Chapter Nine:

The emergency town hall meeting had been called the evening the gold watches fell from the sky. Alex and Alexys had found each other just after the sudden arrival and spent as much time as they could picking them off the ground around the lake and then around their home when they ran to change and freshen up. The devices were collected as much as they could be into Nick's trunk and when that got too full they brought them into Alexys' room. They hoped by limiting the access the Greendale citizens had it would diminish the time fissures but packing into the town hall made them hopeless. Every person they passed held one in hand. The whole town had been littered with them.

"Come on, I think I see a spot closer to the front," Nick mumbled, taking Alexys' hand and guiding their small group toward the front.

"Global warming!"

"Just a stupid marketing ploy!"

"That damn new 'church' has got something to do with this!"

"Asteroids!"

The shouts of citizens overpowered the words of the Mayor and the Town Council. Alex looked to Alexys with growing distress, "What do we do?"

A loud piercing whistle sliced through the noise creating a vibrating silence. All eyes followed the source of the noise to a man standing on his chair. His back was to the crowd though it could be seen he stood with his fingers in his mouth as if threatening to release another screeching sound. Those with chairs slowly lowered into them while the others left standing pressed against the wall in a show of civility.

"My name is James Robert McCrimmon," spoke a deep American accent.

Whispers of awe escaped the crowd with murmurs of him being a favorite weatherman.

"Your Mayor invited me here this afternoon after the morning's events," he held up one the small gold watch in reference, "I believe I can offer some explanation to the issue at hand. A few months ago NASA launched a small spacecraft out into the thermosphere with the express mission of measuring how time is affected during its rotation around the globe. Unfortunately, there were some mishaps along the way. The spacecraft received damage from an asteroid and sent the ship careening back down to Earth. Most of the ship burned up along the way but there were some big chunks aiming right for Greendale."

The crowd gasped.

"Now, now. Everything is fine. The military was able to take out the rest of the ship but in the process these devices were unloaded. I have it on great authority from NASA that they are not to be touched or interfered with. They have data that could be used to benefit our planet and, most importantly, our Country. They could also have lethal amounts of radiation from the fall."

Citizens screamed and tossed them on the floor.

"At the back of the room, as well as each exit, there will be men holding a sack. You are expected to drop the device into the sack and then wash your hands. I would advise you to wash any material you are wearing at the moment as a precaution. Thank you for your time and your cooperation."

The crowd kicked up again with more shouting but the man descended from the seat. Alex looked to Alexys with a furrow of his brows. She replied with the same expression to indicate that it had to be total horseshit. A path parted for James Robert McCrimmon on his walk to the exit as if the citizens were afraid he had the radiation too. Alex thought he saw a few citizens wearing all black give menacing looks.

Alex and Alexys strained to see what he looked like out of curiosity.

They stood on their tip toes and jutted their chins up high but the crowd grew thicker with jostling of citizens attempting to discard the small gold watches they found. The sight of them relinquishing their hold gave Alex and Alexys some peace but there was still concern as to where they would go. The two looked to each other with seriousness they had not shared in a long time.

"We have to find out where they're taking them," they spoke in unison then looked up to their beaus.

It was time to put Nick and Luke to work.

Only mild convincing was needed for Luke and Nick to come on board. It seemed they were just as interested uncovering where the devices were to be taken as Alex and Alexys. The plan for them was simple: wait until everyone left the Town Hall then follow the vehicles holding the small gold watches. Yet after two hours of waiting the two men became restless. Questions arose with that answers could not be given.

"Come on, I'm starving. I know this is the coolest thing that's happened in Greendale…ever. But we're letting it take over our day off," Luke huffed, pushing his hair back into its natural state.

"Just a few more minutes," Alexys looked to Nick, knowing that he'd be more likely to fall for her desperate expression than Luke, "Please?"

"Yeah, just a…is that my?" Alex looked in the rearview mirror, suddenly realizing he had cowlicks the entire time, "Why did no one tell me!"

Luke chuckled, kissing the side of Alex's head, "See, we have to get back. Alex can't stand when his hair is like this."

"You let me go to the Town Meeting like this!" he licked his fingers to push down the strands of hair sticking up.

Alexys laughed as she gazed at her friend, "Maybe we shou—"

"Down, down!" Nick suddenly shouted, forcing everyone to lower as they looked over the dashboard.

There they were.

Large men carrying white sacks left the Town Hall just as the lights were being shut off and the building was being closed. Large, armored trucks with no identification rolled up for the men to place the large sacks inside. The man that had spoken, James Robert McCrimmon, stood instructing the men with his back to the Buick. Alexys could tell it was him from the suit and his posture and the hair. She swore she could see a cigarette in hand being used to point at the different men as instructions were being given.

"Those trucks look pretty heavy duty," Luke commented.

"They look privately owned," Nick added.

"I guess that would make sense if NASA really did want them for further testing," Alexys shrugged.

"Definitely not," Luke scoffed, "It was a scare tactic to get everyone to give them up."

Alex shrugged, "This is a good way to back up the story. I'm sure we're not the only people that stayed behind to see what's really happening."

"They're on the move!"

Nick turned the car on and shut off the headlights while they waited for the trucks to maneuver out of the parking lot. Despite the urging of everyone in the car, he waited until the trucks were a good distance away before following. Despite everyone's yelling, he waited until they were on the highway to switch on his lights.

"I have to make sure they know we're not following! If they do there's no way we'll ever get this close again," Nick snapped after the tenth urge to get closer.

"It's not going to matter if we lose them anyway," Luke grunted.

"I have faith in Nick's following skil— They're taking the exit! Take the exit! Take the exit!"

Nick had been in the far left lane but swerved through the vehicles to get to the turn. The car screamed, nearly toppling onto one side of wheels, but leveled out on the ramp. After a few moments of heavy breathing Alexys chuckled, "Where I'm from? They call that the 'Jersey Slide.'"

"Alexys…" Nick glanced at her, sweating, "You're not from Jersey."

"Right!" she looked back to Alex for help.

"But our great aunt Theodosia was from Jersey," Alex gave her a sheepish look.

"Oh, right. The one that set the house on fire with her brother?" Nick shook his head before looking to Alexys, "If you have any desire to play with matches…please let me know ahead of time."

She grinned and leaned forward to kiss his cheek, "Will do."

"Wait! Where'd they go!"

The road before them was dark with the absence of street lights and vehicles. The trucks were completely missing but more than that. The road seemed to be abandoned and out of use.

"Great," Luke mumbled.

"Damn it, we were right on their tail," Nick hit the steering wheel with the lightest of touches. It seemed to Alex and Alexys that waiting for two hours had made them emotionally invested in the pursuit.

"They couldn't have gone far…Maybe if we drive a little further up ahead?" Alexys offered.

"Wait! Do you see that?" Luke suddenly shouted.

"Is that a hidden driveway?" Alex squinted.

"It is!" Nick confirmed, quickly shutting off the headlights as he turned between two large trees. Alexys sunk into her seat and said a little prayer as they began to drive in a wooded area with hardly any light from the moon. Nick glanced at her then reached his hand over the seat to take hers, "Trust me. I have excellent night vision. I won't let anything happen to us."

She took Nick's hand and felt the grip of his promise, "I believe you."

They followed the narrow path in silence. Their drive had turned into a creep in anticipation for anything odd that could happen. It was clear the vehicles had done the same by the tracks in the path that Nick followed. It twisted and turned and when they thought it couldn't go anymore it began to ascend over what seemed like a large rocky hill.

"Whoa…do you see that?"

At the peak of the hill Nick stopped the car to see massive mining grounds unlike the anything they had seen in Greendale before. It was at the complete other side of town, far away from the mines owned by the Kinkles, and looked to be brand new. Large rolling dunes and massive fences protected the perimeter to the point that it was clear entry was impossible. Everyone leaned forward to get a closer look and as they did a huge fire erupted from what looked like massive pit.

"Look! The trucks!"

The trucks they had been following drove in from a different entrance and drove up to the controlled inferno. Even from a distance it could be seen the people waiting by the fire wore all protective clothes and gas masks. From the trucks the men began to exit, wearing their own gas masks. Each truck—a total of four—unloaded their cargo at the foot of the white clad people who checked each sack but did nothing. It wasn't until the man that they assumed to be James Robert McCrimmon arrived.

"Wait…look! Are they throwing everything in the fire?" Luke shouted.

It was true.

One by one they took the sacks and began dumping the contents into the fire and each time they did there was a bursting sound as if massive metal popcorn kernels were exploding in the heat. Alex and Alexys looked to each other.

Nick suddenly grew stiff and threw the car in reverse, "We have to get out of here."

"What's wrong?" Alexys looked around in search of what could have scared him.

"I saw some of the guards looking our way. We have to make sure we don't get caught. We still have a pile in the trunk of those things," he answered with full focus on making a K-Turn and driving out the way they had come in.

"Good thinking," Luke's jaw was clenched so tight it looked like it would snap. Alex placed his hand over Luke's but the only calm that came was when they were back on the highway.

Silence fell over the car as if everyone were processing what they had just seen.

Guilt crept up into Alex as he looked to Luke who seemed thoroughly spooked. The man had been so kind, so loving, and here he took him on an adventure that frightened him more than he had ever seen. Luke looked back to Alex as if he heard him thinking. A soft smile was shared between them before Luke put his arm around Alex and pulled him in against him. Though he felt terrible about the results…it was definitely a necessary action. Somehow he felt closer to uncovering the truth even if all they saw was how serious the act of destroying the devices was.

"Gold doesn't melt in fires," Nick mumbled.

"What?" Alexys looked up at him.

"They had to be using some real heavy duty equipment," Nick continued as if talking to himself.

"Yeah…it was some scary stuff," Alexys agreed.

They drove the rest of the way home without a word.

When they pulled up to the Spellman house Luke and Alex jumped out and ran inside but Nick and Alexys waited. There was the feeling of being in trouble that overcame her and she did not like it. Part of her wondered if it was how he had felt just the night before.

"Alexys…I…" Nick steeled himself before turning to look into her eyes, "We need to get rid of all the stuff we collected. We need to give it all up to that weatherman."

"Nick."

"This is dangerous…weird stuff. I don't want you getting involved. We need to make sure no one else held onto them after the meeting. We need to talk to the Dean or something and convince him to make sure no one gets away carrying one of those. I have a really bad feeling about what happened and I'm afraid whoever lost all that is going to come looking for it. I need you to be safe. Please, tell me we're going to get rid of it all? Please?"

The earnestness in his eyes made Alexys want to weep. She nodded her head, "Okay. We'll do it tomorrow. We just have to find a way to contact that guy and we can go out and keep collecting the ones we find. I have a bad feeling about them too."

"Good," he seemed to relax for the first time all day as he opened his arms in motion for her to get closer to him, "That just leaves us to figure out what to do with the rest of our night."

Alexys hopped across the seat to him and leaned into his arms happily, "You aren't getting bored of me? This is the most we've hung out in a row."

"Come on," he kissed the top of her head, "You're the most thrilling being I have ever met. I'm sticking around until you tell me to leave."

"Okay, well. How about we both leave and get something to eat?" she looked up to him with a frown, "I am so hungry."

He chuckled, "Alright. And we can pick up something for Alex and Luke too."

Alexys grinned, "You're the best."

"You better believe it."