The Plow — February, 19th
— I’m so fucking tired… what a day! confides Elisabeth Viner to her assistant while entering the meeting room of the Guardian’s headquarters, in Kings Place.
Like the dozen of journalists gathered in the room, as well as half the world’s population, the editor-in-chief didn’t sleep that night — not surprising considering the recent events. As usual, she gets things going before reaching her seat:
— Quiet, please. Thank you, good morning, everyone. Let’s not waste time here, I’m sure everybody knows what’s going on, it’s been everywhere for a full 24 hours. We’ll start with the beginning and work our way around the table to sort out the tasks. David?
The blond, tall editor on her left side puts his glasses back on, opens up a file on his laptop and stands up.
— OK, so. Yesterday morning, a big, unidentified object appeared in west Romania. After a few hours of initial confusion, we started receiving the first material and satellite imagery, so now we know that… — He glances at his computer — it’s basically a cylinder, on its side, with a length of 6.03 miles, and a width/height/diameter of 2.58 miles. It’s black, and it’s metallic. That’s… that’s about everything certain we have, actually.
— Thanks, David. OK, does anyone have any idea what that could be?
The room bursts with a chaotic hubbub, everyone adding their own theory. “It’s a military structure!” “Can’t be, it’s too big” “It has to be alien!” “What, just like that, out of the blue?” “And why there, in Romania?”
— Alright, alright, settle down! intervenes Elisabeth. We’re not here to make bets, so let’s focus on what we can establish factually. Every news channel out there has been showing the same thing on repeat. Our job is to bring substance, so we have to start with the basics. It’s probably going to be a bit short for a data viz today but we can still work on a simple informative article with location, size, etc, and we’ll fill it up as we learn more. Does that work for you, Jeff?
The fact-checking journalist, a man of few words, simply acquiesces. The editor-in-chief continues:
— Lamia, what are the Romanians saying?
Expecting her turn, the young international editor responds.
— Not a lot, ma’am. The Romanian army first declared a national state of emergency, then nothing for a few hours. I reckon it’s way too big for them, they needed to coordinate with international channels. Finally, it’s NATO command that put up a press briefing around 7 PM. They closed their national airspace, their borders and are installing a quarantine area in the whole Arad region. They also scramble communications over there but it’s not very successful because we are still seeing a lot of things on the networks. That’s where we are now, they have a new briefing planned in two hours, I believe.
— OK, 11 AM, then. Did we send people over there?
— Yes, yesterday afternoon. An editor intervenes — Juliet and Andréi are in Bucharest right now, but they say it’s chaos in the city, no way to move around at the moment. We’re in contact with a few fixers, the word is that with a bit of luck our guys should manage to get there later today.
— Right, keep me updated. Do we have political reactions?
Richard, the imposing political service manager, concedes:
— At the exception of the usual Trump tweet, almost every government official worldwide stayed silent. They don’t want to sound stupid while we’re in the dark. Military commands are a bit more active, but just like NATO, it’s all about closed airspace, state of emergency and army stances. There’s not a single civilian plane flying in Europe right now.
Elizabeth takes a few notes on her tablet, then turns to Charles, recently appointed to social networks and youngest in the room.
— It’s crazy, boss. Obviously, it’s the only subject today, top trend worldwide, Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, everybody in the world has something to say but it’s just noise, no one knows shi-anything, sorry. At least we have images, loads of them, any Romanian with a phone has posted a video of some sort. There’s a TikTok about to reach 100 million views, the dude is very close to the thing, it’s mental.
He quickly opens the video on his phone and shows it around. In the video, the side of the cylinder takes all the screen’s height, causing awed reactions among the journalists. Again, they all start theorizing loudly. Elisabeth Viner silences them, orders some articles to the relevant editors, then moves on to Hadley, her long-lasting friend and business editor.
— Just like social, Liz, it’s panic. The Romanian stock exchange fell a thousand points before being closed around noon yesterday, then everybody followed like dominoes. First London at 2 PM, then Paris and Berlin at 3, then North America with NYSE and NASDAQ, then Asia late afternoon. By 7 PM everything was closed, and it has stayed that way since. Most of them canceled yesterday’s trades, and now nothing moves. No one knows anything, everybody waits. I have never seen anything like it, it’s like the world just stopped.
He pauses an instant, reflexively pinching his nose, then asks:
— Liz… What do you want to do with the headline?
The seasoned journalist asks what everyone is pondering, what deeply troubles Elizabeth. How do you comment on the unexplainable? How do you extract meaning from this? What can you even compare it with? Without any answers, the Guardian’s voice would just be adding another blip to the general noise. Still, the paper needs a headline and it was clear that the topic was unavoidable. No reader would be interested in the coronavirus or Boris Johnson today — not even Brexit, for once. She was battling with all this when a thought suddenly emerged:
— Charles, can you show me your video again? The toktok?
— TikTok.
— Yeah, yeah. Show me.
He brings back his app and hands her the phone. She intently watches the video, several times. The author is only a few hundred yards from the cylinder who fills up the frame on all sides. From there, the side is clearly visible. Massive peaks, several hundred feet high, protrude from the structure. In a corner of the frame, a building collapses, crushed by one of them. Elisabeth Viner exclaims:
— That thing is moving! It’s… rolling!
The plow appeared like that, somewhere in eastern Europe. Since then, it slowly rolls west, crushing everything on its path. What is it? Why is it there?
Have you photographed, filmed, drawn the Plow? Have you witnessed, observed, heard something about it? Send your data and ask your questions at theplowinstitute@gmail.com
If you are just getting there, it might be easier to jump back to the beginning. You will also find all entries here.
The Plow’s trajectory is also being monitored on Twitter and Facebook.
Finally, this work is written by a non-native English speaker. If you see something weird about the grammar or vocabulary, do mention it via email or messaging.
