Something was maybe sparkling up there in the night among the regular stars. But on his balcony from which he was observing the sky, Marvin couldn't say for sure.
It was close to midnight. Angie was inside, lying in bed, asleep. Fluffy was with her, sleeping too. But Marvin just couldn't get to sleep. It was as if his entire world had been recently torn apart.
It had been three days since the first announcement of the alien visitors had been made. And since then, the spaceship (or other spaceships of the same kind) had been seen in various locations around the Earth. The media were continuously reporting the last apparitions in the skies, with endless interviews of witnesses and experts. People all around the world seemed completely hypnotized by their screens. Marvin turned off his a long time ago. But now, insomnia seemed unbeatable.
Although Marvin knew a bit more about the current events than regular people, it was not exactly as if he felt detached of what was going on.
Until then, he always felt as if he was walking on firm ground. He always had an ordinary — almost boring — life, in a completely normal and predictable world. And now, the firm ground had moved away under his feet and since then it was as if he were free falling. But this continuous fall was itself quite weird. He realized that he should be freaking out much more than he was. The entire world was thinking that aliens were visiting us. And he, himself, discovered that his pet cat was in fact a goddess from a distant galaxy. What the hell? This things were impossible. And yet…
The moon was full that night. Full, and round and enormous. Marvin was staring at it from his balcony. The moon was white and also had a touch of spectral green. It rolled with excessive slowness behind the dark buildings.
Everything looked so strange. Maybe the spaceship would appear tonight in the sky of his hometown, Montreal. Or maybe not. For sure it was the sight of this full moon that was disturbing Marvin, dilatating his pupils and troubling his blood, preventing him to sleep. But since it was impossible to sleep, why not go outside for a walk? Let's get out, thought Marvin, let's walk down the slopes of the silent city.
He slid back inside, careful not to wake up Angie. She was lying on her side, breathing slowly. A grey ball of fur was coiled at the foot of the bed. Marvin took his keys and closed the door behind him trying not to make any noise.
The next moment he was in the streets. He walked on random sidewalks in a seemingly deserted part of the city, waiting for something to happen. But really, everything was quiet. Wait… What was that noise? Nothing… Perhaps just a rat among the leaves of the park. Some of them were living there. The park, by the way, looked almost unrecognizable at this hour. A swing was there, unmoving under a greenish moonbeam, hanging at the end of its chain with an almost unreal stillness. What a strange night, thought Marvin.
Keeping on walking he arrived close to downtown. As he got closer he started to notice some distant noise.
People were out on the streets. This area seemed more animated. Not the good kind of animation, though. Some smoke was rising. Marvin saw some cars burning with huge flames. The road was covered in broken glass and alarms were sounding everywhere.
Yet, the police did not seem eager to put an end to these riots. Riots, really? thought Marvin. What were these guys protesting against? They weren't really protesters. Just some knuckleheads taking advantage of the situation to satisfy their appetite for destruction.
When alien spaceships were circling the Earth, who would care about some burning piece of junk ?
Finally, the police arrived to disperse the troublemakers. Marvin thought it would be inconvenient to get caught in some trouble, so he quickly moved away from the area.
He arrived in a street at random. It was quiet there, and dark. At the end of the street there was a lonely little bar from which a warm light was emanating. According to the neon sign, it was called "The Phenix". Marvin never went there before.
Let's go inside for a moment, he thought. Maybe have a beer or two. Why not? Is there anything more important to do right now?
He pushed the entrance door of the Phenix and was received by a vaporous ambiance. It was quite crowdy in there. Guys drinking, or playing pool. The news were rolling on a big screen.
"The spaceship was last seen yesterday in Bangalore, India. It seems that it has not yet shown anywhere today…"
Marvin walked straight to the bar and asked for a pint of beer.
Stephen Emerson was interviewing some general of the Air Force.
"General, what are the intentions of the visitors? Are they here to conquer us? Or do they come in peace?"
Some guy in the bar responded loudly, covering the general's answer from the screen:
"I'm telling you, they're not coming in peace! And they're damn right! When you see what kind of dumb species we are… Just look outside what this mad knuckleheads are doing. Burning and destroying everything just for fun… That's what we're good at. Destruction. So we really need to be taught a good lesson. And be ready, it's coming.
"Yeah…" said another guy "Humans are a horrible species.
"Nah, come on…" said another one. "If they came all the way from some distant planet it means they are an advanced civilization. So they must be wiser than we are. I don't think they would wage war on us."
"Maybe they're going to educate us, but not in a harsh manner, I mean…"
"I don't think so… Nobody's travelling the entire universe just to come and educate people for free. They probably want our resources."
"What resources? You think their spaceships run on oil ?"
"Doesn't matter. Maybe we are the resources and they're gonna turn us all into slaves."
Marvin, who was sitting alone at the bar, took a fresh gulp of beer. He would have liked to participate in the discussion. He was just dying to tell these folks what he knew. That all of this was fake, and that they were all freaking out for nothing. Or not exactly for nothing, but not for the right thing anyway.
Marvin's eyes met those of one of the arguers, who in return asked him:
"And you? What do you think?
"Well…" started Marvin.
At that moment, a man who until then stood quiet at the back of the pub, suddenly jumped up on a table and started yelling.
" Guys! Guys! Stop! You've got to listen to me! Now, I know it would sound crazy… But all of this is fake!"
Marvin, quite stunned, turned around to see the man who was now standing on the table, looking desperate for attention. He was half bald, half shock-headed. His face was ugly, but not the kind of fierce ugliness of a wicked man, but rather the soft, likeable, inoffensive ugliness of a sad ape.
"What do you mean it's fake?" asked another man "Haven't you seen the images?"
"I know! But trust me, it's some kind of illusion! It's not really happening. I know it sounds silly, but…"
The people started chuckling around him, but Marvin listened with increased attention.
"How do you know that it's not really happening?" asked someone.
"Well, I had a sort of vision…"
"Ha! Ha! A dream you mean!"
"Why, yeah… But I wasn't sleeping. It was like a day dream. I was with my friend Emilio, who is a homeless person and a drunkard by the way. I was trying to help him 'cause he just fell down from his bench. He really drank to much that day… But anyway. I suddenly got struck. It was like a lightning…"
"Wait, wait!" interrupted a laughing man. "So you're telling us that you were completely drunk when you had your vision?"
"No! I said Emilio was drunk, not me. I don't drink."
And as a proof of sobriety he lifted up his glass of strawberry milkshake.
They all looked at the barman, who confirmed with a subtle sneering smile that there was no alcohol in this glass, an all of them burst out laughing.
"So you got struck by a vision out of the blue! What did you see?"
"At first, I saw darkness. I thought I was going blind. But the darkness started to turn luminous with some kind of visual snow at its center. Thousands of shimmering little dots like distant stars, and then I saw it. It had the shape of a galaxy. It was all shining with beautiful silver light. Never saw something like this before. And then I heard a voice…"
"A voice! Ha ha! What it said ?"
"It said: "All hail the goddess and her noble general. You are the one. You've got to accomplish your mission. You've been chosen to become the leader of the Golden Fleet. All the other spaceships are false, a mere illusion…"
Everyone, except Marvin, was bent over with laughter.
"This is hilarious! What a fraud! Who the hell are you, man ? Never heard such a storyteller before."
"My name's Gropius and I've never told a lie!"
"And yet you pretend that all these people around the world who saw the spaceships are liars."
"I'm not saying they're liars. But they've been misled. I can't prove it, but I trust my gut. I'm sure these spaceships are not real."
"Now come on, shut up!"
"Yeah, shut your dumb mouth! We don't like your kind of crap here."
The barman, who felt that things were about to go astray came close to the table on which Gropius was standing.
"Please come down." he said. "We don't stand on tables in here."
Gropius obediently came down, and the barman accompanied him to the front door.
"You're creating a fuss. It's better for you to leave. Please go home now…"
The man's sad eyes looked sorry. He mumbled something and walked out the pub.
When the barman came back, Marvin searched his pockets and hurried to pay his due.
"Do you know this guy?" he asked the barman.
"First time I see him…"
""Gropius" he said, I think ?"
"Yeah… Whatever. Sorry for the discomfort. This kind of crazy folks are everywhere nowadays…"
Crazy? Why crazy? thought Marvin. For not believing in UFOs ?
When he got out of the Phenix, back on the dark street, he took a look to the right, a look to the left, but the man was already gone.