[ WP ] Humans have sent encoded signals into space in search of extraterrestrial life . Someone , or something responded to the signals .

I'm not too happy with how this turned out, but I spent time on it, so you're having it... 
 
 It has often been said that if proof of extra-terrestrial life were to land on our doorstep, mass panic would ensue. Imagine, then, the problems that would arise if beforehand it was well known that the alien life forms were hostile and regarded us as nothing more than food. When we sent signals out into space it was in the hope that we were not alone. 
 Human kind had looked out at the stars for tens of thousands of years and wondered what they meant. Once it was known exactly what those thin points of light in the night sky actually were, that each one could hold other planets capable of life, people began to imagine that maybe, actually, we weren ’ t alone. It was theorised that any life form that became significantly advanced would have nothing but peace on its mind. 
 The resources needed to travel the stars, and indeed the cooperation needed just to become a civilisation in the first place, should mean that species unable to cooperate peacefully would not be able to advance beyond simple tools. 
 
 Which was why it was particularly distressing when we received the first, and only, extra-terrestrial response to our innocent probing. The transmission was received in two parts. The first was an unintelligible radio signal, being as it was in their own language, and experts puzzled over it for months before an object appeared in the sky. It was brightly lit and orbited the earth for three days, apparently openly sending signals back to the same point of space as the radio transmission had originated. Eventually it entered the atmosphere and crash landed in the middle of London. It stood motionless for some time in a pit of its own creation, and then it released a blast from an unknown weapon type. It destroyed every structure within a five mile radius. The type of blast was completely unknown. What we do know is that while it destroyed every building, it didn ’ t directly kill a single living thing. People were, of course, killed by collapsing buildings and flying debris, but before it had fired its unique weapon a crowd of maybe two-hundred people had gathered around it. Not one of those people died from the blast. 
 Then it began to transmit to us. It said, in the crudest translation, that technology was forbidden, that cities were forbidden and that resistance was forbidden. It told us, in a harsh approximation of a human voice, that when the first Lander came in six months, this was where it would land. It went on for some time. It told us that we would be food and slaves. It didn ’ t say this just to the British, of course, it told the whole world. It transmitted in each region ’ s language, and it told us to surrender. 
 
 Surrendering, of course, wasn ’ t what was on most people ’ s minds. The first thing most nations did, rather embarrassingly, was to recall any and all troops on foreign soil. Countries all over the world were pretty short on offerings to deal with the probe, preferring instead to prepare for the coming of the promised Landers. 
 Bizarrely, life carried on almost like normal, at first. Rationing started up pretty quickly, and the government took ownership of all food stores around the country. Army personnel were despatched to protect these places with orders to shoot to kill. Martial law came into effect, and people went to work like they had before. The general consensus was that everything would be okay. 
 
 The military started a major recruitment campaign, and indeed did very well out of it. A few times they attempted to destroy the probe with no success. It would occasionally openly transmit data about troop placements, and it would receive information back in the same garbled tongue that was their language. It appeared to know all, yet did nothing to stop any of it. Once it transmitted that huge numbers of tanks had been drawing closer to it, and that an airstrike was scheduled for later that day. 
 The fact that it knew this information and didn ’ t bother encrypting its transmissions, or indeed bother to respond to the various military attacks, unnerved a lot of people. As time of the first Lander drew closer, people began to get worried. They started stockpiling food and fuel. There was a mass exodus to the countryside, as it was generally believed that cities would be attacked first. The government had started to rank people by importance to society. Some were even taken to secret facilities for safety. The police could no longer handle the amount of disruption as people were spread out across the countryside, and the military were called in to police the insufficiently covered areas. 
 
 Crime rose sharply as people encroached onto other ’ s lands, and weapon laws were relaxed to allow the general population to own handguns. It was believed that when the aliens attacked, people should be allowed to fend for themselves. What actually started to happen was the formation of gangs. At first to steal extra supplies, and then to stop the theft of supplies. By the time the first Lander appeared in the sky, the government had lost control of vast areas of the country. The military was not welcome in those zones, nor did they wish to risk entering. When they attacked our fragmented society, our resistance lasted three days. 

