Free Ascension: Invocation by Brian Rickman

aware of.”
    “Strange. The amount of energy that they're reporting should make radio broadcasting nearly impossible in these conditions. No issues reported by your competition?”
    “I got a call from Craig Morris. He owns the Christian station in town. He was insisting that the new dishes we've set up for Graham's show were interfering with his signal. Of course, that's impossible. He's kind of a dumb ass.”
    “What kind of interference did he report?”
    “He said his signal kept fading and then, well, static bursts like this,” Mike said as another flash of static buzzed through the speakers; thunder began to roll in the distance.
    “Interesting. Any idea what's going to happen at four o'clock?”
    “We're giving away five grand!” Mike said proudly.
    “Would you mind if I hung around for the big event?”
    “Make yourself at home, Doc. There's sweet tea downstairs and I'm having sandwiches brought in later. You're welcome to stay.”
    “I think I'll take you up on that.”
    Charles suspected that something strange was occurring. He walked outside to the front porch and took a long look at the sky above him. There were no menacing clouds; the sky was a beautiful blue, in fact. Yet, the thunder continued to growl, and the sky flashed regularly now. He returned to the air conditioning and poured himself a glass of tea and settled in to the conference room. Charles messaged colleagues as he listened to Graham's program through the static.
    “Welcome back to the Graham Barry Program. I am, in fact, Graham Barry, and we're joined by our faithful Space Man as always. You up for more calls?”
    “It is better that we discuss the coming events.”
    “Yeah, we're about ten minutes away from something exciting!”
    “Indeed. This is true.”
    “Well, I guess we can let the cat out of the bag,” Graham intended to supersede whatever the pirate had in mind with the cash giveaway. “At the top of the hour, we're going to welcome all of our new listeners by giving away a ton of cash!” Graham ran an exciting music bed under his delivery. “That's right, be listening all next hour, for your chance to score one hundred bucks every minute! I want you to light up those phone lines as we pay off some of your bills. It's a grand total of five thousand dollars, fifty one hundred dollar winners. You could be one of them! Exciting, huh?”
    “This is very exciting,” the voice said genuinely. “I am happy with this news.” Graham felt a wave of relief come over him. It looked like the pirate was playing along. Maybe he was a decent guy after all. Perhaps he was just as nervous about what was going to happen at four o'clock as Graham had been. Everything was going to be okay. “All right,” Graham said. “How about some White Stripes to celebrate?”
    “This is acceptable. However, we must first inform our listeners of what they will physically experience in moments.”
    “What? Elation? Relief that we're taking care of that pesky wireless bill?”
    “Difficulty breathing...”
    “Sure, I'd be excited too!”
    “Dizziness and nausea may also be experienced, but this will be temporary.”
    Graham laughed. “Yeah!”
    “Do not fear this. We will soon be visible to you. No harm will come to you...”
    Graham felt the board in his studio begin to vibrate; the floor also seemed to throb. The lightning outside began to create a strobe effect as it flashed intermittently. Graham could hear voices outside his studio and he thought he heard someone say something about an earthquake. Graham noticed now that the vibration seemed to cling to the air. He held his hand up and could feel it.
    “This will take only a moment,” the voice continued. “The Dark Age is now complete.”
    Graham and the rest of humanity suddenly felt a crush of heat wash over them. This was quickly followed by choking. It was as if all oxygen on the planet disappeared for three or four seconds. When he could breathe, Graham felt incredibly dizzy