He
had finished sketching the major components of the
control systems into his notebook when he heard Lenel cursing and
grumbling
below the hatchway. He checked the cycles again. The power throbs were
coming
every second and a half now and appeared to be growing stronger. Very
soon, the
ship would be receiving a continuous flow of energy. Staying as far as
possible
from the straight-legged remains of the three bodies, he went to see
what all
the noise was about.
"I
can't dig this out. I'm too damn old." Okun stepped down into the
tunnel
and checked Lenel's progress. He'd managed to dig about a foot and a
half back
toward the aqua-box. That left three and a half feet to go. Okun took the tire iron
and began working furiously,
driving it into the earth walls and breaking off handfuls of dirt with
each
thrust. He should have been doing this job all along. None of the
schematics
he'd made would be worth anything if they couldn't figure out the
power-generating system. But the floor of the cave was packed hard, und
it
quickly became clear he wouldn't reach the door to the aqua-box in time.
He
and Lenel both froze when they heard an unfamiliar sound.
It was coming from inside the ship. When they looked inside, they saw
that the
lights on the instrument panel were no longer strobing. The ship was up
and
running.
"It's
time to get out of here."
"Not
yet," Okun said. "We've got to get a
look at the power system." He proposed the idea of defending the cave
to
Lenel, who looked at him like he was crazy, then got down on all fours
and
started crawling out from under the ship.
"You
stay here if you want to. That's not the way I
want to die."
Out
of frustration, Okun stabbed the earth several more
times with his tire iron. But then, realizing it was too late, he
collapsed
against one of the walls, sweating profusely. As he was considering his
next
move the whole ship seemed to let out a shuddering moan. There was a
loud cracking
noise as it began to lift off the ground. It rose slowly, an inch at a
time.
Lenel,
candle near his face, seemed to rise with it. Standing on his knees, he
straightened up as far as the rising ship would allow. He had a
wide-open
expression of wonder on his
face, like a kid
watching a magic show. He let out a giddy laugh, looking back toward
Okun.
"Will ya look at that! It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
The ship continued lifting until it cracked hard against the stone
ceiling,
sending a few chips of rock skittering down its sloped sides.
"The
thruster rockets seem to be in good shape. Looks
like they dug holes for them to sit in."
The
black alien ship, a perfect twin of the one at Area 51,
floated three feet above the ground, an mute and mysterious as a
sphinx. Okun,
oedipal, wanted to solve one more of its riddles before he left the
cave.
Ignoring Lenel's protests, he wriggled himself into the freshly created
gap
between the hull of the ship and the floor of the cave. He began
pulling at the
cover door of the aqua-box.
"Uh-oh,"
Lenel said. "What's that?"
"What's
what?" Okun grunted between tugs.
Lenel
shuffled toward the door to the cave, leaned outside,
and searched the sky. Many miles from the nearest city lights, the
stars shone
down unobstructed and seemed to form a plush and twinkling blanket in
the sky.
While he was watching, one of these stars seemed to split in two. Part
of it
remained high in the atmosphere while another one moved closer.
"We've
got company! They're here." Lenel turned
around and shouted. "It's time to go."
"Almost.
I've almost got it." With a final yank,
Okun liberated the door from its slot. It came free of the ship and
landed
heavily on top of him. When Lenel heard the ooof! sound, he repeated
his
warning that it was time to leave.
"Start
without me," Okun called from beneath the
door. "I'll catch up."
Lenel
poked his head out the door indecisively and looked at
the stone shelf leading to the trail. "All right. I'll take the same
path
we came up on. Meet me at the bottom of the hill. How much longer are
you going
to be?"
If
Okun couldn't find a way to get his head and chest out
from under the heavy section of shell armor, he was going to be there
permanently. "A minute or two," his muffled voice answered.
"OK,
two minutes. No longer!" Lenel warned. He
could see the swirl of green light coming from beneath the ship and
knew Okun
had gotten the door off. He stepped through the opening and began
edging along
the top of the slope.
Okun
concentrated on making himself very skinny and eventually succeeded in
worming
out from under the door. Then he looked up and beheld the spectacular
play of
light caused by the aqua-box, its energy racing around the inside of
the
chamber like a transparent cyclone of crystal green water. An exact
clone of
the one at Area 51, it exhibited the same paper-thin walls of rock, the
same
hairwidth filaments arranged in a complex geometrical pattern. But
there was
one important exception: floating in the center of the hexagonal
chamber,
suspended in midair, was a small piece of metal shaped like an ankh.
Like a
gyroscope, it was spinning and rolling while remaining in one spot. It
seemed
to be gathering the energy off the sides of the hexagon and sending it
out in a
controlled manner. Each of the ankh's four arms sent out a razor-thin beam. He
remembered the chaotic way
the other ship's box had purged the system of energy and how the ships
would
have had to fly improbably close to one another. This was the answer,
and it
had been hanging around his neck the whole time. Incredible!
When
something moved across the doorway, Okun reached out
and grabbed the tire iron. But it was only Lenel, who immediately
concealed
himself behind the rock wall. "Too late. They're here." He pointed up
through the ceiling. "They've found us, and it's too dark out there for
me
to see where I'm going."
Okun
gathered up his possessions. He'd seen how the aqua-box
worked. He was ready to help Lenel make his escape. But as he made to
leave, he
decided he needed to try one last experiment. He slipped his necklace
off and
tried to undo the knot, but couldn't. "Might work anyhow," he
muttered. He wanted to switch the two ankhs, to make absolutely sure
they were
interchangeable. He reached up and pulled the spinning piece out,
preparing to
switch them. Immediately the ship lost power and began settling toward
the
floor. Okun hadn't counted on that. He shoved the new piece into the
chamber
and closed his eyes tight, expecting to feel the weight of the ship
crush down
on his chest. Luckily, it accepted the second ankh, leather string and
all.
If
I take both ankhs, they won't be able to fly this ship
out of here!
He decided to go for broke.
"What
in Hades are you doing over there? They'll be coming through the door
any
second. Let's get—" Lenel, glancing outside, saw something that stopped
him in mid-sentence. Hovering directly overhead was the nose of an
alien
saucer. It crawled forward until it was away from the cliffs, then
turned
itself around and crept closer. Peeking around the corner of the
doorway, Lenel
had a clear view through the windows into the interior of the craft. A
handful
of the large-headed creatures were gathered at the windows, inspecting
the
cliff.
"How
we doin' over there?" Okun called over his
shoulder. He was too focused on his task to notice that Lenel's answer
was an
unintelligible stammer. He was trying to get his ankh out of the
aqua-box
without having the ship squash him. He had crawled back into the trench
and was
reaching with the tire iron, trying to snag the loop of leather
string. But
this was as difficult as a carnival game owing to the fact that the
spinning
ankh was moving the string in all directions.
The
hovering saucer pressed in closer. Lenel picked up a large
rock and stood with his back pressed to the wall, his eyes glued to the
doorway. He planned to clobber anything that stepped inside. He felt
the nose
of the spacecraft bump against the wall and wondered if they were going
to use
the ship as a battering ram to open the cave. He found his voice long
enough to
whisper hoarsely across the darkness of the cave: "They're right
outside."
One
last try,
Okun told himself.
I
know I can get it.
But before he could take a final stab at
the dancing
leather string, a powerful blast of white light entered the cave from
outside.
It was sweeping across the floor and heading his way. Faster than he
knew he
could move, he rolled into the trench, hiding himself a split second
before he
was seen. The search beam scanned the cave's interior
for several seconds
before abruptly shutting off.
"Now
do you believe me?" Lenel's voice was
trembling. "Please, Brackish, let s go."
Cowering
in the trench, Okun asked if the ship had moved
away. Suddenly his idea about challenging the aliens had vanished. When
Lenel
reported that it had flown a little way off, Okun leaped out of the
trench and
ran for the door. Without a word, he helped his old friend step through
the
hole and out onto the ledge. The spacecraft was hovering near the
bottom of the
cliffs, not far from where the station wagon had been parked a few
hours
before. Okun was more terrified than he'd ever been. He felt the strong
urge to
sprint away down the cliff and be well hidden by the time the aliens
came out
of their ship. But he couldn't abandon Lenel, especially after making
him wait
so long to escape. He tried to pull the man along gently, but was
afraid of
knocking him off-balance. When they came to a flat section of the stone
ledge,
he left Lenel for just a moment to run ahead and check the switchback
trail
Pedro had shown him that afternoon. It looked too treacherous for the
old man.
As Lenel took the last few steps toward Okun, he lost his way and
walked off
the narrow trail. He landed on the gravel slope and crashed hard
against the
rocks. By the time Okun got to him, he had slid ten feet down the hill
and was
clutching a handful of shrubs. Desperately searching for a way to reach
his
friend, he heard the old man whimpering in pain. Even the quietest
sound was a
roar of noise in the Silent Zone.
"Lenel,"
he rasped, "reach up here and grab
my hand. I'll pull you up."
The
old man shook his head. "I think I broke something.
You get out of here. Get back to Area 51."
"Not
without you I'm not." Okun wedged the toe of
his shoe into a fissure in the rock and started lowering himself
headfirst down
the slope. Before he could grasp the old man's wrist, the root of the
bush
Lenel was holding gave way, and Lenel began sliding down the rocky
slope.
Horrified, Okun made a last desperate lunge, but couldn't reach him.
The old
man slid away until he plunged over the side of the lower cliffs and
landed a
second later with a sickening thud.
"Lenel,
are you all right?" he whispered, knowing
his voice would carry to the bottom of the cliffs.
No
answer. He was about to start down the hillside to find
his friend when he heard a metallic click echo through the valley. Then
he
watched a circular pool of light form on the ground below the ship. The
hatch
door had been opened. Adrenaline pumping, he ran a few more strides
along the
trail before diving into a shallow foxhole near the base of the trail
leading
to the top of the cliffs. Climbing the trail now would definitely
expose him.
He
looked down on the ship until he saw the little beings step onto the
ground and
begin wandering around the area. They moved toward the base of the
hill, to the
place where Lenel's body must have fallen. Although he couldn't see
Lenel, he could
see the creatures standing around him. He wanted to shout at them to
get away
from his friend, but was too terrified even to move. Suddenly, they
abandoned
Lenel and began climbing the hillside. Okun knew that probably meant
the old
man was dead.
Peeking
and ducking, he watched the aliens trying to climb
the first steep wall toward the cave. From everything he'd learned
about them,
he expected them to be much more nimble. But they were having just as
much
trouble as he had had with the rocky terrain.
It
occurred to him he could probably make a run for it. In
fact, he probably
should
because his foxhole was
only seventy-five feet
from the opening. When they realized someone had been messing around
with their
ship, wouldn't they come out and search the area?
Maybe
they'll think Lenel
was in there by himself.
No, he had to get out of there
immediately. He
reached down to grab his notebook and his ankh and realized he'd left
them
inside! He slapped himself in the forehead. The searchlight scanning
the cave
had scared him so badly, he'd forgotten to pick up his things. He'd
come all
this way only to blow it at the very end. He briefly considered making
a mad
dash back to the door, ducking inside to grab his possessions and
racing out
again. But, like the other heroic plans he'd made that evening, he
thought
about it too long. Soon six of the awkward little creatures were
approaching
the mouth of the cave. At the bottom of the slope, he spotted a taller
creature, climbing the hillside even more awkwardly than the others.
That
must be the Tall One.
The
smaller aliens had already been inside for a couple of minutes when the
Tall
One reached the top of the slope. They came outside and flitted around
the
taller creature, seemingly
agitated. As Okun
watched this scene unfold, the Tall One turned its head in a very
deliberate
way and seemed to look directly at Okun across the darkness. Okun
ducked out of
sight, fighting to control his fear. It was dark; maybe he hadn't been
seen.
His heart racing like it was going to explode, he quietly turned on his
back
and tried to clear his mind. He knew he had to stay hidden, but he also
knew he
had to run. He heard the sound of their feet moving across the gravel
again.
Were they moving in to surround him? He flipped back over and glanced up at the switchback trail. It was
time to find out who
could run faster, a terrified earthling or these creatures from
who-knew-where.
But when he peeked once more over the edge of his hiding place, the
creatures
were in retreat. The six smaller ones were marching away down the
hillside and
the Tall One was disappearing alone into the cave.