Heiser-The-Facade - Sparkling Eyes

"All set to go," he smiled again. "We're ready to take it for a spin when you are.""Good, give us a few minutes." The Colonel turned and headed for a door locatedabout fifty yards from where they were standing. Neil motioned for everyone to followhim."Where are we going?" Father Benedict asked."To get a better view," Neil answered."This one seems quite good.""After you, Father," he deflected the comment.Once through the door, the team began ascending a flight of stairs, which was inturn followed by another, and then yet another, each of which turned to the left. The thirdset, however, was clearly makeshift, and not part of the permanent structure of thebuilding they were in. It led to an undersized entryway, barely five feet in height. Thewords "observation deck" were stenciled above the opening. Brian ducked inside, andemerged inside a spacious room, which he estimated was roughly half a basketball courtin size. Two rows of cushioned chairs faced a large open window from which the expanseof the hangar was plainly visible. There was no sign of the work area they had justvisited."Take a seat, everyone," the Colonel directed. "There'll be enough since Dr.Bandstra and I will be standing." Brian moved to-ward the final seat on the first row, nextto Melissa Kelley, but as he sat down, she abruptly stood and, with a glare, made her waypast the others already seated and sat down in the back row. Father Benedict quicklyfilled her space and placed a hand on his shoulder.From the seat next to Father Benedict, Deidre leaned for-ward and gave Brian acurious glance. "You two have a fight?""I think it has something to do with the fact that I have a pulse.""Ignore her," Father Benedict whispered.Brian sighed."Oooh yeah! Will ya take a look at that!" Malcolm exclaimed, sitting up in hisseat. The words were barely out of his mouth when the shiny hull of a classic `flyingsaucer' floated in front of the window, arresting the view of everyone. Brian wasn't sure,but it looked to him like the very bottom of the craft, which emitted a strange bluish hue,was spinning.The Colonel picked up a phone hanging on the wall next to a panel of small lightsand buttons. His only words were "we're ready," and hung up the phone. A few secondslater the craft in view went into a series of maneuvers. They began simply, with severalbrief horizontal and vertical trips to each side of the hangar and floor-to-ceiling, respectively."How does it do that?" wondered Kevin incredulously. "There's no evidence ofexhaust, no engine even.""There's no sound either," commented Mark. "Just that weird glow underneath."Suddenly the craft stopped in a dead hover in its original position. Withoutwarning it suddenly accelerated to the far end of the hangar at an incredible speed,covering the distance in under a second. It was as though it had been shot out of a gun,yet still visible to the naked eye."It's coming back—right for us!" Kevin bellowed before any-one could processwhat he or she'd just seen. "Everybody down!" Only Neil, Major Lindsay, and the131