James Glass - Sedona Conspiracy

“Leon?”

“Back again. Don’t turn on the light. Something in my meds is making me sensitive to it. Get over here. I heard what happened. Let’s see if you still have all your parts.”

Eric grabbed a chair, pulled it to the bed and sat down. Leon stuck out a hand and grinned at him. Eric grasped the hand softly in his, and held on. “They wouldn’t tell me anything. I really thought you were dead.”

“Nearly was, I guess. They had to pump me full of blood, and the surgeons did the rest. I’m amazing.”

“I didn’t realize they had that kind of capability here.”

“They don’t. I just got here. Weird trip, I was all doped up. One second I’m looking up at bright lights in a hospital and the next second it’s dim lights from the ceiling of a rock cavern. I’m in the base, right?”

“Yes.”

“I wasn’t treated here. It was a huge hospital, everything in soft green, and the most gorgeous nurses I’ve ever seen. Not all of them women, by the way. Brought out the naughty in me once I was feeling better. I know I was shot several times, but they had me walking by the third day. They say I won’t even have scars.”

“Medicine has come a long ways,” said Eric.

“In a hurry. Say, a sergeant Nutt is being treated here, and told me about your little firefight. You okay?”

“Not a scratch. They tried to destroy the base with a nuclear weapon, but we were ready for them. There were no survivors on their side.”

“Yikes. That’s not good for intel.”

“We know who was behind it, Leon. It was John Coulter. I shot him twice, and he was spitting blood when we blew him up.”

“Good riddance. So now it’s over?”

“All over. The final flight test is in two days, and then you and I can go home.”

Let’s keep the money Coulter gave us, and celebrate.”

“We’ll have to ask the bosses about that, Leon.”

“You’re just being difficult again.” Leon smiled, then, “How’s Nataly?”

“We had a fight. She was a plant for the guys who gave us Sparrow. She fed the information to me that I thought came from dreams. The rest was a sham.”

“I don’t believe it. Did she admit to that?”

“No. She insists she loves me, but it’s only part of the lie.”

“Oh how I wish I had your psychic and mind reading abilities,” said Leon. “You’ve never lied to anyone, of course. It’s good to see you alive, Eric, but I still think you can be such a prick.”

Eric laughed. “I love you too, Leon.”

Leon put a hand to his chest. “Oh, I believe my heart just fluttered. Do yourself a favor. Make up with Nataly and marry her. The clandestine world of government secrets will be safer without you.”

“Maybe,” said Eric, and stood up. “I want to see Sergeant Nutt before I get out of here. I’ll come back again to irritate you.”

“I’m out of here in three days,” said Leon, and squeezed Eric’s hand. “Give Nataly a kiss for me.”

Leon frowned at him when Eric smiled in silence.

Alan Nutt’s room was a few doors down the hall, and Eric knocked on the doorjamb before entering. Alan was propped up on two pillows, writing something on his clipboard. His left arm was held rigidly against his body in a sling.

“Hi Sarge, or should I just call you ‘sir’?” Eric walked to the bed, and shook Alan’s good hand.

Alan smiled. “Alan will do. Did you go to room five?”

“Yep. Good news. I assume your people took care of him.”

“My people?”

“You, Brown, the people who gave us Sparrow. I’ve seen a lot of weird things today, Alan. I shot a guy who looked more reptile than human. One of your marines even called him a snake. I saw men appear and disappear. I went through what I thought was a tunnel entrance, and in a blink I was in a building somewhere. I watched you command a military unit which I’m willing to bet money isn’t one of ours, and then Davis tells me you’re one of Brown’s people. How am I doing so far, Alan?”

“Pretty good. I really was a Sergeant once, though we don’t call it that.”

“Who’s we, Alan? I don’t think you guys are from anywhere around here, and by that I mean anywhere on this planet.”

“Took you long enough to figure that out.”

“I’ve had my suspicions for more than a while”

“Actually, what you say isn’t quite accurate. We’ve been around here a long time, and off-and-on for a very long time. Sorry to disappoint you, but we’re not little green men with big eyes. Or was that little gray men?”

“I think it was gray. The mythology also includes shadow people and reptilians, and then there are the beautiful ones with long earlobes. Is that you guys?”

Alan grinned, and pulled at an earlobe. “Don’t think so, Eric.” He chuckled and closed his eyes. “God, this is the most wonderful dope they gave me. I feel like I’m floating. I should be screaming at you about today. The entire skirmish was to protect Sparrow and the test flight crew, and there you were, inserting yourself into the middle of a firefight. Brave, but stupid. Oh yeah, thanks for the help in returning the bomb to its rightful owner. I’ll never forget the expression on Watt’s face the second before you shot him.”

“Who?”

“Dario Watt. Our president’s right hand at one time.”

“I knew him as John Coulter. He was—”

“I’ve heard the whole story. Don’t bother. Hey, I really want to sleep, now. You have the big flight coming up, and Brown will answer all your questions when it’s over. You’ll have a new perspective by then.”

“How’s that?”

Alan was drifting off. He pointed at the ceiling and wiggled a finger. “You’ll see how really big—it is—out there.”

Eric left the sleeping man and also found Leon asleep. With the new flight schedule he had an overnight leave to catch up on mail and phony office business, would be back for a full night and a day at the base before flight. On the way to the tunnel he peeked into the bay and saw Sparrow just coming back into it on a flatcar. A van waited for him at the dock by the elevators, and drove him back home. It was hot on the surface, and not a cloud in the sky. He turned the air conditioner on and worked on the computer for two hours, catching up on lies. He thawed out some fish and fried it for dinner because the potpies had been used up. With evening came television and boredom, and sudden loneliness that was like a punch in the stomach. At that instant he finally noticed there was a message on his answering machine. He punched the play button.

“Eric, it’s Nataly. I just heard what happened today. They tell me you’re okay, but I need to hear it from you. Give me a call. I promise I won’t pick up. You won’t have to talk to me. Just tell me you’re alive. I love you.”

Something seemed to break inside him. His eyes teared up, and he stared at the answering machine for a long time. Twice his hand moved towards the telephone and twice he pulled it back. Finally, he erased the message and went to bed early.

The oblivion of sleep should have drowned his misery, but instead his dreams that night were full of a woman he still loved.

Everything was routine and uneventful until Eric threw that final switch.

The flight had begun on time; it was oh-two-hundred at liftoff. Eric and Dillon had easily memorized the routine and gone through it several times on the ground. There was really very little for them to do. They would take Sparrow to maximum thrust at the top of Earth’s atmosphere, as they had done before. At that point the real flight would begin, all of it pre-programmed but initiated in steps they would participate in through interaction with their holoscreen. Only one travel program had been loaded into Sparrow, and it was called ‘Ariel’.