Ancient Astronauts

Was It a Dream?

Alyonna woke to an empty bed. "Did I dream the whole thing?" she wondered, panic beginning to spread through her body. "Not unless it covered a two month period," she sighed.

She hoisted herself out of bed, still disoriented, and reached for her phone...then remembered she didn't have one. Laughing softly at the little girl who was always on her phone, she got up and dressed.

There was a note on the table. Hastily she crossed the room and picked it up.

"I'm sorry, Baby. It all came flooding back last night, and I couldn't sleep more than a few hours. I've gone to the fort. Don't leave the house. Don't worry, I'll see you again soon.

~Hans"

Aly sighed deeply, and took a few deep breaths. She hadn't dreamed it. Her man was alive, well, and awake. She wondered when she would stop being anxious waking up to an empty bed.

She thought about the last month. Things had returned to normal, the troops guarding the house were sent back to their usual duties leaving only a handful around the house. Alyonna wanted more, but Hans insisted it wasn't a good look. He didn't want the people thinking this was turning into a police state. Which was odd for him, since his reactions tended to run to the extreme. Maybe sleeping for forty some odd years had calmed him down.

Then she got mad, "Who hell does he think he is, telling me to stay in the house?" she grumbled under her breath.

Turning to the closet she pulled on her uniform, a white blouse, white slacks, and a light green lab coat. She still thought it was silly how they color coded each district's uniforms. Doctors wore traditional white with khaki pants, military dark gray, administrative officials navy blue, and agriculture green uniforms.

Snatching her keys and ID from a hook on the wall, she headed for the door. Stopping only to drop them in her bag. When she did, she noticed something at the bottom of it. Rummaging around she pulled out the syringe she found on the floor by Hans' bed in the ICU. She would assume it was just medicine the nurse was administering, except the nurse was screaming apologies. At the time she'd written it off as hysterics, but now Aly wasn't willing to take the risk.

She hesitated for a minute then decided she'd talk to Dr. Halberd about it. Yeah he was an obstetrician, but most of the medical staff were cross trained in other disciplines for the simple reason that there weren't that many of them. Stuffing the syringe back in her bag, she headed out the door and stopped short.

A whole platoon of gray clad soldiers, about sixty men in all, were stationed around the grounds. Looking up at the balcony, she noticed a squad of snipers were there as well, setting up some kind of surface to air weapon on her flat roof. She understood the need for security but...surface to air?

Instead of Dr. Halberd standing by her jeep, there was a young ensign. Alyonna thought he couldn't be more than twenty-four.

Aly walked up to him, missing the telltale clicking of heels that made her feel like the boss lady. They'd been replaced with the soft padding of sturdy green boots. She stopped in front of the soldier and demanded, "What's going on here ensign? Why are there soldiers everywhere?"

The ensign kept a relaxed posture and answered in a cool yet professional tone, "Because the governor ordered it, Ma'am."

"Because the governor ordered it," Alyonna answered in an ironic tone.

The irony was to hide her growing unease. Hans had seemed different after waking up. He'd never been shy of throwing a tantrum when the situation called for it, but he never took pleasure in it. He'd spent a couple weeks putting everyone in the government in line too, and General Kellerman was in jail awaiting trial.

The syringe in her bag flitted across her mind, but she shoved it away. Even if there were threats, acting paranoid wasn't helping anything. Was power going to his head so quickly? Were Kellerman's last words before being led away coming true?

The ensign's next words seemed to confirm her growing fears.

"Governor Agler has declared a state of emergency."

"Over what?" Aly, kept the frustrated outburst to herself, "A nightmare?"

Her frustration must've shown on her face because the young ensign got a quizzical look on his face, "The governor knows what he's doing, Ma'am."

Alyonna relaxed a little at that, "I'm happy to hear he has the confidence of his men."

The ensign stood a little taller.

"Take me to him, Ensign..."

"Matthews, Ma'am, and I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"We're in a state of emergency, ma'am. Authorized personnel in the fort only."

"You don't understand Ensign Matthews, I HAVE to see him. Right now."

"The Governor–"

"Hans," Alyonna cut him off, "I'm going to see Hans, not the governor."

Ensign Matthews shuffled his feet and caved, "I can take you as far as the base, ma'am, but whether you get in or not is up to the gate captain."

"That's fine," Aly answered, hopping in the passenger seat.