The Mystery of the Blazing Cliffs - M. V. Carey [37]
Fog carpeted the meadow with a thick white cloud. Pete groped forward until he found a clump of scrub brush. He and Konrad crept behind it and settled down to wait.
It seemed hours before there were voices on the field below the dam. Pete sat forward and strained to see through the fog. There was a flash of light and a clatter of stones, and Barron and his wife climbed over the rocks at the east end of the dam. The two passed within feet of the place where Pete and Konrad were hidden. Pete could see that Barron carried a bulky package under his arm. Mrs. Barron walked quietly beside him, and she also carried a package. Hers was bulkier than Mr. Barron’s.
The Barrons paused after they had gone ten metres into the meadow. They stood still, the fog swirling around them.
“Suppose they don’t come,” said Mrs. Barron loudly.
“They’ll come,” said Mr. Barron. “They promised.”
Suddenly the meadow was alive with blue-white brilliance. The Barrons started, and Mrs. Barron stepped closer to her husband.
The cliffs were on fire. The flames seemed to shred the fog into bluish wisps and send it whirling on the night air.
Pete heard Konrad gasp. Something round and dark was settling towards the valley. It came from above and it moved as silently as a cloud. For a moment it blocked out the light from the blazing cliffs. Then the flames shone silver on its surface.
“It is the spaceship!” whispered Konrad.
“Shhh!” warned Pete.
The great ship touched the ground, and suddenly the flames on the cliffs dwindled and went out. For a moment nothing moved on the meadow. Then two figures came out of the darkness and the fog. They were clad in gleaming white spacesuits and they wore helmets.
The one in front carried a light that looked like a blue torch.
Pete hardly dared to breathe. The aliens paused near the Barrons.
“Charles Barron?” said a voice. “Ernestine Barron?”
“I’m here,” said Barron. “My wife is with me.”
“Are you ready to leave?” said the spaceman with the light. “Have you brought everything you wish to take with you?”
“I’ve brought the only thing that can’t be replaced,” declared Charles Barron. He held his package out towards the astronaut. “Blight! ” he said.
“What?” said the alien.
“Blight! ” Barron repeated the word. “It’s the title of the book I’m writing. It’s about the flaws in the American economic structure. Perhaps on Omega I’ll have a chance to finish it at last.”
“Is that all?” said the spaceman. Pete had to hold himself to keep from laughing. The man from Omega had developed a shaky voice.
“That’s all I’ve brought,” said Barron. “My wife has her own treasures.”
Mrs. Barron stepped forward. “I’ve brought the latest pictures of my two sons,” she said, “and my wedding dress. I just couldn’t leave it behind.”
“I see,” said the spaceman. “Very well. Come with us.”
The aliens retreated the way they had come and the Barrons started after them. Pete stood up, suddenly afraid. The Barrons were no more than indistinct shapes moving through a dream landscape of fog. In a moment they would vanish completely.
But then the aliens stopped. The one who held the torch stepped to one side, and the second one spun around to face the Barrons. His arms were raised stiffly, pointing toward Barron and his wife. Pete realized that this was a stance he had seen thousands of times on television. The spaceman was aiming a gun!
“Okay, Dad!” said the man. “Don’t move.”
The man with the torch waded through the fog to the great saucer-shaped thing that was moored on the meadow. He bent and fumbled with something, then moved and bent again. Suddenly the cliffs blazed once more and the saucer drifted upward. At first it rose slowly, but then it went more and more rapidly until it disappeared into the night above the cliffs.
The flames died and the meadow was silver in the moonlight again.
Charles Barron spoke. “I presume they will see that display of fireworks at the ranch below—and on the road. My people will believe I am gone, and those pitiful imitation soldiers