They Came

 The morning was very bright and warm as he alighted from the train onto the platform. It was a familiar journey but this day was different. other passengers didn't seem as noisy, everyone seemed quiet and preoccupied. There was an atmoshere around that he could not quiet grasp. Was it the flying saucer? He had given it some thought during the journey but he had quickly discounted that as being nothing more than just a hoax. Aliens do not happen. They only appear in films or books.

He made his way down the main street on the short walk to his office when he became aware of the quiet but invasive hum. He stopped. His heart pounded in his chest and blood rushed to his head as he looked up.

The craft was large and silver in colour. Not silver but like a brushed metal. It was oval in shape and the detail of seperate panels could be seen. Along the hull were slits that he thought could only be windows. At several points dotted around the craft were antenna and other pieces of equipment, what their purpose was could only be guessed at and all the time was the persistant low hum that made the very air vibrate. This was no hoax. he was convinced of that now. Thoughts raced through his head but all he could do was stand and stare at the thing.

It had been just over a week now that the spaceship had arrived and as he made his way to work he realised that he hardly noticed the hum any more. The most annoying thing were the "out-of-towners" who blocked the streets. He could understand their excitement for on the first day the ship arrived he had rushed to the nearest shop to buy himself a throw away camera to take snaps. He noticed that a whole industry had grown up around the aliens. Stalls in the streets sold everything from teeshirts, hats and dolls to books. The media had also jumped onto the bandwagon, it seemed that every television programme revolved around the alien ship. At first he watched the documentaries and discussion programmes. He saw the scientist giving their considered opinions and the arguments that ensued. Some had said that it was the first step to an invasion and that we should arm ourselves before more ships arrived. Other contested that a such a sophisticated society that could produce such technology could only have peacefull intentions. Some polititions, with back up from the military, agreed that it was an invasion, while others disagreed and proposed a wait and see attitude, He tended to agree with that, a species with such technological skill would make our weapons look useless, it would be like sticks againts guns. Science fiction writers also had their say, discussing what the aliens could be like while other authors, with an "I told you so" attitude were able to re-release their old books. Even comedians got into the act making up jokes about the aliens. One had said, and this was his favorite,was that the aliens cannot be that intelligent, because if they were, they would never have come here in the first place. What really made him tired of the whole situation were the religious nuts who spouted the most rediculous theories. Some suggestes that  they had come to judge us and would find us lacking, others said that they would be the salvation of us all. Some of the more way out, cult groups had even commited mass suicide and like most people he was shocked at this. The only advantage of the alien visitors he could see was that the economy had had a small boost, retail sales had gone up, which was good for him as the company he worked for dealt with finance and bottle corks were popping almost every day.