Truth be Told

An old beat pickup truck sits on a dusty unused road, deep in the desert. A man stands in front of the truck. He is dressed in a dark business suit with a brimmed hat that hides most of his face. The only light is from the dimmed headlights of the truck. In the distance, another set of headlights crest over a hill and a car barely fit for desert travel approaches the truck and stops leaving the engine running and the lights on. Martin Smith, a reporter for the Weekly Copy, steps out of the driver’s seat removes his sport jacket, and tosses into the car. He is balding and needs a shave. He closes the door and walks up to the man in front of the truck and stops.

“Okay Charlie, you got me out here. This better be damn good.”

The man in black looks back and forth over both shoulders. Scanning the area for any signs of other people nearby.

“It is. Were you followed? You came alone right.”

Martin, clearly annoyed, sighs and shakes his head.

“I’m here alone. Nobody followed me. Get on with it.”

Black continues to scan the area but appears less agitated.

“What would you say if I said I have proof of everything?

Everything? What everything?”

Black now looking serious and focused stares into Martin’s eyes.

“Everything.” All of it. All of existence is related and on a bigger scale than most human minds cannot yet conceive.

Martin is even more annoyed.

“Seriously pal something. Something big, something new. Anything I can use. Stop wasting my time and give me something I can use.”

Black smiles.

“Oh, I’ve got things. Things you can’t even imagine.

He leans back on his truck, much more relaxed. I’ve got Pictures, Videos, My own stories. Where should I begin?”

He scratches his chin, mocking deep thought.

“Let’s start with the jest of it all. Everything is inter-dimensional. It’s all connected, as I said, and it’s all real.”

Martin stands with his hands on his hips watching Black, now with a little interest.

“Ok, now I’m listening. It’s nothing new, but that’s something that I might be able to run with.”

Black, stands back up from his leaning position straightens his jacket and adjusts his hat. He walks to the passenger side of the truck with a determined stride. He removes a large yellow envelope from the truck and walks back to Martin. Stopping just out of reach he tosses the envelope on the ground and steps backwards to the truck.

Martin kneels and picks up the envelope. He stands and opens the envelope, removing a set of photographs. He turns back to his car and uses the headlights to view them flipping through them one by one. The pictures show images of people and Lizard-like humanoids working together in a high-tech laboratory. The lizards outnumber the humans five to one. One of the images shows what appears to be the center of a clean room, surrounded by glass. In the center of the room is a circular platform. A large flat oval sits on the center of the platform. The center of the oval is an ethereal black and it is surrounded by blue and yellow light that sparks with electricity.

“These are good. Really good. I can’t be sure with them, but they look enough for the rag, I guess. Still could just be a Cosplay thing or something. They are good if it is though.”

Martin, clearly more interested, puts the pictures back in the envelope and walks back towards Black.

“What else you got?”

Black chuckles and walks back to the truck removing a laptop. He walks back to Martin, again staying out of arms reach. He opens the laptop and presses a few buttons. He turns the laptop. A video plays on the screen. It shows the same things implied in the photographs. Humans and lizard-like humanoids working side by side. The oval appears much the same as well. The ring is blue and yellow with sparks arching and flying around border. The colors ebb and flow pulsating with energy. The center of the oval now appears even more strange. A portal that appears to go nowhere into an endless void.

When the video ends Martin looks up at Black. He is much more interested now.

“Ok, that’s pretty good. You can send that to me, right?”

Black closes the laptop and holds it at his side. He extends his other hand from the elbow palm up. The phone in Martin’s pocket vibrates indicating a notification. Martin looks down at his pocket then back up at Black with a blank look on his face. He removes the phone from his pocket and sees that he has a new email with a video attachment.

“I didn’t give you my email address.”

Black smiles again.

“We have it, none the less.”

Martin swallows hard with the realization that what he is seeing might be real and takes a few steps backward, towards his car. Black chuckles again then turns and walks back to his truck. He places the laptop back in the truck and crosses his arms on top of the open door.

“So, I guess that was good enough for your Rag story then?”

Martin replies with a slight stutter in his voice.

“Yeah, yes. I think that will be good enough. I’ll let you know. If it runs you stand to make a few bucks.”

Black drops his hands to his sides and arches his back, turning his head to the sky and bellows a howling laugh. He corrects his posture and looks back towards Martin.

“Money is of no concern to us.”

Martin, still standing at his car.

“By we you mean the people, and the…others.”

Black removes another item from the truck and closes the door. He steps back towards Martin, still just out of reach. He speaks with separated words to indicate the importance of what he says.

“There’s just one more thing. You can’t acknowledge anything that you’ve just seen. These files do not exist.”

Martin cocks his head and holds up the envelope and the phone one in each hand.

“Seriously? I have the pictures and you sent me the video. You can take the pictures sure. But I have the video now. Nothing you can do about that. Ha!”

He turns to walk back towards his car and stops when his phone vibrates in his hand. He looks at his phone and sees a notification that an email has been deleted, and the email just sent to him with the video has disappeared without a trace.

He turns again, looking at Black.

“How? That’s impossible.”

Black smiles.

“Obviously impossible.”

Martin holds up the envelope again. I still have pictures though.”

Black extends his hand at full length holds out the device from his truck and presses a button on it.

“Those are still yours for research purposes only. Any attempt to reproduce them will result in their destruction.”

Martin places the envelope in his car.

“So, you want me to run with a story about photos and a video that I have in my possession, but I can’t show anyone?”

Black cocks his heads and smiles.

“Precisely. I will also need to approve your article before you submit it to your editor as well.”

Martin looks at his own feet and shakes his head. Looking back up at Black he says

“Fine.”

Black smiles.

“Good. We will be pleased with this opportunity.”

Martin walks back to the front of his car.

“So, I’ve seen these pictures, but I know nothing about what I’ve seen.”

Black looks on with confusion.

“Study the images. You will see much in them.”

Black waves his hand in Martin’s direction and Martin’s phone vibrates once again.

Martin, looking at his phone sees the video retuned to his inbox and waves the phone at Black.

“Thanks.”

Black returns the thanks with a deep quick nod.

“Show no one.”

Martin nods in agreement.

“So where is this.? Where is this? What the hell are those lizard people things?

Black shakes his head disapprovingly.

“Well, this lab is on earth. And those reptilians are the living creatures you may have heard a few rumors about.”

Martin pulls his head back with the realization of who they must be.

“You mean the stories of the aliens that live underground? Heard plenty, still no proof. Not sure I can do much without showing the proof though.”

Black responds with reassurance.

“Write the story and I will contact you when the time is right.”

Martin nods.

“How long do I have.?

Black.

“Write the story. I will contact you when the time is right.”