Read Invaders from the Outer Rim for Free Online Page B

mellow, with bell-like clarity.
    “We come in peace,” the captain said.
    Among the packed church congregation, selected women now rose to their feet. Lisa, Suzy, Caroline, Jennifer, Margo, Nancy, Gisele from the nail salon, and other contactees. The women seemed hypnotized, lost in a dreamy state.

    •••

    Sheriff Olsen pulled on the front doors of the church with all his strength but they were shut tighter than a bank vault. A eerie warbling sounded from inside the building followed by squeals of ecstasy—or pain. Olsen couldn’t tell which. He cursed under his breath and scrambled along the side of the building in search of a window to break. When he found one, he pulled his service revolver and banged on it with the butt of the pistol to no avail. The window was made of thick safety glass with a wire mesh. He thought about blasting a hole in it but reconsidered firing the weapon into a crowded church. He holstered his gun, and continued looking for a way in. The next two windows were just as impenetrable as the first. Coming to the fourth window, Sheriff Olsen grabbed his radio from his belt. He’d call the fire department. They’d be able to break in. But then Olsen glanced through the window, into the church. He was so shocked at what he saw, the radio dropped from his hand.

    •••

    Inside Grace Baptist Church, each of the contactee women was slowly stripping. Sunday best clothes and bridesmaids’s dresses piled up on the hardwood floor. The women then walked to stand before the altar, each as naked as the day she was born. The women displayed their alien imprints to the crowd, each showing strange pink-red welts, livid rosy tattoos, or extraterrestrial stigmata. One by one, each of the alien visitors raised a hand and pointed at a single woman, then spoke aloud.
    The pirate said: “Lisa Anderson, you are loved.”
    Kurt Cobain said: “Jennifer Waters, you are loved.”
    Prince Antonio said: “Suzy Maurer, you are loved.”
    Big Daddy Rose said: “Margo Baker, you are loved.”
    It went on until each alien had testified. It was all so crazy Erin felt like she might faint, but she was euphoric, too. Her skin tingled with excitement. Then the airline captain stood before her and stared deep into her soul.
    “Erin Tanaka,” he said.
    “Yes?” She was trembling under her veil.
    “You will be loved.”  

10

    The sudden hailstorm was the most severe ever to hit the Santa Maria Valley. Farmer Arnie Wright hid in his barn as balls of purple ice rained down from the sky. The grapefruit-sized hail destroyed Wright’s fields, completely obliterating the crop circles.
    Similar bizarre weather struck Ted Brown’s property. A tornado funnel appeared, reaching down from the sky like a dark finger made of whirling smoke. It flattened his metal shed and ripped through the barn. The damage was considerable, but the oddest thing was how accurately the tornado plucked his weird cattle up and sucked them away into the sky.  
    At Grace Baptist, Sheriff Olsen was waiting for the fire department to arrive, when glowing pink hail started pounding down. He ran and hid inside his patrol cruiser for protection against the intense storm.
    Inside the church, the hail created a terrifying racket banging on the roof. Everyone looked up as a ten-foot-wide section of roof vaporized and dazzling rainbow light shone through the gap. The wind howled across the hole, a low sound more thrilling than any church organ.
    Pastor Baker raised his hands and pronounced, “Praise the Lord! The Rapture is upon us!”
    Standing at the altar, Erin Tanaka glanced at her father. He was mesmerized. Everyone at the wedding stood frozen, gawking at unexpected nudity or otherworldly events.  
    Then a bolt from the sky struck the bride. It was a gelatinous glob of energy and it oozed over her, a pearly liquid rippling down her entire body, dissolving away her wedding dress to nothing. Erin Tanaka was completely naked, covered in a shimmering