“Just like clockwork,” Slaton muttered with a smile.
Trish expected to see some sign of an impact, a column of smoke, perhaps even a fire, but the object which plummeted to the earth disappeared.
“It must have burned out just in time,” she said.
Then she noticed a pinprick of deep sky blue on the horizon, with properties of a laser. And then she realized that the light was getting closer.
She watched mesmerized as the brilliant beam approached, growing by the second.
“My God!” she cried. “What is that?!”
“I think we’d better be quiet,” Slaton advised.
Suddenly, the object slowed and advanced stealthily over the treetops. Maybe it’s looking for the globe, Trish surmised.
By now she could see it was spherical, but not consistently. The outer surface seemed to throb and change shape,
