Equines and Airships, part 2

We start with our girl, A.Z. She works for a secretive, quasi-governmental organization that reverse-engineers extraterrestrial technology. Her real name is Azalea Jetso. She rose up the ranks to become a chief, now operating under supervision of the mysterious boss, known as Mr. R.

While conducting a prototype test one day, she was pulled away from her station. She was summoned to Mr. R’s office and told that her long lost brother, Benny, was found.

The startling news almost brought her to her knees. Benny had been lost an excruciating 17 years, since since she was 18. She had actually asked the organization to come up with a code for if they ever found him with their advanced tech. She was starting to think the day would never come.

Then… to hear the words straight from Mr. R’s lips. Code Zeta 355! It was unbelievable, surreal. It brought her back to that moment.

What a horrendous moment! Surrounded by her friends and neighbors, she collapsed to the ground. She remembered what it felt like… an 18-year-old girl lying in the dirt, sobbing over the sudden loss of her brother.

You see, she had a normal childhood in the small mining town of Swimport. It was a tight-knit community, where almost nothing out of the ordinary happened. In those days — the mid to late 1940’s — it was half the population. Almost everyone was part of a family unit, and almost no one owned a car.

There was one school-house for all the grades, so all the children grew up together. She and Benny never went to school together, though, because he was 10 years older than her. When she was 13, their parents went on a prospecting trip to try and buy the family a path to a better life. They tragically died under unknown circumstances.

Crushed, the brother and sister never got the answers they were looking for. But life moved on. The next year, all the girls her age started learning home economics. She was always far more interested in science, however. She would sneak readings of that textbook while in those classes.

One dismal spring night, a broadcast came over the radio that changed her life forever. You see, at 8 PM, there began a special presentation of a novel, The Land of Dinos.

It was a tale of dinosaurs being brought back to life, escaping, and running roughshod. The program started with a statement that it was a reenactment of a fictional story, but most people missed that part.

Panic descended across town, and around the country. Then there was the likes of Gary Grummond. He was a father of three who convinced a small group of the men, including Benny and her previous classmate, Drew, to go out hunting the creatures.

She pleaded with Benny not to go, but the call of duty and adventure proved too strong. They gathered up shotguns and supplies, leaving in one of town’s 9 privately-owned vehicles.

She watched from her window as the car started up and rolled away. It was the last time she ever saw him.

The other guys returned late the next morning, after the newspapers delivered the news that the entire thing had been a made-up story. After a long night of worrying, her heart sunk when she saw Benny was missing from the group.

For the rest of her life, she’ll never forget Gary’s sad eyes when she stepped forward. She’ll never stop hearing his words: “I’m sorry, Miss Azalea. We don’t know where your brother is.”

She may have spent hours crying, but she got up that afternoon determined to make something of herself and find him. She had never been more driven.

Drew was five years older, but hadn’t left home. That fall, they both went across-state to the same college. The experience had cemented his interest in zoology, and she dove headfirst into mechanics. They maintained friendly academic competition.

Thanks to her unceasing dedication, she became the first woman at the university to graduate with honors. After a two-year internship with a top automotive design firm, she was discovered by Black Ops recruiters. The rest was history.

Now here she was, following Benny’s trail in Cheyenne, Wyoming. She was out of place in a black dress among horses and cowboy hats. Then she bumped into, of all people, Gary’s wife Deb.

“It’s Deb Salazar now,” the woman said. “I divorced the dunce.” She offered to get Azalea a horse, pants, and boots, and then head north with her.

***

They caught up over lunch and then set out. Azalea felt much more comfortable in jeans rather than a dress, but it still was hard to get used to after her breathable, lightweight lab suit.

Her legs were boiling in denim and the midday Wyoming sun. She also had been on a horse only once in her life. Now she was embarking on a 13-hour ride!

“So, Benny’s somewhere north of Medicine Bow,” she said.

“How do you know that?” Deb asked.

“Oh, uh…” she stammered. “Well, sorry. It’s classified.”

“Oh really?!” Deb said, turning to her with curious raised eyebrows. “Check you out, Miss Secret Government Scientist.”

“Miss Black Ops,” she said with a smirk. They chuckled.

“Well, I’ll be damned. I always knew you were gonna make something of yourself, but I never dreamed it would be like this! Our baby Azalea, pulling the strings with hotshots up in THE Washington DC.”

“Yeah… DC.” She wished she could tell her it was really underground in Roswell, New Mexico. But no one outside those walls could ever know.

“You went to school with Drew, right?”

“Yeah. I owe him a lot. Between losing Benny and keeping up with my friend from home… I reached for nothing but the tippy top.”

“Good for you! After I left Gary, I was free to chase my dreams. Once I got on a horse, got the wind in my hair… I never looked back.”

“How did you end up here anyway?”

“Well, believe it or not… I met a man.”

“Oh! Is that right?”

“Yeah, it’s quite the story. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you all about Enrique.”

“Ooo, Enrique huh?”

“Ha, yes. Just as intriguing as you’d think. Needless to say, we fell in love on a whirlwind adventure and ended up in little big Cheyenne.”

“You don’t say. And Benny?”

“Yeah, we have friends up that way, so bumped into him in Medicine Bow. Now we try to see each other once a month.” They rode in silence for a moment.

“Have you seen where he’s living?”

“Oh no. We just stay in town, or he comes down to me. It’s strange, he’s never once brought it up.”

“Ok… but you’ve never asked?”

“I guess not. You’re seeing how long a ride this is. By the time I make it there, I’m just glad to see him.”

After 2 hours, Azalea was losing her sense of direction. How did Deb navigate this so often? It was absolute barren terrain in all directions. Deb was continuing straight ahead, but she wondered what the real route should be.

She reached into her pack and pulled out her PND — Personal Navigation Device. This was the one undisclosed item Mr. R allowed her to carry.

Some models had communication abilities too, but she was only permitted to bring standard issue outside the facility in case it was found.

She steadied herself as best as she could on the horse, and fired up the dials. She had got the compass readings and alignment to their destination, when Deb’s voice startled her.

“What’s that?”

“Oh! Uhh, nothing.” She hastily put it away.

“I’ve seen plenty of ‘nothing’ in my life. That doohickey was definitely something!”

“Well….” Azalea tried to think of a response, but before she could, a bird caw came through from overhead. She hadn’t even realized there hadn’t been any trace of birds since they hit the desert. They turned and searched the sky until they saw the creature gliding through towards the northwest.

“That’s a bigg’un,” Deb said. “Definitely condor or vulture.” She paused and looked over at Azalea like that was supposed to mean something. “They only show up when you’re close to a grassy plateau. That’s where prey is. Come on! I’ll be sundown soon, we can camp there.”

***

They made it to Medicine Bow late the next morning. Deb took her around to the spots she would sometimes meet Benny. There was the flea market, the feed store, a coffee shop, and a bar/saloon.

He wasn’t in any of those places though. They started asking some of the locals where they could find him. None seemed to know.

“Yeah, no one finds him by looking,” one woman said, sitting on a bench across from the Sheriff’s station. “He just kinda… shows up.” The other two women glanced at each other.

“Well,” Azalea said. “Where is he most likely to show up?”

“Dunno,” the woman answered. “A lot of folks ‘round here think they’ve figured out a pattern to his comings and goings. I think they’re just full of it.”

“C’mon… surely somebody knows something,”Deb said.

“Well…” the woman said, furrowing her brow in thought. “There is one fella. Name is Seamus, and he knew Benny’s friend from before.”

“A friend?!” Deb exclaimed in surprise.

“Yeah,” the woman said. “A guy even more private than Benny, if you can believe it. Think he goes by Willis.” Deb’s jaw dropped. “He used to live on this small farm a few miles from here. No one knew what ever happened to him, but one day he shows back up. Now he’ll only be seen every now and then, when Benny’s here with him.” Deb cocked her head for a moment, before shaking herself out of it.

“You didn’t know??” Azalea asked her. Deb shook her head. “Well, where do we find this Seamus?”

“In the afternoon, he grooms and trains horses, down on Crescent Lane,” the woman answered.

“Oh, I bet I know where,” Deb said. “Let’s go!” Azalea yelled a thank you as they sped away from the bench.

About an hour later, they were sitting down with Seamus as he took his break. They were around a makeshift table shaped from wood slabs, drinking water from leather-wrapped mugs.

“So, how well did you know Willis?” Deb asked.

“Winston,” he corrected.

“What?” Azalea replied.

“His name is Winston,” he said. The women glanced at each other and nodded. “And I knew him pretty well until he dropped off the map around 25. My parents had business with his family farm, so I met him at 12 or so. He was my only friend outside of school. We didn’t stay in touch as much once I graduated and started working full-time.”

“You say he dropped off the map?” Deb asked.

“Yup,” he answered. “Like I said, we didn’t talk as much. But I knew he had a plan to get out of cowboy country. He was gonna go to Casper for better work and make enough to leave Wyoming. I think Colorado was the top of his list. Boulder or Denver. Everyone started talking once he disappeared, but I figured he just headed out early.”

“So… we hear that since Winston’s been back, he’s rarely seen,” Azalea said. “And when he is, it’s with Benny.”

“That’s right,” he confirmed. “How do you ladies know Benny again?”

“He’s my brother,” Azalea said.

“And I used to live in the same town as them,” Deb added. He nodded.

“Well, I wasn’t going to tell anyone,” he began. “Because it’s none of my business…. But one day, wanting to make sure Winston was really alright… I followed them.”

“You did?!” the two women asked in unison, bouncing up. They leaned forward.

“Yeah,” he said. “I couldn’t shake the feeling Winston would want me to make sure the situation was safe, no matter how he acted about it to the rest of us. I don’t know how I stayed out of sight. Maybe they did see me. But nonetheless… they took separate horses and rode apart for about 3 miles out of town. But then they came back together.”

Ok….” Azalea mumbled. She looked over and Deb was looked just as lost.

“And they went all the way to those mountains you see to the east,” he continued. “Long story short, there’s these posts they tie their horses, with a water basin and hay bale within reach. And they went up this short path to a cave.”

“A cave?!” Deb cried out. Azalea’s jaw dropped.

“Yes,” he said. “I stayed out for an hour before finally sneaking up there. And….”

“And what?” Azalea asked.

“Well… they live there!”

***

The women galloped on their horses furiously towards the mountain. The sun was starting to hang low in the sky. They’d have to make it before dusk.

A dark shape soon appeared along the edge of the ground in front of them. The tiny dot seemed to have dust swirling around it. They whipped their horses to get to top speed. The dot slowly grew and morphed into a different form.

Deb reached over her shoulder with one hand and grabbed a pair of binoculars from her satchel.

“It’s a rider!” she exclaimed after taking a look through them. “It’s a rider on a horse!” She waved her arms as the form took shape. After just a moment, the silhouette was apparent.

Deb waved Azalea to come right alongside her. After a few attempts, Azalea finally managed to get their horses shoulder to shoulder. Deb held up the binoculars for her. She looked through the lenses and let out a shriek.

“It’s Benny!” she yelled. “It’s Benny!!”

Another few minutes, and they came within clear visual range. There he was, face to face with them. They saw Benny’s look of surprise as he recognized Deb.

They slowed their horses and jumped off, Azalea tumbling through the sand. She got right up and ran to his arms. With a spinning collision, they hugged in the golden, rosy light.

“Is that really you??” he said, almost out of breath. “After all this time… is it really Miss Azalea?!” She left out a laugh of pure joy.

“Is it really you, Benny?” she asked. He pulled away and took a look at her from arm’s length as Deb joined them. The three of them hugged.

“Wow!” he said afterwards. “Wow, wow! What an amazing day. You must come, both of you! Come to my little hideout. You can meet my life partner.”

“Your what?!” Azalea asked. “He smiled deeply.

“Come on… come with me.”