Free The Immortal Game (Rook's Song) by Chad Huskins Page A

would be his job today.
    That morning, there were dark clouds rumbling off in the distance.  They looked harsh and black, more like roiling smoke than clouds.  Kind of like a volcano cloud , he thought, pouring another glass of OJ.  There were black columns of smoke climbing the sky, and through his sleep-addled mind he forced another conclusion.  Jesus, no .  Not a wildfire .  It had been a dry summer, and local firefighters and meteorologists had been warning the whole region about the possibility.
    He’d just slammed down his glass when the door burst open, and he heard someone rushing in.  He had a feeling he knew who it was, and what it was about.  They would need to start up the anti-fire irrigation system quickly.  “Dad?” he said.
    But it wasn’t his dad.  Coming down the hall was Mom, who wasted no time.  “ Oh my God, where’s your father?  Have you seen him?”
    “ No, he’s probably there, though,” he said, pointing towards the clouds in the distance.
    “Why would you say that?” she said, looking a little more than frightened.  “ Have you not heard?”
    “I saw.”
    “You saw?  Saw what?”
    “The smoke.  Jesus, how big is it?”
    “How big is wh—no, no, it’s not a wildfire.  Jesus…God A’Mighty, I wish it was.”
    That made his eyes go wide.  “What the hell are you talking about?  You wish it was ?  What’s going—?”  The door opened again, and this time it was his dad.  “Jesus, Dad, how big is it?”
    “God, son, it’s not just one.  There’s four of them,” he said, walking with large strides across the living room to switch on the holoprojector.  At the center of the room Catey Mangsley, the news anchor known to everyone in Kansas, came into their room and started talking, but no words were coming out as it was muted.
    “I don’t understand.  Four fires?” he asked.
    Dad turned around.  “Fires?”  He looked at his wife.  “What’s he talkin’ about?”
    “He hasn’t heard, John.   He thinks it’s a wildfire.”
    “ A wild…?”  He trailed off and looked at his son.  “Holy God, son, it’s not a wildfire out there, that’s the ash cloud coming out from Kansas City.  We’ve been invaded.  Everybody has.  It’s happening everywhere.  It happened on Marra Four, the planet’s totally destroyed.  They think the thing that landed in Kansas City was just one of their probes.”
    “Dad, what the hell are you—?”
    “You don’t keep up with the news?”
    “Some,” he admitted.  “But what’s this about?”
    “Two weeks ago all communication stations on every planet lost communication with Marra Four, so the government sent military and repair squadrons.  It took them a while to get out that far, but after they did they reported back.”  He had never seen his father looking so afraid.  “The whole planet…it’s…they say it’s on fire.  Just like the atmosphere ignited, or something.  There’s no sign of impact craters, at least not any big enough to cause planetwide fallout…hell, I don’t know what all they’re saying, it’s all coming over too fast—”
    “There’s reports that the last communiqué from a military outpost on Marra Four detected four large unidentified ships breaking through the atmosphere,” said Mom.  “An hour ago, Uma Six stations reported a bunch of machine-looking things falling out of the sky, and a bunch of people posted pics on the QEC boards—”
    “And now nobody’s heard from them, either,” Dad cut back in.  “It’s their probes!  That’s what the news people are saying is the big theory now.  They send probes down days or weeks before they attack.  Four of them!  Just like we got!  Kansas City’s been hit, so has Tokyo, someplace in Siberia—”
    The young man interrupted.  “They?”
    “Yes, son.  Aliens.”  Dad shook his head.  “Don’t give me that look, I didn’t believe either until I…well, hell, look here.”  He waved his hand at