Into the UFO

After Bailey made this announcement, the rest of the squad looked at him like he had just suggested they go to Mars without spacesuits.

"But sergeant, who is gonna go in first?" asked Dreyfus.

"Just as long as it ain't me, I'll be happy."

Sergeant Esser, standing beside Bailey, shot a harsh look to the speaker, Clarence McNeil. She took a deep breath, then said, "It should be a fast person, not a heavy weapon soldier, so you and Tanida are out. As for the rest of us, I guess it will have to be random. McNeil, get that monster knife of yours and cut up some or that packing cord. Eight pieces. I'll hold. Shortest piece goes in first."

"Gotcha, sergeant."

McNeil went to the back of the Skyranger, pulling out his knife. A few minutes later, he returned, and solemnly handed the cords to Esser. She put them into her clenched fist, then turned around, away from the soldiers, and fidgeted for a moment, scrambling the ropes.

First, she turned to Bailey. He bit his lip, then silently pulled piece from her fist. Four inches long. Not bad.

Silently, the procession continued, each person drawing a piece of cord. Dreyfus got a five incher, Evans got a four and a half inch piece, Bryant got a five inch piece. Christel Esser, Sergeant Esser's younger sister, came up. Both Germans exchanged a solemn nod, and the younger Esser drew a four and a half inch piece. Eventually, there was only one piece left, and everyone had drawn. This last piece was Sergeant Esser's. She opened her hand, and compared her cord to Bailey's. Hers was a fourth of an inch longer.

Bailey glanced at each soldier's face, and said, "I guess that settles it. I'm going in first, and Sergeant Esser is second." The soldiers in the Skyranger's cargo bay breathed a sigh of relief.

The Skyranger's ramp fell, and the tank rolled out into the desert. Desert, the word made Bailey shudder. The heat would rob the soldiers of their energy, and there was going to be almost no cover. His only consolation was the thought that the aliens would have no cover either.

"Bug left," the tank called in its mechanical, pre-recorded voice.

"It's mine," Dreyfus called as he jumped over the side of the ramp.

Bailey heard six laser shots fired, but didn't hear any alien screams. Over the comm, he heard Dreyfus swear under his breath. Dreyfus must have missed! Pulling rank, he spoke into his comm. "Evans, back Dreyfus up. Take that alien out now."

She responded wordlessly, dropping out of the Skyranger, and followed Dreyfus's previous path. She disappeared over the side of the ramp. Three laser shots and one alien scream later, she reported all was clear.

The X-COM soldiers flooded out of the Skyranger. Bailey heard Evans call out, "Bug behind the UFO!" Her voice was followed by three laser shots. She called, "He's still up!"

Bailey heard six more laser shots, then heard Gudrun Esser call out, "He's tough, he took two shots!" After another three laser shots, Esser called, "He's down."

Bailey stepped out of the Skyranger. The UFO was to his left, and a series of hills was straight ahead. He moved closer to the UFO's door, walking in the tank's tread marks. He knelt against the UFO's wall, about three meters from the door, with his laser pistol trained on the door.

Bailey could see one side of the battle. The X-COM soldiers were advancing in his line of sight, but they were going to be out of sight in a few seconds, blocked by the UFO. Evans moved behind the UFO, followed by Bouissou and Dreyfus. Evans called out, "Bug left - right on top of the other one!" He heard a laser shot, but no alien scream. Bailey heard an alien weapon fire twice, then saw McNeil turn his heavy cannon, aim carefully, and fire one shot. The alien screamed.

Bailey called out over the comm. "Evans, are you okay?"

She responded, but her voice was ragged. "I've been better."

"I'll be there in a minute. Somebody cover the door."

Bailey took off at a run, to where he saw Evans disappear behind the UFO. He wondered what he could do for her. X-COM soldiers didn't have field medpacks that could do any good.

He came around the corner of the UFO, and nearly tripped over Evans. Apparently, her cover had taken the shot from the alien's gun, but had fallen on top of her, pinning her face down on the hot sand. And to compound things, Evans had chosen to hide behind a cactus.

As he carefully lifted the large cactus off of Evans, Bailey gave some advice. "Next time, be more careful what you take cover behind."

Bailey didn't even stick around to hear her answer. He was off running, back to cover the UFO's door. On his way, he ordered McNeil to back him up with his heavy cannon.

Bailey rounded the corner by the UFO's door just in time to see a sectoid step out. The sectoid wasted a moment bringing up its plasma rifle, giving Bailey time to jump behind the alien ship and fire off a quick shot from his laser pistol. The other X-COM soldiers, hearing the shot, opened up on the hapless sectoid.

Bailey looked around the corner to see the sectoid still standing there, bringing up its weapon to fire at Christel Esser. The X-COM soldiers were so far away, their merciless storm of gunfire hadn't hit the alien. But Bailey was less than five meters away, and the alien was distracted.

A moment later, the sectoid lay on the ground, a burn from Bailey's pistol in its side. Bailey took up his former position, flanking the UFO's door, just as the X-COM soldiers reported the area clear.

Bailey knew he had to be first through the door, but he waited until he had backup. As the other X-COM soldiers were getting situated near the door, it opened, and a gray sectoid emerged, carrying a huge plasma weapon, pointed at McNeil.

Bailey was ready, his pistol already aimed. The pistol's laser bolt split the sectoid's skull, superheating the brain tissue inside. With the hiss of boiling flesh, the alien corpse collapsed to its knees, then crumpled into a heap just outside the UFO's door.

For the next minute or so, the X-COM soldiers waited, their weapons trained on the door, not wanting to go in. Bailey knew the aliens inside weren't going to do something dumb like walk out into the weapons of ten of earth's finest. Earth's finest were going to have to go in.

Priming a grenade, Bailey clipped it to his leg, then stood up and stepped toward the door. It didn't open. He stood there, dumbstruck. He looked for an activation panel. There wasn't one.

The comm in his suit clicked on. McNeil's voice said, "Try hitting it. Look for some kind of hidden switch."

Crouching back, Bailey began hitting the UFO, all around the door. Nothing. Either the door wouldn't open from the outside, or it couldn't be opened by humans. Or they were overlooking something extremely obvious.

For the next few minutes, the X-COM soldiers stared at the UFO, trying everything they could think of.

"Try backing through it," suggested Dreyfus.

"Put your weapon down." Sergeant Esser's voice.

"Tap it gently." Shigeo Tanida's idea.

Evans said, "Try your nigit."

Bailey grinned. "I thought we agreed that neither one of us had one of those."

Bailey was fed up. He couldn't think of anything else to do, so he closed his eyes and walked straght into the door.

But to his surprise, the door wasn't there. It had opened, and he had stepped into the UFO. If he hadn't opened his eyes, he probably would have crashed right into the sectoid that was now standing right in front of him, not more than a meter away.

The sectoid was probably just as surprised as Bailey was. Both alien and human raised their pistols, and fired three times. The sectoid fell with a scream.

Bailey looked down, to make sure he was all there. Beneath him, the alloy floor of the UFO had turned a dark brown, where the alien's three shots had hit.

Back at the base, Bailey went to the storage area to retry the lift below the UFO recovered on his first mission. To his surprise, the computer said that it had been cut apart by the scientists and examined. He would have to test his theory in the field, under fire.

Back at the Skyranger, Bailey helped unload the alien artifacts. He carried weapons, metal plates, navigation computers, and bodies to the storage area. He went up the ramp, into the empty Skyranger. Only McNeil was there.

"Is that everything?" he asked.

"Almost," responded McNeil.

"What else is there? The plane looks empty."

McNeil walked toward the Skyranger's landing ramp, but stopped just at its edge. He turned to his right, and put six more scratches in the plane's metal wall. Turning and grinning at McNeil, he said, "Humans: 9, Aliens: 0."