by Dave Hazel
“I just want my life back, Sir. If I had committed a crime, that’s one thing. Please Sir, understand, I’m not trying to be disrespectful but I am so frustrated. Everything that happened to us wasn’t our choice and I feel like I’m being punished for trying to survive. I’m tired of having people beg me, with tears streaming down their face, asking what happened to their loved one. I can’t say a damn word or else I get into trouble. I’m getting mail by the truck load,” he exaggerated. “Letters from friends and families asking me to secretly tell them what happened. They promise me that they won’t say anything. Some of which even offered to pay me money to tell them what happened to their loved one,” he paused and tears filled his eyes. “They’re so desperate that they would pay me to tell them if their son is dead or alive. I can’t go off the base unless I have escorts, police escorts. Not to protect me but to watch and listen to everything I say. When I take a shower, I’m not alone. They even had to post LE’s, that’s Law Enforcement, around my home here on base cuz people are always coming to my home and it’s scaring my wife and kids. And I’m not even living there with them right now. I’m in protected quarters,” he said with air quotes and slightly rolled his eyes.
“You people have proved that I’m not lying. You know none of the others are lying. I just want my normal life back. I just want to go back to work and do my job. Most importantly, most importantly,” he repeated with deep conviction. “I wanna share the truth about what happened with the others. I know for a fact that certain people are dead and I wanna be able to give those families closure. I can’t imagine what some of those families are going through. Then there are the local reporters who know something is going on. They keep offering me big money to ‘interview’ me,” he laughed using air quotation marks. “One of them has called it ‘The Great Minot Air Force Base Mystery Cover Up’ and they don’t have a clue what they’re fishing for because there have been so many rumors spread no one knows what anyone is talking about. I feel like a damn liar because I know the truth and I’m not allowed to say anything. That’s what is pissing me off.
“And every night I’m having nightmares. I see all the damn dead people. I’m being visited by dead friends, I mean in my dreams,” he quickly clarified. “I am constantly being chased in my dreams and fighting for my life. I feel like I’m going crazy at times. Yet I have to keep my mouth shut. The others are going through similar stuff, and it seems like no one gives a shit. I’m sorry, I mean it seems like no one cares.”
Towbar reached over with his large hand and placed it on his friend’s shoulder. Without speaking the giant wanted to reassure him that he was there for him.
“We appreciate your candor Sergeant Graves,” Solley said. He nodded and it put everyone at ease. If the General could tolerate his outburst, they should just let it alone.
William sighed and he rolled his eyes. Mykal dodged a bullet.
“Here’s another thing,” he turned to Towbar. “We have to hide Towbar and pretend as if he doesn’t exist. He doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to go home and trying to work on that is impossible for him.”
“What could be done to help Towbar find his way back to his world?” Solley asked.
“We’re not really sure,” Mykal replied and wished he didn’t say anything. He and the giant had secretly discussed working on ways to try to re-create the green fog. They were not one step closer than when they first arrived. They would require contact with Nidious the Magician from Towbar’s world, through Towbar’s magic Mind Talk. “One thing that may help is allowing us to go back to the area where we re-appeared, where the green fog brought us, and see if there are any clues that may help.”
“Mykal, take a seat,” Lieutenant General Solley said and moved to the center of the room. “You will be glad to hear this. I would like to take this time to make the announcement that we will be going public with this story,” he paused, and waited for the quick rumble of murmurs to dissipate. “The primary purpose for the presence of journalists today was to get them up and running on all the details. By this time tomorrow, the world will know what really happened on June 23rd through July 29th. I expect within the next couple of weeks the names of Mykal and Towbar will become household names.” Solley smiled to Mykal. “What do you think of that Sergeant Graves?”
“I think that’s great Sir,” Mykal exclaimed joyfully. Mykal believed his life would finally get back to normal. “That just made my day,” he said with a crack in his voice. “Referring to loved ones who had been kept in the dark and don’t know what happened to their lost family members.”
“Are you up to speaking to any of the families of your close friends?” Lieutenant General Solley asked.
“Yes Sir.”
“Captain Roberts will accompany you. We have flown in several Chaplains from the USAF Chaplain Corps to help with such a large task. I will give you free reign to notify the next of kin provided you strictly adhere to the policies and the instructions of the Chaplain Corps. They will gladly use your help.”
“General Solley, what is the game plan for us?” Dale Rowe asked while writing busily in his notepad.
“You four have been brought on board and will have the exclusive on any info, provided sensitive information is not released to the public. While you four are getting up to speed, we will have the Air Force Public Relations office brief you on the ‘dos and don’ts’. Some information will have to remain classified. We want the truth to be shared,” he said and with a slight wave of his hand he included a small group of Generals and Colonels behind him. “I trust your co-operation can be relied on for the exclusive access on all the information available that will bear proof to everything that has been shared. My desire is for us to work together on this. I expect this story to be front page on every paper in the morning. This story will dominate every news outlet, the morning shows on both television and radio for some time. The buzz of this story will go all around the world. We just need to be careful with certain information.”
“Yes Sir,” Dale Rowe said and continued writing.
“You four will be extremely busy getting up to speed and I know your competition will be chomping at your heels. But if you are fair and carefully guard sensitive information, you four will have an all-access pass to what has been presented before you. Until you are up to total speed it will be a very fluid story and it will be incumbent on you four to keep the lead on potential rivals.”
“Yes Sir,” Dale replied without looking up from his notepad. “I know I speak for all of us when I say we are very appreciative,” he added and the other three spoke their thanks. “Does that also allow interviews with all returnees including Mister Towbar?”
“Yes. Sergeant Graves, I would like a word with you when we’re finished here. Privately that is,” Solley said when William’s face lit up with an eager smile. Solley looked over to a Major who awaited Solley’s signal to conclude the briefing.
Without obvious notice the Major stepped forward. “This will conclude the current briefing. For further instructions and further briefings contact your assigned liaison officer. Room, ten-hut,” he bellowed, calling everyone to attention so Lieutenant General Solley and the other Generals could depart first with proper respect given to their rank.
After the high ranking brass vacated the small auditorium, the silent room turned into a blur of chaos. The reporters joined their liaison officers to be fed all the pertinent facts and information related to the unusual story. Mountains of information had just been avalanched on them and they were expected to be prepared for the morning or they would be left behind.
Mykal and Towbar were swarmed by many people who bombarded them with many rapid-fire questions. Everyone tried to get a piece of them knowing they were participating in an event that would go down in history and in the immediate future there would be a blitz of fame and notoriety. They wanted to be able to share in their claim to fame. Enthusiastic officers stopped just short of asking for autographs from the junior NCO.
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“Sergeant Graves will return to answer your questions shortly,” William stepped in and grabbed Mykal by the arm. “General Solley will address this gathering later. Another briefing is scheduled in this auditorium at 1530 hours,” William said while he glanced at his watch. “For civilians present that will be 3:30 pm. Towbar will answer your questions. Please, ask in an orderly fashion. This activity is new to Towbar.”
The Major stepped closer to Towbar while William ushered Mykal away. “The briefing at 1530 hours that Captain Roberts spoke of will primarily cover the dissemination of all gathered information. I would highly advise all to return at that time. Remember, the information is still classified SCI, as pointed out earlier, that is one step above Top Secret. No one here would be irresponsible in their protection of Top Secret information, so you must be just as protective with all the information regarding Towbar’s world.”
“Be careful not to get Towbar angry,” Mykal joked while exiting the room. Mykal felt extremely happy. He knew his life would soon change. He would be reunited with his family, for real this time. The burden of withholding information from families of the lost would soon be removed. Being able to share the truth with ‘families left in the dark’ was his top priority. Though he would be sharing heart breaking and devastating news, he would be able to answer questions that would allow families to have closure.
“I must tell you Myk, you take far too many chances,” William said while they entered the hall way. “Colonel Parker looked a little perturbed at a couple of your remarks. I thought our heads were going to roll.”
“Well, to tell you the truth, right then, I just didn’t care anymore. I was at a breaking point,” Mykal said quietly as they neared some officers. “Thankfully it turned out the way it did. Now I’ll have a change of attitude since we can go public with the truth. I wanna see about getting out of the Air Force. But I have a little more than three years till I’m done.”
“What would you do? Why would you want to leave and become a civilian? You will have a great career ahead of you.”
“I’m not really sure what I would do,” Mykal said, in his mind he pictured himself cashing in some of his diamonds he stashed away. “I think I would just kick back for a little bit and enjoy my family.”
“Now that they’re going public with this, you do understand that they will not be able to let you go, right?”
“Huh, what? Why?”
“Because you will be the face of this story. You and Towbar. They’re going to do such a grand PR blitz that it’ll take the focus off the missing nuke. That’s between us. You never heard me say that,” William whispered when they neared the room where Lieutenant General Solley awaited Mykal’s arrival.
“How do you know? And why are you telling me this?”
“You’ll never have to go back to doing security in the missile field again. Ever,” William said. “Your life will never be the same. You’re going to be a national hero, Mykal Graves. My responsibility will be to ensure you’re doing all that the ‘big shots’ request as their point man.”
“Why me? Why not some of the others who would probably love to be your point man on this.”
“None of the others have the relationship with Towbar that you have. You will be able to get him to go along with anything that is needed. Since he can’t get back to his world they will make great use of him. And yes, he will be greatly compensated,” William said as if he anticipated the question.
Mykal shook his head and sighed. “I don’t know about this.”
“Don’t worry about it right now. Trust me. Everything is going to be fine. The General is waiting for you.”
“You and me are gonna have a talk after this,” Mykal said.
William knocked on the door. “Be good,” he whispered.
Mykal was met by a tall slender Colonel that he had never seen before. “Come in, come in. We were just talking about you young man.” The Colonel smiled and held his hand out to shake.
Taken by surprise, Mykal shook the Colonel’s hand and he led Mykal into the room. Solley and two other generals were seated in comfortable leather furniture. One of the generals had two stars on his collar, the other had three stars. Mykal snapped to attention. To his surprise, the three Generals rose to their feet and approached him to shake his hand.
“Relax Sergeant Graves,” Lieutenant General Solley said as he guided Mykal to a chair. “Go ahead and take a seat son. I would like to introduce you to Lieutenant General Jefferson,” his hand glided toward the other three star general. “This is Major General Sanchez,” he pointed to the two star general. “And this is Colonel Burkat,” he pointed to the slender Colonel who ushered Mykal into the room.
“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you, Sirs,” Mykal said. He smiled nervously because he had never been in the company of so many high ranking officers. It seemed odd they weren’t treating him as a low ranking enlisted person. Mykal felt somewhat guilty for sitting in front of them.
“We obviously know a great deal about you my boy,” Lieutenant General Jefferson said as he chomped down on his pipe so it wouldn’t fall out of his mouth. “I want you to know, we’re behind closed doors now, so if there is anything you need to get off your chest, by all means do so.”
“Well Sir, I really don’t have anything that I would like to get off my chest,” he lied because of their superior position over him. “Except for what I said earlier about letting the families know the truth about their loved ones.”
“That will happen,” Major General Sanchez said. “As revealed today, we’re going public and we would like you to do your country a great service to take point and be the face of this project. Of course we need you to ensure Towbar is on board and that he participates. We understand he will follow along with you. We appreciate his closeness and trust in you. There has never been an event like this in history. You need to know, Sergeant Graves, we are very proud of you and all that you have done for the Air Force while you were away,” Sanchez added.
To Mykal, Sanchez sounded like a politician telling his constituents what they wanted to hear to get their votes. “I appreciate that Sir,” Mykal said and squirmed in his seat. Mykal knew the deep dark truth of all that occurred in Towbar’s world. “But there were others involved. And as you know there are still those who never made it home.”
“You’re exactly right son,” Jefferson said while shifting the pipe to the other side of his mouth. “We’re all real proud of them too,” he declared but he too sounded phony. “We need you to put a pretty face on all the ugly that has taken place. Our desire is for the public to embrace this. We need to turn all this into a positive and that comes from higher than us,” he chuckled and looked at his fellow three star General Solley.
“Our goal is to have the public focus on the positive qualities of this story. Not to focus on the deaths or the fact that a nuke is missing,” Lieutenant General Solley said. “It’ll be hard at first, but we need you to turn this around and make it the feel good story of the year. Switch the focus to Towbar and the other world. You can’t deny facts, and we don’t want you to, but when all is said and done, our objective is to have the American people loving the persons of Towbar and Mykal Graves. In the end we want to have the American people dream and fantasize of Towbar’s world as the New Frontier,” Solley said with a wave of his hand as he pointed out the imaginary canvas before them.
“Experts have poured over every page of every report and every statement,” Major General Sanchez spoke when Solley stopped. “We recognize this will be difficult at first, but we know that you will be able to win the public over. The people will love Towbar when they get to know him. It will work itself out in time. We just need your commitment to the cause.”
“Yes Sir. Towbar is a great man. I can vouch for that,” Mykal replied weakly when they paused. He was afraid to voice his opinion because of their imposing ranks. His reservation came when he realized this would negatively impact his true concern; to spend time with
his family.
“The most important factor will be to make sure that you and Towbar are inseparable,” Sanchez said and paused.
“Yes Sir,” Mykal agreed mechanically. “We are true friends.”
“Do you think you will be able to encourage him to go along and to be on board with you?” Jefferson asked.
“I might be able to Sir, but I’m not really sure Sir,” Mykal replied weakly. “Towbar doesn’t really like all this attention and focus being on him,” he said though it wasn’t true. He deliberately expressed doubt only to try to gain leverage with them later if need be. He knew he could get Towbar to do anything for him. He didn’t want them to know that.
“It will be very important for you to gain his trust and make sure we have him on board,” Solley said and folded his hands together. “It will be extremely beneficial for you. Keep in mind; you will be doing your country a great service.”
“Yes Sir. What is it you really want me to do?”
“You will be going on a tour around the country and then you may go on a tour around the world,” Sanchez replied. “You will share your story and the story of Towbar. You will inform the people of what happened in this other world. More importantly, we want to make sure people understand that there is indeed another world somewhere out there in our vast solar system. We need the American people to want,” he paused. “No, we want the American people to desire, to be a part of Towbar’s world. To dream about that place and wish to go there,” Sanchez said and gave an exaggerated wink as if he had just laid plans for a new amusement park.
Mykal immediately felt he was to be used for something bigger, but didn’t know what they wanted. “Sir, I’m not very good at speaking before people. And what about my job?” His stomach sank. If they took his regular job away he feared it would cut into his true concern, his only concern, spending time with his family. With the missile field job he would gladly spend three days out in the field in return he would have, depending on manning, five or six days off to spend time with his family. It had been the best working arrangement he had ever had and he didn’t want to lose it.