Page 11 - 200908 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - August 2009

11 Travis Walton - Fire in the Sky 11 Travis Walton - Fire in the Sky An Ordinary Day in the dark was much worse than going back began to coalesce. My eyes struggled against An Ordinary Day together. the agony. My sight shifted in and out of focus. Continued from Page 7 Their courage had been reinforced by My vision slowly became clearer. The hazy Continued from Page 7 the time and distance away from the site. scintillations of light gradually solidified into an "It doesn't look like it's after us," Mike However, as they turned left, off the Rim Road image. I could make out some kind of light shuddered as he shoved the gearshift into toward the original scene, their apprehension source above me. reverse. began steadily to rebuild. They began The fixture was a luminous rectangle The pause broke the men out of their speculating on the dreadful possibilities of what about three feet by one and a half feet. The shocked silence. They began to jabber they might find when they returned. The nearer diffused light came from the flat, frosted surface hysterically. Instead of continuing over the they got, the more anxious they became. of the rectangle. For an instant I could obstacle, they sat there with the engine running. "Hold it! It was right back there!" Ken distinguish the brushed metal luster of a ceiling They struggled to collect themselves and decide exclaimed. in the softer, reflected glow above the light. The what to do. Everyone was yelling at once, in a Somebody suggested pulling the truck fixture seemed to be suspended lower and closer confusion of high-pitched shouting. around and pointing the headlights toward the to me than the ceiling. I deduced from the Mike anxiously asked: "I saw him log pile above which they had seen the hovering nearness of the ceiling that the hard flat surface falling back, but what happened to him?" ship. They backed up and pulled in, driving over I was lying on was a raised table of some kind. "Man, a blue ray just shot out of the the fir sapling leaning in the way. Their eyes What's the matter with my eyes? I asked bottom of that thing and hit him all over! It just searched the area illuminated by headlights. myself. The ceiling is all crooked. It's too small seemed to engulf him." Ken's voice was solemn They found nothing. on this end and too large on that end! Were my with awe. "We're just going to have to get out and eyes playing tricks on me? I closed them against "Good hell! It looked like he look around," said Mike. the discomfort, but soon opened them again to disintegrated!" Dwayne exclaimed. They searched first in the security of the ward off the feeling of vertigo that welled up in "No, he was in one piece," Steve headlights. Everybody stayed together, me. The odd-shaped ceiling was indeed as I had contradicted. "I saw him hit the ground." huddling close to Mike, who carried the only perceived it: generally triangular, with the base "I do know one thing. It sure looked like flashlight. The flashlight beam probed into the toward my feet. he got hit by lightening or something!" Dwayne night, examining every dark shape. They What a weird place! I reflected returned. "I heard a zap — like as if he touched searched behind every log, bush, and stump. wonderingly. I had been hurt. Yeah, that was it! a live wire!" They called repeatedly: "Travis! . . . TRAVIS!!" . . . But what? I could remember straightening "Hey, men, we better go back!" someone Except for their calls, the woods were deathly up and feeling as though somebody had said. quiet. They searched farther north, as Allen had whacked me with a baseball bat. "No way, man. I ain't going back there!" suggested. They searched beyond the crest of Suddenly, the memory of what said someone else. the ridge and farther south. They found no sign happened before I'd blacked out came rushing As the men argued, Mike interjected. anywhere — no foreign objects or unusual back with stunning impact. I remembered "Let's build a fire so the guys who don't want to markings. No burns, pad impressions, or standing in the clearing in the woods looking up go can stay here in the clearing while the rest of disturbed ground. Not a trace of tracks and no at the glowing saucer! us go back there." evidence of a struggle. Where in hell am I? . . . Oh my God — Just as Mike was about to get the gas out The longer they continued, the more the hospital! They brought me here to the of the back, they were startled by the sudden worried Mike became, more overcome with hospital! I thought. approach of headlights coming west on the Rim emotion. He stumbled, then stood, looking It was very hot and humid. The heavy air Road. The dim outline of a camper-pickup down struggling to control his feelings. The loss was almost stifling. It smelled slightly stale and could be seen passing in the dark. of his friend, his guilt at driving away, and the muggy. I was sweating; warm moisture beaded "Let's go catch that pickup and get pressure of the leadership being demanded of my temples. Feeling my jacket bunched up help!" John yelped excitedly. him all became too much to bear for a moment. under my arms, I wondered why a nurse had not Everyone piled in the right side of the Finally, Mike managed to regain his composure. removed it. I still had all my work clothes on, truck. As Mike went around the driver's side of "Okay, you guys, we're not doing any good even my boots, and the jacket was just too the truck, he exclaimed: "Look! Did you see here. Let's go!" warm. I must be injured so bad there wasn't time that?" They got in the truck and began the long to take off my coat, I thought. Maybe I was in The men scrambled to look. One of the drive back to Heber. The memory of what they an emergency room of some kind. men ran to the front of the pickup. "What was had so recently witnessed left them with a Then I felt something pressing down it?" he asked. spectrum of strong emotional reactions. lightly on my chest. It felt cool and smooth. I Mike told them he thought he had Then Ken voiced the one thought they looked down and managed to hold my eyes briefly seen the outline of the golden disc had all avoided so far. "We're gonna have to tell open long enough to see that my shirt and jacket through the trees to the south. It had raised itself the authorities about this." were pushed up around my shoulders, exposing vertically to treetop level and streaked away "Ugnng . . ." I moaned silently. My first my chest and abdomen. A strange device curved toward the northeast at incredible speed. glimmer of slowly returning consciousness across my body. It was about four or five inches They got in the truck. Mike angled the brought with it the single overpowering thick and I could feel that it extended from my forgiving old pickup over the high water-bar sensation of pain. armpits to a few inches above my belt. It curved and pulled out onto the Rim Road, heading "Oh, damn!" I gritted my teeth against down to the middle of each side of my rib cage. west. The men argued on, rehashing what had the agony. The excruciating ache almost caused It appeared to be made of shiny, dark gray metal happened. They were still arguing a mile down me to lose consciousness again. I felt badly or plastic. the road, where they reached the turnoff that burned, all over, even inside me. I looked past the upper edge of the went north to Heber. There, they finally worked I was lying on my back. I didn't try to device. I could see the blurry figures of the their way around to the inevitable conclusion. move or even to open my eyes at first. I was doctors, leaning over me with their white masks Mike turned the truck around at the weak, so watery-weak, that I knew if I and caps. They were wearing unusual, orange- turnoff. He said firmly: "This truck is going attempted to move even my arm I'd lapse back colored surgical gowns. I could not make out back. Anybody who doesn't want to come can into unconsciousness. A bitter, metallic taste their faces clearly. get out right here and now, and wait! We've covered my tongue. My mouth was dry and I Abruptly my vision cleared. The sudden been acting like a bunch of cowards. We're all was very thirsty. Oddly, the weakness in my horror of what I saw rocked me as I realized that scared, there's no denying that, but we've got to muscles did not seem to come from hunger. The I was definitely not in a hospital. do what we should've done in the first place!" trembling felt odd, like a strange mixture of I was looking squarely into the face of a The embarrassed men no longer exertion and illness. Something was terribly horrible creature! It looked steadily back at me protested returning to the site. Even if any were wrong. with huge, luminous brown eyes the size of still reluctant, they were ashamed to say so. I sluggishly dragged my eyelids open. I quarters. Also, the prospect of waiting alone at the turnoff could not see anything. Then a blurred image (Continued on Page 13)