Lillian Francken - We Come in Peace

“Are we going in the right direction?” Colonel Crimshaw snapped angrily.

“If you’d stop, I could check the coordinates and know for sure,” the Cammo dude replied.

Finally, with frustration, the Cammo dude just crinkled up the map and tossed it out of the window. It was useless to try to read it given the present circumstances, and if the Colonel wanted to stop and pick up the map, he would make an honest attempt to try to find the landing site.

The Colonel turned to the Cammo dude. “That was childish of you.”

“I can’t read the map with the windows down, so what was the use.”

“Now what?” the Colonel snapped.

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

The Colonel looked over at the Cammo dude and glared. If this were a regular army he would have had the man court-martialed and shot, but this was EG&G Security, and none of the men were seasoned soldiers. He turned back to the road and saw a convertible coming toward them.

Bobby breathed deeply when he saw the convoy coming his way. He had seen the Cammo dudes before when he got too close to the Area 51 Facility but never this many in one spot. He quickly pulled over to the side of the road.

“This doesn’t look good.” Bobby turned to Z-42, who was lying on the seat next to him.

Bobby glanced in the back seat and then grabbed a blanket off the floor to cover Zolar and Jupel, who were still in their space suits. Z-42 barked at Bobby. Bobby, in turn, pointed a finger at the animal.

“Chill out.”

Bobby took something out of his pocket and fed it to Z-42. The dog looked at Bobby, his ears flopped back, and then Z-42 curled up in a little ball and shut his eyes. Bobby looked up at the caravan that was coming down the highway. He waved his hand as the Colonel’s Jeep came closer to him. Bobby quickly glanced into the backseat. The blanket covering the two aliens apparently in place, he knew what he was doing could get him in trouble. He turned to the Jeep in front of him.

Colonel Crimshaw stopped the Jeep, glancing at Bobby with curiosity. Bobby got out of the car and hurried over to the white Jeep Cherokee. He looked back at his convertible for a moment, but that was all he saw. There was no movement in the backseat or from Z-42.

Bobby walked up to Colonel Crimshaw. “Cool color!” Bobby said, looking at the long line of Jeeps in front of him.

“What do you want? We’re in a hurry,” Colonel Crimshaw snapped as he turned to the Cammo dude next to him.

Bobby looked up at the sky. “I saw something a while back.”

The Colonel was immediately interested as he leaned closer to Bobby. “Did you see if it landed?” he asked quickly.

Bobby pointed in the opposite direction of where he just came. “Near old Miller’s mine,” Bobby relayed.

The Cammo dude next to the Colonel was about to say something, but the Colonel quickly motioned him to be quiet. The Colonel then turned back to Bobby.

“Are you sure?”

“I was sitting in the desert. It came out of the sky like a rocket. I saw it swerve up, but then it came back down.”

“The radar confirmed it veered off before landing,” the Cammo dude added.

Bobby glanced over at the man. “Cool uniform.”

Before Bobby could say more, Colonel Crimshaw put the Jeep quickly into gear, made a U-turn, and then pulled away, followed by the convoy. Bobby stood in their dusty wake. He turned and walked back to the convertible.

Bobby drove through an old gate and down a long dusty drive that led up to a large ranch that in its heyday put the Ewing ranch from Dallas to shame. It had been rumored that his grandfather, Elmer Judd, won big at the tables years earlier, but no one in the family talked about Elmer’s gambling habits. It was a subject that was taboo, given Elmer never gambled after that. Some say he cheated at the tables and if he ever showed up again at any of the big casinos on the Strip, it would be the last time anyone would ever see him. No matter what, his gambling days were over.

Bobby parked his convertible by the front entrance. Once Bobby turned off the engine Mario Lanza, America’s tenor who was famous for his singing back in the forties and fifties could be heard singing “Santa Lucia” loudly in the background.

Bobby glanced up, shaking his head. “Oh, Grandpa, can’t you find something else to listen too?”

Slowly Zolar and Jupel finally woke from their stupor. Jupel, who had been lying across Zolar’s lap, sat up nervously when realizing he had been in personal contact with Zolar. He stared at Bobby in the front seat as Bobby was still looking up into the sky. Jupel looked up to see what he was looking at but saw nothing. Z-42 howled from the loud Mario Lanza music.

“What have you done?” Jupel commanded.

Bobby turned to Z-42 quickly. “Spot will be all right,” Bobby laughed while turning. “It’s the music.”

“Spot?” Jupel said with a puzzled look on his face. “I like that.” He turned to Bobby. “Are you taking us to your leader?”

“You mean Gramps?” Bobby said, laughing aloud.

“He is your leader?” Zolar snapped, taking command of the situation from Jupel.

Bobby was still in a daze from the drugs and just stared at the two aliens. “Yeah, you could call him that.”

Bobby got out of the car with Spot at his side. He turned back to the two in the backseat and motioned for them to follow him as he leaned the car seat forward to let them out.

Jupel turned to Zolar, who just shrugged, not sure what to do. Zolar slowly got up and stepped out of the car carefully. Jupel followed reluctantly, all the while watching Bobby closely for fear he would do something to harm them.

Bobby just turned and walked up the path to the house, with the two aliens following close behind him.

Once all three were in the house, they stood at the entrance, with the aliens looking around at the décor. To the right was the living room where Elmer Judd, an old rancher past his prime, who was sitting at the computer. Elmer was busy surfing the Internet. Mario Lanza belting out his rendition of “Danny Boy” was being piped through the audio system that went throughout the house. Elmer was researching pharmaceutical companies and clicked on the enter key on the computer to send Viagra to his shopping cart. Elmer quickly clicked on the quick shopping button and, within a second, his order was on the way. Elmer hurriedly turned the computer off, looked up at Bobby, and smiled sheepishly while hoping no one was paying attention to what he had just done.

“You’re home early.”

“Hi, Gramps.”

Jupel turned to Bobby. “Your leader is called Gramps?”

Bobby just shook his head and looked at Zolar. “Follow me.”

“Shouldn’t we talk to your leader first?” she asked, knowing the chain of command.

“Gramps doesn’t have anything to say to you unless you want to discuss his Mario Lanza collection.”

Jupel turned to Zolar. “Mario Lanza, is he the leader?”

Bobby ignored the request, shaking his head. He just turned and motioned for them to follow him. He hurried up the stairs. Jupel looked at Zolar and shrugged his shoulders. They followed Bobby up the stairs slowly. Jupel stopped a moment and then turned back to Elmer before he was out of view. Jupel gave him a quick salute not wanting to show disrespect.

Elmer on the other hand looked a little puzzled and then returned the salute.

Jupel quickly followed the other two up the stairs and down the long hallway. As they got closer to the door, Bobby was standing in front of, Zolar and Jupel stopped and looked at the family pictures gracing the walls. Some were from years back. A few were recent pictures of a woman holding a baby.