The Incoming Wave

The World had been in a constant state of war for the past ten years and before that there were skirmishes resulting in bloodshed and continuing hostility. America was at war with Africa, the Middle Eastern States were at war with Japan and the Chinese were at war with Britain. Each of the conflicts could have been solved diplomatically, but the weapon makers were offering cheap artillery and munitions and rather than back down by talking to one another, each country launched itself into total war with its adversary.

Refugees migrated all over the globe but found no where that was not a war zone. Many were killed or wounded and lay where they fell often being injured further by stampedes of people who ran heedlessly over them.

Everyone looked after Number One and to hell with his neighbor.

The first of the time travellers arrived on the afternoon of the 15^th of October 2067. Their arrival was totally unprecedented and gave everyone present a nasty shock.

Old Mrs Merriweather had been in a catatonic state for the previous five years. The nursing home where she was being cared for didn’t give the relatives much hope of any sort of recovery.

“She’s had a good innings,” commented the matron, “ she is ninety three years old.”

Mrs Merriweather’s niece Julie and her husband Tom were just finishing a cup of tea and nibbling on a ginger nut when the bell rang heralding the end of visiting time.

With a sigh of relief Julie leant over to plant a kiss on her auntie’s forehead when the old lady sat up and looked about her.

“What year is this?” she demanded to know.

Julie gave a little scream and jumped backwards, standing on Tom’s toes.

“What year is this? I must know right away.”

The matron entered the room and asked what all the noise was about.

“My aunt’s suddenly woke up,” Julie gasped.

The matron rushed to Mrs Merriweather’s bedside and began to fuss around the old woman, taking her pulse and checking her facially. “You’ve been asleep for a very long time,” the matron whispered.

“What year is it?” Mrs Merriweather asked for a third time.

“It’s 2067” said Tom bluntly. “Why is that so important?”

“Because,” said the old woman angrily. “We’ve only got twenty years before the sun explodes!”

After everyone had calmed down it turned out that Mrs Merriweather thought that she was now a person called Rudyk Karslen and had travelled from the year 2086 to escape a solar catastrophe which would destroy the Earth. She/he intimated that other souls from his era would probably be arriving soon, but that they needed a person with a ruined mind to oust if habitation was to occur.

The matron tutted as she injected the old lady with a sedative. “Now Mrs Merriweather, you must have been hearing something from the television channel, last night was Sci-Fi Night and that T.V. channel Mr Higgins insists on watching was running a ‘Disaster Night Fest’ . I’m sure there was one film about little green men attacking Earth. That is what you are imagining.”

But, as she slipped back into unconsciousness, Mrs Merriweather carried on insisting that provisions had to be made as soon as possible for preventing the series of cataclysmic occurrences which were to occur leading to the Sun’s destruction and destruction of the Solar System.

“I tell you,” shrieked Mrs Merriweather in a thin, reedy, piping voice. “my name is Rudyk Karslen. More will be coming, it is a total evacuation…” Then the old lady fell sound asleep.

Over the following weeks, Mrs Merriweather/ Rudyk Karslen’s warning began to occur. Reports from asylums, old folk’s homes and hospitals all over the World, told of a sudden bout of schizophrenia infecting some of their patients. Not all were possessors of ruined minds and perfectly sane people going about their lives were suddenly displaying a totally different personality and announcing that there was to be a solar catastrophe and that the government must take action.

“Well, I don’t know, Carruthers, “ said Sir John Gray, the secretary to the Prime Minister. “Do you think that we should give credence to this madness which is making the rounds globally, this end of the world scenario?”

James Carruthers, head Scientific Officer to Parliament shook his head. “We have checked all the Sun’s parameters and apart from an odd sun spot old Sol is as healthy as it can be.”

“But, what should I tell the P.M. then? To forget all about it, as we are all gradually overtaken by this…disorder?”

“”Look, Sir John, I am interviewing a recent case involving this ‘change of character’. Let me attempt to get some sense out of him and then I will prepare a report for you.”

By the time James Carruthers arrived at Regent’s Hospital, he could hear his patient screaming in a room two floors up. Running up the two flights of stairs the chief scientist arrived outside the room designated for the interview. Throwing the door open he saw two nurses struggling with a man seated in a chair, he was suited up in a strait jacket.

“What’s going on?” shouted James, as he rushed into the room.

“Oh, Mr. Carruthers, Mr James here was brought in ten minutes ago for your interview, but he just suddenly went berserk!” said one of the nurses.

“Ok, nurse,” said James. “Leave him to me. I’ll give you a call if I need you back in the room.”

James watched the struggling man. He was quite red in the face and was sweating freely.

“You ought to calm down or you will have a heart attack,” he said.

“The Sun is all set to explode in twenty years if you don’t do something about it!” the man shouted. “Why won’t you heed our warning?”

“Because we have checked and there are no signs of any potential solar irregularities happening now or expected to, in the near future.

Now, tell me about this method of time travel that you and your colleagues used supposedly to come back from the future and invade random people.”

Suddenly, the man went still and closed his eyes. “You wouldn’t understand its nature. We have harnessed Time in our era and travel freely into the past.”

“So why not travel back further into the past and avoid this disaster?” James said humoring the man.

“Because, it is in this year that the problems arise that lead to the Sun’s explosion.”

Months passed and the number of cases of takeover increased. Soon the affected in the world numbered thousands and the world leaders had to do something about it. Meetings were held in different countries between representatives of the various governing bodies and spokespeople from the ‘time travellers’.

“Did you receive any prior warning of solar breakdown?” asked Chief Scientist William Browne of Merril Dysak, one of the travelers.

“Yes, the sun’s corona began to appear predominantly green,” came Dysak’s answer. “Various dark patches also began appearing on the surface.”

“What about the light and radiant heat, was there a reduction detected?” Sir Cyril Faulkner of the Astronomical Society, interjected. “Did your observatories make any measurements?”

“The luxor and thermal levels were recorded and both had diminished and were falling,” Garret Sillop, another traveller, confirmed.

What must we do?” wailed one of the scientists. “Can we begin to bolster the solar surface with material?”

“We might trigger an earlier deterioration!” shouted another science boffin.

“What of your time travel machines? Why not travel further back into the past and give the world a greater chance of doing something about this? Gerald Laker, secretary to the United Nations, asked.

It is this time era which has the greatest chance of averting the disaster. Your technology is so advanced,” Dysak said.

“We made the mistake of putting all our technology into armament to fight countless wars with our neighbours,” Sillop added. “We hope you don’t make the same mistake.”

All the meetings held over the world came to the same decision. Halt all armament production and begin establishing habitats on planets outside the Solar System and start building arks to ferry people away to their new homes.

“Twenty years is a small amount of time, but if we all work together, we can succeed!” said Xan Dysare, Secretary to the United Nations and in fact, to the whole world.

Within five years, colonies had been established on Protine in the Galaxy Fodor, Durran in the Galaxy Soldor and Yolast in the Galaxy Vasyio. Each of these colonies began building other colonies on their planet’s surface and soon large areas were ready for receiving Earth’s refugees.

On Earth factories all over the world produced rocket propelled arks which could carry large numbers of passengers to the three planets.

The thing was that men, women and in some cases children of all colours and creeds worked side by side in perfect harmony to allay the approaching disaster.

All this fervent activity was watched on by the humans who had been ‘taken over’ by the time travelers. They felt that they had been the catalyst to activate the Earth’s citizens and give them timely warning. They explained to those who asked why they did not work to aid the eventual evacuation and diasporas to the planets, that they had done their bit and expected to be exempt from the hard work. The answer to this was a decision that was made to restrict all personnel who did not actively partake in aiding the rescue of Earth’s millions, to the last of the Arks leaving Earth. The time travelers accepted this decision.

Then came the time that had been decided for the start of the evacuation of Earth, the Arks sat on launch pads in different parts of the World and the three planet’s colonies awaited the arrival of the new inhabitants. Everything was in readiness.

Among the spectators who awaited the departure of the Arks throughout the planet, the majority of them were the humans who had been ‘occupied’ by the people from the future. They stood watching the loading of the passengers and talking quietly amongst themselves. They had become outcasts amongst their fellow mankind due to their attitude of non- participation, people wondered what would happen when they arrived on the new worlds.

Suddenly, throughout the World’s skies, gigantic space craft began appearing. They hovered menacingly over the various land masses like birds of prey. Messages were transmitted on all frequencies and in all languages but they all were interpreted in the same way. “Stop the lift off of your Arks until we have met with your leaders!”

In all Earth’s parliaments, the politicians were visited by a very similar avatar who resembled an old man with a long beard and dressed in shimmering gown. He stood seven foot tall and something about his demeanor demanded respect and attention.

“We are the Caspique, an ancient race who has attained supremacy in the Universe. We travel far and wide, but up until now, never interfered in a world’s affairs. At this time we must, for we cannot willfully stand by and watch this travesty of justice.”

In Britain, the Prime Minister, Gerald Smallwood, jumped to his feet and approached the country’s avatar. “What do you mean?” he shouted.

The Caspiquan beckoned him over to a window that overlooked a large square where a crowd had gathered. Among them were the ubiquitous time travellers making up a large proportion of the gathering.

“Down there, “he indicated. “Await your enemy!”

Smallwood looked out at the people and then turned to the avatar. “They just look like ordinary people to me,” he said.

The Caspiquan raised his hands and spoke a short foreign sounding sentence.

Instantly a large number of the crowd fell to the ground and moments later clouds of iridescence rose into the air and vanished into the sky.

“The snakes have been vanquished,” said the old man.

“But, …” stuttered Smallwood. “What have we witnessed?”

“The entities that entered a large number of your inhabitant’s bodies were from the future, but their intention was to take over the Earth for themselves. With everyone gone they would have won a bloodless battle and duped you into the bargain. You furthered their cause by refusing to evacuate them till last. They would have destroyed the last Arks and remained on Earth as the victors.”

Gerald Smallwood looked up at the face of the Caspiquan. “Thank you for rescuing us from the clutches of these invaders. I, personally feel ashamed that we were taken in by their lies. The money and resources that we have wasted in organizing this evacuation of Earth will set us all back for years.”

The avatar smiled a sublime smile. “It is not wasted, just decide who among you wish to leave Earth to populate new worlds. It is all out there awaiting for you.

My fellow Caspiquans have been saddened by the way Earth was going, the constant wars, the dying, the refugees and most of all the displaced children. When the threat of the Solar destruction existed, you all put aside your petty bickering and worked together – in harmony. Don’t lose sight of this as you now prepare to embark on exploring the Universe. We will guide you and ensure that we all go forward together.”

……………………………………………………………+…………………………………………………………Cairniehill

Arbroath

27/12/17