The Last Crusade (34 page)

“Sir, I can’t even guess. A rouge planet wouldn’t be reflecting light the way this does. A comet would reflect light, but it wouldn’t be moving at 0.9c. Sir, I don’t know what it could be. I’ve gone through the list of possibilities and it doesn’t match anything in the files.”

“Stay near your phone, I’ll most likely call you after I see your presentation. Use a lot of pictures and the map. Don’t use any formulas. Richard, one last question for now, please think it over very clearly before you respond. Could this be a ship?”

Three long silent minutes drag on, each minute feels like an hour. Richard swallows before answering,

“Sir, anything is possible.”

“Thank you. I’ll get back to you.”

“Yes, sir.”

Dennis presses the intercom,

“Mary, please ask security to come to my office. Richard is going to the SCIF.”

Security knocks on Dennis’ door.

“Come.”

“Sir, you called?”

“Yes, I want you to escort Richard to the secure SCIF, he isn’t to talk to anyone. He’s not to touch anything except his computer and notes. You will watch to make sure he doesn’t touch a phone. I want you to hold his cell, also,locate and hold hi
s
p
ersonal tablet or laptop. Don’t allow anyone except for me into the SCIF, this is classified Top Secret. He’s not to leave. If he needs to use the restroom, one of you escort him. He’s never to be out of your sight. Am I clear?”

“Yes, sir.” Answers the two confused security guards.

A moment after security escorts Richard out of Dennis’ office his secure phone rings.”

“Dennis, it’s the director, is Richard out of your office?”

Yes, sir. He’s on his way to the SCIF with security.”

“Dennis, what does your gut tell you, is this a real unicorn?”

“Sir, the maps show if it maintains its course, it’s going to intercept our orbit. We have no idea how it’s moving at 0.9c. I’m very concerned. Richard and the computer are correct; this doesn’t correspond to anything in our files. Sir, there’s one additional issue to consider, the light it's giving off is unnatural.”

“Pardon me?”

“Sir, whatever is causing the light isn’t something normally occurring in nature. The computer tried to analyze the light, it defined it as unknown and unnatural. If I'm not held to whatever I say, I’ll put forth a guess, sir, it’s only a guess without any facts.”

“Dennis, I promise I won’t hold it against you. What do you think we’re looking at?”

“Sir, first contact.”

“Dennis, today isn’t April 1st. I don’t have the time for jokes.”

“Sir, we’re looking at an object moving at 0.9c, it originated from a rocky world located in the Goldilocks zone of its star. We’ve already classified the planet as an Earth-like planet. The light being emitted is too bright to be something normally occurring in nature. The anomaly is on an intercept course with Earth. What else can it be? Its course doesn’t fit anything we’re familiar with. A comet orbits a star. A rouge planet wouldn’t be giving off such a light. Nothing we know of moves at 0.9c, hell, sir, we didn’t think it was possible for anything to move at that percent of C. Sir, remember Occam's razor, "when you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is, the better." Sir, if we rule out everything it can’t be, we’re left with a small number of things it can be. The most logical outcome is that what we’re seeing is a vehicle of some sort.”

“Oh my God! From a planet 41 light years away? How would they know we’re here?”

“We’ve been sending probes out for years, our radio and television signals have penetrated further into space than 55 Cancri. Maybe they heard us and are sending a probe to answer us.”

“My God! This could change everything! Make sure you check Richard’s presentation and get it to me ASAP.”

“Yes, sir.”

There’s a long pause on the phone.

“Dennis, can we trust Richard to keep his mouth closed?”

“Sir?”

“You heard me. Can he be trusted to maintain the secret?”

“I hope so.”

“Thank you. Please get me the presentation as quickly as possible.”

The NASA director looks at his calendar; he begins canceling every meeting scheduled for the day.
God, why did this have to happen while I’m director, the President is going to think I’m nuts, he may even fire me. He doesn’t like anyone bringing him bad news, especially since our ‘main function’ now is to make Muslims feel good about their contributions to US history
.
I
’m not sure he’ll believe this is really happening. He thinks we’re a waste of money. I know he’d fire us all if he thought he could get away with it. I think he’ll think I’m making this up to save NASA. If I somehow manage to convince him, this is real, which in itself is a long shot. I already know he’s going to ask what the aliens are going to look like. He’ll slap a TS label on the report and push it off to the next President. He won’t want his legacy to be covered in foul smelling shit about aliens or any threat to the planet. He’ll be afraid if the story leaks, there’ll be riots and worldwide unrest, ruining his place in history. Thank God the election is this year. I hope the new President is more open than the current one is to new ideas.

If this turns out to be a real first contact, the churches are going to go crazy. How are they going to answer the question how these aliens fit into their Bibles and Qurans? What a mess we’re going to have on our hands. Damn it, we have millions more questions than we have answers. Maybe I can quickly find a way to convince the President so he believes he will have to take quick action. To him, four years is forever, in space, it’s the blink of an eye.

Lifting the phone, he asks for the director of the Hubble group.

“Good morning Joseph, I would like you to retask Hubble.”

“Sorry, Mr. Director, no can do. Hubble is booked for another two years.”

“Joseph, this is a verified unicorn event. I need the Hubble to look at an area of space. I need it right now and by right now, LIKE NOW. I’m meeting with the President at 3. I need to have some preliminary images from Hubble by then.”

“Sir, do you have any idea what you’re ordering me to do? It’s a major event to change Hubble’s missions.”

“Joseph, would you rather me tell the President you refused to retask Hubble?”

“No sir, send me the coordinates you want Hubble to look at.”

“Check your email. I’ve already sent them. When your phone begins ringing off the hook, just tell them it’s direct order and they can contact me, of course, I won’t be answering my phone.”

“There’s a couple of universities that are going to be really pissed.”

“Remind them who gives them their grants. Promise them anything, just get Hubble to look at the coordinates I sent you. I need images to show the President.”

“Can you tell me what I’m looking for?”

“If it’s there, you’ll see it.”

“Great. I’ll get right on it.”
Damn it, the Director is sending me on a wild goose chase, I’m risking my career for an appointee who will be gone this time next year. Well, I guess I better break it to the staff.
Just what I need, more f-ing busy work.
Standing on a desk so everyone can see and hear him,

“May I have your attention? We have an urgent tasking order. We have been ordered to shift Hubble to look at a new set of coordinates. Before you begin objecting, I made all of your complaints known to the director. He told me, this is a Presidential order. We’re to move Hubble right now. The President wants a real-time download. The clock is ticking and we have a lot of work to do.”

“A real-time download? Do you have any idea how much bandwidth that’s going to eat up? We won’t be able to do anything else. The Hubble is booked for the next two years.”

“Just do it. Tell anyone who contacts you to take their objections up with the director.”

The staff grumbles in anger, yet they begin the task of shifting the Hubble space telescope to look in the area of 55 Cancri.

Two hours later an image begins appearing on the large monitor in the Hubble’s control room. Everyone stares at the first image wondering what’s so important they had to move the Hubble when someone in the back of the room yells out,

“What’s that dot of very bright light? It’s not in our files. It’s too bright to be a star.”

Joseph says,

“That must be what we’re looking for. Try to stabilize and zoom in on that image. Get as detailed an image as possible. That must be what we’re looking for.”

Everyone turns to their keyboards entering commands to the Hubble, which is sitting in space trying to follow all of its new requests.

Looking at the images Joseph sent, Dennis shakes his head. 
It has to be a ship, nothing natural can move at .9c. If it is a ship, why are they coming here? Are they coming in peace? Is the President going to believe in aliens? I’m sure, he’ll assume they’re coming with open arms welcoming us into some type of galactic union, he’ll love that. When my children ask me what I was doing when the question of, are we alone, was answered, I’ll be able to tell them, I was one of the first to see it. My God, it’s a God damn real unicorn. I never thought I’d ever live to see one. I’ll begin zipping the images sending them to D.C. I can’t believe it
.

End of the first chapter

Read the rest of the story Mid-Summer of 2016

Other books by the author available on Amazon Kindle:

37 Miles (Revised Edition)

37 Miles, Book 2, Patty’s Journey

My Story

A History Lesson (Short story)

2015 Second American Civil War, Book 1

2015 Second American Civil War, Book 2

2015 Second American Civil War, Book 3

2015 Second American Civil War, Book 4

2015 Second American Civil War, Book 5

By the Light of the Moon, Book 1

By the Light of the Moon, Book 2

By the Light of the Moon, Book 3

By the Light of the Moon, Book 4 (Coming late Summer 2016)

Christmas Eve

The Shelter, Book 1, The Beginning

The Shelter, Book 2, A Long Day’s Night

The Shelter, Book 3, The Aftermath

The Shelter, Book 4, The New World.

The Shelter, Book 5, War

The Shelter, Book 6, Revenge (Coming soon)

In the Year 2050, America’s Religious Civil War

In the Year 2050, Book 2, The World Burns, (Coming soon)

The Impeachment of President Obama

The First One Hundred Days (Coming soon)

Silent Death

The Third World War

We Knew They Were Coming (Coming, June 2016)

Feel free to contact me at [email protected] with any questions or comments.