《Fallen Angel》


 CHAPTER 1: System Failure

    The automatic over-ride had dumped Sarah out of the travel pod far too quickly. She slid across the slick metal deck well lubricated by hibernation fluids ejected instead of reabsorbed into the machine. The floor was tilted at an angle hastening her slippery expulsion. Red lights were flashing and the klaxon was wailing. She thudded against the wall in the small chamber and managed to put her feet beneath her and rise. At least there was still gravity.


    "Ship, this is Sarah. Status!" she said wiping the goo from her face to clear her eyes.


    "Collision alert, Sarah." a voice replied. "We have encountered and struck an unknown object. Ship structural is failing. Life support operative in this and one other unit only."


    She cringed. There were originally a dozen crew members on this mission. She slid along the wall until she reached a control panel. Pushing a button she silenced the noisy alarm.


    "Disabling audible alarm is not advised" said the ship


    "I think everyone on board that is still alive has heard it by now! What unit still has life support?"


    "Bay three has atmosphere. It is currently unoccupied. The Sleeping Pod is also empty." said the ship.


    "Who was on duty?" she asked, her hands grabbing for and finding the locker with the E-Suit. She began to quickly put it on, fumbling with the flaps. She was grateful that someone had thought the locker''s contents should include a large towel.


    "Unit one was on the bridge" said the ship.


    "Is he still on the bridge?" she asked.


    "Internal sensors indicate that the bridge is not longer there, Sarah."


    She pulled the small helmet over her head and twisted the sealing ring into place. It clicked and the lights on the HUD flashed on. She turned on the suit''s arm mounted flashlight and panned it around. With the crazy angle, the doorway to this sleep pod was almost on the ceiling. She was going to have to climb. She pushed another button.


    "Internal ship communication has switched to E-Suit currently occupied. Health status monitoring is enabled Sarah. Suit is at twenty-two percent"


    "What? I just pulled this out of the locker! Why is it only at twenty-two percent"


    "Manifest information indicates that suit was last safety checked and refreshed thirty-three thousand five hundred and eighty days ago."


    "That''s almost a hundred years ago!" she said, her blood turning cold.


    "Approximate ninety-two years." agreed the ship. "You seemed to have missed a birthday. Happy Birthday. Would you like the standard salutation for the remaining ninety-one or would you prefer some variety?"


    "Cancel all future birthday reminders!" Sarah said angrily.


    "I was just following your pre-set instructions regarding your birthday on your personal file. It requests that I greet you with a birthday greeting every time another year has passed. There is no need to raise your voice. Your suit''s vital readouts are not calm Sarah."


    "The pod must have malfunctioned. Why didn''t anyone wake me?" she asked incredulously.


    "I have over-ride instructions for this pod. Do not disturb protocol is enabled." said the ship.


    "That just doesn''t make sense!" she said angrily. "Why did you wake me now then?"


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    "A second collision is imminent" said the ship.


    "With what?" she yelled.


    "With the planet. We are now in a gravity well and descending quickly." said the ship. "This over-rides any do not disturb protocols currently in place. I was forced to perform an emergency fluid evacuation to wake you."


    "How long until the ship hits the atmosphere?" Sarah asked.


    "Seventeen minutes and fourteen seconds" said the ship. "With the front of the ship missing it will not survive the passage through the atmosphere."


    Sarah started climbing.


    "Ship? is the other pod still intact? You didn''t dump the hibernation fluids in that one?"


    "No Sarah, It was un-occupied. There was no need to do that."


    She continued climbing toward the door. Everything was very wet and slippery. She lost her grip and fell back against the corner of the wall.


    "What about the cargo?" Is there anything on board that I can use when I get down to the surface?"


    "There are an emergency survival module and a weapons and flight module in storage exterior to the pressure hull." said the ship. My calculations indicated that you will not be able to reach them before I am destroyed in the atmosphere"


    "Can you jettison? Are they strong enough to survive re-entry on their own?"


    "Probability is near fifteen percent. If I jettison them now, they may be able to maintain asynchronous orbit for several years before they fall into the planet."


    "Do it!" she said.


    She felt two distinct thuds through the decking.


    "Can you stop the artificial gravity?"


    "I am barely able to maintain it as it is." said the ship.


    "Please do that" said Sarah. She abruptly felt herself begin to float


    "I over-rode normal three minute gravity warning protocols since you are the only one on board Sarah."


    "Thank you ship" she said and pushed off gently toward the door. "Cancel life support on this pod and for bay three but keep the Pod powered up."


    "Are you going to try and use that pod to survive re-entry?" asked the ship. "If so, I must advise you that the specifications do not suggest that your attempt will be successful"


    "A girl''s gotta try ship" Sarah said.


    "At least you will be unconscious during the fall. That is probably preferable." said the ship.


    "Thank you for understanding" said Sarah.


    "Your suit is at nine percent, Sarah"


    "That went fast" she said a bit desperately.


    "It is a very old suit. It must have some degraded seals." said the ship.


    Sarah was passing through a passageway. The ship damages were extensive. Huge holes had been rent in the hull. It was a long way from bay twelve to bay three. She had to move carefully around the torn sharp metal destruction.


    "What hit us? She asked.


    "Unknown Sarah. You have three percent suit power."


    Sarah had to pry bay three''s door open with a long piece of metal she found floating in the destroyed passageway. The only lights in the room were coming from the pod. She started to climb in.


    "You must undress for the pod to be able to sustain you in a suspended state" the ship reminded her.


    "We don''t have time for that and the suit''s cushioning may help a little." she said with resignation. "What is the estimated time for a crash landing on the surface?"


    "I estimate that horizontal velocity will cause parts of the ship not completely destroyed to take several hours to impact the planet."


    "Can we do anything to cancel that horizontal V and try to free fall?" Sarah asked?


    "A free fall from orbit would take approximately five minutes." said the ship "But I do not have enough remaining power to cancel our velocity."


    "I''ll open the helmet when the pod closes. Ship. Please set the pod for the shortest test cycle."


    "It is done Sarah. If the electronics survive they will start to try to revive you in approximately three minutes"


    "Do what you can" said Sarah. "I''ll pray. Maybe that will help."


    "Your shutting off life support gave us a little more power to work with." said the ship. "Please wait. Calculations are in progress. There was a pause. "Burn in progress."


    Sarah felt the ship shudder and shake.. There was smoke. The sleep capsule door slammed closed.


    "I''ve done what I could" said the ship.


    "Thank you. I know it won''t matter, but I felt like I had to try."


    "I understand" said the ship. I am turning on pod sleep mode. Test program initiated. Please unfasten your helmet."


    Sarah did and felt her ears pop. Then she felt the pod take her consciousness away.


    Ship looked across the landscape passing rapidly beneath her. Her hull sensors were quickly burning away. There were beautiful lights on most of the major continents that could be seen from here. She wondered what they were seeing as they looked up into their night sky. A glowing meteor descending from God. There was a place of darkness in the middle of the landmass that she was over that might be a large lake. Anything to give Sarah a little more of a chance. She made the calculation and hit her thrusters. They sputtered and stopped. It was the last thing she did before her hull melted away.


    Space debris continued to fall. On the ground the streaks of flaming light attracted a lot of attention.

 CHAPTER 2: Touched by an Angel

    Someone was singing. "Always look on the bright side of life," Now there was whistling. Chris climbed slowly out of the mental state that was called sleep. His hand fumbled along the wooden TV tray that served as his bedside table and found his cell phone. It was plugged in. He pulled out the charging cord and brought it up to his face. He looked at it. Then fumbled again for his reading glasses. He couldn''t find them. He squinted. It was an unknown number. The song started over. The clock on the phone screen displayed 2:42 a.m. He carefully touched the red phone icon and not the green one. Monty Python''s song Always Look on the Bright Side of Life which served as his ringtone for unknown callers stopped mid verse." He set the phone back down gently. Cell Phones were expensive. He had dropped his last one bending over the turbine engine of a helicopter three weeks ago. It had not survived. The song immediately started up again. Even at almost Three O''clock in the morning the song could still make him smile.


    "I guess I''d better answer it this time" he said to himself. He jabbed the green button.


    "Spruce Aviation and Lifting" he said. ¡°Chris Spruce. This better be important."


    "Chris! It''s Charlie over at the hanger. A bunch of guys in suits and sunglasses just showed up here in a black Chevy Tahoe. They want to rent Maximillian."


    "Tell them no. He''s not ready. I''m still putting some of him back together."


    "Uh, Chris, these guys are not exactly the kind of dudes that like the word no. Do you get what I''m saying here?" There were some scuffling sounds and a sharp cracking noise.


    "Dammit! you made me drop my phone" then a pause. Charlie''s voice came back on the phone.


    ¡°Chris? Are you still there?"


    "Yes I am. What''s going on over there?"


    "Hey!" said Charlie.


    Another voice came on the line. It seemed the kind of voice that brooked no nonsense.


    "Is this Mr. Spruce?" it asked.


    "What are you doing to my employee?" Chris asked angrily.


    "We are short on time Mr. Spruce. I need to rent your helicopter."


    "That is not going to be possible at this time." Chris said. "Max is down for maintenance." The phone went silent. The caller had either disconnected or pressed the mute button. He didn''t hear a disconnect tone so he put the phone on speaker and started putting on his pants.


    "A trusted associate of mine here at the hanger informs me that your helicopter is in no condition to fly. Mr. Spruce."


    "You have no business trying to start my helicopter. I''m calling the police!"


    "They are already here Mr. Spruce. My associate also informs me that some of the parts are missing from the gear reduction system. Where are those parts?"


    "The planetary gear set is in the back of my car. But you can''t just wake me up in the middle of the night and start demanding things." Chris said, anger obvious in his voice.


    "You will be well compensated." said the voice.


    "I better be" Chris said. Then he paused. He''d played that game before. "How well?"


    "Once your Sikorsky Skycrane is fully operational we will pay you five million dollars for five days. You will of course have to sign a NDA. That is a Non Disclosure Agreement if you don''t know."


    "I know what it is. Who did you say that you work for?"


    "I didn''t say." said the voice. "But sometimes we are called The Company."


    "Damn, It''s the C.I.A." Chris said to himself. He buttoned his shirt. He didn''t say anything for almost a minute..


    "We are kind of in a hurry here Mr. Spruce. Do you need me to send a car?"


    "No." Chris replied. The parts are already in my trunk. It will be faster if I come to you."


    "Please hurry Mr. Spruce. We believe that there may be other parties starting to show an interest in what we need you to lift for us. We would like to avoid unnecessary confrontation."


    "Are you telling me to exceed the speed limit ?"


    "Drive as fast as you need to Mr. Spruce. No one will stop you." Chris heard a whisper and the crackle of a two way radio.


    "I''m on my way then. Goodbye." Chris pushed the red phone icon and put the phone in his front shirt pocket. He finished getting dressed and headed for the door to the garage. He had to pass by the kitchen table. There was a stack of overdue and delinquent notices scattered about on the tabletop. Five million dollars would solve a lot of problems for him right now. He turned the door knob and opened the door leading into the garage and turned on the light. A black BMW station wagon was sitting there. The rear seats were folded down and in the back were two large boxes of helicopter engine parts. He turned around and went back into the house.


    From his nightstand he retrieved his Sig-Sauer P238. He bent down, pulled up his left pants leg and strapped the ankle holster to his sock. In .380 acp the gun wasn''t much but it was small. It might slip past a hasty pat down search. It might not. A guy had to try.


    Returning to the garage pushed the opener button. Then he climbed into the driver''s seat and backed out of the garage. The BMW wasn''t the E39 540i V8 wagon. It only had the M54 six cylinder but it was a good cruiser on the highway. He drove ninety miles an hour almost all the way there. He went past three cops. It was like he was invisible. He passed through the airport chain link gate at three forty-two A.M. The ELO song, Don''t Bring Me Down was blaring on the car stereo. It had been exactly an hour.


    Chris waved to the new security guards that hadn''t been there yesterday. They didn''t wave back. After he pulled through the gate one of them slid the sliding gate section closed behind him. There were now two black Chevy Tahoe''s and a white Suburban parked next to his hanger. The hanger door was open. The lights were on inside. Chris swung the BMW around and backed it in. Charlie came running up to him. He had a very concerned look on his face.


    "Hey Boss. Thanks for coming so fast. It feels like we''ve been invaded." Charlie said under his breath.


    "Looks that way." said Chris. "Who''s the guy in charge? The one that I was talking to on the phone."


    "He''s in the big hanger. They have a couple of guys working on the Air Crane. I tried to tell them to wait for you but that didn''t happen." said Charlie.


    "They are not going to get very far without the parts that I brought. I just got the shipments delivered to my porch this afternoon."


    "Why didn''t you have them delivered to the hanger?"


    Chris looked embarrassed. "I had to put them on my personal credit card. They would only deliver to a matching address." That card bills to the house.


    "Rotorworks cut you off again?"


    "Yeah, the business account is behind on a few things. I''ve got enough for payroll though. Don''t worry."


    "I''m not boss. I know you are doing your best and you are going to take care of us." said Charlie. Then he stopped. "That guy you were talking to broke my phone screen glass. Do you think I could get away with asking him to pay for it. It wouldn''t be so bad but it was brand new!"


    "That must be why your call came in as an unknown number tonight" said Chris.


    "Yeah, I switched carriers too. Got a better deal with Z-Mobile. Horizon was killing me."


    "I''ll talk to him about your phone. Did you get his name?"


    "He said it was Agent Smith." said Charlie.


    "Your serious? That''s what he said?"


    "Serious as a heart attack Chris. Which is what they practically gave me storming in here in the middle of the night." said Charlie.


    "You did good Charlie. Whatever this is, it''s big. They are throwing a lot of money our way. I''m not turning it down ''cause we really need it. But I''m getting a little worried at how fast this all is moving." He said.


    ¡±Ah! I see you made good time!¡± a voice called from the large hanger door. A man in a suit and wearing a way too typical trench coat was walking quickly toward Chris and Charlie. He was flanked by two other similarly garbed men. Chris had to suppress a chuckle because Charlie telling him the Agents name was Smith could not help but invoke images in his mind of Hugo Weaving, the actor that had played Smith in the Matrix movies. With only minor differences this Agent Smith could have stepped right out of the movie.


    Chris decided to call his bluff. He stared hard at the man before taking his outstretched hand and shaking it.


    ¡°Your name can not actually be Smith!¡± He declared.


    ¡±We¡¯re not here because we¡¯re free. We are here because we are not free. There is no escaping reason, no denying purpose. Because as we both know without purpose, we would not exist.¡± Said Smith, squeezing a little harder on Jeff¡¯s hand.


    Chris''s eyes must have widened substantially at the Matrix movie quote because the two men behind Agent Smith held out for only a few seconds before they started laughing.


    ¡±Cut him some slack Mike. It is still O Dark Thirty in the morning. When you use that voice it even creeps me out a little.¡± The one behind him on the left said.


    "You''re no fun at all, Don." said the former agent Smith looking back over his shoulder. "My real name is Mike Malick. As you have probably already guessed, my associates and I are with the C.I.A."


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    "Hello Mike, you don''t mind showing me your credentials, AND those of your friends?" Chris asked.


    Mike handed Chris his badge. He looked at it carefully. It was a gold composite, not plastic, there was an eagle at the top and a three digit number at the bottom. He handed it back.


    "Good enough?"


    "You can''t be too careful these days." said Chris. "There are some counterfeit badges around. But I''m sure you know that."


    Mike pulled out an ID card. The numbers matched the badge.


    "As you might have guessed we are with the Directorate of Science and Technology." said Mike. I have NDA''s for. you and anyone not with "The Company" that has any association with what we are doing here."


    The men behind Mike pulled out their own badges and flashed them. They didn''t hand them over like Mike had.


    "By "The company". you don''t mean Spruce Aviation." said Charlie.


    "The Company" is how many in the C.I.A. refer to who they work for Charlie" Chris said.


    "You are very informed Mr. Spruce." Lets go get those NDA''s out of the way. Is there anyone else that we need to include in that?"


    "It depends if you have another pilot or not." said Jeff. "Max works best with three on board. Do you have someone else that can handle the controls or fly a Sikorsky S-64?"


    "We have a pilot that is certified for your helicopter. We probably wouldn''t be here if we didn''t" said Mike. "Other than your mechanic Charlie here, Your other employees don''t need to come in for the rest of the week. They''ll be paid of course" said Mike.


    "That''s coming out of your budget, not mine." said Chris. "I have other things that they could do around here."


    "That''s fine" said Mike. "I am willing to pay a little extra to ensure that what we are going to be lifting and bringing back here stays confidential"


    "Oh lucky me!" said Charlie. "If this would have gone down tomorrow night Dave would have been working. I''d have a nice paid vacation."


    ¡°Is this a black operation?" Chris asked. "Never mind, of course it is! Let''s go get those parts out of the back of the BMW" Chris said to Charlie. "Planetary gear sets don''t install themselves."


    "Is that the part that you needed for the Helicopter?" Asked Mike.


    "Yeah, it''s part of the gear reduction set." said Chris. "The Sun gear was cracked on the last one."


    "I find the names of those parts rather ironic." said Mike.


    "Why''s that?" asked Charlie.


    "Let''s go have you both sign that NDA and then I can tell you more" said Mike. ¡°These two gentlemen will supervise your hopefully rapid repairs. Chop Chop!¡± The lead agent walked off, leaving the others. He was already dialing his phone.


    Charlie looked at Chris. ¡°Am I getting overtime for this?¡±


    ¡°Definitely.¡± Said Chris. "Come on. Lets try and fix the helicopter."


    ----------------------


    The freshly repaired Sikorsky S-64 had been hovering in place for over an hour. The government pilot was currently controlling the hover but Chris was in the pilot¡¯s seat. He was currently eating a sandwich. He had insisted that he accompany the helicopter. Since the CIA pilot had not actually previously flown a Sikorsky Skycrane, Agent Malik had allowed it.


    After signing the Non Disclosure Agreement agent Malik had informed them that something had fallen from space. It had been tracked by Norad to this lake, where it had disappeared. Nearby hikers had reported a roar and strange lights. The government had obviously wanted to investigate. Sonar had reported something large was in the water. It seemed to be a bonafide UFO. They needed Spruce Aviation''s sky crane to lift it.


    Immediately after repairing the helicopter, they had flown several hours to a small regional airport and refueled.Then they had been directed to a wilderness area campground that contained a large lake.


    Chris had been a little shocked when a military team had taken down several large old growth trees to make a landing site for Maximillian. They hadn''t used axes or chainsaws. They had drilled holes in the trees and packed them with explosives and set them off. The trees never had a chance.


    ¡°I love the smell of Napalm in the morning!" One of the explosive techs had joked, over the radio. ¡°The Sierra Club can kiss my ass! Try not to land on anything on fire.¡±


    Chris smiled but didn¡¯t key his microphone. It was quite possible the demolition man would be in trouble for even this small break in protocol. Whatever he was lifting here, he was quite sure the CIA didn''t want anyone knowing about it. The handheld radio had a limited range, but you never really knew who might be listening. He set the helicopter down what had to be a couple of miles off the nearest road. The area was swarming with serious faced men wearing camouflage. They had absolutely no insignias on their uniforms. At least not that Chris could see.


    A few hours later, divers had attached cables under the object in the water and Chris was back in the pilot''s seat. The assumption was that Max would be able to lift the mysterious object from the bottom of the lake. One of the divers gave the signal and Chris began to take out the slack by bringing the helicopter up a bit, then he nodded to Charlie. Charlie was in the aft stick operator seat. He controlled the lifting cables. The pitch of the engine changed and a large strangely shaped mass began to rise out of the lake. Water was streaming out of a burned, black hull.


    The Sikorsky hovered letting the water drain. The chop chop chop of the rotor blades could still be heard through his aviation headset. When the water slowed to a trickle he turned the huge helicopter and headed back to the shore. A secure area had been set up in a campground well back from the lake itself.


    Chris swung Max over the clearing and lowered the still dripping object at the end of his cable. The moment it was down a swarm of about a half dozen workers dressed in military fatigues began unfastening the straps. He hovered for a few minutes until one of them shot him a thumbs up. He moved the helicopter off and back out over the water. The chop of its rotors creating white caps on the lake. He was just about to move off when suddenly the radio went crazy.


    ¡®We have contact!¡± hiss ¡°Unknown entity! Appears female!¡± Crackle. ¡°She¡¯s pointing something! Click. Defensive fire only!¡±


    Chris heard the pop pop pop of weapons fire on semi auto. He swung the cockpit around trying to see what was happening. Suddenly the helicopter stuttered in the air. Chris heard the unmistakable sound of main engine failure. He was too low to autorotate. The helicopter fell from the sky like a stone. By luck his canopy was rotated toward the clearing as he hit the water. His last sight was of a beautiful girl staring at him through the plexiglass. Somehow she was flying. Then it felt like he was hit by a bus.


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª


    ¡°What is that machine you were riding in¡± asked a voice. ¡°It appeared crude and unreliable.¡± The voice wasn''t audible. Somehow it was in his head.


    "Who is speaking?" he asked. There was no response.


    Chris wiggled his toes. Nothing happened. ¡°Great!¡± He thought. ¡°I¡¯m off to a good start. My back must be broken.¡±


    ¡±You are badly injured¡± said the voice, at least partially confirming his suspicions. ¡®But miraculously my medical pod survived the descent. Although the power levels are extremely low, I have placed you inside it. You should begin to feel better soon.¡±


    "Who is this?" He repeated. Again no answer.


    Well it''s not like I can move anyway, he thought. Chris moved his eyes around as best he could. There was a window, of sorts directly in front of his face. It seemed fogged up or possibly frozen. The sides were opaque but in the center there was a clear spot. He tried to look through it. Wherever he was, it was dark. He wasn''t in pain, which surprised him. In fact he was actually feeling pretty good. He just couldn''t move. Not at all, well, except for his eyeballs.


    Suddenly there was a loud hissing sound and then the sound of rending metal filled his ears. Someone or something grabbed him and physically pulled him from where he had been resting. He still couldn''t move and flopped like a dead fish to what felt like a metal deck, Whomever had grabbed him suddenly had released him. He found himself staring up into the face of a beautiful woman. Her hair was for lack of a better word, brown, but it had some amazing golden highlights. She had high cheekbones and vivid green eyes. A little dusky in complexion. His eyes traveled down from her face. She was wearing some sort of chest covering that partially hid them, but her breasts were obviously large and.....


    "What are you looking at?"


    "What are those flashing lights on the front of your clothes?" he asked, managing to somehow recover from what had been turning into an obvious ogle.


    She looked down.


    "Status lights." she said. "I''m sorry they distracted you."


    He nodded. Suddenly realizing that he could actually do so. That was a very good sign. He wiggled his fingers and toes. They seemed to be working. A shuddering sigh of relief escaped his lips as he rolled over onto his stomach and tried to get to his feet.


    "Easy!" she said. "Give yourself a moment. You were very badly damaged."


    Suddenly Chris remembered Charlie. Trying to remain calm he gripped the edge of what appeared to be a large metal box with a hinged lid. He levered himself upright.


    "There were other men in my machine." he started to say.


    "They did not survive." came the immediate reply. "I am sorry. One of them was decapitated, The other was terribly crushed. there was not much I could do. My objective was you.¡±


    Chris slumped against the box. A groan came out of him. Charlie had been a friend.


    ¡°Objective? Me? I don¡¯t even know you.¡± He stammered.


    ¡°Is it not written that He will give his angels charge over you, that you might not dash your foot against a stone?¡±


    Chris recognized the words.They were from the Bible. He thought it was something from the Psalms. It had been a very long time since he had thought about religious things. He had left his childhood faith far behind. She must be some sort of fanatic.


    ¡°Is this is your ship?¡± He asked.


    ¡°I arrived on it. Yes.¡± She answered.


    ¡°Then you should have taken your own words to heart. It looks like this ship was pretty heavily dashed when it hit our planet.¡±


    She frowned. ¡°Crashing here was beyond my immediate control. Saving you afterwards was not.¡± She said.


    ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m ungrateful,¡± he began. And this may be a strange thing to ask, but do you know why MY machine crashed" he asked. He leveled his gaze to meet her eyes.


    "I do not." she replied. Her gaze never wavered. "There is obviously something wrong with my ship,¡± She looked around. "I actually don''t think that there is much left of it. Some of the automated defense systems may have activated. I can''t be sure."


    "Automated defense systems?" he asked incredulously.


    "Is that so surprising?" she said somewhat sharply. "The ship was obviously brought down by something."


    "You must have left the ship. You obviously rescued me." he said, pushing his still wet hair back out of his eyes. "I''m kind of surprised that you did that, actually."


    "We have a connection. Your are one of the elect.¡± she replied, as if that explained everything. "I felt you nearby."


    Chris decided to let that go for now. Her actions had obviously saved his life. He would try to learn about her motivations later.


    "What about the others?" he asked. "The ones on the ground."


    "They have all left the area, I believe. My scanning equipment is non functional." said the woman.


    Chris had a hard time believing that. The ground team might have pulled back, but they were definitely here somewhere. If something was keeping them away, it must be fairly powerful. The soldiers were, no doubt, trying to figure out what had happened and what to do next. Suddenly he had a thought.


    "How long was I in that healing machine?" he asked.


    She scrunched up her forehead, then looked out a small window that let a little daylight into the darkened chamber.


    "This light, your sun, has gone from dark to light two times since I brought you here and put you in the pod."


    "Two days!" he said. "I can''t believe we don''t have more company."


    "The disruptor field is probably keeping others away." she said. "Unfortunately the power the medical pod used to save your life has used almost all the emergency reserves. I expect that when the field fails, we will again have a lot more visitors. They seemed fairly eager to meet me."


    "You have no idea." he nodded, thinking about the medical advances that this pod alone could bring. What other technology could the government pull from this wrecked ship?


    "I may need your help." she suddenly said.


    He looked at her cautiously. Her face was hopeful.


    "I guess I probably owe you." he replied. "You did save my life."


    "I can not allow the technology that is in this ship to fall into the wrong hands."


    He nodded. He thought about how much he actually trusted the upper echelons of the government. "I guess I can understand that." he said slowly. "How do you expect me to be able to help you with that?"


    "I need to form a Covenant with you." she said. She looked down. A flush seemed to glow on her cheeks.


    "What exactly does this entail?" he said, suddenly curious.


    "I will most likely be interrogated. I will hide the key to my knowledge inside you. I will have to trust you to decide when it is safe for me to have it back again."


    "Inside me?" he asked puzzled. "Will I know what you know?"


    "No!" she said quickly. "But you will hold the key to it. We must determine a way to unlock the information later, but only when it is safe to do so. I should warn you that this is not something commonly done."


    "What kind of key does this ¡®covenant¡¯ employ?" he asked again, trying not to notice how absolutely beautiful she was.


    She smiled, as if reading his thoughts. "It is usually a word that is spoken, not a physical act."


    "What if something happens to me or I don''t ever speak the word in your presence?"


    "Then It will stay unremembered and the information will be forever lost." she replied with frown. "Without this information I will certainly die. The risk is, however..... necessary.¡±


    ¡°Ok, I guess I owe you one.¡± He said.


    ¡°You are quite strange for one of the elect.¡± She said glancing suspiciously at him.


    ¡°Well, your the first angel I¡¯ve actually ever met.¡± He said, jokingly.


    ¡°That actually worries me a great deal.¡± She said, very seriously. ¡°I might be alone on this planet. The word is a name. It is Mahershalalhashbaz.¡±


    ¡°What?! How am I going to remember that?¡±


    ¡°There is no time. They are coming. You must remember.¡± She said. Then she touched her finger to his forehead and there was an explosion inside his brain. He knew no more.

 Chapter 3: The Medical Mystery

    Beep. Beep. Beep. Chris opened his eyes. He was in a hospital room. It was a room with a guard. The guard was in Air Force fatigues. He was also carrying a sidearm. The guard was paying attention. The moment Chris had opened his eyes the guy got up from his chair and knocked on the door. He remained standing.


    Chris rolled to his feet and then hastily reached for the strings of his fluttering hospital gown, quickly tying them off.


    About thirty seconds later it opened and a uniformed officer came in. He was wearing captain''s bars. They looked like an "H" with two little cross bars instead of one big one. His fake smile was thin.


    "How are you feeling?" he asked. "The doctors refused to allow us to wake you up, but now...¡± he looked back at the closed door. ¡°We have a few questions for you."


    "Where am I?" Chris asked.


    "Obviously you are in a hospital." he said condescendingly.


    "Which hospital?"


    "I''m not at liberty to disclose that to you at the moment." he said.


    "Am I under arrest? I have rights."


    "We are hoping for your cooperation. Expecting it in fact."


    "I''m not feeling well." Chris said. "Let me talk to a doctor."


    The captain smirked at him. He walked closer to the bed. "You listen! I lost quite a few men. I want to know what happened. You were in there with her. If I find out that you were even partially responsible...."


    The door opened again. A man in a white lab coat walked in. He was wearing a stethoscope. He was also wearing gold oak leaves on his lapels.


    "Are you having a discussion with my patient before you called me Captain?" he asked.


    "Just introducing myself, Major." the captain replied.


    "I don¡¯t remember you giving me your name." Chris said. He looked at the guard for corroboration, but the soldier avoided his eyes.


    "Get out. Fred." said the doctor. "I''ll call you when I decide that it''s safe to interview the patient."


    The captain looked apoplectic. He spun on his heel and walked out the door. The guard remained. Chris thought that he almost smiled at him, but not quite.


    The doctor reached into a drawer and pulled out a digital thermometer. Without asking he put it in Chris¡¯s ear he held it there for a few seconds. Then he looked at it.


    "How are you feeling.?" the doctor asked.


    "I''m actually concerned about actually answering that question at this point." Chris said. "That other officer looked like he was going to eat me alive."


    "Captain Miller can get a bit impatient. I''m your physician, Major Lewis. He paused. Stanley Lewis. I really would appreciate you telling me how you''re feeling. You''re a bit of a mystery. You''ve got my curiosity aroused."


    "I can only imagine." said Chris. "Your probably going to tell me that I shouldn''t be alive."


    "From what we can tell from your X-rays, that''s true." he said. "I''ve never seen someone with a history of such a destroyed skeletal system that was actually alive. And¡­you''re not paralyzed. Do you know anything about that?"


    "The helicopter crashed. That''s the last thing I remember." Chris said.


    "We did not find you at the crash site. We found you inside the alien craft. Do you remember anything about that?" asked the doctor.


    ¡±There was a woman. You¡¯re probably going to laugh¡­ I think she was an Angel.¡±


    The doctor didn¡¯t even smile. ¡°That doesn¡¯t exactly fit the current description. ¡°Please have a seat on the bed if you don¡¯t mind.¡±


    ¡±Why?¡±


    The doctor pulled a blood pressure monitor out of a large front pocket. ¡°Because I need to use this. The reading is best when you are not standing.¡±


    Chris sat on the bed.


    Dr. Lewis began talking his blood pressure by wrapping the inflatable grey armband around his bicep. He pulled it tight with the Velcro. The little machine began buzzing and squeezed his arm.


    After he observed the reading, the doctor removed the cuff.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°You appear to be healthy.¡± Mr. Spruce.


    Chris nodded. "Thanks." He stood up.


    The doctor reached into the pocket of his lab coat and pulled out a white square. He turned it over. Chis could see it was some type of Polaroid photograph.


    "I''m not supposed to show this to you." he said. Then he handed it to Chris.


    It was the Angel. But not. The image was blurry as if someone had snapped it while she was lunging at the photographer. Her basic features were still beautiful. Her face though, was a twisted into a scowl and in her partially opened mouth, Chris could see what looked like fangs. He looked into the doctor''s eyes with alarm.


    "She looks more like a Vampire than an Angel to me." said the doctor. Chris kept staring at the photo in disbelief. Finally the doctor reached over and plucked it from his hand, putting it back into his pocket.


    "Like I said. I''m not supposed to show that to you. Or anybody for that matter." he said.


    "My God!" he exclaimed. "How long have I been unconscious?"


    "It''s been forty days." Mr. Spruce. "We couldn''t even determine why you were unresponsive. What was the really the most surprising, I mean besides your obvious miraculously healed bone fractures, was that you needed no nutritional or hydration assistance. No feeding tubes. No I.V.''s. You must be part camel Mr. Spruce.


    Chris bit back a laugh. "I wonder how much I weigh?" he asked. "I have been meaning to lose a few pounds."


    "You weigh 199 lbs. At least the last time we weighed you." said the doctor. "Would you mind stepping over onto the scale? It''s over in the corner."


    Chris saw it at once and stepped over and up. The metal plate was colder than the floor tiles on his bare feet. The doctor leaned over him and read the scale at the same time that Chris did.


    "One hundred and ninety-nine." he said. The doctor nodded and pulled out a small tablet. He seemed to be writing down Chris''s data.


    "Are you hungry Chris?" the doctor asked. "Can I call you Chris? You don''t mind if we get less formal do you?"


    "Only if I can call you Stanley."


    "I actually prefer Doctor." said Stanley. Then he grinned. "No, it''s fine. I''ve decided to make you my sole patient for the time being. I''m going to be seeing quite a lot of you."


    Outside shoes squeaked on tile. The door rattled and then opened. It was Captain Miller again. This time he had two additional armed airmen with him.


    "I assume he''s going to live." snarked Miller. "I''m requesting strongly that you release him to me.... Sir!"


    "Go ahead." sighed Stanley. "But I want him back here in no later than two hours. And in one piece."


    Miller nodded. He reached for a loop on his belt and pulled off a pair of handcuffs.


    "You''re going to cuff me!?" exclaimed Chris. He stared at him in disbelief.


    "Put your hands behind your back."


    Chris reluctantly did. The officer stepped behind him and Chris heard clicking and felt a pinch on his wrists. It hurt a little and he involuntarily pulled his wrists apart. He heard a snap. Both metal bracelets suddenly appeared as they traveled around his body to the front of his waist. A short broken chain was hanging from each of them.


    "Well, that''s new." said Chris.


    One of the airmen pulled his sidearm. He didn''t point it at Chris, but it looked like he was thinking about it pretty hard. His eyes were searching his commanding officer for instructions.


    Miller sighed. "Ok, he''s obviously like her. Put away that firearm. It probably won''t do any good anyway." he said.


    "He''s friendly and reasonably compliant at this point." pointed out the doctor. Why don''t we give him a chance?"


    "Sure. Friendly and compliant." reiterated Chris.


    He really didn''t want them testing out that pistol on him, despite their saying it would be ineffective. He couldn''t imagine a scenario in which them shooting him wouldn''t at least hurt a great deal. Whatever that healing machine had done to his body, perhaps it was not limited to the time that he had spent inside it.


    "Take me to your leader." Chris said, jokingly.


    "That''s for later." said Miller. "First I have some alien equipment I want you to take a look at. We found it in the crashed ship. Perhaps you can help us figure out what it does or how it works."


    "I''ll try." said Chris. "What is this place?"


    "Welcome to area Fifty-One." said Miller.


    "Do I even get a phone call?" he asked.


    "If you cooperate, we''ll see what we can do." said Miller.


    "Well then, how about some actual clothes?"


    -----------------------------------


    In a chamber with steel walls ten inches thick and a glass viewing port eighteen inches thick, Sarah opened her eyes. He was, at last awake. This human that had named himself Chris. After she had touched him he had crumpled to the floor. That sometimes happened but it made what occured a few minutes later much more difficult. As expected the inhibitor field around her crashed ship had failed. After a few tentative probes, the wreckage had been surrounded by heavily armed troops. Large heavy metal machines with noisy belted treads had also rolled up. These primitives seemed well equipped for conflict.


    Somewhere in the middle of the conflict one of them had dragged Chris''s unresponsive body outside. Once she was out of proximity to him, some of the fight had definitely gone out of her. None of the men attacking her had the internal spark that Chris had displayed, and that had motivated her to rescue him. For a while, she gave as good as she got, but eventually they had subdued her. They had used some sort of gas to knock her out and take her prisoner.


    She had woken up in a cell. It had metal bars. That lasted about five minutes until she tore the bars off the wall. More gas ensued. That had gone on for a while with increasingly stronger means of containment until at last she woke up here. These walls she hadn''t managed to break, although there were several deep gouges in the metal from her attempts. Several times a day a speaker grille high in the ceiling spat out some words. They all seemed to be in different languages. Then they had tried tones and sounds. She had ignored all of it. All of this activity had left her hungry and depressed. She ran her tongue along her teeth. She had to admit, her canines had grown abnormally long. They had brought various foods to her, shoving them through a small metal compartment in the door. She had eaten everything, but nothing they gave her had the tooth growing inhibitor in it. The nutrient ''Chai'' was a necessary and important part of every Angel''s diet. Without it she had quickly started to change.


    Now she had hope again! Whatever had happened to him, she now could feel that Chris was awake. He would come to her. He had to! She rolled into a sitting position and stared at the thick glass window of the cell. She felt him moving, but what was this? He was going the wrong way! She began to thrash and scream, beating herself against the thick walls. They were taking him away!


    She heard the hiss of gas and held her breath. Three minutes later she at last had to breathe, and almost immediately crumpled to the floor.


    -------------------------