Is Anyone Out There?

A pair of brogue shoes rapidly hit the hard reflective surface of the dimly lit corridor as the scientist hurried. The mild panting from his mouth that hung open was drowned out by the clip-clop sound of his shoes echoing off the walls. 

The scientist stopped suddenly and fumbled a card attached to a lanyard hanging around his neck over his tie. He slammed it through a card reader mounted to the wall. After an agonising second, the device emitted a beep and the door clicked open. 

The scientist reached out, pulled the door open and quickly stepped into the dark room. Rows of monitors on desks filled the room. Only a few were still on, fewer still showed anything other than static or a blank blue screen. 

“Over here,” a voice spoke, breaking the silence of the room. 

The scientist moved his head in the direction of the voice. Still panting under his breath, he started to quickly move between the desks and monitors towards the voice. 

The scientist stopped at a desk in the far corner. The monitor was still on, showing telemetry data. 

“Would you like a drink?” the voice asked. 

“A drink? Are you insane?” The scientist replied in shock. 

The owner of the voice sat forward in his chair, bringing his face into view as the light from the monitor illuminated it. His eyes looked sunken and dark. A brown tie hung loosely around his neck over a creased blue shirt. 

“If you asked me that a week ago I would have said no. But now,” he trailed off. 

“What?” The scientist asked. “Peters, they destroyed New York. I just saw the report with Colonel Morrison. 

“Being insane would make things easier,” Peters said before draining the glass in his hand. 

“Didn’t you hear me? New York is gone,” The scientist said. 

“And so is L.A, Washington, London, Paris, Moscow,” Peters trailed off and picked up a bottle and started to pour it into his glass, spilling some on his desk. “Are you sure you don’t want a drink?”

“This is no time for drinking,” exclaimed the scientist as he knocked the glass out of Peters’ hand. The glass smashed on the hard floor.

Anger crossed Peters’ face before he started to laugh. The scientist looked stunned as Peters leaned back in his chair, laughing and clapping his hands. 

“Now is exactly the time to drink Lewis,” Peters said while struggling to get his laughter under control. 

Lewis paused, thrown by the use of his first name. In all the years he worked here, no one had called him by his first name. 

“The world is being destroyed, and it's all our fault,”

Peters stopped laughing abruptly. “You think I don’t know that?” Peters snapped. “We sent out a message to see if anyone was out there, and boy did we get an answer.”

Peters suddenly stood up, causing Lewis to take a step back. “We didn’t mean for this to happen and you know it.”

“Of course, I know that,” Lewis snapped. “But what are we going to do?”

“What can we do?” Peters replied. “This isn’t a movie. We can’t upload a virus into their mothership or save the day at the eleventh hour with some brilliant invention.”

“Peters!” Lewis yelled before continuing more softly. “Karl, we have to do something.” 

Peters was also momentarily shocked by the use of his first name. “There is something we can do,” he said while picking up the whiskey bottle. 

“Lewis took the bottle and took a swig before the room shook suddenly. Both men looked around. Seconds ticked by before the room shook again, more severely this time. 

“They’re here,” Lewis said. 

“I would say so,” Peters replied. “I did tell the Colonel that the mountain wouldn’t stop their weapons. 

The room shook again and was thrown into disarray as part of the ceiling collapsed. Emergency lighting bathed the room in a red glow. The sound of yelling and an alarm came from outside the room. 

Lewis held up the bottle, “It’s been a pleasure working with you Karl,” he said before taking another swig and handing the bottle to Peters. 

“You too Lewis. If only we hadn’t been so good at our jobs,” Peters said with a smile before taking a big gulp from the bottle. 

Both men smiled at each other before the room was violently rocked and the ceiling came down on them.