| Chapter Five - Betrayal and Escape |
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The war continued, the sound of the raiding sirens becoming another
background noise of the city causing people to move hastily toward
whatever shelter they could reach before the fire rained once more from
the sky. Several more attacks on the enemy planet were planned but none
were deemed viable. I worked away reading reports and considering
possible solutions to outstanding problems experienced in the field of
battle. I was contacted occasionally by HQ so they could ask me
questions about my work or if I needed any assistance from them. Then
one day the telegraphy stopped. After about a week of silence, I
received a telegraph from an old friend.
It transpired that my communications with other scientists had been construed by several government ministers as an act of espionage, my every missive was being monitored and he felt that soon I would be arrested and made a public example of to deter anyone else who was considering defecting. I sat in silence for a while after this smoking a pipe while I considered my next move. The gramophone played lazily as I contemplated my new predicament. I packed a suitcase with the essentials such as clothes, toiletries and my designs in case anything were to happen. I was soon proud of my foresight as I heard a heavy bang to the front door my heart pounded in my chest and I looked from a side window just in time to see a man in military uniform wielding a sledgehammer, setting to my front door. The oak was taking quite a beating and so I ran to my basement laboratory, lifted a drain cover and dropped into the darkness just as the shouting of men and the barking of dogs filled my house. I ran through the darkness, my escape plan seemed to have worked. Now I was a fugitive. I ran for as long as I could before finding a doss house where I spent an uncomfortable few hours. Awoken at the crack of dawn, I walked through the early morning London streets considering my next move. I still had a little money from my military grant but I needed somewhere quiet and out of the way where I would not be disturbed. I sat in a pub listening to the buzz of conversation around me. It suddenly occurred to me that my families house had been destroyed in the first waves of attacks but the ground was still ours and currently not being used. Renting rooms at the tavern I made a plan. I decided the only way for now was to move my base of operations. To this end I quickly hired a reputable builder who had been used for my family for many years. With several hired labourers he worked long hours following plans laid out by myself in the dark rooms above the noisy bar. Eventually he had installed a bunker to my specifications in the gardens of what was my families house. I spent many an evening there protected from the conflict above me. I recall those first days of experimentation in my new stronghold quite fondly as war raged around me. I ventured occasionally to the friend who had given me the warning. We chatted in the dark times before dawn and he furnished me with supplies, materials and the reports that allowed me to continue what we both agreed was paramount, my work in improving the chances of mankinds survival against the menace from the stars. |
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