4
Dreams
The drug put Peter into a deep sleep and dreams and memories began flooding through his subconscious mind. One memory that played over and over was of Peter in a car speeding down a two lane road in central Texas. He glanced over and saw his grandfather at the wheel. Ahead he could see the Palo Pinto courthouse sticking up above the trees. He’d unexpectedly been called as a witness in his friend, Stephen Caldwell’s, murder trial and his grandfather was driving him to meet his father who was representing Stephen in the trial. He couldn’t imagine why the Assistant District Attorney prosecuting the case had called him. His grandfather had suggested it was just a ploy to anger his father and distract him at a critical time in the trial. Whatever the reason Peter was scared and afraid he’d mess up his father’s case and hurt his friend’s chances of acquittal.
The scene shifted to the courtroom where Peter was being called to testify. He got up and made his way to the witness stand. The courtroom was as quiet as a library on Christmas Day. Stan began. "Peter, how many years have you been going to Camp Comfort on Possum Kingdom Lake for camping trips?"
"This was my fourth trip," Peter replied.
"And were Steven Caldwell and Jimmy Falk with you each of these times?"
"Yes, they were."
"Now, what do you do at night on these camp outs?"
"At night there's always a campfire."
"What do you do at these campfires?"
"Well, we sing, have contests, tell jokes, give out awards and tell stories."
"What kind of stories are told?"
"Ghost stories, stories about cowboys and Indians, and stories about Cactus Island."
"Who tells these stories?"
"Our scoutmaster and sometimes the scouts themselves."
"Have you ever told a story at one of these campfires?"
"Yes."
"Which one?"
"At the last camp out I told the story about the alien landings at Cactus Island."
"How do you know that story?"
"Someone tells it at every campfire. I heard it the first year I went to camp. It's kind of a tradition."
"Could you tell the story to the judge and the jury?"
"Objection!" Carla Simms, the Assistant DA yelled. "Your Honor. This is totally irrelevant, prejudicial, and a waste of the court's valuable time."
Stan replied, "Your Honor. I beg to differ. Steven Caldwell's state of mind is an issue in this trial. If he heard this story four or five times, it could go a long way in explaining his behavior on the day of Jimmy's death."
The judge smiled. "Actually, I would like to hear the story, and I think everyone in the courtroom would like to hear it as well. Am I right?"
The gallery responded with screams of approval and applause. Peter started to laugh. Simms glared at the judge who finally picked up his gavel and banged it a few times. "All right. Let's get on with it."
"Go ahead, Peter," Stan said. "Tell us the story of the landings on Cactus Island."
Peter wiggled in his chair and with a deadly serious look on his face began. "Shortly after World War II, two veterans and their fishing guide were out on Possum Kingdom Lake fishing near Cactus Island. It was late afternoon and the men were about to call it a day when a terrible wind came up, creating monstrous waves that nearly capsized their boat. They held on for dear life as the small bass boat was tossed up and down by the waves and spun around by gale force winds. Then the sky got very dark and they saw blue lightning in the distance and heard a noise so shrill it nearly busted their eardrums.
"They held their ears trying to protect them from the noise, but it didn't help. Finally, the noise died down and they noticed the blue lightning coming closer and closer. They wondered what was causing it as they'd never seen anything like it before. They watched it until it was directly overhead.
"Then they realized the blue lightning was coming from a huge spaceship the size of a baseball stadium. Both of the men had seen some pretty strange things while fighting in the war, but nothing like this alien spacecraft that was hovering over Cactus Island. As they watched in sheer terror the spaceship began to drop lower and lower until it had landed on the island.
"Although they desperately wanted to stay and watch the spacecraft, they feared for their lives so they tried to start the outboard engine and get away as fast as they could. Unfortunately, the motor wouldn't start and they found themselves dead in the water. Lucky for them the aliens paid no attention to them and went on about their business.
"As the two fishermen watched, the spacecraft's huge side doors opened and out came what seemed like a thousand huge frogmen. They looked like humans except for their pale green colored skin and webbed hands and feet. The frogmen, each over six feet tall, dived into the lake and began to feed.
"The fishermen were panicked now with swarms of frogmen all around them, swimming, diving, jumping, and churning the water like a beater in a mixing bowl. It was all the men could do just to keep the small boat afloat.
"Finally, the frogmen began to move away from the island as the schools of fish around it began to flee from their new predators. With the frogmen gone the fishermen decided to use their emergency oars and go ashore and take a closer look at the spacecraft. They didn't think anyone was on the ship, but before they reached the shore they saw people running around the spacecraft like mechanics or pilots checking out the condition of the ship. The men all wore blue uniforms with a yellow triangle on their chest. There was some kind of writing within the triangle but it was not a language the fishermen had ever seen.
"The fishermen hid behind some rocks and watched the aliens at work. When they appeared to be finished with their preparations, a giant drill dropped from the belly of the ship and began to turn and drill deep into the island. The men watched in wonder until they heard the frogmen returning. The fishermen jumped into their boat, and using their emergency oars, made a quiet escape. From a distance they watched the huge spacecraft take off, flashing its blue lights over the landscape as it glided toward them.
"When the big ship passed over them and they were engulfed by the blue light, a strange thing happened. The fishermen forgot what they'd seen and only had a vague recollection that something unusual had transpired that day. Within a few weeks it all just seemed like a bad dream, except one odd thing they remembered; not a single fish was caught in the lake for weeks after that fateful day.
"Even though the blue lightning made it difficult for people to remember what they'd seen, over the years the spaceship returned many times and people began to piece together what was happening at Cactus Island. When the fish quit biting for a week or more, they knew they had been visited by the alien spacecraft. The fishermen called it the Blue Tide.
"Many believe that the big drill that came from the belly of the spaceship created a shaft down to a cave that lies under the lake and surfaces on dry land. Some believe the aliens wander around at night looking for women and children to kidnap and take back to their dying planet. Some say the frogmen, if the fish don't satisfy them, will come on land at dusk and feed on dogs and small children."
"Objection, Your Honor!" Simms protested. "This is—"
"Okay, okay," Judge Applegate said. "I think that's enough. Objection sustained. Thank you, Peter. That was quite a story, but I think we get the picture."
Peter shrugged. "Yes, sir."
The dream shifted to a conversation Peter and his father had shortly after Stephen Caldwell had been acquitted by the jury. Although he was glad Stephen had been found innocent there were still a lot of unanswered questions. The most troubling being whether aliens had indeed landed at Possum Kingdom Lake. The evidence his father had been gathering pointed to that distinct possibility and he had to find out if it was true.
"I'm intrigued by your Cactus Island story,” Stan said to Peter. “Oh, and by the way, you did a great job telling the story to the jury. Thank you for doing that."
Peter smiled proudly. "No problem. It was cool. All my
friends said they heard about it on the TV. Even Michelle talked to me and before I testified she didn't know I was alive."
"Wow. Your popularity rating went up, huh?"
He grinned and replied. "I guess."
"Anyway. I'd like to find out if there really is a cave that leads from the shore to Cactus Island. It seems that some oil operator a few years back claimed one showed up on a geological survey he commissioned."
"Really? But I thought you didn't believe in the alien landings," Peter asked.
"I don't know. Like I said, I'm intrigued now, so I thought maybe you and I could check into it."
"What do you want me to do?"
"I'm trying to locate a copy of the geological report showing the caves. If I get it, we'll have to go out to Possum Kingdom Lake and try to find it."
"But what if there are aliens landing at Cactus Island and they don't like us messing around in their caves?"
Stan laughed. "I thought you didn't believe in aliens."
"I don't, but . . . well . . . what if I’m wrong? What if there are aliens and they attack us?”
“Don’t worry. If we find the caves I don’t plan to do any exploring right away.”
The dream faded and Peter found he and his father at Possum Kingdom Lake. It was a beautiful night and the stars were very bright. They were starting to walk along the shore when they heard something out in the lake. They looked over and saw a strange creature surface not fifty feet away. It was like nothing they'd ever seen before standing up like a man but having webbed hands, pale green skin and being over six feet tall."
The greyish green creature watched them with its orange penetrating eyes. It had what must have been a three-pound striper in its mouth struggling to get free. Its arms seemed as functional as any human and it looked to be incredibly strong. Peter was scared and started to scream. Stan put his hand over his mouth and told him to be quiet.
They slowly retreated from the beast, Peter trembling and breathing hard. The creature watched them closely as it chewed but didn't seem to care that they'd seen him. Once they were out of his sight, they turned and ran as fast as they could back to their motel. With the door closed and the deadbolt latched, they both took a breath. Peter was pale and still trembling. Stan took him in his arms and held him tightly. They were both in shock and had little to say. As Stan held Peter, he thought back to his testimony in court about the frogmen who were supposedly the slaves of the aliens and provided the labor for operating the spaceship. As he recalled from the story, the spaceship landed at Cactus Island so the frogmen could feed off the fish in the lake. Stan wondered if the story was actually true.
Excited by the possibility that aliens might actually be visiting Cactus Island at that moment, Stan told Peter to stay in the motel room and he'd be right back. He rushed outside and looked out at the lake. There was a faint glow above the island. He ran toward the shore to get a better look, his heart pounding, not from running but from the thought that alien life might actually exist.
A strong wind suddenly whipped up making the trees sway and the leaves rustle. There was a thin layer of clouds in the sky and the moonlight created an eerie ambience over the lake. Suddenly there was a flash of blue lightning from the island that stopped him dead in his tracks. Something hit him from behind startling him. He turned and was relieved to see it was only was Peter.
He put his arm around him and they both gazed out at the island in amazement. There was one heck of a light show going on out there. By now the wind was blowing fiercely and they could hardly keep their footing. The glow from the island kept getting brighter and brighter. Then a giant object shot out of the island. It fired bursts of blue lightning as it came right at them. There was a terrible piercing noise that forced them to grab their ears or lose their eardrums. It was like nothing they'd ever seen before—a flat grey, round object the size of a baseball stadium drifting across the sky.