Read Online The Hole by William Meikle - Free Book Online

around long enough to make too much of an impact on the grand scheme of things. But some of my atoms will be around long enough to be there at the death of our own star. I rather like that idea.”
    Bill was quiet for a long time.
    “Do you think there’s anyone else out there?” he said.
    “If there is, I doubt they’re anything like us. Evolution happens through a process of species adapting to ecological niches, and ecology is too highly determined by place. Our planet’s ecosystem is highly adapted to living eighty or so million miles away from a yellow sun, with a captive, close moon. There won’t be that many others just like us…but I’m sure there’s other life out there somewhere. The universe is too big to be empty.”
    “But that’s something you take on faith?” Bill asked.
    It was her turn to laugh.
    “I suppose it is.”
    It’s faith based on a good scientific guess. But that’s a discussion for another night.
    She felt a chill as a breeze got up. She didn’t feel tired, despite the long day. Years of medical training meant she was well used to pulling all-nighters, something doctors shared with cops. She held tight to Bill’s arm, and hoped their differing views on faith were not going to grow into a problem.
    She was still mulling that over when she felt the squad car tremble beneath them, and heard a distant, but distinct, hum. Her headache kicked in again, and there was fresh blood at her nostrils. It wasn’t an outpouring like the gush that had hit her back in her home; the bleed was little more than a dribble. But the headache was much worse, like a vise had been clamped on her skull and tightened until the bone was close to cracking.
    “We should go,” Bill said, his voice seeming to come from a great distance. Janet didn’t answer. Her gaze was fixed on Hopman’s Hollow. At first she only thought she’d seen movement there, the barest hint of something flickering. Then it got brighter, and more persistent.
    A pulsing blue light rose out of the hole. It grew brighter still until it threw harsh shadows over the whole area. Something rose out of the deep and lifted into the air, hovering above them, a steely-blue saucer that hummed and throbbed before departing up, fast as a blink, into the blackness of the stars. They watched it go until its light was too faint to distinguish among the stars.
    A voice whispered at her ear.
    Do you think there’s anyone else out there?
    She turned to see who had spoken. There was no one there. There was just the wind in the trees, and darkness at the side of the road.
    “What is going on here?” Bill said.
    Janet didn’t have an answer.
    * * *
    She was still trying to process what had happened when the squad car radio squawked into action seconds later. Young Watts was on the other end, and he sounded terrified.
    “Sheriff? You’d best get back to town. We’ve got a big problem around the trailer park.”
    “What kind of problem?”
    “Best you see for yourself. But hurry.”
    Janet got into the passenger seat without being asked. Bill spun the car into a screeching turn and pointed it back at town. Even from here on the farthest outskirts it was clear there was indeed a real problem. Half the town sat in darkness, the shadowed area pockmarked with the red flare and flicker of flames. Something exploded, with the crump of the bang reaching them a second later. A pall of gray smoke rose before getting lost in the blackness of the night.
    Are we under some kind of attack?
    Bill didn’t hesitate. He sped along the highway and took the first possible turn-off towards the affected area, throwing the car into the corner so much that the back end started to drift, and he only just managed to hold them on the road.
    “Steady on, Bill. The town’s not going anywhere.”
    “I’m not so sure about that.”
    They only got fifty more yards before he had to screech to a halt. There was no road ahead of them, just a gaping hole. The headlights showed