Shout!

Friends

Chandramoon

Libertine

Cam

Tony

~~~~~

Part Seven:

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.

Comments (1) | Add Comment | Link

At 02:51, August 8, 2009, LauriesAsylum said:
	I read this over on facebook. he ending is great. I love that there is a moral aspect to this. Add Comment \| Link \| \|