by Jay Mason
She turned to see a boy, maybe a young man, his age was difficult to fix, with very long white hair and wearing a combat jacket and jeans.
“Unusual costume,” she said.
“I come up in later scenes,” said the boy. “There are far more aliens around than most people realise.”
“Wow,” said Alex, “your lens are much better than mine. Your irises are a vibrant violet. Mine look like something form a bad eighties disco.”
“Your dad would like them then.”
Alex gave an involuntary laugh. “I’d better not show him. I could not bear the thought of him becoming an extra.”
“And wearing a costume like Rusty’s?”
Alex shivered. “I’d be sick.”
The boy smiled. “I don’t think you’re in any danger. They are only interested in the young. It’s always the way.”
A loud smacking sound followed by a yelp tore Alex’s attention away. Rusty had landed badly. Medics rushed over. She watched anxiously, but he was soon back on his feet. She turned to say something about her relief, but the young man was gone. She heard Cat calling Rusty’s name and asking if he was okay. It was only then that it struck her that the young white haired boy had known an awful lot about them.
****
Rusty’s fall heralded the end of filming for the day for the extras. He’d fallen through a partition and it was going to take the carpenters the rest of the day to repair the set. “But the director told me she thought it was worth it. She reckons I’ll be one of the comedy highlights of the movie. I might even get a credit under stunts!” said Rusty, who was still limping slightly. All three of them had changed out of their costumes and were drinking coffee in the on-set canteen, which was actually a converted tour bus.
“Are you sure you’re okay,” said Cat.
“They strapped my leg up with these weird coloured strips like you see Olympic athletes wear,” said Rusty. “It’s making me walk a bit funny, but supposedly it means that tomorrow I should be almost as good as new. They said I could use the film masseuse if I needed to.”
“But did a nurse see you or anything?” said Cat.
“Yeah. Yeah. They got the nurse to check me over. Lovely redhead called Mary-Sue. She saw me act and thinks I’m very funny.”
“Act,” said Cat. “So you’re an actor now?”
“Who’s an actor?” asked Joe jumping on board. “Has one of you been promoted?” He went up to the counter. “Another round of coffee for me and my friends, please Matt,” he asked the cook, who grinned and nodded. Joe gathered up the cups and came to sit with them.
“Do you know everyone’s on-set name?” asked Rusty.
“I doubt it,” said Joe. “There’s a lot of people here. It’s a big production, but I like to know the name of the people I interact with. I like everyone to feel like part of the team.”
“Does Leonda feel the same way?” asked Alex.
“No,” said Joe, and slurped some coffee. “I was wondering if you were not too tired if you’d like a tour of some of the special effects that are being set up for tomorrow. We’d have to be very careful not to touch anything, but I’ve convinced the guys we’ll be good. It’s Ronnie’s crew — the ones who were teaching you to fall Rusty.”
“Oh, they were great,” said Rusty. “I promised to buy Ronnie some beers if he taught me a bit more.”
“You’d better be careful,” said Joe, “Techies are renowned for their drinking ability! Tell you what, why don’t I arrange to come down the pub with you later? I can make sure they don’t take advantage. It’s more than their jobs are worth to mess with me.” He gave a silly grin that robbed his words of their potential arrogance.
“Okay,” said Rusty. “I guess that would be cool.”
“Come on,” said Joe. “Drink up and I’ll show you where they’re going to set the explosives.”
Joe’s friends, Ronnie and his crew, did more than show them what they were planning to do tomorrow, they’d also set up a small test explosion for them to watch. Ronnie was an older man, balding, with a scar covering most of his left hand and with the casual confidence of a man who regularly works with explosives and celebrities, and doesn’t see much difference between them. He told them to put their fingers in their ears and then Ronnie blew out part of a partition. The explosion was loud and smoky, but as Ronnie pointed out the partition was thin and they hadn’t need much charge at all. “It’s all make-believe,” he said. “A loud noise and a ton of smoke and you can convince people you’ve taken down a steel wall, when in reality it’s little more than paper stretched over wood. That’s the movies for you. About the most real thing you’ll ever see is a stuntman doing his stuff, provided they haven’t opted for CGI.”
“That’s not the same,” said Rusty. “You can always tell and it takes away from the suspense.”
“I’m with you,” said Ronnie. “Now was there someone here who wanted to try a blood pack?” Cat excitedly put her hand up. “You go off with Jennifer and she’ll rig you up. Now, Rusty, have you ever wanted to shoot your sister?”
They only had pretend laser guns on set, so Ronnie spent a while rehearsing Rusty to say ‘Zap,’ very loudly when he pulled the trigger. They had Alex and Joe in fits of laughter. Then Cat came back wearing an oversized jumper and Ronnie became very serious. He talked quietly with Cat and then positioned her on the edge of a set corridor. “Joe, why don’t you help Rusty improvise a scene?” asked Ronnie. “Something that can get the two of them all riled up. I’ll need some cue words before Rusty shouts ‘Zap’.”
Joe shrugged at Alex. “It’s the least I can do.” He went over and talked to Cat for a few minutes then came back over to Rusty. “Right, your sister has an idea. Just go with it. Say, ‘That’s enough,’ before you say Zap and that will give Ronnie enough time to do his thing. Cat’s been told to stay by that mark over there. You don’t move closer than this.” Joe pointed to a crossed taped on the floor. “Cat’s got protection, but you don’t want to get too near.”
“Okay,” said Rusty. “Are you sure she’ll be okay?”
“She’ll be fine,” said Joe. “It’s all make-believe.” He grinned. “I’ve always wanted to say this — ACTION!”
Cat walked out from the corridor. “I am so fed up with you treating me like I don’t know what’s going on,” she said. “I know why that man from the Centre comes round all the time. It’s ridiculous you and Mum won’t admit it to me.”
“What are you talking about?” said Rusty.
“More feeling,” said Joe. “You’re meant to be getting mad with her.”
“You know I’m almost fifteen,” said Cat. “I know what happens between the birds and the bees, big brother.”
“What are you talking about?” repeated Rusty and this time there was more emotion behind his words.
“Mum is always so exhausted after he’s left.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m beginning to think she is happily exhausted,” said Cat.
Alex heard Rusty take a sharp intake of breath.
“Cat, this isn’t funny. It’s not the kind of thing you should joke about. It’s disrespectful to Mum.”
“It’s true then. They are having an affair? Did it start before Dad left or after? Did they make Dad go away? Is he in the bottom of some experimental tank at the Centre.” Cat’s voice rose hysterically. “Did they kill my Dad?”
Rusty shouted. “That’s enough!”
“Zap,” said Joe loudly, as Rusty hadn’t.
There was a sharp retort. Cat’s jumper burst open, blood poured down her chest. She glanced down in horror and then fell backwards.
Rusty dropped the laser he was holding and ran over to her. Cat was already sitting up, giggling. “Oh that was fun. Bit of a shock, but your face. It was so worth.”
“The things you said,” said Rusty.
“Joe said to wind you up. As if I’d think such a thing of Mum. Besides, I know Dad bailed on us.” She lo
oked up at him and her eyes became serious. “You don’t have to go on pretending he disappeared. He had just had enough of us. It happens.” Her eyes were suspiciously bright. “We need to stop pretending he might come back and move on.”
Jennifer came to take Cat away to get cleaned up. “Heavy,” murmured Ronnie. Joe thanked him profusely for his demonstration, and Rusty and Alex also expressed their thanks.
“Let’s go back to the bus and wait for Cat,” said Joe. “I could do with another coffee. You look like you could too, Rusty. I’m so sorry. I had no idea she would make it that real.”
Joe shook his head. “I’m not blaming you,” he said. “Cat’s always been on the wild side. And with this corn hound monster thing …”
“Corn Hound monster,” said Joe as they reached the canteen. “Now that sounds like an excellent title for a movie. Grab a seat. I’ll get the drinks.”
Alex and Rusty sat down opposite each other. “I can see why you like him,” said Rusty. “He’s a nice guy. Maybe not the deepest thinker, but he’s kind of amiable. A sort of cross between a puppy and an older brother.”
“You’ve changed your tune,” said Alex.
“Yeah, you can tell he means well. And I guess if you’re a girl he is good looking. You have my permission.”
“Your permission,” said Alex in mock anger.
Rusty sighed. “Yep, my permission as your friend to make a friend of the film star. Just be careful. He’ll disappear when the movie is over.”
“Maybe he’ll take me to Hollywood,” said Alex jokingly.
“Maybe he will,” said Rusty. He gave a small smile. “Not sure you’d like it. Not many mysteries there.”
“I’ve heard it’s like living on a different planet,” said Alex.
“Just as well you know about aliens then,” said Rusty.
Then Joe arrived. He sat down next to Alex and, under the table, he slipped his arm around her waist. “It’s been a good day, hasn’t it?” he said.
“It has,” agreed Rusty sincerely. “You’re not as much as an idiot as I thought you were Joe Trend.”
Joe grinned. “I’ll take all the good press I can get.” He squeezed Alex around the waist. “Still need to get a review from you,” he said.
Alex, acutely aware of Rusty sitting opposite, smiled slightly and changed the subject. She knew she should be feeling happy, but she had a sinking feeling in her stomach. Something was very wrong, but at least Cat seemed to have forgotten her fears. Could it be the case of the Howardsfields Horror had closed before it had even begun? If so, at least one good thing had happened today.
5. Dining with the Devil
Alex shifted in her seat, tugging at the edge of her black mini-skirt. Joe, in the driver’s seat beside her, noticed the movement and flashed her a smile. Alex’s glance flickered to the mirror, but Rusty didn’t seem to have noticed. In the tiny back seat of the sports car, he sat crunched up like some gigantic spider.
“Are you sure he wanted me there?” asked Rusty for the twentieth time.
“I told you. He said it would be good for Alex to have someone else to talk to.”
Alex winced at the half-truth. When Joe had called her to say she and he had been invited to dinner with Straker her reaction had not been positive.
****
“I’d rather not Joe. I don’t like him.”
“C’mon Alex, I have to do things with people I don’t like all the time. That’s not the point. It’ll be us out as a couple in public and not a camera in sight. We won’t get another opportunity like it.”
“You could come here again for dinner?” said Alex.
“And watch your parents get drunk again. I don’t think so.”
“That’s not fair!” begun Alex. “You …”
Joe cut her off. “Besides I got Rusty to agree to come along on the grounds that you would be there. We can’t let him down.”
“Rusty? He hates Straker even more than I do.”
“Oh.”
“Did Straker ask for him too?”
“Not exactly,” said Joe.
“Joe …”
“Okay. Okay. He said if I wanted to bring my girlfriend I’d have to ask someone else to occupy her while we talked.”
“What?”
“He said something about the children being occupied while the adults talked.”
“You let him talk about me like that!” said Alex.
“I think he was joking,” said Joe. “I got the impression he wants to talk to me about something in particular. Probably wants to touch me for funding.”
“So why are you going?”
“It’s like I said. This area is a hot bed for UFO sightings. The Centre for Scientific Research being here can’t be a coincidence. It might be if I do offer him a donation he might let me in on some stuff.”
“Stuff? What stuff?” said Alex.
“I don’t know. Secret stuff.”
“You do know you’re sounding like a big kid, don’t you?”
“Ah, c’mon Alex. It might be nothing. It might be everything. We gotta give it a go. We can tell him about what Cat saw. Get the ball rolling.”
“No,” said Alex. “Have you forgotten that the Gibson’s have a missing father and invalid mother, all of which Rusty lays at the Centre’s door.”
“Huh?” said Joe.
“He thinks Straker caused it all.”
“Wow,” said Joe. “Then it’s even more important that I get him to like me and tell me stuff.”
“And how will you do that?”
“People always like me,” said Joe sounding a bit offended. “I’m affable and I’m famous. The film star thing dazzles people.”
“It didn’t dazzle me.”
“Yeah, well, you’re different,” said Joe. “And I’m so glad you’re different, but — ah — c’mon Alex. I really want to do this.”
Alex sighed. “Okay. If you get Rusty to agree …”
“I will do,” said Joe and rang off.
****
“I wonder what he’ll give us to eat,” said Rusty.
“I doubt he cooks at all,” said Alex. “He strikes me as the kind of man who would get a dinner party catered.”
“Cool,” said Joe. “Those are always the best. No one bobbing up and down to check on what’s in the oven. Much more civilised.”
“You’re a snob,” said Alex.
“I’m a star,” said Joe. “I have certain standards.”
“Don’t know why you have me in the back of your car then,” said Rusty.
“Yeah,” said Joe, grinning. “Beats me too.”
He turned the wheel and took the car off the main road and onto a country lane. “Are you certain this is the right way,” said Alex as she looked out across darkened fields.
“I think so,” said Joe. “He did say he lived out in the country.”
“More out in the country than us?” said Alex.
“Ignore her,” said Rusty. “She still hasn’t got used to how much space we have in the States. That tiny island she comes from is so crowded they are practically standing on each other.”
For once Alex ignored the barb. She pressed her face closer to the window. “There is nothing out here.”
“Maybe he’s going to fly in on his personal UFO and abduct us,” said Joe.
Ten minutes later the lane had got rougher and Joe’s jokes had become thinner. The tension in the car was thick.
“When do we decide we’re lost and backtrack,” said Alex.
“I’ll consider it if this mud track gets any worse,” said Joe. “I dread to think what it’s doing to the suspension.”
“I think I’d like to go home now,” said Rusty. “I don’t mean to be a wimp, but this is beginning to freak me out.”
The moment the words were out of his mouth a bright light appeared all around them. Blinded, Joe slammed the brakes on. “Holy f---,” said Rusty, “We’re going to be abducted.”
Alex opened the car door
and got out. Immediately she felt bitterly cold. She put up a hand to shield her eyes from the light, but it was too strong. She couldn’t see a thing. She could hear Joe trying to get the car into reverse and yelling at her to get back in. The wheels only squealed, but the car didn’t move. “Get us out of here,” said Rusty.
****
“Yet again, let me apologise,” said Straker. “My security lights are far too bright. I am so sorry they startled you.” He passed a glass of malt whisky to Joe. “I’m having someone come down from the Centre to pull your car out first thing tomorrow. My driver will take you home tonight.”
Joe laughed. “It was quite the experience!”
“And all experiences are grist to the actor’s mill are they not?” said Straker.
Joe nodded. “Cheers,” he said raising his glass.
The four of them sat around Straker’s open fire. Joe and Alex were together on a couch with the other two sitting in separate large chairs around a pit of flames with a large steel and glass chimney above it. It fitted in with the rest of Straker’s modern open plan house. The ground floor was zoned into living, kitchen, and working areas, but the partitions were all glass. Glass that could be made opaque at the touch of a button — as Straker had demonstrated to a fascinated Joe. White leather couches and recliner seats, a glass dining table, steel library shelves and a silver metallic kitchen contributed to the interior design giving the whole house a perfect, but unlived in look. Outside low solar lights illuminated the edge of lawns and an outdoor pool from which steam slowly rose.
“This is amazing,” Joe said. “Very Swedish.”
“I do have a sauna in the basement,” said Straker. “Another time you must try it out.”
“And you don’t mind living in the middle of nowhere?” said Joe.
“It’s all about connect-ability,” said Straker. “The lawn outside it large enough to land a helicopter if I need to.”
“Does the Centre have one?” asked Rusty, who was nursing a Japanese beer.
“It has three,” said Straker. “But we generally don’t tell people that as it makes them think we have a lot of money.” He gave a thin lipped smile.