by A. D. Winch
"I'm sure we'll recognize the young Johan and Professor Larsen. If not we'll have to hang around looking for a young couple with a German accent and a Nordic accent. We know how they both speak."
Ursula considered what Eric had said. She had no better idea.
"What are we going to do for six weeks?"
"We'll stay here tonight, and then tomorrow we'll find somewhere else to go that's not a desert."
"What if people see us?"
"We'll have to take that chance. We don't know the area, and we need to find somewhere where there is food. We can only do that in daylight, but we have to stay out of people's way. Nobody can know we are here, and we can't do anything that could change the future. We need to find somewhere with food we can eat. A farm or something, and hide-out nearby."
"For six weeks? We'll go mad."
"It's the only chance we have."
Ursula had to agree with him.
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Chapter 31 - The Beacon
The day passed slowly. There was no food to eat, and they had to ration their water. Neither of them felt at their best, and they dozed for a few hours. Ursula had forbidden Eric from moving and told him to lay with his leg raised, resting on a rock. While asleep, he managed to keep it there, and he was not allowed to move when he woke up either.
In the late afternoon, Ursula collected dry sticks and tinder from the desert floor on Eric's insistence. She returned with a large collection and placed them next to him. He pulled the largest piece nearer and drilled the biggest of the sticks into it. After a few minutes, the wood began to smoke and as tinder was placed around the branch the wood caught. Eric built a pyramid of sticks over it and stoked the fire until it was burning nicely.
"Do you think you can make a large pile of wood near to the dart? Is there enough?" Eric asked her. "We need to lead the army to it and away from us."
"I think I can find enough," Ursula replied. She had nothing better to do.
From dusk until nightfall, Ursula collected any dry branches, sticks and tinder she could find on the desert floor and under spindly bushes. She did not want to go back to the dart alone and left her collection a short distance away from it. When the pyre had reached waist height, she stopped and returned to Eric.
"I need you to keep watch while I place the sticks nearer to the dart."
"But you said I wasn't allowed to move," he joked.
Ursula scowled back. She was hot and thirsty and not in a mood for jokes.
"Of course I can help," he quickly added and hobbled with her across the desert.
The sun had almost dipped below the horizon and, even though the light was blinding, it was noticeably cooler. Eric helped Ursula move the pyre closer to the dart and then kept watch as she took the sticks right to the river bank.
Ursula was nervous as she approached. She could see the top of the dart, and all seemed quiet. After dropping the sticks, her curiosity got the better of her, and she dropped down onto her belly. Slowly, she crawled forward and looked over the edge.
The dart had not moved, but she thought she could see two forms in the shade underneath it. Neither of them were moving, and they were difficult to make out in the dimming light. She wasn't sure if she felt reassured or worried.
If it was injured then shouldn't she try to help, she wondered. However, it dawned on her that she was already helping. By bringing the army to the dart, the aliens would be found and taken somewhere where doctors and scientists could provide the care that they needed.
Eric continued to keep watch as Ursula built up the pyre, but nothing happened to alarm him. By the time she had finished, it was dark. The moon provided enough light for them to see where they were going, and they returned to the pods.
"When do the army get here?" Ursula asked.
"I don't know. I only know that they find the dart tonight. They'll be coming in vehicles, so we'll hear them long before we see them."
Ursula looked at the small fire Eric had built and took a gulp of water. There was only a third of the bottle left. She tried to ignore her thirst and her growing hunger as they sat down to wait. Their little fire provided some light and reflected off the pods. Both children watched the flames, hypnotized by the flickering movement. Hours passed, and they grew more and more tired, but managed to stay awake. As they slowly gave into the desire to sleep, they heard the distant rumblings of vehicles. Both children instantly became alert, and Eric placed a piece of bush into the fire. He pushed the tinder around the branches until it formed a small, burning nest.
"Are you okay to do this?" he asked.
"Yes. One of us has to guard the pods, and if I am seen at least I can run."
"Thanks, Ursula."
She took the branch and felt the warmth from the small fire. In the distance, she could see the headlights of two vehicles and faint spots of possibly a hundred torches fanning out across the desert. They were moving slowly; searching the terrain for the missing UFO.
Ursula moved slowly too. She was worried that if she ran then she would extinguish the burning nest. She held it away from the approaching army and used her body as best she could to shield the orange glow. While she walked, the tinder nest continued to burn and set fire to the branch it was resting on. The flames grew larger and began to creep down the branch towards her hand. Ursula knew she had come most of the way already, but she also knew that she would have to speed up. The fire would continue to eat the wood until it devoured it all. At this point, she would no longer be able to hold it, and she had to reach the pyre before that happened. She increased her pace but was no longer able to shield the flames.
The two vehicles turned off their headlights and the torches went out one by one. They had seen the orange glow. For a short while, they watched and then headed towards Ursula's beacon.
Ursula could hear them coming, but it was difficult to see them as their lights were still off. She reached the pile, thrust the branch into it and waited. The flames grew from the inside, and the tinder crackled as the fire took. It did not take long for the flames to reach the outside branches.
The vehicles saw this larger beacon and turned their headlights back on. Their engines roared in the still night, and they drove quickly along the desert road in the direction of the fire. The soldiers' torches flickered back to life, and their faint beams crisscrossed the desert as they ran towards the fire too.
Ursula knew that she couldn't get back to the pods without being seen. The vehicles were moving too fast, and there were too many soldiers. She climbed into the river channel and ran away from the dart as fast as she dared in the moonlight. The course of the river twisted and turned, and she had to stay alert for rocks on the river bed. After running for about five minutes, Ursula stopped and crawled into a crevice where the water had once chiseled a hole into the bank. She was panting and could not work out if this were from physical exertion or fear, or both. The thought worried her. She had never panted so much after so little exercise. Her heart pounded, and she rested with her back against the dusty wall. At least she felt that she was safely hidden.
Noises and voices soon echoed up the river, and she could easily make out what was being said.
"It's here," shouted one soldier excitedly
"Form a cordon," shouted another. "We'll need the crane truck, caterpillars, and bridge pieces to get this out. Radio back to base."
"Yes, Sir."
"And we'll need them quickly. I want this out of here before morning."
"Yes, Sir."
"Hey, I've found two bodies," shouted another soldier.
"Bag them up and get back them to base."
Ursula continued to listen in an attempt to stay awake, but it didn't work. Her small hideaway was snug, and the walls were smooth. Every few minutes, her head dropped but then she would snap it back up again. This continued like a yo-yo until eventually her head drooped and stayed there; she fell sound sleep.
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***
Chapter 32 - Makeshift Graves
The morning rays shone over the dried-up river and into the hole where Ursula was sleeping. The light woke her with a start, and she jumped up, thinking it was a soldier shining his torch in her face. She was ready to flee, but then looked around and realized that it was the dawn sun. The desert was quiet. There were no rumblings from vehicles nor men shouting.
Ursula scrambled out of the river bank and looked back to where the soldiers should have been. There was no one there, but the twists and turns meant that she could not see far. Cautiously, she walked up the river towards the dart. She kept her eyes peeled and ears open; ready to hide or run if necessary. However, there was no sound, and she saw no life except for two small lizards.
When she arrived at its location, the dart and its occupants had gone. All trace of the alien craft had been removed. There was only a pile of rubble where the dart had crashed into the river bank. She climbed up it and continued across the empty plain towards the pods. On the desert floor were a number of tyre and caterpillar tracks, and surrounding them were hundreds of dusty boot prints that were gradually being blown away by a light morning wind.
Ursula's throat was parched, and she was desperate for a drink. When she arrived at the pods, Eric was waiting for her with a bottle in his hand. He had a big smile on his face.
"Well done! You did it! They found the dart and took it away. I fell asleep a few times, but the last lorry and troops left just before the sun came up."
"What time is it?" Ursula asked, finishing the remains of her water.
"I don't know. If this is summer then it's about five or six in the morning, I guess.
"I think we should go."
"I agree. Come on."
The silver bodies of their individual pods peeled back, and they climbed inside them. Ursula lay on her red cushion and fought back the desire to sleep some more. Eric had to remove the material from his leg before laying on it. His wounds were dry and had stopped bleeding, but the cushion looked like it belonged in a horror movie.
Yesterday, their flight in the pods had been essential in their pursuit of the dart. In many ways, they had done it without thinking because they had to. Today was different. Sitting in their craft, they were both unsure what to do first.
Ursula closed her pod. She was plunged into darkness and remembered to focus on making the body see-through. Eric did the same. As light entered the interior, Ursula was not ashamed to admit that she was scared. She had no idea how the pod worked - whether it had a fuel supply that was running out or whether it would suddenly drop out of the sky or whether it could explode. This lack of understanding made her reluctant to go any further. If Eric's pod had not suddenly shot upwards, she would not have moved.
"You think too much," she heard Eric laughing as she focused on following him.
Within a few seconds, they were high above the desert and hovering in the sky.
"Where are we going?" Ursula asked, but Eric flew off before answering.
Sunlight was reflecting off something in the desert, kilometres away from the nearest signs of life. This made Eric inquisitive, and he headed right for it. As they descended, Ursula was shocked by what she saw. Near to the bright light were two lifeless, human bodies. She swallowed hard and tried to prepare herself.
They brought their pods to rest on the desert floor and quickly got out. A smashed piece of curved glass blinded her as she stepped onto the ground, and she looked away. When she turned back, she could see a piece of metal attached to it and 'Roswell's Foo Fighter' scrawled across.
Eric was standing beside one of the bodies. The other lay fifty metres away. Ursula stood next to Eric and tried to avoid looking down, but she couldn't help stealing a glance. The body was that of a man, but it was as if his skeleton had been shattered. He lay in a position that was not possible, and his skin was bright red - not from blood but sunburn. Around his neck was a dog tag that had come out from under his shirt and rested in the dirt.
Eric bent down and read it aloud while Ursula looked away.
"Terrance 'Ted' Banks, 31310191 T42 43, Christian." He stood up and whispered, "They never found the bodies of the flying disc pilots. Johan didn't say, but I think that upset him. I can understand that." He looked around the vast desert and added, "I doubt they'll be found here. I'd like to bury them."
"With what, Eric? The ground is hard, and we have no spades."
"We can't let the vultures get them. That would be wrong. We'll cover them with rocks and stones."
"Why?"
Ursula saw the look on Eric's face and regretted asking. She set about finding rocks before he had a chance to reply.
It took them almost half an hour to cover Terrance 'Ted' Banks. Ursula collected the rocks and brought them to Eric, who placed them carefully over the body until the man could no longer be seen. They did the same with Archibald Graham and then returned to the pods. Their mouths were dry, and even though the sun had only just risen it was hot enough to make them sweat.
"We need to think about where we are going now," Ursula began. "It's early morning, and the sun is already up. People may see us, but we need to go somewhere where we can find water. I'm so thirsty."
Eric found a small rock and drew a rough outline of America in the dirt.
"We're roughly here," he said, "drawing a cross in New Mexico. In these pods, we can essentially go anywhere."
"But I would prefer to stay close," interrupted Ursula. "We don't know what powers them or how much further we can take them."
"I agree, but we need to leave the desert, or we'll die. I know that my father liked Californian wine, and California is there," he drew an X on the west of the map. "But I don't know if that means they'll grow food as well."
"Isn't Florida called the Orange State?" Ursula asked.
"Yes, I think so, and Florida is here," and he drew an X on the east of the map.
"I think we should go there. Oranges are sun fruits, so are good for us, according to Alexander and Andrea. We can fly over the Gulf of Mexico, so fewer people see us and then find somewhere secluded to stop."
"Okay, but I think where we are heading is far more built up than here. This is a desert. Florida isn't, and there is more chance of being seen once we arrive."
"Okay. In that case, we need to wait, but not here. There must be a river somewhere nearby. We'll find one and stop there until tomorrow morning and leave as soon as the sun starts to rise. The pods move so fast that we should get there within minutes, and this will give us time to find somewhere to hide while most people are still in bed."
"Good plan. Let's go."
The pods travelled silently over the desert. It didn't take long to find a strip of vegetation beside a river as it stood out against the brown surroundings. They followed the flowing water south until it grew into a lake beside a large area of tired-looking greenery.
The children landed amongst a group of spartan trees that were barely taller than the pods themselves. Even though there was no one around, they picked up any branches they could find and covered the pods until they were harder to see. Only when they were satisfied, did they head for the lake.
Ursula removed her clothes down to her underwear and vest top and walked straight into the lake. The water felt wonderful against her skin, and she dived below the surface with her mouth open, swallowing great gulps before she swam upwards again.
Eric hobbled towards the lake in a pair of boxer shorts and with the red cushion around his leg. He fell in and lay on his back looking at the clear blue sky.
"It has never felt so good to be in the water," he said and drank a mouthful.
Ursula agreed.
They stayed in the lake for nearly an hour - floating, swimming and investigating under the surface. Fish would swim close by but swam urgently away when the children playfully gave chase.
After getting out, Ursula took her clothes and washed them in the shallows. Andrea had always taken care of Eric's
clothes, and he had to copy Ursula so he knew what to do. Once clean, they hung them on branches to dry while they sunbathed.
As the sun rose in the sky, they retreated to the shade of the trees. Even though they were beside water, they were fearful of the desert sun and wanted to avoid getting burnt. Ursula took the opportunity to examine Eric's leg and made sure the wound was clean and dry before applying more antiseptic. She insisted that he lay with his leg raised and joined him on the sandy ground. After the previous night's events and their morning swim, they were both exhausted and soon fell asleep.
They awoke after noon. Their stomachs were empty, and they were desperate to eat something. Eric proposed that they should try and catch a fish.
"How?" Ursula answered. "We have no rod and they kept swimming away when we chased them."
"It's a survival technique. You stand completely still in the water up to your waist with your hands below the surface. When a fish comes to investigate, you pull your hands up and throw it onto the shore."
Ursula looked sceptical but agreed.
"I bet I catch one first," Eric said.
"Why do you have to make everything into a competition?"
"Sounds to me like you're worried you will lose," Eric teased.
It was Ursula who caught a fish first, but Eric who caught the bigger one. She watched them squirming on the shore until they stopped breathing and wondered if she would be able to eat something she had actually killed. Eric had no such qualms.
After he had lit a fire, he took a look stick from the lake and poked it through both fish. On opposite sides of the burning wood, he had placed Y-shaped branches and rested his spit upon them. Every so often, he turned the fish as it cooked.
"Have you done this before?" Ursula asked.
"No. Never. While we were under 'house arrest' at your grandparents, I read one of your Granddad's books about survival tactics. It wasn’t as interesting as the UFO book, but it was okay and has come in useful today."
"Do you think we will ever see them again?"
