| |
THE BERING SEA:
David Conway and Lewis Norton stare down through the windows of a small white helicopter as they approach the island. The spacecraft is hidden under camouflaged netting, and a Navy destroyer is holding station five miles away. The Commander has not been told why they are guarding the island or why they are not even allowed to go ashore.
All operations are being coordinated from the Naval Air Station on Adak Island in the Aleutian chain, and only two government people know about the spaceship. The Director of National Security, and the President of the United States.
Clutched tightly in Norton’s lap is a small black box containing the three power crystals needed to supplement the one currently powering the alien ship. When he looks down at the exposed section of the spaceship inside the crater, his fingers involuntarily tighten on the box. This ship is similar to the two that crashed in the Nevada desert during the Dead Energy operation. Unfortunately, he was inside one of them at the time.
Bett Mason, the Mystic’s helicopter pilot, looks over at David in the passenger seat. “Do you think that thing can fly?”
“We’ll know for sure in a few minutes. You might want to take off when we get inside. If that ship does break free, it will probably shatter the surrounding rock.”
“I’ll stand by in case it doesn’t work and you need a ride back to Adak.”
Once the helicopter sets down on the gravel beach inside the crater, David and Norton climb out and continue across to the entrance into the spaceship. When Norton hesitates to step inside, David turns to look at him. “What’s the matter?”
Norton thinks about the last time he entered a similar spaceship. His brother had died because of his injuries when it crashed, and he suffered a broken arm. Now he will be flying this ship, if they can make it operational. He takes a deep breath and slowly exhales. “I will be fine.”
David gives Norton a moment to gather his resolve. It took a personal request from Director Donner to convince Norton to come to the island. Now that Henry is kidnapped, Norton is the only living person who has actually operated a spaceship, and is their only hope of flying this one to Nevada.
Norton steps into the ship and the interior is nearly the same as the one that crashed. There are a three extra buttons on the control console he isn’t familiar with, but the basic operating system is the same. He sits down in one of the padded chairs.
David takes the box of crystals and carries it to the front of the control console. He grins and looks at Norton. “Are you ready to fly us out of here?”
“You may insert the crystals.”
David presses a button and a small tray slides out, then he retrieves the three, one-dollar size crystals from the box. As he inserts them into the corresponding slots in the tray, they immediately radiate neon blue light identical to the one that is already in the fourth slot. All four crystals are now glowing and he looks at Norton. “We have full power. Start turning stuff on so we can see if this thing is still working.”
Norton studies the illuminated touch pads on the control console in front of him. When all the indicator lights show the ship is fully functional, he leans back in the chair and sighs, but it’s not with relief. It’s with the realization he actually has to fly this ship. “All systems appear to be functioning.”
“All right! Start the engine and let’s see what happens.”
Norton leans forward and taps a series of pads. One of the colored lights changes from red to blue. “The engine is on. All indications are normal.”
David frowns when everything remains silent and looks around the interior. “Are you sure? I don’t hear any engine noise.”
“This is an advanced piece of alien technology, not an automobile. I assure you the engine is operating correctly.”
David grins with excitement and sits in one of the other three chairs. “All right! See if it can break loose from the rock on its own. If not, we’ll have to bring in the demolition specialists.”
“As you wish.” Norton taps another series of pads and the ship shakes as the rock holding it in place fractures. The ship suddenly lurches up, as if sensing freedom from its one-hundred and eighty-million-year volcanic prison.
“You did it, Lewis! I can’t believe that after all these years it still works. All right. Set us back down.”
Norton realizes he has been holding his breath and releases a long, slow sigh. “Very well. Here we go.” The alien craft gently touches back down level inside the crater.
David turns to run outside, but the entrance is gone, replaced by a matching section of the wall and inside steps going down to the lower part of the ship. He has an idea and tries the radio. “Bett, this is David. Can you hear me?”
David waits a few seconds, but she doesn’t respond so he looks at Norton. “Try the cloaking system. I’ll go outside through the airlock and see if it still works.”
Norton taps a series of pads and David runs down the stairs. He presses the touch pads to open the airlock doors and goes outside. When he turns around, the ship is still visible. He presses the talk button on his portable radio as he waves up at the helicopter, hovering off to the side of the crater. “We’ll wait here until it’s dark before we leave. Thanks for your help.”
Bett turns the helicopter in the direction of Adak Island as she speaks into her headset. “Good luck, boys.”
David runs back into the spaceship and up the stairs to the control room and shakes his head no to Lewis. “It appears to be damaged.”
“Perhaps we should leave it here until it is repaired.”
“Sorry, Lewis. We can’t leave it here any longer than necessary. We’ll wait until nightfall to fly it out of here so we won’t be seen on our way to Nevada. This ship has living quarters for the crew between this deck and the cargo hold. Let’s go downstairs and check them out.”
***
NEVADA:
The newly acquired alien ship will be arriving in a few moments, and without the cloaking system, the mirrored surface will reflect the smallest amount of artificial light, so the entire base is in a shroud of darkness to keep prying cameras from recording the event. Two parallel rows of red lights on the concrete tarmac slowly increase in intensity, marking the approach to the entrance of Hangar 5. Once inside, the red lights blink off as the large steel doors slowly move toward each other, and close the entrance with a quiet thud.
LED lights on the ceiling burst into brilliant white light, illuminating the interior of the hangar and hockey puck shaped alien ship on the concrete floor.
David leaps out of his chair and grins at Norton. “That was an amazing ride. We didn’t have a single problem getting here. I knew you could do it.”
Norton presses one of the illuminated pads on the control panel, and the ceiling flutters for a second before becoming transparent, allowing the overhead hangar lights to fill the room. They walk down the inside stairs along the wall to the lower level, then open the inside and outside airlock doors and exit into the hangar.
When Norton walks toward the rear door in the hangar, David grabs his arm. “I forgot about the sphere. Do you know its purpose on this spaceship?”
“I do not. This is the first time I have seen one. I doubt it has anything to do with the operation of this craft.”
“Too bad your ancestors had to leave this planet. We could have learned a lot from them.”
Norton’s eyebrow goes up. “If they had not left, you would not be here.”
“That’s true. It was because of a volcanic eruption, wasn’t it?”
“Did you not read the information we retrieved from the first two spaceships? A super eruption, to be exact. All life on this planet had to start again, but I do not believe your current race of humans achieved their superior status without help.”
“Are you saying we didn’t evolve here? There’s scientific evidence to prove it.”
“Yes, but my race of humans used their DNA to speed up the process at different stages of your development.”
“Whatever. Listen, I’m starving. Let’s get something to eat.”