by Don Viecelli
“Well, Mr. President, you know about the NASA space station incident with the UFO. It took us all by surprise. U.S. Space Command thought they had a target earlier, but we could not confirm it until Commander Bonario reported the sighting to the NASA Command Center around 1830 hours Houston time. We never saw the UFO on our satellite or ground-based radar systems until it showed up on Air Force Space Command radar over Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, just before it exploded. We weren’t even sure if it was the same UFO Commander Bonario took pictures of. We needed some proof, so we assigned General Anderson to conduct the investigation. General Anderson will fill you in further. General.”
“Thank you, Mr. Secretary. General Walton informed me of the situation on the ISS about 2200 hours yesterday. NASA filed a video report that included pictures of the UFO. There was an extreme solar flare radiation warning issued by NOAA at 2100 hours, but there wasn’t enough time for the ISS space crew to react. Commander Bonario was caught outside on an EVA fixing one of the remote arm computer control systems. According to the Commander’s report, he was having some trouble with his manned maneuvering unit after the flare hit and he couldn’t get back to the airlock. Then the UFO showed up near the space station. Somehow the aliens protected the Commander from radiation exposure until he was able to get back to safety. Then the power generator on the solar array overloaded and exploded sending fragments of metal in all directions ripping holes in the UFO and the ISS. Sam can fill you in more on the ISS damage. Anyway, the UFO was damaged, apparently critically. Commander Bonario had the good sense to use his MMU camera to film the whole event.” General Anderson paused for a moment to let everyone get a cup of coffee; then continued.
“We weren’t sure what happened to the space craft, Mr. President. We knew the approximate heading and assumed it was coming down to land and make repairs. But it has some sort of shielding that makes radar detection impossible, at least until just before it exploded into pieces over the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We don’t know why they picked the UP. Maybe they were already familiar with locations on Earth that are unpopulated. We can only guess at this point. But, Air Force Space Command radar finally did pick something up that could not be accounted for in our air space, so we investigated. I called Colonel Dave Hampton in to handle the crash investigation and run the search and recovery team. He was on vacation in North Carolina when I called him. He flew from Wilmington to Duluth Air Force Base late last night. Then he went to the crash scene to investigate and filed his report this morning at 0600. Colonel Hampton and his team have been up all night at the crash site.”
“What did he find out, General?” the President asked.
“The UFO is extraterrestrial, Mr. President. Colonel Hampton sent us a video report this morning that positively shows it’s alien. He has recovered four dead bodies. They are being sent to our medical facility at the Milwaukee Air Force Base for autopsies. A copy of his video report was sent to your office a few minutes ago. It has pictures of the alien bodies and some of the objects we have recovered. The whole site is quarantined now to check for biological contamination.” General Anderson paused for a few seconds to let what he said sink in.
Fred Imhoff looked incredulous and said, “You’ve got to be kidding!”
“We’re not, sir,” General Walton said.
“Well now, that presents a big problem for us, doesn’t it?” President Maxwell said. “Fred hasn’t seen the NASA and U.S. Space Command reports I read this morning. No one is ever prepared for something like this. Let’s see the video report. Fred, can you bring it up on your computer?” Fred walked quickly to his desk and returned with his laptop into the oval office. He found the video message file and opened it. They all watched the video report sent in by Colonel Hampton on the monitor screen. It only took fifteen minutes to view the whole file. The President watched intently, more amazed than alarmed.
“I’ll be damned. There really are aliens in the universe. Some of our scientists are going to go crazy. Maybe that will be a good thing,” President Maxwell said lightheartedly. Then he got serious. “How should we handle this, Harry?”
“Well, Mr. President, I recommend we make this crash investigation ‘Top Secret’ and compartmentalize it. No one outside of this office should be told about the aliens until we get all the pieces of the wreckage out of those woods and into our military hangar at Milwaukee Air Force Base where we can secure it. For those TV or press reporters who find out about the crash, we’ll issue a prepared press release telling them it was an experimental test plane that exploded in the air and crashed. All details must be kept secret for national security purposes. It should hold up unless the people who have seen the crash site, and we know some park visitors have, go to the press with evidence. Even if they do, we will deny any knowledge of the aliens. We need to keep this to ourselves for obvious reasons. We don’t want to cause a panic.”
“I agree with the Secretary, Mr. President,” said General Walton. “We can learn a lot about their space craft technology, which will help our government in the long run. How they defeated our satellite and radar detection systems for one thing.”
“And you, General Anderson. Do you think we should declare this a national security matter?” the President asked looking for his opinion.
“Yes, Mr. President, I do, at least until we find out more about the technology the aliens used and whether or not we have anything to worry about from biological contamination.”
“Well, then, I’ll approve that approach. It seems the right thing to do for now. Has this ever happened before, Harry?” the President asked. “I mean do we have any proof or any evidence of past alien encounters? I remember reading about the Roswell incident and the Bluebook report when I was a boy. Was there any truth to any of it?”
“No, Mr. President, I don’t believe so. There have been a lot of rumors and reports about UFO sightings and alien abductions worldwide from individual persons over the years, but no government has ever offered up any proof of alien existence, that I know of. Maybe General Walton can add something more.”
“The Roswell, New Mexico incident in 1947 never happened, Mr. President,” General Walton added looking at some of his notes. “We did an exhaustive study for the General Accounting Office and Congress on the whole subject and released an Air Force report in 1994. There was no recovery of any flying saucer or alien bodies. The U.S. Army Air Force recovered debris from a high altitude balloon research project called MOGUL. Project MOGUL was ‘Top Secret’ at the time and was used to develop long-range nuclear explosion detection capabilities for Soviet nuclear tests. Additionally, the air force dropped life size test dummies from balloons for scientific research to learn how to return pilots to earth if they had to eject at high altitudes. The local people mistook the search and recovery activities in the region for an alien crash scene. The case has been closed and no one who has read the report seriously questions it or says it is a cover-up.”
General Walton continued, “The official US Air Force investigation of UFOs was reported in Project Bluebook, Project Sign and Project Grudge which ran from 1948 to 1969. Nothing was uncovered which could serve as proof of aliens, although a few UFO sightings and pictures could not be explained by scientific means. We ended the projects for budgetary reasons. The fact is, Mr. President, we had no proof of UFOs until now.”
“Thank you for the update, General Walton. I would like to review those reports. Please send me copies when you have time. Incidentally, how is the space station crew holding up?”
“It’s a very serious situation up there right now, Mr. President,” General Walton responded. “NASA plans to hold a press conference in Houston today at 1200 hours, our time, and explain what happened to the ISS and crew. NASA says the Solar Radiation Storm produced by the solar flare was an S5 or Extreme radiation hazard. It’s equivalent to about 100 chest x-rays at high altitudes. The ISS suffered some computer damage and power loss and the solar array panels were damaged. The crew is trying
hard to fix the problems and prepare for the next wave of radiation coming at them. After the initial proton bombardment, it usually takes one or two days for the main body of energized particles to hit our atmosphere. NASA scientists say the solar flare produced an unusually large coronal mass ejection, what they call a ‘CME’, which is a gigantic bubble of electrified gas aimed in our direction. This will cause extreme geomagnetic storms, radio blackouts and power grid interruptions in our atmosphere and on the ground. There could be significant damage to our space station computer systems and to our satellite operations depending on the amount of ionized plasma in the solar wind. The NOAA space weather satellites may be the first to suffer damage. Then our orbiting satellites will be in danger. We don’t know how bad it will be yet, Mr. President. We’re still analyzing the data. U.S. Space Command has issued a warning to all military branches to be prepared for radio communication interruptions and air, land and sea navigation system problems for the next three days. NOAA has alerted all other branches of government and civil authorities as well about the storms. We’re preparing for the worse, Mr. President.”
“How often does this type of thing happen, General,” Fred Imhoff asked.
“Not very often, sir; at least not this severe. A Category 5 Solar Radiation Storm or Radio Blackout occurs less than 1 time per eleven-year solar cycle, per my notes. A Category 5 Geomagnetic Storm happens four times per cycle. This was the first S5 Solar Radiation Storm this cycle. They only occur at solar maximum, but they seem to be getting worse for some reason. We don’t know why and they’re very hard to predict.”
“Well, gentlemen, I think our time is up,” President Maxwell said. “You know your way out. Harry, thanks for the briefing. Keep me informed how the UFO recovery process is going. I need some time to work on this. Continue with your plans for security and we’ll talk later. Thank you, General Walton and General Anderson. This has been very informative. Your help on this is greatly appreciated.” The President stood and they all shook hands before leaving.
As soon as the three men left the room, President Maxwell motioned his Chief of Staff and political advisor to a chair. “Fred, what do you think about all this?”
“This could easily get out of hand, Mr. President. We can’t let the Defense Department run the show. They’ll want to keep everything under their control and not let anything out. I think we need to appoint a special commission to handle this. Congress and the Senate will go ballistic if they find out we’re trying to keep everything secret from them. We need their support, especially if this incident leaks to the press. We could have a world panic on our hands.” Fred was getting a little over-dramatic, but the President had long ago learned to trust Fred’s political instincts on matters.
“I think you’re right, Fred. We’ll let them keep this a secret for now, but we need a better long-range plan. The future impact of this incident will be staggering. I want you to call a special meeting of the Cabinet for this afternoon. See who’s here. We need to let them know what’s happening and draft a plan. We need to do it before word gets out. I think we better also give the Michigan Governor a call to let him know what we’re doing up there. This is going to be a busy day, Fred.” As Fred left the room, President Maxwell looked thoughtful for a moment and then went back to work running the country.
Chapter 10
Porcupine Mountains, MI:
The sun began to shine in the east over the Porcupine Mountains. It was partly cloudy but the wind was warm and it looked like it was going to be a nice dry spring day in the Upper Peninsula. It would just be another day in the park if not for all the activity going on in the area. The search and recovery operation was in full swing. More helicopters were ferrying men and supplies to both crash sites. Military boats were now in the lake moving people between the first crash site and the park Wilderness Visitor Center. Over the mountain at the second crash site, the Army National Guard Engineering Corps was moving heavy equipment down the old mining trail closer to the crash site. They were pushing trees out of the way and generally making a lot of noise. They would have a makeshift road wide enough to handle the army trucks before noon today. This would make the task of hauling the spacecraft wreckage back to Duluth for shipment to the Air Force hangar in Milwaukee much easier.
Dave had decided to try and get some sleep after his satellite call with General Anderson two hours ago. He had been up over 24 hours, so he put Colonel Feldman in charge of the search and recovery operation while he slept. He left word with Sergeant Carter on site that he be awakened at 1000 hours. While he was sleeping, the entire park perimeter had been sealed off by Michigan State Troopers and the Army National Guard on orders from the Michigan Governor. Every entrance had someone standing guard and no one was permitted to enter the park. The Wilderness Visitor Center had been taken over by the air force recovery team. Colonel Feldman had flown in by helicopter to the center last night and set up a command and control center on Colonel Hampton’s orders and was now running the logistical operations from there. Park rangers were visiting the campground areas and notifying all park visitors they must leave the park area as soon as possible, but first they must be checked off the visitors list and be interviewed by the crash investigation team at the visitor center. This was the search team’s way of checking to see who knew what and explain the cover story about a test plane crash and the bit about national security. So far it seemed to be working. Although a lot of park visitors saw or heard the explosion last night, no one was near enough to the crash sites to see what was really going on. The cover story was holding up, at least for the time being.
Outside of the park it was a different story. Several local residents scattered around the local towns had seen or heard the same explosion in the night sky. A few had called 911 and the local police stations had started their own investigation into the matter. It took a few telephone calls by Colonel Feldman to settle down the situation with the local police, fire and rescue departments and email out the press release the Pentagon public relations department had written just for this occasion. Some departments had even offered to help in the recovery operation if needed. Of course, this was politely declined. Instead the Michigan State Troopers were called in to block off the park entrances until the Army National Guard could arrive and relieve them of this duty. With all the activity at the park, state troopers blocking all park entrances and the movement of National Guardsmen up and down the local roadways, it was natural for a few of the locals to get nervous and wonder what was going on. The rumors started to fly early at the coffee houses. Soon the local radio stations got into the act and set up hot lines for people to call in on. The level of interest was rising by the hour, but so far it all stayed in the local area and had not spread out to the big radio, TV stations and newspapers in the larger cities. It wasn’t national news yet, but it was only a matter of time and this made things very interesting to the locals who were waiting for more news to hit the airways.
****
Meanwhile, Ryan and his two friends had decided to get moving again. After the phone call with his sister, Ryan, Jason and Tom decided to move further away from the side of the road. There were too many military convoys driving past them now and they felt unsafe. They discussed the pros and cons of going back to the Wilderness Visitor Center and decided it would be best if they just avoided the place for now and picked up their car later. It would be much smarter, they felt, to just stick together and try to hitchhike their way to Houghton once they got to the main highway further away from the park. Ryan pulled out his map and studied the directions. “It looks like we could cut across to M-64 and make our way to Rockland. Maybe we could find a bus to take us up M-26 to Houghton.”
Jason was looking at his map with Tom as well. “You’re probably right, Ry,” Jason added. “It doesn’t look too far to M-64. What do you think, Tom?”
“I agree. I think it’s better this way. You know they’ll be looking for us at the park. We all signed in. We can go back fo
r the car after we see your sister, Ry,” Tom added.
“All right then, let’s get moving. We need to get further away from this road,” Ryan said. They put away their maps and started walking.
It was getting brighter now that the sun was up and it felt warmer. They opened up their jackets and adjusted their backpacks. Ryan put the disk in his backpack. It was glowing now, but it didn’t seem to affect anything. All three young men had baseball caps on with tightly curled visors. It was fairly heavily wooded in some places, but every now and then they would come out into an open area. Unfortunately, they missed the ominous signs posted on some of the trees hidden from view by the brush and tall weeds. They were now on private property and the signs said ‘NO TRESPASSING, Violators Will Be Prosecuted’. They didn’t get too far when a loud voice called from behind and told them to stop. “Hold it right there! Put your hands on your head.”
Startled at first, the young men thought this was a strange request and just stopped and turned around. They saw two men in military garb pointing rifles at them and thought they had just been found by the guardsmen they were trying to avoid. Then they realized their mistake. These men were in full camouflage uniforms. They had black face paint on and tree branches tied to their helmets. It was a paramilitary group of some sort and they didn’t look too pleased to see them. Several other men soon appeared and had them surrounded. “Now!” one of the men shouted. “Hands on your head.” The young men complied.
“Who are you and what are you doing trespassing on our land?” the man asked.
“Sorry, we didn’t know we were trespassing,” Ryan said somewhat hesitantly. “We came from the park and we’re just looking for M-64. My name is Ryan Weston and this is Jason Collins and Tom Halbrook. We’re from Chicago. We were hiking in the park and decided to leave because of all the commotion.”