The Prometheus Effect (16 page)

As Joshua's turn eventually came at a quarter past three in the afternoon, Sarah squeezed his hand tightly and offered a 'good luck'. He did not feel like it was required, after all, he was pretty sure in himself that he was all human and defying any possible mistake or clerical error, he would be on his way home by nightfall.

“
Remember, if they ask you whether you believe in aliens, for God sake say yes!” Sarah japed as she was thrust in the opposite direction clutching her piece of paper. Joshua laughed at her consistency, what would it take for her to come round to the idea that this was all very real.

“
Fill out every section. Don't dawdle. When you're done, hand your form to the Census officer and follow your escort to the holding area.” The beefy uniformed soldier barked his orders dispassionately. Joshua believed that he was probably very bored of saying the same thing over and over again.

Joshua climbed the steps to the cabin and entered. There were a dozen cubicles, much like in a polling office, there was a pen attached by a chain in each one and a narrow shelf on which to lean on. The other people in the booths were very quiet, apart from the odd cough, no one spoke, this was one examination they dare not take lightly. Joshua scanned the document. It began by asking the usual details, his name, date of birth and his 16 digit PIN which in the trauma of the last few days he had not used and thus struggled to recall. There were a series of medical questions, gender and ethnicity, the usual stuff. It was then Joshua saw the next dozen pages filled with multiple choice questions and he realised that this was no brief survey but a complex form intended to weed out character flaws, personality types and undesirable traits. Some of the questions seemed to have little relevance to anything. Some were 'moral dilemmas' designed in such a way that there did not seem to be a correct answer and the subject was forced to mark down something that did not sit right through pure lack of choice. The one question which immediately drew Joshua's attention was regarding the '
previous experience of any encounter either directly or indirectly that could be attributable to an alien presence
'. Joshua’s pen hovered over the tick box. For some reason, Sarah's words stuck in his head. He supposed that by meeting with Jimmy Stock, he had possibly had some connection with a potential alien incident. If the purpose of the survey was to identify alien infiltrators, did he want to be telling the authorities that he had any, even if it was the most intangible, 'alien connection'? Joshua brought the nib of the pen down and made his mark. The truth. That is what Joshua stood for. If lying was the only way to beat the test then the test was flawed. Given the situation, Joshua felt it only right to be as unambiguous as possible and confess to his dealings with Jimmy. In a short summary on a dotted line, he intimated that he had met an 'abductee' whilst researching the subject. It could not be more clear that he was being transparent. Anyway, what had he to fear, he was not alien, he was born in Banbury Hospital, there were photo's to prove it!

Joshua completed the test and he nervously handed it to the soldier who immediately handed it to another who grunted an acknowledgement and then escorted Joshua out and around the rear of the building. Entering a large 'pen', a roped area where several hundred others stood awaiting the next phase of the censure, Joshua looked out for Sarah who in turn had kept an eye out for him. They smiled at each other in relief.

“
Wasn't as bad as I expected.” She said calmly.

“
No, I guess not. What was the point?” He replied sharing the same ambivalence for the examination.

There was a commotion as a small party of soldiers made their way through the crowd. There was immediately something ominous about the way they marched forth with purpose.

“
Oh God, don't tell me someone's failed it.” Sarah said, her voice still jovial but tinged with a sense of incredulous apprehension. Joshua did not reply but watched as a number of individuals were plucked from the throng and marched away forcefully, their vehement protests ignored. The soldiers fanned out amongst the people and a couple walked in the journalists direction. Joshua's heart skipped a beat as for a fleeting moment he thought he saw one of the armed men look at him but his relief was short lived. It was with equal horror that he then realised that he was not their target, but Sarah.

Joshua grasped her hand as he realised that his friend was to be taken from him.

“
Jesus! No, don't be stupid, this is wrong!” He called out as the soldiers tore her grasp away from his. She looked back in terror and confusion as she was pulled away cruelly and with little respect. Her face was one of pure quizzical amazement and Joshua chased her as she was frogmarched to the pens limits.

“
This is a mistake, I know her, I can vouch for her!” Joshua continued as the soldiers fended him off with their outstretched hands.

“
If you vouch for her then you're obviously one of them too. Either shut up or you'll be fucking next.” One of the soldiers said with more than a hint of spite. Joshua halted in his tracks, an action that he would come to mull over and regret. The sight of Sarah being led away and pushed into the rear of an army truck was one he found difficult to forget.
He should have fought harder to stop it from happening,
he thought.

Another hour of misery ensued as Joshua sat on the asphalt road waiting for something to happen. Other people around him offered their comfort. Members of the office staff joined him and too were amazed and distressed at losing their friend in this way. It was clear that they had somehow passed the examination, but for some reason Sarah had not. As the darkness fell, more soldiers once again lined the people up and another queue commenced, this time in order to receive their 'Citizen chip' as it became known. One by one, their limbs were held tightly and a small device punctured their skin, implanting a tiny device deep into the dermis of the upper arm. With this chip, not only did Joshua gain his freedom but in another sense it was also taken away with the same momentary sharp, stabbing pain.

Wandering solemnly back to the office to find a car, he could only think of what horrors Sarah was being subjected to and for what benefit? It was always clear from the start that Sarah Palmer was a sceptic, she refused to accept the fact that the alien invasion was a reality. Joshua cringed as he allowed himself to analyse every word that had passed her lips in the previous weeks and attempted to see it from both angles. Could Sarah have really been one of these alien stooges, after all, she never accepted that the whole affair was in any way real? Had Joshua been duped by her persuasive attitude? He had to admit that her argument had influenced him in the difficult days and allowed him to become more critical of the facts as they were presented. As Joshua looked up to the dark, maroon overcast night sky, he swore that he would get to the bottom of this and if he was indeed right and a tragic mistake had been made, then he would do all in his power to rectify it and prove Sarah's innocence.

CHAPTER TWENTY

All in all, it took nearly two full weeks for the 'Census' period to come to its natural end. In that time, it could not be calculated how many men, women and children had succumbed to starvation, poor medical care or the cold as winter drew closer. Hospitals soon ran out of medication and staff shortages meant that the seriously ill patients never stood a chance. The elderly suffered the most, retirement homes could not function with so few staff and so little food. Questioning the wisdom of the government became the main topic of serious comment countrywide as the weak paid the ultimate price for the policy of containment.

Great Britain was on its knees, its infrastructure completely derailed. Desperately trying to regain some kind of normality, businesses struggled to resume their daily function without sufficient fuel, stock and labour. Resentment naturally grew and hearts were hardened at what appeared to be the governments unerring will to control every aspect of telecommunications and the media. Over the course of the fortnight, the state run television channel and radio began to air light entertainment shows which were more often than not, repeats although in the face of such hardship, it seemed a token gesture to appease the enraged population. Its banality was yet another reason for contempt at the efforts by the country's leaders.

News regarding the alien attack was still poorly presented and vague. It was reiterated that it was in the public’s interest that containment of the threat could only be sustained through strict monitoring and censoring of communications. Without the internet and telephone networks, it seemed impossible to address the situation of food shortages as haulage vehicles stood still and silent. In the small towns and villages, the people fared better. Farmers could sell their wares locally and small markets were established. In many ways in those cases, it was a return to the 'olden' days and a stab in the heart for the supermarkets and shopping malls which sat idle and empty.

Freedom of movement was poor as military checkpoints sprouted on major highways. A proliferation of vehicles on the roads lasted only a few days before the fuel supplies dried up. Newly 'chipped' and free to travel, families reunited or began the search for lost loved ones. Those with any sense or forethought sought food and supplies as it was clear that the coming months would bring only more toil and hunger. Warehouses were easy targets for scavengers, violence was rife as the stretched police and military support found it impossible to contain the spread of 'food theft'. It was clear that life, for the time being, would not return to the normality that the government suggested. Without sufficient news information, international affairs were simply a mystery, imports and exports were nonexistent and companies battled to trade without banking services or employees who were wary of working on the promise of payment which was unlikely to materialise.

Sensing the need to appease the populace and quell the disorder, the powers that be took the unprecedented step of announcing a forthcoming television documentary that would hopefully go some way to clarifying the country's opinions concerning their belligerent but seemingly aloof alien enemies. The anticipation of the event was enough to feed the need for informative fulfilment for a number of days as the program became the hot topic amongst communities in turmoil.

After the period of Census had officially ended, it was promised that communication networks would once again come back online beginning with the telephone land lines, followed by the mobile phones in the coming days. On the 5
^th
December 2020, British Telecom were finally given the go ahead to restart their service. Not only did this serve to kick start the country in terms of business but the system was soon overloaded with desperate relatives calling their loved ones.

Joshua had returned home in Oxford to be greeted by the smell of rotten food waste emanating from the kitchen bin. His home, filled with cardboard boxes pre-empting his move to London was strangely cold and uninviting. The office had become his new home and at least there he had the company of likeminded people. Now he was very much alone in his thoughts and more than ever lived his life, like many others through the ubiquitous state broadcasts. When the telephone network resumed its functionality Joshua could contact his employers to find out what the situation was with resuming work; he busied himself preparing to move as planned. He had not yet found a property in London but was planning to rent until something suitable turned up. He had hoped that by then he would have showed his worth and doubled his salary anyway.

Finally achieving some meaningful contact with his line manager on the morning of the 6
^th
of December, Joshua spoke hurriedly to inform his boss of some of the previous week's events. At any time, the line could be lost and he gabbled somewhat as he nervously trembled whilst explaining Sarah's arrest. Joshua agreed to return to London the next day, he had just enough fuel in the company car and he decided to take the risk of not being able to return the following night if he could not fill up. The empty house was draining his spirit and he knew it.
Better to be in the heart of things in the capital
, he thought.

That evening, the long awaited television event, the most profound screening in small screen history was played out to a captivated audience of over sixty million people. Joshua sat in his chilly living room to watch. Fuel and energy saving was a big initiative from the government at the present time and Joshua did his part by wearing three pullovers and multiple pieces of underwear in order to combat the cold. The documentary was well advertised, and from the moment it began, Joshua could tell that it was not some hurriedly put together journalistic effort but a precisely pieced together film that had been sweated over for some time. The first prominent point that caught Joshua's eye was that finally, after weeks of anonymity, a familiar voice was used to present the programme. Richard Kettley, the eminent television journalist and political analyst was used for a carefully worded and highly stylised narrative. Viewing like a classic episode of Panorama from the nineties, it began with historical shots of 'alien' sightings and 'UFO's' from the past fifty years. The film makers revelled in begging the question, were these real all along?
All very captivating but nothing new here
, thought Joshua as it seemed to mirror his own previous research in a number of ways. What the public really wanted to see was something current and in due course, the film makers gave them exactly what they wanted.