Author: David Barber
Across the gulfs of space, intellects bold and curious observe our world and hasten their plans against us…
Buried deep in our cold, slow cities, age after age passed unregarded and we cared nothing for the world above until fiery scouts began falling from the skies.
The Elders would have ignored this unwelcome disturbance since we were safe in our underground fastnesses, yet soon vehicles were roving the surface wastes, scratching here and there, even though those barrens hold nothing of worth. It must be us they looked for, searching for traces we left behind long ago.
One orbit passed, then another. The Elders have never hurried their deliberations, but eventually a notion emerged that we would benefit from knowing more about these intruders, and a cautious plan was suggested.
Sometimes in winter, planet-wide dust storms sweep the surface, and as chance would have it, one was circling the globe above us. We could gather intelligence about the invaders while remaining unseen.
Because our kind have never trusted one other, a representative from every city was included in this expedition. Ransacked from museums, each brought scientific instruments which might prove useful. We unsealed old tunnels, creaked open ancient doors and ventured out.
This bleak and ancient desolation was why we live underground.
A junior, from the South Polar city, said we were reminiscent of adventurers of old on a quest, but we turned our backs on her.
The nearest invader craft had been stationary for the winter season, perhaps waiting out these times of cold and dark. Under cover of the dust we crept towards it.
The oldest of us, from a city in the Northern Lowlands, assumed leadership. She announced the instrument she brought with her suggested the invader craft was lifeless, though my own sensor showed the vehicle had a heat signature, surely a sign of life.
We began to argue which of these antique devices we could trust, a debate that lasted for days, but a consensus was eventually reached that since we were so close, we should investigate further.
Close up it was obvious the vehicle was merely a crude machine, operated from elsewhere. Of course, being also blinded by the concealing dust, we explored it by touch, a ridiculous collection of primitive gadgetry on wheels instead of legs more suited to this terrain.
By their devices shall ye know them!
Safely returned to our cities, lengthy discussions began. Was the machine truly an invader? Or the survivor of shipwreck, perhaps an emissary of primitive explorers? Yet all agreed it posed no threat and there was no need to resurrect the heat rays and black gas of history.
A scholar of ancient texts later analysed the data collected by our instruments and suggested the crude vehicle came from the third planet.
Our kind are good at waiting, and we could procrastinate until the invaders grew weary and left. Then everything would be as it was.
Envoi
City after city falls silent, as if the invaders are already amongst us, wielding weapons unseen and terrible. Too late now for the last of us to guess the motives of creatures from a world seething with life who invade a wasteland.