Chapter 2

Impact

of a sudden something landed in dogpark with a spectacular boom.

All

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Veronica climbed to the side of the bed and looked out the window. But she couldnt see anything. What the fuck was that? she whispered loudly. She could have just used her regular volume to ask the question but she was just about to have sex with her boyfriend, Jason, so she whispered. I dont know, Jason said back, and continued to mess about with her boobs and everything. So what if there was some sort of crash outside, they could check it out later. He wanted to finish up here first. But Veronica was distracted. It was probably just a bird, Jason explained agitated. It sounded like a car hit a tree or something. A camero, explained Jason. A camero isnt a bird. Veronica argued. Its a kind of eagle. No it isnt. 13

Yeah, Im pretty sure it is. Its not like the proper science name for it or anything. Its slang. Jason was still moving around, trying to make out Veronica thought about it. Maybe a camero was a type of eagle. It made sense, they both sounded cool, and they both had cool sounding things like talons and V8 engines. She couldnt see what had caused the sound, but smoke was definitely beginning to float up through the trees. Maybe someone needs help. With one last disappointed frown, Jason agreed to go see what all the fuss was about. He followed her as she quickly made her way downstairs, and quietly crept outside. * * *

The point of impact was totally obvious, it was 20 yards from the parking lot and smoldering. A few other people were already over there inspecting it, a girl of medium height with nice boobs, some dildo-y looking guy in a shirt and tie, and a ruff looking dude with a teeshirt that looked like he might not just use marijuana, but deal it too. Veronica and Jason walked over to join the group and looked at the strange object.

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They all stared at the glowing mess, no one wanted to step closer, but everyone was too curious to go back. It was maybe 40 feet in diameter and ten feet high at its center, with sloping sides and a rim of blinking lights. The surface wasnt smooth and polished as you might expect a flying saucer to be. It was rough and irregular, with large odd protrusions and cavities. Still, it was totally a spaceship. It was obvious. What is it? Veronica asked. Its a flying saucer! exclaimed Albert. Flying saucer? Who the shit says saucer? Jason asked laughing, pretending to drink tea or something with his pinky finger out all girly like. Its a spaceship, he explained. Fuck, Veronica said, a real live spaceship. 15

Derek stepped closer and reached his hand out to touch it. Dont, Delilah cried out, it might be dangerous. Derek paid no mind and touched it, hard. Its still warm, he called out, probably from reentry. He turned back to the group. I think its a satellite, or a piece of a rocket or something. You hear about it all the time. Probably some North Korean space spy satellite that got all frigged up, up there But the group wasnt listening to Derek. They were watching as the North Korean flying space saucer split down its center and began to separate. There was a terrific light inside, like 1000 suns or whatever. The light crept out of its enclosure and it climbed up Dereks shadowed body and then caught him right in the face. What the..? He asked, shocked. He stepped back quickly and rejoined the group.

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Its opening, said Delilah. And it was. And it didnt take long either. In less than a minute the top of it had split open like a clam shell. Inside there were ten stupid looking boxy robots.

Then Without warning The robots sat up, all at once, then their legs twitched, and by awkwardly leaning forward, they managed to rise to a standing position. Then once more, in almost perfect unison, they climbed out of the shell, two and three abreast, and began marching forward. Lets get out of here, Albert said to Delilah and they turned to run towards her apartment, but just as they took their first steps, another spaceship came crashing down to earth and slammed into the side of the building. Instinctamently, they turned and ran the other way, but another came down not 100 feet in front of them. 17

Delilah looked up into the sky. There were hundreds of them, coming from all directions! It looked like a flying saucer convention!

Were trapped! Veronica cried. Follow me, yelled Derek. But nobody moved. The first robots were almost upon them now, and to the groups horror, they began to shoot lasers at them from their eyes. Pew-pew-pew, said their laser eyes with each round. Luckily, the laser eyes didnt seem to be very accurate, at all.

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Come on, Derek said again. This time the gang followed him, and fast! They ran towards the parking lot. He pointed to the van and they all followed him to it. He slammed the sliding side door open and shoved his finger inside. Get in. They clambered in, confused but quickly, right on top of eachother. Derek jumped into the drivers seat and cranked the ignition. The engine whined, belts moved, and rotors churned. He rammed the shifter into drive and took off way faster than your grandmother or even grandfather or even just regular father would have been comfortable with! As he drove away from the robots, they could see that there were more and more flying saucers landing all around them, hundreds. But it didnt bother Derek, he was turning left and right and left again. It looked like there was no way out of the mess! They started to see other people, screaming, running out of their houses, in their underwear even. Cars were crashing into telephone poles and helicopters and small planes were falling out of the air like toy helicopters. The roads were almost completely impassable, but somehow Derek managed to avoid the obstructions, and with amazing speed. Even in his 18 foot long custom van, he could do things that only a motorbike should be able to do. Not only was he fast, but he knew the streets too, where one street ended and another began, even a driveway that carried through all the way to the other side of the block. It was fabulous. Are you a racecar driver?! Delilah asked. Kind of, Derek yelled over his shoulder. Kind of? 19

Derek made another amazing maneuver, narrowly avoiding a spaceship as it crashed into a city bus just in front of them. I drive pizza Hold on. Two more spaceships were coming across the horizon from different angles of approach - speeding towards eachother at like 100 miles per hour! They were going to collide. Derek cut sharp to the right and hit the curb with the tires and instantly the van was on two wheels. The gang tumbled to the other side, on top of eachother, but the jolt of them bumbling round didnt even faze Derek. He pressed his foot to the floor and the engine revved. On two wheels, he darted onto a bicycle path and up a small hill. The spaceships crashed into eachother behind them in a terrific explosion. The bike path emptied onto an old mini-mall parking lot, and from there Derek made it to the highway.

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The gang looked out the back window to watch their beloved city of Indianapolis in chaos. There was like fire and smoke everywhere.

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