Area 51 (35 page)

"We're flying their ships," Turcotte noted. "It couldn't be that far off." He thought of the pyramid and the golden glow above it and mentally reconsidered his last statement.

"And not only that," Kelly added, "but didn't you tell us earlier that it appears this high rune language was the precursor to all of mankind's written languages and probably served as the starting point for those languages? So if the roots are common, we must be able to understand it better than if they were totally alien."

"Yes, yes," Nabinger said. "But there is just enough of a common root for me to decipher some of this text. This is--"

Turcotte placed a large hand on Nabinger's shoulder.

"Professor. It's late. We all need to get some sleep. But before we sleep we need to decide what we're going to do next. To do that we need to know what you have, as good as you have been able to get it."

Nabinger nodded. "All right. There were two main stones set up in the cavern.

Those are the two I have spent all my time on. There are others I will have to get to tomorrow. But here is what I do have.

"Please note where I have question marks after certain parts. That means that I am not quite certain of what—

"Just show it to us!" Turcotte said.

Nabinger slid the first page under the small dome light.

THE CHIEF(?) SHIP/CRAFT NEGATIVE(?) FLY

ENGINE/POWER(?) DANGEROUS

ALL SIGNS NEGATIVE/BAD(?) AND MUST BE

NEGATIVE/STOPPED(?)

MUST BE SOON

"That must refer to the mothership," Von Seeckt said.

"The negative with the question mark in the first sentence- you don't know for sure what that word is?"

"A verb," Nabinger said. "It might be cannot or should not or will not. "

"Makes a bit of difference," Turcotte noted. "I mean, what if the damn thing just broke? That would cover the old won 't, wouldn't it? What if these aliens got stuck and their triple A plan didn't cover Earth? And maybe that's why that thing shouldn't get cranked."

Kelly put an arm on Turcotte 's shoulder. "See? You said 'shouldn't.' "

"Hard, isn't it?" Nabinger said.

Turcotte rubbed the stubble of his beard. "Yeah, I get it.

All right, go on.

"THE OTHER (A)???? NOT WANT TO STAY

BE GONE BEFORE ARRIVAL OF (B)????

(C)???? STANDS FIRM

NO CONTAMINATION/INTERFERENCE(?)

WITH (WORD EQUALING
HUMANS
)

NATURAL COURSE MUST BE ALLOWED"

No idea what was arriving?" Kelly asked. Her hand was still on Turcotte's shoulder.

"It was a special symbol. One that I had never seen before," Nabinger said.

"From the basic set of the symbol I would say it represented a proper noun: a specific name.

I've designated each unidentified symbol by a different letter before the question marks to show that they aren't the same. As you will see on the next page, one of the noun symbols does repeat."

"So they decided to leave us alone?" Kelly said.

"But obviously that didn't happen," Von Seeckt said.

"That bomb had to get into the pyramid somehow."

"Yes," Nabinger agreed. "And the high runes all over the planet. Somehow humans picked up some of that."

"Probably because it didn't work out the way they had planned. Apparently everyone didn't go along so easily with getting stuck on Earth." Nabinger turned over the last page.

DECISION MADE BY MEETING

(C)???? PREPARES TO IMPLEMENT

DISAGREEMENT

BATTLE

OTHERS (D)???? FLEE FIGHT

CHANGE HAS ARRIVED

IT IS OVER

DUTY IS (E)????

"So they fought among themselves?" Kelly said.

"Looks like it," Nabinger said.

"And in the end they did their duty," Turcotte said.

"But not perfectly," Von Seeckt said. "We are still dealing with the repercussions."

"I've got a stupid question," Turcotte said. "Why would the people who built the mothership leave their messages on stone tablets?"

"Because that's what whoever was left there had to work with," Nabinger said.

"This is big," Kelly said. "Bigger than what they have at Area 51. This means history is not at all what we think it is.

Hell evolution is not what we think. Do you know how that will affect people?

Think about religion? About--

"No " Von Seeckt disagreed. "It is not bigger than what happening at Area 51.

That is the first problem. Because in just under three days they are going to try to fly the mothership, and the marker left by the people who abandoned the mothership says don't do it. We've got to stop it.""I've got another stupid question," Turcotte said.

The other three waited.

"Why is Gullick in such a goddamn rush to fly the mothership? That's bugged me from the very beginning."

"I do not know," Von Seeckt said. "It troubled me ever since he came up with the countdown to fly it. It was ridiculous. He wanted to to fly it before we even ran a basic series of tests on it."

Turcotte felt a pounding on the right side of his head.

"Something isn't right about all this."

"Ever since they went to Dulce early this year," Von Seeckt said, "it all changed."

Turcotte thought of the pyramid, the vats, the golden glow. The small orb that had destroyed the helicopter he was on in Nebraska. Too many pieces that didn't fit. The only thing he knew for sure was that this was bigger than him right now.

"Let's get a little sleep first," Turcotte suggested. "We're all tired and we'll be able to think better with a couple of hours of rest. We'll decide what to do in the morning. We still have forty-eight hours."

28

HANGAR Two, AREA 51

ADJUSTED T-42 HOURS

Major Quinn blinked hard, trying to keep his eyes open against the lack of sleep. He pulled the collar of his Gore-Tex parka tighter around his neck and shivered. It was cold in the desert at night, and the wind whipping in the open windows of the humvee did not help. They had left Hangar One ten minutes ago and were racing around the base of Groom Mountain, General Gullick at the wheel and Quinn in the passenger seat. He wondered why the general had had to choose the single vehicle from the motor pool that had no top to it, instead of one of the others, but he knew better than to ask.

There was no road. There never had been one. Roads showed up in satellite photos. They had stayed on the runway most of the distance, until they turned off and headed directly for the mountainside. Now they rolled across the desert floor, the suspension of the vehicle easily handling the rough terrain. Gullick leaned over and checked their GPS, ground positioning system, linked in to satellites overhead. It gave their location to within five feet, even on the move. The headlights on the jeeplike vehicle were off, and Gullick was using night vision goggles, allowing them to travel unseen to the naked eye. The outer security net was tight: no unwanted watchers on White Sides Mountain this evening. And the skies were being carefully watched with the invisible fingers of radar to keep out unwanted overflights. Helicopter gunships were ready on the flight line outside Hangar One.

Still, Gullick wanted to take no chances. He braked as a figure stepped out of the darkness. The man walked up to the humvee, weapon at the ready. The man snapped to attention when he recognized General Gullick. Despite the night vision goggles there was no mistaking the general's presence.

"Sir! The engineers are just ahead, under that camouflage net."

Gullick accelerated. Quinn was grateful when they finally stopped near several trucks parked under a desert camouflage net. An officer walked up to the humvee and smartly saluted.

"Sir, Captain Henson, Forty-Fifth Engineers."

Gullick returned the salute and stepped out, Quinn following. "What's your status?" Gullick asked.

"All charges are in place. We're completing the final wiring now. We'll be all set by dawn." He held up a remote detonator the size of a cellular phone. "Then all it will take is a simple command on this. It's linked into the computer that controls the sequence of firing." Henson led the way to a humvee parked under the camouflage net and showed the general a laptop. "The sequence is critical to get the rock in the outside wall to come down in a controlled manner. Very similar to what happens when they demolish tall buildings in a built-up area--making the rubble come down on itself but not hit the ship."

The general took the remote and turned it around in his hands, almost caressing it.

"Be careful, sir," Captain Henson said.

Gullick reached down and pulled out his pistol. He pushed the barrel into the underside of Henson's jaw.

"Don't you ever dare speak to me like that, mister. Do you understand?" His thumb cocked the hammer back, the sound very loud in the clear night air.

"Yes, sir," Henson managed to get out.

Gullick's voice rose. "I have had to take shit from civilian pukes for thirty years! I'll be goddamned if I will accept even the slightest disrespect from a man in uniform. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

Quinn froze, stunned at the outburst.

"You fucking people." Gullick's voice had dropped to a mutter, and although the gun was still pressing into Henson's skin, his eyes had become unfocused.

"I've given my life for you people," Gullick whispered. "I've done all . . ."

The general's eyes refocused.

He quickly bolstered the gun and turned to the mountainside, behind which the mothership rested. "Show me the charges," he said in a normal voice.

CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK, UTAH

A voice yelled out shrilly. "They're here! They're here!"

Turcotte had his gun out, hammer cocked, as he kicked open the driver's door of the van and went down into squat, peering around in the dark for a target.

The screaming continued and Turcotte slowly relaxed and stood up he recognized the voice. He walked around to the right side and opened the door.

Kelly held Johnny, gripping him tightly around the shoulders. "It's not real Johnny. It's not real."

Simmons was pressed up in the left rear corner, staring wide-eyed straight ahead. "I can see them! I can see them?

I'm not going to let them take me again! I won't go back!"

"It's Kelly, Johnny! It's Kelly! I'm here."

For the first time since they'd picked him up, Johnny showed some awareness of his surroundings. "Kelly." He blinked, trying to focus on her. "Kelly."

"It's okay, Johnny. I came and got you like you wanted. I came and got you."

"Kelly--they're real. I saw them. They took me. They did things to me."

"It's okay, Johnny. You're safe now. You're safe."

Johnny turned away and curled into a ball and Kelly held on to him. Turcotte looked at Von Seeckt and Nabinger.

"Get some sleep. We'll be leaving shortly." He turned and walked back outside, sliding the door shut behind him.

Turcotte walked out into the darkness. The stars glistened above the mountains that surrounded him on all sides. It would be dawn soon. He could sense it in the slightest change in the sky to the east. Most people would have not been able to tell, but Turcotte had spent many dark nights waiting for the dawn to come.

He thought of the people in the van. Von Seeckt with his demons from the past and fears for the future. Johnny Simmons and the demons that had been forced on him.

Nabinger with his questions from the past and his quest for answers. Kelly--Turcotte paused--Kelly had her own ghosts, it seemed.

He turned as the van door opened. Kelly slipped out and walked over. "Johnny's asleep. Or passed out. I can't tell which it is."

"What do you think they did to him?"

"Screwed with his brain," Kelly said bitterly. "Made him think he got picked up by aliens and taken aboard a spaceship and had all sorts of experiments run on him."

Think he'll get over it?" Turcotte asked.

"Why should he? He did get picked up by aliens," Kelly said.

"What?"

"Whatever they did to his brain is real. So for him it's all real. So, no, I don't think he'll ever get over it. You never get over reality. You just get on with your life."

"What reality happened to you?"

Kelly just looked at him.

"You said that you'd tell me, first chance you got,"

Turcotte said. He waited.

After a minute Kelly spoke. "I was working for an independent film company.

Actually, I was part of an independent film company. I owned a piece. We were doing well.

We did documentaries and freelance work. National Geographic in its early TV

days had us work a couple of their pieces. It was before all these cable channels—Discovery and the like. Hell, we were before our time. We were on the right path.

"Then I got a letter. I still have the damn thing. Eight years ago. From a captain in the Air Force at Nellis Air Force Base. The letter stated that the Air Force was interested in making a series of documentaries. Some on the space program, some on their work in high-altitude medicine and other things.

"It sounded interesting, so I went to Nellis and met this captain. We talked about the various subjects he had mentioned in the letter, then, almost as an aside, he mentioned that they had some interesting footage in the public affairs office there.

"So I say, 'Of what?' And he says, 'Of a UFO landing at the air base here.'

"I about choked on my coffee. He said it like you would mention the sun came up this morning. Very calm and almost uninterested. I should have known from that, that it was a setup. But like I said, I was hungry. We were still struggling and this was the biggest thing ever thrown our way.

"Then, of course, he showed me the film. That removed all doubt. It was shot in black and white. He told me it had been taken in 1970. They had picked up a bogey on radar at Nellis. At first they thought it might be a stray civilian aircraft. They scrambled a pair of F-16's to check it out.

The first half of the film they showed me was from the aircraft's gun cameras.

It starts out with blank sky, then you catch a glimpse of something moving fast across the sky.