Wave 0 incoming
Heinz wondered why that popped into his head. There was nothing special about the next wave.
He bobbed up and down, making gentle strokes with his arms to keep his board head on to the wind and waves. He’d been out for half an hour already. There was no need to take a weak wave to warm up. He lay flat and let the water wash over and past, unsure why his stomach was sinking.
Heinz stayed out for another two waves but his heart was no longer in it.
This was a sentiment shared. When he carried his board out of the water, he was the second last to do so. The only person left on the water was Jamie and she spent the majority of her days off out on a board. Sunup to sunrise. She was a surfing addict.
Heinz tried to shake off this funk as he walked through the dunes and off the beach. He laid his board down in the ditch by his van, grabbed his beach wallet and travel mug and started to make his way over to a small crowd gathered near a garishly painted horsebox.
The horsebox was a familiar feature of the beach and welcomed people on their way out of the cold Irish sea. A few nods to the other surfers and swimmers he knew and Heinz was in front of Jack’s box. Well, it was called ‘White Horses’ but the locals had the right idea by just referring to it by what it was. To be fair, they had seen it covered in mud and horse poo for the vast majority of its life. A common argument after a swim was whether the odd blue and white paint job was an improvement or not.
Controversial paint job aside, the owner Jack made a good coffee which made him many friends.
“Hiya Jack, can I get an extra helping of the usual?” Heinz asked, placing his mug on the counter.
“Sure thing Beans.” Jack gave a cheerful reply and a smile before turning to his machine but his smile wasn’t as bright as usual. “You’re back in early today.”
“Yeah. I wasn’t feeling it out there.” Heinz replied to a backdrop of whistles and gurgles from the coffee machine.
Jack turned to give him a sombre nod. “Lots of that going around. I might sort the last of the morning customers out and call it a day. Something seems off.”
Heinz could do nothing but nod back and consider his own plans. He had a lesson later but it was in the river by the town centre. He would check the amount of sign ups when he got back. If numbers were low, it might be worth cancelling.
As he contemplated this a hot mug was placed on the counter and Heinz passed over the coins he had been clutching.
“Thanks Jack. I’ll see you around.”
Heinz walked away, the mug warming his hands but making the wind on his face all the sharper.
Getting changed was a quick affair. Stops to sip coffee took up the majority of the time but he was well used to the process that was changing out of wet gear. He personally felt he had made an art of it - minimum salt water or sand getting into his van or onto his dry clothes.
Soon he was placing his mug into the cup holder and turning the key. He had left the water early and it was a little past 10:30am. ‘Not too late for a Saturday’. Heinz brought the van into gear and slowly drove up the road from the beach. His hands were numb from the cold sea and clammy from the hot coffee but he had driven this road hundreds of times and it was muscle memory at this point, each turn indication made without thinking. He shivered as his van crossed over the bridge on the long straight into town.
Then things got fuzzy.
The world shook and Heinz was wrestling with the wheel as the van bounced and drifted into the opposing traffic. His mug jumped and began spilling coffee all over the passenger side. He slammed onto the brakes and pulled the van back to the correct side of the road and further over, until it was in the ditch.
“Fuck, FUCK fuck. What was that?” Heinz smacked the wheel and shoved the door open. ‘It’s either a flat or something expensive broke’.
The world changed forever before his eyes.
A wall of purple rose from the ground in the distance, soaring towards the sky before curling in towards him, stories above his head. Heinz whirled around to see the walls continuing as far as he could see. He walked forward to the edge of the road, mouth sinking open. The blue sky shrank as he watched, purple walls closing off his view. Without a sound the walls connected and a shiver travelled through the purple before the world settled.
“What the hell?” Heinz stammered, falling back on his ass, head and back slamming into the rear door panel.
The Swarm is here.
Sapient species capabilities insufficient.
Counter system initialized.
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User I38-3NA5
Planet Earth has been targeted by the Swarm, an organic threat rated as existential.
Planet Earth has been supplied with an instance of the Counter system. Planetary system resources will be harvested to power the Counter system.
Planet Earth has been divided into zones. Humanity has been relocated to safe zones. Reclaim all zones before Counter system resources are exhausted.
In order to fight the Swarm, the human species has been drafted. No one is spared. Nowhere is safe from the Swarm.
The Counter system can provide the ability to fight. Humanity will advance or be consumed.
‘What is this?’ Heinz panted and his fingers dug into the tarmac. He flicked his eyes side to side but the knowledge was seared into his mind. Closing his eyes didn’t help. The messages didn’t block his vision. They existed alongside it. It was magic. Alien.
The message burned his mind until he would never be able to forget it. Then it vanished and was replaced.
User I38-3NA5
As a sufficiently healthy individual with no dependents you have been assigned to reclamation duty.
User must report to Zone I38-KB centre within 2 hours. Failure to do so will result in invalidation or defaulting. Roles are limited.
Follow prompts to location
The message was now accompanied by a tugging sense. It felt like someone was pulling Heinz by his clothes, but the sensation was in his skin. There was no force behind the sensation, instead a draw.
Heinz pushed himself to his feet, unable to ignore it. His hand gripped the side of his van, keeping him from falling. The draw carried straight down the road ahead of him and into the town. Towards his home and god knows what else. He turned around, fighting the itch. There was nothing but coastline behind him. Coastline and that purple wall.
Everything Heinz had was in that town. Nothing much but everything.
Heinz felt his way around the van until he reached the door handle. He collapsed inside and twisted the key. His banger rumbled beneath him. Heinz reached out to the handle one more time before putting his foot down and driving to the town.
The drive in was busy. Terraced housing lined the street and people stood outside, talking in groups. Parents hovered in doorways, keeping their kids inside and spoke to their neighbours from the safety of their homes. Heinz watched a woman smash her phone against the ground. Wincing at her anger he reached for his. It sat forgotten on the passenger seat.
“Shit.” Heinz grabbed it and shoved the side covered in coffee against his shirt. Now dry, the screen flashed on but there was no signal.
‘I guess I’m not calling anyone.’ Hopefully the coffee hadn’t broken more than the reception.
He got the stupid mug by crowdfunding the product. It arrived late, delivered little and the lid never quite fit right. He wouldn’t be using it again after today.
The traffic got worse as Heinz drove through the restless streets until the car in front stopped altogether and the driver got out. They turned to Heinz and shook their head. Heinz reached for his handbrake and key.
The sense had started to direct him south when he crossed the town river earlier - towards the other side of town. Kinmore town was built around a natural bay and the opposite side of town was across the water.
There were many advantages to living in a town near a river mouth and the sheltered inlet was a beautiful location. But it made crossing the town a pain. To go from the north-west side of town to the south-west meant a 3km walk or a 500m swim. Heinz was limited in where he could live though and for him the considerable advantages of Kinmore outweighed any disadvantages.
The draw was clear though. He needed to cross the town. Heinz grabbed his phone and got out. He locked the van but with the end to end traffic there wasn’t much point. It was not moving.
The wind dug into his damp hair as he walked. As he passed the marina entrance Heinz considered popping home for a shower but the time warning in the messages stopped him. Instead he joined a stream of people walking through the town.
The streets were summer festival busy. He recognised people as they all walked in a herd but no one that he had spoken to before. No children were in the crowd but some were in their late teens.
The sense of direction started to wobble and he took side streets to try and stay on route. When Heinz passed the town centre it was clear that they were being guided to the docks and pier. Shop fronts faded back into terraced housing and then opened to clear space. The wind blew a fishy smell to him. Up ahead people were yelling but it wasn’t clear about what until he got closer.
“Move to the sides as you walk into the area! Sit down before you accept the message.”
Hesitant about more messages but having no reason not to follow these directions, Heinz walked off the road and out onto the fishing quay. The stream of people split. Some diverted towards the people shouting and began shouting questions back.
Heinz doubted anyone knew what was going on. He ignored the yells and kept walking forward until the pull ended.
The sensation cleared in a burst of relief and Heinz nearly stumbled from the lack of it. People ahead of him were sitting or lying down and he could see through the crowd for the first time. A teenager in a bib ushered him to a spot on top of a fish box and Heinz felt another message blaring to his attention as he sat down.
User I38-3NA5
The Counter system has assigned you reclamation duty. Restore surrounding zones to earn Credits and Energy.
WARNING: The Swarm contests these zones. Combat is certain.
Reclamation duty awards a personal system classification. Classification will be used to allocate gained energy.
WARNING: Classification cannot be changed. Only removed.
Accept duty?
WARNING: Duty will not be offered again.
Should he accept?
These messages contained so little information. He didn’t know what the Swarm was. All he had to go off was ‘organic existential threat’.
The purple walls and these messages were not human technology. No country was this advanced outside of books and movies. The only option left was aliens. Was the Swarm a group of monsters like in Predator? So many movies full of horrific creatures passed through his mind.
Swarm made him think of insects. Could he ‘combat’ something like that?
Classification on the other hand pointed to games. Had all that media and human creativity been a warning for this?
Heinz didn’t know what Credits and Energy were but if Earth was being invaded maybe he would need them.
In the end the choice was simple for him. Or really he had no choice. No one was going to need a kayaking instructor soon. There were no buttons but Heinz closed his eyes and focused on the message.
Information rushed into his mind.