by Don Viecelli
It was an airplane seat. It was lying on its side with the back facing them. Ryan and Jason ran over to it and pulled it upright. What they saw startled the both of them. They let out a scream and jumped backwards. There was a body still strapped in the seat. One arm and leg seemed to be missing. At first Ryan thought it was a passenger since there was no uniform. He took a closer look with his flashlight. The head was still attached to the body but there was no hair and it had an odd shape. He thought it was because of the crash. Then he saw the eyes and the rest of the face. It wasn’t human.
“Jesus Christ!” Ryan swore out loud. “What is it?”
They both moved closer. Jason took a long look at the body. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing either. “Look at the hand,” he said. “It only has four fingers. I think it’s alien. You’ve got to take a picture of this!”
Ryan calmed himself down as best as he could, took a deep breath and snapped several pictures. He didn’t dare use a flash in case it could be seen from the air. Something on the body reflected from the burning wreckage nearby. It looked like a small metal disk hanging around its neck.
“Look at this, Jason. Something is hanging around his neck. Let’s take it with us.”
Before Jason could utter a reply, Ryan had slipped the disk from around the alien’s neck and was holding it in front of him to take a closer look. It belonged to the Tularian Captain whose dark eyes starred at them as if he were alive; trying to tell the humans they could not have the disk.
“What is it?” Jason asked.
“It looks like a disk with some sort of symbol on it,” Ryan answered. He gave it to Jason to look at.
In all the confusion, they didn’t hear the radio until now. It was Tom trying to get a hold of them. He sounded panicky. “Is anyone there? Over”
Ryan pushed the talk button and answered. “We hear you. What’s up?”
“They’re coming! One helicopter is flying towards you now. Get the hell out of there!” Tom yelled.
Suddenly, both of them heard the sound of helicopter rotor blades approaching the site. They didn’t have much time. Luckily they had turned off their flashlights before the helicopter cleared the ridge behind them.
“Let’s get out of here,” Ryan yelled to Jason and they started running towards the woods away from the crash site. They didn’t have far to go. They tried to keep from running into a tree or piece of wreckage on the ground as they ran in the dark. They just made it under the trees when they heard the helicopter overhead. Then they saw the spotlight poking through the trees looking at the wreckage on the ground. The two young men huddled next to the trees trying not to be spotted. As the spotlight moved further away from them, they quickly ran deeper into the woods back towards the lake. They wanted to get back to the trail and meet up with Tom at the campsite and find the main road before morning. They both had had enough excitement for the night. Now they just wanted to get out of there and not be seen by the people in the helicopter. Ryan wanted to call his sister and tell her what they had found as soon as he could. It was now midnight and the Northern lights were reaching their peak brilliance, if only they could see them in the dark woods.
* * * *
Earlier in the day in Chicago, the local affiliate TV station was preparing for the nightly 10:00 p.m. newscast. A call came in to the news desk around 8:30 p.m. A man from the corporate news desk in New York City asked to speak to the executive news producer, Dick Hughes. He informed Mr. Hughes that there was an incident on the International Space Station tonight and that NASA was planning a press conference for 10:00 a.m. the next morning in Houston. Since it was a science news story, the producer decided to feed the story to Kaye Weston who was one of the new talented TV reporters for Channel Two News. Kaye was at her desk preparing for the late news program when she got the call.
“Hello, Dick,” Kaye said as she answered the phone. “What can I do for you?”
“Hello, Kaye. I know you’re busy, but I just got a news lead on a NASA story you might be interested in. Something happened to the space station tonight. It was too late for the evening news program to report in New York, so they want us to air something tonight. I want you to do a coverage piece on what happened. NASA is planning a press conference in Houston at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning. You need to fly to Houston in the morning. Can you handle it?”
“Sure, Dick,” Kaye responded. “It sounds interesting. Any idea what happened?”
“Well, according to New York, NASA say’s the International Space Station suffered some minor damage from a solar storm that occurred up there tonight. I know you’re working on a news piece on the NOAA Space Weather Alert announcement. This could be related and I think it would have enough interest for a filler piece at 10 p.m. I think you should cover the press conference tomorrow. I want you to write a story for the show tonight and do a spot piece tomorrow from Houston. I’ll send you the file I received from New York. You need to make flight arrangements to Houston tonight.”
“Sounds good to me, Dick. I’ll get right on it. Thanks.” Kaye hung up the phone and immediately looked for the message file on her computer from Dick. She read the news that NASA forwarded to the national news station in New York. It briefly stated that the ISS suffered some minor damage from a power generating motor that exploded sending metal fragments through some of the solar array panels and rupturing one of the cargo bay modules. None of the astronauts were hurt and they were not in any danger according to the report. However, they are experiencing power failures and computer systems damage from solar flare magnetic storms.
This is interesting. What about radiation? - Kaye thought to herself. She knew a little about what solar flares could do and one of the hazards in space was from radiation. Maybe this could be the lead-in piece to the NOAA Space Weather Alert message they received earlier. She began to search the news database for anything related to solar flares, magnetic storms and radiation hazards. There were tons of information and she knew she would have to narrow down the search. She also reviewed the NOAA Space Weather Alert message they received at 8:00 p.m. that mentioned the possibility of a severe solar radiation storm. She was amazed at the affect the storm seemed to have on the space station. She wondered what else might happen.
She looked at the clock on the wall. It was 8:45 p.m. She only had an hour and fifteen minutes before news time. She needed at least a one-minute filler piece with pictures, so she called the film department to find any tapes they had on the ISS and something showing a solar flare on the sun. Then she began to think about the message she wanted to convey to the audience. She could probably lead with a story on the damage to the space station and what the astronauts are doing up there to fix it, and then let the public know what a solar flare is and what damage it is capable of doing. It had to be simple, so pictures will help. It should be easy to complete, but she hoped the anchors tonight wouldn’t think it was too technical for their audience. “Oh, well,” Kaye said to herself. “The producer can fix it before it goes on the air.”
She was looking for something she could pitch on the air tomorrow and maybe the NASA press conference will be good enough to make it on the news tomorrow night. It was airtime she needed if she was ever going to make it into the anchor seat. She had been working for Channel Two News in Chicago for three years now doing all sorts of jobs. It’s time to move up, she thought to herself as she worked. She needed something big and she didn’t know what that might be.
She decided to check the API and UPI news wires to see what was up on the news tonight. It might give an indication of what the other TV stations would air tonight. After a few minutes of browsing, she didn’t see anything worthy of airing on the local news station she didn’t already know, except for a brief commentary on numerous aurora borealis sightings in the northern hemisphere. It appears people were calling in to the local TV and radio stations regarding the Northern Lights and how intense they were. This must be related to the magnetic storms NOAA was worried about, she tho
ught. Kaye wondered if they would be able to see anything in Chicago. Probably not, she thought, because of the city lights. Then it occurred to her that her younger brother, Ryan, and his friends should be able to see them since they were hiking and camping in the Upper Peninsula all week. I bet they were beautiful up there, she thought to herself. She personally had never seen any Northern Lights in her life. She wondered what they looked like and decided to check the web later to see if there were any pictures.
If she could find some time, she might give Ryan a call on his cell phone and see how he was doing. They hadn’t talked with each other for over a week before his trip. Ryan had just gotten out of school for the summer and she had been too busy to get together with him. Their parents were probably mad at both of them for not visiting them at home in the northwest suburbs. Time just seemed to fly by now that she was working and trying to establish her career. She promised herself she would call her parents and go visit them after her trip to Houston. That thought just reminded her to get on the Internet and make flight reservations. She figured she could catch an early morning flight on American, say around 6:00 a.m., and still get to the press conference before ten o’clock. She wasn’t planning to stay the night, so she only needed a car. Oh, and she remembered she needed a cameraman so she decided to call Kurt Flannigan and see if he was available. He was absolutely phenomenal with a camera and good company on the job. He had filmed several of the last pieces for her and they made a good team. She hoped he was available.
After she checked with the film department to see what they had in the library for the space station piece tonight, she finished the copy and sent it over to the news writers with the film footage for polishing and final approval with the producer. She would check with them later to see if they liked it. She called Kurt, the cameraman, and confirmed that he was available for the trip to Houston tomorrow morning. Then she made reservations for two on the 6:15 a.m. flight out of O’Hare airport. She would wait until the 10:00 p.m. news program was over and then go home to get ready for the trip tomorrow. It should be a routine press conference, she thought to herself, and nothing to worry about. To pass the time, she started reading all the background information on the ISS and solar flares she had book-marked on her computer.
Chapter 6
Duluth, MN:
The military transport plane landed at Duluth International Airport in Minnesota at 12:45 a.m. local time and taxied over to the air force terminal. The pilot opened the cockpit door, said hello to Dave and then opened the airplane door. “Hope you enjoyed the flight, Colonel,” he said.
“It was fine. Thanks for the ride, Captain. The coffee was great by the way,” Dave replied trying to be friendly. He always tried to keep on the good side of people. You never knew when you might need a favor in this business. He got his bags and stepped outside onto the stairway ramp.
It was a clear, warm night for June. It must be around 70 degrees, thought Dave. Normally, it would much cooler at night this time of year. Dave was thankful as he walked down the steps. After all, he had been in North Carolina just two hours ago and he was accustomed to the warm Gulf air blowing up the Atlantic coast.
Dave walked over to the air force terminal and informed the duty officer who he was and asked where he could find the commanding officer. The duty officer, a 2nd Lieutenant, saluted Colonel Hampton and asked him to sign the registry book. He looked at the Dave’s name and said, “Colonel Feldman is expecting you, sir. I’ll take you to him now. Please follow me.”
Dave followed the lieutenant to Colonel Feldman’s office down the hallway. As he neared the office, he could hear a voice speaking loudly in the room. The lieutenant knocked and opened the door.
“Colonel Feldman, Colonel Hampton has arrived,” the lieutenant said. Colonel Feldman was on the phone. He waved Dave into the room. The lieutenant left and closed the door behind him.
“Yes, I understand,” Colonel Feldman said on the phone. “Good work, Major. Return to base and refuel. You’ll need to return with a search and recovery team. Report in when you get here, Major.” He hung up the phone. The two colonels exchanged salutes and shook hands.
“You’re just in time, Colonel Hampton. I’m Jack Feldman, officer in charge on this shift. My CO, General Bruce Knight, is off duty. Have a seat. How was your flight?”
“It was fine. Glad to meet you, Colonel. I’m Dave Hampton, Chief Crash Investigator for the Air Force. What have you found out so far?” he asked Colonel Feldman.
“That was one of the Army helicopter pilots. They found the crash site a few minutes ago. It’s confirmed. We have something on the ground about 50 miles from here. We don’t know what it is yet. What can you tell me about this crash investigation?”
“What do you know so far, Colonel?” Dave asked, not sure how much General Anderson had told him.
“General Anderson called me from the Pentagon two hours ago and informed me that we have a plane down that crashed near here and wanted me to send out helicopters to search for it. He gave me some coordinates and not much else. He told me this was a highly classified operation, on a need-to-know only basis for anyone involved. He said he was sending you to head up the investigation. My job was to find the crash site and help you in any way I can. Then the General called about an hour ago and said no one was to inspect the wreckage without following contamination procedures. It sounds kind of mysterious to me. I’m not aware of any planes missing in my area. It’s not one of ours at this base. Whose plane is it?”
“Colonel, I’ll fill you in on what we know. We’ll need your help on this. I have a report in my notebook. I’ll transfer it to you as soon as I log onto your LAN system. It’s a highly classified report. You must not show or tell anyone about the report without my, or the General’s, approval. This is a very serious situation and we have to keep a lid on the whole investigation.”
Colonel Feldman looked surprised. He wasn’t expecting the seriousness of the situation. Colonel Hampton clearly had his attention now.
“We think a UFO exploded in the air and crashed in the UP. NASA may have accidentally caused the mishap with the International Space Station. I know it sounds a little crazy, but we do have pictures and confirmation of the story. It’s all in the NASA and U.S. Space Command report. You can study it later. Right now, I need to know where you spotted the crash site and how we can get a team up there to investigate it.”
Colonel Feldman looked skeptical, but he quickly composed himself. “It sounds crazy alright, but we have found the crash site. I sent up two army helicopters since the crash site coordinates were close by and it’s in a rugged area. Here, let me show you on the map.” He walked over to a large map hanging on the wall to one side of his desk. He put pins in two spots near a lake.
“Major Jim Cole is piloting one of the helicopters. He spotted the first wreckage site. Apparently the UFO broke up into several pieces on its way down. The first site is here, near the edge of the Lake of the Clouds. The lake is in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, which is one of the most rugged regions in this part of the country. Captain Roger Mendoza is piloting the second helicopter. He spotted the second site across the lake in a small valley between two mountains about five miles away. It’s a much larger crash site according to Captain Mendoza. This was a fairly big UFO. I would say about the size of a 747. It’s going to be a hell of a job to secure the sites and pull everything out.”
“I studied the area on the way in, Colonel,” Dave said. “Are there any roads we can use to get to the wreckage?”
“Not many, Colonel. The Visitor Center is near the lake and there is a road, M-107, about a quarter-mile away. This might work for the first site, but we may need to haul the wreckage out with helicopters or boats to get to the road. The second site in the valley isn’t near any roads that I’m aware of. It’s a big park and I’ve only been there once myself. We’re going to have to find a local park ranger to help us. There are mostly foot trails in the park for hikers and c
ampers, and one long road called the South Boundary that follows the outside of the park all the way to Lake Superior. There may be some old mining or logging roads up there, but we’re going to have to find them. Otherwise we need a clearing to land the helicopters.”
“Can we use the helicopters to land on the lake?” Dave asked. He was thinking how he could get himself and his team members to the crash sites.
“Yes, were using modified CT 46’s,” the colonel replied. They can haul up to 20 people with gear and land on the lake if we need to. Major Cole can fill you in when he gets here. He should be landing in twenty minutes.”
“Good,” Dave said. “That should give us some time to get organized. I’m going to need a few people here to handle the logistics. I’ve got equipment flying in from Atlanta. It’ll arrive around 0300. I put together a crash investigation team on my way in. I’ll send you a list of their names and approximate arrival times. We need to send in a search team immediately to verify if it was a UFO, assess the damage and secure the area. We also need a biohazard team to check for contamination. We have to quarantine the whole area. Who do you have around here?”
“We have a special biohazard team trained for emergency situations,” Colonel Feldman said. “I called them all in. They’ll be here soon. I’m looking for more people from other bases. We have enough hazmat suits and equipment for ten people.”
“That won’t be enough. We’ll need at least twenty. See what you can do while I prepare to head for the crash site. I’ll need one of those suits. Do you have a changing room I can use?”
“Yes, Colonel, I can help you with that. What should I tell my CO? He’s waiting for my call.”
“Fill him in. Tell him everything is under control. This is going to take a while to investigate. I have complete responsibility for the crash investigation under orders from General Anderson. This investigation is being handled from the very top. We will advise if we need anything from you or your CO. You can start with providing men and equipment to help in the investigation. I need to secure the crash site and prepare for transportation of the wreckage in a day or so. I’m moving everything to Milwaukee Air Force Base to complete the investigation.”