The Fellowship for Alien Detection (31 page)

“Yes, for Project . . .” The Alto exhaled in relief. “Bliss. This is Project Bliss. I worked here. She did, too.”

“The mystery girl?” Haley asked. The Alto nodded. “Okay, so what's Project Bliss?”

“Still working on it,” said the Alto, searching up in his brow. “This is the base of operations for setting up those caverns Dodger saw, the . . .”

“Amplification nodes,” said Dodger.

“Right,” said the Alto. “This will be the control center. And . . .” The Alto stopped, and cocked his ear.

Haley heard it, too. A sound from back the way they'd come. An engine.

“Back to the car,” said the Alto.

They ran for the sedan. Haley saw headlights bouncing in the trees. They'd barely reached the car when a vehicle emerged. Haley expected another white truck, but instead it was a long, white mobile home. It careened up the slope toward them, dust billowing behind it, and skidded to a stop. Dodger thought it looked familiar.

“Stop!” a voice shouted from inside.

There was a jostling. The mobile home rocked from side to side. The door popped open. A figure stumbled out into the dust cloud and marched toward them. It took a moment to make out his features in the dust and darkness. He was an old man with square glasses and a white beard. He was wearing sweatpants, a flannel shirt, and a half-moon-shaped helmet covered in tinfoil.

“Don't go any farther!” he shouted, pointing angrily at the Alto. “You've done enough!”

“Who are you?” the Alto called.

“I've seen you before,” said Dodger. “You were in the parking lot at Roswell.”

The man looked at Dodger, his face changing instantly from furious to composed, like he'd flipped a switch. “Yes, we were about to intercept you there, but then we were caught in a Missing Time Field.” He looked back at the Alto and his anger returned. “Who do you
think
I am?” he shouted. “I'm your employer, Gavin Keller!”

Haley saw the Alto's shoulders slump. “Oh,” he said.

Gavin marched forward. “You just step away, Mr. the Alto, and leave these children to me. You've got some nerve! Taking them off into the night and dropping off the face of the Earth!”

“Dad!” A young woman was emerging from the mobile home. “Dad, just settle down.”

“I'm not going to settle down! I—I . . . This was not supposed to happen! None of this was supposed to happen!”

“What are you talking about?” Haley asked. She was already stunned that this was Gavin Keller. This haggardly dressed, wild-eyed old man in a tinfoil hat was the brains behind her fellowship? At least Alex Keller looked more normal. She was in a black shirt and jeans, smart glasses on. She looked younger, maybe in her twenties.

“I—” Gavin turned to Haley, and his wild, excitable gaze switched off again and he spoke calmly. “Excuse me, Haley, Dodger, my amazing fellowship winners. I hate to be meeting you under these circumstances. What you've discovered is unbelievable! You should be commended. I—I never dreamed when I started this fellowship that you'd really uncover the truth behind extraterrestrial visitation.”

“You didn't?” Haley asked. This disappointed her.

“Well, I
hoped
, of course,” Gavin said, “but, I've spent half my life looking into all these theories and never gotten this far. Leave it to young minds unencumbered by assumptions. . . . But I was mainly just trying to put the money to good use, to awaken future generations to the great questions of our time—”

“Hold on,” said Haley. “What money?”

Gavin threw his hands in the air. “All of this is my aunt Colleen's fault! She died last year and suddenly I inherited the royalties to a natural gas well on the family property in Colorado. I didn't even know it existed! Turns out it's worth a fortune, all in my name, and I don't want it! I've worked hard to build a life off the grid. I haven't paid taxes in years, not going to give a dime to those warlords in Washington. Everything I need I keep with me, in my house here. I'm a free man with a free mind, open to the possibilities of the universe.”

“You live in your mobile home,” said Haley.

“I see the world,” said Gavin. “The road is my teacher, the horizon my muse!”

Haley made a note to herself to remember this the next time she started freaking out about getting out over the horizon. Ending up like the Alto was not an option, but neither was this.

“And so I thought,” Gavin went on, ”what better gift could I make of my money than to give youth that same chance I've had? But then YOU!” He pointed at the Alto. “Putting them in danger like this!”

“He's protecting us,” said Haley.

“He is not!” shouted Gavin.

“Please keep your voice down,” said the Alto.

“Keep my voice down? You have a lot of nerve—”

“Well then, can we talk about this somewhere else?” the Alto asked. Haley saw him glance worriedly back at the ridgeline.

“And give you a chance to take off again?” said Gavin. “Not a chance! You were instructed to get these two out of danger and back to their families! To the FBI, we told you! Do you know the legal trouble we're going to be in because of you? Children are missing because of my fellowship! There will be police, lawyers—all the vultures will be after me!”

“Dad . . .” Alex rubbed his arm. “He's a kind man,” she said around him. “Really, he just wanted to do something good.”

Haley tried to process what she'd just heard. She turned to the Alto. “You lied,” she said. “You said it was too dangerous to turn around, that it was our
mission
to go to Juliette. That Keller wanted us to.”

The Alto shrugged. “I didn't lie about the danger,” he said to her. “Maybe about what Keller said, but it was my professional opinion that he was not acting in your best interests. Besides,” said the Alto, fiddling at his bracelet. “I needed you, too.”

“Best interests?” Keller shouted. “You've brought these children further into danger! Tell me how exactly you plan on getting out of this?”

“We were working on it,” said the Alto.

Haley stared at him. She supposed she should be angry at him, and yet hadn't Gavin Keller gotten her in much more danger than the Alto had, sending her off to research things that had nearly led to her being abducted? And sure, she was “missing” now, but there were already kids like Suza missing for real.

“How did you find us up here?” the Alto was asking.

”Well,” said Gavin proudly, “that was the work of my amazing daughter, who took off the entire summer to help me with this project. Alex?”

Alex had been watching the whole proceeding with a queasy expression. Haley thought she looked like she would rather have been somewhere far away. “More like keeping you out of trouble,” said Alex, rolling her eyes. “I've been tracking your meBox's web updates,” she said, looking at Dodger.

Dodger seemed shocked by this. “Huh? I couldn't even get that thing to connect to Wi-Fi.”

Alex shrugged. “It's been automatically posting your photos from an app called InstaMe! to your MymeBox page on the
Viva Value!
website. The pictures always include a map indicating where they were taken. All the pictures are black, though.”

Dodger shook his head and reached into his pocket. He pulled out the meBox and stared at it. “Why couldn't he just get me an iPod?”

“Now, Haley, Dodger,” said Gavin. “I want you both to get in the RV and we will take you to the authorities and put an end to this.”

Haley looked from Gavin to the Alto. She felt a flash of longing at the thought: If she got in that RV, they could be back with their parents . . . but no, this wasn't really a choice. She glanced at Dodger and indicated the Alto with her eyes. Dodger nodded.

“We're not going with you,” Haley said to Gavin. “We're on a mission to save the people of Juliette. We're the only ones who can do it. Thanks for your fellowship award, but we'll take it from here.”

“You—” Gavin seemed to swallow a mouthful of words. “Well, that was an inspiring and brave thing you just said, Haley. I . . . but you!” He turned back to the Alto, as if he had to be mad at someone. “You are
not
getting paid for this.” Back to Haley, calm again. “I must insist. We've been in touch with your parents, we can get you to them and put an end to all this—” Something distracted him and he whipped back to the Alto. “What are you doing?”

Haley now noticed that the Alto had walked backward a few paces and was gazing over the edge of the ridge. “I'm checking to be sure that all your shouting hasn't attracted any attention.”

This idea seemed to surprise Gavin. “Oh . . . and?”

The Alto turned back around. “I asked you to keep it down,” he said.

And then he started to run. His eyes caught Haley's, and she knew she should be doing the same.

She'd barely turned when the UFO leaped over the ridge like a pouncing cat.

“My gods!” Gavin exclaimed.

“Dad, come on!” Alex Keller shouted, running toward the RV.

“The woods!” shouted the Alto. Haley grabbed Dodger's arm and sprinted after him, past Gavin, who was staring, awestruck, at the ship.

“They're really here!” he exclaimed. “They're really—”

Zzap!

Gavin vanished in sizzling orange light.

Haley and Dodger followed the Alto toward the trees. He vaulted over a giant fallen log. They all ducked behind it and turned around.

Out in the grass, the Alto's sedan began to peel out.

Haley saw that the Alto was using his watch to control the car. It spun around and started racing down the road away from them.

“What are you doing?” Haley whispered.

“The Alto tapped rapidly at a holographic display on his watch. “Creating a diversion.”

The UFO zipped after the car and out of sight.

“Nice,” Haley said—

But then another craft darted over the ridge.

“Rats,” said the Alto.

The second craft bobbed over the clearing, swaying back and forth. Its orange beam scanned the RV.

There was a light snap from beside them and the sound of breaths.

Alex Keller appeared, ducking beside them. “I told him,” she said, panting, “just keep the money, buy a new RV or something, but no. . . . I was supposed to be doing a law internship in London this summer, but he was having a fit, so—”

“Sshh!” the Alto instructed.

“Stupid family,” said Alex.

“Sorry,” said Haley. “They make it hard.” She wondered what it would be like to have a dad like that. But more importantly, she wondered how they were going to get out of this.

“What do we do?” she whispered to the Alto.

The Alto was looking around. “Working on it. . . .” Then his eyes seemed to pause on Dodger.

Haley turned and saw that Dodger's eyes were closed, and he was mumbling to himself.

“What are you doing?” Haley hissed.

Dodger half opened his eyes. “Trying to tell it to go away,” he said. “Its orders are coming from close by, stronger than back in the mountains, maybe in that complex . . . but I think I can do it.”

Dodger closed his eyes even harder. He put his fingers to his temples and kept mumbling. Haley thought it sounded like he was saying “Turn south thirty degrees” over and over.

She looked up. The craft paused, then started off away from them. It disappeared behind the trees.

“You're doing it,” said Haley.

The craft jumped back overhead.

“Can't. . . .” Dodger winced. “The controllers are fighting back. They can sense that I'm here. It's hard. . . . Turn south.” He tried again.

The craft jagged away, darted back, jagged away again.

“If I could just get a better handle on the energy,” he said, still pushing.

Haley watched the ship bob back and forth over the empty clearing like a marionette. Something occurred to her. “Could you get a better handle on the energy if you got on board?”

Dodger squinted, still trying to keep his hold on the craft. “Well, definitely. That's where the crystal is.”

“And,” said Haley, “if you had better control, do you think you could
fly
it?”

Dodger considered this. “Maybe, yeah, I . . .” He trailed off and suddenly looked queasy. “Oh no. . . .”

“What?” Haley asked.

“I— there's . . . Hold on, need to stop it I—”

Suddenly Dodger's mouth snapped open, and his body lit up in neon orange light, and a voice blared out of him, as if he himself was a radio.

“—
CAN ANYONE HEAR US
, O
VER
! T
HIS IS
A. J. L
ARSON AND
I
AM INSIDE THE TOWN OF
J
ULIETTE
, I
REPEAT
, I
AM TRAPPED IN
J
ULIETTE
!”