Brax waited. He sat in his room reading through his comics for about an hour. He sat up, stretched, and glanced out the window. By now the sun had pretty much set. He slid off his bed and padded quietly out into the hallway. Mom's bedroom door was shut and there wasn't a sound throughout the whole house. Brax felt a sly smirk creep across his face. It was go time.
Careful not to let it squeak, he unlatched the window and slid the screen out of the way. Brax carefully lowered his backpack onto the ground, then followed. He reached up and made sure his curtains covered the open window. He prayed the breeze from earlier today didn't reappear. He made his way across the yard to where his bike was parked and hopped on. Instead of his usual walk down the driveway, he jogged. He wanted to get this done and return before his mom noticed he'd snuck out. Brax had snuck out before, but he'd been caught once. He tried to exit through the back door like he did the previous times, but unfortunately the back door was loud, and he got caught. Ever since then Brax was careful not to make that mistake again.
Racing down the road, he ran back through his plan again. When he got to the hole, he would keep his pocket knife within reach, but out of sight so that nobody could take it. Do not turn your back to the hole. Brax had repeated this to himself several times in a row to make sure he remembered. Countless times people in horror movies would turn their backs for one second and then be taken by whatever was lurking behind them. That was an oopsie he dared not make. Brax wound through town and kicked up dirt as he drifted onto the old trail that led up to the field. He peddled with a sense of urgency, as if he needed to get there before someone else. What he actually needed was to convince himself that he wasn't crazy and there's nothing down there. However if it was aliens, he would discover them first and warn the town.
The bike squeaked to a stop right where the dirt trail joined the field. Brax jumped off, took out his flashlight, and started walking. The tire tracks from where he worked earlier that day should lead right to it. Of course, they turned this way and that
at a few points, but eventually they stuck to the same solid direction that he started with.
As he approached the hole, Brax lifted his head to the sky and prayed his alien theory wasn't true. Even if it was, there's no turning back. Every muscle tensed with the ache of suspense. He took a deep breath. Okay, here we go. Brax slid down the slope that led into the base of the small crater. When the cloud of dirt he'd kicked up had settled, he could make out a round shape in the center, surrounded by a mound of dirt. Underneath the grimy, singed surface, Brax could just barely see an off-white metal surface. So far, aliens were looking like a very real possibility.
The light from his flashlight wandered over the scene. Brax came to a stop right in front of it. He crouched down and ran his hand along the metallic lump. Suddenly it twitched and sparked, causing Brax to stumble backwards to get away from it. He expected it to start floating or something. Nope. The object fell still and gave nothing more.
Brax had two options here. Option one being turn and run. Option two being stay and figure out what this is. He figured if this was an alien ship then they'd long abandoned it. They'd be back for it though. Brax chose his second option. He couldn't leave this thing here. If the aliens who left it here came back for it then Brax would be letting them get away, probably taking someone from his town with them. Now wasn't the time to stay put and ponder. Now was the time to take action. He set his flashlight down and dug around the object, freeing it from the dirt mound. Once he was sure it was loose enough, he wrapped his arms around it and tugged. Without a grip, his hands slipped and he fell back. Determined to take this thing home (and smash it to bits before it could do harm) Brax widened the trench between the object and the ground. He revealed a handle, which seemed to be attached to the object. He grasped it with both hands and pulled as hard as he could. As it came up from the ground pieces of dirt fell from every crevice. Brax climbed out of the crater, set the object down, and observed it.
It looked kind of sad just sitting there on the ground in all it's spherical glory. While he was also scared of it, Brax couldn't help but curiously admire it. The object was mostly white, with two handles and a large black circle in the middle. As he walked back to his bike, he wondered two things. How could this thing be so heavy? and What could it possibly be for?
Brax set the sphere in the basket on his bike and headed back down the trail towards the town. What was he gonna do with this thing? He wanted to destroy it, that was for certain. But how? What if it was harder to dismantle than he thought? He could probably find a way to disable whatever function it was made for, but in order to do that he first needed to figure out how it works. Unfortunately Brax wasn't too experienced in machinery. Luckily, he knew a guy. Brax just hoped he was awake at this time of night.
"Caleb! Come on dude!"
clink! went another pebble against the window.
Finally, after ten minutes of tossing rocks, Brax's friend slid open his bedroom window and rubbed his eyes.
"Braxton, it's like eleven right now. Go home! I thought you weren't allowed to visit during the summer!"
"Shhhh, I know that!" Brax hissed. "But it's important."
Caleb sighed.
"How important?"
Brax stepped out from in front of his bike, revealing the sphere to his friend.
"Meet me in the shed." Brax whispered.
Caleb nodded and went to get his shoes and few tools.
"This better be worth it." Caleb said, pulling the shed door closed behind him.
Brax set the sphere on a table in the corner and picked up hammer.
"I'm sorry man, this just couldn't wait."
Strewn about the shed were all kinds of tools, and a few unfinished projects, All belonging to Caleb. Despite being twelve, the boy was a tech genius. If he weren't in sixth grade, he would be the captain of the local school robotics team. From a young age he observed his father assemble things in the shed, and wanted to try it himself. After a few years, his dad let Caleb take over the shed, where he would spend most of his time tinkering with broken radios or cell phones. It wasn't often he came across something as complex as Brax's new trophy.
"What's it supposed to be?" asked Caleb.
"I dunno. But it can't be good if it crashed in Mr. Hutchins field."
"Well, what were you planning on doing with it?"
Brax set down the hammer and picked up a heavy looking wrench.
"I was gonna destroy it, but I thought I'd bring it to you first."
Caleb came closer and examined it.
"Hmmm, I don't know about this. It looks beyond busted. We don't even know what it is."
"Come on! I thought you were good at these things!"
"What I mean is that I might not be able to do it alone. I might need Peyton for this."
Brax frowned. He hated that name. Caleb's sister and Brax had an ongoing rivalry that started when his mom's car broke down a few years ago. Brax went with his mom to the local mechanic shop to get it fixed. Being a bored little kid, he ran around the whole time, causing chaos in his wake. That's when he met Peyton. Apparently she was on her last strike with her boss, and Brax had just ruined it for her by making his way out of the waiting room and into the garage, where little kids were definitely not allowed. Her boss thought that she let him out, and fired her promptly. Brax was given a firm scolding from mom that day. Eventually Peyton managed to get her job back, but she and Brax were still trying to get even ever since.
"Ewww! Not a chance! You're sister needs to keep her nose out of our business."
"Our business?"
"Yeah, ours! This is between you and me only. That's final."
Caleb backed up.
"Okay, okay! I get it. I'll try to fix it, but it's gonna take a few days at best. You might as well go home and go back to bed."
"Alright, I'm going" Brax said as he headed out the door. "Hey! No sister!"
Caleb nodded and turned back to the sphere. Brax shut the door and started back on the trail toward his house.
