CHAPTER SEVEN

There was no telling how far Vay had wandered when she finally gave up and collapsed to the ground in despair. All she felt sure of was that the baby's painful thrashing was telling her that something was wrong, and there was no help to be found in this dark, deserted wasteland. Bubbles had abandoned her, and Dr. Haanlaan and the other members of her crew were probably still locked up back at the military base. Who knew how far away that was. She knew that she should just turn around and go back to the car, but even it seemed light years away.

Frustrated by this planet and everything on it, and frustrated more by the throbbing pain in her womb, Vay lay sobbing in the sand, fighting back the urge to scream. For several minutes she sat in dark silence, collecting her thoughts and resting. The flashlight had been turned off long ago to preserve the batteries, but when a small noise made her jump to her feet and flick it back on, it died. The bulb gave out a faint beam, then snuffed out like a candle. Frantic, Vay flicked the switch on and off repeatedly, hoping it was only a short circuit. When that didn't work, she beat it a few times against the sandy ground, but to no avail.

She heard the noise again, and her antenna pricked up. A shrill hum, like electricity, either very faint or far away. A mosquito? No. Vay reached up to brush the hair away from her antenna. This allowed better reception. A soft breeze blew downwind, carrying the noise with it. Was it her imagination, or was it growing louder? No. Yes! It was! It sounded like a massive flock of mosquitoes, heading her way. But it couldn't be… could it? No. It had to be something else. Something far, far larger than a mosquito… a helicopter?

From just beyond the ridge of the mountains it came - two of them, to be exact. Twin beams of blinding, day-bright searchlights seared the ground as they headed in her direction. Terrified, Vay climbed to her feet and attempted to run, but the pain in her middle and her overall condition made it difficult to move faster than a brisk walk. She headed back in the direction of Agent Bubbles' car. Behind her, the helicopters split up and started going in two separate directions. The lights had not yet found the alien woman, but as they flew over her - one on each side so that she was surrounded - the beams swept back and forth and for a fleeting instant, one of them lit on her. Vay froze and sucked in a deep breath, but they did not appear to have seen her.

As the desert was gradually illuminated around her, Vay saw that there was nowhere she could hide - no bushes, no rocks… nothing but an endless plain of gently undulating dunes. She collapsed on the ground again, panting as she watched the helicopters continue their search. Far off in the distance, she thought she saw the glint of light on something metal, as one of the searchlights lit on something. The car! Or was it? It was so far away that Vay had to squint her eye to be sure. The light paused over the little speck, and the helicopter it came from hovered in the air there while the other one turned and started back toward Vay.

Hearts racing, Vay was barely on her feet when the blinding light washed over her. Without even thinking, Vay made a mad dash toward the car. As if sensing her, the second helicopter's light was lifted up from the car and now pointed toward her. Vay spun around and started running in a new direction, and for a few moments she was out of the range of the two lights. Unfortunately, they quickly caught up with her. Overwhelmed with exhaustion, anger, pain and fear, Vay fell sprawling in the sand, panting and sobbing, as the helicopters circled her and the light burned down on her, consuming her like flame.

Light. Blindingly bright. Impossibly white. Burning… burning…. No escape. Through closed eyelid… light. Through darkness of despair… light. Through pain and grief and nothingness… light. Everywhere, there was light. And it was not good. Light was supposed to be warming, healing… loving… good. This was not. Light is not merely an absence of darkness. Light is a presence. A quality. A thing in itself. Whatever this brightness was, it was not light. No. Darkness. It was darkness, reversed, like a negative. And in its emptiness, there were feelings. Bad feelings. And beings. Bad beings. These were present, but they did not fill the emptiness, for they were negatives also. Only negatives, one superimposed over another. They did not fill each other…

Vay woke up screaming from the nightmare, only to find that the nightmare was there waiting for her when she awoke. And so was the light. It assailed her. She tried to move, but couldn't. She thrashed hysterically for a moment, then quickly gave up and lay still, gasping for air and choking down sobs. When her thoughts and vision cleared, she realized that she was strapped to a stainless steel table, just like the one back at the military base.

Craning her head from side to side, her limited view of the room around her confirmed that she had been brought back to that same exact place. Her head spun. She felt like she was moving through water - through the fluidness of a dream. Her insides lurched painfully as she realized - she had never left the room in the first place! Or had she? Vay Pleakley wasn't sure of anything anymore.

A fresh wave of sickness washed over her, and she shuddered. The cold steel beneath her suddenly felt like ice. There was a faint reek of formaldehyde in the air, along with the smell of metal, and for the briefest of seconds, she thought she smelled blood. Out of the shadows in the corner of her eye, something moved. Vay jerked her head around as far as she could, and gasped. Two dark figures had appeared, and were moving toward her.