The small group in the observatory TV room watched the end of the broadcast and the onslaught of wave after wave of alien infantry fanning out to all points of the compass.
‘There’re millions of them,’ said an awestruck woman sitting on the floor in front of one of the sofas.
‘Not millions exactly,’ began Jim, then he stopped himself and looked at his watch, ‘only half a million so far.’
The woman squeaked and hugged her knees.
Bernie got up from the floor behind the other sofa and peered between Rupi and Colin at the marching bands of aliens on the screen. Just in time, she got to see what appeared to be speedboats in mid-air, zooming out of the spacecraft-opening and over the heads of the lines of aliens, then settling neatly before them. The aliens climbed aboard them in squads, and
