Dragon Spheres
It was strange to come back after all these years and see it again.
The surface all clean not a scratch or blemish on it.
On one side a beautiful spring day with trees blooming and grass green from plenty of rain, on the other side black burnt ruins separated by about two inches of what could easily be mistaken as glass.I still had a strong image in my head of what it looked like before the sphere came.
Before then it was a vista of houses, parks and the occasional Industrial estate that flowed outward with the undulating landscape.
As seen many a time from my bedroom window on the second floor of our old house.
People thought 9-11 was a shock; it paled in significance after the spheres came.
30 years ago today, 83 all counted: each 5000metres in diameter, crystal clear 50mm thick walls, unmovable and indestructible. No way in and for the poor souls locked inside- no way out.
It missed our house by a good 100 metres. I remember how surreal it all was, one second nothing there – next it had surgically sliced through concrete, steel and the flesh of anything that happened to be on the boundary perimeter.
I remember running to the site with my brother and by the time we reached the clear wall a dozen or so people had gathered on either side of its surface. At this point those trapped inside had no idea of their pending doom.
Within 24 hours it was all you could watch on the television because all over the planet spheres had appeared at same the time as what we called “our bubble”. Each was identical but where they appeared was totally random. Thankfully few fell on populated areas; many fell in the ocean and others in deserts, mountains and the Polar Regions. Each engulfing the atmosphere it surrounded.
So if a sphere landed in the ocean it either totally submerged or it would sit half in half out but never moving.
Every sphere seemed suspended and locked in place. The one that laded on K2 actually sticks out of the side of the mountain half way up and like many of the land bound spheres is a Remembrance Shrine/ Tourist attraction.
The strength of the spheres was proven by the now infamous French secret experiment on one of the spheres submerged in the South Pacific. The French exploded a nuclear device directly underneath it only to discover it unmarked and in its original position after the detonation.
We were evacuated not long after as a precaution because the Government had gone into panic mode and we were shuttled to the centres on the outskirts of town. There was talk of invasion and Alien attacks but the truth was so much stranger.
Due to the massive scale of the spheres appearing the news was a constant update and it was impossible for any Government to suppress what was happening. It was confirmed China did try to suppress information but gave up after a huge influx of internet and mobile communications swamped any attempt to hold back incoming news.
Our bubble was one of 23 that had fallen on populated areas and unlike in the movies place like New York, Los Angeles. Paris, London, Berlin all missed out.
They were all just normal suburbs and small towns of less popular places.
The whole world was watching making up theories about why, what if or when something happened. It was revealed that during the first 48 hours after the spheres appeared casualties in war zones and fighting hot spots had decreased significantly and soon for a period taper to nothing.
That was due to the appearance of the red clouds.
After 3 days it was an accepted fact no one could communicate with those inside the spheres unless it was
with pen and paper held up for the other side to read. No type of electrical transmission would penetrate the wall. Some more enterprising individuals had banded together and where attempting to dig their way out. At this stage no one was aware of the spheres make up our bubble just looked like a big dome.
Then on the morning of the fourth day (our time) red clouds started to appear in the upper atmosphere on all spheres simultaneously as the day grew longer the clouds grew thicker and darker in colour. All over the planet news was streaming in about the same atmospheric disturbance in all the other spheres though those under water were less noticeable.
Then at 9 PM our time 1100 hours GMT the first beast appeared from the clouds.
They came in their hundreds, there was no denying they were Dragons- Fire breathing Dragons – four limbs, winged and with long streamline scaled bodies that finished with a long spiky tail.
If you got a collection of fantasy novelists to come up with a more accurate description you’d be hard pressed. The world was watching what had thought to be the things of legend and myth and they were attacking everything in the spheres.
The Dragons set fire to everything, my Mother shielded my eyes as she tried to protect me and my brother from the onslaught that was happening. It took the networks a lot longer than would be considered good taste to cut transmission to the general public. It happened so fast.
My Mum still rates that day as the moment she changed her life to that of full time practicing Christian and like a lot of people turned to the church for solace.
A lot went the other way, usually those who had a relative or friend effected by the spheres.
The Dragons it was later discovered ate the ash of any organic life form. So to eat they needed to blast anything that moved. The flying skills of the Dragons were like watching a Dolphin in the air their grace and maneuverability was fantastic not to mention their speed.
It was a slaughter in our bubble and I have no doubt in all the other 22 populated spheres. There was no where to run or hide the Dragons just set fire to everything and waited, worst of all there was no way to hide it.
If it was any conciliation those Dragons that appeared in the underwater or Polar and Mountain spheres were virtually killed on appearance by the harsh or unsustainable atmosphere.
Those in the deserts starved to death faster than the others and the ones in the forest or jungle areas were recorded and studied constantly until they also ran out of food and starved.
The spheres served one good purpose they didn’t let the Dragons out.
The populated spheres were the most distressing; there was no way to hide the carnage that was happening inside.
It was recorded later that during the first 24 hours of the appearance of the Dragons there was little to no action in all designated areas of conflict all around the globe so much was the shock at their arrival.
The last beast died 453 days later right on my old doorstep, our bubble so it happened had the most food or the strongest beasts I don’t know what or why I do know is that when the ash ran out the Dragon’s started on each other . The last surviving monster collapsed and died right on the boundary of the sphere where my brother and I ran when it first appeared.
I’m staring at its bones now. The wall is still crystal clear, there is no graffiti on this surface not that it would stay on it.
This is sacred ground.
Our old house was demolished because they built a 300 metre Remembrance Park around the entire perimeter, on a bad day the place is packed.
It was one of those moments in history that will affect all of us and never be forgotten or explained.
One theory that seems to be gathering respectability it’s been talked about for so long is the one that claims the Dragons were dumped on us like an unwanted Christmas puppy in a bag into a creek.
Maybe who did it didn’t realise we lived here or even cared. It was a short sharp shock that has left a mark on our history and these spheres aren’t going anywhere fast to let us forget.
image one courtesy of Nick Ford (c) Nick Ford
Nick is a talented artist with a passion for skateboarding, Nick is also a member of Game of King's Phase Two
image two courtesy of Cathie Tranent (c) Catherine Tranent
Cathie is an indispensable tool for lazy writers and is a clever person in her own right.
All images used with permission.
