by Lesley Davis
“You know I’m not at liberty to comment on that.”
“Yeah, well, no one saw fit to comment much on the death of my brother either. He went out to fight for right and came home to his family in a wooden box. National security hid his death from us. I soon found all the answers I needed to my questions by looking into it myself. And there I found a whole lot more besides. His body had been pumped full of a crazy cocktail of drugs, the likes of which and the origin of them no one outside the military could even guess at. Who knows what they were doing to him when he died. The truth will out, Sofia. It was a crazy conspiracy theory that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction. The war raged, innocents died, and we were labeled as unpatriotic to imagine such a thing.”
Dink sighed. “And then what happened? Turned out we were right. There were no weapons after all. But no one except us questioned it because the propaganda surrounding the search had whipped the country into a fever. And if you can blind enough to the truth often enough, then they’ll come to believe anything you damn well want them to believe. Blind faith isn’t relegated to just the church, sadly.”
Emory shook her head at Sofia’s defensive posture and angry silence. “Just how crazy are people like me and Dink? How about this for another example? People have believed for a long time something crashed to Earth back in 1947. It put a little place called Roswell on the map. Whatever it was, it was initially reported to be a spaceship from outer space. That was swiftly covered up with a denial. Nothing to see here, folks, just your common weather balloon.”
Emory glanced up at the sky reflectively. “But the saucers kept being seen. Those bright lights in the sky didn’t stop coming. The public was told they were hallucinating, or seeing a particularly bright star. Or that it was just a normal airplane seen at a curious angle. Mysteriously, our technology suddenly started to grow in leaps and bounds. We developed stealth aircraft and weaponry way ahead of anything we’d had previously. For those who believed the flying saucer story, they theorized that maybe we were using what was found on that ship for our own uses. The proof? Look at how far we have forged ahead in technology.”
She watched Sofia’s face reflected in the windshield. She could tell Sofia knew where Emory was going with this. “As a conspiracy theorist, I have to believe in a hidden agenda. It’s kind of in the title, you see. It’s what conspiracy means.” She knew she was deliberately goading Sofia, but everything she was saying was the truth. And Sofia knew it. “So, the hidden agenda. Let’s see, does anyone stand to gain from hiding the technological advances that could come from such a craft? Well, there’ll be weaponry far superior to anyone else’s to have. And what about the government that has that power at hand? Fuck, they’d be gods among men.”
“But you didn’t believe in aliens,” Sofia said stonily.
“No, I didn’t. I needed that proved before I could get one hundred percent behind that idea. I subscribed to the crafts being secret military weapons and the use of the ‘aliens from another planet’ angle was to keep the masses in fear. We grow up fearing the boogie man under the bed, but at least he’s a localized terror. Invaders from another planet coming to destroy us? That’s a nifty little control technique.”
Emory laughed softly under her breath. “All this time we’ve been told there are no saucers, no aliens, no futuristic weaponry being built and tested in secret bunkers miles underground. And then the aliens struck and blew that lie wide open. So, yes, I’m a conspiracy theorist because I look for proof of a lie. And, honey? You are up to your pretty little neck in all the fucking bald-faced untruths your sort have told us. The proof is laid bare ass naked for all of us to see now.” Emory looked away from the road to capture Sofia’s gaze.
“Try explaining this away with a goddamn weather balloon.”
Chapter Seventeen
“Please tell me you’re not sulking.” Emory looked over at Sofia who was pressed up against the van door as close as she could get. Her arms were folded over her chest defensively, and the look on her face had almost made Emory hold her tongue. Unfortunately, Emory wasn’t exactly known as one who feared to tread where angels wouldn’t.
“I’m not sulking.”
“Kinda looks like you are,” Emory singsonged just to be even more annoying.
“I am not sulking. I’m selectively ignoring you. Just because we are trapped in this van together doesn’t make this a jolly little road trip we’re sharing.”
Emory heard the sound of Dink coming back online. She dialed the phone so he could be heard in the van. He’d been absent for a while, and Emory was relieved to hear his voice.
“You ladies okay out there?” he asked.
“Sofia’s sulking,” Emory said. She kept her eyes fixed on the road. She had a feeling the look Sofia was shooting her way would kill on contact.
“You are worse than a child,” Sofia said. “The first saucer we see? I’m throwing you under it.”
Emory just laughed.
“Okay then, so this is what happens when I’m not here to keep an eye on you. Consider both of your heads banged together. Sofia, I have a question for you. What do you know about a mass evacuation underway?”
“Major Chilcott mentioned that the government had ordered agencies to start gathering up the survivors. They’re probably going to start scouring the devastated areas first then will start evacuating as many as they can.”
“Evacuating them to where?” Emory asked. “This isn’t like a hurricane or a tornado breezing through. You can stick a ton of people in a stadium for their safety, but that isn’t going to stop the aliens from sucking them up and out of there.”
“The missile silos under the mountains would be a much better place to hide humanity,” Dink said.
Sofia scowled more. “God, I forget how much you know.” She rubbed at her face.
“Knowledge is power, dear Captain. I’d hope with the knowledge the government and the military have accumulated over many years knowing about the aliens that they had a contingency plan set up just in case the peace accord turned sour. I’d like to believe that all the safe zones built deep under the earth and the vaults set up to escape a nuclear attack aren’t just hiding the rich and the elite while the rest of us are sitting ducks.”
“The government is doing all it can, I’m sure,” Sofia said.
“I’m sure they are. All from the plush seats so far down underground that their asses are roasting off the center of the earth’s core,” Emory said. She checked the sky for any signs of movement. It was becoming a nervous tic. “Dink, what have you heard?”
“Word is people are being rounded up off the streets and herded into trucks. No one knows where they are being taken to. The soldiers aren’t telling anyone what’s happening. Families are being split, and they can’t find out where their husbands or children have been taken to. People are frightened, both by the invasion and the disappearance of their loved ones to God knows where.”
“They’re not the Gestapo, Dink,” Sofia said tersely. “What do you think is happening?”
“Worst-case scenario is people are being rounded up to be used as alien bait.”
Sofia slammed her fist against the side of the van in a burst of anger. Emory winced in sympathy because that had to hurt.
“Stop the van.” When Emory didn’t immediately pull over, Sofia screamed the order. “Stop the fucking van right now!”
Emory pulled the van out of the slow stream of traffic she’d been negotiating. She didn’t even get to put the parking brake on before Sofia was out of the van and slamming the door so hard it shook the vehicle. Emory purposely looked in the mirror so Dink could see her.
“Now look what you did. Told you she was sulking.”
“There’s nothing worse than when you expose a conspiracy theory as something that is irrefutable fact. To be honest, she’s taken it better than I thought.”
“Really?”
“Well, she hasn’t shot you yet so I’m taking that as a good sign.”
Emory couldn’t argue with that logic. She looked outside to see if she could see where Sofia had stormed off to.
“You don’t think she’s out there slashing my tires, do you?” She craned her neck out the window.
“I think she’s starting to realize that there’s more going on here on the ground than there is above us.”
“None of which is going to matter if the aliens continue to lay waste to the planet.”
“I’m trying to make a list of all the places they have tried to annihilate completely. Las Vegas was bombed but left in ruins. Area 51 no longer exists. The same has happened in Europe in certain areas, but I’m still waiting on the exact details. We’re starting to lose connections with the people over there.”
“I’m thinking Area 51 was personal. The rest may be just a show of their power, but bombing the base was a blatant act of revenge.” Emory rubbed at her eyes. “Dink, you don’t really think the government is corralling people to be sacrificial lambs, do you?”
“I just need you to get here as quick as you can once you’ve deposited the good captain wherever it is in Utah she’s aiming for. I can’t promise you’ll be any safer here with me but I’ll be happier with you back in the bunker. It’s got to be safer than you touring the highways exposed to the aliens’ lethal weapons.” Dink was silent. “It’s time to come home, Em.”
“I’d like to get a look at this base we’re going to first. I’ve got a feeling with it being so off the grid that there’s something there worth exposing.”
“Like Sofia’s going to let you anywhere near it after you found the dead aliens’ winter wonderland at the last place.”
“Do any of your pals know what the hell the blue alien is?”
“Some I’ve contacted believe it’s proof we’ve been visited by more than one species of alien. Perhaps Marvin is one of those.”
“Marvin? As in the skirt-wearing animated Martian?” Emory smiled. “I think my calling him Lurch was way more appropriate.”
“True, he was a rather large dude. Fugly too.”
“There being more than one species involved makes this worse than I ever imagined.”
“You imagined an alien invasion, Little Miss Sceptic?”
“I’ve done all the research into aliens, Dink, just like you. I know all the sightings, the history, the abduction stories. I’ve studied it all and can see how feasible the idea of there being ancient aliens, ones that visited us hundreds of years ago, is based on what we see in the legends from other cultures. You know Roswell has always been a sticking point with me. Something happened there, but I wasn’t one hundred percent behind the ‘aliens crash-landed’ story. There was more proof I was digging up about what this secret military group was up to than I was finding proof of alien existence.” Emory thought about what she’d seen. “But then I watched the one thing I never believed in steal my family right from in front of me. I couldn’t do anything about that, but I can do my damnedest to try to get them back. I’ll fight to get them back from whatever alien, blue skinned or gray, that has them captive.”
“You’ll need more than the guns Sofia packed in her bag.”
“You and I both know there are undisclosed weapons that the military has access to. One of them has to be more effective against the saucers and those triangular craft. We’ve got to be able to do more than just send planes up to spit bullets at them.”
“You’re looking for a big gun to bring them down like the ship did?”
“I want them down in one piece so I can find my nieces. But if my family is really gone? I want those saucers blown from the sky in the smallest pieces possible. And then I’ll go after the humans who knew the aliens weren’t just a myth. The ones who knew they were very much active and yet kept it secret from us all.”
“We don’t know exactly how deep that rabbit hole goes, Alice.”
“Then I’ll go as far as I can and bury them all with me if I need to.”
“You’re not doing this alone. You’re going to need help.”
“Then call all our basement dwelling buddies, Dink. Tell them it’s time we put our own theories to the test.”
*
Sofia managed to keep her anger in check just enough to be mindful where she was stomping to. She was heading somewhere, anywhere, as far as she could get away from Emory. Her hands were flexing on her weapon. She was furious at Emory for her accusations and theories. Sofia was just as angry at herself for knowing a lot of what Emory believed in was actual truth. Truth blanketed in half-truths, shrouded in deception. That wasn’t what she signed up for. But somehow she’d managed to get dragged into all the misinformation and lies concerning the saucers.
She flung herself down to sit on an outcrop. She stared blindly out at the fields below, lost to her thoughts. She’d been drafted to work on the saucers very early on in her career. Her engineering skills had singled her out as something special. Her orders were to decipher the technology to see what else could be harnessed for use in aviation and weaponry. So much had already been learned from that one downed craft. It had been a treasure trove of information and opportunity.
Sofia had taken over from one of the original technicians who was getting too old to continue. She’d learned from him then simply replaced him. She’d been working on deciphering the alien code behind the saucer’s ability to cloak itself. The beam that she’d devoted so much time to discovering had never given up the secret behind its mechanics. Sofia had never seen it in action until she’d watched people being abducted.
She’d watched Emory throw herself into the cold white light in desperation to get to her family. A family that didn’t treat her with much respect. And I’ve been guilty of the same derision. What she sees happening in the world that people call her crazy for, I know all too well is true. I’ve been a part of it. I’ve helped perpetuate the cover-up of flying saucers under our control. Saucers we copied from an alien craft, something else I helped cover up. So many years from when they first pulled alien tech from out of the wreckage at Roswell. Technology so advanced it was light years ahead of anything the military had at its disposal. And I’m still learning from it. She came to a realization. Well, I was, but now all the saucers are gone. Reduced to ashes in the deep crater that was once Area 51.
She rubbed her forehead where a headache was brewing. So many secrets, so many lies told to cover up the truth. We knew about the existence of aliens all along.
She looked at the sky. It was surprisingly clear, and the day felt normal again. She still searched for the sign of saucers. She’d believed that the only saucers that flew their skies were the ones tucked safely away in her hangars at Area 51. She had believed the aliens were dead. She’d been told that any other sightings had been fraudulent, a result of mass hysteria or of deliberate fabrication by the military. That only one craft had landed and aliens had never seen fit to try to come to Earth again. She didn’t need to worry; she was just needed to exploit the technology and adapt it to saucers for human flight. She’d seen no evidence to point to anything otherwise. She’d just heard of the dead bodies of the aliens recovered at Roswell suspended on ice deep under the ground at Area 51. Out of sight, out of mind.
Sofia wondered if she’d been deceived as much as the public had been. She’d been let in on part of the secret yet not even she’d been told the full truth behind it.
Have I really been that close-minded to following orders that I let myself be blinded to what really lies in the shadows that I’ve been working in?
Her fingers twitched on the gun in her hands as she caught sight of movement down in the field. She slipped her finger onto the trigger and slowly rose to go investigate, grateful for the distraction from her own disquiet.
*
The sound of gunfire startled Emory from the inner argument she was having about whether she should go find Sofia or leave her until she’d cooled down. She scrambled into action, clambering over the seats into the back of the van. She tore open th
e bag of weapons that were stored there. All the guns were preloaded. Sofia had prepared them for every eventuality. Emory pulled one out and reached for a few other supplies. She left the van, locking it automatically because she didn’t trust anyone now, especially with what they had on board. Then she sprinted in the direction she could still hear shots ringing out from.
“Sofia! Sofia!” She careened down the ridge, arms flailing to keep herself upright on the loose dirt. She spotted Sofia at the bottom reloading her weapon. Emory skidded to a halt at Sofia’s side, nearly losing her balance in her haste to reach her. “What the hell are you firing at?” She looked to where Sofia pointed across the field. Emory raised her own gun at what she saw.
Aliens were skittering en masse across the ground. Emory couldn’t count them quick enough to get any idea of how many there were. She just knew there were more than she wanted to have a close encounter with. She fired, nearly deafening herself in the process with the unfamiliar weapon.
Sofia eyed her with derision. “You brought the machine gun?”
“I just grabbed whatever was first to hand in my rush to come to your aid.”
“I don’t need rescuing,” Sofia gritted out, firing at the aliens and proving herself the much better shot. The aliens fell one by one to Sofia’s well placed headshots. “Stop wasting bullets. You’re just firing into the air.”
Emory bristled at Sofia’s condescending tone. She noticed the aliens hadn’t changed direction, even in their panic, and were still heading toward a half covered drainage pipe that looked out of place amid the undergrowth. “They’re seeking cover. They’re damn well trying to escape.” She took off after them.
