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NORTHCENTRAL NEVADA:
Sagebrush and sand stretch away in all directions as Menno drives along an abandoned dirt road. The sun is setting behind the low mountains on the horizon when he presses a small button in the dashboard. Directly ahead, a horizontal line of light appears across the road, growing taller by the second as a gigantic door opens in the desert floor.
Menno looks over at the surprised expression on Elizabeth’s wrinkled face, then he drives down at an angle through the opening. The door above them closes, and the overhead lights illuminate a square concrete tunnel.
Twenty-feet further, Menno stops in front of a steel door in the cement wall, and helps his mother out of the car. He opens the metal door and they step into a two-hundred-foot square, by sixty-foot high room. In the center is a forty-foot-diameter, hockey puck-shaped object with a mirror finish.
A man who appears to be in deep deliberation approaches them. His facial features are nearly identical to Menno’s, except for the hair and eyes, which are a matching shade of light brown. “Hello, Reverend. Mrs. Simons.”
Menno smiles, hoping to evoke the same from the man, but Lewis Norton’s expression doesn’t change. “Always so serious, Lewis. How many crystals have we collected?”
“Four-hundred and eleven-thousand, three-hundred and seventy-nine. Come. I’ll show you.”
Lewis leads them across the chamber to a ten-foot square metal hatch in the floor. He presses a button on the wall, the hatch opens, and dazzling neon blue light radiates from inside a chamber beneath it.
Menno leans over the opening, and it’s like looking at a pile of sparkling blue diamonds. He leans back and places his hand on Lewis’s shoulder. “Our destiny awaits us, but first, I want to show Elizabeth the inside of our ship.”
They walk across the chamber to the craft, and Menno places his hand on its mirrored surface. A six by eight-foot section near the bottom shimmers for a moment, then an open airlock door appears in the alien craft.
Menno steps inside, continues through the inside door, and enters a circular room with a twenty-foot-diameter tube in the center from the floor to the eight-foot high ceiling. Lewis and Elizabeth follow him up the stairs to the control room. In the center are four chairs, two elevated behind the two in front of a control console. The most fascinating aspect of the room is the transparent ceiling and sides of the ship, through which they can see the chamber outside.
Menno sits in one of the chairs and stares up at Lewis, who stands in front of him with his hands clasped behind his back. “It’s time I told you and Elizabeth how I came into possession of this craft. You are my younger brother, and our real parents were space travelers.” Menno studies Lewis for a surprised response, but true to his nature, his brother remains impassive and waits for further explanation.
Menno chuckles. “Have you ever wondered why I sought you out? Or why operating this craft came so easily to you?”
“I assumed it was because of my exceptional intelligence,” Lewis says stone-faced, without a trace of seeming egotistical.
Menno laughs at his response. “Yes, I guess you could say that’s part of it.”
Elizabeth stares wide-eyed and open-mouthed at Menno. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”
“Our race of humans were the original inhabitants of this planet, one-hundred and eighty-million-years ago. One of their experiments went horribly wrong and started a chain of events that caused a super volcanic eruption. A thick layer of ash blocked the radiation from the sun and they were forced to evacuate this world. They sent one ship back with four devices capable of cleaning the atmosphere, but it was never heard from again.”
Lewis’s eyebrow rises. “Did our race evolve on this planet?”
“No, they evolved on another world in this galaxy. They began receiving primitive radio signals, and once they deciphered the language, they realized a similar race of humans has evolved on this planet. Two ships came back to this world to learn about the new inhabitants. Four scientists were in this one, and we were in the other one with our parents. They were passing over a section of desert directly above a nuclear test site during the detonation. They were caught in the explosion and lost control, and both ships were damaged in the crash. They managed to repair this one, but it is only capable of near Earth orbit, and could never return to our home world.”
Elizabeth brings her hand up over her mouth in surprise. “It’s all true? I remember there were several reports in the newspapers about people claiming to see unidentified flying objects. Their claims were dismissed by the government.”
“Yes. The military found the other spaceship and took it to Nevada.” He notices the quizzical expression in Lewis’s eyes. “What is it, Lewis?”
“How did we end up being raised by these humans?”
“While making the repairs, the scientists became infected by microorganisms for which they had no natural immunity. You and I were infants and became immune to the disease. They decided to let the people of this planet raise us and thought it best not to burden one human with two infants. They left me on your front porch, Mother. Lewis was taken to another home, in another town.”
“Why are you telling us now?” Lewis asks.
“My main intent was to eliminate the fossil fuel used by the machines that have been polluting the atmosphere. I was going to share the crystals with these people, but now I’m not so sure I should. I haven’t liked the way they are always fighting each other. If I let them have access to the crystals, they will start fighting over them the way they fought over the crude oil. Only this time, the power of these crystals could annihilate entire civilizations.”
Elizabeth brings out her inhaler and takes two deep puffs. “Why can’t we choose who we give them to?” she manages to say. “We can select one country to be in complete control of how to best use the crystals for the betterment of the entire world.”
“And who would you choose?”
“This country, of course. We stand for freedom all over the world.”
Menno shakes his head no. “Not as long as they have just one leader. Even the most noble of your race can be corrupted by the lust for power over their enemies.”
“He’s right,” Lewis adds. “Perhaps we should wait and see which nation becomes the most compassionate toward their fellow beings.”
“What do we do in the meantime?” Elizabeth asks.
Menno smiles and holds her hand. “Would you like to go for a ride?”
Elizabeth looks around the inside of the spaceship for a moment. “I’m a little frightened by all this, but I think I’d like that.”
Lewis sits in one of the chairs and his fingers press different colored touch pads on his console. The lighting in the chamber blinks out, and the flat ceiling slides open.