother&039;s voice was bitter and unexpected

I could have responded but there didn&039;t seem to be much point He seemed convinced that I wanted the aliens to disappear back to where they&039;d coenuinely wanted things to work out Although I didn&039;t think that they would gain much from us, it was obvious to me that our species could benefit ie of the visitors But their arrival had brought a change to , see

In an attes towards the aliens, I agreed to go with hi It was about half-past seven e arrived there and the late suun to melt and fade away into darkness

The toas just as busy as I had expected There were film crews and reporters on every street corner At least one reporter and camerarapher from every newspaper seerey, lifeless and unimportant place

&039;Bloody hell,&039; Rob yawned as we drove around aiet parked anywhere?&039;

I shrugged ht then back again for a place to leave the car Every single space (virtually every spare inch of pave in circles for aled when an elderly lady (who had been shopping and who had obviously not expected any of this mayhem) reversed her little car out of a supermarket car park and trundled out onto the road ahead of us I quickly squeezed ap she&039;d left

&039;Thank God for that,&039; I sighed as I turned off the engine and stretched inbeen sat in the sa, I clah the sun had almost completely disappeared the late summer heat was still close and forh with clao then?&039; Rob asked, sounding al &039;Aliens, this way,&039; on every street corner

&039;Don&039;t know&039;

&039;There &039; &039;What, alike that?&039;

&039;Piss off!&039; he snapped

I glanced around to get hton often because, to be frank, there was bugger all there Just a an walking towards

&039;If they&039;re going to be anywhere,&039; I said as we headed up the street, &039;they&039;re going to be up here&039;

We walked along a steep and narrow pavement at the side of a road which ran parallel with, and eventually hfare The brilliant coloured lights froht still shone out brightly, illuathered there I noticed that everyone seelimpse of one of the three hundred or so aliens that had suddenly arrived in town

&039;Christ, this place is packed,&039; Rob said as wecrowds His razor-sharp perceptiveness had obviously not been blunted by the heat

The traffic travelling along the dual carriagehich bisected the toas nothingvehicles No-one was going anywhere Rob spotted a pub over the road and began to weave his way through the virtually parked cars to get to it

&039;I need a drink,&039; he said, talking to me over his shoulder as he walked &039;Got any e pub was as busy inside as the streets were outside The air stank of stale smoke and spilled beer and every roohtly-packed punters I pushed ed to worap at the bar I then stood and waited for al served by a stressed-out and sweat-soaked ht a drink for Rob and one for myself (because I was too tired and thirsty to wait for him to offer to buy a round) and then looked for soasped as he lifted his hand and took his pint from me He knocked back half of his drink, wiped his mouth and stifled a belch &039;Too bloody busy in here,&039; he gruo back outside?&039;

I nodded and began to push ht our way out most of my beer had been spilt but I didn&039;t even conteet a refill Tired and strangely dejected I found a space and sat down on a low stone wall

&039;I can&039;t get over how busy it is,&039; Rob said

&039;What, the pub or the town?&039; I grumbled under my breath He scowled at me

&039;The town, you idiot,&039; he snapped

&039;What did you expect?&039;

&039;I didn&039;t think it would be as bad as this Still, there&039;s a good ath I was in a badthehtly-packed population being anywhere near as volatile, harassed or bad-tehton soas if it was carnival day, but as far as I could see no-one earing any costumes, I couldn&039;t hear very th of the main road wasn&039;tto see one tonight?&039;

I shrugged my shoulders

&039;Don&039;t know,&039; I replied honestly &039;You&039;d have thought so There are over three hundred of them, aren&039;t there?&039;

&039;Yes but they&039;re surrounded by about six million of us!&039;

I turned and looked at hi unusual in that, but this was rapidly becoenuinely excited like a kid on theof their birthday

&039;What do you think they make of this place?&039; he asked &039;Wonder what their towns are like? Do you think they have pubs like this or&039;

&039;I expect they think Dreighton&039;s a shit-hole,&039; I sighed, interrupting and hoping to stem the flow from his mouth &039;I do&039;