“We weren’t, our topo map showed the canyon area was on public land.”
“It’s not!” the interrogator yelled back. “What did you see while you were snooping around out there?”
“Nothing!” Matt insisted.
The interrogator leaned over the table and stared intently into Matt’s pale green eyes, it was as if he was trying to look right into Matt’s very soul. “You’re going to tell me what you saw, or this is going to go very badly for you!” the man threatened.
“I didn’t see anything,” Matt sputtered back, feeling threatened and cornered by the interrogator’s tactics.
“Did you find or take anything from the area?” The interrogator questioned.
“No, we were just there to study the petroglyphs, that’s all,” Matt declared.
The interrogator turned and walked out of room, slamming the door behind him. A moment later Matt could hear yelling coming from one of the adjacent rooms, but he could not make out what was being said.
Matt jumped in his seat when the interrogator suddenly threw open the door and walked back in. Then the man slammed a large plastic container containing Matt’s belongings on the table and started rifling through it. Matt looked on in silence as the interrogator looked though his backpack.
“Empty your pockets out on the table,” the interrogator ordered. Matt put his keys, wallet, but left the stone in his pocket.
“Is that everything?” The man questioned as he thumbed through Matt’s wallet with his calloused fingers.
“That all I have,” Matt replied without changing the expression on his face. The interrogator eyed Matt suspiciously and then tossed his wallet back onto the table before leaving the room. Matt could hear more yelling down the hall and doors slamming. A couple of minutes later, the interrogator returned with another man in a white lab coat holding a small vial of liquid and a syringe. Matt gulped as the stranger uncapped the needle with the flick of his finger and inserted it into the vial. Then he grinned as he proceeded to withdraw the unknown substance inside.
“So young man,” the stranger asked in a dubious tone, “This is your last chance to admit if you saw anything unusual in the desert over the last few days?”
“I didn’t, I swear!” Matt cried. The man grabbed Matt’s arm without warning and stretched it out on the table, exposing the tender underside. Then the man positioned the needle over a vein in Matt’s arm like a scorpion poised to strike.
“Did you find any artifacts in the desert that seemed out of place or unnatural?” he demanded.
“No!” Matt replied, his voice wavered and cracked as he tried to suppress the tears welling up in his eyes. “We just went there to take pictures of the petroglyphs for our school project.”
The man released his arm and then walked over to the interrogator and whispered, “I think he’s telling the truth, they usually cave-in by now.”
Matt sighed in relief, but acted as if he didn’t hear what the man had whispered. Then he looked down as the stranger left the room.
The interrogator walked over to Matt and got right in his face. “Listen close, you and your friend’s stories don’t match up, so we know at least one of you is lying. However, we are not going to charge you with any violations at this time, but all of your names will be added to our database of offenders. If you are ever caught trespassing on military land again, or if we discover you have taken artifacts, you will be brought back here and punished to the full extent of the law. I would also strongly advise against discussing this incident with anyone and we will be watching you,” the interrogator promised.
“So, what is going to happen to us now?” Matt asked hesitantly.
“You will all be taken to Mojave and let go. The car you left back on the south rim of the Panamint Valley has been moved to the drop off location. I would strongly advise that you head back home after we release you.” The interrogator paused and gave Matt one last stern look before leaving the room. A moment later a soldier came in and motioned for Matt to follow along. Then he led him out onto the tarmac and escorted him into a large black helicopter.
“Oh thank god you’re okay,” Matt exclaimed with an enormous sigh of relief when he saw Melissa and Greg already strapped into their seats.
“Are you alright?” Melissa asked, looking pretty shaken up from the ordeal.
“Yeah, I am alright,” he replied. “What about you?”
“They did a lot of threatening, but they never touched me,” Melissa replied anxiously.
“Are you okay Greg?” Matt asked, but Greg only nodded and wouldn’t look him in the eyes. Matt figured he was still too upset from the manhandling to respond, so he just sat quietly next to Melissa.
Matt looked around at the interior of the helicopter which was packed with an array of instrument clusters and a large computer screen that gave off an eerie greenish glow. When one of the pilots noticed Matt looking at a screen near him, he reached over and turned the screen away from Matt’s view. Then he stared back at Matt until Matt looked down at the metal grating on the floor. Every time Matt looked up he was met with the same disapproving stare. This went on for the remainder of the flight which felt a lot longer than the twenty minutes that Matt’s watch indicated had passed.
In the distance Matt noticed the familiar outline of city lights. The chopper continued on towards them for a few minutes until it reached the outskirts of the city. Then the chopper suddenly descended until it came to rest at a large open parking lot adjacent to the Mojave train station.
“Get out!” one of the soldiers commanded after opening the door. Then, no sooner than they had exited the aircraft, the chopper lifted off the ground and disappeared into the night sky.
“Why were they so mean to us?” Melissa asked as soon as the noise from the chopper faded away.
“I don’t know,” Matt answered in a reluctant tone.
“Why did they keep insisting we were trespassing on military land, and asking if I had seen anything strange,” she continued.
“What did you say?” Matt asked in a worried tone.
“I said we were there to examine the Petroglyphs, nothing more.”
“What about the object over the lake?” Matt questioned.
“A shadow... a mirage, what could I say about those things,” Melissa replied.
“What about you Greg, what did you tell them?” Matt asked.
“Nothing… but just look at what those bastards did to me!” Greg lifted his shirt to reveal two large welts on his chest that were readily visible even in the parking lot’s dim lighting.
“Are you all right?” Melissa gasped.
“Yeah, it only hurts when I breathe,” Greg replied wincing. “I just want to find Matt’s car and get the hell out of here,” he remarked.
“Sounds good to me,” Matt replied as he picked up a large plastic trash bag that the soldiers had thrown from the helicopter as it departed.
“Is that our stuff?” Melissa asked.
“Yep, but it looks like everything is jumbled together… I guess we should be grateful that we got our stuff back,” Matt commented as he closed the bag.
“Let me help you with that,” Melissa offered as she grabbed a corner and walked along side him.
“Is that your car?” Greg announced as he pointed to an off-white Corolla parked next to a light pole across from the train station.
“Yeah, that’s it,” Matt replied when he saw the HSU sticker on the rear window.
“Well, it looks like they searched my car too,” Matt added as he opened the door for Greg and Melissa.
“How can you tell if anything has been moved in that sea of candy wrappers and empty water bottles?” Greg said with a chuckle.
“I can tell,” Matt replied in an indignant tone, feeling violated again. Then he started the car and they headed for the interstate.
Chapter 3
Matt looked at the rearview mirror and saw that Greg had fallen asleep with his head positioned against the side
window. Then he glanced over at Melissa who was staring aimlessly out into the darkness.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m tired,” she replied. “How about you?”
“Exhausted, unsettled, confused... angry about the way they treated us.”
“At least they let us go,” Melissa remarked.
“Yeah, this is one trip I’ll never forget,” Matt joked.
“Me either,” Melissa replied with a yawn as she turned to look out the window.
Matt continued heading west on Highway 58 feeling increasingly tired, but unwilling to stop. The further away from the desert he drove, the more distant the traumatic events seemed. Without even realizing it, his eyes slowly closed and a familiar shape appeared.
“Wake up! Wake up!” the shadowy figure yelled at him, and when his eyes opened, he jerked the wheel to the right, preventing an accident with an oncoming car.
“What are you doing?” Melissa blurted out in a frantic voice.
“I... started to doze off,” Matt replied as his heart raced from the adrenaline rush.
“Are you alright?” she asked when she saw the frightened look on his face.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” he apologized.
“Do you want me to drive for a while?” Melissa offered.
“No, I’m wide awake now, but when we get to Bakersfield I promise to stop.
Melissa nodded and then kept looking over at him periodically as they continued on.
Once they reached Bakersfield, Matt pulled into a modern looking hotel parking lot just off the interstate.
“What do you think?” he asked as he parked the car near the front of the building so they could see inside it.
“I’m not picky,” Melissa replied. “I just want a hot shower and a real bed to sleep in,” she added.
“As long as there aren’t any bugs, I’m okay with it,” Greg remarked from the back seat still half asleep.
“I’ll get us a room,” Melissa offered as she opened the door and headed out. Matt looked on as she went inside for a few minutes. He could see her talking to the clerk in a friendly manner. A moment later she held up a keycard and motioned for him to drive around to the far end of the hotel.
Matt parked his car near the light post and then he and Greg met Melissa in the room.
“What do you think?” she asked as they peeked in.
“Works for me,” Greg replied after he finished inspecting the room for spiders.
“Looks clean,” Matt commented as he set the plastic bag containing their stuff on the chair next to the door.
“I’m going to take a quick shower,” Melissa announced as she disappeared into the bathroom.
“Okay,” Matt replied as he and Greg separated their belongings out from the bag.
When Matt was finished sorting his stuff, he pulled the stone out of his packet and rolled it around in his hand while he was waiting for Melissa to finish in the bathroom.
“What’s that?” Greg asked when he saw Matt playing with the stone.
“Nothing much, I found it near the alkali lake the day I went looking for my watch.”
Greg looked concerned as he stared at it for a moment. “Didn’t the interrogator ask you if you took anything from the desert?”
“Yeah, he did, but I didn’t think a piece of quartz was of any concern,” Matt remarked as he set it on the nightstand next Melissa’s bag.
“So you lied?” Greg questioned in a suspicious tone.
“Yeah, I didn’t want them to take it,” Matt admitted.
“Why not?” Greg remarked. Matt didn’t want to tell him about the dream, so he paused for a moment trying to think up a plausible reason for his deception.
“The stone is an erratic, which is a geological name for a misfit. It’s a named applied to any rock or boulder that gets carried from one location to another and does not match its surroundings. Glaciers are the usual culprit, but this stone puzzled me because there were never any glaciers in the Panamint Valley,” Matt explained.
“I still don’t think you should have lied about the stone. You could have gotten all of us in more trouble,” Greg exclaimed.
“It’s just some random little rock, I’m sure they could care less about it,” Matt responded.
“I hope so…” Greg sighed as flopped down on the bed and pulled the pillow under his head.
Matt finished sorting his belongings and then went back out to double check that he had locked all the doors on his car. When he returned, Melissa emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel.
“Are you done?” he asked, trying not to stare at her scantily clad body.
“I am,” she replied as the scent of lavender filled the air behind her. Matt smiled and then headed in to take his shower. Once inside, he locked the door and took off his clothes. Then he placed them neatly on top of the vanity and stepped into the shower closing the curtain behind him. The pulsating jets of water washed away days of grit and relaxed his tired muscles. It finally seemed like the long arduous day was coming to an end.
Once Matt finished with his shower, he put on briefs and then wrapped a towel around his waist. As he emerged from the bathroom he looked over at the bed on his right to find Greg sprawled out across it, and snoring lightly. Then he glanced over at the other bed and when his eyes met Melissa’s she slowly pulled back the covers and patted the mattress with her hand. Matt felt his face instantly flush red and he quickly reached over and turned off the lights. Then he removed the towel from his waist and gently slid under the covers, careful not to bump up against Melissa.
“Do you have enough room?” she asked innocently.
“Yep,” Matt replied as he clung to the far edge of the bed. He had never been in an intimate setting with Melissa, and he didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable or give her the wrong impression. As he lay there motionless, he tried to block any romantic images that came into his head. Instead, he focused on the trip and all of the dramatic events that occurred over the last few days. While he pondered what the military was so protective of, the inevitable wave of tiredness slowly overtook him and he fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning Matt woke up to find Melissa spooned tightly against him with her arm draped across his chest. She looked like an angel and Matt tried to keep from moving so he would not wake her. He cherished the moment. She was the one person he always felt a deep and inexplicable connection to, but at the same time he kept those feelings hidden. Not because he was ashamed of them, but because he feared they could drive her away, or destroy the friendship they shared.
“Good morning,” Matt said in a soft voice as Melissa started to stir.
“Good morning,” she replied with a sleepy yawn.
“How did you sleep?” he asked.
“I had so much room... you must have been hanging over the edge of the bed. I wish you felt more comfortable around me.”
“I do, I just didn’t want you to be uncomfortable,” Matt remarked.
“Matt, you’re such a gentleman. I know I can trust you, and you make me feel safe,” she said with a warm smile.
“That’s good... did you have any interesting dreams?” Matt asked in an effort to change the topic.
“Now that you mention it, I did have a strange dream about an odd looking person who kept warning me about something called a ‘dimensional shift’.” Matt felt his heart start to pound as Melissa continued. “I remember the stranger said something about our primitive culture not using some sort of new technology wisely. I don’t know... it was a vivid dream, but I can’t seem to remember too much of it,” Melissa replied.
“I had that same dream,” Matt announced in a surprised tone.
“You’re kidding?”
“No, it was literally the exact same dream,” Matt declared.
“You’re teasing me, stop it!” Melissa scolded.
“I’m not!” Matt insisted.
Melissa sat quietly for a moment as she thought about the si
gnificance of the event. “Perhaps it has something to do with the interrogations we went through. It was a very traumatic event, and it probably influenced our subconsciousness, resulting in the strange parallel dreams.”
“That makes sense except for the fact that I had a similar dream the night before the military apprehended us,” Matt revealed.
“Really, what happened in that dream?” Melissa asked, still wondering if he was pulling her leg.
“I saw what I think was an alien, and he warned me that the military was coming to get us right before it actually happened,” Matt confessed. Melissa looked a bit unsure and then gave him a disbelieving look.
“I’m not joking,” Matt insisted.
“Come on, it was just one of your crazy dreams… I have silly dreams all the time. Not about aliens, but you know, strange stuff,” Melissa admitted.
Matt sighed and looked down, “This was different, I can’t explain it, but it seemed too real to be just a dream.”
“Well, if we have the same dreams again, then I will start to wonder, but for now I think it was just a coincidence,” Melissa said reassuringly.
“You’re probably right, there is certainly nothing strange about me having strange dreams,” he admitted.
“Good morning,” Greg announced as he came out of the bathroom, drying his hair with a small white towel.
“How did you sleep?” Matt asked.
“Great, I was so tired,” he replied.
“Did you have any strange dreams?” Matt asked as he put his pants on.
“I don’t think so... why?” Greg responded.
“Well, Melissa and I had nearly identical dreams last night and I was wondering if you had it too?” Matt remarked.
Greg wrinkled his brow and shook his head. “Nope, I didn’t have any dreams at all… at least none that I remember. So, what was your dream about?” Greg asked with a smirk. Matt quickly looked over at Melissa to see if she was going to answer him.
“Don’t look at me. It’s your crazy dream... you explain it,” she asserted.
“Okay,” Matt sighed. “The dream involved an alien and something about a newly discovered technology followed by a warning of some kind.”
Dreamstone Page 4