Night Talk (18 page)

“Rohan was a good friend?”

“Rohan was an arrogant bastard, but way short of deserving to be thrown off his balcony. And putting the blame on me. How did you know I was going to Rohan's? Tapping into Mond? Did he know I was going there?”

“I tailed you. Apparently you don't always follow the CIA's instructions about being followed.”

“Too many cars on one of the world's busiest freeways. Besides, I'd never guess anyone would follow me in a little red convertible. Did you see anyone go into the apartment building besides me?”

“I never saw you or anyone else go in or out of the building. I drove by as you pulled over to park. I went around the corner and came back again a couple of times. Last time I went by the building a crowd had gathered.”

“It came down quickly. I wasn't inside long before the doorbell rang and Rohan shuffled me out the back. Whoever killed Rohan got in and out fast. How did you know I went out the back?”

“I spotted you walking on the street by accident. I was just trying to get out of the area. Do you think Rohan was killed by the NRO because he had a connection to Ethan?”

“I don't know. I hate to think one of our most important government agencies has gone rogue.”

“Agencies don't go bad,” she said, “but people in them sometimes do. The worst offenders are the ones who believe they can protect us better by cutting back on our freedoms. History shows that the intrusions they create today in the name of security often turn out to be used to oppress people in the future.”

“Intrusions by the government are a common theme by callers to my show. Invasions of our privacy in the name of security have become epidemic. Have you ever heard my show?”

“I started listening to your show after Ethan talked about it. It's obvious that many of your callers have unorthodox views. Some sound paranoid.”

“We just abandoned your friend's convertible, we're driving with evasive actions to avoid police and killers, we've tossed my phone chip in a sewer and your phone is operating off a cash-and-carry chip bought at a different store than where you purchased the phone. Sound a little paranoid?”

“No, I'm running from reality like you, but not because I think that little green men from Mars are following me.”

“Grays, not green. Aliens are most often described as gray by people who have encountered them, though they've been observed in many different shapes and colors. Dead Roswell aliens in forty-seven were described as gray and so were the live ones the Hills later saw.”

“The Hills?”

“Betty and Barney, back in 1961. They're not the first people to have an encounter with aliens, but they rate high in credibility. Both had good jobs, were active in their community and had no history of strange behavior. Betty was a social worker; Barney worked for the postal service. They were an unusual couple at the time only for one reason: they had an interracial marriage when it was not common—Betty was white, Barney was black. Both were active in civil rights causes as members of the NAACP and Barney was on a U.S. Civil Rights Commission board.

“They lived in New Hampshire on the coast and were on their way back from vacation through the isolated White Mountains region when they spotted a huge object descending toward them from the sky with bright lights. It hovered over them before landing. Barney used binoculars to spot entities that resembled humans but were short, grayish in color and had large heads.

“The Hills fled in their car but lost consciousness for what they thought was a brief moment but later realized they had covered thirty-five miles on the rural road. Neither of them could recall what happened during the lost time. Eventually, they went through hypnosis sessions in which they related being examined by the aliens in their ship. Samples of blood, hair, tissue, and nails, items we would describe today as DNA specimens, were taken from her by the aliens.”

“Any sex?”

“You'll be disappointed to learn there was no alien rape or freaky-looking babies. That only happens to Iowa farm girls in tabloid stories.”

“Sorry, I've seen too many movies and read way too many tabloids. So aliens are usually gray?”

“Most but not all. People have described contact and alien abduction incidents with humanoid creatures that are very tall, with light hair and pale skin, that are commonly called Nordics—”

“Like Scandinavians?”

“That's the analogy. Rohan wrote that the aliens who examined him were mostly covered by medical-type uniforms but he observed reptilian-like skin in small areas that were exposed.”

“These things came across the universe and they couldn't cover themselves well enough to keep captives from seeing their skin?”

“Rohan raised the same question. He said he was abducted during a university sleep-study program. He believed that a bit of fake reptilian skin was deliberately exposed, that the extraterrestrials weren't reptilian but wanted to leave the impression they were when they examined him.”

“Why?”

“To create confusion and a lack of credibility. So many different types of alien forms have been reported—grays, Nordics, reptilian, insectoid—that it creates confusion and doubt that people were really seeing them.”

“Do you believe Rohan? That he was abducted and examined during the university sleep study?”

“I don't disbelieve him. He said it happened. He was the only witness. The story he told was no stranger than many other tales of abduction. He had no reason to lie.”

“He made money writing about it.”

“That came later. First he made the accusation and suffered through the laugher and ridicule abduction claims always generate. I'm not judgmental about callers whose claims or ideas may seem outlandish to others—there are too many unexplained and unexplainable things happening. Many of my callers are seekers, reaching out, looking for answers and sometimes coming up with ones that others find bizarre.”

Ali said, “There are conspiracy theories about this and that, whether it's 9/11 or the JFK assassination or global warming. Even about the water we drink or the air we breathe. Why do you think there are so many theories? So much paranoia about what's happening in the world?”

“What you call paranoia, I call genuine concerns. Our government is not perfect; it spies on us and oftentimes it acts stupid. No business is perfect. Some feed us poisonous food, defective products and get together to jack up the price of gas and everything else they can manage to do. All of these things are done in secret. There may be many different situations that people see hidden meaning in, but there is a common denominator for most of it and that's suspicion of and distrust of the people who control us, those in our government and transnational business entities that have the economic clout of small nations and no aim except making money. To many of us it seems as if the strings are being pulled at a deeper level than what appears.”

“What do you believe in?”

“Keeping an open mind. Seeking the truth. Too often the truth is ignored. You usually have to dig deep and ask a lot of questions before you find it. Sometimes you just dig yourself deeper into the inexplicable. I have seen and heard so many things that were rejected because there was no quick and easy explanations for them that I don't automatically cast doubt on what happened.”

“Some people think aliens are in control of our government?”

“It's part of the general feeling of distrust I mentioned. And the fact that it seems obvious to many of us that the government is hiding alien contact that we believe has occurred. It raises questions that don't have easy answers. Is there something out there, something from that illimitable universe that has come here? There seems to be plenty of evidence that they've been around for a long time. So what are their motives? Enslave us and eat us like farm animals?”

“Did you have to say that?”

“Blame the movies. But the possibilities are endless and many not very pleasant. Maybe they'll destroy us so we can't infect the rest of the universe with whatever primitive instinct drives us to gruesome wars and unimaginable cruelty to each other. Or would they raise our level of understanding so we can communicate and interact with them?”

“I'll go for peaceful coexistence.”

“We don't know who they are, where they came from or what they really look like. We know they are operating in secret and have given no clue as to their intentions. We can surmise that they are far superior in terms of technology simply because they found us before we found them. The question of who's in control arises because it's pretty much a certainty that our government knows they are here but aren't revealing it. At this stage there are no easy answers, just a lot of unanswered questions.”

She asked, “If Ethan found something, why would he come to you?”

Greg thought for a moment. “He could have come to me for the exposure he needed to get the secrets publicized. But he never mentioned it and I wonder what his relationship with Rohan was. Obviously it got Rohan killed. I think Rohan was the person who Ethan passed the information to.”

She gave him a grave look. “Ethan told me he gave it to you.”

 

THE VALENTICH DISAPPEARANCE

Many mysterious disappearances have been investigated and ended up with conclusions that there was no known cause outside of the preternatural.

The disappearance of pilot Frederic Valentich in Australia in 1978 after he reported a large, otherworldly flying object hovering over his airplane with a green light is one that is mystifying.

Valentich flew out of Melbourne on a clear day to pick up friends at another location. En route he was recorded describing an encounter with a strange aircraft to Melbourne's air traffic control (FSU).

The following is taken from the official investigation report prepared by the Australian government investigators. The only changes made to the official report are those to make it easier to read. “PILOT” and “MELBOURNE” have been substituted for the initials used in the report. Grammatical errors have not been corrected.

PILOT
    
Melbourne
this is
Delta Sierra Juliet
is there any known traffic below five thousand

MELBOURNE
    No known traffic

PILOT
    I am seems (to) be a large aircraft below five thousand

MELBOURNE
    What type of aircraft is it

PILOT
    I cannot confirm it is four bright it seems to me like landing lights

MELBOURNE
    
Delta Sierra Juliet

PILOT
    
Melbourne
this (is)
Delta Sierra Juliet
the aircraft has just passed over me at least a thousand feet above

MELBOURNE
    Roger and it is a large aircraft confirm

PILOT
    Er unknown due to the speed it's traveling is there any air force aircraft in the vicinity

MELBOURNE
    No known aircraft in the vicinity

PILOT
    
Melbourne
it's approaching now from due east toward me

MELBOURNE
    
Delta Sierra Juliet
// open microphone for two seconds //

PILOT
    It seems to me that he's playing some sort of game he's flying over me two three times at a time at speeds I could not identify

MELBOURNE
    
Delta Sierra Juliet
roger what is your actual level

PILOT
    My level is four and a half thousand four five zero

MELBOURNE
    
Delta Sierra Juliet
and confirm you cannot identify the aircraft

PILOT
    Affirmative

MELBOURNE
    
Delta Sierra Juliet
roger standby

PILOT
    
Melbourne Delta Sierra Juliet
it's not an aircraft it is //open microphone for two seconds//

MELBOURNE
    
Delta Sierra Juliet Melbourne
can you describe the er aircraft

PILOT
    
Delta Sierra Juliet
as it's flying past it's a long shape //open microphone for three seconds// (cannot) identify more than (that has such speed) //open microphone for three seconds// before me right now
Melbourne

MELBOURNE
    
Delta Sierra Juliet
roger and how large would the er object be

PILOT
    
Delta Sierra Juliet Melbourne
it seems like it's stationary what I'm doing right now is orbiting and the thing is orbiting on top of me also it's got a green light and sort of metallic (like) it's all shiny (on) the outside

MELBOURNE
    
Delta Sierra Juliet

PILOT
    
Delta Sierra Juliet
//open microphone for five seconds// it's just vanished

MELBOURNE
    
Delta Sierra Juliet

PILOT
    
Melbourne
would you know what kind of aircraft I've got is it (a type) military aircraft

MELBOURNE
    
Delta Sierra Juliet
confirm the er aircraft just vanished

PILOT
    Say again

MELBOURNE
    
Delta Sierra Juliet
is the aircraft still with you

PILOT
    
Delta Sierra Juliet
(it's ah nor) //open microphone two seconds// (now) approaching from the southwest

MELBOURNE
    
Delta Sierra Juliet

PILOT
    
Delta Sierra Juliet
the engine is rough idling I've got it set at twenty-three twenty-four and the thing is (coughing)