“That is something, Doctor, but if that is the case, what happened to all this other material, why didn’t it return to its original shape?”
Early looked around him at some of the twisted wreckage with a look of bewilderment on his face.
“We won’t figure this out in one day, Ken. We have to do what we can and start documenting. I don’t know how long we’ll be able to keep this to ourselves. The military can usually talk presidents into anything, and eventually they’ll get their way.”
“Yes, sir,” Early said, moving quickly back to his materials team.
Lee started for the rear of the building again. The cries had lessened somewhat to small whimpers. As he walked, his personnel were combing through debris and writing and snapping pictures. Except for a few, who glanced up from their work every so often to look toward the sealed-off area, most were busy doing their jobs and seemed totally willing to ignore the scary noises filtering throughout the entire hangar.
Lee walked the final paces to the closed-off tent area and spoke to the two Event guards.
“Bring Mr. Hendrix here,” he ordered.
Lee stepped through the flap. The tent smelled of strong antiseptic. Major Marcel had arrived inside ahead of him, and he quickly stepped up to meet him and take him to the doctor.
Lee turned and watched as Hendrix was led into the clean area. Garrison immediately saw three gurneys. Two were covered with white sheets and obviously had something under them; he could see where a dark liquid had soaked through the white cloth of one. A medical team surrounded the third table; these doctors were his people from the Group mixed with base personnel. Dr. Peter Leslie, Captain, U.S. Navy, formerly of Walter Reed Medical Center, was in charge. He was a surgeon handpicked by Lee to lead the medical teams on field finds. He hoped Leslie could handle something like this. The doctor looked up as Lee and his group entered. He gestured for one of the nurses.
“We’re trying to keep this area as sterile as we can, please put on those masks.”
Lee accepted a gauze mask from the nurse and tied it around his mouth.
“These are appalling conditions. The base surgeon tells me he was kept from treating the survivor at the base clinic.”
“Well, Doctor, there hasn’t been a hell of a lot of clear thinking going on out here. Now what have we got?” Lee asked.
“Those two there, I understand they were found already dead. The base surgeon reports that the bodies have indications of massive head trauma, more than likely impact-related, and they also show signs of postmortem predator activity.” Dr. Leslie pulled back the sheet on the first one. The body had been short, about four feet and thin, the skin was pale green and it had a large, hairless head that had been ripped open. One of its large eyes looked as if it had been torn out, and a huge gash ran along the left side of its head from the temple area. The wound looked deep. The remaining eye was partially open, and Lee could see the black orb beyond the thin eyelid. He noticed the black pupil itself was large and had a tint of red in its dilated state. The mouth was small, almost the size of the opening of a beer bottle, and no teeth were visible. Lee looked at the thin frame and the small, rounded belly. The smooth skin was featureless and unlined; veins were coursing through just beneath the grayish-green skin.
Leslie gestured for the director to step forward and view the second figure. “This one died also of crash trauma and was dead when they brought it in.”
Lee looked at the doctor and nodded, then walked over to the third gurney. The doctors and nurses made room and moved away. As he looked down, the small, thin lips of the creature trembled, then the small body tensed and went into spasms and it cried out. The sound was piercing and it brought to mind the cries of an injured child.
“Can you do something for its pain?” Lee asked, removing his hat and holding it tightly.
“I’m absolutely terrified of killing it with any assistance I give it. We don’t know its metabolism or nervous system. For all we know our pain-reducing drugs could kill it. I hate seeing it like this, but the consensus of everyone here is that it’s just too dangerous.”
“Can you save it, Doctor?” Lee asked.
Leslie looked at his shoes, then glanced at his colleagues. “With the right facilities and—”
“Is it going to live?” Lee demanded.
“No. It has massive internal bleeding from wounds that we just can’t close up. It’s so delicate our sutures tear right through its flesh.”
“Then use your best guess and ease its pain, Doctor, on my responsibility.”
“You can’t do that, Lee!” Hendrix yelled, shaking off his guards once again.
Lee saw the small being tense for a moment when the shouted words disturbed it.
“Take that man outside and put him into submission.”
“We need the creature awake and answering questions, not spending its last minutes pain-free, goddammit!” Hendrix was screaming as he was pulled from the enclosure. “You better listen to me, Lee, the first saucer was intentionally brought down by that second ship…goddammit, Lee, you have to listen!”
Lee clenched his teeth and gestured for the doctor to do as he had been ordered, and the voice of Hendrix finally faded away.
“Did Hendrix question this being?” Lee asked Marcel.
The major stepped forward and looked around, making sure to keep his voice low. “Hendrix had more than a few minutes alone with the… crewman. I think he got information from it.”
Lee shook his head, then gestured for the doctor to get to work.
Leslie quickly grabbed a stainless-steel syringe and a small bottle and pulled an amber liquid into it. “I’m going to treat it as I would a child with similar injuries,” he said. “If you’re a praying man, Mr. Director, now would be a good time. I don’t know what this morphine will do to it.”
Lee watched as the doctor easily slid the needle into the small creature’s arm. He watched being winced as the syringe penetrated its thin skin.
“With the exception of my group, will you ladies and gentlemen excuse us, please?”
The Roswell base nurses and two doctors left without comment.
Lee turned back in time to see the being’s body relax and its pain-filled features grow slack. He was afraid it had died right before his eyes when the small mouth opened and then closed. Leslie carefully lifted its right eyelid and quickly stepped back when the black pupil rolled and looked at him. As Lee watched the startled expression of Leslie, he looked down and saw both eyelids flutter open. The large head rolled and the next thing Lee saw was the small being looking directly at him.
Lee had hoped for something better to come out of his mouth, but when he said, “I’m sorry,” he didn’t know why.
The creature continued looking at Lee. As Leslie moved back toward the gurney, it moved its head slowly and looked at him. He quickly lifted a thin piece of gauze from its chest and replaced the greenish soaked bandage with another, which the doctor laid as gently as he could on the large puncture wound. He repeated the process with the head wound, and again with an injury on the throat that was deep and more than likely beyond his surgical prowess to repair with any equipment. The small being blinked and took a sharp intake of breath. Its eyes closed and it hissed again. Leslie closed his eyes, knowing it had caused the small thing pain in removing the bandage. Slowly the eyes opened, and to Leslie’s and Lee’s astonishment, it smiled and blinked its eyes once again.
“I think it may understand you’re here to help it, Doctor,” Lee ventured.
Leslie nodded, thankful that his intentions had been understood.
The alien slowly rolled its head to the left and took in Lee once again. They watched as its arm rose from its side and slowly pointed at Lee’s face. Garrison raised his own hand and felt; then he understood. The small finger was pointing at his patch, or possibly the long scar that marked the right side of his face.
“I was wounded in the war,” he said. Then he smiled. “I hope you have no un
derstanding of that.”
The creature again looked away. It saw Leslie and its eyes moved to the small chrome table beside the gurney. It again pointed, but this time it was indicating the syringe that had been used to ease its pain.
“No, I don’t think we can give you any more, my little friend,” Leslie said as softly as he could.
The being again attempted the smile and turned its head back to the left and pointed at Lee, again indicating the scar or eye patch.
“Amazing, I think it believes you are injured and he wants you to have the same shot I gave it,” Leslie said.
Lee smiled and slowly reached out and with his fingers gently touched the being’s fingertip. The alien again smiled. “I’m afraid this wound is an old one,” he said, using his other hand to touch the eye patch.
Lee was watching the small being and leaned closer. “Doctor, could this injury to its neck cause it to lose vocalization?”
“Right now we can’t be sure if it talks at all. The wound by itself wouldn’t be life-threatening, at least I wouldn’t think. But is it keeping it from speaking? I really don’t know.”
The creature seemed to be listening to their exchange and reached for the gauze-covered wound at its neck. It swallowed and removed the hand and looked at Lee and reached for the scar again. He leaned over so the being could touch. It lightly ran its long, thin finger along the pinkish scar tissue, then lightly touched the patch. Its eyes were slowly opening and closing. The mouth was moving. Still looking at Lee, it swallowed and again reached for its throat.
“W… arrrr,” it said barely above a whisper.
Lee was astounded. He looked at Leslie, who nodded that he too had heard the word. Lee turned his attention back to the little creature and jumped when it slowly and painfully sat up with difficulty. It was shaking badly and was obviously in much pain as it attempted to move. Lee and Leslie both tried to gently push the being back onto the white sheets of the gurney. The small alien resisted and looked at Lee with eyes that pleaded for help. Garrison relented and removed his hands. He nodded once at the doctor, and he too stepped away and allowed the visitor to sit up. It turned over on its belly and slowly slid from the gurney, almost falling. Leslie quickly disconnected the IV from its bottle and rolled up the tube.
The alien made first one step, then another tentative and smaller step. Lee and Leslie adjusted to allow for the motion. The small creature stopped after four steps and shook extremely hard, closing its large eyes in pain. Leslie reached out with a fresh square of gauze and dabbed at its chest wound, but the alien wasn’t paying him any mind as it reached out and tentatively took Lee’s large hand and then took Leslie’s. The little hands held on tightly to both men as they slowly made their way from the plastic-lined area of the hangar. As Garrison reached out and parted the curtain that separated the hospital from the rest of the huge hangar, they felt the eyes of the Group on them. People were stunned at the sight of their boss leading the injured alien from the secured area at the back. Hendrix, with his hands now cuffed in front of him, stared wide-eyed at the strange trio as they moved. The alien stopped and watched as the Group security men, their mouths ajar, moved Hendrix back away from its path.
“Major Marcel, quickly remove everyone from the hangar with the exception of my departmental supervisors. All other personnel, including my technicians, are to evacuate the hangar, now,” Lee said quietly in rapid-fire orders. He stepped to the front of the small alien to block the view from the interior of the hangar as Marcel started barking orders.
“What did it say, Lee? Tell me!” Hendrix said loudly, startling the small being and forcing it to take a step back. “Tell me, goddammit!”
The small alien narrowed its eyes as it took in the handcuffed Hendrix. The large head first moved left, then right, as if it were sizing up the intelligence man in its mind. The eyes, still narrowed, blinked, and then it moved on, dismissing Hendrix outright.
Lee waited until the last of the technicians were out of the hangar, then he stepped aside and allowed the alien’s progress into the hangar’s interior to continue.
The supervisory men and women of the Event Group were standing and watching the most amazing happening in history; one by one their activity stopped as the small alien with Lee’s and Leslie’s assistance gingerly stepped through the debris of the crashed saucer. Its thin legs suddenly became wobbly and it almost collapsed. Lee placed his other arm in the small of its back, helping to support it more firmly. That was when it gently removed its hand from first Lee, then Leslie. It stumbled and fell; both men reached down for it, but it stood quickly and started moving faster through the piles of debris. Event personnel moved out of its way. A couple of the women and at least one of the doctors let out a cry as the alien came a little too close to them as it walked, then stumbled and fell in front of a huge container. Again the body was racked with shudders as it stared up at the enclosure. Leslie grimaced as he could see it was bleeding quite freely from the wound in its chest.
It touched the side of the container and seemed to relax again. Then it lowered its eyes and closed them, and without looking, it pounded softly on the side with its tiny fist, producing a hollow sound that echoed slightly in the large hangar. Then the alien looked up and saw Lee standing over it.
“Destroyer… dead” it whispered.
Lee leaned down. “I don’t understand you.”
“The Beast…” It swallowed, making a face as if its speaking caused great pain. “Dead” it repeated, then suddenly slid to the floor.
The remaining few people inside the hangar gasped as it fell over. Lee and Leslie immediately reached for it. But Lee was quicker and lifted the small alien into his arms and nodded for Leslie to take the lead. There was loud talking among the group now as they made their way back to the hospital.
“Alright, what you saw is top secret. Now get your teams back in here, let’s move, people,” Lee said over his shoulder.
The small creature opened its eyes and watched as Lee carried it back to its bed. “No, w… ar. War” it said, and swallowed gingerly. “No ex—tinct man” It reached up and touched Garrison’s face. “Man is… safe…for now. No extinct by Destroyer.” It smiled far broader than it ever had, then it weakly tapped its chest. “Kill Des… troyer.”
Lee quickly returned the small being to its bed and Leslie went to work, applying pressure to get the bleeding to slow.
The alien was looking at Lee, its eyes drooping and its small breaths coming in short gasps. “We use… animal… to assist… our master race, to, to… clear… new worlds… for… Gray Masters.… Destroyer… not… meant for… here, but uninhabited planet… Some Gray… want to… clear… your world…for their… need. I… kill Destroyer, animal… is dead… No… war… this time… but… my masters… try… again maybe… kill your… world”
Lee watched as the being’s gaze went beyond him to nothing. He saw the large pupils dilate, then fix. Leslie checked its small chest for some kind of movement but found nothing. Its greenish skin immediately started to turn a grayish white. It had died as if content; it went with a small smile that was now frozen in death.
Lee sat with a distraught Dr. Leslie for ten minutes, then headed toward the exit of the hangar thinking about monsters and war. His head pathologist, Gerald Hildebrand, approached him. “Sir, I’m afraid I have something you must see.” The young professor stepped back when he saw the greenish blood that soaked the director’s clothing. Lee’s eye patch was almost off. Hildebrand reached out and pulled the patch back into place.
Lee absently nodded his head in thanks and placed his fedora on his head.
“You have to see this,” Hildebrand said again.
Garrison followed the doctor to a rather large piece of debris. It was at least ten feet high and the same width and also had small canisters attached to its top. Lee remembered it was the same container the small alien had insisted on seeing and touching. He came out of his thoughts as he realized that the animal the
small being had called the Destroyer had been in this cage. It now made sense why the alien had to confirm to itself that the creature was dead.
“It’s here, sir,” Hildebrand said, still looking at Lee with concern.
He followed him to the front of the enclosure. The professor leaned down and pointed to a large brown, jellylike mound on the floor of what Lee now knew was a live-animal cargo container. A disgusting smell emanated from it.
Lee suddenly turned away. “Jesus, that’s bad.”
“Yes, sir, it is. It looks like whatever it was had been completely covered by something that ate it down to this.” Hildebrand removed a fountain pen from his lab coat and slowly slid it into a liquid that had gathered on the floor around the gelatinous mound of material. As he lifted the pen, it slowly began to melt, first bubbling, then turning to liquid as the doctor threw it to the floor. “We tested all three containers separately and received no reaction, but once the chemicals are mixed, it turns corrosive, more so than anything I’ve ever seen.”
Lee listened but didn’t comment.
“There are other containers like this one, some small, some large, but none as big as this one, but they all have the same kind of substances in them. It may be genetic material that’s been reduced to that,” Hildebrand said, pointing to the fluid substance at the floor of the cage.
“Get samples and be careful,” Lee said, suddenly tired.
“We did find this in the large container, or what I now believe may have been a cage, sir. It was embedded deep in the metal.” He walked over to a nearby table and brought back something for Lee to see. The object was some sort of appendage, large and curved. Its tip was like a shovel, sharp and seemingly serrated at its leading edges. It had to measure a good fifteen inches in length. Some kind of scaly flesh clung to its base.
“If I didn’t know any better, I would say that is one hell of a big claw, sir,” the doctor said in awe.
Event: A Novel Page 21