2 Minutes to Midnight by Steve Lang Read Free Book Online Page A

store. He turned
away from the group and fired down an alley. What came out of the
barrel was a blue beam about twelve inches long that zipped away
down the alley knocking a brick off one of the houses.
    "This gun is so cool. You guys have to
get one of these."
    "No one bothered to clear the bodies
when these people died. This must have been bad." Kate
said.
    James shot the dead guy in the street,
blasting a hole in the husk of his body, and what came out of the
hole looked like giant spiders with radiant, glowing blue eyes on
stalks. They skittered in every direction hiding from the light.
One of them ran up to Kate, who quickly smashed the alien bug with
her boot.
    "Oops, sorry little guy. Real
scientific, James." Kate said.
    "This must have been what Ziggy
Stardust was talking about." James replied.
    The other two were looking at him with
flat expressions.
    "The spiders from mars? Nothing? You
two have no culture." James shook his head.
    "I think they had a resource scarcity,
and started fighting." John said.
    "Pure speculation, John. You don't
know what happened. It could have been anything." Kate
said.
    "There's a house. Let's go in and see
if they left us any clues." James said.
    The home they entered resembled a
brownstone with beautiful granite facing, and carved wood columns
supporting the front porch roof. Two rocking chairs sat like
timeless placeholders of an era lost, covered in layers of dust.
James thought the interior had an aroma like an old book as it was
waved beneath his nose. Nostalgia swept his senses.
    "I know there's nobody home, but I
still feel like a trespasser."
    James noticed a black box standing
about six inches tall and wide on the living room table with a
blinking green light.
    "What do you suppose it is?" Kate
asked.
    John entered the room with a device
appearing to be a cross between a toaster, and griddle.
    "Look what I found, it's a toaster
thingy. Hey, what's up with the box?" John asked.
    James walked over and picked the box
up. When he did a small eight inch tall figure of a woman garbed in
an ornate silk robe appeared. She had been crying, and was speaking
to the camera.
    "Your department, Kate." John
said.
    "Shhhhh, I'm listening." Kate
growled.
    "She's saying if you see this message
the doors have been sealed to Rasga, and we have three months of
food left. The newsmen said the planet's atmosphere would be burned
away in twenty-four hours. If you are a family member, please go to
Hashbeth Hall on the far side of Tetjran city, and meet us there.
Most of the planet is evacuating, but we have chosen to stay, and
pray we survive. This is our home." Kate said.
    The transmission ended. The three
earthlings stood in a circle around the blinking black box, their
mouths agape.
    "How horrible. They were trapped
here?" John said.
    "It sounds like it was a choice they
made. Probably not wise, but I don't know what I would do if
something was about to happen to earth." James said.
    "Now, I have to know what happened to
the Martians." Kate said.
    "Well, we can keep looking in here, or
go to the large building at the end of this street. I say we go out
and look around at the cliffs with Endeavor, and maybe I can do
what they sent me here for, look at some rocks."
    A decision was made to explore the
structure at the end of the street. Once the astronauts reached the
large granite building, they walked up a wide staircase, marveling
at architecture which modeled ancient Roman construction. Columns
carved from solid black stone of unknown origin held up a granite
triangular roof, and across a short marble tile landing the team
was confronted by a thick, ornately carved, and lacquered oak
door.
    "Where did they get the wood for this
door, its amazing!" James said.
    The giant door creaked open when he
pulled the handle, and once inside James and the others realized
they had found what appeared to be a library or hall of records.
One foot tall holographic images of a well-dressed Martian woman
sat in the