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[原创]CONTESTED TERRITORY

[这个贴子最后由JUNEYEAH在 2003/11/28 12:25pm 第 1 次编辑]

HAPTER ONE
Mountainside
Bethany's father had taken her and her twin brother Andrew on holiday to Iceland and had chartered the small aeroplane as a special fourteenth birthday treat. It had been exciting looking down at the mountains from above and her father looked happier than he had since mother had died.
Her father and the pilot were discussing where to go next when Bethany first noticed the strange objects on either side of them. They were cigar shaped and both were glowing with a eerie violet colour that was obvious inspite of the bright sunshine. She loved reading about UFO encounters and knew she ought to be thrilled but in reality she was terrified. She suddenly wished she was somewhere else. She leaned forward and attracted her father's attention to the objects and the strange maneuvers that they were making. Ever cool and pragmatic he pulled out the camcorder and began filming after pointing them out to the pilot.
The things continued their odd movements and Bethany noticed that the pilot was getting increasingly alarmed and kept changing direction. Gradually she realised that they were losing height. After several minutes of this the pilot had to give up and headed for a plateau just ahead of them.
"We'll have to land, they're forcing us down and my attempts to escape have made us low on fuel." He told them, suppressed agitation was obvious in his voice.
"Have you radioed for assistance?" Her father put away the camera and did his seatbelt, motioning to his children to do likewise.
"I couldn't. The radio stopped working about the time those things appeared."
The landing was extremely bumpy, Bethany banged her head even though she wearing her seatbelt. The plane rolled to a halt slowly and as soon as it was stopped the engine died and the pilot could not restart it. After the ringing in her ears subsided Bethany and her brother located a first aid kit and emergency survival pack in the cockpit. Her father and the pilot made an inventory while Bethany and her brother waited to see what would happen next.
"They'll have noticed when we dropped off RADAR." The pilot was trying to reassure them. "They'll be looking for us by now."
"I'm more worried about those." Bethany pointed to the strange objects which were hovering above them. "Why have they made us land and why are they hanging about like that? Are they waiting for something or just playing games?"
"I've no idea." The pilot admitted. "I've never seen anything like those things before but for the moment at least they are leaving us alone. Let's try and ignore them."
"Ignore them? They've forced us to land. Don't you think it's likely they want something that we have or similar?"
"Well they could have forced us to crash. They cut our engines as soon as we'd landed. That's a hopeful sign." He noted reasonably. "If they wanted to hurt us they could have."
"It depends what they want from us." Her father joined in. "It may be that they need us alive..." he broke off suddenly as Andrew gave a frightened sob.
"They aren't friendly." Bethany stated, she could feel the active malevolence of whoever piloted those craft. "Can we get out of this thing? We're sitting ducks at the moment. She pushed at the door.
"What makes you so certain, Beth?" her father asked gently. "They may just be curious about the natives." he paused, "Or, for all we know, these may just be experimental aircraft that we shouldn't have seen and the military want to debrief us. It's more likely than aliens you know."
"I'd think," the pilot said dryly, "That the military would keep secret craft in restricted airspace."
"It's still more likely than aliens." her father sounded like he was trying to convince himself.
"They aren't human, I can feel it, and they hate us!" There was an edge of hysteria to her voice and she tried the door again. "Let's head for those trees." she pointed to a dense pine wood about 500 meters away. "We might be able to hide from them."
"Yes!" Andrew broke in. "I'm scared, I think we should hide."
Her father looked from his daughter to his son and back.
"I think you two are letting the situation get to you. Your imaginations are running away with you. We have to stay here! the weather's supposed to turn nasty tonight and this Tis the best shelter we've got."
"Actually you're wrong." The pilot had been studying a map. "Unless I'm very much mistaken there's a cave in those very woods that'd be better because it's always warm due to a hot spring and several steam vents. A group of climbers got trapped up here by a blizzard a couple of years back, the cave saved their lives. I was about to recommend you headed for it anyway." He marked it's position on the map and gave it to her father. "I'll wait for the rescuers, if they haven't arrived by sundown I'll leave a note and join you. Take the survival kit but leave me one of the blankets."
Bethany was glad she had worn her trainers as they ran across the plateau towards the trees. The snow was ankle deep and she would have foundered in ordinary shoes. As they finally reached the trees she glanced back and saw one of the craft drop a smaller object from its underside. This sped across the plateau following their course. She tapped her father's arm and pointed this out. He quickly led them deeper in to the wood where the trees were too thick for it to follow. Then he checked the map and led them to the cave. Once he had scouted around to check that there weren't any tunnels the children could get lost in he fetched them inside.
The atmosphere was warm, moist and until her father turned the torch on very dark. In the bright beam she saw the hot spring bubbling up in one corner. At her father's instructions she placed the survival kit on a flat rock nearby. As she approached the spring she became aware of a faint unpleasant smell. It was not overpowering and seemed to come from the spring and a small crack in the rock just behind it. For all the world it smelled like rotten eggs. She wrinkled her nose.
"What is that awful smell?" Andrew asked before she could.
"Hydrogen sulphide, the spring is volcanic in nature." Her father said in a lecturing tone. He was trying to take their minds off what was outside Bethany realised. "It's the same chemical that makes stink bombs stink but fortunately the air circulates well in this cave so it isn't that bad."
"So it's safe?" Bethany asked, "We won't be gassed by it?"
"It's certainly safer than being out in the cold tonight." He did not mention the things.
They had a rather poor meal of survival biscuits and a chocolate bar with melted snow to drink. Then since the sun had obviously set they settled down as best they could wrapped in thermal blankets from the kit. They sang songs and told stories as they waited for the pilot to arrive. Bethany watched the cave entrance apprehensively. Violet lights seemed to be dancing among the trees outside and surely the pilot should have arrived by now. She had just about given up hope when a loud noise disturbed her. A figure appeared in the entrance. He looked about the right shape and size and in the torch beam it was obviously the pilot... but he almost felt like one of the aliens, almost but not quite.

[原创]CONTESTED TERRITORY

"Hey, the cavalry has arrived with a helicopter. We can all go home." he called. It sounded like him too. Bethany looked at her father and saw that he looked suspicious. After a moment he rose to his feet and gestured to them to stay put.
"I'll go and check this out. I didn't hear a helicopter. Don't come out until I call you," He headed resolutely for the entrance. A sudden flash of bright violet light illuminated cave making Bethany jump. After that they waited for what seemed to be an inordinately long time. Indeed Bethany used the little light on her watch several times and it was over an hour. Finally her father's voice sounded from the entrance. "Okay, kids, it's true the rescuers are here but they've landed the 'copter a fair hike away so we'd better get going." It sounded plausible and Andrew was out of the cave before father finished speaking. Bethany watched carefully as her brother was greeted by a similar flash to the one that had greeted their father. Then she turned her attention on her father. He felt wrong just like the pilot had. "Bethany, come on."
"Can someone help me with the stuff? I can't find it in the dark and you took the only torch."
"Leave it, it doesn't matter." he called. "Come out now." Such an instruction was so unlike her father that the alarm bells in her head rang even louder. He had always lived the waste not want not maxim to a ridiculous extent. Something was definately wrong.
"Why won't you come in?" She asked suspiciously. "Bring me the torch so I can see what I'm doing? I'm not moving until you do." For some reason she knew that they would not enter the cave but she had no idea why not. Perhaps the cave would block whatever was controlling them, but in that case why didn't the aliens just come in themselves and drag her out? As if in answer a small breath of air blew the rotten egg smell her way. Bethany's eyes widened, they could not stand the fumes themselves and could not send in the humans they controlled because of the rock type. She had no idea how she knew that she was safe in here but she was certain that she was right.
"Beth, we don't have time for this nonsense. You're much too old for it. If we get going now we'll be in time for you and Andrew to have your special birthday meal after all."
"I'm not coming out until you come in." She repeated firmly. "It wouldn't waste that much time and I'm scared." She backed up to the spring and filled a plastic cup with the water. If she was right about the hydrogen sulphide it might be a reasonable weapon should she need it.
"Perhaps not but I've pandered to your childish fantasies for too long. Come out here this instant, Bethany."
"Beth, please come out." Andrew's cajoling voice joined their father's in trying to get her to leave her sanctury. "You know how much I'm looking forward to our birthday dinner. Please don't spoil it for me... for both of us."
"Andy," she replied, close to tears, "Just come in to the cave and I'll come out but not before." She looped round to the other side of the spring, clambering up to a ledge just above it. Just then the torch shone directly in through the entrance blinding her momentarily. When she recovered she could see her father was now only just outside the cave.
"There's your precious light. Get the stuff and come out!" he sounded angry. Bethany sat down on the ledge, making it obvious that she had no intention of leaving her precarious safety. She had a definite feeling that if she could hold out for another five minutes she would be rescued. Surprised by such certainty she examined her feelings and discovered they were ambiguious. Someone was concerned for her safety but there was no friendliness there. Then again there was no hostility either which was reassuring. The idea that someone was extracting her from this situation for reasons she did not understand made her nervous.
Ah, you are sharp and unusually sensitive, little one. A voice that was not her own sounded in her head. Bethany let out a startled yelp and dropped the plastic cup. Warm water splashed everywhere. And soon you'll be safe, I promise. We intend you no harm.
"Come on, Bethany ! Stop woolgathering and get your butt outside right this instant or I'll give your hide such a tanning that you won't be able to sit down for a week. You're acting really crazy."
"I'm acting crazy?" Bethany asked increduously, "I'm not the one who has spent his life campaigning to have smacking children made illegal only to threaten violence against his own child when frustrated.
Stunned silence met that comment. Apparently whatever was controlling him had not known that. Somehow she had expected them to know everything about him.
This strange standoff continued for a few minutes longer. Throughout it Bethany was aware of an odd sound growing gradually louder. Then, quite suddenly, pandemonium broke out. She could hear yells, screams and strange hissing noises. She was also aware of multicoloured flashes of light. Bethany jumped down from the ledge and cowered in a corner until it all fell silent.
Then a figure holding some sort of handheld lightsource entered the cave. As it approached Bethany could see it was a perfectly ordinary woman. Albeit one with slightly odd colouring. That probably resulted from the artificial light Bethany decided. The woman knelt down and called something over her shoulder in a language Bethany did not recognise. The frightening events of the day faded as the woman stroked the now sobbing girl's hair and murmered gentle reassurances. Confused and exhausted Bethany succumbed to sleep surprisingly quickly and knew nothing more of her rescue.
She woke late the next morning in a soft bed. For a long time she lay looking up at the ceiling the events of the previous day and night slowly coming back to her. The faint odour of hydrogen sulphide that seemed to cling to her convinced her that it had not been a dream. Alarmed she sat up and saw her brother lying asleep on another bed. A brief sigh of relief passed her lips. Looking around she found a jug of orange juice and poured a glass. She had just started to drink it when a cheerful voice sounded behind her.
"Ah, you're awake, good." She turned to find a young man in what appeared to be some sort of uniform holding a tray in one hand as he closed the door. "I've brought you your breakfast and you'll be needed to answer a few questions afterwards. Your brother is sedated, he'll be asleep for a few hours yet."
After she had eaten Bethany was escorted to an office where she was asked a great many questions about the events of the previous day. She tried to remember all the details. When she mentioned the voice in her head the man questioning her chuckled indulgently.
"It was probably your own subconscious talking to you." he said with a smile. "It happens sometimes in stressful situations."
Bethany was about to disagree but the man seemed to know what he was talking about and her memory of the last few minutes before her rescue was hazy. The voice had seemed separate but then so had the imaginary friend she had had until a few years ago.
"I guess so." She murmered finally. After all it did not really matter. She was safe. She did, however, have a concern. "Is my brother going to be okay? And my father and the pilot?" She paused, "And how did we get back to Britain?"
"You were flown here while you were asleep of course. And your brother will be fine. But he won't remember what happened, at least not at first. It's very important that you don't let anyone, including yourself, remind him of what happened. If he remembers what happened before he can cope with it he'll very likely breakdown which will allow the hostiles to take him over again. I've seen it happen."
"This has happened before?" Bethany was startled, "And do you mean I mustn't talk about what happened? And what about my father and the pilot? You haven't told me about them yet?"
"It has, but not often. They're cautious I think. You must at least wait until your brother recovers his memory on his own and we'd prefer that you didn't then, it would either get you labelled as a loon or cause a panic. Either way you'd be in a lot of trouble." There was a pause to let Bethany absorb the faint hint of threat in his reply. Then he bowed his head. "The pilot died before we could catch him to break their control." Another pause. "I'm afraid they still have your father, he was seen retreating on to one of their craft. You have to be careful. Whoever they are they'll probably use him to try and regain control of your brother and to capture you. For this reason we've decided to place you and your brother with a foster family who know what's going on. It'll also give you someone to talk to. We are aware that you will need help to cope with what has happened, Bethany. That help will be provided."
"You have the power to do all this? Who are you?"
"We do, but we're secret. Any answer to your question would either be meaningless or compromise our position."
"You mean you could tell me but then you'd have kill me?" Bethany asked, "I read rumours about a secret defense organisation dealing with UFOs called Bureau 21. Don't tell me it was true I thought it was paranoia."
There was a brief chuckle as the man shrugged.
"I don't think we'd go as far as killing you though some people would find internment worse. I suppose it's typical I get the precocious kid who reads UFO magazines. I can tell you one thing Bureau 21 is a smokescreen. It's like the U.S.'s experiments with captured alien craft that you'll also have read about."
"I don't understand." Bethany frowned and rubbed her temples. "My headaches and I feel dizzy."
"Of course. I've been thoughtless. You've had a bad experience and need to rest. Go and sleep. We'll wake you when your foster family get here to take you to your new home."
"One question. What are you going to tell Andrew?"
"That the plane crashed. The pilot died and your father is missing. He may be dead or he may be suffering from amnesia and have wandered off. We'll basically make it sound like we're looking for him, which we are, and hope to find him alive, which we do."
"You think there's hope?" Bethany ran a hand through her hair. "That we might be a family again someday?"
"There's always hope. If we can catch him alive we can deprogram him. That's the other reason we're putting you with this family. They'll tell us if he's hanging around. Now go and rest."
Several hours later Bethany was gently shaken awake. It was getting dark and there was a hot meal on the table. Her brother was awake and eating ravenously. She noticed however that he had been crying. Given the version of events that he had been given it was not surprising. Indeed Bethany had been weeping herself when she fell asleep. Though in her case fear not grief had motivated it. She was terrified that her father was worse than dead and that her brother might yet be lost to her.
After the meal an officer led them to a room where they met their new foster family, the Taylors. There were four of them. Two adults and their teenage son and daughter. Bethany took an immediate liking to the girl. Daria was two years Bethany's senior but had a friendly manner that made it obvious that she did not look down on Bethany. Her brother, Damon, was charming but seemed a little standoffish. Richeldis and Matthias were as warm and welcoming as Bethany could imagine. She felt that they really could protect her and her brother.
A couple of hours later, after they had driven to the Taylor's home Bethany found herself sitting in a window-seat in her room looking up at the stars. Where had those malevolent aliens come from, she wondered. It was quite possible that she would never know.
"Hey," Matthias voice sounded behind her and she turned. "So you like looking at the stars? I've got some maps of the sky you can have if you want. Right now, however, you need to rest after all that stress. I''ve made you some cocoa. I know that you've slept a lot today but do try to get some more, little one, you need it." As it turned out there was no try about it. Bethany drank her cocoa, got in to her bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

[原创]CONTESTED TERRITORY

CHAPTER TWO
Interim
Bethany sat cross legged on her bed, deep in thought. It was a few weeks after the terrible events in Iceland and she was beginning to settle into her new home. For some reason, however, she sometimes felt uneasy, as if something were wrong but she could never quite figure out what. Her new school, inparticular, seemed to evoke these feeling. It was, in her opinion, an odd place geared towards those with high IQs and special aptitudes. It was the school which Daria attended and where Damon had only recently finished. When Richeldis had told her and Andrew that they were to take the entrance exams they had laughed. Neither of them had expected to pass. In the end, however, both of them had. Indeed Bethany had been placed on some special courses.
Special courses... weird courses would be more like it. She was not at all certain what she was supposed to be learning. So far it had contained nothing but lateral thinking puzzles, relaxation techniques, and memory and visualization exercises. When she had asked her tutor what it was about he had told her that she would understand when she was ready. She had received a similarly unhelpful answer from Daria who was ahead of her on the same course. Figuring it out was part of the course, apparently, and it would be cheating if she found out from someone else. It was all very bizarre.
With a sigh Bethany turned her thoughts back to Andrew. His memory had not yet returned. Some nights, however, he woke up screaming about the things in his head. Whenever it happened Richeldis gave him a sedative. He never even seemed to remember dreaming in the morning.
Bethany also woke suddenly sometimes but she knew that she had been dreaming. She also knew that she had had the same dream several times. The trouble was that except for a few hazy images she could not remember it. Last night she had lain awake for about an hour trying to recall it. This was especially important since keeping a dream diary was part of this weird course. All her other dreams of the last week were recorded in exact detail. On most pages, however, there was an entry for about 2 am that read. "Sense of dim, amber lighting. Talking to someone I don't know in the dream but feel I should when I wake up. Don't know who it is or what we are talking about." Her tutor had noted the the vague and repetitive nature of the dream and told her that she would not remember it by worrying about it.
Bethany was disturbed from her reverie by a rap on her door. Daria was leaning against the door post.
"Would you like to try out the new computer game I've written?"
"Sure." Bethany rose to her feet. Daria was something of a prodigy when it came to computers. Apparently games were not the only programs that she wrote. Nor, if the whispers of Bethany's classmates were true, was her computer expertise limited to software. Of course her classmates seemed a little in awe of Daria. She followed Daria into her room and decided that the rumours were very likely true. The shelves had various odd looking pieces of hardware on them. Curiously Bethany picked one up and looked at it.
"What's this? If I'm not being too nosey?"
Daria looked round. "Nah, not too nosey. It's a VR interface that I'm working on. Those helmets are cumbersome and expensive and, to be blunt, the graphics are crap. I was going to show you the game on the monitor but it's meant for use with that. Would you like to try it?"
Bethany frowned. "I thought that VR developers had all but given up on a a headset interface for now."
"They have. For the reasons I mentioned. I'm not them. I think I've solved those problems.
Well it certainly wasn't bulky, Bethany decided, but she was sceptical about the graphics bit. They hadn't seemed that bad when she tried one at an amusement park a few months back. "Is it safe?"
"Of course it's safe. I wouldn't ask if you wanted to try it if it weren't."
"OK, then, why not."
Daria showed her how to put it on. A thin circlet of metal fitted round her head with earplugs, a microphone and something like a pair of glasses attached to it. Bethany only knew a little about the subject but she did not think it would work. Daria connected the interface to her computer and pressed a couple of keys. Bethany gasped. The image was so sharp and realistic that she could not quite believe it.
"How do I control it?" she asked.  Daria placed a pad in her hand.
"Turn your head to change where you are looking and use the buttons on the pad to move.  Eventually I hope to develop a body version to enable the pad to be discarded.  To speak to the characters use the mike."
Bethany took a little while to get used to using the pad without being able to see it.  Once she had Daria started the game.  It was a fantasy adventure of epic proportions though it involved more solving of mental puzzles than fighting monsters.
It took her several attempts but eventually Bethany completed the quest successfully.  With a sigh she took off her headset and looked at Daria.
"That's a great game. Did you write the voice software too?" She looked at Daria, who nodded. "I didn't make a mistake once!"
"I noticed." Daria smiled. "You look tired."
"Exhausted." Bethany admitted. "I think i'll go to bed now."
For once, she did not wake until her alarm went off, and remembered none of her dreams when she did. She was glad to find that she felt refreshed when she awakened. She had half expected to still be exhausted. After breakfast, she asked Daria if the excessive tiredness she had felt last night had been an effect of her using the V.R. set. Daria shook her head.
"No, you just played for rather a long time.  I was writing an essay and lost track of time too."
"It is rather engrossing.  It's a pity that it's only sight and sound."
"I'm working on the other senses, in theory anyway, but touch would require some sort of suit and as for smell and taste... to be honest I don't think that my knowledge of human biology is up to the task.  Anyway if it is that engrossing perhaps it's a good thing that it isn't any more realistic."
"Perhaps you should write some sort of time warning into the program to tell people how long they have been playing."
"Perhaps.  It isn't a bad idea but the warning mustn't destroy the ambiance of the game." Daria glanced at her watch.  "We'd better go or we'll be late."
That evening Bethany sat on the window seat as she thought through the days events.  She had expected the special course tutor to be annoyed that she could not remember what she had dreamed of the night before but he was not.  He had simply nodded and said that it happened sometimes.  He had also drilled her in some techniques to help with dream recall.  The rest of her day had been spent on fairly normal lessons.
All day, however, she had been getting edgier and edgier.  She had a feeling something like that which had been caused by the aliens in Iceland.  Instinct told her that it meant that her father's captors were looking for her and Andrew.  Even though she expected to be laughed at she mentioned it to Matthias.  He nodded seriously.
"I think that you are most likely right, little one.  How close do your instincts sat that they are?"
Bethany thought about it.