Miles walked to his car, got in, and sat with his hands on the steering wheel.He'd come here looking for answers.For some sense of how much longer this would continue.Instead he'd gotten confirmation of his worst fears.Kane's disciples would keep killing.And Kane himself, locked away in a federal prison, was still the most dangerous and deranged person Miles had ever encountered.
CHAPTER FOUR
Clyde Newsome had the telescope focused on the Pleiades star cluster when he noticed something moving across his field of view.He pulled back slightly, adjusting the focus to track whatever it was.The object was too slow to be a plane and too high to be a drone.It looked almost like a weather balloon, white and bulbous against the dark sky.He’d seen a few before over the nearly twenty years he had been staring up into the night sky.
Clyde lived in a small house perched on the cliffs north of Malibu, where the light pollution was minimal enough for decent stargazing.He'd been doing this ever since he retired from teaching high school physics.In all that time, he'd seen plenty of satellites and planes and the occasional piece of space debris burning up on reentry.But weather balloons at night were unusual.
He adjusted the telescope again, bringing the object into sharper focus.It was definitely balloon-shaped, maybe eight or ten feet in diameter based on his rough calculation of its altitude.But something about it seemed off.The way it moved wasn't quite right for a standard meteorological balloon.He was also sure it wasn’t a drone because as it currently stood it seemed like every idiot that had ever touched a gaming console owned a drone.And no…it was not a drone.
Clyde pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he found Ray Hutchins.Ray worked for the FAA at the Los Angeles regional office and had helped Clyde identify mysterious objects in the sky more times than he could count.The phone rang four times before Ray answered.
"Clyde, it's almost eleven at night,” Ray said.“This better be good.Like a spaceship or something.A UFO."
“They’re UAPs now.”
“Shut up.”
"I've got something weird up here,” Clyde said.“It looks like a weather balloon but it's moving in a way that doesn't make sense."
"Where are you seeing it?"
"About thirty degrees above the horizon, heading northeast.Altitude looks like maybe forty or fifty thousand feet, but that's just a guess."
Ray was quiet for a moment."Hang on.Let me check the flight tracking systems."
Clyde heard the sound of Ray typing on a computer keyboard.He kept the telescope trained on the object while he waited.It continued drifting northeast at what looked like a steady pace.
"I'm not seeing anything on radar at that altitude," Ray said."What's your exact position?"
Clyde rattled off his coordinates and Ray typed them in.
"Okay, I've got you.There's nothing scheduled in your airspace right now.No commercial traffic, no military exercises.You're sure it's not just a high-altitude plane catching the moonlight?"
"It's not moving like a plane.It's drifting more than flying."
"Could be a weather balloon then.Let me call over to the National Weather Service and see if they launched anything today that might still be up there.Hold on."
Ray put him on hold and Clyde adjusted the telescope's tracking to follow the object.The more he watched it, the more certain he became that something was wrong with how it was moving.Weather balloons usually rose straight up until they burst.This one was drifting laterally, like it was tethered to something.
Ray came back on the line."I talked to the duty officer at NWS.They don't have any launches scheduled for tonight and nothing from earlier today that would still be airborne.They're checking with the universities and private weather stations now, but it's looking like whatever you're seeing isn't official."
"Could it be from a hobbyist?"
"Possible, but they're supposed to file flight notifications.And most hobby balloons don't go that high."Ray paused."You said it's moving weird?"
"Yeah.It's drifting northeast but it's also descending slightly.Like something is weighing it down."
"Probably just losing helium.They all come down eventually.It’s just odd to me that no one is claiming it."
Clyde increased the magnification on his telescope, bringing the object into the sharpest focus the equipment could manage.The balloon filled his view now, and he could see more detail.There were actually multiple balloons clustered together, not just one.And below them, suspended on what looked like cables or ropes, was something dark…and with a very familiar shape.He pulled away from a moment and looked again, just to make sure.
His stomach dropped.
"Ray, there's something attached to it."
"What do you mean attached?"
"There's something hanging below the balloons.I can't quite make it out but it's shaped like..."Clyde's voice trailed off as his brain processed what he was seeing."Oh my God."