They Came

A Short Story by Christopher Lilly

" They came in Droves - millions of them ; evil, crawling, ruthless and determined - an Alien Invasion unparalleled in our Planet’s History. " Or so the trailers for the feature film about the incident go. In fact, there was only one spaceship, a handful of aliens, and certainly no invasion by any real stretch of the imagination, but that’s cinema hype for you. I should know. I was there.

It was, if you recall, one summer, twenty years ago, that the UFO crash-landed in the mountains far from any major population centres. Its entry into the atmosphere had been tracked by our sophisticated early warning systems, and special teams of military, scientific and governmental personnel were dispatched within a very short time, equipped with protective suits, just in case.

We had the spacecraft surrounded, and brought up all kinds of hardware to make sure whatever was inside did not get away. I guess everyone expected to see little green aliens, or some grotesque, animal-like creatures, but in fact they all looked rather like ourselves. The head general in charge approached the aliens, unarmed, and in what could only be interpreted as a gesture of peace, and yet one of the dirty beggars pulled out some sort of ray gun, and killed him. One of our snipers immediately shot him dead, then the team of elite soldiers went in with gas and stun grenades to subdue the rest of them. They came quietly. I guess seeing what happened to their man convinced them.

We soon had the situation under control, and the aliens were taken to secure government installations deep underground in buildings in the capital whose real purpose was not obvious to the public. On the outside they looked like department stores, and even functioned as such, but if you knew where to go, and what codes to punch in, you could enter through the secret entrances.

In fact, as usual, as a government which is totally fair, open, and controlled by the people, we decided to cover this whole thing up like we had done every other time, since we always know what’s best for our citizens, regardless of which half-assed political party is running the show.

But you know those hairy drug smoking college types with their ham radios, and camera equipment always facing towards secret government installations, with their ever more ridiculous conspiracy theories? If it’s not about the many natural mysteries of this world of ours, then they’re going on about celebrity deaths or assassinations, political scandals, and goodness knows what else. They sensed something big was happening, did their usual bit of digging, then had to go tell everyone that the military was up to something.

The media went crazy. I mean, if you recall, this had to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest story ever to break, and not just here, but in every single country on the globe. Our great ideological rivals from across the sea had to stick their spoke in and demand access to these creatures as well. They said they had just devised new body probes which could go inside anyone, and see what was inside. I was this close to telling them exactly where they could stick their probe, but was given the order to allow a select group of their top people to come over - so I chose only those who were quite well known even on our side of the fence, whom I knew I could trust.

The alien specimens were humanoid, shorter on average than us, but stronger. They were a lot more knowledgeable and intelligent, but also inconsiderate, prone to violence, greedy, temperamental and mean. There were males and females, and even a selection of people of different races as we have here. It was almost as if they were extras from some badly written movie of alien invaders, where sometimes they do make the aliens look like us to save money of expensive costumes and make up. Their language was, as expected, unfamiliar, but one brain in military intelligence suggested we use our sophisticated computers to work it out. I said perhaps what we could do instead is point to something and ask them to name it.

After some months and a lot of hard work we managed to learn some of their language, and found in fact that like us, they were a world of different nations, cultures and languages, larger than ours, with more powerful gravity, with land and oceans, ice fields, mountains, plains and forests. But now it was also dying.

The aliens told us they had spent ages exploiting their planet just as we have done, and soon enough some people began to realise that some of what they had been doing had gone too far. Like us, they also had experts who spoke of global warming and greenhouse gases, blaming climate change on many things, some right, some wrong. What they had found, was that their planet was heating up, but what they had not realised, was that this was a natural occurrence which had taken place before, and was going to happen anyway. They, like we were beginning to do now, even had famous people and world leaders heading up causes and making documentaries against pollution and such, and speaking out in favour of recycling and against waste, which I now realise is fine, but then they started going off on tangents and blaming things that were natural and had been going on for ages for the problems they were having.

After we had gotten much information from these aliens, on many things about them, I decided to have a one to one conversation with their commander. He was a very tall, dark skinned, younger man than myself, leader now of only eight other aliens, since his second in command was the one killed by our sniper.

" Why did your man kill the general in charge that day, Colonel ? " I asked. The aliens even had ranks and uniforms comparable to ours.

" Because, General, he thought your man was going to harm us. The way in which he approached is interpreted where we come from as aggressive. We now know that was not his intention, but unlike you, we can’t read peoples’ minds. "

I laughed at that one. " Where do you get the idea we can read minds ? I wish we could. Sure would solve a lot of crime that way. You’re the advanced race. "

" Oh, we sure are now, aren’t we, General ? A polluted, warring, dying planet, ravaged by waste and greed. Sure, it may be some time yet, but it has already taken us a hundred years at many times the speed of light to get here, and I have no idea what we will find if we ever get back. All my family is dead by now, so may be I don’t want to go back. "

By this he meant his relatives. Most of the aliens were not married nor had children, but there was one married couple aboard. The aliens told us the authorities thought it better to choose the crew on those bases for this mission. They told us this was the first of many attempts in all directions to find viable planets to colonise. They had only intended on locating empty ones, but I guess when one aims a rocket at a piece of space hundreds of light years away, they cannot expect too much accuracy.

" You know, " I said, " Our scientists have always told us that travel at more than the speed of light is impossible. "

" Perhaps you ought to get yourselves some new scientists. " The colonel said.

" Well, those that first came up with that theory are now long dead. But by all means, do explain it to us. "

In fact, the colonel not only explained how they could travel at faster than light speed, but spoke for hours on every other advance they had made over the past 100 years or so before they sent him and his crew off. They had known for some time that things were getting bad, and had accelerated their learning and technology in a desperate bid to get out of the mess they had gotten in. As noted, some of what was wrong with their planet was a natural occurrence, but a lot of it was indeed due to how they had unnecessarily abused not only their resources, but their own people in their search for comfort and convenience for a select few. Now, or at least 100 years ago, when they had taken off, the planet they had come from was a smoking pile of rubble in many places, with whole cities just left to rot and decay, and wars raged over the surface and underneath, for any number of pointless reasons.

Now, don’t get me wrong, as a general, I’m all for war, but not war just for the sake of war - that’s just plain stupid. Of course, it had gotten to the point on this planet that people had forgotten which wars had been fought for what. It never ceases to amaze me also, that as poor as a country is, and however much their people are starving, even here, they can still have enough cash to waste on ways to kill their enemy.

In the process of time we repaired their spaceship, and our illustrious leader had decided it was fitting for us to send the aliens back with samples of what our world had to offer, while we kept some of the stuff from their ship which could be of use to us. We - that is - he, the glorious ruler of the free world - deemed in his infinite and munificent wisdom that scientists should be sent along to help ( or hinder the alien planet - I of course had the suspicion that they might only end up serving as a snack for the aliens on the way home ).

Naturally, we military personnel were opposed to the idea, since we really didn’t know what kind of monsters these aliens were, and whether or not we were simply opening ourselves up for invasion by an advanced civilisation, even if they were a hundred years away. In all those movies you see about the little kids meeting some cute alien and hiding it from adults and the government, I could recall ten more about massive intergalactic invasions and our feeble resistance to such force.

But the idealists won out, and as a number of spotty young PhDs proudly strapped themselves into the cryogenic chambers vacated by the four aliens willing to remain with us, I recall thinking that some of them could have done with girlfriends and lives - rather than being conned into this political sideshow.

So off they went, and that is really how it happened, even if one infamous and controversial movie producer wants to slant it due to his xenophobic philosophy. I guess though, that is what fuels box office success. I told him where he could stick the money he wanted to offer me for an insiders’ view into how it really went down, since I knew he would slant it anyway. Of course, now it’s been made and looks to be one of the highest grossing ever, I do feel a bit of a dill for turning it down.

Like I said, twenty years ago, and now they have been gone for the past nineteen and not a word since. I figure they’ve eaten our scientists and are coming back later for pudding, but the experts believe we will not live to see their return. Feeling nostalgic, I was looking the other day at photographs of the strange writing on the side of the ship they landed in, with unusual lettering, which read : N A S A

Whatever do you think that could mean ?

The above story was written in 1993 for the Western Districts ( Auckland ) Short Story Competition, open to writers all over the Country,, and based on a previous idea I had. To my knowledge this particular story is mine, but there may have been similar ones done in the past. Although I wrote this, and do watch the odd science fiction alien type movie, I do not really endorse the idea of alien beings coming to earth from far away planets. I do believe things like this occur, as my own Grandfather and other relatives, friends and neighbours have seen what they have described as UFO's in the past, but as to their exact nature, I am honestly not sure. The inclusion of this story is therefore simply to be seen as a little fun if nothing else, and is not a commentary on any beliefs I personally may or may not have.

This relates also that that old idea of ghosts and all those other sorts of legends we sometimes fall prey to. I believe there are certain things in this world of ours, and perhaps even beyond, that we cannot as yet explain, as noted, There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy ( Hamlet, Act One, Scene Five, Line 166 - William Shakespeare ) and although I do believe people have also seen ghosts, I do not believe they are the actual spirits of people that have passed away whom the person who sees them once knew, but may be some other kind of manifestation. I have never seen what could ever be counted as a UFO, and I do not believe I have ever encountered a ghost, or at least one that is obvious but I will admit to having witnessed the odd freaky thing in the past. I think such things though are more likely to occur to those who dabble in things none of us ought to.

Looking at Shakespeare again, we can also say, O Brave New World, that has such people in it ( Tempest, Act Five, Scene I )

A True Story, by Christopher Brent Lilly

Tuesday, 16^th of August, 1988, about 9pm, Central Christchurch.

I had just gone into town to pick my three sisters and my future brother in law up from the Teens Group at our Church. I was driving my yellow and green 1957 Hillman Humber 80, which I had bought just a few months before, as my first ever car. I’ve had another twelve cars since then.

We headed up a small side street called Bedford Row, which runs between Manchester and Madras Streets, and stopped at the corner of Madras, to turn left, which is all we can do even to this day, since it is one way, heading North. A large block of traffic sped past from the lights at Lichfield Street, and thinking it to be all clear, I accelerated into the one way system.

I am not sure even now after twenty five years how it happened, or what exactly did happen, but I remember feeling a slight bump, and hearing a bit of a sound, but not detecting anything significant, I continued.

All of a sudden, a huge, bearded figure on a motorbike reared up on my right hand side, yelling at me to stop. I figured I must have either cut him off, not being that experienced a driver, or even slightly hit him as I entered the street. Now, believe me, he looked terrifying, and to tell you the truth, simply because of his menacing appearance, I didn’t really feel like stopping to debate with him the merits of defensive driving. Yes, I acknowledge I was at fault, but I thought, well, obviously he isn’t hurt or anything, so why don’t I just continue ?

So I went faster, but the guy, or should I say, grizzly bear, was insistent, and he started yelling and swearing at me to stop. I didn’t want to, so I kept going, but what do you know, even the notorious traffic lights of central Christchurch decided to conspire against me. If you know our humble town, you will be aware that Madras Street meets Hereford Street at Latimer Square, right by St. Johns, were my parents were married in 165, and what was then the Samoan Church, but is now gone. As I stopped at these lights, so did the bikie, and to my trepidation, he got off his bike, and thundered towards my car.

Now I would do things a lot different today, being old and grey and wise at 45, but back then, as a smaller, slightly skinnier twenty year old, common sense does not exactly run in one’s veins. This apparent Viking of a man walked over, and it sounded like he said,

" Hey, I just want to talk to you. "

Now, maybe my hearing wasn’t all that good in those days, as those of us now older think of much younger people has having selective deafness, and maybe what I heard at that exact time was

" Hey, I just want to eat you. "

Who knows ? But instead of waiting there, just to hear what this gentleman had to say, I decided to floor it, just as the lights went green again, and instantly reckoned on making it to the Police Building at the corner of Hereford Street and Cambridge Terrace, about half a mile from where we were at Latimer Square. As I did so, the guy banged his hand down on the windscreen, enough to leave finger marks there, and at that very instant I knew that any chance to reason with him was now gone.

Needless to say, he tore off after us, and for about fifteen seconds or what seemed like fifteen hours, at high speed west along Hereford street, here’s us motoring along for safety, very frightened, and next to us, the guy on the motorbike, kicking my driver side door, growling and swearing and threatening. Sounds like a Political Party Conference.

And strike me hooray, if the lights on Colombo Street right by the Bank of New Zealand building didn’t go red as well. Now I may have been " young person deaf ", but I wasn’t, and have never been, colour blind, nor for that matter was I of what may nowadays be termed the Jackass variety, where I might think of going full speed through a red light to avoid my fate. From a distance, if one outside had followed all the action, the whole thing must have looked like a French Farce, with us racing for our lives, but still stopping for red lights, as if that meant some sort of truce with the Bikie from Hell.

The answer to that, as some of my Irish ancestors might have framed it, would be , " Ni hea in aon chor " , in other words, not very really likely.

I slam on the brakes for the red light. My car stalls. My oldest sister gets out to run into Cathedral Square to our right to the Police Kiosk, her then boyfriend and future husband follows her to bring her back, but not before glaring at the guy, wishing to have a go at him, but having more concern for her.

The huge man gets off his chopper, walks over to the driver side door, and while I try to offer some sort of apology or explanation, he grips the window, and pulls it down from the out side. Not surprising, with this then thirty one year old rust bucket, which I could start using a letter opener.

He draws his fist back, smacks me once in the mouth, gets on his bike, and off he goes. Everyone gets back in the car, and we head home. At the time I felt a cross between being wronged, and yet also may be getting what I deserved, or even coming off lightly. Road rage before we even had a name for it.

As we headed home, my brother in law suggested he may still be lurking anywhere, so we took a roundabout route. I realise now he made his point, and left it at that. For years to come we would talk and joke about that night, wondering where the guy is now, or whether he would come after us again, not that we exactly saw the funny side at the time. We had many other adventures in town involving other people, even before that night, when some guy once tried to mug me, but got nothing, and since then, with a bit of trouble, but nothing like that night.

Nowadays, if I am in the wrong I would sort it out properly, but should any guy think he could hit me like that man did, he would get the shock of his life. I try to avoid trouble in any case, because it can be a dangerous world out there, and this is what I know, since this is what happened to me.

As we headed home, my brother in law suggested he may still be lurking anywhere, so we took a roundabout route. I realise now he made his point, and left it at that. For years to come we would talk and joke about that night, wondering where the guy is now, or whether he would come after us again, not that we exactly saw the funny side at the time. We had many other adventures in town involving other people, even before that night, when some guy once tried to mug me, but got nothing, and since then, with a bit of trouble, but nothing like that night.

Nowadays, if I am in the wrong I would sort it out properly, but should any guy think he could hit me like that man did, he would get the shock of his life. I try to avoid trouble in any case, because it can be a dangerous world out there, and this is what I know, since this is what happened to me.

These works above were invented by me some years ago, but may contain information unintentionally from other sources, as well as images from other sources. Some of the illustrations have been found on Wikipedia ( Copyright 2013, the Wikimedia Foundation), which is a good source of information and images. Other images were downloaded and may also have been altered from other sources, as acknowledged at the place of the image. Part of this is also my own discovery, but may also independently have been found by others.

Any quote or part of this material which seems to belong to any other author should be treated as such, and I claim no ownership of anything I did not myself invent or discover.