By evening, the group was tired from digging, taking photos, and then covering up the evidence of the astounding discovery. They had exhausted themselves, as well as what little food and cold drinks were in the ice-chest provided by Dan.

"We need to get back to our lives, and sort this all out, " Michael said, wiping his long hair away from a sweaty forehead.

Dan and Jasper just nodded as they collected the tools and prepared for the hike back across the stretch of sandstone desert to the vehicles. Blake was silent too, trying to make sense of what the mysterious find could possibly mean.

"Tuwa, we'll stay in touch about this," Michaels said. "I'm going to borrow the two discs we're taking . . . for some analysis . . .the metal and the symbols. I've got this genius cryptographer back at Yale. I'll send him a transcription of those characters. To see what comes up. The discs, of course will stay with me."

"Alright," she said, removing her heavy work gloves. "But I'm not letting any time go by before I return here, Michael. I want to personally excavate that pile of artifacts properly. There's much to be done here. . . and much to be learned . . . now that we're onto this."

The dusty group wearily made it back to the jeep and truck parked just off the highway. Night was about to set in around the majestic valley, and as the air cooled, Blake looked up at the beautiful cobalt sky. Who had put those discs in such a remote place, he wondered? And how long ago had they been resting in the earth for their discovery? More importantly, he wondered what his now-dead father was into. And why he himself had fallen into the event. It was something he knew would probably change what was known about the alien issue for ever. That is, if the information would ever get out, he mused. Like so much he had learned of the phenomena of late, it might well be covered up by the government or labelled just another crazy hoax.

Whatever it was they had discovered, he also knew they were not alone in knowing of it. The image of the silver craft, obviously observing them, was fresh in Blake's mind as they prepared for the drive back to Farmington in Tuwa's Jeep.

After seeing Dan and Jasper speed away west, toward Kayenta in their truck, Tuwa pulled out onto the lonely road to head east. They were all silent from the long exhaustive day and both Michael and Tuwa were unusually non-communicative.

As they rounded a gentle curve in the semi-darkness and passed into the dark shadow of one of the giant sandstone spires, the oblique metallic craft they had seen hovering earlier was now shockingly grounded. It rested on the earth in a clearing just off the highway. A series of beaded blue-green lights were illuminating it as they outlined its perimeter. They still approached on the road. The lights brightened then faded, and brightened again as Tuwa cautiously slowed the Jeep down.

"Holy shit!"  Blake called out.

"Michael?" Tuwa asked calmly of her friend.

"I think they . . . want to talk to me," he said in a reserved, matter-of fact voice."

Tuwa drove the Jeep forward and stopped. The craft was some fifty meters away from the roadway. Its lights brightened, then  dimmed again, but now turned to a warmer amber color.

"I'm going out," Michael said restlessly.

Blake had seen him approach an alien craft before, then return, claiming he had somehow communicated with them.

"Michael . . . I'm going with you!"  Tuwa said quickly and in an excited voice.

"Hey! Come on  you guys! This is crazy!  It looks . . . dangerous."

Michael spoke softly. "I'm getting a message they want to discuss the discs. They know we have them now."

"So, let's go!"  Tuwa answered, unbuckling her seatbelt.

"Jesus guys! . . . NO!"

"Blake, you're coming with us, " Michael said emphatically. "We both may need an outside witness to this."

"Outside?"

"Outside the tribal thing," Michael added, also unlatching his belt.

"Oh my God, guys! . . . This is too crazy!

"Trust me, Blake. They just want to inform us . . . about what we now have. It's critically important we reach out to them. For what they want to tell us."

"Come on Blake," Tuwa said, "You're safe with us. We've seen these things for years out here. It's time we confronted them . . . to learn more. Come on!"

"Look. Your father would want this, Blake," Michael said sternly, taking the two discs out of his back pack and opening the door of the Jeep."

Blake looked again at the small space of desert that separated their vehicle from the circular craft, now glowing brighter from the small lights which illuminated the sand around it. As Tuwa and Michael were out of the Jeep and waited for Blake to join them, he finally stepped out himself, employing all his strength and courage to walk directly behind them. 

As they neared the craft, Blake was surprised at how large it was. He could hear a soft hum as they approached its smooth aerodynamic shape. The ship rested upon the ground on three pod-like extensions, and just when they were within five or so meters, a hatch-like door slid down silently, forming a ramp.

Blake now was holding Tuwa's hand and felt his knees shaking while Michael walked slowly up the incline and motioned for them to follow. With Tuwa pulling at his arm and glaring at him to comply, the two followed Michael up the ramp into the light blue atmosphere of the craft's interior. There was a soft hum and it was extremely cold inside.

Suddenly, out of the glow, the body and face of a being appeared. It seemed to be greeting them with enormous, almond-shaped eyes. Blake felt immediately paralyzed—either by fear or some control the entity had over his now-sluggish movements. The alien was somewhat human-like but had feminine facial features. It was definitely not from a race or with any countenance Blake had ever seen before. There was an aura of calmness about the creature, and its non-threatening body language compelled the three passively to wait for what was to next take place.

Michael seemed to be already in a trance-like, receptive state, with his head slightly down and standing motionless, closest to the alien. Looking more feminine than masculine, the being reached its small, almost lifeless hand out to receive the two discs Michael was holding at his side. He slowly complied, letting them go,  and there was the hint of a smile of affirmation on the creature's ethereal face. It then walked over past a wall of what appeared to be instruments and control apparatus  to a simple table with unidentifiable components attached to it.

Michael turned and mechanically signaled to the two behind him to follow. They each came closer to the small metallic surface on which the being placed the two metal discs side-by-side. The three watched as it manipulated the controls near the table and a high-pitched sound began to emanate through the craft. It became louder and the frequency went up in pitch, causing both Tuwa and Blake to cover their ears with their hands from the powerful sound, ever-rising in volume and timbre.

As the sound intensified to an almost painful level, the discs on the table surface began to vibrate and soon glow intensely with a prism of colors. Michael's eyes were closed and from the expression on his face, he seemed to be responding to some communicated messages or information the discs were giving off at the desired frequency and volume of sound.

While the two kept their hands to their ears, Michael seemed to be receiving messages from the  sound. His hands rose slowly toward the discs as it he was listening to the objects speak to him. One of the discs had vibrated up onto its side and was held curiously without falling over under the intense noise, climbing and lowering in cycles of pitch.

Michael's head was tilted back, as if listening in abandon to a piece of beautiful music or an inspiring lecture. Blake and Tuwa just remained frozen, watching their friend, the young Zuni shaman,  receive what ever message was being shared with him--somehow recorded and now released from the metal discs through the sound, color and frequency imparted to him.

Blake strained to look over at the alien standing nearby. But he seemed to be immobilized, held with some sort of paralyzing force. Tuwa, too, was looking at the naked-looking and marble-while creature, overseeing the transfer of message to Michael.

After what seemed to be only ten or fifteen minutes of this activity, the sound began to fade, and the intensity of vibration and pitch of the noise declined quickly, It eventually stopped completely, as did the intense colors. At this point, Michael seemed to become more alert and  his eyes moved away from the table. He began, like Tuwa and Blake before, to stare with interest at the technical soundings of the craft's blue-lit interior.

Suddenly, they all felt somehow released from the immobilized state they had been temporarily put in and watched as the alien retrieved the discs from the sound table. It then handed them back over to Michael. To this, he gave a slight nod and the seemingly feminine entity walked back toward the craft's doorway and extended a weak-looking arm. It seemed to be signaling an offer of their departure.

Once again Michael led the way and as he paused at the ramp to descend and exit, he reached out carefully and lightly touched briefly  the hand of the being. Its response was only to blink its large eyes once in perhaps a subtle gesture of goodwill.

As the three descended the ramp and stepped onto the warm sand, the lights on the craft had already morphed from amber back to blue-green, and the ramp ascended back into position, closing off seamlessly the ships outer wall.

As they all walked backwards, still watching the craft with intrigue, the silver, glowing orb silently lifted upwad while its three landing pods were retracted. It rose at first slowly, and to a height of 30 or so meters. It then tilted once to the left, then to the right, and in a heartbeat  shot straight up into the night sky, nowhere to be seen.

"Michael? You OK?" Tuwa asked, now out of breath.

"Yeah. Better than ever," he said, exhaling, and brushing his long hair back from his face.

"What the hell was all that about?" Blake asked, his wildly-beating heart only beginning to slow down.

"It's incredible what I've learned," Michael said, holding the discs up as immeasurable treasures. And how we can now read these things."

"Care to share anything with us tonight?" Tuwa asked, putting her hands affectionately on both of Michael's shoulders amd looking into his face carefully.

"Well, I've got some good news and bad news for all of us," he said cryptically, but with a serious face. "And it's just the beginning of school, my friends."

* * *