51
The canyon walls cascaded away before them. If not for the pounding dread in her heart, Heather would have marveled at the newfound stamina that had let her run along beside Mark with no need for a break during the entire trip out to the place they called The Mesa. On the steep slope far below, camouflaged amidst the thorn thicket, lay the hidden opening to the starship cave.
Heather and Mark had left the alien headsets beneath Jennifer’s mattress. With the search parties beginning to comb this area, the danger that they would be found with those in their possession was too great. Heather wasn’t sure what Mark thought Jennifer had done, but the vision that had played out in her head upon seeing the headsets left her praying that she was wrong.
Mark studied the surrounding countryside carefully.
“I don’t see anyone. How about you?”
Heather concentrated, noting every detail of her surroundings, a new vision forming before her mind’s eye.
“I think the search parties are still an hour or so away from here.”
Mark raised an eyebrow. “And how did you come up with that?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care. How did you read that article so fast? How did we just run all the way out here? You can believe me or not.”
“Okay. I wasn’t trying to make you mad.”
Heather took a deep breath. “Let’s just get down and check on the ship before they come.”
Mark led the way down the steep slope going much more slowly now. With every step down that slope, the weight of impending disaster dragged more heavily at Heather.
“Oh no!”
Mark scrambled forward, leaving Heather’s gaze unobstructed. On the slope below, where there had always been a holographic illusion masking the entrance, a huge cave opening yawned.
Following Mark as quickly as she dared, Heather stumbled into the cave’s inky blackness. Not only was the holographic illusion that had masked the entrance gone, so was the soft magenta glow inside.
As her eyes adjusted to the reduced light level, she could see the curving outline of the ship, still resting where it always had. She moved forward reluctantly, her earlier vision coming back in full force, her worst fears confirmed. Either Jennifer had found some way to power down the whole thing or it had just died.
Mark rushed forward, disappearing up inside the hole. Somehow, Heather could not muster the will to follow him. She knew what he would find, all the doors closed, the few rooms he could enter dark and lifeless.
After a couple of minutes, she stepped to the hole in the ship’s belly.
“Mark,” Heather called. “We have to get out of here. The lead search party is going to hit this canyon in a few minutes.”
Almost immediately, he jumped to the cave floor, wiped at his face with the back of his hand, and turned toward the exit.
“Jennifer did this.”
“Probably.”
“I can’t believe she didn’t even tell us. She came out here and shut down the ship, knowing they would find it without the cloak.”
“They would have found it anyway.”
“She should have told us before she did it. She goddamn well should have told me.”
Heather didn’t know what to say. The way the tears streamed down her cheeks, she doubted she could say anything anyway.
Mark and Heather stopped at the cave entrance, took one last long look at their ship, then turned and began the long journey home.