by A. D. Winch
The storm blew directly over North Main Street. Lightning was followed immediately by thunder so loud that the children jumped. They reached the edge of Roswell and found that the dusty track they had used earlier had turned into a gushing stream. By now, they were both drenched to the skin and were more worried about the lightning hitting the water they were standing in than the pods.
They continued to run as best they could but their muscles screamed. Water splashed around them as they ran and before long, they were back in the desert. The dirt had turned to sludge, and the rain stung their skin as it fell. The river was close, and they could see the dark crevice before them. As they neared the river bank, they skidded to a halt and looked over the edge. A raging torrent of black water roared below them. The pods were gone.
"No!" cried Ursula and broke into a sprint along the bank. Adrenalin was pushing her to keep going.
"As soon as we see the pods, think them upwards, and we'll get them," Eric shouted as he ran.
The river was heading back towards town, and both children were worried about what would happen if the pods washed up in Roswell, if they washed up at all. Lightning flashed across the sky, and the bolt reflected off a shape in the water.
"Focus," yelled Eric, above the noise of the water.
Two dark shapes floated up from the torrent and hovered in the air. Eric and Ursula stopped running and held them there. Their breathing calmed, and they visualized the pods landing on the sodden desert near to them.
"I think we should leave straight away," Eric said, getting his breath back. "I'll lead us where we need to go. I have more than my own memory of it."
"Will you find it in the dark?"
As Ursula finished her question a lightning strike illuminated their surroundings.
"I think the storm will help."
After a quick look over the pods for any sign of damage, each climbed into their own. They were both soaked and as they sat heavily on the red cushions they felt cold and exhausted.
Let's go, thought Eric and both pods shot into the sky.
Low cloud covered the town and the desert beyond. In spite of their agreement to try to keep themselves hidden, they stayed below it. They had to take the risk of being seen in order to find the correct spot. If they went above the cloud, Eric would not be able to see the terrain. They passed over the army base, but as Eric neared the end of the runway, he hovered in the air.
It's here, he thought and began to climb.
The pods entered the clouds and were thrown around as they passed through the storm. They climbed above it and continued to ascend. The clouds below became a blot on the sky and the landscape opened up. Clusters of light showed major cities, and the sea was jet black. When they could see the curvature of the Earth in one direction and stars and planets in the other, they stopped.
Ursula imagined the front of her pod as a cone, and the body moulded itself into this new shape. She looked across at Eric's pod. The silver flowed forwards and curved into a sharp point. They were ready. Anymore thinking about what they were going to do would have been counter-productive. Ursula took out a leaf of Eric's book; she wouldn't worry about the consequences, she would just do what had to be done.
Ursula's pod began to drop from the sky and twisted into a spin. The action was so sudden that it even surprised Eric, who then instantly followed. The world below turned faster and faster until it became nothing more than a blur. The children closed their eyes and focused on Alexander waiting for them in their own time, somewhere in Roswell.
As they passed through the storm, the pods were pushed in one direction and then another. The turbulence shook the craft, and threw them around. Despite the battering, the red cushions kept Eric and Ursula safe and absorbed all the movements. The children tried to fight off their growing nausea and did not open their eyes. However, a sudden crack of lightning almost blinded them. It was followed by a deafening boom of thunder, and the two pods were thrown together. They collided as they broke through the storm and bounced away in separate directions. Both Eric and Ursula felt the impact, but they had been powerless to prevent it.
Sun streamed into Ursula's pod, and she immediately opened her eyes. The ocean below was getting bigger and bigger, and she focused reducing her speed. The cone melted away and was replaced by a wing. Within a second, the pod's speed dramatically slowed, the spinning became gentle, and she swayed towards the water.
Eric's pod shot past her. There was no wing; it was spinning wildly, and it looked to be a different shape from when it had entered the cloud.
Pull up, Ursula willed, but she knew that it was impossible.
The pod hit the ocean like a bomb and sent an explosion of water high into the air. When the spray had cleared, the pod was nowhere to be seen.
The red material cushioned Eric during the impact and apart from slight whiplash he was physically fine. From his position, he could see the ocean engulfing the pod as he sank below the surface. No matter what he thought about, he could not make the pod move. He focused. He imagined. He even shouted. But nothing worked. The loss of control had occurred after his pod had collided with Ursula's. He had been unable to extend the wing or bring the pod out of its spin. It had become completely unresponsive.
Eric rapidly considered his options as the pod sank further below the waves. Either he could sink to the bottom of the ocean with it, or he could try and make an exit and swim. Neither option had great appeal, but he chose the second.
When a car engine doesn't work, you can still open the door, he thought and hoped the pod would be the same.
Eric stared at the silver body and focussed on it peeling back to reveal an exit. Cold water poured in through the opening, and the pod dropped faster. Eric shivered as it crept up his leg, but he did not jump away. Calmly, he looked around the inside of the pod for anything he could salvage. Apart from his bag and the red cushion there was nothing he could remove. He strapped them to his back, and breathed slowly while he waited for the pod to fill. The water had reached his belly and the level rapidly rose up to his neck. Eric took one last, long breath and then he slipped below the surface.
Salty water stung his eyes, but he needed them open to get through the hole. He gripped its smooth edges and pulled himself into the ocean. The pod fell away from him, and he paused briefly to watch its descent. Light from the surface penetrated to his depth, and he knew from scuba diving with his parents that he was around thirty metres from the surface. Eric wanted to swim upwards as quickly as he could, but he knew that if he did then he would suffer from the bends. He had he had no desire to experience it, and consequently swam as slowly as he could.
When Eric finally broke the surface, his lungs were screaming. He bobbed in the waves and took in great mouthfuls of air. There was nothing on the ocean surface and he feared that Ursula had also sunk, and that he would be left there to drown alone. The thought petrified him, and he wished he was with Ursula, her grandparents and Andrea. He twisted around, but he could see no ships and no sign of land. He was lost; he was by himself and he could see no way back except to swim.
A shadow fell over him, and he looked up to see Ursula's pod. The sight was so welcomed that he laughed, and his eyes filled with tears. The silver flowed backwards, and an entrance opened up as the pod came down to him. When it was above his head, Ursula put her hands out and lifted him inside. She tried to hide her shock as Eric collapsed onto the red cushion. His hair was now completely white.
"I've never been so happy to see you!" Eric exclaimed, and sat up to hug her.
"We'll get that house then? For all of us?" Ursula asked.
"If we are in the right place and the right time, then yes! Definitely!"
"I think we are back. I can sense Alexander."
"Me too."
Ursula joined Eric on the red cushion, and as the pod rapidly ascended, she focused on getting them back to Roswell.
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***
Chapter 36 - Back to
Roswell
"What do you mean you've lost them?" Granddad Benjamin asked down the phone.
"Yes, Jerome. I know I said that I would look after the children, but please tell Madame Benjamin that this was beyond my control. I was tracking them, and there was absolutely no problem but then they vanished."
Alexander drove back towards Roswell as Granddad Benjamin translated for his wife. She listened carefully and then asked another question. Alexander's French was not good, but he could recognise anger in any language.
"How did they disappear?" Jerome asked.
"Once again, all I can say is that I don't know. It has only just happened. We're trying to locate them right now."
Granddad Benjamin translated again, and Alexander took the opportunity to look across at the laptop resting on Doctor Khan's knee. Andrea was in the desert not far from them. He pulled off the highway and stopped. The phone he held to his ear came to life again.
"My wife says that it isn't good enough."
"And I completely agree with her, but what I can do until..."
Two flashing dots appeared on the laptop and Doctor Khan blurted out, "They're back! They are about two thousand kilometres away, but they're back."
Alexander relayed the information to Jerome, who passed it on to his wife.
"My wife says how can you be looking after them if they are two thousand kilometres from you?"
Alexander looked across at the laptop, "But they're heading back towards us, and they are travelling extremely fast. They'll be here soon. I have to go."
He had hung up before he was asked whether two children travelling at such high speeds could be considered safe.
"We have all three on the screen. The tracking device indicates that," Doctor Khan read the name on the screen, " Andrea, is the closest at the moment. She is less than two kilometres away and moving towards us."
"Good. Now what about the children?"
The pod was high in the air and virtually out of sight from people on the ground.
"Where are we?" Eric asked.
"I think we're travelling over the ocean near Centralia. The same place where we started before following the dart up and then back down to old Roswell."
"Are we heading for present day Roswell?"
"I have already programmed a course," joked Ursula.
"Programmed a course?" Eric questioned.
"Yes, I've focused on the base that we left six weeks ago. We should stop in the same place above the runway."
"We just have to hope that we are in the same time."
Within a few minutes, they were exactly where Ursula had pictured in her head. The rough desert landscape stretched out below them and in its centre was the ring of mountains that shielded the runway and the base.
Ursula picked a spot between the mountains and the highway and flew swiftly down to Earth. She didn't see the elf-like figure walking across the desert.
Andrea heard a strange whistling sound behind her. She turned to look as a silver pod dropped from the sky. It was too far away to view easily, and by the time it reached the ground it could no longer be seen. Andrea considered her options. She could either turn back to investigate, or she could continue onwards to the highway. There was no certainty that it was the children, and if it were then Alexander could track them with the devices he had given them. Andrea chose the logical option and continued towards the highway.
Ursula landed close to a barren hill with a large rocky outcrop. The sheer slopes were layered, and each layer was a different shade of orange. Some of the layers had been split by crevices that created dark passageways into the hillside, and this gave Ursula an idea.
Eric climbed out of the pod and Ursula handed him the bags containing all the samples. She followed him onto the desert floor and turned to face her pod. Even though she felt her idea was the right thing to do, she still had reservations.
Ursula sealed the silver body and made the pod hover in the air.
"What are you doing?" Eric asked.
"Hiding it. We can't leave it here for anyone to find."
"But we don't know that we are back in the right time!"
As he said this, a helicopter advertising a major news channel flew over their heads.
"I think we're back," Ursula replied.
She flew the pod into the widest part of the crevice until it could barely be seen. It hovered briefly in the gap before she sent it crashing into one side of the large crack and then the other, like a pendulum on a clock. Rock and sand fell from the collisions, and slowly the pod was covered. The booms and crashes echoed out from the crevice, but there was no one around besides themselves.
When Ursula thought she had done enough, she stopped focusing, and they heard one loud, final bang as the pod lodged in the crevice. The two children approached the large crack and climbed over rocks and into the dim light. After a few metres, they reached the landslide. Eric climbed to the top of the heap and down the other side. Apart from dust in the air, no one would have known that Ursula had just buried a flying craft there.
After the journey they had endured, neither Eric nor Ursula wanted to walk across the desert. They looked at the vast open space before them and wondered what direction they should take. Eric saw what he thought was the movement of cars in the distance, and their instincts told them that this was the correct way to go.
It was cool walking across the desert. The winter sun provided a little warmth, but it was not enough. Both children were still wet through, and they were shivering. After an hour's walking their aching bodies had warmed up slightly, and they had stopped shivering but they were still cold. The distance to the road had been halved, and they could see cars and trucks zooming along it; mostly in the direction of the secret OSS base.
They did not speak much as they walked, but they did agree that they would tell no one about their journey back to Roswell. This adventure would remain their secret.
On the highway, there was one television van that had not moved from the moment they had seen it. The children sensed it was Alexander and headed in that direction. Another hour passed. By the time they reached the highway, they were utterly exhausted, ravenous and desperate to sleep.
Alexander jumped out of the van and ran to them as they came nearer. He was visibly shocked by what he saw and with Andrea's help hurried them towards the van.
"Are you okay?" he asked as he and Andrea helped them out of their wet clothes and placed blankets around them.
"We're fine," Ursula answered, "just tired."
"You do not look fine," Andrea said. "Since we have been apart, you look to have aged far quicker than we had predicted."
"That's what happens when you fight aliens," Eric quipped.
Alexander and Andrea helped the children into the back of the van. There was a dirty carpet lying on the floor, and they collapsed upon it.
"Do you have any food?" asked Eric.
Alexander motioned towards a grocery bag. Eric opened it and found water, bagels, chips, brownies and fruit. He left the fruit inside but brought out the rest and shared with Ursula. It was the best meal either of them had ever eaten.
Doctor Khan leant over the back of the chair and greeted the children as Alexander and Andrea got into the van
"Hello, Karima," Eric replied, through a mouthful of food.
"Sorry, we didn't see you when we reached the van," Ursula added, trying not to choke on her cream cheese bagel.
"That's okay," Karima reassured.
"Doctor Khan said that you could vouch for her, is this true?" Alexander asked, staring at the ravenous children. It looked as if they hadn't eaten for weeks.
Eric nodded. "Yes. Johan said we could trust her, and that she wanted to be on the base as much as we did."
"He also said she can help us."
"I can," Karima quickly agreed, "I am sure I can help you with your condition. Professor Schwarzkopf told me how. It is an enzyme particular to the alien. Also, I have already run many tests on you a
nd my field is human biology."
"If you have already run tests, and you are a human biology expert, then you should know that we're not completely human," Eric replied with a tired smile.
"I know that."
Ursula stood up shakily and passed the bags they had kept safe in their pods for the last six weeks to Andrea and Karima.
"These are all the samples you asked for. We collected what we thought was blood and sections of skin too. I hope it is enough."
Andrea looked into the bag and examined the contents.
"This is sufficient."
Karima agreed.
"Well done!" added Alexander.
A mobile phone ran, and Alexander took it from the dashboard. He handed it straight to Ursula without answering.
"Please reassure them that you are both okay and that I was tracking you," he said wearily. "Your grandmother thinks I lost you on purpose. Where were you by the way?"
Ursula ignored the question and answered the call. She spoke to both her grandparents and they insisted on speaking with Eric too, which pleased him greatly. Both children explained that they had been led underground, and that is why the signal was lost. After a glare from the front, they added that it was not Alexander's fault. Neither Eric nor Ursula mentioned the flying pods or that they had been gone for considerably longer than a few minutes. The call ended, and the mobile phone was handed back to Alexander.
"Thanks for letting me off the hook," he said putting the phone back on the dashboard. "Right. We're all here. Let's get to the airport and make that rendezvous with Captain Hudson."
"What about Johan?" Eric asked, but he already knew the answer.
There was an uncomfortable silence in the van that Andrea broke. "He is dead."
No one spoke all the way to the airport.
Captain Hudson welcomed them warmly, but he could not hide his shock at seeing the children. He did not ask about Johan's absence or question Karima's presence. He simply wanted to leave as quickly as possible.