Cover Up - Draft     Sci-Fi  a work in progress

“Shawn, you left your computer on again,” Diane sighed, setting a plate down in front of him, silently hoping her son would at least try the new green beans she had switched to.

“I forgot to turn the monitor off,” he gave out, giving the vegetable a suspicious look before picking up his fork, “I’m searching for aliens.”

“The entire system is running in there,” letting out a sigh as she was finally getting the chance to sit down, her meal tasks completed for the evening.

“Yeah, searching for aliens,” he let out as he went for the pile of fish sticks first, saving the macaroni and cheese. “I’m working with SETI.”

“Seti,” frowning at the new word, “Who’s that, a new friend from school?”

“Come on, mom,” shaking his head as he added more ketchup to his plate, “I told you last week, I found this program and I downloaded it from SETI.”

“It’s searching for aliens,” giving out a slight shrug.

“Oh...right,” unable to recall what he had gone on about yesterday, let alone last week, “What was that again?”

“Mom, like those folks in the movie Contact. You know, the one in the desert that use radio telescopes for search space for signals, alien signals,” giving her a pointed look, before shifting his attention to the large pile of macaroni, his favorite.

“They can’t afford a supercomputer, so somebody came up with the idea of using all the thousands of home computers that just sit there doing nothing while folks go off and do something else…like eat supper.”

“I downloaded the program, and they sent me the information, the data. When the computer goes to the screen saver mode, it starts checking it. You know, searching for signals from outer space. Aliens,” giving out another slight shrug.

“So what happens if it searches and can’t find any signs of little green men,” sliding the serving bowl over closer to him.

“Simple, mom,” helping himself to seconds of the macaroni, “It automatic. It sends back what its checked, over the internet. They send me the next stuff to check. It’s simple.”

“Ah, so while you’re sitting in here, we’re deeply involved in the search for intelligent life out there among the stars,” showing him a doubtful look.

“You got it,” rolling his eyes as he faced the dreaded point of the meal where he had to at least try the latest green stuff she put on his plate.

“What happens if you find it?”

“Probably nothing,” giving her a thoughtful expression, fork in hand, “I was wondering that for myself.”

“My teacher says they wouldn’t tell anyone anyway. She said was like with those flying saucers folks said they saw. They would just say it was actually something else, and go on as if nothing happened.”

“She called it a government cover up,” finding he actually liked the taste of the beans, once he added a slight dash of salt. “She says once you find them, then you hope they go away.”

“What if they don’t go away?” pleased that he was reaching for another helping of the beans.

“Don’t know, mom,” throwing her a quick glance, “I don’t think they tell us kids what happens after that. I think its like sex.”

“You’ve cross checked this?” Ralph finally let out, looking up from the printout.

“Don’t you think I would have done that, already,” Sarah replied, throwing him a look, “This isn’t my first time, you know.”

“Yeah,” his eyes going back down over the data. “This came in from Shawn Williams one of our home systems. You know how’ll that’ll go over with the press, they claim it’s just another hoax, some kid playing with the data.”

“We both know they can’t mess with the data, and according to his profile, that kid is only twelve,” giving him a look. “I don’t think that’s an issue here.”

“I’ve ran the same data through three other places already, they all come up with the same thing. Plus, there’s that other aspect to consider. It stands out when you place it against the latest data.”

“Yeah,” he idly replied, turning to walk towards his office, his eyes scanning the report once more before he closed the folder, “Most unusual… there’s a shift. It’s moving.”

“The signal strength is also increasing, so it’s moving our way,” Sara added. “That ought to go over real well.”

Chapter One

“We’re tracking it,” the system operator repeated, looking over past the console to his supervisor. “Two other stations have picked it up as well. The projections are telling us it’s a suborbital approach, it’s slowing down.”

“Alright, put it on the main display, get me Homeland Security on the line, and somebody wake up the General.”

“What do you want me to tell him,” the girl asked, picking up the phone to make the call.

“Tell him company has finally arrived, and they’re from out of town,” the supervisor replied, glancing back at the display.

 “Tell him this is going to be an all niter. All right,” glancing around at the others manning their consoles, “Look sharp folks, we’ve got about three hours to be ready. This ain’t some computer drill.”

“They don’t slow down, Jason,” Mathews sighed, tossing the folder down on the desk before him. “This is where you get to earn that that Secretary of Defense pay they’re throwing at you each month,” giving him a slight smile, “You’re sort of damned if you do, and damned if you don’t on this one.”

“Oh, I get to pass the buck on this one,” Jason replied, leading them towards the hallway with the folder in hand.

“Half of them are still calling it a meteor, and no one wants to be the first to admit it might be the real deal headed our way. Nobody wants to stand in front of the President, telling him it’s an invasion from space.”

“He’ll just let out that chuckle of his, wave it aside and whisper over to his aide to have me fired within the hour. I’ll give him three minutes after I’ve left,” Jason sighed, shaking his head.

“I’m not part of the political system, I’m just an old soldier, doing my duty,” nodding as the staff opened the door so he could go into the room.

“Is it transmitting anything new,” the President asked, looking over to give the display a glance before turning his attention to the two men standing before him.

“No, sir, not that we’re aware of,” Jason replied, nodding towards the display. “You can see from the track history, that it was picked up as it came around the moon, no new transmissions at that point. The latest report here is saying we’ll begin to see entry into the atmosphere in 60 to 90 minutes.”

“Middle East. Lebanon area, based on current projections,” he added. “It continues to slow down, so that’ll have some play in the final location. We can’t get more specific until it gets closer.”

“So, gentleman, the question here is whether we find ourselves looking at a falling rock from space, making ourselves look like a fool for telling everyone the sky is falling, or taking a chance and destroying our first extraterrestrial visitor… one that’s coming to visit those folks over in the Middle East, and ignoring me, I meant us.”

“Is that what I’m hearing?”

“Yes, Mr. President. If it’s just a meteor, an asteroid, it’s expected to burn up on the way down. We’ll just see a nice bright streak going across the sky.”

“It’s the other aspect that has everyone concerned.”

“We’ll just handle this the same way as any sensible person in my position would do,” the President finally replied, taking his eyes away from the display to look back at the men.

“It’s just a rock from space, it was destroyed by friction as it entered our atmosphere.”

“I understand,” Jason sighed. “I’ll take of it, sir.”

“So, we’re on an alien hunt, one of those bug hunts, just like in all those movies we used to watch back when we were kids,” Matthews came out with as they rode the elevator back down to the ground floor.

“What happens if it’s a friendly alien?”

“There’s no such thing, you heard the man,” Jason replied, an uncomfortable expression crossing his face. “I get to report back that we had a suspected minor contact of the fourth kind, that the potential threat was dealt with, and the body is in the morgue… would you like to see it.”

“What happens if we just get it upset with us, maybe it just wants to exchange a few kind words,” a thoughtful look coming to Matt’s face as they turned to head towards the situation room.

“I’m resigning if that happens,” Jason quickly gave out, a grim smile showing, “An alien is one thing, one that we’ve pissed off is another. I’ll just go home, tell the maid she can leave early, that she should go spend some time with her family.”

“I’ll watch the battle from my living room. A big bowl of popcorn to my right, an ice cold six-pack on my left. I might even root for the other team this time.”

“Did I ever mention how much I hate working for a fool? Aliens don’t exist, just ask his preacher.”

“It’s made some slight adjustments to it’s course during it’s first orbit,” glancing over the latest data sheet being handed to him as they came into the room, “Now they’re saying Egypt… Cairo area.”

“A tourist from space, coming down to take a look at the pyramids,” he added, shaking his head. “That’ll go over real well at the debriefing.”

“Maybe it’s just the Great Pyramid,” Mathews replied thoughtfully, giving the wall map display his attention.

“I’m going out on a limb here, but what if they’re right, that the entire structure was actually used as a huge transmitter. I mean, from an engineer’s perspective, it was designed to do just that.”

“The initial destination was considered to be Ballbek, a place thought to be even older than the pyramids… and it has a landing platform that’s been there for thousands of years.”

“Hey, don’t go giving me that look,” he added, a faint smile coming out, “The Romans didn’t go around moving stones that weighed 1,500 tons.”

“I think we both accepted a long time ago that we probably couldn’t do that today with all of our modern equipment. There must have been a damn good reason for them to have built their finest temple there on that site, I just wish I knew what it was.”

“Oh, I know we’re going back to my pet college theme here,” showing a smile at Jason’s expression, “But there was never any mention found that the tip of the Great Pyramid was made of solid gold, we all just assumed it was because the other ones come to a solid point. It looks as if something is missing when we compare them.

“We both know that the weight of such a top would exceed the structure’s ability to support it. I still say it was always flat, and it simply had a gold covering, like a flat plate.”

“Like an antenna dish,” Jason replied, letting out another sigh, “We’ve had this debate before, Matt. That would show there’s a direct link to the ones over in Central America. They have a few pyramids down there with flat tops as well.”

“You know we can’t go around admitting something like that, it would mess up everything. Just think of all those folks that write those history books… to be proven they had all wrong from the beginning. We can’t be the ones who upset the apple cart.”

“Yeah, well, it makes sense as our falling rock is now headed directly towards it, as if it was following some sort of ancient homing beacon. Maybe it really was built by aliens, and they’ve come back to check on how things have been going over the last 5,000 years or so.”

“It’s approaching from the West, which allows it to make another complete orbit of everything on the way down to its destination.”

“Maybe they lost contact with the signal, and they’ve sent out the cable repair guy to fix the problem,” Matt offered up, giving a shrug of his shoulders.

“Well, we’re going to find out how well the repair guy is able to dodge an intercept on the way in,” Jason sighed, picking up the phone. “We can’t have it falling to someone else’s hands, either. We’d never hear the end of it, if that happened.”

“Damn politicians, I just hope we’re not making this into something we’ll all come to regret.”

“That’s one hell of a falling star,” Jeff gave out, stopping to stare up at the approaching bright streak in the sky.

“That’s got to be the brightest one I’ve ever seen,” Mindy replied, dropping her collection of branches onto the pile of firewood they had collected for their campsite. “We should make a wish.”

“Weird, I mean for it come down like that, come straight down and then level out,” she gave out in a low voice, keeping her eyes on the unusual sight.

“I’ve never heard of a falling star that could do that, it’s like it was doing some kind of evasive moves.”

“Maybe its avoiding hitting some birds as it comes down,” Jeff replied, adding a little chuckle at the thought as he watched with interest. “Feathers in your engine are not your friends.”

“Shooting stars don’t have engines, bird man,” she replied, her eyes on the sky, “Hey, look, there’s two of them now, it’s splitting apart.”

“We each get one then,” he said, a wide smile coming to his face at the idea. “That doesn’t happen very often. This must our lucky year.”

“Twins,” she sighed, reaching down to run a hand over her swelling, “It must be a sign from the heavens.”

“Oh, don’t go getting religious on me,” Jeff gave out, looking back up at the lines of fire as they drew closer, “Let’s keep this a simple spiritual experience, an sign of good luck.”

“After all,” he added, grinning at her, “Who says heaven is up in space somewhere?”

“Well, mine could be a falling angel, yours can be whatever you want it to be,” grinning back at him, “Maybe it’s a prediction of some calamity that’s about to befall mankind.”

“Omens from the sky. The age old battle between good and evil, we’re back to that are we,” he returned, keeping his eyes on the smaller falling light.

”I thought that was supposed to be comets, and how come mine gets to be the evil one?”

“Because, silly,” reaching out to poke him with a finger. “I was just a sweet innocent girl until you came along and tempted me. That’s makes you the evil one, the usurper of nubile maidens.”

“I think yours is going to come down close to us, probably going to land up there on the side of the mountain, judging by the angle,” turning to look at her. “Just to prove it’s not an angel, I’m going to take you up there in the morning to see it.”

“The walk will do you good,” he added, seeing the movement of her hand across her stomach again.

“Let’s just watch and find out first, I’m not planning a safari anywhere with you until we see if you’re right…oh,” sighing as they watched the closet one, “I think you’re going to be right after all,” watching as the streak suddenly flared over the distant trees that marked the side of the dark mountain, “but yours is going to come down by the lake, and I’m not going swimming.”

“It’s too chilly for you to be standing out here staring at the stars, waiting for another one to fall,” he came out with, rubbing a hand over her back.

“You head over to the tent, I’ll get the rest of this wood. It won’t take long before I have us a fire going. Hot chocolate is about to be served.”

“Maybe it started some interest when it landed,” Mindy sighed, snuggling deeper under the heavy blanket as they listened to the faint sounds of jet aircraft passing by.

“I didn’t think this place knew what a helicopter was,” noting the growing sound of the rotors as it passed somewhere overhead.

“That sounded like a military chopper,” Jeff said, giving out with a tired sigh as he shifted over closer to her, “I’d recognize that sound anywhere, an Apache. I flew them while I was in, back during the Gulf war.”

“I know, bird man, now get some sleep. We’re supposed to start laying out the markers for the campsites and trails tomorrow.

“Yes,” the President asked, glancing up at Jason, where he stood in the doorway.

“Ah, that falling rock. It went down in South Dakota, sir. I’m getting it brought out to Wright-Patterson.”

“Hanger 18,” the President suggested, giving out a slight smile, “I understand its accepted protocol on events like this. I watched the movie twice.”

“There’s more,” he asked, seeing Jason was still lingering.

“Yes, sir. It didn’t explode as expected. It seemed to shrug off two direct hits without much problem. The third caused it to shift its direction of travel. It went down in one piece.”

“I’m putting a team together. What would you have done with the little green men inside?”

“Morning, sleepy head,” Mindy let out as she unzipped the tent flap to let the sunshine in. “I see you’re into the vacation mode already.”

“Don’t hurry yourself on my account,” smiling at him as he stumbled out of the tent, “I’ve got the camp stove running, and I did it all by myself,” giving him a look.

“The eggs will be ready in a couple of minutes. I found the pepper, but the salt is missing. I think you forgot to bring it.”

“All that noise last night keep me awake,” giving out a wide yawn. “You don’t need any salt,” giving her a knowing glance. “Doctor’s orders, I’ll suffer it’s loss,” dropping down in the camp chair beside her to get his shoes on.

“Hey, look at the weekend warriors,” she remarked, nodding over towards the distant highway that ran past the campground entrance.

“We must have picked the weekend when all the boys get to come and practice what they forgot during the rest of the month. Your grandfather’s going to get upset if they decide to go four wheeling and trample his fences up there.”

“I don’t think they’d drag them all the way out here, just to spend one night messing stuff up,” Jeff said, watching as another truck made its way up the hillside. “That dirt road up there also takes you out by the lake, and it marks the property on this side. That’s why he wanted to set the campground here.

“Hopefully they’ll keep on going, I’d rather hear the birds and the bees.”

“You’ve already heard the call of the birds and the bees,” giving him a smirk as she collected the plates. “Time for our morning walk. You promised to show me a fallen star, as I recall.”

“Oh, man,” Mindy let out wiping at her forehead again, “I’m sweating to death, all this walking is getting to me. We there yet?”

“I thought you wanted to take a hike,” Jeff gave out, “You have the walking staff.”

“I’m going to beat you with it, too,” she promptly replied, letting out a tired sigh as she looked around them, “I think it was up there, over that rise more.”

“Hold it, folks,” the soldier called out as he stepped out away from the tree he had been standing beside, “That’s close enough.”

“Who are you?” Jeff let out stopping in surprise at the sight of the man. “What in hell are you doing up here?”

“Following orders,” using one hand to bring his weapon around, “You’re intruding, you’ll have to turn around and go back down the mountain. This is a restricted area.”

“Restricted, my ass,” Mindy let out, recovering, “We can walk anywhere we want, and where we want is that way,” motioning ahead of them with her staff.

“Put your weapon down,” he commanded, bringing the muzzle of his rifle up at them.

“You going to shoot a pregnant woman to death, buddy,” Jeff growled, his temper growing, “Then what, bury us out here in the woods. Call it a good day, go boast and brag with your friends?”

“Go on back down the trail,” the soldier replied, his uncertainty beginning to show in his voice, “Go back home.”

“We are home,” Jeff let out, swinging up with his boot to catch a limb laying on the ground in front of him, sending it up at the man’s face.

Moving quickly, Jeff pulled at the rifle as the soldier was struck, sending it flying to one side as he used his fist to knock the man over.

“Now, buddy boy,” he grunted out, reaching down with both hands to grab the man by his thick camouflaged shirt, “Let’s see how tough you are without that weapon in your hand,” lifting the man up off the ground and shoving him forcefully against the tree, letting the hapless man’s feet dangle a foot off the ground as he held him in place by sheer force.

“Let him go,” another voice suddenly called out, causing Jeff to turn his head away from the petrified soldier.

“Just move away from him,” the man said, taking another step closer to Jeff, as two other soldiers ran up to join him. “He was just following orders, mister.”

“Orders, Lieutenant,” Jell let out, giving the newcomer a glance. “That’s the excuse they gave back in ‘Nam. This one tried to kill my wife, and my child,” his eyes darkening as he gave the other two men a glare, “I say his ass is mine. I don’t want to hear about following orders while standing on my own land.”

“I can dig the hole deeper if I need to,” giving each of them a determined look.

“You boys ready for that? You do know that 9mm peashooter you’ve got strapped to your waist isn’t going to save your sorry ass, right?”

“You guys better clear the property,” Mindy called out, making sure she was clear of the coming battle, “He’s kind of protective of me.”

Still trying to get out his next command, the trio was hit by the thrown body of the first soldier, the heavy blow sending all of them sprawling on the ground in a tangled, moaning heap.

“Now, as I was saying,” Jeff said, leaning over to pick up the rifle that was laying on the ground, “This is my land,” pulling back on the bolt to load the weapon, “and I didn’t invite anybody from the damn US Army to come camping with us.”

“Major, we’ve got a problem, sir,” Sergeant Harris reported, giving the commanding officer an uneasy look as he entered the back of the trailer.

“Radiation leak from the hull?” the Major asked, turning to look at him.

“No, sir. There’s no indication of that so far. Ah… it’s Lieutenant Miller, sir. He’s run into a problem with one of the locals.”

“What happened this time, a bear take a dump in his sleeping bag?” Major Walker sighed, closing the cover of the laptop he had been using to give him a look.

“Sort of, sir,” Harris replied, another uncomfortable expression beginning to show, “Excepting this time he found somebody about six foot four, maybe two hundred sixty pounds. From the looks of him, I figure the guy can bench 400 easy, and boy is he pissed off. He’s got the entire squad from Sector Two out there, hogtied to each other with their own shoelaces, sir.”

“Ah... they’re naked, too.”

“Oh, this sounds good. Did he say he wanted?” giving the sergeant a questioning glance as he stood up.

“He told Captain Jacobs that he wants to eat Hubert’s liver, before he shoves a M16 up Miller’s… ah… backside, sir. I got sent in here to let you know.”

“I’d like to apologize once more, folks,” Major Walker said as Jeff was being handed back their ID cards, “A terrible misunderstanding, and,” glancing over to Mindy. “I have to say it should never have happened. It’s tough these days, trying to teach these new troops when they’re all lured in thinking each of them is the sole Army of One. It’s like herding cats.”

“I’m sure you can understand, that the special fuel we were testing in that military fighter that came down out there is highly toxic, and any exposure, especially to an unborn child, can have devastating consequences.”

“The lad’s heart was in the right place, he just went a little over the top.”

“We thought it was a falling star,” Mindy said, accepting her second bottle of cold water from one of the other staff. “I guess you can’t be too careful when things go haywire and bite the dust unexpectedly.”

“Give us a couple more days, Mr. Jennings, and we’ll be out of your hair,” turning his attention back to Jeff.

“I’ve got a heavy duty flatbed rig coming in. The wreckage is mostly in one piece; we just want to make sure we have all the little parts that might have scattered.

“Those lab boys like to piece them back together, figure out what went wrong. This is the third time we’ve had a problem with the engine during the test flights. I guess they thought they had it figured out.

“We’ll make sure any contaminated brush is taken care of as well,” nodding back at Mindy, “You’ll never know we were here, just a figment of your imagination.”

“I’ve arranged transportation,” gesturing over to the humvee pulling up in front of them, “We’ll give you a ride back down to your campsite.”

“Once again,” offering a hand out to Jeff, “I’m sorry all of this came about.”

“He was a Marine, combat pilot. Made it up to Captain,” Jacobs noted, setting the report down on the Major’s table.

“Decorated twice back during the last conflict, earned a Silver Star for bravery under fire. He got out when his term was up, according to this. Got married, and never looked back.”

“We’re not dealing with some simple farmer here, Jason. Them boys in Washington have their nose to the air over this. They’re sending some folks our way, they want to pay him a visit. Just to check up on what he’s talking about over all of this, that sort of thing.”

“The men in black. Well, he’s their problem now,” the Major replied. “We’ve got to get that spacecraft lifted and on that rig by nightfall, without that damn crane tipping over on me out there,” giving the report a glance before looking at him.

“What’s the word on folks over in town?”

“We got lucky on that. The mountain is on this side of town, so nobody has come out claiming they saw anything. We checked with the Sheriff.”

“Oh, those Washington guys want to debrief Miller and his little bunch of idiots as well. We should get them all reassigned after that, maybe some place in Antarctica.”

“What does his wife do?” the Major asked, glancing up at him, “They mention that?”

“Oh,” scanning the report once more, “A house wife, looking at this. She was in the Air Force, a Lieutenant… intelligence specialist.”

“That’s all it has, seems kind of thin to me. I mean, just regular evaluations, no duty assignments were found. She got out right after the war, just a couple of months after he did.”

“According to this, she told them she didn’t want to be a part of the big lie.”

“Oh, which one,” the Major asked, glancing up at him.

“Don’t know, sir,” checking the report again, “It doesn’t say.”

“How come all of their hazmat suits look like radiation suits,” Mindy came out with, giving another wave to the driver as he turned around and headed back up the road.

“What makes you think they do,” Jeff asked, letting out a sigh of relief as the vehicle vanished among the trees.

“My father is a nuclear engineer, remember? There was one lying in the back seat next to me. I’ve seen more than one of them over the years.” she quietly replied, a thoughtful expression coming to her face. “This one had a radiation badge attached to it.”

“You ought to know about them, you once said I glowed in the dark. In spite of my mom’s warnings, it was one of the reasons I went out with you,” making a face at him.

“Correct me if I’m wrong on this, bird man, but we watched that object, that thing, as it came down… and it didn’t act like some new type of military fighter to me. They can fly high these days, but I’ve never heard of them having to deal with outer space.

“That baby was red hot, only a reentry can do that.

“They run the new ones through their paces out near White Sands these days,” turning to give him a look. “Just in case one of them runs into those birds of yours, and bites the dust. I’m thinking his story has more holes in it than Swiss cheese.”

“That wasn’t some aircraft flying across the sky like he told us. No engine means no thrust… which means no lift… which usually means the flight is pretty much over at that point.”

“They tend to fall like a rock when something goes wrong the thrust part of the entire equation. Unless its something I don’t know about, they don’t make them to glide, either.”

“You ever heard of testing something like that in the middle of the night, something that’s failed twice before,” Mindy asked.

“What?” giving him a careful look. “What’s cooking in there?”

“He said something about parts,” Jeff replied thoughtfully, turning away from where he had been looking out towards the road. “I was just thinking on that. He also said ‘lab’. I think the rest of us would have said engineers. Besides that, we only saw one part separate from it.”

“So, it must have come down pretty much in one piece, and I’ve seen jets come down before,” he added, looking back towards the road once more.

“I suppose that could have been an ejection seat of some sort, the pilot punching out to escape before it crashed.”

“He wasn’t out there beating the bushes for some lost pilot, they were keeping everyone away from the impact area,” Mindy reminded him, shaking her head at the notion. “I didn’t see any ambulance or medical staff around there, either. I think we would have seen any emergency lights if they had brought a body out.

“I’m thinking they found exactly what they were looking for, as if they knew exactly where to look, and that there weren’t any other pieces to be found. Somebody had to be tracking it, until it dropped down below the top of the mountains.”

“Oh…wait a minute here,” his eyes widening at the new idea that just came to him, “They didn’t see it go down like we did… so they don’t know if anything is missing yet… because they’ve never seen one of those things before,” a smiling beginning to show as he looked over at her.

“They don’t know it separated just before it crashed,” she slowly replied, raising an eyebrow. “They didn’t realize it, otherwise he would have asked us about it. They would have wanted all the little gritty details for the report.”

“You thinking what I’m thinking,” she asked, glancing over with a smile as she watched him dig into his pocket, coming out with the keys.

“Want to go swimming now?”

“Nothing on this side,” Mindy called out, walking among the saplings that led towards the larger trees around the lakefront. “It’s kind of marshy over on this side, nothing’s gone through here for a few days judging from the tracks, just a few deer.”

“Well, I could have sworn this would be the right area,” Jell let out, slapping at his forehead, “Hey, I found those gnats you were trying to avoid.”

“Yeah, well there’s some more over here that you can add to your collection,” Mindy replied, turning towards him to join back up. “I’m coming up empty handed, and I’m not quite sure what I’m looking for.”

“I certainly don’t see any kind of ejection seat lying around here.”

“Something heavy,” he replied, coming to a halt with hands on his waist as he looked around. “I rather doubt it would have sank in this soft ground though.”

“I bet ya I know where it could have sank,” Mindy remarked, turning towards the lake. “What are the odds?”

“Hold on, I’m thinking,” he said, trying to figure out the impact angle by looking up at where the mountain began to rise upwards, “We’ve got to be close. We should be standing on top of it.”

“Oh, thinking. I was wondering what that wonderful smell was,” throwing him a grin as she made her way towards him. “I thought it was the muck I’m walking around in. I need to rinse it off my boots.”

“There some downed limbs over here,” he gave out, glancing up towards the tops of the nearest trees, “I think something might have clipped them on the way down, it looks like fresh damage.”

“Jeff,” she suddenly called out, waving at him with a hand as she pointed at the water with the other, “I see some bubbles, big ones like someone’s drowning, out there,“ shaking her hand as she indicated the spot. “Look.”

“I see it,” he came out with, hastily dropping his wallet on the ground before wading out into the water. Reaching the chest deep area, he swam out into deeper water.

Reaching out with his hands towards the source of the bubbles that were still coming up to the surface, he dove down.

“Found something,” re-surfacing to take another deep breathe, before diving back down to the bottom.

“Jeff, it’s a girl!” Mindy let out, letting out her breath of relief at the sight of him resurfacing, now surprised at the sight of the figure he held up in his arms. “Where on Earth did she come from?”

“From the bottom of the lake,” he gasped, wading in until he reached dry ground and putting her down with a grunt.

”She must have been swimming out here,” Mindy said, carefully dropping to her knees beside her, reaching out to tug at the thick, heavy layers of hair that obscured her face.

“Must have swallowed half of the lake,” Jeff remarked, seeing several mouthfuls of water coming out as he turned her on one side, using a hand to pat on her back.

 “She weighs a lot more than I expected, almost lost my grip.”

“I don’t think she’s breathing. Do something, Jeff,” Mindy gave out, looking over to him with a desperate look on her face. “Oh, wait,” she quickly added, seeing even more water being expelled, “I think she’s finally got it up.”

“Oh, wow,” she let out slowly, captivated by the sight of dark satin eyes that suddenly appeared, her eyelids opening as more water dribbled out from her mouth. “She’s alive.”

“Hey,” Mindy said, peering at the girl, “You all right? I guess we just got here in time.”

“Yeah,” Jeff added, stepping back to take in her appearance, “What were you doing out there in the water?”

“Oh, man,” stunned as the girl’s eyes changed colors, going amber before shifting once more to a deep crystal blue.

“Did you see that,” looking over to Jeff. “That was just amazing.”

“Yeah,” he quietly let out, seeing that the girl was intently studying each of them, before taking on a far away expression which lasted only a brief moment before she moved to gain her feet.

“That looks like some sort of wet suit you’re wearing,” Mindy said, in an attempt to break the ice as she stood as well, “We thought you were a goner.”

Keeping her attention on Mindy, she raised one hand, palm open as she studied Mindy’s obvious condition.

“Oh, damn,” Mindy gave out, turning to glance over at Jeff.

“I see it,” he replied, knowing what had caused her reaction, watching with interest as the moisture in the girl’s hair and clothing began to evaporate, leaving her heavy waves of hair flowing down her front and side dry, the dark color now sending out a rich shimmer as the sunlight caught it.

“Ah, hi,” Mindy said. “I’m Mindy, and this is my husband, Jeff.”

"Greetings to you, whoever you are; we have good will towards you and bring peace across space," she suddenly said with a low, soft voice, gauging their expressions as she dropped her hand.

“Ah… correct me on this if I’m wrong on this, but wasn’t that Latin,” Jeff finally said, raising an eyebrow as he looked over to Mindy.

“Maybe that’s all she knows,” Mindy finally said, giving Jeff another glance. “With eyes like that, I don’t think English is top of her list. Don’t go asking me what she just said, I need access to the internet to decode all of that.”

“Well, I wasn’t top of my class like you, but I think she just said ‘how ya doing’,” he gave out, raising a hand up for a moment to mimic her actions.

“She isn’t wearing a wetsuit, is she,” Mindy asked quietly, taking a closer look at what the girl was wearing. “That thing is dry as a old bone.”

“Jeff, maybe this is what a fallen angel looks like when you find one,” she gave out, her eyes still on the girl.

“I thought you said mine was the harbinger of doom,” Jeff replied, pursing his lips as he tried to figure out what they should do next.

“Maybe she just asked us to take her to our leader.”

“Finder’s keepers,” Mindy replied, watching with interest as the girl lifted one hand, her fingers quickly doing something with the wide bracelet she was wearing on her left wrist.

“This is getting intense, Jeff,” taking a step back as "Hello from the children of planet Earth," was heard in the air around them.

“There was something else down there,” he replied, still trying to understand what was going on. “Something metal,” he added.

“I didn’t get too close, all I was thinking on was getting her back up,” watching as the girl turned to study the mountainside.

“I’m thinking it was what we were searching for. The ejection seat, maybe escape capsule is a better word, out there under the water.”

“Jeff,” Mindy said thoughtfully, glancing back out over the lake, “If that’s what came down last night, how come she’s alive? Come on now, nobody can hold their breath all night.”

“How the hell do I know, you’re the smart one of the family,” turning to give her a look. “Maybe it was floating all this time and just now sank. Maybe it sank last night, and she was just now getting out of her ride when you noticed the bubbles.”

“At the rate of descent we saw,” Mindy let out quietly, returning his look, “That thing would have made an impact crater if it had hit the land. We would have heard it from the campsite. Hell, half the county would have heard something like that.”

“Hey, we saw something flare up on the other one, just before it went down up there on the mountain,” she added, raising an eyebrow as she considered the facts.

“Military fighters don’t do that, but I’d wager my first born that something from space would. You usually want to slow down before you smacked into the planet.”

“You usually don’t choose to land in the water,” Jeff pointed out.

“No… but, if what you said you found is off that thing those Army guys are dragging out of the woods up there, then we’ve located the missing piece, the section we saw when it separated.”

“We also have the angel, she must be the pilot,” exchanging looks with the girl as she turned back to face them.

“How do we know there isn’t a hundred just like her, lying down there on the bottom of the lake?”

“I didn’t think she was going to get into the jeep with us,” Mindy gave out, looking over to where the girl stood, her attention on the distant trucks that could be seen moving in and out along the roadway.

“Well, I told you we wouldn’t have any service out here,” closing the cell phone, “So, no internet and no checking on missing persons with the sheriff, not that I think we need to.”

“We’ll have to make a run into town. We can pick up some supper for all of us. Did she say anything else?”

“No, she seemed happy when I gave her a bottle of water, but nothing’s being transmitted from that bracelet she’s wearing. Maybe she’s a mute, and that’s how she communicates. She hasn’t tried to say anything else.”

“A mute, that speaks Latin,” Jeff replied, showing her an amused look, “I don’t think so, babe.”

“I would have expected some Spanish, if not English. At least maybe a grunt and some hand gestures. Nobody goes around talking in a dead language around here that I know of. Latin would have probably been my last guess from a long list.”

“Maybe that’s what they spoke, I mean the last time she was in town,” giving him a look.

“Jeff…did you notice…” she asked a short time later, her attention back on the girl.

“Yeah,” he slowly let out, feeling the question. “She wasn’t breathing when she opened her eyes… and she still isn’t breathing.”

“The rest of us start coughing when we get our lungs full of water.”

“I’ll go get the other tent set up just in case she sleeps, too.”

Chapter Two

“A sealed craft,” Morgan let out, pointing out her copy of the initial report, “I was expecting some itty bitty pieces. Space fluff is what it’s called around here.”

“Hey, I just scrolled down, there’s some photos attached,” Howard gave out, the excitement showing in his voice as he leaned over to get a better look at the display.

“Man, I can read that stuff later, I want to see what this thing look like first.”

“Oh, wicked,” he let out, his eyes widening at the first picture that came up. “That’s got to be the real deal. We have to give Jamie a call.”

“Jamie can just suffer his loss, I made the attempt,” Morgan said, peering at the photo on her own display, “He volunteered to go out to lunch with some geek today.”

“Damn thing dug itself in pretty good. They might have to use a bulldozer to get it freed.”

“Hell, they’ll probably damage it doing that, you know how those guys operate,” he replied. “What’s the next one,” seeing more attachments.

“Man, would you take a look at that,” Morgan let out, “There must be at least 18 feet of it showing, and no telling how much got buried,” staring at the following photo.

“Hey, that might be a seam there,” tapping the display with a finger. “Looks like a compartment edge.”

“Let’s not go counting our chickens before they’re hatched,” Jamie let out as his image popped up online beside Howard’s.

“This thing works, you know,” he added giving them a meaningful look, holding up his phone. “I just got an e-mail about something really cool. So, what’s up this time,” setting the bags of Chinese food down on his desk, “Another copy-cat fighter get discovered?”

“Oh…” glancing over at the images now on his display.

“Alright,” Morgan let out, sitting back in her seat to look over at the others, “I’m not convinced.”

“The report says they tracked it down,” Howard pointed out, “They found it just where they thought they would.”

“Guys,” she gave out, nodding over to where the printed photos were lying, “Take another look at what I sent over, it’s aerodynamically streamlined. It looks more like a morphed up SR-71 than something from space. You don’t need to be concerned about air drag in space,” giving each of them a fixed look.

“You do if you intend go traveling around the world, in the air,” Jamie pointed out, exchanging glances with Howard.

“Yeah, you can make a spaceship look like a box, but it kind of hard to drive around in one. It’d be slow, hard to maneuver. The wind would catch it.”

“It makes sense if you left from an atmosphere similar to ours, and intended to go to one,” Howard pointed out, “As you’ve said, it doesn’t matter what the shape of it is while it’s reroute.”

“Maybe it came through a worm hole,” he added.

“Yeah, and maybe it’s last year’s model,” she replied, throwing him a frown. “Form tends to follow function.”

“Well, let’s continue on. This report is saying its tight, no openings,” lifting up the printout to go over it again. “So, that means it came down, after being struck by several missiles… and crashed, with no apparent damage. Now, explain that to me,” looking back up at them.

“Why would it crash?”

“Ah, the pilot got knocked out?” Jamie replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“An advanced civilization would have anticipated that, it would had some type of automatic device, an auto pilot.” Morgan came back with, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t think it would have been programmed to crash. It would have something to protect the pilot, some means to get out if it was going to crash.”

“Beats me,” Howard said, “My dad’s the one who is into aeronautical engineering. Maybe it was expecting a different kind of greeting. Maybe the controls got knocked out.”

“We’re going to have to wait until we know more. If it’s sealed as they say, then the pilot is still inside, maybe they can just ask.”

“Or, it’s a robot ship,” he quickly pointed out, “maybe they didn’t send a pilot.”

“A computer isn’t going to walk around taking soil samples, they didn’t land on Mars,” Jamie sighed, leaning back in his seat.

“Sending a robot might mean it was expecting to run into problems, though. We just don’t have enough information to make a proper evaluation.”

“It might also indicate that it was designed to survive a fight,” Morgan mused, considering everything, “For all we know, that craft is just space junk at this point, no longer needed.”

“Maybe all they needed it for was to get here.”

“That would mean it was on an one way trip,” Jamie pointed out, “That doesn’t make sense to me.”

“Yeah,” Howard added, “the pilot is here to stay.”

“Like observe and report, or does it already have a ride back home,” she let out raising an eyebrow at the thought. “This is getting interesting.”

“Okay, so far we have a unknown, seemly undamaged ship, with a pilot that wasn’t too concerned with getting shot up. I’m thinking it was prepared for something like that, and the possibility it’s here to stay.” Morgan let out, a thoughtful look coming to her face.

“Jamie, why don’t you check on the forums, see if anybody’s talking about anything unusual. That might tell us something.”

“I can check on any unusual meteorite sightings, I can call Mr. Willis over at the high school. He knows somebody out at the Mt. Palomar observatory.”

“Guys, the report says they’re bringing it here,” Howard pointed out. “Maybe we can sneak a peek for ourselves. We can take the bus to the theater, and then cut across the far end of the runways. We can use the old storm drains.”

“Oh, damn,” Morgan suddenly let out, hurriedly gathering up all the papers on the desk in front of her, “I’ve got to go, dudes. That’s the driveway alarm, my dad just got home. He’ll freak on me if he finds out I can access his e-mail.”

“Let’s meet at the base library,” Howard suggested, reaching over to log off the system on his end, “My mom says she wants me getting out of the house more.”

“Agreed,” Jamie replied, giving a wave with one hand, “10, in the main lobby this time. No playing games in the aisles.”

“I’m out of here dudes,” his image dropping from the computer display, followed by Howard’s.

“Hey, what’s keeping you inside, it’s a nice day out there,” Brad let out, setting his briefcase down as he reached out to give his daughter a hug.

“I hope you’re in the mood for pizza, I’ve got to work the midnight oil. New project assignment,” he added, seeing her expression.

“How was your day?”

“I did all my exercises out there this morning,” Morgan replied, giving him a quick kiss on one cheek. “I made sure I wore my old shorts, the ones you told me to toss out,” throwing him a grin.

“I was able to stop traffic for awhile, old lady Miller nearly had kittens again when she spotted me.

“We need a house of our own, dad. Living here in the base housing has some limitations. I do believe I’m going to develop some kind of complex, if they keep staring at me around here.

“I’m thinking I should just go out there naked next time, and put an end to their speculations and fantasies. I’m also thinking on taking a razor to my head, just to see their reaction,” she added, giving the thick braid of her hair a tug, finding some amusement in his facial expressions as he struggled to deal with her.

“I think I can manage some pizza. If we’re going to order out tonight, I’m going to want some breadsticks, too.”

“Well, use your system to order it online,” sighing as he shook his head and headed into the living room, dropping his jacket and case down on the sofa.

“I’ve got to keep an eye on mine this evening, I’m expecting some important reports to show up soon. I’ve got the one at work set up to forward anything that comes in.

“Hey, I know I promised we’d do the zoo this weekend, but duty calls.”

“Sure, dad, I’ll take care of the food… extra pepperoni,” she replied, letting out a sigh as she leaned against the railing banister before turning to keep her eyes on him, “What is it this time, another budget crisis?”

“Ah, noo…” throwing a look back at her before sitting down to take his shoes off, “Some new fighter bit the dust last night, so a couple of us got it handed over to us today.”

“One of the black ops projects, the kind that keep you up at night. You know the drill. Washington wants answers, so we get to go back over the entire concept from A to Z, figure out where they screwed up the design, that sort of thing.”

“Yeah, I know, dad. The kind of assignment that gives you a headache,” following him in the room.

“Anything I can help with, my intuition on why things go bad is pretty good,” giving out a hopeful expression. “You’ve mentioned it yourself.”

“Sorry kiddo, but this one is strictly an in-house staff project. I’d be spending all my time explaining how my teenage daughter knows more than I do,” throwing her a grin. “They’d hire you, and then where would I be?”

“The unemployment line, that’s where,” he added, “I’m getting too long in the tooth to be out there pushing a mower under the blazing hot sun, just to put food on the table.”

“So, you get to stay around to work on it, I guess it won’t be so bad,” walking over to pick up the jacket, “I’ll be around to act as a consultant if you run into a snag.”

“What make you think it’s local,” raising an eyebrow as he looked over at her.

“Come on, dad,” carefully hiding her sudden fear that he knew more than what she thought, “You didn’t come home slamming your case down on the floor, screaming up the stairs for me to pack a bag. That’s an easy one to figure out.”

“What have you and your gang from school been doing,” looking over at her, “You guys have some plans for the upcoming weekend.”

“Its our little study group from school, not a gang,” shaking her head at the remark. “We’re into conspiracy theories, dad, and Howard’s just got us interested in ancient world stuff. Atlantis, that sort of thing. We’re meeting at the library tomorrow.”

“Well, they should call it your gang, you’re the smartest one, and they’re just a couple of guys. Or are there more now, do you weed them out and just keep the ones that show some signs of maturity?”

”There’s just the three of us, still,” Morgan replied, letting out a low groan, “None of them have ever shown any hidden potential for maturity, dad.”

“They just sit there, eyes on my top, waiting with baited breath in the hope that I might drop my pencil and bend over.”

“I’ve learned to deal with it,” giving him a wry smile, “I’m the smarter one of the bunch, remember?”

“They can’t get a peek at my bra if I’m not wearing one,” she let out as she headed for the stairs, giving a wave of her hand.

“I’ll be back down to get the door when the pizza guy shows. I’m going to hang up your jacket.

“I’m just screwing with you, daddy,” she called back, “Food in half an hour or so.”

“What are you doing?” Mindy asked, watching his frantic movements as he patted each of his pockets.

“Wallet, can’t buy us food with no money,” Jeff let out, pausing to think on where he might have left it. “I was thinking we should take a ride into town later.”

“The lake,” she suddenly came out with, leaning up in her chair as she remembered. “You dropped it before you went into the water.”

“Ah, thanks,” bringing out the keys, “You always know where I leave things around here. I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll keep an eye on her,” rubbing a hand over her side as she looked over to were the girl now stood, her attention now on the clouds passing overhead. “She seems a little simple minded. She keeps going back to staring up at the sky.”

“Oh, man, that’s a relief,” Jeff muttered, reaching over to pick up the wallet from the ground, having worried over it’s loss during the drive to the lake, “I thought I had lost you.”

“He never noticed anything different,” the first man said, lowering the binoculars before glancing over to the other man, “All’s well in his little world.”

“Well, let’s hope so. I don’t want him suspecting we found it first,” the other agent remarked, lifting his own glasses back up to scan the area around Jeff.

“From the footprints, they were wandering around the area as if they were looking for something. Since he just went straight to the wallet, I don’t think that was it.”

“Well, I don’t think they came out here to go fishing, there’s no indications of that,” the first agent said, “But, the question still remains… why would he leave his wallet on the edge of the lake like that?”

“Maybe he did lose it, he seemed happy to locate it,” the other one remarked, trying to figure out the situation. “It fell out of his pocket while he was showing the lake to his wife. Maybe she wanted to go for a swim.”

“No… the Major’s report says she’s about to pop, she isn’t in any condition to go swimming. I’m surprised she’s out here camping.”

“Mystery of mysteries,” the first agent muttered, taking out his notebook to make another entry, “Now, we just need to figure out where the third set of footprints came from. Nobody’s walked up that road back there, there’s no other prints.”

“Two came to the lake, and three left,” talking to himself as he made another note, “So, that means either they were already here, maybe before they came up the mountain looking for whatever fell from the sky that night, or somebody was waiting for them when they got here, and left with them.”

“The driver reported that there wasn’t anyone waiting for them at their campsite when he dropped them off.”

“So, someone was already out here, that’s why he didn’t see them,” giving him a look.

“All night,” the other man asked, shaking his head at the idea. “I don’t think so.”

“I bet it gets down right cool out here by the water overnight. There was no campfire, nothing to show anyone was out here walking around. Nothing.”

“Neither one of those jive,” the other agent sighed, turning to head them back to where they had parked their vehicle, “We’re missing something, and the boss isn’t going to like that. He hates mysteries as much as I do.”

“Just pull into the parking lot,” Mindy said, directing him as they approached the library, “I don’t need to go inside, we can use the wireless signal. It should reach out here.”

“Maybe we should get you back, we can go all of this another time,” Jeff said, trying to convince her to agree to go easy, her refusal to go to the hospital still causing him some worries from when she had grabbed at her side getting into the jeep.

“It’ll only take a few minutes to do a little research,” she sighed, shaking her head as she opened up her laptop, “just make sure I’m plugged into the converter. I don’t want my battery dying on me before I’m done.”

“Well?” Jeff finally came out with, seeing she was deeply immersed in what was being displayed on her screen.

“Oh.” giving him a glance, before looking back at the display, “I looked up some of that Latin… which took me to another search, which sort of grabbed my attention.”

“Talk faster,” he gave out nodding towards her computer. “We need to grab something to eat, and head back. I think you need to lay down for awhile.”

“I started with the Latin, I remembered the first couple of words, and then used that to do a follow up search,” looking back over at him, “You’re not going to believe this.”

“Okay,” taking in his expression, “The first words were a greeting, like you thought. Actually, she began with ‘Greetings to you’ so I used that along with Space, since that was the other part of the mystery.

“Now,” a smile forming as she looked over, “It gets interesting. The entire phase is one of 55 messages of greeting.”

“She used one of the others as well, the one in English.”

“55 greetings from whom,” Jeff asked, looking back at the girl sitting in the back seat who quietly returned his gaze.

“From us, bird man,” Mindy let out. “Think back a few years, if you can manage,” smiling at him, “Voyager probes 1 & 2, each one carried a gold record attached to them…”

“And on them, they carried greetings from 55 languages,” he finished with an eyebrow going up at the revelation, “Oh... damn.”

“That’s not all,” her smiling widening, “Remember when she raised her hand up? Well that’s on the plaque sent up with Pioneers 10 and 11.”

“What do we do now?” he slowly asked.

“We can’t go around town with her dressed like some kind of scuba diver, this isn’t California,” Mindy remarked, glancing over towards the department store as they sat at the red light.

“You can go into the chicken place like you planned, or use the drive through.”

“I don’t think we want her to go around in brand new clothes, now that I’ve thought about it,” Mindy remarked, looking the shopping center.

“She’ll fit in better if she’s wearing something used and worn looking, something anyone would wear for camping.”

“Let me run to the GoodWill over there, they might have something we can use.”

“You wait here with her, I’ll be alright. I don’t want her to think we’re abandoning her,” Mindy let out, opening the car door in preparation to go into the store as he pulled into the lot.

“She’ll be right back,” Jeff remarked, noting the attention the girl was giving Mindy as she walked into the store.

“She’s just going to pick up a few things for you to wear,” giving his shirt a little tug, as if that would explain everything. “We don’t want any attention.”

“I am listening,” she said in a low voice, keeping her eyes on him for a moment before returning her attention to the store.

“That was fast, I thought girl shopping took hours,” he gave out, coming around to open the door for her, seeing the tired expression she had.

“Funny,” Mindy gave out holding a hand to her side, dropping several plastic bags down on the ground, “I’m not doing so well here, I had to cut the odyssey down to 20 minutes,” she gasped, carefully setting back in the seat and closing her eyes.

“What is it, the baby?” Jeff asked, a concerned look growing on his face as he realized she was in pain. “Hospital?”

“No,” the girl gave out, as Mindy opened her eyes at the sudden release of pain, to find she had leaned forward, placing one hand on her stomach.

“Oh, man, does that feel good,” Mindy finally let out, looking over at Jeff with an expression of relief, “It’s fading away.”

“It’s gone,” looking over to the girl as she took her hand away, “You did something.”

“Biometric evaluation completed, I have information needed,” she gave out, sitting back on the rear seat once more.

“She can understand us, she said something while you were in there,” Jeff said, running a reassuring hand down her arm, making sure she was feeling better.

“You are understood,” she replied, slowly turning to face him. “I am aware of 55 Earth languages,” she replied, glancing back at Mindy. “Would you like to hear them?”

“Ah, no thanks,” she quickly got out, holding up a hand to stop her. “English is the one we use around here, so if you don’t mind, we’ll just use one.”

“English is the one you just used,” she added, noting the pause she gave, as if thinking on what she had said.

“Ah, if you don’t mind me asking, where did you come from, we kind of figured that you’re not local,” Jeff asked, giving her a questioning look as Mindy relaxed against the seat.

“Data is incomplete,” she replied, shifting her attention back to him, “I am not sure you would understand.”

“Try us,” keeping his eyes on her, “I’ll try to understand it.”

“Whoa,” he suddenly let out as she opened the car door, “Don’t go anywhere, please.”

Standing still, she gave the sky her attention for a moment, before raising an arm and pointing.

“The Constellation of Orion,” Mindy sighed, turning to look over to Jeff, “Why am I not surprised.”

“Look who’s playing sleepy head this morning,” Jeff gave out, standing in the open tent entrance.

“What time it?” Mindy asked, struggling to sit up on the air mattress, “I guess I over slept.”

“It’s nearly noon, baby doll,” giving his watch a glance, “I’ve got lunch ready when you drag yourself out here. Don’t go rushing, we don’t want to strain anything.”

“Oh, I feel fine,” holding her arms up over her head to stretch out, “I don’t know what she did, but it’s still working. I haven’t sleep so well in months.”

“Well, she been earning her keep, seems she doesn’t sleep either, so we stayed up for awhile after I got you all tucked in. I taught her how to split firewood, she’s out here helping out.

“She doesn’t eat either,” turning to look out towards the picnic table for a moment, “She just drinks water. It goes in, and nothing ever comes back out,” showing a smile as he looked back at her.

“What sort of life form exists only on water?”

“Alien life forms,” showing him a faint smile as she readied herself to go out. “Make yourself useful, get my slippers on for me.”

“Fuel for the furnace,” Mindy let out quietly, watching from her camp chair as the girl effortless split another block of wood for the fire.

“What,” looking over from where he was cleaning up from their meal.

“You said she doesn’t eat anything, but she does,” looking over at him before returning her attention to the girl. “She takes in water… H2O… that’s what she was doing in the lake, she wasn’t drowning.”

“Water is comprised of oxygen and hydrogen, bird man,” grinning at his expression. “She’s converting it into energy. She has an unlimited source of fuel, and emits no by-products. The perfect engine.”

“Think on it, Jeff. Water is the only common substance found naturally in all three common states of matter on the planet. And it covers nearly 70% of it, too.”

“She can also absorb it from the air around her,” he remarked, thinking back on what happened after she came out of the lake, “She doesn’t have to drink it.”

“What’s the frown for, then,” looking back over to Mindy, “I think we’re figuring her out.”

“There’s a term, called the break even point, when dealing with this type of system,” still watching the girl as she split more wood, “It’s the point between energy in and energy out.”

“To be self-sustaining she would have to produce at least the same amount of energy that she takes in, or converts.”

“My dad really needs to meet her, she’s a walking fusion reactor, and I’m wondering why she not emitting as much energy as she’s taking in.”

“Maybe she’s storing it for later, like a battery.” Jeff mused.

“Yeah, I can understand that,” Mindy replied, giving him a thoughtful look, “but storing it for what? She doesn’t need to, if she exists on water, it’s everywhere.”

Chapter Three

“Did you bring it?” Morgan asked, dropping her bag down on the table as she took a seat across from Jamie.

“Yeah, wasn’t so easy, either,” he let out, bringing a book out of his own bag to set it down in front of her, “It’s the Advanced Training Manual, the one they use for Military and Police Snipers. Your dad is going to pass egg rolls if he finds this in your room.”

“Thanks,” giving him a wide smile, ”I knew you could do it. What’s the other one,” nodding back towards his bag as she grabbed up the book.

“Ordering these two together would have gotten me strip searched on the first day of school,” he replied, opening the bag to bring out another.

“We were going to surprise you, so just remember you owe us,” giving her a grin, “A birthday present from the two of us.”

“We had to have somebody else order it, using an alias,” Howard added. “We had to pay extra.”

“Ah, guys,” Morgan let out, quickly lowering her voice as she looked around to see if she’d be admonished for being loud, “So, you do care,” grinning as she accepted the second book.

“The manual on improvised anti-personnel devices, that’s so cool,” running a hand over the cover before placing it inside her bag, along with the first one.

“You got something for us,” Howard asked, a grin showing on his face.

“Oh, something special, I’ve been saving it,” she replied, “Just wait to you see what I’ve got. Wait a minute,” looking from one boy to the other. “I thought under the existing barter system rules, that birthday presents were exempt.”

“Well, we sort of thought that was more like a guideline than a rule,” Jamie said, as Howard nodding in agreement, “You know, subject to change.”

“Subject to the needs of the government,” she let out, glancing from one to the other.

“Yeah, like that,” Jamie said, “Your turn, show us what you got.”

“You mean right here,” she replied sitting back on her seat, “In public, where everyone can see?”

“It’s not like we haven’t seen them before,” Howard remarked, leaning over while keeping his voice lowered, “We’re Air Force brats, I think we can handle it.”

“All right, but don’t blame me if it affects your sleep,” giving a grin as she opened her bag once more, bringing out an envelope. “Hot off the press, and in living color. One alien flying saucer,” holding the photo out so both of them could see it, “and here’s the other one,” sliding the other one from behind it, “the best of the lot, I think.”

“Man, that’s so cool,” Jamie let out, reaching out to take the second one from her, “I just knew this was real. This is them loading it on a truck.”

“There’s more,” Morgan said, watching as the two boys checked out each of the photos, “It’s on the way here once it’s ready. It’s supposed to start out tonight, they wanted it to be dark.”

“Yeah,” Howard said, looking up over the photo he was holding, “Anything else?”

“Yeah, real hush hush stuff,” she said, lowering her voice even more than before as she leaned towards them, “It was headed towards the pyramids.”

“It’s a good thing we were studying Atlantis,” Howard sighed, returning the photo he was holding, “That’s where they went you know, to Egypt, when their island sank into the Atlantic.”

“Sure, Howie, and that’s why they knew how to build it. I thought I read somewhere that aliens built it,” Jamie let out, looking up at him.

“Look, aliens, little green men, a hundred thousand slaves, the stories run wild with speculation,” he replied, setting a more serious tone. “The fact remains, that the quartz in granite used in the building produces electricity when under pressure, it’s a widely known proven fact.”

“Now, with enough pressure, you get a nice discharge, and if you place a large quartz crystal up there in the king’s tomb, as they call it, along with the proper amount of fluid in the lower chamber, you have yourself the largest machine on earth, and it’s powered by nature herself.”

“Run that energy through a waveguide, like...say the shaft leading up to the top, where the blocks are designed to resonate, and I’m thinking you have yourself a ion transmitter,” looking over to Morgan with a smile.

“Somebody knew what they were doing, and it’s capable of recharging itself from the Earth itself.”

“Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Jamie,” glancing back over at him, “I don’t make this stuff up. I just observe and report.”

“Ions… ions. Actually, it’s a plasma beam from what you’re saying,” Morgan gave out, getting an idea. “Can we translate that into a frequency?”

“I suppose, but it ‘s already been done for us,” Jamie said, looking over at her, “It called the ion plasma frequency,” smiling at her. “No need to reinvent the wheel. I looked it up.”

“You thinking what I’m thinking,” Morgan finally asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked from one to the other.

“If it can locate the Great Pyramid from space, it can locate something else right here in the same town the ship is going to be,” Howard slowly said, his eyes widening at the idea. “A lighthouse.”

“A beacon,” Jamie added, nodding his head, “I think we’re on to something here.”

“Oh, damn,” glancing down at his watch, “We’ve got 10 minutes to make the bus if we’re doing the archery thing today.”

“Howard, doesn’t your father work with ion clocks,” giving him a look from where she sat on the bus seat, “I mean, isn’t that part of the GPS systems he’s assigned to?”

“You want me to sneak in and rip off an ion clock, so that we can rig it up as a signal for aliens,” Howard replied, his tone of voice showing his low enthusiasm of the idea.

“No, lame brain,” Jamie interrupted with beside him, “We don’t need to take it anywhere, we just need to use for our own purposes.”

“It can transmit from anywhere, it just needs to send a signal that can be easily picked up, something that stands out from the rest of the noise we humans are generating,” Morgan said, showing a grin.

“Like maybe changing it from a nitrogen gas system over to neon, when we set it to the frequency of the pyramids. We can set one up on the test bench and let it run, nobody will give it much thought.”

“We don’t need it to glow in the dark,” Jamie said, considering what she said, “How about we mix it 50-50 with methane, that’d change the ion rates. We could pulse it as well, maybe come up with some simple code.”

“That’d be a beacon, for sure,” Morgan sighed, settling herself back against the seat. “I think we’ve got a busy weekend ahead of us.”

“Why this weekend?” Howard asked.

“Because the ship is going into the hanger when it arrives, so I figured the pilot might want to know where it is,” she replied, looking back over at him.

“It won’t tell anyone where the hanger is located, it’ll only bring them to us,” Jamie pointed out, looking over, “That might be a problem.”

“I always wanted to meet a real alien,” Morgan replied, letting out a sigh, “It’d be a nice addition to my resume when I submit it to the FBI.”

“You realize of course that the pilot, if one exists, is going to see this as a lure. I mean, we didn’t kill him on the way down, we have his ship, and now we want his body to go with it,” turning to look over at Morgan, “I’m just saying is all.”

“He might not be a happy camper when he shows up.”

“Man, that alien is going to be pissed when he finds out what they’re going do to his ship.”

“She’s beginning to act like you,” Jeff gave out, idly watching as the girl tied another section of red tape to a pointed stake.

“She was watching as I made up the first one,” turning to look over, “I laid out the map of the campground, and explained the purpose.”

“Not only has she modified the plan, she’s doing all the stakes as well. She doesn’t need the hammer to tap them down into the ground, she just pushes them in with her hand.”

“You can’t tell her apart from anyone else now, those clothes make a difference,” Mindy mused, keeping her attention on her, “I was wondering why she stayed here with us.”

“She’s learning from us, Jeff.”

“Yeah, I was thinking that same thing myself,” giving her a glance, “She extremely intelligent, and you don’t need to show her something twice. She picks up on the implications of something without having to show her anything else.”

“I’m wondering is she’s a sentient being, you know, aware of herself.”

“She certainly acts that way to me, it’s not like she’s walking around here like some kind of robot,” Mindy replied, a faint smile showing as the girl looked up from her task to give her a brief glance.

“I am what I am,” she suddenly came out with, setting her work aside to look over to them, “Self aware, conscious… several terms are close in definition, yet not exact.”

“I am still gathering information, however I understand the question.”

“Can you tell why you’re here?” Mindy asked, “We’ve been holding back on questions, trying to understand the whole situation.”

“Probe,” she slowly said, looking to each of them, “That word is close, and carries the connotations required for a understanding at this point. I will keep my description to that single word.”

“Jeff, something’s up,” Mindy suddenly let out, watching as the girl stopped talking, turning to look towards the road.

“Whoa, did you see that,” her eyes widening at the brief flicker of blue that surrounded the girl, “She had this faint tint around her, like some sort of misty cloud.”

“I saw it too, but don’t ask me what she did,” Jeff replied, following the girl’s gaze. “I think we’ve got company coming.”

“Ahh, I see the government isn’t finished with us,” Mindy remarked, spotting the car approaching, “We need a cover story for her, something must have brought them here.”

“My niece, Phoebe,” Jeff said, completing the introductions. “I’m afraid the campground won’t be ready until next spring,” waving a hand around the area.

“We’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us, as you can see,” motioning towards the stakes, “We’re still laying out the paths and clearing the camping sites.”

“Oh, I haven’t gone camping in years,” Agent Donaldson replied, looking around the site, “I’d be afraid a bear would get me out here.”

“Actually, Mr. Jennings,” Carlson, the other man, remarked, “We wanted to let you know the work up there on the side of the mountain is pretty much done. We were asked to stop by, we were told you had expressed some concern of how things had gone.”

“When the government drops an airplane in someone’s backyard, we like to step in and reassure them,” looking over to Mindy.

“We’ll be issuing you a check for any property damages,” Donaldson said, “We thought we could take care of that while we’re here. We were given your mailing address.”

“Well,” Jeff replied, noting their furtive glances around the site, “I wasn’t allowed to take a closer look of the impact area because of the fuel leak, but I was under the impression I have several large trees down. We saw the bulldozer go past, the one they brought up there,” he quickly added. “I figured they had to move a tree of two out of the way up there.”

“I’d like to have them dragged out, we can use them for firewood. If we can get them split up, they’ll be ready for the campers next year. We can make a few dollars by offering some at a modest price.”

“We’ll take care of getting them down here for you, they still have that dozer up there,” Carlson said, nodding his head, “That’s not a problem.”

“That’s a lot of work for just the two of you,” Donaldson, remarked, “Not to take anything away from you, Mrs. Jennings,” glancing at her, “but you don’t look in any condition to be handling a chainsaw, or an ax for that matter.”

“No, I like to watch these days, but tell me Mr. Donaldson, how’s the government going to take care of my medical expenses.”

“Medical?”

“Yes, the Major up there told us your plane spewed toxic fuel all over, and I must have walked through it on the way up there the other day.”

“I think I should get a checkup,” giving both of them a pointed look, “We can’t be too careful.”

“Have a doctor take some tests, might need some blood work, just to make sure you guys didn’t do something to my baby.”

“I don’t think my insurance is going to cover government toxic fuel,” giving them a weak smile.

“Ah, yes,” Carlson replied, throwing a quick glance over to the other agent before bringing out a notebook from his shirt pocket, “I had overlooked that. I’m thinking a thousand for the trees, and another for the doctor?” giving Jeff a questioning look.

“I was thinking on seeing a specialist,” Mindy quickly remarked, raising an eyebrow at his glance towards her, “They cost more.”

“What about your niece,” Donaldson asked, glancing over to where the girl stood watching, “She going to need to see a doctor as well?”

“No,” Mindy replied, throwing a quick glance over to Jeff, “She was here in the tent that morning, sleeping. She’s been doing quite a lot around here. She’s at that age where work isn’t the first thing on your mind.”

“Well, let’s just round this up to $3,000,” making a notation before glancing back to Mindy, “In case you need a follow up, x-rays, that sort of thing.”

I guess that covers what we needed to take care of,” Carlson gave out, making sure his notebook was back in his jacket pocket, “I know it doesn’t mean much these days when we say it, but the check will be in the mail,” throwing Mindy a smile.

“Didn’t your niece die when she was just a week old,” Mindy asked thoughtfully, watching as the car made its way back up the road.

“Yeah, but there’s a birth certificate on file, and the ages wouldn’t be that far off. Did you notice that he was carrying a holster under his jacket?”

“What do you think, FBI?” turning to give him a look.

“CIA,” Phoebe remarked, her attention still on where the car had gone. “They are talking to someone named headquarters on their communications device now,” looking over to Jeff. “They say we are a hot item, and both of them were carrying projectile type weapons.”

“What do you think we should do,” Mindy asked, pursing her lips at what she had said, “This is getting interesting.”

“I’m thinking we should act normal, wait for them to drag those trees down here,” Jeff came out with, giving it a few moments of consideration.

“I’m sure somebody will be checking on us. Once that’s done, we’ll sneak out during the night. Instead of heading straight home, I think we should leave you with your parents.”

“Should I terminate link,” Phoebe asked, her attention going back to the two of them, “I am monitoring.”

“You can listen in on his phone,” Mindy asked, giving Jeff a glance at the revelation.

“I have identified his hand held unit,” leaning down to pick the axe back up. “I can tell you if he uses it.”

“You can just listen in on cell phones... how do you do that. Can you hear him from here?”

“Not required now, I have heard him speaking. His device uses that satellite,” pointing upwards towards a section of the sky before dropping her arm, “All I must do is monitor for its code.”

“Damn,” Jeff gave out, “There has to be thousands of calls in progress at any given time.”

“Do you require the exact number? If so, it changes,” setting the axe back down on the stump. “It is simplest to say, I am able to listen to any of them.”

“I should place the remaining stakes. You will not require additional fuel if you intend to depart.”

“Well, that didn’t take long,” Jeff remarked, standing up to watch as a tree was now seen being dragged down the road by a large dozer.

“It looks banged up,” Mindy gave out, after taking in the scene, “I guess they are in a rush now, trying to cover it up and get out of here.”

“What makes you say that,” trying to see what she was talking about.

“They did not take the time to disguise the damage,” Phoebe said, following their conversation. “They should have cut the wood into sections, leaving out the indications of where the craft struck, and destroyed them. There should be several that are marked in that manner, the area has a dense population of trees.”

“Maybe they thought we pay no attention, that it was simply caused by the jet that supposedly crashed.”

“Ever here of one crashing, and there’s no signs of a fire?” Mindy came out with, glancing over at him, “Something fell from the sky, and didn’t even singe the leaves.”

“I wonder how long it’ll be before somebody realizes the flaw in that cover story.”

“I thinking we should take some photos once they have them all down here, because once we leave, those damaged areas will vanish during the night.”

“They will bring the craft out during the night,” Phoebe added, “Would you like photos of it?”

“Photos of damage to a tree do not indicate anything. They would say it was caused when it was dragged down, at your own request.”