TAPEKALYFTHENTA

Rome, High School The teacher turns low the light in the classroom then uploads the video he has prepared onto the screen and begins... The twenty-first century’s main discovery was the TAP method, which used nuclear fusion to meet energetic needs. In a world in which fossil fuel consumption was increasing every year while resources had dwindled to half of those existing in the early 1900s, the fate of a technological civilisation could only be defined as doomed. ...The discovery of the TAP method gave new life to technological progress. An energy source practically inexhaustible, given the wealth of light elements in the earthly crust, TAP allowed, in addition to an abundance of electric power, the first public short-distance flying transit, the elibus. Supplied by a motor with nuclear propulsion, the elibus has revolutionised the lifestyle of the Western world. The aircraft is similar to an ancient helicopter, except that its electric motor is supplied by a nuclear fusion generator. In combination with a series of directional satellites that organise the routes for each elibus line, the elibus can make its journeys at the extraordinary average speed of 300 kilometres per hour. This performance allowed people to move away from the chaos and high prices of living in overcrowded cities... NATO Headquarters General Smolin jumps up from his chair. —Iran has had the atomic bomb for centuries and cannot wait to use it; this is the truth. —Why should Iran be a sworn enemy of the Christian West?— General Schmidt asks this question with a perplexed air... In complete silence, everybody’s gaze is fixed on the visual document. Schmidt has not abandoned his expression full of scepticism, which seems to say, Here we go again with the usual findings of the Dutchman... —Here, we have chosen reports of recorded speeches of the imam of the main madrassa in Abadan. Have you heard this? All watch the imam speaking on screen. —We don’t need some hit here and there but a series of acts that may affect the imagination of Muslim Ummah. We must demonstrate the extreme vulnerability of the Christian political system and the values that underlie it. Van de Kerkhoven presses his remote control again, and another scene is projected. In this one, the imam says,—What use is it to accumulate examples that demonstrate it further? The Christian West is rotten, rotten to the core. —Look and listen, this is really meaningful,—van de Kerkhoven inserts. The imam points his finger towards the west. —What’s the point of having the atomic bomb if one never uses it? Noordwijk, Netherland It is late. Enrico has not yet finished performing the calculations that his chief has asked of him. He is so drowsy that his eyes are almost closed. But he wants to finish before going to sleep; otherwise, the knowledge that he has things to do will give him nightmares. Rubbing his eyes to keep them from closing, he notices a small bluish light on the opposite wall. Why, he thinks to himself, what can that be? There is no electronic device over there. He would like to get up and look more closely, but it is as if he is immobilised on the chair. Perhaps he is just very tired because of the late hour. Or is he already asleep? The light grows, quickly becoming the size of a small wall television. But that’s not where the video wall is, Enrico thinks to himself. A white-haired old man on a stone seat is writing on a tablet placed on a block of rocks. He is sitting in a hole shaped like a school desk with an integrated seat that looks like the ones used a long time ago. The old man writes. Occasionally, he rolls his eyes upwards and then writes again. The image gets bigger, and Enrico can read the words in the writer’s booklet: ‘I saw seven trumpets being given to the seven angels… The first blew his trumpet, and with that, hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled on the earth. A third of the earth was burnt up, and a third of all trees and every blade of grass was burnt.’ But just as she’s finished her sentence, a huge scary bellow fills the air, coming from an undefined place, continuous, and deafening as the fall of a distant cataract. This seems something completely different from an explosion, yet it must be an explosion. The bellow seems to fall on them like a ruinous avalanche on unsuspecting travellers. Only Enrico, who once studied the thing, understands and screams,—My God, this is a nuclear explosion! The students wake up with a start and are the first to react. Matilde says,—What’s that gigantic blaze over there? The car stops, and everyone turns to look at the huge red column of flames that rises to the sky. Suddenly, a new even more terrifying outbreak is sent into the air. The violence of this new outbreak is indescribable. Red and blue flames are released into the sky, followed by a second frightening bellow, as if a monstrous and gigantic Minotaur has howled against the earth, filling the atmosphere. The tremendous nuclear mushroom rises angrily into the sky and widens its hat as if to devour all that it can. Coming round from the shock, Enrico starts the car up immediately.—My God, there is the Hague,—he notes.—The Hague has been bombed. We have to get out of here now. The surge of hot winds will be upon us in a short time. Algerian desert Now something attracts the attention of all, a huge mass is about three hundred yards in front of them. However, it is not something well-defined, it appears in the form of a disk, but the strange thing is that it blends perfectly with the desert landscape. It has the same colour of the sand, there is also something that affects in particular, the fact that it does not seem have consistency, it seems a mirage, also it does not shadow... —What can it be?—Viktor asks. As always, the students believe that the adults have an answer for everything, but none of the three teachers dares to answer. —It looks like one of the flying objects described in science fiction books... Suddenly, they hear a noise like a mechanism that has been set in motion. A door opens above their heads, a metal staircase comes down the opening slowly, and two beings step cautiously out of the vessel. The five earthlings observe them closely, and the two from the vessel observe the five just as closely. They are remarkably similar to each other. Their faces are oval, their complexion is clear; their eyes, noses, hair, and their whole appearance are very similar to that of the people of Earth. Saint Louis, Missouri The American F30 fighters literally pounce on the Chinese fighter bombers. Their stunts are terrific; the speed and accuracy of the US top guns is unsurpassed. Enemy aircraft begin to swoop down, but this time, wrapped in a black smoke. The American fighters have the upper hand, besting their opponents in acrobatics and lighter and more agile than the Chinese fighter planes. The enemy soon see that the airspace is in the American’s hands. It’s a no-brainer for the F30 pilots, who lock the heavy H20 enemy plans in from behind and hit them with air-to-air missiles. In little time, some 300 Chinese fighters are reduced to a few squadrons with a few units, for which the only salvation is to flee quickly to the east. The F30 pilots screaming their joy into the microphones connected to the command room. An immediate order comes from the president.—Destroy all the bridges where the enemy can pass through. The fighters pounce on their targets, still vibrating by the loading of vehicles and enemy troops. A rain of missiles blows the bridge on Interstate 270 to smithereens. Next, the Dr Martin Luther King Bridge explodes, followed by the Cedar Street Bridge and, finally, the Eads Bridge. Chinese troops passing over the bridges are blown up, men and vehicles are shredded into a thousand pieces. The rest of the army following behind withdraws in terror.