The sun was approaching sunset. Birds were circling in the sky above the sea, shouting to each other.
The sky turned crimson with its colors, and the day gradually disappeared under the cover of night.
A young couple were walking along the embankment, holding their baby’s hands on either side and quietly chatting about something.
“Mom, Dad, why doesn’t Her Majesty have a name?” asked a boy who looked about six years old.
“Because I’m not allowed to, son,” the father responded.
– What are you not allowed to do? Have a name? After all, we have a name, and everyone has one, – the boy did not calm down. Interest burned in his sapphire eyes.
“Son, this is the law, and we are obliged to observe it,” this time it was the mother who explained to the boy.
– But, Mom, who came up with such a law? After all, I can ask your name or Dad’s, why can’t I ask her name?
– Because she’s a queen, son.
– But she is also a person. If I meet her on the street and want to get to know her, I will tell her my name and what will she answer me? She should answer me and tell me her name. That is right, that is what everyone says, – the boy never tired.
The father and mother laughed.
“You’re just still little and can’t understand everything, but a little time will pass and everything will become clear to you,” smiling, the father patted the boy on the head, which tousled his smooth, dark hair.
“Dad, look what a big bird,” the boy pointed to a black dot on the horizon that was rapidly approaching.
“Yes, perhaps very big,” said Mom.
“It’s not a bird, my boy,” the father said thoughtfully, fixing his gaze on the dot that was growing larger and larger with each passing second. “It’s very strange, because flights have been banned by Her Majesty for a whole year, in connection with that incident, what kind of ship is it then?”
– A ship? – the boy cried out in delight.
Ковчег by Anthony
A huge mass of black metal, heated by the atmosphere, rushed over the sea, cutting through the evening, sea air. The deafening roar of the engines was heard from afar, causing a slight horror, in combination with the appearance of this machine. The ship riveted the gaze of many who were at that moment on the embankment. People whispered among themselves, exchanging a few questioning phrases, wondering why this ship appeared in the air at that time.
Without identification marks, the iron monster hung in the air above the embankment, its metal glittering in the red light of the setting sun and raising dust from the heated engines. A blue beam of light appeared from under the bottom of the ship, which began to scan the people on the embankment. After several personalities, it jumped to a young couple with a child, and after scanning them, a hole opened in the belly of this monster. Panic broke out on the embankment, people rushed in all directions from the ship. The father grabbed the boy in his arms and they rushed to run. But it was too late: the beam attracted the boy like a magnet, who could not move, lifting him higher and higher into the air.
– Who are you?! What do you want from our child!? – the mother shouted towards the ship.
Two sudden flashes from the blue beam source and what seemed to be two beams of energy collided with the boy’s parents on the embankment, after which they fell unconscious. The boy disappeared into the darkness of the ship’s closing hatch, after which the machine turned sharply, its engines glowing with blue flame and disappeared in a flash of hyperspeed, leaving behind an atmospheric trace in the evening sky, when the sun was approaching sunset and day was about to give way to night…
