Attacked

By R. Chauncey

Every city on Earth with a population of fifty thousand or more is attacked by aliens who exterminate the political, industrial, economic, and military leadership of the world. Over seven billion people are disintegrated in two hours. Eleven people discover the general area where the alien command post on Earth is, and set out to attack it. They

• Language: English
• Publisher: TOPLINK PUBLISHING, LLC
• Release date: May 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9781950540976

R. Chauncey

I am a retired schoolteacher who spent thirty-six years teaching history. I have always liked reading and writing, but I did not devote myself to writing fiction until after I retired in 2006.

Book preview

ATTACKED

R. Chauncey

Copyright © 2019 by R. Chauncey.

Paperback: 978-1-950540-96-9

eBook: 978-1-950540-97-6

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Ordering Information:

For orders and inquiries, please contact:

1-888-375-9818

www.toplinkpublishing.com

[e-mail]

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 1

Day 1, May 3, 2032, Monday

Commander Rush was sitting in his command chair in the control room on a two foot high eight by eight foot wide dais, to show his commanding position, looking at Dram one of the twenty-five warriors under his command preparing his computer for an attack on Earth which would render any surviving governments on Earth helpless to defend themselves against the fleet of alien space ships coming to Earth. He looked at the clock on his desk and noted the time was 8:15 p.m. mountain time in the American state where his command post was hidden. He didn’t think about his job because there was no need to do that. He knew what his responsibilities were and he had every intention of carrying them out. The cost in human life meant nothing to him.

Theia, an attractive muscular woman with short black hair, working on the main computer paused to glanced in Rush’s direction and knew he was waiting for Dram to tell him everything was ready for them to begin the first phase of the Tabor conquest of Earth.

Rush noticed her glancing at him and asked, Are you ready?

Yes, Commander, she said in a feminine voice. As soon as the other systems are on line I will be ready to activate the satellites.

All the targets are locked into the computer? he asked in a deep bass voice.

Yes, they are, sir, she said.

He could have complimented her but why? Theia, like all the other twenty-four Tabors, had been trained for ten years to do their jobs. And like all Tabor Warriors, the warriors considered themselves to be the only intelligent class to have ever lived on the planet Tabor, everything would go as planned. No one on Earth knew they were on Earth, or that Earth had been selected for conquest and domination by the Tabor Warrior Class. But those few that survived soon would once Theia activated the satellites by pushing a button on the control panel in front of her. And then Dram would activate the disintegrator rays within the satellites. Some of the people on Earth would know something was wrong but only for about a few seconds as they saw those about them die.

Once the disintegrator rays in the twelve satellites revolving around Earth were activated the satellites would fire at every target on Earth they had been programmed to fire upon. And would continue firing until every target had been swept by the death rays.

Within two hours every major political, military, industrial, technological, and scientific center on Earth would be swept by the rays. And every person in those centers would cease to exist a second after the death rays had passed over the cities or installations. Every industrial and scientific leader on Earth in those cities or installations would die in a second along with billions of other people in those cities and installations. Every type of aircraft on Earth the death rays had passed over would either fall from the sky or continue flying on its automatic pilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed, or the automatic pilot landed the plane. Afterwards Earth would be ripe for conquest by the half million Tabor Warriors on the one hundred warships that were in deep space approaching Earth.

Have any of the Earthlings moved from the targeted areas? he asked Theia.

Yes, sir, people are constantly coming and going from all of the places targeted, but none of the high ranking political and military officers who possess control of their nuclear weapons, she said. They are all at their posts, because this is the beginning of their work week on this side of Earth, or a day later on the other side.

Nuclear weapon Rush thought in a scornful manner. Only the fools of this planet would be foolish enough to think such primitive weapons could stop us. What about the general population?

What about them, sir? she asked.

How many of those peace loving idiots will be alive two hours after we’ve launched our attack?

Out of a population of over eight billion, sir, analysis indicates that maybe a billion will still be alive. But with few political or industrial or technological leaders to organize them, sir, she said. Most of them will be dead of disease and hunger within a month, sir. Many of the intelligent ones will begin to organize the survivors to reduce death by disease and hungry, but they will not be in a position to stop our conquest of this planet when our fleet arrives.

But they will make an effort to resist us as soon as they realize what has happened to their world. And many of them will know that within a few hours after we have attacked them, he said as he looked at the large one hundred foot long forty foot high screen above the twelve foot long desk the four computers and control panel were on. Behind the screen protected by unbreakable glass was the main computer that controlled everything within the Tabor command compound. He saw a picture of Earth spread out across the screen and two hundred thousand targets marked in green on the screen. A few of those peace loving equality loving fools will survive to make attempts at resistance. But their attempts will fail.

We are ready, sir, said Dram as he looked at the key on the keyboard in front of him he’d have to push to activate the disintegrator rays. He was a young man dressed in the blue and yellow uniform of a Tabor warrior and like all Tabor Warriors he was anxious to prove his loyalty to the Warrior Class and the Overlord.

All right, Rush said. Now is the time to begin our first attack on the primary targets of this planet of peace loving fools.

Dram, Theia, and Rush were the only warriors out of the twenty-six in the main control room. Twelve were on guard patrol outside the compound ready to repel any Earthlings foolish enough to attempt to attack their compound. The other eleven were in the compound preforming their duties as they had been trained to do so.

I want an operations check run on every place on this planet we’ve targeted, he said. Begin now.

Without a word Theia moved to one of the computers and she and Dram began to check the targets on their computers.

Every city on the American continents with a population larger than fifty thousand has been targeted, Dram said sitting in front of his computer. So has every city on the European continent of similar population size has been targeted, sir, as well as every city of similar size on the other continents.

As well as all the cities of Australia, New Zealand and the other Pacific Islands have been targeted, sir, replied Theia.

What about the installations on the north and south poles on this planet? Rush asked in a loud voice.

They are small scientific stations of no military importance, Theia said. If you wish, sir, we can target them after we’ve exterminated life in the primary targets.

That is acceptable, Lieutenant Theia, Rush said.

All the warships on Earth at sea or in a harbor have been targeted, sir, and the major industrial areas. The leaders in those areas should be in them. Dram said.

Does that include their submarines on active duty? Commander Rush asked.

Yes, sir, Dram said. Down to a depth of five thousand feet and there are none on this planet that can go that deep, except their small scientific submarines and they are no threat to us.

We can located and destroy them later along with the polar scientific stations, Commander Rush said.

Yes, sir, Dram said and began to program the disintegrator rays to strike the secondary targets. A minute passed before he said, I’ve targeted the secondary targets, sir.

All of our satellites are in position, sir, and ready for a firing order, Theia said.

What about the educational areas, Rush asked.

All of them have been targeted, sir, Dram said. All but a few of them are located next to cities that have been targeted, sir.

And those that have not? Commander Rush asked him.

They contain intelligent educated people, Commander, but without the resources of the major areas they will be helpless, Dram answered.

Rush looked at the targets on the screen. It didn’t bother him that the cities targeted were filled with billions of people who were either sleep or going about their work. Let the killing begin.

Activating the twelve satellites, sir, Theia said as she moved to the control panel and pushed a button on the plastic sheet in front of her activating the satellites.

The twelve Tabor satellites forty thousand miles above the Earth and invisible to every radar system on the Earth because of their electronic cloaking devices had been placed in positions where most of the targets would all be hit with the first firing. They would then automatically move to positions within seconds to hit the rest of the targets. They all turned toward the continents they were over as the metallic shields covering their glass disintegrating screens moved high above the satellites screens. From the moment that happen their cloaking devices shut down and all became visible to every radar screen on Earth.

1.jpg

Generals, admirals, and astronomers all over the Earth no matter where they happen to be were immediately notified by the radar operators or early warning systems of the sudden appearance of the satellites. And all asked the same questions.

Who do they belong to? And why haven’t we seen them before?

They all got the same answers.

We don’t know who they belong to, and we don’t know why we haven’t been able to see them. But they are forty thousand miles about the Earth.

The next question the military leaders asked was, What are they doing?

The two men and two women on the International Space Station didn’t have a chance to contact their governments because they were all disintegrated within a second when one of the satellites fired upon the International Space Station.

Early warning systems all over the world in every military installation that still existed instantly went into operation and began notifying political leaders and scientists and technicians around the world. It was all a waste of time.

Men and women and civilians on all those military bases around the world cease to exist as the disintegrating rays sweep over them first. People in cities in their homes began to disintegrate as the invisible rays sweep over the cities. There was nothing on Earth that could stop the disintegrating rays. Everywhere oxygen went the rays of death went. The only people to survive the rays were those that were in areas the rays didn’t sweep over or simply brushed against causing a few disintegrations. The rays shut down communication systems but didn’t destroy them. And the rays kept sweeping over areas that had been targeted.

For two hours as the Earth rotated on its axis the disintegration rays from the twelve satellites sweep over the primary targeted areas of Earth. After the people in them were disintegrated, the satellites turned on the secondary targets, and disintegrated everyone in them within seconds. The population of the Earth was back where it had been two hundred years ago. Only the technology of Earth had survived the disintegrating rays.

2.jpg

When all the green lights on the one hundred foot wide by forty foot high screen hanging on the wall were red two hours and ten minutes later, Commander Rush asked, Have the disintegrator rays done their jobs?

Theia looked up at the screen and said a moment later, Yes, sir. Every Earthling in the areas swept by the rays are gone, sir.

There are no military forces on this world that can threaten us? Rush asked.

Small military unit playing their war games have probably survived, Commander, Theia said. But the weapons they possess are inferior to our weapons and no threat to this command post.

Cease the sweep. The Earth is ours.

Theia touched a lighted square on the sheet of plastic in front of her and said, The sweep has ceased, Commander Rush.

Have the computer use the satellites to check all targets to make sure they have been swept, Rush ordered.

Yes, Commander, Dram said and ran a check to make sure all the targets had been hit. A minute later he said, All targets were swept and there are no Earthlings alive in any of them.

Rush smiled and said, The Overlord will be proud of what we’ve done, Warriors.

Yes, he will, Dram said. We’ve proven the warriors of Tabor are world conquerors. There was the sound of pride in his voice.

I will recommend you two and the rest of my command for badges of honor and an advance in rank, Commander Rush.

Those outside heard what he had said over their helmet earphones and felt proud they were a part of Commander Rush’s command.

Theia turned around in her chair and looked at him with a smile on her face. And you, Commander will be promoted to the rank of a Fleet Commander.

I do hope so, Rush said in a cool voice. All right you two are on your own for the next twenty-four hours, except for those I have put on patrol. You may go to your quarters or walk around outside if you wish and enjoy this world that is now ours.

Thank you, sir, said Theia and Dram at the same time.

Make sure the computer is in protection mode, he said. Though, I doubt if there is a reason for it now.

Theia turned to the keyboard in front of her and typed, ‘protection mode’ on the keyboard.

‘Protection mode instituted,’ appeared on the large screen and on the three smaller screens on the desk in front of her. Any Earthling still alive who was aware of what had happened, and was using a computer trying to locate who controlled the death rays would have their search interrupted by an electrical spike.

The computer is on protection mode, Commander, Theia said.

No Earthlings still alive will be able to locate this command post? Rush asked her.

All they will detect is the spike, but not where this command post is, she told him.

I shall be in my quarters. Notify me if anything unusual occurs, Rush said as he stood up.

All the warriors except those on patrol outside the compound went about their business happy that they had served the Overlord.

Rush walked to the elevator and pushed the call button. When the elevator came he entered it and said, To level three.

The elevator began to move.

A minute later when he was in his quarters he used his communicator and sent a simple message to the Overlord.

Mission accomplished.

He waited half an hour before he received a reply to his message.

Well, done, Commander. We shall achieve Earth orbit in nine of Earth’s days, Overlord.

I and my command shall await your arrival, Overlord, he said and pushed the transmit button on the communicator.

Rush stood up and decided to take a walk outside the compound and enjoy the nighttime beauty of Earth.

It was a beautiful world. Rich in animal and plant life which wasn’t harmful to the Tabors, breathable oxygen and drinkable water with gravity identical to that of Tabor with vast amounts of minerals, and now after only two hours and ten minutes seven billion Earthlings had ceased to exist. After the Overlord arrived with the fleet the surviving Earthlings would be rounded up and used as slaves to clean up the mess left by the dead seven billion. Then they would be used by the Tabors as slaves.

Rush, like all Tabor commanders, didn’t show the pride on his face he felt for having done an excellent job in service of the Overlord. But he felt it.

Chapter 2

May 4, Tuesday

Commander Rush had accomplished his mission of killing everyone in Earth’s defensive systems, political structure, and industrial and scientific centers. But there were still nearly a billion people on Earth alive who lived outside the major cities and military and scientific areas and other areas swept by the disintegrator rays. And many of them were intelligent and educated.

1.jpg

Les Cartwright was a retired teacher who enjoyed staying up late and sleeping late every day of the week, because he didn’t have a reason for getting up early. But he did occasionally enjoy getting up early to watch the morning sun come up in the eastern sky even on a cold winter day. What woke him up at seven in the morning today was the odd feeling while he slept that something was wrong and he couldn’t shake that feeling even though he was asleep. But he followed his usual routine. He got up, brushed his teeth, shaved, showered, and went down to the kitchen in his home to make breakfast for himself.

When he had retired from teaching five years ago, he’d enjoyed getting up early and making breakfast for himself because he so seldom had breakfast when he was teaching. But after three weeks of getting up at six in the morning and making breakfast, he was divorced and living alone, he grew tired of it and decided breakfast at nine or ten or eleven in the morning or two in the afternoon was just as good and important as breakfast at six thirty in the morning.

Instead of starting coffee as he usually did he walked into the living room and turned on the TV expecting to see the usual morning talk shows where everything discussed was supposed to be very important, but seldom amounted to more than idle talk, by beautiful women and handsome men in their forties or fifties trying to pretend they were in their thirties and still sexy and young. The women were sexy even if they weren’t young the men were just that to him - men. But what he got was nothing.

There weren’t even reruns from last year or the past winter. He went through every one of the ninety channels he got on cable and found the same thing, nothing but blank channels. He shrugged his shoulders, made the assumption the cable was down, and decided to open the drapes in his living room to let in the spring sun.

The spring sun came through the white curtains as it always did, but this time he saw numerous columns of black smoke off in the distance. He decided to go out on his front porch and see if there was something wrong. The smoke could have been some fool burning leaves not picked up by the village pickups during the fall. He walked to his front door, opened it, pushed open the steel storm door, and walked out on the dark brown brick steps and looked northeast at the enormous and numerous columns of smoke in the distance. He looked southeast and saw a smaller number of columns of smoke. As he stared at the black smoke he had the strange feeling something was wrong. Then he realized what it was. Everything was quiet and there were no birds in the air.

It’s always quiet on this street. I live two blocks from a major street. But where is that smoke coming from? He walked back into his house and locked the front door and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. Then the phone in the kitchen rang and he answered it.

Something is wrong, Les, a male voice said with the sound of fear in it.

Who is this? he asked.

Me, Chester, the man on the other end said.

Fuck off, he said and hung up.

Chester lived at the other end of the block and always saw or heard things that weren’t there, and had probably never been there. The man was a nuisance who had a desire to be the neighborhood leader, and Les had learned to avoid speaking to him a week after he moved into the neighborhood. Every neighbor considered him to be a busybody, and disliked him because of it. But he was right. Something was wrong.

Les walked to the refrigerator opened it and looked inside wondering if he should make bacon and eggs for breakfast, or just have a donut and coffee. He had bought six from Donkin Donuts two days ago. He had managed to lose ten pounds after retiring five years ago and was determined not to regain an ounce of it and so far he hadn’t.

There was a knock on his front door and he closed the refrigerator door and walked toward the door thinking if it was Chester he was going to risk being arrested and punch that nuisance in the face. The man complained to the police about everything. He looked through the six by six inch two way glass window in the door and saw the attractive redhead who lived across the street. She had a worried expression on her face.

He opened the door and asked, Yes?

Have you seen the smoke around the neighborhood? she asked him. She was wearing a green housecoat button up to her neck as if she was trying to hide herself.

Yeah, but it’s not in the neighborhood. It’s off in the distance to the northeast and southeast, he told her.

There’s smoke coming from the west and east, too, and there’s no news about what’s causing it on the TV, she said.

The TV isn’t working, he told her

Do you have cable? she asked him.

Yeah, I’ve cable, he answered.

Are any of the channels working? she asked him.

No, none of them are.

Don’t you find that unusual? she asked him.

Yeah it is a bit odd, he told her. There’s always something on cable.

I called the police a few minutes ago and was told to remain in my house and keep my drapes drawn and the door locked. I’m afraid, Mr. Cartwright.

Did they tell you why you should do that? he asked her.

No, but I called a friend of mine whose husband is a police officer and she said the police can’t contact anyone in Chicago, she said.

Come on in, Miss, he said as he stepped back to open the door wider. He had been interested in meeting her for some time. He knew she lived alone. So far all he’d done was wave to her and speak to her as they passed each on the street.

She opened the storm door and walked into the foyer.

I was going to make coffee, he said. Would you like some?

Yes, if you don’t mind, she said.

The kitchen’s in the back, he said as he closed and locked the door. What do you mean there’s smoke coming from the east and west?

There are huge columns of black smoke in the sky like a lot of planes have crashed, or someone is burning something, she told him as she walked back to his kitchen. O’Hare is northeast of the village and Midway is southeast.

If a lot of planes had crashed that would certainly be in the news, he said as he followed her.

But there is no news at all on TV or the radio, even the computer has no news on it, she said as she walked into the kitchen.

My ex-wife and son and daughter were flying to Arizona on a vacation, he said, following her into the kitchen. There was the sound of worry in his voice.

She turned to face him and said, Maybe what’s affecting the TV and radio is limited to the Chicago area.

No, he said, shaking his head. Cable transmissions are bounced off satellites. We should be able to find out what’s happening in this area from reports outside Cook County. He walked to the refrigerator and opened it. Please sit down, Miss.

My name is Alice Simpson, she said as she sat down.

I’m Les Cartwright. Sorry I haven’t introduced myself earlier, he told her as he took the coffee jar out of the refrigerator and closed the refrigerator door and walked to the counter the coffee maker was on. Have you talked to anyone other than the police?

No, I haven’t, she said. Your place is the first place I’ve gone to.

He started making coffee as he said, Look, I’ll start the coffee and then call the police.

She nodded and said nothing.

Ten minutes later Les was on the phone to the police.

Listen to me, sir, the officer on the phone said. The man’s voice held the sound of fear. I don’t know what’s happened, and we can’t contact our police in the cars and we can’t contact the Chicago Police Department or the FBI office in Chicago.

How many officers are in the police station? he asked.

Just me, the man said. I can’t tell you anymore than to remain in your house, and if you have a weapon get it.

You sound as if something terrible has happened, he said.

Mister, something terrible has happened, but I don’t know what. And I can’t contact anyone by phone, radio, or computer to find out, the man said.

Like there’s no one out there listening, Les added.

Correct, he said and hung up.

Les looked at the receiver in his right hand for a few seconds before he hung it on the cradle and reached into the cell phone pouch on his belt and took out his cell phone. He had an expression of fear on his face.

Something bad has happened, hasn’t it? Alice asked noticing the expression on his face. She got up and walked to the counter.

I don’t know, he said as he dialed his ex-wife’s cell number. He let the phone ring a dozen times before he ended the call and dialed his daughter’s cell phone number. It rang a dozen times before he ended the call and called his son’s cell phone number. It ran a dozen times before he ended the call and walked to a chair at the table and sat down. Les was trembling with fear that something terrible had happened to his family.

Who did you call? she asked him as she opened two cabinet doors before she found the one that held the cups and took out two.

My family, he said as he looked up at her with an expression on his face that said he’d lost everything important to him. Then he remembered his ex-wife had left her Highland Terrier with him at four in the morning before she and his son and daughter had gone to O’Hare to fly to Arizona where she’d recently bought a house just south of Phoenix. He got up and walked to the kitchen door looking down at the small door in the kitchen door the dog used to go into the backyard when it wanted to relieve itself. He opened the kitchen door and looked at the small door in the storm door before he opened the storm door and looked into the backyard. All he saw in the backyard on the green grass was the black collar the dog wore around its neck. He walked out the storm door to the collar and picked it up and saw it was still buttoned up.

What’s wrong? Alice said as she came out the door and stopped next to him.

Who would leave the collar and take the dog? he asked as he looked around on the ground.

Dog thieves sometimes do that, she told him.

But why put the collar back together? He saw a small object reflecting the light of the sun at his feet where he’d found the collar and leaned over and picked it up and looked at it. My God, it’s that tracking device my ex-wife had put in the dog in case it ran out of her backyard.

They cut it out of the dog? Alice asked in a surprised voice.

No, there’s no blood on it, Les said as he looked around. He was beginning to think beyond his fear. It hasn’t rained in over a week and last night wasn’t humid. If this was cut out of the dog there should be a lot of blood on the ground.

So what happened to your dog?

Let’s go inside and have coffee while I think about this, he said. He was beginning to accept something he didn’t want to accept, even though it was too frightening to even think about.

Five minutes later they were sitting at his kitchen table with the tracking chip and dog collar on the table between them and two half-finished cups of coffee.

So what should we do? Alice asked him. Just go home and wait for the police to tell us what’s happened?

The officer I talked to on the phone said he couldn’t get in contact with the officers in the cars, he said. If something serious has happened, and it apparently has, those officers in the cars would be the first to know because they’re out patrolling the streets. And they would have called in whatever they saw or heard.

I’m afraid, Alice said in a frightened voice.

Ann nor either of my children would ever have refused to answer a call from me, he said then added in a voice filled with fear for his family. If they were still capable of answering their phones.

I think we should go to the police station and demand some answers, she said in a strong voice.

Les looked up at her and said, Go home, get dressed, and if you have a gun in your house get it along with all the ammunition you’ve got. He stopped and thought for a few seconds. And don’t wear something for a garden party or luncheon. Wear shoes or boots for long distance walking and comfortable jeans.

Why? she asked. Her face was a mask of fear.

Look, Alice, I don’t know. Just please do as I say. Then come back here and we’ll drive to the police station in my car and find out what we can.

All right, she said as she stood up and headed for the front door.

Les stood up and started to clean up, but decided cleaning up their coffee cups and the coffee maker weren’t important. What was important was finding out what had happened, and why his family wasn’t answering their phones. He went upstairs to his bedroom and kicked off his slippers and put on socks and the boots he wore for shoving snow in the winter, and got his 9 millimeter Glock and the three magazines he bought when he bought the semiautomatic three years ago. At the time he’d considered it to be a foolish waste of money, because he couldn’t think of a reason for buying a gun. But he bought it anyway. It took him a year to get permission from the village to buy the Glock.

Congress had freed itself of being owned by the National Rifle Association over fifteen years ago and repealed all the stupid laws that allowed people to buy any sort of weapon they wanted. They’d passed those foolish laws during the administration of the three biggest fools ever elected to the presidency. Reagan, Bush one, and that damn fool Bush two. Even the states had repealed such stupid laws.

He loaded the magazines from the two boxes of fifty rounds of ammunition and put one in the butt of the Glock, but didn’t put a round in the chamber. There was no sense in being foolish. He made sure the safety was on. Les hoped there was an intelligent explanation for what was going on and that his family was safe somewhere in Arizona, but his intuition was telling him his hope was a waste of time. Then he got a leather jacket from his closet his son had bought him four years ago and put it on and put the Glock in the right inside pocket. He put the two extra magazines in the left inside pocket and went downstairs. When he reached the first floor he stopped and looked up the stairs.

God only knows what happened. And I may need more than a gun and a lot of ammo. He went back up the stairs and went up the stairs to the attic where he got an old backpack his son had used when he went backpacking twenty years ago. He left the attic and