FEBRUARY 12, 1987
The Palace of Mist
Magic Island
The man know as only Mist stands on the highest balcony of his Palace looking up to the full moon. “Something has changed, I can feel it,” he says to the night sky. “The return of Steve Roberts and Diana Carter to the outside world has caused a shift in the balance.” “There will be more to emerge then we knew.” The night sky does not respond to his words but he knows he has been heard. Mist remains on the balcony for several more minutes before turning to go back inside.
FEBRUARY 14, 1987
It has been less than a month since Corey Byrnes and Eileen McCoy where teamed together again. The San Diego Police patrol partners were sent to investigate a disturbance at what they believed to be the abandoned Newton Motors Auto Body Shop. It had been more than six months since the owner Nick Newton was killed. In that time no one had come forward to claim the shop.
The openly married cops quickly found themselves pinned down with the now reborn Newton in his former office. It would seem that associates of Cartel men killed here last year have come to claim their prize at last. “Just sit down and shut up!” Officer McCoy tells Newton as she directs him to his old office chair. Eileen has already searched the desk to make sure he has no hidden weapons in it. One benefit of Nick Newton’s return to life has been that he no longer has the Zeni-human powers he used to attack them before he died.
Officer Byrnes has moved the file cabinets in front of the door and now works to cover the one plate glass window. “This isn’t going to hold for long, where the hell is that back up?” Byrnes asks aloud. “Six trained Cartel assassins against the two of us, I don’t like the odds!”
Sitting at his desk Newton begins to laugh. “What is so funny, Nick?” Officer McCoy asks.
“This,” he says pulling out a gun that was tapped under his chair. Still laughing he pulls the trigger shooting Officer McCoy straight through the heart.
“Noooo!” Eileen McCoy shouts sitting straight up in the hospital bed. Covered in sweat with tears pouring down her cheeks. She lays back down in the darkness of the Hospital room. She knows that is not how it happened. Her dream is only what she wished had happened. In truth it was Corey that Nick Newton shot through the heart, killing him almost instantly. In shock and horror Eileen turned her gun on Newton shooting him as he did her husband.
By the time backup arrived she was on the floor cradling her dead husband
in her arms crying uncontrollably. There was no sign of Nick Newton or his remains, only a strange device covered in slime on the chair where he sat. Eileen had been admitted to the Hospital overnight for observation. Medicated she was able to calm down enough to sleep for a few hours, but the dream has put an end to that. In the morning her mother will be coming to pick her up. The psychiatrist Eileen spoke with believed it would be good for her to spend some time away from work with her mother, whose husband was also killed in the line of duty. The doctor does not know Claire McCoy or she would not think that.
The drugs wearing off, all Eileen can do is lay in the bed as she begins to cry again. She has lost the love of her life. Now two of the men she has loved with all of her heart have died by the hand of a Zeni-human. How could she continue on in this job that has brought her so much love and so much pain.
When she closes her eyes she sees Corey’s face, her fingers in his thick blonde hair. She is back in that Las Vegas hotel room making love to him. She can feel nothing but the pain of the present and none of the joy of that memory. How will she ever go on without him? Rolling over she cries herself back to sleep.
The Nurse wakes Eileen around six am to prepare her for her visit from the Doctor. When the Doctor arrives he gives Eileen a bottle of pills to take for depression and anxiety. After he leaves she dresses to sit on the edge of the bed waiting for her mother to arrive. Eileen looks to the bottle of pills in her hand. It makes her feel even worse remembering the struggle Corey had with his addiction to similar medications. She shoves the bottle in her bag just as her mother arrives.
Claire McCoy slightly hugs her daughter. The mother still hold anger over her daughter’s non-Catholic marriage. In her mind all of what Eileen has done in the past year has been a sin. Claire does not speak as she helps her daughter to the car. Silence is something Eileen has become used to from her mother since her father’s death. The ride in the care back to Eileen and Corey’s apartment is also silent and Eileen is fine with that.
In the parking lot Claire finally spoke, “I will not go in there with you.”
“I figured as much,” Eileen says gathering up her bags from the car. “Thank you for the ride and all the love and support” she says sarcastically closing the car door. The mother watches her daughter walk to the building entrance before pulling away.
Inside the apartment everywhere she looks she sees only him. She only wishes Michael could be here now, he is the only family that she truly has, but he is away on a retreat. Eileen heads for the laundry hamper to find one of Corey’s shirts. It still smells like him. Taking it to the bed she climbs in to curl up with the shirt to cry some more. It is Valentine’s Day and she has no lover to share it with.
FEBRUARY 15, 1987
Eileen McCoy’s Apartment
Southeastern, San Diego, Ca
Eileen spends over Twenty-four hours in bed before climbing out to get something to eat. In the refrigerator she finds leftover steak that Corey cooked last weekend, he was such a good cook and this will be the last time she has something he prepared, she thinks as she reheats it in the Microwave oven.
Searching the kitchen cabinets she finds a bottle of Scotch that Corey was saving for a special occasion. Pam had given it to them on their wedding day. At the time she thought it was an offal gift from her best friend because she knows neither of them drank scotch. Pouring the Scotch into a glass it even smells horrible.
Sitting down on the floor next to her bed she eats the leftover steak washing it down with the horrible liquor. With each gulp of the scotch it begins to lose its flavor. She looks to the window of her room, it is dark outside. Then she looks to the clock that reads 10:43. Finishing her leftovers and the glass of Scotch she puts to the bottle to her mouth. Several more swigs of the nasty liquor and she lays down onto the floor.
Rolling her head to the side she catches sight of the metal box under her bed. She reaches for it pulling the box out into view. “A gift of power and strength.” she reads aloud for what must be the fiftieth time. The strange words on the top of the box is exactly what she could use about now. Sitting up to take another swig of Scotch from the bottle, she runs her fingers over the words. What does it mean that she could read these words? She thinks to herself. Sitting alone with the metal case on her lap the tears begin anew. A single teardrop from her eye dripped onto the dull metal case. Her vision blurred from the Scotch and a day of crying, she took another drink of the liquor as she wiped the tears from here cheek. Another teardrop falls on the box that she wipes away too.
The salty water drains into the seam of the lid as her fingers pushed it along. The box begins to hum slightly and Eileen pushed it from her lap quickly. Kicking the case away across the floor she pulls herself up onto the bed. The moonlight shined in the window onto the box seemingly washing away the years of tarnish that covered it. Taking another swig of Scotch, Eileen trembled as she watched the lid of the case slide open on its own for the first time. The bottle empty, it slipped out of her hand to the floor. Eileen’s eyes are mesmerized at the sight of the open metal box.
There is something inside the box. In the dim light she can see what looks like cloth, then it moves slightly. Reaching to her nightstand she fumbled in the drawer for her gun. Staggering to her feet she approached the case on the floor slowly, gun aimed in front of her as she steps forward. When she can clearly see into the case she lowered her weapon and laughed at herself. Inside the case is what looks like a shirt with a shining emblem of a flaming torch on it.
Eileen’s head spins as she crumbed to her knees to reach into the box to touch the red material. It feels soft, softer than any material she has ever felt. Holding up the red and blue fabric she can see that it is in fact a leotard-like suit. She holds it to her face and wiped her tears, to her surprise it is fresh smelling. Not at all like something that had been stored in a metal briefcase for who knows how long. Drunk and ready to pass out she lays back down to the hardwood floor the suit draped over her body. Then she feels something really strange. It feels as if something was crawling over her body, like a million ants. Too drunk to move she lays there as a warming sensation raced through her body.
Opening her eyes Eileen is no longer lying on the floor of her bedroom. She feels different too, she no longer feels drunk or depressed. Sitting up she realizes that she now wears long red gloves up to her biceps and thigh-high red boots to match. On her chest the symbol that she somehow knows means Sentry. Eileen is now wearing the suit from the box. For some reason beyond her understanding she does not panic at her current situation.
Instead Eileen turns to her police training to scan her environment. She knows this place, it is the work bay at Newton Motors. This is the last place on Earth she would ever want to be again. How did she get here?” There is a sound from the back door that opens onto the alley. Eileen turns to face the door to witness the strangest event yet. A ghostly shadow of the door opens over the physical door that remains closed. A transparent man carrying a crowbar steps into the garage closing the phantom door behind him. The ghostly man is vaguely familiar to Eileen as he proceeds to the management office at the back of the building. Reaching out to touch a pole that supports the roof, it feels solid enough, she knows this is no dream.
Eileen call to the man, “Hey, who are you?” “What are you doing here?” The man does not acknowledge Eileen as she follows after him. It is clear to her that although he appears to be a ghost it is she who is invisible. Even when she opens the door to the office the man takes no notice. He goes about his business making some adjustments to the device he took from inside his coat. He raises a four inch by three inch frame from the top of the device. Turning a knob on the side of the hand held device, the frame becomes a view screen with which he scans the office. “What are you doing?” Eileen demands.
She follows him around the room as if he is searches for something. It has only been a few days since she was last in this room but it appears different to her. It is somehow dirtier. Eileen wipes her gloved hand across the dust on the desk. Looking to her fingers, none of the dust comes off on her hand. The man she follows, the dust on the desk, none of it is real. But the dried blood on the floor says that it is real. Looking to the desk again the blotter calendar says February 1987, but a second ghost page lays overtop of it, August 1986.
“This is a vision of the past!” Eileen announces. Saying it out loud only makes her realize how ridiculous it sounds but what other explanation is there? Her attention turns back to the mystery man. He opens the desk drawer to find a nail clipper and clippings in a narrow tray inside.
Running the device over the contents of the tray the words “Positive Match,” are displayed on the screen as Eileen watches through the man’s shoulder. Lowering the device into the tray, the man presses another button on the top to retrieve the nail clippings. Eileen watches as the man places the device on the desk chair to step back away from it.
Eileen looks on in degust as a gelatin begins to ooze out to create a shell around the device. It becomes clear to her now this is how Nick Newton returned from the dead. This is how his body was not found at the crime scene. Nick Newton was returned to the nail clipping he started from, created by this strange device. If this man would not have brought Newton back, Corey would still be alive! But why?
Eileen listens to their brief exchange but all she remembers is the last two sentences of the man. “As I said Mr. Cifredo has a job for you,” “It is time Corey Byrnes was taken out of play.” The two men from the past vanish then leaving Eileen alone in the Auto Shop office, the ghostly over lay on the room vanishing with them. Eileen now has a new trail to follow back to the man at the top of the chain. The mention of her mother’s maiden-name again means the only place to start is with a long avoided talking with her mother.
The office of Lt. Janet Redmayne
Southeastern Police Division Headquarters
San Diego, Ca
Robert Redmayne arrives in his wife’s office with urgent news. “McCoy has made first contact with the suit!” he exclaims. “It will not be long before she is fully bonded with it!”
“Are you positive?” Lt. Redmayne asks getting up from her desk.
“Yes, the moment she made physical contact with the suit the Nano-drones you placed in her body ceased to transmit,” Robert explains.
“Most likely it was the destruction of those Nano-drones that prevented full joining with the powersuit,” Lt. Redmayne explains. “I have to get her final commitment to my cause before she puts the suit on again.”
FEBRUARY 16, 1987
Eileen McCoy’s Apartment
Southeastern, San Diego, Ca
The next morning Eileen McCoy wakes on the floor the metal box is again sealed next to her at the side of the bed. She imagines it was all a dream. But her head was clearer now than before, her sorrow lessened. Although her hangover from the empty scotch bottle that lays under the bed throbs in her head. Eileen know it is up to her to find her husband’s killer just as she had done with her father. Even if it was all a dream she still believes that search will begin with her mother.
After Eileen brews a fresh pot of coffee there is a ring of her bell and then a knock at the door. Someone is desperate to see her. Eileen answers the door to find Lt. Redmayne standing in the hall.
“We need to talk!” Lt. Redmayne says pushing past her into the apartment. “I haven’t been totally honest with you.”
“I really don’t have time for this now,” Eileen says gulping down her coffee and dumping the rest down the drain. “We will talk when I come back to work.”
“It will be too late then,” Redmayne insists grabbing Eileen McCoy’s arm. Redmayne can feel the Argoian blood in Eileen’s body now, more than ever. Eileen McCoy has changed, she has been awakened.
“Well then I guess you should have told me what you have to say before my husband was murdered,” Eileen tell her unwanted guest. “Now I have to go and so do you!” Eileen pushes Janet Redmayne out her door. She locks up the apartment tight and heads down the stairs leaving the Police lieutenant in the hall outside her apartment.
Alone in the hallway Janet Redmayne steps back to the door of the apartment. She looks back to the stairs, her target is gone, lost in her own problems. She takes a small device from her left pocket. Pressing it to the knob on the door it releases a fluid that enters the lock. The fluid hardens creating a key that she easily turns. Redmayne enters the apartment eyeing the human residence with disdain. She can recognize the purely human objects of Corey Byrnes. But it is the other things in the room that contain the power of an alien presents she is most interested in. Perhaps Eileen McCoy doesn’t even recognize these things she has collected but Redmayne knows the truth. A small metal medallion on a shelf over the television. That is just one of the many things that adorn the room in obvious and hidden places.
Those small artifacts are not what Redmayne is looking for it is something much bigger. Reaching into her right pocket to draw out another device that looks more like a Star Trek phaser. A light shines through the apartment leading Redmayne to the bedroom. Once inside the room the device in her hand begins to beep like a metal detector. It directs her toward the bed. Kneeling down on the floor she reaching out her hand to lift the bed shirt. The light on the alien device Redmayne holds shines under the bed. The alien device suddenly shorts out forcing her drop it on the floor. Taking out a flashlight to check under the bed again, she finds nothing visible to her vision. Without her technology Redmayne is forced to finish searching the apartment like a human.
It is an hour drive to the 55 plus community where Eileen’s mother moved after her father’s death. Eileen knows that calling ahead will be of no help, especially after the way her mother treated her when she picked her up from the hospital. Eileen runs it over in her head the whole drive, wanting to get it all out in the open at last.
Arriving just after lunch Eileen goes in through the back door without so much as a knock. She fears that if she knocked on the front door her mother wouldn’t even let her in. She has only been to this house once before to help Claire McCoy move in. Eileen finds her mother sitting in the sunroom having her after lunch coffee. “Mother we need to talk!” she asserts.
“I have nothing to say to you,” Claire McCoy replies coldly to her daughter.
Everything Eileen has planned so quickly forgotten as she begins to speak. “I know you disapproved of me joining the Police force and I know you do not acknowledge my non-Catholic marriage but my husband is dead and I need to know why!”
“I assure you I know nothing about your husband or his death,” Claire says sitting down her coffee cup on the table.
“But you know something about your father, Antonio Cifredo you have never told me!” Eileen affirms and from the look of surprise in her mother’s eyes she knows she hit a nerve. “Is he dead or not?”
“I haven’t a clue!” Claire snips.
“But you know he didn’t die when Grandma said he did, don’t you?” Eileen quizzes.
“Yes,” Claire reluctantly answers. “I found out by accident.” “Mother swore me to secrecy, to hide her shame.” “What does it matter now?”
“Did you know that he had a second family?” Eileen demands.
“NO!” Claire shouts getting up to leave the room.
Eileen follows her mother to the kitchen. “Why did he leave?” she asks. Claire McCoy leans over the sink rinsing out her cup not wanting to answer to her eldest child’s interrogation. “Mom, why did Antonio Cifredo leave his family, why all the lies all these years?”
“He left because of that damned box!” Claire shouts turning to face Eileen. “That same damned box that you still keep hidden under your bed no doubt!” Claire McCoy flees the room again leaving her daughter behind.
Eileen is shocked by her mother’s outburst. She came here for answers but never imagined this is what she would hear. She follows her mother to the front parlor. “Mom, what are you talking about?” she asks.
“That evil thing has done nothing but bring sorrow to this family!” Claire sobs from behind a handkerchief. “It is ungodly!”
“How can you say that?” Eileen asks fearing that her mother has finally gone completely over the edge. “What do you know about that box?”
Claire tries to calm herself enough to speak again. “Your Grandfathers were both in the Army, stationed in New Mexico when it crashed.”
“What the box?” Eileen interrupts.
“No, the ship,” Claire says forcefully. “The Alien ship!” “Your Grandfather Harrison brought that thing home from the crash sight. My father was the only person who knew about it and he became instantly obsessed with it.” “First it drove a wedge between their friendship and then my parents’ marriage.”
Now knowing full well what is in the box Eileen asks, “Don’t you think you are being overdramatic?” “How could a box that no one could open do such a thing?”
“It is a curse on this family!” Claire insists. “All my father talked about was finding out what was inside of it!” “Harrison hid it away.” “I thought is was gone forever until you found it after Harrison’s funeral.” “If I had know I would not have ever let it in my house.” “But it was too late, your father didn’t believe in its unholy power.” Claire’s emotional breakdown continues. “I have no idea how many times I tried to get rid of that evil thing myself, but it always came back.” “I would find it the next day under your bed just as it was before I threw it out.” Claire’s eyes widen as she says, “Then one day I found it under Michael’s bed and I swore it would not have both of my children!” “So I moved it back to under your bed.” “I never touched it again.” “In time, I came to peace knowing that I sacrificed you to its evil power.”
Eileen falls back onto the sofa stunned at her mother’s revelations. She reflects on what her mother had told her and for the first time she recalls event that she could never remember. There were many a time when she was a teen that she would find the box in places outside her home. Eileen really doesn’t even know how she knew where to look for it. But after it was back under her bed she didn’t even remember bringing it back home. Eileen sits silent for a moment running over so many things in her mind that she couldn’t remember before…before wearing the suit. It is like the suit unlocked something inside her brain that kept her from remembering. But none of it means that the box or its contents are evil like her mother believes, only alien.
In the past year Eileen has seen some many strange and incredible things, it is not so far fetched that the box is extraterrestrial in nature. That guy, Benue claimed that the bracelet that her long lost cousin wore was an alien weapon. He said it was an Argoian shield and that is exactly what it turned out to be. It was alien technology given to him by their Grandfather Antonio Cifredo. The pieces are all fitting together now.
“All these years, this is what this has been about?” Eileen asks. “You have acted this way toward me because you think I am possessed or something?” Claire McCoy does not reply as she looks away from her daughter who now stands over her. “I can not believe your belief in your religion could make you turn your back on your own daughter.” “That is not what it is meant to do!” “Is that why you have pressured Michael so much over the years?”
“Leave your brother out of this!” Claire shouts. “He is happy and safe!”
“Is he?” Eileen asks. “Everything he went through was because you want him to deny who he really is!” “I only see a man hiding behind your religion from his true self.” “You may think God is protecting him but the life he is living is only going to hurt him in the end!” Eileen’s heart is breaking for the second time in weeks as she finally lets it all out. “You stopped being my Mom along time ago and I never knew why!” “Somewhere deep inside, I thought I had to work to get your love back.” “I thought finding Daddy’s killer would somehow make you love me again!” “But now I see that isn’t possible, your zealot faith will never allow it.” “I am done with trying to earn you love and I am done with you!”
Eileen turns to leave as he mother stands up from the overstuffed chair. “Eileen wait,” she calls out.
The young woman turns with only anger in her eyes, “It is too late for waiting, Mrs. McCoy!” Eileen storms from the small condo to her car not looking back again as she drives off.
The first fifteen minutes of her ride home is filled with tears again until she finally pulls over to the side of the road. These past few weeks have been devastating to Eileen. She has to pull herself together to be the detective her father always said she could be. What was the last thing Corey said to her before he died? “Go to La Jolla.” La Jolla was where Corey had his overpriced apartment when they first met. She is back on the road again her mind cleared of sorrow and her focus on answers.
The office of Lt. Janet Redmayne
Southeastern Police Division Headquarters
San Diego, Ca
Lt. Redmayne speaks with her husband over her personal communication device, “There was no sign of it in her apartment, she must still be wearing it.”
“That is not possible,” comes the reply. “If she was still wearing it she would have fully bonded with it making the Argoian presences on Earth fully known to us.”
“Then she has hidden it somewhere else,” Redmayne calculates. “If I haven’t convinced her to my side of the War before she bonds with the suit then we must find and destroy it, before she can.”
“If it has been awakened than it will give off a signal that the satellite will be able to detect,” Robert tells her. “The satellite will be shielded unlike your handheld scanner.” “I will begin it at once!”
“Just find that suit!” Redmayne demands ending the transmission.
The former apartment of the late Corey Byrnes
La Jolla, San Diego, Ca
Eileen arrives at the apartment building to find that Corey’s condo is still vacant even after six months. A vacant condo for six months in this area is ridiculous. Lock picking skills are not something taught at the academy but they do come in handy. Once Eileen sneaks into the apartment she finds that it is still fully furnished except for the few things Corey brought when he moved into her place. She walks to the kitchen where several paid utilities bills lay on the counter. If the place is vacant who is paying these bills, she thinks. Flipping through the paperwork she sees that each one has been signed by her late husband. Oh my God! Corey never gave up this condo! she realized.
There is a noise behind Eileen and she turns reaching for her gun, that she doesn’t have with her. “Oh hello,” A very well dressed woman says entering the kitchen from the living room. “You must be Eileen, Corey mentioned you in a letter.”
“He did, did he,” Eileen comments having no idea who this woman is or how she knows her late husband. “Who might you be?”
“Oh I guess he didn’t mention me then,” the woman says reaching out her well manicured hand. Eileen can’t help but notice the large rings on it. “I am Giselle, Corey’s sister, well Step-sister really.” “I was contacted and I flew in from Paris to clean out the condo.”
“Step-sister?” Eileen repeats. “He never mentioned any family to me.” “I assume they were all dead,” Eileen says trying not to sound too surprised by the revelation. It isn’t the first secret her husband kept from her after all.
“Yes, they are but Corey’s mother married my father when he was thirteen,” Giselle explains. “He always tried to distance himself from us, especially after Daddy moved us to Paris and Corey stayed here.” “My family has a bit of money and the only thing Corey would let my father do for him was supply this condo.”
“So that explains it.” Eileen mumbles.
“My family’s business owns the building,” Giselle reveals. She can tell by the look on Eileen’s face that the widow didn’t know any of this. “Try not to take it too hard dear, Corey was never really open about such things with anyone.” “While I went private schools he insisted on remaining in public school.” “Never brought one friend home in all six years.” “But we corresponded on occasion and he told me how much he loved you.”
“Oh how sweet,” Eileen responds feeling more than a little betrayed by her husband again.
“Perhaps this will help, it is addressed to you,” Giselle says handing Eileen an envelope with her name written on it. “I’ll give you some time alone.” Giselle leaves the condo through the balcony door as Eileen sits down on the couch to open the letter. A small key falls from the envelope onto the floor.
Ei,
I know you must have so many questions, I only wish I was there to answer them. Let me start by explaining about my family. When my mother married Charles I felt as if he was trying to change me into someone I was not so I pulled away from them. I never told you because I didn’t want you to see the world they had to offer. I wanted us to be us and not them. I believe my struggles with the pills were all part of wanting to be apart from them. It was your love that pulled me through it all.
If I am dead when you read this as I suspect I will be, you need to know your Grandfather Antonio Cifredo is alive. He has been blackmailing me for years to spy on you. When I fell in love with you, I only wanted to be free of him. So I found out who he truly was and what he really wanted from you. I used that information to put an end to his blackmail or at least I tried to. When you learned about my drug problem I finally thought I was free.
I guess I was wrong, it would appear I became a liability. The key is to a safe deposit box in the Union Bank of New Mexico in Roswell. In that box is all the information I found on him, it will be enough to bring your Grandfather down for my death and so many of his other crimes.
I LOVE YOU with all of my heart and I will never stop, even after my death. Please don’t hate me or mourn me too long, you were always too good for me.
All my love,
Corey.
Eileen takes a few minutes to suck down her emotions again. This letter is the final piece to the puzzle. If only Corey had told her sooner. She looks up to see Giselle smoking on the balcony. Her husband’s family drama will have to be dealt with later. Right now she needs to get those papers. Picking up the key and folding the letter back into the envelope Eileen goes to the balcony door to open it. “Do whatever you want with his stuff,” She tells her surprise sister-in-law. “If Corey left it here he didn’t care about it!”
“Where are you going?” Giselle asks as she puts out her cigarette.
“To find the truth of why Corey had to die!” Eileen says heading out of the condo.
Eileen McCoy’s Apartment
Southeastern, San Diego, Ca
By the time she gets home Eileen is very on edge, her brain overloaded with new insight. Popping open a bottle of wine she puts aside her sorrow. Flopping down on the sofa she begins to contemplate her next move. Eileen isn’t sure if it is what her mother said about the box working on her subconscious or the proximity she now has to it, but she feels drawn to the bedroom.
Taking the box from under the bed where she left it, she places it on top. Standing over it she stares at the symbol and the engraving again. “So are you alien artifact or a demonic prison?” she asks the box. “I have to believe what happened last night to be true.” “Everything I have learned today leads me to believe it was real.” “When my … Mrs. McCoy told me about what she did with you I remembered things I didn’t before I had on that suit.” “Was that you protecting me or me protecting you?” “You offer a gift of power and strength, those are two things I greatly need right now.” “I loved him so much, to learn that it was a Grandfather I thought long dead that had him killed…” Eileen sobs trying to hold back the tears again.
She reaches to the box running her fingers over its surface as she did in the past night. It again slide open to reveal the same crest on the fabric inside again. This time she takes the red and blue suit from the box trying it on finding it is a perfect fit, just as she remembered. Eileen gets a strange feeling as she pulls up the collar that becomes a cowl and mask with clear lens over her eyes. The final piece of the suit makes a mental connection with her somehow. A connection that makes her feel more confident than she has in her entire life. One word comes to mind, Sentry. Eileen has no idea what it means but she likes the sound of it. “Sentry!”
Looking into her full length mirror her body was clad in a blue and red suit. This can’t be real she thinks to herself. I must be dreaming! Standing in the center of her bedroom, a cool breeze from the open window stirred her senses. Going to the open window, Let’s make the most of this dream she thinks. Leaning out the window she calls out “Let’s fly!” And fly she does, right out the window and into the night. It is like no other dream she has ever had, so real, so exhilarating.
She sores between buildings, then high up over the city of Southeastern San Diego. She swoops low over the lake in a nearby park. Her ears seem to pick up every little sound around her. The sound of frogs croaking at the edge of the lake is as if she is standing on the water’s edge and not a hundred yards away. If any of this is real she has a mission to do. Eileen has never been good with directions but somehow now she knows exactly which way to go. She heads east out of the city toward the desert, toward New Mexico.
The sun is already setting as she reaches the state line into Arizona. The lights of civilization behind her the lens of the suit change to supply her with night vision. Eileen only knew what Corey told her in his letter before putting on the suit, the Union Bank in New Mexico. Now wearing the suit she knows her destination in Roswell, New Mexico. She can only guess that Corey left out that detail for her to figure out in case someone else got to the letter first. The suit is acting like a homing beacon, she thinks, taking me right back to where it first arrived on Earth.
As Eileen flys over the desert she can’t help but think about other things this incredible suit might be able to do. She thinks about the Zeni-humans, the witches, and the aliens she has encountered. Does this suit put her in their league? Is this why she was brought down that path in Boston. Perhaps there is a God and this is the destiny he has been setting out for her all along. One thing about Boston still sticks in her mind, that drawing she found in Steve Roberts’ room after he left. It was of the emblem she now wears on her chest. Where did it come from?
The flight into New Mexico takes only a few hours. Then she feels something, an urge. It isn’t like the suit is controlling her actions, it is more like she is hearing a call, a call for help. The cop in her soul can not turn away from a call for help. Flight has come very easily to her as she changes her course. Eileen no longer heads toward the Roswell proper but the desert on the outskirts. Hidden in a desert valley under camouflage netting Eileen comes upon a military base.
Landing outside the fence Eileen walks along the property trying to determine what she should do next. Breaking into a government facility was not on her list of things to do tonight. Then suddenly her vision fogs over, she grabs for the lens on her eyes but a new reality comes into focus. One she can only assume is inside the military base. There are soldiers everywhere. She can tell that this is a highly secure base and at its core is a prison of sorts. The remote vision shows her the man who appears to be in charge of directing soldiers to bring a prisoner to his laboratory. She watches as the soldiers go to a room filled with cylinders containing what looked like living beings of some sort. Then the vision fades and Eileen is again staring through the fence onto the grounds of the base. This is Area 51 and it is real, she thinks.
Inside Area 51
the Laboratory of Dr. Bybo
Dr. Bybo is the man from Eileen’s vision and he is somewhat less than a moral doctor. He has spent over twenty years as the lead scientist at Area 51 and has done many unethical things by common standards. The surviving aliens from the ship that crashed over three decades ago have been his playthings for the time he has spent here. Now only a few still live held captive in cybernetic chambers of his own design. This sadistic Chinese man has spent most of his life conducting deviant experiments on humans only to gladly move onto these unfortunate alien refugees.
Of late, Bybo has turned his interests toward robotic mechanics. Technological remnants from the alien ship have allowed him advancements in artificial intelligence that is far beyond current Earth sciences. Bybo has several prototypes online and performing menial tasks at the base.
But today he plans to return to his roots at the lab by retrieving one of the aliens that he believes to be high in rank. Two soldiers wheel in the small odd looking man on a gurney. “That will be all,” he instructs the soldiers as he sends them from the room. The alien prisoner is barely conscious as he has only been removed from cryo-sleep several minutes ago. Over the years one thing Bybo has learned is that these aliens are very resilient. He injects the prisoner with something to keep him weak and compliant, before turning back to his computer.
A parameter alert flashes on his monitor drawing his attention away from his patient. Viewing the alert Bybo is informed of the woman outside the west side fence. Troops have already been dispatched but Bybo takes special interest in this would be intruder. He zooms in the camera to the emblem the woman wears on her chest. It is the same as the one he has seen on the alien ship. He turns back to the prisoner now fully conscious but still paralyzed. “Is this your rescue party at last?” Bybo questions the alien strapped to the table. “She appears much more human than you, but I do wonder how she will fare against the soldiers?”
Dr. Bybo leans toward a microphone that protrudes from the computer conceal. “Captain, bring her to me dead or alive!”
“But sir if she doesn’t trespass…,” the Captain tries to protest.
“Captain, you hears me!” Bybo interrupts. “Bring her to me dead or alive!”
Suddenly the desert inside the fence is flooded with light making the night appear to be day. Eileen watches as the Captain and his squad of eleven men dressed in army fatigues arrive at the west side of the fence where the mystery woman stands away about a yard on the other side. “Ma’am, this is government property, you will have to move along.” the rifle toting soldier says trying to hold to normal protocols.
Eileen can’t help but ask, “Is this Area 51?” As strangely as this night has gone already it only seems fitting to asks.
“I’m sorry Ma’am, but if you do not leave I will be forced to take you into custody,” the Captain of the soldiers says raising his rifle signaling the rest of his men to do the same. The masked woman simply glares at the army soldiers. They have no idea what to make of her or that she is trying to have another vision of what is going on inside the military base.
Then she thinks, no one knows who I am, what is to stop me from just going over the fence and inside? Surely not these men.
“You were warned!” the Captain says as he fires his gun. Like some reflex she didn’t know she had, Eileen closes her eyes, raising her hand as if to block the bullet’s impact. “What the Hell!” the Captain shouts from the other side of the fence.
Eileen opens her eyes to see that a force shield has appeared between her hand and what appears to be a dart. She smiles saying, “You were going to tranq me?”
“All aim and fire!” the Captain shouts the command and twelve more tranquilizer darts are fired at Eileen. She thinks she has the hang of this now as she raises her other hand to expand the force shield that catches all twelve of the darts. A wave of her hand and the shield is cast aside taking the poison darts with it.
“You must be joking, you couldn’t hit me with one at point blank, how did you think a dozen would work?” Eileen comments as the men lower their rifles to draw pistols from their belts. “Opps, fun time is over!” she says leaping up over the fence.
Without warning, it is like a switch being flipped off, she loses power to drop down to the desert sand fifty yards from the soldiers at the fence. Flight might have been easier, but less fun! She thinks justifying what has just happened. Turning to see the men charging across the sandy grounds, Eileen realizes she has screwed up. These guys were using tranq darts, they just wanted to take her to their leader which is what she kinda wants.
Nevertheless she has to deal with these gun toting guys now. Although she does feel confident wearing this suit she still has no idea the extent of its power. Is it bulletproof for example? The men come to a stop a few feet away. Some of them fall to the ground on their bellies to take aim. Bullets are fired as Eileen raises her hands again. This time the shield that appears is much larger as she hears the Captain radio for back up.
In her mind’s eye Eileen can see another squad charging from the facility behind her position. Moving her right arm over her head she extents the shield to become a dome over her head sealed to the ground. As the men draw in closer the shield becomes thicker to compensate for the force of the bullets at closer range. The thickness of the dome closes in on her with twenty-four guns firing. The thicker the dome becomes the less room for air is left inside. Eileen begins to feel dizzy for a moment and then there is only darkness as she passes out.
The home of Janet and Robert Redmayne
San Diego, Ca
The condo is small, just three rooms and a bathroom. It is furnished for only one, the woman known as Lt. Janet Redmayne. Her husband, not being human has no need of personal items or living space. Most of the furnishings are to hide Redmayne’s secrets if anyone should inquirer. Janet enters the apartment heading straight for the bedroom where Robert waits. This is no love nest, that is clear to see by the simple cot in the room. In the closet is set up an elaborate network of computers and monitoring equipment. The Redmayne’s clothing hangs on a rack at the other side of the room.
Robert sits on a chair at the open closet door his hand plugged into a receptacle on the control board. “Do you have a location!” Janet demands upon entry to the room.
“Not of McCoy or the Powersuit, but there is something else that has not been detected before this time. “A strong Argoian presence in New Mexico.”
“What do you mean, Argoian presence?” Janet questions. “Are there Argoians on this mud ball?”
“From the information on record, this is an Argoian that is transmitting at a frequency that would suggest remote control of technology,” Robert answers.
Janet Redmayne thinks for a minute before smiling broadly. “Remote control transmission,” she grins. “That means that McCoy has not bonded with the suit, she is not controlling it someone else is in control!” “If there are Argoians on this world that is why Prince Benue sought refuge here in the first place!” “All of these years spent hiding here will not be for nothing!”
“What do you mean?” Robert asks.
“If I can capture an Argoian, learn the hiding place of its people, I could easily end the War!” Janet says with joy on her voice for perhaps the first time. “How many of the hybrid-drones do you have ready?”
“Ten maybe, twelve,” Robert answers.
“How long will it take to get them to that location in New Mexico?” Janet asks impatiently.
“Once they are all online, a few hours maybe,” Roberts tells his master.
“Make it an hour, now get going!” Janet orders as the man gets up from the chair to leave the apartment. Janet Redmayne lays down on her cot a feeling of joy overtaking her as she switches off the device that holds her human appearance. Only one other person on Earth has gotten the slightest glimpse of her true appearance. She holds up her arm that now shows its natural blue tint and her three fingered hand. She is in the mood to celebrate and a few hours alone in her room as herself is just the thing she needs!
Inside Area 51
Roswell, New Mexico
When Eileen regains consciousness she is strapped to a gurney being wheeled down a drab cinder block corridor. Escape is the first thought in her head, then she remembers that this is what she wants. Closing her eyes she concentrates on her next move and tries to think of something that will help her find out who she is looking for at this base.
The sound of the wheels of the gurney on the floor fade as her mind’s eye drifts again to see the nameplate on the wall that reads, Laboratory, Dr. Bybo. The thick steel door melts away as she seems to pass through it. Inside another gurney sits with the strange little man she seeks on it. It is as if she floats over him as he speaks. “Remain calm, continue to pretend to be asleep.” “I am alone in the Lab, wait for the soldiers to leave.”
Then she again in the corridor listening to the men over her talk and the wheels on the floor. “What do you think our resident Mad Scientist will do with her?” the one man asks.
“You shouldn’t call him that and it is none of our business,” the other replies. The gurney comes to a stop and she can hear one of the men press numbers on a keypad to open the security door. She is wheeled inside where she wait to hear the men leave.
Opening one eye she cautiously scans the room finding herself alone with the man on the other gurney just as he told her they would be. Moving to sit up Eileen breaks the restrains much easier that she thought she could. Slipping down from the gurney she goes to help the man. Looking at him now in person she realizes it is him! “You are the little man from my dreams, the one I keep thinking I see out of the corner of my eye!”
“Yes, now get me loose, we have work to finish!” the odd looking man tells her. Eileen breaks his straps as easily as she broke her own. “Help me,” he says reaching out his arm to get up. “I’ve been in the freezer for decades!”
“Who are you?” she asks helping him to stand to his four foot height. Why are you being held here?” “Better yet why am I here?” She looks his nude body over, at best he is humanoid but not completely human in appearance. His skin color, the shape of his head, ears, mouth and eyes are very different. Kind of like one of those hairless Sphinx cats, but he had no tail. She can’t even be sure if it is male or female.
“All in good time, Bybo will be back soon, we need to take care of the others,” he tells her. She helps him hobble over to the control console where he searches for the link to the cryo-cylinders. He makes a few adjustments to the programming to say, “That should do it.”
“Do what?” Eileen asks. “What is going on here?”
“I have adjusted the cylinder controls to kill my fellow survivors,” he answers.
“What!” Eileen exclaims.
“Calm yourself, Eileen,” he says grasping her arm as he calls her by name. “These bodies are but synthetic clones that carry our consciousness into space.” “When these bodies are destroyed our consciousness is able to her turn to our true bodies held in stasis on Argo.”
“Argo?” she questions, “So you are aliens and this is Area 51.”
“Yes, nearly forty years ago our ship had a malfunction and crashed,” the alien explains. “The humans at the time were naive and frightened as they took us into custody.” “Some wanted to help but others were too frightened to help us.” “In the end fear won and we became prisoners to many wardens.” “The current one, Dr. Bybo has been the cruelest.”
“Why did you come here to Earth?” Eileen asks.
“Nearly a century ago, by the means that you tell time, in deep space a war was begun by the Spartans,” the Argoian explains. “Many worlds united against them each providing their own strengths.” “My people are a people of science not violence, so we sought out a way to create soldiers to fight on our behalf.” “The Argoian Sentry we called them.” “My name is Grancoy and I led this mission to Earth to find one to join our Sentry.”
“Sentry?” Eileen repeats. “I heard that word in my head when I put on the suit.”
“That was me,” Grancoy tells her. “I have been controlling the suit, I brought you here to rescue me.”
“Is this how it usually works?” Eileen asks. “I wasn’t even born when you came to Earth.”
“The humans of Earth were different than any other race we had encountered.” Grancoy explains. “It took a generation to prepare the perfect hosts for the uniform.” “Now it is time you fully bonded with the suit.” “To take control of it to use it, only limited by your imagination.” “You might well be the most powerful Sentry yet!”
“I’m still so confused,” Eileen tells him.
“All will be clear in time, child,” Grancoy comforts as he places his small white hands over her eyes.
Eileen feels strange for a time as she again sees a vision of what must be another region of the base. There is no question that what she sees is the inside of a spacecraft. Controls feign in design to her are activates and what appears to be a countdown begins. She does not know how long the vision takes but when Grancoy removes his hands he tumbles back down to the floor.
Eileen scrambles to attend her new alien friend but there is no sign of any life left in him. Then suddenly a loud alarm sounds through the base. “Great!” Eileen says out loud, “Just what I needed!”
The opening of the door draws her attention as the angry Dr. Bybo returns. “Woman, what did you do?” he demands rushing to the console. Eileen does not reply as she watches the panicked mad scientist. “The spacecraft has become active for the first time in a decade and it is in self destruct mode!” he shouts at her as he turns pulling a gun from under his lab coat.
Eileen feels different now as she raises her hand, more in control. It is not a force shield that appears, but a surge of mental force that pins Dr. Bybo to the wall. She is using telekinesis to restrain the man and it feels good to watch the man struggle for freedom after what he has been doing to these helpless aliens! She raises her hand up and Bybo slides up the wall until his head pinned to the ceiling.
“To tell you the truth little man, I didn’t do anything,” she says walking toward the open door. “My guess is Grancoy put an end to this mad science lab the best way he could.” “I suggest you pack your bags and get out!”
When Eileen is out of the room Dr. Bybo falls to the floor knocking himself unconscious on the wall. In the corridor red lights on the wall flash telling Eileen it is time to get out of this place. The lack of soldiers in the corridor tells her that they already have fled the base or found a safe hiding place. In her mind’s eye she can see the exit door and as she walks she feels drawn to it without having any idea where it is located. Several turns and she is at the exit door.
Back out in the desert night Eileen finds something else unexpected. A whole squad of soldiers lay on the sand, over them ten extremely strange looking figures. She can only assume one thing. “Look I’m not with them, I came here to save the Argoians,” she says to the new arrivals. The reaction she gets is not what she expected either.
Several of the hybrid-drones fire laser beams from the one large oval on their faces. Like she has been doing it all her life Eileen raises a force shield, this time making sure not to seal herself inside it. The focused beams strike the shield making a ball of light like that of a small star. The light becomes so bright the lenses in her mask begin to darken like a welder’s helmet. Soon all she can see is the small spark of light.
She knows there are more robots than the ones firing at her, but now she can’t see any of them. She has to turn the tables. A blast of her own. One that will hurt only her targets. Tumbling out of the aim of the blast she drops her shield. Rolling over the sand she uses her arms to cast out a blanket of cosmic energy that is tuned only to target the robots. Her lenses quickly return to clear as she watches her creation fans out over the desert vaporizing her attackers all at once.
The blast has another effect as well, it jars the few of the soldiers on the ground still alive back to consciousness. If she was here as Officer McCoy her first move would be to help the men, but she isn’t Officer McCoy, she is Sentry. Instead she returns to the night sky. It is not Roswell that she heads for now, it is west that she flys. Eileen began this night searching for answers about her long thought dead Grandfather.
But Sentry has found something much better. She has found what he wants from Eileen. Sentry knows that she no longer needs to search for him, he will come to her. And when he does Antonio Cifredo will pay for the pain he has caused his Granddaughter!
The home of Janet and Robert Redmayne
San Diego, Ca
Janet sits in the chair at the bedroom closet monitoring the events that take place at Area 51 through the eye of the Hybrid-drones. Robert stands behind her watching over her shoulder. As the screen goes black Janet begins to laugh. “How fabulous!”
“What do you mean?” Robert exclaims. “Not only has she been bound to the suit, but she destroyed all of our Hybrid-drones!” Janet just laughs as she gets up from the chair to walk around behind Robert. Robert looks to her saying, “It took months to build those Hybrid-drones and it will take over a year to find a new power source to replace the one she destroyed!”
“None of that matters now,” Janet manages to say as she brings her laughter under control. “The moment the Argoian bound her to that suit the drones recorded the frequency to access connecting it to the Argoian power generator!” “We will have and endless supply of power!”
FEBRUARY 17, 1987
Eileen McCoy’s Apartment
Southeastern, San Diego, Ca
The next morning Eileen wake to the sunrise through her bedroom window. Lying there in the warmth of the sun she thinks, It was all a dream. Then she sits up and realizes what she is wearing. The red and blue suit from her “dream”. “It was all real!” she voices quietly. Looking to the pillow next to her she is alone in her room. There is no question, it was all real most of all Corey’s death.
She feels numb like she could never cry again. Not over her mother’s betrayal or her husband’s death. Jumping up from the bed she fears it is the Argoian Sentry Uniform that is controlling her emotions. Eileen strips off the suit kicking it across the floor. Then something amazing happens the suit appears to crawl into the emblem. Eileen stares at the disk on the floor feeling the same as she did before taking off the suit.
Heading to the shower she tries to put the suit all out of her mind. She thinks as the warm water ran over her head and body, None of what happened at Area 51 will ever come to light. If she is to lure Antonio Cifredo out of hiding she must take the suit public. Unless her Grandfather was the one to send those robots. Then she thinks of Corey and how troubled he must have truly been without her even knowing. She has to keep only the love they shared in mind if she is to truly mourn him.
By that night after dinner of take out Eileen goes for another bottle of wine at the very back of the refrigerator. Stopping herself she closes the refrigerator door to walk from the kitchen. Returning to her bedroom the disk still lay on the floor where she left it that morning. Eileen reaches for the metal disk picking it up. It seems thicker than it was when she wore it on her chest. Holding the disk to her chest the blue and red suit expands from the emblem crawling over her body. Before she knows it she is again wearing the Argoian Sentry Uniform. Looking into the mirror at her reflection it becomes obscured by the scene of four men breaking thru the security door of her apartment building. Backing away from the mirror she soon hears her own door being broken open. Stepping into the living room she recognizes these four men from the night her husband was killed. Why are now coming at her. Eileen’s police training is instinctive. The men attack and she fights them off with a greater than strength she ever had before she wore the suit. The leader of the men pulled a gun and the bullets fly. To everyone’s surprise the bullets rolled off the brightly colored uniform. The suit gives her incredible speed and strength. Eileen uses it to subdue the men, all but one who gets away. If Grandfather wasn’t behind the robots, when that man gets back to him, he will surely know that she has the suit now.