Читать книгу The Shards Survivors - Joe McKinnon - Страница 10

1/2/2013 @9am

After accepting that we are now members of the critical list in terms of endangered species, most of us have been wondering what was next. The only thing we knew for certain was that we couldn’t stay in the bunker for an indefinite period. The main reason was that the Shards were busy.

When the satellite images were received and processed by us, we could see that a number of sites around the world were growing, some faster than others. The Shards were building their new world over the holes of the old one. Wellington was also developing.

We took a pair of Bushnell Excursion EX binoculars and went outside the bunker, as we both wanted to see first-hand what was happening to the ex-city of Wellington. Immediately we could hear a low humming sound coming from the Shards. We have learnt to be aware when that sound is present because that is when things happen. We climbed a forest observation post, the ones used by park rangers to spot fires; I guess we were going to do our own spotting, Shards.

We were just stunned by the enormity of the hole that was once a living, breathing city. I looked around the rim to see if there was anything left. There was some debris but nothing recognisable, it’s just like someone had come by with a city sized ice cream scoop and scooped out a gigantic helping. I hope the bastards choke on it.

There was no sign of fires, no sign of anyone alive around the rim. Nothing moved, just the noise of the Shards, and a light breeze.

Bubbles pointed me in a direction where she had seen something move.

I had strained my eyes to see further, there looks like to be dozens of moving tables underneath the Shards, they are moving backwards and forwards. Some seemed to be just going in a circular pattern but we are too far away to see if anything is being done. Others seemed to be taking mirrored shapes off their back and placing it on the ground. This didn’t make sense as the ground looked to be at the same height as the rim, yet it was scooped out, it should be deeper.

We both looked at this optical illusion, we couldn’t see anything that made sense, until we noticed that some of the earlier bugs approach the edge of the platform, and out of nowhere sand fell down, filling part of the deep chasm, and then it returned to its circular motion. The other bugs were then laying more sheets to the new area.

Over time this same construction cycle was repeated every hour, filling in the area, and planted three sheets of glass. The platform is slowly growing, how much is hard to tell from this distance and angle, we just know that our time is running out, again.

We were so used to the humming noise we didn’t notice a slight change until all of the bugs went to the edge of the platform, and that a shadow appeared. I gasped. One of the largest Shard ships was approaching the ground, whilst several of the smaller ones were now circling the area. The descending ship inverted and settled down onto the platform, the humming became louder, and the bugs charged to the ship.

In a blur of moment and flashing lights, they pulled back. The ship had been transformed into a pillar in the centre of the platform. It then began to grow upwards and outwards. Seems like another function of the bugs is to make the panels by touch as they approached different points of the pillar and slowly it took shape. It was like a gemstone pendant with a massively shaped cushion cut pink garnet sitting on the top. It would have been beautiful to see if it wasn’t for all of the death and destruction it caused to reach this stage.

Sadly we realised that it was no fluke or retaliation that the Shards were here, they were laying roots and planning to stay. They have now conquered us, and are moving in. My only thought is will the Shards continue this process or will they leave us somewhere to live and recover?

We decided to leave the platform and return to the bunker, as we have now seen the truth first hand. It was now no longer just other countries being changed. We were suffering the same fate with the Shards orchestra of humming as our reminder.

1/2/2013 @3pm

Something happened to a scouting team, one of the group approached the Shards base, what was once known as Lower Hutt. He gingerly descended from the rim towards the Shards base, nothing changed in the behaviour of the bugs or the circling ships. He reached the bottom of the depression and was hip deep in water, so his progress was slowed till he reached the ‘sand’.

He radioed back saying it was hard, and was crystal like structures. He said he was going to climb the sand and see if he could get a better look at the invaders. He slowly climbed upwards in a crab like motion, as the crystal structure was like a mini ziggurat structure with a ‘path’ zigzagging upwards. He was just about at the top and reached upward to climb onto the platform. There was a flash and he vanished, as though he never existed, he had been erased from the face of the planet.

We now know what happened to the cities and people around the world. We don’t know how or why, and I guess we will never know, as we obviously can’t even touch their ground.

From satellite coverage, some places around the world have been replaced much quicker than others. For instance UK, Ireland, Scotland, Iceland and the Scandinavian Countries are all now mirrored surfaces with many Shard ships. The middle path of Africa is still native earth, but the top and bottom parts are the Shards. The entire North American Continent is in Shard hands.

There doesn’t appear to be any shipping left on the world’s oceans, they are gone too.

Oddly there were locations in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans that have been infested with the Shards. South America is looking like a picture of moonscape, only small pockets of land still untouched remain.

We can see new rivers and little lakes forming, from where cities, townships or random locations have been removed. Indeed, even our home is barely recognisable. Australia now has an inland sea, the majority of the non-arable land mass is gone and I guess this is for the sand content. Australia’s coast line looks like cartoon teeth.

Our new home, New Zealand has been drastically changed, The South Island is a mess and only the mountain ranges seem to have been spared. The North Island faired a bit better, but still large areas have been touched. The only region that seems to be ‘normal’ is the northern tip, where there is land not densely occupied by humans. This is where we have to go, we can’t stay here in Wellington and Lower Hutt. The Shards locations are growing by the hour, we will be trapped or worse, killed.

The northern tip of the North Island seems to be remarkably untouched by the Shards. Everywhere else we can see signs of the Shards building their new domain. We have learnt the hard way that we can’t co-exist with the Shards’ structures, and with them encroaching on our base here we have to move before it’s too late. Going north is the only sane way to go.

I’ve pointed this out to various people in the room and Sammy. Sammy agrees that this is the best direction to aim for, and with a knowing smile says “Tomorrow I have a plan for us all, however tonight we must eat and rest because tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

1/2/2013 @ 9pm

Scouts have reported back saying that Auckland isn’t there anymore, but was still readily driveable as long as we can reach in by seven days, otherwise they predicted the way will be closed, due to the Shards.

1/2/2013 @ 10pm

Bubbles asked me if I still loved her. I was taken back by her question, told her that I loved her more than any time before. She then asked me if I’d protect her from harm, and take good care of her and our baby. Of course I would.

I asked her why she was asking me these questions, her response just floored me.

Darling we are too few in number to make a successful go of living off the land. We will need babies foremost, and that our current population is heavily biased to young males, who don’t have any partners. Who’s going to control them? They will try and get me and others. It’s natural for them to have urges, but I don’t know if they can control themselves. We need women otherwise I’m worried that there will be fighting over the scarcity of women, that they might kill or injure others for access to women.

I said I didn’t think that will happen, besides we will find people along the way that will want to join our merry bunch of survivors in search of a better place to live. I couldn’t paint a rosy picture, as I was unable to see one, but I remained positive for Bubbles.