The ice quickly freezes the entire tunnel with debris and other smaller sharks trapped inside. The yellow tentacle continues to drag from the shark’s teeth. Jupiter is very bright towards the left of the ship. Two small moons can be seen from a distance near Jupiter. The small Sun shines from the right side of Jupiter. Jaden is so happy to see Jupiter and the sunlight shining towards him. A small atmospheric pressure around the moon makes everything frozen around the UFO. The ship vibrates from the shark’s final silent groan as the temperature in space drops to -454°F. The vacuum of space sucks the air from the shark. The water begins to boil in the shark’s mouth. Oxygenated blood rushes to the dying animal’s brain as the body quickly freezes from the outside in as if it was floating through liquid nitrogen. The carbon-based animal is frozen solid and its insides expand around the ship, crushing it tighter.
‘Hasta la vista baby!’
A flash of light comes from the animal’s mouth and the ship quickly accelerates to 60,000 mph. The shark breaks off into thousands of frozen pieces, along with the flytrap animal and tentacle tongue. A strong feeling of relief and freedom comes over Jaden. The wings move closer and stop three feet from the body as they emit a bright yellow thrust.
‘Oh wow, I’m so happy to see this large colorful planet again. What an experience,’ he says cheerfully.
Feelings of remorse quickly come over him as he thinks about the shark dying that way, but it quickly leaves him as he feels that’s what it deserved. The ship changes direction to leave Jupiter’s orbit.
‘There goes the Galileo spaceship orbiter. I knew it was around here,’ Jaden says while zooming in towards it with a nanoscanner.
Jaden notices it is pointing towards him in the UFO. The antennas are pointing towards Earth’s direction. Jaden reads the insides of the orbiter: Welcome fellow aliens. We come in peace. Greetings from humans on Earth. Then there is a map and diagram of where Earth is. There are records and other things buried deep inside of it.
‘What a Catch-22, as soon as these curious aliens find this orbiter and reach Earth, the government will put them underground in Area 51. I see why aliens would want to come to Earth to attack us. Most of the time we encourage it or ask for it.’
Jaden can see the invisible radio waves being transmitted towards Earth. He suddenly remembers when the Orbiter left Earth’s orbit in 1991 it couldn’t fully open its high-gain antenna and it was forced to use the low-gain antenna. Two sets of nanoscanners get to work and enter the high-gain antenna that looks like a half opened golden umbrella. The nanoscanners quickly find the problem and dispatches nanobots to create artificial microscopic lubricants inside the deployment motors. The high-gain antenna fully opens like a golden umbrella. The nanobots go back into the nanoscanners and 134 kilobits a second of data transmits from the antenna at the speed of light.
The light engines charge and go online. Jaden smiles as he realizes he changed history and seriously helped MASA with its spaceship orbiter that couldn’t properly send pictures and data to Earth.
A much larger map comes on the screen.
‘This is radical! I can see millions and millions of stars. This is the Milky Way Galaxy.’
Jaden can zoom in and out to different parts of this large map and notices a line. The ship uses a little extra power to escape Jupiter’s powerful gravity forces. He zooms into where he is now.
‘The line points to the ship going into the…into the…’ he pauses and follows the line.
‘The sun?’ He asks. Just then, the UFO goes into light warp speed.
The ship races with the invisible radio waves streaming towards Earth. The solid line goes into the sun and then broken lines can be seen heading towards different stars. They end at the center of the galaxy. Jaden is puzzled. He looks around the screen. On the side of the map it reads: Galactic Bulge / Center Milky Way Galaxy 28,459 light-years.”
Then it reads underneath it: 35 Earth Months.
‘Thirty-five months?’ Jaden asks, ‘That is impossible. That doesn’t make any sense. Oh no, I’m going to be older.’
Jaden zooms out and he sees Andromeda Galaxy glowing. He zooms in on Andromeda and sees more solid lines leaving Andromeda’s Galactic Bulge center. The lines then point to a planet in the middle of Andromeda’s Galaxy. The planet is also spinning around its own star.
The UFO passes the Asteroid Belt and clears it, avoiding hitting anything. The UFO slows down out of warp between Mars and the Asteroid Belt. The nanoscanners are in front of the ship and around it. So many things are on the screens that Jaden is trying to understand. On one of them it says: Analyzing solar winds strength, Analyzing optic-warp point of subspace entry.
‘What the hell is all of this stuff?’ He asks.
‘Now I’m getting nervous.’
The UFO enters light speed again, but this time at maximum speed. The light engines are at 100%. The bright waves of light the UFO just created are in front of the ship and stay in sight. The ship’s speed reaches 185,900 mps as it heads directly towards the glowing sun.
Pentagon, Washington, D.c. 2:31 pm
“Sir, the LRSB just came back online eighteen minutes ago. It transmitted a signal from near one of Jupiter’s moons. Photos of the UFO08 just came in from the Galileo Orbiter. The high-gain antenna mysteriously began working. Using the Hubble, we can now see the UFO08’s light and wake traveling at the speed of light with a trajectory course to the sun. It should be passing Earth’s orbit around the sun in nine minutes. It should reach the sun in 16 minutes,” the first officer says.
“That is interesting. Look at that thing move. Maybe it’s going to destroy itself or blow up our sun. Who knows? We have a lot of explaining to do, there is going to be a big investigation from every agency on this planet. The Russians are asking questions. Anyone with a telescope can see this UFO08 flying around lighting up our solar system. We also had to delay the President’s worldwide speech about this event, until we see what this UFO08 is about to do now,” Dudley says.
Jaden stares at the bright yellow sun, not knowing what his fate is. He thinks that maybe landing on the sun is some kind of transporting method.
‘Man, this sucks. I hope I don’t die; I don’t like looking the sun in the eyes. I guess the ship is returning to the planet where it is originally from. Some 2 ½ million light-years away from here. I’ll be dead before getting to the third star from here. This sucks, I’m never going to see my mother, father, girlfriend or friends again. I’m going to die of old age traveling through space,’ he says in a panicked voice.
Jaden looks at his body again through the nanoeye. He sees his body glowing invisible and visible again as it sits in an embryonic cocooned state. His lifeless body is not breathing, but he can see and feel his heart slowly beating.
‘My body looks like I’m in a giant womb, hooked up to an artificial umbilical tentacle.’
The UFO passes Earth’s orbit in a blur of light. The ship starts to shake and rumble like turbulence on an airplane. The sun gets brighter and brighter. There are five nanoscanners hundreds of miles directly in front of the UFO. They begin to spin around in circles very fast creating a colorful rainbow spectrum of light. An arched trail of white light that resembles a quarter moon stretches from the wings to the tail on both sides. The UFO reaches 186,100 mps and more energy and light go into the UFO from in the area. The UFO passes the orbit of Venus. The ship continues on a straight path towards the sun, while just passing Mercury’s orbit.
Jaden’s vision through the nanoscanners in front of the ship is unviewable. They spin around creating a very small hole in space. He notices something flashing on the screen: Subspace Optic-warp path 98% stable.
The vision outside of the UFO is very bright, like high beams in his face. The temperature outside the UFO goes past 7000°F. Jaden goes into shock as he feels he is about to die, the sun getting so close is freaking him out.
The UFO reaches 186,
222 mps, its maximum speed. The UFO starts to rotate clockwise and goes semi-invisible. The purple molecule emits exotic infrared energy around the ship. The small quarter-sized circle resembles a hole. The blinding bright sunlight in front of Jaden allows him to focus on the completely dark hole that is slowing down towards the ship. Jaden thinks the hole must be some sort of pathway somewhere.
Everything seems to be happening in slow motion. The ship begins to glow very brightly as if it were using the sun’s rays and radiation as an energy source. The UFO reaches a few 100,000 miles from the sun. There is a bright flash of light as the ship goes faster than the speed of light. The spaceship breaks down into quadrillions of microscopic molecules as they quickly move through the nanoscanners’ circle. There is another bright explosion from both sides of the Sun’s surface as the subspace hole closes. Coronal filaments, loops of mass ejections, magnetic arcades, ultraviolet typhoons and x-ray hurricanes explode from the surface of the sun. Solar flares travel in all directions and towards the solar system.
Pentagon, Washington, D.C. 2:49 pm
People are running around the office very fast and phones are constantly ringing.
“Sir, the space station detected a powerful solar flare coming towards Earth in the next 5 minutes,” the first officer tells the General.
“Pardon my ignorance, but what is a solar flare?” He asks.
“Sir, a solar flare is high concentrated energy erupting from the sun’s surface and goes out through our solar system. Earth's magnetosphere field protects us from regular solar flares. But the powerful ones effect things on Earth like beepers, cell phones and satellite transmissions.”
“Thank you soldier, is there any trace of the UFO08 or signal from the LRSB?” The General asks.
“No sir.”
“Keep monitoring, I have a conference call with the chief of states and the resident.”
The first officer turns on the main television in the large room.
“This is Betty Miller live from BNN worldwide television. Something has happened in upstate New York today. Early this morning there were reports of the U.S. government chasing something in the area. People have been saying it was a UFO, but the government says an experimental jet fighter was stolen and the government was trying to shoot it down. They didn’t say if they were successful or not. The President is giving a public address in a few minutes; we will switch to that live. We will now switch to reporter Jerry Cuttings that is live in Middletown, New York at a local hospital.”
“Thank you Betty, there has been a rush to the emergency room like this one all over the northern states in America. Thousands of elderly people rushed the emergency rooms, as some had heart attacks and trouble breathing. This is due to the loud sounds that were coming from the U.S. Air Force jets flying at sonic speeds over land. The FAA approved flight at these speeds to shoot down an experimental government jet that was stolen. People have been panicking, going crazy and thinking we were being bombed or under attack. Many vets came to the hospital having flashbacks thinking they were still in a war.”
The reporter walks over to someone in a hospital bed.
“Sir, tell me what happened to you today? What did you hear?”
“I fought in the Vietnam War twenty-five years ago. I was driving down Main Street earlier today when everything went to hell. I heard a missile fired and loud booms that can be felt on the ground. I looked up and it was all happening above the clouds. I could see some Air Force jet fighters speeding across the sky as if it was an air show. People started to panic and I my heart started to race. I thought we were under attack. I know the sound of missiles being fired and jet fighters maneuvering in the air. I felt like I was in Vietnam all over again. I saw Vietnam jet fighters firing back. Everything was happening so fast and I couldn’t breathe. I got out of the car and collapsed on the ground. I began to crawl, holding my heart. People started to ask me if I was okay. I looked up at them and they looked like those Vietnamese bastards,” the grey-haired man says.
“Okay sir, I hope you feel better thank you for your time,” he says while pulling the microphone away.
The Vietnam vet grabs the microphone back. The startled reporter looks at the man with a look of confusion. Their eyes lock as a cold chill moves down the reporter’s back. The cameraman takes his eye from the eyepiece and looks at the reporter.
“I’m not finished talking,” the man says in an eerie voice. He continues, “I fought for this country twenty-five years ago and I can’t even get normal medical coverage! I can’t get a job, can’t get any respect and nobody cares about vets!”
The reporter takes back his microphone and walks away from the angry Vietnam vet, sitting by himself on a hospital bed.
“This is Jerry Cuttings, reporting live from Middletown, New York.”
“Thank you Jerry, seems like you made a new friend at the hospital. We now go live to Stillwater, New York where reporter Dennis Matthews is standing live in front of the alleged suspect’s house,” the news anchor says.
“Thank you Betty. Early this morning, government officials, men in white clothes, MASA and the FBI have been questioning a family outside this small town. It has been a complete circus here as the Marino family has been questioned throughout the day. The police and government officials are looking for this 19-year-old male named Jaden Marino for questioning about a missing government experimental aircraft missing early this morning. Here is a video earlier of the mother, Mrs. Marino being driven away in a black government truck,” Dennis says.
“Mrs. Marino do you know where your son is, or why you’re being asked to go with these men?”
“I don’t know where my son is, I don’t know what’s going on. Jaden come back home if you hear this,” Mrs. Marino yells while looking confused and being escorted away into a black SUV.
“That was earlier today, we have Major Robinson coming out of the house now. Major, can you tell us, how a 19-year-old teenager was able to steal a top-secret government experimental plane?” he asks in front of the other news reporting shoving their microphones into his face and flashing their cameras.
He stops and looks into the camera with a dead serious look. He takes a deep breath. Sgt. Peters stands behind the Major. Cameras continue to flash like a movie star is present. There is complete silence as Robinson clears his throat.
“I don’t know how he was able to steal a government’s aircraft at the time. Teenagers steal trains, cars, boats and airplanes all the time these days. He is wanted for questioning. It’s possible he might know the person who did it or could have had help,” he says as he looks at the news reporter in the eyes and not the camera.
“People in the area are saying there was a UFO involved and there are many witnesses,” the news reporter says.
“There was no UFO involved, our new experimental jets might look like a lot of things, but there was no UFO involved here today,” Robinson says.
“Why was the Air Force given clearance to break the sound barrier over residential land? That is illegal over residential land. Didn’t they know that would cause massive panics in the area?”
“That’s something you’ll have to ask the FAA and Pentagon. I don’t have time for anymore questions,” he pauses.
Major Robinson looks directly into the camera, “This teenager’s name is Jaden Marino. He is 5’9” 160 lbs, fair skin with blue eyes and curly hair. He is bi-racial and was last seen wearing a black and blue NY Giants jacket, blue jeans, and black Jordan sneakers. He is wanted in connection to this investigation. If anyone sees him, they should report him to their local police or FBI ASAP at 1-800-555-5FBI.”
Major Robinson walks away and Peters follows. They all yell out questions simultaneous.
“Okay sir. Well what now?” Peters asks
They walk into a black government truck and news cameras continue flashing pictures. They quickly drive off while other military SUV’s follow.
/> “Thank you, Dennis. This is BNN news and we have full coverage from today’s strange events. There were reports of three dozen Air Force jets and numerous missiles crashing and exploding around the area of lower Manhattan. Many just landed in the water without exploding. Witnesses report aircraft falling from the sky like rain by the Statue of Liberty today. The low clouds camouflaged the activities of what was happening above. There were dozens of military boats pulling jet fighters from the water all afternoon.”
“Four jets crashed into Staten Island, one hitting a house and another landing on a supermarket. There were reports of serious injuries there. Missiles landed in Bayonne destroying a business and a row of stores. Three aircraft crashed into different parts of west Brooklyn. One F-16 landed on a I.T. business building on 39th Street in Sunset Park, destroying a few back offices. Another one landed on the elevated BQE Expressway. The last one landed in a park off 76th Street in Bayridge. The rest crashed into the East River and Hudson River. Witnesses say the air fighters were falling towards the ground as if they ran out of gas. Other witnesses reported there was gunfire and missiles fired above the clouds. There were also reports of power going out in cars, streetlights and homes for hours in this area. There were many more complaints of loud booming sounds from New Jersey to Chicago. From Chicago to California a very loud explosion sound spread south and north of Interstate 80. People along this highway reported seeing tornados forming from the sky and clouds changing direction from east to west. An undetermined number of people were reported having ringing in their ears. North Korea has suspected the United States of shooting something into its airspace. They are in full tactical alert and are in defense mode.”
Peters and Robinson sit in the back of the black government SUV talking as they are driven towards a military airport.
“The Pentagon says the UFO08 flew out to Jupiter at the speed of light and then it flew right into the sun destroying itself. Isn’t that crazy sir?” Peters asks Robinson.
Robinson shakes his head and smokes a cigar.
“I wish I had a Cuban cigar, nothing like the taste of a Cuban cigar. They used to let us smoke Cuban cigars at Guantanamo Bay when I was in charge down there years ago. It was so nice playing by your own rules,” Robinson says while he zones out
Peters continue talking about the UFO incident in the background. Robinson pulls out a lighter and lights a cigar. He opens his window next to him. The smoky haze of smoke flies out the window as he exhales. Major Robinson is day dreaming back to when he was sitting on the beach, with his sandals on, giving out orders smoking his Cuban cigars. He thinks about the taste of those cigars compared to the Dominican cigars he is smoking now. Robinson continues to mumble to himself smoking his cigar.
“…the speed of light, sir. This isn’t fiction, or Star Trek or Star Wars; this is a real ship traveling around our solar system at that speed….” Peters continues to talk to himself.
“…the sand was so white, I was working, but I was on vacation…” Robinson says in a mumbling voice zoned out.
“If that kid is still alive, he would be the fastest flying human in the world!” Peters yells.
“… I want to retire on that beach, Peters...”
Peters is so excited, he doesn’t notice Robinson not listening to him.
Robinson continues with eyes in a daze, “I wish we could invade Cuba and kick out the dictators. Why can’t we put in a leader we choose, like we did for Haiti last year? America could greatly profit from the Cuban economy, the tax alone on those cigars….”
“The World Wide Web has pictures of the UFO and people are talking about it in chat rooms. Sir, are you listening to me?” Peters asks in a louder tone.
“Peters! What are you talking about? World Wide Web?” The Major asks.
“The Internet sir, it’s getting more popular every year. It’s going to be the new way of people communicating in the coming years.”
“I heard about that, I don’t believe it’s going to amount to anything. You’re wasting your time investing your paychecks in Yahoo and AOL stock. What the hell is a Yahoo? The government would control all of that in the future and control what is on the Internet.”
“I don’t know sir; private sectors are jumping to get online. I think Yahoo has a catchy name.”
“That damn UFO ruined my promotion. We have a lot of explaining to do this evening Peters.”
“I know sir, we can just tell the truth. We did our job as best we could.”
Peters turn on the medium-sized TV to BNN.
“I can’t believe military trucks have satellite TV in them. This is unbelievable.”
“Yeah it is, but soon every citizen will have something like this in their cars and trucks. I wish the government would come out with something then keep it for themselves. Citizens always get our past down technology. Peters! Turn that up.”
The television has scrambled signals as trees block the satellite’s signal. Peters increases the volume by using a remote control. Robinson taps his cigar on the top of the open window. The ashes blow into the wind with the white smoke. The picture then comes in clear and the volume is very loud. Peters quickly turns it down as Robinson gives him a serious look. He then focuses on the 10-inch television screen behind the driver’s armrest.
“… twelve people died, because of today’s freak events,” the news anchor pauses and listens to her earpiece.
“We will be going live in just two minutes, ladies and gentlemen for the President’s speech in Washington. We now have Sandra live in Ballston Spa, New York, as she has the suspect Jaden’s best friend in front of her. Sandra you’re live,” anchorwoman Betty says.
A few seconds goes by and Sandra talks into the camera.
“We are in front of a local autobody shop. I have suspect terrorist’s best friend James White in front of me. Mr. White is your friend a terrorist and do you know where he is?”
James is a chubby, Caucasian, teenage male that is wearing a backwards NY Jets football hat. He has a few freckles on his face and chubby cheeks. He stands at 5’8”, 215 lbs and has brown eyes. He talks into the camera with a smile on his face while the reporter puts the microphone under his mouth.
“My friend is no terrorist. He is nothing more than a pretty boy geek. I’ve been his best friend for the past ten years. Jaden where you at man? Stop hiding from the police and turn yourself in and clear your name,” the teenager yells while smiling into the camera.
Another teenager walks up and yells into the camera, “Jaden is sticking it to the man! Fight the power Jaden. Don’t give up! I’ll be at the pizza shop later playing Street Fighter Hyper edition!”
The teenager quickly runs away. The news reporter is caught off guard and looks startled.
James has a smile on his face as Sandra puts the microphone to her mouth.
“Do you believe what the government is saying that he stole or helped steal a government experimental plane?” She asks.
“No way! He can barely drive good, he doesn’t know how to fly a plane; he can barely beat me in Flight Simulator, Doom 2 or Mortal Kombat 2 arcade games. Come to think about it, I remember him telling me yesterday or the day before that he found a UFO….”
“Which day was it?” She asks.
“I have no idea, I was high at the time, I thought he was messing with me. That California ganja had me on cloud nine. I thought I was dreaming when he was telling me all that stuff over the phone.”
“Is there anything you want to tell your friend?”
James looks into the camera, “Jaden stop hiding out wherever you are, before you fall behind in your school work again. The government towed your car and people are looking for you. Your mother and father are worried sick. Your girlfriend Amy is also looking for you…”
An older hippy looking man runs up to the news reporter and James. He is out of breath and breathing hard. He sticks his head between them and grabs the microphone.
/> “The government is grabbing up dozens of people, man. Some kind of conspiracy is happening. They grabbing up anyone who saw the UFO. They tried to put me in a van, but I ran and jumped in my Jeep. I took the back roads, but I knew they were still somehow following me…” the hippy man says while his white smoke breath reflects against the bright lights of the camera.
Black vans with flashing lights in the fenders approach from each direction on the small business street.
“Shit! Here they come! The Area 51 pigs! Save yourself!”
The out of breath man runs and the cameraman follows him running down the street. James sees unmarked police vans coming down the streets, tosses his bags of weed on the ground under the news reporter’s feet, and takes a few steps back. The video is cut and back at the studio news anchorwoman Betty is looking into the camera with a serious face.
“We somehow lost that video feed. That was very interesting information we just received. Something odd is really happening all around New York today. We are going live to Washington, D.C., where President Clifford is giving a live speech to the entire world about today’s events.”
The BNN news channel switches to the President of the United States in Washington, D.C. The small auditorium is full of news reporters, cameras and bright lights.
“Good evening fellow Americans. Today was a day of long events. Today we were under attack by an unknown terrorist group. They stole a top-secret government plane and tried to use it against us. He or she was flying loose over New York and across the United States. We are not going to stand by while fellow Americans die and get hurt, due to a group of selfish people that don’t like what we stand for. It could have been an inside job, but a full investigation is on the way. I gave the Air Force permission to fly at sonic speeds today to take out this threat…”
People around the country are glued to their television screens.
“... I know there were thousands of Americans that didn’t know what was going on and are suffering headaches and ringing ears. However, we had to act fast. The top-secret plane was destroyed and we are looking for the few involved. The threat level has been raised and the threat has been taken out. Are there any questions?” President Clifford asks.
All the news reporters raise their hands at once. The President points at a reporter.
“Where is local news reporter Angela Clarke? Angela and her cameraman were investigating where this incident started early this morning in Stillwater, New York. Now they and a bunch of other people disappeared without a trace, where are they?” The older news reporter asks.
The President drinks some water and speaks, “I don’t know of any people missing, and I don’t know anything about the whereabouts of Angela Clarke. Maybe you should fill out a missing person report for her and those missing people in 24 hours,” he chuckles.
“We have proof the government is rounding citizens up in black vans,” the reporter shouts.
“Next question,” the President shouts.
The President points at the next reporter.
“How is a local teenager, Jaden Marino, involved in this missing government top-secret plane? He, his friends and family don’t have any connections to a terrorist organization. Is he considered a terrorist also?” A news reporter asks.
“I believe he was involved with an unknown terrorist group. Teenagers in college join many organizations and groups. This could have been one of them. You never know who might be crazy or a terrorist these days. There is also a chance he died in the plane crash when we shot down the stolen plane. If anyone sees him, turn him in. Next question,” the President says with a straight face.
A chubby, young, white man with glasses stands up, with photos in his hands.
“Good evening President, I’m Michael Morris. I have proof that there was no governmental experimental plane involved and there were no terrorists involved. That this experimental plane was actually a UFO you were trying to shoot down. This has cover-up written all over it. Here are the photos of this UFO being chased by the Air Force. There are also witnesses that saw this alien plane being fired at.”
The room is filled with people mumbling to themselves and flashing photos at Michael Morris. The President chuckles.
“Mr. Michael Morris, let me see those photos.”
A secret service man grabs the photos and takes them to the President on the podium.
“There’s no such thing as UFOs?” Mr. Morris asks in a laughing voice.
“Where did you make these photos up at?” The President asks.
“I didn’t make them up; they were photographed by a photographer in upstate New York, outside of Stillwater.”
“I can see the Air Force jets in the background, but that image looks like something that was made up. There are no such things as UFO’s. If there are witnesses that saw this UFO, they should call the FBI and tell them what they saw. They would be more than happy to investigate these findings. Next question.”
“I also have witnesses in Europe that reported seeing a UFO through their telescope flying at the speed of light in space….” he is interrupted by the President.
“Next question!” He yells, and then continues, “Does anyone have a question that doesn’t involve accusations of an imaginary UFO flying around?”
“Yes, you!”
Peters turns off the television as they reach a checkpoint to get into the military airport.
“That was crazy,” he says.
“That Michael Morris has always been a troublemaker. He put together this cover-up very fast. I’m sure him and his photos won’t be making it out of the White House tonight,” Major Robinson says.
“Sir, I’ve been to Area 51 recently in Nevada and went into some restricted areas over the years. I saw some things that were very puzzling. Did we actually land on the moon in 1969?” Peters asks.
Robinson looks up at the driver, suddenly looking up in his rearview mirror at him.
“Sergeant Peters, certain questions should never be bought up. If you see something puzzling it is good to keep it to yourself and use your imagination.”
The SUV stops 100 feet away from a military helicopter sitting by itself. The driver runs and opens the door for the Major. They get out of the vehicle and begin walking towards the helicopter. The driver walks in front of them.
“We don’t need an escort soldier,” Robinson says.
“Yes, sir.”
The driver walks back towards the SUV. Robinson and Peters walks together.
“I can tell you my logical opinion on the moon landing. The Russians were ahead of us in the late 1950’s in all aspects of space and rockets. We were trying to play catch up during the entire sixties. Here is a simple concept, if the Russians didn’t land a man on the moon or didn’t bother trying, I don’t think anyone made it to the moon,” Robinson says.
“That concept always puzzled me in the back of my mind. I didn’t want to think the possibilities were true. I remember reading the Russians never tried because they gave any human making it to the moon in the sixties, a 0.017% chance. One reason was the sun’s strong cosmic radiation was too powerful outside of Earth’s magnetosphere. Spacesuits would never be able to withstand that direct radiation on the moon. The flag waving as if there was an atmosphere present and perfect video footage behind huge spacesuits always bothered me over the years,” Peters says while they walk up to the helicopter and open the door.
They climb inside and sit down.
“You are a smart man, Peters,” he says with a smile on his face.
There is silence as the pilot walks towards the helicopter from a distance.
“My theory, Peters is, if you can’t beat them, make up something to prove that you did beat them. It’s all about having a strong hold on space and image is everything. America needed a confidence boost, since we failed to put the first man and first woman into space. We only launched two monkeys in 1959 and I’m sure the U.S. governm
ent wasn’t going to just have that on record. The Russians were the first to launch a rocket into the moon in 1959. Radio telescopes from several countries backed and verified the impact on the moon. What other country verified the United States landing on the moon in 1969?” Robinson asks.
“None. That was where I read about the 0.017%. The instruments on that rocket to the moon in 1959 helped the Russian scientists determine it wasn’t possible for them or anyone to land on the moon during that time. If it was possible, they would have done it already and I’m sure it would have been done in the early 60’s,” Peters responds excitedly.
“Exactly! Logically, if we landed on the moon in 1969, we would have landed on Mars in the 80’s and today we would be landing somewhere around Jupiter’s moons. The U.S. can barely go into space now without a disaster. I heard from a strong source, our next attempt to land on the moon would be around 2025. We are still developing powerful enough rockets to make it there and back safely and we are in 2000. We are developing nano-fiber materials with the Russians that can keep harmful cosmic radiation from penetrating spacesuits. Five hundred years from now humans are going to look back at the 1969 moon landing and ask how technology for the United States got worse. They had six flawless trips to the moon with primitive technology without anything going wrong. Then the next few decades, dozens of accidents and disasters just going into orbit….” Robinson stops himself to chuckle. The chuckle turns into a laugh as Peters joins in.
He coughs and clears his throat and continues with a smile, “That’s like scoring A’s on six advanced calculus tests then getting F’s on algebra and B’s in basic math. Then it takes you another fifty-six years to restudy and to attempt to get another A in advanced calculus.”
“Wow. That is an amazing metaphor and concept, sir. If this were high school, any logical teacher or principal would have thought the student cheated. It boggles the mind how gullible Americans can still be twenty-seven years later. I was well convinced though for years. I do agree with you that humans in the future would look back and eventually figure it out. It is mind boggling that eighty-nine percent of Americans believe we landed on the moon while over seventy percent of people in the U.K. and Asia think the opposite.”
“You gotta love the American government, with its secrets and techniques for covering up things and wanting to stay a super power in the world,” Robinson says.
“You know something Major, the Russians were so smart, they knew it wasn’t realistic putting a man on the moon so they put their energy into beating us again by putting the first space station into space in 1971.”
“My father was heavily into the space race in the sixties. He couldn’t figure out how MASA had a big fiery accident with the space program in 1968, and then the next year they had a flawless landing on the moon. He also used to talk about MASA scientists going to Antarctica to find meteors that landed from space in 1967. I miss my dad with his theories…. My dad used to say instead of two sides competing against each other, working together will take you twice as far,” Robinson says.
“The Cold War was not about working together. It’s interesting how the United States only landed on the moon when President Nixon was in office…..”
The pilot opens the door.
“Hello sirs!” He yells while saluting. Robinson and Peters salute back.
There is silence as the pilot puts on his headphones with a microphone.
There is silence until the pilot starts to talk into the radio for clearance to take off. Peters whispers to Robinson, “I think the moon landing video should have been impeached along with Nixon.”
They burst out laughing and Robinson’s face turns red as he coughs very loudly.
A minute passes by and they fasten their seat belts. The helicopter blades begin to slowly rotate.
Robinson and Peters put thick headphones over their ears.
“Just keep cool and tell the truth as to what happened when in Washington!” Robinson yells over the helicopter’s engine.
“OKAY SIR!”
The helicopter blades increase speed and make more noise. The helicopter takes off into the air.
“DO YOU THINK THE KID JADEN SURVIVED ALL OF THIS? DO YOU THINK HE IS STILL ALIVE SIR?”
“I DON’T THINK ANY HUMAN BEING CAN SURVIVE ALL THESE ORDEALS AND ESPECIALLY SURVIVE FLYING INTO THE SUN. THE SHIP IS DESTROYED AND SO IS HE!”
“I FEEL BAD FOR HIS PARENTS! THAT WAS THEIR SECOND SON THAT THEY LOST!” Peters continues, “I THINK THERE’S A CHANCE HE AND THE UFO08 CAN STILL BE ALIVE. THAT SHIP WAS VERY ADVANCED. IT’S PROBABLY TRAVELING THROUGH SPACE RIGHT NOW SOMEWHERE!” Peters yells.
“THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!”
“I BET YOU $100 IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF YEARS, WE WILL GET A SIGNAL FROM THE LRSB!” Peters yells.
“YOU GOT YOURSELF A BET, YOUNG SCI-FI, STAR TREK, AND STAR WARS FAN. I’LL GIVE YOU TILL THE YEAR 2000 THAT THERE WON’T BE A SIGNAL FROM THE LRSB!” Robinson yells while grinning.
They shake hands while looking into each other’s eyes while smiling.
Jaden’s mind has several flashbacks
Everything is blurry, Jaden suddenly sees himself sitting in his classroom from elementary school. He is drawing something on paper, while his teacher is teaching basic math.
‘I remember this and this teacher. That's Miss Hentinks! I'm in the third grade now, drawing the space shuttle Challenger. This must be around 1986.'
The teacher walked over to Jaden, "Why are you drawing, in my math class? Does this look like art class to you?" The class turned around and looked at Jaden.
"Sorry Miss Hentinks I wish I could have saved them. I did not want them to die. I don't like for people to get hurt or die. I want to be an astronaut one day."
A kid in the back of the room made a comment, "Jaden wants to be a superhero space monkey."
The entire class laughed. The bell rings and the teacher tells the class about the homework assignment, while young Jaden continued drawing.
"Space monkey, space monkey," the buck-toothed kid in the back of the room continues to shout. The bell sound fades away, so does the images he remembered.
A new image is forming, looking blurry and unclear. He hears a faint sound that he remembers that is getting louder and louder.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Jaden happy birthday to you."
An image appeared and Jaden sees his family and friends around him. He sees his birthday cake he remembers that it said Jaden 13 on top of it. His older brother is at his side cheering for him.
"Make a wish, little brother!" Douglas yelled.
Jaden smiled and was so happy. He blew out the candles. His father, mother, aunts and his friend James are around him. He missed a candle, so Jaden blows harder.
‘I remember wishing my family stayed together that year. I believe this was January 14, 1994. There was so much fighting between my parents that year. I miss my older brother so much.’
“Thirteen punches! Thirteen punches for Jaden!” Jaden’s best friend James yelled. James a chubby, white boy that has cake all over his mouth, punched Jaden’s arm thirteen times.
“Come on James, we are getting too old for the thirteen punches thing,” Jaden said.
“Yeah, but I figured we could keep doing this until we both have girlfriends or married,” James said.
James ran towards the backyard in the house with more cake in his hand. Jaden’s five years older brother Douglas walked over to him. Douglas a brown-eyed, ladies man with a smooth voice, placed his arm around Jaden. Douglas wore an Aerosmith sweater, winter coat and blue jeans.
“You know little brother you’re getting older and older each year. You’re going to have to look after mom soon, with pop working so much. How’s your karate class going?” He asked.
“They are going well I’m going to make
brown belt by next year. What do you mean; I’m going to have to look over mom soon?”
“I wanted to tell you first,” he paused and swallowed, “Listen younger brother, I’m going to joining the Marines when I turn 18 in June. I didn’t tell mom and dad yet.”
Light blue-eyed Jaden looked down at his ice cream birthday cake melting.
“The Marines? Why? Why can’t you just go to college? I don’t want you to go into the Marines,” teary-eyed Jaden said.
“Don’t worry Jaden, I’ll be back twice a year and I’ll have my own money for college. You know mom and dad are going through a financial situation now. I’ll definitely be back to take you to your first strip club when you turn 18.”
“Strip club? What’s in there?”
“When you’re 18, you’ll know all about it.”
“I don’t want you go Douglas,” young Jaden said.
“You’ll be okay, I want the chance to explore the world and do something with my life,” Douglas said.
Douglas walked to the backyard, by the apple tree while Jaden followed. Douglas pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and lights one.
“Douglas, why do you smoke cigarettes?”
“They relax me when I’m stressed and it’s something I’m used to. They are not for you though. Don’t smoke these, they are bad for you kid,” Douglas said.
Jaden admired the white smoke floating away into the air. Jaden hugged his older brother and looked him in the eyes.
“If I had your eyes Jaden, the women would be all over me.”
“What’s so good about blue eyes?”
“It’s something that women love and it creates a nice look for you. Us being bi-racial it’s also not that common. You got pop’s eyes, and I got mom’s eyes.”
Douglas took another pull of the cigarette and 4’8” Jaden hugged him quickly.
Douglas coughed up the smoke. “What are you doing little man?”
“Don’t go Douglas; I don’t want you to join the military. Please don’t go, don’t go, please don’t go,” Jaden said as the vision fades away into stars.
The UFO’s and Jaden’s molecules are traveling faster than light through subspace. Jaden is looking through a nanoscanner as it passes through a never-ending tunnel covered in light particles. He sees thousands of stars passing by all around him in different sizes. Everything is inverted like a negative filmstrip that is not developed. Then he sees many different inverted colors. It is very quiet as Jaden is flying through sub-space. The stars have a purple bright grey color.
His mind has another flashback.
February 10, 1999 Friday
Astronomy 101 class (first week)
“…astronomy goes way back to ancient times and became famous with the Egyptians. This was also a time where astronomy was also used in religion and used to explain the stars. It was used to help guide people from one location to another by using locations of the stars….”
‘I remember this class; this is when that crazy good looking girl was hitting on me. She had long black hair, hazel eyes and a pretty smile.’
Jaden sat in the back of the lecture hall, while he listened to the professor. There is an attractive girl sitting next to him, looking at him and smiling. She passed him a note. Jaden read it: “Hey cutie, what are your parents? My mom is white and my father is black. I like your eyes. Are you single? Write back, I’m Claudine,” the note read.
He turned to his left and looked at the attractive bi-racial female, smiling at him. Jaden replied and wrote on the same note.
“….We will be covering different areas of astronomy…. Procession of the equinoxes is the gradual shift in the orientation of Earth’s axis of rotation…” the professor continued.
Jaden whispered, “What is this, high school, with the note passing? I’m dating someone now and my parents are the opposite of your parents. I’m Jaden.”
“Hey, Jaden, nice to meet you. That is good, that you don’t have a girlfriend yet. I usually don’t come on to men, but I’ve been watching you all week and I’m attracted to bi-racial men,” Claudine whispered with her hand over her mouth.
“Well, I’m sure you will find another mixed man, somewhere on this community college campus, but I’m spoken for already,” Jaden said with his hand over his mouth.
“…Einstein’s theory of relativity states mass-energy equivalence E=mc2…” the professor continued to talk.
“There aren’t many mixed men on campus and there aren’t many good looking men that look as good as you. I think we would have good chemistry together,” she said with a huge smile.
“How would you know we would have good chemistry together? You barely know me. I also told you, I’m spoken for already.”
“…Einstein’s theory of special relativity states that an object cannot travel faster than light in a vacuum, unless the object had special shielding around it…”
“Yes, you are right, I barely know you. But I can sense good quality and chemistry in a man when I see it. If she isn’t your girlfriend then you aren’t legally off the market yet. Besides, I think we can make a nice baby together, if we got together. Our baby will come out with question mark features. My eyes, your eyes or our parents’ eyes. A spin on the chromosomes wheel of fortune…”
Jaden’s eyebrows drifted higher, as he was amazed with her crazy talk.
“...we could connect emotionally and physically on different levels, since we both understand each other from being bi-racial. I feel we are soul mates. Our parents would accept us as being together…”
The professor walked up the stairs in the lecture hall towards the back.
“…Black holes are…”
Jaden interrupted her, “Is this what you do with your parents’ money? Find the most attractive bi-racial man in college and calculate what a baby would look like with him. Then plan your future with him, before you know him?” he asked.
“My parents are loaded. I can have whatever I want. The way your eyes and face expression look now is such a turn on right now…”
“Are you on high on something? I think you need to find yourself another bi-racial experiment and you two should go on Jerry Springer.”
The professor approached between them and he focused on Jaden. The entire class turned their heads to watch.
“Excuse me young man, what is your name?” Dr. Samuels asked.
“I’m Jaden Marino.”
“I see you are having a private conversation in my lecture hall, I’m assuming you know everything I’m talking about,” the professor said.
“I know most of it, doctor,” Jaden replied.
“What is the galactic bulge and where is it?” He asked with this arms folded.
“The galactic bulge is located in the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Our entire galaxy, including our solar system spins around this center. Every galaxy has a galactic bulge. It is made out of trillions of suns and is 80,000 light-years in diameter…”
Jaden is interrupted and the professor tried to quickly ask a question he might not know.
“What will happen to you if you fall into a black hole and what is a black hole mostly made out of?”
“If you fall into it, the event horizon, which is the area outside the black hole, will pull you in and rip you apart. The singularity is where you would be crushed down into the size of an atom. From what we know, it is made out of a collapsed star. It contains gravitational energy, dark matter and dark energy.”
“Very good, Mr. Marino, I see you know something, everything was correct except the dark matter and dark energy, save the science fiction for Star Trek. There is no evidence that is what black holes are made of…”
“But how do you know or how can we know for sure it doesn’t?” Jaden asked while Claudine looked forward with a smile on her face.
“Son, my lectures are about proven science, astronomy and scientific facts in space. You can watch Voyager if you want to learn science fiction.
My lecture hall is not a place to rap to your neighbor for her digits. You can do that outside of my lecture classes. Now that we have spent a few minutes on Mr. Marino, can everyone please turn to page 30 in your textbooks….”
The professor walked away and Claudine passed Jaden another note. It read “I’m impressed, Bi-Einstein. We are having a party off campus next Sunday, you should come by. We are going to have a lot of liquor and bring a friend.”
There is a heart at the bottom of it.
February 20, 1999 Monday
Astronomy 101 class
Jaden remembers this day the following week. He went to that house party with James, the day before. The psycho Claudine girl got him drunk and was trying to rape him in the bathroom. He could never remember a female so aggressive towards him.
The professor gave another lecture in class, “…22% of the galaxy has been known to be made of dark matter and 74% is thought to consist of dark energy. It is very hard to detect, but we know it is out there. It is what scientists believe holds galaxies together. There is more dark energy and matter in our galaxy than other nearby galaxies. They are smaller than an atom and they pass through solar systems and us humans as I speak….”
Jaden had his right hand on the side of his head, holding his head up with sunglasses on. It looked as if he was reading his astronomy book, but he was dozing off. He was dreaming about the party he was at the night before, where he was trashed. The memory fades away.