He turned around but saw nothing in the darkness, so instead, he closed his eyes and used his ears to identify its direction.  When he reopened them, he spotted a faint outline beneath the moonlight, a few hundred feet from the ground.

All at once, it appeared like a small bird emerging from a cover of shadows.   A white, glowing bird in the form of a Quest Kodiak high-wing utility aircraft.

Frantically, Rickards began waving his arms and yelling, immediately joined by Mona and Eshe, all waving and spreading out.

The plane banked left and angled itself straight toward them, dropping in altitude, and several moments later, buzzing over their heads as it lowered itself farther into a harrowing descent, pulling up at the last minute and bouncing upon the endless field of glass fragments.

But the plane didn’t stop.  It continued forward, forcing all three to break into a run just as the ring of energy finally converged upon the small rock house behind them.

“Run!” hollered Rickards.  “Get in!”

All three were moving as fast as they could, chasing the moving plane when its side door burst open and Angela Reed’s head appeared.

“Hurry!” she screamed over the noise of the engine.  “HURRY!”

Behind them, the small ancient structure absorbed the total concentration of light and energy, turning the stone a bright white before exploding into a prism of thousands of swirling colors.

“FASTER!” Angela continued screaming before Leonard Townsend’s head poked out beside hers.  He was yelling along with her and reaching out with one hand upon the plane’s right wing strut, stretching as far as he could while Angela wrapped her arms around his waist to secure him.

As they closed in, first went Eshe, up into Rickards’ hands as he continued running, lifting her out to reach Townsend’s outstretched hand.  He firmly gripped her and pulled the girl onto the strut’s arm and into the plane’s cabin.

Next was Mona, who reached, grasping the older man’s hand and bounding in a desperate leap onto the metal strut before losing her balance and nearly falling backward, saved by Townsend’s second hand.

A mighty thundering erupted behind them, and Joe glanced back, still running and reaching, missing Townsend’s outstretched hand not once but twice.

A rift in the ground appeared in the distance, and the plane’s engine suddenly roared, accelerating the aircraft, causing Rickards to lose his brief grip on the strut and forcing him to run harder with everything he had.

“Faster!” screamed Angela.

Rickards could see the plane pulling away, and sensing his last opportunity, he leaped with everything he had, reaching desperately for the strut, hitting it and wrapping both arms around it like a vice.