Two: Questions
Snow crunched and crumbled under the black sedan's tires as it pulled into the driveway of a rural cabin in the Rocky Mountains. The car came to a stop just in front of the home, and as the tires caught the gravel packed underneath the snow, its driver sighed. How many of these assignments had he been sent on so far? Forty-one, he recalled. This would be number forty-two. He pulled out his notepad and pen and scribbled out the details of this particular visit in the appropriate fields printed on the pad:
Incident #: 42
Date: Nov. 16, 1982
Date of detection: Nov.14, 1982
Estimated date of impact: Nov. 14, 1982
Location of impact: Colorado Rocky Mountains, 37 N, -107 W
He'd worry about the rest when he actually spoke to the eyewitness. He made sure his book and pen were stowed away in the inside pocket of his jacket, then opened the car door and was met with a wave of below-zero Colorado air that elicited from him a breath of surprise. Not that he wasn't used to the cold-his years of life in Maine could attest to that. He steeled himself, trudged over to the front door, and knocked.
"Hm? Hello?" a red-haired woman in sleepwear answered groggily with a rub of her eyes.
"Good morning, ma'am," the man said. "I'm Professor Hogarth Hughes with the US Geological Survey. Mind if I come in?"
There was a pause while the shivering woman rubbed her hands together and stuffed them in her armpits.
"What? Oh yeah, sorry. Yeah, come in. God, it's freezing."
A minute or so later, Hogarth sat in the living room while the woman, who had introduced herself as Amelia, brought coffee to the table. Hogarth took a mug by the handle and sipped it just enough to feel the warmth of the drink without burning the inside of his mouth. Amelia held hers in both hands and stared into its frothy contents. She was the one to break the silence.
"So, I suppose you want to know about the meteor?"
Hogarth let out a breath he had been holding. He had regurgitated that nonsense about "strange objects or events" and "things you would describe as extraordinary" enough times already to fill fifty of the standard-issue notepads agents carried around.
"Yes," he replied, pulling out his own notepad and pen once more and looking up at Amelia. "I take it you've to spoken to people about this before?"
Amelia nodded.
"I suppose you'll want to start where they started, then," she said. "It was Sunday night, 'round eight o'clock. I was watching the news when I saw a bright light outside my window. I pulled up the blinds to get a better look and saw what it was. The day had been stormy, and I guess I would've noticed the thing earlier if it weren't for the stormclouds. Only reason I didn't think it was lightning was that it got brighter instead of fading right away.
"I'd heard about meteors and how much damage they can do when they hit the ground, but this one was so close I didn't think I could get away in time. So I just kinda watched it. I was scared for my life, yeah, but I was so scared I was frozen, y'know? Couldn't move. So I just watched it."
She stopped to take a sip of her coffee.
"Then, and this is where most people dismiss me, I swear it slowed down. I know meteors slow down from air resistance or whatever, but this one slowed down more than I think it should have. Good thing, too, otherwise I would probably be dead. There was this really bright light when it hit, so I covered my eyes. Couldn't get a good look at the thing after that 'cause it'd fallen past the edge of the mountains.
"I was too tired and shocked to go down into the valley then, so the next day, I hiked down there, and it was gone. There were trucks, all carrying things covered in tarps. Guy in a black jacket asked me some questions, then politely shooed me off. There were more people asking me questions later in the afternoon, and then I went to bed, not knowing what to think. Nothing really happened in the night or anything, and then you showed up. Still don't know what to think."
"Right, okay…" Hogarth muttered, jotting down a few more details in his notepad. "Was there anyone else with you in the house at the time? Friends? Relatives? Romantic partners? Anyone else in the area who might've seen the object?"
"No," Amelia answered. "Just me living 'round here."
And so far, he had learned...absolutely nothing he hadn't known already, aside from the fact that Amelia made some decent coffee. It was like the agency thought asking people the same questions enough times would pressure them into giving them more information. Someone would undoubtedly be visiting poor Amelia again this afternoon, and maybe even the morning after that, if Hogarth couldn't do anything about it.
"Alright," he said as he stood. "thank you for your hospitality, ma'am, but I should go."
Amelia stood as well and placed her coffee on the tray. Hogarth was at the door when she spoke again.
"Before you go. You aren't really from the USGS, are you?"
He caught himself. Nobody had asked him that before, but he figured there was no point in trying to keep his cover anymore.
"You got me there," he admitted. No, he wasn't really from the USGS.
A contented smile tugged at the corners of Amelia's lips.
"If it's any good," she said, "you were a lot nicer than the other ones."
Hogarth nodded and chuckled a little under his breath.
"Yeah, I guess I don't operate quite like some of my coworkers. Well, have a nice day, and call this number if anything else happens. I'm assuming I don't have to try and tell you why it isn't the normal USGS number."
He handed her a small business card with the USGS logo and a ten-digit phone number, and this time he got as far as his car before she stopped him.
"Wait, you should know," she called, "the TV signal went out right before it hit. When it came back on, something different was on. It was like...like I dunno, some weird sci-fi flick. There were these big robots, and they were marching around a burning city. It went back to the regular program after that, so it wasn't part of the schedule, but I didn't really think anything of it until now."
She shivered.
"That's new," Hogarth muttered, more to himself than Amelia. Maybe the agency's methods worked better than he gave them credit for. "Thanks. But, uh, I really should go."
He clambered into the car and started it up, waving as he pulled out of the driveway. Everything from then until the plane touched down in Nowhere, Texas was a tired blur set against a burnt, red sky and an army of Giants.