CHAPTER 27
As to Jesus, I have some
doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having
never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I
expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble.
- Benjamin Franklin
About an hour after crossing the wire,
Sarwin and Renoldson found themselves in a large, underground hangar. Renoldson was happy to be on the ground,
standing on his feet; his body weight finally off the biting straps of the
ill-fitting float harness. He was
curious about the bizarre aircraft he saw there; strange black planes with squared
off, angular lines. They didn't even
look like they should be able to fly.
Although Renoldson had never seen such an airplane, his aviation
experience allowed him to surmise what they were; stealth planes that would be
nearly invisible to enemy radar. He
knew these were a big leap in warplane design.
Before today, he would have been astounded by the exotic jets, but after
all the advanced technology the gray alien had showed him this night, these
products of human endeavor seemed almost stone age.
Renoldson checked his wristwatch as
a big yawn overtook him. He wished he
had known ahead of time about this all night escapade, he would have rested up
during the day! But the thrill of this
adventure and the adrenalin that accompanied it were more than enough to keep
him going. His watch was still set for
Iowa, so he subtracted an hour. 3:45
AM. They were running out of time.
"You are sure this is where you
saw my wife's ship?" asked Sarwin, who also looked at the planes, though
not with the same interest as his guide.
"No, I'm not sure,"
answered Renoldson, shaking his head, "I think this was the spot, but all
these hangars look alike. When I saw
this place last, it was full of smoke and most of the lights were out. And that was years ago, to boot."
The alien said nothing, but reached
to touch the ebony skin of one of the planes.
"Maybe we should split
up," offered Renoldson, "We're running out of time before daylight
and we'll be able to cover more ground that way."
"No, we should stay together. At least for now."
"As you wish," replied the
human, "this is your show. Don't
you have some kind of scanner that would find your ship, like a tricorder or
something?"
"Yes, but using it would likely
betray our presence to your people."
"Well, then we're doing this
the old fashioned way," said Renoldson.
He heard a noise and looked back the way they had come. The lone sentry that was patrolling the
underground hangar complex was coming their way. Despite the duo's invisibility, they had been purposefully
avoiding the guard, just to be extra safe.
"We'd better keep moving,"
Renoldson suggested, pointed down a wide corridor in the opposite direction
from the approaching soldier. It seemed
to connect with yet another hangar.
"I don't think we've checked down there yet. Let's go."
A dozen hangars and about forty-five
minutes later they came upon a large, locked door. The oversized "Restricted" and "Authorized
Personnel Only" signs painted on it seemed a little more intimidating than
the many other such warnings they had seen during their search and it gave
Renoldson a hunch. Besides, they had
looked everywhere else.
"I'll betcha dollars to
doughnuts it's behind here," he said.
"I have neither of those items
to wager," replied Sarwin, in what Renoldson took as an attempt at humor,
"But I agree with your assessment.
We must look in here."
"Looks like a tough nut to
crack," warned Renoldson, looking over the fat steel bolts and beefy
hinges that secured the obviously thick metal door. "Besides, even if we could force it open, we'd set off
alarms from here to Cheyenne Mountain."
"No doubt," agreed the
alien, "Then we must not open it.
We must go through it."
"Well, I hope you have
something in your bag of tricks there to do that with," said Renoldson,
patting his own pockets, "because I sure don't."
Sarwin reached into is satchel and
pulled out what looked to Renoldson like a flashlight.
"You may wish to stand back a
little ways," suggested the gray alien, "and shield your eyes."
The human backed up several feet and
looked away as the alien put the device near the door. The silent flash that followed was so
brilliant that it made Renoldson wince, even though he was looking away. He looked back at the door, trying to see
through the swarm of pink amebas that now swam in front of his eyes. Once they cleared away a little, he could
see a perfectly circular, meter-wide hole cut in the stout door. Its edges were still glowing white hot, but
there were only a few splatters of molten metal on the floor. Most of the former contents of the new hole
had been vaporized. Holy
phaser, batman, thought Renoldson, but he said nothing.
"You may wish to avoid contact
with the edges," recommended Sarwin and, in an instant, the svelte alien
vanished through the hole. Renoldson
looked down at his belly, then at the hole, which looked small in
comparison. It had better be in there, he
thought, and through he went.
Inside, they found another hangar,
which was slightly smaller than most of the others they had searched. At the far end was what looked like a wide
ramp leading up to another large door, which was probably the way to the
surface. Set in the middle, surrounded
by scaffolding and all sorts of scientific instruments, was the saucer.
Sarwin looked over the exterior
damage. The door to the interior was
opened and he ducked inside. Renoldson
followed. The human looked around the
cabin. This craft looked exactly the
same as the saucer with which Sarwin had brought him here. There were clear signs that human scientists
had been trying to study the ship.
Several panels had been removed, apparently forcefully, revealing their
enigmatic innards. Their scientific
instruments, which looked crude in this setting, were strewn about, some hooked
into the saucer's guts with jumper cable-like wires. Renoldson glanced into one of the open panels, but had no idea
what he was looking at. He felt he knew
how a Neanderthal would feel if one were to see one of those stealth planes
they had come across a short while back.
"What do you think?" he asked
Sarwin, who seemed involved with one of the panels, "Can you get her
flyin' again?"
"I believe so," answered the
alien, without looking up, "Your people have damaged a few minor systems
in their attempts to take this vessel apart, but the primary flight systems are
still intact. Fortunately, we design
our ships so they are not easily operated or disassembled by anyone who is
unfamiliar with them."
"Good
to hear." Renoldson looked
around. Not a screw or bolt in
sight. No sign of welds or adhesives at
any seams; not that there were many seams.
Not easily disassembled, indeed!
Sarwin moved to a panel and removed
the human equipment that had been spliced into it, then fiddled with the
innards a bit. He then took a small
black box out of his satchel and snapped it into the panel. He then stood back and nodded at the panel
with a look of concentration. As soon
as he did, Renoldson felt a slight vibration start somewhere deep in the
saucer.
"What's that?" he asked,
"What did you do?"
"I have added so active fuel to
prime the reactor," answered the alien, who was fiddling with another
panel now, "and have begun the ignition cycle. Because the core has been inactive for so many years, it will
take a short while to reach full power.
Almost half of one of your hours."
"They might detect this,"
warned Renoldson, worried.
"I, too, am concerned about
that," replied the alien, "but I have no choice if we are to recover
this craft. With luck, we can leave before
we are discovered."
"It will be dawn soon,"
said Renoldson, "If we're going to get this out of here, we'll have to get
that ramp door to the surface open."
"I know. We will work on that while the reactor warms
up," said Sarwin.
"What about your wife?"
asked Renoldson, "We still have to look for her. There's a lot of base to search yet. We've only looked in the hangars. We only have an hour before dawn, at best. And that's assuming we aren't discovered
here first. These military folks like
to get an early jump on the day, you know...
Do more before nine AM than most people do all day, and that
crap..."
The alien looked down at the
floor. Renoldson wasn't much on reading
its emotions yet, but he was sure the creature was very sad.
"I know," it said, "I
fear I have failed her. What chance do
I have to find her now, in so short a time?
It would take a miracle."
The gray alien shook its head, then looked up at Renoldson. "Can this three-in-one god of yours
provide me a miracle in the short time we have left?"
Renoldson wasn't sure what to
say. "It doesn't work like that,
Sarwin, I'm sorry. You can't expect God
to instantly answer every prayer. He's
usually a little more... I don't
know... subtle."
"Of course he is,"
answered the alien, skeptically.
"As with the gods on my world, it is easier to preach from the past
than to provide in the present. Why
should things be any different here?"
Sarwin noticed that Renoldson was
staring at him, oddly. "I
apologize if I have offended you, human.
It was not my intent. Do not let
my own lack of faith deter you from yours."
"No, no...
It's not that," said Renoldson, pointing toward the alien's neck,
"I'm not offended. But I just
noticed... Did you know that your
amulet has started to glow?"