The sound reminded Lee of saltines being crushed. As the director watched, Early opened his hand, and amazingly the strange metal slowly reverted into its original flat shape.
'Well, I'll be damned,' Lee said softly.
'It's like nothing we know of, almost as if each fiber'-- Early hesitated, then corrected himself--'like its genetic makeup and, shape has been programmed into each... each...' He looked lost for a moment, searching for the correct term. 'Hell, sir, it remembers what its shape is supposed to be, as if programmed in design. I mean, there are a few polymers that companies like 3M are working with that have tendencies toward healing themselves, but that technology is fifty or sixty years away and is all so much theory right now.'
'That
Early looked around him at some of the twisted wreckage with a look of bewilderment on his face.
'We won't figure this out in one day, Ken. We have to do what we can and start documenting. I don't know how long we'll be able to keep this to ourselves. The military can usually talk presidents into anything, and eventually they'll get their way.'
'Yes, sir,' Early said, moving quickly back to his materials team.
Lee started for the rear of the building again. The cries had lessened somewhat to small whimpers. As he walked, his personnel were combing through debris and writing and snapping pictures. Except for a few, who glanced up from their work every so often to look toward the sealed-off area, most were busy doing their jobs and seemed totally willing to ignore the scary noises filtering throughout the entire hangar.
Lee walked the final paces to the closed-off tent area and spoke to the two Event guards.
'Bring Mr. Hendrix here,' he ordered.
Lee stepped through the flap. The tent smelled of strong antiseptic. Major Marcel had arrived inside ahead of him, and he quickly stepped up to meet him and take him to the doctor.
Lee turned and watched as Hendrix was led into the clean area. Garrison immediately saw three gurneys. Two were covered with white sheets and obviously had something under them; he could see where a dark liquid had soaked through the white cloth of one. A medical team surrounded the third table; these doctors were his people from the Group mixed with base personnel. Dr. Peter Leslie, Captain, U.S. Navy, formerly of Walter Reed Medical Center, was in charge. He was a surgeon handpicked by Lee to lead the medical teams on field finds. He hoped Leslie could handle something like this. The doctor looked up as Lee and his group entered. He gestured for one of the nurses.
'We're trying to keep this area as sterile as we can, please put on those masks.'
Lee accepted a gauze mask from the nurse and tied it around his mouth.
'These are appalling conditions. The base surgeon tells me he was kept from treating the survivor at the base clinic.'
'Well, Doctor, there hasn't been a hell of a lot of clear thinking going on out here. Now what have we got?' Lee asked.
'Those two there, I understand they were found already dead. The base surgeon reports that the bodies have indications of massive head trauma, more than likely impact-related, and they also show signs of postmortem predator activity.' Dr. Leslie pulled back the sheet on the first one. The body had been short, about four feet and thin, the skin was pale green and it had a large, hairless head that had been ripped open. One of its large eyes looked as if it had been torn out, and a huge gash ran along the left side of its head from the temple area. The wound looked deep. The remaining eye was partially open, and Lee could see the black orb beyond the thin eyelid. He noticed the black pupil itself was large and had a tint of red in its dilated state. The mouth was small, almost the size of the opening of a beer bottle, and no teeth were visible. Lee looked at the thin frame and the small, rounded belly. The smooth skin was featureless and unlined; veins were coursing through just beneath the grayish-green skin.
Leslie gestured for the director to step forward and view the second figure. 'This one died also of crash trauma and was dead when they brought it in.'
Lee looked at the doctor and nodded, then walked over to the third gurney. The doctors and nurses made room and moved away. As he looked down, the small, thin lips of the creature trembled, then the small body tensed and went into spasms and it cried out. The sound was piercing and it brought to mind the cries of an injured child.
'Can you do something for its pain?' Lee asked, removing his hat and holding it tightly.
'I'm absolutely terrified of killing it with any assistance I give it. We don't know its metabolism or nervous system. For all we know our pain-reducing drugs could kill it. I hate seeing it like this, but the consensus of everyone here is that it's just too dangerous.'
'Can you save it, Doctor?' Lee asked.
Leslie looked at his shoes, then glanced at his colleagues. 'With the right facilities and--'
'Is it going to live?' Lee demanded.
'No. It has massive internal bleeding from wounds that we just can't close up. It's so delicate our sutures tear right through its flesh.'
'Then use your best guess and ease its pain, Doctor, on my responsibility.'
'You can't do that, Lee!' Hendrix yelled, shaking off his guards once again.
Lee saw the small being tense for a moment when the shouted words disturbed it.
'Take that man outside and put him into submission.'
'We need the creature awake and answering questions, not spending its last minutes pain-free, goddammit!' Hendrix was screaming as he was pulled from the enclosure. 'You better listen to me, Lee, the first saucer was intentionally brought down by that second ship...goddammit, Lee, you have to listen!'
Lee clenched his teeth and gestured for the doctor to do as he had been ordered, and the voice of Hendrix finally faded away.
'Did Hendrix question this being?' Lee asked Marcel.
The major stepped forward and looked around, making sure to keep his voice low. 'Hendrix had more than a few minutes alone with the... crewman. I think he got information from it.'
Lee shook his head, then gestured for the doctor to get to work.
Leslie quickly grabbed a stainless-steel syringe and a small bottle and pulled an amber liquid into it. 'I'm going to treat it as I would a child with similar injuries,' he said. 'If you're a praying man, Mr. Director, now would be a good time. I don't know what this morphine will do to it.'
Lee watched as the doctor easily slid the needle into the small creature's arm. He watched being winced as the syringe penetrated its thin skin.
'With the exception of my group, will you ladies and gentlemen excuse us, please?'
The Roswell base nurses and two doctors left without comment.
Lee turned back in time to see the being's body relax and its pain-filled features grow slack. He was afraid it had died right before his eyes when the small mouth opened and then closed. Leslie carefully lifted its right eyelid and quickly stepped back when the black pupil rolled and looked at him. As Lee watched the startled expression of Leslie, he looked down and saw both eyelids flutter open. The large head rolled and the next thing Lee saw was the small being looking directly at him.
Lee had hoped for something better to come out of his mouth, but when he said, 'I'm sorry,' he didn't know why.
The creature continued looking at Lee. As Leslie moved back toward the gurney, it moved its head slowly and looked at him. He quickly lifted a thin piece of gauze from its chest and replaced the greenish soaked bandage with another, which the doctor laid as gently as he could on the large puncture wound. He repeated the process with the head wound, and again with an injury on the throat that was deep and more than likely beyond his surgical prowess to repair with any equipment. The small being blinked and took a sharp intake of breath. Its eyes closed and it hissed again. Leslie closed his eyes, knowing it had caused the small thing pain in removing the bandage. Slowly the eyes opened, and to Leslie's and Lee's astonishment, it smiled and blinked its eyes once again.
'I think it may understand you're here to help it, Doctor,' Lee ventured.
Leslie nodded, thankful that his intentions had been understood.
The alien slowly rolled its head to the left and took in Lee once again. They watched as its arm rose from its side and slowly pointed at Lee's face. Garrison raised his own hand and felt; then he understood. The small finger
