Day one

 

'Come on now, tell us what you saw!' senior agent Thompson yelled at the kid.

'Hey, Thompson, you won't get anywhere, just leave it.' agent Nernst tried calming him down.

'I don't get this. He obviously had no trouble telling his school teacher.'

'Just leave it.' Nernst gave Thompson a consoling look. 'Let Stephenson deal with him.' said Nernst in a reassuring voice.

'Stephenson – where the heck is he?'

'He's on the way. You know him, he wouldn't waste time. He's only just landed with the afternoon air plain he should be here any minute.'

'Oh, god damn!' Thompson felt helpless. Despite his many years of experience he had no clue about working with kids, he preferred adults. Why kids be involved in anything like this anyway? He scoffed and turned away scratching his short silver hair. The interrogation room was dark, the bright ceiling lamp casting an artificially bright light. The gray walls were without windows except for the mirrored observation window to one side. There was a knock on the door.

'See. That must be him.' said Nernst.

'Bloody hope so.' said Thopmson in a resigned voice. The door opened and a rather skinny looking middle aged man in jeans and a black shirt entered the room. His round glasses made him look intellectual.

'Stephenson. We've been waiting for you.' said Nernst in a kind tone. Thompson gave him a brief look and scoffed half politely half irritated.

'I'm sorry the plain was delayed because of the heat caused by the weather contidions.' said Stephenson.

'Yeah. That happens quite often out here in the desert during this time of the year.' said Nernst.

'So is that him?' The tall, lean man came closer curious to see the kid for the first time.

'Yes. He's been here for three days now. Hasn't said anything yet – nothing about the incident anyway.' said Nernst. Thopmson made a growling noise he had tried the most persistent to get something out of him but without success.

'Thank you agent Nernst.' said Stephenson transfixed looking at the boy who absently looked at the gray surface of the table he was sitting on. Nernst gave Thopmsopn a brief look.

'I can go over his file with you now. I've got it just over in the - '

'Thanks, agent Nernst.' Stephenson interrupted him, he was still staring at the boy who started to notice his glance.

'Can you give us some space?' asked Stephenson. Nernst looked at the skinny agent and then at the boy and then back at the agent finally looking at Thompson.

'You want to talk to him now?' Nernst asked somewhat unsure but quickly realizing it would save a lot of time. 'OK, sure. That's good.' Nernst said quickly. Thompson and Nernst exchanged a few brief looks before retreating out of the interrogation room closing the door behind themselves.

'If he doesn't get anything out of him, I'll be very tempted to use more harsh methods.' said Thompson with a growl.

'He's just a kid.' said Nernst his hand long hair still looking youthful shining in it's light brown color. 'Let Stephenson try, he's knows what he's doing.' said Nernst. Thompson scoffed and headed to the observation room eager to see what Stephenson would make of it.

 

'Hi.' said Stephenson and sat down on the table opposite the boy. According to the file he was eleven but he looked like ten. He seemed somewhat tired though not overly much so bored playing with his hands. Seemingly absent he ignored the stranger he had never seen before having met too many of them recently.

'What's your name?' Stephenson asked him in a friendly voice though keeping it serious. He waited for a while keeping his eyes on the kid it was obvious he wasn't eager to talk. Stephenson took a deep breath and took something out of his pocket. He placed bunch of folded up papers in the center of the table.

'Hey, you don't have to talk to me but I might be able to help you if you're willing to. See these papers? Can you tell me what they're all about?' The boy briefly looked up at the papers unsure about whether to take one and unfold it to look at it or not. Stephenson smiled seeing the boy was wavering.

'You don't like sharing secrets, don't you? I don't like sharing them either but you know what? I'll share them with you if you want to.' The boy looked at one of the folded paper in front of him. By the light shining through them he thought he recognized what they were all about.

'They're my drawings of the UFOs.' said the boy sounding bored.

'Huh? How do you know? You didn't even look at them.' said Stephens in a curious voice.

'I can see it through the light.' he grabbed one of the papers and unfolded it revealing a drawing of a spacecraft. 'Here, see?' he briefly showed the drawing to the agent but quickly abandoned it on the table. He wished he would have never drawn them hating them and those people who were so interested in them.

'Is that your favorite one?' asked Stephenson.

'No.' said the boy angry starring at it.

'You don't like it?'

'No.' he said pulling a face.

'Then why did you draw it?' the boy didn't answer and Stephen reached for the paper containing the drawing. 'Do you like any of the others better.'

'No.' said the boy. Stephenson sighed.

'Is there anything else you want to talk about?' The boy looked to the side. 'How about your family. Do you have any brothers or sisters?' The boy hesitated for a while but finally gave in feeling to tired to keep on trying to object.

'I have two brothers and one sister.'

'How old are they? Do you know?' the boy frowned and reached for one of the still folded up papers slowly unfolding it. It showed another flying saucer with light coming out of its door.

'Sandy is eight, Rupert and Timmy are seven.'

'So you're the oldest?' the boy looked at the drawing.

'No, not really. I have an older half brother he's eighteen but he doesn't live with us at home anymore. He's doing an apprenticeship as a car mechanic, he only comes for holidays.'

'And your parents?'

'Mom's a nurse and dad's remarried with another woman.'

'OK.' the agent looked at the boy still holding his drawing. 'Do you feel happy in your family?'

'Yes, I don't know, I -' the boy didn't know what to say.

'Don't worry you don't have to tell me.' The boy looked suddenly sad.

'Do you miss them?' The boy looked up at the agent as if startled by the question.

'Do you think they know you're here?' the boy frowned and looked to the side.

'Do you think your mum is missing you?' Suddenly the boy sniffed and started crying. Crossing his arms on the table he placed his forehead on his arms facing down.

'Sh. Hey.' The lean agent got up and walked around the table putting his hand on the boy's shoulder. 'I'm sorry.' the boy kept crying and Stephenson sighed.

 'Hey, Michael?' the boy wiped his eyes with his sleeves. 'I'm here to help you, Michael. I'm going to be here for the next weeks and talk to you as much as I can so you won't have to feel scared or lonely, OK? You can ask for me any time.'

2: Day two

'How was your night?' asked Stephenson sitting back in the same interrogation room like the day before. Michael sitting opposite him looked unhappy he didn't like the empty room with the hard mattress and the itchy woolen blankets and he didn't like to be locked in at night though he had gotten more used to it by now.

'I don't like the blanket.'

'Oh, OK, what kind of blanket would you like?'

'One that's soft and not itchy like the gray one and it smells strange.'

'Michael?' The boy looked to the side. 'Do you want to tell me about what happened at school before you came here?' Michael looked at the table.

'I thought you all know.' said Michael sounding somewhat defensive.

'No, I don't know Michael. Can you tell me?' he asked in a friendly tone. The boy looked bored.

'I made the drawings of the UFOs.'

'The ones from yesterday?'

'Yes and I drew a few more of them at home.'

'Michael,why did yuo draw them?' There was an extended silence. 'Hey Michael do you think I've ever seen real UFO's?' Michael gave him a strangely baffled look. 'Because I think I have seen some and yours look different.'

'You have seen UFOs?'

'Many times.' the boy frowned unsure if the grown up telling the truth or was making fun of him.

'No.' said the boy.

'Why not?'

'Because UFO's aren't real, they're just thinks from TV and books.'

'Really? Who told you that?'

'Everybody.'

'Well I'm telling you otherwise.'

'Yeah, but you're-' the boy wanted to say strange but felt it would make him angry. '-different.'

'You know most people are scared of UFOs but you're not scared right?'

'No.' said the boy though he wasn't sure.

'Do you want to see one?' The boy wasn't sure what to say.

'Sure.' he said unconvinced.

'That's good because maybe one day I can show you one. Now, you didn't just draw pictures at school right? You said something to your teacher Mrs Hutchinson, right?.' The boy looked sinister again, if he would have known what would happen he wouldn't have told her. 'What did you tell her?'

'I told her I was abducted by aliens.' Stephen raised his eyebrows.

'And were you abducted by aliens?'

'I don't know.'

'You don't know? Then why did you tell her?'

'Because I thought she might help me.'

'Help you with what?'

'I - ' the boy rubbed his arm. 'I thought she would help me.' Michael sounded more emotional.

'OK, Michael.' said Stephenson trying to calm him down.

'I thought she would help me!' he said frustrated.

'It's OK, Michael you couldn't have known.'

'She told the police and said it was my father.'

'It's OK, Michael what did she tell the police?'

'I told her the bruises were from the aliens but she told the police they were from my father. She said Aliens weren't real.'

'She didn't ask your permission to tell the police?'

'No, I only found out when my mum told me, she hates him now, she thinks he hurt me but it's not true and I told her but she doesn't believe me.'

'Michael, what kind of bruises did you have?' The boy paused trying to remember. 'On my arms and on my ankles.'

'Anywhere else?'

'On my head.'

'Michael I want you to tell me what happened when the aliens abducted you, do you still remember?' Michael looked sober his short brown hair glistening in the bright ceiling lamp of the interrogation room.

'Are you going to keep it secret?' he asked the agent.

'I promise.' said Stephenson holding his hand up.

 

'No don't!' He cried out. It was a dark night and the stars above the city where shining bright like crystals in the sky. The boy woke up something felt strange and he was scared. He hid under his blanket. A cold wind wafted through the room and he remembered the open window. Should he go and close it? For some reason he was suddenly scared something would come inside, something scary and unknown. Carefully he peeked out from under his blankets. He saw the curtains move in the cold wind flooding through the room.

People often didn't know how cool it would get at night in the desert contrasting with the dry heat during daytime. Usually he enjoyed the cool air at night, if only it weren't for the open window making it possible for any kind of burglar to come in. He knew it was unlikely for anything to happen since his window was on the second floor of the small family home but still he couldn't get to sleep. He couldn't help but feel something would come through that window. Finally he got up, annoyed with his own fear but giving in to it. He closed the window only briefly looking over the numerous lights of the city. The house was situated on a hill giving it a nice view over the city.

Mum had often told him his room had the best view in the house. He scrambled back into bed now it was incredibly silent compared to before, no wind and no street noise in the distance. For a moment he felt safe but then he suddenly felt even more scared than before. What if the burglar was already in his room waiting for him to close the window so no one outside could hear him scream? Suddenly he was wide awake.

He tried thinking of a plan. Maybe he could go and sleep in mums bed, no, he was too old now and Sandy had already ridiculed him for it a week ago. OK, just count to one hundred and I'll be asleep, he thought. One, two, three... suddenly there was a strange noise, what was it?

He dared looking out from under his blanket. He felt like there was something in his room. He hid under the blanket again. After a while he felt the cold wind again, was the window still open? He looked towards the window and it looked like it was closed. Hadn't he closed it properly? Suddenly it felt like the sky exploded and everything turned white. He tried covering his eyes with his arms but still he could see only white. White everywhere, everywhere all around him.

 

'That's it?' asked Stephen after Michael didn't continue for a while.

'I don't remember anything after that.' said Michael. Stephenson knew he was lying, he knew exactly what happened.

'What's the first thing you remember after that?' he asked.

'I woke up in my bed and went to school.'

'Hm.' the man placed his hand in front of his mouth. 'You know, that sounds a lot like you've actually been abducted.'

'How do you know?' asked the boy. Stephenson smiled, he had caught him there.

'So you said there was bright white light. Was there anything inside the light?' Michael looked at the table.

'You know what Michael? It is possible that you might suddenly remember and then you can tell me what happened, OK?.' Stephenson gave him a sober look. He paused for a while before he finally cleared his throat straightening his back.

'Our time is almost up Michael and there's one thing I wanted to talk to you about before I leave. We have a few doctors here and they want to do a health check on you today. You know, that's a really good thing for you because then you can be sure that the aliens didn't leave any damage on you when they abducted you.' Michael gave Stephenson an unsure look.

'Sometimes there can be more than just a few bruises and you can only be sure after a thorough examination. Do you feel OK with that?' asked Stephenson. Michael didn't know.

'Is it going to be just like going to a normal doctor?' asked Michael. Stephenson made an unsure face raising his eyebrows.

'Yes. But a bit more thorough, does that make you scared?'

'No.' said Michael. Stephenson smiled relieved.

'Good then.'

3: Day three

'Hello Michael.' It was morning again and again they met in the same interrogation room. Michale looked somewhat unhappy. 'Are you OK?'

'Yes.' said Michael but it didn't sound convincing.

'Did everything go alright with the health check yesterday?' Michael looked to the side keeping his serious face.

'You didn't tell me that they were going to look inside me.' he said in an accusatory voice.

'Oh, OK. Did it hurt you?' Michaels face softened.

'Only a little bit.'

'Well I'm happy it went well.' said Stephenson but Michael kept his unhappy face. 'What is wrong?'

'When can I go back to my home?' Stephenson made an apologetic face.

'Not quite now Michael, but maybe in the future.'

'What?! But why can't I go home now!' he said aloud.

'Sh, Michael. Look, we have to find out why the aliens abducted you first otherwise it can be that they will come back and abduct you again.'

'And so what? At least they put me back in my bed after it was over not like here!'

'Hey, sh, Michael.' tears had started running down the boy's face. 'Is it because of the examination yesterday? Did it remind you of something?'

'No!'

'Then why are you – hey, Michael?' the boy was crying angrily. 'Michael the sooner you can tell me what happened the sooner we can let you go back – so.'

'Does that mean if I never tell you you'll never let me go back?!' yelled the boy.

'Hey, sh, Michael.' Stephenson tried telling him in a soft voice. 'It's not so easy, so just try to remember.'

'Maybe I do remember!'

'Then why don't you tell me?' There was a long silence the boy had stopped crying and was angrily looking at the table.

'Michael?' asked Stephen in a sweet tone. Michael looked up at him. 'Are you still here?' Michael sniffed and looked back down again. Stephen sighed and got up.

'I'm sorry, time's almost up, I -' the phone rang.

Ripped out of the conversation Stephenson walked over to pick up the handset. Michael eyed him slightly startled he had never noticed that there was a phone in the room.

'Hello?' he heard Stephenson answer into the phone. 'I'm with a subject right now, can it wait until later?' he made an angry face and Michael was surprised to see him angry for he was usually very nice.

'OK, I'll come up.' said Stephenson and hung up.

'Do you want to come with me?' Stephenson asked him in a serious tone. Michael made an unsure face then nodded vaguely. 'OK, then come.' Stephenson said in an unusually commanding voice. He opened the door and reached for Michaels hand. Michael went up to him and followed him outside the room.

'Where are we going?' asked Michael. Stephenson didn't answer for a while.

'You're not the only kid I'm looking after.' he said in a soft voice looking ahead. Michael decided not to ask any more questions. Curiously he looked at where they were going. He only knew his small room and the corridors leading to the interrogation room. They went through many empty corridors nowhere were there any windows or people and Michael realized how big the compound was. 'Where are we?' he blurted out.

'Sh, come, we're almost there.' They walked into a place that looked like a hospital. Leaving Michael standing at the entrance Stephenson went up to one of the beds where two other people were already standing. He looked at whatever was in the bed.

'OK, I see, can someone take the kid back down?' he said in a serious voice briefly looking towards Michael. One of the figures standing next to the bed came towards him. Suddenly scared Michael tried ducking away but the person grabbed him by the arm with a firm grip.

'What's happening? Where am I?!' Michael cried out but the figure pulled him away from the door.

4: Day four

Michael looked worried, he couldn't stop thinking about what happened yesterday and seeing Stephenson now made him even more anxious. Was he angry with him for what happened yesterday?

'Hi Michael.' said Stephenson in an unusually tired but still gentle voice.

'Hi.' said Michael.

'How was your night?' asked Stephenson. Michael hesitated.

'Good.' he said in a soft voice. Stephenson scoffed pulling some papers out. He looked at them seeming tired.

'Who was that in the room you took me to yesterday?' asked Michael. Stephenson looked up from his papers giving Michael a long look.

'Another one like you.' said Stephenson.

'Where is he from?' asked Michael.

'From Salt Lake.' said Stephenson in a dry voice.

'What's wrong with him why did you have to see him yesterday?' asked Michael confused. Stephenson made a slightly sad face.

'He wasn't as lucky as you.' said Stephenson looking at Michael.

'As me? What do you mean?' Stephenson let his papers sink onto the table.

'Did you remember anything?' asked Stephenson in a sober voice changing topic.

'No.' said Michael baffled Stephenson wouldn't answer his question.

'The aliens don't always return people in a healthy state.'

'Why? What did they do to him?'

'Why don't you tell me what they did to you?' asked Stephenson. Michael felt caught for a long moment none of them said anything and only the buzzing of the long gas light bulb on the ceiling was audible. Suddenly Stephenson's stare turned into a soft smile.

'Michael?' he asked in a kind voice.

'Hm?' Michael gave him a curious look.

'Have you ever heard of hypnosis?' Michael frowned he had heard about it but had close to no clue what it really was.

'It's a way to make people do what you want, right?' he said unsure hoping he would explain it to him.

'Not exactly. It's more used as a way to help people remember things that happened a long time ago or that they've forgotten or can't remember otherwise.' said Stephenson. Michael gave him an insecure look

'Michael, I was thinking. Would it be alright with you if I try to hypnotize you so you can remember what happened?' Michael made an unsure face.

'You don't have to be afraid it's very easy and it won't hurt you at all. You can also stop the session anytime you want.' said Stephenson.

'I don't know.' said Michael.

'Think about it. I'm not going to do anything that you don't want, OK?'

5: Day five

'Hello Michael how are you?' Stephenson sat down on the gray desk placing his bag with his papers next to his chair. Michael looked somewhat unhappy not that he'd looked any happier the days before.

'Everything alright?' asked Stephenson in an uplifting way.

'I'm hungry, they didn't give me any break fast today.' he said slightly accusingly.

'Oh really? Maybe they forgot.' said Stephenson.

'Did you have breakfast?' asked Michael still with a slightly accusing tone.

'Michael, do you want to tell me what happened last night?' asked Stephenson changing topic. Sober Michael looked at the clean surface of the table.

'I had really bad diarrhea.' said Michael somewhat suspicious Stephenson already knew.

'Oh, I'm sorry. Did you ever have that before?' asked Stephenson in an innocent tone. He quickly opened his bag and took a pen and papers out placing the paper on the desk and holding the pen in his hand.

'No.' said Michael watching him dig in his bag.

'OK, can you tell me how it happened?' Stephenson gave Michael a close look. Michael starred back at the surface of the table.

 

Michael woke up in his room. It was practically dark inside the room only little light shining through the gap between the floor and the door leading to the corridor. The room was small and had no windows. There were four beds in the room two each stacked on top of each other and Michael slept in the one on the bottom closest to the door.

He felt a strange shiver and pulled his itchy woolen blanket over his head. Something wasn't right it seemed like his intestines were churning a piercing pressure pulsating through his belly. He turned to the other side hoping it would go away but it became even stronger. He turned back again but the pain didn't go away anymore suddenly he felt nauseous like he was going to vomit.

He groaned stripping the blanket from his chest. He didn't want to get up he wanted to keep sleeping but the pain became unbearable. He sat up hoping the change in posture would make the ache go away.

For a moment it was gone but then it returned again even stringer than befrore. He frowned hard feeling tears shoot into his eyes he bent over holding his belly that felt like it was cut in a half. He didn't know what to do, knowing the door was locked until someone would come to get him in the morning.

For a moment the pain lessened and he almost felt like it was gone he looked around, looking at the door contemplating if he should call for help. The ache returned and Michael stumbled out of bed falling on hes knees holding his belly in agony. He half crawled half pushed himself to the door, he cried out.

'Help!' he listened to hear if someone was coming but nothing happened again he called out.

'Help me! Help!' he felt like he was out of breath the pain stopped again and he listened if he could hear any steps. Nothing. He sat next to the door wondering if he should continue or if the pain was gone now.

For a moment he thought he heard something but it didn't sound like steps. Again the pain returned this time so strong Michael was scared he might die. He hammered his fist against the door in panic.

'Help me! Help!' He started crying and sobbing frustrated hammering at the door, what if he was going to die? He hammered at the door as hard as he could. He didn't care if he would get into trouble for it or not just wanted someone to come. 'Help!!!'

 

'And did nobody come?' asked Stephenson. Michael made an embarrassed face.

'No.' said Michael looking somewhat resigned. 'Not until it was too late.' he added.

'I'm sorry.' said Stephenson letting his head sink. Michael starred at the table. He felt guilty for the mess he had left in his room. Though he had felt much better and relieved the pain was gone he had felt very scared of the person finding him having soiled the bed and the floor.

Stephenson made a strange face looking at his papers he remembered to check the time and looked at his wrist watch. Suddenly fully awake he looked at Michael.

'Michael?' he asked in a clear voice. 'Would it be OK for you if we do the tests that we recently did again?' asked Stephenson. Michael went pale remembering the health examination.

'No.' he said.

'Michael it won't take long, it will be different than last time.' said Stephenson in a consoling way.

'No I don't want to.' said Michael now more emotional.

'Michael you won't feel anything this time, I promise, I'll be there.' he said in a kind voice. Michael looked at the table feeling unhappy about everything but he finally agreed and nodded ever so slightly.

'OK, let's go then.' said Stephenson and got up. Michael looked at him baffled, what now?

'Come.' said Stephenson and reached his hand out towards him. Michael got up following him out the door and down the long corridors.

He didn't know where they were going just followed Stephenson who was walking so fast Michael had trouble keeping up with him. They took the elevator and following some more corridors Michael felt nauseous of the many corridors and doors that looked all the same.

There were no windows anywhere and hardly any people. Finally they entered the same room Michael knew from his first examination. Three men in white coats were busy arranging something and he looked around curiously and scared at the same time.

'You're late.' said one of the men seeing Stephenson.

'Yes, I'm sorry it took a bit longer.' he replied.

'Never mind, are you going to get ready?' Stephenson took Michaels hand and led him to the examination table in the middle. He lifted him onto the table letting him sit on the edge Michaels legs dangling off the side.

'OK.' said Stephenson in a kind voice and walked around the table until he was standing behind Michael. He put his arm around him holding him gently. One of the men handed Stephenson a breathing mask. Michael saw a thick transparent tube attached to it eyeing it skeptically. Swiftly and firmly Stephenson placed it over Michaels mouth and nose.

Michael made wide eyes not expecting it he tried turning his head away but Stephenson held him firmly keeping the mask on his face. Michael held his breathe wanting to tell him he changed his mind wanting to say he didn't want to. He took a deep breath and passed out.

Stephenson looked at him with gentle eyes.

'I think he's asleep now.' said Stephenson in a soft voice looking at the man who had handed him the mask, he looked young maybe in his late twenties or early thirties.

'Hold it a few more minutes.' said the young man. Stephenson kept holding the mask onto Michael face now feeling the boy's full weight in his arms.

'We're going to do a full examination today, not like last time.' said Stephenson. 'He's not going to end up like the other ones.' he added reprimanding. The man gave him a brief glance that looked rather unconvinced then he sighed and started preparing for the examination.

6: Day six

Michael woke up in his bed. He felt nauseous for a moment thinking he was going to throw up. Was it over? What happened? Where was Stephenson? He looked around but saw only the room he had been kept in for the last days, his itchy woolen blanket over him.

He suddenly thought of his family suddenly wishing his mum were here or his elder brother or even his younger siblings as long as they would leave him alone. He swallowed and felt a slight pain all over his body. Maybe he was going to get sick.

If his mum knew she would make him a herbal tea and let him watch TV all day until he felt better. He missed his home. Even though he hadn't always felt happy with his family, sometimes even thinking of running away he suddenly felt homesick. Thinking about it he even missed the things he didn't like to do, like washing the dishes or mowing the lawn. He missed playing with his construction toys and riding his bicycle with the neighbor kids on the street.

Where were they? Where did they think he had gone? Did they know he was gone? For a moment he wondered if he might have been replaced with a boy that looked exactly the same like him and they didn't even know he was gone.

He heard steps in the corridor and he turned to the side facing the wall. He heard his door being unlocked and opened. He saw the light fall into his room from the corner of his eyes as someone opened the door. Michael closed his eyes pretending to be sleep and for a moment it was very quiet. Then the door closed again and Michael opened his eyes again. Was there any way he could escape this place?

 

'Hello Michael.' Stephenson sat down. Michael frowned at him. He felt almost normal again but still the memory of what happened yesterday lingered in his mind.

'I want to go home.' Michael blurted out in a demanding way. Stephenson let his papers sink giving him a sympathetic look.

'I'm serious. I don't like it here, I want to go home.' said Michael. Stephenson sighed looking at his papers.

'Michael you're very sick you can't go home.'

'What?' Michael almost felt tears shoot into his eyes. If he was sick didn't they have to tell his mum? Thinking of her he started crying.

'Michael... ' Stephenson said in a kind voice but he knew it didn't help.

'Michael.' he said again trying to make him stop crying.

'I want to go home, I hate this place!' he said accusingly.

'Hey, Michael it's OK, hey.' Stephenson reached his hand out but he was too far away to actually touch Michael.

'Michael, please stop crying.' Michael couldn't help but keep crying feeling more home sick and scared than ever.

'Michael, listen, if you stop crying we will go for a walk together – outside – what do you think?' said Stephenson. Michael wiped his tears with his sleeve suddenly feeling ashamed for crying.

'Now that's better, we'll go for a walk OK?' said Stephenson. Michael nodded.

'Now Michael you have to tell me what happened. I can't wait much longer. It's not going to get any easier in the future so it's better if you just tell me what you know now. So I can help you, do you understand?' asked Stephenson. Michael nodded not sure about anything anymore now.

'We will try the hypnosis tomorrow, I'm going to prepare for it so please try to be prepared as well, it's going to make it so much easier for everyone.' Stephenson looked at him with straight eyes.

'Michael do you want to go home?' asked Stephenson.

'Yes.' said Michael still rubbing his eyes.

'Then you have to tell me what you know. Then you can go home, OK?' said Stephenson. Michael nodded vaguely his eyes were still swollen, sniffing he wiped his eyes. 'It's going to be alright Michael.'

 

'What's he doing? He's wasting time!' said senior agent Thompson in an aggressive tone.

'Maybe he's just using a method to gain the boy's trust.' said Nernst in a monotone voice.

'If anyone can get anything out of him it's Stephenson. It's his field of expertise.' he added in a promising way. The two agents were observing the conversation between Stephenson and the boy seeing them through the large mirrored observation window.

'Field of expertise.' Thompson grumbled. 'How do you become a psychologist expert for children who claim to have been abducted by aliens? Guess they have a university course for everything now.' said Thompson cynically.

'Stories about his background say that he claimed to have been abducted as a child himself. It's a very personal thing for him and he cares a lot about a good outcome. Just give him the time and let him do what he needs to.' said Nernst.

'We don't have much time left.' said Thompson.

'He'll make him talk.' said Nernst. Thompson grumbled and walked out. Nernst checked the audio recording making sure it was recording everything.

 

'Now isn't that much nicer? Do you like the desert?' When Stephenson had told Michael they would go for a walk Michael thought of a pretty park with a river and ducks and flowers but when Stephenson and him got out of the elevator on the top floor there was just desert, desert and a high metal fence around the small concrete shaft of the elevator.

Stephenson walked to the first fence gate and unlocked it with a key from his thickly studded key ring. He pulled the gate open and it made a screeching metallic sound. Michael frowned not feeling as inspired to go for a walk anymore.

'Come on, Michael.' Stephenson extended his hand and Michael walked up to him taking it. Together they walked to the second fence ring. Michael saw the razor wire coils running along the top of it. Stephenson opened the gate and like the other gate it swung open with a metallic sound amplified by the large fence the gate was attached to.

Stephenson locked the gate behind them and started walking out into the desert. Unsure Michael followed him.

It was evening and the temperature was quite nice. A red sunset made everything look bright orange. The rocks in the distance were still reflecting the yellow light from the sunset on their tips, everything else was plunged in shadows.

'Where are we going?' asked Michael bewildered smelling the dust in the air.

'Just a few meters around that rock.' said Stephenson pointing at a big boulder about the size of a family home. Michael looked at a cactus that was almost as tall as him pass by as he walked after Stephenson.

'Do you like rocks and deserts?' Stephenson asked him. Michael gave him an unsure look. 'It's kind of beautiful isn't it?' commented Stephenson.

'Are there any coyotes out here?' asked Michael concerned.

'Yeah, maybe, but I've never seen any here. They come out at night.' said Stephenson.

'How far away is it from here to Albuquerque.' asked Michael.

'A few hundred miles maybe?.' guessed Stephenson roughly.

'And to Phoenix?'

'The same maybe?' said Stephenson in an ambivalent tone. Michael frowned. They kept walking at an even speed.

'Do you know anyone who lives out here?' asked Michael.

'Apart from us? No.' said Stephenson.

'I'm scared.' said Michael in a random way.

'Oh, really scared of what?'

'Scared of the coyotes.' he said partly serious partly just making it up.

'Have you ever seen a coyote in real?' asked Stephenson. Michael thought for a while.

'No, not really.' he admitted.

'Aw, well, I guess they've got a bad reputation.' Stephenson smiled. 'You know when I was as old as you I would often go into the desert and play by myself.' said Stephenson. Michael frowned at him, how boring would that be?

'I saw coyotes and they were always scared of me and so were the rattlesnakes and lizards. They always run away if you let them. I never had to be scared, I thought they were my friends and I was their protector.' Stephenson smiled. 'I stopped my grand father shoot a rattle snake once when I was eleven.' said Stephenson.

'Oh, really, what did he say?' asked Michael.

'He wasn't very happy about it. He beat me up for it.' said Stephenson dryly. Michael frowned at him wondering if he was telling the truth or just telling a story. 'I'm sorry I shouldn't tell you that.' said Stephenson.

'Why not?' asked Michael.

'It's not a nice story to tell a kid.' said Stephenson clearing his throat. 'I grew up alone with my father and my grandfather on an old farm.'

'In the desert?'

'It used to be green but over the years it all turned to dust and now it's useless, not even the toughest cattle can live there.' said Stephenson.

'How old are you?' asked Michael.

'Me? Forty three.' said Stephenson.

'Then you're older than my father.' said Michael. Stephenson smiled. The sun disappeared behind the horizon and suddenly everything turned purple and slowly into a metallic blue. A few stars were visible in the center of the sky. The two of them looked up.

'Is that where they come from?' asked Michael. Stephenson looked back down at him with a slight frown.

'Something like that.' he said half smiling.

'I've heard there's the possibility that there are aliens but we can't tell because we can't see them on their planet. They're too far away.' said Michael.

'That's right Michael.' said Stephenson. He looked at the boy with an increasingly serious face and there was a long silence. It was almost dark now a small light shining from the concrete cube that formed the entrance to the elevator.

'I'm scared of them.' said Michael in an honest voice. They had stopped walking and were standing a few hundred meters away from the fenced area looking back at it. Stephenson knelt down in front of Michael and looked into Michael's eyes.

'I'm scared of them too.' said Stephenson. 'But I also know that they're not wanting to hurt us.'

'Really how do you know?' asked Michael.

'Because they told me once.' Michael gave him a disbelieving look. 'I was as old as you when they took me. They took me to their ship.' said Stephenson. Michael watched him with unsure eyes. 'I still remember it. It was beautiful, Michael, it was so much more beautiful than anything I've seen on earth.'

'Why did they take you on their ship?' asked Michael.

'I can't tell you.' Stephenson smiled. 'I promised to keep it secret.' said Stephenson.

'I promised them to keep what they did to me secret too.' said Michael.

 

That night Michael had many strange dreams. Dreams about his family, about Stephenson and about aliens. They weren't scary as much as confusing and he felt more unsure about what was going on than ever.

7: Day seven

'Good morning Michael how are you?' asked Stephenson back in the small gray interrogation room.

'I'm cold.' Michael coughed he looked somewhat pale and weak.

'Don't worry you'll get better.' said Stephenson. Michael made an exhausted face.

'Michael do you want to try the hypnosis technique?' Stephenson asked him. Michael frowned he was too tired to object, tired he nodded.

 

There was bright light everywhere and everything felt as light as a feather warm and soft. Michael opened his eyes and found himself lying on a strangely smooth table starring up at a bright oval light hovering above him. He saw two figures stand to the left and one to the right of him. They were not human, their necks were long and narrow so were their limbs. Their skin was of a light gray color shining almost white in the bright light. Michael looked at them with amazement. There was something eminent about them and he felt safe.

'Where am I?' he asked in such a slurred and soft voice he was almost certain they wouldn't understand it.

'You are on a ship that orbits the earth at the moment.' he suddenly heard the answer echo in his head.

'How did I get here?'

'We took you here. Do don't need to be afraid.'

'Who are you?'

'I'm Seneviev, this is Sinev and Dvieh.'

'Where are you from?'

'We're from a planet system quite far away from here, further than you may imagine traveling.'

'Are you going to take me there with you?'

'No we will return you to your home that's where you belong.'

'Then why did you take me?'

'We want to know more about you so do you want to let us do our investigation?' Suddenly he felt unsure sensing it wouldn't only be pleasant.

'OK.' he said and he knew it was going to be alright, everything was going to be alright.

'Thank you Michael.' he heard them say. 'Thank you.'

 

'Thank you Michael.' Michael opened his eyes suddenly seeing Stephenson sit opposite him. It felt like the world turned dark the bright memory dropping away from his mind.

He felt himself back inside the dark interrogation room the constant humming of the electric gas light bulb driving him mad. He felt like crying realizing he was still there.

'Thank you Michael.' said Stephenson again with a strangely stiff smile. Michael made a distressed face feeling like he had done something terribly wrong. He had broken his promise, he had told the secret.

8: Day eight

'Michael wake up, wake up!' Michael felt himself being shaken by his arm. Confused he opened his eyes. It felt too early to get up and the voice sounded like Stephenson's voice and not like that of the private who would usually wake him up and bring him breakfast.

'Michael wake up!' Stephenson whispered in a harsh way. Michael grumbled and opened his eyes. It was Stephenson, what did he want?

'Get up, we have to go.' whispered Stephenson in a pressing tone. Michael groaned.

'But I'm still tired, I want to keep sleeping.' he grumbled into his pillow.

'Wake up.' said Stephenson in a commanding way and Michael suddenly realized he was serious.

'What?' dazzled Michael sat up in his bed.

'Get dressed, come on.' Stephenson pushed a bundle of clothes into Michaels face. Michael frowned and got up. He put the clothes on. They were ordinary children's clothes unlike the strange gray pajama clothes he'd been wearing here.

As soon as he was dressed Stephenson grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the room. Michael frowned watching Stephenson lock the door. After making sure it was locked Stephenson grabbed Michaels arm again pulling him along. They hurried down the long corridors into the elevator and before Michael knew what was going on they had already reached the metal gates. Stephenson simply pushed them open.

'Why are they not locked?' asked Michael still dazed a cool morning breeze blowing through his hair.

'I opened them before, come on now, come on let's go.' Stephenson hurried him on pulling him by the hand as they ran away from the fenced area. Stephenson pulled him up a sand dune finally letting his hand go. Then he looked at him with a serious face.

'Michael.' he said in a clear voice. 'Stay here behind this dune, OK? No matter what happens OK?' Michael frowned.

'Stay here. I'll pick you up in a few hours.' Stephenson ran back down the dune without looking back and reentered the fenced area. Michael saw him lock the gates and suddenly walking normal he went back towards the elevator.

 

'What do you mean he's gone?' asked agent Thompson in a bewildered tone.

'Sir, I couldn't find him in his room this morning, sir.' said the private all while standing straight. Nernst and Stephenson made questioning faces. Looking somewhat awkward the four men were standing in the interrogation room facing each other.

'It's unlikely he could have escaped from a locked room, were there any signs that he broke the door open?' asked Nernst.

'Where there?!' Thompson yelled at the private.

'Not that I saw.' said the private in a clear voice. 'The door was locked as usual when I went to fetch him this morning, sir.'

'Maybe he picked the lock.' said Nernst.

'Are you kidding? He's a bloody kid!' Thompson yelled at Nernst.

'Did you look under the bed?' asked Stephenson. Agent Nernst and Thompson groaned almost simultaneously placing their hands on their foreheads. Thompson glowered at the private.

'Did you look under the bed, private?'

'No sir, I went straight to your office to tell you he's missing.'

'And did you lock the door after you left?' asked Stephenson quickly. The private suddenly made a worried face and Thompson glowered at him with bulging eyes.

'Did you lock that door after you left?'

'No sir.' said the private in a clear voice a drop of sweat running down his face. Thompson grumbled his head had turned red a big pulsating adder protruding on his forehead.

'Tricked by an eleven year old.' said Nernst with a slight smile sounding almost bemused. Thompson gave him an angry look finding it not very funny but Nernst made a confident face.

'Go check if he's hiding in his room. If he's not there he must be somewhere in the complex. If we search the entire building systematically we're sure to find him before evening.' said Nernst nodding at the private. The young man saluted and briskly left the room. Stephenson made an expressionless face quietly looking at the floor.

'Stephenson, I'm sorry. You may not be able to have your interview with him today.' said Nernst. Stephenson nodded looking somewhat disappointed.

'Never mind.' he said making It sound as if he actually did. Nernst gave him a consoling look. 'We'll find him.' said Nernst. Stephenson gave him an unsure glance.

'I was thinking of going into town today, it's my niece's birthday and I wanted to send her a card.' said Stephenson. Nernst smiled.

'How old is she?'

'She's turning six.' said Stephenson.

'That's a very cute age my son is turning seven this year.'

'Oh, congratulations.' said Stephenson.

'Could you two stop talking about kids? I'm getting sick of this now – not as if we haven't got enough problems because of one already.' said Thompson in a growling voice. Nernst nodded back in his professional mood.

'We'll get a search team ready and comb the complex carefully. Kids like to hide in all sorts of places, cupboards, under desks and tables... '

'Yes, yes – get it done!' Thompson yelled at him and stumbled out of the room. Nernst smiled at Stephenson.

'Take your day off, Stephenson. By the time you're back we will have found him.' he said in a confident voice. 'You get your card for your niece. But I don't think there's a particularly great selection of cards in the store there, it's a very small town after all.' he added in a kind voice. Stephenson gave him a grateful look.

'Thank you.' he said in a soft voice.

 

'Michael!' Michael's heart almost stopped when he heard a jeep drive up behind the dune hardly recognizing Stephenson behind the steering wheel. Michael froze starring at the heavy army jeep climbing the dune approaching him at a rapid pace. The massive car came to a stop right beside him with a loud roar.

'Get in the truck, come on.' Stephenson opened the door to the passenger seat and Michael crawled into the vehicle.

'Stay below the seat.' said Stephenson slamming the door closed. Michael squatted in front of the passenger seat finding it funny he was allowed to do that for his mother would have never allowed him. The engine sounded deep and powerful.

'Stay low.' said Stephenson. He backed the Jeep back down the steep dune and kept driving back on the dirt road away from the fenced area. When they were a few minutes away from the fenced area Stephenson suddenly smiled at Michael.

'Are you OK?' he asked him. Michael nodded watching Stephenson's hear being tugged by the wind as he was driving the massive army jeep. The road was flat and dusty, sand whirling up behind the wheels.

'I'll take you to a safe place.' said Stephenson. Suddenly Michael doubted whether it had been a good idea to follow Stephenson or not. What if he were to harm him? Stephenson smiled at him seeming almost like a mad person behind the stirring wheel driving at a fast speed.

A big bump in the road sent the jeep flying through the air and for a short moment Michael almost thought they would roll over. Stephenson smiled excited.

'Fun! Isn't it!?' he yelled against the wind and loud engine noise. Michael half frowned half smiled back at him tightly holding on to the bars below the passenger seat.

 

'OK. There's nothing, should we start all over?' asked a tired private.

'No. let's stop for today. It's a big complex. He'll come out in time, at latest when he gets hungry.' said Nernst seeming still confident.

'OK.' said the private. Nernst pursed his lips and turned back to the technician sitting in front of the security surveillance monitors. Nernst looked at the numerous screens searching them with his eyes.

'Do you think he might have escaped the complex?' asked one of the technicians.

'No. there's no sign of it. He would have had to cross a high voltage fence and a barbwire fence. Not a particularly easy task for an eleven year old.' said his colleague. They dropped silent when Thompson came in.

'Did you look through the footage of the outside cameras observing the main exit?' asked Thompson in an impatient tone. Nernst kept looking at the screens in a focused way.

'There's nothing from 7am onwards.' said one of the technicians.

'And what about before that?' asked Thompson.

'There's no recordings from the external cameras from last night till 7am this morning.'

'What? Why not?!' bellowed Thompson.

'We discovered the cables to the recording device were unplugged this morning so we plugged them back in at shift start at 7am.'

'What?!' Thompson was furious.

'What do we have cameras for if they're not recording?'

'Sorry sir. Sometimes cables just come out when people check stuff or trip over them.' said the young technician.

'You better watch your clumsy cable tripping feet in future or they will trip over cables on the premises of a military base at the most godforsaken place on the earth.' Thompson told him with a growl.

'The footage from last night is irrelevant anyway since the boy only escaped the room this morning at 8am one hour after the missing footage.'

'Can someone shut that smart-ass up!' Thompson yelled into the room. 'I expect a better job than this! I want a list of every rat, lizard, dog, or person that entered or left this base in the last 24hours - including any kind of transport or vehicle!' Thompson yelled at the three men. He turned around seeing Stephenson stand in the doorway.

'Still no trace of the boy?' he asked in a soft voice.

9: Day nine

Michael sat in the bus Stephenson had put him on. He was relentlessly thinking about the last words Stephenson had told him just before he left.

'Don't talk to anyone. A friend of mine will pick you up, he'll recognize you. His name is Artie.' Michael still remembered Stephenson's face so serious and concerned as he was kneeling in front of him at the bus station.

'- his name is Artie.' Who was Artie? Stephenson had told the bus driver to make sure Michael would get out at the right place. Unlike the buses Michael knew from the city he lived it there weren't many stops at all and the bus just kept driving on and on through the entire night and further and further away from where he'd been.

He didn't even know where he'd been. How could he find the way back again if he wanted to see Stephenson again? Michael clutched the small backpack Stephenson had bought him at the bus station together with a big stack of snacks and drinks. Suddenly he felt scared wishing to be back in his little room in the army base waiting to talk to Stephenson in the morning. Why didn't he come with him?

 

'For goodness sake!' Thompson exclaimed. Nernst stayed calm.

'We'll find him.' he repeated.

'This kid is driving me mad!' exhausted Thompson rested his hands on the back of an empty chair in the surveillance room.

'He'll turn up soon.' said Nernst though he started sounding more impatient.

'Where the heck could he be? This is driving me nuts!'

'Did you check in the kitchen?' asked one of the technicians sitting in front of his screen. Thompson grumbled letting his head fall forward as if trying to release a tension in his neck.

'We've got people patrolling around there.' said Nernst in a monotone voice. The constant looking at the monitors had lead to two rings form under his eyes.

'Good morning agents.' Stephenson peaked into the room. 'Any news?' Nernst turned around giving him a somewhat tired look.

'Not so far.' he said dryly and turned back to the monitors.

'Listen, Wilbert – can I talk to you for a moment?' asked Stephenson. Nernst turned back seeing Stephenson looking at him with intent eyes. He pursed his lips and excused himself leaving the room and closing the door to the surveillance room behind himself. Somewhat tiredly he looked at Stephenson facing him in the corridor.

'I'm sorry Wilbert. I was just wondering -' Stephenson started. Nernst looked at him with a tense face. ' - if I could take a few days off after what happened.' said Stephenson. Nernst frowned, he knew Stephenson wasn't one of them. A psychologist, a children's psychologist on top of it. The army wasn't really a place for him though he'd been working with them for a few years on and off. Nernst sighed.

'It's not really over yet, he hasn't quite told us what we need to know.' said Nernst unsure crossing his arms.

'I know. That's why I thought if he turns back up I'll be right back. It's just while we're waiting – I don't want to wait here.' he said in a soft tone making a serious face. Nernst nodded somewhat understanding looking at the polished white floor. He knew it had been a hard time for Stephenson recently and he felt like he owed him something. Loosing that other subject hadn't been easy for him. 'I'm sorry I'm just – 'started Stephenson in an honest voice.

'No. I understand – take your time off.' said Nernst. 'We'll call you when he turns back up.'

'Thank you Wilbert.' said Stephenson and turned to go. Nernst frowned thinking of that other subject who had died recently then he suddenly looked up again.

'Oh, Stephenson?' Nernst said in a more energetic tone. Stephenson turned back facing Nernst in the empty corridor. 'What were you doing with the truck yesterday? I saw you drive up that sand dune.' said Nernst in a bewildered tone. Stephenson raised his eyebrows.

'Oh, erm... ' he staggered.

'Did you see something up there?'

'Oh, no. No, I -' he made an embarrassed face. 'I just wanted to see if the car can handle it.' said Stephenson. Nernst raised his eyebrows making an unsure face. 'I'm sorry, I'm a tech freak and when I see such an army vehicle I want to test it's limits.' said Stephenson. Nernst nodded pursing his lips.

'It was awesome.' Stephenson whispered in a confidential tone. Nernst produced a sober smile keeping his eyes on him.

'See you in a few days hopefully.' said Nernst.

'Thanks.' Stephenson smiled and walked down the corridor.

 

In the afternoon Michael got off the bus clutching his backpack worried looking around. He didn't know where he was just suddenly the driver had called his name and told him to get off in a rather harsh way. Worried he walked out onto the dry hot pavement in the unknown town he'd never been to before. And now?

He looked around scared someone would ask him who he was and how he got here and take him away. Where was he?

'Hey!' He heard someone call aloud and first he thought it was just a mad person. 'Hey there!' he heard the loud voice again. He saw a curly haired young man walk directly towards him. He was wearing an ordinary white T-shirt and jeans his dusty curly hair stood out from his head like that of a clown except that is wasn't red.

'Hey, you.' The man came up to him bending over to look at the boy's face. 'You must be Michael. Is that right?' the young man asked him. Michael eyed him suspiciously anxiously clutching his backpack.

'I know you are.' said the man with a crazy smile. You look just like Edie told me.' Michael frowned. 'I'm Artie.' The man extended his hand. Still frowning Michael loosened one of his hands giving it to the stranger. Artie squeezed it confidently giving it a thorough shake.

'OK. Let's go.' said the man and started walking Michael following him.

 

'It's not a very nice place, I know.' Artie admitted when they entered the rather chaotic little house. It was surrounded by a big field of junk, metal parts, old car wrecks, gears, fencing and many things Michael didn't recognize but knew were used in agriculture.

The house stood quite isolated outside the little farming town Artie and Michael had driven through in Artie's rather strange old car.

'It's a classic car much better than the new ones.' Artie had told him on the way but Michael wasn't convinced by the statement preferring the car of his mother or father which had windows that closed properly and climate control.

'So.' said Artie and stumbled into the rather messy kitchen. He pulled out two soft drink cans from the old damaged looking fridge that miraculously seemed to be working. He placed the drinks on the small table standing in the kitchen it's surface covered by a cheap plastic sticky film that had started pealing off in parts. Artie indicated Michael to sit down on one of the old crappy chairs.

It was a hot, dry day and the sun was burning down onto the tin roof of the small messy house. All doors and windows were open letting the hot wind blow right through it making the different colored curtains move back and forth and up and down.

'You must mean a lot to Edie, otherwise he wouldn't have sent you here.' said Artie. 'Do you know him for long?' The curly haired man glowered at Michael as if he were some curiosity. Michael looked at the soft drink can in front of him. Droplets of condensing water had started forming on the cool surface of the can.

'Stephenson?' asked Michael unsure. 'Ah that's what you call him, guess he didn't tell you his real name.' said Artie with a grin he grabbed his can and walked away.

10: Day ten

Michael had slept astonishingly well in the surprisingly soft bed Artie had prepared for him. After an indulgent breakfast consisting of overly sweet cereals Michael was left to play in the junk yard while Artie drove off to what he called 'work'.

He returned only two hours later carrying two big shopping bags with groceries. Michael helped him unpack finding lots of delicious stuff that his mum would have considered 'unhealthy' or 'not food'.

'Did you go to work?' asked Michael.

'Yeah. Already finished. Didn't take long today.' said Artie and shoved some chocolate pops in one of the wonky cupboards.

'Where do you work?'

'Oh, just down in the recycling yard, that's at least what we call it. It's a private recycling yard me and some of my friends are running.' explained Artie. Michael frowned pulling a pack of cookies out of a shopping bag.

'Good news for you.' started Artie suddenly smiling. 'Seems your Stephenson is coming here tonight to see us, are you happy to hear that?' Artie gave him a close look. Michael smiled.

'Sure.' he said.

'I've got to talk to him too.' said Artie suddenly making a serious face.

Throughout the day Michael kept playing in the junk field around the house finding many interesting things that probably once had a function or other. Artie was busy 'tidying' as he called it though it looked more like he was simply moving stuff around.

It was sweltering hot and Michael briefly thought of going indoors not to be burnt by the sun, after going inside he realized it was just as hot inside so he went back outside and played on one of the old tractors. Stephenson would come tonight. Would he take him back home?

That evening Michael wanted to stay up and wait for Stephenson. But at eleven o' clock there was still no trace of him and Artie decided to put him to bed. He promised Stephenson would be there in the morning.

'How do you know he'll come?' asked Michael.

'I know him. He's family.'

'Family?'

'He's my brother, you didn't know?' Artie asked him.

'So you have the same parents?'

'We have the same mum but Edie grew up with his father while I stayed with mom. I know him from visiting though.' said Artie.

'You visited him when you were a child?'

'Yeah, every few months or so for a day or two, out in the desert.' Artie looked at Michael with soft eyes. 'He's never been the same, you know? Not after what happened to him out there in the desert. It wasn't easy for him. His grandfather and his father didn't treat him very well, some say they abused him. I'm sorry for him, he didn't have an easy time. I used to visit him with my mum, only for a few days every so often. He told me what happened to him. He told me that aliens took him to their ship and did some things to him but he never told me what it was saying it was secret. I didn't believe him but then he showed me one, one of the silver worms. Now go to sleep.' Artie turned the lamp next to Michaels bed off.

'Is it a story?' asked Michael.

'Yes. It's just a story.' said Artie and left the stuffy little room.

11: Day eleven

It was a sunny morning and the day promised to become just as hot as the previous one. Artie and Stephenson strolled along the old hay shed surrounded by junk.

Stephenson had arrived almost past midnight in the small car he had rented in a town not far away from the military base. Artie had been up waiting for him but they had only exchanged the minimal greetings before going to bed.

The two men stopped in front of an old bath tub filled with water from the previous week's rainfall. Artie sighed, half smiling half frowning at Stephenson.

His brother had always been such a mystery case and growing older hadn't changed him much and becoming a psychologist hadn't either. When he started getting involved with working for the army he had become more withdrawn than ever.

He knew he was into counseling children who claimed to be abducted by aliens often revealing actual domestic abuse as the source of the stories. A job that certainly promised a lot of emotional toll on him.

'Are you still working in Arizona?' asked Artie.

'New Mexico.'

'New Mexico?' commented Artie surprised at the connotation but his brother didn't smile. Pondering Stephenson watched Michael climb onto an old tractor.

'Where is he from?' asked Artie looking at the boy who wasn't noticing them watching him. His older brother frowned and looked away.

'I can't tell you Art.' said Stephenson. What a surprise thought Artie. 'He's different.' added Stephenson in a brisk voice.

'Different in what way?'

'Like me.' said Stephenson. Artie looked at him in a bewildered way. 'You mean like -' Artie gave Stephenson a long look.

'Yes.' said Stephenson. Artie sighed.

'Look, Edie, I'm sorry, but I have to talk straight to you now. I'm your brother and it's my obligation to tell you this, OK? There are no aliens. You're not an alien and he's no alien either.'

'I kidnapped him from a military base.'

'What?! No. Wait, let's come back to this. - I know what happened to you on the old farm was bad, but it's no reason to insist that it was aliens. I know it's your father, and I know you feel the need to defend him but he was a jerk for what he did to you.'

'No. It's true.' said Stephenson keeping a serious face. Artie shook his head seeing his older brother pensively look at Michael.

'Hey Michael!' Stephenson yelled over to him he waved his hand telling him to come over. Artie watched him somewhat unsure. What could he do to help his older brother come to his senses?

'Come here, come.' The boy smiled at him when he came running closer. Stephenson stroke his head, then he grabbed the boy by the hair and plunged his head deep into the water of the bath tub. Artie frowned distressed getting soaked by the water Michael was splashing to the side in shock and horror, trying to escape. Then he suddenly stopped. Artie went pale frozen looking at Stephenson holding the boy's head under water.

'Hey Michael!' yelled Stephenson. 'Can you show Artie that you're alright?'

Artie frowned thinking his brother had gone completely mad now but to his surprise the boy held one of his hands up.

'Still OK?' Michael waved his hand. 'How long can we do this for what do you think?' asked Stephenson smiling at Artie.

'You sick bastard.' said Artie with a pale face.

 

'That was a long time ago. He always beat me in staying under water. He told me it's because of the silver worms, the silver worms in his body. What a jerk!' Artie took a towel and rubbed Michael's hair dry. The two were sitting in the kitchen.

'What silver worms?' asked Michael.

'He said the aliens gave them to him to protect him. He told me they give him special strengths like making him stay healthy and making his wounds heal faster. I witnessed him stay under water for over one hour once until I got bored with it. He said he could hold his breath for as long as he wanted. I never found out how he did it. He must have had some trick.' said Artie in a plump way.

'Do you believe the silver worms are real?' asked Michael seeing Artie seem somewhat confused.

'I did when I was young but now I know it's - ' he paused looking at an old glass of orange juice sitting on the table.

'I don't know.' he said in a muffled voice.

'Are they contagious?' asked Michael. Artie frowned.

'I don't know. That's a thing you better ask the expert himself.' said Artie referring to Stephenson. He took the wet towel off Michael's head and gave him a stiff smile.

 

'Why did you push my head under water?' asked Michael finding Stephenson in the cluttered living room. Stephenson turned his head. Artie had told Michael to try to stay away from Stephenson but Michael felt like talking to him. He had too many questions.

'Oh, Michael, I'm sorry. Are you upset with me because of it?' asked Stephenson in a kind voice.

'No.' said Michael in an honest voice. Stephenson invited Michael to sit down next to him on the old purple couch. He closed his laptop and placed it on a small wonky table next to the sofa.

'Do you want to know?' asked Stephenson in his usual kind voice. Michael nodded.

'You know, when I was young Artie and me used to play together a lot, so we're quite close. I just had to remind him of something.' Said Stephenson. 'Listen Michael, I wanted to talk to you anyway. I want to tell you a secret and I don't want you to tell anyone else no matter who, OK?' Stephenson looked straight into Michaels eyes. Making a serious face Michael nodded.

'OK. I don't know if Artie told you but I have silver worms in my body.' said Stephenson.

'How did they get there?' asked Michael somewhat scared.

'They're in my body since the Aliens took me. I noticed later after I was back on earth. They later told me they were silver worms and that they put them there.'

'You could talk to them later on?'

'When they came to check on me, yes.' said Stephenson.

'Can you still talk to them?'

'Yes, but only if they want to. Sometimes they need me to do things for them like talk to someone.' Michael looked at him with disbelieving eyes and Stephenson noted his look he smiled. 'Maybe I can show you a silver worm tonight, what do you think?' Michael nodded.

'Now Michael, why I wanted to talk to you, you know – those silver worms are in your body too. That's why I could push you under water and you didn't start to suffocate.' said Stephenson.

'I didn't know that.' said Michael somewhat unsure recollecting the memory. He had noticed that he wasn't getting short of air.

'It took me a while to find out too. You'll notice more differences in the future.' said Stephenson.

'But why did they put the silver worms in our bodies?'

'To protect us.'

'From what?'

'Illness, accidents, they want to observe us and they want us the help them, like agents.' said Stephenson.

'Does that make you an alien?' asked Michael.

'Maybe.' Stephenson smiled he extended his hand towards Michael and touched his shoulder.

'You must never tell anyone, OK?' said Stephenson turning serious again.

'Why not?' asked Michael.

'Because it's scary to other people and they may want to remove the worms.' said Stephenson.

'Can they remove the worms from someone?'

'They tried.' Stephenson's face turned sad.

'Did it work?'

'It worked but - ' Stephenson paused. He looked sad remembering the scientists and the procedure. ' - it didn't help.' he said looking to the side.

'How do you know?'

'I knew another child like you. They found out he had silver worms and they found a way to remove them but - '

'What happened?'

'He didn't survive the procedure. He died a few weeks after the worms were removed.'

'How did they remove the worms?'

'With electricity, it kills them.' said Stephenson. Michael looked pale. 'Michael, don't let anyone know that you have silver worms, OK? They will do test on you, many tests, worse ones than the ones they did already. No one knows the worms are alien, so don't tell anyone, don't tell.' Michael nodded.

'Are there more people with silver worms?' asked Michael.

'I've been looking for them but I haven't found any. I've searched for children who tell the same story like you and me but only few actually seemed to tell the truth.' said Stephenson. 'I only ever found one, one that's dead now and you, you are special Michael don't let them take it away from you.'

 

That afternoon Michael spent a lot of time thinking. Thinking about Stephenson and what he said and about Artie and what he said about Stephenson. Which of them was right?

Artie didn't believe Stephenson was abducted by aliens. And slowly Michael wasn't sure if he had been abducted himself the memory fading into a dream.

Was Artie right and should he listen to him and stay away from Stephenson?

The sweltering heat didn't help Michael get a clear head and in the distance he thought he could hear Stephenson and Artie argue, argue about him and aliens and whether it was true or not.

Artie had told him that because of Stephenson's father being so harsh to him Stephenson had invented a 'fantasy world' where his 'imaginary alien powers' helped him cope. Artie had told him that Stephenson was picked up by the police and taken away from his father when he was a teenager and taken to a nice foster family who raised him from then on. Was it true?

 

'Hey Michael, do you want to see something?' It was late evening and Stephenson was sitting on the couch. He had wrapped a string around his forearm very tightly so that his forearm had already started turning red. Michael saw him hold a knife aiming it next to where the tight string was cutting into the skin.

'Come you have to come closer to see it.' said Stephenson. Michael walked up to him and looked at his arm. He thought he could see something glow under Stephenson skin right where he was holding the tip of the knife. Suddenly he pierced the knife into the skin and pulled out what looked like a droplet of mercury. Michael watched it with wide eyes.

'Here we go.' Stephenson smiled happy it had worked at the first attempt though he had spent the last two hours looking for one. He took the worm into his hand and showed it to Michael. It had a long oval shape it's metallic surface was so reflective it looked shinier than polished chrome steel. Michael watched it move very slowly as if trying to search it's way back inside.

'Wow, can I do that too?' asked Michael.

'No. Yours aren't big and strong enough yet. They are still very small in you body but they'll grow bigger to look just like that one.' said Stephenson he smiled.

'Now look.' Stephenson placed the worm on his forearm and waited for a moment then suddenly it disappeared back into his skin without leaving any visible trace of where it had entered.

Michael made wide eyes. Stephenson smiled and used the knife to cut through the strings that were stopping the blood flow to his forearm.

'See, they're very harmless.' said Stephenson.

'But you had to cut your arm to get it out.' said Michael looking at the bleeding cut on Stephenson's arm. Stephenson smiled quickly pulling his sleeve over it. 'Do you think it's time for you to go to bed now?' he said suggestively but Michael didn't feel sleepy yet, too many questions whirling through his head.

'Why did the military pick me up after I was abducted by the aliens?' asked Michael.

'Because you were a witness.' said Stephenson in a serious tone.

'A witness?'

'Do you think a huge spaceship coming to pick you up from your bedroom would stay unnoticed by the army?'

'So they knew the ship was coming?'

'Partly.' Stephenson said vaguely.

'They can pick up electromagnetic impulses when the ship changes state. Otherwise it's invisible.'

'Invisible?'

'To the radar.'

'Did people see it?'

'Yes, six people in your case to be precise.' Stephenson smiled. 'You had bad timing telling your schoolteacher you were abducted the next day.' Michael frowned. He should have never told his school teacher he thought.

'Did the army take you to their base too after you were abducted?' asked Michael.

'No. I was lucky. No one believed me.' said Stephenson with a strangely painful smile. 'After they abducted me the third time a shop owner in my town who knew me quite well saw my bruises and told the sheriff. He questioned me about it and I told him the truth.

He thought I was lying and presumed my father or grandfather had done it so he arranged for me to be taken to another family.' Stephenson paused. 'It wasn't such a bad thing in retrospect.' said Stephenson in a soft voice.

'The Hindenburg family enabled me to go to university and study psychology and gave me more support than I ever felt I deserved. I love them like my true family. Maybe one day you can meet them.' said Stephenson smiling at Michael.

Michael smiled back at the tall black haired man. He wasn't really interested in meeting the Hindenburg family. He really wanted to go back to his own. But he felt it wouldn't be nice to mention it right now.

Stephenson smiled suddenly dropping his head he pulled his sleeve up.

'Hey, Michael look.' he said. Michael looked at Stephenson's arm and saw that the cut he'd made to extract the silver worm was gone.

 

12: Day twelve

'Good morning agent Cory.' Agent Nernst and Thompson politely got up from their seats when the new senior agent and his team of agents entered the meeting room. Cory was a tall and skinny man his face had an angular structure resembling that of a crocodile.

'Good morning.' he said in a stern voice and sat down. Nernst and Thompson joined him somewhat unsure. 'My team will take over from here onwards so Thompson, your dismissed.' said the new investigation supervisor in an authoritarian voice.

'Here's your call back to Washington.' Agent Cory held up a file with papers. Thompson got up and grabbed it with a grim face expression stomping out of the room.

'As to you Agent Nernst – I hope for your full cooperation.' said Cory giving him a stern look and Nernst stared back at him with a cold face. He knew it meant his slightest mistake would make him join Thompson, something he wasn't planing to do.

'Now, Nernst. Where is agent Stephenson?'

'He is not here.'

'But he's meant to be here according to this file with the mission outline.' said Cory in an unforgiving voice.

'He excused himself from the project for personal reasons. He's on call until the subject turns back up.' said Nernst in a serious voice.

'Well then you better call him because my team just tracked the subjects exact location.'

 

'Where are you going?' asked Michael standing next to Artie's car as he fumbled on the driver's door trying to fix the loose door handle with a piece of wire.

'Shopping. Edie asked for some 'real food' whatever that is.' said Artie. Michael watched him snip the ends of the wire off having stabilized the old handle. Artie wiggled the handle to see if it was stable and Michael looked slightly bored.

'Do you want to come with me?' asked Artie suddenly smiling at him. 'I'm sure my brother doesn't mind. He loves his computers and books more than me anyway.' said Artie in a somewhat cynical way.

'Sure.' said Michael and hopped into the car.

'Off we go! To Vegas.' said Artie and started the motor.

'But isn't Vegas very far away from here?' asked Michael somewhat confused.

'Yes, Michael, that's why it's a joke.' said Artie in an ironic voice and pushed the gas pedal down. It was only about a half an hour drive into the small town and Artie parked the car on one of the parking lots along the main street.

'I'm quickly going to the bank to do some things. Do you want to come with me or stay here?' asked Artie with a smile. Michael kicked his feet up on the dashboard, he knew banks were boring.

'I'll wait.' he said casually imitating Artie's relaxed demeanor. Artie smiled somewhat bemused.

'I'll be back. After that we'll go shopping, buy you some ice cream. OK?'

'OK.' said Michael relaxing on the old torn leather seat.

'See you pal.' Artie briskly waved his hand and walked to the bank building. It was hot and the sidewalk bustling with people. When he reached the glass door leading into the bank he saw a moderate queue line up in front of the small processing desks.

He hesitated going inside for another minute smiling thinking of Michael and how he seemed much happier now. He had looked quite withdrawn when he had first picked him up from the bus station. Eddie still hadn't told him where he actually got Michael from and Artie hoped he hadn't just snatched him from someone.

Artie sighed suddenly thinking of his troubled brother and his alien stories. 'I kidnapped him from a military base.' Artie frowned, how did he make that up? And what if it was true and the boy was actually in danger? Suddenly he felt it was a bad idea to leave Michael alone in the car. He turned around walking back towards the parking lots and saw a man in a suit pull Michael out of his car.

'Hey!' he gasped aloud shocked watching the man pull Michael towards a black van.

'Hey!!!' He cried out aloud wanting to run towards him but something hard hit him on the head and he blacked out.

 

Artie woke up he finding himself lying on the sidewalk with a pounding headache. He slowly sat up. Some pedestrians walked passed shaking their heads probably thinking he was drunk or a junkie. Artie tried focusing his eyes.

Everything seemed blurred and to be spinning in one direction and Artie touched his head. There was no blood just a big bump on the back of his head. He slowly remembered what had happened just before. He gasped horrified. Michael!

Running back to the car with the pounding head ache he found it empty. He looked around searching for him but he knew he was gone and he cursed kicking the door.

He drove his car back as fast as the car permitted hoping it wasn't too late to do something.

 

'I've just received news that they managed to get hold of the boy and he's on the way back here. He should be here in about two hours.' said agent Cory in a clear voice.

'They're flying him back?' asked Nernst somewhat surprised.

'Agent Nernst.' Cory said in a sharp voice. 'This is no light matter. The boy holds crucial information and our goal is to extract it from him as soon as possible before it's too late, do you understand this?' asked Cory in an ice cold voice. Nernst ducked his head. He knew Cory was vicious. Why didn't Stephenson answer the call he sent him this morning?

 

'OK.' Said Stephenson in an serious voice though his nervousness was showing through. He cursed himself for not checking his special army communication device earlier for he had received a message this morning. He only checked it after Artie had told him what happened to Michael and he had hurried into town to call the central in Washington immediately after seeing the message.

'And?' asked Artie.

'I have got good news and bad news.' said Stephenson standing in front of Artie looking at him with wide eyes.

'What's the good news?' asked Artie in a serious tone.

'They're calling me back to work with him again.' said Stephenson.

'And the bad news?'

'They changed to a new supervisor.' he paused before saying the name. 'Agent Cory.'

'What's bad about him?'

'He's bad.' said Stephenson suggestively.

'In what way?'

'I can't believe he's in charge of Michael now!' frustrated Stephenson touched his forehead. 'He'll get himself into deep trouble if Cory finds out his abduction was real. I took him away because he started leaking stuff. Stuff none of them should know.'

Artie nodded somewhat unsure. He wasn't sure if his brother was fantasizing or being real this time but he decided to buy into it for now in case Michael was in actual danger.

'What do you want to do now?' asked Artie.

'I have to go to the air field near here, they scheduled a flight for me leaving tonight.'

'Then let's get ready.' said Artie determined.

13: Day thirteen

'Where is he?' Stephenson came storming into the observation room where Nernst was already standing watching through the window with crossed arms.

'You're late.' said Nernst in a stern voice not moving a single bit after Stephenson had come it. Distressed Stephenson stared through the mirrored window seeing Michael and Cory and his team preparing him for the session. They were installing the electrodes for the lie-detector test. Stephenson's eyes got caught on an other device that immediately caught his attention.

'No. They can't do that!' he said to Nernst but Nernst ignored him with a stern face keeping his eyes on the observation window. 'He's a kid for goodness's sake!' said Stephenson.

'And you were late! Now shut up!' Nernst bellowed at him struggling to keep his voice low. Stephenson realized he was just as unhappy about it but unable to do anything.

'You can stay here and listen – that's all.' said Nernst in a harsh tone pointing at a chair. Stephenson sat down frustrated looking through the window.

 

After the strap with electrodes was securely placed around Michael's chest he was allowed to put his shirt back on and the many cables weren't really visible anymore.

'OK. You can sit down Michael.' one of the technicians told him. Michael sat down on the same table him and Stephenson used to talk but now he was facing another man who looked somewhat older than Stephenson. His gray hair combed backwards.

'OK. Let's start now.' the old man told one of the other men and the room turned quiet. There was one man standing behind Michael and two sitting to the far side of the desk and one man standing next to the door which was locked. Michael made an unsure face.

'Michael, my name is agent Cory, do you understand me well?' Michael nodded. 'Put your arms on the table Michael.' said Cory in a commanding voice and Michael placed his hands on the light gray surface of the table.

An older man at the table moved closer and and started wrapping two sleeves around Michaels wrists. One on each arm. They looked like two black Velcro sleeves with a cable running from each one of them to a device further down the table. Michael noticed they were wet on the inside creating a cool sensation on his skin. Michael felt somewhat reminded of measuring blood pressure. The man carefully tried making the sleeves tight enough to fit Michael's wrists well. He wasn't quite satisfied with the fit but content enough to go back to his chair in front of the device. Michael looked after the older man returning to his seat.

'Michael?' Michael turned back eying the grumpy agent sitting opposite him. 'Now, Michael?' he asked. Michael frowned unsure looking at his hands wrapped in the wet sleeves on the table.

'Do you know what electricity is?' asked the man. Michael frowned unsure trying to look up at the man.

'Now, Michael, if I tell this man to turn this knob, electricity will run through your body and deliver you what is called an electric shock. Do you know what an electric shock feels like?' Michael looked at him with anxious eyes and insecurely shook his head.

'Do you want to know what and electric shock feels like?' again Michael shook his head making an anxious face. Cory smiled.

'You don't need to worry Michael. You won't have to feel one. Not today. Not if you tell us what we need to know.' said Cory in a reassuring way. Michael frowned unsure.

'We'll start with some easy questions for you.' he continued in a more professional way and pulled a bunch of papers out.

'Your name is Michael?' he asked giving him a close look. Michael nodded. 'Please say yes or no.'

'Yes.'

'Very good.' Cory gave the man on the lie detector a brief look to make sure everything was working. 'Where did you go to school?'

'Greenfield public school.'

'OK.' Cory looked at the papers. 'Are your parents married or separated?'

'Separated.'

'Did you wet your bed last night?' Michael went pale. How did he know? It hadn't happened to him in years but yesterday he'd had such strange dreams back in his small room with the ichy blanket. He looked at the man waiting for an answer then at the man behind the lie detector. He would know if he lied thought Michael. Torn he didn't answer.

'Come on now Michael please answer the question.' Michael frowned unsure looking at the table. 'Come on it's not a difficult question, yes or no.' Cory said in a reprimanding way. Michael looked at the table ashamed to say it in front of all these people.

'Yes.' he said in the softest way possible almost swallowing the word. Cory made an ambiguous face not quite happy with the way he answered but letting it slip.

'Now, what would your mother think about that?' Cory commented in a patronizing way and Michael dropped his head. He missed his mum, she wouldn't be angry at him, would she?

'Michael!' said Cory impatiently. 'Please focus on me.' Anxiously Michael looked to the side scared the man would turn the knob and deliver him a shock. He looked at his hands wrapped in the wet sleeves that felt so cold.

'OK. Michael. What do you know about the aliens who abducted you?' Michael frowned looking at the old agent.

'I don't know I'm not sure.' he stumbled.

'Then let me ask you a more specific question. Where is their landing site?'

'What landing site?'

'You know what landing site. The alien's landing site.' said Cory impatiently.

'I don't know.' said Michael in an anxious voice. Cory gave him a long look then he nodded at the man in front of the electric device. Michael gasped distressed.

'I really don't know.' He said again meaning it. Scared of what could happed he wanted to pull his hands away form the table but a man standing behind him stopped him. For a moment it was very quiet and Michael was scared they would actually give him the shock now.

'OK, now let go.' Cory said and the man took his hands off. At that moment a strong electric shock went through Michaels body making him jerk in a painful way and for a moment every thing went black.

'Turn the voltage down a bit.' said Cory with a cold voice giving the technician a brief glance. A man pulled Michael up from the table and placed a stethoscope on his chest.

'I don't know.' stammered Michael almost crying slowly regaining consciousness.

'It's OK, Michael. Just be quiet for a moment while Dr Jacobs checks your heart.' said Cory in an impatient voice looking at the man with the stethoscope until he nodded and withdrew the thing letting Michael sit freely again. Still recovering from the shock Michael looked at the table while Cory made an unhappy face.

'So you don't know anything about the landing site?' asked Cory. Distressed Michael started crying.

'Stop crying, or else!' Bellowed Cory annoyed lifting his hand. Michael suppressed the tears.

'OK. What do you know?' asked Cory in a sharp voice. Michael shook his head scared to be shocked again.

'I don't know anything.' he stammered.

'That's not true Michael we know you're hiding something.'

'No. It's true. I don't know anything.'

'So you're saying you weren't really abducted by aliens?' asked Cory. Michael frowned wanting to cry but knowing he wasn't allowed to. He didn't know what to do.

'OK. Michael. Since the shocks don't seem to make you very talkative I've got another thing for you here.' He pulled a few photographs from a file.

'Do you know that woman?' he showed Michael the picture of a middle aged blond woman smiling softly and Michael recognized her immediately. It was his mum. He looked at the agent with horrified eyes.

'Is that your mum?' asked Cory. Michael swallowed.

'And these are your siblings?' Cory showed him the other pictures showing his younger brother and sister. Michael looked at them with wide eyes. How did he know them?

'You know we can pick them up too and take them here and do the same things to them that we did to you until you tell us the truth.' said Cory in a plain voice. Michael looked at the picture of his mum seeing her smile softly knowing she wouldn't like it here nor would his siblings. He didn't want them to end up like him. He felt tears shoot into his eyes.

'Michael just tell us everything you know and then it's going to be over and you can go home, OK?' Cory said suddenly sounding nice but Michael didn't respond his head buzzing with thoughts.

'Do you want to tell us what happened?' asked Cory. Michael made a distraught face thinking of his family how they used to play in the garden his mother bringing them strawberries she had just bought in the supermarket down the road.

'OK - ' said Cory in an impatient voice after Michael didn't say anything for a while. He looked at the technician handling the shocks. 'Can you make it a short one not that he topples over again.' Cory said in a brief voice. Alarmed Michael looked up again.

'No!' protested Michael aloud but Cory ignored him and the technician got ready to deliver the shock. Horrified Michael tried to get up but the agent behind him held him down. 'No! No! No!' Michael tried fighting the agent with all his strength but it wasn't enough. 'No, don't! Please, don't!' Michael started crying openly.

 

Stephenson shook his head.

'This is against all regulations.' he said exasperated staring at the scene through the observation window. Nernst didn't move starring through the window with crossed arms. He shared Stephenson's view but didn't express it in any way.

'They'll stop.' said Nernst in a dry predicting way.

 

'No! No! No!' Michael cried aloud while two agents were holding him down on the chair.

'Let's stop here.' said one of the agents in a sober tone.

'No. I'm not going to let him get away like that.' said Cory. 'Just give him a last shock.' he commanded in a strong voice looking at the technician all while Michael was kicking and crying out aloud. The technician adjusted the setting and nodded indicating he was ready. 'OK. He's ready to deliver the shock.' said Cory looking at the two agents holding the boy down.

'No! Please don't! I'll say everything! It's Stephenson! He's an alien! He's got the silver worms in his body!' cried Michael. The agents made confused faces looking at Cory. Behind the observation window Nernst turned his head slowly raising his eyes looking at Stephenson.

 

In shock Stephenson stormed out of the observation room into the corridor. With a mighty kick he opened the door to the interrogation room where many baffled agents turned their heads. He ran into the room and grabbed Michael by the arm pulling him off the chair. He ripped the cables off the boy's body and before the agents could do anything he ran out of the room pulling Michael along. He ran towards the elevator nervously pushing the elevator button over and over.

'Stephenson!' he heard Cory's voice echo through the corridor. 'You can't get away so easily!'

The elevator doors opened and Stephenson and Michael got in. Michael sniffed still confused by what happened he looked up at Stephenson who was breathing hard. The doors of the elevator closed and no one seemed to follow them. The elevator accelerated upwards and Stephenson wiped some sweat off his forehead.

'What's happening now?' asked Michael.

'I'll take you out of here.' said Stephenson.

'But they'll find me.'

'No I won't let that happen.' said Stephenson determined. They arrived at the top floor, only two fences between them and the open desert. Stephenson pulled his keys out and hurried to the first gate opening it. Followed by Michael he ran to the second gate, opened it and suddenly an alarm went off and a red light started pulsating from the top of the concrete elevator shaft.

'Michael, let's go.' said Stephenson and started running out into the desert. He held Michael by the hand running as fast as he could but Michael couldn't keep up well feeling weak and tired. They ran further and further away from the concrete building into the desert. They didn't get very far before they were caught by a bright light and the loud sound of a motor engine roared up behind them. Stephenson shook his head.

'Michael, run that way I will try to distract them!'

'No.' said Michael. He wanted to stay with Stephenson.

'Do what I say!' yelled Stephenson. Michael fell over and couldn't get back up. 'Michael!' Stephenson yelled at him still holding on to his hand he had stopped beside him. Exasperated he realized Michael was unconscious.

14: Day fourteen

'I knew you took the boy, Edward.' said Nernst in a heavy voice. He looked at his former colleague sitting on the white barren bed in the detention cell. They were alone and it was already past midnight. Stephenson looked up at him with questioning eyes and Nernst made a sober face.

'You don't really have a niece. Neither in your old nor in your new family, Edward, I looked through your file.' Stephenson dropped his head. Nernst sighed.

'Is it true what the boy said?' asked Nernst.

'About the worms?' asked Stephenson and looked up at Nernst. 'Yes.' said Stephenson.

'You have them?' asked Nernst.

'I'm sorry.' Stephenson dropped his head.

'How did you get them?' asked Nernst in a curious tone.

'I must have infected myself on the subject from Salt Lake.' Nernst gave him a long sad look.

'Well I guess they'll put you through all the medical check-ups necessary tomorrow.' said Nernst in a plain voice and made a tired face. He turned to the door wanting to leave.

'Wilbert?' asked Stephenson. Tired Nernst looked back at Stephenson who looked at him with worried eyes.

'Is he alright?' Nernst didn't say anything and reached for the door handle.

'What are they planning to do to him?' Stephenson asked him in a begging voice.

'They don't know yet.' said Nernst. 'They'll decide in the morning.' he added and left.

 

Artie turned the volume of his radio up high, loud singing along with the music in his car banging his head as he was driving. The long desert road stretched out endlessly and it was hard to perceive actual advancement but Artie knew he'd reach his destiny in time. He went full speed with partly open windows letting the air blow through his car. Bloody Edie, he thought, what didn't he all do for him? Or maybe he was doing it more for Michael.

 

Michael woke up in a hospital bed. At first he didn't see anything the bright light blinding his eyes. He felt a soft white blanket on his chest and he tried turning to the side feeling a strong pain all over his body. He groaned and pulled his hand out from under the blanket. He felt tired and dazed blinded by the strong light.

'Hello Michael.' a middle aged man in a white coat took his hand holding it reassuringly. 'Don't worry you'll be safe now. We'll remove those worms from you in no time. Don't worry.' he said reassuringly. Michael groaned frustrated unable to talk he tried turning away but he felt too weak. 'Don't worry.' said the man again.

 

'If he turns out to have the silver worms we'll immediately start with the therapy necessary to remove them.' said Cory in a set voice standing in the center of the conference room.

'But the therapy has never proven to be successful!' Stephenson protested. His hands were tied behind his back while he was sitting on his chair in the conference room.

'The scientists told me they're confident it will work this time. It is likely that the previous subjects died because of the strong toxins used on them in the early attempts to remove the parasites.' said Cory.

'They had all the side effects of the toxins but it's not what killed them!' said Stephenson.

'We'll have to find out what works. There won't be any progress without sacrifice.' said Cory in a plain voice. Stephenson glowered at him from his chair.

'Are you saying you're willing to sacrifice the boy for experimentation?' said Stephenson.

'If that's what is necessary to find a cure, yes.' said Cory.

'Cure? there's no evidence that the worms are actually harmful!' said Stephenson.

'There's no evidence that they aren't either.' said Cory in a mocking way.

'They've already experimented three kids to death trying to remove the worms. I don't want to see Michael end up the same way!'

'Gentlemen, please.' Nernst interrupted them. 'We have to find a constructive solution.' For a moment there was an awkward silence.

'If you want to remove the worms, then at least let me help them.' said Stephenson in a more moderate tone.

'What? What would you know? You're a children's psychologist.' said agent Cory dismissively.

'I've been working on the previous trials and have my share of experience. I'm familiar with the procedure and the scientists in the research team.' said Stephenson.

'Mr Stephenson has been our close consultant and person in charge of juvenile subjects for the past few years. His services have been of great value to us.' said Nernst.

'Well his most recent contributions didn't really seem to be of particularly great value.' said Cory in a condescending way.

'I'll help you remove the worms.' said Stephenson. 'I have them myself. I know what makes them go away.' he added.

'That's another problem.' said Cory. 'How do we know you're not going to infect us all?'

'I promise I won't.' said Stephenson. Cory grumbled and left the room. Nernst gave Stephenson a reassuring look and followed the other board members out of the room to make the decision.

Finally they returned with the decision.

'Stephenson you're partially allowed to give your advice in the removal of the unknown parasites. However your strict restraint in regards to interfering with the procedure, the subject or the scientific team members is main condition for your participation. Any failure to comply with this condition will lead to your immediate dismissal from this station and transference to a station which will detain you and investigate the removal of your own parasites.' agent Cory read out from his decision paper with a slightly triumphant smile.

'Finally, you agree to be implanted with a chip that will allow us to track you globally.' he paused.

'Do you agree with that?' Cory asked with a stiff smile. Stephenson frowned and thought for a while then he nodded slowly. 'Good. Because we just received news that the boy's infection with the silver worms is positive.'

 

'They couldn't see them when they were younger, that's why he tested negative on the previous checkups.' said Stephenson.

'So how long does it take for the worms to grow up?'

'Maybe six to eight months till adulthood. That is my approximate guess.' said Stephenson.

'I'm sorry to hear that you were infected – I mean – that could have happened to any of us.' said the young researcher.

'Never mind Damian it's all going to help us find out more.' said Stephenson with a half smile. The young researcher smiled and walked out of the observation room into the lab where they kept Michael. Stephenson wasn't allowed to go inside as part of his restrictions.

'Are we ready?' asked one of the scientists.

'Almost there.' answered his colleague. Stephenson watched them connect the last cables. It was hard to watch for him knowing approximately half of the worms would die in the first session and half of the remaining ones at the second one. They turned the electricity up and Michael's sedated body jerked as the high voltage ran through his body. It relaxed again as soon as they turned the electricity back down. The scientists hurried towards him making sure he was all right and that his heart hadn't stopped. Stephenson watched them hurry around him with a brooding face. They would have to wait a few hours now before the could repeat it again. He had seen the procedure before, even been in the same room while it was done before but this time he had trouble restraining his anger towards the scientists. He had to think of a plan quickly, by he sixth session in two days the silver worms would be damaged beyond recovery and Michael would fall ill and join them in their fate. How could he make them stop the procedure?

 

Artie walked into a small restaurant pub in a small town in the middle of nowhere. This was the town closest to the military base if what his crazy older half brother Stephenson had told him was true.

He walked up to the counter and a young woman wearing an apron asked him for his order. Artie ordered an orange juice and the young woman walked to the back.

An old man with a cowboy hat and a gray mustache grinned at him. Curious about the curly haired alternative looking stranger he put his beer glass down. Artie greeted him distantly.

'Passing through?' asked the old man casually still holding his beer glass.

'Yes.' said Artie and waited for his orange juice. He frowned then he suddenly looked over to the man.

'You live in this town?' asked Artie in a curious voice.

'All my life.' replied the old man.

'Do you know if there's a top secret military base near here?' asked Artie. The old man made a strange face.

'If it were top secret, wouldn't I know anything about it?' asked the man in a suggestively voice making fun of the stranger. 'There's no military stations around here.' he added in a grim voice and drank from his beer.

'Actually I'm looking for my brother. He's meant to be here somewhere.' said Artie making it sound as if it were a hassle for him. 'He's obsessed with conspiracy theories and from time to time he just decides to disappear and chase his crazy fantasies.' said Artie.

'Oh, I see.' said the man with a grin.

'Yeah, my brother goes nuts for secret army bases. He drives through the desert trying to look for them. He almost killed himself twice like that – running out of water I mean.' said Artie. The old man shook his head.

'Surely not easy to have a brother like that.' he said and took a sip from his beer glass.

'Yeah, when mother told me he was missing again, off to some random desert town in the middle of nowhere I almost felt like just leaving him to it. But what do I do? I beg my boss for a few days off and leave my wife and family to try and find him. But he's my brother, you know? I got to make sure he doesn't get himself hurt.' said Artie sounding exhausted he drank from his orange juice satisfied noting the man was listening intently.

'It would break my poor mothers heart if he were to hurt himself, you know?' Artie continued as if talking to himself. 'He's always been her fragile little son and we worked together to give him the best life possible despite his difficult mental illness.' Artie sniffed and wiped his mouth with his hand. 'She's always worried about him still she wants to keep him at home and look after him herself. What a woman, she's got the softest heart in the world.' said Artie and shook his head. The old man glowered at him for an extended moment making a serious face.

'You know what, son?' said the old man in a compassionate voice. 'I'm telling you something.' He moved closer to Artie looking directly into his eyes. Artie could smell his breath as he whispered to him. 'There's a top secret military base approximately eight miles from here. It's one of those top secret places and they want no one to know about it. My buddies work there from time to time helping to repair trucks and transporting foods and stuff. They're not meant to tell anyone but hey, it's a small town and the overworked staff from the facility comes here and spends some time in the town from time to time. They never say who they are but we know where they're from.' the old man shook his head. 'Poor lads.'

'Do you know where that station it?' asked Artie transfixed.

'I can tell you son, but you don't know that from me. You're just looking for your brother right?'

 

15: Day fifteen

'In order to survive in the hosts body the silver worms disable the subjects immune system replacing it with their own and at the subsequent destruction of the parasite the immune system is destroyed leaving the subject vulnerable to any kind of infectious disease. That would explain the previous subjects died of minor infections.'

'I like that theory Damian, it's very plausible.' said Stephenson.

'I told it to senior researcher Dr Wechsler but he dismissed my theory.'

'You're smarter than him.' said Stephenson captured in the observation room looking at the scientists through the big glass window.

'Maybe I'll write a paper about it and he can consider it again.' said the young researcher. Stephenson gave him a hopeless look. 'I'm happy you like my theory, Mr Stephenson.' said Damian with a smile.

'One thing though. If you're right it would mean that if they destroy the silver worms in Michael that he will also likely die of a minor infection.' said Stephenson. 'Yeah maybe, that would proof that my theory was right!' Damian exclaimed exited. Stephenson rolled his eyes. 'Oh, I'm sorry Mr Stephenson.' he said quickly realizing Stephenson liked the boy.

'Maybe he'll survive, they're paying much better attention now. Dr Wechsler has his own theories about what went wrong last time.' said Damian. They looked through the glass window seeing the researchers work on Michael.

'Don't worry he doesn't feel anything. He's sedated. Just like the mice we work on in the lab.' said Damian. 'You know Mr Stephenson, we tried infecting the mice with silver worms but it didn't work. Seems they only go for humans. Dr Wechsler said if Michael dies we can maybe use your silver worms to infect volunteer prisoners to refine the procedure of removing them.' said Damian. Stephenson frowned.

'Do you think that's a good idea?' Stephenson asked the young scientist with an honest face.

'Better than waiting for another case to get infected naturally.' said Damian. 'That could potentially take ages, right?'

 

Artie's car hardly made it across the long dirt road neither the wheels nor the suspension originally meant for it. 'Where the – is this base?' he asked himself. His radio had stopped working this morning and the silence was driving him mad.

He pressed the gas pedal down wanting to drive faster when suddenly a strange noise erupted from the motor and Artie somehow knew it wasn't a good noise. After a sudden pop the car slowly decelerated. Artie pushed the gas pedal down and the motor roared but the car didn't accelerate but slowly rolled to a stop.

Exasperated Artie sat in the car and turned the motor off. Was this for real? He had driven at least six miles out of town right into deadly desert. He had driven past five 'restricted area, turn back' signs towards a secret military area and now his car was dead. He got out hoping he could repair it without specific tools but when he opened the motor hood he immediately knew he was stuffed.

 

Michael cried out. He had a night mare, he had many subsequent nightmares one leading to the other mixing with reality and imagination. Suddenly there were the aliens keeping him on their ship, then his mother and his siblings, then dad whom he wasn't allowed to see anymore and there was Stephenson pulling him through the desert, telling him to keep the silver worms secret and Agent Cory and his electric shocks. Breathing hard Michael woke up he wanted to clutch his chest gasping for air.

'Hey little man, calm down.' a kind voice talked to him. And someone put his hand on his chest.

'Calm down.' It was dark and Michael knew he was still in the lab. He remembered everything that happened.

'Stephenson?' he asked hoping it was him.

'No. He's not here. I'm Jamie.' said a young man. It was just him and the boy in the deserted dark lab.

'Now that's strange of you to wake up so late.' said the young man his hair was black and short almost like Stephenson's. He'd been given the task to watch the boy over night. They told him the boy would stay asleep and to notify them if he were to wake up.

Jamie looked down at him sitting on a chair next to the bed an open novel on his lap. It was dark in the lab only a faint blue light shining from the displays mixing with the green light coming from the bright exit sign over the door.

'Are you still tired?' Jamie asked him. Michael squinted tears running down his face. Jamie decided not to notify senior scientist Dr Wechsler they would just torture him by giving him yet another injection to make him sleep again. 'Are you scared?'

'Yes.' Michael cried softly. Jamie leaned over the security bars of the bed and touched Michael's cheek.

'Don't worry you'll be fine.' he said though being realistic he knew he would have to go through yet another two sessions followed by a critical period where the chances of recovery were faint. 'Don't be scared.' he told the boy but Michael kept crying.

'Is there anything you want me to do for you? I can bring you something – like -' he tried thinking of something a kid might like. 'I have a plastic snake in my room, do you want me to bring it tomorrow?'

Michael whimpered he tried moving but realized his hands were fastened to the sides of the bed and he could only lye on his back.

'No.' he groaned frustrated realizing he couldn't turn over. His back felt painfully saw.

'Sh- hey Michael.' There were some steps in the corridor and Jamie quickly looked up making sure no one was going to enter the lab.

'Michael. Do you feel OK? Do you want me to bring you some water or something?'

'Stephenson.' said Michael.

'He's not here, I can't get him.' said Jamie. Michael whimpered.

'I'm sorry.' Jamie stroke the boy's hair. For a moment he seemed to be asleep again but suddenly he stirred opening his eyes in a scared expression.

'Don't let them take the silver worms away from me. He said I will die... '

'What?' Jamie leaned over the bed he couldn't understand properly.

'He said I will die if they're gone, let them stay in my body, I don't want them to go away I want them to stay with me in my body... ' Jamie frowned. Not sure if he understood correctly.

'You don't want the silver worms to be gone?'

'No. Don't take them away.'

'But they might harm you.'

'No, don't harm them.'

'Michael you're confused there's many drugs in your body right now. Michael?' Michael didn't react. He seemed to be asleep again.

Jamie looked at the boy's hand and he saw little light dots move under his skin wide eyed he stretched his hand out to touch it. He felt a light electric shock when he touched the boy's skin. Bewildered he looked at his hand.

 

16: Day Sixteen

Artie had tried fixing his car and had spent the night trying to make up his mind about whether he should walk back towards the town or walk on to the army station that may or may not be at the end of the road. It was meant to be less than three miles away and they would have water, the thing he was most worried about.

In the morning he got up to relieve himself when he saw a strange dust cloud in the distance and after staring at it for a moment he realized it was an approaching vehicle. He quickly ran up the sand dune and hid behind some bushes growing on the crest waiting for the car to pass by. He held his breath as it came closer and saw how it decelerated and stopped next to his beautiful eighties car. Two heavy muscular looking soldiers got out and walked up to his car looking at it in a confused way. Suddenly Artie had an idea. He stood up and waved the two men.

'Help.' he ran down the dune. The two heavy soldiers eyed him skeptically. 'I'm lost.' said Artie.

'Lost?' one of the soldier repeated bewildered. Artie came up to them each of them weighing twice as much as him.

'Don't you know this is restricted area?' asked the other soldier sounding stern.

'No. No, is it?' Artie made an honest face. The guy shook his head.

'Didn't you see all the signs on the fence?'

'What fence? I drove in here from there.' said Artie and pointed towards a random direction. The soldier shook his head bewildered.

'But there's no tracks in the sand.' said the soldier.

'There was a sand storm just a few minutes ago, they turn up really quickly here.' said Artie squinting in the bright sunlight.

'I drove here from my uncle's farm but I seem to have lost direction. I'm not from here, you know?' said Artie.

'What were you doing up there?' asked the soldier pointing at the dune.

'Try to find a high point to see where I am, but really, there is no high point there.' said Artie in an admitting way.

'Is that your car?' asked one of the soldiers in a stern voice pointing at Artie's car.

'Yes, why?'

'It's a piece of crap. It will take you nowhere here.'

'Excuse me? This car is in excellent shape.' said Artie.

'Are you kidding me? My grandma's laundry machine has more power than that.'

'Excuse me?'

'Just look at it. No clearance, crap suspensions and the tires - I can't believe you drove that through the desert.' said the soldier pointing at the direction Artie said he'd come from. Artie walked over to the military jeep as if wanting to compare the two cars. He saw the car keys still stuck next to the steering wheel and he smiled.

'Sir.' Artie pulled his own car keys out and gave them to the soldier.

'If you want to you can drive it right up that dune and you will see how well it takes it.' said Artie. The two soldiers smiled.

'That's very tempting but I'm sure it won't even start.' Said the soldier with a grim face and grabbed the keys. He walked over to Artie's car and the other soldier followed him.

'We'll search your car. I'm sure you're one of those sneaky reporters.' said the soldier. Artie quickly ran and jumped into the army jeep starting the motor.

'Hey!' the soldier yelled at him but Artie pushed the gas pedal down.

'Stop the car!' he heard them yell after him followed by a few gun shots. He wouldn't get away with this he thought to himself ducking his head. Edie better be there to get him out of this, he thought.

 

'Good morning Mr Bonnie.' Jamie got up standing beside the bed as Dr Wechsler and the other scientists entered the room. 'How did he go?' asked Wechsler.

'Slept through all night.' said Jamie in a clear voice.

'Very good, you're dismissed then, get your own sleep.' said the old man.

'Thank you, Dr Wechsler.' said Jamie and walked out.

'OK. Let's start with the first of the last two sessions today.' said Dr Wechsler addressing the others.

'Can I talk to Mr Stephenson?' Jamie asked the guard in the corridor standing in front of the door leading to the surveillance room. The guard nodded letting him pass. Somewhat unsure Jamie entered the room closing the door behind himself he looked around and saw Stephenson sit on the windowsill of the big observation window leading to the lab watching the scientists prepare Michael for the last sessions. With crossed arms he starred through the window at first ignoring Jamie.

'Mr Stephenson?'

'What do you want?' Stephenson glowered angry. 'Did they suddenly decide to follow my advice and change the treatment?' he asked cynically and Jamie was somewhat taken aback by Stephenson reacting so ill-tempered. Jamie didn't answer for some time before Stephenson uncrossed his arms.

'He's not going to make it without intensive support after the last session.' said Stephenson. 'Lifelong intensive support if he survives.'

'Mr Stephenson I'm sorry.'

'Are you?'

'Yes, I just said that.' said Jamie in an ironic tone.

'Get lost.' said Stephenson.

'But I want to talk Mr- '

'I don't want to talk to anyone at the moment – please.' said Stephenson in an irritated voice. Jamie nodded.

'I see.' said Jamie and turned to the door. He reached for the door handle and turned back a last time seeing Stephenson hold his face in his hands. For a moment Jamie hesitated. Was Stephenson crying? Jamie raised his eyebrows and left the room.

 

Artie drove down the long dusty dirt road slowly recognizing the base emerge in the distance. How could he best do this?

He drove up to the checking booth next to the barrier seeing an old man in uniform glowering behind the glass window of the control house.

'Who are you?' asked the man with a frown seeing Artie wasn't wearing a uniform.

'Geographic surveyor.' said Artie.

'Geographic what? Give me your papers.'

'I don't have them with me now.'

'Then drive back and get them!' bellowed the man.

'Sir, my car was stolen in town. All my papers were in there. I was borrowed this car so I can come here.' The old man frowned shaking his head he pulled a radio phone out from under his desk.

'Checkpoint one here. There's a geographical surveyor who wants entry shall I grant it to him?' He listened to the answer Artie couldn't understand.

'What's your name?' the man asked looking at Artie.

'Jeremy Smith.' Artie made up trying to sound confident.

'Jeremy Smith.' the old man said into the radio phone all while keeping his suspicious eyes on Artie. He listened to the answer and pursed his lips.

'They've never heard you name before. Someone's coming to talk to you.' said the man and Artie felt his heart pound faster in his chest.

 

'Geographic surveyor huh?' asked agent Nernst sitting with Artie in a small room inside the base.

'Yes. I was sent here to work with Mr Stephenson.'

'Mr Stephenson?'

'Yes, Edward Stephenson.'

'Are you sure you know him?'

'Yes. He's a close friend of mine.'

'Well then, what's the mission that takes you here?'

'Survey the desert landscape.'

'On our base?'

'Yes, there's been some allegation about nuclear pollution. I was sent here by the government.' Artie felt like he ran out of good ideas seeing the agent wasn't buying it looking at him with a lame smile.

'And what would you like to do now, Mr Smith?' asked Nernst.

'I would like to talk to Mr Stephenson.' The agent nodded with a strange smile.

'I'm sure we can arrange for that, Mr Smith.' said agent Nernst in a strange voice.

 

Stephenson was sitting in his cell starring at the wall anticipating nothing but another hopeless afternoon followed by a sleepless night without producing any plan for how to save Michael and escape this place. He heard steps in front of his door followed by soft voices. The door opened and agent Nernst came in followed by Artie and an officer in uniform. Stephenson looked at them with wide eyes. He frowned seeing Artie stand next Nernst. Stephenson couldn't believe his eyes. Nor could Artie seeing his brother sit behind bars on a small white prison bed.

'Is that the Stephenson you were looking for?' asked Nernst looking at Artie. Artie nodded still somewhat shocked.

'Well then.' said Nernst and held his hand out to the officer who handed him a bundle of keys. He opened the door to the cell and holding the door open invited Artie to enter the cell. Artie reluctantly came closer. When he was within arms reach Nernst grabbed him by the arm and pushed him into the cell closing the door behind him. Stephenson and Artie exchanged wide eyed looks then looked at Nernst who was standing at the door holding the keys with a strange smile.

'You can stay here with him until we check your background and identity Mr Smith.' said Nernst in an ironic voice looking at Artie.

'As to you, Mr Stephenson I'm very disappointed if you were to have told about the location and nature of this facility to any unauthorized person.' he gave Stephenson a close look then he dropped his eyes and suddenly his face turned soft.

'My son likes to play football.' he said in a soft voice remembering how Stephenson had asked about him in one of their private conversations. ' - but he doesn't like to be in the gate.' said Nernst and looked at the door. 'I hope he can learn to accept that he can't always play in the position he wants to.' Nernst withdrew the key from the lock giving it back to the officer. Without turning back Nernst and the officer left the room closing the door to the detention room. Stephenson looked at Artie with a long look. Artie frowned back.

'What are you doing here?' asked Stephenson.

'You mean, what are you doing here?!' asked Artie distraught.

'Well, I work here.' said Stephenson.

'You didn't tell me you were in bloody prison!'

'Detention.' Stephenson corrected him.

'Your behind bars that's the bloody same thing!' exclaimed Artie.

'Be careful they can hear everything we say here.' said Stephenson in a low voice.

'And so what? Can it get any worse? We're bloody locked up here.'

'How did you get in here, Artie?' asked Stephenson in a serious voice.

'Well after my car broke down in the middle of the desert I stole the car from two soldiers and drove in the military base claiming to be a geographic surveyor who got lost and needed to speak to you.' Stephenson nodded in an understanding way.

'What a bright idea.' said Stephenson in a sarcastic voice.

'Well, and how did you end up here?' asked Artie in a equally accusing tone.

 

Jamie noted something down looking at the monitors in the dark Lab at night. He placed the clipboard on the small work-desk thinking he had heard something come from Michael's bed. In a routinized manner he went to check on him and found him lying in the bed with open eyes.

'Hey buddy.' said Jamie softly smiling at him.

'They said I'm going to die.' said Michael. Jamie raised his eyebrows.

'Who said that?'

'I heard them say it while I was pretending to be asleep. They said I will die in the next two days.' Jamie made a sober face.

'Are you scared you will die?' asked Jamie. Michael started coughing violently and Jamie bent over gently holding his head.

'I want to go home.' He coughed a few more times feeling a stabbing pain in his ribs. Jamie smiled softly stroking Michaels head.

'Are they gone?' asked Michael.

'The worms?' asked Jamie.

'Yes. Are they gone now?'

'Yes.' said Jamie.

'Then I don't want to stay here.'

'Where do you want to go?'

'To Africa.'

'Africa?'

'Yes.'

'Why?'

'Because they have elephants and giraffes and antelopes.'

'So you want to see the animals?'

'I want to see them in real, have you seen them in real?'

'Only in zoos.'

'What's your favorite animal?'

'Mine?' Jamie racked his brain. 'Dogs.' he said not being able to think of anything else. Michael smiled not saying anything then he suddenly frowned tensioning his chest. Jamie knew he was in pain despite the painkillers they had administered to him. He heard that the scientists gave him at most four days to live and were already talking about performing the dissection. They were planning to put him in an artificial coma tomorrow to try to keep him alive for as long as possible in order to preserve his body.

'You're not cold?' asked Jamie. Michael shook his head still frowning hard the pain in his ribs persisting.

'Can I bring you some water?' asked Jamie. Again Michael shook his head.

'Hey Michael. I'm going to offer this only once. Tell me anything you want and I'll bring it to you. Ice cream, chocolates, pizza – anything.' said Jamie leaning over the bed. Suddenly Michaels face relaxed and a soft smile formed on his lips.

'The stars.' said Michael. 'I want to see the stars.' he said and smiled.

 

'They performed the last two sessions today and it's likely that the last remaining silver worms in his body will die tonight leaving him vulnerable to any kind of infection or disease which he already seems to have contracted anyway. They give him two to four days to live.' said Stephenson.

'But that's terrible. Couldn't you stop them doing it?'

'I tried but - ' Stephenson looked at his hands sitting on the narrow bed together with Artie. ' - I couldn't get passed the scientists and agent Cory, he has no clue. He hasn't seen the other subjects die. He doesn't know what it's like. Only Nernst tried to help me.' Stephenson sighed. 'You're lucky you got to talk to agent Nernst, you know?' said Stephenson looking at Artie 'Otherwise they could have put you in a prison far away from here without letting you see me at all.'

'Yeah, he seemed alright until he put me in prison with you.' said Artie.

'He's a good man. We had some private chats. He tried standing up for me but he's powerless really.'

'Yeah, I thought you guys knew each other after what he said to you at the door about his son playing football and so on.' Stephenson looked at the door as if Nernst was still standing there. He sighed.

'I hope he doesn't get into trouble for trying to defend me.' said Stephenson.

'Aw that would be his decision to help you.' said Artie in a careless tone. It wouldn't change his situation much anyway.

'Do you think there's a way we can get out of here?' asked Artie. He got up and inspected the metal door.

'Looks pretty well welded even the hinges are secured.' said Artie eying it sceptically. He grabbed the bars wanting to shake them when the door suddenly opened. Stephenson and Artie exchanged disbelieving looks.

'Artie?' asked Stephenson perplexed. He got up and walked over to the open door looking at it.

'Did you just open the door?'

'Yes.' said Artie bewildered. 'Seems it wasn't locked.' he said.

 

Nernst looked at a photograph of his son in his soccer outfit holding his ball. Michael's and Stephenson's files were lying on his desk. Nernst smiled looking at the photograph. His holiday would start in two weeks and he would see them again and his wife and his son. She had told him she was pregnant just before he left three months ago. He sighed looking at the photograph and placed it back on his shelve.

 

'We have to find Michael and get him out of here quickly.' whispered Stephenson tiptoeing along the corridor with Artie. It was late night and the base was dark and empty only the night light illuminating the corridors.

'Where is he.' asked Artie.

'He's in the main lab.'

'Where's the main lab?'

'Over there.' They hurried down the corridors until they finally reached the big lab peaking through the big window from the corridor.

'There's no one watching him.' said Stephenson excited and they quickly entered the large lab. It was quiet and deserted only a few lights blinking on a monitor. Artie waited at the door while Stephenson went up to the hospital bed in the center of the lab wanting to get Michael. He stretched his hand out seeing the little body wrapped in sheets.

'Michael?' whispered Stephenson. He placed his hand on the body and shook it gently. He realized it felt unnatural bewildered he frowned. He pulled the blanket away and realized it was a heap of cushions arranged to look like a body. Stephenson gasped bewildered hurrying back to Artie waiting by the door.

'He's not there.' whispered Stephenson.

'What do you mean he's not there?!' asked Artie almost forgetting to keep his voice low.

'Sh-' Stephenson looked around hoping no one was seeing or hearing them. He placed his hand on Artie's shoulder and pushed him down. Squatting on the floor Stephenson gave him a serious look.

'It was just a heap of cushions with a blanket over it.' he whispered looking at Artie.

'What?' Artie made a confused face. 'Are they keeping him somewhere else?'

'No it can't be.' Stephenson said bewildered. Him and Artie sat down on the floor and looked at the empty bed in the center of the dark lab.

'Maybe they transferred him to another place.' suggested Artie.

'Then why would they leave cushions under the blanket making it look as if he were still there?' said Stephenson with a frown.

'Maybe it's a trap.' whispered Artie.

'They already had us trapped. Besides if it were a trap they would come and lynch us right now. This doesn't make any sense.' said Stephenson. Artie scoffed trying to figure out what could be happening.

'That's the only lab I know they could keep him.' said Stephenson exasperated trying to think of an explanation.

 

'Now look at that, Michael. Aren't they beautiful? Are you happy now?' Jamie lay the little body wrapped up in blankets on the dusty ground right in front of the elevator shaft. The boy opened his eyes and looked at the starry sky. He smiled softly seeing the numerous lights in the sky. Jamie stood next to him and crossed his arms. It was a chilly night and he nervously looked around hoping no one would see them. A moderate wind pulled on his pale blue scrubs. He looked down at the boy still he had the soft smile on his face. Michael closed his eyes happy to be outside. Jamie expected he would probably fall asleep again and started thinking of taking him back down to the lab. He decided to wait just another few minutes giving Michael the time he needed. Jamie looked around seeing no one. Only the dry desert and the starry sky above. It was quite beautiful. Suddenly there was a loud bang and a pillar of light shot out of Michaels body. The sudden eruption was so strong Jamie was thrown backwards on the floor and the two fence doors were blown open.

 

Artie and Stephenson heard a loud bang come from above them and Stephenson made wide eyes.

'The stars.' he said suddenly fully alert.

'What?' asked Artie confused.

'All of them - The stars they all had an incredibly strong urge to see the stars just before they died.'

'Who?'

'The other kids, the other subjects with silver worms.' Stephenson got up and charged through the door out of the lab. Bewildered Artie followed him. They made it to the elevator and headed for the top floor.

'I don't want to know what they'll do to us if they find us.' said Artie in a pessimistic tone looking at the buttons in the elevator. The elevator door opened and Stephenson stormed out running out into the desert. Artie stumbled out and hesitated watching his brother disappear into the desert running towards what looked like a faint pillar of light. Artie looked to the side and noted a young man in scrubs stand next to him. 'Who are you?' Artie asked him bewildered. The young man frowned at him with a strange face expression then looked back at Stephenson running towards the strange pillar of light.

'What happened?' asked Artie. The young man starred out towards the light pillar with a frozen face.

'The light.' he said in a shaking voice. 'It picked him up and threw him out into the desert.' said Jamie.

'Who? The boy?' asked Artie. Jessie turned his head and looked at Artie.

'Michael.' said Jamie.

Stephenson ran up to the small body glowing with a pale light and as soon as he reached him the light extinguished. He knelt down next to the small boy stroking it's hair.

'Michael?!' he gasped distraught. But the boy didn't answer.

'Michael I'm sorry I couldn't help you. I'm sorry.' He looked at the boy but he didn't respond. Stephenson took the boy's hand and bit into it until it was bleeding then he bit into his own hand grabbed the boy's hand with his own hoping the silver worms would cross hoping they would save him. Artie and Jamie watched them from a distance hardly able to recognize anything in the dark when suddenly Cory and three soldiers came out of the elevator shaft.

'Is this where the explosion came from?' asked Cory one of the soldiers.

'Yes, Sir.' one of them answered.

'What the heck?' exclaimed Cory when he saw Artie and Jamie looking at him with wide eyes. 'Oh, my god!'

Suddenly a bright light appeared in the sky seeming to descend towards Stephenson and the boy. Speechless Cory stared at the inexplicable light descending towards the desert. Artie decided to bolt and run towards Stephenson and Michael before Cory or the soldiers would stop him. Baffled Jamie ran after him.

'Hey!' Cory cried out. He wanted to send two soldiers to follow them when Nernst came out of the elevator.

'What's going on?' he asked in a sleepy tone. Frozen Cory and the soldiers looked at the light descending towards the ground.

 

The spacecraft landed right next to Stephenson and Michael opening it's entrance ramp and light flooded out of it's entrance. Stephenson lifted Michael up and put him back on his feet. He saw Artie and a young man in scrubs run up to them.

'Hey! Where are you going?' asked Artie starring at Michael and Stephenson standing in front of the flying saucer just about to enter it.

Stephenson smiled and waved with a strange face expression that didn't seem to be his own. He joined hands with Michael and the man and the boy walked up the ramp into the spacecraft disappearing into the bright light coming from the inside of the ship. The ramp closed behind them. The space craft hovered over the ground for another few minutes before suddenly shooting upwards at an incredible speed without making a single sound. From a distance Nernst and Cory saw the bright light suddenly speed up vertically towards the sky.

Still standing where Michael and Stephenson had boarded the ship Artie and Jamie stood staring up after the spacecraft as it's light became dimmer and dimmer and more distant and finally disappeared into the sky.

 

END