The Passage

stones all over the road, and his car looked even

worse.

Clara is too excited to stay silent.

Poor man, looks like he tried to run from it when the

windows shattered, and there was just no escape.

Big Tom asks,

These town folks?

Len and Clara glance at each other, but then Clara drops her gaze, looking

down at the road with tears welling up in her eyes, temporarily overcome. Len

is pointing toward the broken farm house.

Didn't fare any better then you, and those that

survived went off just like ourselves, looking for

help.

Clara adds more detail, finding her voice again. In the town some who were

standing on a broad veranda porch at the time were thrown and dashed where

they fell, broken and bloody with no chance of surviving the experience.

Miz Farmington got throwed clear across the creek, up

against the flood wall, looked like one a them

tomatoes the boys throw on Saturday nights, all red

and smashed.

Big Tom hasn't registered any surprise at any of this.

45

Where are you headed?

No one answers, but after a moment of silence, Herman does.

Anywhere it’s not like this.

Big Tom nods in understanding, and invites them back to the camp.

We're not much better off, but we have some coffee and

fried potatoes we can share.

Then Big Tom gestures toward the camp and turns to walk back there himself.

Come on back.

46

-Friend and Foe-

In the wooded foothills fringing the valley, quiet preparations have taken

place. In the swirling mist rising from the ground after a recent shower,

construction is going on. A large silver dome is being erected, cranes

lifting a section as orders are barked. The military, it seems, were not

taken by surprise. They prepared for this day with construction supplies, and

have quickly completed the construction of a dome with military hands assigned

to the duty. The dome design is one fashioned after the remnants of sites on

the Moon and Mars, scientifically studied to withstand high winds,

earthquakes, and large enough to enclose their own atmosphere with comfort to

the inhabitants. It is also a design coerced from a contactee, a type the

Zetas inhabit. However, to their surprise and as we later learn, a second dome

has been constructed in the locale, one not inhabited strictly by humans, much

less the military.

General Flood, a vein in his bull neck throbbing, is impatient.

I want this done yesterday! We can expect stragglers

to start arriving, and I'll be damned if they'll find

us out in the open!

His non-commissioned companion, Sergeant Hammond, is hurrying to catch up to

the general. Shorter and slight of build, he looks up at the general, his

voice full of worry.

Sir, I still haven't been able to get through to my

wife and kids. None of us have.

General Flood snaps back.

I told you that'd have to wait! We've got bigger

worries than that right now.

As General Flood and Sergeant Hammond continue walking toward the construction

site, another couple steps out from the tree bank. Jonah is wearing jeans and

a white shirt worn thin by many washings, his dusty boots and ruffled hair

attesting to his careless attitude toward appearances. He is standing next to

a tall Zeta whose post thin body and stick arms are almost shocking when seen

side by side next to the slender Jonah. The Zeta is gesturing toward the

receding military men, his face turning toward Jonah, silently communicating.

In response to this telepathic conversation, Jonah replies.

I know. They stole it from a contactee. But they

don't have much besides the shape. It's not like our

domes.

The Zeta puts his hand on Jonah's shoulder, and glancing up, Jonah replies in

agreement.

Yeah, I know, before we're spotted.

47

At this both, of them rise in the air a few feet and float off, backwards and

away from the scene before them, then dissolving into another dimension.

_______________________________

Jonah and his Zeta companion walk up through the mist in the direction of the

camera, out of the trees that are surrounding a natural clearing. Jonah says,

The injured you brought in have been getting restless

and want to help with the work, they've been asking

for a role.

They are walking toward a large silver dome, toward the entry port at the

ground level.