The Plow — February, 20th. — Welcome, everyone. Please have a…
By: Barth Picq
Tags: Fantasy, Report, Science Fiction, Europe

— Welcome, everyone. Please have a seat.

The press secretary walks to the central microphone, as silence progressively returns in the packed briefing room in Bucharest presidential palace. Sifting through her notes, she introduces:

— It is now 9:58 AM, general Lucian Antonescu is still meeting with president Iohannis but should be there momentarily. Meanwhile, I would like to re-emphasize a few details to avoid the mistakes we’ve seen in a few reports yesterday. So that’s Antonescu spelled A-N-T-O-N-E-S-C-U, without accents, he leads Romanian’s air force, and his rank is equivalent to a 4-star general in NATO’s classification, not 5. Finally, general Melitaru — of the ground forces -, is NOT in charge of current operations regarding the phenomenon. Is everything ok with you guys?

She glances at the reporters.

— Very well. Now the general will read a written declaration, at the end of which he will not take any questions. I repeat, at this stage the general will not answer questions. Another briefing is set at noon with the army minister for logistical announcements.

An assistant appears through a side door and discreetly informs the secretary that the general is here. She waves at the control room and promptly leaves.

General Antonescu enters the room and reaches the central podium without a care for the reporters. Confident in his natural authority, he knows he won’t have to ask for silence. As a matter of fact, the room is muted.

— Good morning.

He places his speech on the lectern, and without further ado, starts reading.

“With the assistance of the north-Atlantic treaty’s resources, a scientific task-force has been assembled to analyze the phenomenon’s position over the last 48 hours. They have combined data from the French CSO and Italian COSMO-Skymed surveillance satellites and delivered their report an hour ago. We can now confirm that the structure is, indeed, moving.

It is currently moving at a speed of 3.242 miles a day, completing a full rotation every 2.505 days. That speed, as well as its trajectory, are reported as constant. It is moving towards the west/north-west, bearing 265 degrees. We time its apparition at 0632 UTC on February 18th, and it has covered 6.84 miles since. Since that moment, the object has been leaving behind it a crease 6.03 miles wide, and almost a thousand feet deep. Ground reports on site are of complete destruction of every physical feature. The vertical cliffs on the side and the jagged topography in the middle make any kind of terrestrial locomotion nearly impossible. Furthermore, vibrations caused by the moving object has been damaging or destroying structures up to 3 miles away.”

A rumor invades the assistance. “Total destruction?” “sky-scraper high cliffs?!”. The general raises his hand to signify that he isn’t done.

— We are implementing a military no-go zone, 3 miles on each side of the object, and 6 on the front and back. Civilian presence will be strictly forbidden inside it, and martial law will apply. The army minister will detail in two hours the first evacuation instructions on relevant areas, as well as along the projected path in the whole Arad region.

This time, the room erupts. Thinking he is over with his speech, the journalists start flooding with questions.

— Calm down, everyone! Calm down, please! That’s… — he hesitates — that’s not all. The task-force report also contains long-term trajectory projections, if the current movement stays unchanged. It seems like… We fear… the structure is rolling straight towards the Hungarian capital Budapest. It could reach the city in 43 days, on April 3rd.

Slowly, in a suddenly petrified room, the general continues.

— Then… If, again, nothing changes… it would destroy Bratislava, on May 6th… then Vienna, the 17th. Il would enter Germany in July… Nuremberg, Frankfurt, then Belgium… Brussels. And finally, England. London.

He stutters, and stops reading his paper. Emptily, he almost whispers:

— This is not a coincidence… it’s a nightmare. We have to do something.