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the room.

'Christ, give it a rest will you?' he sighed. I rolled over and sat down next to Siobhan, instantly deflated. Out of my brother's view she rested her hand on my crotch and squeezed.

'Later,' she whispered. 'I promise.'

'Can't you leave each other alone for a few minutes,' Rob whined sarcastically.

We sat and waited for James Marchant, a friend of ours, to arrive. He eventually turned up at twenty past eight (fifty minutes later than planned - something of an improvement for James) and made no apology. James was a hardworking man (he still worked for the firm I recently resigned from) and, a couple of months ago, his wife had given birth to their forth child. If anyone had a valid excuse for being late, it was James.

The four of us were uncharacteristically quiet as we walked through the village to the pub. With everything that had happened today we had plenty to talk about but I guessed that each of us needed time to individually come to terms with the unexpected events of the day. Once we were ready, I decided, then the alien arrival would no doubt become the mainstay of virtually every conversation for weeks to come.

The Badger's Sett was packed. Drinkers had overflowed outside and were sitting on the grass in front of the building, on the low stone wall surrounding it, on the bonnets of their cars in the car park - anywhere that they could find a space. Once inside I pushed my way through to the bar while the other three looked for a table. Ray Mercer acknowledged me from a distance. By the time I'd fought my way through to him he was already in the middle of pouring our usual round of drinks.

'Bloody hell, Ray,' I yelled, struggling to make myself heard over the dull roar of conversation and thumping music. 'Busy, aren't you?'

He nodded.

'Been like it all afternoon, Tom,' he shouted as he took my money. 'Not complaining though. Bloody aliens can come here every Friday if it's going to do this to me profits!'

'You must have the whole village in here!' 'I think everyone needs a drink after today...'

Ray disappeared to serve another customer and I began the precarious journey across the room to find the others.

'It's heaving in here,' Rob said, stating the obvious as I reached the small table they'd found in a hidden corner.

'We could go back to mine later,' I suggested. 'I can hardly hear myself think.'

The atmosphere was hot and dry. I picked up my pint and knocked half of it back with a couple of long, thirsty gulps.

'So,' I said, wiping my lips, 'what are we going to talk about?' The others laughed - the answer was obvious.

'The weather?' offered Siobhan.

'Football?' tried James.

'Alien invasions?' said Rob, unable to think of anything else to say.

And that was it. For the next two hours we talked about nothing else. Each one of us recounted exactly where we'd been and what we were doing when the alien ship had arrived. We shared our questions, fears, concerns and anything else that came into our minds over far too many pints of beer.

It was a strange night. Nowhere near as strange as the afternoon that had preceded it mind, but still strange nonetheless.

Locked in constant, fierce competition with The Sun (the pub across the road), The Badger's Sett was a warm, comfortable and welcoming place. The drink was always good, there was always hot and cold food available and there wasn't a single video game machine in sight. It was a traditional British pub - the traditional heart of a traditional British village - and not really the kind of place where you'd expect to find yourself debating mankind's position in the universe. But at that moment it seemed as good a place as any.

By ten o'clock our usually relaxing surroundings had become even more crowded and was filled with even more smoke and noise. The day's events, our long conversation and the effect of copious alcohol combined to leave the four of us sitting round the table feeling suddenly quiet, insular and reflective. For a time the conversation between us was sparse, forced and sporadic.

My eyes were becoming heavy and the smoke hanging in the air was beginning to make them sting. I excused myself and stood up and went outside to get some air. When I returned (only a few minutes later) I noticed that Ray had dragged an old television set out of one