Field Contact

Field Contact

By Megan Russ

“What is it?” Lisa asked as we stood staring through the corn stalks at the thing.

“It looks like someone just dropped a modern architecture project in the middle of our field.” I said, I pulled aside another stalk to see better. I winced as the sharp leaves dug into my arm.

The structure was just standing up like a grain silo, it had a flat bottom, or it was partially buried in the ground. The sides swelled out like a bloated hippo, and there were blister like spots covering the entire surface, all the way up to the smooth curved top, fifty feet above us. There didn’t seem to be a door, if there was it wasn’t on the side facing us. The corn around it had been flattened as though it had come from a gust of wind.

“Do you think it’s something from the nearby naval base?” Lisa asked.

“You mean some plane of theirs?” I asked.

“Maybe?”

“It doesn’t look like any airplane I’ve ever seen.”

“Let’s take a closer look.”

“Are you crazy?”

I stared at her, I could feel the goosebumps spreading down my arms as I watched the object. Why had we come out here, we should have told our father about it the moment we saw it.

“We should go back to the house and tell Pa.” I grabbed Lisa’s sleeve and tried to pull her away from the edge of the clearing.

“No, I want to look at it.”

“Lisa, please.”

“Come on Mary, pretend it’s an adventure.”

“I don’t like adventures.”

“Well I do, stay here if you don’t want to come.” She pulled her sleeve from my grasp and crept from the corn.

“Lisa come back.” I growled, stepping to the edge of the clearing. Lisa quickly snuck across the flattened stalks until she was right next to the shining bubbled surface of the strange structure. My little sister was out in the open, while I huddled among the corn stalks. She stretched up her hand to the curved surface. “No. Lisa don’t touch it!” I shouted. I ran across the clearing and grabbed onto her arm and pulled her hand from the surface.

“It’s warm.” She said, staring at it.

“How?” I asked, it was cold enough our breath formed clouds. Father was going to be so mad that the harvest would have to be postponed to get rid of this thing.

“Touch it, see for yourself.”

“I don’t want to touch it.” I said, but I still reached out my hand and placed it against the object.

The smooth metal was warm to the touch, like a coat right out of the dryer. The metal felt pliable, not hard.

“What is it?” I whispered, as though it could hear me.

“No idea, I like it.” She put her hand next to mine.

We both jumped and ran back to the safety of the corn stalks as the structure let out a loud boom. The sound echoed through the ground and the air.

I fell to the ground I could feel the sound in my bones, my hands over my ears, and tears streaming down my cheeks. Lisa was staring at the object, covering her ears, trying to block out the sound.

“Mary,” she called, “it’s over, look.” I let go of my ears and looked up at her. She was staring back at the thing. The sound had stopped, but a low vibration was shuddering through the ground, causing the sand to dance around our boots.

I looked over my shoulder at it. There was light emitting from each of the bubbles, like the lights at the aquarium father took us too once, soft and just bright enough to see what was on the other side.

Something was moving just beyond the little bubble windows. Something dark and wisp like. Almost like a black jellyfish.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Let’s go look.”

We stepped from the corn until we were right next to one of the windows. Lisa pressed her face against the surface, in an attempt to see what was beyond. I was a little more hesitant, I gingerly put my hand onto the surface once again.

“Something’s in there.”

“I know that, can you see what it is?”

“No, but I think it’s coming.”

I struggled not to pull my hand away as the black tendril reached through the gloom and touched the other side of the window from my palm. After a moment a hand shape formed to match mine. Then more hands began to form where Lisa’s palms were pressed to the glass.

“What is it?” I demanded my voice cracking.

“It’s cool looking whatever it is.”

The hand receded then a moment later there was a black cloud floating just beyond the window. It shifted like ink spilled into water. Then it started to change colors, green, yellow, orange, green, blue, red, green, yellow, orange, red, purple, black, and then it started over. The pattern repeated itself a few times as we stood there and watched.

“What is it doing?” Lisa asked.

“I think it’s talking to us.”

“What’s it saying?”

“I have no idea, do I look like I speak ink, but if it’s trying to talk to us it must be nice, right?” I stuttered.

“I wonder if it will play with us?” Lisa asked.

“Lisa, no, we need to find out what it wants.”

Lisa was already running to the other windows on ground level and urging the creature to chase her. At first the creature seemed confused, flashing red and green. Then seemed to understand the game and went from one window to the next.

“Lisa.” I whispered, I was staring up at the other windows above us. Our little ink blot wasn’t alone. There were others floating in the windows watching us.

“Oh wow it's a whole family.” Lisa shouted.

“This can’t be good.” I whispered.

<end>