Raging at the Stars

by Lesley Davis

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  The earth beneath Emory’s feet began to quiver. It was a strange sensation. It felt like the earth was trembling in fear. Emory looked up at the sky. It didn’t feel like the usual precursor to the arrival of alien ships.

  From out of the clouds, the black triangular crafts descended. They blocked out the sunlight and plunged Tesla Falls into complete darkness. Floodlights flicked on all around the base, and the evacuated staff all congregated together to look up into the belly of the beasts.

  In the stillness there was a barely discernible high-pitched whine. Emory felt it pervade through every nerve in her body. The hum dissipated. Emory held her breath wondering what was going to happen next. She saw Sofia hurrying over to join her.

  “What was that?” Emory asked her, her eyes drawn back on the ships.

  “The quake was the trap being set. I see the aliens took it. The Collider is the fourth floor behind Hangar Nine. I had the guys down there switch it on just enough to draw the ships out of hiding. And look; it worked.” The ships filled the sky for as far as Emory could see. “If you heard the other thing, that low frequency hum? That was Tesla’s infamous beam in action. It’s invisible to the eye, but the effects aren’t.”

  Emory followed where Sofia was pointing. One of the black ships seemed to suddenly shudder. A discernable ripple ran along its hull like a cresting wave gathering momentum. With a terrible deafening noise, it then fractured and splintered like ice floes breaking apart. Huge cracks began to appear all over the ship and fragmented. Parts of the ship began to fall off, then the whole thing just plunged out of the sky.

  Everyone on the ground began screaming and running for their lives.

  Before any of the ship could even reach the ground, it began to disintegrate before everyone’s eyes. Millions upon millions of huge chunks of the craft transformed into a fine powdery dust on their descent. Then, on an updraft of a gentle breeze, it was simply carried away to be scattered to the winds.

  Emory let out a loud whoop. “Yes! Yes! I told you Tesla was a fucking genius! Nikola Tesla rocks!” She threw her arms around Sofia and hugged her tight.

  Above them the other black triangular crafts were retreating, but they released a flurry of saucers as their parting gift. The smaller crafts streaked out across the base, intent on destruction. There was a sound behind Emory, and she turned just in time to see Sofia’s saucers take off in hot pursuit.

  The alien saucers headed straight for the main building and began bombarding it with its beams, blasting it apart. Sofia dragged Emory back into the hangar, and they watched from its safety as their own saucers gave chase, catching the aliens unaware. Matching speed for speed and using the same weaponry, Sofia’s saucers cut through the alien craft with precision and blew them out of the sky. They chased the others clear of the base to minimize casualties and to stop any more damage on the ground.

  The main building was badly hit. Emory tried to pinpoint through the flames where the greatest damage had taken place. They’d only just been in there. It was a sobering thought.

  “Here’s hoping Russom’s office was under that blast. It would save us an awful lot of explaining,” she said.

  Sofia gave her a look that Emory was becoming all too familiar with. The radio on Sofia’s belt crackled and Ulrich announced two more ships had been vaporized and they were chasing down the rest on radar. They wouldn’t get far.

  “Bring them down. Every last one of them,” Sofia ordered. “And if he’s not too busy, can you send Dink up here, please?”

  Emory’s gaze was fixed on the dark clouds above. They were discolored and streaked by the remnants of dust from the ships. When the wind died down, the dust fell to the ground soundlessly. It covered the base with a blanket of black snow. Weakly, a beam of golden sunlight tried to peek through. A light in the darkness finally.

  Emory couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed. With all she had read and researched, seen and believed, to know that there was something above them equipped with Tesla’s energy beam shooting down the alien spaceships was the stuff of pure science fiction. She smiled up at the sky. Truth was always stranger than fiction.

  Dink’s voice brought her out of her musing.

  “Did you see what we did? Did you?” He mimicked an explosion, his hands doing all the accompanying gestures, even down to the dust blowing away. “Dust in the wind, my friend. Big ass ship, big pile o’ dust now. And I pressed the button while Ulrich directed the beam.”

  Emory and Dink high-fived.

  “You fired Tesla’s death ray, Dink. On alien spaceships. You are so getting laid when word of this gets out among our friends!”

  Dink chortled with glee while Sofia looked totally disgusted.

  “Emory!” She slapped at Emory’s arm.

  “What? Come on, Major. Don’t think for a moment it’s escaped my notice that two crazy conspiracy theorists have helped to save the world here. Face it, none of this would have been possible without us.”

  “Oh God,” Sofia moaned. “You’re going to be insufferable.”

  “No more than usual.” Emory grinned at them both then took hold of Sofia’s hand and gently swung it between them. “It wouldn’t have been possible without you either, Sofia. Think on that, too.”

  Sofia was pensive as the truth of Emory’s words sank in. She shook it off quickly in a “business as usual” shrug that Emory was starting to recognize too. “Dink, is Ulrich going to be okay on his own?” She waved for them to follow her.

  “He’s having the time of his life. He’s like a kid playing Space Invaders down there. His grandson is keeping him in check, and one of the soldiers on that floor knew Ulrich from when he was in charge. He didn’t like Russom at all so Ulrich has a buddy beside him, cheering him on. They know what they’re doing. Sam said he’d radio you when he was all done and they were dusted.”

  Dink grinned at his play on words. He picked up his step to keep up with Sofia’s quicker pace. “Though, I should probably warn you. When Sam felt the Collider kick in he mentioned something about setting some charges and blowing it to, and I quote, ‘high heaven.’ We might want to be off base when he tries that party trick. I think he’s determined to put all his wrongs right in one go.”

  Only half listening to Dink, Emory was much more curious as to where Sofia was taking them. The hangar was empty now, all except for one lone saucer. She whistled to catch Dink’s attention and nodded in its direction. Dink’s eyes bulged out of his head.

  “Oh my God,” he breathed and hurried his step. “Oh my God!”

  Sofia laughed. “You and he are well matched.”

  Emory delighted in watching Dink run around the outside of the craft. He reached up to touch it reverently. “Dink, you’ve gone awfully quiet. Please tell me you’re at least breathing.”

  “I’m trying not to ruin my masculine image by releasing the high-pitched squeal that is bursting to get out.” He ran his fingertips along the hull. “I’m actually touching a flying saucer!” He stared at Sofia. “And you helped design this?”

  Sofia nodded. “For my sins, yes. I redefined a lot of the earlier designs, updated the systems.” She pressed her hand into the metal and a door appeared. She gestured for them to enter.

  “Seriously?” Emory was awash with trepidation. It was enough seeing a flying saucer, but to step foot in one, even if it was a human built one? That was a little too much for her to comprehend.

  Dink had no such compunction. He was halfway in before the door was fully opened.

  “It seems a pity for you not to get to see one of these things up close and personal after you’ve spent so many years hanging around Area 51 trying to do so.” Sofia held out a hand for Emory to take. “Come see what we tried to hide from you for so long.”

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  The inside of the saucer was brightly lit and so much bigger inside than Emory had considered. There were a series of corridors leading to passages that obviously
angled down underneath the ship, but the biggest area was the flight deck that dominated the whole craft. It was the first thing Emory set foot in.

  “The whole layout of the ship is circular, which is self-explanatory given its shape. Crew quarters are at the back of the ship and below, along with what I now know is the area they kept the humans they took. The engines are below us. But this”—Sofia waved her hand to denote the whole of the flight deck—“this is the heart of the ship. A three-hundred-and-sixty-degree, panoramic view of whatever is outside the window.”

  Dink was wandering from one side of the deck to the other. The three man, one woman crew stared at him.

  “These fine officers are my flight crew. Hunter, Palmer, Kerry, Skilbeck.” Sofia pointed each one out. “Officers, these two civilians are the people who came up with the plan that has just stopped the aliens in their tracks.”

  Emory was surprised by the welcome. Dink was loving the attention, especially when Hunter pulled up a chair for him and started showing him the controls.

  “Why do you have a crew in here?” Emory asked. “Shouldn’t this ship be off chasing after aliens?”

  Sofia reached under a table and drew out a bag. She pulled out Ellie’s Elsa bear and set it on the console. Emory swallowed hard at the emotion that almost choked her just seeing the familiar toy again.

  “There’s no faster way to travel than one of these ships so I thought we could go through that list of bases Russom gave you and see if your family is out there in one of them.”

  Emory couldn’t believe it. “But you’re in charge here now. The whole base is under your leadership.”

  “And my first role as head of Dionysius is to keep my promise. Let’s go find your family. You’ve saved the world, Emory. I think you’re owed something for yourself now.” She nodded toward Hunter who was awaiting her command. “You have your orders. Stay on the coms with the bases so some idiot doesn’t take a shot at us. Let’s go get our people back.”

  The saucer rose and shot out of the hangar in the blink of an eye. Dink sat with his chin resting on his hands, taking everything in and laughing like a child presented with his ultimate dream toy.

  “Best. Day. Ever,” he declared.

  Emory watched the land speed by as they flew over the mountains then out above the cities. She could see everything, above and below. From up here the world was theirs to explore and the stars were just a heartbeat away.

  She sensed Sofia watching her. “Thank you,” Emory said, her eyes not moving from the vista laid out below them. Denver was just seconds away and their search could begin.

  “For what?” Sofia said.

  “For keeping your promise.”

  Sofia pulled Emory closer to her. “I think I’m going to need you to break it to Dink that he can’t have one of these.”

  Emory laughed but sobered quickly. “Do you think we’ll ever find them?” Emory was terrified Russom would be proved right about Emory not getting to her family in time to stop the inevitable outcome for abductees.

  “I’m praying so. Both for your family and however many others there are. If we find them, we’ll get them all home safely. This won’t ever happen again. The secrets, all of them, are exposed now. And I’ll make sure they remain seen.”

  “You could lose your job.” Emory was well aware of the battle Sofia would be facing to change years’ worth of cover-ups and lies, of conspiracies and deceptions.

  Sofia shrugged. “I think I have enough new friends supporting me that believe if I can face down the aliens, I can stand up to the government and make my voice heard.”

  Emory wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled Sofia close. “I’ll be right there beside you, cheering you on.”

  “Me too,” Dink said.

  Emory snuck a quick kiss off Sofia’s smiling lips. She was mindful of the others on the deck and didn’t want to undermine Sofia’s authority by kissing her senseless like she desperately needed to. She didn’t loosen her hold though. Her mind was blown by how surreal everything was. She was in a flying saucer, one of alien design but crafted by humans. The war against the aliens had been turned around by the use of a years-old weapon that had been shrouded in secrecy and myth. Sometimes the fine line between fantasy and reality wasn’t so much blurred as erased from existence.

  God, this all sounds crazy, even by my standard of the whacky and bizarre. And to think, all of this hinged on my hanging around Area 51 waiting to witness something I didn’t totally believe in. Imagine the unlimited possibilities I could uncover if that principle applied to something I do believe in. I wonder what Dionysius has on record concerning Einstein and his theories about time travel?

  Emory watched as an airbase came into view.

  Family first. Then I can turn my attention to what else is out there to bring into the light.

  The End

  About the Author

  Lesley Davis lives in the West Midlands of England. She is a diehard science fiction/fantasy fan in all its forms and an extremely passionate gamer. When her games controller is out of her grasp, Lesley is to be found on her laptop writing.

  Her book, Dark Wings Descending, was a Lambda Literary award finalist for Best Lesbian Romance.

  Visit her online at www.lesleydavisauthor.co.uk.

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