Alien Storm

by Don Viecelli

  “All right, Colonel,” Colonel Feldman replied. “I understand the situation. I’ll advise General Knight. It shouldn’t be a problem for us. If you’re ready to change, I’ll show you to a spare office you can use. Are you hungry?”

  “No, Colonel, I’m fine for now. Thanks for asking. I do need to send you the reports and names, though. Give me a few minutes to log into your computer system. Then I need to change and fly to the crash site. I’ll need one of those hazmat suits to take with me.”

  “No problem, Colonel,” Colonel Feldman said. “Let me show you the office you can use.” Colonel Feldman opened the door, walked down the hallway to an empty office and showed Dave the room. He turned on the lights.

  “Everything should be working in here,” the colonel said. “Let me know if you need anything. The restrooms are down the hall on the left. I’ll let you know when Major Cole arrives. Anything else I can get you?”

  “No, this will be fine,” Dave answered.

  As soon as Colonel Feldman left the room, Dave took out his notebook and logged into the computer system. He emailed the files to Colonel Feldman. Then he checked for messages. He had several from team members he had contacted for the investigation. They all said they were on the way, some arriving during the night. Others would arrive early in the morning. All understood the urgency of the request and the need for secrecy. Then Dave considered what he needed to do over the next few hours. First, he needed a command post. He figured he could use the park visitor center. He would get Colonel Feldman to clear the way with the park rangers. Maybe the colonel could run the command center for him. Second, he would have to close the park. No one would be allowed into the park for the next few days. Anyone in the park now would be questioned on the way out. He needed to know if anyone saw the crash and what they knew. This would take a lot of men. He would ask Colonel Feldman to coordinate this with the local police, state troopers and the Army National Guard in the area. They would have to be careful not to cause undo alarm with park visitors or the local population. He would use the Press Release for information purposes. Dave hoped it would be enough to at least buy more time to secure the area. After that, who knows what will happen, he thought to himself. Before he could finish the next thought, Colonel Feldman knocked on the door and walked in. He was carrying the spare hazmat suit.

  “Major Cole is here. He’s refueled and ready to go when you are, Colonel.”

  “I’ll be in your office in a few minutes. I’m sending some things I need you to do for me while I’m flying to the crash site. Did you get the reports I sent?

  “Yes, but I only had time to glance at them. They’re pretty hard to believe, Colonel. This will be tough to keep secret if it’s true,” he said.

  “I know, Colonel. I’m just hoping to get control of the situation. We’ll have to let the Pentagon handle the publicity if it gets out. I just need to verify what it is before morning. I’ll need your help to do it.”

  “You’ve got it, Colonel. I’ll be here all night and the General understands the situation. He’ll give you anything you need.”

  “Great. Give me a minute and I’ll be in to see you. We need to call General Anderson to tell him what you found.” Colonel Feldman left the room and let Dave finish what he was doing. Dave shut down his computer and changed his clothes. He needed something more rugged for where he was going. He would change into the hazmat suit on the helicopter. He packed his bags and carried them back to Colonel Feldman’s office. The door was open. Colonel Feldman was talking to Major Cole.

  “Colonel Hampton, this is Major Cole. He’s part of the army helicopter squadron stationed here.” Major Cole saluted Colonel Hampton and shook hands. “Nice to meet you, sir,” the major offered.

  “Hello, Major,” said Dave. “I hear you found the wreckage we’re looking for. Can you show me where it is?”

  “Yes, Sir.” The major moved over to the map on the wall. “I spotted the first wreckage pretty easy since some of the pieces were still burning on the ground. It wasn’t much and the fires died down pretty quickly. It’s on the east side of the lake about an eighth-of-a-mile inland. There’s no place to land so we just took some pictures on the digital camera and sent them in. Captain Mendoza found the other wreckage site. It’s much larger. It must be the front section of the airplane. The wreckage is scattered over a much bigger area. It’s on the west side of the lake approximately a mile inland over this ridge. He didn’t see anywhere to land, so he took some pictures and sent them to me. He’s on his way back now.”

  “Thanks, Major,” Dave said. “First, let me say that this is a top-secret crash investigation. You and your men are not to discuss anything you see or hear while working on this investigation. Is that understood, Major?”

  “Yes, sir. I understand.”

  “Good. Second, this is not a normal airplane crash. We think it is a UFO, possibly an alien spacecraft. It’s not one of ours, we’re fairly certain.” The Major looked surprised. “I’m in charge of this investigation on orders from Lieutenant General Anderson at the Pentagon. We’re going to investigate the crash site tonight, collect what evidence we can and present preliminary findings to the General by 0600 this morning. The Pentagon has a high level meeting with the President in the morning and will need all the information we can give them. I have to call the General right now and show him what you found. Do you have the pictures, Major?”

  “Yes, Sir. I sent the pictures to Colonel Feldman,” the major said.

  “Okay, then. Let’s do it. Colonel Feldman, would you please dial the General using video conferencing. I promised to call him when we had some information on the crash site.”

  “Certainly, Colonel Hampton. It’ll just take me a moment. Let me turn the monitor around so we can all see him. Okay, it’s dialing.”

  Dave adjusted the camera lens on top of the monitor screen so both he and Major Cole could be seen. Colonel Feldman joined them around the desk. They could hear the computer dialing the number and then General Anderson’s face appeared on screen. The General could see Dave and the others in the room. “Hello, Colonel Hampton. Any news yet?” he asked.

  “Yes, sir. Colonel Feldman’s search team has found the crash site. I’m getting ready to fly out to the site in a few minutes. I promised to call and give you an update. I’m here with Colonel Feldman and Major Cole who piloted one of the helicopters. He found the first crash site. There are two crash sites, General, a few miles apart. Captain Mendoza found the second site. They took some pictures and we’ll show them to you now. I haven’t seen them, so bear with me. Colonel, can you bring up the pictures?”

  Colonel Feldman used his wireless mouse to highlight the video file taken by Major Cole. The monitor screen suddenly changed to burning wreckage lying on the ground in a wooded area. It was very dark and not much detail could be seen even with the close-ups. The helicopter spotlight helped a little and it was obvious that the pieces on the ground were from some sort of plane and not a missile. Then Colonel Feldman downloaded the second video file from Captain Mendoza’s camera and this time the wreckage area was much larger and several smaller fires could be seen on the ground with bigger pieces of wreckage strewn around the whole area. Major Cole gave a brief narration of the crash scene. The recorded pictures continued for several minutes and then cut out.

  “Can you identify if it was a UFO or how big it was, Colonel Hampton?” General Anderson asked.

  “No, Sir,” Dave replied. He asked Major Cole to respond. “Any idea how big it was, Major?”

  “It looks about as big as a cargo transport plane, sir,” the major said. “The wreckage covers a pretty large area.”

  “Okay, Colonel,” the general said. “What about security? Do you need any help?”

  “No, sir,” Dave replied. “Colonel Feldman and General Knight have been very helpful. We have enough people here to secure the area and check for contamination. My team is on the way. We will be contacting the local police agencies and park range
rs shortly to help us. We’re going to have to shut down the national park for a few days until we can clear the area, sir. We may need to use the Army National Guard. One more thing, General, did you contact Milwaukee?”

  “Yes, Colonel,” said the general. “I talked to General Davis an hour ago. He’ll make room in one of his hangars for you. He’ll send a large cargo plane to Duluth when you’re ready to transport the wreckage. How long do you think this will take, Colonel?”

  “It’s a big site, General,” Dave said. “It’ll take a few days to investigate the crash site, take pictures and prepare for transport. We’re not sure if there are any roads nearby, General. We may have to make one.”

  “I understand, Colonel. Do the best you can and keep me informed. What are your plans?”

  “Major Cole is going to fly me and a small search and recovery team to the crash site to begin the investigation,” Dave replied. “We should be there within the hour. We’ll find a way to get down to the crash sites and investigate the wreckage. I’ll send you a video message as soon as I find some evidence to verify what it is, General. How long will you be there, sir?”

  “I’ll be here all night, Colonel. I have a meeting with General Walton and the Secretary at 0615 in the morning. They have a meeting with the President at 0730. Send me your findings as soon as you can. I would like to see it before the meeting. Good luck, Colonel.” He disconnected the call.

  “Well, that was interesting,” Colonel Feldman said. “There isn’t much time. What do you think you’ll find, Colonel?”

  “I’m not sure,” Dave replied. “We need to be prepared for anything. That reminds me. Does your team have any Geiger counters and gasometers? We need to check for radiation and poison gases at the crash site and my equipment is not here yet. And I’m going to need a video camera hookup. I bought my own mobile computer and satellite phone.”

  “I’ll have the biohazard team bring the equipment with them to the helicopter,” Colonel Feldman replied.

  “One more thing, Colonel,” Dave said. Call the park rangers and tell them to shut down the park. Give them a copy of the press release I sent you. Tell them we need to secure the area until we can remove the wreckage. Send some Army National Guardsmen in to block off the roads into and out of the park. We need to contain the area and interview anyone who saw the crash.”

  “And if they did, what do you want to do with them?” Colonel Feldman asked.

  “Bring everyone to the visitors center for questioning. We’ll question them there before we let them go. Any other questions?” Dave asked. “All right then, let’s get moving. It’s past 0100 and that leaves us five hours to find out what crashed in that park.”

  Colonel Feldman picked up his phone and dialed the helicopter base to inform Captain Mendoza that Colonel Hampton and Major Cole were on their way. He verified that the search team was wearing contamination suits and requested that the other equipment Colonel Hampton specified was available and sent to the helicopter. Then he started to look up the other numbers he needed to call. It was going to be a long night.

  Major Cole drove Dave to the helicopter pad. They got out of the Humvee and Major Cole waved to Captain Mendoza who was preparing to start his engine on the second helicopter. Mendoza’s search team was already on board and ready to take off. Dave climbed into the other helicopter and stowed his bags. Six search team members were already on board. There wasn’t much room. He found his yellow hazmat suit and put it on. Major Cole climbed into the pilot seat. “How are you going to get me down, Major?”

  “We can use the wench and lower you down if we can’t find a landing spot nearby. Or I can let you rappel down the ropes if you like, Colonel,” the Major half-smiled.

  “No thanks, Major,” Dave replied. “I haven’t used ropes since training camp years ago. The harness is good enough for me.” Dave finished putting on the contamination suit. The other team members were already in their gear. He found the spare field equipment bag and pulled out the wearable computer system and put it on. It was composed of a small, weatherproof CPU unit, satellite transceiver and battery pack that clipped onto a waist belt, a flexible keypad that fit around his wrist with Velcro and a headset unit with earphones, mike, visual eye display and small video camera. He was handed infrared night vision goggles by one of the other team members. He turned on the computer to test the communication system and verify his GPS location. The computer system components communicated wirelessly using ultra-wideband frequencies that were very fast and very secure. The satellite transceiver was the only means of communication in the crash site area and it provided instant communications with the military net. The transceiver could act as a two-way digital radio for short distance communications as well as a cell phone if necessary. This equipment was indispensable to the military today and Dave found it extremely valuable during crash investigations. He made a test call on the phone to Colonel Feldman and verified everything was working properly.

  “We’re ready to go, Colonel,” Major Cole said over the rotor noise and immediately started to lift from the ground. “We should be at the site in twenty minutes.”

  Dave looked out the open doorway and watched as the helicopter left the air base traveling low and fast. Soon, they were in darkness except for the shimmering Northern lights still visible in the night sky. It cast just enough light to see the ground below them as they sped to the crash site. Inside he could see the search team illuminated by the red lights inside the helicopter. He looked at the other men and wondered what they had been told to expect by Colonel Feldman. He decided to use the brief time to instruct the Sergeant seated across from him. “Sergeant, I’m Colonel Hampton. Is your team ready for inspecting the crash scene?” They shook hands.

  “Yes, sir,” the sergeant replied over the engine noise. “Nice to meet you, sir. I’m Sergeant Eugene Carter. These men are all trained and ready to go. Can you tell us what went down, sir?”

  “We’re not quite sure, Sergeant. That’s what we’re going to find out. Preliminary evidence points to a UFO. I know it sounds weird, but trust me. The information comes from a very reliable source. If it is a UFO, we need to verify it and check for contaminants like toxic gases and radiation. Do you have the gas detectors and Geiger counters?”

  “Yes, sir,” Sergeant Carter said. “We all have portable detectors. We can start monitoring as soon as we hit the ground.”

  “Good,” Dave said. “I’ll be right behind you as we go in. I’ll be recording the whole crash scene on my video camera. We have to send pictures to the Pentagon before morning to show them what we found. Use the flags to stake out any bodies you find. They will have to be hauled out as quickly as possible for examination. Do you have any questions, Sergeant?”

  “No sir, Colonel. We’ll proceed according to the book, sir.”

  “Have you ever investigated a crash scene before, Sergeant?” Dave asked over the noise.

  “Yes, sir,” the sergeant replied. “One time, about a year ago, sir. Ten people dead. It was pretty gruesome.” Both men just looked at each other with the same thoughts about how awful it could be, but they knew it had to be done and just let it drop. They continued on the flight in silence. A few minutes later, Major Cole yelled back, “We’re almost there, Colonel. We’ll look for a landing site near the larger crash site. Captain Mendoza will take the second team to the site across the lake. Keep your eyes open for a landing spot. If we can’t find one, you will have to use the ropes.”

  Everyone looked out the open doors for a clearing on the ground. Thin wisps of smoke were still rising from the forest below. They could make out broken trees, pieces of wreckage and large furrow marks in the ground. The fires had all died out. They flew around the wreckage one time with the spotlights pointed to the ground. They couldn’t find any open clearings near the wreckage. It was too heavily wooded. There seemed to be a clearing at the other end of the small valley, but it was a good half-mile away.

  “You’re going to have to use
the ropes, men,” Major Cole yelled behind him to the team. “Get ready to throw the ropes out the door.”

  Sergeant Carter supervised tossing half a dozen climbing ropes out the doorways on both sides of the helicopter. Major Cole bought the helicopter to the edge of the wreckage site just above tree level and hovered about fifty feet in the air. The first team members hooked themselves to the ropes and jumped out quickly rappelling the distance to the ground. Major Cole let the co-pilot take over the controls and came back to help operate the cable wench and harness for Dave. Sergeant Carter attached some plastic body bags to the rope and let them slide to the ground and then jumped out using the rope to rappel to the ground. Everything went smoothly.

  “Are you ready, Colonel?” Major Cole asked while tightening the harness and checking the cable clamps.

  “Yes, Major. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s go.”

  “You’ll be on the ground in a minute. Just unhook these clamps and let the harness come back up. We’re going to head back to pick up more people. Call me on the radio if you need anything. I’ll check on Captain Mendoza to see how his team is doing and let you know. Here you go. Good luck Colonel.”

  Dave felt the wind blow against his body as soon as he left the helicopter. It was very dark. Once he hit the ground, he unbuckled the body harness and signaled to Major Cole to take it back up. He then adjusted his night vision goggles and looked around. Usually they only had starlight or the moon to help them see in the dark with the goggles. However, tonight they had the Northern Lights to help them and it made everything seem like daylight in the woods. He could see some of the men spread out in front of him as they walked toward the crash site. He could also see some smoke ahead, but there was no smell due to the contamination suit. He was breathing pure oxygen now. He clicked on his radio unit. “Can you see anything yet, Sergeant Carter?”