waving a revolver around in the hallway.
The questioning took a couple of hours, and Bob was glad of his naval training. It helped him keep his cool as he answered as best as he could. A doctor had entered the room by this stage, and he felt the indignity of a full medical examination. A marker pen was even used to highlight the indentations on his skin, before he was thoroughly photographed.
Then another man appeared, dressed in a tweed jacket and matching flannels. He was grey and balding, with small steel rimmed spectacles perched on the end of his nose. He appeared to be some sort of psychiatrist, but instead of asking Bob more questions, he immediately started to try and hypnotise him. Bob tried to resist, but the man was very good, and he soon had him under his control. Before long, he felt himself drifting back to Thursday evening where he found himself standing on the moor...
Bob could feel every sensation, as if he was living the moment for the first time. The sounds and smells were so clear, but not as clear as the vivid light which seemed to engulf him. It was incredibly bright, and before he knew what was happening, the power of the light began to numb his senses. It was so intense that it began to make him feel light headed. It was so powerful in fact, that he felt his whole body being lifted up slowly by what felt like a beam of energy. Everything seemed to happen so quickly, that before he could make any sense of it, the intensity of the beam made him pass out.
When Bob regained a little of his senses, he found himself lying almost naked on what appeared to be a type of operating table, as more bright lights shone down upon him. It was difficult to make anything out, although there did appear to be some shadowy figures in the distance. It was hard for him to focus, and when he did, he was shocked by what he saw.
The figures seemed to have grey skin, and as they slowly approached, Bob realised that they were not human in appearance, but instead resembled typical looking Extra Terrestrials!
Bob had watched several science fiction films over the years, but he never imagined for one moment that he would actually encounter creatures from another world.
Everything seemed so unreal, and yet there was no mistaking the little creatures with big dark hypnotic looking eyes. One of them was holding a metallic instrument in its hand, which he could see had only three fingers and a thumb. He felt absolutely terrified and although he tried to move, his body failed to respond.
The creature continued to get closer, and then as Bob watched in horror, it lent forward and jabbed him in the arm.
Bob felt the instrument penetrate his skin, and could do nothing as the alien removed some sort of a sample. The others looked on as the alien continued with the procedure, taking other samples from various parts of his body.
Whatever they had done to him Bob appeared to be paralysed, and despite his mental struggle, his body still refused to move in any way at all. It seemed as though his eyes were the only thing working, and they continued to look on in horror at what was being done to him. Then as he began to fear for the worst, the alien began to back away and rejoin the others.
Bob concentrated his mind on his naval training, and despite everything that was going on, he regained a little calm. It reminded him of a live fire exercise he had once been involved in. There had been an accident, and he had received a blow to the head which had temporarily knocked him unconscious. He tried to think of the craft that he was on as a naval vessel, and was just as determined as he had been on that occasion to getting back on to his feet.
Fortunately, the aliens seemed to have taken what they were after, and left him alone in the room for a few moments. Bob tried to relax, and as he did so he could feel his body coming back to life. It was as though the calmer he became the more his body began to responded, and he was soon able to move it a little.
Bob shuffled to the edge of the operating table, and as he did so, he managed to swing his legs over the side. His whole body suddenly jerked upwards, as his feet slapped against the smooth floor. He then attempted to stand, and nearly fell forward as he managed to stagger to his feet. The floor was quite warm and smooth like plastic, which was just as well as they had already removed most of his clothing. He noticed several pieces of complicated looking equipment, and slowly moved closer towards them.
Bob must have been left on his own for quite some time, as he was able to study them in greater detail, trying to work out what they were used for, and how they all fitted together. He suspected that some of it was part of an advanced transportation system, and began to poke about with it until he heard movement outside. He quickly jumped back onto the operating table, just as the beings re-entered the room.
Within a few minutes they had him back under sedation, and the next thing that he remembered were the lights of Heather’s patrol car racing towards him. Bob awoke screaming, as the patrol car came screeching to a halt right in front of him…
He was sweating and felt very uncomfortable as the man in the tweed jacket left, just as abruptly as he had arrived. The doctor checked him thoroughly again, before giving him something to drink. The man in the suit remained silent as he continued to make notes, supervising the interrogation.
Bob took his time, trying to compose himself, as he started getting dressed. Just as he was pulling on his trusty roll neck sweater a small team of people arrived. He looked for Heather and Reggie, as he was getting increasingly worried about them, but they were nowhere to be seen.
What followed next was an uneasy meeting as they huddled in a corner whispering. Bob still wondered what was going on, when the man in the suit produced his revolver. He moved over, pointing it at him again.
"You will assist in the reconstruction of the Temporal Distortion Unit!"
Bob looked at him in disbelief.
"The Temporal what?"
The unit sat in an adjoining room, guarded by another soldier. He stood to attention as the man in the suit approached, whispering his orders, as the soldier nodded.
Bob could not believe his eyes when he entered the room, for in the centre stood a series of metallic rings suspended from a large steel frame. It almost looked like a giant piece of meccano, and it really was a bizarre looking thing.
Bob gazed at the multitude of cables and flashing lights following them up towards the ornate ceiling, painted in a neo-classical style. He was so busy looking up, that he overlooked the armed soldier in the corner. He felt a dig in the ribs, as one of the team drew his attention.
"Don't worry; things aren't quite as bad as they seem,”
Bob looked down at the squat figure, still feeling a bit disorientated by the hypnosis.
"Simon Jeffers!"
He held out his hand. Bob was about to shake it when the man in the pinstripe suit made his way to the centre of the room.
"Could I have your attention, please?"
Everyone froze, waiting for his announcement.
"As you are aware, there have been a whole series of abductions that have been carried out in this area over the past couple of years. Today we're fortunate in having someone with us, who may finally be able to help us solve this enigma!"
He introduced Bob to the team, who greeted him warmly.
"He's a former Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy, and an electronics man!"
There was a small ripple of applause as Bob looked on, not quite knowing what to do.
"I'm sorry about the revolver, but you can't be too careful!"
Bob felt a lot more relieved now, although he was still a little worried by all of the guns. It was a bit intimidating to say the least, although once Simon started to give him a small tour of the bits of equipment that they had recovered and the various bits of back engineering that they were undertaking, he started to relax.
Most of it looked as though it had been in a crash and was either dented or charred. There was a vague similarity between them and aircraft components, although they were made out of very unearthly materials. Amongst the devices were several familiar looking items, and as things started coming back to him, Bob found
himself fiddling with one of them. He was now on automatic pilot, still not fully adjusted from the hypnosis.
There was silence as he pushed buttons and turned knobs on a huge machine at the side of the room, bringing it to life. They had brought in his toolboxes, and Bob reached for his trusty soldering iron. He was totally blinkered to everything now, apart from the device.
Puffs of smoke rose filling the air with that unmistakable smell of flux, as he worked his way through the mass of cabling protruding from the back. He was attempting to connect everything together, whilst the others watched him at work.
The clock on the wall busily wound its way round, as he continued to work. For the first time he felt that he could start to come to terms with it all, finding the soldering very therapeutic.
The team looked on, hoping that he could finally make the breakthrough that they had been striving for. Although they understood the main principles involved, they lacked the knowledge of how to put it all together.
Bob bent over what looked a bit like a radar screen, with lots of knobs and buttons housed in its shiny metallic casing. Everyone stood there motionless, as he connected the final piece. The unit then started to pulsate, as he set the controls from memory.
The man in the suit was now back on his mobile telephone, and had been for some time, passing his observation on to the person at the other end. Some of the