CHAPTER 1: ARRIVAL

JOCELYN

It was now eight hours since I quit Henley’s Labs, and I hadn’t stopped driving. I watched the canyons pass by me, tall towering columns of red clay that stretched toward an open sky. I’d be reunited with my mother in just a few more miles. A couple of months ago, she was sent on a top-secret dig in the Mojave Desert, and wasn’t allowed to discuss anything with me. The curiosity burned so deep in mem for those next few months, and I longed to go with her, but I was still stuck at Henley’s, working as an assistant biologist. That’s where I met Wes.

I haven’t had much luck with guys in my twenty-six years of existence. It wasn’t my pin-straight hair, or the freckles on my cheeks. It wasn’t even the hint of extra curve peeking around my hips. Apparently, one reason why I can’t get a date is that some men are afraid to talk to me. It starts out okay; basic back-and-forth talk, but the second I bring up my job, everything falls apart. Suddenly, they look at me as if I have something growing on my face. To be fair, I’ve had my share of acne from time to time, but this is something different.

Wes looked at me like this, after we went up to my apartment - when he tried pulling down the straps of a way-too revealing dress, making my face burn bright-red. His touch felt strange to me, and not in a good way. The second reason why I can’t get a date is because I was a little…inexperienced. I mean… I still haven’t even kissed anyone, so even the slightest touch was completely new to me. I dodged the kiss Wes was about to give me, which immediately cost me more.

During the next week, Wes used our bad date to blackmail me. He told the supervisor some pretty harsh rumors about me, to the point where I just couldn’t explain anymore. So, I packed everything up and left. I was trying to accomplish at least one major breakthrough in my career, and if this place really was just a big watering hole for gossip, I didn’t want to be a part of it. Luckily for me, when I told my mother the news, she said she had an extra spot open for a biologist at the Mojave dig site. I grabbed my equipment and a large coffee and sped towards the desert, a bright opportunity leading the way.

I still didn’t have a clue what could be going on out there, but for some reason I kept picturing a figure…the one from my dream last night. I could still feel his touch, soft and warm, spreading all the way up my legs. But, I had to stop myself, before I got too excited. After all, it was only a dream.

I pulled up to the facility, where a team of scientists was already waiting, their white lab coats blinding against the red sandy backdrop. One of them wore a mask, and stepped up to my open car window.

“Are you Jocelyn Lee?” she inquired.

“Yes, I am” I replied curtly.

The scientist laughed a laugh I recognized instantly. “No need to be so formal,” she said, taking off her mask.

My mother has freckles spread across her cheeks like mine. The same blue eyes peeked over her glasses to get a better look at me. “It’s been such a long time, Joss! It’s so good to see you.”

I stepped out of the car and embraced her. Her coat appeared even dustier, up close. “Been busy I see,” I joked.

She pulled away, still smiling at me. She led me towards a wall of blue tarps that were strung up along metal pipes. “We’ve been digging for days. We actually hit a great opening point just a few hours ago. We’ve just been given the go-ahead to crack it open now.”

We suited up at wooden opening to the dig site. As I was pulling on the white coveralls, I just caught a glimpse of piled up dirt around the edge of a crater.

“We’ve just been given the go-ahead to crack it open now,” My mother had said.

“Crack what open?” I asked, inching my feet into rubber boots.

“Well, my dear…the spaceship.”

The dig site was about half-a-football-field wide. I circled around it, maneuvering past people in coveralls, most of them masked. They were scattered around something large and metallic that peeked out from the rocks and dirt. A low hum was coming from it. At such a low frequency it vibrated in my bones.