9 March 2017
My name is Dr. Colton Edward Crain, professor of world history at
the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. While I traditionally spend the
majority of my time writing more traditional academic works, the events of the
last two days are significant enough in my eyes that I feel they warrant a
personal retelling to pass on to future generations (if any exist). To those
who may be reading this in the future, I sincerely apologize for the
unprofessional form of prose this retelling may take, however I feel it is
truly necessary to capture the moment in time in which I currently
exist. While I do reside in the Salt Lake City area while working for the
University of Utah, I am currently on a sabbatical at the University of South
Australia in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Around 10:05pm local time in Adelaide (approximately 4:35am
Mountain Standard Time), I was sitting with a group of my colleagues at a bar
in the hotel the university had so graciously put me up in. One of the
televisions in the bar was streaming the BBC, which had switched from
discussing El Clasico to live footage of an explosion that had taken place on
the north side of London. Eyewitnesses in the area reckoned it to a bomb
exploding, though nothing had ever appeared out of the sky. A street reporter
standing outside of Parliament was interviewing a young college
student when a second explosion in the background blew both of them off their
feet, taking the camera feed with it shortly after.
By this point, everyone in the hotel lobby had crowded into the
bar, all eyes fixated on the five television sets that lined the back wall of
the bar. The two barmaids were frantically flipping stations back and forth,
hoping to catch a live feed of something. Al-Jazeera English came on the screen
with a live camera shot from a helicopter flying over Lisbon, Portugal. The
city was ablaze, though the fires burning on the ground didn't create the smoke
a typical fire would. As the helicopter climbed altitude, it was evident that
this series of fires was in a bull's eye pattern, with the center fire being
the largest in diameter, followed by three concentric rings of flame radiating
out from the center. A man from the far end of the room shouted that news
stations from Berlin, Shanghai, Cairo, and Kyoto were all reporting similar
occurrences.
We were able to gather that whatever was going on had begun at
9:52pm Adelaide time. Even with as instantaneous as news travels
these days (I learned about Lindsey Lohan's death three minutes before police
arrived on the scene of her car accident, despite being half a world away), it
took nearly 13 minutes for any news organization to catch on to the events
transpiring around us. News alerts flooded to my phone, the initial locations
reading like a who's who of the world's most prominent cities: London, Paris,
Rome, Sydney, Tokyo, Seoul, and New York City all hit with inexplicable
explosions and fire at or around 9:52pm. The secondary round of alerts provided
a much more grim look at the true scope of what was going on. Manhattan Island
was surrounded by a ring of fire, cut off from the rest of the boroughs. The
fire was even burning on top of the water, making escape via that alternative
impossible.
I began texting back and forth with my wife, Gabrielle, who was
still at our home in Salt Lake City. She told me that all was still well there,
though she was watching San Francisco burn to the ground on television. Our two
daughters, Liz (age 8) and Alana (age 5), were tucked in bed safely asleep,
though my dear Gabrielle couldn't sleep as our third daughter, Collette, was
kicking away at the inside of her womb. I assured her that I was in good
health, as she did the same for me, and I recommended that she keep the girls
home from school tomorrow, or at the very least until we knew what was going
on.
I walked out to the hotel's lobby to call Gabrielle, only to
thrust across the room and into the opposite wall by an explosion that
decimated the east side of the hotel. Though I don't remember leaving the
hotel, I strongly recall turning back and seeing that the bar I had been seated
in only minutes prior. I vaguely recall stumbling past Rundle Mall's Balls
before I eventually ended up at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, the location from
which I'm currently penning this item. As far as I am aware, all forms of
communication, both with the outside world, as well as with other parts of
Australia have been lost at this time. I managed to type up an email to
Gabrielle on my phone, saving it to send at the first moment where I'm able to find
cellular signal or internet. From my bed, I watch as the fires rage on, slowly
burning concentric rings into Adelaide, though they never appear to move closer
to the hospital. It is my hope that I can continue to take note of what is
going on during what appears to be a very dark time in our world, however if
this is my last time speaking to you, I wish you all the best of luck.
Date Retreived: 1-1-2023
Date Written: 3-9-2017
Date Written: 3-9-2017
Location: This writing is part of a series of letters on file at
the University of South Australia in Adelaide. While it is not the only
personal retelling of the events surrounding 3-7-2017 to exist, Dr. Crain's
work is by far the most well known in the new Commonwealth Republic.
Other Notes: The Commonwealth Republic was formed 10-16-2018 by
the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Australia, and New
Zealand as a united front against the alien invaders. It was the only coalition
in the Eastern Hemisphere formed during the extraterrestrial violence to have
survived in its original state post-war. Dr. Crain published additional letters
during the war, all of which are on file at the University of South Australia.
About the Author: See more writing by Tim B. at http://inurbase.wordpress.com
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