I woke up this morning with this in my head.
End Game
There was no warning. Three huge ships the size of football stadia appeared in the sky above the equator in Brazil. Accompanied by a roaring rumble they proceeded to move along, side by side, leaving behind a flattened trail of clean soil. The earth shook. Everything in their path was destroyed. Hills cropped, gulleys filled and all vegetation and life cauterised. After travelling relentlessly forward a hundred miles they turned to produce another tract of devastation alongside the first. Roads, villages and people under the craft were eradicated.
The Brazilian air force attempted to intervene. Warnings given, missiles fired. Planes seemed to fly into an unseen barrier and explode in mid-air, likewise missiles. The three ships continued their task oblivious to the furore taking place around them.
Simultaneously smaller craft appeared over the oceans and great waterspouts shot up into the sky.
Days wore on. The size of the devastation relentlessly grew. The water spouts were investigated. They were spewing billions of tons of water out into the vacuum of space.
NATO met. The UN held emergency council. Governments met. All over the world there was turmoil. Panic ensued. All around the expanding area of destruction people were fleeing. Towns were flattened, vehicles annihilated and all people or animals caught under the sweep of the relentless onslaught were instantly vaporised. Within the expanding area nothing was left.
All attempts at communication fell on deaf ears. All weapons proved useless . As the site of devastation grew so did the force-field surrounding it.
Smaller ships arrived. Strange multi-limbed crab-like creatures scuttled about, their limbs and bodies glassy and reflective, smooth faceted as if constructed from panels of mirrored glass. They were oblivious to what was going on outside their force-field. They went about their business ignoring the frantic efforts of the humans outside.
Constructions started to go up inside the compound; edifices of the same glassy mirrored material that the creatures appeared to be made of. When all the new turned soil had become arid dust crystalline shoots began piercing through. Soon all the ground within the force-field was carpeted in a growing mass of crystal bushes.
The area was growing relentlessly. Sea levels began to drop. Rivers coming under the sweep of the craft were sucked into space. The land encompassed within the rapidly expanding compound resembled an arid desert.
The levels of the oceans began to fall. Then scientists began to detect a rapid dropping of carbon dioxide levels. Emergency councils were permanently in session. Nothing could be done. Nothing worked. The aliens remained impervious to attack and completely incommunicado. Even the desperate use of nuclear and chemical weapons proved utterly ineffective. Panic developed into hysteria. Nobody knew what to do.
As the huge craft moved relentlessly back and forth the size of the encroachment increased. Ocean beds began to be included. Cities raised. People driven back. Everywhere was terror and chaos. Still the process continued unabated.
Crops were failing from the drop in carbon dioxide. At first the receding waters yielded plentiful fish but that soon changed. Starvation added to the horror.
‘They are ploughing the land,’ President Gulatis observed, studying the information streaming in from the scientist. ‘They are changing the world to fit their needs.’
Everyone stared at him in dismay. Nobody spoke.
‘Nobody can get near to examine them,’ Gulatis muttered, more to himself than the committee, ‘but,’ he looked up and met their eyes, ‘these aliens appear to be silicon-based. They have no use for water or carbon. They are systematically removing it. Their world is waterless desert.’
‘And what of us?’ General Decalis asked.
‘We are pests to be brushed aside.’
