Author's Note: Hey guys, thanks for all the reviews so far! I know my updates have been really fast lately, but sadly that won't continue. Winter break ends tomorrow and I'll be back to school. Ugh. But I will still be updating, just not as quickly. Between school and my other fanfiction that I've been working on for over a year and will not abandon, I have a lot to do. But no worries, the show must go on. Hope you like it so far. Tell me what you guys think! :) Happy reading!
Chapter 2
Logically, it just didn't add up. This massive meteorite that was, according to our scans, denser than anything we had ever seen before had disappeared from the crater it carved into the earth. If it had broken apart we would have been able to find chunks of it scattered around the impact site, but there were none. The crater was deep and distinct; a telling sign that the meteorite had come to rest here and had not skipped along farther like a smooth stone on a lake.
I shook myself from my thoughts to look at my fellow astronomers; both the intern and the astrophysicist. They seemed as deeply puzzled as I was.
"Well, where the hell is it?" Jeremy pretty much summed up the major question on our minds, pulling it from amidst all the other racing thoughts and wonderings now clogging our heads.
"I haven't the foggiest idea." It took me a beat or two longer than it normally would have to answer, and even I could hear the distracted tone in my voice.
"It's got to be here," Eddy protested, more to himself than to us, weakly, "It couldn't have just gotten up and walked away."
"Eddy, keep taking pictures. I want you to document everything," I quickly switched back into boss mode and started planning what needed to be done to preserve and collect as much data as possible. "Jeremy, please help me get some bags. We need to take samples of the soil in and around the crater."
Jeremy walked back up the small hill to where he had left our equipment cart and wheeled it down to be closer to the crater. Once he was within feet of it the radiation detector on the cart started chirping an alarm wildly. I checked the reading on it and found the radiation levels were off the charts, but not a kind of radiation we had ever come across before.
"I think we should wear some gloves." Jeremy stated after all this. I actually laughed despite the weirdness of the whole situation because of the pure absurdness of his remark.
"A hazmat suit wouldn't protect us from those levels of radiation if it's dangerous, let along some rubber gloves." It didn't do me any good before, I added mentally.
"So I'm gonna do this and make history all on my own?" He said as he gave me a knowing smile. I sighed in defeat. Of course I would never let him do it himself as I watched. I loved this job as much as him and this opportunity was a once in a lifetime deal.
"Hand me some gloves." I smiled wryly at him and accepted the gloves once he offered them to me. I pulled them on quickly and got to work straight away. The sounds of the crackling of the few small fires that were still burning and the snap of the shutter of Eddy's camera faded in to the background as I worked. Jeremy was in the crater as I circled its outer edge looking for clues as to where the meteorite had gone. I paused when I found odd indentations in the dirt. They looked regular and ordered, not random and varying like impacts from smaller debris. They almost looked like footprints made by someone wearing shoes, but they were larger and much deeper than any normal human could make.
Nose nearly to the ground in concentration, I followed the prints until I came to a dense grove of thorn bushes that completely barred my path. Frustrated, I retraced my steps and began examining the prints with a magnifying glass closer to the crater. I felt like the more I studied the impact zone the less answers and the more questions I had. I squatted over an exceptionally interesting impression when something broke my concentration. It wasn't a noise that had alerted me, but the absence of one. I realized quickly that I could no longer hear the sound of Eddy's camera clicking as it took pictures.
"Guys, did you hear that?" Eddy asked Jeremy and me before I could look up to see what the matter was. Neither of us had heard anything and answered him with silent shaking of our heads. We were all listening hard, trying to hear what Eddy had. I could feel goosebumps forming on my arms and the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
After a few moments I heard it too. It sounded like wailing far off in the distance on the opposite side of the crater as the riverbed was. It got closer and closer as the minutes ticked by and I recognized it as sirens, like those on a police car. Before long the flash of red and blue lights was visible from behind the cloak of a long wall of more thorn bushes. Before we knew how to react, nearly half a dozen black SUVs came barreling into the clearing and came to a skidding halt only twenty feet from us and the crater. Men in black suits and ties came pouring out of the vehicles, guns drawn, but they seemed more interested in the crater than us. They all looked like government agents, but I didn't want to take any chances.
Jeremy nudged me, scared stiff, and asked what we should do. "Run," was my terrified answer. Eddy heard us and took off running at the same time as we did, following us the best he could since he had been a few feet away. We darted up the hill as fast as we could, abandoning the cart and the rest of our equipment as the men that had climbed out of the SUVs chased after us and called for us to "get down on the ground." We followed the riverbed we had taken to get there, but chose to hop the bank and rush into the weeds and tall bushes after the reports from several firearms were heard. The vegetation was tall enough to conceal us as we ran so we lost sight of the men in seconds, but could still hear them.
I sprinted with them the half mile back to the Jeep, praying we wouldn't be caught before we could start it and make a fast getaway. Beyond all belief we were alone when we reached the car, the sound of the men behind us long gone, and all hopped in fast as lightning. Jeremy had the engine on and the Jeep in gear in a flash and before I knew it we were tearing across the desert back to the observatory. We reached it in record time.
I slammed the door shut and bolted it behind me as soon as all three of us were back inside. We raced back up to the top of the scope tower in a panic. I shut and locked that door as well. Amber was nowhere to be seen, which suited me just fine. I didn't want to have to explain to her what happened, at least not yet. I would eventually have to tell her how we had managed to lose most of our equipment, but that could wait.
We all collapsed into chairs, trying to catch our breath. I tried to ignore the sick feeling in my gut, but it became harder and harder to pretend it wasn't there. An eternity later, Eddy spoke.
"Who were those people?" He voice was the quietest I had ever heard it. His black hair was slick with sweat and his green eyes were wide with fear.
"I have no idea," I said just as quietly, "But whoever they are, they're looking for us right now."
"Do you think they'll be able to find us?" His voice was laced with pure fear.
"We left some pretty good tire tracks." I explained morbidly, "But they don't even have to follow those here. We left our equipment back by the crater and it's got the observatory's name plastered all over it." I noticed Eddy still had his camera dangling around his neck from its strap. I then looked down and realized I still had my camcorder hanging from a cord on my belt.
Jeremy had been cradling his face in his palms up until now, but he looked up and his blue eyes shone with terror. "We need to get out of here. If they find us there's no telling-"
He was cut off by a loud bang below us followed by the thudding of many feet on the stairs up to the scope tower. We were frozen as we watched the door to the room quiver under the impact of something and then fall to the floor with a crash. Men in black suits, the same as the ones at the clearing, filed into the room while aiming their guns at us. About two dozen formed a semicircle around us about ten feet away, blocking off any hope of escape. They were all silent except for one man that yelled for us to put our hands in the air. We obeyed readily.
A few seconds later, from the depths of the staircase came the sound of one set of feet. I could only see the top of his head at first, but the line of suits parted like the Red Sea before him as he walked towards us. He was a middle-aged man with black hair that was greying and a sharp nose, dressed in a suit like the others. His eyes were dark, almost black, and they conveyed a sense of amused authority in them. It almost annoyed me, but I was too distracted by my pounding heart to really notice. He was in shape for his age, but had a weary air to his stance.
"Well, hello there." The man said with a haughty smile, "Good to see you guys again after you tried to give us the slip." His New York accent seemed mismatched with his extremely serious dress and entourage.
"Who are you?" Jeremy demanded. He had caught the smug look on the man's face and hadn't liked it. I shot him a warning glance, trying to tell him wordlessly not to be stupid.
"I," the man paused for emphasis, "am Agent Simmons. We are from Sector 7 and we were wondering why you guys were down looking at that crater not too long ago."
No, it can't be them, I thought frantically.
"We observed a meteorite falling to earth and went to find it." I said simply and sharply.
"Why did you feel the need to go out and look for it?" Simmons prodded, "Was there something special about it that made you want to go find it?"
"No." I said quickly before Eddy, who looked like he was about to break down and confess everything, could speak.
"What do you say, kid?" Simmons looked to Eddy causally, "Is your friend here telling the truth." Eddy pursed his lips and nodded rapidly as tears started to brim in his eyes.
"And what do you think, sir?" Simmons then addressed Jeremy. I cringed, waiting for the inevitable.
"I think you should leave us the hell alone and let us continue our work in peace." Jeremy replied with anger dripping from his every word, yet his tone was still civil. He was normally mellow and slow to anger, but when someone messed with his friends, and it seemed especially me, he tended to react like this.
"Ya know what I think?" Simmons wasn't looking for an answer and only paused to let it sink in, "I think you guys are hiding something from us. Hey boys-" he then addressed the men around him, "-they look a little guilty, don't they?"
"What do you want from us?" I asked with annoyance, sick of his toying with us.
"I wanna know why you guys were at that crater and I wanna know the truth now," he paused again and the smile fled from his face, "or you're all spending the rest of your lives in jail."
Eddy began to shake with his subdued sobs. I could feel my adrenaline still pumping and my heart was pounding. Jeremy had a wild-eyed fearful look that made me worry for him.
"Now I'll ask you again," Simmons took a few steps towards us and got close to each of our faces in turn, "What was it about that meteorite that made you want to find it?" He was answered with stony silence.
"Fine, have it your way. You're all coming with us for questioning," Simmons announced after a few more heavy moments of quiet, "And trust me, we'll get what we want one way or another." He enunciated each word as if to make his point even clearer. His threat did not fall on deaf ears; my heart raced even faster, Jeremy went visibly pale, and Eddy began to cry aloud. I felt nothing but sympathy for the poor kid and I only wanted to go and comfort Jeremy.
Suddenly a bag was pulled over my head, blinding me, and my hands were yanked behind my back. I panicked when I could no longer see and it was harder to breath. I heard the clicking of handcuffs and the cold touch of metal around my wrists. A panic I couldn't suppress rose up in me when my airway began to close, but my struggle was futile. The last thing I remembered was the muffled sounds of my friends calling out for help and the feeling of something hard, possibly metal, striking me on the side of my head, knocking me out.