It was raining hard when they stepped from the ship. Gerry looked smart in his black shiny shoes and bright red uniform. His face fell when he spotted the weather.

“I suppose you don’t carry a brolly?”

The cat laughed.

“Not likely young man. I happen to like the rain.”

“So where are we?”

“Holy Island my boy. Just off the coast of Northumbria. A perfect location for a holiday.”

Gerry looked around at the stony ground.

“I’m not too impressed.”

Jerrix shook his furry head in disbelief.

“I brought you to see the castle,” he explained. “Well, actually a Victorian folly but gorgeous all the same.”

They both turned toward the edifice and stared in shock. Instead of a magnificent tower, they only saw a pile of rubble.

“Whatever happened here,” the cat exclaimed.

“Natural disaster perhaps?” the schoolboy suggested.

“Perhaps my boy. Come on, we had better have a look.”

They padded towards the sorry rubble and strangely, Jerrix felt tears rising.

“You look upset.”

“After our recent experience I so much wanted this to be right. Just look at it now.”

They had reached the rubble and could go no further. Jerrix listened but only silence came.

“Something is terribly wrong. No birds, car noise or planes for that matter.”

“Perhaps it is a Sunday?”

Jerrix scowled.

“Don’t be daft. Are you not worried? What about your school, parents?”

“If something has happened, there is nothing I could have done to stop it.”

“I take your point young man.”

They both turned and saw a small object glinting high in the sky. As it approached, it grew larger and the cat froze with mounting horror.
He pulled his fork like device from his deep cloak pocket and adjusted it.

“What is it?” Gerry asked as the star shaped machine glided toward them.

“They are warlike scavengers I met on Helos Six my boy. I’ve eh, set this device. Don’t worry. We are perfectly safe.”

As he spoke, the machine stopped.

Jerrix pointed his device and fired. He was perturbed when nothing happened.

In a harsh, metallic voice the machine spoke.

“Your puny device cannot harm us. None of your weapons are a threat.”

“Seems you are right,” Jerrix muttered sadly.

The machine rose above their heads, when a lightning bolt exploded upon its shiny metallic exterior. As they dived for cover, it whirled through the air before crashing to the ground.

Scrambling up, the friends examined it. To all intent and purposes, it looked undamaged. However, it was dead enough.

“What were you trying to do?” Gerry asked.

“I was attempting to reset its nemorax matrix. It worked last time. Obviously they have adapted.”

The cat crouched but all was silent. He waived his device across it and read the readout.

“Hmm, dead enough. I would love to peek inside but it appears solid. No screws anywhere.”

He stood up, scratching his ear.

“I don’t want to doubt your word Jerrix,” Gerry said. “These things don’t look too dangerous.”

This foolish statement was like a red rag to a bull.

“They are sentient and fully armed. I assure you of that!” he stormed.

As Gerry watched, the annoyed cat stomped off.

“Where are you going?”

“To find out what’s going on. You can stay here if you want, and clean your shoes.”

Gerry sighed deeply and ran after the angry moggy.

As they approached a small hamlet with their white washed walls, an armed man appeared from behind a green hedge and levelled his shotgun.

“Where are you two clowns going?”

Jerrix just stared as Gerry came to a halt.

“Anywhere but here. Now move aside.”

The young gent, dressed in grey wool jacket and dark trousers simply laughed.

“You ordering me around then?”

Jerrix was in no mood for small talk. He moved rapidly, knocking the weapon from the gent’s hands before he could react. Another blow sent him reeling.

When he next took note, Jerrix had the weapon pointing straight at him.

“Now it’s your turn to talk,” he hissed.

“Anything mate. Just ask away.”

“Hey Jerrix,” Gerry said. “Don’t harm the bloke.”

Jerrix ignored him.

“Who are you?” the cat snapped.

“Terrance Grove. I’m supposed to protect this area.”

“Protect it?” Jerrix asked. “With aliens running amok?”

“I follow orders,” the frightened young man replied.

“Do you indeed,” the cat replied. “Well young man. You will take us to your leader.”

He motioned for the young man to stand and followed him at gunpoint. He led them towards a small inn, the outside of which was painted a ghastly brown.

“Now inside and no funny business,” the cat ordered shoving the youngster through the door.

As soon as he followed, he found himself facing a group of armed men who had their weapons trained.

“Drop it,”

Jerrix looked at the man from whom the command came. He was tall, thin and dressed in grey clothes. He too, carried a shotgun.

“We seem to have a stalemate here,” the cat hissed.

“Not a stalemate,” the antagonist said coolly. “Just put it down.”

Terrance was beside his leader now and stuttering with shock.

“He just floored me Smitty. I never saw anything like it. That one’s Jerrix. Heard the name.”

“Only in self defence,” Gerry reminded him.

“Eh, that’s right.” Terrance said.

“We could use you,” Smitty suggested. “Ammo is short around here.”

Jerrix thought it over and un-cocking the weapon, handed it over.

“Well done mate,” Smitty said lowering his own weapon. As he did this, his mates did likewise.

“You sound like a fighter pilot to me,” the cat said.

“RAF mate. I was shot down when these damn things arrived.”

The cat scratched his ear.

“This your gang?”

“Yeah. This is Tommy Anderson former rear gunner on HMS Trident. His ship sank beneath him.”

Jerrix saw the ginger haired gent and shook his hand.

“Terrance you know of course.”

“We met,” the cat replied.

“This other chap is crispy, a former cop.”

Jerrix shook his hand, noting the firm grip and grey hair.

“What about the other?” the cat asked looking at a short gent with stumpy legs.

“Bob’s my name.”

“Some gang,” Gerry commented.

“Kind of resistance really,” Tommy said.

Jerrix smiled.

“Now that you know us,” Smitty said pleasantly. “May we know your friend’s name?”

Jerrix made the introductions. Then after a moment he asked, “So when did the Siphonans arrive?”

“Siphonans?” Crispy asked.

“That’s the planet they come from,” Jerrix explained.

“How come you know that?” Tommy asked suspiciously.

“Because young man I have defeated them before. You see, we are galactic travellers.”

“You might be,” Crispy said. “That schoolboy ain't.”

Jerrix smiled.

“My question still stands.”

“You had better sit down then,” the former pilot told him.

The friends sat at a table as Smitty told the story.

“It started about a month ago. These things simply dropped from the sky. After being shot down, I swam ashore and found Tommy out cold. After reviving him, we made for a farmhouse and found a television. We soon learned it was a global attack. Every satellite, every base was under assault. Then the electric failed.”

“You were both lucky then,” Gerry commented.

“I’ll say we were,” Tommy replied.

“So why are they here I wonder? There is no dolomite on this planet,” Jerrix muttered.

The gang did not understand his meaning so let it go.

“As far as we can make out,” Smitty continued. “Our people are being enslaved. Clearing rubble most of the time.”

“I see,” the cat muttered. “Well, we know electric brings them down.”
Smitty looked puzzled.

“I saw a lightning bolt strike one. It’s lying near that demolished castle,” the cat explained.

“Oh I see,” Smitty said.

“What else are they doing? Anyone been to the mainland?”

Crispy spoke up.

“I went last week. Near the demolished Bamburgh castle, they have constructed a work camp. Why though I have no idea.”

“Well, I had better take a look.”

Tommy glared at him.

“You gone mad. A patrol will pick you up in no time.”

“So how do you evade capture?” the cat asked.

The group smiled.

“We keep moving mate,” Crispy told him.

“If none of you are willing, I intend to go alone.”

“I’ll go with you,” Smitty assured him.

“Yeah and me too,” Tommy chipped in.

“I suppose I’ll just wait here then,” Gerry muttered.
---
At first light, after a thin breakfast, Jerrix set off with the pilot and rear gunner for the mainland. They had timed the expedition to coincide with the tide of course. Holy Island has a causeway, which is regularly inundated by the rising sea. Only a single road connects the two locations.

They reached this without incident. As they crossed, the cat saw the vast sand plain stretching into the distance. He shuddered at the thought of being cut off here. As so many drivers had.

To their great relief, they reached the shore just north of Bamburgh castle, and quickly made their way inland. After around a mile, they stopped as a machine floated by.

When the coast was clear, they ran onto a small rise and peered down at a vast camp area. Smitty handed Jerrix a pair of binoculars, which he peered through.

What he saw stunned him.

A wooden stockade had been built around the camp and at the east end; a series of wooden barracks had been constructed. He saw poorly dressed prisoners, seemingly tilling the soil with simple implements while machines kept a close watch.

As he peered, a woman threw down a tool and ran. Seconds later, a pink ray lashed out reducing her to dust.

Jerrix put aside the spyglasses.

“I have seen enough. We should be getting back.”

“We will be heading for the farmhouse where the rest will have moved to,” Tommy informed him.

As they crept away, Smitty asked, “So what do you think is really going on Jerrix?”

“Well I suppose their intention could simply be conquest,” he replied. “However, that seems too simple to me.”

“What were they doing on that planet you mentioned?” Tommy asked.

“Oh, Helos Six? They were after a rare mineral not found here thankfully.”

“Could it be coal, oil perhaps?”

Jerrix shook his head.

“I don’t think the Siphonans have a use for the stuff,” the cat replied.

They had not gone far when a machine spotted them and floated towards them. It was Jerrix who spotted the oncoming danger.

Quickly glancing around he spotted a pylon, and pointing to it shouted, “Over there now.”

They followed the running cat, not knowing why. When they reached it, they saw the machine closing in. Jerrix removed his device and reset the dial.

“Now don’t touch the metal,” he warned as he pointed his device at it.

They watched the machine pass near the overhead power lines and suddenly crash to the ground. The two men were stunned.

“We can add electromagnetism to their weaknesses,” Jerrix said happily.

They managed to return to the island without incident, watching from the shoreline as the sea rolled in, cutting them off. He followed them to a deserted farmhouse on the edge of an open field when Terrance greeted them, shotgun in hand.

“Nice to see you all back. Have fun?”

“You could say that,” Smitty said. “He brought down one of the machines.”

“Impressive,” the youth answered as they entered the building.

Within the spacey lounge, the group was gathered. Tommy reported their day before slumping down.

“What are your long term plans?” Jerrix asked.

“Hopefully drive the machines off our planet,” Smitty answered.

“That will be more problematic,” the cat told him. “Have you considered hit and run ops?”

“We thought about it,” Tommy replied. “We decided against it in the end because of the machine’s invincibility.”

“I fully understand that,” the cat replied. “However, risks must be taken.”

“We are not cowards Jerrix,” Bob replied.

“I know you are not.”

Smitty looked across at Tommy as a silent decision was made.

“Will you lead us sir?” Tommy asked.

As the group looked at him, Jerrix said slowly, “Why not.”
---
A young thirteen-year-old girl with straight yellow hair was slaving away inside a work camp near Derby. She had been captured soon after the invasion had begun, fleeing down a previously quiet street.

As with some of the prisoners, she was kept in barracks, built by the inmates that housed two hundred. The day began at dawn and after a slop breakfast; they were escorted out to the tilling field.

When they arrived, with machine guards overhead, overseers handed out the implements, mostly hoes, and the work began. It was truly backbreaking this work. Woman who fell ill or collapsed with exhaustion were shown no mercy. A machine would fire the pink ray and put the inmate out of her misery.

No one in the camp knew the point of this toil. Stories bounded about enslaved man clearing the damaged streets of the rubble. Most of them would have preferred something as productive.

This girl had a secret though.

She had seen these same creatures on a far away planet, and hoped the machines had not noticed. The sun had drifted into its afternoon position when an overseer approached her. She tilled away, becoming warier by the second.

“You are wanted Tarra,” the overseer said quietly.

The young girl froze.

“Who me? Why?”

“You have been here long enough to know it’s unwise to argue. Come on, follow me.”

She dropped the hoe and followed the overseer, another older woman of course, towards a large metallic dome at the edge of the camp. She had seen many enter that place, but she had seen none leave.

She tried to suppress her fear as the hidden door swished open, and the overseer walked back to her awful duties. She had expected something terrible. All she found was a blank, non- descript chamber.

“Reminds me of that prison ship,” she whispered to herself.

As if in answer, one of the machines, which was five feet in diameter, suddenly appeared. She held her ground as it glided toward her.

“You are known to us,” the machine stated in its harsh voice.

Tarra stared back with a blank face.

“I am not surprised. I have been here long enough.”

“That is not what I meant,” the machine informed her.

“Then you should make yourself clearer,” Tarra said.

“I am the new ambassador,” the machine replied. “You were recorded on Helos Six with Jerrix Tau.”

Tarra knew the game was up.

“What if I was? You lot were trying to enslave them.”

The machine ignored her and continued without a pause.

“We have identified Jerrix in Northumbria. He cannot be allowed to interfere.”

Tarra smiled.

“You are that afraid of him. One cat and you quiver.”

“We simply want to conduct a smooth operation. You will help us secure this.”

Tarra stamped her foot.

“I will not ambassador. I would rather be boiled in oil.”

The machine hovered closer.

“That sacrifice is not necessary; you will record a holographic message for us.”

“Go and rust,” she screamed at the ambassador.

The machine circled her and continued.

“If your friend surrenders, Moscow will be spared.”

Tarra recognised the game of poker. The ambassador was raising the stakes.

She fell silent, trying to think.

“If I do this, what assurances do I have he will not be harmed.”

“We only wish to detain him,” the ambassador responded. “Put him somewhere he would do no harm.”

“You mean a prison ship?” she asked.

The machine replied at once.

“That is our intention. You will meet him there.”

Tarra nodded at last.

While Tarra was transferred to a prison ship to record the appeal, while Smitty’s group dithered despite the cat’s new leadership, the survivors of battered London fought back.

Rising from their boltholes, they threw stones, bricks, masonry at the machines. Anything they could get their hands on really. As the insurrection mounted, the machines moved in.

Bolts hurtled down, soon to be followed by the killing rays. The enraged people did not scatter. They advanced, despite the casualties. For six hours that afternoon, London echoed to the ancient sounds of war, before falling silent.

When that silence fell, many were dead, reduced to dust that blew in the mind. The luckier ones, struck by bolts, waking up on one of the many orbital prison ships.

That final hopeless defiance was man’s final gasp. The Siphonan’s grip was relentless and without mercy. It would take a miracle to break it now.
---
Inside the farmhouse, the five fighters were gathered around the kitchen table. A map had been placed upon this and camp locations identified.

Jerrix, now fully in charge, was outlining his battle plan.

“Despite their defences, the Siphonan grip can be loosened. If we release as many prisoners as possible, they would spend so much time on recapture ops that they may simply decide to pull out.”

Smitty nodded.

“I can get rocket launchers from military stocks for that.”

Jerrix glanced up in surprise.

“Can you now. Good. There are only five of you, but the small size is to our advantage. That may explain why you are still at large.”

“You mean,” Terrance asked. “We have been ignored?”

“Exactly. They regard you as insignificant,” the cat replied.

“We will show them what’s for,” Bob said smiling.

“So when does all this start?” Crispy asked.

Smitty spoke up.

“It will take a few days to raid the arms dump. Let’s say five days from now.”

Everyone agreed with the timeline.

Smitty suddenly noticed the cat’s gold throat clasp flashing.
“Hey, what is that doing?”

Jerrix glanced down.

“Someone is contacting me,” he said pressing it twice.

As he did this, a ray of light shot out producing a holographic image.

“Who’s the girl?” Gerry asked.

“Shush,” Jerrix insisted.

In a faltering voice, the image of Tarra made the appeal.

“Jerrix, the ambassador knows where you are my friend. He is threatening to annihilate Moscow unless you hand yourself over. I only wish we had spoken under better circumstances.”

The image flashed once and faded. Jerrix lowered his eyes muttering, “Oh Tarra.”

It was Smitty who broke the silence.

“We cannot help the Russians. We have to follow the plan.”

“We can still help Moscow,” Jerrix insisted. “We can do both.”

“You are not thinking of surrendering are you?” Gerry asked.

“I have no right to deprive the Muscovites of their lives,” Jerrix muttered.

“Without you mate, we don’t have a chance,” Tommy warned.
Jerrix gazed around the group.

“You have a better chance really. They won’t be looking for me.”
He rose slowly and began to leave.

“Where are you off to?” Smitty asked in desperation.

“To give myself up. Don’t worry though. I keep my secrets.”

He opened the door and padded into the afternoon light. He made his way swiftly towards the flooded causeway and reaching it stopped. He gazed across at the mainland and waited.

After a deep breath, he activated the clasp’s signal and saw one of the machines responding. He watched, as it swung round before diving towards him. It stopped near his position.

Raising his paws he shouted, “I am Jerrix Tau.”

The machine fired a bolt and the cat vanished.

Jerrix found himself standing once more, in one of the many bleak prison ships. He gazed at the broken prisoners, some of them in tears. His eyes fell upon a young girl he recognised.

“Tarra!”

As she turned, he ran towards her and embraced.

“At least they did not harm you my dear.”

Tarra, still wearing her flowery dress, looked sheepish.

“Whatever’s the matter?” he asked.

“I’m sorry for that message Jerrix. They forced me to do it.”

“Oh I already knew that my dear. How is your mother by the way?”

“She managed to escape. I have no idea where she is.”

“Don’t worry. I’m sure she is safe.”

“What will happen to you?” she asked with concern written all over her face.

Jerrix smiled.

“Probably will be told off my dear. Slapped wrist, that sort of thing.”

She gazed at the black fur, with its cute white bib below the throat.

“You look rather snazzy now.”

He smiled as the new ambassador appeared.

Tarra nodded towards him.

“This looks like trouble.”

They watched as the machine slowly floated towards them.

“So, you are the replacement?” the cat said coldly.

The machine stopped.

“It is time to leave.”

Jerrix simply nodded slowly.

“Well my dear. Have to go now. Try to look after yourself.”

The young girl started sobbing openly.

Jerrix placed a reassuring paw upon her shoulder.

“There, there. It won’t be too bad.”

“You must go now,” the harsh voice of the ambassador insisted.

“Goodbye my dear,” Jerrix said softly as he was led off.

They crossed the vast metallic floor as a hidden door swished back. Slowly, like a funeral procession, they followed a corridor towards a thick metal door. The ambassador stopped as it slid open.

“You will enter now.”

Jerrix sighed and stepped across the threshold. As the door slid back, he gazed around the squat empty chamber and recognised it as an airlock.

“A few seconds out there and I will pop,” he muttered sadly.

His mind played back through his many adventures, his two faithful friends.

“You know Jerrix,” he said softly to himself. “At the end of the day, it was all for nothing.”

He turned toward the sealed door, wondering why they were waiting.
A harsh metallic voice broke into his faltering mind.

“Do you have any last words Jerrix Tau?”

The cat stared coldly at the reinforced door.

“You may have conquered earth, but you will never conquer man.”

Silence greeted him.

Jerrix turned in slow motion as the airlock slid silently open, sucking him into the cold darkness of space.