Legacy: chapter 29
"Tony… you're brilliant!" Christina called forward to Tony who was in the drivers seat. "Brilliant! That is the only word…this footage will change the world!" and win major awards! She sat in the back of the KDML mobile broadcast van as Tony maneuvered through the maze of army vehicles toward the spot the NSA woman had specified.
Over and over Christina scanned through one particularly compelling clip. The last footage they had been able to capture before the alien craft vanished behind the treetops. It was spellbinding. The lights; the colors; the beautiful, flowing organic structure of the 'flying saucer' itself. Christina had never felt this much excitement in her life!
"You think they will let us keep it?"
Tony's voice was filled with his usual skepticism. The Government… the "G" word was always a strong negative issue with him, ever since she was first assigned to work with him. Christina could only imagine what was going through his mind as he drove through this possibly illegal military gathering.
"Why wouldn't they? That woman seemed cooperative enough."
Tony punctuated his paranoia with a snicker, and shook his head as if silently saying: 'keep dreaming!'
The cameraman/producers pessimism failed to inspire confidence in Christina. She knew what his argument would be; it was almost as if she could hear his voice in her head saying: 'we're only two people, and there's only one tape. They could make us disappear.'…
"You know," Tony spoke over his shoulder, "we are only two people, and we only have one…"
"Okay, stop there…" Christina was prepared to hurl a bulky set of headphones at the back of Tony's head. "That was just weird."
"What'd I say?"
"Don't ask…" Christina brushed several stray strands of blond back over her ear and returned her focus to the preview monitor. The full impact of the event she had witnessed only moments ago had still not fully registered, but Christina was starting to feel a profound sense of importance. This footage… every time she watched even a piece of it… no words could describe the feeling.
Awards and recognition are one thing, but as the shock wore off and the reality of the meaning of this sighting sunk in, they started to look tiny and insignificant.
Unquestionable proof of the existence of alien life!
Christina had always scoffed at the reports, Tony had as well, rather out of character for a conspiracy nut, Christina had thought; but now… there was no way to scoff. Christina slowed the tape down to one frame per second and leaned in close, studying the barely visible, yet obviously intricate etchings on the outer skin of the craft. Nothing made by man could be so beautiful, or graceful. At least, nothing that Christina had ever seen.
"What's wrong?" Tony asked. Christina could see his green eyes looking down at her from the rearview mirror.
"Nothing… I'm thinking about what we just saw."
"I mean earlier, you seem a little tense." A slight tinge of humor was present in his voice. "Maybe you have some issues you need to work out?"
"Tony," Christina had the bulky headphones back in her hand, and held them so he could see them in the mirror, "If you start with that again, I swear I will beat you with these." A small smile drew the corners of her lips tight even though she fought it.
"Any day, lady… even though you'd kick my ass…"
"I'm serious Tony. Do you even realize what we have just seen? The meaning…"
"It could've been anything," Tony's voice was skeptical, but just barely so, "maybe some new Air Force test… That would explain how the army knew how to be out here blockin' traffic."
Christina rolled her eyes, "that was really weak."
"It was a stretch…."
"I think it was alien, just like that woman said."
Tony was silent for a long time, then: "yeah… that actually makes the most sense… but what about those kidnappings? How do they figure into all this?"
"That woman, Mary, said they were 'bait'… whatever that means."
"Yeah…" Tony laughed, "I'll tell you what it means… d.i.s.t.r.a.c.t.i.o.n… they wanted to try and divert our attention from the real story."
"Then why are we here, Tony?" Christina demanded. Tony's little spell-out trick was supposed to drive his point home, but it always just stirred more argument from Christina.
"Mark my words, my friend. They will try something…" Tony craned his neck and turned, taking one hand of the wheel and reaching back to point at a small metal box. "Take one of those busted tapes out and stick it in my bag… I'll swap tapes on em if they try to bully us."
Christina sighed. For all of Tony's paranoia… it was good to be prepared. Naive was never a term used to describe her, and Christina was not about to let the wonder she had just witnessed pull the wool over her eyes.
"This looks like the place." Tony said as the brakes squealed slightly.
The van rolled to a gentle stop. The two black helicopters that Christina had noticed only briefly before could be seen out the front window of the van, as well as the NSA woman, Crawford, and that strange kid that had come out of the alien ship. Christina had some special questions for that one; something told her it would not be easy to get the answers though.
"There's been a change of plans." The Crawford woman yelled over the noise of the helicopter's engines as Christina exited from the side door. Tony, of course, would take several minutes to gather his gear and get the live transmitter online, as Crawford had requested, so Christina took the opportunity to ask some personal questions off-camera. She walked toward them.
"What's changed?" she asked, drawing nearer.
"The trucks finally made it," Mary Crawford pointed to the second helicopter, and a small tank truck beside it.
"So?" Christina closed the rest of the distance; an odd static electric charge seemed to build in the air for the last few steps.
"We're going to follow them."
"Them?" Christina didn't like to sound lost, but she had no choice.
"That craft you saw…" Mary looked past Christina toward the news van and Tony, busily tinkering with something, "what is he doing? We need to go." As Mary spoke, a second fuel truck pulled up on the opposite side of the helicopter. Christina noticed the rotor blades whirling over her head for the first time and ducked instinctively, she had always had a fear associated with spinning blades of any sort.
"Tell him to just bring the camera, we don't need the live broadcast right now."
The strange girl seemed to have had her fill of listening to the conversation. Christina watched her turn, and in a single fluid motion, walk to the cockpit of the aircraft and seat herself. The grace and singleness of the movement distracted Christina briefly.
"What…?"
"We'll be waiting in the chopper." Mary turned and made her way to the waiting machine, joining the strange girl, and leaving a stunned Christina standing in a stooped position under the spinning blades.
Keith fought off branches as he struggled to trace back his path to the place where Allie lie. The branches grasped for him like the fingers of a thousand damned souls, all desperately struggling to drag him down into the depths of hell with them. Keith fought them off anyway. They could have his soul! Right after he fixed his latest atrocity, his last atrocity.
Lights. Keith could see something in the sky, far off in the distance. Lights, many lights, some aimed at the ground.
Searching from the air?
A flare gun would be wonderful! Too bad the only gun Keith had on him was as good as lost. No telling where it landed after the power he had put into that throw.
That was the first thing Keith had ever done, as far back as he could remember, that actually, truly, felt good. A massive weight had followed that hunk of steel out into the underbrush.
What really felt good was the concern Keith felt for Allie. Yes, concern! Yet another of the emotions Keith believed himself forever removed from.
Maybe… just maybe, there was still time for him. Maybe his soul was not damned to hell. Maybe redemption, and grace could still come to him. Keith remembered, it was a very vague and fuzzy memory, but he did remember his mother taking him to church when he was very young. All the people there seemed so happy, all the time.
It was not until much later, when he was in his late teens, that he had realized that most of the goodness and joy was an act. When in Rome, do as the Romans do… But even the slightest possibility of feeling that type of happiness and love seemed very appealing all the sudden…
Distractions! Keith shook his head. Warm and fuzzy diversions were not what he needed at all. He knew he had done wrong. Very wrong, very evil, and very hideous things. But he could still fix this last one. If I can find my way back!
The forest seemed to be growing darker by the second, and the moon with its silverish light did very little but provide the occasional pool of light in the black sea of trees and underbrush.
Throwing the gun away might have been a bad idea. Keith was not totally sure, but this area should be host to a number of wild predators, Bears mainly. Yes… the gun would be very handy if an angry denizen of the forest was to make its presence known.
And Allie lay there, alone and unconscious… Keith felt his stomach twist into several knots.
The mindset that had allowed him to carry out so many evil deeds was completely gone. He could not even rationalize what had possessed him to leave the girl alone after she had blacked out. She said she was dieing… was that it? Did he really not want to see it? Even while still in that old mindset of cold and evil?
Lost in thought, Keith got a foot caught under a root in the animal trail he was following and fell, face coming to within an inch of the mud. The moonlight only just barely reached the ground in this place, but it was enough to highlight the edge of a form pressed into the mud several inches ahead.
A footprint! Keith pushed himself up and studied it. It was a fairly large shoe, and heading in exactly the opposite direction. Another was several inches back from the first, and another before that… they were Keith's, he knew for a fact from the shape of the treads. And he also knew now that he was very close to Allie. He had left this trail very soon after leaving Allie.
More branches, more vines, all reached form him as he forced his way down the narrow path. Then, in one of life's strange, unexplainable; but infinitely helpful accidents, he emerged from behind an especially thick clump of weed-shrubs and almost fell on top of Allie.
She was still lying in the same exact position he had left her in. even her hair seemed unaffected by any errant breezes. Keith felt a stirring in his heart, more of a tightening, really, as he knelt down beside her and cautiously, shakily, extended two fingers and placed them against her neck… a pulse!
Keith exhaled in relief and sat back. He didn't mean to sit, it just happened. The stress of wondering if she was dead or alive had been alleviated. She was alive… but just barely.
Again, Keith could see the aircraft; whatever the hell kind of helicopter it was, off in the distance through the trees. So many lights! Keith knew he had never seen any helicopter with so many bright searchlights.
It was moving away… if they didn't help Allie soon she might still die… Keith knew she would. She was not exaggerating when she had told him that. He knew he had to get her to them as soon as possible.
With no further thought, Keith pivoted back to his feet beside Allie. He placed one arm, ever so gently, under her back, right below the neck and the other under her legs, then he stood, bringing her up with him. She was much lighter then he had expected.
Turning, Keith saw the direction they had come from. It was distinctly different from the untouched trail… first of all, there were two sets of footprints in the mud, highlighted by the moon's light.
The car was at the end of this trail. Keith started walking, taking special care not to jar the girl too much. Something told him that if she woke up, if she could even wake up in this state, that it would zap all she had left and it would kill her on the spot.
This would be a long walk… but Keith knew he could do it. He had to do it! He owed Allie that much, at least.
Mary's attention shifted from the activity of the reporter and her cameraman outside as they stumbled to gather equipment, and the alien girl in the pilots seat. So many questions! Too many… Mary opened her mouth to attempt to ask yet another, but again, she closed it without saying a word. The problem was not about what to ask… it was more about where to start.
Ka'len knew about her situation, Mary had caught the girl eyeing her several times. It seemed that she was just as curious, but for different reasons, obviously. Paralysis was the only way to describe it good. Mary knew what they were here for: to help Allie, and it made all those questions seem unimportant. But the inbreed urge to learn, the scientist in her, demanded those questions answered now, and Mary found it harder to refuse that urge by the moment.
In fact, Mary had had enough of the torment of this close of proximity to the alien girl. She had to ask something! If not for answers, then just to break this awkward silence.
"How—how do you just know how to fly this?" it was a dumb opener, and Mary knew it, but a question is a question is a question. By this point, the import of the question mattered little.
"Simple balance." Came Ka'len's monotonous reply as she stared blankly out the front window.
Mary waited several silent seconds before prompting again: "that really doesn't help me understand…"
"I have operated many Varin, this machine is primitive in comparison… I simply balance the variables, resulting in flight."
"Varin?" Mary knew now that learning anything from this girl would take much prompting.
"The small vessel which deposited me was a Varin… they are a standard launch."
"A utility ship?"
"That is a fair definition."
"Interesting…"
The awkward silence fell over them again, punctuated only by the loud click of the men outside disengaging the fuel hose from the fuselage. Mary knew her line of questioning had been a dead end… but she knew absolutely nothing about them, really.
Of course, she knew all about what she, and Chet, had discovered, the now meaningless revelations of the signals and the importance of the Golden Mean in their science… but beyond that… she knew nothing, and it was starting to piss her off!
"How did you do it?" Mary asked in a very disjointed manner.
Ka'len's face remained steady for a moment, then she turned with a slightly puzzled expression and asked: "have I done something?"
"No… how did you, your race, do it… survive all the pitfalls in the evolutionary process and advance as far as you have."
"I do not know…" Ka'len replied, truthfully, but Mary was unconvinced.
"There must have been some point in your races past that was like a turning point… maybe your… people, fought in a great war… and then they realized, all at once, that there was no point…"
"I do not know," Ka'len repeated herself. "My training is not complete, I do not know the ancient history of my race good enough to give you the answer you require."
"Wait…" Mary was caught off guard by that one, "what do you mean: your 'training'?"
"We, too, have institutions of learning. I have not yet 'graduated', as you say it."
Incredible! "So, what… your like an alien teenager?"
"Measured in your years, I am approximately eleven…" Ka'len cut off her explanation as Christina and Tony approached. But Mary was so caught up that she didn't even notice when the two newcomers climbed in and seated themselves, rather uncomfortably. Not just that the seats were uncomfortable, the whole situation was tense and uncomfortable.
"So… are you a kid… or what?" Mary continued. The question drew puzzled looks from Christina and Tony both, who still did not even know Ka'len's name was Ka'len, much less that they were seated only a few feet away from an alien being from another galaxy.
"Yes… I will explain in detail, but not at this time." Ka'len reached for the collective, a move which caused some unrest in the two news persons as they realized for the first time that there was no pilot besides Ka'len, who projected the appearance of a fourteen year old human… a kid. Ka'len quickly froze when something hit the cockpit door to her right. Major Pierce swung the door open and quickly, breathlessly, climbed into the copilots seat, slamming the flimsy plastic bubble window/door beside him.
"So good of you to join us… at the last possible moment." Mary said, half seriously even though it came out like sarcasm.
Brian chuckled briefly, gestured to Ka'len: "I feel safer in the hands of a seasoned pro." It was after turning back to glance at Mary that Brian noticed the other two passengers, and his mood sobered. He turned back to Ka'len: "ready?"
A simple nod was all she gave in reply before reaching for the controls again. The idea of flying this machine by thought alone had crossed her mind, but, for the benefit of the human passengers, she kept her hands on the stick.
Swiftly, but still fluidly, she pulled up hard on the collective, causing the tail of the aircraft to spin around slightly as the skids scraped once, twice… then smooth nothing as the chopper rocketed skyward. Again, in one fluid motion, Ka'len let the collective lever down as she pushed the yoke all the way forward, pitching the nose of the chopper so steeply that the road, and even the fuel truck that had just serviced the machine was visible straight ahead.
A shallow dive followed. Ka'len watched the trees along the road getting precariously close, gauging just the right time to apply more lift. Now! The sensation of falling was replaced all most immediately with the weight of at least two times the pull of gravity as the helicopter pulled out along its new course, clipping the treetops.
The faint hint of a smile crept across Ka'len's face. For all the primitive avionics and instrumentation, this thing was a blast to fly! Varin and all the other Xean craft, with their gravity neutralizing engines, take all the exhilaration out of flight, and the almost living, computer-like 'brain' make even marginally dangerous stunts like that one almost impossible.
It was only after that initial thrill had passed that Ka'len thought to look to her passengers… her white-as-snow, frozen in fear, and utterly airsick passengers.