Event

Niles Compton closed his eyes and held them that way for a moment, content to let the others applaud and yell. He was still that way when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Niles opened his eyes and looked up into the smiling face of Pete Golding.

'You've got a pair of brass balls, Niles, my man,' Pete said, shaking his head. 'But dammit, Mr. Director, it was a good call.'

Good old Boris and Natasha, Niles thought. He would have it refueled and powered back up if it was the last thing he did. He owed everything to the old KH-11.

Niles stood and took a deep breath, trying to compose himself as best as he could. He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

'All right, Pete, put a call in to Alice so she cm inform Senator Lee.' Niles paused as Pete started to lift the phone. 'Alert the complex and sound an Event signal and let's get the discovery teams in the air. Let's do it by the book.'

Niles watched his computer technicians work quickly for a moment, never more proud of being a part of the Group. He replaced his glasses and started for the door as first one, then another, and then all the technicians were up tapping on their small consoles in a semi-silent tribute to a man who had just risked everything on a calculated hunch. Niles didn't acknowledge them, he just opened the door and left.

As Pete made the call upstairs, he watched his exhausted boss leave and wondered if he would ever have had the courage to risk a $485 million satellite. Then he shook his head no, he could never have done it But then again, maybe Niles knew something he wasn't telling him.

Pete looked at the crash site and wondered if there had been life on board. His eyes wandered over the hole at the center of the wreckage and wondered what that could be.

At the same time Niles Compton had ordered the retasking of Boris and Natasha, Jack had made his way to the cafeteria for some coffee. He wanted to think over the news of Centauras before giving it to Lee and Compton. The ramifications of what had been discovered would shake the Group and other areas of the U.S. government to its foundations, if what Jack thought had happened had actually happened.

It was obvious that Hendrix junior was involved in running the Frenchman. They obviously dealt in high and cutting-edge technology. And the best part was, the company that friends of the elder Hendrix's had more than likely founded, so soon after the event in Roswell, was the direct result of the technology that had been examined and analyzed. Was the Centauras Corporation responsible for the missing evidence from Roswell? Collins wasn't a big believer in coincidence. But the most disturbing factor was the possibility that a private company in this country was preparing for war without the backing or the knowledge of the government of the United States. He only hoped that Centauras had done nothing since '47 to have provoked the second attack.

Jack was mulling these thoughts over as he entered the cafeteria, poured himself a cup, and walked over to the closest table and sat down. He didn't see the figure as it approached his table until the shadow fell on him. Jack looked up and saw it was Sarah McIntire.

'Hello, Major.'

'Specialist,' he said in short greeting.

'Well, I just wanted to say... well, sir, you have a good--'

'What is your specialty again, Sarah?' he asked, then brought the cup to his mouth and sipped the hot coffee.

'Mines and tunnels, soon to be an assistant director for the Geology Department. I get my master's in three weeks from the Colorado School of Mines.'

'Think you'll stay in after you get your commission?'

'I believe so; I love the Group, but may be a tad intimidated going back out into the real army as a second lieutenant.'

McIntire smiled and looked into Jack's eyes and was about to ask if he wanted to order something to eat, when the speakers tucked away in the far corners of the cafeteria cut her off.

'Will Discovery Team Odin report to the briefing room please? Discovery Team Odin to briefing,' the computerized voice interrupted them.

Sarah lowered her eyes when the call came. Her team name was Hokkaido. The name had never once been called outside of drills since she'd begun at the Event Group.

Jack stood and pushed his chair back when he heard the code name of the advance Discovery team.

'If you have need for a geologist or a tunnel team, think of me and my geology team, will you? We're good, Major, we'd be an asset,' she said, saving Collins the embarrassment of asking her out.

Jack noticed the sad smile and said, 'Will do,' and winked. 'And, Sarah, if you weren't good, I doubt you'd be here.'

Sarah watched him hurry through the double doors of the cafeteria and suddenly realized what the call for the Discovery team meant.

'I'll be damned, they found the crash site,' she mumbled to no one but herself. She glanced around the cafeteria at cooks hurriedly making up box lunches and throwing together coffee for the Discovery team to take into the field. How she wished she could be going out there with them.

TWENTY-TWO

Gus jumped when Mahjtic suddenly sprang from the bed and ran to the window opposite the door. The quick movement had to have caused great pain in the small being's body.

'What in the sam hell are you doin'?' Gus asked, getting to his feet.

Mahjtic had almost ripped the blind away and was gazing outside into the night through the dirty window. The bald head turned first to the left, then quickly to the right, and its eyes were wider than normal. It first growled low under its breath, then became quiet again as it searched the area around the small house.

Gus had given his visitor one of his old white shirts (white when Lyndon Johnson had been president anyway) after the small alien had finished eating. The shirt was overly large and was bunched around its small, slender feet, and Gus saw the movement of the cloth as the small alien trembled. Its long, strange fingers were gripping the sill tightly as it watched the darkness outside.

'What's eatin' you, son?'

Mahjtic continued to scan the dark night, head moving to a spot, looking intently for a moment, then moving on to another area in the darkness. Again it moved its head and looked toward the pen where Gus had kept Buck, and the chicken coop that sat beside it. Then it finally turned away and glanced back at Gus.

'Maybe you heard that damn mule coming back.'

The large lids slid closed from the side of its head as it blinked again. That strange tilt of the head followed. 'Buck-kkk,' it said in that cottony, buzz-sounding voice, trying to pronounce the word correctly.

'He's my mule,' he finally said, then added quickly, 'and my friend.'

'He...is lost from... this... home?' Mahjtic asked, turning from the window.

Gus didn't know if not having the headaches and nose bleeds was worth the terrible noise of the alien's real voice. It was like scraping your fingernails across a chalkboard.

'Shit, Buck boy knows that damn desert better'n I do. Nah, he's not lost'

Mahjtic turned back to the four-paned window. It brought its hand to its bandaged head and touched it gingerly as its head turned left, then right, scanning the scrub and desert outside.

'The Destroyer is hunting'

The old man turned his eyes away from the window and looked at his strange guest, ignoring the pain its words caused. 'You mean to say somethin's huntin' Buck?' Gus asked with raised eyebrows.

The small alien closed its eyes. The smooth nose twitched once, then it opened its eyes again and looked at the old man. 'Destroyer hunts' it said in its irritatingly gravelly voice, then pointed at Gus, and then its long finger turned and pointed at itself.

'And just what is this Destroyer?' the old man asked, walking slowly away from the window.