by Ken Warner
“Care to join me for a drink?” it said.
Sydney smiled.
“Sure, why not?” she replied.
Twenty minutes later, she met him at a local bar.
“Long time no see,” she said, sitting across the table from him.
“Well, I figured I couldn’t just let you walk out of my life like that, never to be heard from again.”
“Fair enough,” she said.
“I ordered us a couple of beers; I hope that’s alright?”
“Yeah, sure!”
“So, I was thinking, now that the aliens are out of commission, you probably wouldn’t be coming out west for anything anymore, would you?”
“Not for the job, no,” she said. “But this area is beautiful; I’m sure I could be enticed to come out and visit again.”
“I’d like that,” he said with a smile. “I could show you around. You ever been to the Grand Canyon?”
“Not yet!”
“We’ll definitely have to go there,” he said. “The view from the south rim is amazing. But if you want to get the full experience, we’d have to hike down to the bottom.”
“Yeah, I’m game!”
“It’d mean sleeping in tents—that ain’t a hike you can get done in a single day. And going back up, well, that takes about twice as long as going down. Ya ever slept in a tent outdoors before?”
“Sure, but not since I was a kid,” she replied. “But I would totally do that.”
Their beers arrived.
Sydney took a sip and said, “I’ll consider it a date then.”
Miguel took a long drink of his beer and then suddenly looked more serious.
“I’ve been thinking about that alien camp,” he said. “And I got a funny feeling. Like maybe that’s not where they took me after all.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah… I mean, I was damn sure they took me underground. But it’s not only that. That place where we were today… it was just… different. There was a smell that I don’t remember from my abduction.”
“You’re right—it kind of smelled like vomit in there,” said Sydney.
“Yeah, exactly, and I don’t remember smelling nothing like that where they took me. And while the walls were metal, that was different too. The place they took me… those walls were smooth and shiny, not a bunch of separate pieces like that building today.
“And that’s the other thing—when they took me, and we got out of the saucer, I don’t remember seeing no building there. I mean, I didn’t exactly get a good look around—they took me straight from the spacecraft to the butte, but I figure I woulda noticed a big building like that.”
“Okay, but you’re sure you saw Monument Valley in the background?”
“Certain.”
“So maybe if there’s some other alien operation out there, it’s only underground—that would explain why nothing else showed up on their satellite imagery anywhere near there.”
“Exactly. And you wanna know another thing that’s bugging me about this?”
“What?”
Miguel finished his beer.
“Why didn’t the man in black show up?” he asked. “If this here was the base for the aliens doing the abductions, and he’s trying to cover that up, you figure we woulda been dead before we ever got up close. But he don’t even make an appearance? Doesn’t that seem a little strange to you?”
Sydney drank some of her beer.
“You’re right; I didn’t think of that.”
They had a couple of beers and talked long into the night. But then Sydney went back to the motel. Miguel had given her quite a lot to think about.
Chapter Thirteen: Recurrence
Sydney joined Brian for breakfast at the local diner the next morning. She outlined the reasons for Miguel’s skepticism that the Malor were behind the abductions.
“The thing is, his memories of the entire experience are fuzzy,” she pointed out. “The whole thing was like a dream for him. So, who knows—some parts of it could be dead accurate, but other aspects could be elements that his subconscious brain provided to fill in the blanks.”
“Yes, I agree,” said Brian. “He remembered being taken to the area near Monument Valley and then found a Malor camp precisely where he expected to find it, based on his experience. The United States military had not been able to find them—they’ve been hunting down rogue Malor since the invasion. And so, the notion that finding that camp at that exact location is only some sort of bizarre coincidence… well, I find that difficult to believe.”
He seemed lost in thought for a moment, then added, “On the other hand…”
“What?”
“Now that I think about it, that camp did seem a little… thrown together. For the Malor, anyway. We do know that Malor around the world lost power when their mother ship went down. And this group found a way to generate their own power, which is what made me think they’d been here a long time.
“But at the same time, this group was much larger than any other we’ve heard about, and given their penchant for working collectively, this would have given them a competitive advantage. Perhaps this was purely a rogue group left over from the invasion, and they built their power station very recently.
“That structure they built didn’t seem very old and looked like they could have constructed it from scrap metal. I’d expect to see something more permanent if they’d been operating from that location for decades.
“I don’t know,” he concluded. “I guess I’m torn.”
“Hmm.” Sydney took a bite of her hash browns. “The other thing that almost has me convinced that Miguel is right, and I recognize it’s purely circumstantial, is the fact that the man in black did not show up, and has not shown up. Wouldn’t he, if those Malor had truly been the ones abducting people?”
“Perhaps,” he conceded. “But if he is some sort of secret government agent, it’s possible he had orders not to interfere with an operation being conducted by another government agency—the military, to be specific.”
“Yeah, maybe…”
“Well, look: Time will tell. If the abductions continue, then we’ll know there’s someone else behind it.”
“That’s true,” she agreed. “I’ll have to keep an eye on the forums online and see if there are any new reports.”
They ate in silence for a few minutes.
“Oh, hey—I was thinking,” said Sydney. “Do you think we can stop in Marlton so I can get a look at the damage to my house? Before we go back to the ranch?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll text David now and ask him to adjust our flight plan.”
They headed to the airport once they’d finished breakfast. When they landed, they called an Uber and went out to Marlton to check out Sydney’s house.
“Oh, my,” she said, stepping over the police tape and walking up the driveway.
The explosion had destroyed the attached garage. Only rubble remained. Pieces of her truck were strewn across the driveway and the backyard.
They went inside the house and found that part of the wall separating the kitchen from the breezeway was missing.
“Looks like the breezeway took the brunt of the force,” said Brian. “The damage to the rest of the house doesn’t look too bad.”
Sydney walked through the main level, then the second floor.
“It doesn’t look like anyone’s been here since we left,” she reported as she came back down the stairs. “The mess looks exactly how it was before.”
“Have you heard back from the insurance company?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah—I did. They said to go ahead and schedule the repairs,” she replied. “And I’ve got the quotes back from all three contractors. They’re each very highly rated, and there wasn’t much difference in their estimates. I’m going to call the one who came in the lowest and ask them to get started.
“I was thinking that maybe I’d come home and start cleaning up,” she said, looking around her living room. “But… s
eeing it like this, and knowing it’s going to be a few weeks to do the repairs… I don’t know; this feels so overwhelming. Do you think I could stay with you at the ranch a little longer?”
“I was assuming you’d stay at least until the repairs were completed,” he told her.
They took an Uber back to the airport and flew back to North Carolina. Brian drove them back to the ranch in his truck.
Sydney sat down with her laptop and checked the abduction forums she’d found online, but there were no reports of any new abductions.
The next few days passed in total peace and quiet. Brian kept busy doing whatever it was that he did, but Sydney found she had a lot of time on her hands. She went for a run every morning, then spent much of each day going through the data Brian’s team had amassed from Martha’s interviews. They’d finished the data entry, finally. Sydney kept an eye out for anything out of the ordinary but was struck mostly by how similar people’s experiences were. Abductees from all walks of life and every corner of the country had gone through nearly an identical sequence of events. The aliens didn’t seem to discriminate based on race, gender, or income—or any other factors that Sydney could identify.
Martha had collected interviews from some people in other countries, as well—people outside the United States accounted for roughly twenty percent of her data. Yet still, the accounts were very similar to the rest.
Saturday morning, Sydney decided she needed a change of pace.
“I’d like to go into town today,” she said to Brian at breakfast, “maybe do a little shopping. I’ve been rotating the same five outfits since I’ve been here—I should’ve grabbed some more clothes when we stopped at my place, but I didn’t think of it.”
“Sure,” he said. “Take the Mercedes.”
“Really?! I figured I could just take the truck…”
“Don’t be silly,” he said, handing her the keys to his car.
Sydney drove into town once they’d finished eating. It was a small community, but there were several stores and shops downtown.
She was in one of the shops, picking out a pair of jeans when she noticed a man in the back of the shop—a man in a black suit.
“Oh, no,” she whispered to herself, her heart skipping a beat.
She put the jeans down and was about to bolt out the door when the man turned. His face was wrong, and he wasn’t wearing sunglasses—this was not the man in black.
Sydney breathed a sigh of relief and went to try on the jeans.
She ended up buying three new outfits, then found a little café down the street. Once she’d ordered a coffee, she moved to the end of the counter to wait for her order.
And that’s when she noticed another man in a black suit sitting in the back corner—and this one was wearing sunglasses. Sydney took a closer look. He moved his glasses up to his forehead and winked at her.
This was the man in black. And his eyes did not look human—the pupils weren’t round—they were slits, like a cat’s.
He put his glasses back on and smiled at her.
Sydney took off toward the exit.
“Ma’am, your coffee…” the barista called out.
Sydney ignored him and ran up the street to where she’d parked the Mercedes. She got in and started the engine, frantically looking around to see if the man in black was in pursuit. He was nowhere in sight.
She backed out of the parking space, threw it into gear, and took off back toward the ranch. Checking her rearview mirror the whole way back, she didn’t see anyone following her.
Once she’d reached the house, she ran inside, slamming and locking the door behind her and dropping her shopping bags on the floor.
Brian came running from his office.
“What’s wrong?”
She told him what had happened.
“Sit,” he said.
He poured them both a Scotch, and they sat in the living room.
“If those Malor were the ones behind the abductions, then why is he here?” she said. “He shouldn’t have any reason to bother with us anymore.”
Brian said nothing, taking a sip of his drink instead.
“And what the hell is up with his eyes? Brian, I don’t think he’s human.”
“Well, they do make contact lenses that can make your eyes look like a cat’s. But I’m getting to the point that I’d have to agree with you,” he said. “Between his eyes, and the unusual abilities… he may well be from a different world.” He chuckled a bit and took another sip of Scotch. “Before the invasion, I would have insisted there had to be some other explanation. But now…”
“That’s crazy, though, right?” said Sydney. “I mean, the Othali, and then the Malor, and now… another alien species? How many different intelligent life forms are there… out there?” she asked, waving one hand toward the sky.
“Have you ever heard of the Fermi Paradox?” he asked.
“No, what is it?”
“We’ve known for a long time that there are billions of stars in the galaxy and billions of galaxies in the universe. We know now that there are planets orbiting many, if not most, of the stars in our galaxy. And one team of scientists have confirmed a planet orbiting a star in another galaxy.”
“Okay, and...?”
“With that many planets out there, how could we be the only intelligent life in the universe?” he asked. “It would seem incredibly unlikely. There is a mathematical formula called the Drake Equation that factors in the number of stars in the galaxy, the percentage with planets, how many of those have conditions hospitable to life—there are, if I recall correctly, seven variables it considers. And we’re not able to provide precise values for every variable, but with modern exoplanetary astronomy, we have much more precise input values than we ever did before.”
“Uh-huh…”
“Well, the equation predicts that, by now, after the billions of years that have passed since the formation of our galaxy, there should be at least ten advanced, intelligent species. The Fermi Paradox asks—or asked, prior to the invasion—why, then, if there should be so many advanced civilizations out there, have we never encountered any? After all this time?
“Many solutions had been postulated for the paradox over the years. Perhaps every advanced civilization has managed to destroy itself before achieving interstellar travel. Or maybe there is an advanced civilization out there, but humanity is not yet sufficiently advanced to be interesting to them.”
“But now we know the answer,” said Sydney. “There are other intelligent beings out there.”
“Exactly,” said Brian. “And based on the Drake Equation, now that we know about a couple for sure, we shouldn’t be too surprised to discover a third.
“I always thought the equation yielded overly optimistic results, I’ll confess. I tended to believe that any advanced civilization would find a way to annihilate itself before reaching other worlds. Our track record would seem to predict that. But I was wrong.”
“Alright, then. So, our man in black could very well be yet another type of alien,” she said, taking a drink of her Scotch. “What does he want? He said last time it was our ‘final warning.’ This time he didn’t chase me, didn’t try to kill me, nothing. Just smiled at me and showed me his eyes. It’s like he’s messing with us. He wanted to, what, remind us that he’s still out there, and let us know that he’s not human?”
Brian thought about it for a moment.
“This makes me think that Miguel might be right,” he said finally. “Perhaps the Malor he found weren’t behind the abductions. The man in black might not be alone—maybe there are more of his species here, and they’re the ones responsible for the abductions.”
Sydney finished her Scotch.
“Great.”
“It is interesting, though, that so many abductees have reported seeing the Malor when they’ve been taken,” Brian observed.
“Maybe the man in black aliens are working with some of the Malor?” Sydney suggested.
&nb
sp; “That could be,” said Brian. “But we’ve witnessed the man in black’s ability to make himself invisible. I wonder if perhaps his species can disguise themselves to look like the Malor.”
“But why?”
Brian downed the rest of his Scotch and put his glass on the table.
“I have no idea.”
Over the next few days, she paid closer attention to the online forums. By the end of the weekend, she still had not found any new abduction stories. But Monday morning, she received a call from Ted Johnson out in Kansas.
“Hello, Sydney?” he said.
“Yes, hi! How are you!”
“Alright, I guess. I wanted to let you know Susan and I have been abducted again.”
“You’re kidding—when?”
“Last night,” he said. “We were at the farm late doing some work, and it happened on the way home, on Route 23, just like always.”
“That’s incredible!”
“Don’t know about that. Went down exactly like the other times.”
Sydney told him about Miguel’s story and the events that had taken place out by Monument Valley.
“Well, I’d venture to guess those particular aliens weren’t the ones doing this,” he said. “But we did see three of them gray ones, just like before.”
Sydney thanked him for calling her and told him she’d stay in touch. She ran to Brian’s office and told him the news. He had several windows open on his giant computer monitor, and Sydney recognized one of them as a satellite view of the ranch.
“What are you up to?” she asked.
“Oh, this?” he said, turning back toward the monitor. “I’m trying to figure out a way to adjust the cameras and proximity sensors to detect the man in black. I suspect he can probably camouflage himself in the visual wavelengths, so I’m recalibrating everything for infrared. Won’t be able to test it unless he shows up again, of course…”
“Oh,” said Sydney. “Well, listen, I’d like to go back to Kansas. This new abduction proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Miguel was right! The Malor in Arizona weren’t behind the abductions! There’s been more activity in that area of Kansas than anywhere else. So, if we want to get to the bottom of this, I think that’s the best place to continue with the investigation.”