1:11 - A Short Story

This kinda just slipped out of my head and it has taken me about 5 hours to finish it. It is raw so probably a few mistakes... If you like it, hey give it a share and if you really want you can buy me a beer at paypal.me/RWelder

This is Josh Holden with breaking news.

NASA representatives reported to us that two weeks ago they lost the Voyager 1 signal, now they are telling us that the signal has been found and its location is puzzling scientists.

In 1977 the Voyager 1 satellite was launched with the hopes of contacting alien life.Within the satellite was a golden record explaining humanity and our location with a glimpse into our species, our diversity and culture. It hit a mile stone last year when it finally broke free of our solar system and now NASA is saying that it is back in our solar system and is transmitting one song over and over again. Dark Was The Night by Blind Willie Johnson.

Scientists are still troubled by the location, as it is passing at the moment Pluto at high speeds and they believe that it should be back in earth's orbit by the end of this week. NASA has confirmed that they believe this might be first contact.

What a load of shit, do you really believe we are all stupid? Dylan mumbles to himself as he goes to the flat earth forum on Facebook. NASA must be really needing more money if they are going to believe this, he posts. Over the last year he has woken to the global lie, and that we are spinning on a ball in space. I mean the water would never be able to pool in a spinning earth? Small minded globe heads anyways. Going back to the news site he looks for the audio of the supposed returning satellite, the biggest lie of them all. Downloading it he takes it to a audio program he uses to make his YouTube video's, and tries to pick a part the sounds. Sitting at his desk replaying the song over and over again, he proceeds to belittle anyone sharing the story on Voyager. Knowing the song all too well since his father use to listen to a lot of blues, he notices that the voice does not sound exactly right. He goes and puts his copy of the song beside the repeating copy in the audio filter and notices a slight difference. With filters he takes away everything except the slight difference in the back ground. What he sees doesn't make any sense, it looks more like a digital code with a message. He turns the speakers up in his house and plays the sound only to it be backwards. He reverses the direction and plays it again. Within the speaker was a very short message and a slight digital squeal. It said in a million voices We Are Hungry... and the computer screen went blank.

What the hell? He gets up and tries hitting the keys, nothing is happening. He looks at the clock on his phone it is 1:11 PM. He resets the computer and reboots it back up. Windows comes on again thank heavens he thinks to himself. He get's up and makes himself a coffee. Sitting back down he attempts to go online when he notices that he doesn't have a signal, his computer also says 1:11, the same as his phone. He tries to turn on his cell phone with no luck. The screen is only showing the wrong time, as it should be 1:17 or 1:18 by now. He tries again and again with his internet connection by turning it off and on. Nothing. Frustrated he steps away from the computer and goes and turns the TV on and finds all the stations are not working. He is only getting a black screen.

Now what did I do? Going to his closet he grabs a old cable antenna from a box of junk and screws it on to the Television. Turning on the set he hits channel search and a analog channel comes on. Turning up the news he sits down with his mouth wide open. On the banner it reads All digital communications off line at 1:11. The government thinks that this is a hack and has nothing to do with the returning Voyager says the reporter. CIA director Mike Pompeo is now live from Langley. We believe that at 1:11 today a virus was set off on the internet disabling all communications. We have a trace on the origin of the virus and will have whoever in custody within minutes. Holy fuck, he gets up nervous and opens the window out of his over priced 10th floor rat cell of an apartment. He sees no cars, he gets away from the window when his door gets kicked in and a team of armed federal agents burst in the room screaming get on the floor, doing exactly as they say, he lays on the floor saying I didn't mean to, it wasn't my fault. With a gun to the back of his head he is told to shut up. Crying he does what they say. They throw him in the back of a police van and drive off. Crying having to go to the bathroom, he has never been more scared in his life. Dear god, please help me, please don't let them lock me away.

They take him to a questioning room at the downtown police center. The room is white and the one wall is glass. He is sitting there for over an hour, pleading begging and spilling his guts out at every crime he has ever committed, which wasn't much. Other than some questionable hentai the guy was pretty clean. Agent Findlay of the FBI looks over the notes they have on him while sitting  in the other room. One Taylor Thorton, 22 and the perfect example of a neck beard. Putting down his notes he walks out and over to the holding room. I didn't mean to he starts to say when the agent tells him to shut up. So, you are the one who played the message and fucked the world? That's got to suck Taylor, if we survive whatever is coming your name will be mud. Mud? Never mind I don't have time for that. We are letting you go, we have no reason to hold you. The message was pretty simple to find, and if it wasn't you it would have been someone else. They wanted us to play it, they we able to take control everything the moment you played the message. Cameras, audio and satellites, they are watching us through our own cameras. Do we know why they are here? No but we will find out soon. We have tracked them entering our solar system just hours ago, the ship is nothing like we have ever seen before. Look kid, if I were you I would get the hell out of the city. You heard the message the same as us...

Agent Findlay walks out of the room and goes to the office they have let him use while he was there. He calls in his report, and gets someone to follow Mr Thorton. I want to know everything he is doing.

Getting home to his kicked in door and his neighbors staring at him like he was a terrorist he was also welcomed to a sea of reporters camping out at his front door of the apartment. Doing as the officer suggested, he pushed his way through with repeated answers of no comment. After making it to his place he notices that everything was still there minus the door laying in the hallway. The frame covered with police tape.

My computer is still there, I was afraid they were going to take it. 

Going to the fridge remembering he had fuck all for food, he closed the door and went in the cupboard for a cup of soup. He bought a large supply when he went shopping at Costco with his father and his card. A months supply of canned ravioli, pork and beans and ramen noodles. He first starts filling everything that can hold water, starting with the bathtub while watching TV. On the news is a eclipse of the sun as the alien spaceship gets closer. Fear and panic have gripped the country it says across the screen as they show rioting and looting in the streets. He looks out his window and sees nothing, he is out by the airport in Denver . The one with all the creepy murals so his view is facing the airport. Outside the sun is fading away as night brings fear and chaos to the people of earth. 

On the news they are showing images of the ship that has stopped a quarter way from the sun and the earth. Scientists praising the positing as they worried a ship that size would push the earth out of orbit. The ship appears to have stopped and a large fleet of smaller alien crafts are ascending towards the planet. They project that the spaceship will land at Cape Canaveral where the Voyager 1 originally lifted off a little after noon tomorrow. Reporters are already rushing to get a better view of the landing. Tired after such a hard day he falls asleep on the couch.

 When he wakes up he notices it is still dark. He sees a fire off in the distance as he turns to the clock and notices that it's out. Going over to his spare room and getting from his cam supplies his campfire stove and opening the window, he brews himself a coffee. He was not much of a camper, his brother willed him his camping gear in the hopes he will get out more. He was older and the perfect example of the outdoors type. He dies three years ago from lung cancer. He never even smoked once, always eat organic foods. Here I am 20 pounds over weight with Ravioli stains on my shirt. And the man who helped destroy the internet. Going over with his coffee as he always does, he sits back at his computer desk and turns the desktop on. He turns up the volume of the news, as he checks again the wifi signal. Still nothing.  

He looks at the clock on the wall and remembers that he has a clock on the wall. A gift from his mother with pictures of the family in it. It is 6:30 am, the news is reporting that the alien ships are getting closer, with one in the lead. 

Glues to the set I sit down not even noticing I spilled my coffee everywhere. On the screen the ship is landing by a large group of reporters and government and military presence. The ship is coming in fast, it is the size of a warehouse yet moves with grace. 

 Spell bound by every movement on the screen I start eating some stale chips that must be three days old by now, I would have eaten tide pods and not noticed the taste at the moment. a hush draws the crowd as the dust settles and the doors open. From out of the ship comes a swarm of laser weapons, moving down the reporters and soldiers. Wave after wave of soldiers emerge from the ship. One camera man is running before the feed ends and the go back to the blank looks of the reporters. Screaming, the entire crew run for the door, one person gets pushed knocking over the camera as it hits the floor, leaving the viewing audience scared for their lives. The TV screen goes blank as a power surge wipes out the power in the entire city. Getting up he walks to the window as he sees plane after plane taking off in the air. He watches getting lost on the moment, wondering if this will be the end of it all? He noticed something strange. For just a moment everything was at peace, the sound of the last roaring jet had taken off leaving a beautiful silence. 

He sits in the silence coming to terms with fate when he notices that his computer is still running. He walks over and moves the mouse to see the monitor come on. He hits Ctrl, alt and delete to start task manager and notices that his video editing program was still running. He quickly goes to the program and sees that it is stuck on loop. Turning it off he goes back to task manager and stops everything, resetting the computer. 

Waiting until the computer comes back on he notices that his cell phone was working. He looks at his phone and notices that it has a wifi signal and goes to his browser and refreshes it.

Excited he shouts I did it, as he jumps off his chair and dances around the room. The world will now remember me for turning it back on. 

Across the way in another apartment was Agent Jones, using binoculars and a two way radio he calls Langley and tells the the news. Dale Evans head of communications  hangs up the phone and calls everyone back into the main work room. 

We are back with full satellites people, let's find out what's going on. Using what cameras they have they start looking for alien movement. As they do camera sweeps by Cape Canaveral, they notice that none of the aliens were moving, the weapons they were holding lay at their feet. Within minutes they already have a drone in the air doing a sweep of the area. Nothing sir, nothing is moving. How can that be says Findlay. Two minutes until drone contact. the entire room settles as the drone gets closer to the aliens. As camera gets closer they notice that they not aliens but mechanical robots. The drone hits the droid as it falls on its back. 

It must be our wireless, it must be blocking the signal, says a woman in a white lab coat. That is why they shut it off. Quick she says, phone Elon Musk on the phone and tell him to power up ViaSat-2 internet satellite. Hanging up the phone the crew at Space x turn on the high speed internet. The ships that were in our low orbit started falling from the sky, most hitting water leaving Florida alone. 

The crowd at Langley cheered as the ships that escaped the satellites internet waves were leaving earth's orbit. We did it they cheered. On the TV the news were showing the alien space craft leaving, as Taylor cheered knowing he saved the world. Humanity was saved...