-
The birds and a quest to save and protect Earth
A stormy night
Have you ever been to the sea front after dark?
Tonight, ominous dark clouds loomed over the open ocean. The noise of the arcades thrived with the hustle and bustle of life. Storm Fiona had been forecast, they had warned of a risk to life but who actually listens to all the warnings? Certainly not the kids running around giggling and couples walking hand in hand.
As I sat on an old bench eating chips, I wondered what had happened to the ever present sea gulls. All I can hear is people, the sea and wind are eerily silent. Should I have heeded the warnings? and be home tucked up in bed. No, surely much more interesting to look into the eye of the oncoming storm.
Weather forecasters have been wrong before; something was coming but this was not normal natural weather. As my pocket vibrated, I knew there was more to this.
“Ashley are you at the front?” Jonah’s excited voice, shouting to me.
“Yes, it’s quiet here though”
“It soon won’t be” He then hung up.
Jonah was good at sharing half a story, I sensed my evening was about to get busier.
Jonah
As the black van pulled up, I watched as the tall handsome Jonah Wells approached. He was carrying a large case; this was not just a storm. Pulling out a large device and a map, this was going to be an interesting night.
Many years ago, it had been proposed that on this night the skies would darken, and seaside towns should hide. We investigated these prophecies, few happened but if they did, they could be catastrophic. This one was world ending bringing with it long-term famine.
Jonah’s research had shown him that Storm Fiona was not just wind but was bringing birds with it, much bigger than ravens. Other towns had told of family, friends missing after the storm. Could birds take people? Are these birds? What are they?
Sitting looking out to sea, Jonah told me his plan.
For all the research this man did, I can’t help but admire him. This was big and not something that a closed-minded human would ever have imagined. The atmosphere was going to change over the next few hours bringing with it migrating birds blown of course and birds unknown to mankind.
Jonah had contacted airport control to warn them to change their flight paths. He hoped they had listened to him as anything flying across here tonight will not stay in the sky.
Hydroxyl radicals
Picking up the device I recognised it as the machine that had been sat in the corner of Jonah’s lab, doing nothing for years. Tonight, we would see it in action. The Wells Atmospheric cleansing gun, used to pump hydroxyl radicals, a natural cleansing detergent. Unknown gases were hitting us tonight we needed to fight back before they caused major harm. Working off a huge battery we now placed it a few feet from us as the black clouds gathered.
Not knowing how long we would have to wait, the casinos were closing now. A good thing as thankfully everyone was heading home, except us. Jonah put his arm around me knowing that tonight earth would be at war and few people would realise.
As you go about your daily lives, you are unaware of the dangers or the forces protecting you. Unaware that five years ago an alien race landed, and it was Jonah that saw them off. Seven years ago, earth was nearly knocked off course in a storm that would have put us in forever darkness away from the sun. Jonah fixed that too. Ever watching what might happen next, I am pleased to know this man.
2 am
Feeling a nudge, I opened my eyes to a bright light and a cold breeze that I’ve never experienced before.
“They are here.”.
Hearing the caw caw of many confused migratory birds, I watched as Jonah started his machine. The sea was now black and as the huge birds erupted from the clouds, Jonah increased the pressure. Whirling around they were a shocking sight; they were the size of whales and not from this world.
I now realised that he had his tannoy with a language converter. He had programmed it with animal. human and alien languages. Now talking he hoped the birds would understand him. As the cawing ceased, Jonah asked them what they wanted, why are they here?
The Shadox
A deep voice was then heard.
‘We are the Shadox, We want your planet; you humans are not looking after it”
“You will have to get though me first, I’m the guardian and I don’t think you are compatible with our atmosphere”.
Joshua nodded at me to increase the pressure on the machine, allowing more hydroxyl radicals to fight them.
“You can’t take it back that easily, we have your people.”
So that’s where the missing are.
“You leave the earth alone and return our people and I will turn off this machine and yours will be safe.”
As large birds were now crashing into the ocean, they had no option but withdraw.
“What have you done?”
“It’s our atmosphere, it’s not compatible with your birds”.
Things now went quiet, the booming voice stopped, and the large birds vanished. The normal migratory birds remained, thousands of them, all pulled here tonight by the Shadox.
People return to earth
I could now hear voices, people returned. Many in the wrong place but they were back on earth and safe. We learned that they had been pulled to a large muddy field with huts. There had been huge bird people that they could not understand, and they hadn’t known where they were.
Had Jonah not intervened the Shadox had been wanting to take control. The humans were of no use to them and likely wouldn’t have survived their rule. They could change the weather as they wanted and would have brought about famine as they are not keen on rain. On their planet they managed without it so earth could too.
Over the next few weeks, the police and news reporters got involved. Things that looked like dead whales had come in with the morning tide and then the missing were talking about their experience.
This is the thing with humans, we always need to know why. Many people put the reports down as delusional. Jonah and I had retreated and were not telling the nights events to anyone. We knew what really happened, Jonah was a silent hero and wanted to stay that way.
Airport control were talking to no one, but as Jonah worked for the government they had known something serious was about to happen. Lives had been saved tonight! I looked at Jonah and knew he would save many more.
Written for Write the story prompt on Writers Unite
For more see The Mystical City
Share this:
-
A pizza restaurant in time
Pizza Palace
Have you ever noticed how cathartic grating cheese can be? The action of removing cheese from the block into a much bigger mountain. At the restaurant we use a machine. No sore arm but a satisfying grumbly rumble.
I’ve worked here at the Pizza palace for six months, and if it wasn’t for my crippling debt, I wouldn’t be here. I would then not be able to tell the story of the Brazenorth restaurant. Why do people choose to go for pizza rather than a Chinese? Italian food verses Chinese verses Indian.
Tonight was the same as any other, until it wasn’t.
Quiet couples are common here, ordinary people just passing through. Tonight’s visitors were not the norm. As I stood listening to the grumble of the cheese grinder, I sensed a hush descend over the restaurant. The normal hum of customers was silenced, something was wrong.
The visitors
Opening the door to the restaurant I saw them. A man, tall, maybe 7ft, wearing a red cape which dragged along the floor and high black leather boots. With him, four men all carrying swords. They looked like they had come from the theatre, but from the stunned look on their faces, something was obviously very wrong.
As another waiter dealt with the shocked customers, some fearful at the sight of the swords. I spoke with our new guests. Not expecting a sudden history lesson and then having to take action that I’ve never had to take before.
Not recognising their language, it was another customer who worked out that they were Vikings. Able to understand old Scandinavian Norse, he interpreted that they had just walked off a Scandinavian battlefield in 900AD and appeared in 2025. Vikings in a pizza restaurant.
As Betty bought them food, free of course, Vikings would not be carrying credit cards or money. I listened to their leader, William and history professor Stephen Clark.
As the customers finished their meals we put the closed sign on the door. They were all to go straight home as not sure what forces were in play tonight, how did this happen? somehow, we needed to get these Vikings home. Thankfully they were not about to harm us, they were too confused.
900 AD
Things now got worse. As the Phillips family opened the door another Viking ran in. The street was gone; we were literally in the middle of a battlefield. A pizza restaurant in 900 AD. Inside it was 2025, the ovens and electricity were all working fine. Outside a whole different world. What has suddenly made us go back in time?
I’ve read the books and watched the films, but nothing could prepare us for this. As Stephen asked the questions it evolved that the Vikings had found a box with buttons on. They hadn’t known what it was, and a feud had started because if it. The box had been put in the charge of William who now produced it from his cloak.
This was advanced technology, maybe not even from the 21st century. Somehow this box had pulled a 21st century pizza restaurant into 900AD. This was dangerous, too much could go wrong,
So, here we are, Vikings, a history professor and a group of pizza workers. The customers were being quietly entertained but they were becoming increasingly anxious.
Things now got very weird. As a man in a suit walked out of the kitchen. Things couldn’t get any stranger. His first question was what year are we in?
Yes, another time traveller.
“Inside it is 2025 and outside 900 AD”
An explanation
I was not surprised when our new visitor produced another box. Identical to William’s.
“I am Martin Chubb, a scientist from the 24th century, these boxes were an experiment, and it has gone very wrong. We had a set of ten of them, then one night there was an incident at the lab and five went missing. It looks like they have been thrown through the time vortex, have you seen one of these boxes before tonight?”
A small boy, maybe seven, now spoke.
“Sir, err, I found this a few days ago, I didn’t think it was anything”.
He produced a third box from his pocket.
“Did you push any buttons?”
“Well yes, sorry Sir.”
“Could I please have your box?” The child passed him the box and then went back to his parents.
So, this was it. Time boxes sent back in time to other centuries. We now had three, so two are still missing. It evolved that Ben had pushed buttons while eating his dinner tonight. The Vikings had also been pushing buttons, these actions brought the two boxes together and the restaurant was hurled back to 900 AD.
A rescue
“Now I need the Vikings to go outside otherwise you will be taken to the 21st century, but please I must have your time box”. The men got up, not wanting to leave their families. They thanked us in Old Norse and left.
Martin now pushed more buttons and soon we found ourselves back where we should be. Opening the door there was the usual street, things were back as they should be. As Martin took back the boxes, he thanked us. With two more to find, I wondered where in time and space they are.
The future sounds like an interesting place. If they are experimenting with time travel in the 24th century with a simple time box, what other inventions will there be? Technology has evolved along way since 900 AD, those time boxes could be a big mistake in the wrong persons hands. Not sure how I feel about that, I certainly don’t want my timeline rubbed out by someone changing the past or future.
Martin explained that he had an idea where the missing boxes are which is how he found us. However, the technology is far from perfected hence how we ended up time travelling tonight.
We all had a story to tell, and Ben will more careful now with any small things that he finds. You don’t expect a small box with buttons to operate a time vortex!
As for me, I’m now wondering on my plan out of here. Maybe I could see if there’s any jobs at the university, Science seems interesting. I don’t want to spend my next few years grating cheese. It has been an interesting night, one that I don’t think my family are going to believe. Well, it does sound a bit of a tall story. Vikings, scientists and time boxes, yes who will believe that?
A new job
It was a few months later that the university contacted me. Stephen had spoken to a friend in the Science department about me and told him the story of the pizza restaurant. It was now that I embarked on a new life. Starting as an assistant, but I am keen. So much to learn and explore, I was grateful for this opportunity.
Funny how things work out. An incident with time boxes in the 24th century which could have meant disaster. Now here I was in a fulfilling job that I enjoyed with people who were curious to hear my story. I still wonder whether Martin found the two missing time boxes, I’m assuming that I will never know, unless I am pulled into another time vortex in the future, yes that would be interesting.
Written for Writers Unite – Write the story
for more see A fork in the road
Share this:
-
A red car and a winner
The car
Slamming the door for affect I stormed down the road. Why would he never listen? I have dreams too, just mine don’t involve losing all our money.
It’s usually houses or extravagant holidays, today it was a car. We don’t even have a drive, where does he think he’s going to park it? Sky hook?
If you are holding a raffle, Geoff is always at the front of the queue. He never wins, for all the competitions he has entered I’m sure he has spent well over £1000, but never won, not anything of any value anyway. I hate that phrase, you have to be in it to win it, yes and it might cost you a fortune.
Sitting on a wall I watch the world go by. Everyone has their struggles, some more then others. Ignoring the buzzing in my pocket, I contemplated where to go next. The children are at school. Geoff should be working but for some reason has booked leave today, and yes me, I’ve just walked out.
Sometimes it is not easy to make a point, and I think it will be a long time before Geoff realises that he has a problem. He rarely considers the consequences. Wanting to be left alone I continued to ignore him.
Have you ever noticed elderly couples walking arm in arm? I always imagined my old age to look like that, I’m not so sure now, will I kill Geoff first? To be with someone all those years and still love them, that is special.
Competitions
I think of all the houses we could have won, we live in a three-bed terraced house. Its small but we get by. The landlord has increased the rent twice, if only we had savings. Any time we do save, Geoff spends it. Sighing I think of what could be.
I hear a car horn. Why can’t people just be quiet? Then my name. I want to be alone. Looking round I see it is Geoff, but we don’t have a car. Especially not one as grand as this, it was bright red and brand new.
Walking over to him, I’m astonished,
“What’s going on?”
“I was trying to tell you, this is ours. Only cost £500, someone had to win it.”
“Where we going to park it?”
“Stop the negatives and get in.”
How is he going to learn now? And why couldn’t we have won the house not the car?
Life
Life is one long set of challenges. I look at Geoff beaming, completely oblivious to how angry I am with him. Do I have the problem here? He believes that if he keeps entering competitions all will come good. Me, I’m a realist, I know that to get things you need to put real time and effort into it, it isn’t usually just given to you. I look at the car, maybe we could sell it. Hearing those thoughts in my head, I look at happy Geoff. Maybe for now I should just enjoy the moment and see where this leads. Maybe one day we will win the house, but how broke will we be at that point? How much more do we need to lose?
Sitting in silence I look at the countryside whizzing by, where are we going? He certainly wasn’t driving us straight home. I wonder if he has thought about needing a residents permit to park this thing. It’s a bit grand for our road and it too nice to be left in a public car park.
As he makes a right turn I am now stunned.
“Okay I walked out earlier in my scruffy joggers and an old T shirt. You are now driving us to a hotel. What is happening?”
The hotel
“I knew you might not listen to me, so I planned ahead. My mum is collecting the children later and your decent clothes are in a case in the boot”.
“And the hotel, how?”
“It came with the car. It was dropped off this morning after you left, we are now going to a proper award meal. See it was worth the gamble.”
“Only cos you won.”
“And Sue, the car can stay with my mum till we are able to park it outside our house, if ever, or till I win us a better home.”
“Oh, Geoff will you ever stop?”
Luck
Some people are just born lucky. I’m not sure if we are. Will he ever win us a house? Maybe for now I should just relax and enjoy the afternoon and the car. We’ve never had a car and the children are going to love it.
To the dear elderly couples still walking arm in arm after many years, is it just a lot of acceptance? Or a lot of time and patience? How do you do it ? I was so angry at Geoff this morning, now I’m not sure what to think other then be shocked. Things like this happen to other families, not us.
As Geoff took my arm to walk into the hotel, still in my scruffy joggers I told myself to stop the stress. To take things a day at a time and today was a good day so enjoy it.
Written for Write the story prompt on Writers Unite
For more see Just one of those days
Share this:
