From the sky
Jackie sat up straight in her bed, gasping for air and covered in a sheen of sweat. Her eyes darted around the bedroom, searching for something out of place or wrong, but everything looked normal in the pale moonlight shining through the blinds. Nothing sounded out of the ordinary, crickets chirping outside, her husband Mike snoring softly, soundly sleeping. She reaches for her bedside table, fumbling with the lamp before turning on the switch, filling the room with its warm glow. She put on her glasses, some hair getting stuck between the frames and her face. She sat at the edge of her bed and tries to remember what in her dream had woke her, the details of what was so vivid just moments ago slipping away from her memory. Jackie looks at the clock, 2:55 a. She walks over to her bathroom, feet gently slapping the cold tile. She sits and pees, looking at her reflection in the mirror across from her. Dark purple bags sit under her eyes, evidence of her troubled nights this past week. She finishes her business, walks to the sink and splashes some water on her face. Staring at herself in the mirror she felt dread. She shooks off the thought as just some anxiety and decides to go out on the porch for some fresh air. She stared at the sky when out of nowhere, the sky erupted with blinding light. Long shadows showed the speed of whatever was hurdling towards the earth, the cacti’s shadows running across the lawn. The sound of a thunder strike filled the air, followed by an explosive impact, shaking the ground. Silence and darkness returned, Only to be pierced with the sound of car alarms and dogs barking. Jackie rubbed her eyes, trying to adjust back to darkness. Suddenly she ran inside the house, shoved her feet into her running shoes by the door and darted down the street, running after whatever had just landed.
Three miles away, a new crater had formed in the desert dirt. The scene looked almost apocalyptic with sagebrush aflame, giving the area a reddish glow. The impact was so hot and intense that some dirt had turned to glass, greens and reds sparkling with the dance of the fire surrounding the area. In the middle of a crater, still aflame, sat a large meteor, about the size of a refrigerator, rounded into a slightly teardrop shape. Small fragments of the meteor littered its path leaving cars dented and windows and windshields shattered. Thousands of people awoke, confused at what had just happened. The fire of the meteor died down, and with a tremendous, shuddering crack, it split in two. At this exact moment 3 women, Jackie, Marian, and Ellie, were all running towards this same place. It was as if something as strong and basic as the human instinct to find food had been awakened. They each threw on shoes and, in their pajamas, walked in the same direction towards the crater and the meteor inside it.
Jackie didn’t know where she was headed, but she had to get there fast. She didn’t know what it was or why shy was going to it. She jogged down the street towards the end of the road where asphalt turns to dirt. She wore nothing but her nightgown and her running shoes without socks which she had thrown on without tying as she walked out the door. As she got onto the dirt road, she saw someone about 30 feet ahead of her on the same dirt road. She sped up her pace, and recognized her as her neighbor, Marian.
Dr. Marian Snow was a simple woman, never wore makeup, didn’t ask for much and didn’t worry herself with the latest trends. She was also a doctor, not too good with bedside manners, but had a dark humor that made a lot of patients like her. She was a little over 40, divorced, only seeing her kids on holidays as they lived across the country in New York with her Ex husband. She wore sweatpants and a moth eaten t-shirt, won 20 years ago at a basketball game for a team that doesn’t even play in Arizona anymore. She had only thrown on a pair of gardening crocs before leaving her house. She was asleep when she was woken up by a loud, thundering crash. She didn’t even think about running after the source of the noise. She thought she was still in a dream. It wasn’t until she saw Jackie come running up next to her she suddenly realized she was awake after all.
They jogged in silence for another mile or so, Marian struggling to keep up, but determined. The dirt road turned, but they hopped the short fence and continued in the desert sand. They ran for a few minutes more until they saw the fires. They slow down their pace and walk slowly, transfixed on what was before them. As they approached they saw a figure standing near the flames. There stood Ellie, in a flowing night gown, bare feet bleeding. The fire reflecting in her eyes, hair dancing gently in the soft wind. The three women stood, staring down into the hole at the fractured meteorite inside.
The meteorite trembled once more, and suddenly the women could see what was inside. Inside the burnt dark iron shell, peaked a purple cluster of crystals gleams, looking like a geode. Ellie was the first to move. She stepped down into the crater, Glass shards of melted sand cut her already bleeding feet. Jackie and Marian followed immediately, and they surrounded the meteorite, still glowing with heat from its descent to earth. Timidly, staring unblinking at the rock they stretched forward their hands and touch the crystals.
The next morning Jackie woke up in her bed. She sat up and grabbed her head, which was pounding with a headache. She saw her shoes kicked off at the side of the bed and noticed her legs are dirty and she smells like smoke. Mike rolls over in bed and lets out a long groan as he stretches. He gets up and walked to the bathroom. Jackie turned on the TV and changed the station to the local news. There are CCTV and security cam video footage clips showing this mysterious light in the sky. She flips to the next news channel and it is a reporter reporting live from the crater. There are scientists and government officials with clipboards and equipment standing in the background.
“Researchers are stumped at the mysterious disappearance of what would have had to be a car-sized meteor in the Arizona Desert. There are no signs of any vehicles which would have taken it away. I’m turning it over to NASA scientist and astronomer, Phil Nielsen. Phil?”
Images of flames and other women in the desert flicker through Jackie’s mind. She tries to remember what happened last night, but the next thing she remembers after touching the meteor was waking up in bed. She remembers that Marian and Ellie were there as well, and goes to call them on her phone. Before she can dial the number, there is a knock at the door.
“Who the hell could be at the door this early?” Mike asked, annoyed.
“Don’t worry, I got it.” Jackie quickly throws a robe on and walks to the door. Standing on the porch is Ellie, wearing the same nightgown from the night before, but with a sweatshirt thrown over the top and flip flops on. Bandages cover her feet, blood soaking through at some parts.
“What happened last night” Ellie asked abruptly. Jackie looked around the street and invited Ellie in, closing the door quickly behind her. Ellie was a young, newly married woman who had just moved to this small neighborhood. She worked as a nurse at the same hospital Jackie worked at, though they hardly ever ran into each other. Jackie worked in the labs at the hospital and spent most of her days testing blood samples.
As soon as Ellie and Jackie sat down to talk, the door rang again. Not bothering for an answer, Marian walked in. “What was that?” She demanded from the other women.
“I don’t know. I just saw the light, heard the noise and had to find the cause of it” said Ellie as she nervously rubbed her hands on her lap.
“Let me take a look at those feet. I know we all went and saw that thing, but what was it? How did I get home? I can’t remember anything” Marian said as she knelt down next to Ellie and started removing the bandages from her feet. The soles of her feet were blistered and raw, dirt and glass having been already washed out by Ellie herself. Marian Stood and asked “Where is your first aide? I know you should have something halfway decent, the hospital tends to give employees something.”
“In the kitchen under the sink. I am just as confused as the rest of you. Did you see the news” The other women shook their heads, Marian walking to the kitchen. Jackie grabbed the remote and turned the TV on to the local news. More images and videos of the crater and the scientists at the scene.
“It’s gone. How is it gone? Did we move it?” She asked, confused. Marian stared at the screen as she cleaned and bandaged Ellie’s feet.
The reporter turned the camera to a government-looking person.
“If anyone has any information about the meteorite, please call 1-800-545-554-6331. We are offering a reward for the whereabouts of this meteorite.”
“Do you guys think we should call in? Tell them we were there last night?Maybe they could clear up any questions-” asked Ellie.
“Are you crazy?” Interrupted Marian. “What if they suspect we were the ones who took it?”
“How would three people on foot move a meteor that big? And even if we did take it, how would we hide it? I think we should call.” Said Jackie as she reached for the phone. Marian looked like she would protest, but just closed her mouth tight and went back to caring for Ellie’s feet.
“Hello, this is Fort Douglas’s office, how may I help you?” Asked a staccato voice on the other side of the phone.
“Hi, me and some people have some information on the meteorite. We saw it last night.”
“Yes a lot of people saw the light in the sky and felt the impact. Did you notice anything else?”
“No..Like we actually were at the crater and saw it after impact last night”
“Oh..Let me transfer your call;please hold a minute.”
Two hours later Jackie, Ellie and Marian were all sitting, dressed this time, in a sterile-looking tent set up near the crater. Scientists scanned the area with equipment and took samples of dirt and any tailings they found in the area. Two men walk in, one in military fatigues and the other in a black suit talking into a cell phone. They sat across from the women, and the man in the suit hung up on whoever he was talking so urgently to. They exchanged a glance, then the man in military fatigues cleared his voice and talked to them in a rough, smokers voice.
“So, they told us your stories. What you experienced was strange, but not unique. There have been several instances in the last year similar to yours. The first instance was off the coast of Hawaii. Three men, in the middle of the night swam out to the crash site, dove down an incredible depth without proper diving gear, touched it and the next thing they remembered was waking up in their beds. The next was in Kansas, Three children found it this time. Then South Africa, then Germany, then Chile, then near Moscow in Russia. Each time the meteors are gone, and each individual has no memory past touching whatever was inside. Yours situation, however is the first time we had someone else see what happened. We had an agent take a helicopter towards the site immediately after the initial impact. He had a hard time seeing what happened himself, but we got infrared and heat-sensing-footage from a vantage point at the top of a red rock formation nearby. Would you like to see?”
The women were speechless. Ellie looks at the other women, perhaps searching their faces to see if they heard what she had heard. Marian looked like she had seen a ghost, but nodded her head. The man in black took a remote that was in the center of the table and they all turned to a projector screen at the head of the table.
“First we will show you the infrared video”
The image was shaky, and you could barely make out the three women. It showed them walking towards the meteor, standing for a minute and finally touching the thing. It looked as if they just stood, bent over touching the meteor for ages. The man in black fast forwarded the tape for 30 minutes, and played it again. They each removed their hands, and as they did the meteor crumbled into dust, blowing away in the breeze. The video ended as they walked out of the screen.
“What...how long were we there?” Jackie stammered out, fear in her eyes.
“47 minutes 33 seconds total, with exactly 33 minutes in contact with the object. That was interesting, and confusing. However things get more...well I’ll just let you watch the heat sensing video.”
The man in the suit played the next video. The meteor in the middle was as hot as the scale went, a brilliant, bright white, with a dark purple center. The fires were also close in color, and the melted sand turned glass was a lighter shade of purple. The three women were considerably colder, blue outlines. As they walked toward the objects their temperature raised, but not too much. However, when they touched the object they became the same bright white. Bright white figures started what looked like peeling off them. At first a few, then hundreds surrounded them. As they finally let go of the object their heat dropped drastically back to the same blue, and they walked away, being followed by these figures that had peeled off of them. The object suddenly dropped in temperature, going from the bright white down to the same blue as them, then colder and colder until it hit the lowest color on the spectrum of the sensor and shattered.”
The three women were pale. Marian looking as if she were about to cry. Jackie’s knuckles were white gripping the armrests of the chair. Ellie’s eyes were glazed over, she looked as if she were about to pass out. The man in the suit finally spoke up.
“ We don’t know what these are, but they follow whoever touched the object. We have conducted tests on the other individuals who have been where you are and found that these...things, they can interact with us, and work to protect their hosts from harm. We know they can control physical things despite not being visible other than on heat-sensors. They do not communicate. We are trying to learn more and hope you will be cooperative.”
“Cooperative?” asked Mirian.
“Yes. There is much more testing to be done. We do not know if these are a threat to humanity, so we can not let you out into the public with these things following you.”
“I just want to go home” mumbled Ellie, through tears. The man in military fatigues looked down at the ground before walking to the entrance of the tent. In came three soldiers carrying boxes.
“I apologize, but we hope you understand we are only doing this to protect humanity.”
The women didn’t even try to fight back. They were given sterile white loose shirts and grey sweatpants, both with numbers on the front and back.
“You will be flown to Fort Douglas, your accommodations are comfortable and safe, you will be able to interact with others like you, but your families will not be informed of your location, for their own protection.”
The men stood up and left the room, leaving them alone with the three soldiers.
“I apologize ma’am.” The shortest of the three said, then they all put on gas masks from inside the boxes and the room flooded with gas.
Jackie sat up straight in her bed, gasping for air and covered in a sheen of sweat. Her eyes darted around the bedroom, searching for something out of place or wrong, but everything looked normal in the pale moonlight shining through the blinds. Nothing sounded out of the ordinary, crickets chirping outside, her husband Mike snoring softly, soundly sleeping. She reaches for her bedside table, fumbling with the lamp before turning on the switch, filling the room with its warm glow. She put on her glasses, some hair getting stuck between the frames and her face. She sat at the edge of her bed and tries to remember what in her dream had woke her, the details of what was so vivid just moments ago slipping away from her memory. Jackie looks at the clock, 2:55 a. She walks over to her bathroom, feet gently slapping the cold tile. She sits and pees, looking at her reflection in the mirror across from her. Dark purple bags sit under her eyes, evidence of her troubled nights this past week. She finishes her business, walks to the sink and splashes some water on her face. Staring at herself in the mirror she felt dread. She shooks off the thought as just some anxiety and decides to go out on the porch for some fresh air. She stared at the sky when out of nowhere, the sky erupted with blinding light. Long shadows showed the speed of whatever was hurdling towards the earth, the cacti’s shadows running across the lawn. The sound of a thunder strike filled the air, followed by an explosive impact, shaking the ground. Silence and darkness returned, Only to be pierced with the sound of car alarms and dogs barking. Jackie rubbed her eyes, trying to adjust back to darkness. Suddenly she ran inside the house, shoved her feet into her running shoes by the door and darted down the street, running after whatever had just landed.
Three miles away, a new crater had formed in the desert dirt. The scene looked almost apocalyptic with sagebrush aflame, giving the area a reddish glow. The impact was so hot and intense that some dirt had turned to glass, greens and reds sparkling with the dance of the fire surrounding the area. In the middle of a crater, still aflame, sat a large meteor, about the size of a refrigerator, rounded into a slightly teardrop shape. Small fragments of the meteor littered its path leaving cars dented and windows and windshields shattered. Thousands of people awoke, confused at what had just happened. The fire of the meteor died down, and with a tremendous, shuddering crack, it split in two. At this exact moment 3 women, Jackie, Marian, and Ellie, were all running towards this same place. It was as if something as strong and basic as the human instinct to find food had been awakened. They each threw on shoes and, in their pajamas, walked in the same direction towards the crater and the meteor inside it.
Jackie didn’t know where she was headed, but she had to get there fast. She didn’t know what it was or why shy was going to it. She jogged down the street towards the end of the road where asphalt turns to dirt. She wore nothing but her nightgown and her running shoes without socks which she had thrown on without tying as she walked out the door. As she got onto the dirt road, she saw someone about 30 feet ahead of her on the same dirt road. She sped up her pace, and recognized her as her neighbor, Marian.
Dr. Marian Snow was a simple woman, never wore makeup, didn’t ask for much and didn’t worry herself with the latest trends. She was also a doctor, not too good with bedside manners, but had a dark humor that made a lot of patients like her. She was a little over 40, divorced, only seeing her kids on holidays as they lived across the country in New York with her Ex husband. She wore sweatpants and a moth eaten t-shirt, won 20 years ago at a basketball game for a team that doesn’t even play in Arizona anymore. She had only thrown on a pair of gardening crocs before leaving her house. She was asleep when she was woken up by a loud, thundering crash. She didn’t even think about running after the source of the noise. She thought she was still in a dream. It wasn’t until she saw Jackie come running up next to her she suddenly realized she was awake after all.
They jogged in silence for another mile or so, Marian struggling to keep up, but determined. The dirt road turned, but they hopped the short fence and continued in the desert sand. They ran for a few minutes more until they saw the fires. They slow down their pace and walk slowly, transfixed on what was before them. As they approached they saw a figure standing near the flames. There stood Ellie, in a flowing night gown, bare feet bleeding. The fire reflecting in her eyes, hair dancing gently in the soft wind. The three women stood, staring down into the hole at the fractured meteorite inside.
The meteorite trembled once more, and suddenly the women could see what was inside. Inside the burnt dark iron shell, peaked a purple cluster of crystals gleams, looking like a geode. Ellie was the first to move. She stepped down into the crater, Glass shards of melted sand cut her already bleeding feet. Jackie and Marian followed immediately, and they surrounded the meteorite, still glowing with heat from its descent to earth. Timidly, staring unblinking at the rock they stretched forward their hands and touch the crystals.
The next morning Jackie woke up in her bed. She sat up and grabbed her head, which was pounding with a headache. She saw her shoes kicked off at the side of the bed and noticed her legs are dirty and she smells like smoke. Mike rolls over in bed and lets out a long groan as he stretches. He gets up and walked to the bathroom. Jackie turned on the TV and changed the station to the local news. There are CCTV and security cam video footage clips showing this mysterious light in the sky. She flips to the next news channel and it is a reporter reporting live from the crater. There are scientists and government officials with clipboards and equipment standing in the background.
“Researchers are stumped at the mysterious disappearance of what would have had to be a car-sized meteor in the Arizona Desert. There are no signs of any vehicles which would have taken it away. I’m turning it over to NASA scientist and astronomer, Phil Nielsen. Phil?”
Images of flames and other women in the desert flicker through Jackie’s mind. She tries to remember what happened last night, but the next thing she remembers after touching the meteor was waking up in bed. She remembers that Marian and Ellie were there as well, and goes to call them on her phone. Before she can dial the number, there is a knock at the door.
“Who the hell could be at the door this early?” Mike asked, annoyed.
“Don’t worry, I got it.” Jackie quickly throws a robe on and walks to the door. Standing on the porch is Ellie, wearing the same nightgown from the night before, but with a sweatshirt thrown over the top and flip flops on. Bandages cover her feet, blood soaking through at some parts.
“What happened last night” Ellie asked abruptly. Jackie looked around the street and invited Ellie in, closing the door quickly behind her. Ellie was a young, newly married woman who had just moved to this small neighborhood. She worked as a nurse at the same hospital Jackie worked at, though they hardly ever ran into each other. Jackie worked in the labs at the hospital and spent most of her days testing blood samples.
As soon as Ellie and Jackie sat down to talk, the door rang again. Not bothering for an answer, Marian walked in. “What was that?” She demanded from the other women.
“I don’t know. I just saw the light, heard the noise and had to find the cause of it” said Ellie as she nervously rubbed her hands on her lap.
“Let me take a look at those feet. I know we all went and saw that thing, but what was it? How did I get home? I can’t remember anything” Marian said as she knelt down next to Ellie and started removing the bandages from her feet. The soles of her feet were blistered and raw, dirt and glass having been already washed out by Ellie herself. Marian Stood and asked “Where is your first aide? I know you should have something halfway decent, the hospital tends to give employees something.”
“In the kitchen under the sink. I am just as confused as the rest of you. Did you see the news” The other women shook their heads, Marian walking to the kitchen. Jackie grabbed the remote and turned the TV on to the local news. More images and videos of the crater and the scientists at the scene.
“It’s gone. How is it gone? Did we move it?” She asked, confused. Marian stared at the screen as she cleaned and bandaged Ellie’s feet.
The reporter turned the camera to a government-looking person.
“If anyone has any information about the meteorite, please call 1-800-545-554-6331. We are offering a reward for the whereabouts of this meteorite.”
“Do you guys think we should call in? Tell them we were there last night?Maybe they could clear up any questions-” asked Ellie.
“Are you crazy?” Interrupted Marian. “What if they suspect we were the ones who took it?”
“How would three people on foot move a meteor that big? And even if we did take it, how would we hide it? I think we should call.” Said Jackie as she reached for the phone. Marian looked like she would protest, but just closed her mouth tight and went back to caring for Ellie’s feet.
“Hello, this is Fort Douglas’s office, how may I help you?” Asked a staccato voice on the other side of the phone.
“Hi, me and some people have some information on the meteorite. We saw it last night.”
“Yes a lot of people saw the light in the sky and felt the impact. Did you notice anything else?”
“No..Like we actually were at the crater and saw it after impact last night”
“Oh..Let me transfer your call;please hold a minute.”
Two hours later Jackie, Ellie and Marian were all sitting, dressed this time, in a sterile-looking tent set up near the crater. Scientists scanned the area with equipment and took samples of dirt and any tailings they found in the area. Two men walk in, one in military fatigues and the other in a black suit talking into a cell phone. They sat across from the women, and the man in the suit hung up on whoever he was talking so urgently to. They exchanged a glance, then the man in military fatigues cleared his voice and talked to them in a rough, smokers voice.
“So, they told us your stories. What you experienced was strange, but not unique. There have been several instances in the last year similar to yours. The first instance was off the coast of Hawaii. Three men, in the middle of the night swam out to the crash site, dove down an incredible depth without proper diving gear, touched it and the next thing they remembered was waking up in their beds. The next was in Kansas, Three children found it this time. Then South Africa, then Germany, then Chile, then near Moscow in Russia. Each time the meteors are gone, and each individual has no memory past touching whatever was inside. Yours situation, however is the first time we had someone else see what happened. We had an agent take a helicopter towards the site immediately after the initial impact. He had a hard time seeing what happened himself, but we got infrared and heat-sensing-footage from a vantage point at the top of a red rock formation nearby. Would you like to see?”
The women were speechless. Ellie looks at the other women, perhaps searching their faces to see if they heard what she had heard. Marian looked like she had seen a ghost, but nodded her head. The man in black took a remote that was in the center of the table and they all turned to a projector screen at the head of the table.
“First we will show you the infrared video”
The image was shaky, and you could barely make out the three women. It showed them walking towards the meteor, standing for a minute and finally touching the thing. It looked as if they just stood, bent over touching the meteor for ages. The man in black fast forwarded the tape for 30 minutes, and played it again. They each removed their hands, and as they did the meteor crumbled into dust, blowing away in the breeze. The video ended as they walked out of the screen.
“What...how long were we there?” Jackie stammered out, fear in her eyes.
“47 minutes 33 seconds total, with exactly 33 minutes in contact with the object. That was interesting, and confusing. However things get more...well I’ll just let you watch the heat sensing video.”
The man in the suit played the next video. The meteor in the middle was as hot as the scale went, a brilliant, bright white, with a dark purple center. The fires were also close in color, and the melted sand turned glass was a lighter shade of purple. The three women were considerably colder, blue outlines. As they walked toward the objects their temperature raised, but not too much. However, when they touched the object they became the same bright white. Bright white figures started what looked like peeling off them. At first a few, then hundreds surrounded them. As they finally let go of the object their heat dropped drastically back to the same blue, and they walked away, being followed by these figures that had peeled off of them. The object suddenly dropped in temperature, going from the bright white down to the same blue as them, then colder and colder until it hit the lowest color on the spectrum of the sensor and shattered.”
The three women were pale. Marian looking as if she were about to cry. Jackie’s knuckles were white gripping the armrests of the chair. Ellie’s eyes were glazed over, she looked as if she were about to pass out. The man in the suit finally spoke up.
“ We don’t know what these are, but they follow whoever touched the object. We have conducted tests on the other individuals who have been where you are and found that these...things, they can interact with us, and work to protect their hosts from harm. We know they can control physical things despite not being visible other than on heat-sensors. They do not communicate. We are trying to learn more and hope you will be cooperative.”
“Cooperative?” asked Mirian.
“Yes. There is much more testing to be done. We do not know if these are a threat to humanity, so we can not let you out into the public with these things following you.”
“I just want to go home” mumbled Ellie, through tears. The man in military fatigues looked down at the ground before walking to the entrance of the tent. In came three soldiers carrying boxes.
“I apologize, but we hope you understand we are only doing this to protect humanity.”
The women didn’t even try to fight back. They were given sterile white loose shirts and grey sweatpants, both with numbers on the front and back.
“You will be flown to Fort Douglas, your accommodations are comfortable and safe, you will be able to interact with others like you, but your families will not be informed of your location, for their own protection.”
The men stood up and left the room, leaving them alone with the three soldiers.
“I apologize ma’am.” The shortest of the three said, then they all put on gas masks from inside the boxes and the room flooded with gas.