Manchester 2016.
It had all started with the news six weeks ago.
Something was coming. It was under intelligent control. It had manoeuvred. It had decelerated as it got closer. A few days later, it moved into a stationary position over the planet. It was not orbiting, it just hung there; seemingly ignoring physical laws, it maintained an exact position relative to the centre of mass of the Earth.
It was huge. At night humanity could see it hanging up there. It was shaped like a huge teardrop. The scientists said the drive systems, whatever they might be, were at the narrow almost pointed end. The huge bulbous fore section seemingly housing living quarters.
And it had now hung there, unmoving, for almost a month and a half.
There had been no communication. The ship gave off plenty of electromagnetics, but the best minds had been unable to decipher the patterns within the signals. The best guess was this was internal chatter on the ship, perhaps some kind of wi-fi, the visitors chatting amongst themselves. But nothing had been broadcast to the residents of earth.
A week ago, NASA had managed to get a ship up there with the aid of the Russians and the Chinese. The capsule had moved close to the ship and the pictures had been beamed around the globe. No windows. No hatches. The hull appeared to be made up of deeply pitted and eroded irregular panels. This, scientist said, indicated the race may have travelled here below the speed of light. From its size it was guessed to be a generation ship of some kind. Taking tens, hundreds or perhaps even thousands of years to reach the Earth.
The astronauts had tried everything to attract their attention, but after two days of futile gestures, they had had to dock with the ISS before they ran out of air and supplies.
When the ship had first arrived, there was panic. Some people evacuated the cities. But as time wore on and nothing happened. Gradually life returned to a semblance of order. People went back to work, and life resumed. But always with one eye cast upwards.
Hosted and narrated by:
Jedellion
Started 05/19/16.
Scenes played: 4
License: Host License
