Chapter 1

                The box seemed to float in the air.  I know it sounds strange, but thinking back on the moment, that’s the only way I can describe it.  It was dusk and I was watching the sides of the road, always afraid of a deer running out in front of my car.  I was heading home from a late afternoon movie, taking my usual route around the more traffic laden streets.  In the process of scanning for big game, I noticed the box or cube if you want to be more specific.  It was symmetrical, lighter in color than the background and somewhat translucent.  I slowed down without really realizing it and stared.

                From the trees near the cube and a utility pole just off to the right of its location, it appeared the thing was roughly the size of a standard size passenger van.  I think the low angle of the setting Sun and the slight fog in the air from the cooler evening temperature, was the only reason it was visible to me.  Now at a complete stop, I watched the strange object for at least 10 minutes.  Clearly it was lighter than the background and continually more obvious as the daylight faded.  It was getting fairly dark when the thing started to move.  Remaining at a constant height above the ground, it started moving parallel to the road at about a walking pace.  As it passed in front of some trees I realized that despite it looking translucent, it was really some kind of camouflage.  What ever it was obscuring showed up on the side facing me but was not quite right somehow.  Kind of like a poor reflection in an old mirror. 

                I was wondering what this thing could be and at the same time thinking it was strange that my watching it was apparently of no consequence to its agenda, when I heard a loud bang.  The surface of the cube visibly flared up in brightness at the same instant.  The sudden occurrence startled me and broke my tunnel vision enough to notice something falling to the ground just as the cube flared.  I think the thing had just been struck by a hunter’s bullet.  This time of year, they were all over this area of the woods.  I even recalled seeing a couple of vehicles parked a mile or so back along the road, on a dirt two track that disappeared into the woods.  The shot had to have been a stray from one of those hunters, oblivious to the consequences of their carless gunfire.  Concerned, I continued to follow the cubes progress and noticed that it was no longer maintaining a level path.  It seemed to be struggling to maintain altitude, dipping down and then rising again.  After a few down and up cycles it settled to the ground.  The camouflage was still operating and now that it was stationary, it blended in well enough with it’s surrounding to render it barely visible.  Had I not seen the whole business play out and watched it settle to the ground, I would have driven right by its present location without a second thought.

                My curiosity was now insatiable and I had to find out more about this strange craft.  The edge of the road was just big enough for me to get my car safely off the roadway.  I was able to maneuver the car and keep from losing the cubes location at the same time.  Being a huge subscriber to the old “Boy Scout” adage, “Be Prepared”, I always kept a flashlight in my cars emergency equipment bag.  Thinking this trek might take awhile, I was glad I’d swapped it out for one of the new LED varieties that never needed a bulb replacement and would operate for several hours on a new set of batteries.  Dusk’s light was just fading when I started walking in the cubes direction.  I tried the flashlight but quickly shut it off again realizing it helped me see to walk but washed out what I could still see of the cubes location.  Half way to my goal, the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck were standing up.  I couldn’t help feeling I was part of an old Sci-Fi movie.  As I closed in I had to stop and refocus my attention, with most of the days light now gone, only a trace of the cube remained visible to me.  Just as I lifted my foot to continue a burst of light blinded me.