Impossible Technology

Airman Thompson heard about pilots who were sighting strange objects or unidentified flying objects, but he had not had that experience himself until today. But there was one of those blips just below the left wing of the jet.

“Beau,” Tom ‘T-Bone’ Thompson radioed to his partner in the cockpit behind his, “do you see that?”

“Roger, I see it,” his wingman answered.

“Are you recording this on the radar deck,” T asked.

“It’s automatic, and it is running,” said Beau

“Let’s try to keep that blip in sight.”

“Roger that,” said Beau.

Their ‘target’ was a triangular-shaped object, that looked like the head of an arrow, or a pointer used on a projection screen in training. Maybe this was like the Tic Tac described in a classic sighting over the Pacific. This object was fast, even compared to a jet. It moved side-to-side like it was taking evasive action.

“Have you sent the radar to base yet,” asked T. “Are they getting this in real time.”

“No worries,” Beau answered, “this equipment is automatic, and my dials say it is working.”

They were just closing on the object when a green light shot from the back of it, if it had a back. At least it was the edge nearest to their jet. And then it just disappeared, no more blip. But they were flying over ocean with no land or base nearby.

“Did the thing go light speed or something,” T radioed to Beau.

“How could it have,” said Beau. “It was pointed down at the ocean, traveling away from space. If it went towards sky, we would have seen it change direction, wouldn’t we.”

“It’s a mystery, Beau, but we had better get back to base. I guess we’re in the club now with all the other suspects.”

They banked the jet and headed home. Beauregard ‘Beau’ Jackson and T-Bone had been a flight team since flight school. Both were married, but their wives were not on this base. The team was here temporarily for training updates on the new radar they had just tested out. Planes without the new AESA radar never saw the blips and ‘unidentifieds’ that were visible with this radar. As a test it was a great success. But it did not make the two men comfortable to know that these things were out there. What were they?

Someone had reported a close encounter in New Mexico with a vehicle traveling low overhead with an unfamiliar cluster of lights, red light in center surrounded by five green lights to make the shape of a cross.

T and Beau stopped by the coffee bar at HQ. They were talking back through what they had seen over the Atlantic, but were not coming up with any useful observations, only guesses. An E-1 stuck his head in the door and said that the CO wanted to see them. Ron “Space Oddity’ Bridges had earned his nickname from the David Bowie song but did not like to be reminded now that he had a desk job. He did still fly but did not get to do that as often as he would like. No one used his tag as he outranked them all.

“I’m sending your team to Washington, DC,” Bridges said after all the formalities were done, You two will be working with a special team trying to learn more about our visitors. We suspect this might be technology developed by another nation right here on earth, but even if these are alien visitors, we need to know what’s going on. Your orders are in your quarters. You won’t be here for dinner. I’m putting a lot of faith in you two. Don’t disappoint me. That’s all.”

“Yes sir,” T-Bone and Beau said in unison and snapped a salute.

When T-Bone and Beau reported to the designated room at the NSA in DC they found a group of E-5’s and E-6’s gathered around a long table in a conference room. They got some coffee and were invited to take a seat. The members introduced themselves as Hugh Stevens or Huge, Irving Manning or Irv, Tiffany Godfrey or Tiff, Josephine Alexander or Alex, Robert Jacobs or RJ and Jesus Del Ray or JD. These were analysts for the most part working on surveillance, spying, drone oversight, and instruments innovation. Nicknames were meant to save time by getting around military protocols on normal work days, but not in meetings.

“Someone or something is using technology way beyond anything the US military has. They have conquered new territory in aerospace engineering. The fact they that are so secretive about their presence suggests they don’t plan to share this technology with everyone. We need to find out more about these “blips”. They don’t all take the same shape. Some are described as Tic Tacs like the one Tom and Beau saw over the Atlantic. Some are described as a cube inside a sphere. One was long and linear, and one was cross-shaped, said Hugh, obviously the leader of the group.

“We are called the Tactical Surveillance Group (TSG) and we were just appointed recently to try to find out all we can about “blips,” Hugh continues. “I have been working with Irv to create a ‘tracker’ that we can attach to one or more of these technologically advanced objects. These things can stop and accelerate so quickly that it should kill a human pilot. Are they unmanned? Are they a type of drone? Or have they come up with a way to use these maneuvers and protect the humans inside? The problem is that we don’t know where to attach a tracker that would guarantee it would not be removed and left in some random location as a distraction.”

“Jesus and Robert will tell us what they have been up to after we have some lunch. We don’t leave our area; lunch is brought to us here. You will find a menu in your packet. Circle your lunch selections and the secretary will key it in. Thanks Matt. Our secretary is Matt Owens.”

Over lunch the talk was of families, where were their families posted, did T and Beau have children, some talk of ages and anecdotes. They all missed their families or their friends if they were single. Lunch segued back into meeting and Jesus and Robert were up.

Jesus spoke for the pair. “We have been working on a system to get more detailed information about our secret visitors. We have designed a camera that collects both spectroscopic data and close-up information about vehicle topography. We are hoping we will learn more about the red, green, and white lights people report seeing, and we will be taking some detailed photos of the surface features of these objects. This will tell us where we it might be best to plant a tracker.”

T and Beau exchanged a look and T gave Beau the raised eyebrow as if to say what have we gotten ourselves into. How much were they allowed to tell their wives?

Hugh had the conn again. “Tom, you are here because word is that you are a hot shot pilot. Beau you are here because you two are partners, but also because you have been in actual shooting situations and have a reputation as a sharp-shooting gunner. I imagine you can see where this is going. We are sending you up with that expensive camera equipment until you can target and ‘shoot’ the film we need to place our trackers. Then you will place the trackers on as many unidentified objects as you can. If we get that far we will decide what to do next. These two objectives may require several missions. Several may be an underestimate.”

“Tiffany and Josephine are on radar, and they fly our drones. If we can miniaturize the equipment to fit on a drone they will help with the surveillance. If not, they can help you locate blips to examine up close and personal. We don’t want to spook whoever is in control of these objects, because they might decide that it’s time to get aggressive.”

“Are you two up for this or do you want to be locked away in solitary until we find our answers,” said Hugh deadpan, but then he smiled and said, “sorry, that’s a really bad security joke. But this is a top-secret mission, and you are sworn not to reveal what the TSG is doing.”

“Not a problem,” said Tom, and Beau nodded in agreement. Our CO told us what we were in for, and we already agreed that we wanted in. We need to know all we can about these ufo’s now that we can see them. Were they out there all the time but our technology kept them from view, or are they a recent phenomenon? Facts are exactly what we need to protect America, and maybe the world. We’re excited to be here.”

At a signal from Hugh everyone stood and stretched and then did all the hand shaking and welcoming required. Tomorrow the team would fix the instruments in T and Beau’s jet and Beau would practice pointing and shooting. They would be in the air by next Monday.

The new equipment worked like a charm and soon some trackers were in place. But for some reason the radar could not pinpoint where the objects went. Did they leave the atmosphere? Did they converge on a base? If they did someone had technology that wiped their destination from available radar.

Next step was to try to track the signals from the air. T-Bone and Beau were on just such a mission when they disappeared.

Did they find where the objects were going, and they stay behind to spy? Or were they captured. What should they tell their families? The TSG was dedicated to finding the two men and inspired to stay with their mission. Now it was personal. When the plane Tom and Beau flew was discovered on an island in the Pacific it gave off a faint green light. No one was on board. TSG got back to work with heavy hearts.