Earthfall: Retribution Read Free Page A

we could wake enough people and actually strike back at the Voidborn. That’s going to be a lot tougher if it’s just us.’
    ‘Hey,’ Sam said with a smile, ‘ just us managed to take control of a Voidborn Mothership. Who knows what else we could pull off if we put our minds to it.’

    Stirling sat at his desk in a tastefully furnished room that had once been occupied by his old colleague and traitor to humanity, Oliver Fletcher. The office was housed within the structure that the Voidborn had built around their drilling rig in St James’s Park. He studied the sheets of data, occasionally making small marks on a large map of the world that was spread out on the desk beneath them. The columns of numbers would have been meaningless to most people, but to his mind’s eye they were a graceful arc plotted through the open sky.
    He reached into one of his desk drawers and pulled out a ruler, using it to mark a line that passed straight through London, intersecting with the location of the one Mothership that they knew for certain, before turning to another sheet of figures and starting to make small marks on the map.
    ‘Doctor Stirling,’ the Servant said as she appeared at the open door, ‘I am sorry to disturb you, but I have made a discovery that I believe you will find interesting.’
    ‘And what might that be?’ Stirling asked without looking up from the map.
    ‘I have been attempting a broad frequency scan as you had instructed,’ the Servant explained.
    ‘And you had success?’ Stirling asked.
    ‘Not as yet,’ the Servant replied. ‘I am proceeding with caution to ensure there is no possibility that I will inadvertently re-initiate my own connection with the Voidborn.’
    ‘So what have you found then?’ Stirling asked, frowning slightly as he looked up at her.
    ‘A signal of unknown origin,’ the Servant replied. ‘Both the content and transmission frequency suggest it is human in origin.’
    ‘Human?’ Stirling said, sounding surprised. ‘Some kind of automated beacon or distress signal probably.’
    ‘I do not believe so,’ the Servant replied. ‘I have recorded the message. Would you like me to play it back for you?’
    ‘Yes, please do.’
    The Servant opened her mouth slightly wider and her own voice was replaced with a hiss of static that suddenly resolved into a man’s voice.
    ‘Hotspur two, this is Hotspur seven. We have live targets at grid seven two nine, repeat live targets. We need a Predator strike package on station now.’
    ‘Roger that Hotspur seven, Drone inbound. ETA four minutes.’
    Stirling’s eyes widened as he listened: it was a military transmission. A moment later the signal dissolved back into white noise.
    ‘Where did this signal come from?’ Stirling demanded, all thought of sub-orbital trajectories suddenly gone from his head.
    ‘Unfortunately, my systems were not designed for tracking such basic communication technology, which makes that more difficult to determine. Also, the transmission was very brief, making it difficult to get a precise fix on its point of origin, but it appears to have origin­ated from somewhere in the northern region of this landmass.’
    ‘Show me,’ Stirling said, standing up and walking over to the large map of the British Isles that hung on the wall.
    The Servant studied the map for a few seconds and then pointed at a specific location.
    ‘My calculations suggest that this would be the nearest human population centre to the point of origin for the transmission.’
    ‘Edinburgh,’ Stirling said. ‘There’s someone awake in Edinburgh.’

2
    Sam walked into the meeting room with Jay. The others were already sitting on the folding metal chairs that faced the whiteboard at the other end of the room. Doctor Stirling and the Servant stood on either side of a map of the United Kingdom, waiting for them to take their seats.
    ‘What’s this all about?’ Sam asked as he sat next to Rachel.
    ‘No idea,’ Rachel replied.