"Yep, it’s definitely human remains."; Ralph the Medical Examiner stated nonchalantly.

     "Are you sure Doc? What could have done that much damage? A truck, train or wild animal?"; Asked the nauseous deputy.

Even his many years in the Sheriff’s Department hadn’t prepared him for a gruesome sight like the one before them. 

     "I can’t even begin to speculate what did this until we get ‘him’ to the morgue for examination."

"So it’s definately a ‘him’ then?"; Asked the deputy.

"Right now I can’t even tell that but at least the corpse is fresh." "I’ll say."; 

Agreed Phil while holding his nose.His criteria for ‘fresh’ was quite different. 

      The next afternoon at the autopsy Ralph began to perform the examination. Normally he was unaffected by the morbid nature of his profession but this time when he realized what the cause of death was he dropped his ham and tomato sandwich. He picked up the phone and desperately dialed the Sheriff’s department. 

       "This is Ralph down at the Morgue, you’d better get the Sheriff down here as soon as possible!"; He told the switchboard operator breathlessly. 

Meanwhile the Sheriff’s office had been conducting an investigation at the crime scene and had discovered some very disturbing facts. The first of which was a significant level of radiation around the crime scene near the lake. The second and most useful piece of evidence was trail of strange reptile-like inhuman prints leading down to the water; and lastly a very curious item of interest. A large, perfectly formed oblong crystal was found in some cattail reeds at the water’s edge. whether the crystal had anything to do with their investigation was anyone’s guess but it hadn’t grown there in the weeds so it was tagged and photographed as possible evidence. 

      The Sheriff was too levelheaded to believe that some alligator had been mutated by toxic waste dumped into the lake, as some amateur sleuths might have after seeing countless ‘B’ grade horror movies but the thin evidence gathered so far did seem to point to such a bizarre conclusion! The only thing on Sheriff John Wright’s mind at the time was lunch. When he heard the dispatcher calling him on his car’s radio he knew he was in for another missed meal. He responded to the Coroner’s request with all the usual police jargon and was on his way. Sheriff Wright knew the importance of Forensic Sciences to Police investigations but he preferred to learn Ralph’s conclusions to the autopsy examinations from the comfort of his brown leather office chair; or as far from the Morgue as possible! He also knew that Ralph Gentry recognized his intense dislike of the autopsy tables and basins, phylobotomy tools, drawers and the cold lifeless occupants of them. 
Since he had been summoned despite their unspoken agreement of ‘live and let live’; The Sheriff knew it had to be very important. 

     "I came as soon as I could Ralph, what have you found out?"

    "Prepare yourself John, I need to show you this in person because if I had tried to tell you over the phone you wouldn’t have believed me." 

        The Sheriff thought he could handle whatever nightmarish things Ralph had to show him since he had nothing in his stomach to lose but he was WRONG. With one swift jerk Ralph removed the sheet to expose the unrecognizable human remains on the table. It was the most brutally mutilated cadaver he had ever encountered and he felt dry heaves make his stomach contract involuntarily.Ralph spoke and distracted his nausea. 
        
          "Do you see anything unusual about the corpse besides its state of mutilation?"

      "Jeez---Ralph! Did you have to mangle the body so much?"

        "Oh, I forgot. You haven’t seen the body yet have you? I’ve yet to even stick my scalpel in ‘John Doe’. He was this way when your men found him last night." 

Before the Sheriff could interject Ralph continued explaining. 

        "See the esophagus and imploded pelvic region and abdomen?"

        "Yes." 

      The Sheriff slowly replied as he forced himself to look at the monstrosity before them. He attempted to comprehend what the Coroner was trying to tell him. After a few moments for the information to ‘sink in’ Ralph further explained.

        "I don’t have any idea how this could have happened but..... despite its seemingly impossibleness; this man... has been literally turned inside out of his body!"

        "How can that be... no human could do th..." Ralph interrupted.
        "I don’t know HOW; that’s your job! I’m just informing you of the facts. For lack of a better description; something has reached down this man’s throat and gathered up his insides and midsection and pulled them outward while reversing his flesh like a shirt turned inside out and discarded by its owner." 

Sensing the Sheriff’s next question Ralph answered;

        "Yes it was a man. I found his genitals inside his body where his stomach should have been. Here is his stomach. It’s in almost perfect condition except for the fact that it is on the outside of his body."

         Ralph had known John’s logical mind too long. Again sensing the next question he responded. 

        "I can’t identify him by his teeth because they were pulverized by whatever rammed its way down his throat but his fingertips were still intact so I made his prints for your men to run through the computer."

The Sheriff’s walkie talkie unit paged him. 

        "Come in Sheriff Wright!"

He reached down and unfastened it from his belt. 

        "This is the Sheriff, come in." He dreaded hearing more bad news but knew it was coming. 
        "We’ve found more of ‘em."; Stated the deputy somberly. 
        "How many more?"; He reluctantly asked.

    There was no misunderstanding what he meant. 
         "Looks like two more severely mangled bodies so far, sir. Another body is missing but we have found a blood trail."
         "What’s the 10-20 this time?"; He requested. 
         "About 1 3/4 miles farther North of the first body on Holcomb Bridge road." 

        The Sheriff pictured the area in his mind and informed the deputy that he would be there ‘right away’ and then signaled ‘over and out’. Once again the crime scene was left with radioactive traces and the bodies were horribly mutilated beyond recognition. Several detectives were already on the scene where the Sheriff arrived. He was debriefed by one of his men on the situation and led to the bodies.

       "Looks like the same ‘m.o.’ as the first victim."; He said sadly.

Now the previous murder could no longer be treated like an isolated incident and the news media would be putting further unneeded pressure on the department to catch the killer or killers and ease the unrest which they were responsible for stirring up in the first place. No one wanted the guilty to be caught more than him but the non-stop complaint calls would only hinder the progress of their investigation.

       "Has anyone been able to determine the identities of the bodies yet?"; He asked his chief detective. 
       "Yes sir; they were a family from out of town camping here at the lake on vacation. Mr. and Mrs. James; Frank: 51 and Sherry; age 49. Their 15 year old daughter Regina is still missing but presumed dead based on signs of a mortal struggle and massive blood loss leading down to the lake. The attack started here with the suspect."

Both men stepped over the yellow police tape. 

      "From this point on only the suspects strange, er... ‘footprints’ are visible while her heel marks are dragged as if she was already unconscious or dead. We already have a search team combing the woods for her... ah... body."

      "Good work. Was there any crystals or other unusual objects found in or around here at the crime scene?"

      "Crystals, sir?"

      "Yes, like the one found at the other crime scene." 
      "Do you really think that has anything to do with this, sir? 
      "Well, I wouldn’t rule anything out until we know otherwise. After all, it could be our only concrete lead even as thin as it may seem now. If we discover more crystals at this crime scene too It would appear more than a coincidence. Oh, and Johnson..... Get a haircut! We’re trying to convey an image of honesty in this department. How can the town’s people trust you if they can’t even see your face?"
       "Yes sir, as soon as I get off duty."; Replied Johnson reluctantly. 
       "Go now son, your work is done here for today." 

45 minutes later three crystals were found a few feet apart in the bushes by the lake’s shore. Now the crystal connection had went from a far fetched theory to a near probability in John Wright’s mind. 

      "What kind of maniac would senselessly mutilate innocent people and leave crystals as a ‘calling card?’"; He wondered. 
     "If the press gets hold of this the headlines will be calling him ‘the crystal killer’ or something similar."

       Those thoughts plagued him through his much needed supper and into the night. It had been an extremely long and frustrating day for him. The next day when the relatives of Cindy Weeks filed a missing person’s report the Sheriff took down the information personally and followed up on it. She had been last seen in an area about 3 miles from the last crime scene on a nature trail. While she was 19 years old and legally able to come and go as she pleased, her parents stated emphatically that she was very responsible and would have phoned if she had made plans to spend the night elsewhere. 

Normally after hearing such a typical ‘angelic’ description from parents with distorted views of their missing child’s responsibleness he would have told them there wasn’t much he could do. However since she disappeared from the same basic area where the murders occurred, he knew he had to follow up on it. He and the rest of the search team combed the nature trail where she was last known to have been. Signs of a struggle, a long blood trail, another oblong crystal and a small berry basket identified as hers all seemed to point to the worst. Fortunately no body was found so there was still a minor chance left for her and the other missing girl. All they could hope for was that she had escaped the ‘crystal maniac’ with only minor injuries and would soon turn up. 

   Sheriff Wright’s next course of action was to check back with Ralph at the Morgue concerning the 2 new bodies. As he expected, they had met with the same fate as the first unidentified victim. Ralph could offer little new information since he had so little to work with so the Sheriff encouraged him to ‘keep at it’. As if he didn’t have enough to worry about, a large mob of reporters and cameramen surrounded him before he could reach his car. They were all shouting and trying to get a statement from him. He gave the standard, "I can offer no information at this time until the investigation is complete." brush off and then after relaxing a bit added;

          "My men are working around the clock to put an end to this case so we can all rest easier. Remember, I’m personally involved because I live here too. I promise to make an official statement as soon as I can." 

With that he managed to make it to his car and he roared off in a cloud of dust. Later that night John Wright was roused from his fitful sleep by the phone ringing. His wife Marie sat up in bed and turned on the lamp. 

       "It’s 3:30! Who would be calling at this hour?" He answered the phone and after listening to the caller said; 

       "Yes Shelia; I know you wouldn’t bother me if it wasn’t important.... What is it?" 

Marie Wright said exasperatedly; 

        "For heaven’s sake! Don’t they know that you have to sleep some time?" 
He silently waved for her to be quiet. 

        "I’ll be right there." Marie interrupted; "Can’t this wait ‘til morning?" 

John attempted to explain the importance of the situation.

        "Shelia said there have been strange lights reported at the lake tonight. It may have something to do with the murders and we can’t afford to overlook it." 

As the Sheriff drove down the lonely dirt road that led to the lake he called for assistance of the 2 deputies out on night patrol. He was answered by Phil; the deputy who had found the first body and Johnson. The 3 men each carried a flashlight and a gun as they circled the lake’s nature trail. After 20 minutes they were beginning to think the reported ‘strange blue lights’ were the results of someone having ‘a few too many’ until they witnessed them for themselves. 
    They stood in absolute awe as what could only be described as a spaceship materialized at the edge of the lake! The side of the ship opened up and 4 beings came out into the cool night air. The two in the middle they recognized as the missing 2 young ladies but the other 2 were definitely not human!
     The men were unable to move from the intense excitement they felt but oddly enough didn’t feel as if they were in any danger. In an indeterminate amount of time one of the aliens spoke.

         "Are you the one called Sheriff Wright?" 

The shock of the situation prevented him from immediately responding. It wasn’t everyday he was addressed by aliens! The same alien asked if the question had been improperly phrased and then the Sheriff finally managed to ‘choke out’ the correct response. Then the other alien stepped forward and stated; 

         "We regretfully must inform you that our immature offspring is responsible for the termination of three of your species. We are in the final stages of cloning them from cell samples left on his pods. They will be mature in a short while and will be turned over to you at that time. 
    On the planet where our species lives a wild but extremely docile creature roams the wetlands and recedes into itself in fear when it is approached, very much like your turtle. To coax them out for amusement our immature offspring leave a feeding crystal near their nest as incentive for them and when they retract back into themselves our offspring reach down their shell and pull them ‘right side out’.Our offspring assumed your species were also shy and thus required identical coaxing."

     After the explanation for the ‘feeding crystals’ was given the Sheriff looked at Johnson and grinned slightly. His earlier deduction about it having relevance to the situation had baffled the deputy. Now they both knew that he was basically correct even though neither of them had any idea it was for human ‘bait’! By that time the Sheriff had gained enough confidence to ask the aliens if the clones would be the same as their original counterparts had been. 

             "Yes, they will be identical in every way with the exception of the fact that they will have no memory of their original counterparts had acquired before they expired because human DNA does not hold human memories or learned knowledge. We are programming them with basic human knowledge that we have learned while studying your species but you will have to reprogram them with other essential knowledge for their survival." 

The other alien apologized for the reprogramming inconvenience in an emotionless tone. 

               "What about them? Are they... ah... clones too?"; The sheriff asked as he pointed to the previously missing girls. 
              "They are as they were before. We found them before they expired and repaired the tissue damage so there was no permanent damage to them." 

Stated the more talkative alien. At that time the clones of the three victims appeared alongside the aliens and the 2 girls. After a short pause the ‘talkative’ alien concluded;

                 "Ours is a peaceful race which has laws which forbid any interference with the existence to any alien species which we study so we must express our apologies for the harm we have inadvertently caused to your species. We hope there will be no ill will between our two races."

                  "Our study is complete so we will be leaving your planet now."; Added the other one.

                  "Will there be others like you conducting studies of our planet?"; The Sheriff asked nervously. 

                  "We will be checking this planet’s evolutionary progress in about 273 Earth years."; Replied the talkative one.

That greatly relieved the Sheriff’s mind because he didn’t think he could handle another case of an ‘immature alien’ accidentally mutilating any more people in his county! He was sure he would have his hands full trying to invent an explanation for the media for the ones that already had been. Both alien’s made an unfamiliar but obvious salutation and returned to their ship. An instant later the ship’s thrusters gently lifted it 3 or 4 stories off the surface of the lake and in a ‘blink of an eye’ it was gone. 
    Both Phil and Johnson snapped out of their trance like state and simultaneously expressed their amazement.

              "Sir, what shall we do about this?"; Exclaimed Phil. "Well, they’re definitely out of our jurisdiction now and besides, we would need something a hell of a lot faster than a patrol car to catch ‘em anyway!"; He joked. 
               "Seriously though sir, I almost don’t believe what I just saw with my own eyes and I know that no one else will believe our reports!"; Added Johnson.
               "Well, here are 5 other people who just witnessed what we just did; Johnson. I want everyone present to keep what we all just witnessed to ourselves or they will put us in an insane asylum! You just leave the reports and explanation to me! Oh, and Johnson.... Next time get a REAL haircut!" 
 
 

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