White Night
I. Prelude
--------------
"Coffee?"
"No thanks, I just drank a few. Do you have something fresh perhaps?"
"Sure, with or without alcohol?"
"Without please, I still have to drive"
"Let's see... We have water, fruit juice or coke...?"
"A coke will do fine"
**
"Here it is. My wife will join us shortly. Are you comfortable?"
"Yes, thanks. Mind if I smoke?"
"Not at all, I'll go fetch an ashtray."
**
"Hi there, I'm Gamma"
"Pleased to meet you miss. I'm Willibald. My dad was a bit of a retro freak and wanted me to have a classical name."
"Oh, you don't have to feel ashamed of it. I find it cute."
"Thanks"
"Hi darling, where have you been?"
"Hi love, I've fetched an ashtray for our guest"
"Shall we...?"
II. The white night
-------------------------
<< Location: Emperor's boulevard 27. White 3-story building, hacienda style, living room.
<<Time: 8 p.m., January 17th, 1997.
<<Persons:
- Alfa-4-M: Inhabitant of before mentioned house, tax collector.
- Gamma-17-F: Wife of Alfa-4-M, waitress.
- Willibald-Kodinsky-M, hobby astronomer and math teacher at the HLL.
<<Reason: Accident between the car of Alfa-4-M and Willibald-Kodinsky-M's bike.
**
"I have the insurance papers. Do you want to have a look at them?"
"Ah, no, I'm sure everything is all right. We can just sign them so that I can go back home."
"Do you have a family?"
"No I live alone"
"You come from quite far. He can stay the night over, can't he Gamma?"
"Yeah, sure!"
"You don't have to burden yourself. I can still take the train if the highway would be closed."
"No, no. It's our pleasure. Since our kids have left the house, we have so few visitors. I'll prepare the guest room for you."
"Thanks"
**
"Did you hear that sound?"
"No, which one?"
"Did you Gamma?"
"No dear, see you later!"
**
"Hey, the windows upstairs are white!"
"Here as well. Gamma, can you have a look in the attic?"
**
"Everything is white upstairs. Dear, I'm scared. It's like a big balloon"
"I'll have a look in the airlock. Willibald, can you turn on the TV? It'll be nothing special. Gamma is quite easily panicking."
"I'm curious myself. Do you mind if I tag along?"
"Not at all, let's go."
**
"Strange, what do you think?"
"I've never seen anything like it. Like your wife already said, it resembles a balloon. If it covers your entire house, it must be huge!"
"How big do you think it is?"
"Well, if it's visible from all your windows, it might as well cover the entire moon."
"Dear?"
"Yes Gamma."
"I tried to phone the people from next door."
"And?"
"The phones are down. Also the TV and the radio are off the air. What are we going to do?"
"Do you have a suggestion Willibald?"
"I don't know. You still have power and..."
"Power! Love, can you go and have a look if we still have power or not?"
"What do you mean Gamma?"
"Well, in case of a power failure, we still have an emergency aggregate in the basement."
"The power's out as well. In two hours we are out of light."
"2 hours? I though the thing was supposed to run for two days?"
"Don't ask me how, but we are nearly out of gas."
"Do you keep Candles? We should get them as soon as possible."
"Gamma, where's the little camping fire that runs on gas?"
"In the garage love."
"Can you fetch the candles? Willibald and I will get the fire and some other things."
**
"Do you think it will last long?"
"No idea. It looks so definite. Shall we try to get through it?"
"It's strange, but you're the first one to think about this. Let's see what we have. A shovel, a hammer and...aha, the old blowtorch is still working."
**
"No way through it..."
"Strange, you'd think that you would be able to cut through it with a mere knife, but it's so incredibly resistant."
"Love, I have the candles. What are you doing?"
"We tried to get through it, but to no avail."
"I think we already have to shut down the generator."
"What did you say? Why?"
"Well, I'm already starting to smell the exhaust fumes. They obviously can't get out. Also it's running quite hot."
"Does the exhaust lead outside?"
"Yes. About 200 meters to the west."
"Damn. The thing outside is at least 200 meters thick. En we can't even get a chip off the bloody thing!"
"It will be better to turn off the generator. We have the candles now. Darling, can you accompany Willibald back to the living room? I'll take along a candle and some matches."
"What’s happening?...."
**
"Do you want some more coffee?"
**
"I just had a thought. If everything is sealed off and if even the exhaust fumes aren't able to get out, how is it that we still have air?"
"We are connected to AirNet. We could test the air inlet."
**
"Could you hold the candle for a minute please?"
"Do you see anything special?"
"Everything looks normal. The pipe is still in working order, I feel a draft."
"Let's go get Gamma."
III. The voyage
---------------------
"What will we take along?"
"I don't know. The pipe joins the main pipe about five clicks from here. That one leads directly to the AirNet factory.
"How long is that main pipe?"
"I think that would be around 40 clicks more. If we pass by our neighbours it will be another 10."
"So with a few small stops, we should be able to do it in about 12 hours."
"Yes, I think so as well."
"We will take all the candles en the matches. Also a few cans and enough for one man to return."
"Why's that?"
"Well, if the factory turns out not to be the place we are looking for, one of us should return here and get the food. It's useless that all of us would return."
**
"Darling, here's the connecting pipe to the neighbours' house. Shall we go and have a look?"
"I don’t see how..."
"Well, if the things is already gone here, we don't have to make the trip to the factory."
"I think Gamma is right about that. If the white thing does not cover this house, we don't have to go on. If it does, we can rest for a while and continue afterwards."
"Ok, you convinced me. Shall we then?..."
**
"The hatch doesn't open."
"They didn't hear our knocking either. Darling, are you sure they are at home?"
"Yeah, today they are always at home. It's the only day in the week they are at home together. They never leave the house then."
"I took the blowtorch along... shall we try and burn through the lock?"
"I think we can have a go."
**
"Open, who's going first?"
"I'll go. Can you help me out Darling?"
"Ok I'm in. Give me your hand Darling, I'll pull you up. Now you Willibald."
"It's quiet, too quiet."
"The house doesn't differ much from ours. All prefab you know. I think we better go to the living room first."
**
"Nobody's here"
"Darling, are you sure..."
"Yes I'm sure! Alef! Tenta! Ticon!"
**
"Alfa! Willibald!"
"What’s up Darling?"
"Look!"
"Oh, my God!"
"I could have guessed. Alef is explosives' specialist. He probably tried to blast his way through the thing. It must have turned the pressure of the blast back into the airlock. It's not even dented!"
"We'll bury them in the cellar. Gamma, can you have a look in the kitchen? Perhaps there's still something we can use."
**
"And?"
"I found a few candles and a hatchet."
"Why the hatchet?"
"I don't know. I can't shake the feeling that we will need it."
"We'll rest an hour before we start again."
**
"Love?"
"Yes."
"What do you think?"
"It's odd. From the beginning, I didn't feel any fear, only the necessity to get out of here. It's as if I know the thing is not going to leave. I wonder what we are going to find in the factory."
"Love?"
"Yes."
"I love you!"
"I love you too. Now try to sleep a bit."
**
"Is it still far?"
"I guess still about an hour or so. We are already in the thickest part of the tube. From here on there are no more smaller pipes that join this one."
"We'll take a small break now and then go the rest of the way."
"Ok."
**
"What's that?"
"It's the ventilators."
"How are we going to pass them?"
"Not to worry. There is a door to the left of them so that technicians can enter the pipes. You're ok Darling?"
"Yeah."
"How many people are working in that factory?"
"Not that many. Most if it runs on it's own. Only the high level security checks and the maintenance of the reactor are still done by humans."
"There's the door."
"Where are those people?"
"Most of them we'll find in the control room on the second floor. The others are doing their control rounds or are sitting in the recreation area on the first floor."
"I bet we'll find them all on the second floor then."
IV NetAir factory
-----------------------
"Who are you?"
"We are Alfa and Gamma from 27 and this is Sir Willibald Kodinsky-M. He is visiting us."
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Theta-V from 3. You're not the first ones to arrive through the pipes. 10, 17 and 19 are also here."
"Everywhere the same?"
"Yes. Here as well."
"What is that thing? Have they been able to make contact with the city?"
"No, the phones and all other communication links are down. They are running a cable through the water pipes to the city. It will still take a few hours though."
**
"We have contact!"
"And?"
"They have the same problem."
"Damn!"
"But that's only the good news."
"Do we have to take a seat?"
"It's an experiment. An experiment that went haywire."
"What!?"
"Yeah. Dr Beta-M and Dr Gemmel-F ran an experiment that generated a stasis field."
"Ran haywire you said?"
"Yes. In stead of staying at approximately 1-meter diameter, the field expanded. Beta and Gemmel were able to escape the building."
"What's the white thing then?"
"It's a creature that generates the field. It grows over everything. Luckily it doesn't have any weight. It converts its weight into the stasis field, it's the way it catches its prey."
"I get that. And the field?"
"When the creature grows, the field grows as well but with a factor 100. That's why we didn't experience the expansion of the creature. Before it reached us, we were already in stasis."
"How big is the thing by now?"
"It grows with a compounded ratio of about 100 meter per minute. In our best guestimates it already covers the entire moon."
**
"The city has a possible solution."
"We can't blow it up. Number 26 tried that. We had to bury him, his wife and his child in the cellar."
"No. They see air as the only possibility."
"How? It didn't die from the air in here?"
"I'll explain this in more detail right away, but first let us get everybody together."
**
"It's like this: the creature is one of the specimens brought back by the Xerxes expedition. As you probably all know, Xerxes II is a planet that has lost its atmosphere but where quite a few organisms survived. Those who did learned how to stock the oxygen they needed to live within themselves. The way it looks now, we are just one more storage bin for this creature."
"How do we stop it?"
"Well, at the moment the animal starts to feed on a storage cell, it probes the cell with a small trunk and sucks up the air through it."
"Fancy, that!"
"At that instant, we are going to deliver it the surprise of a lifetime! We are going to give it an oxygen overdose!"
V Counterattack
----------------------
"Is everything ready?"
"Yes Theta. Let the trunk come and get it!"
"Do you think it will come?"
"No idea, but let's hope it does come quick!"
"Why's that?"
"Well, that trunk can appear everywhere. In every home here on the moon. The faster it comes to visit us, the fewer people will die in those ones."
"Shall I join the guards?"
"No, Kulec-M and Serna-F from 15 are already assigned to that. Go get some sleep. We don't know when it's going to strike here."
**
"You didn't wake us."
"No, the less people are running around now, the better."
"Impressive. When did it start?"
"About 10 minutes ago. You didn't miss much."
"And, how is it going?"
"Until now, we are only running at 80 percent of our full capacity. The moment the trunk starts to shrink a little, we will pump this up to a hundred."
"Why don't you go to a hundred percent immediately?"
"If we would confront the animal immediately a hundred percent, it would think that it had encountered normal atmospheric conditions and withdraw the trunk immediately. After that it would use us to lay its eggs. Then we would even be worse off. Now it thinks that we are just a normal storage cell and will suck us dry - so to speak."
"But if we go to a hundred percent, won't it leave us then?"
"I mentioned this as well, but Beta-M and Gemmel-V noticed during their work with the specimens, that the thing only checks the air density for the first 10 minutes. After that it just sucks."
"Why wait any longer then? You said that 10 minutes had passed already."
"With the smaller specimens they've tested, the trunk would shrink a little bit after ten minutes. Those 10 minutes are just a rule of thumb. It varies with the animal's size. Now this one is quite a bit bigger then the lab animals, so it could as well turn out that we have to wait for an hour or more. Let's hope we don't run out of air to feed it before the shrinking starts!"
**
"It's shrinking!"
"Will it work?"
"Let's hope it does! Kulec! Go!"
"We are now running at a hundred percent sir. I hope it's going to be its first and last kick!"
VI Epilogue
----------------
"Please come in"
"Now, I do want a cup of coffee. How's Gamma?"
"Everything is all right. Do you have the news-reels?"
"Yes, where's your player?"
"In the left side closet. I'll go and get you a mug."
"So, this should do it. Ha Gamma, there you are. My, are you looking pretty today!"
"You charmer, thanks. Is that the reel?"
"Yes, let's get seated, I'll turn it on."
**
Newsreel, January 19th 1997
"The Moon. During an experiment performed by Dr Beta-M and Dr. Gemmel-F the specimen expanded to enormous proportions. As a result, this animal covered the entire surface of the moon. The creature was a life form from the planet Xerxes III. As soon as the entire surface of the moon was covered, the animal started to extract oxygen from the houses it covered. During this time 217 people died of asphyxiation. The animal was killed by administering an overdose of oxygen. This operation was performed by NetAir's Q-27 plant under the skilful leadership of Theta-35-F. 2 hours later the entire moon's surface was freed from the creature's presence.
Dr Gemmel-F and Dr Beta-M are to be put on trial for violation of security measures and will be transferred shortly to the high court on Mars.
It's most probable that they will be sentences to a long-range intergalactic journey.
Mars. During the soccerga...."
**
"Alfa?"
"Yes Darling."
"I love you."
"I love you too!"
"Will, I'll prepare the guestroom."
"With pleasure!"
--------------
"Coffee?"
"No thanks, I just drank a few. Do you have something fresh perhaps?"
"Sure, with or without alcohol?"
"Without please, I still have to drive"
"Let's see... We have water, fruit juice or coke...?"
"A coke will do fine"
**
"Here it is. My wife will join us shortly. Are you comfortable?"
"Yes, thanks. Mind if I smoke?"
"Not at all, I'll go fetch an ashtray."
**
"Hi there, I'm Gamma"
"Pleased to meet you miss. I'm Willibald. My dad was a bit of a retro freak and wanted me to have a classical name."
"Oh, you don't have to feel ashamed of it. I find it cute."
"Thanks"
"Hi darling, where have you been?"
"Hi love, I've fetched an ashtray for our guest"
"Shall we...?"
II. The white night
-------------------------
<< Location: Emperor's boulevard 27. White 3-story building, hacienda style, living room.
<<Time: 8 p.m., January 17th, 1997.
<<Persons:
- Alfa-4-M: Inhabitant of before mentioned house, tax collector.
- Gamma-17-F: Wife of Alfa-4-M, waitress.
- Willibald-Kodinsky-M, hobby astronomer and math teacher at the HLL.
<<Reason: Accident between the car of Alfa-4-M and Willibald-Kodinsky-M's bike.
**
"I have the insurance papers. Do you want to have a look at them?"
"Ah, no, I'm sure everything is all right. We can just sign them so that I can go back home."
"Do you have a family?"
"No I live alone"
"You come from quite far. He can stay the night over, can't he Gamma?"
"Yeah, sure!"
"You don't have to burden yourself. I can still take the train if the highway would be closed."
"No, no. It's our pleasure. Since our kids have left the house, we have so few visitors. I'll prepare the guest room for you."
"Thanks"
**
"Did you hear that sound?"
"No, which one?"
"Did you Gamma?"
"No dear, see you later!"
**
"Hey, the windows upstairs are white!"
"Here as well. Gamma, can you have a look in the attic?"
**
"Everything is white upstairs. Dear, I'm scared. It's like a big balloon"
"I'll have a look in the airlock. Willibald, can you turn on the TV? It'll be nothing special. Gamma is quite easily panicking."
"I'm curious myself. Do you mind if I tag along?"
"Not at all, let's go."
**
"Strange, what do you think?"
"I've never seen anything like it. Like your wife already said, it resembles a balloon. If it covers your entire house, it must be huge!"
"How big do you think it is?"
"Well, if it's visible from all your windows, it might as well cover the entire moon."
"Dear?"
"Yes Gamma."
"I tried to phone the people from next door."
"And?"
"The phones are down. Also the TV and the radio are off the air. What are we going to do?"
"Do you have a suggestion Willibald?"
"I don't know. You still have power and..."
"Power! Love, can you go and have a look if we still have power or not?"
"What do you mean Gamma?"
"Well, in case of a power failure, we still have an emergency aggregate in the basement."
"The power's out as well. In two hours we are out of light."
"2 hours? I though the thing was supposed to run for two days?"
"Don't ask me how, but we are nearly out of gas."
"Do you keep Candles? We should get them as soon as possible."
"Gamma, where's the little camping fire that runs on gas?"
"In the garage love."
"Can you fetch the candles? Willibald and I will get the fire and some other things."
**
"Do you think it will last long?"
"No idea. It looks so definite. Shall we try to get through it?"
"It's strange, but you're the first one to think about this. Let's see what we have. A shovel, a hammer and...aha, the old blowtorch is still working."
**
"No way through it..."
"Strange, you'd think that you would be able to cut through it with a mere knife, but it's so incredibly resistant."
"Love, I have the candles. What are you doing?"
"We tried to get through it, but to no avail."
"I think we already have to shut down the generator."
"What did you say? Why?"
"Well, I'm already starting to smell the exhaust fumes. They obviously can't get out. Also it's running quite hot."
"Does the exhaust lead outside?"
"Yes. About 200 meters to the west."
"Damn. The thing outside is at least 200 meters thick. En we can't even get a chip off the bloody thing!"
"It will be better to turn off the generator. We have the candles now. Darling, can you accompany Willibald back to the living room? I'll take along a candle and some matches."
"What’s happening?...."
**
"Do you want some more coffee?"
**
"I just had a thought. If everything is sealed off and if even the exhaust fumes aren't able to get out, how is it that we still have air?"
"We are connected to AirNet. We could test the air inlet."
**
"Could you hold the candle for a minute please?"
"Do you see anything special?"
"Everything looks normal. The pipe is still in working order, I feel a draft."
"Let's go get Gamma."
III. The voyage
---------------------
"What will we take along?"
"I don't know. The pipe joins the main pipe about five clicks from here. That one leads directly to the AirNet factory.
"How long is that main pipe?"
"I think that would be around 40 clicks more. If we pass by our neighbours it will be another 10."
"So with a few small stops, we should be able to do it in about 12 hours."
"Yes, I think so as well."
"We will take all the candles en the matches. Also a few cans and enough for one man to return."
"Why's that?"
"Well, if the factory turns out not to be the place we are looking for, one of us should return here and get the food. It's useless that all of us would return."
**
"Darling, here's the connecting pipe to the neighbours' house. Shall we go and have a look?"
"I don’t see how..."
"Well, if the things is already gone here, we don't have to make the trip to the factory."
"I think Gamma is right about that. If the white thing does not cover this house, we don't have to go on. If it does, we can rest for a while and continue afterwards."
"Ok, you convinced me. Shall we then?..."
**
"The hatch doesn't open."
"They didn't hear our knocking either. Darling, are you sure they are at home?"
"Yeah, today they are always at home. It's the only day in the week they are at home together. They never leave the house then."
"I took the blowtorch along... shall we try and burn through the lock?"
"I think we can have a go."
**
"Open, who's going first?"
"I'll go. Can you help me out Darling?"
"Ok I'm in. Give me your hand Darling, I'll pull you up. Now you Willibald."
"It's quiet, too quiet."
"The house doesn't differ much from ours. All prefab you know. I think we better go to the living room first."
**
"Nobody's here"
"Darling, are you sure..."
"Yes I'm sure! Alef! Tenta! Ticon!"
**
"Alfa! Willibald!"
"What’s up Darling?"
"Look!"
"Oh, my God!"
"I could have guessed. Alef is explosives' specialist. He probably tried to blast his way through the thing. It must have turned the pressure of the blast back into the airlock. It's not even dented!"
"We'll bury them in the cellar. Gamma, can you have a look in the kitchen? Perhaps there's still something we can use."
**
"And?"
"I found a few candles and a hatchet."
"Why the hatchet?"
"I don't know. I can't shake the feeling that we will need it."
"We'll rest an hour before we start again."
**
"Love?"
"Yes."
"What do you think?"
"It's odd. From the beginning, I didn't feel any fear, only the necessity to get out of here. It's as if I know the thing is not going to leave. I wonder what we are going to find in the factory."
"Love?"
"Yes."
"I love you!"
"I love you too. Now try to sleep a bit."
**
"Is it still far?"
"I guess still about an hour or so. We are already in the thickest part of the tube. From here on there are no more smaller pipes that join this one."
"We'll take a small break now and then go the rest of the way."
"Ok."
**
"What's that?"
"It's the ventilators."
"How are we going to pass them?"
"Not to worry. There is a door to the left of them so that technicians can enter the pipes. You're ok Darling?"
"Yeah."
"How many people are working in that factory?"
"Not that many. Most if it runs on it's own. Only the high level security checks and the maintenance of the reactor are still done by humans."
"There's the door."
"Where are those people?"
"Most of them we'll find in the control room on the second floor. The others are doing their control rounds or are sitting in the recreation area on the first floor."
"I bet we'll find them all on the second floor then."
IV NetAir factory
-----------------------
"Who are you?"
"We are Alfa and Gamma from 27 and this is Sir Willibald Kodinsky-M. He is visiting us."
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Theta-V from 3. You're not the first ones to arrive through the pipes. 10, 17 and 19 are also here."
"Everywhere the same?"
"Yes. Here as well."
"What is that thing? Have they been able to make contact with the city?"
"No, the phones and all other communication links are down. They are running a cable through the water pipes to the city. It will still take a few hours though."
**
"We have contact!"
"And?"
"They have the same problem."
"Damn!"
"But that's only the good news."
"Do we have to take a seat?"
"It's an experiment. An experiment that went haywire."
"What!?"
"Yeah. Dr Beta-M and Dr Gemmel-F ran an experiment that generated a stasis field."
"Ran haywire you said?"
"Yes. In stead of staying at approximately 1-meter diameter, the field expanded. Beta and Gemmel were able to escape the building."
"What's the white thing then?"
"It's a creature that generates the field. It grows over everything. Luckily it doesn't have any weight. It converts its weight into the stasis field, it's the way it catches its prey."
"I get that. And the field?"
"When the creature grows, the field grows as well but with a factor 100. That's why we didn't experience the expansion of the creature. Before it reached us, we were already in stasis."
"How big is the thing by now?"
"It grows with a compounded ratio of about 100 meter per minute. In our best guestimates it already covers the entire moon."
**
"The city has a possible solution."
"We can't blow it up. Number 26 tried that. We had to bury him, his wife and his child in the cellar."
"No. They see air as the only possibility."
"How? It didn't die from the air in here?"
"I'll explain this in more detail right away, but first let us get everybody together."
**
"It's like this: the creature is one of the specimens brought back by the Xerxes expedition. As you probably all know, Xerxes II is a planet that has lost its atmosphere but where quite a few organisms survived. Those who did learned how to stock the oxygen they needed to live within themselves. The way it looks now, we are just one more storage bin for this creature."
"How do we stop it?"
"Well, at the moment the animal starts to feed on a storage cell, it probes the cell with a small trunk and sucks up the air through it."
"Fancy, that!"
"At that instant, we are going to deliver it the surprise of a lifetime! We are going to give it an oxygen overdose!"
V Counterattack
----------------------
"Is everything ready?"
"Yes Theta. Let the trunk come and get it!"
"Do you think it will come?"
"No idea, but let's hope it does come quick!"
"Why's that?"
"Well, that trunk can appear everywhere. In every home here on the moon. The faster it comes to visit us, the fewer people will die in those ones."
"Shall I join the guards?"
"No, Kulec-M and Serna-F from 15 are already assigned to that. Go get some sleep. We don't know when it's going to strike here."
**
"You didn't wake us."
"No, the less people are running around now, the better."
"Impressive. When did it start?"
"About 10 minutes ago. You didn't miss much."
"And, how is it going?"
"Until now, we are only running at 80 percent of our full capacity. The moment the trunk starts to shrink a little, we will pump this up to a hundred."
"Why don't you go to a hundred percent immediately?"
"If we would confront the animal immediately a hundred percent, it would think that it had encountered normal atmospheric conditions and withdraw the trunk immediately. After that it would use us to lay its eggs. Then we would even be worse off. Now it thinks that we are just a normal storage cell and will suck us dry - so to speak."
"But if we go to a hundred percent, won't it leave us then?"
"I mentioned this as well, but Beta-M and Gemmel-V noticed during their work with the specimens, that the thing only checks the air density for the first 10 minutes. After that it just sucks."
"Why wait any longer then? You said that 10 minutes had passed already."
"With the smaller specimens they've tested, the trunk would shrink a little bit after ten minutes. Those 10 minutes are just a rule of thumb. It varies with the animal's size. Now this one is quite a bit bigger then the lab animals, so it could as well turn out that we have to wait for an hour or more. Let's hope we don't run out of air to feed it before the shrinking starts!"
**
"It's shrinking!"
"Will it work?"
"Let's hope it does! Kulec! Go!"
"We are now running at a hundred percent sir. I hope it's going to be its first and last kick!"
VI Epilogue
----------------
"Please come in"
"Now, I do want a cup of coffee. How's Gamma?"
"Everything is all right. Do you have the news-reels?"
"Yes, where's your player?"
"In the left side closet. I'll go and get you a mug."
"So, this should do it. Ha Gamma, there you are. My, are you looking pretty today!"
"You charmer, thanks. Is that the reel?"
"Yes, let's get seated, I'll turn it on."
**
Newsreel, January 19th 1997
"The Moon. During an experiment performed by Dr Beta-M and Dr. Gemmel-F the specimen expanded to enormous proportions. As a result, this animal covered the entire surface of the moon. The creature was a life form from the planet Xerxes III. As soon as the entire surface of the moon was covered, the animal started to extract oxygen from the houses it covered. During this time 217 people died of asphyxiation. The animal was killed by administering an overdose of oxygen. This operation was performed by NetAir's Q-27 plant under the skilful leadership of Theta-35-F. 2 hours later the entire moon's surface was freed from the creature's presence.
Dr Gemmel-F and Dr Beta-M are to be put on trial for violation of security measures and will be transferred shortly to the high court on Mars.
It's most probable that they will be sentences to a long-range intergalactic journey.
Mars. During the soccerga...."
**
"Alfa?"
"Yes Darling."
"I love you."
"I love you too!"
"Will, I'll prepare the guestroom."
"With pleasure!"
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