The dying sun hung low in the prairie sky as Jennifer pedaled down the long dirt road toward home. Her legs ached with fatigue after a long day at the one-room schoolhouse, but her thoughts drifted elsewhere.
Something strange had been plaguing her dreams the past few nights - vivid visions of strange landscapes and glittering cities unlike any she had seen before. Their alien spires seemed to call out to her from some unknowable distance.
Lost in thought, she almost didn't notice the peculiar glint in a nearby field. Braking with a squeal, Jennifer shaded her eyes against the fading light. There, half-hidden in the tall grass, was an object unlike anything that belonged on this quiet Nebraska farmstead.
Jennifer jumped off her bike and crept closer on foot, instincts screaming that this was no ordinary discovery. The object came into clearer focus - an ovoid craft perhaps ten feet wide, with angular panels of an unfamiliar metal.
As she circled it, Jennifer noticed strange inscriptions glowing faintly along its hull. Words in a language she could not comprehend. Yet the craft gave no other signs of life.
Peering inside, her breath fogged the glass of what seemed to be some kind of viewport or control panel. Strange screens and instruments were arranged within, their purpose unknown.
A shiver ran down Jennifer's spine. Who or what had piloted this ship to land here? And where were they now?
Darkness fell swiftly on the plains at this time of year. Jennifer knew she should head home before night descended completely. Yet something held her rooted to the spot, drawn to this enigma against her better judgment.
A creak of metal startled her - had the ship moved, or was it a trick of the fading light? Heart pounding, Jennifer scanned the craft and surroundings, seeing and hearing nothing more.
Still, an irrational fear took hold that if she left now, the ship and its mysteries might vanish by morning as if it had never been. Or worse, she feared what unknown entities might emerge from the vessel under cover of darkness, out here where no one would hear her cries for help.
Jennifer knew she must make a choice - follow her head, or her heart that ached for answers to the questions suddenly tearing at her soul. Her fingers, as if with a will of their own, traced a shape upon the cold metal...