Ken Ritz: charter pilot who picks up Buck to fly him to New York City. Has first and last name, characterized as a no-nonsense type who gets things done. Doubtless will appear again, as he has a first and last name.
The action
Ken & Buck while away the flight speculating on a UFO theory behind the abductions. "[O]ur ideas of what space people would look like is [sic] way too simple .... if ... they're sophisticated and advanced enough ... they can do things to us we've never dreamed of .... They disappeared in an instant, so they had to be dematerialized. The question is ... could [they] be reassembled?"
Ray Steele, still at home, starts leafing through the Bible, hoping to figure out how he and Chloe can be saved. Sad ruminations by Ray on all the opportunities for salvation at the hands of Raymie & Irene that had been passed by. Determination to save self and Chloe if possible. Discovers Chloe has managed to fly out of Palo Alto, and should be in Springfield, Ill. soon. Buck makes it to the office, where he has a tearful reunion with Marge Potter (secretary) & Steve Plank (editor).
More descriptions of carnage emphasizing how horrible it all is
New York City: "Six trains were involved in head-ons with lots of deaths. Several trains ran up the back of other ones."
Flight center operator to Ray, regarding Chloe's eastward journey: "be grateful your daughter didn't get on [a flight] directly out of Palo Alto. The last one out of there went down last night. No survivors." "And this was after the disappearances?" "Just last night. Totally unrelated."
What next?
Tauran cosmonauts will appear at Rockefeller Plaza in anthropomorphized form, their haloed countenances exuding a radiant calm as they assure those left behind that they will soon be joining the missing in an extra-terran paradise where pain is but a rumor and death forgotten.
A thought on the preceding
I understand it's important to keep the readers guessing, but no one is buying the alien abduction angle.
No comments:
Post a Comment