Jeffrey Brown was in a delirium of ecstasy. Judas Priest screamed in his ears and his disco light flashed insane colours around the room. The music was synchronised with the lamp so the frequency of the colours matched the highs and lows of the cacophony. The heavy guitar music vibrated the room and shook the windows. Jeffrey pranced around the room playing his air guitar and attempting to simulate one of his favourite guitarists, Glen Tipton.
Suddenly he was ripped from his dream by harsh knocking at the door of his room. Quickly switching his CD player off, he opened the door. There stood Mrs. Simpkins, his landlady.
“What have I told you before, Mr Brown? Anymore of your loud music and you are out!”
Jeffrey put his most unctuous voice on and smiled apologetically at the little five foot lady. Small though she maybe but a real dragon!
“I am so sorry Mrs S. I put the CD player on and the volume control must have been turned too far up ……by accident.”
Mrs Simpkins may have been a dragon but she had a heart that could be melted by a smile that now graced Jeffrey’s face.
“Well…….Mr Brown. I’ve got the other people in the house to think about. What sort of landlady would I be if I allowed all my tenants to play their music loud?”
“Well it won’t happen again Mrs S. I’m going out this evening to a concert so the house will truly silent.”
“Ok then,” said the landlady. “But you mind…….I won’t be as understanding next time.”
Jeffrey shut the door and listened as Mrs Simpkins footsteps went off down the stairs. Phew, he thought, I thought I was in for it then.
Walking across to the wardrobe Jeffrey took down his jerkin which was hanging at the side. He felt along the collar carefully until he felt the mouth of the microphone. Then he felt in a pocket that he had specially stitched on the inside lining for his digital recorder. Pulling on the jacket he checked in the mirror that nothing was showing and then clicked on the recorder to do a sound check.
“Testing, testing. Mary had a little lamb its fleece was white as snow.”
Rewinding he switched on again and heard his voice say,
“Testing, testing. Mary had a little lamb its fleece was white as snow.”
“Perfect!” he said and opening the front door, locked it after him, went down the stairs and out into the night.
Black Sabbath, Death Watches and Iron Maiden were playing at the King George the Third Theatre here in Lansborough that night. Jeffrey had managed to get tickets from a friend, but it had cost him almost fifty quid, but well worth it as far as Jeffrey was concerned. He loved Heavy Metal music and the louder the better.
Tonight he planned on making an illegal recording of Death Watches, they were a relatively new group on the scene and Jeffrey wanted to get a few of their tracks on his recorder. If he could just get by the bouncers. Sometimes they gave you a right body search. Bloody pervs! thought Jeffrey.
As he approached the theatre, Jeffrey could see the long line of people waiting to go in. He had left plenty of time to get in and to his seat so he just sauntered to the back of the line and waited.
Two girls arrived and stood behind Jeffrey. He knew one was called Cheryl but didn’t know who the other one was.
“Hi Cheryl,” he said and turned away to shuffle forward with the dwindling queue.
“Oh, hi Jeff, “she replied. “Should be a good night.”
Eventually Jeffrey and the girls arrived at the main door. The two bouncers were dressed in tuxedos and looked very efficient, but as soon as they saw Cheryl and her friend they totally ignored Jeffrey and waved him in. Turning round and looking back he could see that the bouncers were trying to chat up the girls. Perfect, he thought, I’m in.
The theatre was immense, it could hold a thousand people and by the time the curtain was about to go up, it was full. Jeffrey was sitting two rows from the front and he nervously touched the hidden microphone.
Death Watches were to be on first, so Jeffrey surreptitiously felt inside his jacket for the on switch of his recorder.
The lights in the theatre lowered and the curtain rose. There on the stage stood the band all picked out in ever changing beams of colour. You could hear a pin drop, the silence was tangible. Jeffrey switched his recorder on.
The silence lengthened, it seemed as if the group had forgotten their words but just when the tension in the air was close to exploding, Micky Juste hit the strings on his bass guitar and it sounded like a cannon going off. Exhilarating, stupendous and suddenly the theatre erupted with cheers, whistles and roars of appreciation. The audience had become one, a raging, pleasure demanding entity and it was pleased!
The night just flew by for Jeffrey. Black Sabbath came on after Death Watches had done umpteen encores. And the evening finished with renditions from Iron Maiden including the legendary Number of the Beast and Somewhere in Time. Classic material.
Eventually after the three groups had come on and taken their bows several times, the curtain came down, the lights came on and a very satisfied audience made their way to the exits. Jeffrey felt he was walking on air. That was the best night, he thought, I’ve had recently and I’ve got my recording. He decided to leave it till he got back to his flat before listening to it, just in case…..
The streets were dark as Jeffrey made his way home. Quite a few of the street lamps needed new lamps in them and there absence caused pockets of darkness in certain areas. Spooky, thought Jeffrey, especially when a moaning wind began to blow. It felt like a horror movie!
He was about a mile from his flat when he suddenly needed a pee. He knew he could wait till he got inside but a bit of the wanton came over Jeffrey and he decided to step into the shadowy park which lay off from the road. Pulling his zip down he began to make water and amused himself by swinging the golden stream this way and that.
Finishing off with a couple of shakes Jeffrey zipped up and turned to go back to the path that lead to the road.
Suddenly he was engulfed in a very bright light. It totally bathed him and Jeffrey could sense the beam was checking him out. It felt as if a million small fingers were moving over his body. He screamed and made to run, but he realised that he had no sensation in his legs. He felt paralysed.
Then the bright light went out and was replaced by a very thin beam of blue light. He felt dizzy and almost stumbled and fell, but the blue light seemed to hold him upright. All at once Jeffrey began to black out and as he lost consciousness, felt that he was being lifted into the air.
When Jeffrey came to he was unsure of how long he had been unconscious. His head hurt and he felt as if he ached all over. He was lying on a metal table, his arms and legs in restraints and looking down he realised that all his clothes had been removed!
The room had metal walls and although it looked as if there were benches round the edge of the room, they seemed to be very high off the ground. Covering the top of the benches Jeffrey could make out scientific looking equipment and what looked like glassware.
A door in the wall suddenly slid open and what could only be described as a creature stood looking in. It must have been seven feet tall and was very thin. A small head with ice blue, slanted eyes and a mouth full off needle like teeth sat on a long neck which waved from side to side, snakelike. Its whole body was grey and the skin or whatever covered the being looked faintly plastic. It had two arms as long as a fully grown octopus which dangled at its side.
“You are awake!” the being said, its voice sibilant and screeching. A box hanging round its neck seemed to be some sort of translator for the creature spoke into it and seconds later the translation in English emerged.
“yyyyeesssss.” Jeffrey spluttered, he was scared. Where was he? Who was this thing? How could he escape?”
The creature explained through the translator that it was one of the Qorgeen Breed. A race of warriors who hunted in the Universe. Earth had come under their baleful eye when one of Earth’s satellites crashed into their home world after emerging from a white hole which was discharging debris which its black hole counterpart had drawn in. By using one of their Krystall ships they had passed through the white hole to emerge out of the black and thus were able to use their locators to discover Earth’s position. There’s was only an expeditionary force consisting of two vessels. It was originally thought potentially to be a suicide mission by the leaders of the Qorgeen Breed, but if fresh hunting grounds could be found, then it made the risk worthwhile.
“Do you… have a…. name?” asked Jeffrey haltingly. The creature had moved into the room. Its movement was a sort of gliding motion as if it hovered like a dragonfly.
“A name?” screeched the being. “What is that?”
“I…I am called Jeffrey. It is my name.”
“Jjefffrrey…” the creature didn’t seem to know what he was talking about.
Four more creatures came through the door and positioned themselves round Jeffrey on the table. None of them had a translator box so all Jeffrey could hear was snake like hissing and screeches. After prodding and poking him for about an hour, one of the beings picked up what looked like a scalpel and touched it to Jeffrey’s chest. It then made an incision out of which sprang blood.
“Heyyy!!” shouted Jeffrey angrily. “That bloody hurt!”
The being who had made the cut looked down at Jeffrey. It had the coldest eyes that he had ever seen. They seemed to bore right through him.
Putting down the scalpel-like thing, the being patted at the cut with a gauzy looking pad and then inspected the bloodstain. Horribly a grey bifurcated tongue emerged from its mouth and it licked the blood. It obviously found it to its taste for it handed it round to its three colleagues for a tasting.
“Your bloody interstellar vampires!” screamed Jeffrey. “What are you going to next? Eat me?”
The four creatures glided out of the room leaving the original being with the translator box.
“What happens now?” asked Jeffrey. “Am I on the menu for tonight’s tea?”
The being looked down at Jeffrey, then at Jeffrey’s big stomach.
“Are all Earth people as fat and puny as you?” It screeched.
“I’m not fat….” Jeffrey began to say
“The present members of my Breed find that Earth is rich for harvesting, so they are in the process of plotting a course back to the black hole. We will pass through, emerge out of the white hole and then be able to transmit Earth’s location for our cadres. You will be no better used than your cattle by us.”
Jeffrey was at a loss, he had to warn somebody. But who would believe him? No one would know anything until the, what was it, oh yes, the Qorgeen Breed arrived for their global barbeque!
“I thought everything was crushed in a black hole.” Jeffrey was playing for time.
“How little you puny Earthlings know. Inside a black hole there is silence. No noise. No disturbances. A kind of vacuum where even time halts momentarily. Our Krystall ships have the inbuilt strength of a fragile glass structure. We sleep during the journey, so that there is no chance of disruption to the perfection or silence of the black hole,” screeched the alien.
“Well…so what happens now?” Jeffrey asked, unsure of the answer.
“We will take five of you Earth minutes to reach the Event Horizon of the Black Hole and then several Earth weeks to pass through from one side to the other. Expect your masters to arrive in one Earth month!”
“Lunar or calendar?” asked Jeffrey fatuously.
The restraints were suddenly removed and Jeffrey scuttled bare arsed across to where his clothes lay. Quickly pulling them on he felt around the collar and inside pocket of his jacket. The microphone and recorder were still there and he carefully took them out. A plan had been hatching in his brain since the aliens had spoken of their race’s plans for Earth. There was no way he was going to be turned into a juicy steak for a seven foot bug! thought Jeffrey as he secreted his recording equipment behind the bench and set the timer on the unit to activate in one hour.
The blue light was suddenly back, shining down blindingly and once again Jeffrey felt his vision darkening. The beam raised him up into the air and then his mind slid into merciful blackness.
When he awoke, Jeffrey saw that he lay within a black circle. The grass though wet under him was quite burnt around him. High in the sky a large bright star shone momentarily in the heavens before shooting off and vanishing.
Jeffrey checked his watch as he got up. He brushed grass and twigs from his trousers and once again turned his attention to the sky. It was a starry night and the Milky Way could be seen clearly. Jeffrey wondered in which direction the black hole was. He had heard that there was supposed to be one in the constellation of Cygnus the Swan, but he was not sure where that was in the sky.
All at once a bright blossom of fire exploded above him and Jeffrey knew that he had found the location. The flower of destruction spread through the heavens and soon it outshone the stars. Jeffrey checked his watch.
“Right on time! Good old Micky Juste! Bang on time!”
A very fine mist of snow began to fall and Jeffrey thought it must resemble the crystalline particles of the ships of the Qorgeen Breed after they had enjoyed that momentous chord and music from the Death Watches group.
“Yehh!” shouted Jeffrey as he danced around singing.
Fantastic Neil !!!
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