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which had once been an ordinary, run-of-the-mill space shuttle. By the time our alien advisors and human technicians had finished redesigning, cannibalising and rebuilding the machine it was able to take off, fly and land completely unassisted like a conventional plane. Once white and bulky but now smooth, sleek and black, the ship could cruise effortlessly at incredible speeds which, just weeks earlier, we had only ever dreamed of.

This year the summer had been particularly harsh and dry. Elsewhere in the world the landscape and whole populations had been all but destroyed by high temperatures and virtually non-existent rainfall. Now, with the help of alien technology, previously lifeless fields had begun to flower and to flourish again. I'd heard reports that in one of the driest parts of Africa, a water manufacturing plant had just been opened and a vast man-made lake had already been filled. In the short time that the aliens had been with us, they seemed to have changed the face of the planet more than we had done in the last hundred years.

I rolled onto my back and stretched. Siobhan stirred next to me. She mumbled something and then reached across and ran her outstretched hand over my chest. She stroked me tenderly for a few seconds before moving her hand further down and gently grabbing hold of my balls. I was erect in seconds, and completely awake in microseconds.

'You are the sexiest woman alive,' I groaned as she took me in her mouth and began to suck and lick.

'I know!' she tried to say with her mouth full of me.

We fucked for almost an hour. Ravaging each other like animals, scratching and biting each other's naked flesh, sliding into position after position until we were too exhausted to carry on.

When we'd finished Siobhan silently rolled over and, still sweating and panting like a dog, I wrapped my arms around her and pressed my face against hers. Within seconds I was asleep. Completely satisfied and blissfully happy.

Chapter 19

Part III

ACCEPTANCE

19

Sunday morning. Cold, dull and uneventful. With Siobhan working I drove across town to see Clare. It was Penny's birthday and I had a card and present for her.

In stark contrast to the summer just ended, the village now appeared almost deserted. The vast invading armies of tourists and journalists had all but disappeared as the holiday season had finally ended and also as the aliens had begun to travel outwards and the phenomenon of their arrival had no longer been restricted to my home village and the few towns surrounding.

I found Penny and Clare together at their home. I had expected to see other people there as it was Penny's birthday but the house was strangely quiet. As I stood at the door all that I could hear was the distant crash of rolling waves hitting the rocky shore. The smell of the sea hung heavily in the grey air.

Much as she tried to hide it from Penny, it was obvious as soon as I was inside that Clare was upset. Selfishly I thought about truncating my visit and quickly heading back home but my conscience got the better of me. I could sense that my friend needed to talk. She stood there in silence at first, just watching her daughter happily playing with her birthday presents. Whatever it was that was troubling Clare, she had obviously done all that she could to keep her feelings hidden from Penny.

'So what's up?' I asked as I sat down on the sofa next to her.

She shrugged her shoulders and looked away.

'Nothing, why?'

Here we go again, same old bullshit, I thought.

'Come on,' I sighed. 'You do this to me every time. It's bloody obvious you're upset. So are you going to talk to me about it or should I just piss off back home now...?'

'Don't have a go at me,' she sniffed. 'I'm not. I'm trying to help, that's all...'

'But there's nothing you can do.'

'Try me.'

'There's nothing.'

'Try me,' I said again.

'It's impossible. You can't be a dad for Penny, can you?'

I had guessed that whatever was wrong would have been connected to Bill, Clare's estranged husband. That man (in the loosest possible sense of the word) deserved nothing more than to have seven shades of shit beaten out of him. And I would happily have done it for doing what he did to Clare and Penny. No matter what his reasons were I couldn't forgive him. I had never seen anyone suffer as much as my precious friend