While on his way back to the base, Zitrik received a call from his commander. He told Zitrik he was having the other two pilots return to the Base, but he was sending him out on another mission. He told him that they had lost a young female explorer somewhere on the Crenshaw Ranch near Sedona, deep in the Arizona desert. She had gotten off the ship to collect rock samples when her ship was spotted by the United States government helicopters they had to abort their mission. Because the spaceship had to take off so quickly, she wasn’t able to get back on board before it left. He told Zitrik her name was Celeen and she had been there for over a week by herself and they weren’t sure she was still alive. He said they had sent two other ships with rescue teams to locate her, but they didn’t have any luck in finding her. Zitrik told the commander he would try his best to find her and bring her home.
While they were traveling to their destination Ty asked Zitrik what kind of place the Crenshaw Ranch was. He told Ty, “It is a lot like the Fleshwalker Ranch in Utah where you had left the ship. There’s also a portal that has an energy vortex that opens up to other dimensions located on the ranch.” The ranch is approximately 100 acres and once owned by the Crenshaw family until the mid-1990’s when it began to get a lot of media attention. It’s located among the red cliffs of the Arizona desert and at night you can enjoy sounds of silence, except for an occasional howl of a coyote in the distance. Later in the day there is the gentle touch of the evening breeze. It has been reported that a lot of paranormal activity has also taken place there. It has gained the reputation as being a paranormal hotbed so the public and government officials became very interested in it. The Crenshaw family had reported seeing all types of paranormal activity on the ranch before they finally gave up and sold it to the United States Government. According to Zitrik, “The property is now deemed an “Archaeological site” and owned by the United States government but managed by the US Forrest Service.” It is now “strictly off limits” to the public. The entrance to the property is securely chained and there are signs all around the fenced property that say, “Property of U.S. Government, trespassers will be prosecuted to the furthest extent of the law!” It too, like the Fleshwalker ranch, is in a remote and isolated area and hard to get to because of the rocky dirt road that leads to the entrance of the ranch.
Zitrik told them there have been hundreds of reports of paranormal activity such as, UFO sightings and sightings of small humanoid entities. He told them the UFO’s and small humanoid entities were just his people going through the portal. There have been reports of a lot of spirits like Ty and Markus in the form of orbs that have been seen there as well. Ty asked him what all the spirit orbs were doing there. Zitrik told them he believed it was because a lot of them had never seen the Grand Canyon or been in the desert before when they were in their body form on earth. He said, “The portal, being so close to the Grand Canyon, makes it easy for them to come and go through the portal opening. That made a lot of sense to Ty. He also wanted to know what was so important, as he asked Zitrik why his people were getting rock samples from the area. Zitrik replied, “We’re always getting new rock samples from Earth to see what kind of new damage has been done to their environment. Humans seem to be on a quest to destroy themselves in one way or another. Several years ago the United States governments used to test nuclear weapons in the desert of California. We just want to keep track of the radiation levels in the ground and air.” Ty just had to ask him “the question,” “So how bad is the environment on Earth? Do you really know?” He replied, “It isn’t as bad as some of the rumors you may have heard. It hasn’t changed much in the last thirty years. There’s just a little more air pollution because of the population growth, but that’s to be expected.” Ty asked him about global warming that he had heard so much about. Zitrik laughed and said, “Global warming on Earth has been going on for thousands of years. Thousands of years ago, Earth had a global freeze. As soon as it freezes like that, it immediately starts to melt and the process starts all over again. The melting water is absorbed into the clouds until they can’t hold it anymore and is eventually released in the form of rain, snow and sleet. Someday, maybe hundreds or even thousands of years from now Earth will probably have another deep freeze and the weather patterns will repeat themselves.”
Ty suggested to Zitrik, “When we get to the Crenshaw Ranch, why don’t you let Markus and I go look for the lost girl while you stay with the ship? We can cover more ground, and besides, if the U.S. government helicopters or any other aircraft spot your ship, you can just leave us and come back for us later.” He didn’t say anything for a few minutes. He was wondering if Ty had some kind of ulterior motive. After thinking about it, he replied, “That would probably be a good idea. I’ll park my ship in the distance away from the house and barn, where it won’t be easily seen. This is a serious matter and we need to find the girl before it is too late for her.”
Now that they had a plan, Zitrik landed his ship in the open desert, but hidden along one of the rock wall ridges. He opened the door and let Ty and Markus out. As they left he said, “Good luck. I know you’ll find her.” He then closed the door behind them in case he was spotted and had to take off in a hurry. Ty looked around and said, “I can already tell this place has a lot of activity. There’s way too much energy around here.” He looked around and said, there’s a lot of spirits in the air.” Markus agreed that he could also see and feel the high energy levels around them.
As Ty and Markus started searching the property, the spirits were everywhere. They could hear them talking to each other while they were hovering and quickly moving from one place to another. They seemed excited to be there as they found their way around the ranch. They reminded Ty of foreign tourists at Disneyland. They were always trying to get to the rides as quickly as possible, not stopping to notice anyone around them. At first Ty tried to stop and talk to a few of them and ask them if they had seen an alien girl anywhere on the property. No one he spoke with seemed to have seen Celeen. Ty knew that if they did they probably wouldn’t have paid much attention to her because they were in such a hurry to get to where they were going.
Ty and Markus finally made their way to the main part of the ranch where the farm house and barn were located. There were a few strange balls of light that came flying toward them only to stop in mid-air, sit there as if suspended there for a few seconds, then fly away. Markus yelled to Ty, “What the heck was that?” Ty replied, “I have no clue, maybe a spirit like us.” They tried not to let those kinds of things interrupt them as made their way inside all the out buildings. They were searching in every hidden spot they could possibly get to, but they still couldn’t find Celeen. As they approached the main house Markus said, “Wow, look at this place Ty, it looks just like one of those western town houses we used to see in the old cowboy movies.” Even though they were concentrating hard on their mission to find Celeen, Ty couldn’t help but stop and admire the place as he replied with a chuckle, “Yea, I wonder where the Lone Ranger and Tonto are?” Markus replied, “Who?” Ty rolled his eyes and said, “Never mind.”
Ty and Markus made their way slowly and meticulously through the home without any sign of Celeen. They were sure she would’ve been in the house, but she was nowhere to be found. There was only one place they hadn’t checked and it was the old hay barn about fifty yards from the main house. As they made their way into the barn they began calling Celeen’s name. Ty told Markus “You look in all those horse stalls and I’ll go upstairs to the hay loft, but make sure you look in every corner of each area.” When they first went in they didn’t hear or see anything, just like the other buildings they had been through.
Ty made his way to the back of the hay loft where there were some old saddles and other dusty horse tack stored when he heard a faint voice. He could hardly make it out at first, but it was her. She said, “I’m over here.” Ty immediately went to her side and called down to Markus that he’d found her.
When he approached her, he asked her if she was okay. Her response was that she thought so, but he could tell she was very weak and not able to walk. He immediately told her that the commander from her planet had sent them to find her in Zitrik’s spaceship. Ty picked her up in his arms and gently put her over his shoulder as he made is way down to the ground floor area and laid her down. Once on the ground, he asked her what happened to her. She told them the story about how she was left behind when a United States military aircraft had approached and she became a little lost and disoriented.
“After they left, I was lonely and scared and didn’t know what to do. I wandered aimlessly around on the ranch for a few days hoping they would come back for me. I waited, but they didn’t come back so I started looking for a place to hide.” Ty told her she didn’t have to talk about it if she didn’t want to. She continued, “A pack of coyotes had seen me and apparently followed me into the barn. I had to climb up to the loft to get away from them. I was too afraid to come down after that and just stayed up there for the rest of the time I’ve been here. I’ve been getting weaker and weaker every day.” Ty said, “I thought your suit would protect you from the coyotes.” She told him that it probably would have, but she was still scared of them because they looked and acted so ferocious. Ty told her not to worry, that Zitrik was waiting for them at his ship and they would carry her there.
He picked her up in his arms and they headed for the ship. On the way there, she told them she knew Zitrik and was glad he was the one that came for her. They had to cross an open area that was along some of the rock formations, in the middle of the ranch. The closer they got to it they starting hearing the calls and howls of the coyotes. Ty knew that coyotes can get as tall as a German shepherd dog, but a lot thinner. They’re usually afraid of humans and other beings but when they’re in a pack, they’re like all wild pack animals and are able to gather strength in numbers.
The pack had spotted them and now they were being pursued by the six hungry coyotes. Ty quickly made his way to a crevice in the side of the rock formation where they had some protection with their backs against the rocks. He gently laid Celeen on the ground and told her, “We have to do something to stop them or they’ll try to get you.” He looked at Markus and said, “We need to find something to beat them off with. We can’t let them take her.” Markus agreed, and started looking for something they could use as a weapon against the attacking animals. As the pack started moving in closer, they began to growl, the hair on the back of their necks bristled and they looked pretty frightening. They had long white fangs that you could plainly see from the light of the full moon, as they bared their teeth. Ty thought, “I can’t believe we’re being attacked by a pack of coyotes. When he was growing up on the farm I had seen wild Coyotes as they crossed from farm to farm, always at a safe distance. They seemed like they were afraid to get too close to people and stayed as far away as they could.” He assumed, that now, since he was a just a spirit, they had no fear of him. Maybe they didn’t realize Ty and Markus would try and protect Celeen from them. They had just one thing on their mind and they were determined to get her. For a short moment, Ty and Markus were in a standoff with the coyotes until occasionally; one would venture in as close as it dared to come to Celeen, without grabbing her. They spread out in a half circle around Celeen and were getting ready to attack. Ty and Markus found a few large, hand-sized rocks and had one in each hand, just waiting. As the attacking coyotes came in for her, Ty and Markus began to beat them away with the rocks. The coyotes seem confused by the counter attack and momentarily retreated a short distance to re-evaluate their situation. When they did that, Ty and Markus went on their own attack and began beating the coyotes in the head with the rocks once again. They hurt three of them to the point they were yelping and running off in the distance, with their tails between their legs. Once they felt like they were safely away, they stopped and turned around, looking back to see what was going to happen next. The three remaining coyotes weren’t ready to give up on their prey as quickly. They started to move forward once again on the attack. Ty and Markus again went on the offensive and attacked them first. This time, the yelping and retreating coyotes realized it wasn’t going to be as simple as they first thought for them, so they decided to give it up. They regrouped with the other three cowards in the distance and took off in the opposite direction of where Ty and Markus were taking Celeen. Markus looked at Ty and said, “That was interesting.” Ty agreed, as he picked up Celeen once again and they headed for the ship.
When they arrived at the ship, they could tell that Zitrik had become a little anxious as they boarded. He said in a deep, rough voice, “It took you long enough!” Ty replied, “We had a hard time finding her and we ran into a little problem.” Zitrik then went over to Celeen and said in a soothing quiet soft voice, “Hi Celeen. You’ll be okay; we’re taking you back to the base.” Markus looked at Ty and just shook his head and smiled as Zitrik turned on his charm. Zitrik buckled her in her seat and handed her an energy pack. She held it in her hands and began to rub it with the palm of her hands and in a few minutes she was beginning to show signs of recovery. Zitrik said, “We’re heading to the base off the coast of California. I have orders to take you there. You’ll be able to rest and get all your strength back after a few days.” She replied in a weak voice, “Thank you Zitrik, that’ll be great. I’m grateful to all of you for coming to my rescue.” That’s when Ty and Markus told her they were just glad they found her alive.
Just before they left to go back to the base, Zitrik talked to the commander and told him that they had found Celeen, but she was very weak by the time they picked her up. He told the commander that they would be there soon. The commander was very happy, as he told Zitrik, “I knew you’d find her Zitrik, good job!” Ty and Markus could see the pride swell up in his chest as they lifted off from Crenshaw Ranch and were in flight. It seemed like just a few minutes and he was telling them to prepare to enter the water.
When they arrived at the Base there were several people that came to meet Zitrik once again. Some of them immediately whisked Celeen away to give her further medical attention. Some of them were patting Zitrik on the back as if he was a hero returning from battle. Zitrik basked in all the attention.
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Chapter 17 – Patrol Over Iran
Unearthly Realms Page 16