Intervention: A Science Fiction Adventure (28 page)

* * *

“And that’s it? The
last one? Thank you, Captain,” the Colonel said and hung up the
phone. He turned to the round table surrounded by mostly generals and
announced, “The last of the aircraft has returned to base. The
story is the same with each one. Colonel Masters tried to out
maneuver this thing, and if I hadn’t seen what I saw on the radar
screen with my own eyes, I would never have believed him. He said he
went to full afterburner and tried to go around the thing, and it
stayed in the exact relative position to him no matter what he did.
Then, according to the colonel, it went from fifty yards in front of
him to fifty yards to his left in the blink of an eye. Then a second
later it was on his right side, followed by a series of maneuvers he
couldn’t even begin to describe.”

“Thank you, Colonel.
Well, gentlemen, I don’t know about you, but I’m convinced we’re
dealing with extraterrestrial intelligence here. There’s nothing on
this earth that is anywhere near being capable of doing what we’ve
seen here today. It’s probably safe to assume whoever they are,
they are aware of Operation Down-size.” The general paused for a
moment to reflect. “I fear we’ve made a terrible mistake. I only
hope they understand that we were doing what we thought was necessary
for the survival of our race.” The room was filled with the silence
of remorse.

“All right, let’s
let them sleep on that,” Christopher said. “In the morning we
begin the final phase of our plan.”

“You know, looking at
them now makes me believe they realize what a mistake they almost
made,” Cindy commented.

“I would tend to
agree with you; however, tomorrow we’ll make sure they continue to
feel that way as long as they live. This sort of situation can never
be allowed to happen again,” Christopher added.

“This would be a good
time to take a nutrient capsule and rest till morning,” the
computer suggested.

“Good idea. Have you
detected any movement from the President yet?”

“They are planning to
move the President and his family back to the White House shortly,”
the computer responded.

“Perfect,”
Christopher added. “Computer?” Christopher asked, “How about
something to rest in.”

“Would you each like
a separate place to rest or would you prefer to rest together?”

Christopher looked at
Cindy. “Together would be nice,” she replied. They each took a
small nutrient capsule, placed it in their mouths, and swallowed.
Cindy gave Christopher a big hug and a goodnight kiss.

Christopher said, “You
know, this has been the most unusual way to meet someone, but I can’t
tell you how glad I am that I met you and how much I enjoy being
close to you.”

Cindy got a little
dreamy eyed. “I feel the same way.” They curled up together and
quickly drifted off into a deep sleep.

“Good morning,”
Cindy said.

“I think it is a good
morning,” Christopher responded. “Computer, what is the Eastern
Standard Time?”

“Seven a.m. Time to
get started,” the computer replied.

“And the President?”
Christopher inquired.

“Safely back in the
White House,” was the computer’s response.

“Good. You know what
to do, so let’s go wake up the world.”

The computer moved the
craft to its starting position high above the earth’s atmosphere
over the Pacific Ocean. The computer then made the craft completely
visible and sent an image that would make the craft hard to miss on
the most primitive of radar systems. The craft began to descend
towards a point just off the shore of Los Angeles. The decent was
made at a rate of speed somewhere in the neighborhood of Mach-seven.
It was felt that this was sure to get the military’s attention. It
did.

Deep inside the NORAD’s
Cheyenne mountain complex, an air force major was monitoring his
console as he had each day for several years. He diligently watched
each blip on his screen. What started as just another day, suddenly
became an event. The major quickly grabbed the phone from his console
to call his superior.

“Colonel Evans? Major
Raymond. I’ve got something here. Well, it has the same signature
as the unknown we were watching yesterday. I’m sure of it. It’s
coming straight down from out of nowhere. Its present trajectory will
put it about five miles off the West Coast near Los Angeles. It’s
coming in at over Mach-seven.”

The voice on the other
end replied, “I’m on my way. Stay on it.” The major returned
the handset to its cradle on the console and returned his attention
to the blip on his screen.

Moments later Colonel
Evans entered the room going straight to Major Raymond’s console.
Leaning over the major’s shoulder, the colonel watched the blip on
the screen. “When will it impact?”

“If it remains on its
present course, at its present rate of speed, it will impact in
approximately three minutes.”

The colonel picked up
the handset from the console and gave the command. “We have an
incoming unknown object. Scramble for intercept five miles off the
coast of Los Angeles, and get a fighter up there with a wing camera.
I want to know what this thing looks like.” The colonel placed the
handset back in its cradle. “It will probably be under water by the
time they get there anyway, but it’s worth a try.” Looking down
at the radar screen the colonel remarked, “It doesn’t look like
it is going to slow down. If it hits the water at that speed, I don’t
think there will be anything left but pieces to pick up.”

The blip on the radar
screen grew even closer to the Earth’s surface. The colonel picked
up the handset once again. “Where are those fighters I asked for?
If they don’t hurry, we’ll have to scramble a submarine.” The
colonel placed the handset back in its cradle once again and
continued watching the radar screen.

A few moments later,
the major and the colonel watched as the blip stopped descending at
five hundred feet from the Earth’s surface. Without slowing down,
the craft made a sharp transition from descending vertically to
traveling horizontally. Once it had begun moving inland horizontally
at Mach-seven, it began gradually slowing down. It reached a speed of
Mach-one and maintained that speed as it traveled east.

The colonel grabbed the
handset once again. “Tell interceptors the object has changed
direction to level flight and is now heading East at an altitude of
five hundred on a course of…wait a second—zero-seven-five
degrees. That’s zero-seven-five degrees. As soon as it began
horizontal flight it began slowing and is now moving at Mach-one.
Take no action. I repeat, take no action. Just get a good visual with
the camera so I can see what we’re dealing with.”

The interceptors were
pushed to their limits by their pilot’s as they attempted to get
within visual range of the object. “Eagle-leader to Base,” the
pilot squawked into his mask. “Eagle-leader, this is Base. Go
ahead,” the voice in his headset replied. “I have the object on
radar and should have a visual any time now. I have the object at
about Mach-one on a course of zero-seven-five.”

The pilots scanned the
horizon for their first glimpse of the unknown object. Suddenly an
excited voice was heard in the pilot’s headsets. “There it is!
One o’clock.”

“This is
Eagle-leader. Let’s turn off our afterburners and save a little
fuel. Stay in formation. Let’s do our job. Eagle-three, are you
getting this?”

“Roger, Eagle-leader.
Transmitting to Base now.” The small group of four interceptors
kept their formation alongside the object about five hundred yards
away.

“What is that thing?”
The voice in their headset asked.

“Cut the chatter.
Eagle-leader to Base.”

“Eagle-leader, Base.
Go ahead.”

“The object is about
five hundred yards off my wing. It matches the description we got
from those pilots yesterday. It’s definitely not from this
neighborhood. It’s about seventy feet around. No markings or
visible doors, windows, or seams of any kind. Just a shiny metallic
disk.”

“Eagle-leader, this
is Eagle-three. I’ve had my Kodak moment and am returning to Base.”

The interceptors
continued to fly with the craft until they were relieved by the next
squad, and then returned to their base.

In the situation room
back at NORAD, a group of military brass, including Colonel Evans,
stood in front of a large screen with a large map of the United
States. “We’ve plotted the craft’s course, and if it continues
on its present course and speed, it will arrive in Washington at
approximately fifteen hundred hours.” Colonel Evans went on, “We’ve
also learned that the silo doors at every missile site have been
sealed shut preventing a launch. We’re not sure by whom but I think
it’s safe to say it was the same source that sealed the missile
hatches on all our submarines. There’s no known technology on Earth
that could have come close to accomplishing this. I think we have to
assume our mysterious visitor, who we are certain is the same craft
described by our pilots yesterday, is responsible for these feats.”

A general interrupted,
“I don’t see this craft as a threat. It hasn’t taken any
hostile action. In fact, all it did was to stop an aggressive
operation.”

Colonel Evans
continued, “That’s what worries me. We were the aggressors, as
far as it is concerned. There’s no telling what level of
intelligence we’re dealing with here, but we’ve seen an
indication of the level of technology. I believe we would be foolish
to move against it. I believe it would be best at this point to let
them, whoever they are, make the next move.”

Another general
replied, “In forty years in the military I’ve never taken a ‘wait
and see what the enemy does’ position, and I don’t think we
should start now.”

Colonel Evans
responded, “General, first of all, what makes you think they are
our enemy? Secondly, what would you propose be done? Whoever they
are, they have demonstrated a far more advanced level of technology.
I doubt there would be much we could do if we tried. All we could
hope to accomplish is to convince them we’re idiots and piss them
off.”

An aide entered the
room and spoke to one of the generals. “Sir, I think you had better
see this in here.” Motioning to a conference room, the aide led the
way and the rest of the brass followed.

In the conference room,
a television was tuned to a local news station. The brass watched and
listened as the reporter spoke. “Again, if you’ve just tuned in,
what appears to be a flying saucer, you heard right,
a
flying saucer
has been seen now by thousands of people
across southern California this morning. It is now moving at about
the speed of a commercial airliner, but only at an estimated five
hundred or so feet above the ground.”

The newscaster stopped
and put his hand to his ear, then continued, “I’ve just been told
we have received amateur video of the craft taken by a man in
southern California just twenty or so minutes ago. Are we ready? All
right here it is. This is the first time I’ve seen this and, wow!
That went by a little fast. Can we run that again, but in slow
motion? Here we go and, will you look at that. Now freeze it. It’s
a little fuzzy, but, well, there you have it. An up close and
personal look at a UFO. I think it’s safe to say that this is not a
secret military craft. The craft is reportedly moving in an
east-north-east direction. If it continues on its present course,
film crews will undoubtedly be positioning themselves for some new
footage as the craft passes their location. We’ll be sure to bring
that to you as it becomes available.”

“Well, you know the
press is going to have a field day with this one,” a general
commented. “I just hope they don’t get wind of Operation
Down-size. The public would want our heads on a silver platter if
they ever found out. I wouldn’t want to be around for that.” The
generals all looked very worried, and for good reason. They had
plenty to worry about.

Once again they turned
to the television. “We just received word that a news crew has been
able to film the craft as it passed their location. We are waiting
for that footage to arrive now. I’m told it will be ready to air in
just a minute or so. While we are waiting for that footage, let me
recap this morning’s events. Just after dawn this morning,
thousands of people in the Los Angeles vicinity witnessed what we now
believe to be an extra-terrestrial spacecraft in the morning sky. The
craft was first sighted to the west, moving to the east-northeast at
several hundred miles an hour, just a few hundred feet above the
ground. You can see in this amateur video as the craft passed
overhead, it’s a plain round saucer shape with no doors or windows
or markings of any kind, or at least none that we can see.”

The reporter stopped to
listen to a voice in his earphone. “I’m told we have that new
footage ready now, and here it is now. You can see the craft much
clearer here and they’ve slowed the film down for a better and
longer view. My lord! Will you look at that? This is not anything
from this world. I can guarantee you that. Now here, in the freeze
frame, you can clearly see the craft has no markings or windows or
anything like that. It appears to be made of a shiny metal substance
of some kind. You can clearly see military aircraft in the background
of the picture. They seem to be escorting the craft as it crosses the
country. The military still has no official comment.”

The still frame of the
craft was left on the screen for at least a minute, maybe two, as the
reporter described every detail of what he saw. The picture then
returned to that of the reporter. “This is a day that will forever
change the way we see our place in the universe. This is the day so
many have waited for; the day we were visited for the first time by
an alien race. What will they be like, we must wonder. Will they even
look like us, or be something we’ve seen in so many Hollywood
movies? It may just be a matter of time now as the whole world
watches and waits to see what will happen next.”