February 2012: Trinidad
"I am not going to feel guilty about this" Sam declared, "this is my life!"
He knew he sounded foolish, but did not care. People did not realize what they were asking for, when you got right down to it. He was engaged on a lifelong pursuit of living consciously, so no more sleeping waling through his life for him.
He looked around him at the day, and felt no regrets, even though his proclamation was only barely in his mind. Yet, the sun was high, the wind was fresh and clear for a change. Damnit, he was happy, even with the absurdity in the world. What could he possibly do about the rest of the Earth population, anyway? Pray?
It was not he who had attacked and destroyed countless cities around the planet. No, not he, who had the murder of millions of people on his conscience; he was content, and he was not entertaining any shame today for that peace of mind. No meaningless penance would he plead for the unstoppable engines of war. They were there, and he was here.
Perhaps he should pray, for the war was not going to stop any day soon, and this time the enemy was one that no one had any idea of before this time; except for people like Sam. And, like his wonderful fianc�e. Except, he had not asked her yet, and knew he would do so tonight, at dinner. He patted the ring in his top jacket pocket, knowing all was in readiness.
Yes, he was in the perfect place.
So�he prayed.
On this splendid day, charged with a long absent personal happiness, Sam was elated as he enjoyed his day alone at beachside. The azure western sky was solid, real, and in place with a salty sea fragrance drifting on the wind. He wondered what had happened to the haze that had been here, and the wind had begun again, which had frightened him. Elly knew why the wind had stopped here, but preferred not to discuss it. The weather had been downright weird for a couple of years, he knew, but did not want to give it another thought.
Sam inhaled deeply, pulling in the stuff of life, mindless to the outrage that grew in the world, and the daily news reports continually reminded him that he, that they, could very easily be next. Life was rapturous with an almost inexpressible joy, at times, and he could not believe that it would ever happen, here.
He spun and jumped a wave, gulls crying and reeling away towards the land, waves running up the beach. For a splendid real moment, he was a boy again, and his father was not yelling at his Mom. He picked up a small pink shell and studied it, and like a child, he wanted to show it to her.
They should be getting back; dinner would be ready soon. He hoped he had shut down the oven completely; sometimes it had a mind of its own, and that worried him. Roger loved his antiques and had installed a fifties stove in the new house. He would have gone for a newer model, himself.
Turning back, he had noticed the flight of birds; in his glance, he had seen a flock of graceful, dappled gray pelican skimming the rocky shoreline, flying in from the north. Sam thought that even with the troubled world of murder and mayhem out there, that the splendor of life and his cherished romance could never reach a higher crescendo, somehow making all of life�s current problems into molehills.
It could not reach him; he was hidden and he was bulletproof. He laughed a small laugh, the chuckle of the unconvinced.
He left the beach and went up to the crest of the field. From the high bluffs, he sauntered towards the Fairgrounds, whistling as he walked. He felt relaxed, yet thinking about his amazingly delicious garlic pot roast that he had created for them before coming here with Elly. Finding the meat had been difficult, like so many items these days, so he was expecting a great meal.
When, of a sudden�inexplicably�as if an invisible life-controlling switch was thrown in another dimension, he sensed a presence, and for no reason in particular, he looked back to the ocean. For just a few seconds, the wind had stopped, and a whispering had lingered at his ear.
Unbelieving, his mouth opened, and there he saw them, silent and huge, coming, crowding out the sky with all of their unimaginable brilliance as they rose and started towards the shoreline.
�What the�?� was all that he could summon, eloquence be damned. There in the distant western sky, Sam saw the first of the gigantic silvery flying saucers, hundreds of feet wide, approaching his position, glinting brightly in the strong winter sunlight.
From the frothy waves, further beyond the first eruption, another of the enormous saucer shapes climbed immediately out of the excited waves, churning and spraying huge columns of rainbow mist. Abruptly, another and another rose from the green-blue depths, tearing up a mile-wide swath of the waters, reaching high into the blue afternoon skies, there on that lonely afternoon coast of northern California.
Elly was in the forest, a half mile up the rocky slope from him, writing and collecting wildflowers from the meadow there.
�God in heaven! Elly has to see this! She was right-Oh, my god! She was right, and I was so wrong!� he stammered without thinking, had trouble with his words and feet, running bat-out-o�-hell towards the path back to her. They had come, the bastard aliens, here to his little town!
�Absolutely right-god! About everything�all of her predictions!� he thought crazily as he ran, breathless, tripping the stones and driftwood, gaining the trail upward.
�If she was right about them coming here,� he though manically, �about them taking over every city, then she�s right�about everything else!�
Sprinting madly towards the path, Sam�s body had suddenly begun to pulse, acting strangely, tingling and flushed with excitement and expectation at seeing the alien shapes approaching him, and the rest of his life.
Sam ran faster.
He felt seized with a sudden physical strangeness. It was not just the sight of the alien ships; it was his physical body�it was revolting.
�It wasn�t until I saw the UFO�s that these feelings started,� he thought, moving quickly, agitated. He felt as if his blood was on fire.
�But why�why does this seem so familiar to me?� he thought. Sam felt a paralyzing fear and could not think straight; it was the beginning of a panic attack. He stopped, watching the first few saucers come over his location. He could not think to move. He forced himself up the slope to find Elly, frantically climbing, sliding, looking back, stumbling again over rocks and low shrub, to find her and warn her.
The change was overwhelming him; his blood was burning, hot then cold, since the sighting of the UFO's. He had no way to describe it.
Elly was returning from the path in the redwoods to the viewpoint to find Sam, toting a canvas bag full of flowers that she had gathered to dry. She was going to be making a wreath, she had said.
Sam shouted to her as he cleared the ridgeline and made the path, gaining her attention, screaming, pointing excitedly behind him, out towards the distant waters. She looked up at sound of his voice, happy that he was with her again, glanced over� and fell into shock.
�Oh�No! They�re here!� was all that she could say at the sight of the alien craft. Seeing the silvery shapes in the sky, like beetles swarming over a carcass, was enough to cause Elly to quickly step back into the forest cover. They would become thieves of time and circumstance after this day; everyone would, who survived the initial onslaught.
At first sight of the approaching saucers, Elly had to acknowledge that the light-headed sensation that she had felt for the past twenty minutes was not the wine that they had enjoyed with lunch. She had reflected during the flower collecting that she was tipsy on a glass of wine, but that was hard for her to fathom.
In fact, the dreaminess had been the herald of her Guides.
She had not listened to them, lately; she knew that she and Sam could have been a hundred miles down the road by now, if she had.
They found cover as Sam joined her, cold and out of breath from the exaggerated climb. Together, they crouched behind a thick growth of trees and rocks, near the overhang above the field.
They watched, astounded, as the first of the huge ships set down in the Fairgrounds Field below them, joined by a second humming craft, a third passing on to a further destination. Some went south, others north, a few east. The ships traveled almost without sound, the third passing over the first two, creating a light whoosh sound, gently disturbing the air as they passed almost level with the crest of the mountain.
After a number of tense minutes, the ramps of the ships came down, activity and noise invading their sight. At first glimpse of the creatures, they involuntarily caught their breath, startled at what they were seeing. They did not want to believe the evidence of their senses.
They saw them emerge; tall, menacing lizard-creatures walking erect, carrying futuristic looking side arms, and they did not look happy to be there.
Elly recognized them immediately from the TV reports of several days before. The television pictures were not good, and the reality of their terrible faces was not any better. Yet, she had seen these craft and their occupants before, but far from this place. It had been years before when they had landed in the depths of her mind eye.
Sam felt himself a fool to have believed that they would not bother with a secluded outpost like Trinidad, lost on the map of a huge state like California. He had seen the steady TV reports, until they had all abruptly ceased broadcasting; radio too. As with anyone, caught up in the grip of change, he was stunned as the forced information came on to his mind like gangbusters; these changes were not going to be simple variations, he knew.
He took another moment to realize that the burning sensation was now mysteriously gone, and he was more confused than ever. It was gone, but he had believed in the beginning, that he was going to have a seizure.
The precious moments that Elly and he had enjoyed before seemed hollow to him now. Distant and receding from the sudden present, looming malevolently in his face, he tried to think of what to do next. He knew that this change would overtake everything that he had come to know in his sweet short life. He could only shake his head in silence, watching as the future unfolded before him.
From a craggy up thrust of rock on the far side of the hill, Sam saw more of the mysterious and hideous troops emerging from the old mine shaft opening there. It was a historic shaft, naturally formed and opened out at the far side of the large field. He had played there as a child with his friends from the town. It had been their secret meeting place for years.
The immense field below them, the annual site of the County Fair, began to buzz with alien activity. From the underside of the great ships still hanging in the afternoon sky, a dozens of smaller scout ships emerged and flew off to the east and north, searching for signs of life.
The couple shivered with wonder and fear, not knowing what to do first. Sam pulled Elly away and they quickly stole into the forest, heading for the main street of their small town, running full out to warn his people of the danger.
They had no idea of the horror that they would witness upon arriving there on their great mission. A change most swift, one like no other, was to greet them.
The cool afternoon fog had sprung up pale and light, and drifted in from the ocean, towards the assembly that was taking place, far below. Stealing deeper into the forest, the young couple continued running to warn their friends and family in Trinidad.
As the human couple departed the overhang, a face appeared in the window of the first command ship that had landed. Golden, crescent-shaped lizard eyes quickly surveyed the area, particularly the ridge where the two humans had just stood. |
