by Steven Wolff
“Josh? Um, I don’t know. He’s more of a free spirit. Even he doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life. Trust me, you wouldn’t want him working with million-dollar equipment.”
Ed interrupts, “I know your time is valuable and so is mine – so let’s cut to the chase. My son here is wondering if you’d look into his finding – figure out why it’s glowing.”
Daniel smiles, “Always to the point, huh Ed? That’s one thing I admire about you. Since we’re always looking at things in space, it shouldn’t be a problem to investigate this further. I’ll have a team look at it and get back with you with what they find. As soon as I hear something, I’ll let you know.”
“Thank you sir, I really appreciate it.”
Ed gets up and nods for Howard to get up too so they can leave.
“There is one thing I almost forgot to mention,” Howard says turning around. “We timed the pulsating light and it’s demonstrating a consistent pattern, pulsating at ten second intervals – even on the side of the asteroid facing away from the sun. I just thought you should know.”
Daniel sits upright in his chair and leans his arms on the desk, “Young man, tell me, what do you think your discovery is?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s a crashed satellite probe? Are you guys missing any satellites or equipment?”
“We lose satellites and have equipment shut down all the time, but from as long as I’ve been working here at NASA, as far as I can remember, nothing we’ve sent up has a green glowing light.”
Ed chimes in, “Could it be Russian, or Chinese probe?”
“It’s quite possible.”
“Then maybe that’s what it is.” Ed says with a sense of validation.
“Or… it could be a crashed U.F.O.” Howard suggests.
Ed’s eyebrows pull down and together, quickly reveal anger, “Son, don’t embarrass me in front of my friend. We all know that there’s no such things as little green men or U.F.O’s!”
“How can you say that? You of all people have mentioned seeing things you can’t explain when up in outer space.”
“And because of what I saw – I had to take an oath that I would never talk about it again. End of story… Okay?? Let’s change the subject or you’ll end up walking home. Am I clear?”
“Yes sir.” Howard says lowering his head in defeat.
Daniel quickly intervenes to deescalate the tension, “Ed, I’ve worked with you long enough to know how and what you think about the paranormal and little green men, but working here in NASA… in the second highest position, has given me access to information that not many are privy to.”
“Feel free to share what you think. I’m not allowed to talk about anything dealing with that subject.” Ed says with both arms folded.
“Wow. They really did a number on you, didn’t they?” Daniel mentions.
Ed looks away and doesn’t say a word.
Daniel looks at Howard and continues, “I’ve worked here over twenty-five years – and during my career I’ve been briefed on numerous occasions about U.F.O. sightings in both NASA and the United States Military. I’ve lost track of how many times, but the one thing I can say for certain is that we are not the only ones in the universe.”
“So you’re suggesting I might be right about my assessment? That it could be a crashed U.F.O.?” Howard asks.
“Honestly, if you are correct, we’ll have to keep that information from the public… we can’t risk that kind of info from getting out.”
“Isn’t it better to tell them?” Howard asks.
“Actually, no it’s not.” Daniel says, “People lost their minds when they heard reports that a UFO had crashed in Roswell New Mexico, back in 1947. People weren’t ready to process that kind of information.”
“About what?” Howard asks.
“That we’re not alone in the universe. Imagine if that info leaked out… in this day and age. The internet would blow up with all kinds of news reports, including fake ones – making the problem even worse. Mass hysteria would break out. The world doesn’t need a mass panic and I think we should tread carefully with this. I wouldn’t post anything about this online, at least until we know more.”
“That makes sense. Okay, I won’t.” Howard says.
Daniel looks at the writing on the paper, “Are these the last known coordinates?”
“Yeah, we crunched the numbers of where it should be tonight, if you and your team go looking for it.”
“Thank you. I’ll touch base with you soon and let you know what we find.”
Ed shakes Daniel’s hand, “Thanks Daniel, I appreciate it.”
“My pleasure. It’s the least I can do for an old friend. Howard…”
Daniel extends his hand and shakes Howard’s hand.
“Thank you, sir. It’s an honor to finally meet you. I’ve heard stories growing up about all the space missions you and Dad went on and how one time he saved your life.”
Daniel’s face turns uncomfortable thinking about it, as Ed quickly turns Howard around, “Come on son, let’s not take up any more of the man’s time. Have a good one Daniel.”
“You too.”
“What was that about?” Howard asks walking back towards the truck.
“Nobody likes to be reminded about traumatic events in their lives.”
“But, you were a hero. You saved him!”
“Because he was a dumb ass who almost got the both of us killed. Do you like to remember your mistakes?”
“You’re right. I guess not.”
“Let’s go home.”
Several days later Howard’s cell phone rings, “Hello?”
“Howard? this is Daniel Adams over at NASA. How are you today?”
“Good and you?”
“Pretty good, just wanted to let you know that you piqued the interest of top scientists here at NASA with your discovery. They’ve approved the funding for us to send a deep space probe to rendezvous with the asteroid. As you probably know, asteroids are named after the person who discovered them – so we wanted to know if you wanted the asteroid to be named after you, or is there a designation you’d like it to be called?”
“Are… you serious?!?”
“Yes, Howard. You discovered it, you should have the honors of officially naming it.”
“We didn’t have a name for it. Just a number in our registry… we called it 03-K64”
“Okay, We’ll it be known as 03-K64 and you and Josh are the official spotters according to NASA!”
“Wow. I’m speechless… Thanks!”
“We estimate our probe will rendezvous with the asteroid 03-K64 in about three months from now.”
“That’s so awesome…” Howard says grinning.
“I’d like to personally invite you, your dad and your colleague Josh to come join me at NASA for a private viewing party we’re going to have in the mission control room. We’ll watch live as high definition images of the asteroid stream back to earth. Who knows what we’ll see, but it’ll be exciting! We’ll find out together.”
“Wow, Oh my gosh! I don’t know what to say. Thank you!”
“You’re very welcome. See you in about three months!”
“I can’t wait to tell this to Josh!”
CHAPTER FOUR
(NASA Control Room – Houston Texas – Three Months Later)
Daniel greets Ed & Howard at the front desk with a hand shake before giving them temporary access badges, “Put these on and wear them at all times. Where’s Josh? I have his badge too.”
“He couldn’t make it. Something came up at the last minute.”
“Okay then, if you would… follow me.”
Daniel says as he escorts them through several restricted areas that are heavily guarded. Walking down a long hallway, they stop at an unmarked door. Daniel bends down and swipes the badge hanging around his neck, causing the door to audibly buzz and unlock. He pulls the door open and reveals a busy Mission Control room, full of scientists and engineer
s chatting away with each other as they prepare for the data coming in.
“Welcome to the heart of NASA. As you can tell, this is where all the magic happens!” Daniel says, extending his arm to invite them in.
“Wow!” Howard says as his lower jaw slackens in awe.
“The place has changed a lot since I’ve last seen it. Everything used to have black screens with white or green letters on the monitors.”
“What are the fancy little placards on the top of the workstations? Are they the stations abbreviation?” Howard asks.
“That’s correct, they identify what that station does. Any idea what GC, FDO or GNC might mean?” Daniel asks.
Howard smiles and answers, “It’s been a while, but I think GC stands for ground controller, FDO means flight dynamics officer, GNC stands for guidance navigation and controls system…”
“Wow – you’ve really impressed me with your knowledge of our command center!” Daniel said proudly placing his hand on Howard’s shoulder.
“Thank you sir, like I said – I really wanted to be an astronaut when I was growing up. I spent my life studying everything you guys do because I couldn’t get enough.”
The intercom overhead crackles to life, “Attention all stations – rendezvous with the asteroid in five minutes and counting.”
“We better go sit down.” Daniel says, “I’ve saved a spot for you and your father – front and center. Let’s have a seat shall we?”
“Thank you.” Ed says following Daniel past all the workstations.
On the front wall is a large high definition screen with the NASA logo in the center. The lights slowly begin to dim as the talking tapers off to quiet whispers. Howard looks around in wonder, watching as the engineers are communicating amongst themselves.
Daniel leans over to Howard and whispers, “Exciting, isn’t it? Any minute now we should be receiving the first data-packets from the satellite probe we sent out three months ago. As it’s coming in, it will be downloaded and start to form blocks of images on the big screen. Once all of packets are received, it’ll form a full high definition picture of what your glowing object really is!”
“That’s so awesome! I can’t wait!” Howard says with a big grin on his face.
Ed is sitting back comfortably in his chair, staring up at the screen when a familiar voice in the background catches his attention. He leans forward quickly and looks behind him, scanning the room for where that voice is coming from. Ed leans his head to the side and quietly asks Daniel “Is that Johnson over there at ODIN?”
“Why, yes… I believe it is.”
“He’s still here? Ha! I knew I recognized that old goat’s voice.”
Daniel laughs, “Yes, he’s certainly one you don’t forget.”
“When this is over, I’ll need to pay him a visit. I thought for sure he’d be retired by now.”
“I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you again.”
Suddenly, people being murmuring and pointing as the first pixel comes in on the big screen. Another image pop’s up, followed by another and another – forming a mosaic of random squares.
A janitor in the back of the room pays no attention to what’s on the giant screen, but instead focuses on emptying trash from the waste baskets underneath the workstations. He’s listening to music with is headphones, off in his own little world when the light from the big screen suddenly brightens. The janitor glances up and then becomes entranced like everyone else when suddenly, there’s a collective gasp. His eyes widen in disbelief as he yanks the earbuds out of his ears, quickly raising his phone towards the screen.
With the press of a button – he streams live video of the image coming in… as block by block the high definition image reveals a crashed U.F.O. still mostly intact on the surface of the asteroid. Afraid of getting caught, the janitor quickly lowers his phone and puts it in his pocket, just as Daniel jumps up and yells “Lights! Turn on the lights!”
The lights come on and Daniel has a frantic look on his face, “Initiate Protocol 51! Lock down all systems and kill the Internet to this room! Nothing goes in or out of this room! No phone calls, no videos, texts, nothing leaves this room! This is NOT a drill! Encrypt this image and under no circumstance – is this to be copied!”
“Dad, what’s going on?” Howard asks with a confused look on his face as people are frantically scrambling to disconnect the power and Ethernet cables from their workstations and servers.
“If I remember correctly, Protocol 51 is a government safeguard put into place for when something like this happens...”
“Something like what?”
“Ed, you know more about this stuff than me. You tell him.”
“Okay. Remember I mentioned Roswell and how people panicked when they thought a UFO crashed in New Mexico?”
“Yeah?”
“Well it’s the government’s way of protecting people from knowing the truth about aliens and UFO’s. They went out of their way to cover it up… they discredited the people who told reporters what they saw or found, and even bullied them to say it was a weather balloon, when what they really found was shape-shifting metal. That’s when the government came up with Protocol 51, in case this ever happened again. Protocol 51 is basically a blackout of all information, coming in or going out of this room. People are sworn to secrecy and its more headaches than it’s worth. I had hoped this day would never have happened, but it has.”
Daniel steps away and starts waving his arms to get the attention of everyone in the room.
“Listen up!!! I never thought this day would come, but it has. This image and the images on their way to this room from the probe are now classified top secret by the United States government. Word cannot get out to the public! You are all now sworn to secrecy by homeland security and the United States Government. If anyone intentionally or knowingly transmits this image or any images streamed from this probe – you will be federally prosecuted and will likely be put away for a very long time! With that said, please pass all your phones to the end of the rows – I will be collecting them.”
Daniel points to the Janitor standing in the back, “You!”
The janitor gulps as his heart starts beating fast.
“Please bring me your bucket to the front.”
The janitor wheels his filthy, yellow mop bucket to the front of the room as dirty water sloshes against the sides.
“Thank you. Those of you sitting at the end of the row, please bring all the cell phones, smart watches, etc. to me.”
People look at each other with concern as they watch their electronics being confiscated and carried to the front of the room. Daniel then tosses them into the dirty mop bucket, shorting them out. Daniel reaches in and grabs the phones that are water proof and still working. He violently tosses them on the ground and stomps on them to make sure they are dead. Many people start grumbling and moaning in protest.
“I’m sorry – but I’m under orders by the President and Congress to destroy all communications devices. You will be reimbursed with new ones once we are out of Protocol 51. You have my word.”
More high resolution images come in on the big screen, showing different viewpoints of the alien spacecraft. Debris can be seen littered on the asteroid from where the ship carved a gash in the ground, skidding to a stop.
Howard says to his dad, “Well, I guess we now know what that mysterious green light is coming from.”
Daniel projects his voice, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m sorry to say that we’re going to be here for a few hours, so make yourselves comfortable. It’s going to be a long day.”
Several high-ranking officials pull out a giant three-ring binder with instructions on what to do in this scenario. Daniel glances over it and pounds his fist in frustration, “Damn it, these were written for technology that doesn’t exist anymore. All this stuff from 1947 is obsolete… how are we supposed to apply it to today’s technology?” He asks.
Suddenly several guards open the door with urgency as
the head of NASA security team walks in. A woman wearing business attire and a serious look on her face points to Daniel.
“Mr. Adams, I need a word with you – in private. Follow me please.” She says with authority. He follows behind as two guards escort him out of the room. As they are walking down a long baron hallway, the clomping of high-heel footsteps bounce off the walls, echoing with each step.
“Can I ask where we’re going?”
She turns a doorknob and pushes a door open that says interrogation on it, revealing a cold metal table and several chairs that are empty. A giant one-way mirror reflects back, making the room feel larger and ominous. She nods silently and the guards leave the room, standing just outside the door.
“Have a seat.” She orders.
“What’s this about? I’ve initiated Protocol 51.” Daniel asks.
She takes a slim laptop from underneath her arm and opens it up on the table. Tapping the keys quickly, she logs in and stares at the screen in front of her. Then she spins the laptop around so Daniel can see.
“Recognize this room?” She asks in seriousness.
Daniel leans closer and squints in disbelief, “This can’t be…”
“Tell me where this is!” She orders.
“It’s… the Mission Control room, here at NASA.”
“And what’s on the screen?”
Daniel gulps, “It’s the first images we got from the probe, coming in just a few hours ago… but how?”
She slams the laptop lid forcefully closed, “It doesn’t matter how! This thirty second video is going viral on the Internet! You were supposed to initiate Protocol 51 right away!”
“I did! I did initiate Protocol 51, as soon as we got the full picture. I even disconnected all the workstations and destroyed all the phones.”
“Then how do you explain this video? It was streamed live and is now the most shared video ever! The news media is all over it, phone calls are coming in from all over. You had one job to do!”
“I’m sorry… I don’t know what else to say.”
She lifts the laptop lid and puts it in front of Daniel, “Take a look at this again. Look at the angle from where it was filmed. Any idea who may have filmed it?”