A Crash In The Desert

Mark's new work takes him to various timelines. 2019 Quill Award Winner

Chapter Three
Mark & Ishmael

         “Welcome back Mark.”

         “Where have I been?”

         “That’s what you’re supposed to tell me.”

         “Tell you? What do you mean, I’m supposed to tell you? Who are you?”

         “I’m someone who cares for you right now. We are working together on a special project.”

         “Special project? Wait a minute, where am I?”

         “Where you have been for a little while now.”

         “Hold on a sec. Start over please. Why am I lying here like this? And again, who are you?”

         “You may call me Ishmael.” As he said this, he fought hard to hide a smile. Moby Dick had always been a favorite book; he found he related well to that character.

         “Ishmael huh. Nice. But you didn’t answer my question Ishmael.”

         “Mark, there’s a goal we’re working towards, something we want to do. It can’t be done without you. You are not a guinea pig for us; this is entirely voluntarily on your part.”

         “You mean I can leave when I want?”

         “Yes Mark, of course.”

         “Suppose I wanted to leave now?”

         “Then I’d have no choice but to let you go. After you tell me where you were.”

         As Ishmael said this, Mark’s mind seemed to shift to a new plane, or new level. He started to recall where he was before he woke. Ishmael could see the change in his demeanor, a light flush coming to his gaunt cheeks once again. Mark looked at his surroundings some, his gaze coming to rest on his reflection in the mirror. He knew that man in the mirror, hair starting to gray around the temples, curly locks atop his head. “At least I’m not going bald anytime soon.” he thought. With that thought in mind, he lay back on his pillow, and for the first time noticed the soft sounds in the room. There was the soft beeping of machines that he couldn’t see, the quiet whirring of fans nearby, both mixed with myriad other noises he couldn’t identify.

         “Mark, do you think you can now tell me where you were?”

         Mark nodded his head, realizing he now knew the events of his recent past. Slowly he began to tell Ishmael where he had been, and what he did while there. A far off look came to his eyes as he slowly recalled his experiences. He spoke quietly, almost as if he was in a trance as he recounted where, and who he had been.

         As he lay back, his mind started to recall the recent events and where he had been.

Chapter Four
A Crash In The Desert

         “Mac! Mac!”

         “Yeah, what is it Jose?”

         “There’s been a report of more rubbish on the mesa; from the description Manuel gave me, it seems like it might be the same stuff we’ve found before.”

         Mac sighed softly to himself, they had found remnants of weather balloons on the mesa a couple of times already. Each time they called the sheriff, and each time the Army came and claimed the tattered pieces of balloon and weather gear.

         “Well, let’s get going Jose. Can’t leave it lying out there. We both know the sheep will avoid it for the most part.”

         The desert (locals always called it a mesa, even though it wasn’t a true mesa) was an unforgiving place. It could be hot one moment, then incredibly chilly after a sudden thunderstorm. Dry gulches would turn to raging rivers that quickly dried once the storm passed. The landscape in the area of the J.B. Foster Sheep Ranch was unlike most other areas. In the past, the sheep had ignored the debris area. At the same time, they couldn’t risk having them get inquisitive and possibly become tangled in it. Due to the nature of the southwest desert and lack of vegetation, every available acre for them to graze on was needed. Getting that junk cleared had to be a priority. ‘At least it isn’t too hot yet.’ thought Mac as he headed to join Jose.

         The drive to the reported crash site was longer than either of them wanted. They talked about recent events. Independence Day was a week in the past, and there was a lot of work to do. The ranch always had a float in the parade; getting it pulled apart and things back in order was one of the tasks that topped Mac’s work list. As foreman of the ranch, there was a lot on his plate, with more being piled all the time. It was 1947, and the world seemed to move faster with each passing day.

         They finally found the site Manuel had talked about, but both were shocked and surprised at what they saw.

         “What in the blazes do we have here?”

         “No idea Mac, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

         Mac’s worn features reflected confusion, his forehead wrinkled in thought as he looked at the rubble strewn across the mesa. “Well, it doesn’t look at all like stuff we’ve picked up before. Y’know, pieces of a weather balloon. This is totally different. Take that largest piece over there, I’ve never seen anything like it. This is strange, very strange. And look at that hillside! It looks like something plowed into it at a pretty high speed. Look at all the junk! It’s everywhere you can see.”

         Mac continued speaking, almost rambling now. “Not just that, there’s not a single sheep anywhere in sight! Do they know something we don’t?”

         Jose nodded in agreement as he looked around. The sheep ranch was huge, with thousands of sheep raised on it. Yet the vast desert prairie that they could see was empty. Nothing within eyesight moved across the desert. Mac looked around a little more, then looked at Jose and said, “Do you know what else is unusual here?”

         Jose looked around, creases visible on his forehead as he pondered Mac’s question. Finally he said, “There’s no sound of wild life or insects. I don’t see any hawks floating on updrafts near this area, no crows, nothing!

         “Exactly! It’s too quiet here, too void of life. C’mon, let’s go see the sheriff.”

         They drove north to Corona and found the County Sheriff’s office. As they entered the office, Mac noticed a woman was there talking to the Sheriff. She stood to one side, giving Mac only a glimpse of one side of her features. Being a married man, he rarely paid attention to a woman he didn’t know, but this lady was striking. She was about five and a half feet tall, maybe 32 years old, with a figure he thought many women would gladly have at any age. Her shoulder length brown curls hung loosely about her face as she talked to the sheriff. Mac could hear them talking about recent events in the Southeastern New Mexico area.

         “Yes Sheriff, I know it’s boring here, but surely you’ve seen a few things going on. Anything that will give me a short story for the paper.”

         “I know Jean, but really, it’s been very quiet. I think everyone’s recovering from the holiday. Usually I could talk to you about events in the parade, but even the events and parties after it were tame compared to year’s past.”

         At this point, Mac cleared his throat and said, “Excuse me Sheriff. There’s some strange stuff out on the mesa again. I thought it would be another of those weather balloons, like before. But this covers a much larger area, and doesn’t resemble anything I’ve seen.”

         At this point, the woman moved a little closer to the pair, and spoke to Mac. “Hello there… Uhhhh, I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.”

         Mac was a little surprised she approached him somewhat boldly. After all, weren’t women supposed to stay at home and clean house, raise a family? As a result, he didn’t want to say much to the woman, but his mouth seemed to have a life of its own as he said, “Mac. Mac Brazel. Foreman for the J.B. Foster Sheep Ranch a little south of here.”

         “Good Afternoon Mac, I’m Jean Hummel, with the Roswell Daily Press. Is this something I could use as a story?”

         Mac managed to catch himself before he responded. Something deep inside told him not to say too much about the debris, at least not yet. Instead, he said, “Hi Jean, nice to meet you. I don’t think there’s much here, it’s just a pile of junk on the mesa. Just wanted to let the Sheriff know about it to see if we can get it picked up.”

         “Are you sure Mac?” Once again, Mac found himself a little put off by her demeanor and wondered why she was there.

         “Yeah, pretty sure.”

         “Well, if you change your mind, look me up at the Roswell Daily Press, okay?”

         “Sure, sure will.” For his part, Mac was happy to stop talking to her. For some reason she affected him in a curious way. He couldn‘t put his finger on it, but he hadn’t felt this way around a woman in many years. Maybe it was the yellow ribbon that held her brown curls out of her face. Yellow was his wife’s favorite color after all. He had no idea what it was, he only knew he felt a little different when she was near.

         The Sheriff listened patiently to Mac as he described the rubble found on the desert. Jean stood nearby, listening intently to Mac’s story. Mac tried to ignore her presence, but knew it was useless. He didn’t mind her listening, it wasn’t like a bit of rubbish on the mesa was a secret, but he’d rather have talked to the sheriff alone. When Mac explained the size of area covered by the debris, the sheriff stopped him and said, “Hold on a sec. This thing covers an area twice the size of the other stuff you’ve found?”

         “Yep. You remember how the military down in Roswell came up each time and took it all away.”

         “Yep. I bet they’ll want to see this. Let me call them now then and get them up here.”

         While the sheriff called Roswell, Mac stood back and relaxed, casually looking around the office. Jean stood to one side, and once again he was struck by her appearance. He wouldn’t call her beautiful, but there was something about her. She must have sensed him looking; she looked over to him again, and slowly walked over to stand by his side. Speaking softly she said, “This sounds like it might be a story. I would really appreciate it if you’d share it with me once this is all done.”

         “I’m sorry Ma’am…”

         Jean interrupted him in mid-sentence and said, “Please, call me Jean.”

         “Alright, I’m sorry Jean, but to me, this is just more junk that fell from the sky. Military weather balloon stuff maybe, but of a different sort than I found before.”

         “Y’know, when you said ‘Fell from the sky’, in my mind I saw an object crashing into a mountain or hill. Some kind of object you’ve never seen, or one you couldn’t identify by name.”

         Mac looked at her for a moment, his eyes wide at her statement. “Well Jean, I don’t think this is one of those flying saucers I read about recently. Your statement is curious though. You didn’t call it a flying saucer, you said it was something I couldn’t identify. Interesting.”

         “Mac, once the military has picked this stuff up, call me. We do need to talk.” At this point, their brief conversation was interrupted by the sheriff, who said, “The Army is on their way. They want to get out to the ranch as soon as they can.”

         “Alright sheriff, I think I’ll wait across the street in Isabel’s Café. I’ll watch for ‘em, and come back when I see their trucks.”

         Mac turned to ask Jean if he could buy her a cup of coffee, but she was nowhere to be seen.

         ‘That’s curious,’ he thought. ‘Where could she have gone so quickly?’

         Turning to the sheriff, Mac said, “Where did Jean go?”

         “Who?”

         “Jean, the reporter who was here a minute ago.”

         “I don’t know really. This was the first time I’ve met her. Guess she got bored and left.”

         Mac waited in Isabel’s café, relaxing for a bit. Jose was nowhere to be seen either, but Mac was pretty sure he was visiting friends in town. About two hours after the sheriff called them, the Army showed up. A light cloud of dust seemed to herald their approach, though that wasn’t the case at all. One couldn’t drive anywhere in Southeastern New Mexico without stirring up dust. Mac ambled across the road to the sheriff’s office, where he was introduced to the army’s senior leaders by the sheriff.

          “Mac, this is Major Jesse Marcel and Captain Sheridan Cavitt. Gentlemen, this is Mac Brazel, the man who found the rubbish on the mesa.”

         “Good afternoon Mr. Brazel. Nice to meet you. We obviously want to see what it is you’ve found, would you mind if we followed you to the ranch?”

         Mac looked at the sun and noticed it was well past noon, rapidly heading for the distant horizon. “Well, it’s a bit late in the day to get to the mesa, how about you follow me, I’ll put you up at the ranch guest house, and we can go out early tomorrow?”

         “Well, we were hoping to get there tonight, and head back to the base after dark if necessary. After all, we brought along a squad of airmen to help us get this loaded.”

         “Major, driving unfamiliar roads out here is not the best of ideas really. The roads don’t twist a lot, but I’d feel a lot more comfortable if you went in the morning. Is there any reason you can’t get the stuff then?”

         “Not really, but I wouldn’t want to put you out at the ranch by having us there. Especially since we have that squad with us. We can stay here in town and meet in the morning.”

         “Nonsense Major! We have ranch hands there all the time. The cook always has extra food cooked, and there is a bunk house. Might be about the same as what you have on base, I don’t know.”

         The two Army men conversed briefly out of ear shot, then came back and said, “Okay, we can do that. Let’s head to your ranch.”

         Mac spent a little bit of time locating Jose. Luckily, he located him faster than he thought he would. It helped having a good idea of where he would be. With the Army following behind them, they drove to the ranch. It took about a half hour to get everyone settled before Mac was able to sit back and relax. He knew the next day would be a busy one, but he had no idea how busy it would really be.

         The next morning Mac took the Army officers and their men to the rubble site. When they arrived at the site the Major and Captain were the first to exit the Lorrie.

         “Where’s all this stuff you found Mr. Brazel?”

         “It’s here Major, over this small hill beyond the road.”

         The men walked over the hill and the Major had his first view of the area. He seemed a little stunned as he stammered, “Captain, this debris is,,, is,,,” He stopped for a minute as he tried to find the right word to use. After a few seconds, he said, “This debris is odd, very odd! It’s much more than I expected, how about you?”

         “Major, I wasn’t sure what to expect really, they’re always different. But there’s no way this one can be compared to the others we found. One thing’s for sure, this doesn’t look like debris from a weather balloon.”

         “No, it doesn’t look like that to me either. Look at that gash in the ground. I don’t see how a weather balloon would cause that.”

         The two men continued to explore the debris field, examining small pieces and working with the airmen to place each in the trucks as they did. Eventually every visible piece was collected and packed away. Mac thought it a little strange that they pulled the tarp over the back, effectively hiding everything from view.

         “Thank you for calling us Mr. Brazel. How can we contact you if we need to talk to you?”

         “I think the base has the number for the ranch, you’ve been out here before picking up stuff from weather balloons. I know it wasn’t you, but our number is there. We’re in the phone book too of course.”

         “That’s true. Well thank you again. I hope we don’t have to bother you again.”

         The soldiers piled into the Lorrie’s, and the group left, leaving a cloud of dust behind them as they drove away.

         The next morning, Mac was astonished when he heard the Roswell Army Base news release. “Flying disk recovered near Roswell!” Mac was back in Corona getting supplies for the ranch when the news broke over the radio. Curious about what the military was saying about the rubble, he went to the only person who might be able to answer his questions, the Chavez County Sheriff. As he entered the small office, he found Jean was already there. He felt a pleasant flush at seeing her. She looked even better today than she had the previous day. Her shoulder length brown hair was once again tied in a yellow ribbon, this time it was accentuated by the pale yellow top she was wearing. Seeing him enter, Jean excused herself from the sheriff and walked over to Mac.

         “Mac, good to see you again. If possible, would you be willing to answer a few questions about yesterday for me?”

         “I’m not sure what more I can say, but I will answer them as best I can Jean.” For some reason, Mac wanted to talk to Jean, wanted to learn more about her also.

         “Okay, first off, I would like to know what was really found in the desert. Was it really a flying disk?”

         “Well, at first I thought we’d see more stuff like we’ve found in the past. Weather balloon stuff and parts, you know.”

         “I’m sorry Mac, but I don’t know. What did you find in the past?”

         “Just stuff, you know. Stuff that large balloons are made of. Some rope, pieces of cloth that make up the balloon, small instruments that looked scientific. Things like that.”

         “And that wasn’t what you found yesterday?”

“Not exactly. There was a large metal object, larger than any we’ve found before. Not much else other than pieces of some kind of metal scattered all over the place.”

         “I see. Thank you Mac.” Jean made a show of writing his comments on a small notepad and softly said, “Meet me at Isabel’s Café across the street as soon as you can.”

         Mac talked to the sheriff for a few minutes, but the sheriff had little he could offer in the way of more information. He wanted to get across the street, but didn’t want to seem rude by leaving so soon. He spent a little time talking about other ranch related topics with the sheriff. For his part, the sheriff listened politely, nodding at the appropriate moments. Finally, Mac excused himself and walked across the street. Jean was sitting at a table in the corner when he arrived. As he looked at her, he saw her eyes light with what seemed to be happiness. Seating himself, the two of them talked softly.

         “Mac, we have to talk.”

         “Yeah, we do. I don’t mean to sound rude, but tell me, you’re a woman. Why aren’t you married and working at home?”

         “Short version. I don’t want to be. Longer version. I want to work. I don’t plan on being here in Roswell very long, I have goals, I intend on working for a paper, magazine, or radio station in a large city within the next year. I hope that’s enough for you. Now, like I said, we have to talk!”

         “Talk about what?”

         She whispered urgently, “What you found in the desert!” Her eyes shone with excitement, and maybe a touch of fear as she said this.

         Taking her cue, Mac responded in a soft voice. “I don’t know what I found in the desert though. It was a bunch of stuff I’ve never seen before.”

         “Mac, what you must do, is convince people you found a weather balloon, or pieces of it.”

         “Why should I lie like that?”

         “I will explain more as we talk. I mean it though, you must convince people you found another pile of debris from a weather balloon. I can’t begin to tell you how important that is.”

         “That might take some doing. I’m not a man who likes to lie. I’ve always told the truth when asked, it just seems to be the right thing to do. So why should I lie?”

         “To save the planet. To save mankind.”

         “What are you talking about?”

         “I’ve been working with them, or for them you might say, to keep their identity hidden. They are here among us, watching us. How many, and who might be one of them, I have no idea. But I was taken to their main ship. It was there I was briefed, and convinced I need to help them. It’s that, or they will wipe us off the face of the Earth.”

         “Them? Who in the heck is ‘them’?”

         “The ones who fly to the stars, the ones who were aboard that crashed craft.”

         “You mean little green men?”

         “Oh no Mac, nothing as trite as that. These creatures are so advanced, so far ahead of us in the things they can create, the things they can do. They really scare me!”

         “Are you one of them?”

         “No, I am a woman, a human. I’m also one of thousands they have working for them, and there are thousands of them here too. They are dangerous. They have weapons we can’t even imagine. We all saw a small demonstration of their power.”

         “There were others with you?”

         “No, at least I didn’t see other humans then. But I’m convinced, and you should be too.”

         “How did you come to be involved in this?”

         “I was out walking one night in the woods behind my house in New York. I saw a flying disk land in a small clearing. I thought I was being quiet, being careful. Somehow they must have known I was there. Seeing the flying disk scared me, so I ran. Except, I didn’t get anywhere. I was lifted in the air by some unseen force and placed in the disk. I didn’t feel threatened, but I was still scared. Then, my stomach lurched like when you’re on a carnival ride. That’s when I realized the disk had taken off. I must have passed out, because the next thing I know, I was on their main ship.”

         “Why are you telling me all this? Why involve me?”

         “You found the wrecked craft. You’re involved whether you want to be or not.”

         “What happens if I refuse to lie?”

         “They will destroy the Earth.”

         “Destroy the whole Earth? Oh c’mon!”

         “When I was on the mother ship, they took me to another system, a fledgling one that was still developing. They showed me. They split a planet into millions of pieces!”

         “You mean like our asteroid belt?”

         “Not quite. This planet literally disintegrated! It was more dust than anything else, I saw no large fragments.”

         “Well, you were probably too far away and couldn’t see anything of any size.”

         “Mac, stop thinking like a human! They flew their craft through the area where that planet had been. There was nothing there other than wisps of dust. Yes, there were larger pieces, but nothing like what I’ve seen in our asteroid belt.”

         “You’ve seen the asteroids?”

         “I told you, they took me to a distant system. We flew past the asteroid belt to get there.”

         “I’m still not convinced….”

         At this point, Mac felt a sort of tickling as if someone was lightly touching him. When he looked around, all he saw was a white mist. He felt his stomach do a flip-flop, then a rush of air for a moment. Slowly the mist enveloping him disappeared, and he found himself in a strange room. Strange gray men, taller than most humans, surrounded him. One of them raised his hand and said, “If our human helper can’t convince you, maybe we can.”

         Mac was astonished, and couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He wiped his eyes as if to see better, but the gray creatures were still there. Looking around he saw he was in a huge chamber better suited for large equipment than him and the gray men. He turned slowly to see around him, and was amazed at the size of it all. “Who are you? Where am I?”

         “You are aboard what your friend Jean, calls our main ship, our mothership. You may call me Klaack.”

         Now Mac felt himself about to lose his grip on his sanity. A tall gray alien had just spoken to him! And in English too! This wasn't, couldn’t be right. He didn’t know where he was, it was all too much for his mind to comprehend.

         Klaack saw this, and reached out to touch Mac’s head. Mac tried to prevent the contact, but suddenly found he couldn’t move. “Mac, relax please. We’re not going to hurt you.”

         “How do I know that?”

         “If we were going to hurt you, wouldn’t we have done that by now?”

         “I don’t know. Right now, I’m not sure what I know.”

         “You will be fine. Many of you go through a bit of shock when you first see us. May I offer you a small drink?”

         “It won’t be poison, will it?”

         “Mac, please relax man. Believe me, if we were going to hurt you, we wouldn’t have brought you here.”

         “Well, there’s some truth to that. Maybe. Tell me. How are you able to speak English?”

         The gray man shook his head slowly and said, “Mac,,,, Mac. We’ve been observing your planet for eons. Do you really think we’d just observe your species and not learn to speak your languages? We know every language spoken on Earth.”

         Thinking for a moment, Mac thought that his answer made sense. “Why did you bring me here?”

         “To convince you, like we convinced Jean. You must not let your species know you found a crashed spacecraft. You have to tell a different story.”

         “Why is that so important?”

         “In our travels across what you call the universe, we have observed many species like yours. In every case, when our existence was discovered, the fledgling species wanted to learn more. They wanted to explore the universe like we do. Your (and their) thirst for knowledge is fine, but it must come in due time. If you try to learn all this before you’re ready, humankind will become more violent than it is now. You may even pose a threat to us. We are a peaceful race; it took us far more time to become peaceful than you can imagine. In our explorations, we’ve learned that a strong defense is necessary. Many immature races tend to be violent. Sadly, some never seem to mature. If we think an attack could one day come from them, we destroy their planet to keep us, and the rest of the universe safe. If your kind learned too much too soon, we’d have no choice but to do the same to your Earth.”

         “Yeah, Jean told me she saw what you can do. So you play judge and jury when it comes to other species? What makes you think that is right?”

         “Oh we don’t like doing it, but speaking in your time frame, we’ve been around over five million years. We’re just more advanced than most. We try to help other species learn to embrace a peaceful existence. Sometimes we can, sometimes we can’t.”

         “How will my story stop humans from advancing too fast?”

         “By itself, it won’t. We have to step in now and then to guide you.”

         “How do you guide us?”

         “Jean told you we have thousands of us among you on Earth.”

         “Yep, but I’ve never seen a gray man.”

         “That’s because we are chameleons. We can change colors as we wish, depending on where we are. It can be unconscious, or intentional. Here, let me show you.” The one he had been speaking with waved his hand, and the wall behind him and the other aliens slowly changed from gray to green, then a pale shade of red. As the wall changed, their skin color changed simultaneously with the wall color.

         Mac rubbed his eyes again as if trying to convince himself that everything he saw was real. A thought popped in his head, so he asked, “You can change colors. But not all humans look the same. I’ve never met others from distant countries, but look at us in America! Black people do not have the same kind of bodies that white people have. Their lips are thicker, they have curly hair, wider noses. Indians have higher cheekbones and a very distinct appearance.” At this, Mac’s voice trailed off as the one he’d been speaking with smiled.

         “Like I said, we are chameleons. Not only can we change our color, we can change body style too.”

         Mac almost gasped as the one in front of him slowly changed. Suddenly, Mac thought he was looking in a mirror, as he was now looking at a replica of himself.

         “There are more of us on your Earth than you might think. We guide humankind, leading you, teaching you how to live peacefully.”

         “Not to be disrespectful, but why did World War II occur recently then? As well as everything else going on.”

         “We are not all powerful, we are not what you call gods. We can only guide, and offer advice. Many times, we aren’t listened to. But we are patient, we will teach you to live in peace, or destroy you.”

         Remembering what Jean said just before he found himself here, he began to believe they would do what this alien said they could. Klaack saw the change in his expression, and knew he had made his point with Mac.

         Suddenly, a gray mist surrounded Mac again. Once more he felt his stomach do a flip-flop and knew he was heading back. The tickling ceased, and he found himself staring in to the blue eyes of Jean.

         “They took you, didn’t they!”

         “Yes, how long was I gone?”

         “Only a couple of seconds.”

         “It seemed like it was at least an hour.”

         “Well, you’ve been here the whole time gazing into space. I’m guessing they ‘took you’ when your face seemed to relax. When I looked in your eyes, I didn’t see ‘you’ there and figured what had happened. A moment ago I saw your eyes focus, and when you looked at me, I knew where you had been.”

         Mac ran a hand over his balding head, wonder and amazement apparent on his face. “The amount of power they yield is astonishing. They say we need to mature more as a race; I can see their point. I wonder why they don’t intervene and stop us from warring the way we do.”

         “I don’t think they are a warring race. They have great power yes, but they do not like to use it. To them, using it means they have failed in helping a race learn to live in peace.”

         “You may be right. With everything I’ve seen today, I need to change my story. I just wonder what I can say about it now. The truth’s been told already, how can I backtrack?”

         “You didn’t say anything, the Army did. All you need to do is say you thought it was more debris from a weather balloon crash.”

         “That’s true. I’m not happy about having to lie, but I’d rather live with this lie than see our race annihilated. It’s getting late, I should head back to the ranch.”

         Mac excused himself and walked to his car. As he walked past the barber shop, he heard the radio blaring. The announcer was complaining about the Army changing its story from yesterday. “I think there’s a cover-up going on around here. Yesterday, in a press release Colonel Blanchard, the Commanding Officer at the Roswell Army Air Field announced the Army had recovered a flying disk. This morning, Brigadier General Ramey, oh and he’s Colonel Blanchard’s superior over in Fort Worth by the way, says that all they recovered was some battered balloon parts. I’m told he even held up a piece of metal shaped like a disc and said it was a radar reflector. I’m telling you, there’s a cover-up!

         Mac poked his head in the door and said, “Ralph, that announcer is full of it. I helped the Army recover that stuff, it was balloon debris. It’s happened on the ranch before, will probably happen again.”

         As Mac walked across the street to his car, he felt dizzy, and a little nauseous. He got in the car and sat back, his head resting on top of the seat, eyes closed.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~


         Mark said, “And that’s when I woke up and saw you. How long was I gone?”

         Ishmael replied, “You were gone maybe forty five seconds. Less perhaps.”

         “Wow, it was at least three to four days for me!”

         I know. Time isn’t the same when you’re out, is it? An associate did some checks on this Mac Brazel while you were telling the story. I guess weather balloons were found on the ranch just a few weeks before, and one other time much longer in the past. He was interviewed several other times after this incident, and during at least one interview, he firmly stated, ‘I am sure what I found was not any weather observation balloon.’”

         Ishmael continued speaking. “One thing puzzles me though. Why didn’t you tell the others what was going on? I mean you are here, and went back in time, so why didn’t you tell them what you know of this incident?”

         “Well, when I was there, I was Mac Brazel, I had no memory of being me. It was as if my persona was completely gone until I woke a little bit ago.”

         “I see. This is not what I was expecting in this project. Still, it’s an interesting turn of events.”

         “I guess. Plus, that would give some credence to what I experienced as Mac then, the visit to the alien mothership and seeing what I saw in the desert.”

         “Yes it would. Also, this event changed Mac’s life. He was placed in military custody for a week, and never mentioned what happened while he was there. After being in custody, he became very bitter and upset about discovering the rubble. He got to the point where he wouldn’t talk about finding the UFO. In fact, one person tried to talk to him as he was eating breakfast in that same café. Instead of answering, Mac got up and left without finishing his meal.” As Ishmael finished saying this, he looked over at Mark, and saw that Mark was gone once more. Ishmael worked quickly, adjusting the equipment to bring Mark back when the time was right.