The White House UFOs

The White House UFOs
    One summer evening the citizens of the United States capital were treated to a display by five strange lights which manoeuvred for hours over the White House...
    "Madam President, as Chief of Staff," William Maxwell said. "I suggest we scramble our aircraft to intercept them."
    Lynne Rogers, a young woman in her early thirties, considered for a moment. Then she sighed.
    "I don't believe in UFOs and ETs, Mister Maxwell. They're probably unknown atmospheric phenomenon. This is AD 2020. With our advanced technology we have not been able to build circular aircraft that marginally works. How do you suppose they can be aerospace vehicles from other planets?"
    "I’m no scientist, Madam President, but shouldn't we intercept them?" William ventured.
    Lynne Rogers frowned. Perhaps science could benefit from this incident. I will secretly order Colonel Solomon Ben-David to scan the UFOs for life forms.
    "Very well, I'll order the Department of Defence to send interceptors."
    "Shall I alert the National Security Agency?"
    "No. All past investigations have shown that UFOs are not a threat to national security."
    "May I leave now, Madam President?"
    "Yes, you may," she answered.
    William turned around and walked out of the office.
    Lynne picked up the handset of a videophone and called the Department of Defence.  The face of the operator appeared on the screen.
    "Hello, get me Brigadier General Steve Austin of the air force."
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    There was a short pause.
    "Good evening, Madam President," Steve greeted her with a salute.
    "Good evening, scramble six ATF-08 jets to intercept the UFOs here," she ordered.
    "Yes, ma'am!"
    "Keep the pilots' identities a secret," she ordered. "I don't want reporters going after them."
    "Yes, ma'am!"
    "That's all," she said and put back the handset.
    Steve sat down at the computer table and keyed in the following data:
    FIRST LIEUTENANT FARINA G. FERNANDEZ;
    CALL SIGN: ‘SHADOW’;
    DATE OF BIRTH: APRIL 11, 2001.
    CAPTAIN HELEN R. HARRIS;
    CALL SIGN: ‘ANGEL’;
    DATE OF BIRTH: SEPTEMBER 29, 1999.
    MAJOR PETER JONAH;
    CALL SIGN: ‘TIGER-EYES’;
    DATE OF BIRTH: FEBRUARY 11, 1996.
    LIEUTENANT COLONEL TIMOTHY CHARLES;
    CALL SIGN: ‘JOKER’;
    DATE OF BIRTH: DECEMBER 30, 1995.
    LIEUTENANT COLONEL NICHOLAS SAINT GEORGE;
    CALL SIGN: ‘WHITE KNIGHT’;
    DATE OF BIRTH: MAY 17, 1994.
    COLONEL SOLOMON BEN-DAVID;
    CALL SIGN: ‘LION-HEARTED’;
    DATE OF BIRTH: JANUARY 14, 1994.
    Then he sent a secret telepathic message to Solomon.  The data were sent via optic fibres to Edwards Air Force Base (AFB).  The base computer, which was intelligent, signalled the six pilots through their wrist-radios. Each of the ristos (wrist-radios) beeped a series of nine beeps, and displayed: "SCRAMBLE! SCRAMBLE! UFO’s! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!” on the liquid crystal displays (LCD's). The pilots stopped whatever they were doing, be it resting, playing or carrying out other orders, and rushed to their ATF (advanced tactical fighter) -08 Star Hawks.
    Meanwhile the ground crew in the hangar had received a similar message and had prepared the Star Hawks for their pilots.
    "Hello! Solomon!" Farina greeted the colonel as they ran towards their jets. "I hope this is not another wild goose chase."
    Solomon had allowed everyone of his same rank or below to call each other by name. It was easier to make friends.
    "I hope not," he said. "Brigadier General Austin had secretly instructed me to investigate those UFO's thoroughly.
    "How do you feel?" He added as an afterthought.
    "I feel as though I could take on all five UFO's by myself," Farina said.
    "I know what you mean," Solomon said and smiled.
    Helen Harris was a young lady with cropped hair.  Her flight suit hugged her at the right places, giving her a  more good-looking figure.
    By now, Major Peter Jonah, Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Charles and Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Saint George had also arrived at their jet fighters.
    All of them got into their jets as the ground crew handed their helmets to them.  The insides of the helmets had thought sensors.  Then they closed their cockpit canopies.
    "Blue Flight," the air traffic controller said.  "You are cleared for launch." This message was conveyed to all six fighter pilots simultaneously.  They taxied the  fighters to their launch positions on the runway. Then Solomon gave the thumb-up sign.  All six jets shot up into the air vertically.  Their VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) reactor engines roared.  Then they flew horizontally to their destination.
    "Flight pattern Delta,” Solomon ordered as they approached the UFO's.  All six jets formed an arrow-head pointed at the UFOs.
    "Shadow," Solomon called Farina. "Take the UFO at nine o'clock."
    "Roger, Lion-hearted."
    "Angel, take the one at eight o'clock.'
    "Roger, Lion-hearted."
    "Tiger-eyes, take the one at seven o'clock."
    "Roger, Lion-hearted."
    "Joker, take the one at six o'clock."
    "Roger, Lion-hearted."
    Then Solomon ordered: "White Knight take care of the UFO at five o'clock.” The colonel powered up his combat computer and did a bioscan of the UFO's.
    He read the data on the combat multi-view display (CMD): NO LIFE FORM.
    "All right, pilots," Solomon said.  "Let's ‘splash’ them!" He looked at the UFOs and thought how could five lights just appeared over the White House out of nowhere.
    Solomon's subordinates needed no reminder that they must presume that the UFOs would fly better than they would.  Although the bioscan showed no life form in the UFOs, they must be cautious.
    Farina banked towards her target and keyed for target lock.  It spinned away to starboard and then to her tail.
    "Look out! Shadow!" Helen warned.  "One UFO has moved behind your tail!"
    "I saw it," Farina turned her head and said.  "Can you scratch my back for me?"
    "Sure!" Helen replied and  moved her Star Hawk until the UFO was within her reticulated gun sight.  Then she pressed her Phalanx mass driver cannon trigger. The UFO absorbed the bullets without apparently sustaining any damage.
    Farina took the opportunity to roll away to a safe position, but the UFO followed.  Meanwhile, the other four UFOs had moved near Helen’s plane and those of her comrades.
    "Watch it!" Solomon warned.  "Angel, you've picked one up.  All fighters activate ECM (electronic countermeasure)."
    Peter Jonah said, "I copy, Lion-hearted.  Let's jam their electronics."
    Before the rest could answer, the UFOs jammed the flight's tactical network and ECM equipment. They were deaf and dumb.
    "We'll have to fly by radar in their darkness," Peter said.  "Tiger-eyes to Lion-hearted, do you copy?" As he said this, he telepathically sent it to him and the rest of Blue Flight.
    I copy, each one of them thought.  Their sensor-studded helmets responded to their thoughts and each of their navigation system computers switched to radar navigation.
    Nicholas armed his Phoenix missiles and switched on his targeting system computer.
    "Voice command override! CORA (Computerised Oral Response Activator)!" Nicholas commanded the intelligent onboard robot pilot.
    "CORA is activated," it replied.
    "Fire missiles when they have achieved solid lock-on of the targets."
    The five red dots representing the UFOs moved around the targeting box of Nicholas' CMD.  The box turned red when solid lock-on was achieved.  The jet fired a spread of five Phoenix missiles.  They exploded harmlessly against the bodies of the UFOs.
    All six Star Hawks were thrown in different directions by the resulting shock waves.  The six pilots lost control of their aerospace vehicles.  As they lost consciousness, they heard a high-pitch sound coming from the UFOs.  Then they found themselves in a beautiful white hall with veiled humanoids standing in it.
    Farina, Helen, Peter, Solomon and Timothy were lying on transparent beds.  They were made of an unknown matter.  Nicholas stood at the end of Timothy's bed.
    "We're dead," he said.  "You're angels, aren't you?"
    "From a certain point of view," a humanoid replied, "you are right.  We've evolved to the point where we do not have any physical form.  We're pure energy."
    "Why have your ships," Nicholas asked, "been hovering over the White House?"
    “They are not ships," it replied.  "They are our visible forms which are visiting your world. This is an important time for your species.  My people are very concern for all of you. We must make sure that the powers of the mind are not used to misguide and corrupt other intelligent beings.  Please let your president know of your conversation with me."
    “Yes, sir... ugh... madam,” Nicholas swallowed hard. He could not tell whether the angel was male or female.
    "Your comrades' life signs are stable now," it said. "You'll be sent back in your aerospace vehicles shortly."
    A moment later, the six fighter pilots found themselves in their fighter cockpits.  The five UFO's moved silently away from them and disappeared swiftly.
    "Who are you reporting to first later on?" Helen asked Nicholas.
    "Yeah," Farina said.  "All five of us overheard the ‘angel’ telling you to inform President Rogers while we were recovering on those transparent beds."
    "The president, of course," Nicholas answered.  "Then the White House Chief of Staff, William Maxwell."
    "By the way, why weren't you treated like us?" Timothy asked.
    "I wasn't injured by the shock waves because my plane was the farthest from the UFOs," he grinned.    "You should’ve seen your planes.  They shattered like eggshells with big explosions.  The five of you were lucky the ‘angels’ were advanced enough to treat your wounds.  All of you probably had third degree burns, serious injuries and broken limbs." 
    Nicholas was an air force medical officer before he enlisted as a fighter pilot.
    “Boy, is Brig-Gen. Austin going to believe our story?” Farina shrugged after she switched on her autopilot.
    “Maybe, maybe not,” Solomon replied in Nicholas’ stead.  “The brigadier general’s security clearance level is 5.  If the president and the White House Chief of Staff, whose security clearance levels are 10 and 6 respectively, set the security clearance level at 5 or below, he would be cleared for obtaining the pertinent information on this incident.”
    “So you’re not going to include your conversation with the ‘angel’ when you report to Brig-General Austin,” Timothy asked, “for the mission debriefing, right?”
    “Yes,” Solomon replied.
    “To pick up where I left off,” Nicholas said.  “Those ‘angels’ somehow recycled the remains of your five planes and reconstructed them during the short time we were in their ‘ship’.” He switched on his inflight damage assessment display (IDAD) and told the others to do so too.
    “See what I meant?” He asked.  “Mine indicated no damage.  What about the rest of you?”
    All of the other five pilots stared at their IDAD in disbelief; they read:
     
    INFLIGHT DAMAGE ASSESSMENT DISPLAY
      Repair List                                        Status      Repair Time
      Auto-ejection System                      Normal          00:00
      Afterburners                                    Normal          00:00
      Cannons                                                    Normal          00:00
      Flight control system                              Normal          00:00
      Engine power                                        Normal          00:00
      Targeting system                                        Normal          00:00
      Armour                                          Normal          00:00
      Missiles                                                      Normal          00:00
      Communications System                        Normal                00:00
     
They could not think of anything to say for a moment.
    “See what I meant?” He repeated.  He had guessed more or less just what they saw before their eyes.
    “Those whiz-kids at the Pentagon will be cracking their heads trying to figure out how those ‘angels’ did this marvellous technological feat,” he smiled.
    “‘Technological feat’ is correct,” Helen commented. “Those ‘angels’ or whoever they were won’t be so stupid as to leave behind enough of their technology so that it might get into the wrong hands.”
    “I concur,” Timothy said. “All they have left behind are our healed bodies and the five planes rebuilt by them.”
    “Let’s sell this story of ours to the press,” Peter suggested.
    “Don’t be silly,” Nicholas scolded. “Our assignment and identities are top secret, and they must remained classified unless the president decides otherwise.”
    “Sure,” Peter looked at Nicholas’ plane and grinned sheepishly.  “So, Solomon, shouldn’t you let Nicholas handle the debriefing with Brig-Gen. Austin as well?”
    “No,” he replied.  “Nicholas couldn’t tell a white lie without giving himself away.  I’ll do it alone.”
    In his cockpit, Nicholas smiled knowingly.  The other four pilots also smiled.  All six pilots of Blue Flight shared this secret.
    Soon they approached Edwards Air Force Base.  As the control tower loomed at them, Solomon said:
    “Blue Leader to Air Control.  Come in Air Control.”
    “This is Air Control.  We read you,” the Air Operations and Communications Officer answered.
    “Give us our runway numbers, Control,” Solomon requested.
    “Transmitting to your navigation computers, Blue Flight,” the officer said.
    The six computers confirmed the transmission.
    “Acknowledged,” Solomon said.
    The six Star Hawks hovered over their assigned runways.  Then they descended slowly to them.
    After their engines were switched off, the ground crew sprinted to the fighters.  Some got into them and taxied them into the hangar after others had inspected them.  The pilots handed their helmets to others and went to a room marked ‘Mission Debriefing.’
    “Blue Flight reporting for mission debriefing, sir!” Solomon knocked on the old-fashioned wooden door.
    “Enter,” Brigadier General Austin said.
    “Sir!” All six pilots saluted him.
    He returned the salute.
    “At ease,” he said.  “Good work! Colonel Ben-David! Do sit down.  The rest of you may leave,” he motioned his hand towards the door.
    The five pilots left the room.
    “General,” Solomon said.  “Your restricted telepathic message to me about the UFO’s are known to my pilots.”
    “Very well,” Steve said.  “I get the hint.  You may report to the president and the White House Chief of Staff.”
    This UFO business is classified and ‘For Your Eyes Only’, he thought.  Perhaps it was better for the president and the Chief of Staff to debrief Colonel Ben-David.
    Steve picked up the handset of a telephone and called the Oval Office.
    “Madam President?” he enquired.  “Yes, I’m Austin.  Yes, the elite Blue Flight is back.  Colonel Ben-David is ready for debriefing… Yes, ma’am, I’ll send him to you as soon as possible (ASAP).”
    He replaced the handset.  Then he nodded at Solomon.
    The latter saluted him, turned around smartly and left for the White House.  Only heaven knows what the president and the Chief of Staff will think, he thought.  Then Solomon got into a train, which worked by using magnetic levitation, and travelled to Washington, District of Colombia (DC).
    After sometime in the White House.
    “Solomon,” Lynne Rogers addressed the colonel.  “Maxwell and I have debriefed you for half an hour now.  It seems that we are in the middle of a war between the forces of good and evil.”
    Solomon nodded; he had been under a lot of stress during his tour of duty with Blue Flight lately.  He looked at his risto.  It was one-fourteen in the morning.
    He had told Lynne and William the conversation Nicholas had with the “angel”.
    “Let’s keep this incident classified, OK? Madam President?” William Maxwell said.
    Both Solomon and Lynne nodded.
    Solomon said: “We’ve been developing the powers of the human mind for two decades.  Telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition are powers we’ve only began to control.”
    “Yes,” Lynne agreed.  “We must never allow them to be misused or abused.  These so-called ‘angels’ are monitoring our ESP research and development.  We must never let the knowledge fall into the wrong hands.  Maxwell?”
    “Yes?” William Maxwell answered.
    “Classify the ‘White House UFO’s’ as top secret, security clearance level seven.”
    “Yes, ma’am!”
    “Good work! Solomon,” Lynne thanked the colonel.  “Both you and William may leave now.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” both men said in unison.  Then they left the Oval Office.