Close Encounters

Against The Wind

"Sad?" Sana asked.

"Huh?" Ina gasped.

"Ina sad?" Sana repeated.

"Oh, I..." Ina tried to deflect the question, but she felt tears sliding down her cheeks, "Don't mind me." She paused and turned away from Sana, "I've just got a lot on my mind. If you saw any of that, I'm sorry."

"Huh." Sana remarked flatly.

She scratched her head and furrowed her brow, as if she was trying to break down Ina's words and digest them properly.

"Oh, sorry..." Ina apologized.

Ina lowered her head.

Damn it .There I go apologizing for every little thing.

Before Ina could say anything else, an ominous sound reached her ears. The unmistakable whir of helicopter blades reached her ears, coming from the nearby US Air Force base. Searchlights from the Kennedy Space Center also started combing through the fenced off beach and marshland around the sandy nook.

Then, Ina heard footsteps snapping twigs and driftwood beneath them.

She felt chills running up her spine. She looked up to the unnatural hole torn through the clouds in the night sky and then to the strange space woman standing innocently before her.

A morbid thought ran through Ina's mind.

She wondered what sort of reward she could get from turning Sana in to the authorities, but that thought didn't last long. When the footsteps drew closer, she cast away those thoughts and grabbed Sana by the wrist.

"We're hiding." Ina urged.

"Bad?" Sana asked.

"Bad people are looking for you!" Ina declared, "So come with me. We need to hide!"

Sana still seemed confused, but she let Ina lead her away. The two of them found a small ditch hidden behind tall grass and marshland reeds. All the while, Ina kicked up sand to cover up their footsteps - something that she had done many times before while trespassing on that sprawl of government property.

Air Force helicopters flew overhead and the searchlights swept through the nook, but Ina kept her head down. Sana followed suit and did whatever Ina told her.

Then, the footsteps arrived at the hidden nook.

...

A slender young woman with silver hair worn into cat-like buns and a pretty braid on her bangs appeared on scene. She brandished an old-style Single Action Army revolver and wore a sharp suit and led a small team of similarly dressed and armed men - among them, a large, tank-like muscle man carrying an M60 light machine gun like it was lighter than a grocery store baguette.

"Fan out!" The young woman declared, making hand gestures in the air, "Bazo, with me."

The well-dressed men spread out on the young woman's command. The muscle man Bazo, meanwhile, accompanied the young woman to the nook while she shone a flashlight around the sandy nook. She prowled around like a cat stalking her prey and kept her revolver at the ready, twirling it with exceptional skill all the while.

A pang of pain struck Ina's heart. Her secret base was being desecrated by armed, unsavory-looking people.

Then, another group of people approached the nook from the opposite direction. Military policemen from Kennedy Space Center accompanied a peculiar figure.

The Director of NASA, Amelia Watson.

Ina gulped. She kept her head hidden behind the grass and the reeds and watched the conversation unfold.