Nora
This time I felt something before I even got to the formation. Not what I felt in the last one, but something pulsing up from the ground itself. Like a big bass drum. Or a heartbeat.
Once inside, the flattened area curved away on both sides, presumably forming an immense circle. Inside, a series of standing grain in triangle shapes followed the curvature of the circle. I pulled up the hood of my jacket to keep the rain off my head.
The cold drizzle hadn’t kept the gawkers away. I stepped around a trio in raincoats, passed through the triangles and found there was another row. And another. With every step, the pulsing sensation grew stronger until it seemed a part of me.
After passing through several rows of triangles, I could see an open circle with a tuft of grain standing like a teepee in the middle. Nigel was dead center in the middle of the smaller circle, measuring for electro-magnetism. Nigel gestured to us to join him. He kept looking at his machine, then at us. Steven ran past me, holding a video camera in front of his eye. Deb followed him.
I didn’t need to look at the machine to know the little needle must be going crazy. Instead, I focused on the design itself. As far as I could tell, the triangles spiraled out from the center. I knew what it probably was, but I needed to see it from the air to be sure. I breathed in and out slowly. The ground was almost throbbing and my own heartbeat had slowed to synchronize. I inhaled, feeling my head start to swim.
Something struck me in the back. I jumped and spun around. Steven was glaring at Deb. They exchanged some words before Deb signed to me. “You feel something?”
“Yes. A clod of earth hitting me.”
“Know what I mean.”
I nodded and started to explain. Steven raised his video camera and pointed it at me. I continued my explanation, but turned slightly away from him. What did he think he was doing?
When I stopped signing, I noticed everyone in the entire formation was staring in my direction and pointing. A sudden surge of electricity jolted me from behind. I turned to see a ball of light rushing towards me. On instinct, I ducked, but the light stopped just short of a collision, so near my face I had to go cross-eyed to focus on it.
I held my breath. When it didn’t move, I straightened up. The light followed, maintaining a fixed distance in front of my eyes. It moved to my left. I blinked. It revolved around me. Not daring to move anything other than my eyes, I followed its path until it was out of sight. I looked immediately to my right, waiting for it to appear again. My breath was rapid, my heart pounding. Damp from the rain, I shivered.
When the light completed its orbit, it hovered again in front of my face. I took a step towards it. Not because I wanted to, but because it compelled me. When I tried to pull back, I felt light-headed. Everything went black.
* * *
The wall was baked mud. Here and there, spiderwebbed with cracks. Through the one window, light streamed in at a low angle, throwing a rectangle of yellow light onto the ceiling.
I leaned my head out the window. Below, was a massive tiered structure. Around the base, a network of mud rooftops and alleyways spread out. Beyond these, green fields and a ribbon of silver water. Heat shimmered and rolled across the rooftops.
Movement inside the room caught my attention. A heavy wooden door opened and a man entered, his brightly colored robes brushing against the floor. He was olive-skinned and wore his dark hair and beard in tight ringlets. He looked at me and I trembled.
I signed, “hello”.
The man walked past me. For the first time, I noticed the interior of the room. Crates and heaps of hay lined one wall. Along another was a table. Covering the table was an entire chemistry apparatus, complete with beakers and test tubes. That couldn’t be right. I walked around to the man’s line of vision, my squelching sneakers leaving wet footprints on the floor. I waved my arm to get his attention, but he continued to ignore me. I reached out to touch his shoulder and my hand went right through him. I gasped.
The door opened again and a woman entered. Her clothes and her coloring were similar to the man’s, but her face was rounder, her features softer. In her arms she carried a crate like the others in the room. I waved my hand to get her attention. She walked around to the man and placed her crate on the floor beside the table. When he saw her approach, he turned and signed to her. I moved around to see their conversation. The signs were unfamiliar, but somehow I understood.
“How did it go?” asked the man.
“As expected.”
He sighed and unscrewed a clamp from the chemistry apparatus. “We must leave, then.”
“It is ordered.” She picked up handfuls of hay and threw them into the crate she had brought. I managed to get a glimpse inside before she finished. I saw a row of small clay tablets inscribed with a strange form of writing. It looked familiar somehow, but I couldn’t quite place it. She knelt and bent her head. “They are just children.”
He placed a hand on her shoulder. “No, they are not.”
“They cannot survive without us.”
“They can. They will.”
She stood. “They can barely feed themselves.”
“We have done all we can and we have done well. They will thrive here.”
“I shall stay.”
“You cannot. Our brother will not allow it.”
“I shall find a way.”
“You would stay here alone?”
She swept an arm towards the window. “Look around. I will hardly be alone.”
They embraced and he pulled back. “I’ll help you. Who knows, perhaps one day my descendants shall return to meet yours.”
The man and the woman both turned their heads to look at me.
* * *
I woke to a dozen faces hovering over me. My jeans and jacket were soaked through in the back where I was lying on the ground.
“What happened?” I asked.
“You faint. Light fly up, up, gone.” Deb was crying. She placed her hand over her mouth. For her to be that worried, I must have really looked like hell.
I glanced at my watch to see how long I’d been out. It flashed twelve o’clock. Cheap piece of crap. I tried to sit up. The ground was still pulsing, but now I felt it between the temples. I fell back. Steven knelt next to Deb. He put an arm under my shoulder to help me sit. As soon as I was upright, my stomach retched. I vomited down the front of Steven’s hoodie. He didn’t move. He just stroked my hair.
“Sorry. I’m really, really sorry.”
Deb waved her hand. “How you feel?”
“Actually, I feel a lot better now.”
Steven pulled his arms out of his hoodie one at a time and rolled it up before lifting it off his head. The t-shirt underneath was too light for this weather and his skin rose in goose pimples. He stood and offered me a hand up.
“Sorry.”
“Home now,” said Deb.
Steven nodded and placed a hand on my back. Nigel spoke to Deb and put a hand on her shoulder. She pushed his hand away and walked on ahead of us all.
