Part Two
Hutch had been reading through Hetty's notes for a week now and sharing the odd snippet or two with Starsky whenever they had the momentary pause of a stake-out or a meal break. They'd decided in the last couple of days that they would go to Britain and follow Hetty's journey to visit places associated with King Arthur and his knights. Hutch was started to feel excited. Just a little over a month and he and Starsky would be on their way. They had a lot of plans to make before that could happen though.
"Aliens."
Starsky's voice interrupted Hutch's thoughts.
"I'm sorry?"
"Aliens."
Starsky was doing that thing again where he had clearly had a whole conversation with himself and was expecting Hutch to read his mind and know what he was talking about.
"What kind of aliens? Non-US citizens? Or Marvin the Martian?"
Starsky looked confused and then bemused as if surprised that Hutch didn't know what he was talking about.
"Real aliens. You know; area 51, grey skin, huge eyes, big hands. That kind."
"Not really, no. I mean I've never seen one and I'm willing to bet that you haven't either!"
"Well, no, but lots of people have."
"Nutcases maybe."
Starsky fixed him with a look before stating, "Anyway, it was probably aliens."
Hutch wiped his hand over his face. It had been a long day and he was counting the seconds until end of shift. Too long a day to start a conversation about aliens. Although alcohol might help him keep his cool while he listened to Starsky's latest wild theory.
"How about you tell me all about these aliens of yours over a beer at Huggy's?" he suggested.
Starsky's face brightened. He checked his watch, surprised that it was nearly end of shift.
"Oh. Yeah, sure. Let's do that."
Hutch reached for the radio mic and signed them off duty. Starsky rolled up his magazine and threw it onto the back seat before starting the Torino's engine and heading the car downtown towards Huggy's.
A short time later, they were both sitting back in their favourite booth and sipping at ice cold beers.
"Aah."
Hutch knew he was going to regret asking, but he asked anyway, "So these aliens? What about them?"
There was glint in Starsky's eye – genius or madness? – as he responded.
"Oh, well. After our talk the other day about places we wanted to visit, I started doing a bit of research on Stonehenge and an article I found said that the stones were constructed by aliens as an extra-terrestrial navigation marker. Whaddya think about that? You buy it?"
"Not for a second!"
"Well, how do you think they got there? Especially the ones balanced on top?"
"Slave labour."
"Nah, they pre-date slavery by quite a ways."
"I bet there were slaves in ancient times. Or at least coerced poor people."
"But how'd they lift those massive stones up in the air like that?" Starsky demanded to know.
"How'd the Egyptians build the pyramids?" Hutch countered.
"Slave labour and a system of pulleys," Starsky had to concede.
"Exactly."
"Hmm. Well, that theory kinda tallies with another article I read saying Merlin oversaw the project. The original ultimate druid as well as wizard."
Hutch raised an incredulous eyebrow.
"Don't give me that look! You come up with a better theory!"
Hutch sighed. "All right, I will concede that Merlin, if he existed, could have overseen construction and come up with the idea of a pulley system."
"Good. So we can stop on our way down to Cornwall to see Stonehenge?"
"Why not? Add it to the itinerary, Starsk." Hutch was feeling magnanimous as well as excited. "Although maybe we'd better not add anything else. We've only got two weeks. I don't know how we're going to fit everything in."
"Don't worry about that. We'll just have to plan it like a military operation."
"This is supposed to be a holiday, don't forget. I don't want to be rushing hither and thither!"
"Hither and thither?! You been reading weird novels again? Relax, pal. We're going to have an adventure but I promise there will be time to smell the roses and make memories."
"Promise?"
"I promise. Cross my heart and all that jazz."
Hutch snorted. "Well, okay then."
