by A. D. Winch
"Time to empty the cargo," Andrea shouted. "Strap yourselves to something."
Eric and Ursula removed some of the netting from the wall of the plane and cleared a space so they could lay it on the floor. It was still attached, but they were able to put their feet through the holes in case they were sucked out as they opened the cargo doors.
They loosened the complicated catch and pushed the doors. One swung upwards and the other downwards, but they both smashed into the plane's fuselage with a loud clang. The hinges held and, even though the doors continued to rattle noisily, it looked unlikely that they would be torn from the aircraft.
Below them, the early morning lights of a town illuminated the blackness. The plane flew over the outskirts and into the desert.
The headphones that Andrea wore suddenly came to life.
"CargoMaster N70, this is Roswell International Air Centre. You are about to enter restricted airspace. Please turn, heading one eight six."
"Unable to follow instruction, Roswell Tower. We are currently being buzzed," Andrea replied.
"Please define buzzed," the air traffic controller asked curiously.
"An unidentified flying object is currently positioned under our fuselage. Velocity and heading are matching our own."
"Please repeat slowly, Cargomaster N70."
"An unidentified flying object is currently positioned under our fuselage. Velocity and heading are matching our own."
There was a pause and static could be heard in the headphones.
"Cargomaster N70, we see no other aircraft in your vicinity or on the radar."
"Roswell Tower, I am looking at it right now," Andrea lied, following the script that Alexander had told her. "I can assure you that an unidentified flying object is directly below us at a distance of three metres. It will be merging with our signature on your radar. It is that close."
There was silence again while the air traffic controller tried to make sense of what had been said.
"Please confirm. A UFO is currently three metres from your aircraft?"
"Confirmed. Roswell Tower, we have a problem. The UFO is pulling us down. I repeat the UFO is…"
Andrea stopped talking and effectively cut the link with the tower. The air traffic controller continued to speak, but Andrea moved her mike to above her head. From his words, it was clear that he thought something had happened that he was not prepared for, and she wanted him to continue to think this. She dropped the plane's nose, so the Cessna was heading towards the ground. The airport was more than eight kilometres from them, and they would fly far enough away from the tower to not be seen clearly. The plane dropped to below the height of the surrounding hills and Andrea levelled out when they were one hundred metres above ground level.
"Sir, we've got a problem," Agent Smith said, as soon as Agent Hoover picked up the phone.
"What is it?"
"We've been monitoring Roswell International Air Centre and a bogie has just flown into restricted airspace."
"They have military jets. They can deal with it."
"But the bogey claims to be pursued by a UFO and it has just vanished from our radar."
"Send up a chopper and a drone, immediately," Agent Hoover ordered. "I'll contact our staff at the airport."
Eric and Ursula stood by the cargo door throwing and kicking alien artefacts out of the plane as quickly as they could. Wind pushed into them, whipped around their bodies and tried to pull them out as they stood firmly by the opening. The last items were the three sarcophagi, and they lit the attached flares as they slid them out. Each fell into the desert, sending up plumes of dust that could be seen from the plane. As the final one hit the ground, the plane began to rise steeply, leaving red flares glowing below them in the sand.
Andrea brought the microphone back down to her mouth and said, "Mayday, mayday. This is CargoMaster N70. We have lost control. The unidentified flying object is controlling the aircraft. Mayday. Mayday."
The plane suddenly appeared on the radars at Roswell International Air Centre and the OSS base. It was halfway between them and about five kilometres from each. The plane continued to fly upwards and at one thousand metres, Andrea gave them all the order to bale.
Eric turned on the lights strapped to his outfit and the lasers on his helmet. Adrenalin had banished any fear, and he jumped without hesitation. Below him, it was mostly black, but three red flares cast an eerie glow over parts of the desert. With Eric gone, Ursula had no option but to do the same. The lack of any discernible landscape unnerved her, but she saw the blue lights of Eric flying away and followed him out of the plane. Johan stumbled towards the door from the cockpit and fell out of the plane clumsily. Except for Andrea, the plane was now empty. She pushed the control wheel forward and watched the altitude indicator as the plane levelled out and then began to dive. As it did do, she rolled the Cessna until it was heading back the way they had come.
"We have collided with the UFO. We are going down. Mayday. We are going down. Mayday."
As the plane's nose dropped towards the ground, Andrea got out of her chair and walked to the back of the plane. The CargoMaster was now in freefall and would hit the ground less than a kilometre from the flares. Andrea stood at the cargo door and before she leapt she calculated the slim probability that the plane's tail would hit her as she jumped. It was not significant enough to stop her leaping. The plane shot past, shaking the air as it did so and tumbling her as if she was in a washing machine. Andrea was not concerned and calmly pulled her parachute cord.
On the ground a few kilometres away, she could see the flares from the sarcophagi. Above them, flying quickly through the air were what looked like two small UFOs. Blue and yellow beams lit up the sky and lasers pointed towards the Earth but she was not going towards them or the flares. She tugged one of the straps and the parachute gracefully turned in the air and headed towards the OSS base.
The moment Eric and Ursula jumped from the plane they opened their arms and legs and flew through the black. It was difficult to see much as the lights on their outfits were blinding in the dark. Eric could just make out the airport in the distance and swung towards it.
In the control tower, air traffic controllers were scanning the sky with binoculars and as soon as Eric and Ursula had jumped they had seen the lights. Blue and yellow beams shot across the blackness but the lights were so bright that it was impossible to see with the naked eye the craft they were coming from. The lasers pierced the night, and the air traffic controllers tried to follow where these were pointing.
"They are going to crash in the desert!" one exclaimed.
"I can just see the plane," another announced.
Meanwhile, another was phoning the head of the military unit based at the airport.
General Stephens was informed of proceedings. Before he had a chance to mobilize his units, he received a call from a superior explaining that it would be dealt with and that he would be called when his units were needed. He stood at his window and looked at the lights in the early morning sky.
Below his window, the ground crew had stopped working and were watching the events with their phones pointed directly at the strange lights. They were marvelling at the footage they were recording and discussing which website they should upload them to first.
Ursula looked at her altimeter and pulled her ripcord. The air stopped whipping past her face, and she was flung backwards by the parachute. As she swung in the air, she detached the lights from her body and threw them away. They plummeted towards the ground and were joined by a selection of blue ones.
"Brace yourself," Eric shouted in her head.
She circled around with the parachute just as the Cessna crashed nose first into the desert more than a kilometre from her. She did not see it hit the Earth but saw the explosion that ripped through the sky and burned huge dancing flames into her irises. As she waited for her sight to return, she felt the blast as the sound wave followed like an erupting volcano. Her parachute was buffeted as
if in a breeze, and she was pushed further away from the crash. Gradually, her eyes began to see red below, and she could make out the glow of the flares on the sarcophagi.
She glided in big circles, waiting for her sight to return fully. When she was only a few metres from the ground, she could see clearly again. The desert was closing in on her. Before she hit the dirt, she pulled both straps, and the parachute sat her down gently. She had landed between two of the flares, and Eric landed next to her.
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Chapter 17 – A Gift to the Gods
Agent Angel stormed into the surveillance room and stood behind Agent Hoover.
"Get me up to speed now!" he roared.
"At oh- five-forty-nine, a bogey entered restricted airspace. The pilot claimed they were 'buzzed' by a UFO. At oh-five-fifty, the bogey disappeared from radar. At oh-five-fifty-one, the pilot announced that the UFO had taken control of the plane. At oh-five-fifty-two, the plane crash landed in the desert about five kilometres from our location. Indications from the tower at the airport suggest that that the UFO or possibly two also crashed."
"We need to act quickly, Hoover. If this gets out it will provide further fuel to those Roswell UFO nuts, and whatever is out there, we want it first!"
"Chopper One with Team Moro are on their way to the scene now for reconnaissance. A drone has also just taken off."
"Did you see what happened, Hoover?"
"Yes, Sir."
"And your opinion?"
"The lights lit up the sky like the fourth of July but they weren't moving like an aircraft. I couldn't make out the shape because the lights were too bright, but there didn't appear to be any wings. The turns were sharper than any I have seen before, and they seemed to slide across the sky without any sign of engines before heading towards three flaming bits of wreckage on the desert."
Agent Angel wrapped his hands together in glee. "Thank the Lord! I suspected that one day they would return. We need to avoid another repeat of forty-seven. Get troops and trucks out there. We need to locate any and every bit of wreckage and bring every piece back here. Speed is of the essence."
"What about the plane?"
"When you watched the UFOs did they fly anywhere near the wreckage?"
"No, not that I saw."
"Get the drone to survey the crash site and then get the airport emergency services to deal with it but we need a head start. We need our guys in and out before they reach that plane."
"Yes, Sir."
"Right, Hoover," Agent Angel said patting him on the back. "Mobilise those troops and send them out there. I'm going with them."
Hoover gave the orders and then punched the images from the drone's night vision cameras up onto the screens in front of him. It had just taken off and was rising over the small mountains that ringed the base. On one screen, he could see the burning plane in the distance.
The desert was lifeless and cold. The flares fizzled out, and the only light came from the crashed plane far away. Tall flames danced in the darkness and lit up the sky as if the sun was rising.
Eric and Ursula tore off their parachutes and winged suits and looked for somewhere to hide them. A pile of rocks close by provided a perfect place, and they stuffed the material between the holes until both parachutes could no longer be seen.
"Have you seen, Johan?" Eric asked as the old man landed a few metres behind him.
"Yes," Johan replied. "A fine-looking gentleman by all accounts. Now help me out of this harness."
As they moved towards him, they could hear the sound of rotor blades. A helicopter was approaching.
"Quick! We mustn't be seen," Johan told them, trying to stifle a cough. "I didn't think they would act so quickly."
Eric's and Ursula's fingers worked nimbly. They removed Johan's parachute and hid it under the rocks where they had stored theirs. The first sarcophagus lay nearby; the other two had come to rest in a line about eighty metres apart. Only the burning embers from the flares pinpointed their locations.
"You take the closest, Johan," Eric shouted and ran across the desert towards the furthest one away.
Ursula joined him. When she reached the middle sarcophagus, she skidded beside it and kicked off the flare. It was hot to touch, but she picked it up and placed it in the sarcophagus. Above her, she could hear the helicopter getting nearer. She got inside the alien object and allowed herself a last look around. Johan was already hidden inside his and Eric had just reached his. A breeze blew across the desert, and Ursula lay down. The corrugated iron was stiff, but she managed to pull it until she was completely covered. Ursula had never felt that she was a squeamish person, but as she lay in her private coffin, she had to fight the desire to pull the door wide open.
Eric looked up at the early morning sky and saw the spotlight from the helicopter coming nearer. It was following their flight path and hovering above the desert. A beam lit up the ground below. Six people abseiled out, and the helicopter moved forward over the long line of alien debris. Eric struggled with the corrugated iron as he tried to seal himself in. The helicopter was coming closer, but the metal would not move. He gripped with both hands and as the beam reached him, yanked it over his body. Light washed over the sarcophagus, but he was hidden.
The helicopter was directly above them, and dust blew up around the objects on the ground. The spotlight continued to scan over the alien debris and pencil thin rays shone through tiny holes in the corrugated iron. Now all they had to do was wait and hope. Eric shut his eyes and tried to imagine that he was lying in bed. It eased his fear slightly, but his mind knew where he was and knew that he was trapped in a remote place. He began to gasp for air but then he heard Ursula in his mind willing him to breathe deeply. Her words were soothing, and he gradually slowed his breathing.
Agent Hoover looked at the screens in front of him. The drone was flying in ever increasing circles around the fiery wreckage. Flames were still burning strongly, and the light played havoc with the brightness balance of the cameras. However, there was nothing on the ground that looked out of the ordinary. The plane had crashed here, and the UFO had come down further away.
"We have a line of debris about five hundred metres long," Agent Yamasee reported back to Agent Hoover, breaking his concentration. "It looks as if whatever crashed broke up before hitting the ground. Awaiting orders."
Agent Angel was stepping onto a truck as his earpiece crackled to life. He had missed the thrill of the chase and being part of the troops. He sat on a bench in the back of the truck surrounded by his men, and his women, and allowed himself a smile. The truck bumped over the desert, throwing personnel around as it raced to the location they had been given. The crackling in his ear stopped, and he heard Agent Hoover.
"What is it Hoover?"
"Team Moro are at the crash site, awaiting orders. There is debris."
"Get Team Moro to do a sweep of the area and collect anything that looks as if it doesn't belong there," he looked at his watch. "Our ETA is four minutes."
Agent Hoover relayed the instructions, and Team Moro returned to where they had found the first piece of wreckage. They spread out and began to walk forward. From above, the helicopter's spotlight lit up the desert floor, and the rotor blades blew sand into the air. They had walked half the line of debris when three army trucks reached them. The soldiers jumped out and led by Agent Angel collected the remaining pieces. Everything they found was placed on the back of the trucks under the watchful eye of the most powerful man on the base.
Agent Angel smiled and allowed himself a little time for reflection. It was like being back in forty-seven, he thought, but the whole retrieval process would take considerably less time than the soldiers had managed decades before.
Johan felt himself being lifted and then dropped back on the ground. The fall bruised his hip, but he remained silent.
"This one is heavier than the rest. Hey Gonzo, give me a hand, will ya?" he heard a man shout.
Johan was
picked up again and shaken around as they carried him a short distance to the waiting truck. The sarcophagus was dumped in the truck, and he was slid across the smooth surface.
"Is that the last piece?" Agent Angel asked.
Johan tensed at the sound of Buddy's voice.
A chorus of 'confirmed' echoed back to Agent Angel. He ordered his troops to get back on the trucks and then spoke into his microphone.
"Come in Chopper One. Before we leave, please confirm that we have left nothing behind."
"Chopper One to Agent Angel, we have nothing on visuals and nothing on heat detection cameras. The area is clean."
"Back to base," Agent Angel commanded.
The soldiers piled back into the desert trucks and sat around the mysterious items that they had collected. Agent Angel stood in the rear of the lead truck and took hold of a bar above his head. He looked at the items on the truck bed and wondered why they had not found a whole craft like last time. The situation is different, he told himself and looked out into the desert as the helicopter flew over them.
The three trucks followed the helicopter back to the base. They raced across the desert; the drivers using night vision to avoid rocks, crevices and holes. The wreckage of the plane was still burning, and they gave it a very wide berth. Agent Angel looked at the scene. He had seen enough explosions in his time to know that no survivors would be found. Emergency services from Roswell International Air Centre and troops led by General Stephens were already on their way, and he would leave it to them to pick through the wreckage. He had what he wanted and without any civilians turning up to hamper proceedings.
"Hoover, wake up Kurtz and have her meet us with her team in the hangar. Whatever we've got here looks extraterrestrial, and it's going to the lab with the pods and the dart."
"Yes, Sir," Hoover replied and contacted Jean Kurtz.
She was already awake but sounded as if she was hungover. As Hoover explained to her what had happened, she held back the need to be sick and confirmed that she and her team would meet the returning trucks in the hangar.