The Visitor (2 page)

“It’s not a known piece of debris in our database,” Hight told Burkett over the headset. “It is probably a piece of a broken up satellite, probably Russian.”

“We have an F-22 out of Nellis already in the air if you want it to take a closer look,” Burkett suggested.

“Good idea,” Hight replied,

Burkett radioed Captain Duncan in the F-22. “We are sending you the coordinates of a falling object. Proceed to that area, but keep a safe distance until you get a visual of the object. It’s still well above you.”

“Yes, sir,” Duncan responded. “I have the coordinates and will super-cruise to intercept,” he said, pushing his F-22 into supersonic speed.

***

BONG!

A second warning sounded from Tak’s shuttle computer.

“There are two native warships in the area below,” the computer reported. “They are both powered by ignited petroleum. One just fired a laser at a rocket with different fuel to destroy it. The other one is smaller and just fired an explosive weapon at a ground based vehicle and destroyed it.”

Her screen plotted the current location of the 747 and the F-22 and showed her an image of the SCUD that was destroyed by the laser.

“The smaller one is now traveling toward this shuttle at 1225 miles per hour. The larger one is not approaching, and its configuration makes it unlikely that it can travel significantly faster in the atmosphere than the speed at which it is now travelling, 580 miles per hour.”

***

Back on the ground, Burkett and Hight, from different locations, watched the F-22 close in on the object on their screens.

Burkett radioed Duncan in the plane. “What’ve you got?”

“Standby, sir,” Duncan answered. “It’ll be in visual range very soon.”

***

Tak watched her screen closely as the craft behind her and to the left closed the distance between them. How could she possibly have been detected?

Before she had left, the computer carefully set a course so as not to collide with any of nine thousand objects in orbit around the planet.

She touched the manual thruster knob and wondered if she should go back into space to radio an emergency message to the starship, even before she ever got to the planet. What options were there? Maybe she could alter course slightly to another section of America or--where?

“Computer, if we alter our course but still land in the country called America, can we escape the craft in pursuit?”

“Unlikely,” the computer answered. “Calculating from the mass it is losing by burning its fuel, it is estimated that the pursuit craft is likely to have sufficient range to be able to follow five hundred miles in any direction if it is to return, or double that if it does not need to return to our present location. But natives on the surface are in communication with the craft, and it can be expected that other craft will follow, if that one expends its fuel. More can be expected if you engage in a chase and attempt to remain within the boundaries of this country. The range of the larger craft with the laser may be much farther, although from its shape, it is much slower.”

“How fast can the smaller, faster one travel?”

“There are records taken by the starship showing such smaller aircraft going as fast as 1800 miles per hour. It’s currently approaching at 1225 miles per hour.”

As Tak considered her options, the F-22 closed the gap, came up within five miles of the shuttle, and continued to close, reducing to subsonic speed.

Duncan radioed Burkett and Hight, who was also now listening to the transmission from NORAD. “I have it in sight now. It appears to be a black vehicle, somewhat resembling a NASA lifting body. It’s traveling at two hundred eighty eight knots and descending at one thousand six hundred feet per minute. It appears to be gliding without power. Present altitude is fifty eight thousand feet.”

Burkett asked a question that had already been answered. “Did you say gliding?”

“Affirmative.”

Duncan expertly adjusted his control stick to move his F-22 in closer to the shuttle.

“The pursuit craft’s radio frequency has been located, and the transmissions between it and the surface are now on your screen, translated,” Tak’s computer said.

“Put future communications in the native language, English,” Tak directed the computer. “If the aircraft fires its weapons, take defensive action without my command.”

Duncan throttled back, positioned his F-22 right alongside the unidentified vehicle, and then carefully dialed back his speed so he was descending at the exact rate of descent as the other vehicle. He closed the gap, so that his wing tip was only thirty feet away. Duncan took his eyes off his instruments and looked over to see what he could as to how the oddity next to him was flying. To his surprise, through the windshield he saw a very attractive female, with bright red hair, wearing no helmet, and without any oxygen mask, such that her head and face were entirely visible. This was the first actual face-to-face encounter between a human and an alien, but Duncan didn’t know it.

“A glider at fifty-eight thousand feet that has descended from at least one hundred fifty-seven thousand feet?” Burkett asked. “How in the hell did a glider get to one hundred fifty-seven thousand feet? And,” he added in an unintentional sexist remark, “with a female pilot?”

“Well, if it’s a glider, it can’t go too awfully far,” Hight said. “We’ll get working on its speed, the winds, its trajectory, and see where it will likely land if it continues its present course. Hawkins,” he ordered. “Get winds aloft data and plot the probable landing of the craft, assuming it is gliding and will continue at its present rate of speed, descent, and direction.”

“Yes, sir,” Hawkins answered, but he was already working on it as that was the sort of thing he did. “I have your answer,” he announced in less than thirty seconds. “Kansas.”

“There’s no glider that can go up that high,” Hight protested.

“See if you can make contact,” Burkett said to Captain Duncan. “I want you to force her to land at one of our bases. She is flying in civilian class ‘A’ airspace with no flight plan. Based on that, you are authorized by me to force her down.”

Tak looked over at the fighter pilot while listening to their communications. He was wearing an air force helmet, the dark face shield covering his face, an oxygen tube connected to his mask, and a communications wire to the built-in headset.

He looked like a robot compared to Tak, who had nothing at all on her head, as though taking a boat ride on a lake on a Sunday afternoon.

Duncan switched to a civilian frequency used by aircraft in air-to-air communications, 122.75 Megahertz. “Glider pilot. This is Captain Duncan, United States Air Force. You are being monitored by an air force station at White Sands, New Mexico, as well as NORAD at Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado. You are flying in class-A airspace without clearance. You are ordered to follow me to an airbase.”

Tak heard the message. “Computer. What is “NORAD”?

“No information,” Computer answered.

Nervous, Tak wondered what her options were. She turned to the pilot in the craft next to her and gave him her most attractive smile.

Captain Duncan could hardly believe his eyes. A strikingly attractive woman had just descended from altitudes where only space craft could tread and was now gliding toward Earth, no helmet or even a headset on--
and she smiles
?

“What’s going on?” Burkett demanded.

“She’s smiling.”

“
What
?” he nearly shouted.

“Smiling, sir.”

“You order her down!”

“I don’t think she has a radio, sir. She isn’t wearing a headset.”

“Then you motion her to come down!”

“Sir, she’s in a gliding craft. She appears to be descending by gravity alone and traveling with the prevailing winds. Since she’s already coming down, I don’t think she can come down any faster.”

“Then you make sure she follows you.”

Duncan put up his hand and motioned for her to follow him.

“What is she doing now?” Burkett asked.

“Still smiling.”

Tak heard that on her radio, which was monitoring their frequency. She had to make a decision and quickly. Abort the mission or go on? She could thrust out into space and call for the starship or stay and try to complete her mission. At any rate, Kansas appeared to be out. Perhaps the next the next large land mass known as Europe would do.

“Computer, find a sparsely populated area well within the land mass called Europe and plot a course. Engage the thruster.”

The roar of the powerful thruster overshadowed everything else. The shuttle was soon traveling at seventeen thousand miles per hour while still in the atmosphere, and then it went up and east, leaving the Earth.

“My God!” Duncan gasped. “Did you see that?”

At NORAD, Hight could see the shuttle image on his screen. It was traveling at a tremendous speed, climbing, and leaving the continental United States. “That couldn’t be the glider you were pacing, could it?” he asked Duncan sarcastically. “A glider at seventeen thousand miles an hour?”

“It’s some kind of rocket,” Duncan said.

“No shit. I have it on our satellite heading over the Atlantic toward Europe. We can switch to another satellite and see if we can pick it up in Europe. We should be able to trace it there, if all goes well. This used to be written up as a UFO, but we should report this to Homeland Security. This is some sort of new vehicle we have never seen before that can travel at hypersonic speeds. Not even our experimental hypersonic rockets can fly anywhere close to that speed. This could be a real threat. But from who?”

The government people, who were there for the test, looked to Colonel Burkett for an explanation of what had just happened.

***

In space, the computer shut down the thruster.

“Have you set up the new landing spot?” Tak asked it.

“Yes,” it answered.

Her screen showed the landing spot on the section of the map called Europe. The area was on the dark side of the planet but the computer showed the land mass clearly.

“Select a spot in a remote area, as far as possible away from any large cities.”

She figured that seemed like a good possiblity to land without being noticed.

“Acknowledged.”

The computer selected a spot from its mapped topography, showing it on the shuttle screen. It displayed the topography of the landing spot, the weather there, and other factors needed to make a perfect glide slope. It also displayed calculations of the weight of the shuttle as decreased by use of fuel to land in Europe, gravity of the earth, speed at all times, drag of the atmosphere at all relevant altitudes, effects of the known and measurable winds, and the incidental gravitational pull of the sun and the moon. It had the ability to determine if it was not on the calculated course of glide slope and to make corrections.

The selection was on the pasture of a farm. A lush, green field presented itself within eyesight range ahead. It was night, but there was illumination from a bright moon, and Tak could see the landing field visually through the canopy. It was filled with new grass coming up, following the winter.

The craft was designed to land slowly on its belly skids, as it was not intended for repeated use. With trepidation, Tak held her breath as the shuttle touched down at a very slow speed and slid to a stop.

A rush of excitement overcame her as she landed. This was her first mission alone. She looked through the windshield at the lush, green pasture.
It’s a farm
! There were no warships to intercept her. The computer had successfully selected a remote spot, not close to natives.
People, the word is
.
From now on, it is English
.
Or, do they speak English here
?