Lakatos looked Volkart up and down and grinned. ‘I see our new leader has already made you his lap dog, so I won’t waste my time. I’ll speak to him directly.’
Volkart stood defiant. ‘Comrade Lakatos, you are one of many people who has knocked on this door today demanding to see our leader. So far no one has had that pleasure. I may be a lap dog as you say, but I am now on the inside and you are still shivering in the freezing political wasteland which has been left in the wake of comrade Stalin’s demise. If I were you I would be careful who you make an enemy of these days. Now if it’s that important I suggest you relay a message so that I may give it my personal attention and decide whether or not it is worthy enough for the ears of Comrade Bulganin.’
‘This is outrageous does he not know the sacrifice I made for him?’
‘Sacrifice for you comrade, but betrayal to other members of the Russian science academy. Yes I heard what you did, but I’m afraid it still doesn’t get you an audience with the President. Now you can give me the message or you can stand there crying like a small child, in which case I will have no choice but to call security and have you thrown out of this building. I will make sure they take away your papers and you will never set foot in the Kremlin again. I hope I have made myself clear.’
Lakatos gritted his teeth, but accepted that he wasn’t going to gain an audience with Bulganin. ‘Very well, tell him that my informant in Great Britain has told me of an important meeting between the Americans and the British regarding matters of,..’ Lakatos paused and chose his next words carefully. ‘A cosmic nature, and that I am flying to London immediately to meet with my informant personally over this matter.’
Volkart shrugged. ‘That’s it, you went to all that trouble to come down here and tell him that.’
Lakatos smiled. ‘He will understand what I mean, and he will want to speak with me personally. And then comrade I will also be on the inside, so if I were you I would be careful who you make an enemy of.’ Lakatos turned and headed back towards the door.
Chapter 59
Majestic 12
Whitehall – London – 10:01am
Monday 1st June 1953
Frederick felt nervous as he waited for the Americans to enter the meeting room in which all but two of the committee members had gathered. Lord Chambers and Morris Stanford had gone to the Savoy Hotel where the Americans were staying.
Frederick smiled briefly at Wilks who was sat next to him.
‘Don’t look so nervous Ralph we have to show the Yanks a united front; don’t want them to get over bearing.’
Frederick slowed his breathing and sipped from a glass of water. ‘My experiences with the Americans over the past year haven’t been the most enjoyable I’ll tell you that.’
The door opened and Lord Chambers marched in followed by three men and finally Morris Stanford. All five men seated themselves and for a few moments no one spoke.
‘Good morning gentlemen.’ Chambers finally greeted. ‘We are honoured today to have with us three of America’s top authorities on the flying saucer phenomenon. Both our leaders Prime Minister Churchill and President Eisenhower have set out plans for a joint effort focused on dealing with this phenomenon. I am sure that this new partnership will be beneficial to both our countries. Joining us today are Roscoe Hillenkotter director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Renowned scientist Dr Vannevar Bush and finally Dr Donald Menzel of Harvard. Mr Hillenkotter will brief us on intelligence that the Americans have gathered.’
Hillenkotter stood and placed a briefcase he was carrying on the table. ‘Good morning Gentlemen on behalf of myself my colleagues and the President of the United States I would like to thank you for receiving us.’ He paused and looked around the table making eye contact with the committee members. ‘First of all we will begin by telling you that myself, my two colleagues with me today and nine other men make up a group known as Majestic 12. This group was formed by President Truman in 1947 prior to an event which happened in the summer of that year which we are about to brief you on.’ Hillenkotter paused for a brief moment of thought. ‘So why are we all here today we may be asking ourselves? We are here because there is a new threat in the skies above us. Namely what we call flying saucers or as they are becoming more commonly known, UFOs. Unknown objects are operating under intelligent control. It is imperative that we learn where UFOs come from and what their purpose is. I can tell you, behind the scenes, high ranking military officers are concerned about UFOs. Our government like yours believe that this is by no means a new phenomenon and that these UFOs have been with us for a long time. It is only because of technological advancements made during the war that these UFOs have become visible, although we understand that there have been reports regarding UFOs for quite a few decades. The earliest report we have was made by a pilot in 1913, Mr Dan Watson was flying his aeroplane over Sothern California when he encountered a large glowing spherical object just outside San Diego.’
Hillenkotter opened his briefcase pulled out a file and began reading. ‘The object appeared above me and was moving very fast. I estimate its size to have been over one hundred feet long. It wasn’t long before the object was completely out of sight. At first I thought I had seen a falling star, but a few minutes later the object became visible again. It was on a parallel course to me. I tried to change direction but it maintained its heading matching every manoeuvre I made. When it was only a few dozen feet away the object banked sharply and shot away. When I finally managed to turn my plane around the object was no longer visible.’ Hillenkotter handed the report to Chambers who looked at it briefly before passing it on to Frederick. ‘My distinguished colleague Dr Donald Menzel will now share with you his thoughts on this subject.’
Dr Menzel leaned forward pressing his knuckles against the oak surface of the table before standing. ‘I can tell you one thing we are certain of, these UFOs do not originate from our planet. Although I’m sure you are all fully aware of this given your experiences with the phenomenon.’
The committee members exchanged looks.
‘Like you British we were hoping for some kind of earth bound explanation. We were hoping perhaps that it was the Russians working on some kind of new experimental aircraft. But all that changed less than six years ago. What I am about to tell you has been classified above top secret. And I’m sure that when you see what we have brought with us today you will all understand that upmost secrecy must be maintained.’ Menzel drew breath before continuing. ‘In the summer of 1947 the Midwest was plagued by a spate of UFO sightings. Washington was aware of these sightings and had placed our forces on standby should any event happen. At the time we were convinced that the Soviets had begun some kind of new weapons research program and were testing experimental aircraft in the skies above us. In late June we received a report of nine UFOs over the state of Washington in the mount Rainer region. A pilot called Kenneth Arnold had made the report, stating that he had sighted these objects flying at extremely high speed. The newspaper that published his story stated that he described their flight pattern like a saucer skipping across water, hence the term flying saucer was born. Less than a week later our people in Washington received a telephone call from an Army air force base just outside a small town in the state of New Mexico called Roswell. General Frank Ramey reported that some sort of aircraft had crashed and that a local farmer had found wreckage strewed all over his land. Myself and Mr Hillenkotter visited the area immediately to find out if reports by local radio and newspapers were true about the army having the remains of a flying disc. When we arrived in Roswell we were shown wreckage of what appeared to be a highly classified observation balloon which in fact is what came down on the farmers land. However we were then taken to another location to look at a downed aircraft.’ Menzel reached into the briefcase and pulled out a large photograph. He then placed it on the table for all the committee members to see. ‘It was when we viewed this other aircraft we knew we were dealing with something out of the ordinary. We
then informed the President.’
‘Good lord!’ Norman Canning exclaimed.
Menzel smiled. ‘Yes gentlemen what you are looking at is a craft from beyond our planet.’
Chapter 60
Revelations
10:23am
All the committee members stared in disbelief at the photograph Menzel had just laid out in front of them. The object in the image appeared to be embedded in the side of a small hill. ‘This craft.’ Menzel began again. ‘Came down a few miles from the Ranch. We believe that it collided with the balloon and lost control after also being struck by lightning during a violent storm that had blown up.'
‘Have you managed to access its interior?’ Wilks asked excitedly.
Menzel put his hand up. ‘Please, there’ll be plenty of time to ask questions when we’re done with this briefing. My colleague Dr Vannevar Bush will now explain a few things regarding this craft.’ Menzel sat.
‘Well as Dr Menzel pointed out.’ Vannevar Bush said as he stood. ‘This craft is not from our world and I can tell you this, it doesn’t originate from our solar system. We believe the craft’s on board systems malfunctioned after it was struck by lightning. We managed to transport it to White Sands Missile range in New Mexico where it’s been undergoing extensive examination by our scientists. We are however having trouble understanding the technology that this craft contains. It’s way beyond anything we have and this is why we have decided to set up a joint scientific research committee. You Gentlemen are the first to know anything about the crash. In time we plan to inform other top military and scientific minds from other allied countries.’ Bush paused. ‘So on to the main event as they say.’
Hillenkotter pushed the briefcase he had with him over to Bush, who reached inside and lifted out a flat object wrapped in black cloth. He placed the object on the table in front of him and unwrapped it. At first glance the object appeared to be a rectangular piece of glass with the corners rounded off. It was approximately eight inches in length by six inches in width and a thickness of less than half a centimetre. On closer inspection there appeared to be a metallic disc approximately one inch in diameter embedded at the centre of the object. At the centre of the disc was a small hole about half a centimetre making it look like a washer. Crisscrossing the device were rows of thin metallic strips, barely visible. ‘When we gained access to the craft.’ Bush continued. ‘We were able to remove a lot of the technology. One of the most common items found were these flat looking devices. At first our scientists ignored them believing they were redundant. Then one day out of the blue we discovered they could do this.’ Bush reached forward and simply tapped the surface of the object directly above the central disc.
Less than a second later light emanated from the disc projecting in a vertical direction. To everyone’s astonishment they found themselves staring at a glowing sphere which spun slowly floating in the air several inches above the alien device. The immediate area was filled with a pale blue light.
‘Astounding!’ Frederick stated. ‘Is that what I think it is?’
Bush nodded. ‘It’s earth.’
‘How is this possible?’ Wilks asked.
Bush smiled. ‘We have no idea, but if you like that, watch this.’ He reached out and tapped the area of the globe which represented the United Kingdom. In an instant the globe stopped spinning and the familiar outline of Great Britain appeared. To the side of the floating image strange symbols appeared. Bush reached forward again and tapped one of the symbols. Without warning the room filled with sound. The noise consisted of radio broadcasts. Winston Churchill’s voice could be heard, along with Vera Lynn and jazz music. Bush reached out again and this time tapped the object twice. In an instant the image and sound were gone. ‘Our scientists believe that this object is some kind of storage device capable of holding massive amounts of information. We have studied this one in particular and have found it contains a detailed record of our planet, and our solar system. This device has the capacity to store all radio and TV broadcasts as well as movies from every nation on our planet. We have found information on every country’s military capabilities including the Soviet Union and China as well as Great Britain and the United States of America. All this information has led us to one startling conclusion. We are being studied and that the creatures which piloted the craft that crashed have been monitoring our radio and TV broadcasts since we first started to broadcast.’
‘I’m sorry to interrupt Doctor Bush.’ Professor Wilks said sheepishly. ‘But what do you mean by creatures?’
Bush reached into the briefcase and pulled out a photograph which he looked at briefly before tossing it onto the table in front of him. The black and white photograph was that of a humanoid looking creature, which had been placed on an examination table. The creature’s head was large compared to the rest of its body and had a small opening on each side of its head. The creature’s eyes were the most distinguishing feature. Large almond shaped. No pupil, just a black iris. Frederick suddenly found himself thinking about the incident in Ripley and what Brian Jones had said concerning the nightmares his wife Edith had experienced. ‘She keeps screaming about terrible black lifeless eyes staring at her through the window.’
‘There were six of these creatures at the crash, site four of which were dead at the scene. Two were still alive although one of the creatures died shortly after the crash.’ Bush explained making eye contact with Hillenkotter.
‘So you’re still holding one of these creatures?’ Frederick said.
Bush shook his head. ‘No the creature was able to communicate with its home planet.’
‘So more of these creatures came?’
Bush took a deep breath and nodded. ‘Yes.’
Frederick’s tone turned dark. ‘Are you saying the United States Government has had contact with beings from another world?’
Hillenkotter held up his hand. ‘I wouldn’t go as far as actual contact. Professor you must realise that we are dealing with a matter of huge significance here. To discover that we are not alone in the universe is as profound as when people discovered the world was round and not flat. You have to understand we acted in everyone’s best interest.’
‘You mean the interest of America.’ Wilks added.
Hillenkotter glared at Wilks. ‘Just in case you haven’t been keeping up with current affairs Professor Wilks, we are in the midst of a cold war. Things may have calmed down in Korea but the Russians are still the greatest threat since the Nazis.’ He gestured towards the object. ‘If the Soviets ever got their hands on this kind of technology then it could be devastating.’
‘Operation Mainbrace.’ Admiral Berkshire stated.
‘I beg your pardon.’ Hillenkotter said.
‘You said that the live creature had returned to its home planet, that’s what the incident was all about last year during the naval exercise. Those craft we witnessed were part of some sort of exchange program.’
A reluctant Hillenkotter nodded. ‘An exchange was made yes.’
‘So the Russians were right you have been conducting negotiations with these creatures.’ Frederick added.
‘No, we have yet to actually have any direct contact. The creature that we had in custody wasn’t exactly chatty. Look I know we’re a little late, but we’re here now sharing what we know.’ Dr Menzel said. ‘We could have kept this from you, and believe me there are those who didn’t want this meeting to take place.’
‘It’s very noble of you to come clean Doctor Menzel but it still doesn’t excuse your lack of trust.’ Malcolm Chambers said. ‘The question is where we go from here?’
‘I guess we establish a level of trust.’ Hillenkotter said.
‘Trust Mr Hillenkotter is something you have to earn.’ Frederick said. ‘Over the past year you Americans have proven to be untrustworthy. There have been a number of incidents we need to talk about before any kind of trust can be established. First of all I would like to talk about those two chaps you are holding at Milde
nhall?’ Chambers enquired.
‘Those two UFO nutjobs will be charged with spying.’ Hillenkotter replied.
‘Nonsense.’ Frederick snorted. ‘You act as if they’re working for the Russians, they’re just a couple of researchers.’
Hillenkotter remained silent.
‘If you want to establish trust then you are to release those men immediately. Then we can discuss the use of British airspace to test an experimental aircraft over Soviet territory, which you failed to tell us about.’ Ian Morgan said.
Finally Hillenkotter nodded. ‘Ok, we’ll release those guys, but we will also monitor them for a while to make sure they don’t have any contact with Russian Operatives, which we know are operating in this country. As for the X2 aircraft we are testing, we wish to continue with the project, we will share any information we gather on the Soviet Union.’
‘And detailed information on the aircraft.’ Morgan added.
After several seconds Hillenkotter nodded reluctantly.
‘So tell us more about what happened during Mainbrace.’ Frederick said. ‘Why put on that display in front of so many witnesses?’
‘We knew the Russians would be in the area monitoring the exercise. The Alien visitor in our custody had made contact with its home planet. Although the communication equipment on its ship had been damaged during the crash. It was able to fashion a crude communication device using parts from the crashed ship and items which we supplied. It was first suggested that a handover should take place in the Nevada desert. But with tensions reaching fever pitch in Korea President Truman thought that a more public display might make the Russians think again about starting another war.’
Frederick nodded. ‘Which is what we thought.’
‘So what did you learn from the creature while it was in your custody?’ Chambers asked.
‘The creature was able to communicate by means of telepathic thought transfer. It had the ability to plant images in the minds of our researchers. We were able to learn that the creature’s home planet was sixteen thousand light years out from our own planet. The solar system which it originated from contains thirteen planets which orbit a star very much like our own. Three of the planets in their solar system are capable of supporting life, and have been colonised by their species.’
Codename Angel (The Angel Chronicles Book 1) Page 20