With a start, Charlie woke from his uneasy sleep as the airplane began to descend. They were nearing Los Angeles, and he felt his ears pop as he yawned. Casually, he glanced at the impassive Secret Service agent in the seat next to him (and the two behind him, and the two in front of him) and then out the window.
What he saw shocked him. On the outskirts of LA, the suburbs, everything was normal. The same applied for the affluent business section as well.
But the slums, the lower-class areas, were smoking. From this distance, he couldn’t tell more than that, but at the least a serious fire was occurring.
“Look at that!” he said, nudging the agent and pointing out the window. The agent grunted, looked for a few moments, and then returned to his previous pose without changing expressions.
Something had gone wrong in the hours between Houston and Los Angeles, as the fires looked to be spreading rapidly. But the pilot hadn’t said a word, and if the agents knew something, they weren’t telling. Anxious, Charlie’s mind ran through the possibilities. Fires, bombs, riots, gas leaks... the list was short.
And then, with a jolt and the screech of tires, they were on the ground, taxiing to a stop, and then they were at a standstill.
Hastily, the ground crew ran up a moveable staircase to the door, and it opened as a second staircase was wheeled up to the back door. As a block, the agents stood and escorted Charlie down the steps and onto the tarmac.
A car was waiting for them, and he was ushered in, the agents waiting outside. Inside the car were two other agents. The driver put the car in gear and began to drive to another flight, on the far side of the airport. “Your plane to Honolulu takes off in one hour,” he informed Charlie.
“Thanks,” he responded, “But what’s going on out there? I saw parts of LA in flames!”
The first agent only grunted, but the second said tersely, “You were right. There are riots in most cities—except in the Mormon Belt, strangely enough. In most places, however, all the conspiracists and crazies are coming out now that all that their conspiracy theories were ‘right’—No matter how wrong they actually are, and are protesting for ‘the truth,’ or something along those lines. Most of the poor and the criminal are joining them for various reasons, too. Looting’s rampant.” He fell silent, having summed up the situation nicely.
“What cities, exactly?” Charlie ventured.
“D.C’s fine because all the government people are keeping it down,” he replied. “Salt Lake, Boise, Denver, and Pheonix are mostly fine for now, but just about every other city is flaring up. Detroit’s in really bad condition—there were already enough tensions there before this whole mess, and entire blocks are up in flames. The South is going to worsen, too, as blacks and whites start using the riots as cover to kill each other, and it’s not going to be long before the black moderates and the white moderates can’t hold back their respective sides.”
Charlie blew out a breath. “That bad?”
The agent nodded in confirmation. “Once the news gets past censors to the Warsaw Pact, it’s going to be much worse there. America’s going to get off lightly if the Reds can’t keep a lid on it—and they’re never able to for long.”
The driver broke in, “It’ll die down in a few days, just like every other riot. You’ve got nothing to worry about—they aren’t anywhere close to the airport, and won’t be much closer before your flight takes off.”
Charlie nodded, knowing it didn’t affect him personally—but, still! Nationwide riots, predictions that it was only going to get worse... and they said it would be light compared to what was going to happen behind the Iron Curtain. What really could be worse than nationwide rioting?
He tried not to think about it, fixing his gaze on the plane drawing nearer.
“Wait a second,” the driver said. “What are those cars doing on the tarmac?” He pointed out three cars, in a line with the third significantly behind the first two, coming across the runway at dangerous speeds.
The other cursed. “Perimeter security was supposed to secure the area!” He motioned to the third car. “Idiots obviously didn’t react fast enough and are behind the people who shouldn’t be in here if they had been halfway competent!”
Their angle made it clear they were making for the airplane, and the driver jammed the accelerator. The car leapt forwards, but as soon as they hit full speed and were committed on their course, going much too fast to turn more than slightly, it became clear that it had been a mistake.
The two unknown cars only had to make a slight course correction to come into an intercept. There was no time to react, and Charlie had just enough time to put his head down and brace himself before the car was hit side-on.
The world spun crazily, knocking Charlie about. Pieces of the spinning maelstrom hit him, sending his body careening in the backseat. One particularly nasty hit cracked at least one bone in his arm, but it hadn’t begun to hurt before the car skidded to a stop, upside down.
Charlie groaned and reached for the car door, surprisingly, largely unharmed. The same could not be said for the agents. The driver was in a pile on the ceiling—or rather, the floor, now—with what looked like a broken neck.
The other agent was a mess. His left leg was bending the wrong way at the knee, and a nasty gash over one eye sleeted blood as he shakily tried to escape.
Then Charlie was out, crawling onto the asphalt. The car was a wreck and would never drive again. Its opposing car hadn’t fared much better—instead of flipping around the long axis of the car, it had gone hood-over-trunk and landed with much greater force on its roof. The metal sheeting was completely crushed, and the oil leaking from the block held a suspiciously reddish tinge.
The other two cars hadn’t collided, though, and the first screeched to a halt. The front window shattered, and a bullet zipped past Charlie’s arm. He was being shot at—again!
Diving to the ground unthinkingly, he landed on his broken arm and couldn’t suppress a scream as his vision turned red. In the seconds it took him to recover, a bullet pinged off the asphalt in front of his head.
A second was closer—it tore a strip of skin off the back of his shoulder, burning like fire.
Knowing that the next bullet would likely be a solid hit, Charlie desperately leveraged himself upright with his good arm as the third car finally arrived on scene, agents within already spitting lead towards their opponents.
Soon, another shootout (his second in less than twenty-four hours) ensued as agents on the other plane sprinted towards the battle. The agents within the car looked to be having the best of the exchange, but the shooting was prolonged until the other four agents began taking potshots from the other side. Flanked, the bullets from the offending car soon ceased, and more blood spattered the windows of the car.
The six agents now nearby, having disposed of the immediate threat, now dashed to Charlie. One said, “Sir, we must get to the plane!” and took him by the broken arm.
Once again, Charlie’s vision redded out, and his legs gave out. When he could see and feel again, he was being carried, gingerly, by two agents as they trotted to the plane.
Carefully, they set him down at the bottom of the steps, and one grabbed a first aid kit from the airplane. As he tended to the furrow in his back and prepared to splint his arm, he nodded to the two other agents. “Just in time. Where were you assigned?”
“Perimeter security,” one said. “There were three other cars—peeled off in different directions and lured away the others. Then the other two showed up, and we were the only ones at the post.” He sighed. “Good thing, too. One more car, and our assignment would be dead.”
Charlie nodded, “Thank you for the assistance, sir—“ and then blacked out as his arm was set in an explosion of pain.
And this is where the story lost me....
What's going on, is it a flashback?
4107171
The two storylines are happening roughly concurrently. Ergo, they are both going on in the three-four days between meeting Luna and splashdown in the Pacific. I'm just switching characters and using semi-fluid chronology.
Yeesh. Earth's getting violent. I like the Module perspective better.
4107175 it's a little confusing, maybe you should put like a
Dude's going to die. Calling it now.
I'd prefer an open forum rather than a Hangout or Skype, much as I love them. Video and voice is just not my thing.
That said, this is a curious storyline, but it is a bit hard to follow what exactly is happening, especially with the interludes. Honestly, I find the interludes more enjoyable. Maybe when the two story lines meet up, I'll get it better. still, good work nonetheless.
No offense to the confused ones out there but how can you loose a story that easily?
It should be obvious by now that he is switching between earth and the module.
4107319 Nah. He's gonna end up saving the whole delegation, Die Hard style.
I should also note that there weren't that many conspiracy theory nuts back in 1969. Back then there were only a tiny few preaching about Kennedy's murder, MLK's assassination, and Roswell. Conspiracy theories didn't really take off until the 80's or 90's. Religious nuts also wouldn't go nuts, mostly because the current trend of ultraconservativism in religion is just that - a current trend.
I like this story, because it makes sense when I mentally start a chapter with "meanwhile, thousands of miles away."
Also it's a good story. Just to make that clear.
I'm with 4107373, I don't have any trouble following this. The parts in space are in chronological order. The parts with Charlie are in chronological order. When an event that is covered from both perspectives takes place, the two perspectives are as close together in the text as can be expected given the narrative structure of one POV per chapter. The only thing I find confusing is that other people find this story confusing (and I hope that statement doesn't confuse anyone ).
Also, the only problem with this story is it doesn't have enough chapters, and that problem is being fixed at a good pace.
4107403
While I agree that ultraconservativism in religion is a relatively new thing, keep in mind that the main reason for that was that back prior to the 70's, Christianity was pretty secure as the main steam religion of the United States. People who weren't openly christian were treated with suspicion as a possible 'trouble maker'.
Considering that the existence of Alien life kind of screws with the fundamental notion that God created humanity to be special and suddenly you have a bunch of freaked out, worried people. Like always, all it takes is a couple of people yelling that violence will make them feel safe again to get an angry mob going.
Here here, I totally agree with your statement. Especially that last line, bring us more of this glorious work author!
4107645
Perhaps - but by the same token, the beginnings of Wicca, and the modern Neo Pagan movement, lie in the 60's.
As for how, say, the Catholic Church would respond to aliens... well, http://catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0591.html sums it up pretty much. The general opinion seems to be "Jesus was sent to save HUMANS. Some other means may have been sent to be the salvation of other species." And by this idea, it may (once transport is open between the worlds) even be considered to be Celestia or even Twilight - she will have 'saved' Luna, and will (from the POV of this fic) even ascend to Alicornhood.
I think a minor correction could make things a bit clearer. Refering to all parties in the fight as "agents" can get confusing as to who is doing what.
4107752
I think that's the author's point. From Charlie's perspective, these guards are all agents. I would imagine that they look the same especially because of two factors:
1. Assuming the 2nd new Russian faction is after Charlie, they were disguised as U.S. agents.
2. Charlie is tired, stressed, and afraid. And then he also gets hurt - concussion from car crash, flesh wounds from bullets, etc. - which I would suspect would mess with his senses.
So if Charlie can't identify who is who, then how can we?
Anyway, where's the fun if the author can't keep us guessing for who Charlie can trust?
@Cyanblackstone
^^d Keep the great work up!
Best of luck, stay healthy, and update soon!
-Sky66
The South is going to worsen, too, as blacks and whites start using the riots as cover to kill each other, and it’s not going to be long before Mr. King and the white moderates can’t hold back their respective sides.
If you're referring to Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. (though the Secret Service agent could misspeak as his own character, since it wasn't done by the narrator), he would have already been dead by the time of the moon landing in 1969 (assassinated 1968, which is a mistake the agent would not have made). Not to mention that there were extensive race riots nationwide following that event. It's not out of the question that there would be even more riots in response to confirmation of alien life coming to visit, but it's also at least as likely in my mind that Americans would be "rioted out", so to speak. Still, it's your story, and having there be riots is certainly not stretching credulity.
P.S. in the pre-chapter Author's notes: "irrevocably"
Those USSS agents were right, though: This is an excuse. These tensions were always there and these hatreds (and fears) were always boiling away just under the surface. Luna's appearance has just given the necessary nudge to send them over the top of their containers.
It's the governmental groups who think that they're defending their country (or at least certain special interests deemed 'vital' for national security) that will be really dangerous. They're the ones who are going to have the focus, professionalism and dedication not to lose interset after a few weeks of "lootin', rampagin' an' burnin'". They'll keep at it because they genuinely believe that the alternative is death, subjugation or, worse still, obsolescence.
4108145
aahhhh that's a wonderful application of literature then, intended or not.
Agents, agents everywhere
Personally, it makes little to no sense why exactly they are after him. What do they expect to obtain from abducting him? Secret weapons, space travel, superpowers? All he has gotten is confirmation that aliens exist. Unless it has been failed to be stated in the story, the only reason I can find for him to be attacked and abducted is "look how evil we are!". Hopefully what the people who are after him are actually trying to accomplish will be covered in the story at some point.
My two comments: Neil, Buzz, and Mike seem out of character. They are all highly trained, educated individuals and seem very casual in such a tense situation. Second, there's a lot of agents running around shooting people and there doesn't seem to be a reason, aside from the living McGuffin. Why do they want him?
4109320
4110255
Oh ho, the random and seemingly-nonsensical shootings have a reason.
And a doozy of one. *evil laugh* You'll just have to see, won't you?
And while Charlie may be highly-trained, he's also not used to actually being shot at. "Oh, great! Real bullets!"
4110429 Are they actually Russian sleeper agents who were planted in the US at a young age, only to grow to adult size and enter a secret organization, just waiting for the "on switch" to kick them into high gear?
4110429 Yeah, sciencey guy B-plot seems fine to me. I think the Lunar Lander Team is acting too casually, and seem dumber than highly educated ex-officers and now-scientists.
Meanwhile, in Britain:
"Did you hear, the Americans are bringing that alien to Earth?"
"Damned nice of them."
"Apparently, her people can control the weather."
"Oh, really? Maybe she'll visit - we could do with a spot of sun."
"I doubt even alien technology could put the sun back into a British summer!"
"Too true!"
"Still, I wonder how she takes her tea..."
4110429
As long as it isn't a complete ass-pull, I don't think much would surprise me.
4110429 Might want to correct the fact that Dr. King had been dead for over a year by the time of your story.
4113581 that has been pointed out, yes. Many apologies for the research failure on that, but in my defense, I had no Internet access when I wrote this. WILL GO FIX SOON I PROMISE
4114831 Aight. ^.=.^
yeah, there goes any reason to hold back on telling about both factions of the same spy cell.
If one faction cant stop the other from coming after him like a bad video game in wave after wave, they can't stop that faction from coming after his family either. His family is in the same jeopardy whether he says anything or not.
One thing's for sure, St. Louis, Missouri is going to be realitivley safe from riots. Every time riots threatened other cities in the 60's and 70's, they put a Browning M2 .50BMG on the roof of City Hall in a sandbagged position. The last time they hauled it out of the City Hall basement was the day MLK was shot. It still sits in that basement to this day, awaiting the next time the Mayor has a reason to freak out...
4107403
While there weren't a lot of conspiracy theorists yet, remember what happened when "War of the Worlds" was broadcast in 1938, at a time when the US was in a state of heightened anxiety with anyone with more than two braincells to rub together aware war was going to happen in Europe. WotW just tapped into that anxiety with fear of the unknown.
Now we drop an alien goddess into an equally tense time in the US... Conspiracy theories and panic are going to spread like a common cold.
The general mood was still pretty ugly even a year after 1968. I get the sense from writings of people from all walks of life back in 1968-69 that we were scary close to a full blown 3-way shootout between the Baby Boomers who for the most part did not want to be sent 5,000 miles across the world to get shot on the behalf of the "Old People" running the Establishment types, The Black Panthers and their fellow travelers, who didn't want to go to 'Nam for said "Whites only" Establishment either, and the Establishment ready to fight back for its own survival.
This makes me wonder what would happen if there were no "My Little Pony" show or merchandise and Luna was rescued from the moon -today!
The mood of the US (much less the entire world) since 2008 is at least twice as toxic as 1968, if not more...
I need MOAR!
4142730
Whilst I prefer stories that have some element of canonical support, I would be willing to allow most anything with internal consistency. Of course, if the sisters rule in their parents stead, Twilight probably shouldn't have been the next in line for the throne in the S4 opening, but ignoring that, there is the issue that such a reign would, in fact, be a _regency_, thereby acknowledging that the actual sovereign, for whatever reason, does not currently rule.
For preference, all of this extra-canonical information would be included within the story, but Authors Notes work as well.
A 'realm' can refer to any to any regal state (that being a state ruled by a Royal Family), and is commonly used to avoid repetition in sentences.
The only issue I have noticed in canon is that 'Equestria' is never clearly defined as a specific geo-political entity. So, when Flim (or Flam) mentions the 'Kingdom of Canterlot', they might actually be referring to the nation they live in. However, the context he uses it in (similar to 'all the tea in China'), would bely this idea, so he is probably referring to a famous historical realm.
Oooooo dan dan dan
4146598
Please refrain from spamming the comments section, kindly.
If this continues, I will be forced to ban you from comments.
Also, comments with actual words and critique are more helpful.
I'm loving this story so far, though the misspelling of Phoenix as "Pheonix" really stuck out for me.
4107167
I don't get why they'd be trying to kill him either.
[rant] Ok, this is really bothering me. Your "interludes" are the actual story. The "chapters" are something tangentially related, but are in no way the main focus of the established story from the previous two short-stories. This isn't about Luna anymore; it's about some guy that, quite frankly, no one cares about. I think I speak for mostly everyone when I say we came here for a story about Luna meeting humans on the moon and the subsequent interaction. Taking that and putting it as an "interlude" instead of the focus seriously changes what the audience is getting, and it is quite jarring. I'm not saying that the plotline with Charlie isn't interesting, but given the two precedents already set, it should be a subplot. Sure the story started from Neil's perspective, but it was about him and Luna. In the second story, it was him and Luna with a side of Charlie. Now it's Charlie with a side of Neil and Luna...? [/rant]
Carry on.
Dude, I don't care about charlie. I want to hear about Luna's reactions to earth!
4149464 FINALLY Someone said it!!!
what is happening. Who is even fighting? And why?