serious about bringing some of his ‘art’ with him. Hoping to avoid living with these stuffed animals
that seemed to stare at her from every angle she tactfully pointed out that this was a wonderful collection and as such should remain intact as it was an integral part of the charm of the cabin. Kris stopped his packing and looked around the single cabin room. He sadly realized two things, that this stuff belonged in a cabin not in a yurt on Altis-5 and secondly, she was being tactful in saying she didn’t care for his style of decorating. He knew this was very much a woodsman’s home. A part of his old life where he could escape and be alone. A life he no longer wanted since he’d met Anne. Still there were things here that he would miss. Kris turned to her and said, “You’re right; this lot needs to stay together.” Anne saw he was sad to leave it all behind so she walked over to the mantelpiece and lifted
off a double-barreled shotgun.
“This is beautiful could we take this with us?” “I’m glad you like it. It was my Grandfather’s. It’s a
Purdy side-by-side 1890.”
Then he showed Anne an old box, inside were a
matched pair of sixteenth century English dueling pistols
in what seemed to be mint condition. "I would like to
take these as well.”
He collected up some lead bullet molds and various
other black powder loading materials. He stuffed an
olive drab kit bag full of clothes and then reached under
his bunk and dragged out a long olive drab steel crate
he called a mount out box. A gift from a Navy Corpsman
from Seal Team Two whom he served with in Desert
Storm. Even though it had a white caduceus and the
letters USN stamped on the top, Ray was sure there
were no medical supplies inside. It took the combined
strength of Ray and Kris to carry it to the Jaguar. From
the small steel roofed shed outside he removed a large
wooden packing case. The outside of the case was
marked twelve-gauge shells, ten-count, 100 boxes. With one last silent look at his home Kris joined the others in
the Jaguar.
Minutes later they had flown back over the river
and were being enthusiastically welcomed by Ray’s
Uncle James outside the SETI building. Ray had trouble
remembering the old Ames building that had stood on
that spot empty for many years. When SETI was
federalized by the President, James brought it to Maine
and refurbished the old building. The empty adjacent lot
had been turned into a row of smart townhouses built to
accommodate the SETI staff. By now, it was getting
toward supper time so they piled into James’s old station
wagon and headed off to the new restaurant at the old
mill. The Otis paper mill had been sold and resold until it
finally closed. It was left abandoned for a few years until
a couple of local entrepreneurs had decided to take a
chance, purchased it, and opened a Café on the
premises. As they entered, the few early local customers
recognized them immediately, but after a few
handshakes, they were politely ignored to have their
meal in peace.
One man however, got up leaving his meal
unfinished, and quickly left the restaurant. No one paid
any attention to him except Kris. He’d seen the
expression on the man’s face as he recognized Ray. Kris
got up to follow behind him but when he got outside the
man was nowhere to be seen. Kris walked warily
through the parking lot; his automatic in his hand under
his jacket. He looked inside and between the parked
cars. When he reached the end of the row he ducked
down and sighted underneath the entire length of the
cars. Nothing! The man had disappeared. Kris walked
along the line of trees at the edge of the lot. There! In
the long grass that divided the woods from the parking
lot were two footprints leading into the woods. He cautiously followed the tracks. It soon became obvious that the man was walking quickly. He reached exposed rock and the tracks disappeared. Kris smiled and bent over the rock where the track disappeared. He saw the slight scuff mark were a shoe had scraped on the hard rock surface. There was another, he had regained the trail and he took off once more following the man. He lost him when the woods ended at the edge of the road. He stepped out of the woods and looked around but there was no sign of him. The street was deserted except for an old man with a long white beard and a cowboy hat sitting outside his home in a rocking chair waving at the cars as they drove past. The old man spotted Kris and waved at him. Kris returned the wave and headed back to the restaurant. He followed the road as it was quicker. Back inside the others were busy ordering their food. Kris walked over to the bar. He caught Ray’s attention and indicated for him to come
over to him. Ray stood and walked casually over. “I have just been following a suspicious character.
He left as soon as we entered. I think he means to do us
harm.” He reached behind his back and pulled a second
automatic from his belt. “Take this and be ready.” Ray
nodded. Nothing more needed to be said as he trusted
Kris’ instincts without reservation. If he thought there
was danger then there was danger. While they ate Ray
watched Kris, he was on high alert and barely touched
his meal. He was like a Shark smelling blood in the
water. Not for the first time Ray was glad he was on
their side. James told them of the call from NASA
inviting a team from SETI to set up on Altis-5. “Naturally I will be heading up the Team,” he said
puffing his chest out slightly. “Can you imagine? Me!
Going to another planet?”
“That’s wonderful news, Uncle James,” said Ray. “What is happening around here? I noticed many
unfamiliar faces on the drive over here.”
James smiled. “There’ve been many changes in the
short time you all have been away. You’ve become
celebrities. Your house and blacksmith shop are fast
becoming a major tourist attraction. Everyone wants to
see the ‘Alien’s House’.”
James raised both hands and gestured quotes with
his fingers.
“Tour bus companies out of Portland and Bangor
have added the extra hour and a half drive to Jayton Mill
to their schedules to fill the demand. The fact that the
blacksmith shop is located at the site of the old Jayton
Mill Tavern only adds to the interest. For a while things
were chaotic with tour buses arriving simultaneously
trying to find parking spaces. It was hell until the
Chamber of Commerce organized a tour route. It starts
with your house and smithy, then the SETI building,
where we provide a short, guided tour of the facility. The
route includes the Paper and Heritage Museum and a
stop for a meal here at the Mill Café. Apart from the bus
tours, individual tourists have been constantly arriving
filling what few rooms there are at the local motels.
Many folks in town have started very profitable Bed &
Breakfast's (B&B)’s in their homes. There is talk of
converting a part of the old mill into a hotel. There are
even plans to enlarge your driveway to accommodate
two tour buses at the same time,” concluded James. “By
the way, your mother is doing well. At five bucks a
head
for a tour of the house and blacksmith shop she is
making a killing.”
“Well at least we do not have to worry about what
to do with the house while we are gone,” Marcie said
sarcastically. The Café manager came over to their table
with their bill.
“I just want to thank you all for what you have
done,” she said tearing up the bill. “Your money is no
good here. Thanks to you, many of us have a good
paying job and this town has a future.”
“Thank you,” said Ray. “But that is not necessary.” “Oh yes, it is,” said the manager.
As they rose to leave, the owners of the Café
showed up and asked for a group photo. A tour bus
arrived and the Café began to fill.
James turned to Ray. “We’d best be getting back,
we have a lot to do and very little time to do it. My team
is scheduled to be aboard the Zeus in two days to bone
up on the new communications gear before we board
the Orion.”
At Marcie and Ray’s house, there was a tearful
reunion between mother and daughter. Kris introduced
Anne then left with Charlie to join Ray in the smithy. As
Police Chief, Charlie Cole thought he seen everything but
his eyes opened in amazement when Ray slid behind the
cold forge and into a secret closet. He reappeared with
an old box secured with an ancient looking padlock, with
a bit of showmanship he removed the locket from his
neck and removed what looked like a small watch
battery. He pressed it and a laser beam flashed out
unlocking the padlock. He opened the box to show
Charlie a shimmering cube inside.
“This is what I used to secretly send and receive
messages. I will need to take it with me. I need to
communicate with my superiors. I suspect they know
what is going on but just in case.”
They gathered up some essential tools and packed
them in a long leather bag. Ray looked lovingly at his
old anvil he wished he had thought to bring an antigrav
loader with them it would take the strength of all three
men to move it. Kris spotted some iron bars in the smithy. He laid them on the ground and they rolled the anvil out into the yard by removing them from the back and placing them in front of the anvil it was slow but effective. They would have to bring the Jaguar here to load it there was no way James old station wagon would carry that load. They had just finished loading the lighter bags and other items and were sitting inside the car getting ready to leave when a tour bus showed up. It pulled into the long driveway and parked close to the
house.
As the tourists piled out of the bus Marcie’s mother
excused herself and greeted the group. “Welcome to the
home of Ray and Marcie Wright. My name is Claire and I
will be your guide. I can only take five at a time so the
rest of you please browse through our gift shop while
you are waiting. There is free coffee and whoopee pies
in the back.” At that moment, Charlie Cole opened the
garage door revealing a store full of Maine made gifts
and souvenirs. The garage was being expanded at the
back and already there was a potbelly stove, some
benches and a couple of trestle tables. For the ‘guests’
to avail themselves of the free coffee and have a seat
while they were waiting, they had to pass through the
gift shop. Once Charlie had the waiting guests settled in
he took a cup of coffee over to the bus driver who paid
him the visit fee he had collected in advance minus, of
course, his cut. From inside the car Ray could hear one
of the male tourists complaining.
“We came all the way from Omaha to look at this
little house. How do we know it really is their house?
Looks like any other house to me.”
Looking at all the tourists Ray suddenly had an
idea. James looked at him disapprovingly when he asked
James to drive them back to the SETI building right
away.
“I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye,” Marcie
complained.
“You will,” said Ray and told her of his plan. Twenty minutes later Claire and Charlie were
giving the tourists a farewell when Claire noticed the
Jaguar descending from the sky.
“Everyone please stand back over here,” said Claire
trying to sound like this was an everyday occurrence. “It
looks like Ray and Marcie are arriving for a visit.” The Jaguar landed beside the bus on the front
lawn. The only sound was that of fifty digital cameras
and cell phones chirping away as they recorded the
event. Ray and Marcie stepped out and the crowd
applauded as they walked over to Claire. Marcie gave
her mother a long emotional hug knowing it would be a
while before they saw each other again if ever. Claire
suddenly stepped back and looked hard at her daughter
then embraced her again.
“I want pictures of my grandchild,” she whispered. “How did you know? I just found out last night,”
Marcie asked incredulously.
“Because I am your mother. We mothers know
such things. Have you told Ray yet?”
“No. I wanted to wait until we were on our way. If
I tell him now he may be afraid the journey will be too
much for me. He can be very protective. Besides I want
my child to be the first born on Altis-5.”
Marcie looked over at Ray. He was shaking Charlie
Coles hand and smiling for the crowd. Kris and Anne
stepped out of the Jaguar and the applause started all
over again.
“I really don’t enjoy all this notoriety neither does
Ray,” said Marcie. “If we stay we will never get away
from it. Will you and Charlie move in here and look after
the house for us.” She handed her mother an envelope. “In here is a power of attorney that gives you the rights to the house and to handle our affairs while we are
gone.”
“Of course, we will. I wish I could be there with
you,” said Claire, “but I know you will be in good
hands.” She turned to look at Ray who was addressing
the crowd.
“Thank you all for coming to our house and our
town. We have a few minutes before we must get back
to the Orion. Are there any questions?
“Yes,” said a young lady, “can I have a picture
taken with all of you?”
“Of course,” said Ray. The four of them stayed
until the pictures were taken and the bus driver herded
his flock back on the bus. They did not know that the
young lady was a freelance reporter and by the next
day, her story would be carried by five major
newspapers. As they were leaving, Ray heard the man
from Omaha say. “I told you this was worth coming to.” The tour bus drove out of the driveway and Claire
took Charlie’s hand and they said their goodbyes again
and walked into the house. Ray noticed a movement in
the tree line and it took a split second for him to
recognize a weapon coming up to take aim.
“GET DOWN!” he yelled. As they dove for the
ground two rounds hit the side of the Ch
arlie’s car
behind them. Kris had automatically ducked as he pulled
out his automatic. He looked up and saw Anne frozen in
place so he stood and stepped in front of her placing
himself between the gunman and her. He raised his
weapon just as a round hit him just above the left hip.
Searing pain ripped through his side. He forced the pain
out of his mind and took careful aim and fired three
times. A man fell out of the brush and lay still on the
ground. Kris did not move; he was searching for other targets. Ray and Marcie had moved to the other side of the car and now Ray was up pointing his weapon into the shrubs searching for more targets but after a minute when nothing moved, they determined the man was alone. Charlie came out from the side of the house his police issue out in front. He had heard the shots and had come to assist. Anne was terrified, she was shaking with fear until she saw the blood oozing from Kris. All thoughts of her own fear vanished as Kris passed out and crashed to the ground. Charlie was already on his communicator calling in an ambulance. The nearest was fifteen minutes away. Marcie saw what happened and went over to examine him. She called to her mother to bring out some scissors, water, and clean towels. She
looked up at Ray.
“Give me your shirt.”
Ray almost ripped it off and handed it to her. She
rolled it into a tight ball and pressed it down on to the
wound. Claire came out with the scissors and towels.
Marcie cut away Kris’ clothing to expose the wound.
Dabbing at the hole she examined the entrance hole
then rolled him over on his good side and found an exit
hole.
“This is good. The bullet went clean through. The
bleeding is minimal. The bullet seems to have gone
through just above the hip bone and under the
intestines. He was lucky. I don’t want to wait for an
ambulance. Let’s get him aboard the Jaguar and up to
the Orion. He will have a better chance of a complete
recovery in the ship’s ER.”
They lifted him carefully which considering his size
was no easy feat. They sat him in the front seat with
towels wrapped tightly around his abdomen secured
with duct tape. Anne got in behind followed by Marcie.
She looked at Anne. “He will be fine don’t worry.” “He placed himself in front of me. He shielded me,”
she blubbered as the tears flowed freely down her
cheeks. “What a brave man.”
Altis-5: Book #2 of the Sleeper Series Page 7
