Tuesday 14 hours.
In a residential area south of Albuquerque, the small two-storey building closely resembled the houses around him. Her garden blooms enliven the atmosphere. A row of roses, three arbutus, some piles of pastel presence primarily reflected the spirit of the tender hostess. Jackie Oliver and settled in this furnished three years ago. They met four years ago. Jackie had just moved to Lansing, Michigan, Oliver was born in Albuquerque and the two people met randomly in town. This love focaccia between these two beings had its rationale in the glorification of a wedding. The girl was beautiful and the man was tall and charming. No insensitivity could then waive their love. Their lives quickly became meaningless if the couple separates. They spent their honeymoon in the Bahamas. They settled in this house. Jackie worked in a building downtown. Oliver managed an industrial supply store. The couple lived in it almost unique model of self-esteem. They loved each other. This scarcity often took the eyes of their knowledge, form a unique recognition of love blind and wealthy.
that day, Jackie was still in bed. His fever persisted. Oliver decided to work only in the morning. He found his home. Jumped to the floor. The room seemed bleak. The shutters were closed. The sun drew just small yellow lines at the center of the room and came from the interstices of the wood slats. At the center of the bed, the girl slept. He allowed himself to wake. The illness of his wife outdated nevertheless buried inside a dark semi coma. She woke up nicely.
- You want some tea? The filter
blueberry pupils of his eyes sparkled. Her man wanted kiss him. Take her in his arms as if he had to protect her child. A unique soul within a couple eating a being in the presence of this collaboration, became dependent on an unprecedented ardor. Tuesday
16 hours.
The news did not spread directly. The U.S. military is preserved to tell the media to defeat. The President should be informed first.
James Edward became president of the republic in the year two thousand and ninety eight. The election was held exclusively by computer. But nevertheless the contenders fought on the ground. The future president won its votes for his work during his office three terms as governor of Michigan. His supporters within the Democratic party became clearer in the favor of Hispanics, blacks and Irish. But James nonetheless managed to preserve about his alleged Irish and African origins. The man had just celebrated his forty six years. After two years in office, his country did not appear to change. Social progress adjusts to economic changes. A situation certainly not disastrous, because in those days the amenities most benign energizing little outbidding election.
The Military Staff informed the President on the situation in the Oval Office. The General of the Army, Jack Palatinate, the general of the Air Force light, Frank Roberts, the general of the Air Force heavy Al Epton, the three most important men of the U.S. Army, and the emissary to the armies, Jack De Nemours, were given status report to the president. But another man was fully aware of the situation, namely the fourth overall at the table, so the General Roberts lifted the veil in honor of his comrades.
- No need to know! The situation is very serious. The army of the confederation Martian comes to attack tonight. Their fleet is important. Our losses are heavy. All our military satellites orbit around the Moon are destroyed. Military bases on the ground have suffered heavy losses. Our army based in the moon did not resist. She just disperse. The modules help approaching the land. The enemy took position behind the moon.
The explanations seemed clear. The United States of America and the nations of the planet earth must cope with the Martian Confederacy. A very young republic, the first legislature sat in two thousand and eighty five. Two years later the U.S. Army transferred its military installations in the new republic. In two thousand and ninety two a coup doubtful imposed Sarrey General to head the nation. The planet was habitable when emissions. Huge networks were being built everywhere. The extraction of heavy metals generated considerable monetary resources. For two thousand forty-five migrants were pouring from the earth. The villa rises. New generations of people born on the planet. The die were operating under ideal the planet. The land lost each decade a little more influence. The Martians emancipated. They found in them a new form of existence and purpose. Their personal stories were blended into a uniform presence. Humanity is split into two, the clash of cultures grown.
The only anxiety for President of the United States, early in his term, is precisely because of not having to face a tragedy of great magnitude. Illustrious chairpersons had to fight wars, suffer terrible attacks, murdered some perished. For sixty years America had undergone any external aggression. Its extension in space became one of its top priorities. The planet Mars was the only habitable planet in the solar system. But the bases were built everywhere. Vessels reached Jupiter and Neptune. Bases were built on Ganymede, Callisto and Io. The physical nature of the galaxy is revealed gradually.
- The situation is clear. America is at war. General mobilization should be ordered. We must not waste time. It is time for us to proceed to our bunkers.
Generals remained unmoved. Besides, they did not count philosophizing too long. The war had been declared. Much work remained to be done. Tuesday
17 hours.
Jackie Oliver and down on the ground floor. He offered to sit in the lounge. She forced herself. He walked to the kitchen, began to prepare food. He opened the freezer, his wife sat on the central chair. She turned on the television. In principle, this time listening channels broadcasting games or television series, but an event of any kind invaded the screen. An image of pageantry sprang from the darkness. The images came from the moon. In this intensely black, rocket appeared and disappeared like wisps. Small explosions lit distant from time to time the image. Later, a camera was filming the destruction of a lunar satellite. The terrible had happened, Jackie fever rose again. Her husband approached the station. His face changed, his features were transformed. The spirit of humanity was suffering again the constraints of a belligerent nation corrupted by evil.
flabbergasted, Oliver sat with his wife. A gaping black hole annihilated an entire civilization. For journalists the adage of a superego explained by the presence of an entity external to the planet earth. These millions of Martians private air revolted. They expressed their violence excluded beating their arms in front. The violence of the attack castigated all beings. Guests chains simply announced the end of a period. They proclaimed the beginning of a new generation. Apparently, ten million dead enough to destroy a civilization. The next period was from that moment to feed the former. Mars and became the focus each. The enemy is stated in the presence of a civilization manners completely different lifestyle of the inhabitants of the earth. The Martian, a human appearance, attacking the foundations of his own ethnic origins.
Oliver were still preparing food. He wanted to take refuge in the kitchen. His wife intervened.
- You make use of reservists. So you must go. "
- Yes! It's my duty.
After that, they had nothing to add. Tuesday
18 hours.
Rockets of the Martian Confederacy returned to their ships. The Prima Luna is stabilized near the equator the Moon. The staff accounted losses. The army recharge its batteries. In command of the fleet, General Sarrey do not always expressed. The press release does not interest him. Behind Sari wanted to regain its position of supreme command. As if his head could commit an irreparable blunder! The policy should in principle not to interfere military. Even the influence did not validate the intention.
the distance, the gleaming lunar bases. The lights will not be extinguished. Piles of huge amounts of oxygen to burn never ended. Sometimes modules Emergency leave this planet. The Martian army decided not to intercept them. A touch of humanity was in a military force.
few minutes later, Sarrey rose. Sari awaited.
- I returned to my apartment! I'll let you organize the preparations for defense.
- Good.
The complicity between the two men did not reside only in the convergence of a policy or a common strategy. They overthrew the government together, proclaimed the new institution one beside the other. Sari kissed Gael. Sarrey should perhaps know. But this concern never came to the agenda. The power plagued his own love. This woman candle used only as a cover for his phobia. Gaëlle could be attractive, but the facade was nevertheless manage the Department of Education and Culture. Tangible evidence, but from the beginning, the reign Sarrey were confined to Sari on the basis of a short-lived. Tuesday
19 hours. General
finally found his apartment. His ship was not hit by enemy fire. His rockets were returning to base. The division lost one hundred and sixty rockets. A trifle compared to the magnitude of the battle. He left his second behind him. The stated mission is to get all the rockets, charge half the airlock into missiles, rockets supplies just arrived and sent a reconnaissance platoon. For the colonel in charge of the mission, this year corresponded to its function. Unexceptional. Many
rocket headed for the same time. An organization tingling struggled in the sprawling hallways of the ship. In each chamber, when the place is full, the air was filled, large concrete doors opened, the technicians rid the place and was closing the hatch again. A well-oiled mechanism. Soon the first lock is freed. The staff ordered to charge them in missile defense. Fifteen minutes later the reconnaissance platoon was preparing. The master section ended his briefing. He had to go up north, near the critical latitude juxtaposing the sun's rays, missile launch twelve observations, and back along the ground to observe the state of destruction of bases in north-west.
Soon all the lock closed again. The pilots were preparing. The cockpit decompression. A sergeant in Captain announced the closing of interior doors. The four rockets swelled their reactors. Five minutes later outside doors opened. The captain received permission to take off the staff. He informed his officers. The man increased the pressure in the thrusters. When the indicator needles lined the authorized level, he prodded the accelerator lever. The rocket had to leave, but nothing happened. As an emergency measure, it controls all aspects of its operation module. It suspects nothing abnormal. Then he cut its reactor, the activation again, a few minutes later he tried to take off for the second time. But nothing would move.
- Mediaso Here Captain! My rocket was apparently a mechanical problem. My second took command of the unit. The mission is pursuing its objective.
But besides, the other three rockets did not leave. The four vessels of the chamber apparently encountered technical problems. Yet the Rockets remained completely independent of the airlock. Technicians must have erred in filling the fuel. This kind of problem occurs often. But despite all the sergeant in charge of the place could not believe it. He asked the four officers permission to close the outside doors. The captain ordered directly opening air vents.
Five minutes later, the Prima Luna received confirmation. Three vessels were sending sections of rockets, but none of them could take off. Recognition was a rocket off the mothership, but she did not succeed either. All the generals were to be informed. General Sari ordered to check whether magnetic interference had been intercepted in the area. The staff confirmed to him that no outside source had interfered with the use of electronics in buildings.
Yet the attack was planned in great detail. The enemy was known. Its armament was no different to the tools of Martian Confederacy. But a new problem had appeared. The devices did not want to take off, but no major problems were reported. Tuesday
20 hours.
Chairman Edward found his bunker at Camp David. From the plane he telephoned his wife. Her hospitalization at the Central Hospital of Washington remained important. An unhappy cancer plunged the daily increasing. He asked to change hospitals, away from the capital. She refused. Twenty years marriage between them. Doctors do not concede him much hope. His chances of survival became every day more and more weak. The ordeal could last for months or even years. His destiny was played on very little. Her husband wanted to be constantly at his side, but would defeat the obligations. Her sadness is often read on his face.
Fifteen generals were waiting for the president in the central room of the bunker. A hub of fifty feet by fifty. Hundred officers supervised the place. Several giant screens plastering the walls. Four rows of tables full of consoles, as in a classroom, used to manage almost all the U.S. military. With the arrival of President, all the men rose and saluted him. Later he sat in the back of the room at a table equipped with screens and telephones. Several generals moved to his side. Two technicians will install a camera in front of him. The president should address the nation. The bitter
fitted kitchen equipped with all the amenities at all caring cooks were represented. But that evening Oliver warmed frozen lasagne. Nothing impressive. His wife remained at the show. They ate while watching television. The different channels announced the intervention of the president. The man took the floor five minutes later.
- citizens, citizens. Today, the Army of the Confederacy attacked our Martian lunar bases. Our army there has suffered heavy losses. The General Staff of Armed decreed general mobilization. The United States of America has just declared, in self defense, war on Martian Confederacy. The United Nations called on all nations to come together and unite. The enemy is the gateway to the land. Part of their armies behind the moon. It can attack at any time. But do not imagine, our defense stand. The war will be long. Our allies will fight alongside us. We will win this war. God save the land and America.
This brief intervention revived everyone's mind. The president spoke well of war. For fifty years, that word has lost much of its meaning. The war certainly fulfilled all the history books, but this practice still far distant. While the armies were still there, but the world still afraid of the causes and effects of general laxity and the results of budget cuts enacted several decades ago. A bad feeling embittered
Jackie. The phone would sometimes ring. Her husband had to leave. Oliver was entering the Air Force at the age of twenty. A year later he became an officer. For two years he never ceased to take place between the earth and the moon. He knew including several officers still based on lunar site. His rank of pilot rocket placed the front line. His engagement was imminent. The army needed him in a few hours he had to leave. The man was trying not to worry about. Tuesday
23 hours.
On land, the people began to panic. The media constantly talking the firepower of the army from Mars. This made for a slice of the population completely hysterical. Extensive invasion of food stores felt almost everywhere. Many people were already taking seats before the atomic communal shelters. This shameless in front of these caves was like waiting outside a cinema.
links between all the staffs of armies already coexisted. But hardly anyone was trying to develop a complete list of rockets in working order. The army U.S. asked its allies to set a man at the head of the great army that the nations of the earth trying to form. But even this exercise was difficult to negotiate.
Meanwhile, the Chinese army was mobilizing his men. In tune with his general staff, two lunar bases arming its missiles. These fortresses suffered less damage. Their rigid bodies, buried in rock, had resisted the bombing. Units were clearing the entries. The general in charge of the area assured to match the Martian army. The vessels had not sent a missile and rockets for the past four hours. General Kim had to take that risk. At first he thought the enemy was unaware of the existence of these bases. But the extensive damage to the surface enough to believe otherwise. The man had so-cons attack. Besides, he had not much choice.
technicians central base ten rockets lined up in the hatch number seven Sergeant activated his men using his loudspeaker. They were installing missiles worn under short chassis rockets. Later the captain joined the place accompanied by his lieutenants. Their chances were still slim. They encouraged looking back on duty and sacrifice attributed to their ranks. The section of the Chan master was about a hundred rockets. The Chinese division in the area was confined to four hundred rockets. Their mission remained adequate, they were to attack the ship Bezance. A building less could greatly reduce the armed forces of the enemy. The losses could be heavy, but this price conveyed the essence of a victory.
Fifteen minutes later, the sergeant ordered the evacuation of the airlock. The doors were closing. Convectors aspired air. Officers enclenchèrent their reactors. Five minutes later outside doors opened. The captain then increased the power of its thrusters. He wanted to take off, but his unit was struggling to start. In fact, he did not budge. The cockpit certainly vibrated, but the thrusters did not want to push the craft. A disaster! The man then tried to restart the machine, but five minutes later he gave up.
Besides, no rocket takes off. His officers announced their laps each defection of some sort. The staff informed them of the database. General Kim had four hundred and launch rockets, but the abdication seemed widespread. For the moment, no rocket had taken off. Man pondered whether to inform the General Staff. The news could be intercepted by the enemy. In the army soldiers in front of Chinese origins as decrypting messages in Mandarin.
Daniel Gindraux, 2006, Réact2100, 34 hours.
