Julian still looked puzzled. "But why are we here, is this place a gateway of some kind?" Harry went on to explain that the vehicle to convey himself and others of his kind is merely very high grade solar radiation. Specifically Solar flares or winds as they are sometimes known as. "I and my kind will only be born near to these sources, mostly near to the earths poles, although there are a few other area's of high solar activity that are used. Near the poles and for example in Canada you will see it with the naked eye at times. You call it Aurora Borealis. Now every 11 yrs these emissions will become stronger, and in fact these 11 yr cycles themselves come in much bigger cycles of hundreds of yrs, when they will reach maximum strength. You can use your Google and you will see that right now in your history we are at this overall cycles peak of strength, and this is what has triggered my birth at this time. This massive solar wind is the medium I am about to travel upon now" Tears streaming down her face May said "you will die! and you have only lived a short while. People are hunting you down like a criminal, and you are sacrificing yourself so that these very peoples future will be assured" Sobbing she threw her arms around Harry's neck. He gently disentangled her and leaned close and spoke earnestly and softly to her and then he tenderly kissed her. He turned and kissed a now tearful Julian also.
They scrambled out of their tiny shelter and began climbing upwards towards the summit. Harry was surprisingly weak physically in spite of all of the great strength of his mind, and was struggling to climb even more than Julian with his injury. Suddenly a deafening roar made them all jump, and a police helicopter appeared over the rim from the opposite flank of Snaefels. "Keep climbing " Harry shouted. Before they had left their little shelter May had roped them together. She had roped herself to Harry, and Harry to Julian, with roughly 5ft lengths of rope. Her original idea being that her and Harry would be helping Julian along. In fact now she and Julian were abreast of each other and were half towing Harry who was staggering along between them. She realised by the weight that Harry was a lot thinner than he had been, also that she hardly ever saw him eat much. Really his body was wasting away, slowly dying as his whole life cycle was already drawing to an end.
A man was leaning out of the helicopter and shouting through a loud hailer. His voice boomed out. "We know you are Harry Nicholls and we have orders to shoot you if you do not immediately put your hands in the air and surrender". May hissed a warning to the other two to huddle close together as they neared the summit, very aware now of how exposed they all were. Now the voice again! and urgent! " We will open fire on you in two minutes from now. You can't escape, you have nowhere to run to. We see the ropes, untie your hostages, they are of no benefit to you now". May quickly said to the others. "They think we are hostages, that means there is no way they will open fire on us as long as we all stay very close together". They increased their efforts and scrambled ever upwards. Suddenly a shot rang out and a bullet grazed Harry's cheek drawing an ominous bloody line. "Down"! Harry ordered them. "Untie me, I think I can make it from here. As I run you both shine your torches at the marksman and hopefully you might spoil his aim". Hastily May detached the ropes that linked them together and as he broke away they both shone their powerful torches at the rifleman. More shots rang out as Harry moved away on his own, but thanks to the dazzling light beams they were landing wide of him. At last he reached the rim and at that moment he raised his arms and fixed his gaze on Julian and May. His body shuddered as a bullet found it's mark but he still stood firm, and he shouted to May and Julian. "I love you, all of you. Tell George and Alan for me". Suddenly he seemed unclothed yet indistinct and changing colour in a beautiful way. And then he was gone.
The helicopter landed immediately and two policemen rushed over to them. "Are you harmed" they asked. Sobbing May said "We are okay, please take us home". Two armed officers scrambled to the rim or the crater. Lowering their weapons they shouted "there is no sign of him. He must have ran into one of the volcanic vents. Call for more men and we will search for him". The two men with May and Julian helped them into the helicopter, which immediately lifted off leaving the other two previous occupants still on the flank of Snaefels awaiting the arrival of more colleagues. Very soon they arrived back at Reykjavik domestic airport where they were reunited with George and Alan. As soon as he saw his son Alan rushed to embrace him. May told them of the final events of Harry's short life, and also of his farewell message to them.
YOU ARE READING
The cuckoo
FantasyAn unknown being enters our world and this is his story. COMPLETED
