They
climbed down the lower cliff and didn't walk over to
Lenel's body. They went straight to their ship and climbed in. Okun
counted
them again to make sure none of them were sneaking around to ambush
him. A
moment after the circular door snapped closed, there was a whirring hum
and the
sixty-foot craft zipped straight up into the air, disappearing into the
canopy
of stars at a fantastic rate of speed. When the ship was gone, the zone
of
silence swallowed him once more. He heard the Tall One moving around
inside the
cave. Somehow, being left alone near this most terrifying of the aliens
was
worse than being near all six of the others.
Is the Tall One
reading my mind
right now? Does he know I'm out here?
No
longer indecisive, Okun began his escape. He pushed
himself quietly away from the gravel of his hiding place and stepped
back onto
the trail. He began climbing the narrow trail to the top of the cliffs,
which
was littered with pebbles and sand. Each footstep became a matter of
life and
death. To help him find the Zen of the moment, he imagined himself as
Grasshopper, the young Shao-Lin priest from the
Kung Fu
television
series. Hands gliding through the air, knees bent, Okun climbed the
treacherous
slope as delicately as if it were a rice-paper carpet he could not
afford to
tear. When he reached the top of the bluff, he found himself on a large
mesa.
After a final glance over the side to make sure he wasn't being
followed, he
tore away at a dead run. He ran as fast as he could in a straight line
across
the open plain, looking over his shoulder every few seconds. When he
got to the
far side of the plateau, he wasted no time. He ran down this new set of
slopes
which were every bit as treacherous as the ones outside the cave,
something he
could never have done if his system weren't overloaded with adrenaline.
It
didn't matter to him that he was running ever deeper into a waterless
no-man's-land where he might die of thirst or starvation. His immediate
problem
was getting as far away from the cave as humanly possible. He wanted to
be
miles away when the Tall One came out of the cave to look for him.
After twenty
minutes of sprinting, a stabbing pain in his side forced him to stop.
He limped
to a place between two boulders and collapsed in the sand, gasping for
air and
dripping with sweat. He was sure they wouldn't find him here, even if
they came
looking.
When
he'd been lying there long enough for his breathing to
return to normal, he heard a droning sound in the distance. He listened
to the
sound for a long while until he recognized what it was—an airplane
engine. It
was coming from the direction of the power lines. Cibatutto and
Freiling must
have reached a phone and called in the Marines. He wanted to run back
the way
he'd come and help them locate the cave, but he was beyond exhaustion.
All he
could do was hope the military found the spot before the Tall One
escaped with
the ship. Struggling to keep his eyes open, he listened to the plane's
engine
purring in the distance.
Even
before he opened his eyes, he
felt the presence
standing over him. He was
lying on his stomach and felt every nerve ending in his body tingle to
full
alertness. His deepest instincts told him not to move, not to change
his
breathing. He was certain he was being watched.
A
voice
asked, "Mr. Okun?"
Brackish
deftly flipped himself onto his side und cocked his leg back, ready to
mule-kick his attacker, when he noticed he was in a hospital. The
doctor at his
bedside, who had almost taken a face full of foot, was a young man with
a
goatee, a buzz cut, and a very intense look on his face. He hadn't
flinched.
"Feeling
better this morning?"
"Dude,
I was just about to kick your teeth out. You're supposed to get out of
the way
when that happens."
"Much
better than yesterday, I see."
Okun
looked him over. "What do you mean? How long have I been here? Where am
I?
What's wrong with me?"
The man arched an
eyebrow. "Much much better." He introduced himself as Dr. Issacs and
explained they were at Fort Irwin, California. Okun had been there for
a week,
and although there was nothing physically wrong with him, he was
suffering from
an extremely unusual form of memory loss. Although Okun could remember
everything that had gone on in Mexico, he could recall none of his stay
in the
hospital. Each morning for the past week, he had woken up anxious to
tell about
the alien ship he'd found. Although he was only half conscious, he
managed to
relate the story accurately and in some detail. When Issacs and the
other
doctors explained to him that he'd already told them about the trip
south of
the border, he became quarrelsome, refusing to believe them. Each
morning he
asked if the ship had been recovered, if Lenel was dead, and whether
his ankh
necklace had been found. He remembered the answers he received until he
slept
again—whereupon he forgot everything. Even when he drifted off for a
ten-minute
nap, he woke up surprised not to find himself in the desert. Dizzy and
confused, he began asking the doctors where he was, how long he'd been
there,
whether the ship had been recovered, and if Lenel was still alive.
Issacs, who
was not a psychiatrist, said it was a case of amnesia unlike any he
could find
described in the medical literature and had no idea of how to go about
treating
the condition. Gazing steadily, almost menacingly, down at his patient,
he
expressed a guarded optimism. "You've seemed groggy all week, but today
you appear to be quite alert. I take it as a good sign."
Okun
looked confused and opened his mouth to speak.
"Before
it occurs to you to ask," Issacs cut him off, "let me assure you that
Dr. Lenel is alive and well. He broke two ribs and fractured some bones
in his
left hip, but his doctors expect him to recover nicely. Your story
matches his
in every detail up to the point where he fell down the hill, and we
have no
reason to suspect your account of the facts after that point."
"So,
what you're telling me is"—Okun wanted to get this straight—"I keep
not remembering yesterday."
"Precisely.
Or you might say you keep on unremembering it in your sleep, and I
don't mind
telling you that the whole thing has begun to get on my nerves. We've
had the
same conversation every day this week." He explained that the two of
them
had spent hour after hour arguing because Okun refused to believe
Issacs when
he said Okun had told him the same exact story the previous day.
"Frankly," the stolid young doctor said, "it's become incredibly
tedious."
Okun
was
beginning to wish he'd kicked this guy when he had the chance. He tried
to
remember yesterday. The last thing he could recall was finding the spot
between
the boulders and listening to the plane's engine. He started to ask
Issacs
something, but the doctor held up his hands.
"Before
you begin asking your usual questions"—he rolled his
eyes wearily—"perhaps you'd allow me to answer them for you. First: the
search planes located the cave shortly after dawn on Monday morning.
The
exterior wall had been destroyed, very possibly broken from the inside
out, but
there was no other evidence of the ship you and Dr. Lenel have
described.
Second:
no
, your necklace was not in the cave. Third:
no
, the
other ankh was not in the cave either. Fourth:
yes
,
the recovery team
headed by Mr. Jenkins searched in the loose earth where you had been
digging.
Fifth: you were found by two members of the search party, a pair of
agents from
the CIA's Domestic Collections Division. Am I going too fast for you?"
"No
one even saw the ship leaving the cave?"
"Radar
abnormalities were observed in the region, but no definitive
sighting was made."
"So,
basically, we came away empty-handed?"
"Yes,
it seems so."
Okun
buried his face under his pillow and briefly considered smothering
himself. Issacs, who briefly considered helping him, went on. "I'm very
encouraged by the fact that you appear to believe what I'm telling you
this morning.
It may mean you're cured. Today is different for another reason as
well.
Colonel Spelman is visiting from Washington and is waiting to see you.
I'll show
him in."
A groan came through the pillow
when Okun heard he would have to face
Spelman. He was positive he was about to be
bawled out by an irate soldier for all
the rules he'd broken and all the damage he'd caused. But when the
barrel-chested officer came into the room, he was all
handshakes and
smiles. He didn't seem angry at all.
"Nonsense,"
Spelman said, when Okun began apologizing for the way he'd chased after
the
second ship. "You did your best. If we had trusted you a little more,
and
sent you down there with some military backup, we would have captured
the thing
and maybe even taken some prisoners. But we were a little nervous after
your
visit with Dr. Wells. You couldn't have played it any better than you
did."
"I
need to get back there, Colonel. I need to search the cave for
something. See,
I had this necklace with a little piece from the ship shaped like an
ankh—that's the ancient Egyptian symbol for life. Anyhow, I—"
Spelman
turned away, and said, "Dr. Issacs, would you mind stepping outside for
a
moment and keeping the hallway clear. Mr. Okun and I have some issues
to
discuss." When the doctor had gone, the colonel reached into his breast
pocket and pulled out Okun's leather necklace with the ankh still
attached.
"When the DCD found you sleeping between those rocks, this was lying at
your feet. They brought it directly to me."
"Impossible!"
Okun gasped. "I left the necklace inside the cave. I'm positive about
that."
"That's
what I heard."
"Then
how did they find it next to me?"
"I
was going to ask you the same question."
Okun shuddered at
the idea of the Tall One stealing up and examining him while he slept.
Was
that all he had done?
The two men talked for a long time
before agreeing
the facts seemed to indicate that the Tall One had wanted Okun to have
the
ankhlike instrument.
Why
he would want this was
another question
altogether. Spelman had a theory about it. He began by asking if Okun
was
familiar with the Bridget Jones incident. Okun said he was. "Then you
know
these creatures possess implant devices our technology is unable to
detect. As
soon as you were brought here, we ran a number of X-rays and other
tests, and
while we were unable to find anything unusual, we can't rule out the
possibility that you've been tagged somehow."
"Come
again?"
"When
the Jones girl found the object, she described a depression in the
grass shaped
like a man. I've always felt the eebies must have been on the verge of
implanting the BB-sized device into the police officer when they were
interrupted, probably by the girl's arrival on the scene. We have every
reason
to believe your encounter with these creatures was more than one of
physical
proximity. Ask yourself why you were still asleep so late in the
afternoon when
they found you? Where did this strange thing about forgetting the
previous day
come from? And I don't need to tell you how often abductees tell us
about
experiencing false memories or how they lost track of themselves for a
day.
Maybe your encounter was more involved that you can recall."
Okun
considered this possibility. "Have I developed any strange powers like
she
did?"
Spelman shook his
head. "Except for being groggy and argumentative all week, Issacs tells
me
you're normal. Keep in mind this implanted device business is only a
theory, a
worst-case scenario. But it's at least possible they gave you back the
necklace
hoping you d carry it to another one of their ships. If they've marked
you in
some way that allows them to track your whereabouts, you could lead
them to
Area 51. It might all be a ruse to hunt down their missing ship."
"I
see. So I'm probably banished for life from going back there."
"Actually"—Spelman
smiled—"that's another thing I wanted to talk with you about. We are
prepared to offer you the position of Director of Research at the
facility. It
would always be a risk moving you in and out. But if we took certain
precautions, we feel confident you and the ship would be safe."
"What
kind of precautions?"
"You
told Dr. Issacs the downed vehicle was emitting a beacon signal."
"Right.
The image of the Y. You already know about that, too?"
"Yes,
you told us on Tuesday. You said the electromagnetic field generated by
the
power poles must have created a roof which prevented the space-based
aliens
from receiving the distress signal."
"So
you're saying we could rig up some mobile unit to generate EMF waves,
and I'd
travel to the labs under it?
Tr
és
cool. But wouldn't it just
be
easier to hire somebody else?"
The
two
men looked at one another for a long beat. "At this point," the
colonel said, "we don't feel anyone could replace you. You know so
much.
It would take many months, perhaps years, for someone to learn what you
already
know."
Okun
heard
Dworkin's voice ringing in his ears,
The more you know, the
deeper youre
buried.
Spelman
stood up, preparing to leave. "You're the only one we're considering at
the moment. It's the job we had in mind for you when you were
recruited. Take
some time to think it over. We know from Agent Radecker there are many
changes
you'd like to make at the labs. As Director of Research, you would have
the
power to make them. But once you're in the door, you'll have to stay
down
there. You won't be able to sit outside and do your watercolor painting
anymore,
and there won't be any weekend trips to Las Vegas." Before he turned to
go, he added, "As much as I'd like to see you accept this assignment, I
have to admit I don't know how I'd choose. Here, hold on to this while
you make
up your mind." He handed over the ankh and leather necklace.