Raging at the Stars Read online

  “Winked out, blacked out, totally disappeared like someone switched them all off.” Emory got out of her van and looked up again. The hairs on her arms began to rise, and she could hear a faint humming noise above her. “And now there’s humming.”

  “Emory, get the fuck out of there now!”

  All above the Area 51 base, the stars were missing and the electrical charge in the air made Emory feel like there was a storm brewing.

  Unfortunately, Mother Nature had no hand in what was coming.

  *

  The humming noise began to make Emory’s ears ache. She cupped her hands over her ears to try to ease it. The noise didn’t abate. It vibrated through to her very bones. She could feel her body shuddering as the pain manifested inside her.

  Then it stopped.

  Then the lights came on.

  Emory was blinded by the brilliance that lit up the entire area. It was as if the sun had fallen to Earth and exploded onto the base. Fighting against both the disconcerting hum and the blinding light, Emory stumbled back to her van. The whole area was lit up like the Fourth of July. Emory fell against the side of her van with a jarring thud and tried to shield herself there. She moaned with relief as the torturous brightness was extinguished as quickly as it had appeared.

  “Emory?”

  Dink’s voice was loud in her ear.

  “I don’t think this is a test,” Emory said, trying desperately to see what was happening. As her eyes grew accustomed to the dark again, she finally saw what was above her. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. In the night sky, there appeared to be a fleet of triangular aircraft. From the size of them, she calculated they were at least three lengths of a football field each. A multicolored light was situated at each of the three points of the ship’s shape. They flashed out a rhythmic pulse that was almost hypnotic. The lone light in the center was a pure white beam. It was obviously those beams that had flooded the area with light. Only one remained now, directed toward the ground. Emory tried to count how many ships she could see. She was guessing two, maybe three, hidden in the darkness.

  “Dink, multiple black triangles, all over my goddamn head!”

  “I can see them, but they aren’t showing up on any radar. The Area 51’s camera system that I hacked is, however, giving me an amazing view. But I still want you to get out of there. Who knows what is going to happen, and you’re slap bang in the middle of it!”

  “I can’t move now. What if they see me?” Emory clung to the side of her van as if hoping to blend into its black painted panels. “Besides, this is what I’ve been waiting for all these years. This is it, Dink. Something is going to happen and I’m here to witness it. I’ll finally get my validation, and I can tell my brother to kiss my ass.” She watched as the ships above began to shift. “God, it’s like watching a load of sharks in the water circling blood.” She tried to see if she could spot any identifying marks on the ships, but they were so black they blended into the night and it was only the lights that gave away their outline. “Dink, what do you think? Is it the Russians maybe? Or some other superpower that’s been hiding this kind of high-powered tech from prying eyes?”

  Before Dink could answer her, the first explosion hit and blew Emory flat on her back. Debris flew wildly into the air, and it was only when the dust settled that Emory could see that a large crater had been left in the middle of the air base.

  “Holy shit!” She watched with a dawning horror as small saucer-shaped objects flew out from the belly of the bigger ships. They just appeared as if they’d been cloaked from view. All of them took aim on the vast area below. Whatever weaponry they were equipped with cut through the ground with ease and laid waste to any buildings in the way. The iconic hangars were blown to smithereens, and the earth was scorched beneath them. Electricity sparked and fires began to blaze as pieces of the buildings were scattered all over the runways. The buildings were reduced to little more than kindling in seconds as the saucers flew with alarming speed all over the base. They annihilated everything in their path. Within seconds, the area was obliterated, all the buildings erased, and the ground was nothing more than a mass of huge craters. The runways and the airplanes that had been on it were disintegrated to dust.

  Emory didn’t know what to do. She was rooted to the spot watching the silver saucers take aim at Area 51 and wipe it off the face of the earth. The saucers were able to move at incredible speeds and maneuvered with abilities Emory knew no known craft had the capability of employing. It was terrifying. It was also fascinating, and Emory couldn’t tear her eyes away. It was like watching a real life Star Wars battle, or something equally heavy on special effects that one of her favorite films had created. But this was real. Emory didn’t believe what her eyes were showing her, but she couldn’t stop watching. It was all she could have hoped to see as an observer. It was every science fiction film come to life. But this was reality and totally devastating.

  “Dink, tell me you can see all this?”

  “I can see it, but I can’t honestly believe it. And I’m a believer!” He sounded as awestruck as Emory felt.

  “It’s military though, right? Terrorists wouldn’t have this much tech at hand to be able to build what we’re seeing here.”

  “Can you see any kind of insignia on the crafts?”

  Emory squinted up at the saucers. They moved faster than her brain could comprehend. “These things don’t keep still long enough for me to read a license plate.” She ducked as three saucers appeared out of nowhere and flew over her head. “And they don’t make much noise in flight either. They epitomize silent but deadly. It’s the triangular ships that are making the noise that sets the hairs on my arms tingling.”

  “You’re not safe there.”

  “Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Emory muttered. “I can’t exactly start my engine while they are bombing the bejeezus out of the base below.” Something caught her eye, and she saw a thin light appear out of nowhere, deep from within one of the craters. She trained her binoculars on that point. “Dink, I told you there was hidden stuff underneath this base. I’m seeing a beam of light coming out of a crater. None of these ships have landed. It’s got to be the 51st staff in there.” She focused the binoculars in further. Thankful again that she had parked in an area that gave her an excellent view down onto the base, Emory watched as people started scrambling over the crater’s edge.

  “I can see people evacuating. They’re coming directly out of the crater so there has to be something down there.” She tried to pinpoint where on the base the fissure was coming from. “I think they’re where there used to be an office building above ground.” Wherever it was, the debris of the attack wasn’t stopping the people from trying to escape. They filed out in an endless stream. Emory silently urged them on, watching as they stumbled across the ruined runways, heading in every direction.

  “Incoming,” Dink said, and Emory watched as two saucers broke off from the rest of the group and headed straight for the survivors.

  “No!”

  Emory could do little more but watch as the saucers emitted a thin beam of light directly into the people’s path. They stood paralyzed by it until one by one they started to rise off the ground. They were suspended in the air as if held on strings wielded by a master puppeteer. Then, without warning, they were sucked up into the saucer and the light extinguished.

  Oh my God. Emory gaped. I did not just see that. The binoculars fell from her eyes and landed heavily against her chest. She felt her blood run cold, terror striking her heart and rendering her immobile.

  “I don’t think that’s the military, Emory.” Dink’s voice was unusually quiet in Emory’s ear.

  She stared up at the saucer that had taken the people. It spun in the air like an old vinyl disc on a turntable, smooth and slick, playing out its own deadly tune.

  “But I don’t believe in this,” Emory whispered, watching as the saucer shot up into the air at an alarming speed. It disappeared as quickly as it had app
eared. Here, then gone. Just like the people it had taken aboard.

  “I don’t think you have a choice. It’s too late, Emory. They’re here.”

  Chapter Two

  Emory lost count of how long she crouched against her van, watching what was playing out below her. Her cheek was cold against the metal as she hunkered down trying to keep as small as possible to avoid detection. She had a front row seat to the destruction of Area 51 by Unidentified Flying Objects.

  “It’s all over the news,” Dink said in her ear. “Some stupid TV station sent up a helicopter to film where you are. Live at eleven. But they didn’t get that far. Those of us glued to our TV screens got to witness it being blown out of the sky by a saucer. Everyone on board was screaming until a blue beam hit them, and then the crew on the ground filmed their colleagues’ helicopter plummet like a stone. Not exactly the exclusive they were hoping for.”

  “Are these craft only here?”

  “No. According to my sources on the Dark Side of the Internet, there are large black craft being spotted all around the world.”

  “Worldwide?” Emory couldn’t fathom what she was hearing. “What’s our military saying about this?”

  “There was a brief statement saying that this isn’t them and they are preparing for war.”

  “Distract and deny,” Emory muttered, all too aware of the ploys certain agencies took to keep the general public in the dark.

  “Emory, I don’t think this is them either.”

  “So it’s what? Flying saucers from outer space who just happened upon Area 51 and decided to test their weapons?”

  “There’s obviously something down there because whoever it is doesn’t want it left on view.”

  Emory heard a noise. She looked over her shoulder. “I’m seeing fighter planes.”

  A multitude of air force craft shot over her head, the noise was deafening in contrast to the black craft humming. The sound of missiles being launched from the planes tore through the air.

  “You really need to get out of there,” Dink said.

  Emory was too busy watching the night sky alight with open fire as the jets chased after the saucers and fired every weapon they had available at them. The flashes from the arsenal launched against the saucers exploded like fireworks against the darkness.

  “I want to see where that light is coming from in the crater, Dink. I can still see it shining from here. They obviously didn’t close whatever it is. It might lead me to answer the question of what lies hidden underneath Area 51.”

  “There’s the rumor there are forty levels dug deep into the ground. That crater you’re eyeing looks fucking huge. I can’t begin to imagine the damage that’s been done to whatever is left down there.”

  “I’d be missing out on a golden opportunity if I didn’t go look. I’m all for scrabbling for clues in the rubble and getting down in that crater to check it out. The fact there’s a light shining out of the earth has to mean something is still intact there. I’m going to see.”

  “These crazy bastards are all trying to blow up the base from above your head, and you want to go down into the pit that they’re so determined to blow up? Are you insane?”

  Emory considered that. “I’d like to think of myself as stubborn. I want to prove my point. I believe this is our technology being used for some kind of,” she searched for an answer, “I don’t know, false flag operation, maybe?”

  “You’re thinking whoever is flying those crafts is bombing because they have some hidden agenda? For what end?”

  “I don’t know, Dink,” Emory said. “Maybe it’s an excuse to start a war with whoever is the villain of the month this time. Since when does the end matter? We’ll never understand why governments do what they do. You know as well as I do there are hidden agendas to everything that goes on.” She watched as the saucers and the jets moved away from the area. “The planes are shifting the saucers off target. This might be my only chance. I’m taking it.”

  “You’re going to get yourself killed.”

  “I’m going to be saucer fodder anyway if they keep leveling the area. So while the jets are chasing them like X-wings chasing after Star Destroyers, with the same devastating results, I’m going in.”

  “You did not just equate all this to Star Wars.”

  “Dink, if there really are UFOs from another world here attacking us, then I’m going to want to see how close George Lucas’s creatures were to whatever you think is invading us. You know I believe in his aliens more than I do the ones you subscribe to.” She cautiously moved from her position. “That crater is calling to me.”

  “You’re going toward the light even if I tell you not to, aren’t you?”

  “I’m your eyes and legs out here. I have the chance to get closer to a place we’ve both been desperate to explore. I have that chance to get closer, and you’re going to be with me every step of the way.” She scrambled to her feet and pulled herself into her van. She flung her binoculars onto the passenger seat and reached for her keys. Emory left the headlights off and knew the fracas above would mask the sound of her engine roaring to life. She figured the patrolling guards had long since disappeared in the chaos. She released the brake and drove until she was well into the restricted area. It took more time than she wanted, but the distance she’d had to view from was miles away. She cursed the fact the base hadn’t let her just sit outside its main gates. Deliberately, when finally within range, she aimed for the last perimeter fence. “Knock, knock,” Emory muttered and rammed through the paneling and barbed wire with great satisfaction. With the state the airbase was now in, shattered fencing was likely to rank low on the list of Area 51’s problems.

  *

  Emory drove toward the light marking Area 51. It cast a glow over the huge gaping wound that was now in the earth. She parked her van as close as she could, but rubble littered the runway and she finally had to stop to tackle the rest on foot.

  Emory tapped the side of her glasses. “Still eyes wide, Dink?”

  “Everything is working fine. Just don’t forget your ID card, Agent.”

  Emory grinned as she slipped the forged document into a wallet and then into her jeans pocket. Dink had mocked her up a very credible, and more importantly, passable ID. She’d only used it once before. She had gained entry onto another air force base where Dink believed they were working on a new space shuttle. Emory hadn’t gotten much further once she was found wandering down a restricted corridor that even her credentials had no sway over. It had proved that the ID wasn’t questioned, and she had been able to walk out without any hindrance.

  “I’m not exactly dressed to be an agent tonight, Dink. I’m more dressed down for an hour or two of watching spy planes take off like I expected. I hadn’t intended to witness flying saucers tearing up the air base.”

  “It’s my guess no one is going to be left in the underground base. If it even exists.”

  Emory laughed. “Oh, you so know it exists. Those people came from somewhere. We both know there’s something going on underground here as well as above.” Emory zipped up her hoodie and hoped that the black jeans and black boots she wore did enough to make her look suitably Men in Black. She gathered her hair off her shoulders and fastened it into a loose ponytail. She could hear her brother’s voice asking why “someone like her” would still keep her hair reasonably long when she favored men’s style of clothing. His comment of “shouldn’t you be sporting a shaved head” only made her dislike him even more. Since when couldn’t a lesbian wear her hair longer than an inch and still carry off that more masculine side of herself? She wondered if he was worried about her. After all, he knew she was up here. She reached for her phone and dialed his cell. It just rang out.

  “Dink? Any particular reason as to why I still have cell service when we have spaceships invading?”

  “Maybe the rumors are true and they use our energy to power their ships,” he said. “Might go a long way to explain why so many are seen hovering over nucl
ear power plants.”

  Emory tried again, but there was still no reply. She left a message on Bradley’s answering machine and then got out of her van. She locked it automatically.

  “I really don’t think aliens are going to try to commandeer your old Bus,” Dink said dryly.

  “Just playing it safe. You can’t trust anyone these days.”

  “Only you would worry about your van being stolen while you’re on a military base that has just been blown to kingdom come by little green men.”

  “Color me cautious. And shouldn’t the correct term be grays, not green?” She patted farewell to her van and made her way carefully across the mounds of rubble. She got her bearings then ambled off in another direction.

  “Hey, where are you off to? The crater is back the other way.”

  “I want to see where those beams hit the ground. There might be evidence or something they left behind I can get for you to analyze.” She ran to the spot where she had seen the saucer’s beams touch down. Curiously, the earth wasn’t marked, neither was the fencing nearby, but she noticed something dangling from a broken fence rail. The lanyard swung gently, causing its prize to twirl in the night air. Emory plucked it free and held it in her hand so that Dink could see it properly.

  “Oooh, a swipe card,” Dink said. “Nice find. What’s the name on there?”

  “Jessica Sanders. She must be one of the base’s military population.” She looked up at the sky. “Or was.” She pocketed the card. She hoped it would be of some use. Satisfied with her find, Emory headed back toward the crater. What she found there shocked her.

  “Dink, I don’t know what kind of laser weaponry they’re using, but it’s powerful.” She looked around cautiously before flipping her flashlight on. Its narrow beam shone over the mound she was climbing up. It appeared to be made up of the pulverized remnants from an office because she could just make out what was left of a telephone. The scorched remains of a filing cabinet smoked and smoldered beneath her feet.