
# Last Shuttle Flight, First Alien Contact Part 1

By J. Jack Bergeron

Website: j-jack-bergeron.com

Think NASA's last shuttle flight was the end of American technological space dominance?

July 21, 2011 might have been the final date of the Atlantis shuttle flight, but it sure wasn't the end of amazing discoveries.

In **PART 1** of this fictionalized series of that flight, the crew comes into first contact with alien extraterrestrials who discover the Atlantis space shuttle as they are finishing their last few orbits around Earth.

If earthlings are stunned at this UFO sighting, the aliens are even more stunned. . .
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters (including all personnel associated with the shuttle launch, NASA, and other organizations), places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual events or locales (with the exceptional of obvious important and existing locations) or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by J. Jack Bergeron.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

V43

Other books by J. Jack Bergeron are described at the back of this novel.

Last Shuttle Flight, First Alien Contact Part 1

PART 1

PROLOGUE TO PART 1

1. STUART COBEY DIARIES: 2011 A.D. - 2542 A.D. SECTION I

2. THE ATLANTIS PILOT

3. WHAT THE ALIEN TOLD ME

4. SPACE SHUTTLE ATLANTIS

5. WASHINGTON D.C.

6. STUART COBEY WHERE ARE YOU?

7. WHITE SANDS

8. FIRST ALIEN MEETING

9. KBSB-ET TV NEWS.

10. ALIEN MEETING, SECOND DAY

11. THE KBSB CONSPIRACY

12. BEFRIENDING AN ALIEN - THIRD DAY TO THIRD WEEK

13. THE NEWS STATION AND THE SHUTTLE PILOT

14. LAST ALIEN MEETING

15. ALIEN SPACESHIP?

16. OVAL OFFICE

EPILOGUE TO PART 1

PART2:

# PART 1

PLEASE NOTE: Part 2 of Last Shuttle Flight, First Alien Contact is now available as a FREE download.

CLICK HERE ↓

FREE DOWNLOAD PART 2

## PROLOGUE TO PART 1

Today was May 2, year 2832 of the old ancient calendar. The one they use to use before it became inconvenient due to all the travelling and emigration out of Earth area.

It was a special occasion. In this present day, the diaries of Stuart Cobey were to be released to the public -- or so it was expected. They had been printed on paper (an electronic copy had long been lost) and were vaulted in a confined space in the old United Nations Space Exploration museum. Cobey was the first human in history to make contact with the aliens in the year 2011, and through this event -- and numerous other citations throughout historical documentation -- had become a legend on Earth as well as in human civilization.

The diaries were locked up many years ago because the political thinking at the time of Cobey's death, when he had wanted them published, was that it would cause too much mayhem throughout the world considering the current political rivalries among certain powers and other factors outside Earth. It was finally agreed by those 'powers that be' that three hundred years was a reasonable limit to place on their publication, and then they would be released to the public.

Herbert Camille was given the authority to remove them, read them, edit them for any possible political insensitivity, and then submit them for publishing. He couldn't wait to get his hands on these diaries. The diaries were to be read only on the premises and then electronic copies would be created for further distribution to various committees.

He was so geared up for this project, he would even sleep there if he had to. A custodian led him into a library, styled like an ancient one from hundreds of years ago. He was awed. The custodian pointed to the book on a table and said, "There it is; have fun." She smiled as she exited the room.

Herbert sat down at the table in front of the book, placed some thin-layered gloves on his hands to protect the document, turned the cover over, and then cautiously . . . the first page.

He began to read:
  1. STUART COBEY DIARIES: 2011 A.D. - 2542 A.D. SECTION I

Throughout most of my life, historical narration was never an activity I felt comfortable with. In my younger days, I was the type of person who anticipated fame growing up in that academic and nerdy family of mine. Would I be an artist, a composer of great music, an inventor, or even a leader? These individual visions gradually expired as age ran its course and basic realities took over, well . . . took over to a point. The point being that most people were not expecting that astonishing July 21, 2011 incident (which literally materialized out of nowhere) to happen.

That was the day the last space shuttle flight in American history glided onto the New Mexico desert, followed by something. . .

It was shadowed by something no scientist or historian could have possibly imagined. An unprecedented event in human history, as following behind it was a genuine alien space vessel. Finally, absolute scientific proof of extraterrestrial existence, as all the television stations on Earth transmitted this event in real time. That existence represented an enlightening of the human mind formerly entrenched in 20th century myths and beliefs. At that time we had no inkling of where it originated, but before I continue with this little chronicle, let me put some personal thoughts on the table.

Fame and reality, for myself there is no greater contradiction: the fame never came, and the reality seemed timeless. This led me to become a translator of many languages all over the world -- enough to understand the historical origins of most of them. But there is another quirk of fate lingering here. In addition to the life on our planet that produced these languages, I was also interested in extraterrestrial life, both as a skeptic and a believer: a contradiction no doubt, but why not? Let my imagination roam the universe, I can't do it physically . . . or couldn't before July 21, 2011. Here I go mentioning that date again. This final landing was one of the events that altered my life.

There was another one, which involved my good friend Lester Rowans, who at the time worked for the Vice President of the United States. Lester and I had an ancient friendship going back decades to our first year in college. In some fleeting ways, we were opposites. I had tendencies to believe in extraterrestrials though still having doubts about it, while my friend had more doubts but was still willing to be open minded about the subject.

Huh? What did I just say there? Do we or do we not believe in these theories? Anyone analyzing our opinion of this would accuse us of obfuscation. Those obfuscations, theories, and disagreements, completely disappeared on that unique day, but before I ramble on about that, let me finish the little resume I started a few paragraphs ago.

I was a translator working for both the U.S. government and various well-known universities in the state of New York. Because of this fascination with UFOs (and with extra income of course), I've had many opportunities to write articles for a variety of publications anywhere from standard newspapers, to magazines devoted to UFO studies. Admittedly, I wrote those articles in whatever style was beneficial to the sales of the news journal in question -- which increased the economic benefit for me no doubt. I don't want to demean myself too much with this last statement, as a few of the articles I wrote were written well enough that they caught the eye of certain learned bureaucrats within the defense administration of this country. It also helped that my friend Lester knew his way around these circles and discovered that they (the articles), had been catalogued within those bureaucracies.

Speaking of bureaucracies, this is a good way of describing what Lester looked like. He was a couple of inches shorter than me and always wore thick rimmed dark colored glasses. His black hair was usually cut short and combed strait to the back. His overall appearance was bureaucratic. When he told people he was a government worker, nobody was surprised.

When the extraterrestrial spaceship was first sighted tracking the space shuttle in orbit, some bureaucrats in the defense department remembered these articles and recirculated them among the people who were appointed to look after the defense of the nation from these entities.

Of course, who would be the most important person to defend the country? . . . yes . . . the President of the United States. He and his advisers had become readers of my papers on this subject! But, what was it about my papers that caught their eyes?

I had written a methodology of communicating with aliens -- in a very scientific and rational way -- that could sensibly be applied to this situation. The fact that a scholarly professional translator (me) wrote it didn't do any harm either. I was naturally earmarked as an important person who should be consulted when formulating plans to communicate with these aliens if that opportunity should arise (and that sure looked like it would happen). These details will be forthcoming as I disclosed that part of my experience.

FOUR PERSPECTIVES

The following historic drama (I don't know what else to call it) will be told from four viewpoints.

The first point of view involves a few significant players who unintentionally altered the course of history, one of which was the pilot of the space shuttle Atlantis. A major player in the overall scheme of things, that's the best way of describing Atlantis pilot Jeremy Fellows. Predicting how any individual might influence human history is problematic. Jeremy Fellows was one of those people whose stature and profile limited him to the usual pilot duties of the space shuttle, and no one ever conceived of him playing any role other than that.

The information about these noteworthy people wasn't revealed to me until many years into the future. Fortunately, historians and news reporters have recorded these relevant details by making contacts with friends, business associates, and family members of the people involved. These documents had been well preserved allowing me to acquire my own copies. I also had access to documentation from both the local police force at White Sands and national security archives.

Additionally, an actual transcript of what went on inside the shuttle as this major discovery unfolded was available. That section of my diaries of what happen aboard the space shuttle Atlantis as they discovered the alien -- or were discovered by the alien spaceship (it all depends on your point of view doesn't it) -- will be part transcript and part interpretation. Lester was good enough to supply me with this information about a week after the space shuttle had landed. He was fortunate enough to acquire the transcripts of that flight from someone in NASA (or the chain of command leading to NASA).

The next one will be the alien viewpoint. This compilation of the discovery process from their perspective brings wondrous insight into alien thinking.

The third important viewpoint will be Lester Rowan's and his involvement with the Vice President, as well as the President and his national security advisors. He was able to provide me and keep me up-to-date on all the activities at the White House, and other important places, after I became involved with the alien. This view will depict mostly myself and Lester (and other unnamed important people whom I will expose later), and our interpretation of the "inside story" of this "first contact".

And fourth, I will summarize the all the events that I was either personally involved with or able to witness.

As I write these diaries, a certain amount of satisfaction surrounds me. It's not every day I get a chance to narrate historic events. I wonder what my 'academic and nerdy' family would think of me now.
  1. THE ATLANTIS PILOT

"Watch out Dad, here comes the flying saucer . . . heeeeeherrrrrrrr . . . smash . . ."

"Ok, Ok . . . my little alien. Man what am I going to do with that kid?" Everyone at the dinner table laughed. That was little Billy -- Jeremy Fellow's son trying to persuade his dad about the existence of flying saucers.

"I have to admit that son of yours has all your stubbornness," said Billy's mom as she handed out dessert. This little celebration with the Fellows' family was the last get together before the Atlantis shuttle flight, which was scheduled to go up in two weeks. It was a normal family love fest for the Fellows family.

"Ok Billy, remove your flying saucer from my plate and put it back on yours." Jeremy picked his plate up, pushed Billy's toy off of it, allowing it to plop back onto his own plate. Billy thought he was hilarious and took the jovial atmosphere at the dinner table to behave more like a five-year-old rather than the ten-year-old kid he really was.

Almost everyone at his school believed in UFOs, and despite his father's procrastinations against these things, Billy had begun to lean in favor of their existence.

"Oh man; I don't know about this kid. Are the teachers at your school telling you these things?" said dad.

"Some of them believe in it and some don't." The phone suddenly rang and Billy rushed to answer it.

"It's someone called Theresa." That was Theresa Graham, the shuttle Commander. This was a habit of hers: calling the flight members on their last day with their families at their homes before they departed for the Kennedy Space Center.

"Ok, I'll get it," said Jeremy. Billy handed the phone to his dad. Jeremy took the phone away from the dining area allowing him a measure of privacy.

_"Hi Theresa; are you ready to go? . . . "_ Jeremy's voice drifted off into the background. . .

Billy returned to the table and continued with his flying simulation.

"Billy, which teachers are telling you this? I'm going to have a meeting with the principal," said mom.

"Ah, come on Grace; let up on the kid. What harm does it do if Billy believes in these things?" said Uncle Phil, Jeremy's brother.

"Phil, you forget one thing. Billy is the son of an astronaut, which means our family should have a scientific outlook on life. It doesn't look good for the son of an astronaut going around admitting he believes in UFOs." Phil didn't bother extending the discussion; it was an old one with Jeremy not believing in it and Grace, his wife, going along with it to please her husband.

There were some days mind you, where she thought that people from NASA were not being open minded, but her husband and the scientific community dismissed it and that was that.

Phil was the older brother, older by about fifteen years. Jeremy was the youngster of the family and ever since he first saw astronauts go into space, had wanted to get involved with the space program.

He and his wife made a great looking couple. Jeremy was six feet in height, as clean cut as you could get, and looked manly alongside a shapely five foot ten inch tall blond woman. Phil admired them both along with their two kids -- Billy at ten years old, and Julie at eight. It was the quintessential American family.

Phil remembered the time he drove his younger brother to the air force academy on the first day of this new military career. This was the way Jeremy wanted to get into the space program: become a well-trained air force pilot capable of flying supersonic warplanes, and then look for opportunities to enter the space program as he advanced himself through the aerospace culture.

On the day Jeremy took his first break from the academy, he was driven home not by his older brother, but by a tall, beautiful, blond haired woman named Grace. Jeremy's family wasn't expecting this. All they knew was that Jeremy had a ride home, but didn't realize it was his fiancée that was driving him back. Everyone in the family immediately fell in love with her.

_"Okay Commander, we'll see you tomorrow,"_ Jeremy hung up and returned to the dining area.

"Hey Dad, there's a news item on TV about your flight," that was Julie: Jeremy's daughter. Everyone turned towards the TV. Billy rushed over and jumped on the couch.

"This Friday, NASA will have the Atlantis shuttle ready for launch for the 135th and final flight, ending one of the nation's greatest scientific achievements after more than three decades of manned spaceflight.

It will carry a small crew of four in order to minimize the risk in dealing with post-launch rescue complications.

Atlantis will lift off at 11:26 a.m. EDT July 8th just at the moment where the International Space Station's orbit plane is in sync with the shuttle's launch complex.

Commander Theresa Graham, pilot Jeremy Fellows, flight engineer Frank Martini, and space shuttle veteran Joseph Vericruise, will be the four astronauts on Atlantis' upper flight deck.

Because this is the space shuttle's last flight, huge crowds are expected to show up for the final blast off.

Atlantis was originally scheduled to be a "launch on need" rescue flight for the shuttle Endeavour, but NASA decided to go ahead with Atlantis as a separate launch to transport additional cargo to the space station.

There is also the possibility that the mission might be extended by one day in case extra time is required to pack up unwanted equipment and trash from the space station.

Currently, the schedule is for the shuttle to undock from the station at 2 a.m. on July 18.

The Landing at the Kennedy Space Center is expected to occur around 6:56 PM. on July 20.

This just so happens to be the 42nd anniversary of Apollo 11's touchdown on the moon.

The news on the TV switched to another story, and Julie immediately turned the volume down.

"Don't forget your dad is leaving here at 7:30 A.M. tomorrow morning, so make sure you guys get to bed early enough so that you can wake up and say good-bye to him," said Grace.

This little statement from mom was a signal to Billy that he better go up to his bedroom right away since supper had been much later than normal. Billy immediately 'flew' up as if he were flying an airplane, plunged into the bathtub, and after he had finished washing and putting his pajamas on, allowed dad to enter his bedroom to tuck him in bed.

"Wee . . . Wee . . . Weeeeee."

"Aw right, aw right . . . get in that bed." That was the usual chasing and running around carried on between son and dad as dad said, "Stop jumping on that bed, Billy. At your age you're a little too heavy to use that bed as a trampoline." Dad was in Dad-mode: a normal state of being for this traditional family.

"Hey dad," Billy finally settled under the covers. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Ya sure . . . what is it?"

"If you actually meet a real alien up there, can you make sure to say hello to him for me?" Dad had a big smile on his face as he shook his head back and forth.

"You little brat," dad threw a stuffed animal at his son as he squealed with delight.

"Ah come on dad . . ."

"OK, OK, I'll say hello. Give me a big hug, and I'll see you tomorrow." Dad gave his son a big hug, shut the light off as he left the room, and just before he closed the door, took one last look at his son. As he walked down the hallway, he could feel the love he had for this little guy.

Jeremy had a long career with NASA. This was to be his last flight, and he was nostalgic about it. He didn't know if he was doing the right thing. Being a shuttle pilot was something he absolutely loved. One of the reasons for quitting was his idea that there might not be enough trips to the space station using the Russian Soyuz spacecraft with all the competition from other experienced NASA pilots.

Some days he felt retiring was the right thing to do, other days he considered whether he should stay in the space program by other means.

He meandered into his bedroom, as his wife prepared for bed.

"Well dear, how do you feel about your last flight?"

Jeremy glanced at her and smirked, "I just don't know. I have a feeling that as soon as Atlantis lands, I'll long to go back up again; Weird . . ."

That night, Jeremy didn't sleep well. . .

The next morning, the whole family stood on the front porch of their suburban house getting ready to say good-bye. His wife, visiting brother, son and daughter, all individually received a big hug from him.

"See you guys in a few days," he said with an enthusiastic smile. Of course, everyone was quite aware of the risks flying space shuttles. But his love of piloting them exceeded his fears. So far, he had a spotless career as far as any danger was concerned. There were many perils in this occupation, and he wondered if something unexpected would happen someday.

Could this very last flight of an American space shuttle be completely risk free? Only time could tell.

"Hey dad, don't forget." The last view Jeremy had of his family as he was getting into the car, was his little son.

"Ya ya ya ya," he gave Billy a little wave.
  1. WHAT THE ALIEN TOLD ME

The first thing that struck me about writing these diaries was my fascination about their historical significance. Before I received that call from Lester, I never imagined that I'd be writing about genuine alien encounters and also writing about it from their point of view.

The alien version of events will be the next thing to deal with, but before I do that, I have to explain how to understanding them. Since our initial meeting, I had become good friends with the dominant alien and decided to translate his side of the story for him. Notice I used the word _decided_. Because at first, this was more difficult than I had imagined since their language was far from conventional.

It was rather . . . Alien!

I don't know if you could even call it a language, a form of communication would be a better description. This means to say that one must stay away from linear thinking and think in terms of computer programming using a statement language . . . or something like that. Let's just say there are some similarities between a few of our computer languages and their language, but this idea is not entirely rigorous.

To keep a proper timeline of my story, I will humanize the alien's viewpoint and give you a detailed example later. This is important because the alien thought process is so different from ours, a first time person would in no way understand it even if it was in English.

The following is a compilation of data from the alien leader in the following weeks after I met him, as he described to me his thoughts and interpretations upon discovering Earth.

Please note, even though a reader might prefer to hear a dialogue between the travelers in this spaceship, their communications are not done in a procedural way similar to humans. The problem with explaining their exchange of ideas was due to another human misconception, and that was the assumption that intelligent beings would think in the same linear way that human beings would. This was not the case with these particular entities. So my method of explaining their experience will be done as if they were humans exchanging ideas to make it more understandable.

The first point I would like to make about the method they use to travel between stars is the use of the term dimensional-space instead of hyperspace. This was the commonly used word in science fiction in the 20th and 21st centuries and is the term that reflects the proper method of faster than light-speed travel.

It all begins when two aliens in a spaceship, on their way to a distant star cluster, sought to confirm their star charting in a specific area, when something unusual caught their eye. They were not expecting to make any sort of discovery around the star we call Sol. This was the second time one of these alien spaceships had visited this area. The last time was about 1,000 years ago and was approximately 10 light years away. On this particular stopover, there appeared to be unnatural events happening in this region. It was something they weren't expecting.

They discovered a _scent_ 0.5 light years from the Sol star; that was the point where the aliens busted out of dimensional-space. Total chance was the best way to describe how they ended up at this particular location. The _scent_ , which happened to be stray radio frequencies from Earth, had enough strength where some information could still be demodulated despite their extremely low attenuation. The only intelligible manner to explain what they did was to state that they had determined the source, and it was coming from a planet somewhere near the local star they happened to be near. As they continued to analyze it, the signal was so diminished that the intelligent part of it was almost completely mixed with random background RF noise.

Almost, but not quite.

If they happened to be a little farther away from where they were, then the noise would predominant and no intelligence would be discerned. But they were in a unique position to detect a smattering of non-natural radiation in the form of probable intelligence. A few intelligently produced radio waves were passing through with the smallest attenuation detectable. This was the usual _leaked_ radio frequencies from Earth as thousands of transmitters broadcasted continuously.

After all these human produced radio frequencies were analyzed, the aliens at first processed the information in the same manner that human beings might have done. As far as they were concerned, these radio waves didn't appear to fit into the natural order of the surrounding area. Radio waves are everywhere in outer space, emanating mostly from the sun and stars, and the alien's receiving systems are usually full of this noise. However, at this time, there appeared to be an order to these particular waves.

Their first thoughts were that maybe one of their own vessels might have been lost in the vicinity, still had its transmitter on, and that's why they were receiving these signals. That theory flew out the window when an analysis was done, which indicated that there was nothing in the makeup of those waves that could have been produced by their own people.

So what natural phenomenon could cause so much order in this energy? There did appear to be a source associated with it. This source was very specific and originated from one point in the local vicinity.

It was near that Sol star.

On this particular day, July 17th, day 9 of a 12 day shuttle flight, this intelligent component had not gone unnoticed. The people noticing it were not humans however and were so surprised by this discovery, they at first could not believe these seemingly intelligent patterns were actually created by an intelligence other than their own. Maybe they were ancient signals from their own race that were kept alive by a random accumulation of noise. Maybe this new discovery of people was a tribe that had separated eons ago from their main species and due to the long separation, had thought of their own way of modulating radio waves.

But try as they might, they couldn't tie it in to their own civilization process.

There was another thing. The intelligence patterns appeared to be increasing in strength with less noise and more intelligence probabilities as they approached the star. The leader in this particular stellar craft of a two-person crew (one of which was an android intelligence) made the decision to continue towards the area where the signals were the strongest. As he proceeded on his quest, he was able to confirm that all signals emanated from a tiny blue green planet much closer to the Sol star. The leader wasted no time moving closer to the source. He jumped back into dimensional-space and busted out again near Mars.

Another study followed and this time, it was obvious that a very distinct intelligence was modulating this energy source. He and the android couldn't completely understand the modulating format, having developed their own way of RF communications eons ago. Before this discovery, they never thought of anyone else generating this since it wasn't in their mindset that there could be other intelligent life forms _out there_.

This was different from Earth culture since we had people who made a living hypothesizing about whether extra-terrestrials existed and others who couldn't bother hypothesizing, and insisted they were real.

This alien race had been exploring the galaxy for eons and never stumbled upon an intelligent life form that could demonstrate a technology similar to this. The leader decided to approach Earth in regular space since their usual method of travel was to be out of dimensional-space when they were near planets.

How to describe the alien's attitude when discovering these signals were all originating from a probable intelligent source? After dismissing those other theories of lost spaceships or lost ancient civilizations, they thought that this intelligence was possibly a species similar to them. Isn't that the type of mentality humans shared when hypothesizing about first-contact with alien beings? A head, two eyes, mouth, legs: anywhere from two to four, arms: same number, and about the same height as humans or within their range. Anyone with the intelligence of manipulating radio waves with the intention of communication must be similar to them and be intelligent.

That was their attitude as they approached Earth. The closer they came however, the less likely they were to believe those initial theories. Finally, they arrived at a point where they were close enough to view the surface through an optical device. What they saw and how it affected their attitude was a bit hard to decipher even after later meeting the head alien.

They are aliens aren't they?

Do they have emotions like humans? A human emotion can propel you to new discoveries, or appreciate music and art, or lead you to war.

What equivalent emotions could they possibly have? On this day, amazement was one of them -- as they approached Earth. Their scanning indicated a vast civilization in most of the locations that weren't covered with water. There also appeared to be thousands of objects in orbit around the planet emitting radio frequency waves. They certainly weren't natural objects. That was clear in their viewers and scanners.

After a lot of analysis, it was obvious that the radiated waves had modulations in a very low range if they were filtered in a certain way. Could that be an indication of the frequencies these new life forms on this blue green planet communicated in? There also appeared to be modulations that might have visual information in them. A closer examination was in order as they approached the orbiting technology.

Most of the artificial items were quite small with the exception of two large units in a low orbit as compared with the other items in higher orbits. The head alien thought that maybe these larger items could be containers holding life forms. One of them appeared to have aerodynamic capabilities that would be able to fly smoothly through an atmosphere.

He chose that one and moved towards it . . . cautiously.
  1. SPACE SHUTTLE ATLANTIS

July 20th -- 9:35 p.m. EDT 7:35 P.M. MDT

Getting ready to land, Commander Theresa Graham received the go ahead to close and lock the payload bay doors. The trip had been uneventful, nothing had gone wrong, and the mission had accomplished all its goals. At this point, the attitude of the Atlantis shuttle is nose first with topside facing Earth. Mission Control gave the commander the go ahead to activate the entry and landing software as well as to check the environmental control and life support system radiator bypass/flash evaporator system.

NASA had selected Theresa Graham as an astronaut candidate fifteen years ago. Her initial love was astronomy, and she had received a PhD in astrophysics from MIT in 1985. Something happened to her in 1986. That was when the space shuttle Challenger broke apart as it took off into space. She couldn't get over the shock of this tragedy, as she continually monitored every news source she came across.

Theresa's turning point came when her fiancé decided to terminate their relationship, which turned her off from ever wanting to get married. At that moment, she had an epiphany. As she walked away from her ex-boyfriend's apartment, she was struck by the noise of military jets taking off from a nearby military airport. Her ex-boyfriend was a mechanic who worked on those jets. She glanced upward, and for some reason the haunting event of the Challenger came back to her mind. That's when she saw herself flying a space shuttle.

It took her another two years to approach the Air Force ROTC program, and she finally graduated two years later. Her initial experience however, was disappointing. She was assigned to fly transport aircraft, not the ones she had her heart set on. Her stubbornness and determination motivated her switch to the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California. After graduating, she became a designated test pilot and was eventually selected for the astronaut program. Two years later, she was assigned her first flight in a shuttle and within five years, was chosen to command the very last shuttle flight.

So far, everything was going perfect.

10:30 p.m. EDT 8:30 P.M. MDT

As the first crewmembers began to don their launch and entry suits, Commander Graham initiated the procedure to position the shuttle in a tail-first thrusting attitude in preparation for deorbiting.

As the shuttle slowly rotated, the Earth below could be seen to pass by the windows. Jeremy as always, admired this stirring view of the oceans and coastlines. As the shuttle stabilized, an object caught his attention as he continued to stare outside the window. There appeared to be a glare reflecting off of it. It was rather unusual, and he wondered if it might be a reflection from some internal light in the cabin. Normally he wouldn't bother with something like this, but it was just too weird looking, so he scanned the cabin scrutinizing what could be causing it. He didn't notice anything bright at all, so he moved back towards the window keenly observing this brightness.

The light appeared to have a strange glow . . . my God, it was coming from outside the shuttle. He peered out another window to have a better view. He was quite familiar with what planet and bright stars to expect, and this object wasn't in the database. He thought about whether it could be a satellite of some sort, but it had a shape that he knew no outer space involved country had ever produced. It was smooth, aerodynamic, shiny, and very large, or he thought it was large.

What the hell was it? Frowning, he continued to stare out the window trying to figure out what it was.

"Theresa, there's some kind of bright object outside the port window that could be following us," said Jeremy. "Go ahead and have a look."

As she peered out, she didn't know what to believe at first but knew it wasn't a planet, satellite, or star of any kind. She turned to him and said, "Try to figure out what that is."

Jeremy took control and said, "Frank, take a look at this before we start the landing procedures." Frank Martini, the Flight Engineer for the actual landing sequence, examined it and couldn't figure out what it was either.

"I'll check with Houston and see if there was anything abandoned a long time ago that has a funny shape and size like this." Frank took a picture of it and sent it down to Houston to get their opinion.

In the meantime, they all stared out the window in total silence. Just as the object began to approach the shuttle, Theresa was distracted by a message from Houston.

"Hey look, it's getting brighter and moving closer," said Frank. Everyone continued to stare outside the portholes.

Theresa returned and said, "Mission control says they don't know what it is." She realized that despite the possible urgency they were in, there was nothing she could do about its approach, due to the shuttle's inflexibility.

"This increase in brightness obviously isn't natural folks; it's controlled," said Jeremy. Theresa poked her head towards the window again, this time attempting to apply her analytical skills.

"It appears perfectly smooth except for certain protrusions; I don't think Mother Nature had anything to do with those," she said. What really _closed the deal_ was when certain details on it became more viewable as the brightness increased. Needless to say, they were all stunned. "Take more pictures of it before it goes away."

The shock of what they were witnessing, along with a certain discomfort, dumbfounded the crewmembers as they focused on this strange object.

Frank had an idea, "Let me send them a signal." He grabbed a chunk of cardboard and with a felt pen wrote in big bold letters: HELLO.

"Theresa, mind if I place this on the window to see if this causes any kind of response from them?" Theresa took a quick look at what he did and told him to go ahead, so he placed it flat against the window assuming the strange object would see it.

Within seconds Frank said, "I could swear I saw that vessel move a little closer and stop."

"Hmm . . . could be," said Theresa.

A few minutes later, Theresa sought everyone's attention, "Let's listen to Mission Control's message."

"Atlantis this is Houston. We are changing your course and want you to land at White Sands in New Mexico. We are changing the status of the mission to an emergency level, which means the Kennedy Space Center is not suitable. That means you will have to land one orbit later since adjustments have to be made to your trajectory in order to place you in the correct path to White Sands. Another ninety minutes will be added to your flight. This is now a security concern especially if that alien vessel follows you in, and we're making this emergency landing military friendly, which makes White Sands more suitable, so let's get going."

"Copy that Houston. Anyone have questions?" said Theresa.

Strange events like this weren't what these astronauts normally thought about on a day-to-day basis, so they just stood (floated) there not saying anything.

Eventually Jeremy said, "It'd be interesting to see what that object does once our burn happens."

As awed as the crewmembers were about their new discovery, a lingering tension permeated the cabin for the next ninety minutes.

"I just received the go ahead to close all vents, doors, and seal everything for re-entry," said Theresa. "You guys might as well finish putting on your entry suits since we're approaching deorbiting time."

12:10 AM EDT, 10:10 MDT

The crewmembers received the signal to begin 'fluid loading', a procedure for drinking large amounts of fluids for re-acclimating to normal gravity when the shuttle lands. This was done after everyone had suited up with their launch and entry attire. In the meantime, the alien spaceship had maintained a consistent distance to the shuttle.

"I wonder what those aliens have to drink before they land?" said Jeremy.

"Cosmo Cola obviously," said Frank. Jeremy had a little smirk for that bit of humor.
  1. WASHINGTON D.C.

Lester Rowans, being a staff member of Vice President Tom Franklin, was usually involved in many meetings with various defense personnel including the President. Later, I found out how all this played at the White House when he supplied me with his own personnel records.

I've known Lester for about twenty-four years. We met in our first year of college and immediately became friends. Lester was not a person who visually attracted attention, but one thing he did have was an incredible sense of humor. If you want to have a great time in a bar, always bring Lester. Everyone laughed their heads off at his wisecracks and one liners.

Sometimes, UFO fascination dominated the conversations, but for some strange reason it was only after the first drink. When that happened, a lively debate ensued. During these so-called debates, our position wasn't usually for or against; it was always the opposite position of what the people we were with had. This ensured a lively discussion, which is what we always gravitated towards.

There was one little problem though; Lester had a tendency to drink too much and either one of two things could happen; he would get even funnier, or more argumentative. It was my job to get him out of the bar when the latter happened.

Lester was political. My take on him was that he was a centrist. He could have positions on both sides of the fence. This _middle philosophy_ stood him in good stead, as he was employable by both parties, and his present position as a vice-presidential staff member was proof.

July 20th -- 10:45 PM EDT, 8:45 MDT.

It was one of those days when everyone worked late. Little emergencies were everywhere but nothing like what was yet to happen. Within fifteen minutes of the first observation of the strange object, security personnel from the National Security Agency, through NASA, informed both the President and Vice President. The Vice President immediately summoned his aid, Lester Rowans. Lester at the time was photocopying documents when his secretary rushed into his room and said, "Lester, the BOSS." She made a motion with her hand rolled into a fist pretending to hold a phone indicating the Vice President was waiting for him. Lester rushed towards the phone and picked it off the table.

"Lester, give the White House a call and see if the President has been brought up-to-date on the alien contact."

"Alien contact?"

"Yah, that's right. I'll tell you more about it on the way over there." I guess this must be real, thought Lester. Normally, discussions about aliens and UFOs degraded into joke material in these aloof circles. But Lester understood his boss enough by now to know when he wasn't joking. On the other hand, he could be using a figure of speech; time will tell.

Lester called a White House staff member to verify what they knew. After he hung up, he walked down the hall, entered Vice President Franklin's office and said, "Yes they already know about it over there, but I'm not sure if the President knows about it yet, since he's stuck in an important meeting."

The Vice President responded, "I'm sure he's already been informed, so let's get over there right away since I have to meet with the National Security Advisor anyway. If this is real, it's going to be a pretty significant matter."

Lester told me that on the way over to the VP limo, he already had me on his mind since we had kept robust conversations about this topic for years.

By the time he and the Vice President entered the limo, Lester looked at him and said, "UFOs?"

The VP gave his head a curious shake and said, "All these years we thought this was just a wacky belief system and there you go, real confirmation and pictures directly from rational people in our space shuttle indicating a real alien spaceship. This will probably keep us busy for the next little while."

When they reached the White House, a staff member immediately directed them into the Situation Room. It was obvious the current state of affairs was quickly escalating into emergency mode, as in attendance were NASA officials, National Security Agency people, and military intelligence. Other people within these same organizations were also present through linked video portals since they couldn't get there on time for this surprise emergency.

11:40 p.m.

The meeting with the President finally convened when he strode into the room.

As it began, he was assertive about one thing, "Are you people from NASA sure this is real and won't turn out to be some weird interpretation of a natural object later on."

The current NASA Administrator, Phil Herder, responded with, "Mr. President, we have the latest pictures and someone also took a quick video and sent it down. We could view it right now if you'd like."

"Okay go ahead," said the president. A technician ran the video on the local monitors along with the laptops that had the proper links.

"Judging from what we see here Mr. President, there is no doubt that this is a real sighting of an extraterrestrial existence."

The President said, "I don't want to seem like I'm nit-picking, but why would anyone immediately assume that this is a real picture. I mean the quality they're displaying doesn't look all that convincing."

Another one of the NASA people attending the meeting was quite familiar with the space shuttle and responded, "Even though the quality of the pictures we're viewing here isn't very high, there is no doubt that they are from the porthole of that shuttle. If you'll look at the edge of the port, you can actually count the rivets near this circular rim, which matches the real shuttle. Also, the little reflections coming off the port indicate the correct number of panes and the angles of its construction, also indicating this is the real deal."

"Okay, so I need opinions on what to do. The first thing is; do we release this information to the public? Tom what do you think?"

Vice President Franklin had already made up his mind, "Since the public will know that the space shuttle is landing in White Sands New Mexico -- a place that we have rarely used in the past -- it will certainly peak their curiosity as to why. Any excuse we release about landing at this unusual place might not seem plausible considering we have Edwards Air Force base in the vicinity, which has had more experience and a half decent infrastructure for shuttle landings. Also, since this will affect the national security of the entire planet, it might be prudent to have all nations co-operating with us on this situation right away. If we try to acquire their co-operation separately, that might take days and even weeks. In fact, that alien spaceship might be doing all sorts of things by tomorrow -- who knows? Making this a public event will focus the attention of all nations right away, and since we already have a space shuttle up there and are presently a significant space force -- all least this year -- then it will bring urgency to these nations immediately."

"Bill?" The president nodded towards the defense minister.

"I agree with Tom Mr. President. If we need co-operation from the public to get our nation into a warlike or emergency mode, it will be a lot easier if we tell them the truth."

"Go ahead Phil."

The NASA administrator responded with, "Well, I believe two other things have to be considered as well. One is the security of all nations and the physical world, and the other is to initiate a proper communication that will emphasize a peaceful and long lasting relationship."

"Mike, your turn," said the President.

"I'm in agreement with everything said so far sir, and we have to determine who is going to have the jurisdiction over this project, assuming the alien spaceship decides to maintain their link with our shuttle." Mike Homings, the National Security Advisor, was a bit concerned that the military would become the key managers controlling this project. He wanted a civilian to be in charge, particularly with a national security background, and someone in his sphere of influence. However, today was not his day.

The President focused on an Air Force General by the name of Williamson, who seemed to have a lot of influence this day.

"Mr. President, I do agree with both of these gentlemen, and I'd like to point out that we have people who have experience not only in space -- as you know one of the retired astronauts is back with us and working in the near space areas -- but we also have a lot of experience in quickly configuring and delegating the correct security measures in case they are required. Also, choosing White Sands as the place to land is very suitable for any amount and type of defense aircraft we might need to use for both defending our interest as well as securing the base from unwanted civilian activities. The closest populations are the small towns of Alamogordo and Tularosa, and they are miles away, so minimal effort is required to shield this base from let's just say, overly enthusiastic UFO aficionados.

"We also have many experienced aerospace engineers who are experts not only in space hardware, but also how they can be used in the correct context when having to use them in a weapons environment."

This discussion among the National Security Advisor, the senior NASA official, and the Air Force General, went on for about half an hour. Without explicitly stating it, the President more or less spoke in a manner that indicated the Air Force would have the highest influence in this project.

I had never heard of General Williamson until Lester told me about him. What he had to say wasn't very nice. He was the sort of person who dominated a conversation, even in White House meetings. At six-foot-four, he used his height to his advantage allowing that dominate sensation to predominate. Williamson sought control. Most people who required his help were impressed by his seeming competence. His aura always portrayed that. "It's always better to be on his good side," said Lester. "Otherwise he will quickly dispose of you even if he has minimal power or influence over the situation." Lester's opinion would later come to haunt me.

"From what I understand General, I believe you are aware that some people have stipulated a rational and reasonable method of communicating with an alien on first contact?"

"Yes sir. Some of our people, as a matter of curiosity, have accumulated the papers of a translator by the name of Stuart Cobey. He has proposed a very rational way of how to proceed and initialize communications with alien beings who might have a completely different mindset and way of interfacing with dissimilar intelligent beings."

That statement got Lester's complete attention. Even though Lester knew that air force and NASA officials had read my paper on alien communication, this was the first confirmation in a high power situation.

Near the end of the meeting, the Vice President mentioned to the general, "How quickly can you get a hold of Cobey?"

"I'm not sure, but I'll get someone on it right away."

Lester interjected, "Ah sir, it just so happens that Stuart is a very close friend of mine, and I can usually get a hold of him immediately."

The Vice President looked at Air Force General Williamson and said, "Looks like it's your lucky day General."

"Oh, so you know him? Great, make sure you put him in touch with me right away. I hope he'll be willing to do this. It might be a bit dangerous."

"I will explain your concerns to Stuart, General."

A few more items surfaced, and the meeting finally ended. Lester was now expected to call me and let me know the good news . . . or the daunting news as I called it. . .

SPACE SHUTTLE LANDS

12:30 a.m. MDT

After finishing fluid loading and suiting up, the astronauts viewed their seating assignments and began seating ingress.

12:57 a.m. - "Atlantis this is Houston, you are go for Auxiliary Power Units prestart." They were now approximately two hours from landing.

The commander said, "Copy that Houston. We are less than an hour from landing, and it appears they're following us in, at about a mile away."

"Roger Atlantis. We also have it on our radar. When you land, you will be doing a minimum 'safing' procedure that will take only about five minutes. We want you out of there as fast as possible and will have a special crew that will whisk you away from the shuttle when you're down."

"Okay, Houston. I have to admit that spaceship makes me nervous."

"Copy Atlantis. We will have two vehicles, one will be placed between the shuttle and the alien spaceship, and the other will be placed on the opposite side from where the spaceship will land and will be the one that removes you from there. That will be done to give you a measure of protection in case there might be anything that we don't know about emanating from it. Make sure everything is configured for a quick exit."

"Copy Houston."

1:01 a.m. - "Commander, you are go to close the vent doors and seal the shuttle for re-entry."

1:05 a.m. - "Houston Commander; you are okay for deorbit burn."

"Copy that Houston."

This slowed the Atlantis down by 200 mph, causing it to gradually fall out of orbit.

As Pilot Jeremy Fellows -- along with the flight engineer -- prepared for the de-orbit burn, he was so captivated by this discovery, he did something without any knowledge or authorization from Commander Graham. He took that same chunk of cardboard and on the other side of where he had originally written "HELLO", he wrote his own name: JEREMY FELLOWS.

When he felt no one would notice him, he thought it would be a bit of fun to place it in the same window as before. He held it in place for about 30 seconds, which was the amount of time he was sure no one saw him.

Just before removing it, he noticed the spaceship approaching the shuttle (within half a mile) almost as if his name had aroused the alien's curiosity. He thought about whether he should inform the commander or not. It might look bad to inform her since it would have meant he hadn't consulted with her. So he decided to keep it to himself -- a very unprofessional thing to have done, he thought.

At this point, his mind drifted towards his son Billy. A little smile appeared on his lips, as he mused about Billy's infatuation with UFOs.

Once the deorbit burn finished, no one knew from which window the spaceship would be viewable. The shuttle would go through its usual rotation to place it in a position for dropping through the atmosphere.

Theresa spoke up, "I want some of you to keep looking out of any window and try to visually monitor the spaceship's presence. If you spot the thing, let me know what you're seeing. I'm assuming that I'll not be able to view it from the commander's chair here in the cockpit."

The deorbiting procedure was now in full swing and within half an hour, the White Sands landing area became viewable.

2:17 a.m. - "We are just minutes away from a landing. The time is now 2:17 a.m."

This was much later than anticipated since the White Sands descent was planned one orbit later even if it was actually closer in the flight path of the space shuttle. Nothing was escorting the shuttle on its path to the runway this time . . . at least nothing from Earth.

The military wasn't too sure how to handle the situation, so a cautious approach was considered to prevent the spaceship from being tempted to use any force. There was plenty of force awaiting the spaceship in the form of missiles surrounding the landing area that had been put there on an emergency basis for this special occasion. There was also a large contingent of heavily armed air force guards.

Finally, the shuttle hit the runway with its usual precision, deployed its parachute, and came to a dead halt.

The alien spaceship had maintained a consistent distance of about one mile and kept that distance as it landed on the same strip as the shuttle. The spaceship was wingless and yet entered the atmosphere with ease along the same trajectory of the space shuttle. This created the impression that it might be operating on a unique type of anti-gravity propulsion. Two military vehicles approached the shuttle as planned, and the astronauts were rushed out and taken away. Ten minutes later, after a speedy 'safing' operation (NASA terminology for shutting everything down), all other personal in the vicinity were removed.

The next thing on everyone's mind was how to control this incredibly tense situation without resorting to panic.

It was 2:30 a.m. MDT.
  1. STUART COBEY WHERE ARE YOU?

July 20th - 8:00 PM MDT

Guess what today was? It was a day I'll never forget. No, not because the aliens were coming; _it was camping week_ ; and while getting my backpack ready this evening, sorting out the tent and paraphernalia that goes with it, I had the radio rambling on in the background.

Suddenly, it interrupted its programming for a news flash. That was the first time I heard about our alien visitor. This broadcast also happened to mention that NASA had altered the shuttle's course, and it would now land at White Sands in New Mexico.

_Holy shit_ , I thought. _Is this for real?_ My attention was now entirely focused on this event. It would be far more interesting watching it on TV, I thought. Since my camping trip located me near Yellowstone National park, it just so happened that the local cable TV service provided a feed from Amalgordo New Mexico, which was a town right near White Sands.

I thought this particular station would be more up-to-date on this story since it was located in that area, so I turned it on, tuned in, and listened intently to find out what they would have to say about the alien spaceship that was in orbit right behind the space shuttle.

What an incredible story for people like myself who've had a fascination with UFO stories all these years. I found the story riveting and turned the volume up. . .

"This is Will Vanderhorn from KBSB-ET news hour, coming to you from Amalgordo New Mexico. We have an extended version of this evening's program due to the historic important events taking place at White Sands Test Facility.

As most of you already know, the entire armed forces of the U.S. are on alert, especially the Air Force. The space shuttle is now scheduled to land at this facility. There are a lot of things we don't know yet.

Is the alien spaceship going to land on Earth?

Is there more than one alien ship?

Are there more coming after this one?

Other concerns are the viewpoints of skeptics. They are demanding to have a proper inquiry to assure that this whole thing is not some incredible hoax perpetrated by the U.S. government to manipulate public opinion for some radical scheme.

Stay tuned to this station for more information as we break for our sponsor . . ."

Wow . . . unbelievable . . . At this point, I turn the T.V. off, as I gotta go. Too bad my camping trip happen to coincide with this major event in Earth's history, but I also had a life to live and that was with this gorgeous girl I was seeing. I have always placed a top priority in my love life. Even though this major newsbreak was happening as I left, I felt two desires pulling away at my consciousness. One was to get closer to my new long dark haired friend by enjoying the wilderness with her; the other was to stay in front of the TV and absorb this alien adventure.

But the priority today had already been set, and that was to go camping, enjoy the beautiful scenery, and make sure I didn't bring along any technology that could interrupt my own private adventure out in the wilderness.

There was another thing; Cathy, the new person in my life, was like me, in love with nature, camping, and hiking. The plan was to pick her up this evening and rush to the camp in time for a good night's sleep. I went to the washroom, gave myself a close shave, made sure my crew-cut brown hair was still short, and then packed my small station wagon with all my camping gear.

After picking her up, we drove to the camp and enjoyed the beautiful sunset. The rest of the evening was also memorable with all that snuggling near a campfire. Retiring for the day in our tent was the next step, at around 11:30 p.m. Then . . .

"Why is your cell phone ringing?" I said.

"Huh," said a sleepy headed Cathy. She ignored it . . . up to a point.

"I'm going to shut this off. Who wants to be bothered out here?"

I smiled and chuckled a bit. On second thought I said, "Just before you shut it off why don't you take a quick look at the caller ID. You just never know, it could be someone important."

She glared at me with her aw-right look. One quick glance and she said, "Did you give Lester my cell number, because he's the one who called."

"That's strange," I said. "Come to think of it, he probably did have that number. It might have been written down somewhere in a bunch of documentation I had given him a few weeks ago. To be on the safe side, I'd better call him. There is no way that guy would be calling me at this hour if it wasn't important."

The cell phone had already stopped ringing, so I grabbed it and called my good friend to find out what he wanted while at the same time, wondered if it had anything to do with the alien story. Lester did work for the Vice President after all. He answered his cell phone immediately.

"Hello?"

"Lester it's me. What could you possibly be calling about in the middle of the night?"

"Stu, did you hear the news?"

"You gotta be kidding. Do you know where I am at the moment?"

"No."

"I'm out camping in the wilderness and happy as a pig in shit. This had better be good."

My tone was quite jovial, and of course, _better be good_ meant be so good so as to not disrupt my romantic inclinations.

"Stu, the current breaking news all over the world is that the space shuttle is being followed by an alien vessel."

"So I've heard; has it been confirmed by any government departments or anything like that?"

"I believe the President has scheduled a press conference first thing in the morning, and he will be confirming that this is real and not another wacko UFO story."

"Too bad I'm out here Les. I have no TV to watch."

"Is that any kind of smartphone you're using? Maybe it can stream video to where you are."

"Sorry Les, this is just a bare bones unit with none of that capability."

"Okay, Stu. By the way, how long will it take you to get out of that wilderness area you're in?"

"Why would I want to leave this paradise?"

"Because Stu, you might be getting a call from the defense department. They have read those papers you wrote about meeting with theoretical aliens."

"Are you sure?"

"Definitely."

"Why don't you just give them this cell phone number?"

"This situation Stu, is a big emergency. They might want to meet you right away."

I was a bit silent at this point. It sure sounded like something I'd be interested in, but it could also mean that I would have to leave paradise.

Suddenly, Lester interrupted our conversation.

"Stu, I've got a call on another line. I'll call you later. Stay beside that cell phone and don't go anywhere."

"OooooK Les, talk to ya later." I hung up and gazed at my darling.

"Looks like you got an important call," she said.

"From what my friend tells me, the space shuttle has met an alien spaceship, and he claims the defense department might want to get in touch with me."

"With you?"

"Yes, I guess all those years of playing poker with those alien entities have caught up with me, and the defense department wants me to own up to my gambling debts."

"Your funny, haha", Cathy was quite use to my sense of humor.

She asked, "So what was it that Lester said about aliens meeting the space shuttle?"

"Just what I said. I don't know any more than that. But there is a possibility we might have to cancel short our little vacation."

"Don't worry dear. I understand. It's not every day aliens come-a-calling."

I have to admit, it was really nice of her. We were in the early stages of our relationship, and I definitely didn't want anything to go wrong at this point . . . but meeting aliens? Now that . . . I wouldn't be able to resist, even if it meant losing Cathy.

The cell phone rang again. This time I answered it.

"Hello?"

"Stu, you'd better get packing, you've been chosen to play an important part."

"How could they choose me when they haven't even met me?"

"No, but they have met me, and I sold them on you even if they haven't spoken to you yet. Your alien contact papers have been widely read by key personnel. Let's face it, considering the emergency, they don't have time to go through lengthy interviews to find a person to first meet with these aliens and need someone standing by right away, especially if these aliens are difficult to communicate with."

"Where am I supposed to go, and when do they want me to get there?"

"Where are you now Stu?"

"I'm in Yellowstone National park."

"Holy shit. I didn't know you were that close. _He's in Yellowstone National park."_ That last sentence was Les talking to someone he was with.

"Just a sec, I got someone here to consult with."

I could hear a conversation going on in the background but couldn't really understand anything.

"Stu, you need to get to White Sands Test Facility within two hours to meet with some important members of the team we've put together. Let me turn you over to the colonel; he'll explain to you what to do."

"Hello Stu?"

"Yes."

"My name is Colonel Herb Clarkson, and I'm with the air force command in NORAD. The fastest way to bring you to this meeting is to send in one of our helicopters on an emergency basis, pick you up, and fly you to White Sands immediately. As a matter of fact, as soon as I heard from Lester that you were in that park, I immediately dispatched one of our units to where you are to pick you up. We are able to track you using your cell phone. I hope that is okay with you."

I was silent for about three seconds as I let all these commotions sink into my mind.

"Uh . . . I hope you realize that I am completely unprepared for this including clothing etc."

"Just give me the name and phone number of anyone close to you who can provide you with all of that material, and we'll send someone over to wherever you want them to pick the stuff up and then deliver it to you."

"Well . . . okay I suppose. Let me talk to Les."

"What have you gotten me into Les," this was said with a bit of a chuckle. "I know this is important Les, but couldn't my meeting with these people be put off until later tomorrow? I mean it's not as if I'll be the most critical person there."

"Stu, there's some important people at White Sands who want to speak with you right away."

"Like who?" I said with a slightly skeptical voice.

"The Vice President will be there, that's who. . ." The Vice President! I thought.

"I'll see you in a little while Stu."

"Okay, see you," I hung up and timidly turned to Cathy with a sorry look on my face, and apologized.

"Sorry about this. I didn't realize I was this popular."

Cathy was trying to smile, "I suppose I'll be getting home on my own."

"This camp is pretty safe Cathy. Just try to get more sleep and tomorrow you can decide whether you want to stay here or go home."

"There's definitely no way I'm staying here. What's the point? I might as well go home and continue my vacation and watch you on television."

I did detect a slight sense of humor amid all the disappointment of the moment. As we stared at each other, wondering what might have been in these impending romantic days, we both began to hear the sounds of a helicopter. It was almost a predication that the cell phone would ring . . . actually, it was a real prediction.

When it finally rang, I quickly mentioned to her, "Okay, sweetie; I guess they want to know where to pick me up. Again I'm really sorry for all this, and I'll be thinking of you a lot while I'm meeting with the alien."

"If you find out the alien is female, don't you dare ask her for a date." We smiled at each other as I gave her a kiss.

I answered the cell and as I expected, it was someone in the helicopter. I directed it down to our camping site, and told the pilot to search for someone waving at him. The pilot found me quite easily since his 'copter had bright spotlights that could light up everyone in the camp. He definitely woke everybody up.

The camp was family oriented and all the little kids, along with their parents and the usual camping aficionados, were standing outside awing the helicopter. Everything was flying around from the winds of the propeller, and it was noisy as hell.

When it finally landed, I placed the cell phone back in Cathy's hand, gave her another kiss, and ran towards it waving a final good-bye. I scrambled in, and the helicopter instantly took off to all the ooze and awes of the campers.

I could see beautiful Cathy with her lovely long hair covering her jacket standing there staring directly at me ignoring the wind, noise, and debris. She grew smaller and smaller as I flew up into the air towards whom knows what.

I didn't know it at the time, but this was the last I would ever see of her. . .
  1. WHITE SANDS

July 21th -- 4:35 AM EDT, 2:35 AM MDT.

It was night, about 2:35 AM MDT, and off in the distance a helicopter approached a landing area near the headquarters of the White Sands test facility. As the door opened, several people rushed out and were hustled into a nearby building. Included in that group of people was the Vice President of the United States, the NASA Administrator, Air Force General Williamson, Lester Rowans, Colonel Herb Clarkson, and other important officials.

"This way sir," a security official directed them towards the meeting room.

Within minutes, a second helicopter appeared with guess who? Me. I've never been in a helicopter in this manner before. I felt as if I was a soldier (out of uniform) being rushed off of it and encouraged to attack something. For the moment, that something was a doorway a few hundred feet away, which was supposedly the entrance to the meeting place.

Someone escorted me into a large room, and the first thing I noticed was the Vice President of the United States at the front of the room privately discussing something with a high-ranking military official. There was also something else; a large TV screen displayed video of the space shuttle that had landed just minutes ago. The camera then concentrated on scanning the area behind the shuttle focusing on Earth's new guest.

When the Vice President had finished his private discussion, he worked his way to the head of the table and sat down ready to begin the meeting. His presence at the table immediately brought everyone else to the table including myself.

"Thank you everyone for coming to this meeting on such short notice. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of time since we have to deal with this situation quickly. Looks like our decision to land the space shuttle at White Sands has paid off. The alien spaceship has followed us here. We have a lot of work to do, and hopefully we can resolve all major concerns in less than an hour. The first thing I would like to do is to get everyone at the table to introduce themselves."

This procedure continued until it got to me. I was the last one. I introduced myself, and the Vice President immediately addressed me.

"I am so happy you could make it Mr. Cobey. You are going to play a significant role, so your suggestions are important. Why don't you begin with the list of things you feel are required to meet these aliens."

"Thank you Mr. Vice President. My big concern, and you might have some engineers around here who can enlighten us a bit more, is all the intensive RF radio waves being generated all over the place. The problem here is one of risk. We do not know how these aliens interpret radio frequencies. Is it the way they communicate biologically or use as a tool like we do. If the airwaves are saturated with locally generated RF, will this have an effect on their behavior towards us? Again, I could be completely wrong on this, but it is a question of managing risk."

The Vice President look towards the local political leaders, and the military leader in charge of the base, and said, "What have you guys done about this?"

The general spoke up, "We don't have any problems reducing or even removing locally generated RF emissions, but I think it might be an issue with the local municipality." He looked at the mayors of Alamogordo and Tularosa when he said this.

One of them responded and said, "I'm afraid there is nothing I can do. I have no authority to do anything about this from both a legal and technical point of view."

"I think that is probably the best we can do on this issue Mr. Cobey," said the Vice President.

I responded, "I hope I'm wrong on this, so it won't be an issue."

The Vice President continued, "Let's go through this list of procedures and priorities to make sure we're all on track before Mr. Cobey goes out there.

"First thing: there is to be only one human interfacing with the alien at the beginning.

1. He must be protected by a group of armed marksman hidden from view in some distant housing near the spaceship.

2. He must be in communication with us with both video and audio by the use of long wires lying on the ground in order to prevent capturing of these communications by anyone included the aliens themselves.

This would also help with your suggestion Mr. Cobey, on RF avoidance.

1. The meeting with the aliens shall begin at sun up and end at sun down in order to synchronize them to our time methods.

2. The goals to establish on the first meeting are:

a. Get across the desire that they stay put so they won't cause panic all over the country and the world. Good luck on that one Mr.Cobey.

b. We must find out what their goals and policies are with regard to their visit here.

c. We must ascertain as soon as possible what threat they represent to this planet.

d. The aliens' physical isolation must be maintained from all humans except for Stuart Cobey, who is going to be the only person for now to meet directly with them.

"Anything to add to these principles gentlemen?"

I said, "I think that this is a very complete list, but did you mention about having little meetings after sundown just to tidy and clear things up?"

"That wasn't placed on this list because it was more or less understood Stu," said the general.

At this point, time was limited, so the Vice President abruptly stated, "If there aren't any other questions, then that is the end of this meeting."

Not wanting to waste anytime but trying to blend in, I nonchalantly rose and walked out of the meeting room. Getting to bed right away was a priority, even for the possibility of catching an hour's sleep or so, so I'd be ready before the sun rose.

A security guard escorted me to my own special portable housing unit, which was being put together a few hundred feet from where the space shuttle had landed. All of the important players who would be physically involved in this project would be staying at the headquarters building. This would include Air Force General Williamson as well as Colonel Herb Clarkson. The Vice President was leaving for Washington D.C. immediately, and Lester was to stay here and report directly to him as the situation developed.
  1. FIRST ALIEN MEETING

Getting to bed at about 3:30 A.M. and rising at 4:30 A.M. was not something I normally did. So far all was well, and I wasn't as tired as I thought I would be. There must have been a lot of adrenalin flowing through my veins.

After I got up and had something to eat, I was given a golf cart with rolls of communication wire pouring out the back. The next step was to drive towards the spaceship. So far, not a peep had been noticed from it. Is there anybody in there? They have certainly been quiet.

As I got into the golf cart, the spaceship could be seen in the distance through the posts holding the golf cart's canvas top. My thoughts were focused on the idea that little old me was making history today. The drive towards the spaceship had the effect of increasing my heart rate with every approaching foot. I stopped the golf cart when it was about 200 feet away, then I got out, walked to the back of the cart, and picked up my very own HELLO sign. I thought it'd be a good idea to start off in the same manner as the astronauts -- by duplicating their HELLO sign -- as a good way of initializing communication with these aliens.

I began to walk towards the spaceship holding the sign allowing anyone in there to see it. I hadn't the faintest idea what to do other than the fact that I might be holding this sign for hours -- and of course enduring my nervousness. Colonel Herb Clarkson constantly monitored my conversations through the microphone clipped onto my collar. Everything was being recorded; there were cameras everywhere, which were fed through wires coming off spools to avoid RF energy usage.

Five minutes later, I heard a noise from the spaceship, similar to a scrapping sound. That was enough commotion to cause me to freeze, and Herb (through the earpiece) mentions, "Sounds like the big moment is here."

The scrapping sound continued for a few seconds, but I still didn't notice anything. Eventually, it became obvious that it was coming from the other side of the spaceship. Rather than go over there, I stayed put since I had these long wires coming off me going back to the golf cart.

My nerves were either incredibly excited or extremely nervous. If anything, the sign I was holding vibrated a bit from my jitteriness. I tried to stop this shaking to no avail.

The noise stopped and something finally came out. My eyes were riveted to this . . . thing. It began to make a move to where I was standing. Okay, so what was I expecting here? I have seen so many aliens in science fiction movies in my life that I wondered which of them would this entity resemble.

This object continued to approach me. I'm not sure how to describe what I observed here; George Lucas and Steven Spielberg would be disappointed. Was this a piece of equipment, or a container holding an alien who will later emerge? What should I expect an alien to look like?

Okay, here's what I saw: a shape similar to an inverted ice cream cone!

It was silver colored, but with a bit of a scruffy surface and a mechanical appearance as opposed to a biological one. There seemed to be a pointy object sticking out the top, which was probably the head. It contained two large rounded objects that could be used for viewing. It was about five feet tall, and I had trouble trying to figure out how it moved around since the so-called inverted ice-cream cone skirt was close to the ground, and the gravel it stood on was hard enough to prevent footprints or other patterns. Did it have legs or was it running on wheels? (I found out later it contained both.) This gave me the impression that it must be a metallic and mechanical shaped space suit of some type.

I moved the sign forward with my arms and then pointed to the letters just as the flight engineer had done in the space shuttle. It didn't do anything for about 30 seconds, then slowly turned around and returned to the spaceship.

It immediately came out again this time carrying something. It appeared to be a panel of some type, about two by four feet. The alien held it out with a single arm that had no elbow and gave the impression of complete flexibility. At the end of this arm, there seemed to be many fingers, but I had trouble counting them due to the way it held the panel and the angle from which I observed it. A flat part of the panel that was facing me was white for a brief second and then something suddenly flashed on it. It displayed a picture of the shuttle window as observed from the outside with the HELLO sign that the flight engineer Frank had placed there. That was quite a relief to be honest with you. It certainly told me a lot about their intelligence. They were able to deduce a simple introductory communications procedure by the events that had happened in the past little while. The creature's display of the HELLO sign on the shuttle compared with the HELLO word on my whiteboard indicated that it had established a link between the two.

The next thing I did was to say the word HELLO while pointing across the bottom of it with my index finger. I listened and waited to hear if they had any audio capability. What I heard in return, was the word HELLO, but it was a recording of my own voice.

The next thing I did was point to myself, with both hands for added emphasis, and said the word Stuart with my mouth wide open to emphasize were the sound was coming from. Then I pointed to him (I'm assuming a male personage here) with both hands and kept my mouth shut, to confer the idea that I did not intend to make any noise and that it was his turn. Hopefully he would produce some sound informing me what his name was . . . or how he was identified. Nothing happened, so I tried the whole thing over again.

He placed his panel on the ground and then pointed to himself but nothing happened. I whispered in my microphone and asked if they could detect any type of radiation from the alien that he could be broadcasting, to indicate an attempt at communication. They said they could detect nothing. So I tried something else.

I pointed to myself and said, "Stuart moves." I immediately began to walk as soon as I said the word 'moves'. Then I said, "Stuart stops," and of coursed I stopped as soon as I said that word.

The alien put his arm down and moved away from his panel. He extended his arm down a few feet until it reached a patch of loose gravel. He drew the HELLO word in it and then pointed to it. I was getting the impression that he was incapable of audio emissions other than recorded sounds, and communicating skills would be limited to writing. So I pointed to myself again and when I said 'Stuart', I wrote that word in the gravel and then the word 'moves'. After that, I walked around the word and then recreated my second little sentence, "Stuart stops", and then pretended to finish my walk and come to a dead stop. He observed closely but otherwise just stood there not doing anything.

I returned to the large white board then placed it near where we were standing. I wrote the word HELLO, and underneath it I wrote 'Stuart moves' and then walked around the board and gave the alien his own black felt pen after I had demonstrated its ability to produce marks on the white board. I thought it would be better than writing on the ground.

He took the felt pen and scrutinized it by observing its tip. He approached the white board and tested it, and then touched the black ink to presumably see what it felt like. I took a rag to demonstrate I could wipe the ink off the board and then gave him it to him. There was a problem though; since he had only one arm, which was already holding the black felt pen, how could he hold the rag?

Within a split second, the problem was resolved when another one of these arms emerged from his body and grabbed the rag. He made more marks on the whiteboard and wiped it off with the rag, then walked away from the board, which sort of indicated he was expecting me to do something with it.

So I drew a picture of a man and then wrote my name: Stuart. I hoped he would figure out that these letter symbols were the way I described myself in written form. Right next to the drawing of a man, I drew a picture of him, which to me was basically a picture of an inverted ice-cream cone. I also drew the picture of the little antenna or probe on top of his head, and of course the two arms he was now using. Then I stood back and watched what he would do. He went to his own picture and wrote something on top of it at the same height as my name. It was something I couldn't understand, so out of those marks I derived a name that looked vaguely similar to what he had written. He was now to be called, HOEG.

About twenty minutes had now passed, and I could say that these first minutes were rather . . . alien! I could feel the complete strangeness of this entity, while at the same time concluding he was an intelligent being. I suppose no matter how intelligent two different species were, there might be such huge cultural differences that initial communications could be quite difficult. Little by little, I was able to explain to the alien very basic concepts like movement, starting and stopping events, identifying things and people. This was all done on the whiteboard.

As the day wore on and the sun descended near the horizon, I felt pressure to inform him that for everyone's safety and sanity, he was to stay put so he wouldn't set the world in a panic by flying around all over the place. By this time, using writing on the white board, we had already developed basic words for the sun and planet Earth and flying. So it took about half an hour before I was able to explain the concept that I would leave the scene at sunset and return first thing tomorrow morning, and he should stay put overnight. He was able to write yes on the board as a way of indicating he understood . . . but I was never 100% sure he did.

As the sun set, I left everything there. I was assured by Herb that the weather would not blow things away, so I got into the golf cart and drove away. I arrived at my living quarters a few hundred feet away, which had me isolated from the rest of the crew in case there was questionable toxic or biological material that could have been transferred to me.

We had a meeting by using a regular telephone linked by the wires across the grounds to the main headquarters. The meeting lasted about 45 minutes and mostly involved me answering questions from about ten people.

When it ended, I was so tried that as soon as I sat on the bed, I immediately fell asleep.
  1. KBSB-ET TV NEWS.

Sylas Vanderhorn, and his wife Martha, owned KBSB-ET TV station in Alamogordo New Mexico. Will, his thirty-two year old bachelor son, and right hand man in this family-run business, was the official news reporter for this small station. Martha had the duties of general administrator.

Sylas was of average height, short balding light brown hair, and a bit on the portly side. What could he say; he loved his beer and did love to snack a lot. He also forgot to shave some mornings, and it was potluck as to whether he would look like the manager/owner, or the janitor. At sixty-four years of age, he was aware his retirement was right around the corner.

Even though he and his wife had owned the station for about thirty-five years, it had only been profitable some of the time. He didn't have much to show for his investment. His wife had willfully invested in her half of the station and regretted it when two years later she discovered how difficult it would be to get a positive return on her investment. As it was now, they certainly didn't have enough money to last for a long retirement.

There was another thing. Not only did Sylas know he had not made a wise investment, he was also being nagged to death by her. He was stuck with this fate; there was nothing he could do about it. His son Will always considered it comical to see his five foot tall short white haired mother constantly blasting away at his father.

Like everyone else in the world, all three were infatuated by the historic Atlantis events and had a rapid discussion about it that morning at the breakfast table.

"What are we going to do about this, dad?" asked Will.

Sylas raised his shoulders and shook his head, "I have no idea, but we should do something. I mean this is _happening_ in our area."

Martha spoke up, "Well somebody's got to do something. Why are all these major networks able to get news and pictures faster, and here we are at the center of the alien events, and we're way down the line on information." Martha the nag, was never one to hold back her opinion.

"One thing you'll notice, dad, is that we've never seen a picture of this spaceship from the air, even though both the shuttle and it have landed in White Sands. I'll bet some people around the world might find that suspicious, as if the authorities are holding something back. So I've got a great idea. Let's get uncle Bob to take us up in his helicopter, and what we'll do is monitor the perimeter of the test facility, possibly do a real-time broadcast, take some pictures, and then send them off by email or some other thing. I think we might be able to get away with this since that facility isn't use to being screened by the authorities, so there might be some situations to exploit."

"Are you sure uncle Bob will do this?"

"Dad, I've already been in contact with him, and we both came up with this idea. He's waiting for your okay."

Sylas thought about how he would present this in his local news broadcast. He wasn't going to waste this opportunity considering he didn't even have to convince anybody to do it . . . except for Martha.

"Hey guys, I didn't mean for you to do something dangerous like this. Are you sure you can actually penetrate all that military security?" said Martha.

"Well mom, there's nothing wrong with trying. If anything goes wrong, we will leave as quickly as possible and worst case is, we just land back at where we took off and wait to get arrested. We'll have already sent the pictures off and have done our quick broadcast by then."

Arrested? Martha sat there shaking her head. It seemed a little too risky in her mind.

Sylas stared at his wife, "Sweetie, this is a historic event. It's not as if we do this type of thing all the time. There's also the possibility that this whole thing could be fake, and us taking these pictures might actually make us famous if it is fake, and if it's true, then it will still be appreciated by society as a whole. It's a win win situation."

Martha decided there was no way she would put up with this.

"Forget it. You guys do something stupid like this, then don't bother coming back to this house . . . ever!"

This helicopter caper invading military air space, even if it was just on the perimeter, was just too much for her. Sylas was a determined person: up to a point. But he knew his wife could also be obstinate, and it was her tone of voice that told him she had the upper hand. I guess his little adventure was not meant to be. . .
  1. ALIEN MEETING, SECOND DAY

I woke up about an hour before sunrise and darted about getting ready for my second meeting. The first thing I did was to review everything I learned from yesterday and oh yes, took a quick look outside to confirm that the spaceship was still there. It was. After a few words to some of the crewmembers, I jump into the golf cart and drove to the spaceship just as the edge of the sun peeked over the horizon. I sat in the chair and waited for the alien to come out. He was out in about five minutes.

I stepped out of the cart, and we approached each other just about where the white board was. This time something happened that I wasn't expecting. The alien had apparently placed a different audio transducer somewhere in his metallic structured body and recorded some of the words I had used in his presence. He then repeated the words on this transducer, while displaying the essence of them by doing the basic motions they represented. When he said the word 'move' for example, he would move around and also do other functions representing the words he used.

Wow, I thought, it appears we might get a chance to really improve our communications capability. Now I was really wondering, why didn't he have this capability yesterday? Maybe today I'll find out.

My approach today, was to translate all the words and concepts we worked on yesterday into useful audible words. Many new words were added, and I discovered his memory was perfect. He would remember things well and never forget them.

There was one little peculiarity however, and that was his pronunciations always sounded similar to mine. I'm not sure if he was just using a recording capability built into his audio transducer -- a technology we possess -- or was it a natural way of doing things in his society, to reproduce sounds exactly the way he heard them.

By the end of the day, I was able to have reasonably simple conversations with him. If we kept this up, our communicating ability might be advanced enough by the end of the week to more or less understand the big picture of their society and place in the galaxy.
  1. THE KBSB CONSPIRACY

Sylas's cell buzzed in his shirt pocket, "Hello."

"Hey Dad, it's Will."

"Yup."

"I got a phone call a minute ago from someone named Jeremy Fellows, and he claims to be the pilot of the Atlantis. Are you online right now?"

"Yes."

"Good; look this guy up just to make sure he's not fake."

Sylas searched for this person and said, "How long did you talk to him for?"

"Unfortunately it was for just a few minutes. He said he was in a big hurry and that to get here to Alamogordo, he had to grab a plane immediately, so he had to go."

"I found him in Wikipedia, and there's even a picture of him in there."

"That will be useful when we meet him," said Will.

"Wa da ya mean meet him?"

"Dad, meeting the pilot of the Atlantis; how could you not want to meet the pilot of the Atlantis?"

"Ya, I guess you're right. When does he get here?"

"He said he'll be here later in the afternoon, since he happened to be at Edward's Air Force Base."

Sylas thought for a moment and came to the conclusion that there could be ' _Gold in dem dar hills_ '.

"This could be a big break for us."

"I thought the same way if this guy is real."

"Where are we going to meet him?"

"He said he will be at the local airport at 2 p.m."

"Okay, let's get ready for this, and I'll print out a copy of his picture to confirm that this is the real Jeremy Fellows. Shall I meet you there or do you want to come with me?"

"I'll drive over to your place and come with you."

"Okay; see ya."

That was the end of that conversation.

Unbeknownst to KBSB-ET, Jeremy Fellows at one point thought he had been deeply involved with this alien communication. He tried to maintain a link to the alien project but had been rejected by the security forces. It was almost as if they could sense his obsession and didn't want to have NASA people any closer than they had to.

He had an idea this time. He became aware of station KBSB TV in Alamogordo New Mexico and knew they had a helicopter that was used for their local news service. As a way of meeting the aliens and fulfilling his obsession, he thought about whether this news organization could help him by using their helicopter and dropping him at or near the alien spaceship. Then he would introduce himself. It was going to be the second introduction to the aliens after all; the first one happened on the Atlantis -- or so was his thinking.

When Sylas and his son finally picked him up, it was late in the afternoon. They immediately drove back to the TV station. Sylas thought about how linking with the Atlantis pilot would help extend their coverage of the alien spaceship. After setting him up in a motel right across the street from the station, Sylas invited his brother Bob -- who was the helicopter pilot -- to have a meeting with Jeremy in the motel's restaurant, with Jeremy immediately taking over the conversation.

"Let me start right from the beginning. We were all awed and a bit frighten when we looked out the window and saw this alien spaceship. And of course that's why we ended up in White Sands instead of the Kennedy Space Center or even Edward's air force base. It was a result of all the security paranoia. There is more isolation at White Sands for military and security purposes.

"Along the way we attempted to communicate with these aliens in a rather primitive way by holding up a 'HELLO' sign in the window and appeared to get an immediate response when the spaceship seemed to get brighter. Later when nobody was looking, I held up my own sigh with my name on it, and the spaceship moved decidedly closer to Atlantis. In my own mind, I felt this simple maneuver was an indication that they were responding to my straightforward message.

"When we landed and were whisked away for security reasons, I realized I might have made a mistake by not informing anyone about this incident. I'm hoping I will be allowed access once the aliens realize who I am. It's quite possible that by now they might understand the English alphabet and would understand that what I showed them was the name of someone who was inside the shuttle."

Sylas sat there heeding all of this and developed two lines of thought. The first one was how lucky he was in encountering Jeremy; this could do wonders for his news station's ratings and therefore his pocketbook, as well as confer some recognition.

The other line was that either he wasn't sure that Jeremy Fellows was completely sane, or maybe he wasn't use to the way astronauts and space people think. Sylas was no expert in extraterrestrial life and wondered why the mere fact that the alien spaceship had moved in a little closer to the shuttle would propel Jeremy into thinking that he had some inevitable right to meet with them. He had a lot of questions for him but decided to shut up just to maintain a good relationship since there were too many benefits to ignore for his news station.

"How can we help you Jeremy?"

"From what I understand you people at KBSB have access to a helicopter, right?"

"Yes we do."

"What I propose to do is use that helicopter of yours to take me to the spaceship, so I can meet with the aliens. You in turn can derive the benefits of this great news story, as well as any other information you can get, by being able to briefly fly over there. Being a military person all my adult life has allowed me to have certain information with links to key people in the military and White Sands in particular."

Whew! Sylas couldn't believe his fantasy of penetrating the White Sands base was being resurrected out of sheer chance with a genuine space shuttle pilot.

"How does this knowledge of yours allow us to fly over this secure military base?" said Sylas.

"Let's just say I know little weaknesses in the shroud of security over that base as well as a couple of key people who know where the flaws are."

Sylas sat there wondering if this person was a brilliant analyzer of security operations and their flaws, or an idiot, or maybe even a liar. He was aware of his own flaws and that was to take a chance with this person in order to move forward his goals of being a successful news organization.

After some more technical prattle and a few questions from Will, Sylas decided to continue the meeting later in the evening at KBSB across the street from the motel.

It was going to be an interesting get together as he planned to firm up on all the details. . .
  1. BEFRIENDING AN ALIEN - THIRD DAY TO THIRD WEEK

Just as I thought, the rest of the week went well and for the most part, we were able to communicate effectively as long as the conversations didn't get too complex. However, even when his vocabulary improved to a fairly high level -- he had memorized about 4,000 words by the end of the week and already knew basic English sentence structures -- more often than not we were unable to understand each other when using complex words in order to produce complex thought patterns. Let me divulge a sample of our efforts by giving you an example of the alien communication mentality.

Here goes:

The following sentence will be translated into their thought process.

OK kids, it's time to cleanup, dress-up and get ready to go over to grandmas for the Christmas party.

Alien thinking:

Kids, Grandma, cleanup, dress-up, get ready, go over, end result, Christmas party.

The above was a very simple sentence, and the longer the human version becomes, the more undecipherable the translation appears to be. My problem was how to explain the alien's thought process, while not making it sound as if it was written by a human but still understandable by us. Get my drift.

Here is another example:

I used fairly reasonable words here, each one of which he had no trouble understanding.

"Hoeg, I am going over there."

I would then point to where I am going. This he had no problem with.

Next statement:

"Hoeg, I am going over there in a few minutes because it is warmer."

Even he knew and understood every word and indeed very phrase within that sentence, but he still didn't grasp the concept unless I broke the sentence down and then the explanation caught on. This took about a minute of time to explain and for him to understand.

Let me expand on this sentence:

"Hoeg, if the sun comes out and heats the place up, I will definitely consider going over there if I don't have the proper warm clothing available."

Now this was tough. He did understand by now that humans used clothing to keep comfortable within a wide range of temperatures, so that concept was okay. But the rest of the sentence? It required almost a computer programmer's methodology to explain. Let's stick with English vocabulary to make clear this alien's thought process on this complex sentence.

"Sun possibilities: sun appearing:

[radiating heat - yes] [radiating heat - no] [answer yes].

[heating place - yes] [heating place - no] [answer yes].

Person possibilities:

[going over there - yes] [going over there - no] [answer: no].

Clothing possibilities:

[not warm clothing - yes] [not warm clothing - no] [answer: yes].

Person functionality: going over there on all yes answers.

Person ultimate goal: definitely going over there."

When we vocalize that particular sentence, it requires about 3 to 4 seconds depending on the individual. Hoeg would take about 3 to 4 milliseconds when communicating it to his own kind even with his much lengthier thought process. When we listen to this format, it appears overly wordy and technical, and we have to use a logical thought sequence to really understand it. Our way of doing it makes no sense to him as well, since it would be the equivalent of slang and short forms.

Over the next week, he attempted to explain his language to me. His language wasn't based on any oral manipulation but was communicated with other aliens by simple RF transmissions. These were slightly below the infrared spectrum.

To be quite honest with you, discovering this little fact allowed me great satisfaction. I was the one who originally explained to the committee that we had to consider RF transmissions when dealing with the alien at the very beginning. And it was nothing but guesswork and risk management on my part.

As time when on, English became the main form of communication, and I would say that within two weeks he got reasonably good at it. It was at this point that he began to answer a lot of our questions about his society.

First things first:

Why his funny mechanical shape?

My first guess was that he might be wearing a space suit to protect him against our unusual environment. I was right on that one. But strangely enough, even when back on his home planet, he wears the same suit.

What do they look like without the suit?

From what I could determine from the pictures he revealed, he resembled a very large slug with no protrusions of eyes or ears etc. All of his senses were done through his body armor. He did breathe oxygen, and his suit filtered that.

When I told him our concern for alien biological entities emanating from his body he assured me that it was 100% secure and did not leak anything. This biological seepage he did understand, and he knew quite well the concepts about making sure not to exchange these materials. When he exhaled, for example, it was pure carbon dioxide. It was okay with him to allow our crew to confirm this by coming over and taking swab samples and other samples for test purposes.

Eating was not something these aliens did. Refueling was more like it. He would consume about one liter of carbon hydroxide every other day, which resulted in fifteen liters worth per month. He readily understood the periodic table when I showed to him, but of course they used different symbols.

From where does he originate?

Somewhere in the Messier 67 star cluster.

How long has their species existed?

Once we mutually acquired a basic understanding of measuring time, I arrived at the conclusion that his species has about 40,000,000 years old. In other words, his species acquired their existing intelligence as represented by Hoeg about 40,000,000 years ago.

This was hard to believe at first, and I thought there might have been a misunderstanding in measuring time between us. But constantly verifying this time measurement did confirm his species age.

When did they begin to travel among the stars?

As far as he was concerned, they have always travelled among the stars, meaning to say they had lost track of when it first happened. His personal age was about 5,000 years old.

What was his purpose in visiting us?

He discovered our radio transmissions on the way over to another place and decided an investigation was in order. As time with Hoeg went on, we became increasingly confident that there weren't going to be any immediate invasions.

There were no communications among spaceships as the spaceship was the communications method. In other words, if you desired to send a message to another star, you placed it in a spaceship and that brought it over.

Needless to say, Hoeg and I have now become world famous with Hoeg much more so than me.

At this point, I must discuss my relationship with Colonel Herb Clarkson and his staff. They were control freaks, and I have to admit, weren't very cooperative. They wanted this interfacing with Hoeg done a certain way not appreciating that you had to have a reasonable amount of flexibility with an unknown alien culture. Little by little, the Colonel insisted that one of his staff members participate with me in these alien discussions. At least I was able to convince the Colonel that I should still appear to be the one in charge out there, so as to not confuse Hoeg.

On the 3rd week, Hoeg began to receive additional visitors other than me, and I was careful to explain to him that we had a lot of curious people who wished to ask him questions. He understood inquisitiveness as he explained to me his greatest motivator was his own personal curiosity.
  1. THE NEWS STATION AND THE SHUTTLE PILOT

Sylas and Jeremy, the two instigators in this caper, jumped into the 'new' headquarters in the back seat of the company minivan. They, along with Uncle Bob and Will, had been able to sneak the R44 'Newscopter' into a deserted farm area -- which the air force authorities had neglected -- by towing it in. It was now all set up and ready to go, and would soon make the trip into the banned area.

During yesterday's evening meeting at the Station, they had produced a master plan to penetrate the security surrounding the base. This was beyond what Sylas' initial goals had been. He and his son Will had originally wanted to fly around the perimeter of the base. They didn't have the courage for anything else.

One person who was not aware of this was Sylas' wife. He decided to keep her out of the equation since he felt there was no pulling back now, and her opposition wasn't worth the aggravation it would bring. Sure, she would find out later, but that exacerbation could be handled then when it wasn't interfering with the main plan, which was currently active.

Jeremy and his co-conspirators were aware that the biggest problem they would have was choosing the best location to penetrate the base perimeter when flying their helicopter into the facility.

"There is no point in sneaking in if we don't have the right location," said Jeremy. He had carefully monitored the border around the spaceship, checking for the least supervised area. Jeremy continued, "I'm surprised at having regular cell usage. You'd think the security officials wouldn't allow any communication at all, but there you go: free and easy cellphone contact."

Uncle Bob, being a bit of a techie guy, threw in his two cents, "It could be that the frequencies used by the cell networks in no way interfere with what is going on over there. But let's make sure to continue to use our 'friendly' little code words when talking to one another."

They were using sports language metaphors when communicating with one another, so if any authorities happen to be eavesdropping, they would not be able to figure out their little scheme . . . hopefully.

"So Will, how are you feeling . . . any bad nerves?" said Sylas with an amusing look on his face. Will was going to broadcast a live event in the helicopter . . . at least that was the thinking. Sylas was also going up and would be taking as many pictures as possible and emailing them as quickly as possible.

"I still can't believe there hasn't been any photos released in these past three weeks, other than a few basic poses showing the spaceship behind the space shuttle. It looks so suspicious," said Will.

"But works in our favor, because if we pull this little scheme off, we'll make the big time . . . and I mean big," said Sylas.

"Even if you're locked up in a 'big' military dungeon?" said a big broad grinning gum chewing Bob. Sylas was so use to his brother's droll comments over the years, he responded with the usual smirk on his face.

Jeremy's plan was to fly the helicopter into an area as safe and low as possible where it would take the longest time for the military 'copters to catch up with them. By then, they would have a large number of pictures and videos of the alien spaceship: download or email them as they went along: drop Jeremy off near the spaceship: and then get the hell out of the area quickly, or follow instructions and land in the base and accept arrest.

In addition, Will's live broadcast event would probably have come to an end. As far as they were concerned, the reward was greater than the punishment.

"Okay Will, ready?"

"Let's go."

All four jumped out of the minivan and ran to the helicopter. As they entered it, Jeremy took something out of his backpack. He carefully pulled out what appeared to be a large cardboard foldout, about two by four feet, which had a sign on it.

"What's that for?" said Sylas.

"As I mentioned to you yesterday, I had placed a sign on the window of Atlantis that had my name on it. I want this same display to be shown through the window of the helicopter. This is the only way I'll be able to identify myself to the alien."

"You never told me you'd be placing this sign in our helicopter."

"I didn't think it was that important to you."

All this time, Sylas was beginning to have doubts as to whether Jeremy had any inside knowledge that would help them with this base penetration -- and now this little surprise. Oh well, he still fantasized about the forthcoming moment of glory . . . he hoped. They would all find out eventually when the helicopter took off a few minutes later.

It wasn't too long before they reached the perimeter of the restricted area when they were beset by two military helicopters, which radioed them and demanded they land immediately.

"Is your camera on now Will?" said Uncle Bob.

"Everything's okay. I'm a bit surprised they were on to us so quickly; what do you think Jeremy."

"Just ignore this interception; we'll be reaching the spaceship in seconds, and make sure my sign is facing the spaceship when you get there."

Uncle Bob was skillful at flying the R44 and had been an army helicopter pilot for 15 years. He was considered a top pilot during that period and would need every bit of his skill to evade these security people in this very open desert area. It wasn't going to be easy. The air force 'copters did have a speed edge, but Bob was experience enough in evasive maneuvers that he could avoid conflict with them for a few seconds here and there until he got to the spaceship. Will turned the radio down so he wouldn't have to listen to the air force pilots demands.

Woo . . . that was close. One of the helicopters swooped down so close, it caused Uncle Bob to flip his R44 in a very unorthodox way. This machine wasn't designed to endure these kinds of stressful maneuvers, and he notice something wasn't working properly.

"Will something is wrong; I seem to have less control."

"Not only that Uncle Bob, but I notice a bit of smoke coming out of the engine area."

Shit happens . . . but why now thought Uncle Bob. . .
  1. LAST ALIEN MEETING

Over the next little while, it had become obvious my importance in the project had lessened, as other people were now becoming experts. This morning I was to inform Hoeg that I would gradually be seeing less and less of him.

The day was cloudy and windy, and as I walked towards the spaceship, a new problem arouse. It appeared that there was a civilian helicopter trying to fly over the spaceship. My first thoughts was that it was sent out by some news organization desperate to steal a few close up pictures from the air, as the air force pictures were only from a certain angle: more Air Force Security paranoia no doubt.

Two air force helicopters went after it, and I was pretty sure that would be the end of it. They would probably force it down or convince it to land in some distant and safe place and arrest everyone on board.

As I scanned the sky, my thoughts went back to my relationship with these air force people. Air Force General Williamson wanted me out of the way and reducing my visits was his way of getting rid of me without appearing to.

When I reached the spaceship, I explained all of this to Hoeg and even though he was adapting to human culture and mannerisms quite well, he wasn't quite able to understand how they could prevent me from seeing him. How could they prevent him from seeing me if he just followed me home for example? Or better yet, just took off in his spaceship and followed me.

"Stuart let me restate what you just told me to confirm that I understand your language. You are saying to me that the people who are in authority over our communications do not want you to meet with me anymore so that is why I will be seeing you only once in a while."

"Yes that is correct."

"I am not quite sure I understand this. Can you be a bit more explicit why this is happening?"

Hoeg's English was quite good by now and a little bit on the formal side. That's because I encouraged him to do that, so there would be no mix-up in bad word usage.

It was at this point that I had disabled my microphone so that management wouldn't hear what I was about to say.

"There are a lot of things you still have to learn about humans and one of them is that we occasionally have conflicts. What is happening here is that some people want to replace me with someone who is more co-operative with their authority. That will allow them the opportunity to have me removed from here, and this is why my presence is gradually being reduced."

There must have been some heads scratching in HQ as they probably already noticed the microphone was dead.

Hoeg says, "I still don't understand. Can I watch and listen to you when you speak with them."

_Ya right,_ I thought.

"I don't believe that is possible Hoeg."

"Please explain exactly what you mean by the word 'conflict' in the context of your relationship with these people," said Hoeg.

I wondered how long it would take to do that. The authorities wanted me out right away and trying to answer Hoeg's question would require me to teach him an entire course in human relationships. I know nothing about the way he relates to his people. He had never explained to me anything about alien relationships and how they interact among themselves. Therefore, I couldn't explain to him our relationships in a way that was understandable to him.

"Hoeg, it would take too long to do that, and I have to leave right now."

Also, it was becoming really noisy from all the helicopter activity in the air caused by a very stubborn news organization trying to take pictures. That must be one brave helicopter pilot. Just before I walked way, Hoeg asked an unusual question.

"Who is Jeremy Fellows?"

I had heard that name before but wasn't sure whom that person was.

"The name sounds familiar; where did you get it?"

"I originally saw this sequence of letters being displayed out of the window of your space shuttle. Now I realize it is the name of a person."

A message comes over my earpiece demanding I turn my microphone back on, and keep Hoeg near his spaceship for now until they solve this helicopter mess. I informed Hoeg that I was leaving and would be back shortly.

My assumption was that he would stay put and just before I left, he asked another question, "Why is the name Jeremy Fellows being displayed on one of those objects flying through the air?"

I glanced at the helicopters, but any sign that they had was not visible considering how far away they were. Hoeg obviously had much better vision than humans did.

I received a message through my earpiece, "Hey Stu, come and see this." It was so windy and noisy, Colonel Clarkson was practically screaming at me. He was watching a local station on the portable TV in his van and had picked up a live news feed. As I ran over to him, Clarkson was watching a live broadcast on television that was originating from that civilian helicopter. I caught the broadcast in the middle of it.

". . . over there, you can see the spaceship . . . we are being chased and they are adamant about placing us under arrest . . . just hang on folks while I adjust the camera angle. . ."

"I hope they shoot that bastard down," said the Colonel. Knowing the Colonel the way I do, I wasn't too surprised when he said that. He crouched over the monitor with a serious look on his face. I could see his gritting teeth since his mouth was long with thin lips, and his frown made him look unapproachable.

Now another problem surfaced; even though I had told Hoeg to stay put, he walked towards where the helicopters were flying around and focused on the one with the 'Jeremy Fellows' sign. Judging from the smoke that came out of that civilian helicopter, there must have been something wrong with it, and Hoeg might not have realized this since he would be unfamiliar with this human technology.

Despite the current air battle going on, I trotted away from the Colonel's van and went to inform Hoeg that for safety's sake, he should either follow me or go back to his spaceship. With all the noisy activity in the air and the fact that Hoeg refused to follow me, the people guarding the area were confused and didn't know what to do.

"What are you doing Stu; you can't let him walk around with all this air activity," said one of the guards.

"You tell him that. He's doing what he wants."

At this point, everyone was so use to our predictable behavior -- like staying put in the compound for the last three weeks -- they weren't prepared for this stubborn behavior from Hoeg. Hoeg was now so determined to keep his eye on the civilian helicopter, he constantly moved towards it as it flew around and altered course.

"Stu, tell him to get back into his spaceship."

I looked at Hoeg and told him, "Hoeg, they want you to go back to your spaceship."

I had only known him for three weeks, and I didn't know how his species behaved with other life forms, or whether those other life forms were intelligent or not. Was Hoeg a co-operative being, or head strong, or what? Does he even understand the principles of co-operation in the way we do? There are so many things I didn't understand about his way of doing things, and he didn't understand about us. What must he think of human behavior when a name he was familiar with (which I was barely aware of), 'Jeremy Fellows', suddenly appears on a helicopter? The helicopters were now so loud, we could barely hear each other talk. Almost every guard inside the gatehouse, and a few surrounding it, were on their cell phones or communications device. It was a very tense atmosphere.

Next thing you know, the Colonel manages to get away from his van and TV monitor and after running up to where we are, asks me what the problem is.

"Herb, I'll be as honest with you as possible," I am speaking directly into his ear. "There could be several problems here, one of which could be something like a puppy dog effect, where Hoeg has become so attached to that helicopter, he refuses to see the possible danger. Another possibility is that he doesn't understand the concept of co-operation and also realize that what you are asking him to do implies he should be obedient. Why should he be obedient to anyone from a culture he doesn't understand, and maybe they don't even comprehend obedience."

There was something my little lecture was implying in all of this, and that is: why are you reducing my role when this alien doesn't understand why that should be? How do these aliens view relationships? We were totally in the dark about so many things, and I felt the colonel and his committee were increasing the risk with their abrupt reduction of my services.

In addition to the helicopter air turbulence, the wind had increased in strength and was blowing around additional dust and dirt.

Hoeg just stood there, no body language, no expressions of any kind, just total silence as the helicopters hovered directly above him, and one of them was emitting smoke. It was the civilian one. It was also getting lower and lower.

I approached Hoeg again and told him, "Hoeg please listen to me . . . get into your spaceship for safety's sake. Those flying vehicles are unpredictable." He behaved as if he was defective, or stubborn, or God knows what, and continued to stand there closely watching the civilian helicopter.

The colonel walked towards me, and all I could do was shrug my shoulders. Because of the strong wind and noisy helicopters, I practically yelled at him and said, "Looks like this might become a crisis."

"Any ideas of what could be going on?"

"I haven't the faintest idea. I'm wondering if all the noise caused by the helicopter activity has something to do with this. Since we're so desperate, why don't you tell those helicopters to go away?"

At that point, the civilian helicopter had even more smoke pouring out of it and crashing to the ground seemed possible.

Suddenly, the damaged helicopter veered towards the spaceship. By this time, even I could see the Jeremy Fellows sign. Was that intentional, I thought? The colonel screamed into his radio trying to find out what was going on. Off in the distance a couple of military vehicles came roaring towards the spaceship.

"Stu, why don't you start walking towards Hoeg's spaceship doorway and eventually our friend here might follow you."

Good advice. I yelled at Hoeg one more time trying to get his attention and moved towards his spaceship hoping he would follow me, when I heard a very loud noise coming from above. Hoeg stood perfectly still and gave no clue that he was even aware of what was going on.

"Bob, can you get this under control?" screamed Jeremy. Bob yelled something back but Jeremy couldn't understand him from all the noise in the cockpit. Everyone was coughing and yelling.

Jeremy knew something about flying helicopters and attempted to look over Bob's shoulder to see if he could help in any way or figure out a way to take over the controls. Unfortunately, he was too far away from the controls not having been seated in the co-pilots chair, a mistake he now realized he shouldn't have made. Will was there instead, doing his broadcasting . . . not a wise decision on Bob's part he thought.

Smoke had now completely filled the cockpit, and Jeremy realized the possibility that he might not survive this ordeal. Everyone else was probably thinking the same thing. In addition to all this panic, Jeremy had an additional thought, and that was his son. Not ever seeing his little son again, and indeed the rest of the family, was something he had not anticipated.

The Colonel screamed at everyone to get out of the area. Just above the spaceship and our little group, the civilian helicopter had reached a height of about 2,000 feet and lost control. It was rapidly falling down as everyone scrambled around trying to avoid it. The difficulty was attempting to figure out exactly where it would crash. The only option we had was to chaotically run away from the spaceship as fast as possible.

Suddenly, the air was filled with a loud explosive sound as the ground shook with abandon. I felt a heat wave, and then a shock wave flying passed the Colonel and me. We stopped running and turned around to witness an absolute worst-case scenario.

The helicopter had crashed right near the edge of the spaceship in a big fireball: Not much chance of anyone surviving that, I thought. There was fire and mayhem everywhere. A firefighting vehicle off in the distance made its way as fast as possible to the horrific scene. The Colonel was yelling in his radio instructing his people to make the alien the priority for any of the rescue methods to be used.

We ran towards Hoeg and when we reached him, it was not a pretty sight. Flying parts shooting out of the helicopter crash had apparently knocked him down, and some protrusions from his body had broken off. There was also a bit of fire near his bottom probably caused by spilled fuel. It was a total catastrophe as far as I was concerned. The fire-fighting vehicle materialized and began to spray that bottom part with water. The blaze wasn't very big to begin with and was put out quickly.

If things weren't weird enough, something even weirder was about to happen. Considering how cloudy it was today, I suddenly felt strange vibrations as well as a humming sound. Both the Colonel and I, and other people in the vicinity, could feel it.

"Any idea what that is Herb?" I had more or less assumed it might be a military operation that only his type of people would know about.

The Colonel glanced at me and said, "I'm not sure." He was just about to call someone on his radio when the brightness of the clouds above us suddenly increased.

Everyone looked upward and just above Hoeg at about 3,000 feet, a huge spaceship descended through the clouds. It got everyone's attention to the point that no one uttered a sound . . . not even into their communicators or cell phones. So many different emotions were being felt at the moment that everyone was petrified . . . fear or awe.

Some would have thought it had a spiritual presence.

Apparently, it had gone undetected by radar since no one had informed the Colonel. It was descending slowly directly above Hoeg. Could it be that the explosion had caused this stealthy spaceship to appear since it might have thought that Hoeg was not on safe grounds? What a science fiction movie this would have made, everything was there, tension, plot, characters, weird alien: all that was missing was some good actors.

"Herb, why don't we get Hoeg into his spaceship; maybe that android alien inside it might be able to help him."

"I'm with you on this Stu. What should we do? Can we just carry him over to it?"

"Only one way to find out."

I grabbed the top part of Hoeg and as I did this, the colonel grabbed the bottom. He wasn't all that heavy, so we carried him over to his spaceship. Once we arrived, the door automatically opened, and we brought him inside with me leading the way. With the help of the Colonel, I laid him on the floor inside his spaceship (which was the first time I'd ever been in it) and absolutely nothing happened.

"I better get out of here just in case they might consider me undesirable or hostile," the Colonel was a bit paranoid here, and I can't say I disagreed with him.

As soon as he stepped out, the ship came to life, and the door quickly closed leaving me stuck inside with Hoeg. All kinds of noises are everywhere and then suddenly, a slight shifting. I yelled and pounded the walls with my fist. It didn't do any good as there was no answer. I had a feeling the ship had begun to leave the ground. Where was it heading?

Something caught my attention. The wall suddenly came to life flashing a display of the surrounding area, and I noticed the horizon outside was slowly receding. Will we be entering outer space? The spaceship was apparently moving upwards at a very slow pace. As we continued skyward, I got the impression that we might be in orbit around the Earth . . . or maybe not. When I took a good look, I realized that we were just floating stationary above our landing zone, but about 100 miles up.

There was still no communication from the android, and I didn't feel weightless. I didn't dare stop looking from that outside view and then noticed a few stars beginning to disappear, as if something was covering them. Then I realized that something big had encircled us, and the display of Earth and the stars had disappeared, as if Hoeg's spaceship had been brought into that large spaceship that had descended above us. There was a sense of movement with loud clanging sounds. It appeared as if the spaceship had stabilized. I lay on the floor for about fifteen minutes waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly, the door that I had originally entered opened, and an alien with an appearance similar to Hoeg walked in. I pulled myself off the floor and stood there waiting for him to say something. He was completely silent, so I asked him, "Do you speak English?"

After a little bit of movement from him, he said in a soft voice, "I have learned from Hoeg's data."

"What is happening to me?" I said.

He said, "We have been searching for Hoeg and found him on your planet. We have been waiting for him above his spaceship and above your planet's atmosphere. We sensed he was in danger. We will be taking him back with us."

He didn't mention anything about Hoeg's alleged death or condition. Of course, I was assuming he was dead, but maybe he wasn't, and they might have a process to recover him. There are so many things I still don't know.

"How long were you waiting for him?"

"In your time, I believe it was for 23 rotations of your planet."

"Hoeg never told me you were waiting for him. Was he aware of you being up here?"

At this point, the alien just stared at me and didn't answer. Then he quietly left Hoeg's spaceship and the door closed behind him. Talk about stress. I had no idea what my status was or what they intended to do with me. I was so tired and frazzled that when I sat down on the floor to rest, I either fell asleep or passed out.

A loud clanging noise woke me up . . . and then, more noise. Vibrations could be felt throughout the ship, and finally one last loud bang. A few minutes later that same alien emerged from the door and motioned for me to follow him.

"What was that all about?" I said. There was no response but within seconds, he had led me into a huge room that had the appearance of a hangar. As I gazed upward, I was stunned.

I was staring at the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis!
  1. ALIEN SPACESHIP?

"This is your spaceship," said the alien.

I just stood there gawking at it and said, "Yyyyyaahh. What are you guys doing with it?"

"We are going to bring it to our place."

"Where is that?"

"To our planet in orbit around our star."

"And what about me?"

"You are coming with us."

"But I don't want to go."

The alien stood there staring at me as if he didn't know what I was talking about.

"Hoeg said you would come."

"Why don't we go and ask him?" I said. "And maybe if you could revive him, I could get some answers to some very deep questions I have."

Still no answer, he just walked away and left me standing there. I walked up to the shuttle to see if I could enter it. There was a remote possibility that there might be someone inside. Unfortunately, the doors were all closed and there were no ladders or anything to get up there if I had to.

A half hour passed; three aliens entered the area and approached me.

The first one I had initially met said, "Hoeg told us he wished to bring you with him to our home."

"Is Hoeg okay, or is he dead?"

"Your concept of death is different than ours. My English is not sufficient to explain it to you. Hoeg wants you to come with us, so let me take you to the room."

I felt upset. I did not in any way want to visit their planet, at least not now. Maybe if I had a bit more background on where they were, how long it took to travel there, and time to sort things out at home, I might have had a different attitude, but not now and not at this time.

"Listen guys," they stopped briefly and looked at me, "I don't know what Hoeg told you, but I definitely do not want to go with you to your home."

They didn't say a thing and continued to lead me to the _room_. I entered this place, and there was nothing in it other than a bed with no covers on it and a few light fixtures on the ceiling.

"Please lie down."

"Guys, there is just no way I want to go with you. COME ON!"

"Please lie in the bed on your back, so you won't get hurt."

Get hurt! What did they mean by that? I felt exasperated, so I went over to the bed and lied down. Feeling sleepy, I think I dozed off for a couple of seconds.

But before I inform you about what happened when I woke up, let me bring you up-to-date on how all this disorder at White Sands played at the White House.
  1. OVAL OFFICE

"Mr. President, the Atlantis space shuttle has disappeared."

"What?" said the President.

"The shuttle is gone; apparently no one noticed its disappearance during all the commotion when that huge alien spaceship descended to where the smaller one was located.

"From what this White Sands report tells us, all communications from White Sands were cut off, as if there was a shield surrounding the area. Then, a huge spaceship descended through brightly lit clouds and hovered above the smaller one for a few minutes. At that same time, Stuart Cobey entered that smaller spaceship but never left it.

"The next thing we observed was the synchronous upward movement of both of them as they slowly ascended through the clouds at an equal velocity. By the time they had disappeared, the bright lights were gone and the Atlantis shuttle was missing. As far as we know that spaceship is currently in orbit around the Earth."

The president was momentarily speechless.

"How is it possible that a huge shuttle can disappear so quickly and quietly that no one notices when it's removed."

At that moment, another official came running into the oval office and said, "I believe the alien spaceship has left orbit sir, and the shuttle is most likely in it."

"Is there any way to absolutely confirm that Cobey is still on it?"

"None other than someone seeing him enter the smaller spaceship before the doors were closed."

"What means do we have up there to observe this alien activity?"

"We have already contacted the space station to be on alert, but it's not likely they'll see anything since their observation range is rather limited. But we do have a few satellites up there that will try to spot them."

"And what are the probabilities of anything being picked up there?"

"We can't be sure about that sir, since it's something we've never done before. As far as we know that ship could be in orbit thousands of miles above us or maybe even have left the solar system by now."

The president was silent and so was everybody else.

No one had any idea what to do.

## EPILOGUE TO PART 1

This history, from Stuart Cobey's point of view, was fascinating, thought Herbert Camille. He was familiar with it to a certain extent since it was more or less the same history he had been taught at school but with Cobey's unique details and perspective, it allowed him to gain a more complete view of otherwise unknown facts.

Herbert noticed that the document for some reason was divided into three sections. In addition, after having read the first part, he realized that the second and third parts were missing.

After taking a quick break, he sought the advice of the librarian to find out where the other parts of this diary were. That's when he realized she had gone home for the day.

This was disturbing considering all the negotiations that had gone on between his organization and the museum. Being a bit paranoid, he decided to sleep overnight inside this room to make sure he had access to the place tomorrow . . . well . . . maybe not. He rethought this decision and considered it risky. He may end up offending the museum authorities as well as the extremely powerful and influential person he worked for.

I guess he'll just have to be here bright and early tomorrow to find out what happened when Cobey woke up.

_What a diary this is_ , he thought as he walked out of the library.

END OF PART 1

If you want to read the second book of this series, it's also free.

**CLICK HERE:**FREE DOWNLOAD PART 2

## PART2:

LAST SHUTTLE FLIGHT, FIRST ALIEN CONTACT

When the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis made first contact after a UFO sighting, things became wildly unpredictable. In this series sequel, expectations went beyond anyone's dreams as the reality of faster than light travel is introduced to humans. However, the reality of extraterrestrial contact it not what they expected.

CLICK HERE ↓

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Author's note:

If you enjoyed reading this book, feel free to leave a few words and indicate how many stars you would rate this book at the place you bought it from.

Other books by J. Jack Bergeron:

The descriptions are on the following pages:

NSA Wormhole Secrets

THINK THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY IS IN TROUBLE NOW **?**

 -

If dealing with espionage and politics all over the world is dangerous, try dealing with intelligent life from outer space.

In 2018 A.D., **National Security Agency (NSA)** scientist Daniel Preadon travels through a wormhole and arrives in scientific heaven.

When he gets there, he discovers medieval people who had arrived at the same location in 1200 A.D., but they think they are living in hell.

* How does the NSA scientist handle this?

The medieval people's descendants are surprised to hear Dan's assertions that they are not in hell but are living on a different planet.

* So what's going on?

As the medieval people's descendants gradually accept Dan's point of view, Dan discovers things that neither science nor the NSA can explain -- at least not yet. Maybe this will change if he gets back to earth and informs the NSA that there could be other intelligent life forms on this planet that might have had links with earth thousands of years ago -- or will it?

BOOK LINKS

NSA Wormhole Secrets <http://bit.ly/2KTyL6S>

**Excerpts from the Novel ******<http://bit.ly/2rF4JMf>

**Video Trailer **************<http://bit.ly/2I9T81S>

**Characters **************<http://bit.ly/2G8UeW5>

**Story Locations **********<http://bit.ly/2G8vfly>

The Royal Kidnapping

MY ROYAL SON HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED!

 -

Queen Elizabeth II and the Royal Family are now in crisis mode.

In 1950, Queen Elizabeth the second gives birth to a baby boy named Prince Reginald.

Four years later, the young Prince is kidnapped and despite enormous efforts to locate him, disappears for decades.

When all hope of ever finding him has come to a complete end, the grown up Prince is discovered in one of the major historical tragedies beginning in the 21st century **.**

Now what?

How does this event affect this newly discovered family member, and what is his reaction to being a person of royal heritage?

How does the Royal Family react to their son's association with unsavory people from the state of New York as well as the province of Quebec?

Each side must come to grips with their unique cultural differences, but what could that ultimately result in?

BOOK LINKS

**The Royal Kidnapping ******<http://bit.ly/2ryiMmP>

**Excerpts from the Novel ******<http://bit.ly/2KjZ0SL>

**Video Trailer **************<http://bit.ly/2wzA9sm>

**Characters **************<http://bit.ly/2rEuF9Z>

**Story Locations **********<http://bit.ly/2KXojLK>

Draining your Swamp? Let me help you

WARNING . . . do not tell Donald Trump about this book!

 -

I would like to thank J. Jack Bergeron for co-writing this book with me since as an intelligent being from another planet I am not trained in audible communication. This book has been written because we have officially decided to reveal ourselves as having visited your planet.

This should resolve all the controversies that have been going on for ages on Earth as to whether extraterrestrial life actually exists.

We tell the truth about the following topics:

* How humans got out of Africa.

* How humans migrated to the Americas.

* How the Egyptian pyramids and Great Wall of China were influenced.

* What Stonehenge and the Lockness Monster was about.

* The truth about Noah's flood, Roswell, the Face on Mars, Bigfoot/Sasquatch and others.

As of Nov 6th we guarantee that we have no more "representation" in the Democratic and Republican parties.

* Our technology is so advanced, it has allowed us to travel to heaven and back.

* All atheists should read this book.

* God has an opinion of this book, we're just not sure what it is yet.

BOOK LINKS

Draining your Swamp?

**Let me help you **************<http://bit.ly/2KVGgKD>

**Excerpts from the Novel **********<http://bit.ly/2wyjsxx>

**Video Trailer ******************<http://bit.ly/2jQ5hKR>

**Characters ******************<http://bit.ly/2jRY251>

**Story Locations **************<http://bit.ly/2rC0ota>

IMHOTEP AWAKENS

IS IT POSSIBLE TO RISE FROM THE DEAD?

 _

The unearthing of Otzi, a frozen body found in the Swiss Alps in 1991, was a major discovery that created a sensation. But Otzi never woke up.

Years later, a 5,000 year old body is found alive on the Sinai Peninsula.

* What did scientists claim?

It might be a pure luck environment with the correct chemical allowing the body to remain in stasis.

* What did religious figures claim?

Religious organizations and cults were convinced it was preserved by God or other spirits. There was also a claim that this was a famous historical person linked to a biblical prophet.

* What did the Raelians claim?

It had to be aliens from another planet who came to earth 25,000 years ago.

Some other questions that were asked:

* Are there connections between the Pyramids of Egypt, Mexico, and China?

Evidence was constantly surfacing that this is true.

* Were strange myths reinvigorated?

Dropa Stones are considered a myth that originated in China, or do they have a connection with unearthly forces?

* Or . . . were some aliens from another planet involved?

These are the big mysteries occupying the minds of scientists, cult followers, and Ufologists.

BOOK LINKS

**Imhotep Awakens **********<http://bit.ly/2rFCZpM>

**Excerpts from the Novel ******<http://bit.ly/2rDpY02>

**Video Trailer **************<http://bit.ly/2KXpXx2>

**Characters **************<http://bit.ly/2wAC2EX>

**Story Locations **********<http://bit.ly/2KWEMjs>

50,000 A.D. The Awakening

What is the future like?

And I mean, way into the future, like 50,000 years.

Henry Matthew knows. He was in stasis for 50,000 years until his revival.

You might say he's the luckiest man in the universe. By pure chance, his head along with all his thoughts and memories were protected and preserved, allowing him to stay alive for 50,000 years.

**• What does this future hold?  
** • Total peace?  
• Long life?  
• Enlightened Democracy?  
. . . or something else.

50,000 years in the future:

Henry Matthews is ready to begin an adventure of great discovery.

What does this future think of him?

Since their own ancient record of human existence only goes back 35,000 years, trillions of people are now waiting to discover this lost history when Henry awakens.  
However, some refuse to believe human history is older than 35,000 years, so that could only mean one thing. Henry Matthews must be something other than a human being.  
. . . but what?

This novel also tries to establish some relationships between 'ancient' and 'new' by comparing a few aspects of the different cultures and languages that you would expect to change over these vast periods of time: does the hero of the story manage to figure out what the new languages he encounters evolved from?

PART 1 \- How Henry Matthews finds his way to 50,000 A.D.

PART 2 \- How he is discovered and what anxiety and/or thrills it causes in these future societies in both a political and spiritual way.

PART 3 \- Henry is revived and his relationship to this new era is exposed.

PART 4 \- Opps! sorry no spoilers (but you will be intrigued by what happens).

You tube promo video: youtu.be/hALUeaaRsgQ

BOOK LINKS

**50,000 A.D. The Awakening ******<http://bit.ly/2rDK3mT>

**Excerpts from the Novel **********<http://bit.ly/2IdtnJX>

**Video Trailer ******************<http://bit.ly/2IdMRCF>

**Characters ******************<http://bit.ly/2IdMUyl>

**Story Locations **************<http://bit.ly/2IbLu7l>
