"It's easy to see, you can't miss it," the man had said. It was true. But now Kyle found himself at the top of the Washington monument in DC, waiting for something. The cold sky was clear this winter night, and Kyle could see the moon beginning its journey over the scene.
Kyle sighed, still noticing the lack of clouds his breath should have left. He was supposed to come here, and someone would meet him. How would he know it was the right person? Would they have a sign? What if it was a trap? Kyle had flexed his aura, determined to stop any projectiles, sniper bullets, or whatever they might try.
After sitting around for several minutes, Kyle realized that anybody who would want to talk to him would be down on the ground. Feeling sheepish he floated down quickly to the base of the monument. Luckily it was late in the day, so the tours had slowed down. But still, there were a few warmly dressed people looking around who began pointing at him and clicking their cameras.
"I must say, I didn't think it would take you that long,â^À^Ý a rather snide voice said. Kyle whirled around to see a very well dressed woman approaching him. She was slender, and held herself well. Dark long red hair fell around her smooth face. Behind her walked a nondescript man in a black suit. He vaguely reminded Kyle of the agent guy from the matrix. He even wore sunglasses, which didnâ^À^Ùt quite make sense as it was already evening.
"Ok..." Kyle replied. " The instructions were to be at the top of the memorial building." He replied.
"True..." The woman smiled. The man just stood there. He was kind of creepy the way he didn't say anything. She must have noticed how Kyle was looking at the man, because she added, "He's my partner. Max. Doesn't say much." He did look like the silent type.
"So what do you want?" Kyle asked. Now he could finally find out what was going on with the government.
"Well, its not what I want, its what my superiors want." She smiled, but it was far from warm. "But perhaps we could leave? I would prefer a more private setting," she suggested.
Hmmm. leave. Kyle wondered if there really was any choice there. He could obviously say no, but she'd probable just leave. So the only way to find out what was going on was to go along
"Fine. Where did you have in mind?" Kyle finally replied, realizing he'd been tapping his foot.
"Dinner, if that would suit you. I know its early but..." She trailed off questioning.
"Food is good." Kyle laughed.
Kyle was stuffed. But even then, smells from the restaurant were still tickling his nose. He felt good. Sophia (that was her name) had told him to order whatever he wanted, so he'd ordered a lot of food. He was still nibbling as she began to speak.
"Well, I'd like to ask you a question, if I may?" she began, placing her cloth napkin down on the table.
"You just asked one, but you can ask another." Kyle laughed. She laughed too, but it seemed forced.
"Why did you wait until now to contact us?" she began. Why? Because Kyle had wanted to avoid the whole government thing.
"Well, I wasn't really sure I wanted to, but my boyfriend convinced me." Kyle replied evenly. It was true.; well, that and the dream thing.
"I see." she said, but Kyle wasn't sure she understood.
"So... why did you want to speak to me?" Kyle asked, figuring he could ask a question now.
"Several reasons," she began. She was all business now. "But the most pressing is something to do with outer space. We have telescopic photos of you flying into space, is that right?" she asked, although Kyle knew she was being polite.
"Yes," Kyle replied, stabbing at his apple pie. No reason to deny it.
"Well, we have other photos of a... an anomaly that our scientists have found in deep space." Kyle felt shivers coursing through his body. He tried to keep his face expresionless, but she must have seen the look in his eyes.
"You've seen this meteor?" she asked lightly, but Kyle felt as if there was something more there. Kyle slumped back in his seat and sighed.
"Well I had an idea that something was coming," Kyle began. How would he explain his weird dreams? Maybe coming here wasn't a good idea after all. But he was still here, so he guessed he should deal with it.
"An idea, you say?" She sipped her after-dinner coffee.
"Super hero intuition." Kyle laughed, but it was forced.
"Well, in any event, " Sophia continued, "our superior's want you to find out what this thing is that's headed toward earth." Toward Earth? Did that mean it was on a crash course?
"So this thing is on a crash course?" Kyle asked, relieved that he wasn't going out of his mind. But that meant that there WAS some huge menace hurtling towards earth.
"Yes," she replied evenly, but Kyle thought there might be a hint of fear in her eyes. Was it that bad? Kyle had seen weird movies like this before; his mother was an avid natural disaster movie fan.
"So that's all? You want me to find out whatâ^À^Ùs coming towards earth?"
"Well not all. But that was the most... pressing issue." She sipped at her drink again.
"Oh." Kyle replied weakly through another mouthful of pie. Most pressing? What else would they want? He guessed it didn't matter right now though.
" So you will do it?" she asked.
"Yeah, sure, but how do I find it?" He'd been into space lots of times, and yet he'd never found anything.
"We have people working on it. if you could meet us again, at this address?" she asked, slipping Kyle an address on a note pad.
"Sure. but you do have to give me a time..." Kyle trailed off, remembering the TV pleas for him to meet the government.
"Yes, of course." She cut him off with a smile, slipping him a piece of paper. Kyle took the paper and pocketed it; his mother had made sure to sew some pockets in his new suit.
"Excuse me sir, but we appear to have a problem..." the Maitreâ^À^Ùde (?Kyle wasn't sure how to say it) had come to their table. He was dressed very well, and even had the fancy moustache that head waiters liked to wear.
The man had seated them earlier, and he looked rather important. He'd been around several times to check how the appetizers were, (some sort of stuffed mushrooms which Kyle had devoured) and then about the after-dinner coffee.
"Yes?" Sophie replied coolly. Kyle didn't see what was wrong; he was just checking to make sure dinner was good. Other than that, they hadn't been bothered at all. Kyle had been surprised that nobody had tried to approach him, he'd gotten lots of questions
"Pardon me, but it seems there is a terrorist situation off the coast of Florida. A Disney cruise ship has been taken hostage, and it is on the news as we speak."
"Duty calls?" Sophie asked wryly.
"I guess so." Kyle replied.
Sorry that took so long. I wanted it to go faster, but my dialog just wouldn't come. so i interrutped them with a new problem. isn't that easy? in any event, thanks for putting up with me. and thanks to james from aussie land and his encouragment... and the good doctor for editing!!
#wpca