"The First Alien War" - January 9, 2025
What will the first alien war on Earth look like?...
Every Thursday, Silver Gecko Publishing highlights one of my stories, either a work of short fiction, a novel, or an audiobook. This week’s selection is the short story “The First Alien War,” from the anthology COSMIC TALES, available on Kindle and in paperback.
“The First Alien War” was originally published in Keen! Science Fiction in 1996. It resulted in a paycheck big enough to buy at least two king-sized candy bars. But I was thrilled as I was making some headway into the world of magazine publishing (right before magazine publishing collapsed into a pile of liteary rubble).
It was a lark of an idea, born from the constant speculation of the day with Art Bell on the radio every night, The X-Files as one of the most-watched television programs, and the 50th anniversary of Roswell staring us in the face.
God, I long for those days when fringe beliefs were fun and not a threat to entire social, political, and public health systems.
Like my 99 Shots Project I’ve been rolling out in the Substack, “The First Alien War” was an exercise in telling a very efficient story in a very small space. My theory that shorter stories would be easier to place in magazine pages paid off in this case, and it was sold.
Since the story is so short, I present it here in its entirety. But, of course, if you like it, check out some of my other stories - both long and short - in my multiple anthologies.
-Kevin Carr
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Illustration by ELG21 (@elg21-3764790) from Pixabay
The First Alien War by Kevin Carr
“Little green men!” General Malcolm McNeil roared as he stormed into the War Room. “You’ve gotta be shittin’ me!” he bellowed at the squirrely, meek aide who ran by his side.
“Actually, sir,” said the aide, transferring a jumble of papers from one arm to the next, “we really don’t know exactly what they look like. No contact has been made on their part, and no occupants have been seen. They have ignored all of our messages.”
McNeil looked askance at his aide. You’ve been reading too much on that damned Reddit, son, he thought. Next, you’ll be thinking that those pictures they published of the Clintons, Trump, and Elon Musk were real and not just some wino wearing a cheap mask.
“Preliminary reports,” the aide continued, “describe their initial descent – straight down from the sky and lining up in perfect formation right over the Potomac. Speculations suggest that they could be in prime position to attack the White House.”
McNeil shook his head and sighed. “The President is still in the Middle East for that summit. God knows what their ships might be doing to him over there. Get the vice on the horn, pronto. He’s got to act as Commander and Chief for this shindig.”
The General looked up at the massive illuminated map on the wall ahead, which displayed enough classified information to make the Manhattan Project look like a cadet drill.
We’ve come a long way from Dr. Strangelove, he thought. It’s no longer just the blasted Russians, but there is still a threat to our precious bodily fluids!
“Let me see whatever video we have,” McNeil barked. A screen to the left of the massive war map flickered into life, displaying a series of sleek disks hovering over the river. McNeil groaned when he saw the red logo electronically pasted on the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
“TMZ?” he sighed. “Why the hell are we even bothering to stay in this basement? We get our best classified information from the Internet? Christ! What options have we got, anyway?”
His aide stepped forward, scrambling to pull together loose papers of a haphazard status report. However, before he could speak, the camera from TMZ drew the room’s attention by panning the frame around, eventually centering on the towering image of the Washington Monument. On the edge of the horizon, several new ships dropped from the sky. Unlike the disks hovering over the Potomac, these were rod-like, as if they were flying cigars. The ships settled into a comfortable formation and streamed across the sky like rocks skipping across the surface of a pond. When they reached the disks over the river, the dogfights began.
With thoughts of the Mexican-American War fought over land and a Gulf War fought over petroleum, General Malcolm McNeil lowered his head and was left to contemplate his own insignificance in this planet’s first alien war.
THE END