The Prometheus Effect by Jonathan Davison Page B

the sharp window frame such was the intensity of his colleagues interest. It did little to aid his bruised ribs from the brutal car crash the day before. The public address was suddenly loud and clear, there was no difficulty in hearing every word spoken by a mature male with a slight Black Country accent.
     
    Attention – you must remain inside until instructed to do so. Failure to do so will result in the use of lethal force. Further information will be broadcast imminently. Do not panic, stay in your homes or workplaces. This is for your own safety, be patient and wait for further instruction.
     
    Joshua looked down at the heavily armed troops which lined the vehicles as they returned the desperate glances of the many people who clambered to hang out of windows all the way along the street.
     
    “ What's going on?” He heard one man bellow from across the street in an adjacent block. He yelled loudly enough to be clearly heard by the troops who looked over to him. Joshua noted their body language, a tell-tale shrug of shoulders from one of them gave him more of an insight than he had managed to gather from the previous twenty four hours. The troops were clearly as much in the dark as everyone else.
     
    The convoy passed and the same message rang out eventually fading into unintelligible noise once again as it turned off the street. The office's occupants moved away from the window back to their easy chairs in contemplative silence.
     
    “ Well, at least we know one thing. No one's leaving this building now, they're not fucking around anymore.” Said Mohammed Bashir, an I.T. Support guy from one of the dingy back offices.
     
    “ Whatever is going on, whoever is in charge has the whole population shitting themselves, I mean, is this some kind of coup?” Asked Harry Lepond, a bearded cleaner whose wisdom defied his lowly position.
     
    “ I don't think so. Anyway, look at the damn sky. Whatever this is, this isn’t some petty revolution. This is global.” Sarah Palmer added as she slumped down forlornly. Bashir was excitable, it was not often he got to rub shoulders with the rest of the staff.
     
    “ The message seemed to imply that the army's guns weren’t the only thing that could be a threat to us if we went outside. For the army to be instructed to use lethal force, there must be some serious shit going on. Maybe we are all gonna die and the government just don’t have the heart to tell us? Maybe there’s some big-ass asteroid on its way down?” Bashir did nothing to aid morale.
     
    “ If that were the case then why tell us anything?” Sarah replied wisely.
     
    “ Aliens.” A voice came from across the room.
     
    “ Aliens, it's got to be.” Michael Sprake was a young intern, to this point he had hardly made a squeak. Joshua chuckled to himself suddenly reminiscing about his unusual recent research.
     
    “ Well I think we should defer to the wisdom of the powers that be for the time being. They are making sense, the streets are dangerous for anyone right now. Let's sit tight and wait for this next broadcast. Right now I'm more worried about more immediate problems like when we are going to run out of food. I guess at least we have power and water still.” Sarah reminded them all that it could be far worse.
     
    Joshua nodded in agreement, their situation was not uncomfortable and in some ways, the no nonsense approach of the army comforted him. Their message could not be misconstrued, you would have to be insane to challenge them by walking the streets. At least that might bring an end to the looting and general lawlessness and allow the staff of The Messenger to sleep more soundly in their makeshift beds. Until then, all eyes were glued to the screens awaiting the next message. The last time this many people gathered around their television sets with baited breath was 1968 and Man was perilously close to settling down on the moon for the first time. Now that perceived danger was a