After the allotted time, Richard placed the thin probe into the meteorite slurry and clicked the software’s analyze sample icon. Almost immediately, the data appeared on the graph displayed on the screen. Richard read through it twice. The meteorite’s chemistry was highly unusual. High in magnesium and low in iron, the readings seemed familiar. He switched to another window, opened his documents folder and opened a report from NASA's Messenger probe, which had recently surveyed the surface of Mercury from orbit to determine its chemistry. He scrolled to the chemical graph down the page and glanced at the readings. Though his sample had plagioclase, an aluminum-containing mineral, and plotted strange in oxygen isotope space, both results were suspiciously similar.
Richard looked at the meteorite with fresh eyes and excitement. “Have you travelled all the way from Mercury?” If it had, it was spectacular discovery and more than he could have hoped for.
A deep thrumming cast his eyes to the sky. In the distance a helicopter headed towards the crater. After watching it for a few moments, Richard returned his attention back to something far more interesting, his possible Mercury meteorite.
Gathered around the excavation of the mammoth and cave lions under the makeshift tent, the team’s conversations fell to silence at the sound of an approaching thrumming.
“That’s a helicopter,” stated Crookshank.
Gilmore looked at David. “I didn’t know we were expecting visitors or supplies?”
David shook his head as he stood. “We’re not.”
The thrumming increased as the helicopter drew nearer. The plastic tent cover protecting the dig site flapped so violently from the rotors downwash, they feared it might be yanked from its moorings. David and a couple of his colleagues stepped from beneath the cover and observed the large unmarked helicopter swoop in a low circle and hover. A man leaning out the rear door roamed binoculars over them and then at the few team members working a short distance away. Another man tapped the one with the binoculars on the shoulder and pointed towards the cliff. After refocusing his gaze at the indicated position, the helicopter headed for whatever had caught their attention. It hovered across the crater, and three men slid down on ropes.
“Wait here,” ordered David. “I’m going to see what this is all about.” He strode away towards the helicopter.
Richard closed the lid of his laptop and clasped it to his chest when the helicopter swooped nearer and hovered a short distance away. Wondering what the damn fools were doing, he shielded his eyes from the downdraft kicking up swirling dust and ice particles and gazed up at the man staring down from the open door. When three ropes were dropped, and three men slid down them, he knew something bad was about to happen. Thinking they had come for his meteorite, he glanced at the rock he believed was about to stolen from him. As the helicopter turned away and hovered above a raised piece of ground, Richard scrutinized the man leading the other two towards him. Recognizing his face, he groaned. It was worse than he had thought.
“Hello, Richard.”
“What the hell are you doing here, Colbert?”
“We came for you.”
“Me? Not my meteorite.”
Colbert’s eyes flicked to the green rock and back at Richard. “You can keep your pretty rock, but you’re coming with us,” ordered Seal Team Commander Colbert.
Richard looked past Colbert at the other two SEALs, armed and menacing. “And why would I do that?”
“You don’t have a choice,” replied Colbert curtly. “You either come willingly or by force.”
“Hang on a damn minute,” argued David, barging past the two SEALs.
One of the armed soldiers thrust a hand at David’s chest, halting him. “That’s near enough.”
David pushed the arm away and focused on Colbert. “Who are you and what gives you the right to barge in here and harass a member of my team?”
Keen to hear the answers, Richard looked at Colbert expectantly.
“That is none of your business,” said Colbert. “Richard, get on the helicopter.”
“He will do no such thing,” argued David, stepping closer to Colbert.
The nearest armed SEAL held his weapon menacingly.
Richard held up a hand, calming the man. “It’s okay, David, I don’t believe I have a choice.” He looked at Colbert. “I assume this has something to do with the alien spaceship our governments categorially deny exists.”
“Just get on the damn helicopter, Richard, before I drag you onboard.”
“Stay where you are, Richard,” ordered David, stepping forward to block Colbert’s path. “I demand you leave immediately.”
Colbert smiled. “Happy to oblige.” He looked at Richard. “Move!”
David went to protest but found himself restrained by one of the SEALs.
Richard walked over to David and handed him his laptop. “Don’t worry, brother, it’s not the first time I’ve been kidnapped. I’ll be fine.” He glanced back at the rock. “Can you gather up my equipment and I’ll finish off when I return.” He glanced at Colbert. “I will be returning, won’t I?”
“As soon as you’ve completed what we want you to do, you will be brought back here.”
“How long will that take,” asked David, reluctantly accepting the situation.
Colbert shrugged. “A few hours at most.”
“Let’s get this over with then,” said Richard. He headed for the hovering helicopter, climbed onboard and glanced around at the serious stares the men gave him. He smiled at Ramirez and Sullivan. “Did you miss me?”
Ramirez scowled. “Not for as long as I hoped.”
Richard was pushed along the seat when Colbert climbed in and sat beside him. As soon as everyone was back onboard, the helicopter lifted into the air and flew away.
Richard looked down at the worried and confused expression his brother wore. He obviously wondered what the hell was happening. Richard smirked. Welcome to my world, brother.
After putting on his own headset, Colbert grabbed another hanging from the ceiling and thrust it at Richard.
Richard slipped on the headset and adjusted the mic until it was near his mouth. “So, Colbert, who’s responsible for my abduction this time?”
Colbert smiled at him. “Me.”
Richard’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “I didn’t think you liked me?”
“I don’t, but you have this uncanny knack of surviving against the alien creatures we encountered in Antarctica and the mission I am currently in command of might need all the help it can get. Like me, you have also faced this type of creature before and survived.”
“So, it is to do with the spacecraft. Has it been salvaged from the ocean floor?”
“No, it’s still there, though I believe a feasibility study is being carried out to determine if salvaging it is even possible.”
“It’s not Little Lucifer you took from me is it? Has it grown into a hideous, vicious monster you want me to calm with my loving personality?”
Colbert scoffed. “It’s to do with that black alien we encountered on the boat.”
Richard’s thoughts briefly relived the moment. “I thought we destroyed it.”
Colbert nodded. “We did, but it seems there was another one the Russian salvage team captured and brought back to Russia with them. It also might be a completely different but similar type of alien. Details are sketchy, and we’ll only find out when we meet it.”
The penny partly dropped for Richard. An alien creature was in Russia. Of all the places he had chosen to come to, it was the one where an alien creature resided. Though he supposed the SEALs could abduct him from anywhere. “What exactly is the mission you so desperately want my help with?”