The lieutenant was getting angry because Sheriff Jackson was nowhere to be found and the one they call John escaped. No one can find him or that girl he was hanging around with anywhere in town. The prisoners aren't of any help either because they are saying nothing to him or the soldiers he used as interrogators. He is getting desperate in getting answers to his questions that he said something that he will regret later on and regret for all the year remaining in his life.
"I want you to interrogate the prisoners again and shoot one of them every hour until we get the answers we want and nothing else. You tell them what we want and what will happen if we don't get it."
"Yes, sir. I have a question. Won't we be tried as murderers for killing innocent people?"
"Not if we tell people that they were shot trying to escape. If anyone finds out about this order, you will be held responsible for everything. Do you understand what I am telling you, private?"
"Yes, sir. No one will know the order came from you and I will do as I'm ordered to do."
The private left his superior's office and went to do what the C.O. has told him to do. He doesn't like what he has to do, but he doesn't want to be the one to take the blame and ran to the radio shack. He entered the shack, told the radio operator to take a break, radioed headquarters, and told them about the orders he received from his C.O. He received orders from higher up and ran to do them before anyone found out what was going on.
The private told the radio controller to get back to work and then headed to the building where the prisoners were being held. He took out his keys, unlocked the door, went inside, and started talking to the people. He told them everything, led them outside, took them to a fence, and point them back to town.
"Listen, You are free to go home. Headed in that direction for about two miles, and then head east for a half a mile. It will lead you back to town and on the way is a cave with running water inside and is good to drink. Stop there for the hours the sun's up and start traveling again when the sun sets. OK, if you hear gunshots, don't turn around, just keep going, and god‑speed."
The people thanked him and told him to come with them, but he told them that someone had to make sure they all got away. In the rush of people, the private didn't even notice Jane among the ground and went back to face the music. They were about a hundred feet away when they heard shooting, everyone kept going, but Jane had to look back to see what was happening and saw the private fall to the ground after being shot once. He was dragged away, as if he was dead already, but he was moving and she started heading back to help him.
Sheriff Jackson , Xan, and John heard the shot and moved faster, running to the building under the cover of darkness. It was hard to stay in the dark because a full moon was out and it shone the reflected sunlight everywhere. John told the others to stop because he heard the noise of something being dragged on the ground. The private was dragged by them and they weren't seen, but John jumped up anyway to help the wounded soldier.
The soldiers stopped, dropped the private's body on the ground, and started running towards John, pulling out their weapons quickly. The guns were pointed at John, he put up his hands and got down on his knees with his hands on his head. It was like they were arresting him again, but the soldiers didn't know that they were about to get a surprise from two figures hidden in the shadows. The soldiers were jumped, knocked out, stripped of their uniforms, tied and gagged as so they couldn't make a sound at all.
"What do we do with them now?"
"We leave them here, take the injured soldier with us, and take off towards town like a bat out of hell. Do you have anything on board your ship to help this soldier out?"
"Yes, I do. Why would you him and after what they did to you before? I just don't understand humans."
"Xan, let me put it this way. He may or may not be one of the men who hurt me, but I am a person who will help out someone else, no matter what. Besides, this is a private and he can't be no more then 19 years old."
Sheriff Jackson, John, and Xan went to the ship with the injured soldier in tow. Jane caught up fast and was getting tired of running around everywhere. Jane caught up to everyone at the door of the building and it was a surprise to the men. Jane looked down at the young soldier and told the others what he had done for the others in freeing them.
"What on earth are you doing here? I thought you were helping the others."
"I was, but this private beat me to the punch. He took a bullet, so they could get away and I thought I would help him. He looked frightened when he came to let them go and now I know why."
"O.K., but stay close to us and don't make any loud noises that will bring soldiers running in here with guns blaring and one of getting hurt or even dead. There will be a lot of noise when this ship takes off and that's when we will be safe."
"O.K., the people are headed back to town and the other to aliens are with them to keep them safe from minor dangers encountered in the desert."
Everyone went to the ship and went inside, the hatch opened before they got to it and something big stepped out of the ship. It was Moid, the astronaut the aliens helped out in his time of need and now he was going to help us in theirs. Moid was very muscular, had dirty brown hair, blue eyes, and a big birthmark in the shape of a heart on his right shoulder. He was wearing nothing except what looked like men's brief swim trunks. Moid walked over to them, picked up the soldier and carried him inside the ship.
Everyone followed Moid into the ship and Xan closed the door in a hurry. The soldier was put in a small room that looked like an emergency room of some sort and Xan started to examine the patient lying on the bed. Moid kept everyone out, not letting anyone even get close to the door, and stood without even moving a single muscle. Jane came close and was grunted at by Moid with a sound that was like some type of warning.
Xan came out of the room an hour later with both good and bad news.
"The good news is that he is alive, but the bad news is that he lost a lot of blood and if we don't get some blood that matches his, he will most certainly die. I want to take a blood sample from all of you to see if any of you have the same blood type."
"O.K., but what about Moid. He is still part human and has some of the same organs as us maybe he may have the same blood type."
"I don't know, but I will save him for last. The reason is, Moid is afraid of needles. It may be something from his memories that wasn't lost and if that is true, then maybe we can bring back to his old self, but with the body we gave him."
"Good, let's get going before that soldier dies!"
Everyone rolled up their sleeves and let Xan take a sample of their blood, in hopes that there was a match among one of them. Xan took all the samples, put them under what looked like something out of science fiction movie and checked everyone's blood sample for a match. It took such a long time and the soldier was starting to slip away when Xan came back with a match.
"I found a match for the soldier and it belongs to Jane. Jane are you ready and able to do a transfusion, as you call it?"
"Yes, I'm ready. Let's get this show on the road."
Jane got on the table next to the private and put her left arm out for the transfusion . Moid looked the door from the inside, sat next to Jane and held her right hand through the entire ordeal. He didn't want anything to happen to her and was protecting her from the other humans. Moid was showing more of a human quality more and more, every hour would be something new if they stayed together the whole time.
John and Sheriff Jackson were getting impatient waiting out side the room, they wanted to know what was going on. While they were waiting, they heard a noise outside of the ship and went to a screen that is focused on the entire building outside the ship. While watching the screen, the noise came again and then they saw that the soldiers they tied up, were free and that they lead the other soldiers to the ship. One of the soldiers was the lieutenant, the one who yelled at Sheriff Jackson and the one who beat on John during the integration. They both got upset at the sight of so many soldiers and ran back to the room where the others were.
The soldiers were trying to find an opening so they could get in, but could not find one, and decided to make one of their own. The lieutenant ordered a small caliber‑bazooka be brought in and fired at a specific point of the ship. He had all of his other soldiers clear the building during the firing and they would reenter when the firing had stopped. The others left, but the lieutenant stay in the building with the soldier firing the bazooka, protected by a steel shield about five inches thick. They waited until everyone was out and when all was clear, they fired one shell at the ship and ducked behind the shield. When the smoke cleared they got up, getting ready to go in, but didn't expect the ship to still be in one piece.
Everyone heard the blast and Moid went to see if everything was O.K. He went to the command center and started up the ship, making sure soldiers got clear before taking off. He was ordered to take the ship back to town and land it where it had landed before to pick up, both Bax and Flane. The ship lifted off slowly, with slight turbulence when they went through the roof of the building they were in. When clear of the building, the ship was smooth as if floating on air, no shaking or rolling. The ship headed back to the original landing sight and landed once again, but this time the ship was camouflaged from the sight of anyone.