2021 (32 page)

‘We’ll show you out agai
n’ smiled Cardinal Moretti.

‘That was
brilliant
! I can’t believe we’ve actually met the Pope!’ Alec enthused now looking really pleased with himself.

‘I can’t believe you actually had the cheek to ask to have your photo taken with him’ smiled Tom
as he whispered back.

On
ce outside again, the two Cardinals asked if there was anything else the two teenagers needed.

‘Yes, I need to get to the border of Mexico
and the USA just as quickly as possible’ replied Tom instantly as Alec just turned around and stared at him in disbelief.

‘Mexico
? Tom, have you gone completely nuts?’ he asked.

‘I
’ll understand if you don’t want to come with me, Alec’ replied Tom.

‘Well, no, but Tom, everyone is trying to
flee
from that area at the moment, not try to get
to
it?’ queried Alec.

‘I just get the feeling that
it’s my destiny somehow to be there’ Tom shrugged.

Alec
just blew a long sigh.

‘All right, I guess Mexico
it is then’ he smiled.

‘We will help you all we can’ nodded Cardinal Greco.

‘If you both return to your hotel for now’ smiled Cardinal Moretti ‘then once we have arranged flights for you both we will let you know.’

‘Thanks, for everything’ nodded Tom
as he shook both their hands.

‘No, thank
you
’ smiled Cardinal Moretti.

‘What for,
I haven’t even done anything?’ puzzled Tom.

‘No, thank you for what you are about to do’ answered Cardinal Greco, now looking at him very seriously.

With that
, the two teenagers returned to their hotel suite once again, where they just mulled over everything that had just happened.

‘This is all very mysterious, Tom’ pondered Alec ‘Pope Paul was great though wasn’t he’ he smiled.

‘Yes, he was’ agreed Tom
‘I still can’t believe you had the cheek to ask to have your photo taken with him though’ Tom shook his head as he smiled at his friend.

‘Well,
if you don’t ask, you don’t get, do you?’ laughed Alec. ‘My mum is going to just love that photo!’ he smiled as he checked it out on his mobile phone again.

Th
en he looked more serious.

‘That painting
was a bit weird though wasn’t it? It looked the spitting image of you, Tom’ puzzled Alec.

‘I know
, it just felt kind of weird looking at it, it was as if I kind of ‘recognised’ it somehow’ pondered Tom.

‘Well of course you did
, it had your picture painted on it stupid!’ chuckled Alec.

‘No
, I didn’t mean
that
!’ smiled Tom ‘I mean I instantly
knew
I needed to go to the border between Mexico and the United States.’

‘How
exactly?’ puzzled Alec.

‘I’d tell you, Alec, but I’m not altogether sure
myself’ pondered Tom ‘I just knew I had to be there that’s all.’

‘I just reckon you’ve gone
completely crackers, mate. I always knew it would happen one day’ laughed Alec.

‘O
h, just say what you think’ replied Tom.

‘Don’t worry I will!’ chuckled Alec.

After
a while, Tom noticed Alec looking deep in thought about something.

‘What’s up now?’ he asked.

‘Oh, I was just thinking’ replied Alec ‘
maybe those guys dressed all in black hypnotized you on the way here?’

‘And you
’re call
me
crackers?’ smiled Tom.

‘Well they could have done
!’ Alec insisted.

‘Why though?’ puzzled Tom.

‘Oh
, I don’t know, maybe they want you to smuggle in some drugs for them or something?’ pondered Alec.

‘Two men from the Vatican want me to smuggle drugs
into England for them? And you’re calling
me
nuts? You’re off your trolley, mate’ Tom laughed.

Then he noticed Alec looking
deep in thought again.

‘What’s up now?’ he asked curiously.

‘Oh nothing’ re
plied Alec ‘I was just thinking if we’re going to Mexico, does that mean I’ll have to buy myself a sombrero?’

‘You twit
’ laughed Tom ‘and I thought you were going to say something important!’

‘Na, not me
,
never
!’ chuckled Alec.

‘Still, at least you didn’t pass wind in front of the Pope
like you thought you might’ smiled Tom.

‘How do you know? I could have
done’ Alec giggled.

‘No
, you never did?’ laughed Tom.

‘Do you think if I di
d a silent one you wouldn’t have noticed?’ smiled Alec.

Tom just thought about that for a moment.

‘Yeah
you’re right, especially with all those egg sandwiches you keep eating for lunch every day at work, you end up smelling just as bad from either end’ he laughed.

‘Anyway, if had dropped a
silent one I would have blamed His Holiness’ commented Alec with a cheeky grin.

‘Knowing you, you
probably
would
as well!’ smiled Tom as they both broke down in laughter!

Day Twenty Two:

28
^th
January 2021

San Diego, U.S.A.

J
ust outside San Diego, troops from all over the world were now forming an International Fighting Force to make a final stand against the Migrators.

After the demise of General O’Dowd it was to be under the central command of General Ira
m and troop carriers were bringing troops into the area in their thousands every day.

Every factory in the United States that could produce the new gas pressure artillery la
uncher was now producing them in their thousands with smaller factories put in charge of supplying the ammunition.

Hundreds of thousands of men were now building up banks of earth and breeze blocks over an area running all of some twenty miles wide.

Stuart, Joan, Jack and Jenny had all bee
n moved alongside the troops at this point. A place that was now being widely considered as quite possibly, mankind’s last stand against the Migrators, as serious new developments had made defeating the Migrators at this point now an absolute must.

Stuart had requested an urgent meeting with General Iram
, but with so many civilians and army personnel from the international community under his command, it was chaos all around his private encampment most of the time now.

Stuart insisted though that he must
finally see him.

‘What is it, Professor Keys, as you can see I’m a little bit busy at the moment?’ General Iram
complained rather gruffly.

‘General it is vital that I speak to
you’ Stuart insisted.

‘If you must
, then go on’ the General insisted as he continued working on the plans for their defensive wall on a map lying on a table top in front of him.

‘These things move really fast, General, that’s why General O’Dowd’s army was rap
idly overwhelmed.’

‘Yes, yes, well we already know
that
much’ replied the General impatiently.

‘Well, General, I wondered if you’d seen the
feature film Zulu?’ inquired Stuart politely.

‘Zulu?’ queried General Iram ‘wha
t in God’s name are you going on about man?’

‘Well, the film was about a real life battle in
1879 in which just over a hundred and fifty British troops fought off literally three to four thousand Zulu warriors. It was at a place called Rorke’s Drift’ explained Stuart quickly.

‘
A history lesson, Professor, I haven’t got time for this. Someone take him away please!’ ordered the General as an army officer began man handling Stuart out.

‘IT’S ABOUT MILITARY TACTICS!’ shouted Stuart as General Iram suddenly stopped what he was doing.

‘All right, I’m
listening
’ nodded the General as Stuart was allowed back in again.

‘The problem we face here is
exactly
the same as the British troops faced back then’ Stuart quickly explained. ‘They were hopelessly outnumbered and had to keep reloading their guns exactly the same as we do here.’

‘All right, I’m still listening’ nodded General Iram.

‘
No fewer than eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded after that battle, the most ever awarded in one place at any one time and it was all to do with the way they maximised their potential’ explained Stuart.

‘Get to the point man!’ ordered General Iram impatiently.

‘What they did to combat the tremendous odds against them
was they organised several lines of gunners, so as each line had to stop to reload, the next line was then firing. With a line of three rows they in effect organised a non stop salvo that was capable of stopping even the fastest moving enemy charging straight at them. Added to this, at the start they fired further out so the charging troops were slowed by having to jump or step over the dead bodies of their own warriors lying dead on the ground in front of them’ explained Stuart quickly.

He now had the General’s full attention.

‘Where did
you say this was again?’

‘At Rorke’s Drift
, General, during the Anglo/Zulu war’ replied Stuart.

‘Yes
, but we’re hardly fighting Zulu warriors here, Professor, the British had guns and the Zulus only had spears’ commented General Iram.

‘Well,
that’s not quite correct, General, many of the Zulus also had guns they had taken from the battlefield from a previous battle they had won’ explained Stuart.

He could see he now had the General’s full attention.

‘But how would
you suggest we do the same thing here then?’ the General asked curiously.

‘We need as many lines of guns as we can arrange
, with some pointing further upwards or outwards to reduce their numbers and have their bodies forming obstacles to slow them down as they charge towards us. Then we need lines of guns so that as one team are reloading the air pressure cannon with another missile, so the next line of guns are already firing and so on’ smiled Stuart.

The General just stopped what he was doing
now and just looked up.

‘Professor Keys, that’s
actually quite brilliant! And that’s how a handful of British troops won against many thousands you say?’

‘Yes, Sir’ nodded Stuart.

‘
Umm, maybe having a Brit on board wasn’t such a bad idea after all?’ the General smiled.

‘If I might suggest
’ asked Stuart.

‘Go on’ nodded
General Iram.

‘Maybe a few guns could also be placed beyond the lines to pick off any Migr
ators that do manage to break through?’

‘Yes, good idea, Professor Keys,
you know, you’d make a half decent General’ the General laughed.

General Iram then r
ubbed his chin as he looked deep in thought.

‘Could you perhaps help explain all this to all our officers along the line?’
he then asked.

‘Yes, no problem’ smiled Stuart.

‘That’s all, Professor’ nodded the General as he began looking down at his maps once again.

‘Good luck, General’ Stuart smiled
just before he left.

‘And you, Professor Keys’ nodded the General before he began barking out his instructions to everyone
around him once more.

The International
Defence Army now totalled over a million men with an army of civilians also helping out behind the scenes organising food and supplies.

There were also over a half a million civilian volunteers who asked to help
keep a non-stop supply of ammunition to the guns once the fighting had begun.

One big advantage they had over last time was the humans themselves had chosen the front line
. This way they were able to use trucks to bring the guns right to the site and fortify proper defences using heavy machinery.

After his discussion with General Iram, both Stuart and Joan were now working flat out, making sure the angle of the guns were correct all along the line and also as many lines of guns were put in place as was physically possible, so a non stop salvo of missiles could be fired at the Migrators.