The Manhattan Incident (6 page)

“The last restriction will undoubtedly incur the wrath of the NRA. I am ordering the closure of all gun stores. No guns, pistols, rifles, shotguns or ammunition will be sold during the duration of martial law. These stores should close effective immediately. If not done, local police assisted by the National Guard will do it forcibly. Background checks and federal approval are suspended immediately until further notice, thus ending sales right now even if you find a store open. Even those possessing a legal concealed carry gun permit cannot purchase fire arms at this time.”

“This ends my address to you, the American people. There will be no questions allowed at the end of my address. Future conferences will be arranged for those purposes. My fellow citizens, God bless and good night.”

Over the next two weeks, chaos and a circus atmosphere reigned. Pushback from the NRA was almost immediate. Armed with vast funds, lots of lobby power backed by significant political clout by its collective membership, and good lawyers, the NRA managed to get the United States Supreme Court to schedule a ruling on the constitutional merits of the prevention of gun sales based upon the second amendment. Was it legal? Did martial law give the President the authority to suspend the second amendment? Surviving polls from that time show that the NRA’s approval rating was considerably higher than that of President Tomlinson.

A congressional fact-finding committee was rapidly established by the opposing political party. The request to appear was rebuffed by the Secretary of Defense, General Thadford, who claimed Executive Privilege and unavailability because of martial law. The media had a regular circus covering these legal aspects. The circus atmosphere became even more pronounced with daily countdown calendars until Alien Arrival Day. Talking heads proliferated, speculating on technological benefits likely to be bestowed upon humankind. A few warned of dangers such as outright hostility, death and destruction. Their views weren’t very popular. Some religious groups announced the second coming of Christ, or Buddha, or Mohammed, you take your pick. A few thought the Rapture was at hand.

We really don’t know the outcome of these political games of showmanship between Congress, the NRA, and President Tomlinson, as the chaos and disaster that followed left very little recorded knowledge of events just before and just after THE INCIDENT. Most of the individuals in power didn’t survive, so their take on events is unavailable. We do know that there were some riots in the United States and around the world. The imposition of martial law tended to limit riots in the United States. There were some armed clashes in the United States between citizens, police and National Guard troops around some gun stores as people tried to arm themselves. Most of the riots took place in the big overcrowded cities in the more run down areas. Several cities in the United States went up in flames, but many-fold more burned in the Third World countries. The death toll, arson, destruction, and looting was significant, but reliable numbers are unavailable.

The possible threat from the extraterrestrial space craft pushed up the launching of the powerful new series of radar satellites, dubbed the Space Eye, to replace the aging Lacrosse-class radar imaging satellites. The origin of the Space Eye traces back to January 2017, when the Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence together, signed a letter of appointment. The letter’s intent was to appoint a new program, the Space Radar Integrated Program, which was meant to be the single future space radar program for the nation. The first satellites were expected to be launched by the end of 2020, but given the crisis, the first ones, Space Eye 1, 2 and 3 were launched immediately. One major change was made. These satellites were designed to monitor the earth’s terrain as would be expected from a reconnaissance satellite. In this case, the radar monitoring was reversed to monitor space at orbital levels above Earth. Data was immediately routed to the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, the NGIA. The agency was a sprawling major complex near Fort Belvoir, Virginia. These satellites locked on the approaching space crafts and monitored their incoming approach to Earth. The space craft stopped in near Earth orbit, which was noted by the NGIA as Alien Arrival Day, February 16
th
, 2020. Based on the radar images, there were 100 saucer-like space crafts.

CNN was the first to report Alien Arrival Day, February 16
th
, 2016. The news had been released by the NGIA to the news media. There was no valid reason to conceal the news, as so many amateur and professional telescopes were monitoring the situation that it was improbable that no one would spot them. John Cabrot was surfing the net out of boredom at his Vermont cabin and saw the Breaking News flashing banner. Saucer-like crafts had been detected in orbit over various parts of the United States, China, Russia, Brazil, and so on. The first telescopic photos were shown around the world. They looked very much like large, flying saucers of the type mentioned in the Bible, Ezekiel 1:4-28, to Roswell, to current times. It was no longer possible to deny the credibility of UFO sightings. Close detail showed the disks to be quarter scored by a significant ridge. The purpose of the sectioning was not clear. No one could offer a plausible explanation.

What they saw was déjà vu to some. Were they one and the same, the current and past UFOs observed all these centuries, John wondered. So did many others. Had they been observing us and gathering data all those years? The speculation that they were monitoring us and gathering data increased with each day the space craft remained in orbit. The saucers just stayed in orbit and did not acknowledge any signals beamed at them in various languages, mathematical symbols and equations, or computer languages. There was just dead silence; they were paying us no heed. Some attempts were made to reduce our internal communications and encrypt as much as possible. The wisest among us worried about their interception of our abilities, our knowledge, and our strategic locations. They were right to worry.

PRESENT DAY
. At this narrated juncture, Laurent thought to himself. We know the answer now about surveillance of our planet, but it doesn’t help us now.

VIDEO: THE INCIDENT
.
Suddenly on February 23
rd
, 2020, everything changed. A radar screen with many blip-like images is visible. Military officers make frantic calls. The scene morphed from the United States, to Russia, to China, to England, to France, to Brazil, and so on. The images had seemed to split apart and suddenly there were 400 wedge shaped space craft. They looked like pie wedges. Apparently the quarter-score ridges were joining areas and each section was capable of independent activity.

Additional fighter jets were scrambled all around the world. The objects currently were beyond the extreme operating range for any fighter jet. However, all the generals felt it prudent to have a respectable air deterrent in place as near as possible. It was hoped that the show of force would serve to indicate our people were not to be trifled with. We were not pushovers and were prepared to fight, if hostility was even being considered. The saucer offshoots, now dubbed “Wedgies” because of the quarter wedge appearance, seemed to go in multiple directions. John Munger didn’t think much of the name as he tracked them at NORAD with tracking radar from the older Lacrosse-class radar imaging satellites. These older spy satellites still pointing down on Earth confirmed likely paths of various groups of Wedgies. Fortunately, these older satellites still functioned, as it took several hours to reposition the Space Eye radar to look downward.  The computer-predicted destinations as determined by the NGIA and NORAD were the United States, the Peoples Republic of China, Russia, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, India, Brazil, Japan and Turkey. The bulk of the crafts went to the top three military powers, the United States, the Peoples Republic of China, and Russia.  The speeds of the craft were determined to be Mach 2. Given that the targets were the top 10 global military powers, the outlook among the various militaries became pessimistic in a hurry. Some politicians instead saw it a visit and first contact to the most important countries on the globe.

Reports sent to ground controllers in the militaries presumed to be destination points around the world were met with skepticism. But pilot after pilot confirmed sightings of the crafts. Response varied from country to country, as there was no time to communicate with counterparts on what the appropriate strategy was. The Chinese Air Force General in command, Yao Liang, decided to not wait to see what the intent was.  The General ordered all fighter jets to fire everything they had upon their first opportunity. The first planes to make contact were a squadron of Chengdu-J-20s. The pilots dutifully obeyed, although outnumbered seven to one. One plane failed to fire. His weapons sighting target control in his helmet malfunctioned, so he didn’t fire for fear of hitting his fellow pilots.” Pilot Lee Hong suddenly reported in a panic to ground control. “Pulses of light from the object have intercepted and incinerated all missiles and apparently cannon fire. The objects are unfazed.” “No, no, no” followed in an anguished voice. “Light pulses again, all fighters vaporized instantly. I am alone,” he wailed. General Yao Liang ordered him to return to base immediately. He did, as his plane was spared by the alien crafts.

The Chinese episode was communicated rapidly around the globe, so cautious restraint became the byword. Since one Chinese aircraft that did not fire was spared, it seemed that the aliens were not hostile. Shortly afterward, the Wedgies, as they were now called, suddenly reversed their courses and went back up into lower earth orbits over the 10 respective countries that appeared to be their destinations. They did not rejoin though. Soon after President Tomlinson took refuge in the Mount Weather facility, built into the granite of the mountain and protected by a five foot thick blast door. Vice President Luanne Chung was dispatched to an unknown bunker. Leaders in other countries took similar precautions. The Chinese sent their leaders to an underground facility in the Himalayan Mountains. The Russians sent theirs to an underground facility in Siberia. Shadow governments in the United States were already set up at these locations per Executive Order of President George Bush after the 9/11 event.”

PRESENT DAY
. Probably the only good, sensible thing President Bush ever did, thought Laurent.

VIDEO: THE INCIDENT
. The United States government, through its embassy in Beijing, made a formal request for the videotape from the surviving Chinese Chengdu-J-20.  The digital video was received at the embassy and then sent via the internet to NORAD. There several specialists studied the tape carefully. Their report was turned over to General Straub. The countries on Earth took a watch and wait attitude, given that no further firing came in the China incident and the pilot who didn’t fire was spared. U.S. fighter jets were ordered to monitor. Given the Wedgies seemed to do nothing for two weeks except remain stationary in lower orbits over at their arrival points, shifts of F-15 Eagles, F-16 Falcons, F-18 Hornets, F-22 Raptors, and F-35 Lightning IIs were there constantly. Chengdu-J-20s circled in China. Russia's Sukhoi PAK FA T-150s patrolled in Russia and India. Various other fighter jets patrolled the skies in other countries. Radar and laser probes were beamed at the Wedgies, but no useful information was gleaned. Stealth high altitude planes also monitored from a distance. Similar plans took place world-wide. All of this was shown with fantastic graphics in the video.

PRESENT DAY
. Not that it mattered, thought Laurent. They could have sent Piper Cubs. Same result.

VIDEO: THE INCIDENT
. At the NORAD Complex at Cheyenne Mountain in Wyoming, General Straub is shown on the hot line with President Tomlinson. “The consensus of our NORAD intelligence team after viewing the Chinese video is that the Wedgies possess advanced pulsing lasers coupled with highly advanced targeting radars that are computer directed. Extremely rapid response times and 100% hits are not possible with human pilots even with our best weapons systems. While we don’t know what other types of weaponry exist on these crafts, I am worried as our current weaponry looks primitive next to what they have. We have to be very concerned, if their intentions are hostile.”

“What does your intelligence team say about their intentions,” asked President Tomlinson? “Well, our psychologists can only speculate and assuming their psychological profile is similar to ours, we have a split opinion. They have withdrawn to reassess their contact with us. All agree on that premise. The reason why is split. Scenario one is that they are hostile and encountered stiffer resistance than expected. While they received no casualties, given a reversal of numbers on the next contact such that we outnumbered them 7 to 1, the end result might be different. Their targeting system might fail if it is overwhelmed by sheer numbers of acquired targets. Given that they have 400 crafts, it is possible for our air forces around the globe to achieve numerical superiority and take out at least some of their crafts. Our losses would likely be high, though. Team one believes that this possible outcome has given our alien arrivers pause for further thinking. They believe the withdrawal is a ploy to appear peaceful. The real purpose is to buy time to monitor our communications and to learn more about our military strengths and weaknesses. Team two believes they are friendly and only returned fire out of the need to protect themselves. Team two also believes that they are monitoring our communications to learn our languages prior to first contact. They believe the alien arrivers, while still non-communicative, are trying to develop a form of communications to us that would show their peaceful intent. To do this and show an act of peaceful intent, they have withdrawn.”