Chapter XIX
© Copyright 1995,2001 David R. Mohr
“What are you thinking, sheriff?” asks Tom, another officer, who works the night shift.
Marshall just couldn’t get any sleep and decided to come back to the lot. He is sitting in his car with his hands on the wheel, staring straight ahead at the well lit parking place.
“I don’t know what to think. I don’t really know what’s
going on.” Taking a deep breath, he says: “I guess that’s why I can’t get
any sleep. It really bugs me that I have no idea what happened to
those people.” He turns toward Tom. “I have no idea, and that
scares me. I don’t know if it’s over or not.”
The security patrol meets up in David’s office.
“Well?” asks David hopefully.
The guard tells David how he ended up at a point where a voice was telling him to jump or turn back. He told how he shined his light down the hole and found nothing.
“Well then.” David pauses. “It’s been handled.” He pauses again. “Truly a sad loss, but we can call this matter closed. Thank you gentlemen. Thank you for all your help.”
“Can we call off the security alert?”
“Yes you may. The matter has been taken care of. If you happen to see Arthur, tell him laser city said hello.”
“Laser city, said hello?”
“Yes, that’s right. He’ll understand. Now if you gentlemen will excuse me, I have a lot of work to do.” David says while inviting the men to leave his office.
The security patrol leave David alone in his office. David just sits behind his desk, with his fingers crossed and his thumbs under his chin, thinking.
As Arthur finally crawls out of the duct work, one of the security guards informes him that laser city said hello.
“Well.” he replies with a well pleased, satisfied smile.
He then walks away with a cocky air about him, while brushing himself off.
“Do ya think it’s aliens, sheriff?” Tom is twenty one, and a firm believer in U.F.O.’s. “You know lot’s of people claim to have been sucked up into flyin’ saucers and taken to other planets. Whada you think?”
“I don’t believe in flying saucers, Tommy. At least not yet.”
Both men are stunned as a high pitch squeal emits from the parking lot light just in front of the trouble spot. As they turn to see what is going on, a flash of light stabs the ground from the fixture. It is a solid wall of light, brighter then all the flood lights provided by the generators surrounding the parking place. The light is so bright and intense, it looks like a solid wall is funneling down from the fixture atop the light pole. It lasts for a full four seconds. As quickly as it came on it goes off. While shielding their eyes, they see what looks like the figure of a man drop out of nowhere onto the ground. It is a man, and he is holding a screaming baby. The man quickly backs up and looks up, while trying to calm the child.
“Come on, Virginia, come on.” he is saying aloud. “I know you got my message. Come on.” The man falls to his knees but continues looking up. A tear begins to roll down his face.
Marshall reaches for the handle to his car door. As soon as his hand touches it, the high pitch squeal pierces his ears again. He darts his head in the direction of the light pole. The man on the ground begins to smile hopefully. The blinding light blazes out of the fixture, causing the man to shield his eyes and the babies face. The light goes out. Marshall and Tom watch as a woman drops out of nowhere and lands on the grass. Tom’s mouth is still in his lap.
“Virginia!” an excited Jeff jumps to his feet and falls on top of his wife. “I knew you got my signal, I just knew it. Micah, look. It’s mommy!”
Jeff hands Micah to Virginia and the three of them begin laughing with ecstasy, clinging to each other.
“I’m sheriff Marshall Winston. I was wondering if I could have a word or two with the both of you?”
With that, their celebration is halted.
Arthur walks into David’s office, wiping his hands. He throws a wadded up paper towel across the room into an ashtray, as if he is some great basketball hero. He catches the tail end of the conversation David is having on the phone.
“That’s right, you won’t need to come and dispose of our specimens...Yes, it is a real tragedy. Jeff was a good man...Okay then. I’ll keep you up to date. Bye now.” David puts the phone down slowly with a look of depression in his eyes. He looks as if he just lost a close friend. He liked Jeff. He never intended, nor wanted, anything like this to happen. Looking up at the nearly gleeful Arthur he grumbles:, “Wipe that silly grin off your face.”
“Why? Jeff is off the project. Now we can go on with mine.”
“Jeff was a good man. This should never have happened. I just hope who ever finds his remains, treats them with the respect they deserve. Do we know who the other two were that were with him?”
“Naa, just some chick and her kid.”
“A little more respect here, please.”
“Oh yeah, respect. Like the respect we’ve been giving to all of our ‘volunteers.’ Give me a break. They were just a couple of nobodies like all the rest of ’em back there.”
“We will have to call Jeff’s wife. I don’t know if we have Jeff’s mother’s phone number on file. I’ll have to check in the morning.”
“Emmmmm.” Arthur says with a look of sly mischief on his face. “I hear she’s one cute chick-a-boo. She’s gonna be real lonely and in need of someone to comfort her.”
David just looks up in disgust. “Poor girl. First her mother-in-law, then her husband and now your nonsense. Where did the Ion Pulse Transmitter send them?”
“The same town we’ve been picking them up from. I think in Tennessee some where.”
“Well young man. It looks like you’ll have to take over Jeff’s work as well as your own. I was just speaking with your father and he already has several countries interested in buying into the product Jeff was working on.”
“But...”
“It looks like we may make a killing with his product. I sure hope, for your sake, you were paying attention to what he was doing.”
Arthur is left standing dumb-founded.
“Where are we?” asks Jeff.
“You’re in Collinwood Tennessee.” Marshall hands Jeff a cup of coffee.
“This is where I was just before ending up back at your lab.” Virginia says while taking a drink. “As a matter of fact, that’s our car, still parked there.”
Almost spilling his coffee, Marshall drops his arm bringing the cup away from his mouth.
“That’s YOUR car over there?” he says confused.
“Yes. Actually, I need to see if Micah’s diaper bag is still in there. He needs a change.”
“That car right there.” Marshall says, pointing to the car. “The Toyota parked inside all that bright orange tape?”
“Yes.”
“Mr. Winston. That is our car.” assures Jeff. “Are you okay?”
“Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I’m doing much better.”
“Jeff, do you have your keys? I can’t find mine.”
“Yeah, here.”
“Thanks.” Virginia walks over to the car.
After seeing her unlock the door and get her diaper bag, Marshall relaxes a little, and breaks a hopeful smile.
“Tommy, get Caleb over here pronto!” Marshall yells over to Tommy. “Would you mind if I get someone who saw the last occupant of that vehicle over here to verify your story?”
“No, not at all.” Virginia says, as she starts to change Micah.
“What’s going on Mr. Winston?” asks Jeff.
“Please, call me Marshall.”
Marshall goes on to explain everything that has been happening here the last few days. He explains how they had 20 people missing, Jeff’s wife and baby made it 22 and adding the dog, brings the total to 23. He explained how the dog was sucked in through the radio and how Caleb, one of his officers, saw the same thing happen to Jeff’s wife and kid, and how the manager of the store saw his own wife, kid and cousin get sucked into the radio. He then told Jeff how it only happened when the car’s radio was tuned into one particular radio station, 103.3.
“We didn’t know what was happening to them. Of course, we were thinking the worse. If you are who you say you are, I’m going to start feeling a whole lot better, knowing that the other 20 people might still be alive too.”
“So he did get it to work?” muses Jeff.
“Get what to work?” asks Marshall inquisitively.
“Let me explain. I work in a scientific laboratory which focuses on the applying of already learned research and directing that knowledge into new products. My current project was that of applying knowledge of Nitrogen and breathing air under pressure, you know, like SCUBA diving, to invent a device which could prevent the benz, without decompressing. David Calvitch, the big cheese over there, had long been working on a way to use air ionization to transmit radio signals. According to his theory, he should also be able to use ions to transmit solid materials, via radio signals. The way his system was designed to work, he would fill a chamber with a charge of radiation. This would in effect take a snapshot of the solid matter within the chamber by counting atoms and calculating their placement. Once completed, the chamber would be flooded with negative ion particles. The matter, now positively charged because of the radiation blast, would bond with the negative ions, causing the solid to become millions of separate particles. These particles could then be beamed through an antenna and received at another location, anywhere. Sort of like bouncing a laser light off a mirror or a satellite dish. The receiving station does it all again but this time to bring the matter back. The receiving station floods a chamber with negative ions as well. When the matter was transmitted back, the negative ions would attract the positive ions from the matter, causing them to break free and then bond with the negative ions causing a neutrally charged atom again. The image of the matter would remain as particles until another blast of radiation caused the particles to bond back together. This was his theory. Whether this is how he’s doing it or not, I don’t know, but it looks like he ‘is’ doing it.”
“That would explain the fresh air smell accompanied with each instance. All those Ion’s charging the air would act just like an ion air freshener.”
“Exactly.”
“But a car radio is a receiver, not a transmitter.”
“He must have discovered a way to reverse the polarity of the receiver so it would act as a transmitter, instead. Sort of like, getting it to go into reverse.”
“So why only one station?”
“This way he wouldn’t have to run an algorithm to determine which station the car’s tuner was set to, but that’s only a guess.”
“Yes, but following that, how did you get here? There is no chamber to contain the ions here. That’s just a light pole standing in the middle of an empty parking lot.”
“They must have learned how to intensify the ion content to where it doesn’t need to be kept in a chamber.”
“Okay, but why here? Why didn’t you come out in some house or office or something?”
“That I don’t know. I expected to come out at the base of a mountain.”
“You didn’t know we were going to come back here?” asks a surprised Virginia who is holding their now sleeping baby.
“No. I had no idea.”
“You said you remembered everything?”
“True, but this is new. I didn’t even know he had this whole thing working. I was involved with the installation of the duct work we were in. I knew about the chamber with the lasers under the last visible ladder rung. When we put that system in, it was meant to be used for an emergency escape route in case we were held by terrorists or guerrillas or spies. That last part, with the lasers was a safeguard, in case they followed us in. There is a black panel about five feet above the lasers. To disengage the lasers, we all have been informed to press our security badges to the plate, then look directly into it. This would make sure we were the good guys, not the bad guys, then it would inactivate the cutting lasers and just send out beams of light. Once the light was broken, by a body passing through, it reset the cutting lasers. As soon as a person completely went through, the beams of light would reach a reflector setting off the switch which again activated the cutting laser. If anyone tried to jump, thinking they would be able to get through the lasers, they would set off another set of lasers which would instantly cut them in two.”
A look of shock overtakes Virginia.
“The bottom lasers would then burn most of the rest of their body.”
“I’m sure glad I didn’t jump.” says Virginia.
“You almost did?” asks Jeff, surprised.
Virginia just nods her head.
“I’m sure glad you didn’t either.”
“It was that voice that kept saying jump or turn back. It made me believe that the only way out was to jump and that would get me out safely.”
“Then it works. It was put in like that, purposefully, to throw off any terrorists or intruders. Once under the lasers, it was only supposed to be another ten foot climb down to a floor leading to a door which was cut in the side of the mountain. I went down the ten feet and was just about to step down off the ladder when doors above and below me closed, a bright light flashed and I landed here.”
“Okay, but what was with the tapping and slapping the rung and lifting your fingers?” asks Virginia.
“I didn’t trust the system from the day we put it in, so, I put what is called a ‘back door’ into the security system. The system would detect two slaps to the ladder rung, then three taps to the area just to the left of the last laser beam and the wall. This would then shut down the cutting lasers and fire only the beams of light. The only reason I lifted my fingers was to show you how many times to tap your foot.”
“Oh,” she laughs, “’cause I lifted my fingers with each tap, just like you did. I didn’t want to take any chances, so I did exactly what you did.”
The three of them begin to chuckle.
“What about everyone else, are they all right?” asks Marshall in a concerned tone of voice.
“The last we heard, they plan on disposing of them. We have got to get back there.”
“What are you doing with those people and why all of a sudden do you want to help them?” asks Marshall, distastefully.
“Mr. Winston, sir. I promise you I had no idea this was going on. I was told they were all volunteers and that all the appropriate paper work was in place. I did not know they were being abducted.”
“It’s true, Mr. Winston. Jeff almost left me in one of the cells. I was trying to get his attention and when I finally did, he wanted to know what I was doing there. He said if I wanted to be in one of his experiments I should have just asked him.”
“Honest, sheriff. I still don’t know what they’re doing with those other people.”
“I do.” Virginia says sadly.
She explains how the mother with the two little girls told her everything that has been going on. How they are trying to develop a pain numbing drug which will allow the user to feel no pain, yet still be able to keep all their mental and physical facilities.
“The lady overheard something about the drug having guerrilla, war, terrorist and sports applications. Being able to keep fighting, no matter what kind of pain the body was in. She also overheard them saying something like ‘Wait until we start cutting off body parts’ or something like that. They plan to test the drug very thoroughly.”
“So no matter what, those people are going to be...” Jeff stops.
“Dead. I believe that’s the word you’re looking for.” says Marshall. “This all sounds very fascinating, and very made up. Except for the part of you dropping out of a street light, I’m finding the whole thing extremely hard to swallow.”
“Marshall, you wanted to see me.” Caleb calls out as he approaches them.
“Yeah, over here.”
“Heya Marshall, it’s kinda...THAT’S HER!” he shouts. “That’s the girl I saw get sucked into her radio.” He continues shouting pointing to Virginia walking around her. Stunned, he continues looking up and down at her. He never thought he would see her again, at least not alive. “And that’s the kid I saw. How did you get here? How did you get into the radio? How...”
“Okay, calm down Caleb and we’ll fill you in later.”
“It’s U.F.O.’s I tell ya.” says Tommy. “And these three are probably aliens.” he says pulling his gun, shakily.
“For crying out loud, put that thing away before you hurt yourself. If they are aliens, and can beam in and out through radios and street lights, don’t you think they would have something to make our guns ineffective?” Marshall turns back to address Jeff. “Sorry about that. Tommy here’s been reading way too many U.F.O. magazines.”
“It’s okay, no harm done.”
“Okay Jeff. You’ve got my attention and now, like it or not, I have to believe your story. It’s the only lead I’ve got, and the only sort of logical explanation for what’s been going on. Our next step is obviously to get those other people to safety. I’ll radio for some help and we can head on over there. I can have a search warrant drawn up in no time. Where is your lab, over in Florence, Alabama? We could be there in a couple of hours and call for some local help to meet us there. I’m sure the local police will be there in no time.”
“Florence, Alabama? No. Bridgeport, Washington. Washington state. What made you think it was in Alabama?” asks Jeff.
Marshall went on to explain about the radio station and the amplifier they saw there. Marshall couldn’t believe it was all the way across the country in Washington state.
“It is going to be hard enough to get anyone else to believe
this story as it is, but now to tell them a local radio station is beaming
people clear across the country...” Marshall shakes his head.
“Okay, Jeff. We need a plan. You’re the only one who knows
that place, at least better than anyone of us could hope to. We’ve
got to go back and get those people out.” Turning to Tommy, he says:
“Hey Tom. Get Jason, Pops and Rich out here for me, will ya?”
Looking up at Caleb, he offers him a seat. “As soon as everybody
gets here, Jeff and I will fill all of you in on what’s been happening,
and what we’re going to do. The ‘what we’re going to do’ part still
has to be figured out, but I want to wait until every one is here.”
Looking through binoculars, two men watch as Sargent Marcus Montgomery puts down the receiver of his phone.
“Got it.” says one of them, pushing the stop button on a tape recorder.
“Yes, but did we get the trace?” asks the second.
They both turn to a third man sitting next to some equipment, holding one side of his headphones to one ear. He puts down the headphones and slumps over in disappointment. He turns to the other gentlemen and just shakes his head back and forth.
“Shoot!”
“Did we at least get any closer?”
“Nope. They keep changing their pattern with each phone call. They’ve got their signal bouncing off so many satellites, and being transferred from so many phones, we can’t get close. They don’t want to get caught, so they are keeping their conversations fairly short.”
“They’ll slip up sooner or later.”
“Yeah, I mean, come on. They were talking a lot longer this time then they ever have. You tellin’ us we didn’t get any closer?”
“Oh no. We have narrowed it down. This call did that for us. We have now eliminated the rest of the world and figure they are calling from somewhere in the United States.” he says in a ‘matter of fact’ way.
“Let’s just bust him for conspiring to sell unauthorized technology to a foreign country. Being that country is Iraq, we should have no problem.”
“But then we only get him. That won’t prevent the sale from taking place, nor will it put the manufactures out of business. We’ve got to get all of them, or we may as well just pack it in now.”
“He’s right.”
“I know. I’m just getting anxious. I don’t want anything to get out of our country that could bite us on the back of the neck later on.”
“Relax, man. We’ll get ‘em.”