Hidden Lab
“No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by an intelligence greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.”
H.G Wells, The War Of The Worlds
I sat there, looking down through the electron microscope, the nearly animated looking form of the CI. welchii bacteria. My space-grey cellphone rung, I read the contact;
“Ogilivy Henderson” It was my astronomer friend, he had recently been busing about some sort of phenomena on the surface of Mars. I answered the phone.
“Hello” I said.
“You need to show up here immediately, without delay!” Oglivy shouted with a voice of pure excitement.
“Why?”
“Mars, an item has come!”
“Seriously? You must be joking.”
“I swear I am not lying.”
“Ok then, where shall I go?”
“Great you’ve come to your senses, you need to show up at Vikos park, near the entrance.” he said, “Oh and bring some sort of food and beverages.”
After I took my trip from my nearby biology lab to McDonalds, and then to the park. I met my friend next to the ship. It was space grey, a coned head sat atop and below the cylindrical body. We camped for hours, the sheer lateness of the night left us in a state of tired-intoxication. The bright and occasional flashes of light stopped him from the nap he desired.
The evening sun left its way to the midnight moon, which itself let way to the sun once again. Then the ship opened itself. Two bugish beings disembarked. A reporter took a photo, the flash went from the camera to the man himself. A stampede followed, I was swept into it and rushed to my car. People burst into light, each thinning the herd. My friend followed me.
On our way out we drove like maniacs.
“Where do we go?” asked Ogviliy
“The lab?” I responded
“Ok”
We rushed to the lab and boarded up the windows and doors. Here in the lab I write this for you. My friend is hushed over my shoulder, taking a nap. We have two weeks of food left. I’ve already thrown out all my bacterial samples. I think I need some water and a nap, man I wish we had some bread.