Title Keep Watching The Skies!
Author Robert Cornell
Email rc223@msm.cam.ac.uk
Website None
Words 440 Words

s far as I’m concerned, it all started in 1951. Some folks will tell you it goes back to before the War. I never believed the Welles’ tapes. There’s something not quite right about ‘em. ‘51 was when the first authenticated space critter turned up under the ice. The Army tried to cover that one up but Nyby - though some say Hawks actually shot the footage - got the truth out. That sure was one hullabaloo it caused! It was as if that was what they’d been waiting for. In the fifties, all kinds of bug-eyed things dropped in from outer space.

Some said they were our buddies. There was this one, Karpool or some such, reckoned he came in peace. Yeah, “I come in peace” but I got this giant robot with death-ray eyes just in case. We shot him up good and he ain’t never been back. Now we know there’s all kinds of Martians. The first were more colourful than most and we got lucky to tell the God’s honest truth. Couldn’t take our germs! It was the pods came closest, I reckon. Took over a whole town and you couldn’t even tell ‘em from regular folks. Should have nuked that place, in my humble opinion, and they tried it again in LA twenty-five years later. Weren’t so hot second time around, though. Some woman even married one! Preferred alien love, if you know what I mean.

Things got just plain silly in the sixties. Blobs like strawberry jelly. All types of second-raters turned up. Some even tried to invade England for some reason. The devil girl from Mars they called her. More like from a whorehouse, the way she were dressed. Trashcans that couldn’t even climb the stairs! No real threat, there.

Then it all went quiet for a while. Critters hadn’t gone, though. They just got sneaky. It was “we come in peace” all over again. Abducting kids and saying it was just a bit of fun. They took these scientist away with ‘em. Never seen those dupes again, have we? It got worse. Some boy made a friend out of one, hid it from the authorities so it could get away. Most said it was cute. All I can say is this: Would you let your kids play with that thing?

Recently, they been back just like in the fifties. They’re getting even uglier but it’s harder to take ‘em seriously. People even joke about it now. We’ve forgotten what it was like back then, when the Red Planet menace was strong.

I‘m warning all of ya: The aliens are always coming. Don’t let your guard slip for a second. Keep watching those skies!


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