Boy Gone

by Mark Wayne McGinnis

  Scotty nodded. “Where can I find the one called Mannford? Paul Mannford?”

  “He’s the NASA Flight Director here. Outside, look for the biggest building.”

  Scotty believed them but locked both inside the room just the same. Back in the hallway, his mother stood still waiting for him. Pulling him into a close embrace, she said, “They were not nice men. Their questions … ”

  “Well, whatever you said to them, Mom, they believed you.” Brianna pulled away from him and said, “Maybe. I hope so.”

  “Come on, Alison’s just next door.” After he got the door open, Alison and Larry hurried out.

  “What now?” Alison asked.

  “You mean, other than changing life on Earth forever?”

  Alison merely rolled her eyes at him.

  “Too dramatic?”

  “Yeah … just a tad,” Alison said.

  Scotty pointed toward the exit down at the far end of the hall. After three strides he glanced back, realizing Alison and his mother weren’t following along behind him. “What is it?”

  “What about the cop? We’re just going to leave him here?” his mother asked.

  Scotty instantly was reminded of the large bump, still-aching at the back of his head. “Fine. Wait here.” Jogging back past both doorways, he stopped at the third door, on the other side of the corridor. Unlatching it, he nudged it partially open with his foot. Officer Donald Platt, now alone inside, was leaning his bulk against the opposite wall. It caught Scotty off guard, how surprisingly vulnerable the big cop seemed. Standing quietly, his gun holster empty, he wore an almost child-like expression—one filled with both surprise and anticipation.

  “Promise me you won’t hit me with your flashlight ever again.”

  The big man shrugged. “They took my flashlight.”

  Scotty waited.

  “Let me come with you. Let me do this thing too, whatever it is … ”

  * * *

  They made their way out of the building unaccosted. The outside parking lot was a flurry of cars speeding by, and excited pedestrians running frantically here and there. Like wildfire, news had spread fast. The aliens were landing. Were landing right now!

  Scotty eyed the long line of network news vehicles and the multiple hordes of people. Most likely NASA employees, he figured, being interviewed by reporters. More than half of the news vans were in the process of pulling away, one after the other, out of the parking lot. They’d undoubtedly gotten the news of the alien ship’s arrival nearby off the coast.

  “You’re going to want to stay clear of those people,” Alison warned.

  “Can you get me in front of one of those cameras?” he asked, instead.

  Alison stopped. “Really?”

  Scotty nodded. “Time to speak directly to the masses.”

  Brianna said, “They’re not going to know you from Adam, Scotty. Getting anyone’s attention will be near impossible. You’re either too ordinary looking, or you become too invisible to be noticed out here.”

  “I have an idea at how you can grab their attention,” Platt said, with a crooked smile.

  Three minutes later, they strode into the media mayhem. What was noticeably different about this particular contingent was twofold: One, Scotty was invisible. Two, the large golden retriever he held in his outstretched arms was anything but invisible. As far as anyone could tell upon first seeing them, there were three people—two women and a policeman—walking together beside what appeared to be, a totally self-propelled flying dog.

  It took a few moments. Although no one could actually see his expression, Scotty was smiling ear to ear.

  It was one of the many camera operators who commented: “What the … ?”

  “Look!” exclaimed another man being interviewed.

  “Oh, my God … ” exclaimed a pretty reporter, holding up an MSNBC microphone.

  “This isn’t possible! That just can’t be real … ” another reporter said.

  “Move it! Get over there! Stop them!”

  It didn’t take long for the interviewing news organizations to wave away their far less interesting interviewees, and scurry over to them. Invisible Scotty, along with Larry in his arms, spun around, finding they were completely surrounded.

  “Hey, how are you making that dog do that?”

  “Is that some kind of trick … like a magic act of some sort?”

  “Does the dog talk or do other tricks?”

  Scotty laughed out loud, raising Larry higher up. He swooped him quickly left, then right, then high in the air again.

  “Now you’re just being annoying,” Alison said, scolding him dryly. The contingent of reporters, jostling around them, was quickly getting out of control.

  “I think I heard the dog laugh … did you hear that?”

  “Yeah, I heard it too … ”

  Scotty said, “You need to listen to me very carefully. I am not a talking dog … even though it may appear that way.” All eyes stayed focused on Larry.

  Scotty chose that moment to transform back into a visible Human state. Now everyone there could see him, holding Larry in his arms. Putting the dog down on the ground, he stared into a camera lens, then another, and then another one. “Hello, my name is Scotty Sullivan and … well, I guess you can say I am an alien, of sorts … ”

  * * *

  Paul Mannford watched in horror as things quickly turned from bad to worse. He tore his eyes away from the busy uniformed men—stationed at the now fully operational mobile SAM command center—and over to the now pacing back-and-forth Secretary of Space Force, Donald Borkner. He had his cell phone up to one ear, “Yes, Mr. President … I assure you, it is now or never … Yes … yes, sir … of course, sir … thank you Mr. President, I’ll be in contact when it’s done.

  Even before Borkner’s phone was returned to his inside jacket, Mannford was confronting him. “There is no danger here! What you’re doing … what you are about to do here is absolute madness!” he yelled, meeting the Secretary in the mist of his back-and-forth pacing.

  “Don’t even think about hindering this military operation, Director,” Borkner ordered, not taking his eyes off the largest display monitor. “In time, you’ll understand. In time, you’ll realize my expedient actions today—this quick military response—just may have saved mankind.”

  Mannford stared back at Borkner in amazed frustration. “Did you even look at the reports? Listen to any of our own scientists? Or listen to all the independents scientists worldwide, concerning the incoming Gamma Ray? Well, it’s real! The destruction it will yield on our Solar System will be absolute.”

  Borkner momentarily glanced his way and smirked, before turning his attention back to the wall of monitors. He said, “That alien ship coming down from space, getting this close, that’s a red line that shouldn’t have been crossed. Now best you take a seat, Director, before I have you escorted out of the building.”

  Mannford stared at the multiple view perspectives of the enormous alien craft now hovering just above the sparkling, calm blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

  Mannford pleaded with him one more time. “Secretary, let’s open a channel to Commander Landon again. Let’s get his take on things before you take any further action. Those three astronauts onboard don’t know what’s happening here. They have families … Sir, we owe it to them … ”

  Mannford’s pleas ceased, hearing new orders leave Borkner’s lips: “Fire … fire everything you’ve got!”

  Everyone within NASA’s Mission Control Center went silent. Mannford then heard a collective moan escape from several of his equally shocked coworkers. No less than ten separate missiles had simultaneously been launched. White exhaust plumes trailed behind them as they rose from different, land-based, deployment trucks. The plumes rose higher and higher above the still-stationary, hovering, alien vessel.

  “Come on! Do something!” someone yelled at the display—at the alien ship.

  But no amazing, super high-tech anti-missile
defense system had been deployed. Not yet. Now the collective white plumes, reaching the apex of their upward ascent, were making a slow arch, in unison, in a downward descent.

  Both hands balled into fists, Mannford shook his head. “No, no, no, this isn’t fucking happening,” he said out loud.

  The missiles hit their target all at once. A combined series of immense, white-hot explosions took place, which, a moment later, made the floor beneath their feet shake and the walls of the MCC rumble. The alien ship burst outward into great swaths of scarlet. Blood, mixed with ragged, car-sized chunks of gore, filled the sky. A full minute passed before the air had cleared enough to see the full damage that occurred. A decimated, half sunken carcass bobbing up and down on the Gulf’s now-discolored sea surface.

  Chapter 54

  One hour and ten minutes earlier …

  It had been days since Commander Landon had spoken to, or even seen, the alien female, called Seve, who obviously was ailing from some kind of progressively worsening malady. Thus, their subsequent time onboard the alien ship had been spent with others—those who were Vallic-Humans. On a near- consistent basis, Landon, Fischer, and Mirkin, had been learning not only what was to come, but what was transpiring on a distant exoplanet, one called Hope, some six light years distance from Earth.

  Glancing up, Fischer was the first to notice Seve’s slow approach.

  Seeing her now, in her bluish ghostly form, Landon noted she was being supported by another alien walking beside her. The three ISS crewmembers rose to their feet.

  Her voice was weak. In her current Vallic form, she seemed slight—a mere whisper of energy that the slightest breeze might easily dissipate. “It is time for you to leave here. We must hurry now.”

  “Leave? Where are we going?” Fischer asked.

  “Abandoning this craft.”

  The three men exchanged surprised looks.

  “You’re returning us to Earth?” Landon asked, sounding hopeful.

  “Eventually … perhaps later today. But first you will be transferred to one of the other vessels.” Seve motioned for her escort to let her be—let her stand on her own. Standing up, appearing somewhat taller, she studied the three Humans.

  “What other vessels?” Mirkin asked.

  Seve nodded to the other energetic form, standing next to her. “Show them, please.”

  The Vallic-Human stepped over to the nearest living bulkhead. Swiping her hand across a large section of the bulkhead, it immediately became just as blue, as ghostly transparent, as the aliens were themselves. But something out in space—beyond the inner confines of the ship—had captured their full attention. It took a moment for Landon to determine exactly what it was he was looking at. They were higher up, in an elevated section of the vessel, looking back toward the stern. No less than ten small objects were moving about in space. The closest one was rotating on its axis.

  “It’s another ship … like this one. But tiny,” Fischer said.

  “I think they’re all ships,” Landon said.

  A burst of something sprayed outward from somewhere below and aft. Landon felt the slightest shudder beneath his feat. Thinking about it, he realized he’d experienced the same exact occurrence pretty much continuously in the last few hours. Another burst then occurred, but this time something other than a misty-liquid goo emerged. It was another of the tiny ship-like objects.

  Landon glanced over to Seve. “This ship … it’s … ”

  Fischer finished his sentence for him, “The ship’s giving birth?”

  “That is correct,” Seve said. “Remember, there is no manufacturing process with Vallic technology. Once you have migrated to Hope, you will discover our technology there supplants the antiquated … the inefficient methods you Humans are so accustomed to.”

  Landon watched as the tiny individual living crafts continued to grow in size, en masse, and at an astounding rate. The closest one looked almost as large as the vessel they were on now. And the other crafts weren’t far behind.

  “So why must we leave this ship?” Landon asked.

  “This organism has fulfilled its purpose. We have other plans for it.”

  “Like what?” Fischer asked.

  “It will be, well … most probably, destroyed.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, though I am curious. You don’t seem to be upset by that prospect,” Landon said.

  “That is because this is merely a spacecraft. It is replaceable. Purposely, this craft doesn’t possess any kind of real self-awareness. No consciousness, so to speak. There is no associative spirit, no life-force connection. We take care not to think of ships as living beings. We do not name our vessels.”

  The three Earthlings continued watching as a new infant spacecraft emerged from the lower aft section of the alien craft.

  “That will be the last of them,” Seve said. “Now we must go greet the newly arrived Human-Vallics coming in from Hope.

  Landon almost missed it: Not Vallic-Humans, but Human-Vallics. And then a blindingly bright ray of light streaked across local space right before them.

  “Mother of God!” Fischer exclaimed, as the three stared.

  “There’s something else out there,” Mirkin said, pointing. He then gave a disgusted grimace. “It’s another object, not a ship. Something that looks like a big bug-like thing … more like a maggot.”

  “What you see out there is called a Porthwamp,” Seve said. “Come, now we really must go. I will introduce you to the new arrivals, others of your own kind.”

  It took Seve another ten minutes, even with the help of her assistant, for them to make their way aft to the ship’s version of a flight bay. The first thing Landon noticed was a brightly glowing, circular membrane along the ship’s port side. A membrane not much different from others he’d noticed internal to the ship. But this one was larger, easily by a factor of one hundred. Parked within the cavernous flight bay area was a collection of what Seve had referred to as Rompers. In neat rows, they were like parked cars in designated spaces like what one would find in front of any supermarket back on Earth.

  For the first time, Landon encountered the entirety of the alien crew. Seventy-five to one hundred Vallic-Humans were hurrying to board small, clear-sided, almost bubble-like, transport vessels.

  Landon, Fischer, and Mirkin were guided toward the nearest of the Rompers. One by one, they stepped into the small craft. They then quickly shuffled out of the way when three Vallic-Human crewmembers boarded right behind them.

  Seve did not come onboard, instead just standing outside by the clear surface of the Romper. With what seemed like an enormous amount of effort, she transformed into her physical Human state. Only then did Landon see how ravaged her body had become. Her skin was cracked and gray, and clumps of hair had fallen out. But her eyes were still bright. Surprisingly, she was smiling up at him. He had to lean closer to hear her faint words.

  “You will be so very important in the coming days … weeks … even years. Think of this as the great adventure that it truly is. Soon it will be time for you to make Hope your new home.” Seve swallowed hard. A tear rolled down her cheek. “Please tell Scotty I said goodbye. Tell him how proud I am of him and that … I love him dearly. Will you do that for me, Mr. Landon?”

  Landon had always hated goodbyes, and this was no different. Unable to speak, he nodded reassuringly instead. Seve took a frail step backward as the Romper began to rise into the air. She gave a gentle wave goodbye from below, and then, in a dazzling flash—a glittering kaleidoscope of colors—she was gone.

  Almost inaudibly, Fischer said, “Now that’s how I want to go … in a blaze of light and color.”

  The small craft, falling in behind another identical-looking Romper, passed through the membrane that separated the spaceship’s flight bay from open space beyond. Landon saw a reflection of light against the sheer blackness of space. There, in the not too far distance, another ginormous living spacecraft could be seen moving closer to them.

 
Glancing back at the spaceship they’d so recently departed from, he saw it moving away, traveling now in the opposite direction. It then turned and began a steady descent into Earth’s upper atmosphere.

  Chapter 55

  Present day … present time …

  Scotty looked out into the crowd of network reporters, along with their two or three-man camera crews, and found they easily topped one hundred people. He watched as they pushed and jostled for better positioning of their cameras and microphones. When he began to speak, his commentary was immediately drowned out by a barrage of yelled-out questions.

  Officer Platt barreled forward—moved his bulk in front of the growing media frenzy. Raising his beefy hands high over his head, he ordered, “Quiet down! … Just let the man speak!” Even without his sidearm or flashlight, Platt was an imposing figure. His forceful presence worked and order was restored. He eyed them angrily for good measure then returned to his previous position behind Scotty.

  Scotty stole a glance over his other shoulder, toward his mother and then to Alison. Both conveyed their full support of him through their eyes. Alison shrugged and said, “Go on … now is as good a time as any.”

  He started again. “My name is Scotty Sullivan … ”

  Scotty spoke forty-five minutes straight. He spoke first of his abduction when only a child, some sixteen years prior; then of his time spent onboard a living, alien, space vessel where he met other children who had also been singled out and subsequently abducted. He spoke of an alien race called the Vallic—of the horrendous mistake made by them earlier when an experiment went terribly wrong. Scotty next described the fusion reaction that shattered a distant planet and associate planetary system, and the subsequent bi-directional Gamma ray that was currently causing cataclysmic destruction along their dual trajectories deep within their galaxy—the Milky Way. And that this same Gamma ray was now headed toward Earth and soon, mere months from now, our solar system—and Earth itself—would be ravaged by radiation levels high enough to turn everything in its path to dust. Scotty hesitated long enough to let that sink in.