Chapter 3

Ralph Hinkley, a Hero League superhero, sat in the children's playground and watched the children play. The elementary school instructor for this group of students was on vacation in the Bahamas. Ralph was the acting substitute teacher because they were short on teachers for the Ruby Corporation Research Facility private school.

While watching the children play, a glint of light from the hill above the Hero facility caught his eye. He had never seen anything like it before, and a sensation of being watched washed over him.

He returned to the building and searched through the window with Suit's binocular vision activated. He focused on the light flash. Someone moved, and a head peered through a telescope. He telepathically called Eric and informed him that someone with a telescope was spying on the compound. Eric said he would put security on it.

Ralph went back out to the playground and summoned all the children in. It was now the reading period. He asked all the students to take a book from the school library shelves and read for the next hour. While they read, he went outside and detected the guards bringing someone with a hood covering his head, landing at the inner gate to check in a prisoner. No one had ever discovered this facility. Who was this person?

Three invisible Heroes dropped beside Herman as he spied on the Ruby Corporation Research Facility. He noticed the sand shift where a Hero landed. A split second later, a red booted foot appeared. The investigator glanced up, and a red-suited man looked down at him sternly.

The security guards grabbed the spy and covered his head with a hood that he couldn't see through so fast that it was like someone had instantly turned the lights off. They quickly lifted him off his feet and flew him somewhere.

They placed Herman in a holding cell usually used for Large Green Others. Currently, two Large Green Others were incarcerated in two adjacent cells. The Hero guard removed the hood and pushed him into a cell. The room contained a small cot, a chair, a small table, a toilet, and a sink. The guards closed and locked the doors and left.

One Large Green Other in the cell beside his pushed open the transfer slot and called in hisses, squeaks, and whistles. The other alien answered in hisses, squeaks, and whistles. Of course, Herman couldn't understand any of the conversations and wondered if it was a prisoner code.

He pushed the food slot open and shouted to the other prisoners, "Hi guys, where are we?"

One of the Large Green Others answered, "We are in the Hero League compound. You humans are so stupid."

"What is the Hero League? What do you mean YOU humans, aren't you human?"

Both the Large Green Others laughed. One said, "No, we are (whistle, whistle, hiss). Thank any God we are not human." The other alien whistled and hissed at the one previously talking. The first answered in hisses and squeaks.

The first Large Green Other, thinking it unusual for a human to be in a cell, asked, "Why are you here?"

"I assume because I was spying on this Hero League compound. I didn't know what it was. The sign by the outer gate says it is the Ruby Corporation Research Facility."

Both aliens laughed. The first one said, "Yeah, that is what they tell the world. The only research they are doing here is how to take over the world."

"Really!"

"Oh, yeah. We have been trying to stop them for years."

"Who are you?"

"We are the good guy aliens. We followed them from our planet and came here to stop them."

"You're aliens?"

"Yes, but we can appear human, as the Heroes can. Those red suits give them special powers. We have black suits, but theirs are better. We've been attempting to discover how they advanced their suits but haven't figured it out. Shh! Shh! They are coming. It must be torture time."

Two red-suited people came and opened Herman's door. Herman backed up and anxiously questioned, "Why am I in here? What are you guys doing?"

One young red-suited woman grabbed him by the upper arm so tightly that he thought his arm would break. He shouted in pain. She loosened her grip. The other red-outfitted middle-aged man put a hood over his head, and they pulled him out of the cell.

They walked up a flight of stairs and down a long hall into a room. The guard pushed him into a chair and removed the hood from his head. They had brought him to what appeared to be a meeting room. As Herman sat in the room, not knowing what next to expect, he rubbed his arm the woman had grabbed. It still hurt.

Eric Thornton and Quinn Anders entered the room. Herman sat with his eyes wide open in fear, wondering if they were his torturers.

Quinn chuckled. Eric asked, "What's so funny?"

"He thinks we're going to torture him. The other prisoners told that to him."

With a slight smile, Eric said, "They were playing with you to scare you."

He asked, "How do you know what they told me? Do you have microphones in the cells?"

At that moment, Ralph Hinkley walked into the room and recognized Herman Polanski.

Ralph exclaimed, "Herman Polanski?"

Herman looked at the new man who entered the room, confused that this individual knew his name, and hesitantly answered, "Yes."

Eric turned to the First, "You know this guy?"

"He went to Whitney High when I was the principal there."

The detainee said, "You aren't Mr. Hinkley. You don't look anything like him, and besides, he would be in his 70s now, and I read that he died in a car accident."

Ralph responded, "It's hard to explain, but I am Ralph Hinkley. Do you remember the time you requested to build a full-size flying saucer for your art project, and I told you 'NO' because the supplies would cost too much."

Herman said, "Yes, but you also said…" Ralph finished the sentence, "…and they don't look like your design. I've seen one." Herman's mouth dropped. No one else knew about that conversation. "I asked you not to say anything to anyone about my confession of having seen a UFO."

"Mr. H, what happened to you? Are you an alien?" Rubbing is his sore arm.

"That's a long story, and no, I'm not an alien; the only aliens here are the others locked in the cells."

"They said all of you guys are aliens and can look like humans."

"We can't change our forms, but they can. I notice you rubbing your arm. Is there something wrong with it?"

"Well, it looks like you have changed your form to me. Yes, my arm hurts because one of the women guards grabbed it so hard."

Ralph smiled and continued, "Eric, let him go. I'll take responsibility for him. I'll take him to the medical center to check his arm out."

Eric said, "Are you sure? He found us somehow. I need to know how?"

Herman said, "Oh, that was easy. Well, it was not easy; it took some work, but I compiled a database of all the orb sighting locations and times, and many of them originated from here or ended here."

Eric, Quinn, and Ralph all stared at him dumbfounded. Herman said, "What? I'm telling the truth."

Quinn said, "He is telling the truth."

Eric quickly said, "Okay, Ralph, you have responsibility for him. I must assign someone to work on this problem. If he figured it out, others may also be able to." And he sped out of the room.

Ralph glanced at Herman and smiled, "We'll go to the medical center first and then get some lunch." The guards started to follow them, but the First turned and told them, "You guys can leave. He'll be okay with me." They left and headed back to the security office.

Herman and Ralph walked to the medical center. Dr. Nakatsu checked his arm and found that it was only bruised, so they left for the cafeteria, with Herman staring at everything and everybody. They got in line, and the high-end offerings for lunch amazed the investigator. It was incredible how much these people ate, each with their plate piled full of food, yet none were heavy or obese in any way.

He said, "Now I know why this place has so much food delivered daily. I thought there must be a few hundred people here, but it is just that everyone eats a lot."

Ralph explained, "About a hundred live and work here. We all eat large amounts because of the suits. Some powers utilize energy from us, so we must keep our calorie count up."

"Where did you acquire the suits?"

"I got mine originally from the Little Green Guys, as we call them. Yup, from actual aliens in a spaceship." Herman's eyes bulged in astonishment.

"So, when you told me you saw an alien spacecraft, you really did and met the aliens too?"

"Yes, I've been on their ship several times. I even saved it from the bottom of the ocean once."

"You must tell me the whole story; I want to know everything."

"You must swear never to say anything to anyone about this. If you say anything, we'll have the Little Green Guys wipe your memory of it."

"They can do that?" Herman said with a twinge of fear.

"You remember the weird giant thunderstorm in the desert and the meteor shower last year?"

"Yes."

"That was actually an invasion by the Large Green Others through a wormhole that we stopped. The Little Green Guys wiped the whole planet's memory of it and changed everything in all the computers that recorded anything about it."

"Wow! Yeah, I won't say a thing. I know a lot of other UFO people who investigate all this stuff. Some of them may find this place as well."

"That's why Eric is so worried."