Armageddon?? Read Free

time in three days.
    “Get
word out to all our armed forces. Tell them to engage these, these things, at
every opportunity. Shoot first, hit hard and keep hitting them. Let them know
that we may go down but it won’t be without one hell of a fight.”
    “Them
Sir?”
    “Them.
Everybody. Our forces, the religious leaders who brought that message to us,
those who the message came from. I don’t care who “they” are, either they
attacked us or they betrayed us and I don’t see the difference between those
who promise us an eternity of torture or those who would hand us over to that
fate. They’re both our enemies now. And we’ll fight them. All of them.” Bush’s
voice had gained strength and he made his commitment. “We may have believed in
higher powers once, but they’ve forfeited any loyalty we may have owed them.
Secretary Gates, get the word out. We fight.”
    “Sir,
I have to warn you, this may well be committing a war crime. We haven’t had
United Nations approval for any action and without a vote in the UN, we are
committing an act of aggressive war, which is a war crime. I therefore rule
that we must hold off any action until there had been a full meeting of the
Security Council. I will also issue orders for the pilots involved in this
incident to be arrested and brought up on war crimes charges.”
    There
was a rumble of discontent around the war room. Bush heard it and that made up
his mind. He looked at the JAG officer with contempt. “Place this man under
arrest. Remove him, get rid of him. From now on, the United States will act in
its own best interests and defend itself as best it can. Any other nations who
want to join in this struggle are welcome to do so.”
    “There
might be quite a few of those Mister President.” Secretary Rice was carrying a
mass of message flimsies. “We’re getting messages from other countries right
now. First one is from Mr. George Yong-Boon Yeo, Minister of Foreign Affairs in
Singapore. Apparently a demon landed there, carrying a demand for Singapore’s
submission.”
    “What
did he do?”
    “Nothing
Sir. The demon’s demand was wrapped up in some sort of parchment and he dropped
it on landing. Littering is a serious offense in Singapore Sir, and the
Singapore police riddled the demon with bullets and then beat it to death.
Anyway, Mr. Yeo says that Singapore’s going to fight and they’d appreciate our
help.”
    “He’s
got it. Who else?”
    “Another
one landed in Bangkok, Thailand. That one didn’t get very far either. It
wouldn’t bribe the police at a checkpoint to let it through and then got stuck
in the Bangkok traffic jams. The Army blew it away. With tanks. Apparently, local
street traders are selling bits of demon to the tourists. Anyway, same message
from the Thais, they’re going to fight and they’d appreciate any help we can
send, only they’re adding if we need any aid, we only have to ask.”
    “Nice
of them. Well, people, it looks like the war has started. Let’s try to do a
better job this time round, right?”
     
     
     
     
    Chapter
Two
    HMS
Astute, On Sea Trials, North Atlantic
    “Any
idea what it is?”
    The
Sonar Operator shook his head. The Type 2076 sonar system was the most advanced
the Royal Navy had ever deployed, one Admiral had tried to describe its
capability by saying a submarine in Winchester could use that sonar to track a
bus going around Hyde Park Corner in London. That comparison wasn’t true, but
the real capability of 2076 was a closely-guarded secret. Tracking buses at
that range was child’s play compared with what it could really do.
    The
waterfall display on the sonar panel was showing the target track, it was
diverging from norm slightly, first one way and then the other, as if the
unidentified contact was snaking in the water. It always came back to the same
course though, one that took it to London. Eventually. That was another problem,
the target track indicated a speed of around 12 knots. Not the