It was so hard in the early days,
scanning pollen grains through beams of curdled magnetospheric plasma,
examining their intricate combinations under the microscope for evidence of a release mechanism.
So arduous, painstaking and dispiriting was the work, I was often driven to riding Ergannine across the moors
(Ergannine was my pet sauropod dinosaur, thawed out and reanimated from the secret ice caves of East Cheam, and the quiet majesty of her company would do much to soothe my tortured soul in those days).
Many times I considered giving up the struggle – but Truth, as elusive and omnipresent as it was, would not let me go.
There was a secret coded into these pollen grains, and I knew it.
Once I had liberated it, I would know how to open up these giant alien flowers that now dominated the skies over London, Liverpool and Glasgow. I would be able to decipher the intricate petal work and reveal what our cousins from across the stars were saying to us.
Eventually, a pattern revealed itself.
Using the algorithms gained from studying the pollen, I was able to trace a core pathway through the petals of one of these enormous blooms, using a giant steam-powered laser and a set of felt tip pens.
It worked. The petal sculpture unpeeled itself, and the aliens’ message was revealed.
“Truth,” it said, “is about who has the best video on Facebook.”
Video?
Facebook?
What could it all mean?
Image copyright: nejron / 123RF Stock Photo
About the author, John Hulme
John Hulme is a British writer from the Wirral, a small peninsula near Liverpool in the North of England. Trained in journalism (in which he has a masters degree), John’s first love was storytelling, trying to make sense of the world around him using his offbeat imagination. Since the death of his mother in 2010, John’s work has grown increasingly personal, and has become heavily influenced by Christian mysticism. This has led to the publication of two poetry books, Fragments of the Awesome (2013) and The Wings of Reborn Eagles (2015). A mix of open mike performances, speaking engagements and local community radio appearances has opened up new avenues which John is now eager to pursue. He is hoping to go on a kind of busking road trip fairly soon, provisionally titled Writer seeks gig, being John. Find out more about John on Facebook.