Epilogue

The Director of the Secret Service stared up at the screen in the conference room.

He had already watched the video of his agent leaving the lecture venue at the Mandalay Bay and heading to the bar with the handicapped writer. He knew what happened next, and he also knew that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police had interviewed the writer. His agents had been monitoring everything since the murder.

It didn’t make sense. There was nothing on Heskett’s laptop hard drive that was worth dying for. All they had found were notes from the conference. They were similar to notes that would have been taken by dozens of other conference attendees.

The next view showed the writer exiting the bar. He stood there for a second and then the video switched to something unexpected, cats playing the piano!

“Is this a joke?” he said out loud as he turned to face the bewildered agents situated around the conference table.

After being assured that the video was authentic, he turned back to the screen.

“Bring me the writer and get this video down to forensics. Maybe they can discover what on Earth is going on?”

––––––––

OFFICE OF PLANETARY Protection - Earth Sciences Anomaly Department - Monitoring station of analyst Jennifer Ayers. She is looking over satellite photos of lightning over the United Kingdom. She picks up the phone and dials an extension.

“ESAD, Supervisor Johnson speaking”

“Ken, it’s Jennifer Ayers.”

“Hey, Jen. I thought I was the only one left without a social life on a Friday night.

What’s up?”

“Something strange showed up in one of the sat trans over Wales. I'm sending it over to your station. Mind taking a look?”

A few seconds later, Ken said, “Got it. Looks like spider lightning to me.”

“Spider lightning travels horizontally under stratiform clouds.”

“Unexpected precipitation isn't too unusual for Wales this time of year.”

“That's what I thought, but spider lightning usually forms under 6,000 feet. See that passenger jet in the photo?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“That's British Airways flight 245, on approach to Heathrow. It was flying at 8,300 feet when this picture was taken. The pilot reported the sighting to Heathrow tower.”

“I’ll admit that it's rare for spider lightning to be that high up, but it's not totally out of the question.” Johnson said.

“Hang on, Ken. I'm sending you another photo. This one shows lightning at the exact same altitude, 94 minutes later. Place both photos side by side.” There was a long silence at the other end of the phone.

“They’re identical... that's impossible. It's like having two identical snowflakes.

What the hell are we looking at?”

“I don't know. The only thing I know for sure is that it's not lightning.”

“Agreed, Jen. I'll send these over to European OPP on Monday. Maybe their guys can shed some light on it.” Johnson continued, “I’m done for the day and I think we could both use a beer. Let’s take a walk over to Mahoney’s.”

“I'll meet you out front in five minutes.”

It was dusk as Jennifer exited the building. Ken was staring at the sunset.

“A penny for your thoughts,” she said jokingly.

“Just looking at station,” Ken replied.

A lone, twinkling star sat seemingly motionless above the horizon.

“Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be up there? I mean, away from everything.” Ken said.

“It has to be pretty cool. Looking down on the Earth, all you can see is its beauty.

It’s as if conflicts and wars don’t even exist.” She replied.

Ken looked at her. “Well, those of us looking up from Earth are getting pretty thirsty. Let’s go get those beers.”

As darkness fell, the International Space Station faded from view as it continued an endless journey in Earth orbit.

31,556,736

Hey, where are you going? My rollercoaster ride with Victoria doesn’t end here. She still wants me to help complete her mission. Now, I’ll admit that it’s nice to be wanted. I just wish it wasn’t by the police, the Secret Service, an alien hunting space agency, and a hired killer.

If you’d like to know what I think about all this and more, go to TheYearOfMyLifeVR and subscribe to The Writer’s Reality blog. It’s free and you may find clues to what’s in store for us during the next year of my life. Plus, everyone who subscribes is automatically entered to win an Amazon gift card and other great prizes! You might even become part of the next adventure. Anything is possible in the world of VR.

The Writer