CHAPTER 18
The Black Hawk looked like a huge black bug sitting on the pad, Emily thought as they walked over to it, the early morning sun already beating against her exposed skin. Today was going to be a scorcher.
While the rest of them gathered in a small cluster near the front of the helo, MacAlister walked around the outside, occasionally bending to check some protrusion or pull on some part of the fuselage. When he was satisfied, he made his way to the pilot’s side of the cockpit and pulled the door open, then climbed in.
Emily could see him systematically checking gauges, flipping switches, and pushing on levers on the Black Hawk’s console. Several minutes passed before he turned his attention back to the group waiting patiently outside. The gesture he made through the cockpit window was clear: Move back.
As one the group automatically backed away until they judged they were at a safe distance, well away from the rotors. MacAlister flipped a few more switches and Emily was pretty sure she saw him suck in a deep breath.
A high-pitched whine grew steadily in volume and pitch as the twin engines kicked into life. A few seconds later both the main and tail rotors began to spin, slowly at first, then faster and faster as MacAlister fed power to them, until they quickly became just a ghostly blur. A wave of hot air and dust rushed over the crowd of onlookers, kicked up by the downdraft, and Emily covered her eyes to avoid getting peppered with dirt. When she looked again, the helicopter was twenty feet off the ground and climbing. It banked to the left as its nose dipped slightly and the helo looped out over the water. It roared out across the bay, gaining height as it went, then banked left again and flew directly over Point Loma, before circling around and heading back toward Emily and the others. MacAlister circled the helo overhead one final time, then set the Black Hawk down almost exactly where it had taken off.
From the pilot’s seat MacAlister turned to face Emily and the others, gave them a thumbs-up accompanied by his trademark grin.
The rotors of the Black Hawk gradually became motionless and the world grew silent again, but not before a huge cheer from the gathered onlookers ripped over the island like a thunderclap on a clear day.
MacAlister’s flyby had apparently got the Point Loma survivors’ attention. He had to run a gauntlet of backslaps from the rest of the crew who had assembled on the beach to welcome him back.
“Alright, alright,” he called out, raising one hand in mock acceptance of the praise being heaped on him. “Don’t you lot have somewhere else you should be?”
Emily found his embarrassment terribly amusing. She stifled a laugh as she followed him up the beach path, the cavalcade of congratulations being heaped on the SBS soldier showing no sign of subsiding.
“Jesus,” Mac said eventually, “all I did was fly a bloody helicopter. It’s not like I walked my way back here over the bloody water.”
As the hoopla began to die down, Emily added a couple more whoops of her own for good measure, only to trigger another round of backslaps and cheers.
“Oh, thank you very much,” Mac said, but turning to give her a fuck-you-very-much look that brought tears of laughter to her eyes.
“You… Are… Welcome…” she stuttered between guffaws.
Before the boat ride back to Point Loma, MacAlister had spoken with Parsons and his team. “Good work. She runs like a dream,” he told them. “Fuel her up, give her another once-over and get her ready to fly again. I want to be out of here again this time tomorrow morning. That doable?”
Parsons had nodded and motioned his helpers to get to work. “You heard Sergeant MacAlister. Do you need me to hold your hands? Get to work.”
As MacAlister and Emily walked back to the camp she pulled him aside.
“Mac, listen, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. I want to come with you when you go to Las Vegas.”
“No way,” he said without hesitation. “This is just an observation mission. We’re getting in and getting back out again. And, no offense, Emily, but I can’t risk having you along.”
She tried not to take offense, to keep her tone level, but it was hard not to feel a little hurt. “Listen, I’m the only one that has any real experience with the aliens. You think those bugs were bad? Wait until you meet up with one of the things that got to Rhiannon’s dad and brother. Besides, you said yourself, it’s just an observation mission. I’ve got camera experience, I can help.”
“I’m sorry Emily, really I am, but I can’t.” MacAlister began to walk off.
Emily reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him to face her. “Mac. Don’t you get it? I have to go, I have to see these things for myself. I’m the only living survivor of the red rain; I have to know why.”
MacAlister stared back, not breaking eye contact. “It’s not up to me, Emily. The skipper is the one with the final say.” He paused. “I’ll see what I can do,” he said finally, his voice softening. He squeezed her hand and walked away.
Emily watched the rest of the crew file past her back to the base. MacAlister’s impromptu flyby had obviously lifted their spirits, judging by the smiles on their faces and the lighthearted banter she caught snippets of. But she was not sure any of them really appreciated the depth of their predicament. She was convinced that what she had seen on her sojourn across the country was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, a prelude of the world that now lay out there.
And there was no way in hell she was going to miss out on discovering it.
CHAPTER 19
Jacob intercepted Emily as she walked through the compound back toward Building One. The squeak of his wheelchair’s tires on the concrete gave away his approach before she even saw him. She kept on walking, hoping it wasn’t her he was looking for.
“Emily. Got a second?”
She gave a deep sigh, put on the best smile she could muster, and turned to greet him.
With the pathways between buildings cleared he now had more or less full access to all ground-level areas. In all fairness, the freedom seemed to have done him a world of good, his mood and attitude seemed to have returned, his usual sullenness replaced by an almost permanent smile. He was even starting to get a bit of a farmer’s tan, thanks to the California climate.
Still, she really wasn’t in the mood to talk to him right now.
But the Jacob she faced when she turned around looked as unhappy as he always had. A frown creased his forehead, pulling the skin around his eyes up until he looked like he was squinting at her.
“You saw the helicopter?” she said by way of introduction.
“Hard not to, it damn near broke every window in the compound when he flew overhead.”
Emily shrugged. “Boys and their toys.”
“So they are still intent on going ahead with their plan?”
“They seem to think it’s a good idea. I have to agree. We need to know what we’re dealing with, don’t we?”
Jacob shook his head no. “Just think about it for a moment, will you? We are talking about an intelligence that can manipulate matter, turn it to its own needs. And whether that’s a ship that landed or not, have you given any thought to what it means if it is?”
Emily’s expression conveyed her answer. Now it was Jacob’s turn to let out a long sigh of exasperation when he saw she had no idea what he was talking about.
“Not only can they manipulate matter, they can also send objects over inconceivable amounts of space. I can guarantee whatever that thing was the other night, there’s no way it came from anywhere near our neck of the universe. And yet, if Commander Mulligan’s observations were accurate, they appeared out of nowhere, materialized just a few miles outside of Earth’s orbit. Do you have any idea how incredible that is? The kind of technology and math and intelligence it would take to send something as massive as just one of those things potentially over millions of light-years and have it pop out right next to a planet? Hell, don’t even get me started on how they managed to gather the energy to send it.”