The Passage

by Nancy Lieder

  attesting to his careless attitude toward appearances. He is standing next to

  a tall Zeta whose post thin body and stick arms are almost shocking when seen

  side by side next to the slender Jonah. The Zeta is gesturing toward the

  receding military men, his face turning toward Jonah, silently communicating.

  In response to this telepathic conversation, Jonah replies.

  I know. They stole it from a contactee. But they

  don't have much besides the shape. It's not like our

  domes.

  The Zeta puts his hand on Jonah's shoulder, and glancing up, Jonah replies in

  agreement.

  Yeah, I know, before we're spotted.

  47

  At this both, of them rise in the air a few feet and float off, backwards and

  away from the scene before them, then dissolving into another dimension.

  _______________________________

  Jonah and his Zeta companion walk up through the mist in the direction of the

  camera, out of the trees that are surrounding a natural clearing. Jonah says,

  The injured you brought in have been getting restless

  and want to help with the work, they've been asking

  for a role.

  They are walking toward a large silver dome, toward the entry port at the

  ground level.

  Off to this side there are several thin Zetas, transporting injured people or

  assisting those too weak to walk into the domed city from a dull gray saucer

  shaped craft suspended a couple feet off the ground. Those who can't walk are

  being transported by levitation, their prone bodies floating alongside a

  walking Zeta who is apparently in charge of the levitation and transport.

  Billy is out digging for potatoes in a field behind the tent city. It is

  gloomy as though early dawn, the trees along the creek starkly outlined

  against the gray sky. Their leaves have fallen off, not as they do in fall

  when they color and then drop, but because about half have turned a sickly

  yellow and dropped while the remaining leaves are still green. Billy is

  scrapping and chopping at the soil with a short hoe and digging tool, turning

  the earth, looking for potatoes.

  He has a cloth sack lying on the ground beside him, lumpy with the few

  potatoes he has found. He is dusty and frankly dirty in places, as much from

  his work as from infrequent baths. Billy looks solemn and forlorn, with a

  slight frown on this face. Billy drops to his knees to dig by hand, failing to

  notice that he is no longer alone.

  Suddenly Billy notices a thick gray Zeta foot, developed over eons to deal

  with a heavy gravity draw, and the thin leg above it. The foot appears to be

  booted in a seamless gray material. Billy sees the foot and freezes, but does

  48

  not look concerned. He eases back into a sitting position, putting his legs

  out in front of him a bit, and looks up, squinting.

  The Zeta holds a capped vial of smoky colored glass. The long slender fingers

  in the Zeta hand are wrapped around the vial, held in place by just a hint of

  a thumb, a bump where the thumb should be. Billy starts talking to the Zeta as

  though he has been doing this all his life, as though there were nothing

  unusual about the scene. He blurts out, in a natural and relaxed voice, as

  though talking to a family member he trusts, speaking quickly and with fervor.

  She just won't talk to any of us.

  At this tears well up in his eyes. Billy continues, with a quiver in his

  voice.

  She stares at me like she doesn't see me.

  His breath quickening as though he were about to start crying in earnest,

  tears starting to stream down his face.

  I asked her to come with me, digging, so we could skip

  stones like we used to, and she didn't even say

  nothing. Nothing!

  Billy wipes the tears away with the palm of his hand against one cheek,

  suddenly jerking his head up and looking clear faced at the Zeta, whose face

  we never see. There is a moment of silence as he is obviously listening to

  something intently. He glances at the vial and raises his hand to take it

  from the Zeta. He smiles slightly through his dusty tears, glancing at the

  Zeta briefly during this, by way of thanks.

  _______________________________

  Though it is mid-day, it is still gloomy, as though a very overcast day during

  early dawn at the ranch city. Martha is sorting laundry, looking for items to

  be mended, seated on a chair in an open area, the laundry scattered about her

  in little piles on the ground. Her two children are behind her on the grass,

  Billy bringing Tammy what appears to be a glass of water. Billy sits down

  beside her, holding the glass up near her face. Tammy weakly raises a hand,

  and Billy uses his own hand in addition to her hand to steady the glass as she

  raises it.

  Issues around the food shortage and what to eat have come up continually

  lately, with creative meal-making resulting. Martha cooks what she and Red

  decide is good to eat, and the others are told not to ask. This has included

  atypical menu items such as earthworms picked up off the damp grass after the

  last rain and some slow moving possums Red has caught, as well as edible

  weeds.

  49

  Big Tom strides in to talk to his wife, squatting before her so they can talk

  face to face. He looks up into her face.

  We're out, plumb out, and the canned goods are going

  fast too.

  Martha is unperturbed, as she and Red noticed this long before the others.

  She keeps on mending through all of this without missing a stitch, though

  looks up and into her husbands eyes a lot, letting him know she has heard him.

  She smiles.

  Red is bringing some possum back, and I've got some

  special soup tonight, you'll see, it'll be all right.

  Big Tom pauses, then rises to his feet.

  Special soup?

  Martha starts picking the laundry up off a pile, folding it on her lap as

  though getting ready to go.

  Never you mind, it'll be good for you.

  _______________________________

  It is supper time in the tent city, where the group has gathered around a

  glowing camp fire in the center of the makeshift tents. Martha is ladling out

  soup, handing bowl after bowl to the group as they come up one at a time.

  Some members of the group eat heartily, others sniff and hesitate. Herman

  says,

  What's in this?

  He receives no answer nor even a nod from Martha. All eventually start

  eating.

  Billy and Tammy who are sitting in the grass behind and somewhat to the side

  of Martha as she stands next to the fire and soup pot. Billy takes a bowl to

  his sister Tammy, sitting without motion or expression at the perimeter. Tammy

  says,

  Thanks.

  Tammy starts eating matter of factly in a casual manner. Martha has stopped

  ladling, her ladle frozen in the air, tears forming in her eyes. She catches

  herself, taking a deep breath and tries to disguise the emotion in her voice.

  Anyone for more?

  Tammy glances at her brother and giggles, sharing a joke, both of them unaware

  of the waves of emotion buffeting their placid and reliable mother.

  Len and Big Tom
sitting at a table. Len says,

  There are a lot of stories going around about these

  camps. Trucks were seen going in on a regular basis

  just ahead of the upheavals.

  Big Tom is intrigued.

  50

  Maybe we should get together a scouting party and find

  out what's what?

  Always loving a good gossip line, Len continues.

  Repeatedly, repeatedly and sometimes on a daily basis!

  Jed ain't the only one who seed it either, plenty

  others seed it too.

  Len scoops some soup up with a piece of bread and after biting a piece off

  continues with great seriousness.

  I'm telling you, they've got a camp there, they got

  supplies, and that's where we should be heading.

  What they find is not a warm welcome, but interrogation.

  _______________________________

  Crossing an open field, Big Tom, Len, Herman, and Jane who has insisted that

  the woman's touch was needed, are trudging through the overcast day, backpacks

  or cloth sacks thrown over shoulders, boots on and jackets open, wearing their

  clothing supplies rather than carrying them in suitcases.

  Jane brings up the rear, though she is following Len who is actually the slow

  one. Jane is doing this out of consideration, steadying him now and then if

  he loses his balance by putting a hand up against his back pack, unbeknownst

  to him. A kind hearted person, she can see this veteran is a weakened man,

  struggling not to show it.

  Len is pointing toward a cleft in the hills looming up ahead.

  Over there, they drove up and just plumb disappeared

  between those hills. Ain't nothing in there that

  anyone knows, and the signs say ‘Private Property’.

  A lookout on the hilltop is watching the four-some trudging toward him. He

  picks up a portable phone and talks into it, softly.

  Incoming, 4 o'clock.

  The group is approaching a cleft in the hills, trees on both sides. Len is

  talking animatedly, waving his arm in this direction or that while he

  describes what he or others have seen from a distance. Jane is glancing slowly

  from side to side, scanning the skimpy forest they are approaching with a

  half-curious look on her face. Suddenly Jane freezes, her hand raising in the

  direction of the woods they are fast approaching, her warning frozen in her

  throat as a military warning booms out.

  Halt! Halt or be fired upon! Identify yourselves.

  _______________________________

  51

  A single table is furnished in the large bare room, the lights dim everywhere

  but in the center of the room over the table. The foursome come stumbling

  into the room, glancing over their shoulders, more worried about what is

  behind them than in front of them. General Flood comes walking out of the

  shadows opposite their entry.

  Who led you here? This installation isn't on the map!

  Who led you here!

  His voice is firm and his questions posed as though he didn't expect any

  resistance. Len is almost squirming, and the others glance at him.

  Well Sir, I was formerly in the military and ..

  At which point Len gets rudely interrupted by General Flood.

  Stick to the point! Who led you here!

  Len gulps.

  I did.

  Big Tom and Jane have been taken aside to another interrogation room by a

  group of military interrogators in shirt sleeves with their sleeves rolled up

  past their elbows, ties off and shirt collars open. This room is small and

  close, so the interrogators are literally in the faces of those they are

  questioning. Big Tom and Jane are being questioned relentlessly with staccato

  questions meant to rattle them. The questions are broadly based. Colonel Cage

  asks,

  How many in your group?

  Big Tom responds.

  My family? Are you including the townsfolk?

  Another interrogator asks,

  Where did you say you were when it happened?

  Big Tom starts to respond.

  I was at the ranch, but ..

  But is interrupted by a second interrogator.

  Herman, who?

  Still struggling to answer the questions put to him, Big Tom says,

  He’s, he’s the major of the town.

  Big Tom is trying to answer the question as though they are factual, not

  understanding, as Jane does intuitively, that they are intended to rattle

  them. She is composed, and finally confronts them in a clear calm voice.

  How long do you think it will be before the whole town

  arrives? What will you do with them?

  Her question silences the interrogators, as she has seen past their bravado to

  their point of panic.

  52

  _______________________________

  Finally allowed out into the camp yard, Big Tom and Jane come out a door to

  join Herman and Len. They are all standing close together, waiting, in the

  center of a complex of bland colored huts.

  General Flood and his ever present attaché, Sergeant Hammond, are to the side,

  being briefed by the interrogators, Colonel Cage among them. Colonel Cage is

  shaking his head slightly as he walks up to the group, indicating their lack

  of success. General Flood reports.

  It doesn't matter, the little rat broke. They came

  from the Shaw ranch just north of here.

  The General pauses, then says:

  Make sure they aren't followed.

  General Flood turns abruptly and walks off, leaving his orders ambiguous.

  _______________________________

  A despondent Big Tom and Jane and their guards are returning to the farm,

  backtracking along the path taken to reach the camp. The path is going along

  a narrow valley between rolling hills. All are walking single file. The half

  dozen military men are holding weapons, casually pointed down and to the side

  as they walk but nevertheless at the ready.

  Big Tom is in the lead, and is walking slowly, trying to think of escape and

  stalling, not wanting to lead them back to his family. The soldier behind him

  gives him a shove, making him stumble slightly. Colonel Cage, who has been

  walking behind Jane, comes forward quickly, reprimanding the soldier in a

  quick aside, and begins walking side by side with Big Tom. Colonel Cage picks

  up the pace to put a little distance between themselves and the others, and

  begins to talk to Big Tom quietly.

  Is there a break up ahead where we can take a stand?

  Big Tom doesn't miss a beat, having sized up the colonel as a good man, and

  after a moment of mulling it over, answers.

  At the creek up ahead. It gets rough ..

  The conversation is interrupted, Colonel Cage jerking his head around, hearing

  a slight but familiar sound, and immediately bolts back along the line. He

  says,

  Where is she!

  His question is met with a cold stare, but as Jane and two of the soldiers

  have disappeared, the Colonel has his answer.

  53

  Colonel Cage continues back along the trail, picking up his pace, and soon

  finds what he feared. Behind a group of trees, Jane is struggling with one of

  the men who is trying to tear her pants down, while the other holds the

  automatic weapon in a relaxed manner, watchin
g and leaning back against a

  tree.

  The soldier with the gun jerks his head around, seeing Colonel Cage running up

  to them. The rapist shoves Jane away and quickly adjusts his pants at the

  fly, trying to conceal what he was up to. The soldier with the gun raises his

  gun and shoots Jane, who has staggered back, in the face with a short burst

  from the automatic. Colonel Cage wrenches the gun away from the soldier. The

  soldier says,

  She was trying to escape.

  Without missing a beat, Colonel Cage lowers the weapon and shoots this soldier

  in the stomach, swinging it quickly to do the same to the rapist. While the

  two of them are writhing on the ground, in agony, Colonel Cage walks over to

  Jane, determining at a glance that she is solidly dead as her head is

  essentially blown off. He turns on his heels and strides back the way he

  came, his face full of tension and a film of sweat on his pale face. He is

  breathing heavily, from the run and adrenaline, and runs his fingers thought

  his hair, front to back, combing it as he strides back to the waiting line of

  men.

  Lets go.

  He walks to the front to rejoin Big Tom who is waiting with an anxious look on

  his face.

  They're all dead, it's over.

  _______________________________

  The women are washing clothes on some rocks along the creek. Netty is

  snappish with Daisy, who is sitting back and barely dipping her batch of

  laundry into the water, as though she expects to be rescued. Netty snaps at

  her.

  I'm not going to do it for you this time. Wake up to

  it, it's this or living grungie.

  Clara is washing vigorously, a worried look on her face. Finally she sits

  back on her haunches, facing Martha.