Decisive Action (short story)

Published in 2022 in Kaleidoscope, Decisive Action might just be the most cynical thing I've ever written, and that's saying a lot. Aliens invade, but we still gotta go to work and forget about uniting in the face of an existential threat. Be sure to stock up on shotguns and ammo so you can defend yourself against the alien death beam.

 

Decisive Action

By James L. Steele

Nancy brought her hand down on the alarm clock by her bed and smacked the snooze button. Six minutes later it whined again in progressively louder squeals. She switched the alarm off and rolled out of bed.

The middle-aged woman absently ran her fingers through her hair while she dressed. She then walked through her tiny city apartment to the living room. Still straightening her hair, she clicked the power button on the TV remote and walked to the kitchen. The morning news served as background noise while she woke up and poured a bowl of cereal.

“...is still a developing story but we are receiving confirmation from around the world and at this point, it seems very likely not to be a hoax.”

“Michael Trent, reporting from our bureau in Washington, thanks. Again, for those of you just joining us on this Thursday morning, we’re live covering a breaking story that is sure to be a shock to some viewers. Reports of alien spacecraft in high orbit all over the planet have been pouring in since two a.m. Central Standard Time.”

The screen cut to a view from the International Space Station. It clearly showed about two hundred glossy black vessels in orbit around the tiny slice of planet Earth visible in this field of view. Hundreds of equilateral triangles about a mile long, almost depthless. No windows, no doors, no obvious cockpit, no room for a pilot. The word “LIVE” was in the top left corner of the screen.

“What you are seeing is video we received from overseas. It hasn’t been authenticated yet and leaders have not commented on it, but there are plenty more videos just like it online. And I just received word that our cameras are live in the United Nations building in New York where leaders are meeting—some of them via the internet—to discuss what is happening and what should be done about it.”

Nancy was standing in the living room, staring at the TV, bowl of cereal cradled in both hands. She blinked sixteen times while the anchor announced the most world-shattering event in an undramatic monotone.

The screen cut to a camera view inside the United Nations. The vast chamber was mostly empty, but some delegates were in their seats. Nancy picked up her cell phone and called work. Her boss answered on the first ring.

“Thank you for calling—”

“Jeff! It’s Nancy! Have you seen the news?!”

“Nancy, hi, you want to call off don’t you?”

“Well, there’s alien ships...”

“People still need to eat, and you need to cook for them. I expect you here on time.”

“But... This is huge! It means—”

“It means what?”

Nancy couldn’t think of a good answer.

“Nothing’s happening,” Jeff continued. “They haven’t vaporized the oceans or abducted the children. It’s probably a hoax. Kitchen, Nancy, nine a.m., as scheduled.”

“Yeah.” She hung up and scarfed her cereal down while the U.N. delegates debated live. The delegate from China wasn’t there in person. He attended the meeting remotely. His image appeared on the screen behind the podium...

#

He spoke some words in Chinese. Lisa Harting, the U.S. ambassador, waited for her translator to convert his words.

“The people are reporting more than one hundred vessels in high orbit, twice as many as are over any other region on the planet. Radar has confirmed this. India only has two over its borders. Russia, a country twice as large as China, has only twenty. They seem to be situating themselves over the landmasses with the highest population density. We therefore seek authority to protect our people by launching a nuclear strike at the vessels above China’s borders.”

Lisa rolled her eyes and raised an objection.

“I disagree with the Chinese ambassador. There is still no evidence to prove this is not a hoax created by an aggressive nation. This could be used as an opportunity to launch nuclear weapons at the United States.”

Shortly after the translators finished, Japan and South Korea joined her objections. Moments later, representatives from Russia and India shared their concern. They elaborated, saying if another nation decided to use this opportunity to attack, or allow a nuclear weapon to detonate over a critical area in a rival nation’s border, it would trigger a nuclear war between friendly and unfriendly nations alike.

The Chinese delegate reappeared on the screen and voiced his nation’s noblest intentions to protect its people from what was surely a growing threat and urged all nations to do the same.

Lisa snorted at the idea. China had been looking to expand its borders for years to gain access to more raw materials. An excuse to strike on one of its competitors was just what it was looking for. Lisa made sure it was known that any use of nuclear weapons would be considered an act of war, and the United States would retaliate with whatever force was necessary.

The nations of England, France, Russia and nineteen others joined her in this opinion. Lisa smiled. She had just prevented a nuclear war. A job well done.

#

High over Italy, a mysterious blue cone of light poured down from a single point in the sky. The clouds it passed over vaporized instantly, cutting a neat hole through them.

People standing outside the cone paused and looked up. Traffic halted and people got out of their cars to see what was happening on the horizon. The source of the light was too high to make out, but the light was definitely not normal. At the base it was about six kilometers across. It swept towards the town. The land it touched steamed, liquefied, and instantly dissolved into vapor. It cut through the center of town, leaving a gouge in the Earth eight kilometers deep and continued on.

As seen from the astronauts in the space station, Brazil’s Amazon rainforest developed deep, black slices along the lines of latitude, streaking west to east. In England, six ships began emitting this blue light and leaving claw marks on the countryside. They carved up Germany, France, Sweden, Poland, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Canada...

In the United States, fifteen vessels released cones of light and made black stripes across the land five miles deep.

Untold millions died around the globe, and much of it was caught on camera and posted online within minutes. Internet forums were aflame with activity and debate of what was going on and why. The discussions degenerated into criticism of the quality of the videos. This further degraded into personal and racial insults.

#

Nancy walked from the kitchen into the break room. Her boss was right. People were coming to the restaurant like ants to a sugar truck accident, and she had never been this exhausted.

In spite of employee demands, there was no television in the kitchen, and Jeff had threatened to snatch any cell phone he saw and throw it into the deep-fryer, so no news updates. Focus on the customer, he had said.

But every customer was watching the news on their phones, and the waitresses relayed bits of information they heard to the kitchen staff. News reports were saying death rays were coming from the ships now. Nancy had to see for herself.

She sat down at a table, taking out her cell phone. The tiny screen seemed like such an anticlimactic way to receive news this big. The anchor was a blonde woman. Nancy rolled her eyes at this network. Always blonde women with hair that framed their faces perfectly. The other side of the split screen showed a man in a stereotypical professor’s sweater.

“...us now is a professor of science at Stanford University. Mr. Vernon, what in your opinion is going on here?”

The screen widened to show only the professor as he began speaking. “I’ve heard from my colleagues that the beams of light may actually be beams of some sort of particle that converts matter into pure energy. Reports indicate the land is just vanishing under these beams to a depth of miles. My theory is the aliens are using this world’s resources to refuel, or replenish—”

The voice of the anchorwoman talked over him. “And—and, sorry, Mr. Vernon, but we also have joining us a doctor Greg Yates, professor at Utah State and an expert on theoretical life. Doctor Yates, what is your opinion of Mr. Vernon’s?”

The split screen now showed both professors side by side, Greg Yates on the left, speaking into the camera.

“Well, I’m afraid I must respectfully disagree with Mr. Vernon. I’ve had a chance to look over computer models of the ships orbiting the planet and there’s simply no room in those vessels to store the amount of material they’re removing from the planet. Clearly there must be some other purpose to their presence.”

“Ah, I thought of that,” said Mr. Vernon. “Nine years ago I published a paper outlining ways by which an advanced alien civilization could utilize a microscopic black hole for both propulsion and storage, therefore—”

“Oh, I can’t believe you’re bringing that up. I don’t even know how that made it by the editors—”

“—it is likely these aliens are in fact advanced enough to do this—”

“—if you look at the ships, they’re barely two feet high. Where’s room for the pilot—”

“—and it’s exactly what I predicted nine years ago and I am confident we’re dealing with a people as starved for resources as we are—”

“—in my opinion this is an advanced artificial intelligence. They haven’t made contact with us because they don’t know we’re here. To them we’re not real life forms—”

“—such a ridiculous piece of science fiction—”

They argued over each other for the next two minutes. Nancy couldn’t tell their voices apart. Finally the anchorwoman interrupted and the camera switched to her.

“Our thanks to Mr. Vernon and doctor Yates for helping us clear up exactly what is happening. We are now joined in the studio by distinguished professors, theoreticians and analysts as we continue our live coverage of this world-shattering event.”

Nancy turned up the volume. The camera zoomed out to encompass the studio. A dozen men and one woman sat on a couple couches facing each other.

#

“Doctor Perry,” the anchorwoman asked one man sitting on the couch. “I understand you are in favor of doctor Yate’s proposal?”

A balding, middle-aged man with thick glasses leaned forward and spoke directly to her. “That’s correct, given the size of the ships and the level of sophistication we’ve witnessed in the last few hours. I agree that this is not the work of a biological race, but an advanced artificial intelligence. These vessels could be remote controlled, or automated or—”

“I—I personally think that is outlandish science fantasy,” said someone else in the group. “An advanced species, or AI, would recognize there’s a whole planet of people living down here and their actions are hurting us.”

“One question,” said someone else. “If these really are aliens from another galaxy or something, why didn’t our telescopes or satellites or something detect them weeks ago? Months ago? They couldn’t have just appeared here, but there’s been no warning. This has to be man-made.”

The group began shouting at one another. One man struggled to be heard over the crowd. “It’s a— It’s— It’s a ploy by the Chinese or the Russians or the Iranians to get some kind of excuse to launch a nuclear attack on neighboring nations.”

They shouted over each other for a solid minute. Finally one voice rose above the others and everyone fell quiet as he spoke.

“Look, look we know these aliens are here for a reason. The question is, what?”

The room degenerated into more shouting. The anchorwoman didn’t make a move to stop them. Glancing sideways to be sure the camera was not on her, she smiled. Arguing was good for ratings. People loved this stuff.

#

The delegate from China was on the big screen again. He’d been speaking for twenty minutes and it was putting a strain on the translator to keep up.

“...days we have wasted in here, blocking all activity, meanwhile every vessel over my nation has opened fire and is tearing canyons across my country. I am sending word to the government to prepare a nuclear strike in the space over Chinese borders.”

Lisa joined twenty other nations in condemning this motion, citing the environmental impact, previous treaties banning the use of nuclear weapons both in the upper atmosphere and in space, as well as the potential damage to other countries.

The French representative put forth an attempt at communication with the aliens, drawing upon theories from all over the world as to what the aliens might understand. All that was needed was the funding to utilize the radio telescopes around the world and transmit a mix of binary code and other language frequencies directly at the vessels.

Lisa joined six other nations in blocking this measure, arguing there was not enough evidence the aliens understood binary, or used radio at all, and the idea would be a waste of time and resources.

The nations of Spain, Japan, and Russia proposed launching a shuttle to meet one of the vessels and inspect it up close. Lisa joined nine other nations in shooting this proposal down, citing the risk to the astronaut as well as the unjustifiable cost.

Another measure, proposed by Canada, involved a cooperative non-nuclear strike against the vessels. Lisa joined seventeen other nations opposing this measure, arguing it would create an opportunity for aggressive nations to attack the United States while it and its allies launched a strike against this mutual threat.

They debated like this for three days.

Lisa addressed all those in attendance, both physically and online.

“This debate has been very productive, and is a shining example of what nations cooperating can achieve. I think we can all agree that decisive action must, at this time, be taken, and we are closer than ever to a resolution.”

Everyone in the chamber applauded. The ones attending remotely also applauded. The delegates retired for the night. Lisa went to bed pleased she was doing her part to make the world a better place.

#

An astronaut on the International Space Station snapped another photograph of the Earth. More than half of the planet was covered in claw marks. The beams had penetrated so deep in places they cut through to the mantle, and volcanic eruptions spewed lava across every continent.

Australia had been divided into angular slices of bare earth. Much of Africa was a desolate cauldron of lava. Asia, North and South America, and even Antarctica were scratches of bare rock now. Most of Indonesia had broken to pieces and fallen into the sea.

On Earth, citizens of London fled at the news of an approaching beam. The vessels traveled in a more or less straight line at a constant speed once they began emitting a beam, which meant meteorologists could use satellites to predict their path and estimate a time for each city. They gave people plenty of warning, but in so many cases there was nowhere to go.

London was swept into a canyon in less than an hour. The deep trench cut off the people on either side from each other, and from the rest of the world. Trenches crisscrossed the countryside, dividing the island into new counties with no way to cross into the next. People in all nations and on all continents became stranded like this.

#

Nancy walked in from another day of work. She’d asked to call off again and again, but her boss wouldn’t let her. There were still plenty of customers to feed, their city hadn’t been hit yet, and they were busier than ever.

She was carrying a large package, and she set it down on the couch and opened it. She had splurged after work today and bought a shotgun from the store. Now she was ready to defend herself if the aliens came anywhere near her. Nancy turned on the TV and began loading the gun.

The anchorman on screen reporting from New York City looked perfect and handsome on camera, in spite of two ships carving up New York State. So far, the City had been spared.

“...controversy that continues to plague congress has reached as high as members of the United Nations. Our very own Washington correspondent, Anton Flinsh, has the story. Anton?”

A man’s voice talked over stock footage of Capitol Hill backlit by the setting sun.

“The allegations are severe...”

Nancy listened to the report that outlined dozens of measures introduced to congress through the voters themselves. Plans that cleared the use of nuclear weapons in spite of U.N. decrees. Plans that allowed for air strikes over American soil using non-nuclear weapons. Plans that would grant the aviation industry funds, fuel, and permission to fly people to safety.

“But these measures were blocked weeks ago,” said the reporter. “The United States claims it is trying to prevent an opportunity for a terrorist strike against its citizens, but leaked documents tell a different story.”

Memos written by various lobbyists, corporate entities, and politicians on Capitol Hill showed substantial funds being transferred to elected officials in the government and the United Nations. In return, the politicians promised to block all attempts to stop the destruction, so when the proverbial dust settled, the politicians could enact measures for rebuilding and infrastructure that favored these corporations.

“This means exclusive contracts for roads, bridges, and banks. Some companies see this as an opportunity to be the last bank, or the last construction giant, or the last wireless carrier left on the planet, and they are allegedly manipulating policy to extend the destruction so this end can be realized.”

The story concluded. The feed now switched to live coverage of the U.N. debates. The only common ground they had was stating that something must be done, and it was up to them to do it. This was met with much applause.

Coverage switched to congress. Another ballot to mobilize the air force over American soil against the invaders was about to be defeated. The president had given the order to do this weeks ago, but he had been removed from office, congress citing he was endangering American lives with his reckless use of executive power.

So with the vice-president at the helm, everything fell to congress to act. They’d been debating the merits of this bill for days. Nancy was about to change the channel when an emergency bulletin flashed across the screen.

The National Weather Service predicted not one but two ships with active beams were about to pass over her city within the hour. Nancy loaded the gun and stood at her window, looking out over the cityscape. She saw nothing at first, but then a few minutes later she could make out two blue cones of light on the horizon coming right for her.

Nancy looked down her apartment complex to the street. People were hopping into cars and peeling out at full speed, only to be caught in the massive traffic jam. Nancy didn’t even try; she knew beams had cut either side of them days ago, effectively boxing them inside a fifty-mile wedge of land. They were lucky utilities still worked.

Nancy stood at her window and faced the approaching beams. Ten minutes later, she could see the canyons they created in their wake. Nancy raised the shotgun and fired shell after shell up at the ship. She reloaded many times, firing into the beams, up in the air, at the ground.

As the light closed in on her, she reflected that this wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. In the movies, the audience always knew why the aliens were here, and Earth was able to fight back.

The beams cut into Nancy’s apartment building. She vanished with the building in a puff of energy. Two trenches, each eight miles wide, replaced the city.

#

Lisa had the floor. She had been waiting for this opportunity for weeks, and now that it was crunch time the U.S.A. was able to leverage its influence.

She proposed the oil producing nations agree to divert the oil from all nations to the United States for free, which would allow the U.S. to mobilize its forces uninhibited, and the aliens wouldn’t stand a chance against the might of the entire U.S. Air Force.

Every other nation in the assembly voiced objections. Lisa calmed the crowd. She wasn’t worried. She had already worked out a deal with a couple oil corporations to be the exclusive companies in charge of rebuilding the oil wells and distributing the supply. This invasion was the best thing to happen to the country, for U.S. companies would be the only industries left to do anything in the world. It was a brilliant plan. Everyone in Washington was behind it, and she had done well setting up the pieces to act it out. When this was over, the U.S. would be in a position to rebuild the world.

While the delegates argued in every language on Earth, a beam swept through the building and vaporized them.

Beams swept through Washington D.C. while the politicians defeated another bill to mobilize the air force and fight back.

From space, the entire planet was carved up into crosshatching canyons. Every continent was unrecognizable, every major city was gone, and lava covered much of the planet. The astronauts on the space station guessed there might be some survivors, but they doubted these people would last long. As for themselves, all they could do was float in space and watch, imagining someone would be able to rebuild.

They photographed and recorded the fleet of alien ships pulling out of orbit and flying off into space. Not a word. Not a sign. Not a single hint of who they were, or what they wanted, or if they even noticed what they had done.