Captain Keith, SSgt. McGowan, Cpl. Collins, Cpl. Stevens and Jones and the rest of Shadow Company just stood still. Some two to three hundred meters away, on a small ridgeline, stood their man in black, their alien friend. He was standing perfectly still and it was clear that he was surveying all that was going on below him…where they were.
“Cap…what do you suppose he’s plannin’ on now?” McGowan asked rhetorically. “Stevens! Get that radio up here!” Keith shouted, then looked at McGowan, “I dunno what he might be plannin’, but I believe he was tryin’ to communicate with us back there before the fireworks started. I’m hopin’ that he’ll try again. But in the meantime I got a bit of a dilemma. I have to report in, I have to give at least a verbal action report, and I have absolutely no idea how I would explain this whole deal. You kinda have to see it with your own eyes. Mac…my gut is tellin’ me to call in but hold off on tryin’ to explain this. You follow me?”
“I agree cap.” McGowan knew perfectly well the dilemma. “Maybe you could just say that we did encounter some insurgent activity in the town and that we’re doin’ some recon at these coordinates. Problem is though, the major will have that looked up and realize that there shouldn’t be anything there to recon, and then the questions begin to fly.”
“Yep…I got that. But I’d say we got our hands full right now, so everything gets put on hold until we know just what’s going on.” Keith realized he’s working on nervous energy and a severe case of curiosity. McGowan was the same way, “I sure wish that he’d make his move, whatever it’s going to be.”
At that moment the radio began to crackle, like a static sound.
“Are all channels open?” Sacks asked Jody. “We’re on line on all frequencies and all channels. What we’d like to do chief is try to set things up so that we can communicate with them back and forth, like a regular two-way radio.” Kevin agreed, “Well that may be entirely on them since they’re the ones who tacked into our intercom. And I suspect that they came in on a radio frequency and somehow bounced it over to our main intercom, almost as though they wanted us all to hear…I just don’t know. But it’s time to talk now.”
Sacks put on his headset, “To the unidentified object…to the unidentified object, we have done as you requested, I repeat…we have done as you requested, can you speak back to us?” Kevin wished that someone on his team could’ve come up with some sort of speaking protocol to these aliens but there just may be none, so just speak normally.
“Yes…we can speak with you.” Oh my God Kevin thought, here it comes. “Have you now come to see the location?” It sure seemed that this alien was speaking normally, just stay calm Kevin, he thought out loud.
“Uh…yes, we have. We are confused as to what it is that you seek there, or what your intentions are with those mountain ranges. Are you able to explain your intent?”
“Our intent will become evident once you are able to complete your task. We understand that this will not be easy, and unfortunately we cannot help you with it. Please listen carefully. Your people have people of war throughout this entire region, we know of, and understand your mission there. However…we are requesting that you withdraw all of your people and those who may be aligned with you. We request that all of these people of war remove themselves to an area far from their current locations. Do you understand?”
“Yes we understand…but we here at this facility have nothing to do with the military, or people of war as you call them. We wouldn’t know where to begin, especially without exposing you more than you already are. We have not had contact with anyone since your arrival, so we don’t know what’s happening. Perhaps if you tried to contact our military, just as you contacted us.” Sacks whispered to Jody to get Col. Lant at NORAD on the line pronto. “I should warn you that knowing our military, they will not make any moves until they have many questions answered…and you have shown us that you are reluctant to answer any questions. Do you understand?
“As we said…we understand the difficulty in what we are requesting, however, time is of great importance, and questions to us cannot be, for now. In your time, twenty hours, we will move to that region. At that time we will begin and then complete our mission. We wish no harm to come to your people of war. We will wait for your reply.”
No one in the control room said a word, but everyone stared at the other. Kevin Sacks said out loud, “Well they sure don’t ask for much, now do they? Yep…just a simple phone call and poof…all done.” Jody had Col. Lant on the line.
“Harry…we’ve had no contact as of yet with the outside world; what’s going on?” Kevin listened intently as Col. Lant explained that every agency known to man was working on trying to communicate with the UFO, some people were running scared, the president’s been on TV several times trying to squelch any panic that might ensue, religious leaders are out in full force, each one convinced that their theory is right. National Guard fighter jets have been continually doing fly-bys, although as far as we know not in any hostile way.
“Harry…I have to cut you off. You have to listen very carefully, we don’t have much time and you’re the only one I know to talk to.”
“We’ve been in contact and have been communicating with the UFO. They’re speaking in our language and they have made it clear that they mean no harm to us but they have a request…a real big one. They gave us coordinates that wound up being the Tora-Bora Mountain Range and all of the other mountain ranges that separate Afghanistan from Pakistan. They’re asking that we have all of our troops get outta there; get far away. They said our allies too.”
Harry Lant was silent while he tried to digest everything he was hearing. He couldn’t believe that Sacks had actually made contact with the UFO. Finally he said, “Do you know why they want that?”
“No Harry…they don’t answer questions. They’re very brief when they talk, and, the last transmission they said that they would go there in twenty hours.”
“So what does that mean?
“I told you Harry, they don’t answer questions. Now…do you have any ideas? Do you have any ideas as to whom we might call and what we would say? Maybe go directly to the president?”
“Hmmm, well, ya can’t go any higher than that. I suppose I would have a better chance of getting through, but I would need you on a conference call so that you could explain things. After all, you’re the one that’s been talking to them…whoever them are.”
“Make the phone call Harry, I’ll be right here, and remember, we now have nineteen hours and twenty one minutes.”
While Cap. Keith looked at the radio McGowan said, “Cap you better take a look at this.” When Keith turned he saw what he’d seen before, the alien was taking a couple of steps forward only to disappear and then reappear closer to them. But then he stood still again, and that’s when they heard him coming from the radio. A male voice stated very clearly, “It is imperative that you remove your people from this region, and you must take the other men of war as well. I mean you no harm but you must leave. Do you understand?”
My God was all Keith, McGowan, and everyone else within earshot of the radio could say. The alien is communicating with them! McGowan broke the silence, “Captain…grab that mic and try talking back to him, we need to know what the hell it’s talking about!” Keith did so and said back to the alien, “My name is Captain Michael Keith, I am the squad leader for this unit. We have heard you through our radio, but we don’t understand what is going on, we don’t understand why we must leave, and did you cause these other people to surrender?”
“The men of war that you speak of, I am the cause of their surrender. And there will be more to follow. However I cannot answer your questions. You must leave this region as quickly as is possible. Time is very short.”
Keith and company were all dumbfounded…Keith couldn’t think straight, but said anyway, “This is a lot of people to move fast, and I would like to know your intentions, and we would like to know who you are and where you’re from.”
“As I said to you…I cannot answer your questions. I am not here to cause any harm to you and your other people. But you must leave, and this is for your safety. Please, you must do as I request.”
“Well…alright, but I sure would like to know who you are.” Keith said under his breath. Then there was only silence so Keith figured that that was his cue to leave. He gave the order and told Collins to make sure that the al-Qaeda fighters understand that they’re to follow us, got it?”
“I got it captain.” As Cpl. Collins went over to the men still surrendering and shouting out the orders, Keith and his team loaded up in the Hum-vie. These men would have to walk back to where they were before in the town and then they would try to load up as many as possible in the vehicles, but it still meant that many would still be walking…but walking where was his question. Just far away was all he was told. Keith supposed that they would just go back to Camp Liberty, report everything that happened and try to explain why all these people had surrendered. It wasn’t going to be easy, and plus, would it be far enough away to suit the alien and accommodate whatever it was that he was planning on doing.
Colonel Harold Lant picked up his secure line and ordered to be immediately put through to the White House. It took some doing but he finally got the president on the line, while waiting he got Kevin Sacks on the line for the conference call. Of course the president had many questions, none of which they could answer, but they continued to make clear the request and stress the need that this be done as quickly as possible. But the president wasn’t sure just how he would go about accomplishing this incredibly difficult task. As the conference was nearing its end since all that could be said had been said, the president told Lant and Sacks that he would do what he could to comply, but that he could not guarantee that a full and complete withdrawal could be done, especially since they were down to minus eighteen hours. The president called in all of his available people and explained their situation, and ordered everyone involved with the military to get on the phones and get busy with his orders for an immediate withdrawal of all troops in that region and all of their allies that were there. No questions asked…just do it!
Both Lant and Sacks hung up realizing that they had done all they could do and now it was just wait…wait to see if this could be done. Neither thought so. Sacks put on his headset and keyed his mic. “We have done as you’ve requested, we went to our president, he is the leader of our country, but even he could not guarantee that this task could be accomplished…do you understand?”
After a slight hesitation the alien spoke, “It is understood, in our endeavor we will be as careful as possible not to harm any remaining people. Those of your side. After this transmission there will be no more. I can say that in the future we will return here and at that time we will answer your questions, and we will share information. We thank you for all of your efforts. End transmission.”
So…that was it, sort of like a wham bam thank you ma’am. In and out with absolutely no idea of what was going to happen, however. He did say people of our side, did that somehow mean that they were here to do harm to the other side, like, fight in our place?
So Sacks immediately got Col. Lant back on the line and explained the last transmission and explained what he was thinking. Lant thought for a moment and then said that he would tend to agree…that would be a valid assessment based on what was said.
Cap. Keith had accommodated everyone he could in vehicles and gave the order to move back and slow enough so that they could warn the town’s people of what was going on and that they should follow suit. It seemed that without question most of the folks were following them, it was going to be slow going with all of these people walking. Only a few had cars and some had small trucks…they were all full. Keith had the foresight to radio ahead and speak with his boss, Major Hendrick. He explained as best he could what was going on and that he would be returning with a whole lot of people, many of who had surrendered their weapons and clearly indicated that they wished to fight no more. Hendrick had many questions but figured they’d have to wait until his captain got back. In the meantime he was going to have to make as reasonable accommodations as he could.
Keith and McGowan kept looking back to see if they could still see their alien friend, but they were too far gone in the opposite direction to see that the alien in black had disappeared and was heading further in-land, towards an area know as no mans land, where many of the known and wanted terrorists were believed to be hiding. Because of its proximity to Pakistan, the mountain range there was off limits to any kind of bombing runs. America certainly didn’t need any kind of collateral type damage at this point in the game. Although it’s no game…it’s war.
It was now at the one and a half hour mark. No more transmissions from the UFO and tension levels were high with everyone at the Johnson Space Center in the main mission control center. Right as Kevin Sacks turned away to rub his eyes, he had realized that he hadn’t slept in almost thirty-six hours, Alvarez piped up to say, “Chief, they’re on the move, take a look at this.” Sacks and everyone else looked at their monitors to see the massive UFO slowly start to rise, straight up. At this point it really didn’t matter, so everyone got up and started toward the doors leading outside to watch it from out there, instead of looking at a screen. As they gathered they could see the ship very slowly and steadily rise up. It was an incredible sight to see. This thing is so massive, and like Sacks had thought upon first seeing it, it just doesn’t look like it should be able to do anything; yet it does, it does fly. Thankfully it was a clear day with no clouds, and visibility was at least a good twenty to thirty miles. With all they had already witnessed, with all of the wonders they had already seen…nothing yet had prepared them for this sight.
The UFO began to take on what looked like a heat signature, like when you see heat rising, the sort of wavy out of focus look. At a certain height it stopped and then started to move forward… and as fast as one can blink an eye; it was gone. Sacks and his team made a mad dash for the control center to see if they could track it…there was nothing to see, not even a blip, until. Instantly it showed up just under the stratosphere, just hovering like before, only this time it sat above the mountain ranges that they said they would go to, just hovering there. Troops on the ground everywhere as well as many of the people in that region of Afghanistan scrambled to try to get a better look at this huge thing just sitting way up in the sky. Radios from every part of the military were screaming to life, chatter was everywhere, and people were running for cover. No one at this point had any idea of all that had been happening some eight thousand miles away above the space center. And the few who did know were having one hell of a time trying to explain it…and have it make any kind of sense. As everyone looked on, the UFO once again began a slow descent straight down, no deviation of course, just straight down. By now most of the military commanders on the ground were being informed of their new orders, and that those orders were not to be questioned…just followed, and followed immediately. And those orders were being handed down to everyone else. Oddly enough no one was questioning anything, the sight of the huge UFO and its descent didn’t leave much room for questions or arguments. The awe and the wonderment of the whole thing was enough to get tails in high gear, and that included all of the local citizens and other non-military personnel as well.
As everybody knew, many terrorists were hiding out in the many caves that dotted the mountain ranges as well as the villages that could be found in the different parts of the range. Terrorists had long since found refuge in these caves and villages and had for the most part overrun these small and mostly insignificant little towns and villages, and the villagers themselves had long since just given up. But today none of them, whether good people or bad people had any idea of what was about to happen. They all saw this strange object in the sky, and most thought it was just one more weapon in the great evil empires arsenal. And the terrorists knew from experience that the “great Satin” was actually weak and would not attack their villages because they didn’t want to hurt the innocents, and they didn’t want to betray binding agreements already established between the United States and Pakistan that stated the United States would not attack here. Today they would find out just how wrong they were…but what they didn’t know, and for the most part would not know until it was too late, that this strange object in the sky wasn’t the property of the evil empire, nor was it even human. They wouldn’t know, or even be able to understand the magnitude of the force that was upon them, and they wouldn’t know that not only could they not fight it, they couldn’t run from it either. So while many in these areas did begin their own descent down the mountains to get away, many decided to stay to show their defiance toward this new and strange type of airplane. This airplane that made no sound and could move very slowly, and this airplane that had no outward signs of weaponry, such as bombs and missiles, or machine guns…or even wings for that matter. And so far none of these things had registered with the terrorists and the other bad guys witnessing this event. It had yet to dawn on any of them that this thing was actually very, very different from anything they were used to seeing, the notion of it being a UFO, or alien had not yet set in.
After the event some people both military and non-military reported seeing a person dressed all in black and that it would move by disappearing and then reappearing in different directions. These random reports also included sightings that said that this person, or being, would shoot small red balls, as best could be described, out of his arms, and that these balls would travel up in the air and then, in a super fast way shoot to different people and places causing unusual types of explosions. At the same time and in different locations, Marine officers and enlisted men were filing reports of a man dressed all in black that communicated with them through their radios, that also kept them at safe distances while it attacked people that were believed to be terrorists. Civilians in the area also confirmed these reports. Other military personnel reported mass surrenders by members of the terrorist group al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations…again confirmed by civilians. These reports also said that the people doing the surrendering all said that they didn’t want to fight America’s new weapon, and when asked what that was without exception they all said the same thing…the man wearing all black that could disappear and that shot red balls, or large red bullets from its arms that could go anywhere.
Each written and verbal report and first hand accounting confirmed one another so there was no doubting what was being said. But for those that didn’t see with their own eyes were having a very hard time digesting what they were hearing and reading. By now all of the TV, radio, and print media outlets had confirmation that the people in Houston at the Johnson Space Center had been in contact with the UFO, and the subsequent unauthorized interviews told a wild story of the content of the communications that took place with the visitors from outer space. And every mainstream and cable television outlet had their cameras and reporters either outside the space center, or as close to the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan that they could possibly get.
At the Space Control Center Sacks and company were trying their level best to re-tact as many satellites as they could to see what the UFO was going to do. And from various distances on the ground, all of the military branches including Captain Keith and his team were trying their level best to see what was going on using the available satellite tracking monitors, and high-powered telescopes and binoculars. Plus all unit commanders were trying desperately to find out if all of their troops had rallied somewhere, anywhere, away from whatever was about to happen. By this time the huge UFO had settled itself approximately five miles above the center-most of the bordering mountain ranges…it was just sitting there. Suddenly a bright red circular ring appeared under the belly of the craft and was rotating at an extremely high rate of speed. And from that ring appeared red veils, or so it appeared, that not only spread to the ground but also spread outwardly, both to the front and to the rear of the ranges, and unbelievably covered the entire ranges…they could be seen; but barely. Following all of this the people on the ground could feel the ground begin to rumble and vibrate, as in what an earthquake would produce. Simultaneously the mountain ranges started to shake and rumble as the red veils, or curtains, or however one might describe them retracted back into the ring and then completely disappear back up into the belly of the UFO. And as unbelievable as it was to witness, the mountains everywhere imploded in on themselves, caving in like a building being demolished. No living human soul witnessing this sight could fathom it, it was too much to digest. The dust, dirt, and remaining rocks rose skyward for more than a few miles and could be seen from hundreds of miles in any and every direction…it was weeks before it all settled, and even then it hadn’t completely. All told, the event lasted approximately fifteen minutes, give or take. Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other surrounding bordering countries had no mountains dividing them; one could now drive across a border. Of course it was going to take years of excavating and the like before roads could be built and completed and borders redefined. It was all on a scale so large that most people didn’t have the vocabulary to describe the event from start to finish, and this was once that all of the heretofore-unknown information was finally released to the public at large. It was deemed by the American president that the magnitude of this historical, human changing event was way too important not to share with the rest of the world.
This meant that all transcripts of the communication between the UFO and the Johnson Space Control Center were revealed as well as the video footage. All firsthand eyewitness accounts and the subsequent military reports were released, and of course weeks and weeks of countless television and radio interviews with the officials involved as well as the Marines who first encountered the alien being on the ground revealed much for the world as well.
Epilogue:
Little by little planet Earth and all her inhabitants were finally calming down and returning to what had now become a new world. Things had changed drastically since the visit by people from another world. Everyone had their own theory as to why this visit happened, and many theories were so outlandish that they became almost believable, and of course there were many disagreements over why this all happened. But the one thing that everyone, and anyone the world over could agree on, and that was that worldwide terrorism had ended permanently. There was peace finally in the Middle East; there was peace amongst all of the world’s different religions and countries alike. And the idea of suicide bombs, smart bombs, and rouge nations working on their own nuclear programs, or anything terror related for that matter was no more. Privately Kevin Sacks held the belief that somehow, someway, this race of people had for a long time been monitoring the progress of this world, and had decided that it was on a course of self-destruct, and that this destruction might somehow have an adverse effect on their world, and that of others. And he reasoned that somehow terrorism was a common denominator, or a key of some sort in all of this, and these people had decided that they had to interfere and stop whatever was in motion. It was a thought and a belief that he cherished, and he reasoned that if anyone else held this belief that they too would carry the same feelings.
Facilities like SETI and CDSCC were more than fully funded now and had stepped up their efforts to make contact with what they believed were Earths benefactors, even devising messages in the English language that were messages of deep thanks and gratitude, and to please come back so that we could learn. Naturally NASA could now easily get anything they wanted in their efforts to step up theory, development, design, and production of new space vehicles. And NORAD was continually updating and upgrading their equipment in their efforts to look farther out into space rather than just restrict themselves to watching for incoming missiles and the like; since it just wasn’t necessary anymore. The countries that were always considered the superpowers, and the other countries that did have nuclear capabilities were all in the process of re-thinking their stances and positions on having nuclear arsenals…and arsenals of any kind for that matter. And for once in the history of the planet, instead of thinking in an individual way, the world was thinking in a collective way. The world was now working together as one, as one great society.
In the logistics of war or battle, when many bullets, bombs, or missiles are fired simultaneously there is a reason, and it’s not for target practice or to waste munitions. Both Keith and McGowan knew this and while looking off in the distance Keith asked McGowan, “There was a purpose for all of those shots, or whatever they were, and it damn sure wasn’t just to show-off. That thing knew what it was doing, knew exactly where and why and what it was aiming at, and knew that we needed to stay back. And…it wasn’t shooting at empty buildings, so where’s the bodies?” McGowan wasn’t sure what to say but his brain was traveling at ninety miles a minute, he said, “I don’t want to be one of those science fiction or philosophical knot-heads that would say, maybe we just aren’t supposed to know. Because regardless of the fact that I know nothing…everything in me says that we are supposed to know what this is all about, and why. Question is; how are we supposed to find out? I’m sure that our friend was trying to talk to us before he fired, but,” and he just trailed off from there.
Cpl. Collins walked up to Keith and McGowan, “Excuse me captain… you may not have noticed but a whole bunch of the town folks are coming out…they’re all sayin’ the same thing, ‘they’re gone’, ‘it took them’, ‘they’re gone’.” Keith said, “C’mon, lets go find out what they know that we don’t.”
Captain Keith told Cpl. Stevens and Cpl. Jones to take two groups of eight men and fan out and keep inspecting the hit-sites and radio in if they see anything different. He, McGowan, Collins and the rest approached the first group of onlookers to come up. Collins spoke first and as best he could ask as specific questions as he could. This group along with the others walking up became so animated and loud that Collins couldn’t understand a word, and putting his hands up and trying to shush them wasn’t having any affect. “Whoa-whoa-whoa!” The captain yelled out, loud enough that most took notice and stifled themselves, “corporeal, go ahead and try again” he said. Cpl. Collins pointed to one man and told him to listen carefully and not talk until he was done asking questions. By this time everyone else had heard what he’d said and became quiet. Collins then addressed the man and asked him if they all had seen the figure dressed in black, yes, the man answered. Had you ever seen him before today, yes, he answered, but only once. Do you know it or where it’s from or why it’s here, no, the man answered. Collins was interpreting for Keith at the same time; Keith just nodded. Collins again…were there people in the buildings that are now destroyed, yes, the man answered. Did you or do you know who they were, yes again, the man answered. Who, asked Collins. The man proceeded to tell Collins, Keith, and the rest of the Marines that the men who were in those buildings and houses were members of al-Qaeda and other terrorist factions from Iran and Syria and that they were lying in wait to ambush the Americans. And that their leaders had forcefully taken over the town’s people’s homes and places of business and threatened that anyone who tried to warn the Americans would be executed along with their families. While pointing around at the destroyed structures he said that the terrorists are now dead, and that the man in the black suit had killed them and had liberated their town. Cpl. Collins translated verbatim to his very confused looking captain.
Chief Sacks…his hands shaking, could hardly believe what was happening, and neither could anyone else in the control room. Into his mic Sacks said, “We have received and read your transmission and understand it. Are you able to tell us who you are and to explain your purpose here? Are your intentions to land on our soil and if so where and how? Please acknowledge transmission.” Everyone in the entire control room let out a collective exhale since all were holding their breaths except for the boss, and even he wasn’t sure whether he was breathing or not. Sacks stood up looking over at his com. director, “We are recording this yes?” Jody Heinemann, herself shaking said, “Absolutely boss but I’ve also been running analyses on the voice we’re hearing to try and determine if it’s real, or if it’s computer generated or some other form of vocal synthesis. I’m running samples in every diagnostic category I can think of, but I can’t guarantee anything.” “Jody you’re beautiful” Sacks said, and then to everyone else, “I want anyone and everyone to start thinking of place to put this massive ship in the event that that’s what they want to do. Alvarez and Pierceton I want you two to figure on what a proper dialog should be or sound like. Obviously they sounded like us and even used the word please but we don’t know if that’s how they hear us. Also I want someone to maintain a timeline between one transmission to the other. In other words…the amount of time that elapses between theirs and ours. We’re also going to need complete containment from the outside until we know what we’re dealing with. It’s safe to assume that by now others out there have seen this big ship just hanging out up in our sky, but I don’t want anyone answering any outside lines and likewise anyone making any calls to the outside. I’m sure I don’t have to explain why.”
Just then the main intercom speakers again began crackling to life, Sacks yelled out, “Alright people, it’s go-time so lets look lively and miss nothing!”
“To the individual that responded, we are unable to comply with your requests at this time, however you should be aware that this vessel is not able to touch ground. In the interest of time we ask that you would maintain attentions to the visual screens. Momentarily we will transmit ground coordinates and will then wait for your transmission to confirm your understanding of the exact location. At that time we would further instruct you on the nature of our request.” At that very moment the control room’s main screens flickered, then went blank, and then these numbers appeared. ‘Bloody amazing’ Sacks thought.
33.783784.151___0.00856.0.015128___33.784355.151.177968___0.01887.1.02.035128.
Jody Heinemann was the first to speak, “Anyone care to hazard a guess?” Alvarez took a few steps back from where he was standing and moved more to the center of the screen to get a better view. In typical Alvarez fashion, hand cupped under chin, “If we’re looking for a sequence in this thing it would be slightly out of order…I mean, these numbers aren’t random and it’s mostly binary numbers in there. This looks really familiar to me for some reason.” “Ya know why?” Pierceton chimed in looking over at Sacks. “Those are longitudes and latitudes…I need a map of the world and a ruler and we’ll get this.”
Jody started across the room, “I’m pretty sure we got a map in the supply room and rulers are easy.” She went off to a side door and disappeared for a few minutes. When she came back she had a large rolled up map and a yard-stick, “Gotcha covered, Kevin, can we clear off your desk over there so we’ve got room to spread out?” Sacks was already on it and within seconds they had the map laid out flat, then Pierceton with pencil and ruler in hand went to work.
“Holy shit.” Sacks said looking extremely bewildered. “Holy shit.” Everyone gathered around the table, staring at the map after Pierceton was done with the coordinates had the same look. “What the hell could they possibly want with that place?It doesn’t make any sense.” Said Alvarez. “They said that they couldn’t land their ship, but if they wanted to they certainly could there…plenty of space to put that huge thing down.”
Kevin started wondering out loud, “What if it’s not that ship they want to put down?”
Kevin Sacks just couldn’t figure out what exactly this new race of people, or aliens, wanted with the Tora-Bora Mountain range, and all of the mountain ranges that separate Afghanistan from Pakistan. It’s a vast area of nothingness and even that is an understatement. Well Kevin thought…I guess we really won’t know anything until we re-establish contact and find out what their instructions are, and just what kind of assistance they need. No way that Kevin Sacks was alone in his thinking that, what could anyone with this level of intelligence and abilities possible need from us? What’s more? We’re only seeing a teeny-tiny portion of what they are and what they can do…there’s no way to gage how many years ahead of us they are, and how long it would take the human race to advance to their level. Imagine that…I’ve actually had communication with someone of an alien race Kevin thought, and then shivered. Oh, he almost forgot, he wondered what that space ship is like. It’s so huge and nothing like what we’re led to imagine. Sacks was looking at his monitor at the ship, or whatever it’s called, and marveling at its design. A huge boomerang shape at least fifteen miles from tip-to-tip, seamless, no visible signs of what would be some kind of opening, a slight bulge at the top forward section of the craft, and black. I wonder why black? Is there a specific purpose or reason for it? And their ability to communicate…was that his real voice? And the ability take control of their audio frequencies and then somehow beam those coordinates to their video screens, Kevin chuckled, ‘beam me up Scotty’, awesomely overwhelming was his conclusion.
“Falcon one to birdcage, falcon one to birdcage, birdcage come in.” McGowan was standing next to the radio guy when Team One, or call sign falcon one radioed in so he took the handset. “Falcon one, this is birdcage, go.” It was Cpl. Steve Jones, team leader of team one, “Sarge…I think you and the captain oughta come up here and see this.” “Is this super important Jones?” “Sergeant…I just think you and the captain need to come see this rather than me trying to explain it. Yes I would say it’s super important.” “Roger that and affirm corporal, give me your exact twenty and we’ll be there asap.” Jones gave his sergeant their location and since Keith heard everything anyway, and so did the rest of the team, everybody was already loading up in the lead Hum-vie. Where they were going was not at all far, but it made sense to take an armed vehicle anyway, better to be prepared since Jones couldn’t tell them what was going on. “What the fuck is this?” McGowan said out loud, echoing what everyone else was saying. Jones came running up to meet his captain and sergeant, and out of breath said, “Captain…it’s exactly what you’re seein’, they’re lining up and one by one laying down their weapons and indicating surrender, like, puttin’ their hands on their heads. I have no idea what’s going on, but captain, these are the bad guys, these are the people that only want to kill us and that we’re here to kill! We need Collins front and center to interpret what these guys are sayin’. We need to know what the hell’s goin’ on.”
Before Jones could finish they were all headed toward this weird scene with Cpl. Collins in the lead. In Arabic he shouted to the growing group, “Tell us what you’re doing…tell us what you’re doing!” “Stop, stop, before you go any further tell us what’s going on!” The man who was laying down his rifle, the same time that Collins was shouting, came toward him with his hands up and a very terrified look on his face. He was saying to Collins in an almost begging way, “Please, please…we wish to fight no more, please don’t kill us, please don’t send your weapon to us!
Captain Keith was standing next to Collins and could see the looks of fear coming from these people, but his own confusion grew as he listened to the interpretation, particularly the part about ‘don’t send your weapon to us.’ What weapon? There was no one or nothing else in the area, and he would’ve known if there was any air attacks going on. Just as Keith was going to tell Collins what to ask next Collins shushed him so that he could listen to what this man was saying. As the man was talking Collins looked over at his captain and mouthed the words, “Oh wow.” Both teams had by now made a semi-circle around the area where the weapons were being discarded, and they were on high alert because this whole thing was highly unusual. Collins looked back at Keith, “Captain…this man…these men, are describing our guy…you know, our alien guy.” “You gotta be kiddin’ me.” Keith said, “You mean they’ve all seen him, they’ve seen how he moves, and that…whatever it is he shoots?” Keith had taken to calling their being in black ‘him’, because he just didn’t know what else to call it. “Captain…they’re sayin’ that the ‘black man’ had been killing them off with great ease in places that they shouldn’t have been found. That he disappears and reappears and then shoots them from many different distances and they can’t see where anything is coming from. They’re sayin’ that we’ve created a weapon that they can’t defend against, plus they’re scared because of what this thing can do. They think that since it can disappear like it does, that it could do anything, anywhere, anytime, and they would never know. Captain…they think that we, that America, that this is our weapon…and that it’s non-human, their fundamentalism and extreme religion tells them that it’s an evil and they can make the evil go away if they stop fighting.”
“I don’t know what to say to all this.” Keith said. “Mac…any thoughts?” SSgt. McGowan was just as bewildered as anyone else. “Cap…at least for now it might be to our advantage to keep ‘em thinkin’ that it really is our new secret weapon.” Keith retorted, “We’re going to have to tell someone about this…but I don’t know who.”
“Cap…” McGowan said. “What…” Keith answered. “You may be puttin’ that phone call on hold for now…look.” Keith turned to look, “Oh shit…”
Since the team was so involved with the sight they beheld, they hadn’t noticed that the radio frequency channel that McGowan had last been on, had cleared and there was an unidentifiable sound coming from it. Cpl. Stevens heard it first and turned to the radio to get a better listen, and to see if it was base trying to reach them. What he was hearing was definitely not base, and was definitely not any kind of radio transmission he’d ever heard before and he’d been working radios for a number of years. As best he could tell it sounded like a distant whisper…as though someone was speaking in a very low and quiet voice. Stevens tried working the squelch knob to help clarify the sound, and while doing so called for the captain, “Captain, I think you might wanna come over here and listen to this!” Keith turned to see Stevens waving him over and since everything at this juncture was important he figured he’d better get back into the Hum-vie. Keith also was hearing a whisper but couldn’t really make out what, if anything it was saying, but it didn’t take him long to decide that it equated with their black-clad visitor.
The flying object again began a very slow descent straight down…no angles or turns of any kind, just straight down. Com Director Jody Heinemann was strictly involved with trying to make out what this sound was. It truly sounded like a voice, just not quite discernable, but it did seem like it was becoming clearer. Meanwhile Sacks was tracking the objects descent by the cameras and his remote tracking monitor. There was no doubt that it was getting closer…what could it possibly mean, or, what are the intentions?
Jody suddenly thought she heard the word, “Presence…” As she keyed over to Sacks she said, “Kevin, I’ve got what I think are some words here, are you tuned in?” Sacks turned his attention back to his headphones and was sure that he heard, “Advise, ad…” there was something else but he just couldn’t make it out. Suddenly a few more words came through, “Presence--nature…” and then again, something else, but he was just not getting it. Damn he thought! It has to be them trying to talk to us and he conveyed that to Pierceton and Alvarez and they agreed, it had to be. Then it came again with the words, “Presence—not--nature…” and “Request…” and then “important…” Both Jody and Kevin were writing the words down to see how these words might fit into sentences; it was quite the puzzle yet they both were convinced that whatever the communication was; it was non-hostile, and that they, in the UFO, was trying to say something to them, but what exactly was still unknown.
Captain Keith and his team had no idea what was going on eight thousand miles away. They had no reason to be in contact with those people, and plus, he had his hands full right here right now. As he stood up Keith was certain that he heard, “You will to stay…” and at the same time their alien began to make a move, it was slowly raising its arm and extending its hand upward like the common sign for ‘halt.’ In conjunction with the words and the raised hand it had to be a signal either ordering them, or warning, or even asking them to stay, to not move. Well…they hadn’t planned on it anyway. Then with more clarity, the words, “You--to stay-- place, you will--no moving.” It was clear that the alien was telling them to stay put and in case the others hadn’t heard, he repeated what he was hearing. It was a male voice for certain and it was speaking slowly and as clearly in their language as was possible. But it seemed that there was some troubles with the actual transmission itself…that would explain the blank spots that turned back to the low whisper sound. By now most of the rest of the men had come up to the front since they too were hearing these things on their radios. Aside from mostly silence and dead stillness, a few of the men under their breath were saying, “Jesus, what the hell…”
Keith asked McGowan if he could see anything like movement coming from the head cover, like a mouth moving. McGowan quietly said, “No cap, there’s no movement from him except his arm and hand up like he’s telling us to stay. God I wish we knew what it’s planning on doing!” Their answer came as the alien then slowly turned around with its back to the men, and while lowering the left arm that had been raised, its right arm came up and pointed slightly to the right of them with its fingers pointing down. The front portion of its armband rose up, and suddenly and quietly red flashes, as fast as a bullet shooting from a gun, shot out of the right armband traveling upward at an angle. While some of the red flashes traveled farther out, probably a quarter-mile ahead, others didn’t go quite as far. Then as suddenly they shot out, the small red balls, or flashes, came to an abrupt stop and hung in midair, at about five-hundred feet above them, as though hovering over what might be targets, and lingered for maybe thirty to thirty-five seconds. As suddenly as the flashing balls had shot out from the arm, they all simultaneously shot down to what seemed to be random buildings and houses. And simultaneously each place exploded in massive displays…it was a surreal sight; everything they were seeing was surreal. Any other places next to, or near by the targets, was untouched, as though nothing had happened. It was obvious to Captain Keith, SSgt. John McGowan, and the rest of the team that these were planned targets; and these targets had to be those of their enemies. There could be no doubt that this alien was on their side, and had abilities that were so far advanced from anything that humans have developed, that it was very hard digest, it wasn’t computing except for the explosions themselves. Suddenly the alien began what seemed to be a fast run, and in maybe two to three forward steps just dissipated…gone. And just as fast, it reappeared far up ahead and was just standing there like it was surveying the area. All of the men remained exactly where they were because they couldn’t know what the alien might do next: if it were to do anything. The alien then turned back towards them, with arms at its side, and at the speed of thought it was gone, and the barrier in front of them began to dissipate as well. With much intrepidness and apprehension the captain motioned for the team to fan out and move forward toward the area where the alien had disappeared. “Mac!” The captain said, “Take ten guys and get up ahead. If you see civilians make sure they understand they’re to stay inside, and make your way to that first burning building. I’m taking the rest of the guys up this side street and come up on the backside of that place…we’ll meet there.” “Aye-aye captain.” McGowan acknowledged.
The UFO had now descended to an altitude that made it very clear for their high-tech cameras to pick up most all of the details of the vehicle, or ship, but also now to the naked eye. While it was still only a big black dot in the sky for anyone who might be looking skyward, it still meant that people could see it, as long as they were in the same vicinity, and that meant that phone lines everywhere were going to be lighting up everywhere! Plus…NORAD had now been in contact with the appropriate Air Force and Air Guard bases and was scrambling F-16’s and F-15’s to get in the air and head toward the UFO and report anything and everything they could. Very strict orders were also given to the pilots that under no circumstances were they to engage with this object. That at this point there was nothing whatsoever to indicate that there was any hostile intent. Now…Col. Aaron Lant, commanding officer at NORAD, had to make the call to the president. His superior officer, General Harold “Big Harry” Tenant, was racing to Cheyenne Mountain to see first hand history being made. He told Lant to,”Make the call and hold nothing back…give it to him A-to-Z Aaron, every detail.” He’d never spoken on the ‘red phone’ before, never had had a need to. Since some form of communication was now being established with their visitor, Sacks, Alvarez, and Pierceton made their way back to the control/command center, it was better in that they could see and hear everything necessary, as well as have use of all the best equipment the world has to offer. Now…they’d made contact via the dazzle rifle, but the UFO was now sending voice messages, that while still hard to piece together, it was language, their language. So, every pertinent radio frequency, from theirs, to SETI, and from the CDSCC in Canberra, Australia, was honed in on the UFO. Kevin Sacks decided on using a low broadband high mega-hertz UHF radio frequency to send out a message to their visitors. He’d decided that he would just wing it as far as what he would say in his broadcast; it seemed to him that spending any time trying to figure out proper wording was going to be a waste of time…so, just start talking.
McGowan and his team cautiously and slowly moved out toward the area where the alien was last seen before leaving, if that was what it did. They came to the backside of a small shop with a corridor that brought them out to a street. Rather than going into the street itself, they stayed on a sidewalk that enabled them to better see into the shops, markets, and the small houses that lined the street. They did see people peering out through slightly opened doors and windows, and some who had seen the Marines coming started to walk out to see what was going on, and what had just happened, but the men motioned for those people to get back and stay inside. It wasn’t that long before they were upon the building closest to them that had been hit and McGowan silently motioned for his guys to spread out and surround the place. They couldn’t discern what the place used to be, but they could certainly tell that this was no ordinary artillery explosion. The roof was completely gone and there was none of the debris that one would expect from large explosions such as the ones they had witnessed not so long ago. There was no stone rubble piled up, nor was there really anything to indicate that this was once a home or business. But the strangest thing of all was that there were no human remains. If people had been in this place you wouldn’t have known it…so it begged a few questions. What had this thing been firing at? Had the place been empty and the alien had just fired upon nothing? Was this place just a random target? Or had the occupants gotten out in time, or did the alien just have bad intelligence? There was no explanation for this so McGowan got on the radio and keyed the handset to get Keith. The captain listened to McGowan’s report, and then said, “Mac, we’ve got the same thing here. We came up on a place that we hadn’t seen at first; it’s just back and to the side of your location, and we’ll be at in a minute or two. We’ll talk then.”
Sacks sat down at his console on the main floor. Affectionately known as the ‘Chiefs Chair’, his console, located at the back of all the others, gave him the best view of the main screen and the rest of the consoles on the floor. With his writing tablet in front of him and his large coffee by his side, he put on his headset, found the right radio frequency…and just started talking into the mouthpiece. “To the unidentified object at one hundred fifty three degrees and forty-two minutes north-northeast: and one hundred eighty one degrees and thirty-four minutes north true. We are receiving what we believe is a voice transmission coming from you and from the coordinates that I have just transmitted to you. Are you receiving this message, and if so, are you able to speak or transmit back to us?” No one spoke and all eyes were glued to the main screen up front and all ears were glued to each ones headset. Sacks figured that he would wait three minutes before repeating the same transmission. It would be a long three minutes. Com. Director Jody Heinemann opened up four more channels to use in conjunction with the first; she looked up at Sacks and told him to, “Go.” “To the unidentified object at one hundred fifty three degrees and forty-two minutes north-northeast: and one hundred eighty one degrees and thirty-four minutes north true. We are receiving what we believe is a voice transmission coming from you and from the coordinates that I have just transmitted to you. Are you receiving this message, and if so, are you able to speak or transmit back to us?” The third time was apparently the charm because the centers main intercom speakers crackled to life with what began as the same whispering sound that they had heard earlier, only this time the wording was coming to life with much clarity. It was most assuredly a male voice and it clearly stated, “Our presence here is not of a harmful nature to you. We must make a very important request of you and time is of great importance for us-------and to you, and to you as a people. Please acknowledge this transmission.” Station Chief Kevin Sacks stood up from his console to look at each and everyone in the room…and all eyes were glued to his. He slowly sat back down and readjusted his headset microphone.
Part Four: Please note that changes were made in Part Three concerning the laser cannon which is actually called the 'Dazzle Rifle." Since the rifle is real Part Four will reflect that. It was my mistake for not completing the proper research.
It was decided that the rifle would be flown by helicopter down to Houston to the Johnson Space Center where Kevin Sacks and his team were located. And after all was said and done it was pretty clear that Sacks and company knew what they wanted to do, and were better equipped all the way around. As they waited for their special delivery, Sacks, Alvarez and Pierceton set about putting to paper what kind of light bursts they intended to send up to space. Their hope was that whatever they did would not be interpreted as hostile…especially since their light source is considered a weapon when used down here. The actual light intensity itself would dissipate somewhat as it reached upward beyond the stratosphere and into the outer atmosphere, so the thought was that it shouldn’t be harmful to whoever might be onboard. If in fact there is someone onboard. The other consideration was, if the UFO was to respond; would they be able to recognize it? Is it equipped to send some sort of lighted response? Or would it be another form of communication? They weren’t going to know until they tried their idea; and the helicopter was now only twenty-five minutes out…so Sacks and the team needed to be ready. Pierceton, Alvarez, and Sacks all finally agreed that a mathematical form of Morse code would be their tact; it was really all they could think of. Plus…if nothing else, the bursts of light should be taken as an attempt at communication; they hoped. And that would be the UFO’s cue to answer. They decided that they would have three teams monitoring any response they might get. First, the NASA team would use every resource they had from visual to radio frequencies, NORAD would be doing the same, as well as tracking the UFO’s path downward. SETI and the CDSCC would strictly monitor any and all radio transmissions both coming from Earth, and more importantly, coming from outer space, although as things appeared right now it might not be long before this object would no longer be in space…but would be inside the Earths atmosphere.
Although apprehensive, McGowan was anxious at the same time. He wanted desperately to make contact with this thing, but he also wanted his captain and the rest of the team to witness this apparent phenomena. He knew that the being had weaponry because he’d seen it…it was as though the being wanted them to know this, since it did after all send it’s red flash of red balls to the ground. McGowan, Stevens and Jones all figured that the thing could have shot these things at them had it wanted to; but it didn’t. It was almost like a warning, or an indicator that it was armed. So, slowly the convoy made its way through town, and now the shops and the small one-bedroom homes were getting a little sparser, but there were a few larger buildings up ahead as well as the towns Mosque. The people they were seeing now didn’t seem to be acting any differently from the people they would normally encounter, meaning, no one was pointing or acting out of line or looking confused. As the lead vehicle, carrying Keith and McGowan, plus the driver and four men in the rear, came to a large intersection, Keith was looking through his binoculars when he caught sight of a blurry looking red line crossing the street, from side to side. He nudged McGowan and pointed ahead to the blurry red line that almost looked like a barrier of some sort, and it was done using what appeared to be a red laser beam, much like that of a pen size pointing laser. Rather than stopping, they slowly crept forward toward the barrier to get a better look. The intersection and the street both had gotten much wider at this point so Keith called for two more Hum-Vies to come forward and flank his, one on each side. Now they were just inching forward and the red line, or barrier was becoming much clearer now.
It was obvious that this line was meant as a barrier of some sort, because there were more of these lines that cascaded down from the top one…and they had every reason to believe that a laser of some sort was creating this. But since when did the terrorists come up with something like this? McGowan was the first to speak, “Cap…I don’t think that this barrier, it that’s what it is, is man made, it sure as hell don’t look like anything I’ve seen before, what do you think?”
Cap. Keith said, “I’ve never seen anything like it either, and as far as I know none of the bad guys have anything like this. Hell, if we don’t, it stands to reason that they don’t, but I say we stay put for a minute or two and try to figure it out, mean time lets radio back to base and tell ‘em what we’re seeing and see if they have any ideas.” McGowan, “I’ll do that right now myself.” When McGowan switched to the correct channel all he could get was a crisp static…and it was the same on all channels. This didn’t make sense because they weren’t far enough away to where distance should be a factor, and up till now they had had good field strength. So just what was the deal now he wondered. McGowan kept trying but to no avail, but as he looked up from the radio he saw what the captain and the others were seeing, “Holy shit” was all he could say, and not so coincidently so said the other men in witness.
Just on the other side of the barrier a black figure, shaped like a man, appeared to materialize as it walked toward them. It was completely covered in a flat- black, somewhat tight fitting suit, or contoured to fit the body. It had a head covering that appeared to be a helmet of some sort that had a visor piece at the front, like that was what it saw through. And just like it was described in the action report, it had a slim looking backpack, for lack of a better term, that seemed to be a part of the suit, it was on the back and had no straps. And there were small thin tubes that went a small distance from the backpack to just under the back of the helmet, one on each side, possibly for breathing purposes. It clearly had what appeared to be like forearm bracelets that started at the wrist and came to just below the elbow. Based on what McGowan, Jones, and Stevens had seen before, these bracelets must be it’s weapons, and God knows what else they do. Keith spoke, “I know this is your mystery guy but I’m having just as hard a time as you did believing what I’m seeing. It can’t be human, even though it looks like it is, well, at least it’s shaped like a human. What the hell is that on it’s back and arms I wonder?” McGowan relied, “Well we know for sure that one of those arm bands is what he shot those red laser balls outta, at least that’s what I’m callin’ ‘em. The figure in black stopped, and when it did, it was much clearer visually. This being had to have some purpose and this barrier had to be of it’s doing…but what was it for, and what did he, it, want? McGowan decided that he couldn’t stand still any longer so he hopped down from the Hum-vie and took a couple of steps toward the barrier. Cap. Keith told McGowan to stop and stay put, yet it didn’t stop him from getting out as well and coming up on McGowan’s side.
Kevin Sacks took possession of the dazzle rifle after signing several papers handed him by a very big and gruff Army sergeant, who made it very clear that the instrument/rifle was in no way to be abused or used for any kind of aggressive actions. And that it was to be returned in the same condition as it was when delivered. Sacks very impatiently told the sergeant he would and that he needed to get going. The rifle was in a rather large carrying case and since he didn’t want to draw too much attention, he gathered his team outside and they took a tram to one of the runways that set’s beside one of the shuttle launch pads. It seemed like the ideal spot to carry out their plan, and it was in an open area. Using a remote feed from the space control-command center they were able to see the same things as they would in the center itself. This allowed Sacks and team to focus the light bursts where they needed, and hopefully be able to monitor any kind of response that may come from their UFO. However…as they looked on in true amazement the ship was slowly breaking through the stratosphere, which meant that at its present course and speed it should become visible to the eye through high-powered binoculars or telescope or cameras. They lined up the rifle to the current trajectory and pulled its trigger to create short and longer bursts that would equal a mathematical sequence and equation. Sacks repeated that procedure three times in slow succession before stopping to check on any changes in course the UFO might have made. It appeared to have stopped in midair, some eighteen miles above the Earth, which put it just inside Earths atmosphere, and humans had no such capabilities with any of their latest airplanes or space vehicles. Alvarez radioed to the command center to confirm what they were seeing and to verify that the ship had come to a complete stop. They really didn’t need confirmation but it’s always best to be safe, and sure enough, they got the confirmation they expected. So far, no response. The guys just didn’t know what to expect, and whether or not its presence was for hostile intent, or its intent was of a peaceful nature. At present they had no reason to believe that it was here to cause harm, but what a deal nevertheless, someone or something has actually and finally made contact with planet Earth. For these gentlemen it didn’t get any better than this!
The black being took one more step forward, and had its arms down by its sides, as in a non-hostile manner. None of the Marines present had their rifles at the ready, even though Cap. Keith hadn’t given any order not to do so. Everyone was so mesmerized they didn’t know what to do. And unless this being started to look like it might attack, there was no reason to raise weapons. McGowan was the first to step forward two steps, and in a somewhat loud but even toned voice asked, “Who or what are you? Are you able to speak to us? Can you tell us where you’re from and what you’re doing here? We are called Marines and we’re fighting in a battle with what we call terrorists. My name is John…Staff Sergeant John McGowan, and standing next to me is our team leader, and his name is Captain Michael Keith. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
It was all just too surreal, and the fact that something like this was happening to them, and not to mention in their lifetime, was going well over their heads. But the big question was what exactly is this thing doing here…in a place like this? And did it kill those suspected terrorists back at their recon site, and if so, did it dispose of the bodies? Plus…if this being did take out the terrorists, why, why them? It was unknown at this time whether or not any American or allied forces had met their demise by this things hands, or arms rather. But again, it wasn’t acting hostile toward them, and neither were they toward it, him, that, or what.
Kevin Sacks and his guys had headphones on so they could hear the people in command, and suddenly, while talking amongst themselves, the communications director, Jody Heinemann, called to them and asked, “Do you guys here that? We’re switching you over to the channel we’re on. Tell me if you hear this.” At that same time NORAD, SETI, and the CDSCC were picking up on a strange and as of yet, unidentifiable sound. All of them were trying to filter and equalize the sound to try and make it more discernable, or clearer at least. It was almost like a whisper, it wasn’t static and it wasn’t white noise, they knew this because their equipment would be able to define those things and they could filter those sounds out. Everyone involved was frantic in their efforts to identify this sound; is it possible it’s coming from the UFO? Was it trying to communicate? And did it see the light emitted from the dazzle rifle? High-powered cameras were aimed in the direction that the UFO was supposed to be but as of yet no visual, they still just had the satellite photographs to go on but that wasn’t near enough at this time. Everyone desperately wanted to see the UFO live and in person, and because of that the order was given to stay at his or her prospective stations and under no circumstances was anyone to come outside unless they were told that it was ok. The biggest priority of course was to try and discern just what it was they were all hearing. Sacks asked for complete silence while his people worked, no cross talking and no yelling across the main floor of the center…just work on that sound. Then all of a sudden the person tasked with monitoring the cameras yelled out, “I got it! I have a visual, it’s still far away and not real clear but I got it. I’m switching to the main screen, now.” By switching to the main screen, which is quite huge, and is used to monitor the flight path of the shuttles, gave everyone a real time visual of the UFO. All anyone could tell at this stage was that it is huge…nothing on Earth, or manmade, was near as big as this thing. For a flying object, and even from the distance it was, the sight was overwhelming, furthermore it was staying very still, as though floating, which should be impossible for something that big to do in midair. There was a collective gasp between all that were looking at the main screen, and then they were all totally silent. Kevin Sacks and Alvarez and Pierceton were silent as well, one because they were trying hear, and two, because they also were overwhelmed by the sight of this UFO. Sacks lifted the dazzle rifle again and began the same lighting sequence that he had before; there was absolutely no way to stop now. And then…the UFO slowly descended several thousand feet, at which time the cameras had a clear view of the object…the UFO.
Station Chief Kevin Sacks knew as he sat at his desk with Pierceton and Alvarez on either side, that there were just so many variables they were facing. There is no training for an event like this. Oh sure, there’s talk and imaginations, there’s hypothesis and theory, and then there’s just the bull sessions that the tight knit and small world of astronauts will have sometimes as they sit while having some beers together during happy hour, or at the family barbeques, and wondering about the ‘what ifs’, and ‘what would I do’s’ and so forth. This wasn’t one of those times. And it was extremely hard for the three of them to concentrate on the task at hand…or any task for that matter. Sacks was still completely overwhelmed by the mere sight of the thing. Incredibly large, a very flat black color, and boomerang shaped of all things. Well, that was the best description he could give at this point. Only it’s much thicker in the inside curve, so maybe you could say like a fat boomerang. But…right now they needed to figure out what kind of transmission they would send. In Sacks world, and in the world of his compatriots, the universal language is mathematics. Actual language can be formed using mathematics, and even visa-versa. So should that be the first variable Sacks wondered. Should some sort of message be composed in a mathematical equation, or perhaps use the English language that they speak, and add the mathematical equivalency with each word. As they each spoke, wondering out loud at each other, their voices began to get louder and louder in excitement and anticipation, and blood pressures were all rising…it was all too much right now and focusing was becoming more and more difficult.
Captain Keith motioned for his convoy to move ahead but at slow speed, because as they drew closer it was obvious that something was different, quite different. Usually it was a mixed bag…some folks would come forward to wave and give a thumbs-up, kids would come up and run along side the vehicles, while others would duck back into their small homes or shops, and the older men of the town while sitting outside at their makeshift sidewalk cafés sipping on the strong Iraqi or Turkish coffees would point and converse amongst themselves about what, could be anyone’s guess. But something this time wasn’t quite the same and Keith could not quite decide what it was. People were staring more than usual with no smiles or waves and many seemed to be pointing in the direction ahead. There were just enough points from the folks around them that Keith once again called a halt, and this time it wasn’t to consult a map, he needed to be stopped while he conferred with McGowan about the strange vibe that he was getting. “Mac”, as he sometimes referred to McGowan. “Are you getting the same strange feeling about this that I am?” “I am” McGowan replied. “But tell me more about your strange feeling cap. Would you be talking about those people pointing?” The captain said, “I would, but you know as well as I do that the innocents don’t point to where the bad guys are, they usually just look away, or look as though they don’t know nothin’, but they seem to be pointing in a way that says ‘you guys better take a look up there cause something ain’t normal’”. And the townsfolk were right…something was not normal.
Sacks and the team got word that the radio telescopes were lined up to the right latitudes and tracking, but tracking what they didn’t know. The radio telescopes main functions were to send out radio transmissions into deep space with the idea that at some point, if there were other life forms out there and were receiving these transmissions that they would somehow make an attempt to respond. The transmissions being sent from Earth are numerous and of a wide variety. Anything from popular music to past presidential speeches, to television shows, to talking about mans forays into space, and pretty much anything that one could think of that might get the attention of others to let others know that we exist. The people at SETI and the CDSCC were waiting on instructions on what they were supposed to do send out there. While neither facility has the tracking capabilities that NASA or NORAD has, they did have the ability to tune their telescopes to objects in motion, just not the ability to identify exactly what it is that’s in motion. Kevin Sacks could only stare at his blank writing tablet, neither words nor ideas were forthcoming regarding what kind of worded or mathematical transmission they might send to this floating object. And to make matters worse they just got an alert from the floor below that their UFO was descending below and out of it’s original orbit. In other words…it was dropping down toward Earth, and not with the type of speed normally necessary to break through this atmosphere. Man’s Space Shuttle or Gemini or Mercury type space vehicles require a tremendous amount of speed in order to break through the Earths atmosphere and then stratosphere, and the amount of heat causing friction is a phenomena all to itself, not to mention the most dangerous part of any mission. But incredible speed is necessary to get through…this vehicle was apparently just going to float through.
SSgt. McGowan called to the rear to have a translator come to the forward. It was decided that they would try to communicate with someone they had made eye contact with on the way in and someone who had earlier pointed. It seemed to Keith and McGowan both that their best option at this point was to try and ask a townsperson just what it was that they were pointing toward, and see if they could identify whether or not there were bad guys up ahead. Fear of retribution usually keeps the people from divulging much if any information on terrorists, where they are, or about their activities. No one wants themselves or their families hurt or worse because they talked when they shouldn’t have, but then you have others who are just plain fed up and want these bad people gone no matter the expense. Cpl. Ahmed Collins was an American born Iraqi who joined the Marine Corps right out of high school because he felt a sense of duty and because he knew that the Corps would be his ticket into college since his parents, who fled Iraq during the first gulf war, did not have the kind of money necessary for a higher education. But growing up his languages were split between English and Arabic and he was fluent in Arabic and this made him very valuable to the Marines as not just a fighter, but a translator as well. His services were constantly in demand…and he was needed now.
The team watched the UFOs trajectory downward toward Earth. It was slow and deliberate, like, whomever or whatever was piloting this ship knew its course already…it was plotted. Trying to figure out how this object was going to get through to Earth, while mind boggling, was still secondary to the first task of trying to figure out what to say. Alvarez, thinking he would lighten the tone said, “Hey, why not just say in our language, ‘hello, how are you, welcome to Earth’, ask ‘em if they feel like talkin’.” Neither Pierceton nor Sacks chuckled at that one, lightening the tone was not in the cards right now, finding an appropriate greeting was. Or was a greeting the right thing to do anyway? Pierceton tried again only this time a little more serious, “How about we acknowledge its presence and let it know that we know it’s here, and then somehow ask what its intentions are, but do so in a non-threatening, non-hostile sort of way.” Sacks looked at him and asked, “That’s great but just what language do we try first? English or math or both together?” Then Alvarez chimed in, “We could try some sort of sonar pink or possibly flash a beacon at it in some sort calculated and rhythmic way and see if it responds in kind.” Sacks face sort of un-tightened at that and he said, “You know, that might be it, keep it real simple and blink a bright white light at it, sort of in a Morse Code fashion and see if it can do the same type thing. Maybe that way if it does respond, then both parties have a beginning and we go from that point. And if so then one or the other can try to give some sort of direction as to what to do next, that might just be it!” Now Sacks knew that simple was the solution…not the complicated theory that he first had. Now, what would be the appropriate type of lighting, something that wouldn’t come across as hostile or threatening.
Captain Michael Keith, SSgt. John McGowan, Cpl. Ahmed Collins, and corporals Stevens and Jones all grouped together at the lead vehicle as the captain explained to Collins what he wanted to ask the locals, clarity was important right now and he didn’t have time for anything to get lost in translation. Collins understood and they walked over and approached a couple of women standing outside of an indoor market. Collins greeted them in their own tongue and explained his purpose. The women both looked somewhat bewildered and confused as he asked if there were al-Qaeda members up ahead, and asked if they had any ideas as to why some of the towns’ people were pointing ahead. At first both women were silent yet looking at each other as if wondering which one was going to speak first. Finally the older of the two spoke and explained that some of the people had seen something strange earlier, and they weren’t sure if it was military related, or terrorist related, or just what it was that they were seeing. Collins asked if everyone had seen the same thing at the same time, and the women nodded yes, they had. Further questioning revealed that out of a row of fig trees a figure materialized from nowhere, this figure was dressed all in black, with a helmet or headgear that covered the entire head and it had things attached to its arms and tubes coming from its back up to its head. They went on to say that this figure just stood by the trees as though observing, and at one point it turned and seemed to start to run and seconds later it was just gone…they described it as like disappearing, vanishing into thin air. McGowan listened to the translation in sheer disbelief and looked at Jones and Stevens and then to the captain. He tried to speak but words were not forthcoming.
Chief Sacks got on the horn to the commanding colonel at NORAD to ask if he could get his hands on a blinding laser cannon. It’s a test/prototype weapon that’s used to blind the enemies just long enough to subdue them. It looks like a big shoulder mounted and fired bazooka that instead of firing a shell, it sends out a very excruciatingly painful and blinding light at the speed of light. It’s meant to temporarily burn the retinas and basically just shut the eyes down…it’s not meant as a killing weapon, but it is still in the testing phases. Sacks’ thinking was that this thing might be bright enough to shoot the light from Earth in the exact direction of the UFO. Plus the weapon would be stationary whereas anything else would be moving, and moving to fast to do much good. And since light travels on infinitely the hope is that this object would be able to pick up on it even though it is still in space, and so far it was the brightest thing he could think of, even brighter than a ten million candle-watt beacon. It had to work he thought, now the only question was could they get their hands on one…he closed his eyes in brief prayer. Colonel Lant of NORAD was aware of the weapon that Sacks was asking for. He knew that it was supposed to be used to temporarily blind pilots, drivers of military vehicles, and advancing ground troops on the battlefield…and he also understood what Kevin Sacks was thinking, and he agreed with the theory. Col. Lant immediately started making phone calls to the military hierarchy and calls to some people he knew in the intelligence business since he believed that they too were experimenting with this laser cannon. Bingo…his second call located the blinding laser cannon. Lant tried explaining in a round about way what he wanted to borrow it for, but he didn’t include the part where he and others were going to use it to try and communicate with an air-born UFO. A UFO that’s currently in space and descending down toward planet Earth. The colonel didn’t like lying, and this was lying by omission…but he couldn’t afford right now to have too many others knowing what was going on. Others will be finding out soon enough.
While Cpl. Collins was telling the other men what the women were saying, Cap. Keith was looking at McGowan and asked, “Does that sound like your mystery man Mac?” McGowan replied, “Yeah, it does, and according to the two of them it’s gone up the road a ways, and I guess hasn’t been seen since. But with moves like it makes I’m not surprised it hasn’t been seen. You have to see how it just disappears, and it looks like it’s taking off in a run before that happens…it’s truly weird, yet scary at the same time.” McGowan knew that he was using the term ‘it’ too much as a referring noun, but he just hadn’t figured out what to call, it. Saying the word ‘he’ didn’t seem to fit since no one could be certain if the figure was a he or a she, or something in between, or perhaps an animal that walks upright like a man. No one could possibly know what ‘it’ is, and until they could get up close and personal no one would. The captain and his small group felt like they had gotten about as much information as they were going to get. They now had a pretty good idea what the witnesses had seen, and they had a basic direction to take in the hopes of maybe making some sort of contact with this ‘it’. So they loaded back up and moved slowly ahead on the main road that would take them deeper into the town, and deeper into the unknown. These men were highly trained Recon Marines and were used to going into unknown places, and used to being confronted by unknown forces. But this was different…for Cap. Keith, he couldn’t even draw a visual picture since he wasn’t there the first time it was seen. The rest of the men didn’t yet have a clue as to what they were doing, and McGowan and Stevens and Jones were chomping at the bit to have another encounter with the mystery being. McGowan was hoping to have a chance to convey to it that he meant no harm, and that his intentions were peaceful toward it, and that he would like to try and communicate with it somehow. Little did McGowan know…he and the men were very soon to have that encounter. And it would be that of the first kind.
When Cap. Keith presented his report to his superior officer, Major Hendrick, it wasn’t quite what he expected. No big fan-fare, just a few innocuous questions and as a sidebar kind of joke asked what the Sgt. had been drinking. Actually the report had to wait…a new mission had come through the channels and the 10th was needed for this one; time to go to work. That meant that whatever happened back at the kill-zone would just have to wait, and this is not what either the Cap. or the Sgt. wanted. They felt that what had taken place back there required a lot more explanation, more digging, and certainly the hope of seeing this thing again, possibly making contact somehow. But it was not to be today. A group of twenty or so suspected terrorists were tracked to a small town to their South-Southwest. The 10th was assigned to get there and recon what they saw and get that information back to base as quickly as possible. If any further orders were to come, they would come then. In other words…they didn’t have a green light to fire upon the terrorists, they would have to get the authorization; something that none of the men liked.
So it was just a brief respite for the men of the 10th. All the moaning and groaning from before about wanting to get back to base to rest just started up all over again. Sgt. McGowan’s simple solution to that; start calling them children, which they didn’t like. And children cannot be near as specialized as this team is, so being called a child was more of an insult than anything else, and Keith new this. The small convoy took off with the lead vehicle occupied by Captain Keith and SSgt. John McGowan, which was a bit unusual, as protocol would normally have them split up into two separate vehicles with the captain in the second vehicle. But the feeling was that should there be anymore strange contact it would be best if both of them were viewing it together and could report simultaneously what they were engaged with. Although there wasn’t much faith that that would happen. The fifteen-member team also took on ten more Marines to supplement themselves and to make the playing field a little more even. It’s better to have too many Marines as opposed to not enough Marines, and that was the entire branch’s motto. At the thirty-kilometer mark Captain Keith called for a halt so as to check his bearings, he wanted to be sure of what he saw up in the distance since some little villages are unmarked on the maps and you never know who or what’s waiting for you. And one of those unmarked villages was already in sight.
Once NASA and NORAD put a label on the object it made things a little bit easier only as it pertained to referencing it. So UFO or not, they gave it a name, but still could not explain what it is nor what it’s doing. NASA would have a mapping satellite, which is code for ‘spy satellite’, and just by chance, coming into that particular orbit in T minus 42 minutes, and the thought was to get information to it so that they could perform a re-configuring of the mirrors and the cameras so as to get the best pictures as possible, plus input commands to the on-board computer to say what they wanted done. It’s not an easy task…especially when considering the slow speed of the UFO, and the satellite cannot be slowed down to match it because if it did it would fall out of orbit and crash to the Earth a burning wasted mess. So timing and accuracy was of the highest priority right now, since when the satellite passed over the UFO it would only be for a second…maybe two, so they had to be super-fast so as to get as clear a look at the UFO as possible because an accurate assessment was needed now. At some point the President of The United States would have to be notified and that meant that others would know of their find as well. And it’s the others that are always suspect in NASA’s mind and this is the majority thought process.
As far as the captain was concerned this was not their target but an outer village of the town they sought. “Cap…I’m thinking maybe going around this place might be the best thing since we don’t have it on the map, and command didn’t say anything about it.” Keith replied, “Looks to me like another central command ‘fuck-up’ and once again we got to make adjustments that weren’t part of the original equation…I’m getting sick and damn tired of it. It screws up the works!” Keith looked at the SSgt. for ideas as he trusted McGowan implicitly, and not to mention that they had become friends even though officers are not to fraternize with the enlisted men. Keith thought that part was bullshit and on several occasions pestered his SSgt. to apply for OCS, Officers Candidate School. McGowan could easily pass, plus he had enough college credits to gain entrance, which is a requirement to get into OCS. McGowan looked ahead, “Well cap. We’re pretty used to their shit-traps and I suspect this is one of ‘em. So lets bypass this little shit-hole and get down to business…that town ain’t too far ahead, and besides, we are ahead of schedule, you know?” The captain said, “ Yeah we are…and it looks like we won’t have any hills or embankments to contend with, pretty flat so easy travel, but that also means nowhere to hunker down if need be.” McGowan agreed and said flatly, “Yeah, lets just hope there won’t be any hunkerin’ down needed.” So they headed on.
“Oh—my—freaking—God! Holy shit…holy shit! It’s the real damn thing!” NASA’s on-duty station chief cried. Kevin Sacks had twenty-four glorious years in his service to his country. First the Air Force, then acceptance into NASA for astronaut training, then his first shuttle flight as a pilot, his move up to mission commander and his first walk in space, and finally, as astronauts have a general retirement age, he retired from the Air Force to go to work in the private sector with NASA and as a station chief. Kevin Sacks always wondered if something like this would ever happen in his lifetime…or ever at all. And here it was. “I don’t believe it…I just don’t know what the hell to say. The moment we’ve all waited for and wondered about and now it’s here, and everything we thought we were prepared for should this moment ever happen, just flew out the freaking damn window.” No one in the mission control center spoke. Everyone just stared at the photographs that the satellite had just sent back…you could hear a pin drop. What the photographs revealed was an object at least fifteen miles in diameter, and more the shape of a boomerang than anything else. It was entirely black and had a bubble shape at the top and toward the forward section of the object, and nothing to the aft like a tail or a stabilizer. This UFO did not in anyway resemble the UFO’s most commonly thought of. Like the “flying saucer’s” from the old 1950’s movies or the photographs taken by individuals that were purported to be real and untouched. It wasn’t perfectly round like a saucer and didn’t have lights revolving around it like in the movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. It didn’t look like something that should be flying much less floating, and floating was what it was doing now.
The UFO didn’t seem to make any kind of aggressive or dramatic maneuvers either toward the satellite or away from it. Could it have been due to the difference in the speed of the two objects? Though no one knew, it was of a very low priority right now because contact of some form was adamant since neither the Air Force nor the space agency had airplanes that could reach that altitude…not even the SR-71 Blackbird, America’s super-spy plane. So that meant that every available UHF, (ultra-high frequency), radio communications channel, satellite radios and most importantly, the deep space radio telescopes CDSCC, (Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex), in Tidbinbilla, Australia and SETI, (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), in New Mexico were going into overdrive and the radio telescopes were being tuned to correct coordinates and the people at them were told to remain extremely quit about this. It was Ultra Top-Secret. And although while these things were getting underway, no one had a clue as to what their broadcast might consist of. Not one person at NASA or NORAD had any ideas for a structured signal, or what kind of words could be said, if words were possible. Kevin Sacks ran to his office, flipped on his computer so as to continue looking at the photos, and whipped out a blank legal writing tablet and started to scribble down anything he could think of that would be concise and hopefully something even remotely intelligent sounding. After all…this was the big one! Sacks knew he needed more heads involved so he rang down to the floor for his two best guys, Pierceton and Alvarez. “Guy’s I need you two up here pronto and bring your best thinking caps!”
The ride around the village was more effort than what they originally thought it would be; nevertheless the best idea. Through his binoculars Keith could see a separation between the village and what would be the main town, this meant that it would be easier to get back on the main road and pick up where they left off. But it also meant much more exposure, and that was the bad part. As the convoy lined up on the road it was easy to see ahead that some of the town’s folks on the outskirts were giving them cursory glances. This wouldn’t be unusual since this wouldn’t be the first time that an American military group had come through either on it’s way on through, or to stop and interact with the people to make friends, gather information and find out what might be needed to help out. It’s not unusual to speak with the town’s clerics and elders to get a sense of what kinds of things they could use. From medical help to food, to help with school rebuilding, or even road rebuilding. While many small towns like this their wants and needs were much the same, some had different needs and the military wanted to reach out and help where and when they could. Of course it was always good public relations, but it was also just a good thing to do. At this point the captain looked over at McGowan and said, “May as well radio to the rear and tell ‘em to get frosty.” With a click on his mic he squawked to Stevens the frosty message, “Already done sergeant.” Stevens replied. “Are we goin’ on through sarg, or are we makin’ a candy stop?” “Dunno till we get there, just remember it’s still a bug hunt corporal”, McGowan said. “Aye sir.” They could not know that this would be the bug hunt to end all bug hunts. Everything from this point forward would change everything…in everyone, forever.
For some oddball reason I'm having to scroll at the bottom to get the full page, something I wasn't having to do before. It's possible that some of the photos that I couldn't size well to fit here could have done it. Well....I deleted two recent posts, "Double Posting & What's The Deal", and "More Photos From 'Out There'
I also did this over at http://rubicon.efx3.com/ and it did cure the probem...but not here, so I just don't know. However, since this place is such a 'ghost town' these days it's hardly worth worrying about. Right?? Sadly...as I scrolled down through my posts here I was realizing 22 and 24 comments, and much interaction. At one time, some moons ago I got up to 139 comments...very few of which were mine. Now that's some serious interaction!!! Now look....I'm lucky to get even one. And I'm not the only one so I don't feel so alone, well, yes I do.
But ya know? Things are still slow over at #3 as it's taking time to catch on and people are double posting at different blogs which can be quite time consuming I know. Anyway....that's my story and I'm stickin' to it! When I get back over here to post Part Two of the short story I'll continue to try and resolve this issue, even though we're kinda dead 'round here.
A little while back Delth, or WelshPixie had a post that was done in conjunction with someone else and both had entered their own versions of a short story, and I believe titled Voice, or Voices From A Distant Star. Well...I had been toying around for some time with a story of non-fiction and Sci-Fi yet with no title. I don't think that I'm any kind of novel writer but it would be fun. Anyway...I liked the title and so use it here and here's the first installment of my short story "Voices From A Distant Star." Part One.
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Voices From A Distant Star
Part One:
As Staff Sergeant John McGowan trudged back to the rally point, followed by Corporal Steven Jones and Corporal Mike Stevens. He had to think hard about what he’d seen, or rather, what they’d seen. Whatever it was it wasn’t normal and he was pretty sure it wasn’t human. Oh…strike that, McGowan didn’t believe in ghosts or aliens. But there was no explanation. He looked over at Stevens and Jones who both looked haggard and obviously lost in thought, and asked, “So…what did you two think? And have you given any thought to what you’re going to say? You guys know that I have to fill out a recon mission report for the captain.” Both said in unison, “don’t know.”
And that was pretty much that. McGowan figured that he’d give the men some more time to ponder the incident…if that’s what you’d call it. The three-man team all volunteered to go ahead of the unit to scout out an area that had come under question when another Marine Corps Force-Recon team could not explain in their report just how the alleged terrorists were killed. It was their job to “search and destroy” these al-Qaeda fighters and when they did they found out that they were a little too late. OK…job done, and they were called back to battalion. Now it was Shadow Company’s turn to investigate. But the first recon team could not explain the type of weapon used to kill them. Whatever it was it was definitely not a bullet, certainly not rocks, but something none of the team had ever seen before. Also…the entry points of the kill looked like there was a burnt look, or a singed look. Yet nothing to compare with and they could only leave the bodies for their fellow terrorists to come get. Or whatever they did with their dead.
So…McGowan tried to put together the pieces. They did find where the kill site was as it not only matched the given coordinates but they could also see what appeared to be burn marks, or at least that’s what it looked like, and there were still impressions in the grass that had to be where bodies had once laid yet no bodies. But something caught their eyes about a quarter mile ahead of them. It appeared to have the shape of a human and as best he could tell, wearing some sort of black armor that was fitted very tight to the body. That’s the best description he could give. Attached to this suit of armor was a sort of backpack thing with small tubes coming from it and then attached to whatever was covering its head. It must have been some sort of helmet…or something encasing the head. And both arms seemed to have small rectangular attachments stretching from the wrist and upward to just short of the elbow. The three brought their weapons to the ready and crouched behind a small rock ledge, but could still keep the figure in sight.
McGowan, not sure of protocol for something like this as their training didn’t include this kind of foreign element, yelled out, “Staff Sergeant Jonathan McGowan, Shadow Company tenth force- recon second Marines! Identify yourself!” He was startled by what he saw, or thought he saw. This…thing, or figure, or whatever the hell it was, while it didn’t respond verbally it did seem to quickly dissipate into nothing and just as quickly reappear just a short distance closer to their position. As the team looked on in a complete loss, the figure then raised it’s right arm and began what appeared to be some sort of sign language…well, as best they could tell, because everything they were witnessing could only be described as is, and that was only what it appeared to be. So much for a clear and succinct report. He already knew what kind of questions and what kind of chastising he may get from the cap…Captain Michael Keith. Good man, fine officer, and a good company commander, but strictly by the book.
This figure then pointed its arm toward the ground and made a sort of sweeping gesture, and then, something red and as quick as a blink of the eye came from the arm like big dots that then scattered in a sweeping sort of way across the ground. The figure then turned, began what appeared to be turning away from them, and started to run into dissipation, nothingness. It was so quick and simply hard to believe, maybe smoke and mirrors or an illusion or something…but very hard for the mind to compute. As they approached their rendezvous point the rest of the team came to meet them, and while curious as to what if anything kind of information they may have gathered, they were just as eager to get back to home base, Camp Liberty. Captain Keith came up to McGowan asking, “Hey sergeant, do you want to give me a cursory overview or save it all for your report?” McGowan, “Captain…if it’s all the same to you I’d just as soon save it for the report, but we’ll need to have a face-to-face because I’m just not sure how my report’s gonna read.” That was good enough for the captain and the team of fifteen Marines loaded up into the Hummvies and one half-track and started their fifty or so kilometers back to camp.
As expected while Staff Sergeant McGowan waited for Cap. Keith to read through his finalized report, he had tried four other reports before this one and scraped them all, the questions began to pour in. As best he could McGowan did his level best to describe in first person and in detail what he and his two men had witnessed. All the while being very careful to include everything and omit nothing…and try to make the captain understand that what they saw was an appearance, or, that’s how it looked only. Of course Cap. Keith had to bring in corporals Jones and Stevens to confer and confirm the report, but still, he just couldn’t grasp what he was being told. Again…not computing. And this is what he had to report to his commanding officer and see the look on his face. At this point he could well imagine just where it was all going to go.
Eight thousand miles away Norad and NASA both simultaneously started to track an unknown object. It wasn’t a satellite, there was no NASA space shuttle mission going on, and neither of the military agencies said they were doing anything, which was true because anything space related would have to go through both agencies, and NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston would most likely be where lift-off would take place. However…this object while not descending was moving at a very slow rate of speed and took on a vector that would have it orbiting the Earth. Certainly not at the speed of 17,500 miles an hour that the shuttle does while orbiting planet Earth! NASA and NORAD had been conferring with each other in an effort to determine just what it was they both were tracking…but the best label they could come up with was Unidentified Flying Object, or UFO.
Are you so insane you think I care about debating you or winning anything? Do you think I am hammering you and Aiel with comments because I want to accomplish some great goal?
No.
I, and often times Birdsnest, are simply venting our disgust of people like you, in an open forum.
Because the truth is, you are a horrible person. You really, really do deserve to have bad things fall on you and your loved ones. Because you lie, and then don't admit to it when getting caught. You say horrid things, then deny them. You make claims, then act in opposite to them. Your boy Aiel called me venal today. Ironically, it is a word aptly suited to you.
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OK.....Now, it's normally way out of character for me to publicly post someones Private Message to me. It's called "private" for a reason. But this has gone just a little too far, I mean, this is over the top, and it's my intention to expose this for what it truly is. This is a Private Message from Dante, (or Kristian), to me; what you see above is what I opened this morning. It's one thing to ridicule and belittle a person in a public forum on someones comment page, and since this has been ongoing for quite some time now, and I know to consider the source, it really doesn't bother me. And it's another thing to openly and publicly wish for such horrible malady's like cancer and then tumors to befall you. But the ballgame changes entirely when you, 1.) wish things like this upon someone in a private forum, and, 2.) up the wish and desire to include your loved ones.
I'm guessing that this would be to mean my children, my parents, my brothers and sisters, my aunts, uncles, and cousins, and those folks that I love and call my friends? I'm sure that my guess is correct. And ultimately all because you despise my beliefs, my ideas and ideals, my political stance, and in general how I live my life.
I suppose that when all is said and done I could, or perhaps should, get really angry about this.....but in fact I find it quite sad. Truly a "Sad State of Affairs." I have never minded the hostility toward me in the heat of the political debates, or in this case ridiculous arguments, but I do mind when my innocent loved ones are included in any of this.
If I get or die from cancer and or tumors it'll be because I smoke, or from some other form of unhealthy living. Not because a sick and demented individual like this wishes it upon me. Or perhaps young Master Dante practices VooDoo, or HooDoo, or knows the Black Ju-Ju! Honestly..... I find this kind of behavior not just irresponsible and immature, but quite sick and demented as well! To think that someone sits around seething from so much anger and hatred over what ultimately is so very trivial, that they deliberately set out to wish for, and desire for someones demise from truly horrible diseases, is to me unimaginable.... indeed, unconscionable.
I will also note that this is not the first PM I've received from Mister Dante. And while I have no intention of posting that one here, I will say that it was of a much more mature and responsible nature. More conciliatory, and one that I thought could, or would, bring about a better understanding of our political differences, and how we could find higher ground and find a way to "agree to disagree" without the senseless name-calling and belittling that had previously dominated most of our debates. I was pleased about the note and responded in kind. I would much prefer to remain civil and responsible with someone in a debate as opposed to the latter. I must confess....I have no idea what happened or what caused the man to renege on our agreement. Of course at this stage of things it certainly doesn't matter.
It was said that the term "venal" is aptly suited to me. Here's the dictionary's definition of venal:
1.
a. Open to bribery; mercenary: a venal police officer.
b. Capable of betraying honor, duty, or scruples for a price; corruptible.
2. Marked by corrupt dealings, especially bribery: a venal administration.
3. Obtainable for a price.
Well.....I've never been called venal, nor have I ever been accused of being any of those things; always a first I guess.
However I am being accused of being a liar, of saying horrid things, and of being hypocritical in that I say one thing yet act in an opposite way. With the exception of the "saying of horrid things", which in the past, and I freely admit to having done, have said on some occasions when temper and attitude got the best of me, some things that could definitely be considered horrid. But the liar business which Kristian has accused me of in the past.....still eludes me. And since I know that he knows absolutely nothing about me, and has no idea of who and what I am, I have to believe that this is nothing more than a perception of me brought on by the the complete and utter hatred of me.
I cannot stress enough that this post is NOT a vicious rant brought about by a desire to publicly attack the young lad for things said now, or in the past. This post is meant to expose the sickness, and viciousness of someone that I believe may need some serious help! It simply isn't normal to wish for, or have the desire for the kinds of things that have been publicly, and now privately, wished/desired for.....whether it be on me, or anyone for that matter. And again....I am bothered by the inclusion of my loved ones. And I did feel it prudent to post your private message, yet at the same time I want it understood that anyone else sending me a private message in the future need not fear that I might post theirs as well. And besides....I don't know anyone else that would send me such vile and hateful garbage such as this.
And finally....I don't know "Birdsnest" and I did not include him in this. Other than the times that I've seen and read his comments elsewhere, and his bantering back and forth with Dante from time to time, I know nothing about him. Nor what he stands for, or likes and dislikes, or anything else. And I also believe that he had, nor has anything to do with any of this. It's unfortunate that his name was mentioned at all.
This will be the last that I post anything about Kristian himself, or his viciousness and hatefulness. It is my desire that after this nothing more will need to be said by either party....especially since I would most assuredly not want to be banned from either here, or at the new EFX3 where I am beginning to post more and more.
Wow.....it's almost like a ghost town around here, sort of like a skeleton of what it used to be. For instance, it used to be that when you'd sign in, and it took you to the "My Account" page, there would be quite a few people signed on....many of whom you would know. Nowadays I sign in and there maybe 2 or 3 people on....today when I signed on there was only one other person signed on. Kinda makes you wonder what happens to all the newcomers you'd see being displayed on the home page as the newest members. Must be frustrating to get all excited about signing up and start cruising around only to be reading about Keith and losing the domain name, and reading the comments and complaints etc. And then to see pyhpens updates and announcements about what's going on. You'd be thinking....Hmmmm.
Well anyway.....speaking of signing up I went ahead and signed up on EFX 3, and using Rubicon-"a line crossed" just as I am here. However, while taking the grand tour and perusing the what's-what's of the place, I realized just how computer illiterate I am! I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do. On the other hand though, it does show just how good folks like WelshPixie are at putting together a new host blog. I offer up accolades and kudos for doing such a great job.....not to mention all of the time, patience, and sweat involved in putting the whole thing together! But for me? I'll try to not cry and whine too loud like a little baby that needs its diaper changed when I realize that I have no freakin' clue as to what the hell I'm doing!
Yikes......one things for sure, it's all created a big diversion and distraction for me, because as you may, or may not have noticed that I haven't touched anything political since I've gotten back. Sheesh.....imagine that! The state in which I currently reside, in one day alone 22,000 jobs were lost....that's just one day! And sadly this is happening nationwide, not just here. And I don't have much in the way of anything positive to say about Obama and his administration. I mean, we're in trouble right now and he's spending more and more, the Treasury Dept. is printing money that we cannot afford, jobs are flying out the window everywhere.....and we continue to bail out institutions that should be left to file for Chapter 11 and reorganize and streamline themselves. Us taxpayers are looking at a whopper of a bill that's going to have to get paid, and we all know how that has to happen.
I really feel for those that are losing their jobs right now; especially in this climate. I'm now worrying about my own stance and status where work is concerned. You know....a lot of folks didn't even see that pink-slip coming, figuring that they had job security only to abruptly find out differently in one fell swoop. Pretty scary me thinks.
Well before I wrap up, I'm putting a link at the bottom that I strongly encourage you to click on. I guarantee that you'll be astounded and amazed.....and if you're like me you'll find yourself watching this video a couple of times, just to see if you can figure it out. You'll want to watch this video!
Geez-Oh_Man!!! A guy can't go away for even a little while without coming back to find out that there's ANOTHER freakin' EFX!! You know....I just wanted a nice quiet little bit of time to myself, maybe take sometime to relax and get caught up with the goings-ons 'round here....and oh my, another one. I'm, I'm, I'm.....I'm, soooooo CONFUSED! I'm still blessed with a full head of hair, but I dunno, it may start falling out soon! Or, I'll have to go get some of that Grecian Hair Formula for men....that's ok, I don't mind the little bit of gray that I do have. Makes me look distinguished yeah.
Of course I'm only laughing about this, but sheesh, I'm tired enough as it is. EFX is trying to make me think, and that's a very dangerous thing indeed my friends. Dontcha just hate when your head explodes from thinking too much? That happens to me say, oh, maybe, 3-4 times a week.....hurts sometimes. Oh well. Truth be told I didn't have a whole lot to say today.....imagine that! It's been a long hard couple a weeks and there's catching up around here that needs doin' so I 'spect I'll handle that for now. Give me time to think, uh, no, uh, I mean, ponder what I'll come back with...hows that?
But my final thought for now is this. As long as there is one person around here still breathin', still typin', still yappin', then that's where you'll find me.
Alright....so I decided to go ahead and sign up at the EFX2.info site. And here's the deal; if I thought that I was freakin' confused before.....well, I'm about as lost there as anyone could be! There's wording that I've never heard before, some of the options are hard to understand, and it's hard to see just how it's going to take off with the folks here.
It doesn't look like you can import the blog design here, over to there. I could be wrong but that's the impression I got. And that would be too bad because I really like what I have here. I know it's still being worked on and that patience is a virtue, and since I'm generally not an impatient person that shouldn't be a problem. But I gotta say, I sure hope that there's a way to save this place, however, from most of the things I've been reading it appears that Keith has other things going on in his life. I'm guessing that means the domain name cannot be saved.
It seems that there is just general confusion about what is what, what can be, and what will be. Well.....certainly don't ask me 'cause I haven't a clue! I'm supposing that I'll just ride with the flow and see where it takes me, I just don't wanna drown; ya know?? So I understand that we should be good up until May18th, without interruption. Hope that's true.This of course is just my take on things and I admit freely that I'm not near as computer literate as many others here. I've always wanted to take some computer courses at the JC here but time and work circumstances are my biggest enemy.....I wouldn't be able to commit that way that I'd want to. It would be nice though since I'm tired of self-teaching. It's odd, I understand logarithms and the properties of X and Gamma Rays, I've worked around Iridium 192 and Cobalt 60, both are plutonium based and are bomb materials....but I cannot for the life of me understand the computer stuff!
So...that's 'bout it, I guess we'll just have to see what's going to be what, and hows going to be how, and if I'm going to be more nuts than I already am; if that's even possible!
Well geez-oh-man....I was trying to post something over at Vox but all of a sudden it wouldn't let me start a new paragraph! It wasn't like I was locked up, I just couldn't do anything after that last paragraph. I sure hope that that place isn't going the way of Modblog, or even here from time to time. That would scare me, as it would everyone else here, because I know we all just got so tired of it....like disappearing sometimes with no warning.
Anyway....I was writing about Tara, or, Woman of Feathers, which folks here know her as. She's a real nut-case! We've become good enough friends that we talk by phone....it's easier to hurl insults at each other, Ha ha ha. It's all in such good fun and we laugh the whole time, it's hard to keep a straight face while I'm pointing out just how wrong her thinking is. See, she's a super-liberal, while many of you know that I'm on the complete other end of the spectrum.....a die hard conservative.
But I imagine that's one of the reasons we get along so well. Plus she lives in a little town in Texas that I'm more than just a little bit familiar with. It's also the home of Sissy Spasic's parents. Tara is also a good daughter as she takes good care of her mother.....which is a good thing. Her laugh is infectious and will have you laughing heartily real quick like. Her posts are usually pretty interesting and informative, when she posts. And when she does humorous stuff it's always hilarious, where she comes up with some of that stuff I just don't know.
Remember here at EFX when we could stick those little animated pictures, or things, or whatever they're called at the end of the comment sections? I kinda miss those things and Tara had some really cool ones....matter of fact, I stole some of 'em thinking that I'd use them somewhere down the road. But that's ok because she used one of my planets on her blog at one time, if you recall she was constantly experimenting with her site and some of those skins were pretty damn cool!
Anyways....I wish she'd get her computer fixed so she could rejoin us. I think it's so slow that it makes it hard to do anything. Hear that Tara, get that thing fixed! So that's what I was posting about over there but as I think about it, it's better here at EFX2, while we still have it, which apparently it seems we won't have too much longer....that's going to suck. I should also add that I started the Vox post by wondering if that place will become the next gathering spot. Although a number of us have started blogs at Vox, it still doesn't have quite the interaction as does here.
I guess it'll be interesting to see how many of us will migrate over to the new EFX2. info site. I haven't signed up yet, but I suppose I should soon and secure my place. Jana, "Indigomoonarts" was telling me something about what the differences will be over there but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. Well.....I suppose that's 'bout it for now. But Tara, you just remember that you're a big 'ole weenie-headed liberal and your thinking is all kinds of screwed up! LOL! But I love ya anyway ya knuckle head.
Kinda makes you wonder where he's really from.....and where he's going, doesn't it? When I saw this it made me think of our liberal Democratic Congress that has control of the house and senate, and our new, and very liberal president. And the fact that in a way we will be a food source for them....by way of taxes mostly, but policy changes as well and combined it could soak us dry.
I say right now that Obama will have no choice but to raise our taxes, there's going to be but one way to pay or draw down this huge 3.6 trillion dollar deficit. Yes.....those people from Planet Zorf will gobble us up alive, and folks like Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, will lead the charge. And did you hear what Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) House Majority Leader said about all the pork in the stimulus package? He said that it was "his duty" to have that pork in there.....that it's necessary and important to the American people. What? Really?
Well....I don't know 'bout that. I don't see why we couldn't deal with that stuff down the road somewhere instead of bogging everything down, mixed with the items that we really need done. Sure, there's some good programs in the pork, admittedly so. But these things have been on the liberal wish list for some time, and now it's "I want what I want and I want it now!" And I'll add something from the other side, unlike my liberal friends out there that post and won't show anything from the other side. Almost 40% of that pork was written in by Republicans; so the libs aren't alone.
OK....well, we're going to watch the final season of "The Sopranos", love that show! Another great show that originated from HBO, and finally made it to regular cable is "Six Feet Under". Weird show but addictive once you've watched it once or twice. So that means that I won't be politicking for the rest of the day; I'll be otherwise involved.....
I just couldn't resist. I still don't get the 72 virgins thing.....probably never will. But I'm relatively certain that there's no such thing, ya know?
What with all this stimulus package talk, and the state of the economy, bank bail outs, the auto makers and their woes and perils, we don't hear too much about how we're doing on the Islmo-fascism front. Except of course that President Obama proclaims that the war in Iraq is over and we'll begin withdrawing troops from there, with the exception of 50,000 troops to remain in supporting roles. I'm actually all for it....it is indeed about time. But we should keep in mind that a large portion of the troops leaving Iraq will be assigned to Afghanistan to deal with the resurgence of the Taliban, and of course continue in the search efforts to find Osama bin-Laden. Yep....the ever elusive bin-Laden. You ever wonder what with all of the technology we have, and the most elite of the elite Marines and soldiers as well, why we haven't either caught or killed that murdering, 72 virgin loving son-of-a-bitch?
Anyway.....I guess it's no surprise that Barack Obama is being treated as though he's the Messiah. I mean, we've got people raving about his approval ratings right now, and to be sure, his ratings are up there. But I don't think most American's fully understand just what we're getting into with this so-called "stimulus package." The deficit has now jumped to almost 4 trillion dollars! I can't even count that high! And it's the largest deficit ever for an incoming president. Understandably he did inherit a good portion from the outgoing President Bush, but adding to it by almost 2 trillion dollars just doesn't seem like good business sense.
Obama claims that he's not going to raise taxes on the middle class, and that he'll only tax those that make over $250,000, bringing their tax bracket into the 40% range, and that will somehow make a big difference. He's talking about raising taxes on small business owners that make over that amount, small business owners that are trying to flourish and hire more people. He's talking about raising taxes on those who are also consumers, like us. You know....things like gas, food, clothing, they also have mortgages and car payments, like most of the rest of us. But in reality, this won't even begin to put a small dent in this astronomical deficit. Therefore.....taxes will have to be raised in all of the areas that we struggle with today. And when that happens you can bet that the $250,000 earners will spend less, hesitate to buy homes and cars, and that certainly won't help the economy.
Alright, the claim is that Obama will not raise our taxes. So lets say that he actually doesn't raise our personal Federal taxes, leaving our paychecks alone. Where else is he going to get the money to draw down on this deficit? Of course.....our daily needs! And it's all well and good to pull back on, and or close some of the the government programs that are failing or don't work. But those will only be replaced by newer, bigger, and even more draining programs. It's the liberal way.....bigger government, and tax and spend. There was supposed to be a change in Washington but it's not happening. As much as I wanted to give this guy a chance, it's pretty hard right now; there's a lot of reading between the lines when you consider this package that he's really trying to push on us. It's hard to read between lines when you're so distracted with the Messiah.
Well....I do hope that folks will be happy with their 8 to 13 dollar tax cuts. Oh I suppose some will get a little bit more, but not much. I think that we're coming into an era where we'll be throwing money at anything that doesn't work, or is failing, or when someone goes begging for it. Government will call it the solution. But in the famous words of Ronald Reagan....."there are those that believe government is the solution, government is the problem."
We all know how I feel about Polls, but I found this little tidbit from a recent Gallop Poll interesting and relevant, especially in light of all the controversy over this ultra-ridiculous stimulus package.
"Fifty-eight percent of Americans said they disagreed with the president's decision to give overseas funding to family planning organizations that provide abortions, according to the survey taken between Friday and Sunday. Thirty-five percent supported it.
Obama signed an order Jan. 23 reversing the "Mexico City policy" -- a prohibition first implemented by Ronald Reagan, which forbade the U.S. government from sending money to overseas family-planning organizations that perform abortions or offer abortion counseling. The ban, which was lifted when Bill Clinton took office, was later re-established by George W. Bush in 2001.
The poll also found that more Americans -- 50 percent to 44 percent --oppose the president's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects within in a year."
OK....so lets spread the liberal pro-choice agenda overseas, right? I think not, if Roe V. Wade has to be upheld, lets keep it here in the USA.
So....someone tell me just where the hell we're supposed to house these terrorists? Here in our Federal Prisons? Oh sure, but what would become of all of the special privileges they receive now at Gitmo Bay? I know one thing for sure, no more $12.00 ,(a meal), special diets for them.That's opposed to the $2.50 meals that the Marines guarding and protecting them get! Oh....and hmmm, how long do you suppose the so-called lesser known terrorists would last if put out in general population? Which is probably where they should be anyway.
"Seventy-four percent favored Obama's position to lift interrogation techniques on prisoners, while 76 percent said they agreed with the decision to name special envoys to the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan."
No surprise there. But it really doesn't matter since we've been circumventing the "interrogation technique" thing for some time now, by housing these terrorist suspects in foreign countries that are friendly to the US and don't have statutes like that.
"Seventy-six percent also said the agreed with Obama's decision to tighten ethics rules for administration officials. And 66 percent said they agree with his effort to make it easier for workers to sue for pay discrimination."
Oh? Obama is tightening ethics rules for his administration? Really? That's funny....he's already got one criminal tax evader confirmed into his cabinet. Timothy Geithner, your new Treasury Secretary, you know, that man that handles all our money. Yep....those grand 'ole liberal Dems buying his cute little story that it was all a mistake made by his "Turbo-Tax" software. And they just skimmed right over that one and just confirmed him right on in!
And Tom Dashle, another Obama pick for Health and Human Services Secretary, and another criminal tax evader that was going to be confirmed, but very wisely bowed out.....well, 'nuff said 'bout that. Except to say that that is the smartest thing that Dashle has EVER done!
There's more coming down the pike, but those are the two that for now get the highlights. So....so much for ethics reform huh? Well Mr. Prez. kinda off to a rocky start wouldn't ya say?
And oh....aren't we getting pretty sick and tired of listening to liberals cry "failed policies of the last eight years", and "Obama inherited this big 'ole deficit?' Part of that is actually true, but, it looks like Barack Obama wants to add another trillion to what we have now. So then what will they cry? Hell....I can't even count to a trillion!!
Below is just a short list of some of the earmarks, or pork barrel projects that have been added to our so-called economic stimulus package.
This doesn't include the several million to go to planting new grass around the Jefferson Memorial.....or the 200 million going to the Endowment for the Arts. There's more pork items but it's not necessary to list them all here....you get the idea.
Most people are under the impression that Barack Obama drafted this bill.....not so; it was Nancy Pelosi, our current Speaker of the House. This is her baby and these projects are pets that liberals have been wanting to do for years. I see where liberals are acting as if Republicans are being pouty by not signing onto this ridiculous bill. If liberals wanted to tell the truth, which they won't, because they want American's to believe that they're getting the job done, they'd tell you that Nancy Pelosi did not include any Republicans when drafting the bill, because she knew they wouldn't go for it. And they're showing their solidarity and understanding that this bill will in no way create jobs.....nor will it stimulate the eonomy.
So President Obama skips off to the Hill to meet with House Republicans, ostensibly to talk them into signing onto this bill and tout it's greatness and how successful it can be. It was rather more of a chat and a photo-op to make it look like he's following through on one of his campaign promises to end the era of partisanship. He knew going into this whole thing that he doesn't need any Republican votes.....since the House and the Senate control both sides, who cares.
However.....liberal Democrats know that America is watching, and we're finding out more and more about how this package will fail miserably. It may be that these earmarks by themselves are a good thing and perhaps important items that need funding. But as they are now they're only a hindrance to the whole purpose of the bill. There aren't any pundits, or strategists, or economic advisers in their right minds that think this bill will work. Even some right minded liberals agree and didn't vote for the bill.
Also, one of the things that I find somewhat disturbing about this whole deal is that Obama is standing behind it. And this comes after all of his campaign promises of ending pork barrel projects such as this, ending lobbyist control and etc. In order to maintain these big promises he should have rejected the bill out of hand, and ordered that moonbat Pelosi to rewrite the bill sans the pork barrel, or porkulus crap, and get Republicans involved. But she and other liberals are scared to death of more tax cuts, they don't want things to work. And they remember when Ronald Reagan took the helm after Jimmy Carter's reign of terror, and introduced massive tax cuts, which revived the then failing economy.....which many people believe was a much worse, so-called recession than what we're experiencing now. We were brought back to life thanks to Reagan and could be now if only liberals would see the light!
I'll say this again.....I'm willing to give Barack Obama a chance. After all it's only been a few weeks, but we have four years to go and the first two things he's signed as an executive order don't look good at all. One is closing Guantanamo Bay with no real plan as to where he intends on housing the remaining 240 terrorist prisoners, and two, this economic stimulus package. Well....lets just see what happens. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid should take a real dive after this miserable failure, and even though Obama's carrying a 70% approval rating, Congress is still at a dismal 13% approval rating. Get with the program libs!!
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$20 million "for the removal of small- to medium-sized fish passage barriers." (Pg. 45 of Senate Appropriations Committee report: "20,000,000 for the removal of small- to medium-sized fish passage barriers)
$400 million for STD prevention (Pg. 60 of Senate Appropriations Committee report: "CDC estimates that a proximately 19 million new STD infections occur annually in the United States ...The Committee has included $400,000,000 for testing and prevention of these conditions.")
$25 million to rehabilitate off-roading (ATV) trails (Pg. 45 of Senate Appropriations Committee report: "$25,000,000 is for recreation maintenance, especially for rehabilitation of off-road vehicle routes, and $20,000,000 is for trail maintenance and restoration")
$34 million to remodel the Department of Commerce HQ (Pg. 15 of Senate Appropriations Committee report: $34,000,000 for the Department of Commerce renovation and modernization")
We all know just how ridiculous TV commercials can be. I mean, some of them are just downright insulting to the intelligence, and in the marketing game those people believe that the more annoying a commercial is, the more likely you'll be to remember the product or service being advertised. Same with the jingles....if it's a catchy tune, or just enough to annoy you immediately, then you'll remember whatever is being pitched.
That guy Billy Mays with the perfect beard and always wearing a blue shirt and tan slacks and hawking anything and everything under the blessed Sun, is just plain annoying to the Nth degree! I don't know if his commercials are regional or not but since it's always a product that cannot be bought in a store, you know, "As seen on TV." Then those commercials may be pretty national. What a bunch of crap! And....you can buy a lot of that stuff in a store. Our local Rite-Aid has a shelf loaded with all kinds of stuff that you see advertised on TV. Everything from the MicroTrimmer to the wireless light switch to the clothes glue to the Weed-Hog to the....well, you name it. There's even a store at one of the Outlet Malls called "As Seen On TV" that has even more stuff....a lot of it I've not seen advertised here or other places that I've been to in my travels.
Anyway.....whether it's that Billy Mays guy or your local vendors commercials many of them are stupid and extremely annoying. I don't know about where any of ya'll live but here, and my hometown as well, the local car dealership commercials are absolutely the worst....and there's no escaping them; they're all over all of the cable stations as well as the main network channels. They have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to deluge and monopolize the TV the way they do. And they're so, so, stupid. And they think that they're being cute and clever. It's hard to imagine why the decision makers would sign off on the garbage that we see.
Well....what I do love are the spoofs and parodies that are done on TV commercials and TV shows as well. I love the bloopers too. My brother has a bunch of films that have bloopers from all kinds of instantly recognizable TV shows; they're absolutely hilarious! Especially the ones he has from the old Star Trek series. But.....spoofs or parodies on TV commercials are usually funny as hell, and below is one of them. Surely many of you have seen the commercial for that ultra-stupid Snuggie blanket thing? It's unbelievable, I can't imagine anyone buying that thing and then wear it outside in public. So....here's the new "What The #&%*^ Blanket"
So how long will the media's love affair with Barack Obama last? After all he is the Messiah, and MSNBC has been tagged as the Obama channel. Of course the big three network stations, ABC, CBS and NBC still just cannot get enough of the man....it's as though there is no other news to report. The other night I was watching ABC Nightly News with Charles Gibson, who just fawns over Obama, who has a serious man-crush on Obama, and who comes across like he would love nothing more than to be Obama's man-servant, anyway, all but 4 minutes of the broadcast was devoted to Barack Obama. If it weren't for other news sources you'd think that Obama is all there is.
It's pretty scary when you think about it....with this so-called stimulus package that Obama is trying to push through quickly, and not giving any regard to the earmarks that Nancy Pelosi and other high ranking liberal Democrats have added in, it's not good. We're seeing ourselves getting closer to a socialist state. He now wants to go into the Appellate Courts and fill the upcoming vacancies with all liberal Democrats; no Republicans in the forecast. So much for a new era of bi-partisanship. And the topper for me is when the House Minority Leader John Boener goes to Obama to discuss the package with healthy suggestions and Obama responds this way, "I will listen to what the Republicans have to say, but just remember....I won."As far as I'm concerned, and at the same time realizing that it's still early, I'm not having a real good feeling.
Alright.....that's all of my Obama stuff for now. I just had to get it out since I'm back around for a while, ya'll know how I am!
Well it's been a tough few weeks and I'm glad to be back home here at the 'ole EFX. When I'm done yammerin' away here I'll be getting around to visiting and try to get caught up on the goings on. I'm seriously considering investing in a Wii system. By now any kinks there were in the beginning would be, for the most part worked out. It just looks like so much fun, albeit pretty expensive when you start adding up all the different games and accessories etc. The only person I know that actually has one says that he's already sunk almost a grand in the thing. But then he's piecing together the system just the way he wants it.
One of the things, or accessories that intrigues me is the exercise pad that you use with certain games, (if you will), to exercise in what appears to be a very fun way. Naturally with me I'd have to have the shooting game that's available, but who knows what two of those guns cost that you have to have to play! At any rate....the game system looks like something I'd really like to have. If anyone out there has one and happens to read this post, please let me know what you think and what kind of expense you've incured so far.
Let me part for today with this great and funny true story.....I loved it.
HOW TO CALL THE POLICE WHEN YOU'RE OLD AND DON'T MOVE FAST ANYMORE.
George Phillips of Meridian, Mississippi , was going up to bed, when his wife told him that he'd left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window. George opened the back door to go turn off the light, but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.
He phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house?"
He said "No." Then they said "All patrols were busy! You should lock your doors and an officer will be along when one is available." George said, "Okay" He hung up the phone and counted to 30.
Then he phoned the police again.
"Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now because I just shot them." and he hung up.
Within five minutes, six Police Cars, a SWAT Team, a Helicopter,
two Fire Trucks, a Paramedic, and an Ambulance showed up at the Phillips' residence, and caught the burglars red-handed.
One of the Policemen said to George, "I thought you said that you'd shot them!"
George said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"
(True Story)
I LOVE IT!
Don't mess with old people.
Well Christmas has passed for this year anyway and I hope it was a good for all. Mine was fine....it was all I could ask for, and for that I'm thankful. So....that brings us to the New Year and all of the celebrations that come with it.
Personally I gave up on going out to parties, or to nightclubs, or any kind of function that required me leaving the house. One, I guess I'm just getting older and feel like I've had my going out fun, plus drunk driving has escalated ten-fold in the last ten to fifteen years....and I don't know about other places but in my hometown of Dallas, and where I reside for now it's the same thing. Police check-points are everywhere! And there's no getting out of them by trying to take off on a side street because cops are stationed around the side streets and they'll really tag you then!
With the kind of luck I have I'd wind up being just a fraction over the legal limit and then it would be see ya. Fortunately for me, the only check-point I've ever been through I was on my way to a party, and so I hadn't started drinking yet.....note the operative word, "yet". Although I have in the past and cannot believe that I could be so stupid, drink and drive that is, I don't, and won't. My family went though a real tragedy some time back involving a drunk driver, so I don't want to be one of those. Anyway....the point being is that we just don't go out anymore.
Now that doesn't mean that the party can't come to us! We had a very nice Christmas Day dinner and party, it was a small affair but it was quite nice. Years ago I threw a big New Years party and while it went great, it's not something that I'd want to do again.....that's a no thanks. But a small party would be fine, I would just hate to have to monitor folks to make sure that they hadn't had too much to drink. It seems like the wives or the girlfriends wind up taking on the role of designated driver. Please don't get the wrong idea....I'm not implying that all my friends are lushes or drunks, but people do get more relaxed in a home environment and tend to go a bit too far. Especially if they're not eating and not pacing themselves.
Well....we're not having a New Years party, unless you just count immediate family as a party, which I do. Can't say if there will be any Champagne or not, besides who ever said that you just have to have the bubbly to bring in the New Year anyway. Just gimme beer and whiskey man! Hardy-har-har. We'll do just fine anyway. Now....another thing that doesn't happen around here are New Year resolutions. Nope, gave up on those a long time ago. Because of my will-power, or lack thereof I should say, resolutions are pretty much useless. It's like me going to a great buffet and telling myself that I'm not going to stuff myself....this time I'm not going to go overboard and make myself miserable. Sure, right, every time, without fail, I walk out moaning and groaning and crying that I ate too much, "Oh why did I do this again?Oh why am I so stupid? Oh I'm so miserable!"
So do you get my analogy? It's a waste of time for me to make a promise that I know I won't or can't keep. Oh yeah....I've tried the, "I'm going to quit smoking this year....I swear it! or "I'm going to exercise more and get back into the shape I used to be in!" or "I'm going to stop all cussing for good!" Uh....hmmm, sure, yeah right! It seems that no matter what it may have been over the years I never follow through. Now there's honesty for ya. If I'm going to stop or start something, and it's something potentially life changing, it'll be something I'll do regardless of whether or not it's a New Years resolution. Alright....let me re-cap briefly, no going out to any parties, clubs, or the like, no drinking and driving and certainly no resolutions. Seems like a safe enough New Years to me.....
Well of course I'll ask, who out there plans on making a New Years resolution, and actually sticking to it? And:
