Attack of the Spheres. A Science Fiction Novel

Editura: ePublishers
He sighed, took a sip of beer, and then added: “I wish I could arrive first at a scene that would hit the front page of the newspapers.” Piotr, about five years his buddy’s senior, shook his finger at Viaceslav: “Buddy, be careful what you wish for; sometimes life beats movies, and it beats it so hard that it may hurt you too if you’re around.” He took another sip of beer and wanted to explain further how things were, but just then, the crash of a collapsing wall covered all other sounds in the square, and near their table, less than thirty-two feet away, there emerged a black sphere about ten feet in diameter. The ground shook heavily, but no one moved. “What the heck was that?” Viaceslav asked, with his eyes fixed on the unusual object, while Piotr automatically removed his video camera from its cover. The surface of the sphere was black matte, and it dented the asphalt only a few inches. It looked pretty much stationary there and didn’t seem to want to roll towards them, despite the slight dip. “First take some still shots and then record it,” he whispered to Piotr. Stones falling from the nearby building could be heard; other stones came down from where the sphere passed on its path to the square. “Take some pictures of the building, too,” Viaceslav said, pointing toward the structure. “I will, I will,” Piotr answered breathlessly, turning his camera toward the several-story building where he could see a hole the size of the sphere cut through the old walls. Shifting the video camera from the hole in the wall to the sphere, he couldn’t help saying out loud: “I’m sure it’s a bomb sent by the Russians. If I’m not mistaken, it came from the north, so from that bloody enclave of theirs, Kaliningrad. I’ve heard they do all kinds of experiments there….” Meanwhile, people walking in the square started to gather around the sphere, and soon there were dozens of them. “You may be right,” Viaceslav confirmed out of the corner of his mouth. “It’s just, if it had been a bomb, we wouldn’t be standing here talking about it, or people around it, for that matter.” He finished his beer and got up from his chair, urging his friend to do follow: “Let’s get closer and see what it is.”