13th September – Judgement Day
Amy used the tractor beam to bring Jenny and Duck aboard Starcruiser Two to join Joan, Helen and I.
Bishop Summerland remained in Northchester in order to begin to address the aftermath of the attack on the cathedral.
‘What are we going to do?’ said Duck. ‘HMS Resolution is gone; the cathedral control room is gone.’ He turned towards Joan. ‘Have we any idea about the location of the Waterford control room?’
‘No,’ said Joan, ‘but it’s our only hope.’ She glanced at Helen.
Helen spoke to the starcruiser: ‘Amy, take us to Waterford and send a message to Beta, Vladimir and Etienne to meet us at my house. We can hide Starcruiser Two in the lake in the woods.’
‘Does secrecy matter anymore?’ I asked.
‘I think it does,’ Joan replied. ‘If local people become curious or frightened, they’ll just get in the way, and there’s really no time to explain.’
~*~*~*~*~
One hour later, I stood with Helen, Joan, Duck and Jenny on the recreation ground that bordered the woods in Waterford.
‘Hello, Dear,’ said an elderly lady who was walking her dog.
‘Oh, hello, Mrs. Francis,’ said Helen.
‘Did you enjoy your big holiday in Asia?’ Mrs. Francis asked.
‘Yes, Mrs. Francis,’ Helen replied.
The Asian holiday had been another MI5 cover story to account for our prolonged absence.
‘Only we’ve missed you around here,’ Mrs. Francis continued. ‘If you’re back, perhaps you could give a little talk about your trip to the Women’s Group on Tuesday week. Mrs. Jeffries was going to talk about crochet, but her arthritis is giving her trouble again, so she’s had to pull out.’
‘I’m sorry to interrupt,’ said Joan, ‘but we really ought to be getting on.’
Mrs. Francis looked at our group with curiosity. ‘Oh, hello, Mr. Morrison,’ she said as she recognised me.
‘Nice to see you, Mrs. Francis,’ I replied.
Clearly, it seemed odd to her that Helen, I and three strangers had suddenly appeared, unannounced, on the recreation ground, but she thought better of enquiring at that moment. ‘See you later then, Dear,’ she said to Helen as she turned to follow her dog.
During the flight, the five of us had attempted to formulate a plan of action. We had got as far as agreeing to retire to Helen’s house to meet the others and to have a cup of tea. Action thereafter, however, had been more difficult to plan because we had no idea where to start.
Helen and I had both lived in Waterford for a long time and had known Sam Collins. Despite this, we knew nothing of any launch base that he was supposed to have set up in the village. Also, it was not as if the village was particularly large. Where would he have put it, and why did no one notice it being built or equipped?
We had begun to walk towards Helen’s house when Joan’s mobile rang. She listened without speaking. ‘Thank you,’ she said finally and hung up. ‘The Atacama Telescope in North Chile has just reported an asteroid on an intercepting path with Earth, coming from the direction of Orion,’ she said.
No one said anything – perhaps everything that could be said was too obvious.
It was just moments later when a car pulled up beside us. The driver’s door was nearest to us, and I could see Etienne at the wheel. Christian and Vladimir were in the rear seats. Another man climbed out of the front passenger seat.
I saw Joan look at him and smile. ‘About time, Tom,’ she said. ‘About time.’