Downturn

"Oh no, I'm running late..." Jumping out of bed, C ran to the restroom to begin his new daily routine. Recently retired from being a police officer, he quickly adapted to a new schedule, already having his folders prepared and his suit ironed out. The problem is: it was just past eight O'clock; his shift had started at seven. He readied himself for work, throwing on his suit, and ran down to his car. He started it up in two tries, and drove off towards the more populated area of the city. He passed by the police station that he previously worked in after 10 minutes, and by 15 he was on the highway towards the area he now works at.

"No traffic?" C thought to himself as he drove through the highway, which was devoid of any vehicles.

He drove at a steady pace, wondering if an accident had happened. Throughout the entire trip, however, there were no road blocks at all. C started to get worried. C approached the urban center of the city in record time, and was greeted with a crowd of people that was much more dense than usual, even with the city being as large as it is. He tried to drive in towards the crowd, but the people didn't seem to part.

After a moment of thinking, he parked his car on the side of the road and took his keys. C walked in through the crowd to get a hint of what was happening. What he heard included: "Jeez, the portals are down", "I'm running late.", "Out of all the days for the portals to malfunction.", and "The portals are down, how will I make it back home?"

"The portals shut off? All of them?" C thought to himself.

Slowly shuffling his way through the crowd of people, C made his way to his office, which, thankfully, was located near the edge of the urban center. Upon reaching his office, C noticed that the crowd of people grew more dense, barely allowing him to squeeze past. C finally entered the office building, and noticed that it had very little people in it, even though it was already past nine O' clock by the time he arrived. He looked around the lobby, and saw only a handful of people. C saw a man lingering near the front door, who was presumably a co-worker.

"Do you know where everyone is?" C asked the man.

The man replied with a shaky voice, "Well, everyone is late, except for a handful of people. It's all because of the portals closing in a freak accident or something."

"All of them? Was it a bad computer malfunction or something?"

"No; I recall that the people outside were talking about a 'massive EMP wave', though I don't know of any place with an EMP powerful enough to knock them all out… It may have been a huge solar flare or a pulse from outer space or something of that sort."

"How long do you think they'll be out?"

"I don't really know, hopefully not for long." The man paused for a brief moment, "Did you see the size of that crowd outside? We won't last long with that out there."

"At least I won't be marked for being late…" C muttered to himself as he started his first day of work. As he was going up the eerily empty stairs, he bumped into Fredrick as he was about midway past the second floor.

"Hey. Did you see the crowd outside?" Fredrick asked as soon as he saw C.

"Can't really miss it." C replied, resuming his walk up.

"I heard it's because of the portals closing. Do you think something big is gonna happen?"

"Hopefully not. We just got this job, so I don't want anyone blowing up the building." C joked, stopping momentarily, "And the guy outside said that it could have been anything from a solar flare to a cosmic pulse."

"But it's odd." Fredrick said, "Those portals were up for almost several years straight now. If something were to happen, why would it happen now, as the war is starting? Isn't it kind of worrisome?"

The two stopped outside of the third floor.

"Don't worry about it so much Fredrick. We've both gone through tough times." C looked at Fredrick, "A war across the ocean won't do anything to the two of us."

Fredrick put his hand to the back of his head, as if he thought of something.

"What if the war reaches us?" Fredrick asked, "What if they start drafting?"

"Being a soldier is just one step up from being a police officer, isn't it?"

"If you put it like that… I guess so." Fredrick accepted, before pausing for a bit, "…Well, looks like your shift is starting. See you later, I'm gonna get a snack before heading back to work."

Fredrick walked off, allowing C to enter his cubical and start his first day of work. C started up his computer, and peeked out the window. With an aerial perspective, he finally realized how big the crowd was. People covered the streets in a tremendous group that resembled a swarm of ants, reaching from the office building to the next block before disappearing around the corner.

Upon reaching his e-mails, C was stunned; every single e-mail had the subject:"=?htt2-1252?Q?0-000-06??=" and had no text in them. The sender's name was also a garbled up line of text that read: "=?htt2-4232?A?-0-000-0-??=". C looked through his message box; they all contained the exact same message. The EMP had also disrupted electronics other than the portals, C figured out. That would explain his alarm not going off Ignoring the broken e-mails, C decided to try to get other things done. He looked through his account, and tried fixing the information on it.

C continued on with his work, until about twelve-thirty, when he started his lunch break. He looked out the window, and noticed that the crowd was significantly smaller. There was still barely anyone in the building, and only four workers came in ever since C started. Someone came up to C and told him that he can head off to lunch, with C assuming that she was a manager. As he headed out of the room, he was stopped by one of his co-workers.

"Hey, sir," the co-worker said, trying to catch C's attention, "My computer came up with an error that I can't seem to understand. Can you help me with it?"

"Oh. I also had some errors pop up on my computer, too. I guess I'll see what I can do."

"T-thank you sir… Oh, and, before I forget, what is your name?"

"It's Ca-"

C was interrupted by a loud explosion coming from nearby, which shattered some of the windows almost knocked C off his feet.

"…Shoot, hold on." C quickly said.

C ran to his window to see what was happening. He looked around, first scanning the streets and then the buildings, and saw smoke billow from the distance. His heart started to pound, and he had only one thing on his mind: it was a bombing. C heard yelling and screaming from the crowd below, and a small group formed next to him, comprised of his co-workers speaking in low voices. Among them, all he heard was: "Did they breach the shore?" C stared out the window, intent to see what caused the explosion. In an instant, a large object flew by the window, leaving C in awe. The other people in the building stood in shock as a massive flying creature flew past the building, carrying something in its arms.

C was able to capture the very details of it. The creature looked to be of alien origin: it had a long head that resembled a toucan's upper beak in shape, devoid of everything but small, blackened eyes. Even a mouth was seemingly absent. Connected to the head by a slender neck was a long, yet stout body that was about two buses in length and had about three pairs of limbs that came out from its sides, each tipped with four digit feet resembling those of an eagle. Each foot was gripped firmly into some large object it was carrying. It also had what could only be described as motors coming out from its back. The motors emitted a faint light, and seemed to be what was keeping the creature afloat. One of its motors had smoke rolling out of it: it was hit by something, and it was plummeting fast.

The creature flew past the office windows in a frame of a few seconds, descending quickly towards the street. C then heard a loud crash from where it fell. C ran down to inspect the crash, leaving his cubical and starting down the stairway at an alarming speed. Once he left the building and went down the street, he saw a large crowd of people gathered around the crash site. Some people were leaving the scene, but C was overwhelmed by immense shock and curiosity. He pushed past the crowd and took a front row view of the scene.

C noticed a strange buzzing emanating from above him. He looked skyward, and saw something in the distance: a hole what was most accurately described as a rip in the sky, with its interior showing glimpses of a non-Earthen atmosphere. C knew exactly what it was, an inter-planetary portal. This one seemed vastly different from the ones that he saw connecting Olodon and Earth: this portal was much larger and seemed to tear violently at the nearby space, as if the other planet's atmosphere was attempting to rip apart the Earthen air.

C did not stare at the portal for long, as his attention shifted downward. The building in front of him was almost caved-in, showing the point of impact above where the creature now laid. The crash site left a large hole in the cement, and the previously flying creature was laying inert in the center of the pit. Several people, presumably caught in the crash, were being carried out to first aid. It took a while, with the crowd surrounding the creature causing a ruckus, before C could hear the creature stir. 

The crowd fell silent as the creature started to move upwards. C noticed that the creature itself was not moving; instead, something was pushing it upwards. The creature slid off, revealing another alien being, vastly different from the previous one. This creature was quadrupedal, and had what looked like a suction cup where its head should be. Attached the cup's right side was a tube: first being flat and lined at the base, before it became smooth and round as it reached its tip. It stood up fully, dwarfing the crowd in size; up to about 30 feet in height. C noticed people leaving in a hurry, but he could only stand there; his curiosity taking the better of him. 

The creature let out a sound of screeching metal, causing many people in the crowd to cover their ears. This alone was enough to send people off, but C was overwhelmed by disbelief. It walked out of the crater with heavy, lumbering footsteps, revealing its digitless feet that ended in a flat, triangular tip. The creature stopped a few feet before the crowd, seemingly observing each specific individual. C wondered what it was doing, as it stood almost motionless for minutes on end. C heard people taking pictures of the creature, which provided little response. C then suddenly got his answer, as a blinding light emerged from the creature's head, followed by an explosion in the building behind him. C heard screams and commotion before he was struck by the shockwave.