Chapter 1 : Reconnaissance
The old man sat down. Life as a tramp was not all it was cut out to be. He took a swig from the bottle in the paper bag, and emptied the bottle. The liquid in the bottle burned his throat and made the world sway. Therefore he was not surprised at what he saw. As usual, he dismissed it as an alcohol induced dream. But it did seem strange. Nelson's column looked proud as ever in the grey dismal twilight. But perched on his head was a pigeon. Not too strange, considering the amount of pigeons there are in Trafalgar Square. But this pigeon was big. Almost as big as a turkey. Then there was the disconcerting fact that all the pigeons in Trafalgar Square were looking at this pigeon. And then, in front of his eyes, history was made.
The silence was tremendous. Then a single coo was heard from the large pigeon. And the flock below answered in a unanimous loud warble that seemed to emanate from the depths of hell. Curious, thought the tramp. There are much more pigeons than usual. As he spoke, more pigeons were flocking in to Trafalgar Square. Unknown to the man, the pigeons were communicating.
"Pigeons of the world," cooed the head pigeon, perched on top of Nelson. "The time…has come. Through the centuries we have borne the brunt of many hardships. We have been shot, eaten, sterilised, criticised…in short, we have been treated as…" He stopped to create an effect. "…rats with wings!"
At this utterance, the whole gathering uttered a loud coo of hate. The tramp wished they would shut up so that he could sleep. "Now…it is time. Time…time for our…" He cocked his head and his eye glinted evilly. "…REVENGE!" Another loud coo followed this sentence.
"All this time that we have suffered has sufficed to breed in us a strong feeling, a feeling of hatred towards mankind. Oh yes, man has sensed this. He has felt our force and has tried to bribe us with petty offerings of grain and seed. But we will spare none. We will overrule the world. And who knows? Using Man's technology, we may one day reach the stars. We will conquer the Universe! And we will do it…UNITED!" At this, the pigeons rose up and flew in formation over London. The people pointed up in wonder, little knowing that that black cloud would spell their doom.