by Don Viecelli
Kaye knew they were getting close when she saw nothing but woods below. The houses were far apart and most were hidden by the trees. She could barely make out any roads. Joe announced that the park was up ahead a few miles on the left. They all looked in that direction. The helicopter approached a large wooden structure that must be the park visitor center. It was a long two-story building with a wooden shingle roof and large picture windows on each floor. In front of the building was a large parking lot with cars, vans and campers parked side by side in the parking spaces. People were standing in lines to enter the building for some reason. Off to one side of the parking lot were several army trucks with troops loading and unloading supplies and other items she couldn’t make out. Sitting on the far edge of the lot was a helicopter with the engine off. In the distance behind the center she could see a large lake that sat in the middle of a valley with mountain ridges and trees all around the shoreline. The view of the lake, the white clouds and the Porcupine Mountains were spectacular. Now she knew why the Indians called this place the ‘Lake of the Clouds’. The land was unspoiled and virgin and Kaye could picture early settlers setting eyes on this place two hundred years ago and deciding to stay.
Off in the distance on the right side of the lake was an army helicopter landing on the water near the shore. She noticed people in yellow suits walking into the woods from a white tent set up near the edge of the lake. She pointed to the activity, but Kurt was already filming the scene with his camcorder. “What do you see, Kurt?” Kaye asked.
“It looks like some people in contamination suits are walking into the forest to one of the crash sites. Another person in a blue suit with some gear is getting out of the helicopter that just landed. I count five people in view. I’m taking some close-ups for the story.”
“Good. Did you get some shots of the visitor center parking lot and the lake?” Kaye asked.
“Yes, Kaye. I’ve already shot our approach to the center, the parking lot, the lake and all the people standing in line down there and the troops working near the army trucks. It should look good when we edit it.”
There was an empty spot next to the helicopter on the ground and Joe decided to land his helicopter there. It took just a few moments to set down and turn off the engine. He popped open his door and jumped down to help the others as the rotors slowly stopped spinning. As Kaye stepped onto the parking lot she saw one man in a military uniform coming towards her. He was tall and lanky with a thin face and dark eyes. She assumed it was Colonel Feldman. “Miss Weston, I presume. I’m Colonel Feldman. Welcome to the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness Visitor Center.”
They moved away from the helicopter and shook hands. “Thank you, Colonel Feldman. I’m glad to be here. Let me introduce you to my crew. This is Joe Polenski, our pilot; Kurt Flannigan, my cameraman; and Debbie Meyers, my sound and light assistant.”
“Nice to meet all of you. Please follow me and I’ll introduce you to Colonel Hampton. He’s waiting for you in one of the meeting rooms.”
They all walked the short distance to a side entrance of the building. “Colonel Feldman, why are all those people waiting in line?” Kaye asked.
“Most of them are park visitors. We had to close the park for our investigation and they’re being questioned and advised on what’s happening. The park rangers are also refunding any money owed to them. We should have everyone cleared out by the end of tomorrow, at least those we could find. It’s a big park, 92 square miles, and it will take some time to find and notify everyone.”
How long will you be here, Colonel?” Kaye asked.
“I’ll let Colonel Hampton answer that question, Miss Weston. Please follow me upstairs.”
Colonel Feldman led the group to the top of the stairs and down a long, wide hallway with large picture windows overlooking the lake to a large conference room at the end of the hall. He walked into the room and motioned the quests to take a seat. “If you would please wait here, I’ll get Colonel Hampton and return in a moment. There are refreshments at the counter and the restrooms are just around the corner outside in the hallway.”
The colonel left and Kaye said, “I think I’ll visit the ladies room and be right back.”
“Me, too,” Debbie said and both women left the room. Joe and Kurt walked over to the refreshment tray, found a drink and some snacks and sat down at the table to eat. Kaye and Debbie returned in a few minutes and also picked up some refreshments.
They soon heard footsteps approaching the room. Dave walked in first and immediately recognized Kaye from Colonel Feldman’s description of her. She looked very attractive in her light blue, two-piece business dress with her brownish-red hair cut short, fair skin, small nose and pretty smile. He had never seen her before on television, but instantly knew she would be good at it. Dave noticed the serious look in her blue eyes and easy, confident manner. He knew he would have to be careful about what he said to her. He reached out to shake her hand as she stood up. “Hello, I’m Colonel Dave Hampton. Colonel Feldman says you want an interview with me and have something to say about this investigation.”
Kaye shook Dave’s hand. It was a strong, firm grip. Colonel Hampton was taller than she imagined, maybe six feet or so, with an athletic build. He had a handsome face, light brown hair, dark brown eyes that seemed to twinkle a little, straight nose and a nice smile. Kaye felt an immediate attraction to him. When they shook hands, he held her grip a split second longer than normal. She maintained a steady gaze with his eyes and said, “It’s nice to meet you Colonel Hampton. I’m Kaye Weston and this is my crew, Debbie Meyers, Kurt Flannigan and Joe Polenski.” Dave went around the room and shook each of their hands. Kaye said, “I’m sure Colonel Feldman has filled you in on who we are, our reason for being here and the request for an interview.”
“He certainly has. But before we start, let’s have some refreshments and talk off the record. Please, have a seat. I’m a little curious how you heard about what’s going on up here. You’re the second TV crew to visit us today. The first was from a local cable TV station that routinely covers park activities. They interviewed some fisherman who was on the lake this morning and saw our activity. They sold the story to one of the national TV networks, I believe, and it’s been on the air all day.”
“Yes, we saw that story too. But that’s not how we heard about your crash investigation. I’m not at liberty to say how we found out, but what we have contradicts the story your Pentagon PR department is telling everyone. That’s why we’re here, to get your side of things and see if you want to comment on what we’re going to say.”
They looked at each other for a moment in silence while Dave considered carefully what to say to her. “Miss Weston, I’m in charge of this crash investigation by orders from the Pentagon. It’s classified as a Top Secret investigation for national security purposes and I will not be able to comment on anything that is different from what is in the press release at this time. This is strictly a military test plane crash investigation that must be handled by the military until I’m told otherwise.”
“That’s precisely why I’m here, Colonel Hampton. I know it was not a military plane crash. I have evidence that what you have here is a UFO crash and the Pentagon is trying to cover it up.”
The tension in the room increased dramatically. Colonel Feldman looked displeased at the mention of the word “UFO”. Dave’s expression didn’t change much at all. His brow wrinkled a bit as he thought about what Kaye just said. He was only surprised that the word got out so quickly. He looked into Kaye’s eyes and said, “What proof do you have of this?”
Kaye opened up her handbag, took out her notebook and laid it on the table. She turned it on and waited a few seconds for it to boot up. Then she found the video file she received from her brother and started to play sections of it. She turned the screen towards Dave and Colonel Feldman and watched their expressions as the UFO exploded on the screen. Then she forwarded to the image of the dead alien in the seat with the large unfocuse
d eyes and the small metal disk hanging around its neck. Colonel Hampton immediately recognized the missing disk and knew this video file was not a fake. He looked at Kaye and said, “Where did you get this, Miss Weston?”
“A confidential source, Colonel. We’re prepared to show this tape on national TV this afternoon and tell the public the truth about what happened here last night. I would like you to comment on what you just saw for the story.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Weston, but I will not be able to verify your story. I can only reiterate what is in the Pentagon press release. However, I would like a copy of your video to show my superiors. I need some time to discuss this with them before you go on the air.” It was a polite request and Dave wasn’t sure if she would accept.
Kaye thought about it for a minute. She looked around the table at Kurt and Debbie. They left it up to her to decide. “I’ll give you a sample of some of the pictures we have to show your boss. In return I want an interview with you on video commenting on the story for my news station by three p.m. Will that be enough time to get a decision?”
Dave looked at Colonel Feldman and back to Kaye. “Yes, I think that would be enough time. I don’t know what my superior will agree to, but I think he’ll say you’re violating national security and will want to contact your boss at your TV station and try to stop the story.”
“We’re aware of that option, Colonel Hampton. Please advise your boss that it would be a futile effort and that freedom of the press will prevail.” Things were going about as well as could be expected as far as Kaye was concerned. Now it was up to the Colonel.
Dave waited for a copy of the video file that Kaye was going to give him. Kaye selected a few images from the video file and made a copy with about thirty seconds of material and saved it on a DVD, which she gave to Dave. “Take care of this Colonel. I don’t want to see it on another TV network.” Kaye smiled politely as she handed the disk to Dave along with her business card and the name of her boss written on the back of it.
“You have my word, Miss Weston. Please feel free to stay at the visitor center and look around. The park is very scenic if you haven’t noticed. You might want to take a walk past the parking lot to the summit overlooking the lake. It has a beautiful view.”
“I’ll do that, Colonel. Thank you for the suggestion. Let me know when you’re ready to see me.”
“I’ll do that, Miss Weston. Ladies and gentlemen, please excuse me now. It was nice meeting all of you. Colonel Feldman will show you around the facility. There is a multimedia program you can watch in the theater if you like. It will fill you in on the history of the Porcupine Mountains and give you an overview of the park. It’s very interesting according to Colonel Feldman.”
Dave left the room to call General Anderson. Colonel Feldman took Kaye and the rest of the crew on a brief tour of the visitor center. It was too busy downstairs at the moment to see the multimedia presentation because of the crowd waiting to be interviewed and processed by the investigation team. Kaye finally asked the colonel if she and her crew could walk around outside and talk to some of the visitors. Colonel Feldman didn’t seem to mind as long as they didn’t leave the immediate vicinity and let them go off on their own.
Kaye had another purpose in mind. As soon as the four of them walked outside the building she turned to them to make plans. “Kurt, Debbie, we need to interview some of the visitors. Debbie, ask around and see if any of them saw the crash or heard the explosion last night and if we can tape what they saw. Kurt, Joe, we need to look for my brother’s car. It has to be in the parking lot unless he got it already. If not, they might be here in this crowd, so keep your eyes open.”
“What kind of car is it, Kaye?” Joe asked.
“It’s an old, red, Jeep SUV with decals all over the windows. The license plate number is J35-518. If you find it, let me know. Don’t go too near it and try not to be too conspicuous. I don’t want the colonels or anyone else to know we’re looking for something.”
“I’ll check the parking lot on my way back to the helicopter, Kaye. I need to inspect it anyway before takeoff.”
“I’ll keep my eyes open when I question the park visitors, Kaye,” Debbie said.
“Fine. Kurt, you come with me. We’ll shoot some scenes while we walk around. I want to see what they’re loading on the army trucks anyway. We can walk right through the parking lot. We’ve got one hour until Colonel Hampton gets back to us.”
“Do you think he’ll cooperate and do the interview, Kaye?” Kurt asked.
“I don’t know, but we can still shoot the story without him commenting about the UFO on tape. I’ll just say the Pentagon refused to comment and go from there. Okay, let’s get moving. Debbie, call me on my phone when you have some people lined up.”
They split up. Kaye and Kurt began walking towards the National Guard army unit vehicles. Kurt was filming with his camcorder at anything that looked interesting. Some of the men in brown tee shirts were unloading supplies. Kaye didn’t see any crash debris, but maybe the men were not ready to load anything yet. The men seemed to be preparing for loading some heavy items, though, because Kaye saw a truck with a small crane in the back. While Kurt was filming the activity, Kaye was looking around at the vehicles in the parking lot. She saw some red trucks, but no red SUVs. Maybe Ryan already picked up his Jeep and left, but why hasn’t he called? They continued looking around at the army trucks, but there was a barrier that prevented them from getting too close. Finally, they turned around and walked through the parking lot checking out everything they could see until they came to a trail marked “To Lake of the Clouds Lookout Point”. They followed the trail for a few hundred feet until they came to a massive rock wall that was two hundred feet high and overlooked the lake below. Sunlight was dancing off the deep blue water in the distance with white clouds and the mountains surrounding the lake like a beautiful picture frame. Kurt pointed his camcorder at the scene and shot some film for the story. He took some more pictures and shot a scene with Kaye explaining where they were. It might be a good intro to the story.
“It is a beautiful spot isn’t it?” Kaye said to Kurt. He just nodded and pointed to another helicopter in the distance flying over the lake to the far mountain ridge and disappearing behind it. “That must be the spot where your brother found the UFO wreckage last night and the alien body. He was shooting from somewhere on the left near the middle of the lake. I recognize the mountain ridge from his film.”
“I think you’re right, Kurt. I wish he would call. We need to see him.” Just then her phone rang. It was Joe.
“Kaye, I’m in the helicopter. I think I saw your brother’s Jeep on the far side of the lot near the entrance to the park. I didn’t get a good look at the license plate, but you might want to check it out.”
“Okay, thanks, Joe. We’re on our way. Meet us at the center in thirty minutes. Come on, Kurt. Joe thinks he found the Jeep.” They walked back up the trail past the visitor center and made a turn to the entrance of the parking lot. Sure enough, there was a red Jeep with stickers on the windows and bumpers parked beside a large camper that partially blocked its view. Ryan liked to keep small mementos of all his visits where he rock-climbed. Kaye asked Kurt to look through the camcorder and zoom the camera up on the license plate. Sure enough, it was Ryan’s car.
“I guess he didn’t make it back, or he decided it was too risky when he saw the people in line. I’m sure he’ll call shortly,” Kurt said.
“I hope you’re right. Let’s get back to the center and see if Debbie is ready with some interviews. We’re running out of time and we need to get the story back to Dick by four o’clock.”
They found Debbie by the front entrance to the visitor center. She had several people waiting anxiously in small groups. “I found some people who said they saw or heard the crash last night. None of them were near the crash site though.”
“That’s okay, Debbie,” Kaye said. “Let’s just ask them what they saw and what they’re doing h
ere. Kurt, start shooting when Debbie brings me someone to interview.”
Kaye spent the next twenty minutes interviewing the park visitors. As Debbie said, no one actually saw anything unusual after the explosion and crash. However, one person said he was watching the Northern Lights for the first time and how lovely they were. Then he spotted this object flying fast and pretty low just before it exploded. He was surprised by it, being a retired airline pilot, because it didn’t make any noise before the explosion and he was sure it was close enough for him to hear something. He said the military people asked him some questions and he told them the same thing. No one would explain what type of aircraft it was. They just said it was a new military plane they were testing. It was a good interview and Kaye knew it would be used in the final cut, but for good measure, they continued to interview more people.
****
While Kaye and her crew were busy outside, Dave used the time to call General Anderson. He left word that it was urgent. He had to wait a few minutes before the general called back because he was in another meeting. “Hello, Colonel. How’s it going up there?”
“We have a big problem, General. There’s a TV crew up here from Chicago. They have evidence that this was a UFO crash.”
“What kind of evidence?”
“They have a video file with pictures of the UFO explosion, of one of the crash sites and of the dead alien. It had to come from the people who were at the scene before we got here, sir.”
“Are you sure? Can we say it’s a fake?”