Chapter 39
Sand
Jack woke up the next morning with a start. During the night he had dreamed that the Nanomites had somehow gotten to LA and the city was in turmoil. Buildings were collapsing, fires raged throughout the city, and people were screaming all around him. He got up and looked outside in the dim light of dawn. The Nanomite cathedral was there looming even higher than the night before. He marveled at its beauty and how it glittered in the moonlight. How can a live-form that is capable of such imagination and creativity also be responsible for so much death and destruction? While he was thinking about this he heard an engine starting up. He looked in the direction of the noise and saw a dump trunk starting to leave with a load of his sand. He ran outside.
“Stop! You can’t take that sand,” he yelled but the truck kept on going.
He looked at the ground and saw several more tire tracks. Somebody was stealing his sand, he realized, and God only knew where they were taking it. He ran back into the trailer.
“Get up! Everybody up. Someone is stealing our sand.”
Dolly opened her eyes and sat up. “What did you say?”
“Someone is stealing the sand with the Nanomites in it.”
“Oh, my God!” she exclaimed scrambling to put on her clothes.
“How did they get past the fallen tree?” Linkh asked.
“I don’t know. They must have cut it up and moved it off the road. Shit! I have no idea where they are taking it.”
“Has anyone ever stolen your sand before?” Dolly asked.
“Yes. It’s a big problem. I would have had security out here, but I didn’t want anyone to see the cathedral.’
“What if they take it to the city?” Dolly asked.
“Then we’ll have another disaster like Death Valley Junction. In fact, I was having a nightmare before something woke me up. In it, LA was under attack.”
“Holly crap!” Dolly said. “Do you think that’s possible?”
“No. LA is a long way away, but no matter where the sand ends up, it will cause untold death and destruction. We’ve got to try to stop them.”
“Call Agent Sanders. Maybe she can get the FBI to stop the trucks.”
Jack nodded and went over to the phone. He dialed Agent Sanders’ number but the phone just rang and rang. Jack shook his head. “No luck.”
“We should go after them,” Linkh suggested. “Maybe we can stop them.”
“I doubt it. Since they are stealing the sand they won’t stop for us.”
“We’ve got to try,” Dolly said.
Jack nodded. “Okay, let’s get in the truck and go.”
They all ran to the truck and jumped in. Soon they were traveling fast along the narrow road. When they got to where the road had been blocked, they saw the trees had been pushed to the side. Ten minutes later when they got to the main highway Jack stopped.
“Which way should we got? North goes to Bishop and south to Lone Pine, Bartlett and eventually LA.”
“Did you find out who stole it last time?” Dolly asked.
“No. But we suspect it was a shady contractor out of Bartlett named Don Mason.”
“Well, that’s probably who did it this time.”
Jack nodded and took off going South. As they were driving they saw a dark sedan approaching. When they went by the car slammed on its brakes and did a U-turn. Jack wondered who was following them until he realized it was Agent Sanders. He slowed down, pulled over and got out of the car. Agent Sanders pulled up behind and opened her window.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“A dump truck just stole a load of sand inhabited by Nanomites. I don’t know where they are taking it, but we better find out and stop them.”
“Do you know where they are going?”
“No. We’re going this direction just on a hunch, but they could just as easily be going north.”
“Okay, keep going south. We’ll go north. I’ve got a radio now and an FBI helicopter on call. I’ll have them start looking too.”
“Good. In the meantime the Independence cathedral is wide-open. The trees have been cleared off the road.”
“Oh, great,” she said shaking her head. “Okay. I’ll get a roadblock set up.”
“Thanks,” Jack said and then ran back to his truck. He took off as Agent Sanders was getting on her radio.