*
The test area for the experiment was located three-hundred yards east of the farthest structure. It was a one-hundred-square-foot cement pad, with a two-foot high cement wall around its perimeter. An underground bunker with three, thick glass viewports was located three-hundred-feet away. The four high-pressure sodium vapor lights on poles at the corners of the test area illuminated the fifty-five gallon drum of crude oil in the center of the pad.
Marcia and David were busy with the other scientists in the bunker, and Alex, Christa, Bull, and Henry stood outside and watched the four scientists position a robotic arm over the drum. Overhead, the stars glimmered like jewels in an ink black sky.
Christa pointed up at the sky. “Look how bright the moon looks tonight,” she said.
Alex looked up and had an immediate sense of De’ja’vu. He saw Colonel Sterns standing with two security guards. “Excuse me for a moment,” he said to Christa and walked over to them.
Christa watched him walk and talk to the three men for a few seconds, and then Alex pointed up at the moon. A moment later, one of the security guards climbed into a jeep, kicking up a cloud of dust as he sped away.
Alex jogged back to her. “I have to go,” he said, then looked at Henry. “That isn’t a moon. It’s a spacecraft, just like the one you have. We’re going to follow it in the helicopter.”
“Are you sure?” Henry asked skeptically. “How do you know?”
“I didn’t the first few times I saw it, but, at the time, I never imagined there was a spaceship here, on our planet. What we’re seeing up there,” he said and pointed up, “is a reflection from either the moon or the sun off the surface of another spacecraft.”
“How can you follow it if returns to outer space?” Christa asked.
“I’m betting it won’t.”
“What is your reasoning?” Henry asked.
“Just a hunch,” Alex shrugged.
Henry raised an eyebrow skeptically. “You would waste irreplaceable jet fuel on a hunch?” He shook his head slightly. “No, Colonel Sterns would never approve it.”
Alex smiled. “He just did,” he informed him, then jogged back to Sterns. They climbed into the remaining jeep and drove off.
Henry continued with the experiment, and everyone took shelter in the bunker to watch what would happen. A robotic arm dumped a small portion of rainbow powder into a fifty-five-gallon drum of crude oil. Everyone held their breath, but nothing happened. Several moments passed before Henry realized the experiment was a failure. He dare not send anyone out to investigate what went wrong. For now, all they could do was wait and see what would happen.
Suddenly, a brilliant beam of purple light shot up from the barrel and destroyed the extended robotic arm. It only lasted mere seconds before the light stopped, and then a few rainbow crystals spilled over the side of the fifty-five-gallon drum, onto the ground. Inside the room, everyone applauded as they congratulated one another for their success. Now Henry could send two men out in silver fire retardant suits to inspect the situation and determine if it was safe to approach.
* * *
Chapter 37
8:45 PM. AREA 51:
While he waited for the helicopter to warm up, Alex called Martin Donner and explained what he suspected about the spacecraft, and what they were attempting. He also asked if one of the spy satellites could be tasked to look down at that area of the United States. It would need to be ready to photograph several hundred square miles of an area he would designate when he knew the approximate destination of the alien ship.
“You’re talking about thousands of dollars to divert a satellite,” Donner told him.
“We have to find out where this spaceship is hiding, Martin. If we can learn more about these crystals, we could have an entirely new power source.”
“I agree the crystals have a lot of potential, but I just don’t know if the satellite can be re-tasked in time.”
“At least try, damn it!”
“All right. I’ll see what I can do, but I’m not making any promises.”
“Thanks. I’ll try to follow it from here and get an approximate location. I’ll call you when I’m through.”
Alex hung up and saw Sterns standing in the doorway, staring at him. “No promises, Colonel” he told him.
Sterns nodded. “Let’s go.”
*
Menno smiled as he watched Elizabeth walk around the inside perimeter of the control room on the spaceship. She was staring at the view in rapt fascination as she moved out of sight, behind his chair. He checked their progress as they approached eleven-thousand-feet.
“Menno, come look at the rainbow down there,” Elizabeth said.
Menno and Lewis exchanged puzzled expressions, and Menno stood and walked around to look, with Lewis close behind him. “No!” Menno moaned as he recognized the process of changing the crude oil to crystals.
“It appears the scientists at Area 51 will have the crystals they need to power the other space ship,” Lewis told him in his usual, non-emotional tone of voice.
Menno’s mind raced with thoughts of the possible repercussions. Even though it was too damaged to fly again, the other space ship was capable of tracking its counterpart, even underground. It was also capable of retrieving the remaining crystals from the ocean and underground. Once the scientists discovered the full potential of the crystals, the United States would be able to dominate the planet. I still have time, he thought. It will still take a long time for the scientists to learn of all the possibilities.
“It doesn’t appear they’ve detected us yet,” Menno told Lewis and Elizabeth as he turned and hurried back to the controls. “We need to get back underground.”
*
The helicopter was parked on the top of one of the high hills, with its rotor still and the engines running at idle, about two-hundred miles east of Area 51. Alex stood outside, staring through binoculars focused on the false crescent moon in the distance. Sterns sat on the ground just outside the side door, staring at the flashing blue dot representing their location on the portable GPS navigation system.
“It’s coming down!” Alex hollered at Sterns and the co-pilot. “It’s coming down fast. Be ready!”
Sterns looked through an electronic range finder and pressed the execute button just before the craft dropped rapidly for several seconds, then disappeared when it fell below the reflection from the real moon or sun.
Alex lowered his binoculars, now useless without a target to focus on. “I’ve lost it!” he groaned in frustration, then looked at Sterns, who was still looking through the rangefinder.
Sterns suddenly scribbled something on a pad in his lap, then looked up at Alex and smiled. “If it came straight down, I’ve got an approximate range and a direction.” Did anything show up on your radar?” he asked the co-pilot.
“Negative, sir.”
“Okay. Punch in two-six-four degrees. Range, one-eight-seven miles.”
The co-pilot typed on his keypad, and a red dot appeared on his view screen map. “Got it, sir.”
That was close enough, Alex thought, and climbed inside with Sterns. “Let’s go.”
The jet engines whined to a high pitch, the rotors began to spin and, a few moments later, the helicopter leapt from the ground. Fifteen minutes later, they were hovering over the area indicated on the map. Using night-vision glasses, Alex and Sterns stared down at the desert below through the open doors on the left and right sides of the helicopter.
“Anything on your side?” Sterns hollered to be heard over the noise of the helicopter engines.
“No.” Alex yelled back.
Alex and Sterns continued scanning the desert for another half hour, covering a one-hundred mile radius from the original plot before the pilot informed them they were getting low on fuel.
“All right”, Sterns yelled over his shoulder as he closed the door on his side. “Let’s go back and refuel. We’ll come back and search again in the daylight.”
> Alex reluctantly closed his door and looked at Sterns. “This is not a reflection on your capabilities, Colonel, but that spacecraft could have come down several hundred miles away.”
Sterns nodded agreement. “I know, but it’s out here somewhere. It couldn’t have just disappeared.”
Alex turned and stared out the window. I wouldn’t bet on it, he thought.
*
MENNO’S FACILITY:
“It appears we’ve been discovered,” said Lewis, who was standing beside Menno.
Menno nodded affirmation. “I think it’s time to shut them down. Now that they have some of the crystals, they’ll discover their potential power. They’ll want to capture this facility intact, hoping to learn more.” Menno released a deep sigh. “I showed the world what it would be like to go back to the old ways, where living was simple and the air was clean. Now, this small group of people wants to modernize everything again. They’ll be a constant annoyance to us until they succeed. We must stop them.”
* * *
Chapter 38
2:00 AM. HANGAR 18:
Christa felt useless as she watched two scientists performing experiments in the control room of the spaceship. The man who was introduced to her as Doctor Polanski was about thirty-seven, with red hair and a matching beard. The woman, Doctor Fielder, was about fifty, with completely gray hair and sad looking eyes. The cover had been removed from one of the cabinets, and the two scientists were kneeling in front of it, studying a maze of fiber optic cables glowing with a pale blue light, while Henry was entering the information into his computer tablet.
With nothing to do but watch, she sat in one of the four chairs in the center of the room. Behind her four new crystals had been placed in the depressions, and on the small control console in front of her fifteen round buttons were softly glowing in different colors. She tried to decipher the tiny characters on the buttons, but they looked like some type of hieroglyphics. She toyed with the idea of pushing some of the buttons to see what they did, but knew she would not. Henry had explained that none of his people knew enough about what the symbols represented to take the chance of pushing them. He had warned that since the ship was damaged, the result could be devastating.
Christa shifted her thoughts to Alex. She still found it difficult to be near him without feeling a strong desire to hold his hand or wishing he would take her in his arms and kiss her passionately. She sighed deeply and tried to convince herself that just because she loved him did not mean he would automatically love her in return.
“Is Christa here?” Alex asked as he stepped into the control room.
Christa thought she had just imagined hearing Alex speak her name, and then suddenly he was standing in front of her. Slightly startled, she sprang out of the chair, accidentally brushing her arm across the control panel.
The floor shook and she stumbled against Alex, instinctively grabbing him for support. They both tumbled to the floor, Alex on his back, Christa lying across his chest.
“Oh crap!” Alex mumbled as the ceiling of the hangar rushed toward them. He wrapped his arms over Christa’s head to protect her.
Brilliant white sparks cascaded across the transparent ceiling of the spaceship as the hangar’s light fixtures were crushed. The ship shook for a moment, and then the hangar roof parted with the sound of screeching metal as the shredded pieces slid along the sides of the craft. The horrible screeching abruptly ceased, and above them was a black velvet panorama filled with sparkling dots.
Bull and Sterns were standing outside the hangar when the quiet of the night was suddenly shattered by the sound of screeching metal, as though someone was running their fingernails down a blackboard. They looked in the direction of the sound and stared in numbed fascination as they watched the alien ship rise above the hangar. They could see the spaceship slowly rotating, exposing the damaged area as it continued to climb into the air and disappeared.
Bull and Sterns exchanged worried looks, and then ran into the hangar. Three men and two women were standing near the door, staring up at the hole in the ceiling. “What the hell happened?” Bull yelled at them.
A woman turned and faced him, shaking her head gravely. “We have no idea. It just suddenly started moving.”
A thought suddenly rushed through his mind and Bull frantically looked around the interior of the hangar. “Where are Alex Cave and Christa Avery?” he demanded of the woman.
She looked up at the hole in the roof and pointed. “They’re in the ship.”
A sickening sense of dread swept through him, and Bull dashed out of the hangar, desperately searching the sky, but the spaceship was nowhere in sight. He sighed deeply as he and Sterns continued to search the heavens for their friends.
*
Menno sat in one of the chairs in his spaceship, Elizabeth and Lewis in chairs on either side of him. The ceiling above him was transparent and he watched as the roof of the underground complex slowly opened. He leaned around and looked at Elizabeth. “Are you sure you want to come with us, Mother?”
Elizabeth smiled. “Oh, yes! This is all so very exciting!”
Menno smiled in return and pressed a button on the console in front of him, and the ship began to rise into the air.
*
Christa rolled off Alex, stood, and looked around. Someone suddenly grabbed her arm and spun her around viciously. She looked up and stared into the savage face of Polanski.
“You did this!” he wailed like a frightened child. “I saw you! I saw you push the buttons!”
Alex leapt to his feet, ready to shove Polanski away, and then saw tears starting to run down his cheeks and realized the man was scared to death. He gently but firmly grabbed Polanski’s arm and tugged him away from Christa. “It was an accident. Just calm down. Everything will be okay.”
Doctor Fielder did not notice the confrontation as she frantically studied the readings on her monitoring equipment and tried to figure out what happened and why they were suddenly moving.
Henry walked up to Christa, looking more excited than angry. “Tell me what happened.”
“I’m sorry. I guess I accidentally bumped this console, and then all of a sudden we were moving.”
“Do you know which buttons you pushed?”
Christa looked down at the console and tried to visualize what happened. “I think it was these first two buttons on the bottom row.”
Henry nodded and sat in the chair in front of the console, studying the symbols. He looked up at her and smiled. “We’ve worked for years, trying to decipher these symbols. From what we’ve learned, that makes sense. We thought these symbols indicated propulsion and direction.” He chuckled and grinned. “But no one had the nerve to try them.”
Alex nodded. “Well, Henry, I think it’s time to push a few more buttons. It appears we are still ascending.”
Henry studied the console and saw a series of alien numbers expanding across a lighted bar at the top of the console. “Yes. I think these indicate our elevation.” He held his hand poised above the console for a moment. “This one, I believe.” He touched one of the buttons and the numbers at the top stopped expanding. He smiled in satisfaction as he felt the pressure in his seat slacken for a second, like being in an elevator and coming to a stop. “Now if everyone will take a seat or hang on to something, I’ll try to bring us back to earth.”
“There may not be time to go back,” Alex said gravely. “I think we have company.” He pointed over Henry’s shoulder at the second ship swiftly rising from below them.
*
“They have learned more than we assumed,” Lewis said to Menno.
Menno stared at the copy of his ship and the damaged area facing their direction. “Perhaps, but I doubt they know the full potential of these ships. They’re no match for us, and that damaged section is very vulnerable.” He lightly tapped the buttons on his console, and felt the speed and direction of his ship change as he steered it towards the other spaceship. “Target the damaged area and
let’s be rid of them,” he told Lewis.
*
“They’re coming this way, Henry!” Alex exclaimed. “I’d suggest you start pressing some buttons.”
“Everyone sit down and hang on!” Henry ordered. “I have no idea how this ship will react.”
Polanski leapt into one of the seats as Alex shoved Christa into another. Fielder locked stares with Alex for the fourth seat, but he nodded for her to take it. There was enough room to stand between each seat, and he moved into the area between Christa and Henry. “We’d better get moving!” he said to Henry.
Henry pressed a button, and above them, the stars began moving in a circle around them, gradually gaining speed as the ship began spinning like a top. Henry felt a moment of panic, and then concentrated on the other symbols, desperately trying to think of what they might mean.
*
Elizabeth stared across the void as the damaged spaceship began to spin, her hands tightening on the armrests of her chair. “What are they doing?”
Menno looked puzzled and shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
“I cannot get a lock on the damaged area. I will fire a random pattern. Perhaps we will get lucky.”
Menno whipped his head around in surprise. “Did you just say ‘Lucky’, Lewis?”
“I think that is our best option.” When Menno nodded assent, Lewis tapped a series of buttons on his console.
*
Alex stared at a narrow streak of brilliant blue light coming from the other spaceship, and everyone was thrown in different directions as the ship was suddenly driven sideways. Through the clear sides and ceiling, Alex saw another spear of blue light shoot towards them from the other ship.
Polanski tried to brace himself, but ironically, when the next blast hit the ship, his hand slid across the console in front of him.
*
“They’re shooting at us!” Elizabeth yelled as she stared at the short streaks of blue light shooting from the spinning ship, like a Pulsar sending bursts of blue light out across the universe until they faded away when their energy was spent.
The Alex Cave Series. Books 1, 2, & 3.: Box set Page 28
