Nathan Hystad: The Event

“Time to save the world.”

We moved out of the room and laid the contents onto a desk. They appeared to be identical in every way. Ray started to read the letter aloud.

“You have been carefully selected to save the world’s population. We can’t say who we are or explain much, but do believe me when I say we are on your side. For centuries, your planet has been the target of invasion. We tried to postpone it for as long as possible, but it was inevitable. To ensure survival, we created and left you a device. It is a counter to their tractor beams, which at this point have taken every human into space. They mean to have your planet for themselves, but it will take a generation or so for them to adapt the atmosphere to their own liking. You must go to this hidden device we planted three hundred years ago and disarm it. Doing so will bring your people back and notify us of your actions. At that point, we will come and escort the invaders from your solar system. We have a pact, but once they break the agreement, we will use force to remove them. A map of the device’s location is in this letter. You must hasten there and save your people. Be wary of the ships that are undoubtedly searching for you. You must avoid them at all costs.”

He stopped reading, and we stood there with our mouths wide open for a moment. I grabbed the letter and flipped to the next page. It was a map of Peru, and the next page was a zoomed-in map of Machu Picchu. It was incredible to think that we were left letters from a second alien race. Could any of this really be happening?

Ray broke the silence. “I’ve never been on a vacation with a man before. What do you say, Dean? Ever thought of traveling to Peru?”

“What choice do we have? But did that letter give you the sensation you were reading an email from a Nigerian prince, needing you to send them a thousand dollars so they can send you a million?” The better question was, how was I selected to save the world, and who had already been here to open box number 109?

It was dusk outside when we hit the streets again, and we made our way back to the truck in silence. Dusk. One day since the ships took everybody into the sky with them. The pressure of the task at hand came tumbling down on me, and I almost stumbled off my feet. Just a few yards away from the truck, I sat down on the curb as the street spun in front of my unsteady eyes. Carey sat beside me and licked my face; he brought me back to reality.

“Dean, we can do this. All we need to do is get to Peru and turn this damn machine off. Voila.”

It sounded easy and impossible at the same time, somehow, and I couldn’t shake the question of how it all worked. How would turning a device off return them all? In the end, I supposed I wasn’t the resident expert on alien technology, so I shrugged off my doubts for the time being.

“Atta boy. We’re going to have to stop and hit an electronics store. I may need my computer, and I’m going to need backup laptop batteries – lots of them. And a phone charger. Good thing is about these phones – the GPS still works even with no active network running,” Ray said.

With a new resolve, I let Carey into the back cab and got into the truck. Ray smiled at me as we started down the street. I knew there would be less traffic density if I headed west a way, and then down towards the south side of Manhattan where I would hit an electronics store I knew of.

“Ray, it’s getting late and we’re going to have a long day tomorrow. Not only that, but we’re going to have to hike across to Jersey. I realize that I may have wasted all my time carrying all of this junk with me when I’ll just have to dump it now. We should hit the hay for the night. How does the penthouse at Trump Tower sound?” I laughed.

“Well, my dogs are barking. Pardon the pun, Carey. That sounds good to me.”

An hour later, it was fully dark, and I left my lights off in case a ship was looking for us as we pulled up to the hotel. We had picked everything up from the store that Ray was hoping to grab, so all we had to do was go in and find a bed to lie on. The hotel loomed over us in the dark, and I took Carey for a bathroom break before heading into the luxury building. I was pretty sure it was a few thousand a night for a penthouse, but unless the elevators were working, that was going to be an awfully long walk. We opted for the third-floor units, and to be respectful, we found a couple of suites that were empty. We went our separate ways, each with a flashlight to light our way. The hotel had a backup power source, and we used what looked to be universal keycards to get in. Ray said Kate had worked in the “biz” and they all had them.

I had a shower and was happy to know that the water heaters had enough warm water in them still to make it manageable. Then it was a king-sized bed to share with my new little friend. In moments, Carey was snoring at my feet. The crazy events since yesterday raced through my mind, and my thoughts kept roaming back to how my wife had fit into all of this. It just didn’t add up to me. I wondered if I would ever know the truth of it. It felt like hours passed as I tossed and turned before my cell phone alarm went off. I must have dozed off for some time because I actually felt well rested, but Carey groaned and rolled over as I got out of bed.

I found Ray dressed and ready to go when I knocked on his door, and we were off just before the clock struck six am.

“I was thinking of it, Dean. Let’s hit the pier and take a boat down and across. There’s no other way to get into Jersey, and I really don’t think we want to leave anything or walk,” Ray said as we hiked down the flashlight-lit stairwell.

I felt stupid for not having thought of that. We were surrounded by water; why not use a boat when there were so many just sitting around unused? I felt a little bad about once again using someone’s property but figured saving the world’s population was more important than a missing boat.

“Perfect. Glad to have you around.”

On the way down to the pier, Ray was messing around with the scanner on the CB radio, and as we neared the water, the constant hiss cleared for a second and we heard a distant woman’s voice coming through. “…Philadelp… leave… ington…” That was all we made out, and soon the hiss was back. Ray fumbled to keep it on that channel.

“Holy crap. If I was going to speculate what that message meant, someone is in Philly and is heading to Washington. Let’s get moving and see if we can catch up to… whoever that was.” My voice cracked in excitement to think there were more people out there to help us, as if the pressure on me wasn’t as immense with more people to share the burden with.

We got there and I hopped the fence while Ray stayed with Carey, who barked at me through the gate. I broke into the security cabin and found the keys, along with a few sets of boat keys. One of them would have to do. Soon we were loading our gear onto a twenty-foot motor boat, and in moments, we were heading south.

“I think we should head all the way down and around Jersey. If we hit the mainland down there, we can find a vehicle and be home free from any more bridges or tunnels,” Ray called out over the wind.

“Sounds good to me!” I yelled back. Carey stood on the back seat and watched cautiously as water splashed up and around us in the otherwise quiet area. We hadn’t seen any ships since yesterday afternoon and hoped they were searching far away, or better yet, just gone.

It took us a stressful hour or so to find land, me constantly worrying about the ships finding us, but we made it unscathed. We trolled along looking for a pier or somewhere to park this thing, and in another twenty minutes, we found a makeshift dock we could use. I roped it off after Ray parked it, and he went off in search of a truck as I started to haul stuff to the road. He pulled up in a smaller truck, but it still had enough room for Carey in the back seat.