Arrival

by Ryk Brown

He watched from a distance as the tall, slender man braced himself against the jet wash of the approaching shuttle. The lone man had arrived only a few minutes before, driving up in an open-cockpit, all-terrain vehicle. The shuttle bounced once, then settled gently onto the hard-packed ground and began to spin down its engines. The slender man straightened his jacket and prepared himself for his next task. From the safety of his hiding place, he watched as the shuttle’s hatch swung open, and the smiling face of a woman appeared in the open hatchway. The slender man offered greetings to the smiling woman, helping her down to the ground. She opened a small panel and deployed a boarding ladder, her smile fading as he whispered in her ear. Startled by another distant sound, the watcher sank lower, remaining hidden as another vehicle approached from the access road to his right. It was the same type of vehicle as before, but this one carried several people. He felt he knew them all, yet chose to remain hidden as their vehicle pulled to a stop next to the first one. Climbing out, they strode across the tarmac to join the others at the shuttle. He poked his head back up from hiding as he strained to hear their distant voices. Now that the shuttle’s engines were shut down, it was unnaturally quiet in the surrounding valley. The native wildlife avoided this unfamiliar patch of hard, unnatural ground. Strange things happened here. Frightening beasts falling from the sky on fiery tai...