Alex looked toward the dark outline of Newbattle Parish Church on the outskirts of the village. A cross formed out of white light bulbs had been put atop the spire for the Christmas season. In the far distance he could see the floodlit, eighty foot-high pithead frame of Newbattle Colliery, the normally flickering spokes of the giant winding wheels stilled by the strike. Flakes of snow started to drift down around them. Down in the valley, the white diagonal bands of the storm had blanketed the lights of the village. Soon, only the tiny illuminated cross atop the church steeple was still visible. Jim jumped to his feet. “Let's get going before we get snowed in. I'm starving." He suddenly leaned his head to one side. "What's that?"
"What?" asked Alex.
"Can't you hear it?"
Then Alex heard it− a low, pulsing sound. He rose slowly to his feet. The sound grew louder by the second. It seemed to be coming from somewhere inside the stone circle. Jim was already cautiously edging toward the perimeter of the circle of stones.
Alex grabbed Jim’s shoulder. “What are you doing?”
Jim shrugged his shoulder free from Alex’s grip. “Don’t be such a wimp. I just want to see what it is.”
“It could be a German bomb left over from the war. They found one in London just a month ago.”
Jim rolled his eyes. “Give me a break. The Jerries never bombed Newbattle.” He turned and quickly moved up close to the nearest of the giant granite stones. Alex reluctantly joined him. Jim took a peek around the stone. “I think it’s coming from the chapel.” He moved out from behind the stone and cautiously stepped inside the open circle. Alex took a deep breath and followed. The pulsing sound was speeding up. Jim stopped in his tracks. “There’s some kind of light in there.”
Alex swallowed hard. The hairs on the back of his neck began to rise. There was a faint, greenish glow spilling out from the door and windows of the chapel, casting jagged shadows of the ruined walls across the snow-covered ground. The light was getting brighter. The pulsing sound continued to speed up. Alex grabbed Jim’s arm. “We need to get out of here.” Just then, the pulsating sound stopped. A narrow column of pale blue light streaked vertically upward from the heart of the ruin. Jim let out a yell of fear, jumped back, and collided with Alex, sending them both sprawling; Alex’s eyes followed the shimmering column of light into the heavens. Then he saw it− a shining sphere, spiraling downward, as if attached by an invisible cord to the column of light. It was coming down right on top of them. Alex scrambled to get clear as a whirlwind tore at his clothes. Powdered snow swept up from the ground into his face and a violent blast of air flung him back to the ground.
The only sounds Alex could hear were the beating of his heart and the gentle moaning of the wind across the summit. He let out the breath he had been holding. He wiped off the thin layer of snow that covered his face and blinked away the moisture from his eyelashes. The column of light had vanished. The snow had stopped falling and stars reappeared. He slowly raised himself up on one elbow. Sitting still on the ground, close to the chapel, was the sphere, like a giant Christmas tree ornament, its mirror-like surface reflecting the snow and the stars. Jim crept alongside Alex, glistening from head to toe with a dusting of powdered snow. They both rose slowly to their feet.
The sphere was at least twelve feet in diameter. No markings of any kind blemished the mirror-like surface, which reflected their own distorted images back to them.
Jim’s hands trembled as he wiped the snow off his face. “I’m getting out of here.”
He took off in a stumbling run toward the summit rim. Alex, his heart beating like a hammer, was right behind him. There was a crackling sound. A bright blue light lit up the granite standing stones. Alex looked back over his shoulder. The column of light had once more thrust its way up into the heavens. The sphere had begun to roll along the ground. They scrambled the last few yards to the shelter of the nearest standing stone. Frightened, exhausted, and winded, the two terrified boys huddled together beside the rough granite block. The sphere was now rolling faster and faster around the chapel in ever increasing circles. It broke clear from the ground and spiraled up the blue column of light, carving a cylindrical path through the falling snow. Then it was gone. The light column was extinguished. Flakes of snow began to gently drift down around them.
They stood up and warily stepped out from behind the standing stone. Alex struggled to make sense of what he had seen. Had it all been a dream? Yet the circular track of the sphere's landing and takeoff was clearly imprinted in the snow. "Look!" Jim's voice was hoarse. A luminous cloud of gas, about the size of a large beach ball, was floating up above the ruined chapel. It rose higher and higher as a flickering blue light rippled across its luminous surface. Alex fumbled for his inhaler. It slipped out of his trembling fingers and fell to the ground. He dropped on one knee to pick it up. A flash of light streaked over his head. Jim let out a loud gasp. Alex turned around to see a thin beam of blue light connecting the ball of gas to Jim's chest. Jim seemed paralyzed. Then the beam was gone and Jim fell to his knees. Alex slowly stood up. He glanced at the cloud of gas out of the corner of his eye. Light was now rippling through it. It was changing shape, growing longer in a vertical direction.
He turned back to Jim. "Are you okay?"
Jim, still on his knees was rubbing his chest. “I couldn't move. I was stiff as a board.” His eyes widened; Alex turned. The cloud was still changing shape.
"Let's get out of..." Alex's words died in his throat as a pencil thin beam of light streaked straight from the gas cloud and hit his chest. He felt no pain, just a dull numbness gripping his whole body. Then suddenly, the transfixing beam was gone. His body went loose. He staggered, but didn’t fall. The gas cloud was rising higher and higher. Another thin beam streaked out from the cloud, passed right by the boys, and vanished over the rim of the hill. Suddenly, the air about them was laced with multiple beams of light. Both boys threw themselves flat on the hard-packed snow. Like some bizarre laser show, the cloud fired flickering beam after beam at an ever-increasing rate, all streaking down into the valley. Then, as suddenly as they had started, the beams stopped. Lights rippled across the surface of the gas cloud with increased intensity. It started to sink back down toward the chapel and disappeared out of sight behind the ruined walls. There was a sudden burst of light that spilled out the widows and the doorway, casting distorted shadows across the ground, then darkness. It was some moments until Alex’s vision adjusted. He rubbed his eyes. A shadowy figure had stepped out of the chapel doorway and was walking slowly toward them.