Another short story |
Incident 1138 The two guards at the main door quickly saluted and moved aside as Major Jack Harmon approached. Despite his age he still cut an impressive figure. His salt and pepper moustache twitched a little as he saluted back. Placing his hand on the scanner he then leant forward and breathed on a small sensor. There was a loud click as massive bolts were drawn back, the door moved out a little as one of the guards moved to take hold of the door handle. Pulling it hard it moved outwards. The door swung open he could see a slender woman standing there. “Good after noon Major” she said in a clipped British accent. Nodding curtly to her he stepped forward and took the offered file. “So, we got another one?” “Yes sir, it was sighted in the early hours of this morning, just on the outskirts of New York.” Swearing loudly Harmon opened the file and briefly scanned it. “Anyone see it?” “I’m afraid so yes, at last count there’s about twenty clips of it on YouTube, MySpace and FaceBook. At this time there a lot of debate about what they saw. The bureau is going to be ‘leaking’ information about it being an advertising campaign for a new ’Cloverfield’ style film.” “Good, use all the standard blogs, forums and agency’s.” Nodding she made a few notes on the clip board she carried. At the end of the corridor he paused. She reached out and placed her hand on a panel. As she moved her hand he then placed his on the same spot. The door slid back and they both walked in. Taking his seat the Major looked around the room. “OK, lets get it over with. What happened this time?” The woman walked over and picked up a small remote. “At eight minuets past one, this morning there was a sighting of an craft fifteen miles off the coast of New York.” Pressing a button on the remote. A grainy image filled the screen. A group of twenty something’s could be seen, each very obviously drunk. Laughing wildly as one of their friends fell over a bench. Then there was a loud cry, a couple of them stood looking into the distance. A girls face appeared on the screen, screaming she turned the camera man around. A view of the New York skyline could be seen moving wildly around, then it froze. A fiery line could be seen streaking across the sky. It plummeted towards the city. The screaming got louder as it grew closer. Cry’s of run and move it could be heard as the camera kept trying to follow the object. It could be seen growing larger.. The image suddenly jerked violently. Tumbling along the ground the image suddenly froze.” As you can see, the video is of poor quality, but the next few frames are of the most interest. To us.” Tapping the buttons on the remote she moved forwards a frame at a time. Stars could been seen for the first few and then it was filled by a large metallic object. Advancing a frame at a time the Major leant forward in his chair. Each frame was filled with a view of the craft. Its long sleek underbelly, even at the slow speed, could be seen flashing past at speed. “This, however is the most interesting frame, and the reason we contacted you.” The image moved forwards one frame. A loud gasp could be heard from the Major. A white circle could be seen, in the middle of it was a strange symbol. A symbol that the Major recognized right away. He has first seen it two month’s ago. A surveillance satellite had been lost, thankfully a last few distorted images had been saved before it had gone. The markings had been seen in it. The self same markings that he was now looking at . “So it’s the same one?” “Yes Sir, unfortunately this is the only close up video we have this time. There are far clearer versions of those images in the file I gave you Sir.” Taking them out he looked at them for some time. “How many is it now?” “This is the third time we have a positive identification of this craft Sir. But I think its safe to say we have seen it a lot more then that.” Putting the pictures away he stood. “Keep me informed, I’ll be going to tell the President.” He said as he exited the room. “Yes Sir.” Meanwhile, somewhere just a few star systems away. Marghus sat in the control chair of his ship, checking over the notes from his last lesson with Tsianna he sighed. Glad he’d got the new re-entry shielding he knew full well that anyone watching that last lesson would have seen a pretty spectacular fireball as they had come in. But at least this time she hadn’t managed to damage the ship. The satellite hit had been a bad one. But it was a great place to practice close in manoeuvres in very busy space Shaking his head he put the lesson plan away. Three of his eight eyes focused on the control panel as he started to reverse out of the docking bay. Next week he decided he would let her try a small warp bubble jump. About five astronomical units from the nearest object, just in case. |