Fly by Night

Lost, he was lost. Looking for a signal he began to panic. Not a screaming cursing total lose of control meltdown but one of quiet indecision and a pensive tapping of his foot. He was nearly out of gas, an estimated fifteen miles left. And this fog wasn’t helping, apparently all this melting snow was causing it. Anyway he had to make a decision, a toss of the coin if you prefer. Their was no turning back at this point so which fork to take. So quoting Frost he took the road he thought less traveled. Second guessing himself immediately, “What a stupid reason to take a road” he fumed.

Peter was by all descriptions a nerd. He was good at all things concerning electronics, but as far as a gene for common sense goes, he was sadly lacking. So, when he had seen that gas station at the intersection and since the light had been green, he didn’t think to stop for gas. Now he was paying for that indecision, for that is what it was, a total lack of making a decision. It had simply not entered into his head. So now, with every passing minute, he was acutely reminded of his lack in judgment. “How many horror movies involved a scene like this?” he thought. “All the ingredients were there, being lost, no cell service, almost out of gas.” He almost laughed, noting the ironic cliche of it all. “ The only thing lacking was a flat tire or a creepy hotel with some guy named Norman.” Pete shook that thought off.

It seemed to him that the gas light was getting brighter, he knew it was just his imagination. “It has to be” he muttered. “Christ on a cracker, I’m losing my mind” It was then that he first saw the light, or more specifically a glowing of the fog in the dark night. The whole area ahead of him glowing with a green light. “Please let it be a diner or something” Pete said to anything listening. It wasn’t anything he could make out with the thick fog hugging the ground like a three year old on their father’s leg.

As the car was beginning to sputter now, Pete started to curse. “Shit shit shit” he kept saying like a mantra that was going to save him. “Fuck me” he yelled as the car died. He rolled to a stop on the shoulder of the road. The green fog surrounding him. It seemed brightest up ahead and to his right. Pete tried his phone for the umteenth time.........nothing! He started to laugh that manic laugh that people have when they know they’re genuinely going to die.

Breathing heavily, Pete tried to relax. “Just breathe” he mouthed to himself, “Your letting your imagination get the best of you”. Minutes passed with no discernible change to the strange green light, changing the fog to something out of a sci fi flick. Pete was unable to reign in his imagination, his thoughts running wild, he was thinking himself in a snow globe of sorts, some immense creature staring at him after having shaken the glass. “Come on already” he said to himself “you’re being ridiculous” Finally able to calm himself down he assessed his situation.

First he turned off the ignition, causing a rather disconcerting darkness to envelope him. Making the green glow seem all the more menacing. Then he weighed his options, stay where he was or investigate the light. “Or run like hell” he said looking towards the glowing greenness emanating from the fog.

Soon his youthful ignorance, that total lack of sane judgment took over. You’ve seen it, when someone’s told don’t touch that. It’s hot! Then they do it anyway. Well that was Pete in spades. So despite the alarm bells ringing in his head he exited the car and set off in the direction of the green glow.

He managed to stick to the road for a good ten minutes, close to a mile by his reckoning. The glow getting brighter and more defined as he walked towards it. He was going to have to leave the road, it seemed whatever it was it was not a vehicle or a building. He was now reconsidering his earlier decision to investigate the light. He had foolishly thought that it was going to be a gas station or roadside diner.

His curiosity was strong though, “maybe he could get a picture of whatever lay ahead”. So phone in hand, he stepped off the macadam and into the thick grass of a meadow. Pockets of slushy snow soon wet his sneakers through. There was a slight rise blocking the view of whatever was causing the glow. Pete started to hear noises, strange sounds of a repetitive nature.

The sounds were rising and falling in a correlation to the green glow. Pete was shaking with both cold and hysteria. Topping the hill the scene below him came into view. The fog was still obscuring somewhat the ability to grasp what he was seeing. The sounds and the pulsing green light were much more pronounced now that he had a line of sight view of the craft.

It was hovering in place about ten feet off the ground, the whole thing was glowing with a green light. Lighter then darker, the sounds emanating from within. He felt a weird tingling every time the craft became brighter. The very air was shimmering with an energy not of this Earth. He was snapping picture after picture. To his surprise he was still walking towards it.

Pete stopped about twenty feet from the pulsating orb, his phone had gone dead. It had just died it seemed. For some reason Pete was no longer shaking, he was surprised by how calm he was. His inquisitive mind was taking over, he stepped closer yet.

The craft wasn’t very big, maybe twenty feet in diameter and had no discernible openings. The outer edges seemed blurry, especially when the sound and glowing reached their peak.

Barely out of reach now, Pete tried to touch the surface, but it was hovering just out of reach. “Come closer” he said out loud before he had realized he going to speak. The pulsing stopped immediately, the glow subsided to a dull dark green. Almost black. And the craft settled to the ground, Pete had to step back as it did.

It continued to make a subtle sound, a sort of thrumming, again and again. It had responded to him, of that Pete was sure. The question in Pete’s mind now was “Is this thing autonomous or is it being controlled” He reached out with his hand to touch the surface.

It was as if, it wasn’t there. His hand simply sank past the surface without the slightest resistance. The only evidence that it was there, was the fact he couldn’t see his hand. He pulled it back, examining his hand. Everything seemed normal. “Normal? nothing about this was normal” he quipped. Pete was weighing his options, what should he do next. So he tried some communication, “hello” jeez he thought “ is that all you can come up with”

The orb seemed to pause, then it said “ hello”. Pete was floored, he stepped back. Or stumbled back, as he was a little unnerved by the thing’s response. It had obviously mimicked him, but what intelligence was behind the imitation. Was it AI? He decided to ask a question of it. “Why are you here? It didn’t miss a beat, “ Observation only” it replied. Pete was becoming braver now, asking “How are you here?” Again it answered in a strange inflection, “Gateway, this spot” Pete’s curiosity peaked. His next question would forever change his understanding of our existence, “ Are you interdimensional?” It simply said “yes”

Not only was Pete no longer afraid, he was now enthusiastic. His next questions, his last questions were on his lips before he could pull them back. “Could you take me back with you?” “Is it allowed?” Again it simply said “Yes step into sphere” Pete didn’t even look back, he stepped forward and was gone.

Two days later, searchers would find his phone lying in the wet grass. The photos would never be released to the public.