Random Story :
The Void There Between
Author: Alzo David-West Cold rain was falling. A man in …
Flat
Author: Julian Miles, Staff Writer
Colonel Elton Smith arrives slightly dishevelled after navigating the crowd of spectators and making his way through milling groups of uniformed services. He heaves a sigh of relief on seeing Chief Amanda Edwards standing by the emergency fence.
“Afternoon, Chief. What’s the latest?”
“Short version: a few seconds after eleven-oh-six today, an unknown aggressor pancaked The White House.”
Elton peers over the red plastic netting into the pit, seeing pale masonry amidst the dirt and rubble far below.
“I’d heard, but didn’t believe. Thought it exaggeration.”
Amanda shakes her head.
“Unfortunately not.”
“Were there any survivors?”
She points westward.
“Everybody made it out, although three had heart attacks after an unknown aggressor teleported everyone to Theodore Roosevelt Island.”
Elton turns to face her.
“Come again?”
Amanda gives a helpless shrug.
“Everybody within the White House complex appeared there at eleven-oh-six, a few seconds short of eleven-oh-seven.”
“I can’t help but notice the specificity of your timings.”
“I’ve got a team of scientists throwing laws of physics into a virtual blender, trying come up with something that might be near to an explanation of what happened. The fact that everyone was teleported out before the collapse but didn’t reappear until after is thought to be significant. By the way: you don’t want to know the level of panic the military types are caught up in.”
Elton sighs.
“I’ve already had a whiff, expect to be intimately acquainted by midnight, and thoroughly sick of it before dawn.”
She grins.
“My sympathies. It’s bad enough I’ve already got blowhards screaming at me for chapter and verse.”
Elton nods.
“Those I can help with. Tell them to contact my department – or me, if they’re aggravatingly senior,” he grins, “or you want them taken down a peg or two.”
“Thanks.”
He looks about.
“A terrifyingly tidy surgical strike. The only real mess is where unsupported things slid into the hole.”
“You think it’s an attack?”
Elton turns full circle before replying.
“No. This is a test to see how we react. I’ll not be surprised if other major powers get similar in the coming days. I also think any intervals will not have as much bearing as some will say: if I were doing this, I’d stagger it, and not strain my pancaking effect generator or whatever it is. Come to think further: this is also a demonstration of force. On top of the precision demolition, they absolutely did not have to teleport everyone out.”
Amanda considers, then nods.
“Contact within a fortnight, then. But further strikes first. Possibly of a different type, but always remaining impossible to our understanding of science.”
“Agreed. Plus they’ll never reveal their full capabilities. Having studied us carefully they’ll know our leaders will be wanting culprits, victories, or anything that can be presented as such. A sop to reassure the public.”
She sighs.
“The media campaign is going to be something to behold.”
He chuckles.
“I’m actually looking forward to how the conspiracists and armchair experts react.”
Amanda frowns.
“That’s likely to be our only amusement for a long while to come.”
Elton scowls.
“Too true. Right, I need to find my team, so will leave you to it. Good luck.”
“To all of us.”