by Dan Holt
Stockton stared at Wilson’s face for a long moment then looked at the floor then back to his face. “No wonder they call you the budding young genius. Where in Houston?”
“I don’t know,” Wilson said, “but I’ll bet you money that she shows up at EBE’s address.”
Stockton paused a moment in thought. “I’ve got a gut feeling that you are right, however, before we go screaming to Houston or even make a telling phone call, let’s search Elizabeth Rainwater’s house. If she harbored our Missing Midget there for half a century there will be something; something to let us know for sure.”
“Agreed.”
Stockton stepped over to the information desk on the way out of the hospital.
“Do you have a phone book?” Stockton made a note of an address.
The agents entered the Post Office, got in line and waited. Soon they were directed to Jim in the corner and they asked directions to Route 3, Box 121.
“Lots of people looking for Dr. Rainwater,” Jim said then explained directions out on Old Pine Lodge Road.
“Lots of people?” Wilson inquired.
“Yeah, last week a young couple came in here and asked who lived at Box 121.”
“Who were they:”
“Don’t know. I never seen them before. I can tell you what it is. There’s talk around town that that old house is haunted.
“Really?”
“People claim they’ve seen ghosts out there; weird looking creatures, that just disappear.” Stockton and Wilson looked at each other, thanked Jim, and went to their car.
Rural Houston
“Are you sure?” Brandon said, “Something might go wrong and you will be a captive also.”
“I have to go. I can’t leave him there.”
“But what about the guard?” Audrina said. “There’s going to be a guard.”
“Elizabeth’s probably right,” Brandon said. “They, no doubt, have brought him up for his daily sunshine a thousand times and consider it routine. However, when they discover that he’s gone, all hell will break loose.”
“I have communicated to EBE my plan to rescue him. I have the entrance code for the gate. I’m going to go in cloaked and then go to the complex and locate his sunroom. Then I will project to the guard that he wants a cup of coffee, gently, over and over. When he goes. I’ll unlock EBE’s door, bring him into my cloaking field, and we will simply walk out.” Orion extended his hand toward Audrina. “Let me have his Initiator. I will insert it into his Locator Device as soon as I find him; just in case we get caught.”
Orion inserted EBE’s Initiator into the slot of his belt and prepared to go. “I’ll get out of the car here. You can’t be this close if an alarm goes off or something. Go ahead and drive down to the next intersection make a turn then stop. We will come to you.”
Orion, I don’t like this,” Brandon said.
“I can do it.”
“Okay,” Brandon said reluctantly, “we’ll be waiting; good luck.”
Brandon opened the back door and Orion stepped out.
Cha
pter 15
THE OASIS
Agent Stockton turned off Old Pine Lodge Road onto the winding dirt road leading to a grove of trees a mile and a half into the desert. Minutes later, he pulled up into the yard of the older two-story house and killed the engine. Wilson reached inside his suit coat pocket, retrieved a pair of thin buckskin gloves, and put them on. Stockton did the same.
“Let’s knock on the door just to be sure.”
“There’s nobody home, trust me,” Wilson answered.
“Still…”
Wilson gestured toward the door, followed Stockton up onto the porch, and waited for his verification. Silence. Stockton tried the door. It was open. The agents entered the living room and looked around. They began opening drawers, and cabinets, careful to leave it like it was found; a slow tedious process.
Toward the back of the house, they entered the master bedroom and began systematically going through the chest and dresser. On the dresser top, there were pictures of Compton Rainwater and family. He, his wife and 1 child; Elizabeth. Opening the second drawer of the chest, agent Wilson picked up a leather bound picture album. He began leafing through it, looking at the pictures. He came to a full-page 8 x 10 photograph of a birthday party. A calendar hanging on the wall behind the birthday girl read: 1948. He counted thirteen candles. He froze.
“Stockton…come here.”
Agent Stockton closed the dresser drawer, stepped over to Wilson side, and viewed the photo album. He was looking at a picture taken of a birthday party. A young girl was blowing out candles on a rectangle shaped birthday cake. A middle-aged woman was standing at her elbow. Wilson pointed a gloved finger at the lower left corner of the photograph.
There was a gray three-fingered hand resting on the table, visible from just above the wrist down.
“Okay,” Stockton said and pulled his weapon, “let’s take a look upstairs.”
Wilson glanced at Stockton holding his gun. “You won’t need that. He’s in Houston. I’m telling you, man, he’s in Houston.”
“Just the same, let’s check.” Wilson complied and pulled his weapon as well and they headed up the wide stairway to the second floor. There was a door open on the left a few feet away from the head of the stairs. Stockton approached it and cautiously looked inside the room.
“Come here and look at this.” Wilson followed Stockton into the room. Stockton continued: “A small bedroom, one twin size bed, a small antique dresser and chest, and then a 50-inch projection TV.” Stockton holstered his weapon and began opening dresser drawers. When he got to the fourth drawer down, the bottom one, he pulled it open. It was completely full of empty M&M bags.
“You gotta’ be kidding,” Wilson breathed.
Cha
pter 16
RESCUE
GMO Testing Area - Houston
“Orion watched Brandon drive away and head for the concealment of the trees at the next intersection on the Farm to Market road. Then he began his trek down the blacktop road the four hundred yards to the gate of the testing station and EBE’s prison. EBE sensed his proximity and was careful to keep the port on his belt covered.
Brandon, standing beside the car resting his elbows on its roof, binoculars in hand, focused them on the gate of the testing station. He saw the entrance pedestal with its keypad disappear for a moment, and then wink back on and the gate slowly lumbering down its track. It immediately returned to the closed position.
“He’s inside,” he announced. Elizabeth and Audrina were watching the testing station from a quarter mile away. Brandon reached down to the inside of the driver’s door and pressed the trunk release. The trunk of the car rose to full open.
Orion entered the gate, then turned to the right and made his way down a dirt road the 500 yards to the equipment shed and office complex. The tool shed, sunroom, and offices were next to each other, constructed in a line. Behind was a four-foot tall crop of very green corn stalks waving in a gentle breeze. Orion sensed a guard sitting on a bench inside the tool shed. He was reading a Golf Digest magazine.
Orion began his projected suggestion. A few minutes later, the guard wet his lips with his tongue and turned another page on his magazine. As the minutes slowly passed, he began flipping the pages one after the other, glancing briefly at each page. Abruptly, he got up, stepped over to the sunroom entrance, closed a heavy dead bolt on the door, and then opened the outer door of the tool shed and walked over to the adjacent offices and entered. Inside he poured himself a cup of coffee then struck up a conversation with a lady sitting at her desk making computer entries.
Orion quickly entered the tool room, reached up, slid the dead bolt back out of the hasp, and pulled the door open. EBE stepped through the doorway and disappeared. Orion quickly inserted the Initiator into EBE’s Locator Device. It immediately began a ten-second transmission, and then went dark. The two hurriedly began the trek back the quarter mi
le to the entrance gate.
Lagrange Point between Earth and its Moon
The Transfer Ship, upon reaching the Lagrange Point 195,505 from Earth, held and launched two Shuttles, one to Houston and one to Roswell. The rescue crafts would proceed to the original coordinates, then, if needed, transmit a request for an update.
GMO Testing Area - Houston
Bandon, watching through his binoculars, saw the large gate lumber open then close again. “They just came out of the gate!”
Audrina and Elizabeth strained to see the invisible. Then they and Brandon’s minds were filled with Orion’s words. “We are out and on our way to you. EBE’s coordinates have been transmitted. His rescue ship will come to Houston first, then update on his location. Mine will come to Roswell first, then update on my location.”
“Are they close?” Audrina asked.
“I don’t know.”
Silence fell on the car. The waiting was excruciating. Moments later, Elizabeth opened the passenger side, rear door and pushed it all the way open, then moved across the seat to the driver’s side.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they felt the gentle movement of the car and then the back door closed. Elizabeth couldn’t help it; she reached into the generated field and felt of two bald heads. She leaned in, disappearing from the waist up, and hugged them both. It was EBE’s first.
Brandon quickly closed the trunk, started the car and drove away.
The guard, draining his third cup of coffee, glanced at his watch. EBE’s sunroom time was up ten minutes earlier. “I gotta’ go,” he said to the clerk, set his coffee cup on the sink, and headed for the tool shed. Stepping in the door, he saw the sunroom door standing open.
“They came up and got him,” he muttered, “Scanlon’s not going to like this.” He reached over, opened the panel, and activated the elevator. When it opened into the lab below ground, he stepped out. All personnel were business as usual. He decided to leave well enough alone and went back to his station.
Roswell
Agent Stockton steered the car back onto Old Pine Lodge Road then drove back to the city.
“One more thing,” Stockton said, “let’s check the airport and see if Dr. Rainwater indeed flew to Houston.”
Wilson looked over at Stockton; “How would you take an alien on an airplane?”
“Beats me. At this point, nothing would surprise me.”
The line supervisor at the Roswell Airport looked at Stockton’s ID then turned and brought up the records. “Yes, Dr. Elizabeth Rainwater flew to Houston on our Flight 417 yesterday afternoon.”
“Was anybody with her?”
“No, Sir, she was alone.”
Stockton paused a moment then: “Did she happen to have an unusually large piece of luggage with her?”
The supervisor frowned and checked the records again. “I show nothing unusual, Sir.”
“Thank you,” Stockton said then booked two tickets to Houston on the afternoon flight. They headed back to their motel room to check out. When Stockton unlocked the door and stepped in, he saw a red light on the desk phone blinking. He stepped over and picked up the receiver. The appliance buzzed the front desk. The clerk’s voice came on the line.
“Mr. Stockton, there’s a call waiting for you; I’ll do the call back.”
Azell’s voice came on the line. “His people must be on their way. I received another message. It just said, “Come and get me?’ It also gave coordinates.”
“Where?”
“About thirty miles southwest of Houston.”
Stockton almost dropped the phone. He hung it up and turned to Wilson.
“That was Azell. Our Missing Midget just sent another message—from thirty miles southwest of Houston.”
“That’s where the GMO Research Station is.”
“Yeah.”
Stockton and Wilson headed for the lobby to check out then to the airport.
17
Chapter 17
DANA CARAY
The Entomologist
Brandon drove up into the driveway of Professor Dana Caray. He stepped out of the car and rang the doorbell. The professor answered the door himself.
“Well, hello, you dropping off your alien?” he said then smiled broadly.
“Professor, I have someone who wants to say hello. Is your Caregiver here now?”
“No, she’s grocery shopping.”
Brandon motioned to Audrina. She, Elizabeth, and two cloaked residents of the Alnilam Solar System got out of the car and filed up the walk. Professor Caray stepped back and swung the door full open. The parade entered and he closed it.
“Orion,” Brandon said.
Orion and EBE became visible. EBE projected: “Hello, Professor Dana.”
“Oh My God, EBE!” The professor spontaneously hugged him, and then noticed his missing right limb. “What happened to your arm!?” EBE explained his attempt to escape and the trap that stopped him. “Orion came for me and this time we made it.” Dana Caray turned to Orion and smiled. “Way to go, Orion.”
Orion again tried his, work in progress, Earth smile.
Alice, Professor Dana Caray’s Caregiver and live-in maid, drove up the driveway from the grocery store and parked beside Brandon’s car. She got out, picked up two bags of groceries and entered the front door. Professor Caray pointed at EBE and Orion then to the doorway to the next room. They quickly stepped around the door out of sight. Alice walked into the dining room and put the two bags on the table then stepped into the open doors of the professor’s study. She nodded at his guest.
“Alice,” professor Caray began, “you remember Mr. Stevens and his wife.”
“Of course,”
Professor Caray indicated Elizabeth. “This is a friend of theirs, Dr. Elizabeth Rainwater.” Alice nodded and smiled. The professor resumed: “Alice, I want you to brace yourself.”
“Sir?”
“I want to introduce you to two more friends of theirs and mine. They are different.”
“Different?”
“From another planet.” Alice laughed glancing from face to face.
“Funny, Professor, very funny.”
Professor Caray said: “Orion, EBE.” They stepped around the door in view of Alice. Alice stared for several moments then looked from face to face again.
“This is Orion and this is EBE. They are from the Alnilam Solar System in the Orion Constellation.” Alice nodded toward the two.
“Are you okay?” Elizabeth asked.
Alice’s eyes went to Elizabeth’s face. “I think so.” Alice paused a moment then: “This is real, isn’t it?”
“Do you remember the Roswell Incident of 1947?” Brandon asked.
“Yes, I saw the movie.”
“These guys were on those ships,” Audrina said.
Alice’s caregiver’s heart spoke: “What happened to your arm?” EBE projected the response. Alice touched her head, took a couple of deep breaths then relaxed and smiled. “This is cool.”
Elizabeth and Alice, cut from the same cloth, began talking, then went out together to get the rest of the groceries out of her car.
Professor Caray looked at Brandon. “Good, no heart attack.”
Brandon laughed.
Professor Caray then addressed the group: “Could we have an early dinner here and make an afternoon of it—just visit for a while? These guys, Orion and EBE, are going to be leaving and we will never see them again in our lifetimes.”
“Girls,” Alice said, “let’s prepare a nice meal while these guys talk shop.” She looked at Orion and EBE: “you are guys; right?” They both nodded. Alice smiled
“Talk shop?” Orion projected.
Brandon smiled. “Discuss what we are going to do next.”
“Oh.”
“Professor,” Brandon began, “their people are on their way and will probably be here soon. They’ve received two different distress transmissions. Question; where should we take EBE and Orion for picku
p?”
Professor Caray didn’t hesitate. “Roswell; it’s where it all started. It’s only fitting that it end’s there.” ……………………………………………………
Brandon nodded then he and the professor looked at Orion and EBE. Orion was examining EBE’s damaged arm, holding it with both his hands and the long slender fingers. Orion sensed them and looked around.
“He’ll be getting a new one.”
“You can do that?!” the professor exclaimed.
Orion and EBE both nodded.
The girls called dinner.
Cha
pter 18
EMPTY PRISON
Stockton and Wilson sat in the airport waiting to board. Stockton stepped over to a public phone station, pick it up, and dialed, gave his calling code numbers, then waited for an answer. Elliot Scanlon, regional director for the CIA answered.
Stockton spoke guardedly, “Our Missing Midget is in Houston.”
“What!?” Scanlon exclaimed. “How do you know?”
“Azell picked up another transmission. It came from thirty miles southwest of Houston.”
