Published in 2022 in Kaleidoscope, Decisive Action might just be the most cynical thing I've ever written, and that's saying a lot. Aliens invade, but we still gotta go to work and forget about uniting in the face of an existential threat. Be sure to stock up on shotguns and ammo so you can defend yourself against the alien death beam.

Nancy brought her hand down on the alarm clock by her bed and smackedthe snooze button. Six minutes later it whined again in progressivelylouder squeals. She switched the alarm off and rolled out of bed.

The middle-aged woman absently ran her fingers through herhair while she dressed. She then walked through her tiny cityapartment to the living room. Still straightening her hair, sheclicked the power button on the TV remote and walked to the kitchen.The morning news served as background noisewhile she woke up and poured a bowl ofcereal.

“...is still a developing story but we are receiving confirmationfrom around the world and at this point, it seems very likely not tobe a hoax.”

“Michael Trent, reporting from our bureau in Washington, thanks.Again, for those of you just joining us on this Thursday morning,we’re live covering a breaking story that is sure to be a shock tosome viewers. Reports of alien spacecraft in high orbit all over theplanet have been pouring in since two a.m. Central Standard Time.”

The screen cut to a view from the International Space Station. Itclearly showed about two hundred glossy black vessels in orbit aroundthe tiny slice of planet Earth visible in this field of view.Hundreds of equilateral triangles about amile long, almost depthless. No windows, no doors, no obviouscockpit, no room for a pilot. The word “LIVE” was in the top leftcorner of the screen.

“What you are seeing is video we received from overseas. It hasn’tbeen authenticated yet and leaders have not commented on it, butthere are plenty more videos just like it online. And I just receivedword that our cameras are live in the United Nations building in NewYork where leaders are meeting—some of them via the internet—todiscuss what is happening and what should be done about it.”

Nancy was standing in the living room, staring at the TV, bowl ofcereal cradled in both hands. She blinked sixteen times while theanchor announced the most world-shattering event in an undramaticmonotone.

The screen cut to a camera view inside the United Nations. The vastchamber was mostly empty, but some delegates were in their seats.Nancy picked up her cell phone and called work. Her boss answered onthe first ring.

“Thank you for calling—”

“Jeff! It’s Nancy! Have you seen the news?!”

“Nancy, hi, you want to call off don’t you?”

“Well, there’s alien ships...”

“People still need to eat, and you need to cook for them. I expectyou here on time.”

“But... This is huge! It means—”

“It means what?”

Nancy couldn’t think of a good answer.

“Nothing’s happening,” Jeff continued. “They haven’tvaporized the oceans or abducted thechildren. It’s probably a hoax. Kitchen, Nancy, nine a.m., asscheduled.”

“Yeah.” She hung up and scarfed hercereal down while the U.N. delegates debated live. The delegate fromChina wasn’t there in person. He attended the meeting remotely. Hisimage appeared on the screen behind the podium...

#

He spoke some words in Chinese. Lisa Harting, the U.S. ambassador,waited for her translator to convert his words.

“The people are reporting more than one hundred vessels in highorbit, twice as many as are over any other region on the planet.Radar has confirmed this. India only has two over its borders.Russia, a country twice as large as China, has only twenty. They seemto be situating themselves over the landmasses with the highestpopulation density. We therefore seek authority to protect our peopleby launching a nuclear strike at the vessels above China’sborders.”

Lisa rolled her eyes and raised anobjection.

“I disagree with the Chinese ambassador. There is still no evidenceto prove this is not a hoax created by an aggressive nation. Thiscould be used as an opportunity to launch nuclear weapons at theUnited States.”

Shortly after the translators finished, Japan and South Korea joinedher objections. Moments later, representatives from Russia and Indiashared their concern. They elaborated, saying if another nationdecided to use this opportunity to attack, or allow a nuclear weaponto detonate over a critical area in a rival nation’s border, itwould trigger a nuclear war between friendly and unfriendly nationsalike.

The Chinese delegate reappeared on thescreen and voiced his nation’s noblestintentions to protect its people from what was surely a growingthreat and urged all nations to do the same.

Lisa snorted at the idea. China had been looking to expand itsborders for years to gain access to more raw materials. An excuse tostrike on one of its competitors was just what it was looking for.Lisa made sure it was known that any use of nuclear weapons would beconsidered an act of war, and the United States would retaliate withwhatever force was necessary.

The nations of England, France, Russia and nineteen others joined herin this opinion. Lisa smiled. She had just prevented a nuclear war. Ajob well done.

#

High over Italy, a mysterious blue cone of light poured down from asingle point in the sky. The clouds it passed over vaporizedinstantly, cutting a neat hole through them.

People standing outside the cone paused and looked up. Traffic haltedand people got out of their cars to see what was happening on thehorizon. The source of the light was too high to make out, but thelight was definitely not normal. At the base it was about sixkilometers across. It swept towards the town. The land it touchedsteamed, liquefied, and instantly dissolved into vapor. It cutthrough the center of town, leaving a gouge in the Earth eightkilometers deep and continued on.

As seen from the astronauts in the space station, Brazil’s Amazonrainforest developed deep, black slices along the lines of latitude,streaking west to east. In England, six ships began emitting thisblue light and leaving claw marks on the countryside. They carved upGermany, France, Sweden, Poland, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Canada...

In the United States, fifteen vessels released cones of light andmade black stripes across the land five miles deep.

Untold millions died around the globe, and much of it was caught oncamera and posted online within minutes. Internet forums were aflamewith activity and debate of what was going on and why. Thediscussions degenerated into criticism of the quality of thevideos. This further degraded into personal and racial insults.

#

Nancy walked from the kitchen into the break room. Her boss wasright. People were coming to the restaurant like ants to a sugartruck accident, and she had never been this exhausted.

In spite of employee demands, there was no television in the kitchen,and Jeff had threatened to snatch any cellphone he saw and throw it into the deep-fryer, so no news updates.Focus on the customer, he had said.

But every customer was watching the news on their phones, and thewaitresses relayed bits of information they heard to the kitchenstaff. News reports were saying death rays were coming from the shipsnow. Nancy had to see for herself.

She sat down at a table, taking out hercell phone. The tiny screen seemed like such an anticlimactic way toreceive news this big. The anchor was a blonde woman. Nancy rolledher eyes at this network. Always blonde women with hair that framedtheir faces perfectly. The other side ofthe split screen showed a man in astereotypical professor’s sweater.

“...us now is a professor of science at Stanford University. Mr.Vernon, what in your opinion is going on here?”

The screen widened to show only the professor as he began speaking.“I’ve heard from my colleagues that the beams of light mayactually be beams of some sort of particle that converts matter intopure energy. Reports indicate the land is just vanishing under thesebeams to a depth of miles. My theory is the aliens are using thisworld’s resources to refuel, or replenish—”

The voice of the anchorwoman talked over him. “And—and, sorry,Mr. Vernon, but we also have joining us a doctor Greg Yates,professor at Utah State and an expert on theoretical life. DoctorYates, what is your opinion of Mr. Vernon’s?”

The split screen now showed both professors side by side, Greg Yateson the left, speaking into the camera.

“Well, I’m afraid I must respectfully disagree with Mr. Vernon.I’ve had a chance to look over computer models of the shipsorbiting the planet and there’s simply no room in those vessels tostore the amount of material they’re removing from the planet.Clearly there must be some other purpose to their presence.”

“Ah, I thought of that,” said Mr. Vernon. “Nine years ago Ipublished a paper outlining ways by which an advanced aliencivilization could utilize a microscopic black hole for bothpropulsion and storage, therefore—”

“Oh, I can’t believe you’re bringing that up. I don’t evenknow how that made it by the editors—”

“—it is likely these aliens are in fact advanced enough to dothis—”

“—if you look at the ships, they’re barely two feet high.Where’s room for the pilot—”

“—and it’s exactly what I predicted nine years ago and I amconfident we’re dealing with a people as starved for resources aswe are—”

“—in my opinion this is an advanced artificial intelligence. Theyhaven’t made contact with us because they don’t know we’rehere. To them we’re not real life forms—”

“—such a ridiculous piece of science fiction—”

They argued over each other for the next two minutes. Nancy couldn’ttell their voices apart. Finally the anchorwoman interrupted and thecamera switched to her.

“Our thanks to Mr. Vernon and doctor Yates for helping us clear upexactly what is happening. We are now joined in the studio bydistinguished professors, theoreticians and analysts as we continueour live coverage of this world-shattering event.”

Nancy turned up the volume. The camera zoomed out to encompass thestudio. A dozen men and one woman sat on a couple couches facing eachother.

#

“Doctor Perry,” the anchorwoman asked one man sitting on thecouch. “I understand you are in favor of doctor Yate’s proposal?”

A balding, middle-aged man with thick glasses leaned forward andspoke directly to her. “That’s correct, given the size of theships and the level of sophistication we’ve witnessed in the lastfew hours. I agree that this is not the work of a biological race,but an advanced artificial intelligence. These vessels could beremote controlled, or automated or—”

“I—I personally think that is outlandish science fantasy,” saidsomeone else in the group. “An advanced species, or AI, wouldrecognize there’s a whole planet of people living down here andtheir actions are hurting us.”

“One question,” said someone else. “If these really are aliensfrom another galaxy or something, why didn’t our telescopes orsatellites or something detect them weeks ago? Months ago? Theycouldn’t have just appeared here, but there’s been no warning.This has to be man-made.”

The group began shouting at one another. Oneman struggled to be heard over the crowd. “It’s a— It’s—It’s a ploy by the Chinese or the Russians or the Iranians to getsome kind of excuse to launch a nuclear attack on neighboringnations.”

They shouted over each other for a solid minute. Finally one voicerose above the others and everyone fell quietas he spoke.

“Look, look we know these aliens are here for a reason. Thequestion is, what?”

The room degenerated into more shouting. The anchorwoman didn’tmake a move to stop them. Glancing sideways to be sure the camera wasnot on her, she smiled. Arguing was good for ratings. People lovedthis stuff.

#

The delegate from China was on the big screen again. He’d beenspeaking for twenty minutes and it was putting a strain on thetranslator to keep up.

“...days we have wasted in here, blocking all activity, meanwhileevery vessel over my nation has opened fire and is tearing canyonsacross my country. I am sending word to the government to prepare anuclear strike in the space over Chinese borders.”

Lisa joined twenty other nations in condemning this motion, citingthe environmental impact, previous treaties banning the use ofnuclear weapons both in the upper atmosphere and in space, as well asthe potential damage to other countries.

The French representative put forth an attempt at communication withthe aliens, drawing upon theories from all over the world as to whatthe aliens might understand. All that was needed was the funding toutilize the radio telescopes around the world and transmit a mix ofbinary code and other language frequencies directly at the vessels.

Lisa joined six other nations in blocking this measure, arguing therewas not enough evidence the aliens understood binary, or used radioat all, and the idea would be a waste of time and resources.

The nations of Spain, Japan, and Russia proposed launching a shuttleto meet one of the vessels and inspect it up close. Lisa joined nineother nations in shooting this proposal down, citing the risk to theastronaut as well as the unjustifiable cost.

Another measure, proposed by Canada, involved a cooperativenon-nuclear strike against the vessels. Lisa joined seventeen othernations opposing this measure, arguing it would create an opportunityfor aggressive nations to attack the United States while it and itsallies launched a strike against this mutual threat.

They debated like this for three days.

Lisa addressed all those in attendance, both physically and online.

“This debate has been very productive, and is a shining example ofwhat nations cooperating can achieve. I think we can all agree thatdecisive action must, at this time, be taken, and we are closer thanever to a resolution.”

Everyone in the chamber applauded. The ones attending remotely alsoapplauded. The delegates retired for the night. Lisa went to bedpleased she was doing her part to make the world a better place.

#

An astronaut on the International Space Station snapped anotherphotograph of the Earth. More than half of the planet was covered inclaw marks. The beams had penetrated so deep in places they cutthrough to the mantle, and volcanic eruptions spewed lava acrossevery continent.

Australia had been dividedinto angular slices of bare earth. Much of Africa was a desolatecauldron of lava. Asia, North and South America, and even Antarcticawere scratches of bare rock now. Most of Indonesia had broken topieces and fallen into the sea.

On Earth, citizens of London fled at the news of an approaching beam.The vessels traveled in a more or less straight line at a constantspeed once they began emitting a beam, which meant meteorologistscould use satellites to predict their path and estimate a time foreach city. They gave people plenty of warning, but in so many casesthere was nowhere to go.

London was swept into a canyon in less than an hour. The deep trenchcut off the people on either side from each other, and from the restof the world. Trenches crisscrossed the countryside, dividing theisland into new counties with no way to cross into the next. Peoplein all nations and on all continents becamestranded like this.

#

Nancy walked in from another day of work. She’d asked to call offagain and again, but her boss wouldn’t let her. There were stillplenty of customers to feed, their city hadn’t been hit yet, andthey were busier than ever.

She was carrying a large package, and sheset it down on the couch and opened it. She had splurged after worktoday and bought a shotgun from the store. Now she was ready todefend herself if the aliens came anywhere near her. Nancyturned on the TV and began loading the gun.

The anchorman on screen reporting from New York City looked perfectand handsome on camera, in spite of two ships carving up New YorkState. So far, the City had been spared.

“...controversy that continues to plague congress has reached ashigh as members of the United Nations. Our very own Washingtoncorrespondent, Anton Flinsh, has the story. Anton?”

A man’s voice talked over stock footage of Capitol Hill backlit bythe setting sun.

“The allegations are severe...”

Nancy listened to the report that outlined dozens of measuresintroduced to congress through the voters themselves. Plans thatcleared the use of nuclear weapons in spite of U.N. decrees. Plansthat allowed for air strikes over American soil using non-nuclearweapons. Plans that would grant the aviation industry funds, fuel,and permission to fly people to safety.

“But these measures were blocked weeks ago,” said the reporter.“The United States claims it is trying to prevent an opportunityfor a terrorist strike against its citizens, but leakeddocuments tell a different story.”

Memos written by various lobbyists,corporate entities, and politicians on Capitol Hill showedsubstantial funds being transferred to elected officials inthe government and the United Nations. In return, the politicianspromised to block all attempts to stop the destruction, so when theproverbial dust settled, the politicians could enact measures forrebuilding and infrastructure that favored these corporations.

“This means exclusive contracts for roads, bridges, and banks. Somecompanies see this as an opportunity to bethe last bank, or the last construction giant, or the last wirelesscarrier left on the planet, and they are allegedly manipulatingpolicy to extend the destruction so thisend can be realized.”

The story concluded. The feed now switched to livecoverage of the U.N. debates. The only common ground they had wasstating that something must be done, and it was up to them to do it.This was met with much applause.

Coverage switched to congress. Another ballot to mobilize the airforce over American soil against the invaders was about to bedefeated. The president had given the order to do this weeks ago, buthe had been removed from office, congressciting he was endangering American lives with his reckless use ofexecutive power.

So with the vice-president at the helm, everything fell to congressto act. They’d been debating the merits of this bill for days.Nancy was about to change the channel when an emergency bulletinflashed across the screen.

The National Weather Service predicted not one but two ships withactive beams were about to pass over her city within the hour. Nancyloaded the gun and stood at her window, looking out over thecityscape. She saw nothing at first, but then a few minutes later shecould make out two blue cones of light on the horizon coming rightfor her.

Nancy looked down her apartment complex to the street. People werehopping into cars and peeling out at full speed, only to be caught inthe massive traffic jam. Nancy didn’t even try; she knew beams hadcut either side of them days ago, effectively boxing them inside afifty-mile wedge of land. They were lucky utilities still worked.

Nancy stood at her window and faced the approaching beams. Tenminutes later, she could see the canyons they created in their wake.Nancy raised the shotgun and fired shell after shell up at the ship.She reloaded many times, firing into the beams, up in the air, at theground.

As the light closed in on her, she reflected that this wasn’t howit was supposed to happen. In the movies, the audience always knewwhy the aliens were here, and Earth was able to fight back.

The beams cut into Nancy’s apartment building. She vanished withthe building in a puff of energy. Two trenches, each eight mileswide, replaced the city.

#

Lisa had the floor. She had been waiting for this opportunity forweeks, and now that it was crunch time the U.S.A. was able toleverage its influence.

She proposed the oil producing nations agree to divert the oil fromall nations to the United States for free, which would allow the U.S.to mobilize its forces uninhibited, and the aliens wouldn’t stand achance against the might of the entire U.S. Air Force.

Every other nation in the assembly voicedobjections. Lisa calmed the crowd. She wasn’t worried. Shehad already worked out a deal with a couple oil corporations to bethe exclusive companies in charge of rebuilding the oil wells anddistributing the supply. This invasion was the best thing to happento the country, for U.S. companies would be the only industries leftto do anything in the world. It was a brilliant plan. Everyone inWashington was behind it, and she had done well setting up the piecesto act it out. When this was over, the U.S. would be in a position torebuild the world.

While the delegates argued in every language on Earth, a beam sweptthrough the building and vaporized them.

Beams swept through Washington D.C. while the politicians defeatedanother bill to mobilize the air force and fight back.

From space, the entire planet was carved up into crosshatchingcanyons. Every continent was unrecognizable, every major city wasgone, and lava covered much of the planet. The astronauts on thespace station guessed there might be some survivors, but they doubtedthese people would last long. As for themselves, allthey could do was float in space and watch, imagining someone wouldbe able to rebuild.

They photographed and recorded the fleet of alien ships pulling outof orbit and flying off into space. Not a word. Not a sign. Not asingle hint of who they were, or what they wanted, or if they evennoticed what they had done.