“Now, if we could make some arrangements. The President has been thoughtful enough to have me flown directly to the main facility at Groom Lake. I would be grateful if you could meet me when I arrive. I will have my schedule sent to you over a secure line later this afternoon.”
“I see. And do you have a rough time frame for your visit?”
“Well general, it will be more than just a visit. I intend to stay and discuss the projects and their status. I want to come up to speed as quickly as possible,” Raymond said.
“Yes. Well, you know we are pushing some tight schedules. With the crash of one of our advanced prototype planes, it has put us in a time crunch,” he said.
“Is that the Su–11 crash?” the President interjected.
“Ah… should we be discussing that?” the general asked.
“By all means. Raymond has the same clearance as you. He is your immediate superior as of now. What you know, he should know as well,” the President replied.
He knew the general must be madder than a hornet’s nest hit with a stick.
“I see. Well, in that case, yes, the Su-11 crash. Mr. Eller, how long are you intending to stay?”
“I have no idea really. As long as it takes. The sooner we get started the quicker I will be out of your hair. Then I can come back to Washington and bumble around here for a while,” he said smiling.
“I didn’t mean that like it sounded,” the general said.
“No. I’m sure you didn’t. Besides, that’s water under the bridge. We need to move on to the more important things. I don’t have time for grudges General Devin. Life is too short and I have far too much to do.”
“Yes. I suppose we all do.”
“I will have my office get in touch just as soon as I work out the details and make sure everything is ready for a smooth transition.”
“Transition?”
“At my office general. Not at Groom Lake,” Raymond said.
“I understand. I’ll be looking forward to your arrival,” Devin replied.
When he hung up the President was smiling from ear to ear. His strange sense of humor had kicked in. As childish as it seemed, he enjoyed letting the general take it on the chin.
The solar system given the Flansteed designation number of 55Cnc is a mere forty-one light years from Earth. It is the closest solar system that resembles our own.
Cnc — D is in the Rho Cancri System and is the third planet from the sun. It can be located from earth by looking from the right ascension angle to east of the vernal equinox. The mass is four times greater than Jupiter's and is where the alien ‘J’, now at S-4, calls home.
It has only been in the past ten years that they have made direct contact with the base at Area–51. Rudimentary dialogue has slowly been developed but we still did not have the capacity to communicate effectively with them. Their alien sound patterns were simply impossible for humans to reproduce with any accuracy.
With the advance in computers we were now starting to make greater progress. It wasn’t just the language, but understanding the concepts behind the language, that was the greatest obstacle. It was like a two year old being taught the meaning of religion. The concept is beyond the comprehension of a two year old and many adults.
One of the many frustrating things was our inability to predict their arrival on earth. No matter how hard the scientists at S-4 tried, the concept of a scheduled time of arrival could never be conveyed. The concept of time simply was not the same in their world. A huge amount of money and resources had been poured into the project of communication but it was still in its infancy. It would take many more years, and billions of dollars, before a breakthrough could be achieved.
Almost immediately after the test firing of the BlackStar they arrived at Area–51. It was apparent from their demeanor, more than anything else, that something had disturbed them. When they had arrived in the past they usually wanted to touch and be near the humans. This time they were more reserved and did not come near like they usually did.
General Devin needed to find out what they knew and how they knew it. Dressed in a white gown and breathing mask, he was sitting beside ‘J’. Four of the aliens were standing behind J. They were probably communicating by telepathy from the looks of it. None of the strange sounds was being used. The general was going to try to use tape recordings of their language that had been pieced together.
He signaled the technician to ask "are your people upset?” J showed no comprehension. The other aliens were looking at him with their large black, unblinking eyes. It was unnerving. He tried again with a slightly different message ‘are your people angry?’ J stared with his unblinking eyes at the general and made a noise. The general quickly looked at the people behind him for a translation.
“Something like, ‘concern or distressed’ the technician replied.
“Why?” he asked ‘J’.
Again a series of noises, hissing, and clicking sounds.
“About machine or maybe mechanism”.
“On our planet?”
“Yes.”
