The Mirror World
By Mark Hudson
Here we come, invading ourselves,
the human race, and a whole bunch of elves.
We’re coming from an alternate universe,
where everything is happening in reverse.
In America, what happened to Biden?
From the depths of the ocean, comes the Poseidon!
The dead passengers have come back to life,
they are zombies, and they are looking for wives!
Who’s the president? Back to George,
he is crossing the Valley Forge!
An alternative universe mixed with time travel,
judgment day, and the banging of the gavel.
The bubonic plague makes Covid look mild,
every senior citizen shrinks to a child.
Some crazy aliens must be in charge,
and here in a spaceship is grandmother Marge.
I’m the last man on Earth, or am I wrong?
Out of the jungle, arrives King Kong.
He grabs my girlfriend, makes her squeal,
then he trips over a banana peel.
This is the end, the worst invasion,
I won’t be able to survive the duration.
This is 2023; I can’t take any more,
the only thing worse will be 2024!
Dust bunnies
By Nieske den Heijer
I settle behind the couch, trying to ignore the dust bunnies that have accumulated over time. A vacuum cleaner is too loud, and every time I exit from this hiding spot I forget about the dirt. The relief of still being in my own home and checking if all my friends are still here always takes priority over cleaning, followed by foraging for food and water.
The dust is a nice thing to keep my mind from wandering to the creatures that walk the streets outside. I can hear the squish that their tentacles make across the pavement, the humm of their floating vehicles and sometimes the screams of the people who did not hide well enough.
The television springs to life by itself, and plays the message of the invaders. They make famous people say how the earth was dying and the aliens are here to save us. A refuge has been set up on the moon, where we will be housed and taken care of. Then the earth can recover for a generation or two, and then our descendants can return to a better world.
I close my eyes and think of beaches, yoga and pineapple juice. Anything to drown out the lies, I will not allow their words to take root in my mind as that’s how they get you. I just wait until they go away, it feels like the safest option.
My thoughts return to memories of going to the beach. Involuntarily I take a deep breath and suck up some of the dust. Frantically I claw at my nose; a sneeze could give me away to those outside. I have no intention of finding out if they tell the truth. I am happy here, in my house, behind the couch. Here I know I am safe, there should be enough food to last me a few more weeks. I hold on to the hope that there must be a human army assembling out there somewhere to kick these invaders off our planet, there must be a liberation force.
The sounds pass my house, I get to stay on Earth for another day. I get up, dust myself off and let out a series of nice and loud sneezes. Time to find out where I left my broom.
Ends
The Secret Invasion of Plants
By Harris Coverley
What could it have been? Starborn invasion or mere Terran mutation? Or something even more curious maybe? It just struck me as strange: walking along that night to hear that bizarre whining noise coming from the garden of that neighbour up the hill. I leaned in with ear and eye—the plant was whistling a metallic whistle!
Set against the redbrick of the terrace, a thin velvet green strand with wide flat olive spades of leaves, arranged in a step-by-step ladder, and yet engaging in a relay!
Did…did the people inside know? Were they aware? Were they stupid, insane, deaf, deafblind, mute to cry out for the danger? I could even see it shaking, vibrating with energy, its leaves twitching and humming…
What was it trying to communicate? And to whom? “Hello?” I asked it more than I greeted—but I got nothing back but that constant tinning buzz, continuous to a fault…
I walked on—had I been mistaken? Just fuzzed with white wine? If only I had known…if only I could have acted…put the word about…made a real stink…we perhaps could have today escaped from being under the foot of the plants, or should I rather say, under their roots…
Out of deep space came the Green Dawn, and the end of the Age of Flesh…
Ends
Zaffre
By Christopher Hivner
The sky had never been such a deep shade of blue. It was unnatural, as if the black of night were bleeding through. There had been explosions in most of the major cities and people thought it was the end of the world. Rumours started dancing around that Iran or North Korea had launched nukes. The soap-box preachers bellowed “apocalypse” and all the survivalists sprinted for the hills.
The sky wasn’t right, but it didn’t seem like the end to me. I gathered my family close to stay in our house. We didn’t run, we didn’t fight, just watched and waited. Maybe that was the stupidest thing of all to do.
When night fell nothing changed. The sky was still a lunging blue, like someone had jabbed a pen into it and emptied the ink on fabric. There were no stars, and the moon was a hazy shadow of its normal self. There were no clouds either. The sky was empty, a stately, dark shade of nothing.
No one could sleep. We didn’t have day or night anymore, just blue. After a week of restless hours my wife locked herself and the children in the attic. Through the thin wall I heard my son bleating my name and Joanne repeating the same phrase over and over: “They only want Jeff. They only want Jeff.”
The neighbours stopped interacting. They would only talk to me through a crack in the door or a window screen. Paranoia was taking over. None of us understood what was going on and some weren’t taking any chances. It turned out all the fear in the world wasn’t going to save them.
This afternoon I received a message in my brain. I was sitting on my porch when a sharp pain pierced my forehead. I dropped to my knees and vomited on myself, but when the feeling was gone it caused an awakening. I remembered who I was.
In my bathroom hidden in a secret compartment behind the medicine cabinet I found a knife made of a metallic alloy not found on Earth. I used this knife to flay off my human skin and reveal my true form. There are others like me all over the world doing the same.
My people altered the chemical composition of the Earth’s atmosphere to hide our ships. Everything is in position now so it’s time to begin. My wife and children will be first. Just sit tight, we’ll get to you.
Ends
Portal
By DJ Tyrer
Mystic portal opens
The veil drawn back
By strange cosmic forces
Unknown to man
Mythical beasts
Wander through
Strange horrors seeking prey
Dark Lords greedily eye Earth
But none understand
The portal is two-way
A strike force is ready
Takes the battle through
View From Atlantis 