Chapter 24 - Hell’s Roar

, Once at home, Jake threw himself on the black leather sofa. This day at work had been short, but he was already exhausted with all the unforeseen developments. He found within himself the strength to stand up again to brew a cup of coffee. Lyophilized coffee, if that interests anyone. He was not rich, but not so poor he couldn't afford a good coffee machine. He was just lazy. Stir a teaspoon of freeze-dried coffee in hot water and it was done. Sorry, for the purists., After having swallowed a few mouthfuls and closed his eyes for a bit, he finally focused his sight on his right wrist. Upon close observation, the black liquid metal was still slowly revolving around his arm. The rotation speed had come to a crawl, but he could still feel the bracelet flowing over him if that made sense to you. Each spinning was reducing the space between the metallic surface and his skin, making him feel more and more uncomfortable., Anxious, Jake tried to take it off by force, but the liquid bracelet violently constricted instead. This alien thing was bluntly rejecting his attempts to escape its tactile attentions. In fact, the revolving speed sharply increased in answer. Realizing that he would not succeed to get rid of the shifty thing, he took a break for a while by turning on the TV. , He switched the information channel on, hoping to get a bit of fresh news after this morning's turmoil. It was barely past 9.00 am. And indeed the breaking news didn't disappoint., The Earth United Government's President had already called for a press conference as a matter of urgency. The new Earth's leader was actually a sixty-year-old Russian, bald like an egg. He was sweating and panting like a 300 kilogram obese running a summer marathon with a parka. The poor guy had visibly some hard time to handle the pressure., It was more an empty title right now than a real position of power, as this hot potato of leading a planet changed country hands every year. It was one of the decisions voted when the Earth Government was founded to share responsibilities and stabilize the world after the previous war., Life didn't change much after this for normal Earth citizens. The government seemed impressively united, and negotiations had gone well. The next turn would be China again, then the USA. Other rich countries could have a try to the leading role, but surprisingly no one offered their candidacy. Hopefully, the President's speech would give him some parts of the answer.,

Chapter end