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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.
Part Two to follow.
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