Genesis of the Enhanced
30 October 2053
We interrupt your regular programming for this special announcement. Astronomers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have detected a spacial anomaly within the Solar System about 500 million miles away, near the orbit of Jupiter.“This is an amazing event for modern astronomy,” Dr. Erwin Franks, spokesman for the JPL tells us. “We don’t know yet what this anomaly is, but it’s bright enough to be visible through a backyard telescope and is clearly a vortex of some sort. While by no means final, many of my associates believe this may be a microscopic White Hole, since observations currently reveal the arms of material rotating outward from the center, rather than inward, like a drain. We discovered it just after midnight local time–about 3:10 a.m. Eastern time. The anomaly currently appears stable, but we are watching it closely to determine exactly what it is and how it may affect our solar system.
We will continue to follow this event and report as soon as we know anything more. I repeat, Astronomers at the ….
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Special Report! Anomaly in space proven a passage between stars! An observatory in New South Wales, Australia has reported the emergence of two objects from the spacial vortex near the orbit of Jupiter. These objects are reported as roughly eight thousand meters in length and about two thousand meters across. That makes them about five miles long and one mile across. We expect to receive images from the Clarke space telescope momentarily. Farside Base is attempting to focus its radar on the anomaly to ascertain additional details on the objects.
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This just in! Farside Base is reporting that the objects are artificial in nature and under active control. Farside reports that both objects have turned in-system and current radar analysis indicates that the vessels have set course for Earth. Meanwhile, the Clarke telescope has revealed these images of the vessels. They appear to be metallic in nature and highly reflective, but nothing is visible on their surfaces.
The President has authorized Farside Base to begin broadcasting a message of welcome to the visitors. It is reported that they will be transmitting an updated version of the information originally carried by the mid-Twentieth-Century Voyager space probes; now long lost in the depths of interstellar space.
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Farside Base reports that the interstellar vessels are traveling at a high rate of speed; proving their use of an advanced drive system that does not rely on reaction thrust. Rather than taking six months or more as a vessel from Earth might travel, the ships will arrive at the Moon no later than 1a.m. Eastern time tomorrow. Their course has been calculated and appears to be headed directly towards Farside Base. They report no reply to their radio transmission and are now attempting a theoretical ‘Universal Language’ in an effort to communicate with the ships.
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The interstellar vessels are decelerating at higher than expected rate. Scientists suggest this demonstrates either some form of inertial control or a native gravity several times Earth normal. At the current rate of deceleration, the vessels will arrive at Farside Base near 4 a.m. Eastern time. Scientists are puzzled at the ships’ lack of response to Farside’s transmissions. Most suggest that the aliens’ communications technology is too advanced and that they simply don’t know we’re sending the message. However, a small group of independent researchers suggest a more inimical purpose. This group has been ostracized more than once for their non-standard views of interstellar space and is now being ridiculed by the community as paranoid.
In other news, impromptu gatherings are forming all around the globe, preparing to welcome the visitors to Earth. In every major city around the world, crowds are gathering. In Washington D.C. more than a hundred thousand people currently occupy the mall with more coming in hourly. Current estimates say the crowd could exceed a million by the time the ships arrive at Earth. Even with the most recent rebuilding of highways and airways around the capital, traffic is at a standstill on the inbound routes. New York, Boston and even D.C. itself have established no-fly zones to reduce the risk of in-flight collisions over the cities. Other cities are following suit, but already over a hundred deaths have been reported despite mandatory anti-collision devices installed on all airborne vehicles.
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31 October 2053
Ladies and gentlement, Farside Base has fallen silent. Shortly after the two interstellar craft disappeared behind the moon, all radio communications from Farside ceased. We can only guess the reason for this sudden loss, but there has been no official report. One unconfirmed report suggests that the outage is a simple hardware failure due to unexpectedly heavy use transmitting Earth’s welcome messages to the alien ships. More as we receive it.
Meanwhile, the two ships have emerged from behind the Moon and have turned toward Earth. Calculations suggest their course aimed for the Pacific Rim, possibly Japan. Most of the scientists we have interviewed declare the ships to be too large to enter Earth’s atmosphere and that they will likely take up a parking orbit between three hundred and five thousand miles out from the surface of the planet. Due to the number of orbiting satellites, they suggest the ships will choose the more distant orbit to reduce the chance of collision. All the worlds’ governments are following the progress of these ships closely.
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Farside Base is still silent. NASA has suggested sending replacement transmitters in an unscheduled supply mission. Preparations are underway to launch the Moon shuttle immediately rather than waiting until next month. The US government has recalled all active duty personnel from leave and is recommending everyone clear the skyways for military purposes. We repeat: The US government has recalled all active duty personnel from leave and is recommending everyone clear the skyways for military purposes. Any civil craft still in the air will be grounded by remote control in four hours. Any craft not conforming to this recommendation will be forced down by whatever means necessary after this time. This is for your own safety.
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Amazing! We now have live video feeds from Tokyo, Japan and Hong Kong, China. The alien ships have entered Earth’s atmosphere and are now hovering over the two cities. Cameras have been set up on the hills outside of the cities and on boats in the bays to record this fascinating event. No longer can we call UFO reports the fantasies of crackpots and delusionals. We now have visual proof that aliens do exist and are visiting Earth. The size of the ship over Tokyo is instilling some fear in local residents, afraid the ship will fall and crush them despite the clear proof that they don’t require any visible form of support as they hover silently over the city.
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Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve lost our links to both Tokyo and Hong Kong. All signals from these two cities stopped simultaneously. We have not been able to make contact with anyone in either city and even undersea phone lines are dead; it’s as though all electrical power in and around both cities was cut off by a single switch.
The US military is now at high alert and all civilians are asked to remain at home until the end of this emergency! Repeat: All communications is cut off from Tokyo and Hong Kong. America is taking an immediate defensive stance and urging everyone not critical to US defense or infrastructure to go home and remain there until the extent of the emergency has been determined.
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This is a special announcement from the President of the United States of America. Due to the global situation involving the alien starships, the US and Russia, along with their Nato and former Warsaw Pact allies, have declared war on the vessels. Everyone is urged to remain calm and evacuate the cities. If at all possible, get a minimum of fifty miles away from any city with a population of 250,000 or more. The Federal Emergency Management Administration is setting up relay points along the interstate highways for refueling and instructions for further dispersal of the American population. All civilian refueling and recharging stations are now under Martial Law. Any station found disbursing fuel or charging vehicles without the direct authority of governmental agents will be arrested and held in contempt. National Guard units are recalled and directed to report to their nearest Armory for orders.
It is recommended that if you know anybody in rural areas, travel there immediately. Do not use air transport as any aircraft will be shot down without warning! The farther you are from any major city, the safer you will be…
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This is President Lawrence Phillip Lee. There is no need for alarm at this time. The vapor plumes you see are not alien vessels. With our global allies, we are actively attacking the alien ships with long range missiles before we are ourselves can be attacked. We fully expect the missiles to destroy the ships before they reach Europe. We have timed our attack to strike the ships while they are over the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. While we cannot ascertain the full extent of the damage from the alien ships, all communications from the regions the vessels have passed has ceased.
This does not mean that the threat is over. Continue the evacuation as directed by FEMA in an orderly manner. You have plenty of time to complete the evacuation along the eastern seaboard and your safety is assured the farther you move away from the major cities. Stay tuned to these stations for further instructions…
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This is WKCE-AM radio, Potsdam, New York. One of the giant alien ships has been sighted over New York City. Eyewitnesses report that the ship shows no sign of damage from the attack by US nuclear missiles. WKCE-AM is receiving current reports from a private Ham radio operator about twenty-five miles from New York City itself. He has set up an observation deck on the roof of his house and reports he can just see the vessel from his location. One moment please! There was an incredible burst of static on the airwaves and all normal communication with New York has ceased. Stand by, I am linking our Ham operator for direct broadcast.
”… ‘s unbelievable! Blue and green beams of light, almost glittering, seem to be darting from the ship to the ground. They are as bright as lightning but laser straight. I don’t know if you can hear me; I’m running on an emergency generator since all power has been knocked out in my neighborhood. I can’t see much, even through binoculars, but it appears the ship is attacking the city with some kind of particle weapon.
“I can see some kind of flashes near the cylinder. I can’t make it out, but it looks like the Air Force is trying to shoot the cylinder down with air-to-air missiles. If these flashes I’m seeing are explosions, the missiles are detonating nearly a mile away from the cylinder; at least, they appear to be about as far from the ship as the cylinder is wide. We can’t touch the ship! It obviously has some sort of powerful force field protecting it even from nuclear missiles.
“Wait a minute… What’s that? Hey, Ed! Look just to the left of the cylinder! Can you make it out?
“If you’re still able to hear me, someone is attacking the cylinder with beam weapon. We can’t make it out from here, but it doesn’t look like any aircraft I know. Scarlet rays are lashing out from tiny… They look disk-shaped. The beams are striking the force field and… writhing over it like one of those lightning-globe toys you see in the nostalgia shops. One… Two… No, Five different beams! The cylinder has stopped shooting at the City! It’s counterattacking! Lookit those little things move!
“It’s hit! I can see a black mark on the side of the cylinder. The battle is moving closer… Looks like about fifteen miles away right now… I think they’ll pass about ten miles south of where we stand. I can only pray one of those beams from the cylinder doesn’t hit here. Most of the time, the beams are aimed skyward, but once in a while a beam will strike ground as a disk will dodge under the cylinder.
“Another hit! Two of the disks are aiming their beams at a single point on the force field. The combined power apparently overloads the field, letting one of the beams penetrate to the skin of the cylinder! What power! Even from here I can see pieces flying from where the red beam hit. Whup! I can’t be sure, but if that green ray didn’t hit that one saucer, it didn’t miss by much. The disk is flipping end-over-end off to the side. I think its out of control! No, it’s slowing… Yes! It’s stopped spinning and is rising like you wouldn’t believe! I’ve never seen anything move that fast!
“Whoa, that was close! I think that hit only a couple blocks away. Smoke rising now, but I can see pieces falling from the sky. Whatever those green rays are, they have a punch stronger than a thousand-pound bomb, without the explosion. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the beam is some kind of kinetic-energy weapon. Maybe I was right earlier when I described it as looking like some sort of particle beam. Can’t tell what it hit from here, though.
“What’s that? … You don’t say! Listeners, Ed’s listening to reports on another frequency. The second cylinder has wiped out Atlanta, Georgia and is moving rapidly westward. He says the other ship actually looks like it’s in a hurry. It’s already out of sight of the first Ham operator and others are trying to track its movements. They expect it to hit Birmingham, Alabama in a matter of minutes!
“Yipe! A blue beam passed directly overhead! — Are we still live? Good. Everything seems to be ok. That cylinder is taking more hits now. I can see a number of marks on the near side and I can see at least two saucers working over the other side. Amazing! The red beams from the saucers never miss; not once have I seen a stray shot from the saucers.
“Uh, oh. One of the saucers just got hit by one of the blue beams. It’s surrounded by an intense, blue light, almost too bright to look at. I can see the saucer trying to move, but it seems like the beam has it trapped… I… It’s melting! I can see the edges of the disk sagging. The disk itself is glowing white-hot! I can almost feel the heat from here! Look at that, it’s dissolving! Ladies and gentlemen, one of the saucers is down!
“Look at those things go now! If you thought they were moving fast before, you wouldn’t believe them now. They remind me of houseflies escaping a fly swatter. They’re moving so fast all you see is a dark streak before they pause to fire a beam and move on again. If anything, the cylinder is getting hit even more often than it was before the fifth saucer went down. Hey! Listen! I’m going to stop talking a moment. See if you can hear what I do… Did you hear that? A heavy, thrumming sound… I’m not sure, but I think they’ve hit something critical in the cylinder. It’s not as steady in the sky, either. It seems to be wallowing around like a ship in heavy seas.
“Yes! The force field is down! Look at those little ships cut that big cylinder to pieces! Every shot is a hit and I can actually see all the way through it in one place! That alien is toast! It’s going down now… not falling, but it can’t hold itself up… it’s … sinking is the only word I can use. Slowly. Almost majestic as it sinks towards the ground. But the saucers haven’t stopped firing. Lance after lance of crimson fire pierces the skin of the leviathan. It almost looks like they’re not just trying to down it, but totally destroy it.
“I can’t see much, now. About five… ten miles away; just west of my position. I can see the saucers still shooting at the cylinder, but the cylinder itself is almost out of sight behind the trees in that direction. I can only just make out the top of it through the trees… Look at…!”
This is WKCE radio again. We’ve lost contact with the Ham radio operator outside of New York City. We witnessed a bright flash of light from that direction just as we lost his signal. We can only assume the cylinder ship has exploded. Our own Ham operator is attempting to find another station to find out what has happened. Meanwhile, reports are in that Birmingham and Nashville have both been attacked. The electrical grid is down across all of eastern North America, so anyone listening to us now is either using batteries or personal generators. We only have enough fuel for about twenty-four hours of broadcasting, so we’ll be shutting down shortly to conserve fuel in the event of further announcements from Washington.
This just in. The earthquake you just felt is apparently from the explosion of the cylinder in New York City. A rough estimate from a geology student indicates the quake was about 5.3 on the Richter Scale and compares to something along the lines of an 80 kiloton nuclear device. While we don’t know the actual power of the explosion, rest assured that the ship is probably utterly destroyed and cannot harm anyone else. Until further notice, WKCE will return to the air for five minutes on the hour, every hour. We hope to continue this routine until electricity can be restored…
