Pete Cawdron - Feedback

The hazmat vehicle looked like a perfect rectangle. It must feel like driving a brick, Jason thought. Every conceivable inch of space had been covered by something functional. Dozens of compartments lined the vehicle, each with labels designating their contents. There were hoses rolled up and stacked against one side and a ladder at the back allowing access to the roof. The truck must have weighed at least ten tons. If it was a fake, it had Jason fooled. Every detail was meticulous, right down to the North Bend city logo on the doors.

Jason and Lily climbed aboard as Bellum turned over the diesel engine. The engine roared to life, shaking the frame of the vehicle. Black smoke billowed out of the exhaust.

Jason sat there with his helmet in his lap. Lily put her helmet on. Her head looked absurdly small in the huge helmet. She turned to him and grinned like a schoolgirl, signaling with her thumbs up. Jason gave her a nervous thumbs up in response.

The others climbed aboard. Bellum waited, watching as two fire engines pulled out of the fire station and headed down the street away from them. He drove the truck out of the garage and onto the street, but didn’t sound the siren until they were almost a block away.

Jason couldn’t help but be swept up in the moment. He rolled down his window and rested his elbow on the door. The wind whipped through the back of the truck. Cars, buses and trucks all pulled to one side, letting the convoy of fire engines and the hazmat truck through. The convoy slowed as they approached red lights at intersections, but never stopped. Sirens wailed discordantly across the town. Several other fire departments had mobilized. Jason could see additional fire engines joining them on the main road to North Bend.

Smoke continued to billow from the nuclear power plant. The mushroom cloud had dissipated, turning into a dark, ghostly smudge in the clear night sky, blotting out the stars. Fires raged within the compound.

The fire engines raced up to the open main gate. Several security guards recognized the lead vehicle and waved them through. There were already a number of other fire engines at the scene. At least one of them looked as though it was from the plant.

The convoy came to a halt and their hazmat truck pulled to one side as the lead fire truck stopped to talk to the emergency controller on the ground. An overweight man dressed in yellow gear stood beside the front fire engine. He was clearly flustered. He hadn’t donned his helmet, leaving it lying on the ground a few feet away. He had a radio in one hand and was gesturing wildly with the other as he barked instructions.

They started moving again, driving around the side of the main building to where the fire was raging. Flames licked at the concrete.

Several firefighters jumped out of the lead engine as they came to a halt upwind from the fire. Jason could see these guys were taking no chances. They were already breathing through the air tanks on their backs.

Out in an open field away from the prevailing wind, another fire engine was setting up decontamination showers. This was a well rehearsed emergency plan moving into operation.

The hazmat truck pulled up on the far side of the fire engines, parking away from the fire, beside the dome over reactor one.

Water sprayed through the air as the firefighters fought to control secondary blazes that had erupted in the low-lying surrounding buildings. Lights flickered as electricity fluctuated. Darkness descended on the plant. The only light came from the raging fires and the fire engines. The sound of diesel generators kicked in and dim, emergency lighting switched on.

Lachlan and Bellum jumped out of the truck and jogged over toward an enclosed walkway leading to the unscathed dome towering over what was supposed to be reactor one. Everyone else followed.

Bellum was carrying a heavy duffle bag over his shoulder. The sound of metal tools clinked as he ran. He dropped the bag unceremoniously on the ground in front of a set of doors and pulled out a shotgun. Two quick, well placed shots rang out, blowing the hinges off the door and causing the steel frame to fall inward with a thud.

Jason felt as though he were caught in the current of a fast moving stream, being dragged along by the sheer weight of water pressing on his body. He couldn’t help but follow. He had to see the UFO. An overwhelming compulsion demanded his obedience. All the fear and reservations he’d had were drowned by the current.

Professor Lachlan was the first one through the door. He had some kind of map in his hand. Bellum grabbed the bag and stepped through after him.

“We’ve got five minutes on the ground and that’s it,” Lachlan yelled. “Grab anything you can: hard drives, print outs, schematics, and then get back here. Vacili, stay with Jason and Lily. Record everything that happens.”

Before he had time to think, Jason found himself jogging down a long hallway behind Bellum and the professor. Emergency lights flickered overhead. Another shotgun blast blew open the door at the far end of the corridor, and in the confined space, the report was deafening. Bellum’s shot had hit the lock and handle, blowing a hole six inches in diameter in the door. He had to be using some kind of solid shot, like a bear slug rather than regular shotgun shells.

Without the main power, the inside of the vast dome looked hauntingly empty. A single spotlight overhead illuminated the UFO. Jason stepped through the door and got his first good look at the craft. He was overcome by the sheer size of the interstellar alien machine.

From where he was standing, the UFO looked roughly circular, like the classic shape of a flying saucer from the 1950s, but it was pitch black rather than silver in color. A series of permanent scaffolds had been erected around the craft, allowing workers to move above and around or below the massive vessel without touching it. It looked as though the UFO was resting on some kind of small base under its center, with the bulk of the disk suspended in the air.

The walkways were extensive and allowed access at distances anywhere from a few feet to a few inches of the dark skin of the interstellar vehicle. The craft was covered in graffiti. At least it looked like graffiti at first glance, but these were the calculations scattered around the vessel. They were drawn at hasty angles. Some of them were incomplete. Most of them were overlapped by some other formula.

Lily gasped.

“There’s no time for sightseeing,” Lachlan yelled. “We’ve got to be in and out in five minutes!”

Lachlan ignored the craft, jogging over to one of the split floors that surrounded the UFO. He had a battery powered screwdriver and began the task of disconnecting the many computers. He tossed hard drives in a backpack and then jogged further along the floor. Jason could see he was skipping stations, trying to strip out at least one computer from each section.

Jason shed his fire helmet and heavy jacket, standing there in a t-shirt, bunker pants, and oversized rubber boots. They were far too heavy to drag around, so he shimmied out of them, leaving them crumpled on the floor.

“You’ll need these when we leave,” Lily said, turning to him.

“You don’t understand,” Jason replied, gesturing to the craft. “Can’t you see it? None of us will leave this place. We won’t make it out of here alive!”

Lily looked at where Jason had pointed. He was staring at several phrases carved into the side of the vehicle.

Why? Why? Why?

Why keep coming?

Only death awaits

Jason bent down and grabbed a small hand ax that had been hanging from the belt of his coveralls.

“What are you doing?” Lily asked.

The ax had a blade on one side, a pick on the other. Jason turned the ax around and rested the pick in the O of Only . The blade fit perfectly. Slowly, he traced the word Only .