A Drop in the Ocean

by James Cooke

  After catching only a few snippets, but enough, of their conversation, Brian went back into the ladies just as Eghert walked passed it into the men’s bathroom. Brian prayed that the woman, seemingly called Foss, didn’t want to use the ladies restroom as well; being caught now with a strangely dressed young women would almost certainly be game over. Brian held Lucy’s right arm and raised his left forefinger to his lips, hoping that Lucy would understand the need to be quiet for a moment. Listening out, he heard a group of car’s drive away and assumed it was Egherts entourage.

  ‘Okay Lucy, I think it's safe to go back inside now,’

  ‘Very well, Brian, but what is condom?’

  Frowning, Brian cocked his head.

  ‘What was that, did you just say condom?’

  ‘Yes, the machine over there on the wall appears to dispense them. What are they for?’

  ‘Ah, yes. Tell you what Lucy, I promise I will explain what they are to you later, but right now we’ve got bigger problems.’

  ‘What problem’s, please explain.’

  ‘Well, it seems we’ve been rumbled, someone is after us. They, whoever they are, must have found the truck. Fuck, that means they’ll probably have my ID as well. C’mon, we’ve got to get moving.’

  Taking Lucy by the hand, Brian headed back inside the gas station. The pump attendant was grinning from ear to ear as if Hitler had just been resurrected.

  ‘Well fuck me, if it ain’t the two fugitives. So what the hell’s going on, was that the poh leece?’

  ‘Fugitives, what the hell are you talking about?’ Brian demanded.

  ‘It seems like you two are wanted by the FBI by the sound of it, but don’t worry, I didn’t say a thing. I’ll just close up the shop, and then I’ll save your sorry asses by bringing my car around to the front. You can wait here if you like,’ the attendant said, making his way out through the back.

  Shit, if we run now this creep will surely report us in. We’ll just have to trust him for now, though Brian.

  A few minutes later, a beat-up seventies F100 pick-up truck pulled up front. The attendant jumped out. ‘C’mon you two, what are you waiting for? Get in!’

  The three of them sat abreast, up front. Brian purposely sat in the middle so that he could talk with the attendant and make sure he kept his eyes on the road and not Lucy, although being right next to him made him feel uneasy.

  ‘Hey, don’t worry, I won’t get too close to those spooks ahead of us, or whoever the hell they area; after all, you can trust old Billy-Ray,’ the attendant announced menacingly.

  ‘That’s appreciated fella, we’ll see that you’re paid once we get to Yellowknife.’ Brian replied.

  ‘Okay, now we’re talking. You’ve just become valuable. Best get your head down if you can, it’s going to be a long drive. Should arrive in time for breakfast.’

  Not knowing just how tired he was, Brian didn’t take long to fall asleep. He awoke about six hours later, with a very stiff neck. Stretching and yawning, he squinted his eyes at the bright blue sky and saw that the overhead road signs indicated that Yellowknife lay straight ahead. Lucy, who hadn’t been asleep, stirred too.

  ‘Well there, wakey-wakey, rise and shine. What with all the shenanigans last night, I forget to ask you what your names are. I think I did introduce myself; but just in case, it’s Billy-Ray. So, do you folks fancy some breakfast?’ Billy-Ray cheerfully asked as he pulled up outside a “Daisies” diner. Not entirely surprising, the three of them attracted a collection of curious glances as they walked through the diner. They all took a seat. Brian subconsciously tried to appear as normal as possible, but he knew it would be challenging with the present company. The waitress who had seen us come in and sit down approached their table.

  ‘Morning folks, can I get you some menu's?’ she asked.

  ‘Thanks, but I’ll just have coffee and some toast,’ Brian replied to the waitress.

  ‘Anything for you Miss?’ she asked Lucy.

  ‘No thank you, she’ll be fine,’ Brian replied.

  ‘And for you, sir, what’ll it be?’ the waitress asked Billy-Ray.

  Billy-Ray snorted, ‘Well let me see now, I’ll just have coffee and the house special,’ he replied.

  Billy-Ray squinted, no doubt wondering if Lucy could actually talk.

  ‘So, what do I call you guy’s anyway?’ Billy-ray asked.

  ‘Well, I’m Brian, and this is my girlfriend, Lucy. She’s from eastern Europe, and her English isn’t so good, that’s why she doesn’t talk much. Look, we appreciate your help, but we’ll be on our way shortly,’ Brian replied, trying to sound gracious.

  Billy-Ray was grinning unpleasantly like a deranged psychopath.

  ‘Well Brian and Lucy, this is your lucky day. You see I ain’t as dumb as you might think. I just know that you two have something to do with that UFO that crashed up near Lupin. Yeah, I’ve heard the news and for some reason, the FED’s or whoever those bozos are, they’re after you, ain’t they?’

  Brian stared at Billy-Ray, wishing that he would disappear down a large hole in the ground.

  Before he could reply, Billy-Ray set off again.

  ‘Thought so. Hey, I’m with you guys. I hate the cops and all just as much as you do, that’s why I lied for you back at the garage. I wouldn’t want you to get caught or nothing. Listen, I’ve got a friend who lives on the other side of town, her name’s Sarah, and she’s into UFO’s and shit like that, big time. I know she’d love to meet you guys. She’s pretty loaded too, her old man is some Wall Street city slicker, runs his own company and all. But she prefers life out here, away from the big smoke.’ Billy-Ray eloquently explained.

  Brian had to think fast and quickly weighed up the options in his mind and decided it might be best to go along with Billy-Ray’s proposal; it would be disastrous to get caught even before they had really got going.

  ‘Okay Billy-Ray, that’s an interesting offer, and yes, I think we’d like to meet this friend of yours.’ Brian replied.

  Chapter 12

  Sarah Hoosier, aged thirty-three, was a professional conspiracy theorist having already had one book published and was busy writing her second on the murky world of clandestine government organisations involved with UFO cover-ups. She was financially very comfortable, just as Billy-Ray had said. Her father had seen to that after her mother had passed away a few years ago. She’d been granted a multi-million-dollar inheritance and lived in a grand five-bedroom detached house on the edge of Great Slave Lake, enjoying the solitude it afforded her to work on her passion. She’d met Billy-Ray online last year, both shared the same interest in UFO’s, and together they had met up at a few conspiracy conventions. It hadn’t gone anywhere beyond a platonic relationship, Sarah found Billy-Ray to be crass, and unrefined, besides she was a lesbian, something that Billy-Ray hadn’t twigged if his pitiful attempts to flirt with Sarah was anything to go by. She often wondered why the hell she spent time with Billy-Ray when they were so different, but somehow, she felt safe whenever they were out together; especially at the conventions and the streets at night. He was her unwitting bodyguard, and for the time being, she was happy to let things continue as they were.

  Billy-Ray pulled up outside Sarah’s house, got out of the truck and together with Brian and Lucy, stood on the porch. A few seconds later, Sarah answered the door.

  ‘Billy-Ray, what the heck are you doing here?’ she said, trying not to appear disappointed.

  ‘Morning Sarah, nice to see you too. Got some friends here I just know you’ll want to talk with. This here is Brian and Miss Lucy.’

  Sarah frowned, open-mouthed, her long blond hair quivered in the breeze.

  ‘Thing is Billy-Ray, I’m actually rather busy today, I don’t really have time for this, you should have called first, yeah?’

  Sarah tried to figure out what Lucy was wearing.

  Billy-Ray glanced side to side and then brought both hands up, open fingered.

  ‘Sarah, just hear me out for
a second. I think you’ll wanna hear this. Can we come in at least and explain?’

  Sarah was listening, but her attention was on Lucy.

  She didn’t take long to make her mind up, ‘Okay, sure. C'mon in. The place is a mess though. Please, take a seat.’

  Billy-Ray smiled, pleased with himself.

  ‘Yer see, I said she was alright, didn’t I? Sarah, we appreciate this and all.’

  ‘Thanks, Ray, would you mind -?’

  ‘Sorry Sarah, okay, I’ll get straight to the point; did you see that report on TV the other night? No? Well, guess what, it weren’t no meteorite or nothing. Brian and Lucy here have something to do with a genuine crashed UFO up near some mine called Lupin.’

  Sarah stared at Billy-Ray, then at Lucy, then Brian, before returning to her unfortunate friend.

  ‘Billy-Ray are you okay? And just how would you know this?’

  Billy-Ray turned to Brian, ‘Brian, why don’t you explain to Sarah what’s going on and who your cute little European girlfriend is, remember what we talked about yesterday?’, winking surreptitiously.

  For a brief moment, Brian considered just walking out and away, with Lucy of course, but he figured that they wouldn’t get very far especially if Billy-Ray reported them as he hinted he would do; it would only be a matter of time before they, whoever they were, caught up with them. Again, for the second time in as many days, Brian found himself having to trust a total stranger, for better or worst.

  ‘Okay, but I want to talk with Sarah in private if you don’t mind.’ Brian replied, not taking his eyes off Billy-Ray.

  Billy-Ray hadn’t expected that, but grinned and said, ‘Sure go ahead, I’ll just keep Lucy here company.’

  Brian followed Sarah into another room and closed the door behind him.

  ‘Well, first of all, I just want to say thank you for inviting all of us into your home, we really don’t want to bother you, but Billy -Ray insisted we meet you because you're into UFO’s and stuff.’ Brian explained graciously.

  ‘You could say that. It’s something I’m very passionate about, I’ve written a couple of books on the subject. So, Brain, what is it exactly is it that you think you saw?’

  ‘Okay, this is gonna sound really weird?’

  ‘That’s okay, just take your time.’

  ‘Well, my name’s Hopper, Brian Hopper and I drive trucks for a living, haulage and stuff. So, a few days ago, I was making a delivery up to the Lupin mine, that’s way up in the Nunavut territory when out of nowhere I had to swerve to avoid hitting someone standing in the middle of the road. That someone turned out to be Lucy. Anyway, long story short, I crashed the truck and later on; I might have been unconscious for a while, I decided to walk south, hoping to catch a lift.’

  ‘Okay but what about the UFO?’

  ‘I’m getting to that. You see just after setting off, that’s when I saw movement between the fir trees; when I got closer, I saw Lucy just standing, gazing directly at me. I’m not ashamed to tell you, I was scared and considered running, but I knew that would have been futile.’

  Sarah was intrigued now and paid closer attention.

  ‘So, what happened then?’

  ‘I decided to go over to Lucy, and we ended up having a conversation in which she basically said she had come out of a crashed UFO. Naturally, I was highly sceptical; it crossed my mind that she might be, you know, a lunatic or something. But after agreeing to let her show me, all that changed.’

  ‘Why, what did she show you?’

  ‘Well, if you’ll excuse my French; a big fucking UFO complete with dead aliens inside it.’

  ‘Dead aliens?’ Sarah’s eyes opened wider.

  ‘Yeah, it seemed like they were the crew, looked as if they might have died on impact, I guess. And they stank like hell as well. Anyway, there’s more, a lot more.’

  ‘More! More than a real UFO with dead aliens inside? Wow, I’ve gotta hear this. Please, carry on. Where does Lucy fit into all of this?’

  ‘Okay, well it seems like Lucy, that’s the name I gave her by the way, emerged from the UFO shortly after it crashed. She’s not human by the way, outwardly yes, but she’s some kind of artificial person or something. So she tells me anyway. But the point is this, she’s here to save us, save the whole frikkin planet, all life. And do you know what, for some reason, I believe her, and that’s why I’m helping her. Lucy can tell you more about that.’

  Sarah sighed and shook her head.

  ‘Hell, that’s something else. Why don’t you tell me what she told you, first?’

  ‘Okay, she said that the rulers have been to earth many times and that after their last visit, they left a weapon or something behind on this remote Island. Her mission is to carry out the wishes of a group of aliens, called, let me see if I can remember; yeah, the Quassacs. These guys want to do the opposite and prevent the destruction of all life on earth by finding and neutralising this device before it’s too late.’

  Sarah was hooked, Brian didn’t come across as some kind of weirdo; just a regular guy who just so happened to have chanced across some beautiful girl emerging from a crashed UFO. She felt safe with him.

  ‘Brian, would you mind coming through to my office please?’

  The walls of Sarah’s office were covered in pictures of UFO’s of all shapes and sizes, although none were anything like the one Brian had seen. There were also pictures of stereotypical grey aliens, the kind any google search would throw up. She had a large variety of books and papers on her desk, above which three large monitors displayed multiple program’s running.

  ‘Did it resemble anything like this?’ Sarah asked pointing to a photograph on the central monitor, of a UFO, caught on camera by a French satellite.

  Brian squinted and cocked his head.

  ‘Yeah, well I guess it is more or less. It’s of the same sort of multi-spherical shape, and it’s got the same markings on the outside as the one Lucy came out of. Where the fuck did you get that from?’

  Sarah smiled.

  ‘Let’s just say I have my sources. Brian, the other thing is, this Island you mentioned.’

  ‘Yeah, she gave me the coordinates. When she entered them on the screen, it pinpointed a small island in the middle of the ocean, Indian, I think. She said it’s called Marion Island, South African apparently. Why do you ask?’

  ‘Because it’s in the same area of the ocean that some unexplained events occurred many years ago, too much to be a coincidence I feel.’

  ‘Really? Like what?’

  ‘Well for starters, there was the so-called Vela incident back in seventy-nine, and if I’m not mistaken, I believe a ship disappeared around about the same time; all a bit too coincidental if you ask me.’

  ‘Wow, how do you know all this stuff?’

  ‘It’s all out there, Brian, plastered all over the net. It’s only when you start to dig deeper that you come up against a brick wall’s and that makes me suspicious.’

  ‘Well you seem to know a lot more about this stuff than I do, what do you reckon we should do?’

  Sarah twiddled her long hair into a knot like it was her rosary beads, deep in thought, gazing at Brian intently before answering him.

  ‘You really want to know? Well, there is a theory that these visitors may have been here before long ago, for reasons nobody knows; and now it seems they might have returned, only this time not quite according to plan. Let me talk to your friend Lucy, I’d like to ask her some more questions; and if it’s what I think it might be, then hell yes.’

  Brian frowned, ‘Sorry, “hell yes” what?’

  ‘Yes, I think we should at least try and help her.’ Sarah replied.

  Brian smiled and nodded, ‘Thank you, Sarah, I feel better now that I’ve told someone about this, someone like you who can help us.’

  ‘That’s okay, Brian, this is what I do, it’s my job effectively. Now let’s go and see your new friend, shall we?’

  ‘Well, I wouldn’t really call her a friend
as such. I only just met her yesterday after all.’

  ‘Don’t worry about that. Just know that I’m on your side. Yes, Billy-Rays a complete asshole, but I wouldn’t want to piss him off unnecessarily. Just between you and me, I regret ever meeting him; but he’s harmless most of the time. The thing is Brian I’ve got money, plenty of it, that’s no secret, so you needn’t worry about what this little trip might end up costing, and I can assure you, it won’t be cheap. What do you say, shall we go for it, together that is, the three of us to this Island of yours?’

  Brian bored into Sarah’s eyes, he saw some similarities with Joanne, very passionate yet sincere. He had a good feeling about her, and her knowledge of the subject appeared unquestionable.

  ‘Okay, if you think it’s possible. But what about Billy-Ray, do we have to take that idiot as well?’ Brian replied.

  ‘Good god no, not in a million years. It shouldn’t be difficult to persuade him to stay. C’mon let’s go and see what they’re up to.’

  Back in the living room, Billy-Ray appeared to be trying to engage Lucy in conversation and failing miserably it seemed.

  ‘So Miss Lucy, where you from, some sort of Star Trek convention maybe?’ Billy-Ray asked.

  ‘Star Trek, I have seen something of this. Where is the enterprise now?’ Lucy replied calmly.

  ‘Jesus Christ Billy-Ray leave the poor girl alone. Listen, I’ve got something to ask you,’ Sarah said.

  Billy-Ray bounced on his feet nervously.

  ‘Sure, me and Miss Lucy were just getting acquainted. What’s on yer mind, Sarah?’

  ‘Well I was just wondering if, for argument's sake, I was to give you some money, a load of cash; do you think you could stay at home and keep an eye on things? And by home, I mean your place, not mine, of course.’

  Billy-Ray stared blankly, trying to comprehend what Sarah had just proposed.

  ‘Let me get this right, you want me to stay at home and get paid, and keep an eye on what exactly?’

  ‘Yes, in a nutshell. Just to keep an eye on things in town, while I accompany Brian and Lucy on a little trip?’ Sarah asked nicely, fluttering her eyelids.