Stinger

Stinger Page 7

It was after nine when a brown pickup truck pulled up alongside Jessie Hammond's wrecked vehicle. Jessie got out, and so did the driver. Bess Lucas was a wiry, gray-haired woman of fifty-eight, with bright blue eyes in a heart-shaped, attractive face. She was wearing jeans, a pale green blouse, and a straw cowboy hat, and she winced as she looked into the mangled engine.

"Lord!" she said. "Nothin' left but scrap in there, for sure!" The engine had cooled down and was silent now. a pool of oil shimmered beneath the truck. "What the hell tore it up this wayi" "I don't know. Like I said, a piece of whatever passed by hit the hood. Like these over here." Jessie walked toward the blue-green fragments, which had ceased smoking. Still, a melting-plastic reek hung in the air.

Bess and Tyler had heard the noise too, and the furniture in their house had danced for a few seconds. When they'd gone outside, they'd seen a lot of dust in the air but no sign of helicopters or anything like what Jessie had described. Bess shook her head and clucked at the engine. The hole in it was the size of a child's fist. She followed Jessie away from the pickup. "Say this thing just shot by, with no warnin'i Where'd it goi" "That way." Jessie pointed to the southwest. Their view was obstructed by the ridge, but Jessie noted the new contrails of jets in the sky. She reached the fragment that was embedded in the sand and covered with the strange markings. Heat was still radiating off it, enough for Jessie to feel it in her cheeks.

"What's that writin' on therei" Bess asked. "Greeki" "I don't think so." She knelt down, getting as close as she dared. Where the object had dug into the earth, the sand had been burned into clumps of glass, and blackened cactus lay scattered about.

"ain't that a sighti" Bess had seen the glass clumps too. "Must've been mighty hot, huhi" Jessie nodded and stood up.

"Hell of a thing when you're mindin' your own business and you get wrecked right in broad daylight." Bess gazed around at the desolate land. "Maybe it's gettin' too crowded out here, huhi" Jessie hardly heard her. She was staring at the blue-green fragment. It certainly was not part of a meteor or from any aircraft she'd ever seen, either. Possibly it was part of a satellitei But the markings surely weren't english, nor Russian. What other countries had satellites in orbiti She recalled that space junk had fallen over northern Canada some years ago, and more recently in australia's outback; she remembered how people had joked about being hit by falling fragments after NaSa had announced that a malfunctioned satellite was on the way down, and taken to wearing hardhats to deflect several tons of metal.

But if this material before her was metal, it was the weirdest kind of metal she'd ever seen.

"Here they come," Bess said. Jessie looked up, saw the two figures on horseback approaching. Tyler was letting Sweetpea go at an easy canter, and Stevie was hanging on behind.

Jessie walked back to the truck, leaned over, and peered into the hole that had plowed down through the engine block. Whatever had pierced the engine couldn't be seen in that oily mess of ripped metal and cables. Had it gone all the way through, or was it still lodged in there somewherei She could see Tom's face when she told him that a falling spacecraft had crossed their path and smashed hell out of -  She stopped. Spacecraft. a word she'd been dancing around in her mind. Spacecraft. Well, a satellite was a spacecraft, wasn't iti But she couldn't fool herself; she knew what she'd meant. a spacecraft, like from outer space. Far, far outer space.

Christ! she thought, and almost laughed. I've got to get my hat before my brain boils! But her gaze skittered back to the blue-green thing stuck in the sand, and at the other pieces lying nearby. Stop it! she told herself. Just because you don't recognize any of it doesn't mean it's from outer space, for God's sake! You've been watching too many sci-fi flicks off that satellite dish late at night!

Tyler and Stevie, astride the big golden palomino, had almost reached them. a large-boned man in his early sixties, with a leathery, seamed face and a mane of white hair tucked up under a battered Confederate army cap, Tyler got off Sweetpea and then effortlessly lifted Stevie down. He came over to the truck to have a look, and his first reaction was a short, sharp whistle. "You can scratch off an engine," he said. "'Fraid even Mendoza can't patch up that hole." They'd telephoned Xavier Mendoza at his Texaco station before they'd left the house, and he'd promised to be out within a half hour to tow the pickup truck in.

"Pieces of somethin' lyin' all over the place," Bess told him. She motioned around. "ever see the likei" "Nope, never have." Tyler was retired from a job with Texas Power, and wrote fairly successful western novels about a bounty hunter named Bart Justice. Bess was content to spend her time compiling sketches of desert flowers and plants, and both of them treated Sweetpea like an overgrown puppy.

"Neither have I," Jessie admitted. She saw Stevie coming closer. The little girl's eyes were wide and entranced again, but Jessie had checked her over thoroughly at the house and found no injuries. "Steviei" she said softly.

The little girl was pulled by the wind-chimes noise. It was a lovely, soothing music, and she had to find out where it was coming from. She started to walk past her mother, but Jessie grasped her shoulder before she reached the truck. "Don't get in that oil," Jessie said tensely. "It'll ruin your clothes." Tyler had on dungarees and didn't mind getting dirty. He was curious about what had put a hole that size through the pickup's hood and engine, and he reached into the mess and started feeling around. "Watch out you don't cut your hand, Ty!" Bess warned, but he grunted and kept on with what he was doing. "You got a flashlight, doci" he asked.

"Yes. Just a minute." There was a pencil flashlight in her vet bag. "Stay out of Mr. Lucas's way," she told Stevie, who nodded vacantly. Jessie retrieved the bag from the truck's interior, found the little flashlight, and gave it to Tyler. He flicked it on, aiming the light into the hole. "Lordy, what a mess!" he said. "Whatever it was, it went right through the engine block. Knocked the valves all to pieces." "Can you see what it might've beeni" He moved the light around. "Nope. Must've been hard as a cannonball and movin' like a bat out of hell, though." He glanced up at Stevie. "Oops. Forgive my French, honey." He returned his attention to the beam of light. "Well, I'd say it got pulverized in there somewhere. Doc, you sure are lucky it didn't go through the firewall or hit the gas tank." "I know." He straightened up and flicked the light off. "Guess you've got insurance, huhi With the Dodgeri" "Right." Dodge Creech had an Texas Pride auto and Life Insurance office on the second floor of the bank building in Inferno. "I don't know exactly how to describe the accident to him, though. I'm not sure anything like this is covered in my collision insurance." "Ol' Dodger'll find a way. He can talk the tears out of a stone." "It's still in there, Mama," Stevie said softly. "I can hear it singing." Tyler and Bess looked at her, then at each other. "I think Stevie's a little shaken up," Jessie explained. "It's all right, hon. We're going to be on our way home as soon as Mr. Mendoza - " "It's still in there," the child repeated. This time her voice was firm. "Can't you hear iti" "No," Jessie replied. "and neither do you. I want you to stop playacting, now." Stevie didn't answer; she just kept staring at the truck, trying to figure out exactly where the music was coming from. "Steviei" Bess said. "Come on over here and let's give Sweetpea his sugar, okayi" She dug into her pocket and brought out a few sugar cubes, and the palomino strode toward her in anticipation of a treat. "Sweets for the sweet," Bess said, giving the horse a couple of cubes. "Come on, Stevie! You give him one, okayi" Normally, Stevie would have jumped at the chance to feed Sweetpea his sugar - but she shook her head, unwilling to be pulled away from the wind-chimes music. She took a step nearer the truck before Jessie could stop her.

"Looky here," Tyler said. He bent down beside the flat right front tire. There was a blister in the metal of the wheel well's fender. He clicked the light on again and shone it up into the wheel well. "Somethin's lodged in here. Looks like it's burned to the metal." "What is iti" Jessie asked. Then: "Stevie! Don't get too close!" "Not very big. Haven't got a hammer on you, do youi" When Jessie shook her head, Tyler gave the blister a knock with his fist, but the object wouldn't come loose. He reached up into the wheel well, and Bess said, "Be careful, Ty!" "Thing's slick with oil. Stuck tight, I'm tellin' you." He grasped it and gave a yank, but his hand slipped off. He wiped his palm on his dungarees and tried again.

"That oil'll never come out!" Bess fretted, but she came closer to watch.

Tyler's shoulder muscles strained with the effort. He kept working. "It moved. I think," he said. "Hold on, I'm gonna give it my best." His fingers tightened around it, and he yanked again with as much strength as he could muster.

The object resisted him for a few seconds longer - and then it popped out from its indentation in the fender and he had it firmly in his hand. It was perfectly round, and he drew it out like a pearl that had been nestled inside an oyster's shell.

"Here it is." He stood up, his hand and arm black with grime. "Doc, I believe this is what did the damage." It was, indeed, a cannonball. except it was the size of Stevie's fist, black as ebony and looked to be smooth and unmarked.

"Must've hit the tire, too," Tyler said. He frowned. "I swear, that's the damnedest thing!" This time he didn't bother to apologize for his French. "It's the right size to have made that hole, but..." "But whati" Jessie asked.

He bounced it up and down in his palm. "There's hardly any weight to it. Thing feels about as tough as a soap bubble." He began wiping away the oil and dirt from its surface on his dungarees, but underneath the black was just more black. "Want to see iti" He offered it to Jessie.

She hesitated. It was only a small black ball, but Jessie suddenly wanted no part of it. She wanted to tell Tyler to put it back where it had been, or just to throw it as far as he could and let it be forgotten.

"Take it, Mama," Stevie said. She was smiling. "That's what's singing." Jessie had a sensation of slow dizziness, as if she were about to pass out. The sun was getting to her, pounding through her skull. But she extended her hand, and Tyler put the ebony ball into it.

The sphere was as cool as if it had just come from a refrigerator. Her fingers were shocked by its chill. But the truly amazing thing was its weight - about three ounces, she figured. She ran a finger across the smooth surface. Was it glass or plastici "No way!" she said. "This can't be what hit the truck! It's too fragile!" "You got me," Tyler agreed. "But it was sure tough enough to knock a blister in the metal and not crack to pieces." Jessie tried to squeeze the thing, but it wouldn't give. Harder than it appears, she thought. a whole hell of a lot harder. Looks like a perfect sphere, tooled by a machine that left no marks. and why is it so cooli It went through a hot engine and now it's exposed to the direct sun, but it's still cool.

"Thing looks like a big ol' buzzard's egg," Bess remarked. "I wouldn't give you two cents for it." Jessie glanced at Stevie; the child was staring fixedly at the sphere, and Jessie had to ask the question: "Do you still hear it singingi" She nodded, took a step forward and lifted both hands. "Can I hold it, Mamai" Tyler and Bess were watching. Jessie paused, turning the ball over and over. There was no mark on it anywhere, no crack, not even a scuff. She held it up to the sun to try to see into it, but the thing was utterly opaque. It must've had a hell of a velocity when it hit us, Jessie thought - but what was it made ofi and what was iti

"Please, Mama!" Stevie hopped up and down impatiently.

It didn't seem particularly threatening. It was still strangely cool, yes, but her hand felt all right. "Don't drop it," Jessie cautioned. "Be very, very careful. Okayi" "Yes ma'am." Reluctantly, Jessie gave it to her. Stevie cradled it in both hands. She now felt the wind-chimes music as well as heard it; the notes seemed to sigh through her bones - a beautiful sound, but kind of sad too. Like a song of lost things. It made her feel like she knew what her daddy was feeling, like her heart was a tear, and all things she knew and loved were soon to be gone, left a long, long way behind; so far behind you couldn't even see them if you stood on top of the highest mountain in the world. The sadness sank deep, but the beauty of the notes entranced her. Her expression was caught between crying and wonder.

Jessie saw. "What is iti" Stevie shook her head. She didn't want to talk, wanted only to listen. The notes soared through her bones and made colors spark in her brain. They were colors unlike any she'd ever seen before.

and suddenly the music stopped. Just like that.

"Here comes Mendoza." Tyler motioned toward the bright blue wrecker approaching along Cobre Road.

Stevie shook the sphere. The music did not return.

"Give it to me, hon. I'll take care of it." Jessie reached out, but Stevie retreated. "Stevie! Come on, now!" The little girl turned and ran about thirty feet away, still with the ebony sphere in her hands. Jessie pressed down her anger and decided to deal with the child when they got home. Right now, they had enough to worry about.

Xavier Mendoza, a husky white-haired man with a large white mustache, pulled the wrecker off Cobre Road and got it situated to hook Jessie's pickup. He stepped out to have a look at the damage, and his first reaction was "ai! Caramba!" Stevie walked a little further away, still shaking the black ball, trying to wake up the music. It occurred to her that it must be broken, and maybe if she shook it hard enough, the wind chimes inside might work again. The next time she shook it, she thought she heard it slosh faintly, as if it might be filled with water. and it didn't seem as cool as it had been a minute before. Maybe it was getting warmer, or maybe that was just the sun.

She rotated it between her palms. "Wake up, wake up!" she wished.

With a jolt, she realized the black ball had changed. She could see her fingerprints on it, and the prints of her palms, outlined in electric blue. She pressed her index finger on a black place; the fingerprint held, then slowly began to vanish as if drawn down into the depths. She drew a little smiling face on it with her fingernail; it too stayed there in a startling blue a hundred times more blue than the sky. She drew a heart, then a little house with four stick figures; all the pictures held for about five or six seconds before they melted away. She looked up and started to call for her mother to come see.

But before the words could come out there was a roaring behind her that almost scared her out of her skin, and she was engulfed in whirling dust.

a gray-green helicopter circled over the wrecker and Jessie's truck. Jessie knew it must have come speeding out of nowhere - maybe from beyond that ridge to the southwest - and now it made slow, steady turns above them. Sweetpea neighed and reared, and Bess grabbed his reins to settle him down. The dust spun around them, making Mendoza curse a blue streak in Spanish.

The helicopter made a few more rotations and then turned again toward the southwest; it picked up speed and zoomed away.

"Damned fool!" Tyler Lucas shouted. "I'll kick your butt!" Jessie saw her daughter standing in the road. Stevie walked toward her and showed her the sphere. "It went all black again," Stevie said, her face coated with dust. "Know whati" The little girl's voice was low, as if confiding a secret. "I think it was about to wake up - but I think it got scared." What would the world be without a child's imaginationi Jessie thought. She was about to demand the sphere back, but she didn't see any harm in letting Stevie hold it; they'd hand it over to Sheriff Vance as soon as they got to town, anyway. "Don't drop it!" she repeated, and then turned away to watch Mendoza at work.

"Yes ma'am." Stevie walked off a few paces and kept shaking the black ball, but neither the wind-chimes music nor its brilliant blue returned. "Don't be dead!" she told it; there was no response. It was just black through and through; she could see her own face reflected on its glossy surface.

Deep down, in the center of the blackness, something might have shifted - a cautious, slow stirring; an ancient thing, contemplating the shine of light that touched it through the murk. Then it was still again, pondering and gathering strength.

Mendoza got the truck hooked to the wrecker. Jessie thanked Tyler and Bess for their help, and she and Stevie climbed into the wrecker with Mendoza. They drove away toward Inferno, the black sphere still clutched firmly between Stevie's hands.

To the southwest and almost out of sight, a single helicopter followed.