Chapter 5: The Air Car

They followed the stream again the next day and the geography gradually changed from open plains to that of forest. Huge, what looked like pine trees, at first grew sparsely and then as they continued walking became thick and blotted out the afternoon sunlight. As sunset approached, they came upon a large lake that fed the stream.

"Guess we stop here for the night," Mark said looking up and down the lakeshore.

"I guess so. Which way are we going to go to circle this?" Mist said indicating the lake before them.

"I don't know it looks to be equally far either way. I wish we had a boat," Steve added.

Dawn was looking to her right into the forest when a glint of light flashed from the trees catching her eye. "What's that?" She wondered aloud, "Let's go see."

They followed her as she made her way to where she had seen the glint of light and found a vehicle of some sort. It must have been there for some time as it was almost concealed by bushes and was wedged up against two trees.

Steve saw no wheels or tracks that would indicate a land vehicle and no propeller or any opening that would lead him to believe it was some sort of boat.

"Let's clear away some of this brush so we can get a closer look at this thing." Steve said and set about doing just that. The others joined him clearing brush and leaves away.

They had just started to clear brush away from what appeared to be an open passenger compartment when suddenly Mist screamed and pointed. Mist had spotted two bodies in what appeared to be the front seats. By the state of discomposure, they had been there for quite some time. The bodies were human in size and looked to be male. Closer inspection showed that their arms had two joints just as humans and the hands had three fingers and two thumbs. They had been wearing some type of clothing but it was deteriorated beyond recognition.

They two men removed the bodies from the vehicle and worked at removing the brush until at last the vehicle was fully exposed. The vehicle had six seats and on the right hand, side in the front seat was what could only be a steering wheel, all around it were what looked like a cluster of gauges and buttons. There was a windshield in the front that was made of some type of clear plastic. The front tapered to a point and behind the last pair of seats, the rear was squared off. To the left of steering wheel were two buttons one white and one black. To the right of the seat with the steering wheel were two levers fitted into slots about ten inches long. The seats were split three to a side by an aisle down the center. The vehicle was about ten feet wide, at its widest and an overall length of about twenty feet. When Steve climbed into the vehicle, it rocked under his weight. He jumped out and to their surprise, the four of them were able to drag the surprising light vehicle out of the forest and onto the sandy beach.

Once again, Steve climbed into the vehicle and began to examine the controls by the steering wheel. "I wonder what this button did," Steve said to Mark who was standing outside the vehicle looking in at Steve. He pushed the black one and nothing happened. "I'm sure whatever powered this has long since died," He said and pushed the white button. There was a humming noise and Mark, Dawn and Mist sprung back as the vehicle rose till it was about a foot off the ground. "I'll be damned," yelled Steve excitedly, "this thing still has power. It must be some type of hover craft." He turned the steering wheel and the vehicle turned in that direction. He turned it until it pointed up the beach.

"How do you make it go back down to the ground?" asked Mist.

"Don't know. I guess I'll have to try some of these other buttons and levers," Steve said. He pushed one of the levers forward a little and the craft moved forward down the beach. He slid the lever forward a little more and it increased speed. Soon he had left the three standing on the beach behind. He turned the wheel and the craft turned out over the water, which it glided over just as easily as the ground. He returned to the three and slid the lever back to its stop. The vehicle stopped and just hovered. On a guess, he pushed the black button again and just as he had hoped, the craft settled to the ground and the humming stopped. "Wow that was kick ass," Steve exclaimed. "Get on. Let's go for a ride," He yelled excitedly.

The three of them climbed on and took their seats. Steve pushed the white button and once more, the craft rose from the ground. This time he pointed it up the beach and pushed the lever forward. He kept pushing it forward till they were flying up the beach with the wind rushing through their hair and he had only pushed the lever a third of the way along its channel. He turned and sped over the water. He advanced the lever to about the three quarters mark and they leaped forward the trees on the nearby shore became a blur they were going so fast.

"Slow down Steve," Mist hollered from the seat behind him, "What if this thing runs out of, what ever powers it?"

Mark chuckled, "Back seat driver." He then turned and explained to Dawn what it meant.

"That's what we women do best, give orders," She giggled.

Steve pulled the lever back and they slowed, "I wonder what this other lever is for." He asked and started easing it forward. The craft gained altitude till they were above tree top level when he had advanced the lever half way. "Wow, this craft is fucking neat," He exclaimed.

The sun had nearly set when they returned to the beach and Steve set the craft down and turned it off. "I wonder where this air car came from," Steve inquired to nobody in particular.

"Yes and what happened to the men that were in it," added Mark.

"I don't know. I didn't see any signs of violence on the bodies," Mist said, joining the conversation.

"Maybe we will find out the answers to both questions," Said Dawn, "Since we are headed in the direction they came from. At least judging from the way the craft was pointed."

They slept in the seats of the craft that night and in the morning; they had some jerky and bottled water before setting out. Steve started the craft and headed out over the water gradually gaining speed and altitude till they were clipping along about thirty feet off the ground and fast enough that the shore behind them was rapidly falling behind.