The sky was already dark. Marvin was on his way to the Phenix bar. It seemed reasonable to think that, by chance, the man he was looking for could be found in the same place again tonight. Or at least, he hoped that someone there would be able to help him find Gropius.
Maybe "hope" was not the right term, though. Because finding Gropius was not exactly what Marvin deeply desired. It was part of Fluffy's plan. For him, getting hold on that guy, re-establishing contact with some golden space fleet that was floating out there in the starry sky, was not such a joyful perspective. It would probably mean the cat goddess being able to take away his yet to-be-born son to some distant place. And frankly speaking, he didn't understand at all what this plan was all about. Anyway, he was not ready to abandon his son by any circumstances.
But when one has a personal goddess at home, giving advice, or demanding things, one should at least compromise a bit and give her something to chew over, right? He'll see later how to handle all the stuff concerning the baby.
So, here he was again in this isolated little street where he recognized straightaway the bright neon sign of the Phenix.
The dim lights were on, and it seemed crowded inside. At least it wasn't closed as Marvin had anticipated. Unlike the other shops or bars, the owner kept the Phenix running. The situation, thought Marvin, was maybe not so bad for business, after all. There were a lot of idle guys out there, wanting only to gather together, drink a lot and discuss pointlessly about the aliens.
He went inside, ready to ask some questions. But he soon figured out that maybe no one in there was in the mood for questions and answers at that moment. Everyone was literally captivated by a report on the giant screen. They were all staring at it. Some were swearing from time to time.
It took Marvin a few seconds to understand what was going on.
"This is it! They have attacked!" explained nonetheless a man who saw on Marvin's face that he was not yet aware of the situation.
The scene shown in the report, said the banner, was taking place somewhere in the North Sea. The images had been captured by some workers on a Norwegian oil platform located in the middle of the sea.
This time, the spaceship that suddenly appeared had purple lights on it. It stood still there for a few seconds, hovering above the water. The perpetual flame that was burning at the top of the flare stack, on the oil platform, went stretched out, like a candle's flame on which someone was strongly blowing.
Then, without a warning, the spaceship shot a large purple beam down to the depth of the sea, making the cold water boil into a wide cloud of salty vapor.
After that, the beam of light moved forward, quite slowly, towards the oil platform, vaporizing more water. By then, the workers had stopped filming. They had just enough time to jump in lifeboats before the powerful beam reached the concrete platform. The image turned shaky and dark, the giant explosion that followed being captured under the guise of a creasing, saturated sound.
"No casualties." announced Darla Diaz, the reporter. "Only some minor injuries." The workers had been rescued by a liner.
Yet, this was changing the game. The intentions of the Exolibs had been questionable until then. Were they here to conquer ? Had they come in peace ? Now it seemed that they've revealed their aggressive attitude towards mankind.
"What the hell, Fluffy?" asked Marvin, speaking to himself. "I thought these were supposed to be but holograms…"
The guys in the bar were arguing now about what should be done.
"We should nuke these bastards out of our atmosphere!" proposed someone.
"Yeah, good luck with that! Haven't you seen the power they've got? We try to nuke them and they'll burn the Earth to a crisp!"
"It's the end of the world anyway! They're gonna destroy us…"
"Not necessarily. Maybe we should discuss with them."
"Discuss about what?"
"Dunno… See what they want…"
A message buzzed on Marvin's phone. It was Angie sending him a link : "You've got to take a look at that!"
It was the same thing he just saw on the TV.
"Yeah, I know…" he texted back. "What does Fluffy say about that?"
Another text buzzed on the phone :
"She says it's normal. She says the invasion is really fake, but they're not going to stick with mere holograms in the sky. There's gonna be destruction coming, according to her…(worried emoji)"
That was so unbelievable. How could all of this make sense? Marvin thought that maybe the destruction of the platform could be due in fact to an ordinary missile hidden behind this spectacular and otherworldly laser beam. But what about all the boiling water rising in huge white clouds? Also holograms ? And who would want to attack a lonely oil platform lost in the middle of the sea, and pretend it was done by aliens?
Tiredly, he came close to the counter and ordered a Martini on the rocks. Although it was perhaps the end of the world, the barman still took his cash.
While biting a green olive off the skewer, Marvin looked more carefully around him. Gropius was nowhere among the customers. Too bad… "To hell with Gropius!" he thought.
He was not really doubting Fluffy's claims about what was going on, but he was a bit confused. He didn't know what to believe anymore. Maybe he shouldn't get involved in any godly plot.
A random guy came next to him at the counter and ordered some drink. Then he started talking to Marvin.
"So, how is the end of the world going for you?"
If that guy wouldn't have spoken first, Marvin would have probably left that place without asking any question. But since he was in some sense forced to answer something, he went with the planned questioning.
"Hey, are you a regular here? Where you around last night when that crazy shock-headed man jumped on the table and burst in some nonsensical speech?"
"Oh, the one pretending the Exolibs weren't real ? I'd like to see his face now after what just happened…"
"Do you know him ?"
"Nope. Was the first time I saw him last night. I don't think he's got friends here, he was on his own. But it's funny, 'cause I saw that fool again today. I recognized him at the Old Port… He was again shouting his non-sense, trying to convince people he was some prophet chosen by the gods, ha ha…"
"At the Old Port? OK… Maybe I should go for a walk there tomorrow…"
"Why do you want to meet this guy? You don't believe his insane conspiracy theory about the Exolibs, do you ?"
"No, of course I don't. Who would believe that? I just… Well, never mind. Thank you for the tip."
"You're welcome…" sneered the man, agitating the ice cubes in his glass.
Marvin headed outside. There, he looked up at the starry sky and took a deep breath of fresh night air. It felt nice.