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After aledpathhich led to my front door What had started out less than twenty-four hours earlier as a sie for food had eventually becohtmare played out in the dead streets of Thatchaeness of e

The shuttle craft hovered about ten meters away from the door Perfectly still and silent it was just sat there without reason or explanation Cold and tired and not daring to take my eyes off the alien ship, I fumbled in my jacket pocket for the keys to the house My hands were nuled to try and open the door But it was already unlocked and for a fraction of a second I felt some hope The only other people who had keys were Rob and Siobhan Finding the door unlocked meant that one of them at least had to be inside

&039;Rob?&039; I shouted as I pushed my way in I kicked the door shut behind me and looked hopefully down the hallway &039;Rob? Siobhan? Are you here?&039;

My words echoed off the cold walls of the house just as my footsteps had echoed in the streets outside I didn&039;t believe for a second that either irlfriend really were there but I instinctively knew that I wasn&039;t alone Before I had seen or heard him I sensed that Rob&039;s alien friend was about

&039;Your brother&039;s in here,&039; he said in his dull and dishearteningly fa room He stepped out of the shadows and stood in the doorway

&039;What the fucking hell are you doing here?&039; I spat as I barged past the alien and shoved hi round between his feet For a split second the room was filled with an ih thewith frightened fascination as one of the ih the turbulent sky towards the centre of the helpless village

&039;Rob,&039; I said, quickly turning back to face my brother, &039;can you hear me? Are you okay?&039;

What had once been my brother was now just a shell Cold and emotionless, he was as ee I crouched down so that I was directly in front of his dull, vacant eyes but there was still no response I gently shoved his shoulder and, although he rocked to one side, he still didn&039;t respond His corpse-grey skin was cla

&039;He can&039;t hear you,&039; the alien said softly I ignored him and continued to try and elicit some response from what remained of Rob

&039;Con LetI wiped tears of pain and frustration fro&039; the alien began

&039;Fuck off!&039; I spat &039;Why don&039;t you just fuck off? How the hell do you kno I feel?&039;

Still crouching, I rocked back and sat on the carpet in the ht was the television and for a second I turned and glanced into the cold grey screen I could see Rob&039;s reflection He looked just as he had done e&039;d sat there together and watched the news broadcasts when the first alien ship had arrived What had the bastards done to him? What had they done to the world?

&039;It wasn&039;t supposed to happen like this for you,&039; the alien continued, apparently ignorant to the strength of er and hate He took a few steps closer and stopped when he was just a short distance in front of me I quickly stood up so that ere on the sa about?&039; I asked, wipingeyes dry

&039;It would have been so much easier for you if you&039;d been able to accept everything like the rest of thehed Nothing wassense any more While the rest of the world lay dead outside, it didn&039;tto an alien inhere?&039;

&039;Recording,&039; he said

&039;Recording what?&039; &039;Preserving your lifestyle for the archives&039;

&039;What archives?&039;

&039;Our archives I&039;&039;

I couldn&039;t take any more of this in I fell back into the seat next to Rob His heavy body sluled to hold back more tears

&039;The very least I owe you is an explanation,&039; the alien continued

&039;You owe runted, unable to even bring ht when I first caht back to the hazy su when Rob had brought the alien ho uncoht Rob and Siobhan had treated the da like a bloody superstar

&039;I re here and hoe got here We talked about what I did and where I came from&039;

&039;And&039;

&039;And most of it was lies&039;

&039;I&039;m not surprised&039;

&039;I was&039;

&039;What?&039;

&039;I was surprised at first But then again, I always aet used to it&039;

&039;What are you talking about?&039; I was rapidly getting sick of his bloody stupid games and riddles

&039;I told you that, but that hat I truly believed at the time That hat all of us who ca any sense

&039;So ere you here for?&039;

&039;Our ship was a probe It wasn&039;t destroyed, it was sent back to the fleet We caate this planet and see whether it was suitable&039;

&039;Suitable? Suitable for what?&039;

&039;For us&039; &039;What?&039;

&039;I told you that the supplies on my home planet had been exhausted In order to survive my people need more We need more space and more resources and&039;

&039;So you think you&039;re just going to take it like that?&039;

&039;Wake up, Tom, we already have&039;

An icy cold chill of realisation washed overmonsters I wanted to kill the alien in front of me but I didn&039;t dare move I wanted to hear the rest of his explanation first

&039;But ho did you do it?&039;

&039;Reht e argued about how you thought ether for the coreed&039;

&039;I re for us to be able to hts and emotions&039;

&039;It is&039;

&039;I accept that you have your opinion The beauty of working withuntil it&039;s done We&039;ve been looking at your planet for several years now This isn&039;t soht Once we&039;d decided that it was suitable we began broadcasting&039;

&039;Broadcasting what?&039;

&039;Sinals We interrupted your transra the entire population of the planet for the last seventeen h television, radio, the Internet, film and any other es?&039;

&039;More coht lines Think about it, Tom, how else could we have just arrived here and dropped ourselves in the middle of your civilisation? You didn&039;t trust each other, never mind anyone else You had to let us do it You had to believe us And we had to believe ere telling you&039;

&039;So why all the bullshit about themission and the accident?&039;

&039;We needed to be coht before occupation We were sent here first to confir too, or were you being lied to as well?&039;

&039;You&039;re starting to understand My colleagues and I on the ship fully believed the story we told you It was important to the mission to ensure that our purpose wasn&039;t revealed so we didn&039;t knohat it was Simple as that We truly believed that ere stranded here&039;

&039;Fucking hell&039; I mumbled &039;But how? How could you have?&039; I couldn&039;t think straight This was too much to absorb

&039;Yours was a fairly advanced society,&039; he continued &039;And the more advanced a society is, the more it tends to rely on different methods of communication We just interrupted and &039;

&039;But for what purpose? We were prepared to help&039;

He shook his bulbous head slowly

&039;It&039;s not that sirow and we need to expand We don&039;t need your help, we need the planet&039;

Noas beginning to feel as though I was trapped in some third-rate science-fiction fil to do?&039; I asked cautiously

&039;With a few adjustments we&039;ll create an atmosphere similar to our home world and colonise Your planet will become the fifth home world&039;

&039;You&039;ve done this before?&039;

He nodded his bulbous head and stared at me with his baby-blue eyes

&039;This is the second time I&039;ve been directly involved&039;