90_Minutes_to_Live (34 page)

“Or both,” Kit murmured under his breath. He winced but kept quiet when Bev ground her heel on his toes.

“Wait, what’s that?” Ching pointed at the screen. It showed a clump of five long-leafed trees against a backdrop of naked rock outcroppings. Barren ground surrounded the trees.

Off in the distance, tiny, winged creatures swooped and darted against a burnt-ochre sky.

“Zoom in on those!” exclaimed Tunney.

Oh, no. Don’t...

Against his will Kit found himself crowding forward with Bev and the scientists. Bodies pressed against him from behind as Sloan, Ramzallah and the Pietros moved closer. A glance backwards showed even the nameless, hulking guards had moved into the garage and were trying to peer over everyone’s heads.

Cooke’s fingers tap-tapped on the keys in rapid fashion as he desperately tried to zoom in and move sideways at the same time, keeping the flying creatures in view. The herky-jerky motion had Kit feeling ill until Cooke accidentally touched the Scroll Lock key and suddenly the movement smoothed out as the screen seemed to track the flight of one creature.

“Excellent! I’ve locked onto one of them,” he said, as if he’d planned it that way.

He zoomed in again and now the details of the animal became distinct.

It was a monkey-bird. Now Kit had his first real look at the flying alien.

Its wings were membranous, like those of a bat. Bluish-green blood vessels stood out clearly against the grayish-brown skin. Long arms and legs, relative to its body size, were tucked against the chest but the black, curved claws were still visible.

Remembering Bev’s previous comment about how the other one had no mouth or nose, he tried to study the face of the constantly darting and diving animal. Other than the eyes, no features were evident.

Until one of its flying partners swerved too close.

The monkey-bird drew back its fur-covered lips in a vicious snarl, and its lower jaw dropped down almost one hundred eighty degrees as the alien displayed overly-large jagged teeth. It lunged forward, snapping at the offending individual, which dodged to one side, just in time to avoid losing a chunk of flesh.

“I think it’s safe to say the creatures are carnivorous,” Tunney commented while he filmed the sequence.

“I’d like to bring one over but they appear too large to handle safely,” Cooke said.

Kit heard the disappointment in his voice.

They’re not so different from Bev and me—eager to grab proof of another world. I’ll bet, if they’d been here that first day, they’d have done exactly the same thing we did.

Well, maybe.

“We should, however, try to find something smaller, more easily managed. If creatures this large exist, there must be smaller members of the local animal kingdom present. Regardless of the environment, a food chain would still work in essentially the same fashion.”

Cooke nodded in response to Ching’s statement and pulled back from the monkey-bird troop to begin scouring the landscape again. He panned to the left, continuing in one direction. Each touch of the Arrow key appeared to move the viewing area by several miles, if not more, as the scenery constantly changed.

The spindly scientist reached a grouping of dense trees, different from what they’d seen before. These were more like palm trees, with wide fronds at the top and no branches below the middle of the knobby, flesh-colored trunk. They were packed together like pines in a northern forest, so dense it was difficult to see between them.

“This would be an excellent location for arboreals, the local equivalents of squirrels perhaps, as well as whatever passes for birds.”

Cooke zoomed in until a single tree filled the monitor and then began moving from one tree to the next. On the fourth tree, he hit paydirt.

“I saw something move!” Ching pointed at the screen.

Cooke nodded, already busy with the keypad. He narrowed the field of view to the lower fronds and waited. A moment later, one of the heavy, wide leaves jiggled and something crawled out onto it.

There was no way to tell how large the thing was but Kit had the impression it would have just fit inside his baseball glove.

“Ugh.” Mrs. Pietro frowned and moved back a few steps.

Kit understood her reaction. The creature trudging across the sand-colored frond had twelve legs, six on each side and two bulbous eyes at one end. Each eye moved independently of the other, the same as a chameleon’s, and had two pupils. One looked up while the other looked down.

“A perfect adaptation for arboreal life,” Tunney stated. He leaned past Ching, capturing every detail in his camcorder.

The three-segmented body paused, giving everyone a good look at it. Below the eyes were two sets of mandibles, one vertical and one horizontal. They slowly opened and closed first one, and then the other. The two back segments expanded and contracted in regular motion. No antennae were visible but random patches of thick, stiff hairs sprouted from various locations on the body and multi-jointed legs.

“Amazing.” Cooke tapped the Up Arrow once, increasing the magnification. Now a pattern of dark maroon blotches was visible against charcoal gray flesh.

“Is it too large?” Cooke asked.

“No.” Ching lifted an empty Styrofoam cooler. “I’ll position this so the creature drops into it. Once the lid is closed, we can bag the entire container.”

“I don’t want that thing in my garage,” Mrs. Pietro stated.

The scientists ignored her. Ching placed the container between the two antennae of the transporter and nodded to Cooke. “Ready.”

*   *   *

When he looked back on that moment, Kit often saw everything in slow motion. Cooke’s finger lifting up—beginning its downward path towards the Enter key.

The sudden fuzziness on the screen as something interjected itself between their mystical camera and the life form on the frond.

An impression of an eye just as Cooke depressed the Enter key.

The beginning of the yellow glow.

*   *   *

“Stop! There’s something in the way.” Bev jumped forward and started smashing at the Down Arrow key.

It was too late. On the monitor, the view reversed, revealing first a face and then an entire body.

They’d been wrong in their estimation of size. Unless the alien planet was inhabited by a race of giants, the palm trees were only a couple of feet high and the spidery-thing barely two inches long.

“How do you stop this thing?” Now Cooke was hitting keys as well, smashing his entire hand down on the keyboard.

“I’m trying,” Bev told him.

“Unplug it!” Kit heard his voice go up an octave but didn’t care.
No way
he wanted that thing coming into the garage.

Not with those teeth.

Bev’s mother screamed and the security team moved forward, pushing people out of the way. Bev reached out to hit the Off button but fell to the floor as Cooke slid back in the chair and hit her legs. Kit grabbed for the power cord but he missed. He found himself on the ground next to Bev as one of the security men shoved him away from the table.

Somehow, over the confusion of shouts and clatter, Kit heard the distinctive
Pop
that signaled something entering their world.

Bev’s eyes widened and he knew she’d heard it too. He grabbed her hand.

“Hide!”

They crawled across the stained cement to Mr. Pietro’s Jeep Liberty.

“Get inside.” Kit opened one of the back doors and waited for Bev to jump in, then followed her, closing the door behind him. He prayed the darkly-tinted windows would hide them in the dim light of the garage.

Movement on the table caught his attention. The nightmarish creature from the other world had fallen through the black disk. It was even larger than he’d thought, easily six feet tall. Bev gasped and he pressed his hand against her mouth until she shook her head.

More than anything else, the life form resembled a skeleton with the barest amount of flesh still wrapped around the bones. Its flat, expressionless face turned this way and that as it fought for its balance on the table. A pair of black pupils floated in each sulfurous yellow, over-sized eyeball.

Its mouth opened and a high-pitched, keening cry echoed through the garage, painful even through the closed windows of the Jeep.

One of the security guards had hustled the scientists, teachers and Bev’s parents out to the driveway but now he stopped and put his hands over his ears. The remaining two guards drew their guns and fired at the alien.

Several of the bullets scored direct hits, flinging the dark-brown visitor backwards off the table and into a metal rack of shelves. The alien crashed to the floor amidst a pile of cans and boxes.

The two guards moved slowly forward, alert for any movement.

It didn’t help them.

The creature bounded up from behind the workbench and leaped onto one of the guards. It sank its inch-long, pointed teeth into the man’s neck and tore out a lump of flesh. It didn’t wait to see if the man was dead; it just jumped onto the second guard, who managed to fire two more shots before his arm was pulled from its socket. He tried to scream but the alien shoved a clawed hand into his mouth and tore off his lower jaw in one quick motion.

The third guard ran forward, gun out and firing. It seemed hard to believe he could miss at that range but not once did the monster flinch or fall backwards. Instead, it dove for the man’s legs and tackled him. The two went down in a heap. The man, who looked to outweigh the alien by a good forty pounds, got on top and rammed his gun against the bulbous head.

Kit waited for the sound of the gun but it never came.

“Oh God,” whispered Bev, as the last security guard leaned to the side. A long-fingered brown hand stuck out through his back. It clutched a section of red, glistening spine.

The man toppled over, a crimson pool spreading beneath him, blotting out the old oil stains on the cement.

Bev’s parents stood frozen, their mouths hanging open, as the emaciated figure rose up and approached the end of the garage.

“No.” Bev grabbed for the door handle but Kit pushed her down to the floor, held her there with his feet.

She didn’t need to see this but he couldn’t look away.

The alien reached up one skeletal arm and pulled the garage door down, cutting off the sight of the adults’ shocked faces and thrusting the garage into semi-darkness.

Outside, shouts and banging sounded but the alien ignored them. From further away, police sirens howled to life.

Kit’s blood turned colder than Miller’s stream in November, as the alien stared at the computer keyboard and at the image of the trees on the monitor.

The air in the Jeep was stifling, sweat rolled down Kit’s face, the tickle demanding immediate attention, but he steeled himself against any movement. He did remember to lift his feet and let Bev slide back up, onto the seat.

She clutched his hand as the intruder started tapping a long nail on the keys.

“That’s more than just basic intelligence at work. It has knowledge of technology.” Bev’s whisper floated in the still air, barely audible.

How would I feel if something yanked me from my home to another world? Scared? Angry? For all we know, this thing was with its family, enjoying a nice walk in the park, when we stole it from everything it ever knew.

All I’d want to do, is go home.

It only took the creature a few minutes to figure out the keyboard controls. It wasted no time zooming in on another of its kind.

Instead of hitting the Enter key, the alien moved the two antennae to the floor and spaced them as far apart as their wires would allow, almost ten feet.

Then it held down Control-Alt-Delete.

The familiar yellow glow formed but it didn’t stop when it reached softball size. By the time it was eight feet in diameter, the harsh tang of heated metal had filled the car almost to the choking point.

This time the
Pop
was more like a rifle report in the closed space of the garage.

From out of the black disk stepped another alien.

And another.

The disk didn’t disappear, not even when the tenth one came out.

Or the twentieth.

Kit joined Bev on the floor of the Jeep when the invaders opened the garage door and the screaming started. He pressed his hands over his ears and leaned against Bev’s shivering body.

Shadows continued to move past the truck’s tinted windows as more and more aliens made their way through the gate and out into the world.

Kit wondered how long they had left before the transformer finally used up its ninety minutes of life.

Or before something looked into the Jeep.

THE END

Mack and Stretch

Save the Earth

(Young Adult)

By

David Perlmutter

Prospero was ready.

This unknown and unknowable planet from the quadrants beyond the system of Sol had been preparing to conquer what it considered to be the most life giving—and therefore the most obstinate—planet known to exist anywhere: the planet Earth. Conquering this planet would allow Prospero to seize all the available resources located there and take the people who had not died in its invasion into slavery.

This was something the envious world desperately needed. Its own resources were severely tapped and its own people on the cusp of revolution against the ruling classes. The army of Prospero, powered by a higher form of technology indistinguishable from magic, set off to conquer Earth, the only planet in its—or any nearby galaxy capable of sustaining life.

In spite of its preparations however, Prospero was to be surprised at the final results of its attack on Earth. For it seemed others were also practicing the art of magic on Earth, in spite of initial suspicions that that more ancient form of the art had died out hundreds of years ago.

And that was to be their undoing….

II.

Commander Hamlet, the leader of the expeditionary force designed to attack Earth, while examining the object of his imminent invasion through a
magic
device known simply as a Futuroscope, was interrupted by his adjutant Captain MacBeth with some pressing news that required his attention.

“I have the reports of the investigation into the presence of magic on the planet Earth, Sire,” Captain MacBeth said, saluting.

“Very well,” answered Hamlet. “What are the results?”

“There is very little presence of magic on the planet Earth at this moment,” MacBeth responded. “We have, it seems, chosen the right moment in order to take over the planet. They have allowed science to conquer magic fairly easily, judging by the degree to which they allow science to control their industry and defense. Our magic is vastly superior to any level of science which they possess so our conquest seems evident.”

“Seems?” Hamlet was suspicious regarding this last word. “Why this hesitation MacBeth?”

“Because, sir, there are two formidable practitioners of the white magic who live there, who can counter and defeat our black magic. Specifically, in the community of Grand Forks, North Dakota, in the United States of America, on the continent of….”

“Spare me the nomenclature man!” demanded Hamlet. “Who are these two fools who
might
pose a threat to us?”

“Their names, sir, are McKenna Mendelson and Melissa Cunningham, known to their close acquaintances as Mack and Stretch.”

“Have you photographic evidence of their existence? If so, then produce it!”

MacBeth produced such a photograph. Upon seeing it, Hamlet roared with laughter.

In the photograph were two seemingly ordinary thirteen-year-old human girls. The first, McKenna, was short and chunky, with red hair cut with bangs, making a grotesque
funny face
by putting fingers at either side of her mouth; the other, Stretch, had blonde hair cut in a flat bob and was extremely tall and powerful in appearance. She was cradling a strong arm around her friend as she laughed at her antics.

Hamlet continued laughing for a few minutes before finally recovering. When he did, MacBeth approached him again.

“What do you consider so amusing, Sire?” he asked.

“You fool!” Hamlet chuckled. “Am I supposed to consider those two the
only possible obstacle
we have to conquering their worthless planet?”

“But Sire, I speak the truth,” MacBeth protested. “Our records indicate they have performed countless secret acts of sorcery, to save themselves and their community since they became accredited sorcerers three Earth years ago. And they are not only magically gifted, they have physical and mental prowess unmatched among their peers. Ms. McKenna is said to possess the intelligence and cunning of a fox, while Ms. Stretch is said to possess the speed and strength of a dozen men….”

“Posh!” Hamlet cancelled MacBeth’s concern. “Mere speculations! No human being matches our physical prowess; in spite of us all being short-bodied grey creatures with only one red eye in the center of our heads. Besides, no human being can possibly break the Prosperous chains, which we use to imprison our slaves. Go to this Grand Forks and capture them! Once there, we will liquidate them and our invasion can proceed! I want them captured and dead within ninety minutes! Do you hear me? NINETY MINUTES! Now
go
!”

MacBeth could do nothing except leave the room, while watching with some trepidation as his leader continued to laugh.

“The very idea!” he bellowed with glee. “Prospero conquered by Earthling teenagers! How naïve can you GET?”

III.

Hamlet’s orders were carried out, as they always were. And so, the Earth had no idea what was going to hit it—until it was too late…

Meanwhile, our heroines, Mack and Stretch, were cheerfully giggling as they walked home from an invigorating workout session on the campus of the University of North Dakota. Dressed in matching blue track-suits and white sneakers and carrying heavy bags of gear along their shoulders, they might have been mistaken for sisters. For all intent and purpose, that was the case. Both being children of single parents whose jobs required considerable absence from home, Mack and Stretch had long leaned on one another for support. The taller and stronger girl protected her younger associate from attacks by bullies. The shorter and smarter one protected her friend from those who insulted Stretch’s intelligence (which was far greater than her muscle-bound appearance might suggest). They had grown up sharing the same interests, which included both fitness and witchcraft and had become experts in both fields. This paid off in more than one respect.

Stretch was a phenomenal athlete, specializing in basketball, cross country running and field hockey. While Mack did not equal her in physical stature, she more than made up for it in enthusiasm and support for her friend at all times. Mack, in turn, was more than eager to help Stretch through her occasional scholastic emergencies, being as Mack was a regular resident of the Honor Roll. Yet Mack was still envious of Stretch in a way, since scholars rarely get the kind of attention or money given to athletes. But, for the sake of their friendship, she was willing to keep any resentments of that kind to herself.

In any event, Mack and Stretch were almost halfway home when Mack—heavily tired out by lugging her gear bag—stopped to rest on a nearby fire hydrant.

“Gee Mack,” Stretch said. “We’re not home yet!”

“I know that Stretch,” replied Mack. “But,
as you well know,
I don’t possess the kind of Herculean power you have!”

“Herculean?” Stretch asked. (She did possess physical power akin to that of the Greek hero, demonstrated by the fact that she could tote her heavy athletic gear bag around on her shoulder as if it were merely a purse.)

“Yeah. Like Hercules! Remember the Greek mythology unit we did in history?”

“Uh huh. But give me a break Mack! It’s June, for crying out loud! Am I supposed to remember this stuff
all the time
?”

School being out for the summer, the dynamic duo were now free to concentrate—if only temporarily—on their two avocations. Stretch would have wanted to spend every day working out on the UND campus, as she was very much a health nut, concerned about maintaining her mighty musculature as much as possible. The very idea of becoming remotely fat or weak appalled her. Mack however, had different ideas. It was her interest in scholarly affairs that got them involved in witchcraft after all and her subsequent mighty prowess at that activity got them registered as members of the WWW (Witches, Wizards and Warlocks) of Grand Forks. Consequently, Mack was as avid about maintaining this end of her interests. She would have done so even more regularly, if Stretch had not
persuaded
her to join in her workouts for company. Stretch, for her part, felt she was only sub-par as a witch and felt the same envy for Mack’s ability at the art that Mack felt for the size of Stretch’s biceps and deltoids.

“Not
all
the time!” Mack said, as she started to get her breath back and leaned towards her friend. “But you gotta know something more than shoving a ball in a basket, if you’re going to make it in life Stretch!”

“Don’t I know it!” the taller girl replied. “But sometimes I think you rub that point in my face too hard Mack! Not everyone is born a genius like you!”

“Nor, for that matter, is everyone born an
athlete
my friend!” responded Mack. “You saw that personally today when I totally embarrassed myself doing your thing!”

“Don’t be silly Mack! It’s not like I meant to throw that basketball in your face—or you would fall down and trip on that gopher hole when we ran. Or even when we tried to lift weights….”

“Don’t rub that in Ms. Showoff! You were practically balancing the heaviest weight on your
finger
and I could barely lift the
lightest
one!”

“There you go again, comparing me to…what’s-his-name…”

“Hercules!”

“Right. But I’m not
that
strong Mack!”

“Oh, yeah? Well how come your dad always makes you move the furniture around…?”

“Because his back always goes out when
he
tries to do it! Besides, even though you’re pretty smart, you aren’t exactly Einstein either!”

“Are you
insulting
me?” Mack returned, enraged.

“No!” said Stretch. “
This
is an insult!”

She took her bag off her shoulder and dropped it on Mack’s foot, who squealed in pain and threatened to throw a punch at her friend. But Stretch’s mighty arm blocked Mack’s feint easily. Suddenly they stopped, embraced, and laughed like the friends they truly were. That was how things worked out with them; even the best of friends fight once in a while, but they know how to make up in style too.

And then, the aliens arrived….

*   *   *

The arrival was unpleasant, as the Prosperian scout ship blocked the sun as soon as it entered Earth’s atmosphere. And, as it was a clear, sunny day, it was something the two girls noticed immediately.

“Did it get cold all of a sudden?” Mack asked.

“Fraid so!” said Stretch. “And look what caused it!”

It was an enormous Frisbee-shaped disk, the kind of ship that caused alien vessels to be erroneously referred to as flying saucers by the media, many years ago. What was worse, it now descended abruptly down from the skies as soon as Mack and Stretch were spotted!

“Take cover!” Stretch ordered. Quickly the two of them stacked their athletic bags on top of one another in a crude attempt to make a fort, and hid behind them and the fire hydrant, as best they could. But it was hardly enough to fool the aliens.

When it landed across the street from where Mack and Stretch were hiding, the alien scouts emerged from the ship decked out in as much armored plated protection as they could manage. They found the crude hiding place, tore away the bags and unpleasantly hoisted Mack and Stretch to their feet.

“What the hell….” Mack protested. “What do you one-eyed, square-bodied idiots want with us?”

“We want you out of the way!” said the commander of the scout ship. “We were ordered to remove you from the face of existence and that is what we intend to do!”

“But why?” demanded Stretch.

“You two, Ms. Mendelson and Ms. Cunningham, are the only known practitioners of white magic on this planet! You are the only beings capable of destroying and defeating the forces of Prospero in battle with these abilities. Therefore, you must be eliminated!”

“Not on your
life
buddy!” growled Mack.

Together, at a nod from one another, each brought a foot down on the alien holding them prisoner, causing that captor to shout in pain and drop them to the ground. Using all their speed, the human duo ran off in the opposite direction from whence they had come, with the alien pursuers hot on their trail, laser blasters drawn and shooting.

“What do we do Mack?” Stretch gasped.

“We
are
doing it silly!” panted Mack. “We’re running away. And the way we do it, they’ll be tired out before long. So just keep going!”

But being able to keep going was something that was soon out of the question. They found their path blocked by a dead end street—and a wall!

“Damn!” cursed Mack. “Of all the….why did they have to build something like that
here
? And
now
?”

“Never mind. We still have options.”

“Such as
what
?” asked Mack.

“We can FIGHT them!”

“You out of your
mind
Stretch? They’re
aliens
….”

“But that doesn’t mean they’re tougher than
us
Mack! Nobody in this neighborhood is tougher than you and me.”