Part 9, Getting Lost
“Look, Dr. Brown, I’m just somebody’s mommy who used to
work at an airplane factory running paperwork. I don’t even know what questions
to ask. I just want to go home. I don’t want to be tied to that thing out
there!” I said desperately.
“Well, I’m sorry, we don’t know how to break the tie,” he said quickly. “They didn’t mention that. I don’t know if it’s even possible, once tied and the pilot is living.”
“How do you know so much about it,” I asked.
“Ah, you do get right to the point, you mommy,” he laughed a bit. His dark eyes looked amused. I was amazed at how much he resembled Mike Flores, both rather patrician looking, now that I thought about it.
“The simple answer is that a builder of those things told me how they work,” he said.
I let that slide by for the moment.
“Why was that one out there locked in the hangar up at home?” I countered quickly. “If it’s so darn tricky? How did it end up there?”
“Its last pilot died when it was brought down. Human fault. The ship was disoriented and was captured by those characters embedded in your plant up there in Washington. What they didn’t know, was that though the pilot had died, the ship didn't. It healed itself. They act almost organic.
“Then you showed up. The funny thing is, other people had handled it also. There must a reason it responded to you specifically,” he said.
Both men looked at me as if trying to see on the outside why the ET craft had responded to me. They appeared to be mystified.
“So, uh, how did you come to communicate with its builders?” I asked, feeling around for something that made sense. “And why should they talk to you, or trust you?”
They looked at each other and sort of shrugged.
Mike sat forward and said, “the back story is that long ago both of us and your boss Ellis Roberts were in the Air Force. They had us chasing UFOs with an eye to understanding what they were and why they were appearing all over, and of course, if they were a threat. Of course, it was ridiculous. Talk about chasing wild geese. We couldn’t catch them. No way!
“After the Air Force, I came out here to live the ranch life on my grandfather’s place. Hector Brown here went into astrophysics, hence Dr. Brown. You know what Ellis did. Poor Ellis.”
“Why poor Ellis,” I said quickly.
“Coroner said it was suicide. What do you think? Think he was suicidal?” asked Mike.
“He was pretty upset the last time I saw him,” I said, “but it was more like he was afraid of exposure. He did a dumb thing. So dumb.”
Yeah, poor Ellis, I thought. You took the hit. I thought of his round friendly face for moment.
“Nah, I don’t think he was suicidal, but he was very frightened,” I said.
“To answer your question, why they, or he, it was just one, came to talk to me, I was outside one night in a meditative mood, watching the sky and I saw another one of those ships. Not one of ours. You know we have them too, but they’re different when they’re really from off planet. I was just watching it get closer and closer until it hovered right in front of my face.
“I wasn’t afraid of it. Maybe they have ways of getting inside of human fear? I don’t know. But the being inside the craft addressed me by my name and we started a long conversation. All without verbal speech. He wanted to warn me about your ship out there. The potential for damage was there if the wrong person commanded it, Jenae,” said Dr. Brown. “Great potential for harm to earth and other worlds. You have no idea how powerful that thing is, and now you command it, willing or not!”
“How long had it been held there,” I wanted to know. It seemed like it must have been quite a while, when I thought of how long ago this must have happened.
“It sat there inert, until you touched it,” he said, “for about ten years. No one knew it would wake up.”
“How did it get out of the building,” I wondered aloud, thinking about its size and the access to the building. I knew there was the typical sliding door closing the jet sized doorway they have in those hangars. It had to go through that doorway, but how?
“The way I see it,” said Dr. Brown, “it knew it had to get to you, so it caused the door to slide open. It’s just an electronic control of some kind. Of course when our adversaries found the door open and the alien ship missing, it was mayhem. I wish I could have seen their faces.”
For the moment, I had run out of questions. We all just sat there in our own thoughts until Mike spoke.
“I guess Lisa isn’t coming back, at least not today. Let’s re-convene in the kitchen. I’ll make coffee and see what there is in the fridge.”
It was a good break. The coffee was wonderful to have right about then. There was cream and sugar. Mike seemed fully capable in the kitchen. He did some quick eggs. Made toast. There was homemade jam. I offered to cook, but he said he would do it, but maybe next time I could.
It was nice to go through these normal motions while my imagination expanded to conform to what I had heard out in the other room.
It was a great old ranch style kitchen with a table that could have easily seated eight diners. So roomy and comfortable.
“It will reflect your thoughts better if you name it. The ET pilot said it was important,” said Dr. Brown, as we were still sitting in the kitchen with our cups of coffee.
“The thing that is important now is discipline of mind, your mind. You are, like it or not, the holder of phenomenal power, Jenae. You have to deal with this,” he said. “The ship is now a reflection of your understanding and the desires of your heart.”
“The desire of my heart is to go home, and to be left alone,” I murmured in response.
I shivered, sitting there. Then I remembered that bolt of recognition that I had felt when I touched the black ship. From that moment on I believed him. I knew he was right. I felt I had always known it.
“This is probably a first ever, ET tech commanded by a human mind!” said Dr. Brown, rather too cheerfully, I thought.
“Oh fine,” I said. “Let’s go see this mechanical/organic beast! Maybe it’s like looking at a baby before you know what to name it! I’m not afraid.” That was only bravado, but sometimes bravado precedes courage. Does it not?
Mike put our dishes in the dishwasher. Then we were ready. He didn’t want to leave a mess for Lisa if she decided to come back.
“So, why is Dr. Brown living here,” I asked them both while Mike was picking things up in the kitchen.
“Well, I’m sort of underground. I am the world’s greatest believer in informing the world about actual ETs and their vehicles, and also the manmade ones. We’ll get to your photos I hope, if you want, soon. I’m not going to pry them from your fingers.
“And yeah, they want to Ellis Roberts me in the worst way, Jenae! So, I’m here hiding on the ancestral rancho with my good cousin, Mike Flores.
“Also, the university fired me.”
No wonder they looked alike.
So, outside it was about 100 degrees. The air was still. It was utterly arid out there. My hat was still back in No.7, which was stupid of me.
As we glanced around outside, the black ship, darker than night itself, drifted around the side of the building. It came to rest in front of me, in contact with the earth for the first time. A hatch opened smoothly on the side, like an opening eye. Oh yes, a person could fit in there easily, maybe two or three people. I saw seats and screens. It waited there silently.
Names, descriptions, appellations, all drifted through my mind. I thought of heraldry. I thought of myths. I thought of common names. I thought of hunters and the hunted.
Then, “Raven,” I said. “I shall call you Raven.”
My ship was pleased.
“Well, I’m sorry, we don’t know how to break the tie,” he said quickly. “They didn’t mention that. I don’t know if it’s even possible, once tied and the pilot is living.”
“How do you know so much about it,” I asked.
“Ah, you do get right to the point, you mommy,” he laughed a bit. His dark eyes looked amused. I was amazed at how much he resembled Mike Flores, both rather patrician looking, now that I thought about it.
“The simple answer is that a builder of those things told me how they work,” he said.
I let that slide by for the moment.
“Why was that one out there locked in the hangar up at home?” I countered quickly. “If it’s so darn tricky? How did it end up there?”
“Its last pilot died when it was brought down. Human fault. The ship was disoriented and was captured by those characters embedded in your plant up there in Washington. What they didn’t know, was that though the pilot had died, the ship didn't. It healed itself. They act almost organic.
“Then you showed up. The funny thing is, other people had handled it also. There must a reason it responded to you specifically,” he said.
Both men looked at me as if trying to see on the outside why the ET craft had responded to me. They appeared to be mystified.
“So, uh, how did you come to communicate with its builders?” I asked, feeling around for something that made sense. “And why should they talk to you, or trust you?”
They looked at each other and sort of shrugged.
Mike sat forward and said, “the back story is that long ago both of us and your boss Ellis Roberts were in the Air Force. They had us chasing UFOs with an eye to understanding what they were and why they were appearing all over, and of course, if they were a threat. Of course, it was ridiculous. Talk about chasing wild geese. We couldn’t catch them. No way!
“After the Air Force, I came out here to live the ranch life on my grandfather’s place. Hector Brown here went into astrophysics, hence Dr. Brown. You know what Ellis did. Poor Ellis.”
“Why poor Ellis,” I said quickly.
“Coroner said it was suicide. What do you think? Think he was suicidal?” asked Mike.
“He was pretty upset the last time I saw him,” I said, “but it was more like he was afraid of exposure. He did a dumb thing. So dumb.”
Yeah, poor Ellis, I thought. You took the hit. I thought of his round friendly face for moment.
“Nah, I don’t think he was suicidal, but he was very frightened,” I said.
“To answer your question, why they, or he, it was just one, came to talk to me, I was outside one night in a meditative mood, watching the sky and I saw another one of those ships. Not one of ours. You know we have them too, but they’re different when they’re really from off planet. I was just watching it get closer and closer until it hovered right in front of my face.
“I wasn’t afraid of it. Maybe they have ways of getting inside of human fear? I don’t know. But the being inside the craft addressed me by my name and we started a long conversation. All without verbal speech. He wanted to warn me about your ship out there. The potential for damage was there if the wrong person commanded it, Jenae,” said Dr. Brown. “Great potential for harm to earth and other worlds. You have no idea how powerful that thing is, and now you command it, willing or not!”
“How long had it been held there,” I wanted to know. It seemed like it must have been quite a while, when I thought of how long ago this must have happened.
“It sat there inert, until you touched it,” he said, “for about ten years. No one knew it would wake up.”
“How did it get out of the building,” I wondered aloud, thinking about its size and the access to the building. I knew there was the typical sliding door closing the jet sized doorway they have in those hangars. It had to go through that doorway, but how?
“The way I see it,” said Dr. Brown, “it knew it had to get to you, so it caused the door to slide open. It’s just an electronic control of some kind. Of course when our adversaries found the door open and the alien ship missing, it was mayhem. I wish I could have seen their faces.”
For the moment, I had run out of questions. We all just sat there in our own thoughts until Mike spoke.
“I guess Lisa isn’t coming back, at least not today. Let’s re-convene in the kitchen. I’ll make coffee and see what there is in the fridge.”
It was a good break. The coffee was wonderful to have right about then. There was cream and sugar. Mike seemed fully capable in the kitchen. He did some quick eggs. Made toast. There was homemade jam. I offered to cook, but he said he would do it, but maybe next time I could.
It was nice to go through these normal motions while my imagination expanded to conform to what I had heard out in the other room.
It was a great old ranch style kitchen with a table that could have easily seated eight diners. So roomy and comfortable.
“It will reflect your thoughts better if you name it. The ET pilot said it was important,” said Dr. Brown, as we were still sitting in the kitchen with our cups of coffee.
“The thing that is important now is discipline of mind, your mind. You are, like it or not, the holder of phenomenal power, Jenae. You have to deal with this,” he said. “The ship is now a reflection of your understanding and the desires of your heart.”
“The desire of my heart is to go home, and to be left alone,” I murmured in response.
I shivered, sitting there. Then I remembered that bolt of recognition that I had felt when I touched the black ship. From that moment on I believed him. I knew he was right. I felt I had always known it.
“This is probably a first ever, ET tech commanded by a human mind!” said Dr. Brown, rather too cheerfully, I thought.
“Oh fine,” I said. “Let’s go see this mechanical/organic beast! Maybe it’s like looking at a baby before you know what to name it! I’m not afraid.” That was only bravado, but sometimes bravado precedes courage. Does it not?
Mike put our dishes in the dishwasher. Then we were ready. He didn’t want to leave a mess for Lisa if she decided to come back.
“So, why is Dr. Brown living here,” I asked them both while Mike was picking things up in the kitchen.
“Well, I’m sort of underground. I am the world’s greatest believer in informing the world about actual ETs and their vehicles, and also the manmade ones. We’ll get to your photos I hope, if you want, soon. I’m not going to pry them from your fingers.
“And yeah, they want to Ellis Roberts me in the worst way, Jenae! So, I’m here hiding on the ancestral rancho with my good cousin, Mike Flores.
“Also, the university fired me.”
No wonder they looked alike.
So, outside it was about 100 degrees. The air was still. It was utterly arid out there. My hat was still back in No.7, which was stupid of me.
As we glanced around outside, the black ship, darker than night itself, drifted around the side of the building. It came to rest in front of me, in contact with the earth for the first time. A hatch opened smoothly on the side, like an opening eye. Oh yes, a person could fit in there easily, maybe two or three people. I saw seats and screens. It waited there silently.
Names, descriptions, appellations, all drifted through my mind. I thought of heraldry. I thought of myths. I thought of common names. I thought of hunters and the hunted.
Then, “Raven,” I said. “I shall call you Raven.”
My ship was pleased.
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