Dreamstone

by Ben L. Hughes

  “How far do you think they will go to get the dreamstone from us?” Melissa asked as she reached over and squeezed his hand.

  “I don’t know. If that really was a military helicopter, then they are still trying to scare us into giving it up, which means they want it, but not enough to arrest us over it,” Matt alleged.

  “I will support your efforts as long as I feel that we are not being put in harm’s way, but if they abduct us again, I think we should cooperate. I don’t want to be on the side of a milk carton or be diagnosed with some rare fatal disease six months from now,” she insisted.

  “Honestly, I think we are safe from personal harm, but I suspect they will spy on us and try to steal the dreamstone if they can. I am going to hide it far away from us as soon as I work out all the details in my mind,” Matt promised.

  “That would probably be the best thing to do and I don’t even want to know where you are going to hide it,” Melissa remarked.

  “Alright, it’s probably safer for you not to know where it is anyway,” Matt replied.

  “Have you come up with any leads on the hyper-reality project?” Melissa asked.

  “The current experiments are probably being conducted at a secret underground facility in Montauk, NY. The fun part will be finding someone trustworthy on the inside that would be willing to work with the aliens,” Matt said half joking.

  “That will be very hard to accomplish,” Melissa replied with a look of uncertainty and disappointment.

  “I know, but if the person actually works on the inter-dimensional project, then they would be the perfect person for Helios to explain the dangers of it to,” Matt declared.

  “I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier, but there is an AM radio program on after midnight that might be able to help us,” Melissa suggested.

  “What is it about?” Matt asked.

  “It’s a talk show that discusses conspiracy theories, aliens, and fringe science,” Melissa replied.

  “I didn’t know you listened to programs like that,” Matt said with a surprised look on his face.

  “It’s fascinating, and it keeps me awake while I’m studying at night.”

  “I was puzzled why the dreamstone worked on you, but now I know it’s because you believe in a lot more of this stuff than you’ve been letting on about,” Matt asserted.

  “I try and keep an open mind, that’s all,” Melissa smirked.

  “So you have been teasing me about my beliefs on extraterrestrial life for all these years, while listening to radio talks shows about them?” Matt remarked.

  “Yes, but how could I tease you if you knew I was being a hypocrite... where’s the fun in that?” she smiled.

  “Good point, but come on… you could have told me before now,” Matt insisted.

  “Well, now that you know, what do you think about my idea?” she asked.

  “A radio talk show... who is going to take that seriously?”

  “It might be the best way to get the message out and find someone on the inside,” Melissa replied.

  “I don’t know... when I start telling my story about the dreamstone and how it led me to aliens, people are going to think I am a lunatic. Then every nut job awake in the middle of the night will be calling the show to make fun of me,” Matt contended.

  “You can remain anonymous,” Melissa suggested.

  “I would like to hear what others are talking about on the show before I make up my mind,” Matt replied.

  “It will be on tonight if you want to stay up for it.”

  “Okay, it’s not like I have any other leads,” Matt admitted.

  “Good, I’ll keep you company and work on the article I’m writing,” Melissa remarked.

  “What article?” Matt asked.

  “I’m writing a little piece titled, A New Perspective on the Mojave Petroglyphs. After Helios mentioned they had been in contact with the early tribes, it made me question the current interpretations of the petroglyphs. After looking over some of the pictures we took of them, I now believe the images that look like extra-terrestrials or off world objects are in fact representations of those things. I think archeologists have tried to assign rational explanations to those things, but in reality, the petroglyphs are accurate depictions of what the tribes actually encountered,” Melissa asserted.

  “You never cease to amaze me. Just when I think I have you all figured out, you reveal something new and remarkable about yourself,” Matt commented.

  “Thanks,” Melissa replied. “When this is all over, I’m going to submit the article and see what happens. I know it probably won’t get published because it’s considered pseudo-science, but I want a complete record of the discovery. Perhaps someday I will get credited for correctly deciphering the petroglyphs,” she added.

  “I have no doubt that you will be a world renowned anthropologist,” Matt insisted.

  “No pressure on me to succeed now!” Melissa joked. Matt smiled and then went into the kitchen to see what he could make for dinner.

  “Would you eat a pizza?” Matt asked after rummaging around for a few minutes.

  “Yeah, that sounds good,” Melissa replied.

  “Okay, I’ll toss it in the oven.”

  When the pizza was done, Matt cut it into narrow slices and placed it on the table. Melissa pulled up a chair and they enjoyed their first meal in the cottage. Matt smiled at her, seemingly pleased with how things were turning out. His lifelong dream was coming to fruition and in a few short months Melissa would be his wife.

  After dinner they retired to the bedroom and Melissa got out her portable radio and turned it on. Then she snuggled up next to him in bed.

  “What time does the program come on?” Matt asked.

  “Not until 11pm,” Melissa replied.

  “Are you going to work on your article?” he questioned.

  “No, I changed my mind. I would rather just lay here next to you listening to music,” Melissa replied as she rested her head on his chest. Matt wrapped his arm around her and then gently caressed her shoulder. It was a peaceful moment, the kind that he could later reflect on if he we was having a bad day or depressed by some other malady.

  Once the music stopped, a deep welcoming voice came on the air announcing the program they had been waiting for.

  “Good evening and welcome to Dark Matters, the show that starts where main stream media leaves off. Tonight’s guest is a former Groom Lake employee, but before we open Pandora’s Box, I want to continue where we left off on last night’s program about mystery spots. I have a gentleman holding on the phone right now with a great example, so let’s dive right in. Line one, you’re on the air.”

  “Hi, my name is Richard and I have a story about something I saw when I was a young kid. My dad and I were driving on a county road somewhere near the town of Mammoth Lakes, California. It was late at night and we were the only car on the road. Then all of a sudden the car’s lights started to dim and a moment later we sputtered to the side and the car died. My dad tried to restart the engine several times, but it wouldn’t start. Then he got out of the car and started cussing at it like a sailor, which ironically he was. While he was busy checking under the hood, I jumped out of the car and walked up on the shoulder of the road to look around. While I was up there, I noticed a faint glow not far off on the ground. Being a curious young lad, I walked over to see what was giving off the mysterious light. What I discovered was a puddle of glowing water on the ground that was about the size of a basketball. Naturally, I picked up a small rock and threw it into the puddle expecting a dramatic splash of glowing water, but instead the rock simply disappeared. So I picked up a larger rock and threw it in, and it disappeared without a splash. There weren’t any other rocks nearby, so I pulled up a small plant and threw it into the puddle. The plant disappeared just like the rocks. Then I heard my dad calling for me, and as I looked back at the puddle one last time, it had stopped glowing and under the moonlight I could see both rocks had r
eappeared along with the plant. The strange thing was that the plant was all dried up and dead. My dad called my name again, so I ran back to the car and we left. That’s the end of my story about a mystery spot.”

  “That was great Richard. It sounds like you saw some kind of inter-dimensional portal. We have had dozens of callers over the years describe the same phenomenon that you saw as a kid. Physicists have confirmed the existence of multiple dimensions, and it is widely believed that our dimension is interwoven with others. So, stay tuned, and when we come back we’ll hear from our next guest about the infamous Groom Lake facility.”

  “So what do you think about the show?” Melissa asked while the commercials were playing.

  “It sounds promising,” Matt admitted.

  “Wait until you hear the next guest, who worked at Groom Lake,” Melissa said as if that was important.

  “What’s Groom Lake?” Matt asked reluctantly.

  “It’s the most secret facility inside Area-51,” she remarked.

  “I always thought I was the one whose ideas were ‘out there’, but you sure know a lot about this stuff,” Matt stated.

  “Like I said, I keep an open mind,” Melissa smirked.

  “Welcome back, I’m your host Alex and this is Dark Matters. I want to turn the show over to our next guest. He is a former employee who worked at the Groom Lake facility, and to protect his identity, we will call him ‘Mr. Smith’. So without further ado, here is Mr. Smith.”

  “Hi Alex, and thanks for having me on you program. I worked as a maintenance electrician for a portion of Area 51 known as Groom Lake. The surface of that complex is a large experimental aircraft facility, and from the ground or sky it resembles any other military airbase. However, the bulk of the facility is actually underground to prevent foreign nations from spying on the secret projects by satellites. I worked in the underground section for several years until I was discharged after suffering a nervous breakdown. I blame my condition on two things. First off, I spent so much time away from home that my family did not even know me; and second, every aspect of my job was classified so I could never talk about it, or vent any of my frustrations. Obviously, anything I tell your audience will be discredited because of my mental status. However, I wanted to come on the show to clear up many of the rumors and misconceptions that surround the work conducted at that site. For one, there are no aliens dead or alive at the facility. Any Hollywood movies or clandestine videotapes of alien autopsies are fakes designed to deceive people or rip them off. In fact, the employees that work there laugh hysterically every time someone brings up that topic. The truth is that the facility houses a few dozen researchers whose sole purpose is to reverse engineer items that are classified as advanced technology. Reverse engineering is nothing new, countries all around the world use reverse engineering to gather intelligence and advance their own programs. I am sure many of your listeners remember how a U.S made stealth helicopter crash landed in Pakistan and parts of it were later sold to China. The Chinese were able to see the latest and most sophisticated improvements the U.S. had made to its stealth chopper and in turn, they used that information to reverse engineer American technology into their next aircraft. Now, I know you are all wondering about alien technology, and if the researchers working at Area 51 have reversed engineered it. The answer is a conditional yes. Any suspected alien artifacts that are discovered, are either ‘purchased’ or ‘acquired’ by our military if possible. Then the item is sent to the Groom Lake facility for technical analysis and reverse engineered if possible. Of course our ability to reverse engineer alien technology is extremely limited. A good analogy would be to go back in time and give a cave man a modern day desktop computer. Without electricity he would not even be able to turn it on, let alone reproduce it or understand its function. A cave man would not even recognize the basic parts of a computer because the plastic and metal it’s comprised of won’t even exist for another ten thousand years. The analogy I have just given is even more forgiving than the reality that we face with alien technology. The computer was at least made by humans, and comprised of materials from this planet. Even if we went back only a few hundred years and handed out computers, could any person of that time period figure out what it was, or better yet, duplicate it?” Mr. Smith proposed.

  “Thank you Mr. Smith, that was very enlightening. I would like to open the phone lines up and take a few questions from our listeners, if that would be alright with you?”

  “I will answer any of the questions that I can,” Mr. Smith replied.

  “Caller on line one, go ahead.”

  “Mr. Smith, aren’t you sworn to secrecy when you work for the military?”

  “Yes, all of the employees working for the military swear to remain silent. I have chosen to break that code for personal reasons. The simple fact is that the military will deny anything I say, and claim that I am making it all up. They will point to the fact that I was discharged for a mental breakdown and my credibility is shot. Besides that, there is no way the mainstream media would believe me, and I have no physical evidence to prove any of my claims. You can choose to believe me or not. I really don’t care either way,” Mr. Smith remarked.

  “Mr. Smith, is Area 51 still operational?”

  “Yes, it is still an active base. However, many of the more sensitive projects have been moved to new locations to improve secrecy. The surface portion of the Groom Lake facility has actually expanded in recent years to accommodate the development of stealth and unmanned aircraft programs. Russian satellite photographs are available to the public and anyone can confirm that fact,” Mr. Smith replied.

  “Caller on line two, what’s your question?”

  “I heard that Area 51 is part of Nellis Air Force Base, is that true?”

  “Actually, Area 51 is under joint control by both the Air Force and the Department of Defense. The boundaries of the site are physically within the Nellis Air Force Base lands, and it is adjacent to the Department of Defense’s Nevada Test Site. The total land area under government control in Nevada is roughly twenty percent of the state’s land mass. Recently the government has closed off access to all of the mountain peaks bordering the test area. These were public lands just a few years ago, but once the government realized people were hiking up these peaks with high powered telescopes and using them to look down into the base, they seized the land. You can draw your own conclusions as to why they would do that,” Mr. Smith replied.

  “Well Mr. Smith, unfortunately we are running short on time, so I’ll take one more caller and then we’ll have to pick things up tomorrow night. Caller on line three, you’re on the air.”

  “I was wondering how you expect us to believe your story?”

  “Actually, most of what I have told you is public knowledge and it can be verified on the internet or by searching public records. If you are skeptical about the existence of aliens or the government’s pursuit of advanced technology; then do your own research. I would bet you won’t be a skeptic for long!” Mr. Smith challenged.

  “Mr. Smith, I want to thank you for your time, and we would love to have you back on the show in the future,” Alex remarked.

  “Thank you Alex. It was a pleasure to be here, and I would be honored to return,” Mr. Smith replied.

  “Well, that is all we have time for tonight. Be sure to tune into tomorrow’s program, we are going to talk about Kirlian photography and whether or not it proves living things have auras,” Alex stated.

  “So, what did you think of the program?” Melissa asked after it ended.

  “I thought the program was interesting. The guest seemed intelligent and most of the callers were polite and asked reasonable questions. It does seem like the format of the program fits our needs. What do you think?” Matt asked.

  “It seems like the best place for locating a sympathetic insider, but I know how you hate speaking in public,” Melissa replied.

  “That’s true, but I feel it is my responsibility to come forwa
rd and given the magnitude of this situation, what choice do I have,” Matt said reluctantly.

  “I will be there to support you,” Melissa said in a comforting tone.

  “Are you sure they will let us on the program?” Matt asked.

  “I don’t see why not, our story is as compelling as the other guests they have featured,” Melissa replied with a smile.

  “Alright, I’ll call in the morning and see what it takes to get onto the program,” Matt said as he turned off the lights and returned to bed.

  “I’m proud of you,” Melissa said as she kissed him good night.

  The next morning Matt called the radio program and told his story to the call screener. Then after a long hold, a familiar voice picked up on the other end.

  “Hi Matt, my name is Alex. As you can imagine we get a lot of requests by individuals to come onto my program. Unfortunately, the bulk of the people don’t make it past our phone screeners for a variety of colorful reasons. As you have probably guessed by the simple fact that I am taking with you directly, I am interested in having you on my program. I would just like to confirm that you are in possession of the dreamstone?” Alex asked bluntly.

  “I keep it in a safe place far away from me,” Matt replied.

  “Okay, you passed my test. Had you said you had it with you, I would have known you were lying,” Alex exclaimed.

  “How is that?” Matt asked.

  “If the dreamstone has the power that you claimed and the military was after it, the only logical thing to do is hide it somewhere safe. People who try to lie their way onto the show often overlook the most obvious fact, if something you have puts you in danger, then you don’t keep it with you,” Alex explained.

  “I see,” Matt remarked.

  “I would like to have you in the studio for the Wednesday night airing. What’s your schedule look like?” Alex asked.

  “Where is your studio located?” Matt replied.

  “Pahrump, Nevada.”

  “That’s a long drive for me and I am currently attending college in Humboldt, California. Can we do it over the phone?” Matt asked.