by C. W. Crowe
*.*.*
Karen's noises were subdued as she got comfortable, directly across from Lucy and me. Lucy took my hand in hers.
Karen smiled, "You both have rings. You're married?"
"Yes," said Lucy.
"That's so sweet." She looked back at the building for just a moment. "I'm sorry about Cory. He's . . . he's gotten worse since our Dad died. He's always been like a kid, but now he's more like a child. I guess that's where all his good memories are. He can trap and fish though."
I heard Lucy's noise spike. "How did you end up here?"
Karen looked directly at me and then her eyes lost focus as she remembered. "We were just tourists. Dad always took Cory out to new places. The school said he needed contact with new people and new experiences, that it would help. I had just turned fifteen and so I had to go along on most of these trips - I called them field trips."
She paused and I could hear pain in her sounds. "My mom couldn't go on this one even though they always planned so that she could go along. She was a dealer at a casino and they were shorthanded and called her in to work at the last minute. She kissed Cory and me and then drove off to work. It was the last time we saw her."
Now I knew where the pain was coming from. Lucy squeezed my hand. "Well, we got here and it was like kind of lame. It was a Saturday and there were a couple other tourist types. I was inside playing some kind of game on one of the displays when the power went out. We didn't think too much about it, but then someone tried to leave and their car wouldn't start. No cars would.
"A few people from town started to come by when some guy told us he thought that an EMP bomb had been used. He said it would like turn out the lights and also disable all the cars - anything electronic. He had a book about it and everything. Somebody else said they saw a plane fall out of the sky right after the lights went out.
"I don't think I ever remember my Dad being scared before that, but I could tell he was that day and now I can't get that memory out of my head. I wish I could."
Karen ran her fingers through her hair. It was long and clean looking as it reflected the yellow dancing flames of the fire. "Well, soon we all heard the noise of a truck or something. It turned out to be a school bus, one of the round old yellow kind. It was covered in dust and someone had hand painted on the side, 'Green Hill Church of God. All Welcome.' My Dad asked how it could still be running and someone said it was so old that it had no electronics on it. Well, the old man who was driving it said he was going to the church in Caliente and that we were all welcome to come along. He explained that it was a real town and even had a Dollar General store. He said they might have power.
"That was enough right there, I think. It was a super hot day and with no AC, it was like perfectly miserable. Everyone agreed to go since anywhere seemed better than this place. People milled around and others arrived, so it took a while before they were ready to leave.
"But soon they started to load and I couldn't find Cory. He’d been playing beside the lake but now he was gone. Dad and I ran into the brush, calling for him. We found him way on the other side of the lake, just sitting there with his bare feet in the water.
"By the time we got back, the bus was gone. Dad said he thought it was just an accident - that we didn't know any of these people and they didn't miss us in the crowd."
Karen looked at me and smiled and then did the same for Lucy. "Well, that's about it. We were stuck, but we did okay until Dad broke his leg. It got infected and he died. I tried everything I could, but it was no use. We were lucky in a way though - there's probably nowhere else within a long distance that has a lake and wildlife like there is here. It allowed us to survive until now."
She sighed deeply and then said, "Where are you heading?" She was looking at the motorcycle.
"To a place in the desert. To Area 51."
Karen nodded like that was the most natural answer in the world. "Will you take us with you? We'll die soon if we stay here much longer. I can feel it."
*.*.*
I looked at Lucy, but got no help from her. "I don't see how we could, Karen. It's a motorcycle. It can't carry four people or even three."
In an instant, anguish flashed across Karen’s face. She bent over and started to sob silently. Her back heaved as one wave after another passed in silence.
Lucy went over to Karen and put her arm around her. That seemed to surprise her because Karen sat up, tears still streaming down her cheeks.
"Cory and I will do anything if you'll help us. We could cook for you; once you find a house, we could keep it clean. Cory is good at hunting. He'd find food."
Lucy looked at me and I could tell she was on the verge of tears too. But there wasn't anything I could do.
Karen took Lucy's hand. "I had a boyfriend once. Not really a serious one since I wasn't even fifteen. But I let him . . . you know . . . fool around. I'm older now and I'd do just about anything if you'd help us get away from here. Anything at all."
She looked deeply into Lucy's eyes and then they both turned to look at me. I said, "Ah . . . there's no need for any of that. We'd help you if we could but there's just no way that I can think of."
Lucy rose and helped Karen up. "Well, I can. We leave tomorrow, all four of us. But listen, Karen, there are a couple of things you should know. First, you may be much safer here than where we're going. We have no idea what is there and we might all die. And second, you keep your hands off Leo. Understand? You don't have to do anything else. There's no further price - just hands off my husband. Got it?"
Karen started crying again, this time with tears of joy. She threw her arms around Lucy and hugged her. "I've got it Lucy. You can trust me. I can't thank you enough. But how are you . . ."
I could tell from her noises that she was feeling thankful and that she also felt a large measure of relief.
Lucy hugged her back and cut off her question. "We're going to relay - two of us at a time."
Karen looked like I felt - surprised. "But," she stammered, "If you're doing that, you could take us to Vegas, right? Maybe . . ."
"There's nothing there, Karen. It's a wasteland. We'll try Area 51 first, and if there's nothing there, we'll relay you to Vegas. Now you go on to bed."
Karen nodded and walked away. She turned back just before she went inside the Alien Research Center, "Thank you," she said quietly. She was looking at me, but her thanks were aimed at both of us.
Lucy started to rise. "Get our sleeping bags, Leo. I'm tired." It was her command voice.
*.*.*
After we bathed in the cool waters of the lake, we got into our sleeping bags and warmed each other up. Lucy seemed okay and her noises didn't sound threatening. She smelled wonderful.
We lay face to face and she kissed me once very quickly. "And what I said to Karen goes for you too, Mr. Smith, but you know that already. I should be mad at you for staring at her the way you did, but I suppose you can't help yourself. But no more than that, got it?"
I started to defend myself, to tell her point blank that I was not staring at Karen, that I'd been careful not to do that. I thought of the exact words to say, but when I opened my mouth, the only thing that came out was, "I'm sorry."
"Well, I accept your apology. She is really built, isn't she? Especially the top half."
She was being playful again. I pulled away slightly. "You've got your own good parts too, Lucy. Mind if I touch my favorite one now?"
She took a second to decide. "Go ahead."
I put my hand flat on her stomach, right where I could swear she was developing a baby bump. Her noises told me that I'd made a good choice.
Chapter Forty: Arrival
Karen's noises sounded worried, "You're not going to just leave us behind, are you?"
We were packed and ready to go. The plan was that I'd drive the forty miles with Lucy and we'd see what there was to see and then we'd either come back together or, if we found friendly humans, Lucy would stay while I made the trip back to pick up Cory and
then Karen.
That was the plan, but there were lots of things that could go wrong.
"Look Karen," I said. "This is something of a crap shoot. I heard that robots can't go near Area 51 and that people live in peace there, but I don't know for sure. We might get there and find nothing but bombed out buildings. We might find robots that ambush us and capture or kill us. There might be humans there, struggling to survive who try to steal from us. We just don't know. But you've got to believe this - if it's possible to come back, we will."
Lucy looked at me and smiled. I could tell she thought it was a pretty good speech. Then she went up to Cory and took his hand. He stared at her with forlorn eyes; had been doing that since we got up this morning. He was clearly upset with us leaving. "Will you find my mama?" he'd asked.
"I don't think so, Cory," she said quietly.
He nodded like it was what he'd expected and then asked a question that surprised me. He said, "Can I call you mama?"
Lucy didn't skip a beat. "Sure you can, if you want to. I'm not your mama though, you know that."
"Yes," he said, but this time with a tiny smile. "I know."
*.*.*
The road was so straight and flat that it appeared to be slightly downhill all the way to the horizon. It wasn't, of course, but it looked that way. We knew because we'd picked up a detailed map of exactly how to get to Area 51 from the Alien Research Center. They sold them to tourists, but they had a warning that you couldn't actually use the maps to get there because you'd be arrested if you tried.
We kicked up a cloud of dust behind us, but were able to maintain a speed of fifty with no problem. There was a Volvo back at Crystal Springs that had almost a full tank of gas, so we were topped off and ready. We had an emergency supply of an extra gallon with us and a couple gallons of water, but that was about it. We'd left our supplies back at the Research Center since there was no need to carry sleeping bags and a lot of food for this trip. Either we'd be there in an hour or so and know what was going on, or we'd perhaps be dead.
As we approached Bald Mountain, we saw signs that warned us to turn around; they said that armed guards were nearby and would apprehend us if we didn't. I kicked it up to sixty.
Lucy had her arms around me and squeezed. She didn't have to say anything; I knew she wanted me to slow down so I did.
Our map warned that the dirt road over the southern end of Bald Mountain contained, "sheer drop offs and no guard rails." They were right on both counts, but it wasn't any kind of a problem. The Triumph purred as we climbed and then descended on the other side.
As we did, we saw it - the giant runway at the southern end of Groom Lake that signified we were very close. Buildings rose in the distance as well. A sign said, "Eastern Entrance Ahead. Stop for Inspection. Have Documents Ready."
*.*.*
The entrance was between a series of buildings that served as the anchor points of a large gate. Concrete blocks ran off to the side in both directions in case someone thought about ramming a truck through the buildings. Or at least that's what I guessed.
The gate was closed, so I came to a stop.
And almost immediately, three soldiers came out of one of the buildings and approached us.
Two of them were armed with military rifles while one had a pistol in a holster. As they got closer, I was able to hear noises from each of them - they were human, at least.
"Where you folks come from?" the one with the sidearm asked.
"Ft. Smith Arkansas," I answered.
"Well wow melly," he said. "I'm Lieutenant Riley and this is Sergeant Lucas and Sergeant Probst. You come all that way on that old bike?"
Lucy answered this time, "Not all of it, we did a lot on horseback. I'm Lucy and this is my husband Leo Smith."
Riley smiled, "Horseback? Well wow melly." He took off his hat and ran his fingers through his close cropped hair. "I'm sorry to have to give you this news after such a journey, but this is a closed facility. We don't allow visitors, haven't had any in a long time."
I couldn't believe my ears. "But . . . But I thought this was where humans could live - that robots couldn't come here."
All three of the soldier's expressions instantly changed. Their sounds spiked almost in unison. "Who told you that?"
"It was when I was a kid, our neighbor told me."
"Who was this neighbor?" Riley was staring now, not as friendly as before.
"His name was Presser, Nick Presser."
"Did you tell anyone else about this? About how robots can't work inside Area 51?"
I probably should have told a lie, but instead I blurted out, "Just two people back at Crystal Springs, a brother and sister. We are going to bring them here too. They are survivors, just like us, looking for a good place to live."
Riley now looked shocked. "Itch, go and report to Mr. Parker. Ask him what he wants us to do."
The one who'd been introduced as Sergeant Lucas ran off at a fast pace. I could hear alarm sounds from Lucy, "Leo maybe we should just go back . . ."
Riley cut her off. "No ma'am. Not until we get instructions." He moved his hand nearer his gun.
*.*.*
Lucas returned in a few minutes and we were escorted to an old wooden building. It looked like something from the distant past and the inside furnishing did too. We were put in a medium sized room with two couches along the wall, a table and chairs in the center, and a small bathroom that worked. The lights worked too. Lucy asked Riley what was going on several times, but he would only say that we needed to wait for a short while.
Someone brought water and some sandwiches and put them on the table and then we were left alone. We didn't touch any of it. Lucy tried the door and it was locked. There were no windows.
We must have waited two hours when the door snapped open and Karen and Cory entered, followed by the same three soldiers as before. This time, none of them said anything - they just turned and left. I heard the door lock click.
Lucy went over to Karen, "What did they say to you? They haven't told us a thing."
Karen took Cory's hand and led him to one of the couches. He looked scared but curious. "Nothing much. Just that you were here and they'd come to pick us up. We were happy because they had a truck and we could ride together. We thought you sent them for us. Isn't that true?"
"No it's not," Lucy said. "They put us here soon after we arrived. At first they were friendly and so we told them we had two friends we were going to bring along too. That why they went after you."
I felt stupid and embarrassed. It wasn't "we" that had told them about Karen and Cory, it was me. They were here because of my big mouth.
Cory looked up from the couch, "Are you scared, mama?" he said to Lucy.
It was a good question. The vibes from this place and the three people we'd met weren't all that friendly, but they hadn't been overtly threatening either. "No Cory, not scared, just a little confused." The boy frowned and I could tell from his noises that he was confused too.
Just then, with no warning, the door clicked and opened. A tall man entered followed by Riley and the two sergeants. He smiled as he walked to the center of the room and sat at the table where he could see all of us. His head was covered in stubble and he was old. His face was thin, with no signs of fat, like skin stretched around a skull. His mouth hung slightly open with no teeth visible, leaving a dark hole of nothing in his face. His noises even sounded old.
But his eyes were lively and he could talk. "I've been told all your names and mine is Parker. I must admit to being surprised to see you here. We've had guards on the perimeter forever in this place, but no one has approached in quite a long time."
He turned to me. "Now, Mr. Smith, you mentioned a name - Nick Presser. Can you tell me how you know that name?"
I glanced at Lucy and listened to her, but she wasn't any help. I was on my own. "He was my neighbor; actually he lived next door to my family when I was young. He saved my life when the robots bombed us."
Parker
sat up straighter and his noises changed a little. "When did he save your life?"
I hadn't expected this question, but it was easy enough to answer. "It was the day the robots started to kill us. Before that, things had been fine with them."
"That very day? The day when the power went out?"
"Yeah, that day. I'd been outside playing and didn't notice. It was only later, after they bombed us and Nick saved some of the kids, that I realized there was no power."
Parker used his arms to push on the table and help himself stand. He looked towards the door. "Lieutenant Riley, arrange for more comfortable quarters for our new guests, topside of course."
He looked over Lucy and Karen and then turned to me. "Will you require one dwelling or two?"
Lucy answered, "Two," and Parker smiled.
"Fine. I will want to ask more questions, but I am fatigued at the moment and need to think. Lt. Riley will make sure you have what you need."
He started to shuffle towards the door when Lucy asked, "What's going on here? Are we going to be invited to live with the other humans?"
Parker paused, "I can't answer your first question young lady because I don't know. You see, Doctor Nick Presser used to work here and he was a traitor to humanity. It happened to a few people. He left to join the robots well before they acted to kill us - probably knew all about the attack ahead of time but offered no warning. So, Mrs. Smith, it's quite a mystery how your husband remembers being with him on the day they started to bomb and destroy and kill."
Chapter Forty-One: Dreams
The living quarters were actually pretty nice, if old fashioned. But it was quickly clear that we were confined as Lucy tried to walk outside and was told that wasn't allowed. Karen and Cory were next door and several guards lined the street in front of us.
Lucy stared bullets at me as we got ready for bed. "This is just great. Every time we run into humans they try and lock us up. I'm telling you, Leo, it's getting old." The soldiers had brought our supplies back with them when they picked up Karen and Cory.