I didn’t think it would happen as soon as it did, but it did! I got the call and a black unmarked SUV was parked outside my front door at six hundred hours! I had packed minimally and entered the federal government owned vehicle. The driver, wearing a dark suit and cap merely turned to see that the door had automatically closed and began driving. I didn’t even bother to make conversation as I’d done this drill before. We entered a discrete commercial terminal entrance, and I walked to a waiting charter flight. Parked on the tarmac, jet engine idling, was a Silver Learjet 60, and an officer in fatigues standing there at the entrance hatch.

We shook hands, “Lieutenant Jacobs here. Glad to have you aboard, Sir”  

“Thanks Lieutenant! Where are we headed this time?” I replied much more nonchalantly than usual being that this was now my fifth mission as a civilian to the Pentagon Chiefs of Staff.

“I’ll provide a short preparatory brief once we get airborne. Have a seat and relax. If you’d like a drink, I’d be happy to accommodate.” Lieutenant Jacobs offered.

“You don’t look like a stewardess,” I laughed.

Jacobs tossed a large envelope on my lap, “Take a look at that.”

We were probably at 450 knots and around 30,000 feet by the time I’d settled in and unloaded the contents. I was a bit uncomfortable in anticipation for what they were going to throw at me this time! A small stack of old glossies and some documents! I began scanning over them.

“We’ll be arriving at Holloman Air Base in New Mexico,” Jacobs announced as I reviewed what he handed me.

“Seems to be a popular resort territory,” I quipped.

“Not so much,” Jacobs grimaced. “We have a credibility problem with the present administration and we have to do some detective work. I don’t know what the hell you did, but you come highly recommended.”

I was going to tell him, but then there was that oath of secrecy that cropped up like a rattle snake in my path. Instead, I just said,” Maybe just people beating their gums,” as I gave him a knowing grin. I think he got the message.

“Project Twinkle, 1950. Was abandoned officially in about 2 years. Those green fireballs seen over sensitive installations like Los Alamos and White Sands,” the lieutenant muttered.

“Oh yeah, I read about that. Doctor Lincoln La Paz tracked the trajectory of those objects and pronounced that they were not meteors as was once thought, but they couldn’t decide and Project Twinkle was appropriated using grating cameras at an independent installation trying to get footage of them, supposedly, the project failed.” I replied.

You’re pretty well read,” Jacobs responded thoughtfully.

“So, why are we investigating a facility that I assume was abandoned and hasn’t been repurposed for more than 70 years ago?” I asked.

“Well, with the recent UAP sightings by F-18 Hornet Navy pilots off the coast of Southern California, a Russian Fox Hound in super high altitude locking onto to a UFO and getting gun camera footage, while we have seasoned military intelligence agents giving testimony on Capitol Hill, you might say that high command is getting nervous about getting caught covering anything up. So, you might say we’re on a cover your ass mission!” Jacobs blew out a sigh.

“So, I take it, there’s a paper trail, and we need to get in front of this thing first before the media gets a hold of it,” I reasoned.

“You got it! Now how about that drink?” Jacobs offered.

“Fine with me. A little early, but what the hell.”

“We’ll be there in about 3 hours so relax and review that material. How about a rum and ginger ale,” Jacobs asked as he handed me a drink with a napkin attached to it.

“You must have found out more about me then I thought,” I grinned knowingly.

“Well, you know how background checks go,” the Lieutenant grinned.

“Who are you working for, Jacobs?”

“Air Force Intelligence,” he replied.

“Makes sense,” I said as we hit some turbulence that rocked the Learjet 60.

Three hours later the Learjet landed on the Holloman Air Base tarmac! I’d had two drinks and dozed off after looking over everything in the envelope I’d been handed. Jacobs was wide awake. “We’re here!”

“Wonderful,” I snorted.

Colonel Nash stood in the hallway as we strolled through armed guards and security. The floors were well waxed and buffed to quite a sheen. The facility was cold and efficient as could be expected. “You look kind of beat.”

“Sorry, I snoozed on the flight.”

“Here, take one of these,” The Colonel offered.

“Is that one of those 72-hour combat time released amphetamines the troops get?” I asked.

“No, it’s an herbal tonic of guarana, caffeine, and B-Vitamin complex. We need you sharp and productive, Sir.”

“In that case, I’ll take it,” I replied.

“Lieutenant Jacobs has the GPS coordinates and will be taking you to the site in one of our staff cars. You’ll have all the gear you need. You’ll be our legal and technical witness concerning anything of intelligence value you find. Report back to me ASAP!”

“Aye Sir!” Jacobs snapped to attention and saluted, but I was just the civilian contractor. No salute was necessary!

We drove out through the New Mexico high desert. The October weather dampened the dry heat that bleached the arid landscape that we drove over. This must have been a pretty big deal as we were given the Colonel’s Cadillac SUV to drive! That raised my threat level over what we were about to encounter. I could feel the tension rising as we approached our destination coming close to Vance, New Mexico city limits, but these towns tend to have a lot of undeveloped area and there was nothing here but Saguaro Cactus and tumbleweeds besides the gypsum powdery desert floor that looked like sand but was really something else.

Jacobs checked his locator one more time and we arrived right on top of what looked like an ancient clearing with the peculiar flat-topped pyramid with a long length of blacked out windows across the front. Tumble weeds had piled around the structure and it definitely looked inactive and unused for decades. It seemed very eerie. “We have just arrived at Project Twinkle HQ!” Jacobs announced.

He walked over a slight depress in the ground and uncovered what appeared to be some type of locking mechanism. He produced a thick metal bar that he inserted and a trembling noise came from under the ground! A hatch emerged from the sandy floor and opened. I was a bit amazed but merely nodded as the Lieutenant motioned for me to enter. We climbed down a metal ladder and into darkness! Cobwebs fluttered as we made our way down. “Don’t worry. There’s an electrical switch down here He produced a pocket flashlight and scanned around the darkened bunker. His small beam centered on a heavy electrical throw switch that looked as if it belonged in a power station. Gabbing the handle and throwing it down Jacobs said, “All these old facilities are powered by huge diesel generators! They last forever!”

With a loud whine, the lights came on surprisingly and the dreary surroundings were revealed. Concrete walls, dusty control panels that had been gutted, some old swivel chairs, and the grating cameras poised at the blacked-out windows with their dusty lenses. It appeared like something out of some dark science fiction movie. We began rummaging through files, junk, cobwebs, and then I found a couple of film canisters that were heavy and definitely containing celluloid! We hit the jack pot! This had to be the prize they were worried about! Now all we needed was a projector!

As I cleaned off the film canisters, The Lieutenant rolled out an old projector from a storage room, “Looks to me like when they shut this operation down, they left in a hurry and all this stuff was never retrieved!” He explained as he pushed the black metal instrument in front of a blank wall. “We don’t have a screen but this’ll do,” he said.

I wondered if the film would actually be still intact after all these years, but when I opened the cans there was a hiss that indicated they had been vacuum sealed which would have preserved them! Now I was very curious and seeing that Jacobs was amenable to seeing what was on the film, we pressed on.

“From the looks of it, I’d say there’s two hours’ worth of viewing material between these two rolls of film,” I advised.

“I can hardly wait,” The Lieutenant replied. “I want to see this shit myself.”

Jacobs fed the tape into the projector after plugging it in. “Amazing that they never repurposed this facility into something else,” I remarked.

“You wouldn’t believe how much of shit like this gets wasted! The taxpayer would be pissed if they knew!” Jacobs laughed as he flicked on the machine and it sputtered into life. The projector rattled but clearly showed the images once I cleaned off the lens. Streams of dust like cigarette smoke clung in the air in front of the wall we were using as a screen but the images came to life.

The first segment appeared to be airmen clustered around instrument panels taking readings! Then all of a sudden there were the green fireballs! Flying right overhead, glowing in the night sky! It was amazing to watch. In a way they looked like God’s Roman candles! Apparently, this was a lot of pieced together visual evidence! Next a squadron of old fighter jets were taking off down the runway. Must have been Holloman Air Base! Then as we watched there were more amazing visuals! Disk shaped orbs of light dancing across the night sky as a spotlight illuminated them! “Why the hell did they say that the project was a failure then?” I asked.

“This was a classified project! They thought they were keeping the public from going into hysterics, I guess,” The lieutenant replied fixated on the film images.

All this and we were only about 20 minutes into the first film canister! Once again we saw jet interceptors being launched. They looked like F-86’s. Then there was gun camera footage showing glowing objects shaped like classic domed saucers! There was gunfire as the pilot was apparently ordered to fire on the UFO! Even though the machine gun tracers revealed that the unknown vessel was struck, it seemed there was no effect on it. Seconds later, it appeared the same F-86 involved in the pursuit had crashed and was a burning pile of metal! This was shocking! Still another instance of another attempted interception by another F-86 pilot! Once again, streams of 50 caliber fire converged on the alien object with no effect! This time camera footage of the jet fighter spiraling down to the earth, smoke trailing from the aircraft, but no parachute opening! The pilot had not safely ejected!

“Damn!” Jacobs uttered, “No, wonder they wanted this shit covered up!”

“We’ve been lied to for decades according to what we’re seeing on this film!” I replied.

That concluded the first canister of film. I have to admit that it shook me up! This meant that the US Air Force was outmatched by an unknown threat in the very middle of the “Cold War” with Russia. This was diabolical! In a way I didn’t want to see anymore, but at the same time it was fascinating! No wonder the Pentagon was so concerned about what had been possibly retrievable in this abandoned facility, but what was I here for? They could have just ordered their airmen over to the site, but then I started to see the logic. The more personnel, the more possibility of unwanted leaks. This way, with me, they had a captive witness, who was at their beck and call, and that was me!

“This is some disturbing shit,” Lieutenant Jacobs admitted. “Ready for the second tape?”

I sighed and nodded, as one again the clatter of the old projector echoed through the odd facility we sat in. In this first clip an Air Force airmen was seated at a theodolite, a tracking device that spun around on a gimbal and followed the direction of a missile or other airborne target. It appeared this was taken at White Sands Missile Range. The camera panned skyward to follow the flightpath of several white disks traveling at high rates of speed! Once again combat jets attempted to chase, but could not catch the unknowns. Their silvery, aluminum glint from their fuselages glimmering in the atmosphere. These appeared to be F-84’s that had attempted the chase! Next, were the test firings of the US Navy Talos Surface to Air Missiles along with the US Navy Terrier and finally the Hercules Ajax Nike Missiles. Were they aimed at UAP’s? I couldn’t tell. The camera was not directed skyward at any targets.

“Do you know what happened to Naval Commander R.B. McLaughlin when he admitted to Life Magazine that he’d observed unknown objects hovering over the White Sands base and that they were not of US military manufacture?” I asked the Lieutenant.

“He was assigned to arctic patrol after being withdrawn from White Sands command!”

“Damn! He bit the big one didn’t he?” Jacobs laughed. “You sure seem to know a lot about military and UFO history.”

“One of the reasons I’m working as a civilian consultant for the Joint Chiefs,” I replied.

“Well it seems they chose the right man,” Lieutenant Jacobs admitted.

“Sometimes I wonder,” I admitted.

There were now films of crashed UAP vehicles! Small alien bodies being picked up by airmen and being placed on stretchers! This was incredible, but also disturbing! Suddenly the projector come to an abrupt stop. Jacobs had shut it down. “I don’t know about you, but I could use a break. I say we go up to the surface and get some water bottles! I’m thirsty and in a state of shock! I never in my life thought I’d see this stuff!”

“Okay.”

We both climbed the ladder out of there to bring us to the Colonel’s SUV to grab some water, when something strange happened! I climbed up first, but didn’t see the Cadillac SUV! I watched as Jacobs climbed out. “Where the hell is the staff car?” I screamed!

“Jesus! Look!” The Lieutenant pointed to two silvery cloaked figures standing about 30 yards from us. The typical small gray aliens with their enlarged heads and insect-like eyes! I gasped and Jacobs reached for his sidearm! “Don’t shoot! At least, not right now!” I advised.

Jacobs seemed to go into a trance, no longer speaking or even moving! All I could do was remain calm and wonder what they wanted! Suddenly, a voice came into my head! It was from the two entities! “You were never intended to obtain the truth. The powers that be don’t want it released. You will become their pawn!”

My thoughts were immediately read, and the telepathic voice spoke again, “Your race attacked us unprovoked simply because they did not understand our motives. Unfortunately, some of your people died in attempts to destroy our vehicles. We did not intend for this.”

“Why are you here now over incidents that happened so long ago?” I thought without moving my lips.

“You measure time differently than we do. We experience non-linear time. Your Einstein was right, time and space are as one, but still you cannot comprehend this. One thing you must take back to your superiors! End you nuclear developments and testing! Each detonation affects not only your realm but other dimensions you cannot imagine!”

“They won’t believe me! They’ll think I’m crazy!” I projected!

“They will believe you when we leave something for you to take back to your airbase!”

“Where is our vehicle and what have you done to the Lieutenant?” I asked.

“We merely erased the presence of your vehicle from you minds. There it is!”

Suddenly, the staff car appeared. I was astonished.

“Your Lieutenant will be fine. We simply put him to sleep so no violence would happen with his weapon. You must gather your evidence from below and leave, but first you will find an instrument inside your vehicle that they will know does not come from your world, and this will exonerate you from any of their doubts!”

With that the two entities vanished as though they were never there. I was dazed but still coherent. Lieutenant Jacobs snapped out of it and mumbled, “Man, am I thirsty!”

“Do you remember being zapped by aliens the disappearance of the staff car?” I asked.

“No, what are you saying?” Jacobs frowned.

“Let’s get that water you need,” I muttered as I rushed to get into the SUV and see what the aliens had left.

I had to explain to the lieutenant what had happened, what had been communicated to me, and that we had a surprise in the staff car! In the backseat sat a half sphere of what looked like a geode, it had a rough crystalline exterior with a smooth polished facing that though looking like dense mineral rock, was incredibly light when handled. I touched the surface and a holographic image rose into the air and colors splashed on the surface where my fingers touched. This device was biologically interactive! Jacobs stared at it in awe as he guzzled from water bottle in amazement.

“Think they’ll believe me now!” I glanced at him.

“For sure. For sure!” Jacobs blurted as he stared at the bizarre object.

We descended back down into the old Project Twinkle bunker, grabbed the film canisters, and some other files and piled into the Colonel’s SUV. By then it was becoming sunset and a fiery orange blaze of sundown brush strokes painted the horizon with the coming of night! We got out of their fast! “What the hell do you think that thing is?” Jacob asked as he drove and stared at it intermittently.

“Keep your eyes on the road!” I warned. “The alien entity told me it would prove to the skeptics that what we saw was real!”

It was dark when we entered the guard gates at Holloman Air Force Base. When we strolled down the halls pulling a small wagon full of evidence, the Colonel’s eyes bulged! “What in the hell have you brought back?” He shouted in disbelief. “Into my office quickly!”

“What in God’s green earth have you got here?” Colonel Nash frowned as he held the enigmatic instrument in his hands, spellbound like a child holding a crystal ball.

“This is from another world, Colonel,” I replied calmly.

“It sure as hell looks that way!” He gasped.

I proceeded to tell the Colonel everything that had happened as Jacobs nodded in agreement.

“I’m going to have to have you two debriefed by the base intelligence officers. I know you’re tired and been through a lot, but this is the process for a scenario like this. What you have here is tremendous!”

Hours passed as the Lieutenant and I were interviewed, taped, and questioned. I was finally exhausted as was Jacobs. We were led to the mess hall for some food and then shown our quarters for the night. In the morning we were greeted by a Major Melbourne who was the Colonel’s assistant. He told us what would come next and we were both given an oath of secrecy to sign. This non-disclosure agreement left a bad taste in my mouth and I told the Major straight up!

“After all we’ve been through and produced in rich evidence and now we’re to keep this under wraps? When are the people going to be told the damn truth?” I demanded!

I can understand your predicament,” Major Melbourne replied sympathetically. “You’ve been of great service to your country. The public cannot be expected to handle this much to swallow at one time. These details will be released in smaller digestible amounts. I’m sure you can appreciate the need for responsible need to know disclosure.”

“Sure, Major, anything you say,” I hissed feeling like I’d been stabbed in the back. “Over what amount of time? The next 20 years?”

“That will be determined by US Air Force Intelligence and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gentlemen,” the Major replied like the well trained intermediary he was.

On the flight back as we cruised into the stratosphere at five hundred nautical miles an hour against a head wind, Jacobs sat next to me sensing I was till perturbed over the way everything was handled. “Look, what you did was extraordinary. You have one hell of a lot of feathers in your cap! You are the goat, buddy! Now I know why you were so highly recommended.”

“Yeah, well it sure doesn’t feel that way. I feel like we’re just part of the stonewalling machine, and once again the public may never know!” I muttered.

“They’ll know sooner or later, the truth will come out! You really came though!”

“Give yourself some credit. You were there too.”

“I was just following orders to assist you, and now I don’t know whether to be grateful for this experience or to try and forget that it ever happened,” The Lieutenant responded.

“You just make sure not to say a word of this to anyone, not your wife, your girlfriend, your family, your best friends, you’re under an oath of secrecy now. Don’t forget it!” I warned him. I liked this guy and didn’t want to see him get hurt.

Jacobs gave me a smile, “Now how about that drink?”

“Oh, why the hell not?” I replied as the earth passed from underneath us, and we soared through the thin icy air.

The END