Chapter 31

“An extraterrestrial spaceship was spotted in the skies in major cities around the world. There’s still speculation as to what this could mean for our planet.”

“Friend or foe? The sighting of unidentified flying objects (UFO) in cities across the world has just one question pervading the minds of people. Is this a threat?”

“Proactive. Major governments around the world met today in a conference call as they discussed how to deal with the major sighting of alien spaceships. One spokesperson said, “We will be proactive in dealing with this situation, rather than reactive.”

“Still no contact! Major NASA officials confirmed that there has still been no contact with the spaceships that are still present in earth’s atmosphere. Speculation still persists regarding the purpose of these sudden entries by the extraterrestrial lifeforms into earth’s atmosphere.”

These headlines were just some of many plastered all over the internet and the television channels as the entire world was shocked by the appearance of spaceships in the most populous cities of the world. It took all of a few minutes before the entire world was thrown into a state of frenzy. The mortal world seemed to have been overtaken with fear and paranoia. All the doomsday which had only been the stuff science fiction until that point seemed to materialise all at once in people’s minds.

It was a whole different situation for the Untethered though. Never had ‘The Dimension’ ever come so close to the periphery of human awareness. While the situation hadn’t escalated so far as to expose the existence of the Untethered to the mortal world, the situation felt like it was teetering on its edges.

Already, the onset of panic among the Untethered and particularly its Council could be seen. An envoy of the Council had come in extreme haste, informing us of the address that the Council would give to the major players in the Untethered force so that that other Untethered could be made aware of the steps taken to make sure to keep Untethered hidden from the mortal world.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t invited, the excuse being that only major governors and their subordinates were invited. Eirini was invited of course to give them an inkling of what Sol Syntrivon hoped to achieve by this and what could potentially follow this action from the necromancer’s side.

Eirini was very clear with us that this was just an indication that what he was saying about the diversionary tactics employed by our enemy. And boy, did it work! The sudden shift of focus from the threat of Sol Syntrivon to the threat of the mortal world would be jarring, to say the least. Because there was no mistake about it. The exposure of another dimension by the mortal world would be construed as a threat in the mortal world, making it a threat to us.

The plan had been genius in its simplicity. It had struck right on the Council’s most vulnerable nerve. The desire to keep everything under wraps. The desire to keep the existence of the Council hidden from most Untethered. the desire to keep the existence of Untethered from the mortal world. All of a sudden, the house of cards that the Council had built for centuries was threatening to crumble down before their very eyes.

The mortal world didn’t pose any physical threat to the Untethered. No, we were pretty safe in that regard. What it did do was threaten the freedom with which the Untethered operated, free from any manipulations from the mortal governments and organisations. Once our world was discovered, the shackles would be enforced and that would be the greatest threat Untethered faced in the upcoming war against Sol Syntrivon.

Eirini departed for the Council headquarters in due haste, leaving me and Samuel alone. My parents had already called me, asking me to come back as soon as possible, not wanting me to stay outside in these conditions.

“So, this is really happening, huh,” Samuel asked.

I looked at him and nodded, not trusting myself to speak at the moment. I bade him farewell and exited the building, intent on reaching home so as to ease my parents’ worries.

The streets were jampacked, cars abandoned and people hurrying to and fro in all directions, probably to reach the sanctuary of their own homes. The spectre of the spaceship loomed large over the city, as it blocked out the sun, cloaking the city in darkness.

Looking at the scenes all around me, I couldn’t help but feel that Syntrivon had successfully struck the first blow, striking where it hurt our planet the most. The fear and paranoia that permeated the air made me feel as if we were already miles behind Sol Syntivon and the war hadn’t even started yet. The prospect of what was to come seemed direr than ever.

“Still no word of any sort of contact from the spaceships are they hover over the major cities. More from our correspondent at one of the sites.”

The news was on in full volume as I sat around the dinner table with my family. This was a far cry from the normal routine as my parents believed in having food silently. But desperate situations called for desperate measures and keeping updated with the ‘Alien invasion’, as the internet had dubbed it was paramount.

Within a few hours, the entire planet had dubbed this to be a doomsday scenario, with the extinction of our planet at stake. In a rare show of international harmony, all the nations had decided to reveal all their nuclear weapons in an effort to combat this crisis. I knew that the whole exercise was futile, with no chances of success but the rapid action of our planet when their existence was in question didn’t fail to impress me.

Samuel had already informed me that I was supposed to be present at Frost’s old bar at midnight, where directives would be passed onto each Untethered regarding the action plan for the upcoming future until Sol Syntrivon made the next move.