Flightsuit

by Deaderick, Tom

  Ethan stopped and smiled. "Then yesterday, when the soldiers or agents, whatever they were…"

  "Agents," Leo said.

  "Ok, agents then," Ethan agreed.

  "When the agents shot at me, I guess somewhere in my stubborn subconscious, it decided to let go, and it was right there where I could see it. See it in my mind, I mean. Just a little thought pattern, like a rhyme or song that you can repeat in your mind without saying it out loud. I just thought about it in that different way and the field shot out and aged the bullets instantly into dust."

  "And the tree," Leo offered.

  "Yes, the tree, because I wanted to make sure, after all those years of looking for the secret that I had it firmly in my grasp now. I was afraid I'd lose it again."

  "But you didn't?"

  "No. I have it now. I can control it at will, although obviously when I'm asleep, nothing's really changed. I can live with that though. I've learned to. It's not like anyone else's life, but I've adapted to it."

  "If I'm here to wake you though…" Leo trailed off letting it become a question.

  "Right. If you're here to wake me, I'll be like everyone else."

  "We might not be exactly like everyone else after this," Leo suggested.

  "Right, of course." Ethan paused, "So I guess we'd better work out a plan. We can't stay down here forever." Ethan was concerned that Leo hadn't mentioned going home. Wouldn't most kids be eager to get home? Did that thing mess with his mind somehow?

  Leo was grinning. Ethan looked askance and raised an eyebrow.

  "What? What's funny?"

  "Not funny," Leo replied. "It's exciting, not funny."

  Ethan waited, but Leo was enjoying the buildup. Presently, he said, "Taylor said this is a flightsuit." Leo waited for Ethan. "A flightsuit."

  "Ok, I get it," Ethan said. "It might fly, that's pretty exciting, sure."

  "It can do more than fly Ethan. It can fly very, very fast. It can fly very fast in space, between planets."

  "You want to fly in space?"

  "Uh, yeah, of course, who wouldn't want to? Who wouldn't want to go through space and see things that no one else has ever seen?"

  "I guess so, but if it can fly, why didn't it fly when we fell off the cliff? I got the sense that it was working pretty hard to keep us from splattering into piles."

  "The flight pack is missing," Leo replied. "The whole suit blew apart when he entered the atmosphere."

  "He?"

  "The alien, when the alien came to earth he did something wrong, and his body burned up. It wasn't the suit that failed. He messed up. His mind sprang out looking for a container. The alien's minds and thoughts are connected to other intelligent consciousness across distances, so they're able to hold themselves together even without a body. He reached out and found Taylor, flying miles below in a plane. Picked him out of all the other passengers and huddled himself in Taylor's mind, trying to fit himself into it. For years, the alien just hid, showing himself only through Taylor's timesharing. The timesharing gave the alien more room and a few hours to stretch beyond Taylor's cramped head, so he encouraged Taylor to timeshare by letting him share in the fun and helping Taylor get money and women." Leo smiled.

  "You got this from Taylor when he was trying to move the alien over into your mind?"

  "Yeah, most of it and some from the suit." Leo explained how he'd learned to communicate with the suit.

  "Ok, so it's a flightsuit, but the flight pack is missing."

  "Yep, here's where it fits." Leo whispered to the suit. Ethan could see his lips moving very slightly, but the helmet blocked sound it interpreted as piloting commands. A blue outline projected on the helmet where Ethan could see. The outline showed a front and side view of the suit with a flattened egg-shaped device on the back. As he watched, the image animated and three small wing vanes extended. They looked to be a few inches long.

  "Not very big wings, are they?"

  "It says those are just there to give it projection surfaces for stabilizing fields, whatever that actually means. It doesn't really matter. I'm sure it'll make the controls easy for me to manage, like it does the jumps and stuff."

  Ethan shook his head, smiling. I'd forgotten how infectious their excitement and wonder at the world was. "I assume the suit has told you where this flight pack is?"

  "Yes. It's out west," Leo enjoyed making Ethan tease out the secret.

  "Out west, ok, where exactly out west should we look?"

  "We don't have to look. The suit detected it from here, and anyway it's exactly where you'd think it would be."

  Ethan thought but came up with no idea. "I don't understand, Leo. Where is it?"

  "It's in Nevada. At Area 51, with all the other stuff."

  Oh, right, exactly where you'd think. "What other stuff? What else is out there?"

  "The other alien ship that he was tracking here, the one that crashed in Roswell. The one with the other aliens, the grey ones."

  Ethan decided it was best that he sit down.

  After a few seconds, he was ready, "So you want to break into Area 51 and get the flight pack? You want to get into the throat of what's obviously the government's biggest secret?"

  "Yes. The suit is very powerful, Ethan. We've only seen it do a few things. It can do a lot more than that. A lot more."

  Ethan's mind churned, desperately trying to keep up with too much new information.

  "So, you already have a plan for how you can do this?"

  "We have money Ethan", he motioned to the stacks piled on the table's edge. "We also have the ideas Taylor had to make more money, if we need it, in his journal. We can make our way there, staying hidden from them. They're expecting us to come, but it won't matter. They can't imagine what the suit can actually do."

  Ethan looked at the boy. The government will be waiting for him to come home anyway. He can't get near there without them catching us. Probably can't even safely call his mother without them closing in on us in minutes. We've got to be the biggest thing on their radar.

  What else is there?

  What else is there for me? There is no one. I've spent my whole life, since Ray, alone, slow driftwood, getting further from land every day. I can't relate to the world anymore. There's nothing I can contribute, no job that a mind from the fifties can do in this world. No job I can do. Except fatherhood. I can do that.

  I was a good father once, he thought, tears pooling quickly into his eyes. I loved it and it was taken away. How long, God? This long? Is this how long it takes for a prayer to be answered?

  A thought came to Ethan that didn't feel like his. It takes as long as it takes.

  I guess it does. I accept, I humbly and gratefully accept your second chance.

  Leo asked, "Are you alright?"

  Ethan wiped his eyes and nodded. He waited a moment to speak. "So you have a plan I guess?"

  Leo's smile flashed, "Yes. We have a plan. Let me tell you about it."

  Epilogue

  Hack spent the next four days in interrogation. The rest of his team, save Sowyer, were released after three days. Hack began to believe that he might not be released at all. Just about every level above him had sent someone to badger and question him. They asked the same questions and left with the same answers. Hack held nothing back. He took full blame for the relaxed security procedures that enabled Sowyer to steal the artifact. The fact that his team was directly responsible was, for him, no excuse and he never offered it to anyone else.

  The surprising thing to Hack was that although the interrogators and supervisors spoke as if frustrated, it wasn't hard to pick up that they were more excited than upset. They'd had the artifact for years and had exhausted every useful avenue the research team had proposed. Very little new information was left to learn from the artifact.

  By enlisting Taylor, Hack flushed out several new developments.

  They'd collected dozens of Taylor's acquaintances and all his written and computer files. There was a team assigned to uncov
er Taylor's involvement and his motivations as well as the incredible transformation he'd made from consultant to government think tank with numerous and diverse patents.

  There was the old man, Ethan Abram, that all witnesses to what they referred to as the "Bumpas Cove Event" claimed had stopped bullets in midair and caused a tree to fall down by pointing at it. A separate team was assigned to Abram. The original carbon-dating results from the tree had already come back and pieces were subsequently sent to three additional labs for corroboration. They'd isolated miles of forest between the river and the abandoned mines. Getting adequate surveillance equipment into the region required three days. Some on the search teams felt this delay had probably allowed Abram and the boy to escape, but given the potential for new information or artifacts in the abandoned houses and mines and decades of secret waste disposal, the government was willing to spend whatever might be required to ensure every possible artifact or lead was discovered. Local newspapers joked that the government was grooming "Area 52". The NSA refused to comment, fueling the conspiracy in the same way the FBI had long ago guaranteed no one would forget Roswell, New Mexico.

  Abrams was identified by documents found in his cabin. By all accounts, he was in vigorous health for an eighty-three year old. Possibly, the man in the clearing had assumed the old man's identity at some point, although this theory had some holes. Abrams' bank account held $602,450, from which he drew, on average, between $35 and $60 a month. Most identity thieves would have cleared out the account long ago and moved on. Living on such a small amount, even with the meager amenities and expenses they'd discovered at the cabin, would be challenging. They'd found bags of dog food, but no dog so far.

  But the suit, and its amazing defensive capabilities, was the main attraction. Inter-Agency leaks filled the Tennessee Mountains with agents from the FBI, CIA, NSA, Homeland Defense, NASA and the Defense Department. The trout-fishing proved, over the following years to be excellent.

  Hack was released from interrogation. The NSA released a cover story that Hack had uncovered a terrorist camp with the captured terrorists safely removed to Guantanamo Bay. He was a hero again. The NSA agreed to let him keep his security staff, with broad orders to track down the suit. They had a hundred and twenty other agents with the same mission on a larger scale, but didn't see any harm in allowing Hack to pursue it on a smaller parallel track. It was an inexpensive and easy way to keep him compliant. They didn't expect Hack to find the suit before the large team did.

  A few weeks after his release, Hack was briefing his small team on his plan to track and capture the two and acquire the suit. The phone rang. He was told to come to the interrogation facility for a meeting with Sowyer. Apparently, Sowyer had specifically asked for him.

  Sowyer's erratic actions in Bumpas Cove drew attention. The links between Sowyer and Taylor were discovered. There would be an espionage trial followed by permanent incarceration. Sowyer's obvious guilt and sullen behavior following the Event helped absolve Hack and the rest of the team. He fared poorly during the interrogations, but even more so when left in isolation. Hack was the first person from the team permitted to see him. The interaction was closely monitored. Interrogators hoped allowing Sowyer to meet with him would result in some new insight.

  Sowyer's cell contained only the essentials, toilet, steel frame bed, thin sealed-seam mattress and sink. The mirror was a small square of polished stainless steel. A recessed shelf was formed into the wall behind the bed. It had a single book on it. Hack decided it was a Bible.

  Sowyer was already standing when the guards let Hack inside. He was barefoot. Both of the slippers lay on the "guest" side of the small room, where he'd thrown them the day before. Sowyer hadn't shaved since the Event and smelled like showers hadn't been too frequent either. When he left, he would ask if Sowyer was being treated humanely. He'd given his country eight years of service and Hack thought he deserved better.

  Hack sat in a steel chair, leaned forward and smiled. The chair was bolted to the floor four feet from the bars.

  A tentative smile flicked across Sowyer's face, "Hello, Major."

  "Hello Charlie, are you alright?"

  "Not really," Sowyer replied with a quick hint of anger. "I'm not really alright, but it doesn't matter."

  "It still matters to me, Charlie. There are a lot of people that care about you, regardless of what has happened."

  Sowyer nodded. "If I cooperate," he looked through the bars at his slipper as he spoke, "they will let my wife in to see me. Assuming that she wants to." His eyes glistened.

  Sowyer stepped to the bars, as close as he could get. Hack clamped down on his natural reaction to lean back. He'd spent years working with Sowyer, and he wanted Sowyer to know he remembered the man he had been before Taylor corrupted him.

  Sowyer met his eyes for an instant before casting his stare off to the side.

  "Are you going after it? The suit, I mean. I guess you're leading the team to catch them and get the suit."

  Hack paused, "I can't talk about any of that, Charlie. You know I can't do that. It's not your concern anymore."

  Sowyer's eyes flashed up to meet Hack's for a second before looking again at the floor. "Not mine. No. Not my concern."

  "Leave that to me. All you have to do at this point is get better. You just need to get better, so you can make the best choices going forward. You still have your family Charlie and your boys. They'll need you as they grow up. You can make a difference in their lives, even if…"

  "I'm not getting out," Sowyer said without breaking his stare from the floor. "I'm never getting out. The cops, the helicopter crew… They'll add those to my sentence. I lost the most important discovery in mankind's history. They are mad as bees about that."

  "How are you feeling, any better?"

  Sowyer's eyes lifted again, "Better today. Better when people visit. When it's just me…" Sowyer cleared the sob from his throat. "When it's just me, I can't stand it. I wish my head would crack open so the pressure would be gone. It's the worst headache you can imagine, like all the headaches I ever had mashed together in a vise. When someone talks to me, it takes my mind off of it, I guess, or distracts me, but whatever it is, I don't care, it just feels better. I'm glad to talk with the psychologists and whomever nowadays, funny, huh?"

  Hack smiled, the idea that anyone would enjoy an interrogation didn't bode well for their sanity. "Yeah Charlie, that is funny. Nobody likes those guys."

  "Is there anything I can do for you? Anything I can do that might possibly help you get better? They said that you asked for me."

  "I just wanted to see someone familiar, Hack. Since you know everything about their stupid Event, I figured they would let you come. Nothing I can leak to you that you don't already know. Just wanted to see someone familiar, who didn't hate me and think I was the worst traitor in history." Sowyer stopped and looked up at Hack, "It's unreal Hack. I can't make myself see everything that's happened as real. It happened so fast, and now everything is gone. I'm not saying I was perfect, I did things I'm ashamed of, but now everyone in the world's going to think "traitor" any time they hear my name."

  "I went through something similar Charlie," I know what you mean. "It gets too big for you, too big to manage, to wrestle back into the bottle. Everyone thinks they know me from Cane Creek and the other captures, but all it does is keep them from ever really knowing anything about me – the person. I understand what you're going through Charlie."

  "Except you're a national hero and people spit my name out like its poison."

  Short of lying, Hack realized, there's nothing I can say to encourage him. He's right.

  "Can I get you anything Charlie? Anything they'll let me do I mean."

  "No. Nothing they'd let you do."

  Hack stood up slowly to avoid an appearance that he was eager to leave.

  "Is, uh," Sowyer started, "is Walker ok? And the others, I mean. Is everyone ok?"

  "She's fine Charlie. Everyone's ok out here, just w
orried about you. I'm sure they'll let you talk with other people soon, and you can try to move on from here."

  Sowyer made no reply, just stared at Hack's feet.

  "Catch them."

  Hack wasn't sure he'd heard Sowyer, "What?"

  "Catch them Hack. Get the suit back. It's not theirs. It doesn't belong to them."

  "I will Charlie. I'll catch them. The suit belongs to everyone, I agree."

  "Just catch them, and get the suit, ok? You can promise me you're going to be the one that catches them and gets the suit back, can't you?"

  "Yeah," Hack replied, "I promise I'm going to try."

  A curtain of relief fell onto Sowyer's face and his brooding eyebrows lifted slightly. He met Hack's eyes once more and smiled.

  "It's going to be ok Charlie."

  Sowyer nodded, keeping eye contact and smiled. "Thanks for coming Hack."

  "It's ok. I'm glad to, if it helps you."

  The sun outside was too bright after the fluorescents of the interrogation facility. Hack squinted his eyes, shielding them as his pupils reacted. So many people already killed and ruined, he thought. How many more before we get the suit back? How many people will be killed by the weapons we make from it when we find it? Who knows, maybe the government will be more interested in the neutrino mills and virtually free energy for everyone? Yeah, right – that's going to happen.

  He was getting a headache.

  THE END

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