Skywave by K Patrick Donoghue

Author:K Patrick Donoghue [Donoghue, K Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller, action adventure, first contact, space exploration, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780999761427
Publisher: Leaping Leopard Enterprises, LLC
Published: 2018-12-14T08:00:00+00:00

11: WAKING THE DEAD

Benny’s Burger Shack

Hanalei Town, Kauai

July 22, 2018

The burger shack was open as far as Amato could tell. There were no cars parked outside, but he could see ceiling fans whirring inside the dimly lit eatery. He pulled into a space toward the back of the small lot and parked the rental car. Before stepping out, he checked his phone for messages and discovered he had no cell signal. Another casualty of the recent floods, perhaps?

Above, the thick cloud cover obscured the Moon, leaving the town of Hanalei dark save for the lights of nearby shops and homes that lined the main road. As he walked toward the restaurant’s wood-planked steps, a misty rain began to fall. Around him, fronds of the lush foliage surrounding the shack rustled from a gust of ocean air.

Amato crossed his fingers, hoping Morgan was still there. After the long drive from Lihue Airport to Hanalei, Amato had run into an unexpected snag. Many of the side roads off of Kuhio Highway were closed, including the street on which Morgan resided. Barricades in front of some of the streets announced “Road Closed Due To Flood Damage.” Other roads, including Morgan’s, had orange cones blocking the entrance with posted signs that read “Residents Only.”

Risking the wrath of angry residents, Amato had climbed out of the car, moved aside the cones guarding Morgan’s street, and driven through. The road had been caked with thick, red clay and in spots the car shuddered from unavoidable potholes. In the darkness, he’d had to drive slowly in order to spot the numbered mailboxes at each driveway.

When he arrived at Morgan’s stilt-supported house, he found it dark save for a solitary light above the front door. Despite the home’s unoccupied appearance, Amato had walked up the front steps and knocked, calling out Morgan’s name a few times.

That’s when an elderly lady had appeared from the neighboring house and told Amato Morgan was still at work in Hanalei. After administering a brief interrogation as to the purpose of Amato’s visit, she gave him directions to the burger shack. She finished with stern instructions to replace the cones on his way out.

Mounting the burger shack steps, Amato peered through one of its windows and saw Morgan, spatula in hand, tending to patties on a cooktop. The restaurant door was propped open, allowing Amato to see a middle-aged couple seated at a table watching a baseball game on a television hung from the ceiling. No sound emanated from the television. Instead, a Beach Boys tune blared above the sizzle of cooking food.

As he approached a diner counter lining the breadth of the restaurant’s kitchen, Amato’s eyes focused on Morgan. It had been years since he’d seen him in person, and on that last occasion, Morgan had been a shell of the fabled astronaut known among his peers as “Skywalker.”

It was a moniker Morgan had earned for a daring spacewalk to rescue an injured crewmate during a botched Space Shuttle satellite deployment in the late 1980s.

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