by Clive Harold
Billy held a finger to her lips. 'ssshlove.., enough. I'm shattered. We'll talk in the morning, OK?' he leaned over and kissed her gently on the cheek, tyrned the light out and rolled over. In no time at all, she could hear him snoring, but she was still awake, her thoughts racing as she tried to remember and assimilate all they'd been talking about that day.
Billy was right, a lot more was clearer to her now -not always comforting. They were still no nearer happening around them, but they had consider. Paul – a university psychology graduate who had devoted a considerable amount of spare time over the years to studying the paranormal - seemed to be as well-read on the subject as it was possible to be. A shy, well-mannered young man - who seemed ideally suited to Janet, a quiet, introspective girl - he'd listened attentively to all their recollections, had been familiar with many of the phenomena and had a variety of interesting theories about their experiences. They had talked solidly for the best part six hours but had still felt they could have talked for longer. Paul had stated his position right from the start -he believed the phenomena - the discs, the lights, the figures and all the disruptive activity that had accompanied them - were of what he had called 'extra-terrestrial origin, though not necessarily of the same origin. All the evidence suggested there could be no other explanation and most of what she and Billy had described apparently tallied with other, identical, welldocumented reports from all over the world. What made their experiences so special, though, was their regularity over such a long period of time.
exactly what was a few theories to But why was it happening to them at all? The key, he thought, was probably in their location. Leaving aside any theories about the possible relevance of the ancient burial site on which the farm was built, or the fact that it was situated where a number of 'ley lines' crossed each other (ley lines are often considered to be tracks of the earth's magnetism, along which UFOs chart their course and from which they draw their electromagnetic power), Paul was convinced the location was significant for a number of reasons.
To begin with, global UFO activity around army, navy and air force establishments had been widely reported for many years. St Brides Bay being the location for a missile station, a tank range, a jet fighter base, and an underwater radar scanning installation - much of their activity being Top Secret was it any wonder any extra-terrestrial intelligence would be interested in what they were doing? Who knows, maybe some of the Top
Secret activity there was directly connected with the UFO phenomena? The presence of such phenomena in their particular area might, all things considered, be far from surprising. Quite the contrary. To those familiar with such things, it was highly predictable.
Then again, the Coombs family and Ripperstone Farm also presented the perfect opportunity to study human life. They were a large family of varying ages, living in a suitably isolated setting where the close observation of human behaviour presented no problems. Similarly, they were surrounded by acres of open country that would prove ideal for moving around undetected and taking samples of soil, foliage etc. Then again, the study of animal behaviour was also facilitated courtesy of Billy's herd, as were opportunities to take samples of the livestock for necessary scientific analysis (much as we on Earth have taken samples from the Moon for scientific analysis). All in all, the particular area in which Pauline and the family lived could not have been more ideally suited for extraterrestrial research - it quite simply had everything.
And was that what had been happening? The evidence seemed to suggest it was - and hence the reluctance of the autories to admit they knew anything about it and their clumsy attempts to hush it up. The numerous sightings of UFOs in the area - apart from their own - and such physical evidence as radio-active scorch marks on landing sites were proof enough of their presence. And their interest in the family? What about the lights that had followed Pauline's car? The silver-sulted figure watching them at the window? The figures seen prowling around the house at night? The disembodied 'silver hand' that had touched Pauline while she slept? The black shape Keiron had seen floating around in the front room? The shadow of the figure that had appeared behind Clinton in the fields? The two strange-looking visitors who had arrived and vanished so mysteriously? The 'light images' and silver figures that had repeatedly drifted by the farmhouse at night. The objects that kept going missing?
It all suggested that they were being closely watched, scrutinised, as were the animals on the farm, but to a far greater extent. In their case, they had also been experimented upon - taken away, en masse, in the process, and later replaced elsewhere in what could well have been exercises in the possibility of de-materialisation, teleportation and rematerialisation.
Pauline rolled over in bed and reached out for her cigarettes, next to her on the bedside table. It was useless trying to sleep. The sum total of Paul's conclusions made her senses reel. The idea of spaceships and their alien occupants, making repeated visits to the area - or even permanetly based nearby
- in order to closely observe the family, their life-style, and their livestock, as well as the neighbour-military installations, still seemed too fantastic to be true, even after what she and the family had seen, so often, with their own eyes. Yet, in a way, it made perfect sense. As Paul had said, there were supposed to be something like hundred million planets in their own tiny galaxy alone, that science estimated could support some sort of life. What sort of life? Well, as Earth was one of the youngest planets in the galaxy, the chances of life being more advanced than us were not so much possible, as highly probable, even inevitable. And that being the case? What would be more likely than for extra-terrestrials to do exactly what mankind was attempting - interplanetary space travel?
She turned over restlessly for what seemed like the hundredth time that night, sleep still eluding her. To begin with, she'd felt better being able to rationalise what had been happening to the family after such a long period of confusion and uncertainty, but now she wasn't so sure. At least she'd previously been able to tell herself -however unconvincingly that what was happening just couldn't be happening because it was impossible. But now?
She took a long pull on her cigarette and noticed her hand was trembling slightly. Maybe knowing such things hadn't helped as she had hoped. Perhaps their original ignorance had been comparative bliss, after all. The cigarette was making her feel drowsy, so she stubbed it out half-smoked and rolled over on her side, feeling sleep finally catching up with her.
*
'Damn it..., Billy swore under his breath as he looked out bf the rain-lashed kitchen window at the gloomy, overcast morning outside. Typical - on one of the few occasions that they had people over to look around the farm, the heavens just had to open and deluge the place. Thank God that, in true rural fashion, he was wise to the elements and prepared for the worst; Pauline could get those two spare pairs of Wellington boots from the cupboard under the stairs for Paul and Janet to wear. Their two guests were already sitting at the kitchen table, having been woken up at the same time as he and Pauline that morning, thanks to the boisterousness of the children who were over-excited at having guests to stay. Neither had minded their rude awakening, though. As farming folk themselves, they were used to getting up early.
Billy went over and joined them at the breakfast table. The children and Keiron had already left and now that there was some peace and quiet in the house, they could all concentrate on organising what they were going to do for the rest of the day. After breakfast he would have to down to go the cowsheds to see that the herd were put out graze. It would be a good opportunity for Paul to see for himself how unnaturally the cows were behaving; he'd beenparticularly interested in the phenomenon of the herd vanishing and later materialising elsewhere, for of all the things the family had experienced, only that particular phenomenon had been without precedent as far as he knew. He had heard of several well-documented cases of livestock vanishing without trace after UFO sightings or their mysteriously mutilated carcasses being discovered, later but he h
ad never heard of so many animals disappearing in the blinking of an eye and reappearing somewhere else.
Billy studied his expression as the two of them - together with Janet - made their way down the muddy drive from the farmhouse to the cowsheds. To begin with, they talked in silence, each of them looking furtively around, their imaginations stimulated by the amount of talking they had been doing previously. Janet was the first to speak, as they rounded the corner of the drive and entered the fore-court outside the sheds.
'It is… warm here, isn't it?' she said softly, glancing nervously at Paul, 'very... still and quiet...' Paul nodded and glanced over at Billy. 'Just as you described it,' he muttered, 'and it's always like this?'
'Always, ' Billy told him, beckoning them both to follow over to the sheds. The three of them made their way inside and walked slowly down the corridor between the stalls.
Paul and Janet remained silent throughout. Eventually, their tour of inspection completed, Billy solicited their help to herd the cows out of the shed and into the open docks opposite for their morning feed. Eighty-six of cows went into the larger paddocks the remaining fourteen - all maiden heifers who had to be segregated - into the smaller one opposite it. Once the job was done, the three of them leaned on the gate of the larger paddock to catch their breath.
Paul looked troubled and Billy asked him what the matter was. Paul sighed, looked across to Janet - who was standing on Billy's other side - and then back to Billy.
'Well, I don't know, Billy - it's probably nothing, but I had this dream last night that was... well, so vivid it really shook me up. I was so shaken when I woke up, I couldn't get back to sleep again for a couple of hours. It was just so clear, so real I don't dream a great deal as a rule, but this was… well, like nothing I've ever experienced before. It started with my looking down on the farm from a great height - from what vantage point I don't know - and then looking out across the countryside and St Brides Bay, over Broad Haven and RAF Brawdy and beyond. In the distance, over the horizon, I could see this gathering cloud of what I knew to be gas of some sort. It was hanging over the air base and gathering in volume as I looked at it, and moving down the coast. As I watched it moving closer I could feel a sense of terrible danger, but I knew I was too far away to be able, to warn anyone here about what was happening. I wanted to be able to warn everyone to move out of the way of the cloud - or to move them myself...'
He fell silent for a moment, turning away from Billy and looking up into the sky. 'Maybe "they" know something we don't know, about some disaster that's going to happen in this area, connected in some way with all that Top Secret work that's going on up the coast? Maybe something nuclear? Maybe they're getting ready to intervene and evacuate everyone from the area and that's why they've been experimenting with the herd - moving them from one place to another? Or perhaps they're just trying to give elaborate hints as to what you and the family should be doing for your own safety - in other words, move out of the area?'
He shrugged, diverting his gaze from the sky and looking back at Billy: 'Normally I'd have said nothing about a dream like that and just put it down to an over-stimulated imagination but, as I said, I never dream in the normal way - or I never remember dreams I may have - and this dream was so vivid, so damn real...' The words trailed away. He shrugged again, turned away from Billy and Janet and began walking slowly across the forecourt, over to the adjoining, smaller paddock.
Billy turned to Janet. She was looking worried. 'It really did shake him up, Billy,' she whispered, 'I've never known him to be so worried about something like that...'
Billy squeezed her arm reassuringly: 'Never mind, love,' he said, trying to sound as comforting as he could, 'come and see our newest calf...' He beckoned' her to follow him and hurried after Paul, who was, by now, standing looking into the other paddock.
'These are the maiden heifers?' he asked Billy. 'At the moment, but not for long, I hope,' Billy chuckled. 'Come and see the newest delivery - a beautiful calf; arrived the night before last.' He ushered both his guests around the corner to the stalls where cows and their new-born calves were kept for the first few days after the birth. Opening the top half of the stable door, he indicated for them to look inside, where the calf was sleeping, snuggled up against his mother's belly. Paul and Janet were suitably enchanted and impressed, but he didn't let them disturb the animals for too long before locking the shed up again. They made their way back, around the corner and into the forecourt outside the cowsheds. Opposite the sheds, on their right, were the two paddocks they had just left. Empty.
Billy stopped dead in his tracks, his right arm instinctively raised in front of Paul and Janet to prevent them coming further, as if to protect them from some unseen threat. He looked long and hard at the scene that confronted him.
Two paddocks, side by side, each with heavy iron gates -each one four foot tall and heavily chained and padlocked. Inside, strewn on the ground, was the newly distributed hay for the herd.
But the herd? Gone. Eighty-six cows from the larger paddock, fourteen from the smaller one. He, Paul and Janet had been leaning on the paddock gates watching them, only minutes before. But now they were gone. Vanished. It was, of course, impossible. Yet it had happened. Again.
'My God, they've gone... they've all gone. But they were there, just a minute ago. We saw them, we all saw them, right there...'
Paul had now brushed his arm aside and was walking quickly over to the paddocks, muttering as he did so. Once there, he took hold of the enormous gate of the bigger paddock and shook it violently, rattling the chains.
'But' it's still locked... it's padlocked tightly… dear God, what happened to them... Billy?' He turned and looked blankly at Billy, a stunned expression on his face. Janet was now standing at Billy's elbow, silent, her hand over her mouth, shaking her head.
Billy shrugged, but said nothing. Paul walked slowly back towards them, putting his arm comfortingly around Janet and gripping Billy by the arm.
'It's true... it really is true. I never really doubted it, but… to see it with my own eyes... it's incredible. He looked over his shoulder, back at the empty pad-docks. 'But where have, they gone, where do we look for them?' The expression on Billy's face told him everything.
Together and in silence, they made their way back to the farmhouse. The moment Pauline saw them arrive, she knew something had happened. Billy ushered Paul and Janet into the front room and then steered her into the kitchen. 'Get some tea for everyone,' he told her, 'we all need it...'
'Something happened out there?' 'You know it did...' She went over to where he was sitting at the kitchen and put an 'arm around his shoulders. 'Oh Billy, not the herd again?'
He nodded. 'We've got to go and look for them again… Strange, but even after all this time and all that’s happened still can't quite believe it. It's the same with Paul... he believed everything we told him, but when it happens.. .well...' He looked up, at her.
She was looking as frightened as e felt. Then she smiled, halfheartedly. 'Go and see how they are,' she told him. 'I'll make
the tea and then you better get the car out and go and look for
the herd...' she nudged him on his Way. As Billy approached the door of the front room, he could hear Paul and Janet talking inside. By the tone of their voices, they sounded worried. Hearing about such phenomena was obviously one thing, witnessing them was something else again. He went in and sat with them, and together they went over all the theories they had previously discussed – includuing the dream Paul had described having the previous night. After a few minutesPauline arrived with the tea and by the time they had drunk it, they had managed to put the situation into some sort of perspective.
'And now,' announced Billy, eventually, 'we better go try and find out what happened to the cows this time...' Pauline went out into the hall to fetch their coats. As she did so, she felt that familiar feeling of dread sweep er her. No matter how often these things happened to them, she could never shake off that feeli
ng. She was glad, this particular Sunday, that Clinton and the rest of the kids were out. It was hard enough trying to cope with this of situation at the best of times, but with visitors coming to stay… well, it would have been too much. She looked at her watch. Eleven o'clock. In an hour or so, Clinton would be home from visiting his friends at a near-by farm and the twins would be back from seeing their grandparents in Milford Haven. She'd see Billy, Paul and Janet safely on their way and then get down to making the lunch.
'I don't know how long we'll be, love,' Billy told her, as he put on his coat, 'we'll start where the herd has turned up before first at Dale Farm and, failing that, at Clover Farm. We'll be back as soon as we find them. I'll take the car, leave it wherever I find the herd and collect it later, OK?'
She followed him to the front door and kissed him on the cheek. 'Be careful, love...'
Billy nodded and followed Paul and Janet outside, pausing for
a minute and smiling reassuringly at her before he got into
the car. As she watched the car rumble up the drive and out of sight, she said a silent prayer to herself. She put any further morbid thoughts to the back of her mind and went back indoors. Maybe, in some way, the mystery would solve itself this time and there would be a logical explanation for what was happening. But how could there be? How could there possibly be an explanation? But a reason, perhaps?
*
Billy turned the car sharply at the end of the lane into the driveway of Dale Farm. 'This was where I found them last time,' he told Paul, as he pulled up outside the farmhouse, 'right here, milling around in the yard and around the outbuildings...'
He looked around: 'But not this time, I think. Wait here and I'll have a look around. I'd rather not see the farmer. It was embarrassing enough trying to explain how the herd got here the last time - and I don't want to go through all that again...
