The Commander's Daughter - Revised

Mitt sat in his hammock chair and stared up at the hole in the roof of his makeshift cabin.   His little hideaway had been his home since he ran away at the age of 15.   Now, five years later, the borrowed pieces of tin roofing panels and plywood sheets were in desperate need of repair.   However, on this cool, clear autumn evening, the sky beyond bristled with stars and he felt as if he were looking through a portal into infinity.  

Sighing peacefully, Mitt picked up the battered copy of “Heart of Darkness” from the pallet table next to him.  The book had been part of a care package given to him by the locals in the nearby town of Archer, TX.     This was his third time reading it and he still found new things to love about it.  He quickly flipped through the dog eared pages until he found where he had left off.   Settling back into the hammock chair, he began his escape from reality.  

A flicker of light flashed through the window and he glanced, panicking, to the right.  Did someone finally find his place?   There was no oil equipment out here and no nearby roads.   He didn’t know who owned this land, but he had never seen anyone else in the area.  Turning down the lantern, he stumbled over to the window and looked for the light.   Outside, the world was dark and eerily silent.   Peering into the darkness, Mitt realized it was not a flashlight or headlights that he had seen, but a strange blue glow in a thicket of trees about 500 yards from his cabin.  Grabbing his lantern and jacket, Mitt hurried out of the cabin into the field to investigate.

Outside, a gentle breeze bit against his skin.  Winter was definitely around the corner, Mitt thought to himself as he zipped up his jacket.   The dried grass crunched beneath his feet, the only sound breaking the otherwise still night.   The weird smell of old rain, barely perceptible, permeated the air.   Looking up at the sky, Mitt couldn’t see any clouds. 

“Where is the smell coming from then?” he wondered out loud. 

Finally approaching the light, he saw what seemed to be a ship buried within the trees. 

Mitt gasped. 

“No way am I this lucky”, he thought as he rushed over to one of the trees.  

There in the middle of a clearing, was a large circular object, about 50 feet across and as tall as a house.  Its outer skin seemed to be made of a shiny light blue material.  Mitt thought it looked a bit like aluminum, but it shimmered and almost seemed transparent.   The smell seemed to be coming from the craft as well. He noticed that it was floating about 8 feet off the ground with no noticeable landing struts. 

A snap of a twig caught Mitt’s attention and he glanced to the left of the craft.  His mind raced at the sight of three creatures that looked remarkably like the gray aliens everyone describes in stories.  They were busy manipulating a black box about the size of a suit case.   Mitt turned his gaze back to the ship.  His heart pounded in his chest and his hands trembled with excitement.  

“It’s so different from everything I have ever read!” he mused.  “I wonder if there is a door or something where I can see inside.”

Mitt left his outpost behind the tree and cautiously snuck away from the aliens and around to the other side of the clearing.   He began to hear a faint noise that sounded a lot like a choir.  He checked over his shoulder again to make sure the aliens hadn’t spotted him.  Then he turned towards the direction of the noise and carefully walked towards it.

Just around the bend of the ship, Mitt found what he was looking for and his heart leaped.  An opening was visible in the bottom curve of the vessel with a black metallic ramp leading to the ground.  He quickly walked up to the edge of the ramp.  His heart was beating so rapidly now he thought it might just pop out of his chest.  He had no idea what these aliens would do to him if they found him here, but at the moment, he didn’t care.  He glanced around the edge of the forest and then slowly moved his head around the corner of the opening to look inside.  

The choir-like sound was much louder inside the craft.  It seemed like it reverberated from the walls themselves, which glowed with an intense white light.  The walkway continued up into the craft for a dozen feet where it apparently leveled out into some sort of room.   Mitt strained to see more, but the floor was just above his head height.   He had to go inside.

“Oh man, this is probably a bad idea”, Mitt thought as he hopped onto the ramp, paused to look around, and began sneaking up the ramp and into the ship.

As he reached the top of the ramp, the walkway expanded into a huge round room that strangely seemed to be larger than the ship itself.  The choir like sound had increased in intensity and his teeth seemed to vibrate with the sound.  He felt a bit dizzy and disoriented in the bright lighting.   

Mitt rubbed his eyes and when they came back into focus, he saw three black chairs in the center of the room, in a triangular formation.   They looked a lot like plastic lawn chairs, and he wondered to himself what they could be made out of.  Surrounding the chairs were black panels that seemed a lot like the screens he had once seen on a smart phone.   There were no buttons or levers anywhere.

Behind him, Mitt heard a noise and he saw the feet of the aliens just visible beside the ramp.   Panicking, he quickly looked around the room for a place to hide.  As far as he could tell, there was nothing in the room aside from the chairs.  Suddenly he heard an odd female voice.

“Over here, quickly!”

He looked and saw a small black square in the wall about 20 feet away.  Running towards it, he dove inside the darkened area hoping this was not some sort of trap.   The door slid shut behind him and he was in total darkness.

After a few seconds, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and spun around to look at the source of the hand.   In front of him was a tall creature that looked a lot like a normal human girl.   Her skin seemed to glow like the walls of the room he was just in.   She stood at least a foot taller than him and had shimmering white hair.  Her facial features were elegant, but seemed slightly off to him, as if her nose was just ever so slightly too small or her eyes slightly too large.  She gave him a small smile and spoke.

“You know, you really are not supposed to be here.”

Mitt stared at her, speechless for a moment.  Then he managed to get his head together and formulate some words in the right order.  

“You are an alien?”

She grinned and shook her head.

“No, you are the alien.  I am an Anu.  My name is Marus.”

“Uh, I’m Mitt.  I have so many questions.   What are you doing here?   How can I understand your speech?   Why are you glowing?”

Marus chuckled.

“Slow down.  Why am I here?   Well, I guess you could say I ran away from home.   My father is the commander of the Anu fleet.  He is planning an invasion of this planet.  Those clones are collecting samples of the various plants and animals on the planet.   They will use that to figure out a way to kill everything here.  As for why you can understand me – well, I am speaking your language.”

“Wait, you’re invading us?  Why?  We didn’t do anything to you.”

Marus frowned.

“No, you didn’t.  That’s why I ran away.   My ancestors used to live on this planet.   As the story goes, we ran the planet and created your ancestors from the primal creatures that were here at the time.   Eventually, your ancestors drove us off the planet with the assistance of some other races.  We were outcasts for a very long time.  I don’t know how much you know about space, but it is not a very friendly place.

Eventually, we made our way back, some of us at least.   My father wants to lay claim to this planet again.   He seems to think that it will make him a hero in the eyes of our people.   I tried to explain to him that you were not a threat, but if we did take over this planet, we would be no better than your ancestors that drove us off of it in the first place.   He didn’t take my words well and threatened to lock me up.  I got away and snuck onto one of these vessels. “

She paused and glanced at the door he had come through. 

“You have to get off the ship.    If the clones find out that you are here, you will be treated like a specimen.   There’s a maintenance hatch right over here.”

Mitt watched as she began moving boxes away from one of the walls.  She uncovered a small glowing control panel and sang to it.  The floor opened up in a small circle just big enough for him to fit through.

“Hurry.  They will know that this hatch is open and investigate.”

“Wait, come with me.  I have to tell someone about this invasion, but they won’t believe me unless you are with me.”

“That’s why I came.   I didn’t expect to meet a Terran so quickly, but I will go with you.  Now go.”

Mitt begun lowering himself down the access port towards the ground.   He was almost ready to drop when the door behind Marus slid open and the room was filled with blinding white light and that loud chorus sound. 

“Oh no!  Run, Mitt!”

Marus shoved Mitt down the hole and he fell clumsily to the ground.  He quickly managed to get back on his feet and looked up to the hole he had just fallen through just in time to see it seal shut.   He could make out the edge of the forest just a dozen feet away from him and he ran for it as fast as he could and kept running until he had cleared the thicket of trees and was back in the open.

He looked back into the thicket.  The vessel had not moved, but seemed to be flickering.  It then rose up into the air about 100 feet and hovered for a moment before it shot off into the night sky at an incredible speed vanishing into the back drop of stars in only a couple of seconds. 

Mitt stood there staring at the stars for what seemed to be hours.  His grumbling stomach stirred him back to reality and he made his way back to his cabin.   He ate the sandwich and chips he had left on the table next to his hammock and began trying to figure out what to do next.  He wished Marus had escaped and hoped that she was not hurt.

The next morning, Mitt walked into town and stopped in front of the Archer County News.   He stared at the golden lettering that was emblazoned across the top of the large plate glass window that adorned the front of the weathered brick building.  He had no idea where to go to warn people of the invasion, but his friend Stacy worked here and often did reports about the Air Force base up in Wichita Falls.   Maybe she would have some tips.   If she believed him, that is.

He walked in the front door, the attached bell clanged loudly against the glass.  Stacy looked up from her computer and smiled.

“Hey Mitt!  Sherriff’s looking for ya.”

“The sheriff?   Why?”

“Don’t rightly know.   Something about some cows that got killed last night.  Drained of blood with holes poked in them.   John’s got the story.  We’re probably gonna run it as a ‘News of the Weird’ sort of thing.   So what brings you into town?”

“Well, Stacy, something strange happened last night.”

He spent the next hour filling her in on the details of the previous night’s encounter.   She asked some questions and took some notes, but Mitt felt like she might be patronizing him.  His suspicions were soon confirmed.  As he wrapped up the story, Stacy grinned at him.

“This is great stuff, Mitt.  You really should be a writer, ya know.  This will go great with the cow story.   You mind if I write it up?”

Mitt sighed.  “Fine.  Uh, but I have another thing in mind.  If I were going to, you know in the context of the story, tell someone about it to help stop the invasion, who would I tell?  You know people.  Who would I contact?”

Stacy thought about it for a moment.  Then her eyes lit up. 

“Well, shoot, you could talk to Major Collingsworth over at Sheppard.  He handles all of the UFO type stuff in the area.”  She laughed, “You know, they call him the shredder?   Supposedly, he doesn’t even bother to file most of the reports.  Just shreds em.  Least that’s the rumor.”

Mitt was not encouraged by her recommendation, but he thanked her and took his leave.  Stepping outside he looked at the green directional sign indicating Wichita Falls straight ahead, then began walking, thankful that it was fall and not mid-summer.

The sun was beginning to set as Mitt reached the edge of Sheppard Air Force Base.  He had made it through most of the city by following the train tracks and keeping an eye on the large military aircraft in the sky.   Eventually, he cut across an open field and stood in awe as he watched a series of jet fighters take off from the runway in from of him.  The sun was setting and the orange glow reflected off the canopies of the aircraft making them seem almost, but not quite as magical as the Anu spacecraft. 

His silent revelry was interrupted by the quick chirp of a siren behind him.   He turned around and saw a military vehicle behind him.  An airman stepped out with his gun drawn.

“Get on the ground, now!”

Mitt was stunned.  He stalled for a moment as the military police officers approached him.   Two officers now faced him with their guns drawn demanding he get on the ground.   Mitt warily complied. 

“I need to see Major Collingsworth”

“Shut up and put your hands behind your back!”

Mitt was quickly handcuffed and shoved into the back of the police vehicle.  

The next few hours were simultaneously boring and unnerving for Mitt.  He sat in a holding cell by himself.  He could hear bits and pieces of conversation happening outside the door to his cell.   As the hours ticked away, he found himself hungry and a bit claustrophobic.   Eventually, the door opened and an airman ordered him up and out into the hallway.   He was escorted to a small room with a single table in the middle.   He was ordered to sit in a chair next to the table and handcuffed to the table.  After a few minutes, a women in a suit walked in followed by two young airmen in uniform.   The airmen stood in the corner while the woman settled down in the chair opposite him.

“I am special agent Crawford with the DHS.  I gather your name is Mitt Rawlings?”

Mitt nodded. 

“What are you doing on this base, Mitt?”

Mitt considered his answer for a moment.  The handcuffs were beginning to chaff his wrists and he was hungry.   He considered that this whole idea was a huge mistake.   He knew what the DHS was and he was not entirely confident that they would even consider listening to his story.   He looked at Agent Crawford.  She was young, and very serious.  There seemed to be little chance that she would take him seriously.  On the other hand, being a crazy drifter would be safer than being a suspicious terrorist.  Besides, you never know what someone might believe.  

Mitt decided to tell her the complete truth from the time he saw the lights until he was arrested.  She sat quietly during the whole story, seemingly unaffected by any aspect of his account.   When he finished, she stared intensely at him for a moment.   Then she stood, told him to stay put, and then walked out of the room.   He looked wryly at the handcuffs holding him to the table and chuckled at her command.

After what seemed an eternity, an airman entered the room and disconnected him from the table.   He was escorted out of the building and into a waiting police vehicle.   They silently drove him to the main gate and pull off to the side of the road.   The officers walked him a few dozen feet away from the road and removed his handcuffs. 

“We have been ordered to release you.  You are officially warned not to return.   If you do return, you will be charged with trespassing on government property and charged as such.”

The airman then handed Mitt a folded up piece of paper, returned to his vehicle, and drove away.  Mitt unfolded the paper and read it.

“ORDER NOT TO ENTER OR REENTER MILITARY RESERVATION”

The notice basically stated what the airman had said to him.   He would be fined or imprisoned if he reentered the base without the explicit authorization of the base commander under the authority of Title 18 USC 1382. 

Mitt sighed and looked over at the airbase.   A flight of fighters drifted across the sky in the distance.   He wondered how long they would last against the Anu.  

“What a waste,” he thought. 

He made his way through town, looking for a place to sleep for the night and wondering if there even was a Major Collingsworth.   He managed to find a boat parked in someone’s backyard.  It wasn’t a great place to sleep, but it was off the ground and had a great view of the stars.  He lay down on a padded bench, pulled his coat in tight around him to fend off the chilly wind, and stared up at the stars in the sky wondering if one of them was a ship where Marus was safe and warm.

His dreams were unsettling.  Large football shaped vessels dropped from the sky like mountains of death.  Green clouds of poison fell heavily from the sides of the ships, landing on the ground in thick billowing plumes.   Human jet fighters screeched overhead followed by strange alien aircraft shooting blobs of yellow and green.  All around him people were screaming.  The clouds of green gas surrounded him, enveloped him, and he began choking.  He looked to the sky and begged whatever was there listening to take mercy.

Mitt woke gasping.   The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon.   Time to go.  He hopped out of the boat and made his way back to the highway to begin the long walk home.  He had only been walking for about an hour when he came across a small crowd gathered outside of some official looking building.   A short, tubby man with a gravelly voice stood on a platform screaming into a megaphone.   Mitt could not make out what he was saying very clearly, but it seemed to have something to do with an upcoming disaster and the government ignoring it.   Mitt couldn’t believe his luck.   Maybe this guy could help him.

Mitt approached the man and interrupted his tirade.  

“I know about the incoming invasion.  Who can we talk to to stop it?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, son.  What invasion”

“There are aliens who are about to invade our planet.  I met one.  I was just arrested at the air base when I tried to tell them about it, but they let me go.  I don’t know what to do anymore.”

The man shook his head and gave Mitt a dismissive gesture. 

“Look, son, I don’t have time to deal with crazies.   There are real things to worry about.   Maybe you should go bother David Icke or George Noory or something.”

Then the man went back to his megaphone leaving Mitt stunned and confused.  A young man walked up behind Mitt and tapped him on his shoulder.  He smiled at Mitt.

“Don’t mind him, he always comes across as pretty gruff when he is in his activist mood.  Look, skip the David Icke stuff, your story doesn’t fit his world view.   If you want to share it, check out Coast to Coast AM.   It’s a radio show.  You can call in and tell them.  Maybe someone can help.”

Mitt frowned, “Thanks, but, um, I don’t have a phone.”

The young man looked confused.

“Well, maybe you can go to the library and use their computer?  They let you use headphones.  You can go to the one here in town.”

Mitt frowned. 

“I am not from here.  Where is the library?”

The young man gave him the directions, just a few blocks away.  Mitt made his way over the library and explained that he was from out of town and could he please use the computers.  The librarian smiled and agreed.  He managed to figure out how to find Coast to Coast and discovered it was only available during late nights.  He would have to wait.  He thanked the librarian and started the long walk back to Archer.

The trip was hard.  Cold weather was definitely on its way.  When he finally made it back to town, he saw a light on in the Archer County News offices.  He peered through the window and saw Stacy at her computer.  He tapped on the window.  She jumped and turned to look at him, not really seeing him in the dark. Once her eyes adjusted to the contrast, her face changed from one of fear to a warm smile.   She opened the door and let him in.

“Wow, so you came back!  How was your walk about?”

Mitt scowled as he reviewed his trip in his head.  Not exactly something he wanted to share with a reporter. 

“Well, it was interesting, but not newsworthy.  Or, well, nothing you would be interested in.”

Stacy looked intensely at Mitt for a long time.  Mitt avoided her gaze.   After a while, she laughed.

“Mitt, I don’t need to know, hun.   Really, I don’t.  I am not so far gone that I can’t be a friend.   Tell me, though, why are you here, hun?   It’s really late, ya know.”

Mitt looked at the clock hanging on the wall of the news room.   It was 11:30. 

“Well, Stacey, I was wondering if you could tell me how to call in to a radio show.”

He spent the next few minutes explaining his request and at first she was surprised and puzzled.   After a few minutes, she put the pieces together and her surprise turned to horror.

“Wait a sec, hun.  You’re serious?  That was not some story?  That was the truth?”

“As best as I can tell it.”

“Huh.   Well, I guess this is worth a shot.”

She pulled up the website and got him into the caller queue. 

“Look, Mitt, it is always scary the first time.  Just talk.  The really good radio hosts will understand.  Your story is a good one.  Just tell it like you told me.”

She handed him the headset and kissed him on the cheek.

“If you are telling the real truth, please do what you can to save me.”

Mitt looked at her.  For the first time he began to feel the very real impact of what was going on.  It wasn’t just his story after all.  Everyone really was going to die.

“I don’t really know what to say, Stacy.   If I can, of course I will.”

Mitt put on the headset.   For a few minutes all he heard was the radio show.  Then he heard a warning.

“Mitt, you will be on the air next.”  

“Hi Mitt, go ahead”

For the next few minutes Mitt tried to explain his experience as best as he could without sounding ridiculous.  Stacy held his hand through all of it and it was a warm and welcome feeling, but he ended his time on the air feeling empty.

“Well, that was something.  I guess there is not much else to do.”

“Wait,” Stacy said.  “Just wait.  This show is all over the place.  Ya never know, ya know?”

They listened for about an hour.   Mitt was ready to give up.  Then they heard a new caller.

“Yes, oh, hey, I am on the air?  Um, OK.  Listen, this is for Mitt.  I hope he is still listening.  Look, I believe you.  I HAVE to meet you.  Just meet me tomorrow at the news place you mentioned.”

The caller hung up with no further message.  Mitt sat stunned for a long while.  When he composed himself, he turned to look at Stacy.

“Mitt, don’t even ask.  You can sleep on that couch over there so long as you give me the story.”

Mitt nodded and smiled gratefully.  The tidal wave of events and his sheer exhaustion threatened to overwhelm him.  Sleep came easy to him that night, even though he was nervous about his impending visitor.  As the first rays of sun began lighting up the sky, Mitt awoke to find Stacy still at her computer.

“Hey.  Did you sleep?”

“Nah, too excited.   I wonder who this fella is who is showing up.”

“Well, wonder no more.   Look.”

Mitt indicated the Jeep pulling up in front of the building.  At least the visitor was prepared.  It wasn’t an easy trek out to his cabin even on foot.  The man stepped out of the vehicle.   He was short and bald.  He wore a pilot’s jacket and a fedora and looked a bit like a miniature Indiana Jones.  Mitt and Stacy stepped outside to meet him.

“Hiya.  You must be Mitt, huh?  Name’s Max.  You ready to go?”

Mitt looked back at Stacy.

“Uh, just let me lock up, hun.”

Stacy locked the office and the three of them climbed into the Jeep and drove off towards Mitt’s cabin.

Mitt stared at Max as they left town.   Max grinned at him, and then turned back to the road.   Mitt decided that Max was insane.  He never stopped grinning and his general demeanor was just a bit off, almost inhuman.  Finally Mitt could no longer keep quiet.

“OK, Max, why are you here?  What is your interest here?   Do you have some way to stop this invasion?”

Max’s grin vanished in a blink.  He looked behind him at Stacy and then at Mitt.  Then he looked out at the road.

“Uh, no.  Sorry kid.   Nothing like that.”  Max sighed and looked at the sky. 

“Don’t you wish pretty days like this would last forever?”

Mitt looked hard at Max for a while and then shook his head and looked out at the trail ahead of the Jeep.

“It’s right over there, just where that trail splits off.  You can see the thicket over there.”

“What is that?” 

Stacy leaned forward pointing at the sky.  A silvery craft about the size of an RV was descending at the place Mitt had just indicated. 

“Jackpot!  Finally!” exclaimed Max.

Mitt and Stacy looked quizzically at each other as Max turned to meet the descending vessel.  When they arrived, everyone quickly left the Jeep and approached the small vessel.  A door slid opened on the side of the craft and Mitt’s heart leaped when Marus emerged from the craft.

“You’re alive!  Oh thank the gods!”

Marus did not share his enthusiasm.  She looked at Max and Stacy and then back to Mitt.

“Who are they?  I can’t carry them all.”

A bright flash of light erupted around them and through them.   Mitt blinked and turned to try to find the source of the light.  To the north he saw a brilliant glow on the horizon.

“It is too late.  We have to go.  Mitt, I came back for you.   I didn’t plan on guests.  I can only carry one other.”

Mitt turned to look at Max and then Stacy.  Stacy was still staring at the light in the distance.   

“My mom….”  Her voice trailed off.

“Mitt, we have to go.”  Marus’s voice was persistent.

“Stacy…”

“Mitt, I can’t.   My mom.   She’ll need me.”

Mitt turned to look at Max, but he was already on the ship. 

“What are you waiting for?  Let’s go!”

Marus shook her head and turned to Mitt.  He looked fiercely at her.

“I tried.  I really tried to warn someone, anyone.”

Marus smiled sweetly.

“I warned you.  It wouldn’t make a different anyway.  Come on, let us leave.”

Mitt looked back at Stacy.

“Stacy, I’m sorry.”

Stacy looked at Mitt and smiled.

“Don’t be, hun.  I got a hell of a story, eh?  Besides, I need to go help my mom.  Look, be safe, OK?   Maybe check in sometime?”

Mitt smiled and hugged Stacy.  She hugged him back warmly.

“Sorry for not believing you, hun.   Heh.  Who would?”  She looked north to the fading glow.  “Do you think we stand a chance?”

 “I don’t know, Stacy.   I don’t.”

“All aboard, dude!  Time to go!”  Max urged from the doorway.

“Go, hun.  Be safe.”

Mitt entered the craft and the door closed behind him.  Stacy watched as the craft glowed and flickered for a moment before launching to the sky and disappearing into nothing.