143 The Doomsday Signal part two

For years, mankind has been sending signals into deep space, searching for extraterrestrial life, hoping to receive a reply. Today, we finally got one. It wasn’t the kind we were expecting. The festive mood of New Orleans Mardi Gras is suddenly broken as an intergalactic spaceship blots out the sky. Their response to our message is simple: ” Peoples of the Planet Terra. I am Marin, Commander of the Androsi flagship Traka. We have received your notice of war and have come to respond. I find it odd, though. Our scans show your technological level to be quite low. You can barely escape your planet’s gravity and you’ve never travelled beyond your system. Why would you invite such as this upon yourself? Oh well, it doesn’t matter. Honour must be maintained. Prepare to die.” Mankind’s greatest disaster has come upon him as, in a matter of moments, New Orleans becomes the first victim of alien reprisal. It seems Earth’s gesture of friendship to the galaxy has been grossly misinterpreted. But who can stop the ensuing cataclysm unleashed by a race bent on vengeance? Before Earth can muster what forces it can, a second ship appears in the skies. Then a third. Androsi? No! Earth’s signals have been intercepted by other alien races as well. And now the Funari and the Stephani have come to exact their retribution as well upon a world foolish enough to challenge them. With three alien races vying for the honour of destroying mankind and the earth caught in the middle, is anyone able to stop the madness and save the world? From the pen of John S. Drew, the writer who brought you The Time Brokers, comes another story destined to be a classic: Doomsday Signal.