Close Encounters Of The Third Kind II: Roy's Return: The Special Edition
DEVIL'S TOWER, WYOMING, 1977
The little white creature emerged from the ship and walked bi-pedal down the ramp towards Claude Lacombe. He stopped before Lacombe. Lacombe took off his sunglasses as did everyone around him. The light that came from the mothership was blinding, but the humans didn't care. They wanted to see this alien.
Lacombe did the Kodaly hand signals that were representations of the five note sequence they had been using to communicate with earlier. The little alien cocked its' head and repeated the gesture. It meant no harm. Lacombe, David Laughlin (mapmaker turned interpreter), and those around him stared in awe at this creature. They felt a strange peace.
Moments before they had watched in awe as Roy Neary had been picked from a line-up or orange jump-suited men and women hand-picked by the U.S. Army. The little aliens did not want any of them. They swarmed around Roy; they took his hands, they crowded around him and guided towards the ramp that lead to the inside of their ship. He, Roy Neary, was going to go with him.
Roy Neary, who had been consumed by UFOs ever since the night of his close encounter en route to Cornbread, back in Indiana, his home. Roy Neary who had been plagued by the image of a mountain in his potatoes, his shaving cream. Roy Neary, who had built a large scale model of a mountain with a flat top on it, and later realizing after seeing it on the news that it did exist and it had a name: Devil's Tower. Alienating his wife Ronnie, and their children he had gone to Wyoming in search of it. There he had found Jillian Guiler, whom he'd met with her son Barry (he had nearly run him over) the night of his first encounter. She was there to find her son who'd been abducted by these aliens.
Escaping the army's fake quarantine of the area, and crashing through barricades, they'd made their way to the tower. After a rough climb up, they were rewarded by the sight of the runway and temporary buildings that the army had installed for a supposed rendez-vous with some UFOs. "We're the only ones who know – the only ones!" Roy had said gleefully. They were treated to an incredible lightshow followed by the arrival of the immense mother ship. That was followed by a musical conversation started by the five tone signal. Roy had gone down to the runway to see better. Jillian stayed in the rocks. "Barry isn't here. I'm just not ready yet," she said. "I can't stay here. I've got to go down there," he replied and climbed down to the runway.
Lacombe encountered him asked him why he'd come. "What is it you want?" "To know it's all real. That it's all really happening," Roy said. Lacombe went away and proposed Neary's name for consideration to be included in the group of men and women who were possibly going to go with the aliens.
In the meantime, the platform of the mothership opened and the missing pilots of flight 19 from Florida back in '45 came out. They hadn't aged a bit. Others followed including Barry Guiler. Jillian ran to the platform and embraced her son. She wept.
And now Neary walked up the platform. He felt a weightlessness as he did. He began to float. The little alien took a last look at Lacombe and returned to its' ship. The platform closed and ship slowly began to ascend. Scientists and army personnel alike watched in awe as the ship suddenly took off for the outer reaches of space...
Twenty minutes later, army personnel had already begun to dismantle the temporary buildings. Precious rolls of film and audiotape were safely secured and loaded onto helicopters to be delivered to Washington D.C. Lacombe and Laughlin still remained on the runway, their eyes raised to the heaven...
THE PRESENT, 30 YEARS LATER
Claude Lacombe awoke from his dream. He looked around him and remembered. He was in the hospital, dying of a brain tumour. He had lost most of his weight. He had very little hair left. He cursed his weakness. He'd been dreaming of that night thirty years ago more often now. And now, he lay in this hospital bed, with the IV needle sticking out from his arm. He could hardly get out of the bed anymore. A pile of scientific magazines littered the bedside table. A half-eaten dinner was left on a tray where it had been pushed aside earlier.
He had hoped for the unthinkable for some time now. He had hoped that Roy Neary might return and that Neary might share the secrets he had learned from his alien friends. He had hoped that maybe the aliens would take him; it was his one last dying wish, but with only a month to live, it was unlikely now to happen.
He had left his scientific government group five years ago, when he first learned of his cancer. But he still knew what was going on on the inside thanks to Laughlin, who'd taken a government job in the geography department. He also had Robert Conneaut, who'd become Lacombe's assistant in his last few years on the job. Conneaut was now heading the French contingent of scientists as Lacombe had done before. He had one more young fellow on the inside of things too. This young man worked for the SETI project listening for signs of life in outer space. A young man whose interest had begun after an experience he'd had as a three-year old.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
The young couple were necking in his red Toyota Camry in the middle of a redwood forest just outside of the city limits. At first, they hadn't noticed the lights peaking through the tall trees. The young woman, Claire, caught the glare in her eye. She pulled away from her boyfriend, Daryl.
"Daryl, what is that?" she asked.
"Don't know, don't care," he replied and attempted to resume where he'd left off.
Claire pushed him away. She opened the car door and went out into a clearing. She looked up into the night sky. Star were everywhere out here, away from the light pollution of the city. Claire saw something else in the sky besides stars. There three different lights. One blue, one red, one white. They were moving in a way no plane made on earth could. Her father was a pilot, so she knew a little bit about such things. The lights zigged, and then zagged. Sometimes they went so fast, they left a light trail behind them like a comet or a meteor would.
Daryl was out of the car now.
"What the hell?" he blustered.
From behind the couple came yet another light. Claire felt her blonde hair blowing around into the wind it created. The light blinded them. And then like a light switch being turned off, the light was gone.
Claire and Daryl stared at each other, both with blank expressions on their faces. Claire noticed something odd about Daryl's face.
"Daryl! You're face...it's red!" Daryl looked into side view mirror of his Camry. It looked like a sunburn, but it sure as hell wasn't any regular sunburn. He looked at Claire's face. Hers was burned, too.
This is my first story on here. I hope there are other CE3K fans out there besides me who will enjoy this. Feel free to let me know what you think. I will be bringing back many old characters in the chapters to come. Michael
A note about the 'Special Edition'. This is a revised and expanded version of the same story I posted before. You will find new scenes and expansions on others. All five chapters have been redone in this manner. I hope you will enjoy what I have done and that I have made it better. Please let me know.