“Wow, not what I expected,” Amanda said as she looked up at the trees.
A few minutes later, the entire group stood in the clearing. Tocchet, the last man through, walked down the slope with Bennett to make sure the area was clear.
“This mountain may not have much elevation, but its circumference is unbelievably large,” Brett said. “How are we going to handle this? It might take all night to search all this acreage.”
“As you may have noticed, the summit is concave.” Zane pointed down the slope with his rifle. “If something is up here, my guess is that it’s on the valley floor.”
Brett nodded. “Sounds reasonable.”
“Sir!” came a shout from below.
Zane saw Tocchet standing at the edge of the forest, waving them down. After they arrived, he briefly turned on his light and shone it on a path that wound down through the undergrowth. He clicked the light off again then said, “Looks like an animal trail.”
Zane nodded. “Hopefully it will take us all the way to the bottom. Remember, no lights.”
Before leaving, Zane stepped over to one of the trees that stood at the head of the trail. He drew his machete and hacked out several large hunks, marking the spot.
“Okay, let’s go,” he said.
After a quarter mile, Zane brought the group to a stop. The forest thinned just ahead, transitioning to a clearing. He lifted his visor and whispered, “Things open up down there. I’m not sure what that means, but Sergeant Bennett and I will approach first and make sure everything is clear.”
Zane flipped his visor down again. He and Bennett crept forward, setting up behind two trees at the edge of the clearing.
Zane couldn’t help but notice the sky again. The arc of the Milky Way rose up into the heavens, glittering in shades of gold and lavender. The stars were so vivid that they seemed only a few miles away.
Bennett looked downhill with his binoculars. “It looks like the clearing ends at a ridge.”
Zane drew out his own pair. After adjusting the focus, he could see an outcrop of rock about two hundred yards away. “Got it.”
Bennett lowered his binoculars. “Any heat signatures?”
Zane looked in every direction. Several thin orange splashes appeared high in the trees to their left, which he guessed was a family of spider monkeys. “I got nothing, you?”
“No, just a few giant rats scurrying across the clearing.”
“Let’s call the others down and try to make that ridge. It’s probably going to give us a good view of the entire summit.”
Zane radioed Tocchet, and moments later the others had joined them. The group then made their way down the slope, hugging the right side of the clearing to reduce exposure.
About ten minutes later, they arrived at the ridge. It was exactly what Zane had hoped for. The massive boulders would give them a clear view of the entire valley.
After clearing the area, the team climbed up on the rocks. Zane lowered onto his stomach and scanned the valley floor with binoculars. Despite the limited visibility, he could see that the bottom was mostly covered by jungle growth.
“What the heck is that?” Bennett asked.
“What?” Zane asked.
Everyone crowded around the Green Beret, trying to see what he was looking at.
He pointed directly down the slope. “The trees. Look toward the trees.”
Zane lifted his binoculars again then focused on the tree line about a hundred yards away.
Amanda let out a little gasp. “What is that?”
Zane quickly turned the focus wheel back and forth. When the view finally sharpened, the hairs on his neck stood on end. There, floating in and out of the forest, were balls of light that looked like giant fireflies. There must have been hundreds, if not thousands. Some seemed to drift aimlessly, while others appeared to move with purpose.
Katiya let out a gasp. “I can’t believe it. I should’ve known.”
Zane looked at her. “You know what they are?”
She continued to stare through her eyepieces. “They’re orbs.”
“Orbs?” Amanda asked.
“Yes.” Katiya’s voice quivered with excitement. “They’re always present in places like this.”
“Places like what?” Brett asked.
Katiya lowered her binoculars and looked at him. “Places with high levels of extraterrestrial activity. Don’t you see? We’ve found what we’re looking for!”
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
After leaving final instructions with Tocchet, Zane led Katiya and Bennett down the slope to conduct surveillance of the valley floor. He had originally indicated that it would only be he and Bennett. However, Katiya then reminded him of his promise to consider taking at least one of the anthropologists with him if there was a reasonable chance of alien contact. With dozens of orbs floating through the trees, it had been hard for the operative to argue against her coming.
Once they arrived at the tree line, they were quickly able to locate another trail, this one narrower than the one before. So many limbs and vines hung over the path that Bennett occasionally had to use his machete to clear the way.
As they descended quietly, Zane looked up toward the canopy. He saw the hint of an orb here and there but nothing like the numbers they’d seen from above. For whatever reason, most were impossible to detect with the naked eye. Something about that bothered him.
“Why can’t we see most of them down here?” he whispered.
“It’s normal,” she said. “Most orbs can only be seen or recorded through a synthetic lens.” She pointed at an orb dancing across the opening in the canopy. “So the fact that we can see even a few tells me these are extremely powerful.”
“It’s a bit unsettling having them hover over us and yet not being able to see them. Who’s to say they aren’t some sort of warning system for whatever is down there?”
“That’s actually one theory regarding their purpose,” Katiya admitted.
After a brief pause, Zane asked, “Do you really think they’re connected to an alien presence?”
“First of all, there are many different types of orbs. For example, many of the orbs that show up in pictures are simply the result of flash photography. They appear when the light reflects off of dust and water particles floating in the air. I’m sure you’ve seen those before.” She paused to watch an orb float overhead then continued. “I also believe that some are residue from energy sources. It’s why they’re often seen around transformers, large batteries, and so on.”
“Sounds pretty mundane.” He pointed toward the canopy. “What about these?”
“That’s what’s so exciting. We know these aren’t the result of flash photography, nor are there any power transformers nearby.”
“So where do they come from?”
She gave Zane a little smile. “Think about it. Wouldn’t an alien craft be the ultimate energy source?”
“So you think they’re simply bundles of energy from—”
Zane was cut off after almost running into Bennett. The soldier raised a hand in the air then pointed to something ahead. Zane saw that the trail was about to cross another clearing, this one smaller than the last.
The soldier quickly raised his binoculars. After studying the scene for a couple of minutes, he whispered, “I’m going to assume the trail resumes on the other side of the clearing. That means we can either cross it in the open, which will leave us exposed for a couple of minutes, or we can try to skirt it through the jungle.”
“Leaving the trail to circle the clearing doesn’t seem like a good idea,” Zane whispered, stroking his beard. “No telling what we’ll have to hack our way through. That might draw more attention than a brief scamper out in the open. Let’s set up at the upper edge of the clearing first. If everything looks clear, we’ll go straight across.”