They waited until she slept. It was after her night watch shift. She never heard a sound—not the whispers, the low growl, the quick struggle, or his last bubbling yelp—as they snapped his neck.

                                                            *****

            The next morning Olivia woke in a panic to the smells of roast chicken. “Guys!” She yelled as she struggled from one darkness to another, “I don’t care if you caught a rat! We can’t take chances with a fire!” They. . .

“Aliens? You must be joking.” Dr. Stanford Ellis collapsed into the chair with a squeak of faux leather. The last 6 hours had rocked his world to the core. Now, in this small, grey, military office smelling of paper and the Colonel’s unlit cigar, he faced the CO of the base. Emblazoned with ‘Top Secret’ in red ink across the cover, the offending file sat in the middle of a desk that fairly bristled with military efficiency. He closed his mouth and looked back across the desk toward Col. James . . .