Star Gazer        
 
 

Flynn Meyers
 
 

© Copyright 2012 by Flynn Meyers
 
 
 

 

Helix nebula or Eye of God.


The blacktop and dotted lines disappeared beneath the hungry grill of the four-wheel drive pickup, as it
sped along the twisting highway. Sun drenched Ponderosa pines smothering the hillsides, stood silently
observing, as the serene wilderness suddenly transformed into a war zone. Fifty calibre slugs blasted
from the machine guns of the military chopper, causing aggravated columns of dust and pavement to
burst into the air on either side of the vehicle. The aircraft quickly over took its target, banking hard
ahead of its prey, to launch another attack.

The pickup veered onto a dirt side road, as a huge billowing dust trail erupted behind it. The helicopter
engaged a slow hovering pursuit of its quarry, weaving back and forth overhead. The dust trail slowly
oozed from the top of the forest canopy, gradually betraying the pickups direction.
“Alpha Leader, this is Predator One,” the copilot said into his mouthpiece. “We have intercepted the
target and they have left the highway at Crystal Canyon.”

“Roger, Predator One,” came the response, “seek and destroy, seek and destroy.”

“Affirmative, Alpha Leader,” he replied.

“Where are the bastards?” the pilot growled, his smoked visor hiding the frustration in his eyes.

“There’s only one way in and one way out,” the copilot responded with a grin, “they aren’t getting past
us.”

“Yeah but they had dirt bikes in the back, in case you didn’t notice,” the pilot said.

“Well come on fly boy let’s flush them out,” the copilot responded, pointing to the sidewinder rocket
button on the control stick.

They maintained a tail kick hovering motion, allowing the pilots a picture window view into the forest
from the cockpit.

“Damn these trees are so thick, and the pickup would have to be dull green,” the pilot cursed.

“Yeah, they probably stopped under a grove, because I’m not seeing much dust anymore,” the copilot
responded.

“How the hell did they find us?” Sandra said, her green eye’s fraught with tension, as she peeked up at
the helicopter, from under a large branch.

“I don’t know but let’s get these bikes unloaded,” Mack said, as he climbed into the back and began
undoing the ropes.

Sandra dug through a duffel bag from the cab of the truck. Tying her long red hair into a ponytail, she
slipped from her cutoffs, exposing her firm half-naked body.

“Here,” she said, tossing Mack a long sleeved shirt from the bag, as she pulled on a pair of over sized
blue jeans. “It’s all we have to protect us from getting scratched to death in the brush.”

“You ever ride one of these bikes before?” he asked.

“I rode my brothers when I was a kid,” she said.

“Hope ya remember how,” Mack said, slipping the undersized shirt over his muscular frame.
A glint of sunlight on the truck windshield betrayed their hiding spot to chopper, as the two dirt bikes
simultaneously barked to life.

The two bikes roared off, as a fireball erupted behind them, totally engulfing their abandoned vehicle.
“Oh yeah..... gotta love that kinda fire power,” the pilot snickered.

They hovered above the carnage, their rotor blades fanning the thick black smoke and flames, creating
a dust storm which boiled through the forest.

“Can you see if the bikes are still there?”

“I can’t see a damn thing, but call in the coordinates. A ground crew will have to confirm the kill,” the
pilot said, as they circled the area briefly before departing.

“Good they’re gone,” Mack said, stepping from the patch of lush green bushes.   Sandra spilled out of the bush, pulling twigs and leaves from her hair.

“That was a little too close,” she gasped.”
“Well at least we escaped for now.”

“So now what?” Sandra asked.

“Well according to this map there are three small towns, but I like the one in that direction,” he said,
pointing east. “Are you ready to give these bikes a try again?”

“Well I guess we don’t really have much choice do we,” she said.

A black suburban with smoked out windows drove through the clusters of emergency vehicles and fire
fighting personal, that now had the small forest fire under control.

It approached the burned out pickup, which sat still smouldering amidst the smoke, ashes and burnt
trees. Two men stepped from the suburban, one fat older man, and a much younger good-looking one.
Both wore mirrored sunglasses and the matching black suits and ties, personifying them as government
agents.

“Our chopper boys nailed the target, but no dirt bikes. That means they escaped damn it,” Carter barked
into his walkie-talkie. He approached the burned out truck rubbing the sweat off his balled head, as he
tucked his shirt in over his fat belly.

“We can dispatch a couple of bike units. But it will be several hours,” came the crackling reply.
“Forget it, they will be long gone by then,” he said, clipping his radio to his belt with frustration. The
two men quickly climbed back in the suburban and began to leave.

“Looks like the freaks got away again hey chief,” his assistant David Briton said. His youthful looks
and sculptured brown hair shining in the sunlight, that infiltrated the tint of the windows.

“Mark my words Briton I’ll get them,” Carter said, lighting one of his huge cigars to the obvious
discomfort of Briton.

“Those things will kill you chief.”

“Say it again and I’ll kill you, son,” Carter growled, lowering his sunglasses and giving Briton an
intimidating stare.

Mack and Sandra pulled up near the edge of the bluff. The scent of the pine needle carpet of the forest,
radiated upward from the unrelenting heat of the sun. Silence consumed their surroundings, as they
shut off the pair of cackling dirt bikes. They left them under cover of the trees and approached the edge.
Below them in the valley lay a small community, between the steep tree covered hillsides surrounding
it. A small river meandered through the settlement. carving a snaking path between the lust green trees,
colourful buildings and sleepy streets.

“We may as well continue on foot,” Mack said, “the bikes will only bring unnecessary attention to us.”
“Darn, I was just getting the hang of it,” Sandra smiled, pulling up her baggy pants, “I’m going to need
your belt,” she said.

“Yes, we are going to need a vehicle and some proper sized cloths,” he said, as he took off the tight
shirt and handed her his belt.

“Well let’s go,” she said, tightening the belt.

“Three different towns they could go to,” Carter said, crumpling up the map. “Briton, get me some
topographical maps, I need to see the terrain.”

“I’m on it chief,” Briton said, as he rushed to the waiting helicopter.

“So you are the local law enforcement,” Carter said, to the sheriff.

“You bet I am sir, Captain Rollins,” the young officer replied, extending a hand, which Carter
dismissed.

“Any guesses as to which direction they may have gone?”

“No, like you said, three different valleys and three different towns. They could have chosen any one of
them. But Westborn that’s my jurisdiction... I’d say it’s the most likely by dirt bike.”
“Well thanks for your help,” Carter said, slamming his door and abandoning the officer in a cloud of
dust, as he accelerated away from the rest area.

Mack and Sandra approached the back yard of a house. The clothesline held a good assortment of
clothes, despite Sandra's disapproving look of the owners sense of fashion.

“Damn it, I wish we had had the time to grab our stuff, before they busted into our campsite,” Mack
said.

“Me too,” Sandra said “I still can’t believe they found us, I thought camping was a brilliant way for us
to hide.”

“Yes they are very persistent there is no doubt about that,” Mack replied, “get us some clothes. I’ll
check the house, hopefully there will be nobody home.”

Mack tried the back door and was pleased to find it open. He motioned Sandra to come inside.

“My god, I’m starving,” Sandra said, as she went straight for the fridge. “What are we going to do and
where can we hide from these people?”

“I’m afraid it’s only a matter of time, unless we can tell someone or everyone,” Mack said, as she
handed him half of a sandwich she had found in the fridge.

The cocking of a double barrel shotgun took the two by surprise, as Sandra yelped and dropped her
sandwich.

“You’re eating my lunch,” the elderly man in a wheel chair said, waving the gun back and forth
between the two.

“Martha it’s safe, I got the drop on them... come on in.”

A thin elderly woman, apprehensively hobbled into the kitchen.  “Call the police,” the old man said to his wife.

“No please, you have to listen to us,” Sandra said, as she stepped in front of Mack.

“Don’t be doing that young lady,” the man said, “I ain’t never shot a girl, but that don’t mean I won’t.”
“It’s not worth it Sandra, they will never believe us anyway,” Mack said.

“George let the youngsters speak,” Martha said, “they aren’t going anywhere with you pointing that
gun at them.”

“I suppose,… But you got two seconds to explain yourselves,” George said.

"Geez, where do I start,” Sandra said, as she motioned she wanted to sit at the table.

George waved the gun, indicating she could sit down.

“We are astronomers Mr….,”
“Baxter...George Baxter and my wife Martha... but you best get talking.”

“Over a decade ago George,... may I call you George?”

The old man nodded approvingly.

“Anyway some fellow astronomers and us, were studying what we called dark matter.”

“Are you familiar with space at all Mr Baxter?” “I mean George,” Sandra said.

“We’ve done our fair share of star gazing,” George said, smiling fondly at Martha.

“Well this goes a little beyond that,” Mack said, “sorry go ahead Sandra.”

“Anyway we discovered it and it is huge. It is a dough nut shaped halo kind of image and it is over two
hundred and seventy million light years across,” Sandra explained.

“Can you appreciate what she is saying here George?” Mack interrupted again, “the speed of light is
over one hundred and eighty six thousand miles per second. And in order for a beam of light to cross
the width of it, would take two hundred and seventy million years... give or take a few. To put that in
perspective it’s twenty seven hundred times bigger than our own milk way Galaxy, which contains over
two hundred billion stars alone.

“My goodness, that is very large,” Martha said, “but what does that have to do with you breaking into
our home?” she asked.

“I’ll get to that,” Sandra said,

“We studied it for years from the Mauna Kea observatory in Hawaii. We were very confused because it’s so big. It’s like entire galaxies are stuck in it like flies in a spider web.  It appeared to have a gravitational field so powerful it could bend light, and not just a little light, but all the light from an entire Galaxy or several of them. So when we looked at it, it was like the light was being twisted and we were seeing images of the same galaxies reflecting through from different areas. We termed it a “lensing effect,” because the light was acting like it was passing through an invisible lens.

“Almost like a reflection…, I saw something about that on the learning channel,” Martha said, nodding
at George.

“Yes, a reflection is what we believed. But we were still very puzzled at first, because we could only
view it indirectly. We attributed it to the twisting of the light. But new equipment and a computer
program that Mack invented, has finally given us a clear indisputable view.

“Get on with this hog wash,” George said.

“I assure you George what she is saying is not hogwash,” Mack said, “long story short George, we told
you it was a dough nut shaped halo type image.”

“Yeah I’m not dense, you told us that.”

“I don’t know how to say this any other way George, but it’s the reason we are being hunted by the
entire United States government.”

“Well hell, if the entire government is looking for you...then there should be one hell of a reward,”
George cackled, looking at his wife.

Mack seized the opportunity, to snatch the gun away from the old man.

George and Martha stared on in horror. Mack unloaded the gun and leaned it in the corner.

“Please son, don’t hurt us,” Martha said, moving closer to George, and placing her arm around him.

“Don't worry you are perfectly safe, we will not harm you in anyway,” Mack said, “but you have to
listen to what we are telling you.”

“ We need your help…, please,” Sandra said, “we may not live to see tomorrow... hell we may not
even make it through today. But we have made a very disturbing discovery that will change mankind’s
perspective and realistically every living beings life and future forever.”

“My goodness dear, what could you have discovered out there in the stars, that could have such an effect on the world?” Much less, make our government want to kill you?” Martha asked, sympathetically.

The phone rang in the office, starling the officer and causing him to spill his coffee.

Westburn sheriffs office, Captain Rollins speaking... how can I help you?”

“This is George Baxter,... two crazies, a man and a woman just broke into our house and stole our car.
You know it Rollins, it’s our blue Pontiac. They’re headed east on highway six, and hurry... their
getting away.”

“I’m on it George,” Rollins said, as he hung up and called Carter.

“I got those communist spying bastards you’ve been looking for,” Rollins said, as Carter made a
whirling motion with his finger to signal Briton to get the chopper running.

“Highway six, light blue late model Pontiac, I’ll see you get a promotion for this Rollins,” Carter said
as he hung up, and joined Briton and the pilots in the readied chopper.

Within seconds they lifted off, as Carter and Briton high-fived each other and the pilots.

On a desolate part of the highway the blue Pontiac exited a tight corner onto a straight stretch. The
military chopper hovered less than two hundred yards ahead of it, in the middle of the road. The car
braked slightly as the sidewinder rockets launched. In a millisecond the faint smoke trails from the
rockets erupted into a huge fireball, virtually vaporizing the vehicle. The smouldering wreckage
catapulted into the air and rolled into the ditch.

“I can’t believe they did that. They’re such a wonderful old couple,” Mack said, as he started Georges
old truck.

“Maybe part of it was once we told them the truth, they figured it didn’t really matter anymore “Or
maybe it was because they felt their only son died needlessly for the government, in that Iraq war,”
Sandra said.

“Yeah, I guess aside from their son, they really had no other family. But one thing I know for sure
Sandra, is they put themselves in harms way, so we could escape and throw the government off our
trail. We owe it to them and the rest of the world. Everyone deserves to know the truth.”

“But I’m beginning to think maybe we should just keep it to ourselves,” Sandra said. “Besides does the
world really need to know? I mean everything we’ve ever believed in, our whole existence, our entire
universe and our perception of life for that matter. To have it all suddenly reduced to the fact that the
dough nut shaped halo image we can finally see, is actually an eye. Most people won't even believe or
accept, that we are nothing more than something under the lens of someone or somethings microscope.
“We may be that insignificant,” Mack said, “but I think mankind has a right to know.”
“I hope you’re right. But we had better get going, before they figure out that was George and Martha in
their car and not us,” Sandra said, as they drove off into the starlit night.

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