Three Worlds

The whole world held its breath. They knew that something was out there. The ships were orbiting in the thermosphere. Every nation came to a standstill when they were detected. No one knew what they wanted. A full two hundred space craft approximately the size of the State of Rhode Island. They were orbiting the entire circumference of the globe exactly equidistant. The two at the true poles barely moved as the others shifted variously to keep the pattern. The ships at the equator were speeding around the earth to maintain the coverage. The leaders of the world sat in a secret bunker and contemplated their next move.

"The People's Republic of China will not be intimidated!"

"The United States will, of course, take the lead in negotiations with our new friends from space."

"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has been in contact with these beings for decades. Our Supreme Leader's exalted grandfather has negotiated peace with these entities already. We have entertained many diplomatic missions from them over the years."

"The United Kingdom would like to remind you all we are not so different. Lots of planets have a north!"

Anyone who could look below the surface of these machinations could tell the aliens would be able to do as they pleased. It would be like taking fish from a pond. The human race was just swimming around down there unaware of how things truly worked in the universe.

The entire fleet held its breath. The moment had come. Their conquest of the Earth was moments away. The terrestrials did not even know which ships they were looking at were real and which were projections of the Escher beam. They only had half the ships they seemed to have. Fortunately enough for them that was twice as many as they needed. The beam worked perfectly. It did have the strange effect of creating a strange magnetic anomaly in the exosphere above the southern polar region. The scientists were concerned but the war leader would not yield the tactical advantage of the beam just because of an anomaly.

"War Leader, we must stop using the beam. It is creating instability in space. We have no idea of the long term effect we are having on everything exposed to that anomaly."

"Bah, cowards! I will not be deterred at my greatest moment of triumph."

"Please, there is no telling what could happen. It has not been thoroughly tested. Anything could happen. We cannot get any readings around or in the area of the polar region."

"It is nothing. Disregard it. Focus on the glory we will receive moments from now when we conquer this entire planet in the name of the empire. We will not shut down the beam!"

A speaker built into the ship's wall squawked.

"This is the war leader; go ahead."

'Sir, this is the chief engineer. I am sorry for running out of power. I know the beams were essential to your plan.'

"What are you talking about? The beams are firing perfectly. The effect is maintained."

'Sir, we ran out of power to the Escher device five minutes ago!'

"Hey, where did the ship at the south pole go?"

"Before we die I would like to take this opportunity to state one thing on behalf of scientists of every sentient race in the universe. Told you so!"

The Old Gods waited. If they needed to do something as common as breath then they would have held their breath. An epoch was coming to an end. The life forms in this existence had matured to a point that they had created a beam key. They were then foolish enough to use it. They always tasted better when you had to wait. Things the sizes of whales were like fleas to the truly awesome behemoths of the outer planes. There was a wall of tentacles and teeth just waiting for the gate to be fully ready. The Old Gods were not much for talk, yet they did wait for one word to come from the oldest and most grotesque among them.

"NOW!"

THE END

Bio: Ed Sullivan is an enthusiastic newcomer to getting published. He has been writing fiction for twenty five years. He has taken the leap just recently and begun submitting. He raises his daughter, works, writes, and spends time in his own strange thoughts most days.

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