Chapter 6

Chapter Six





Jerry Baines was a crazy old coot. The whole thing was absolutely preposterous. Ridiculous. There had been a thousand outrageous stories just like his; each one of them unsupported with cold hard facts. The diary and the mysterious object were compelling enough, but not beyond reasonable doubt. Then why did she believe this one? She tried to resist; it's not possible… It just couldn't be true. The specter of Glenn Stratton being a party to the grandest conspiracy of them all was more than she could entertain. She hated the old man for what he had done.

She slumped back in her bed; her eyes riveted on a shadowless ceiling. Sleep eluded her. Dark, delirious thoughts raced through her jaded mind. Her world had been turned upside down by this peculiar old man. She sighed; how could things ever be the same?

She stared at her phone for a long time before finally picking it up. She opened the cover of the journal and found the number Jerry Baines had penciled in. Slowly, deliberately she punched in the number and waited as it rang repeatedly. Part of her was glad no one was picking it up; she despised confrontation. Jerry Baines had to be confronted. He deserved a piece of her anger. He had lied to her. But even worse was the possibility that it was true. It was eating her up inside

Just as she pulled the phone from her ear she heard his voice. "Julia? Is that you?"

She put the phone to her ear and with a shallow breath said, "yes, yes it’s me, Mr. Baines."

"Julia, is everything all right?"

"No, actually, everything is not all right." Righteous indignation building with every word.

"I thought you might be calling." Baines said calmly, his soothing voice taking the chill from the air between them. "If you’re upset with me I understand. Before you condemn me… may I have my say?"

She sighed. Nothing he could say would make it any worse. "Go ahead, have your say."
 
"Thank you… By now you realize that I knew Glenn Stratton Jr. was the son of my father’s mate at the Roswell Army Air Base back in '47. I had a good reason not come right out and tell you. I was telling the absolute truth when I told you I don’t actually know Mr. Stratton, we've never met in person." He paused, letting the tension expire between them "Would you have believed me if I came right and told you that your boss, your friend, was part of this conspiracy?" There was silence, he could feel her shoulders slump through the phone. "I had to let you discover it on your own. You were going to need time to think things over. I knew you would pick up the phone and call me when you were ready."

"No, you're right, I wouldn’t have believed you. And I'm not saying I believe you now. I don't really know you - why should I trust you? Glenn has been like a father to me, he's been my friend for two years. For all I know this is a dirty trick and Glenn knows nothing about Roswell.

"The evidence doesn’t support it."

"Evidence?"

"Shortly after the Roswell incident Glenn Sr. went to work for a newly formed agency in the Truman White House. President Truman wanted to keep the lid on the crash because he, like everyone else, thought it was a Soviet plot. He wanted to spare the public the anxiety. After Truman left office the agency took on a life of it’s own. It was the forerunner to today’s NSA. Glenn Jr. worked in the military liaison office to the NSA throughout the rest of his military career. He still has close associations with the agency. I trust you are well aware of his frequent trips to Washington. It's unlikely to be a coincidence."

Julia felt her heart sinking in her chest. She was rapidly losing all hope. Still, there was something about this whole affair that bothered her immensely. "Let me ask you something… If you are so convinced that Glenn is part of this conspiracy then why are you funding him and S.E.T.I.?"

"Because we want the same thing."

"What? What does that mean? You want the same thing?"

"The Global Array," Baines replied tonelessly.

A switch was tripped in her head. Yes, of course, the Global Array was the key to it all! She remembered how upset Glenn had been when a previous administration pulled the plug on the funding. He knew it was mankind’s last best hope to unraveling the mystery of the UFO’s. For Baines, the answer meant the Roswell incident would be exposed to the light of truth and he would finally have peace in his old age. "So, it was you who kept the project alive before the Cole administration restored funding, wasn’t it?"

Baines nodded, his eyes brightened. "Yes it was. There were many, many others with me, to be sure. Together we raised eight hundred and fifty million dollars. No small feat I can assure you considering the forces aligned against it." He was clearly proud of the fact. "Glenn Stratton and I want the same thing but for very different reasons. It doesn’t necessarily mean we are enemies, it just means we have different priorities. His job is to provide the NSA with the answers and mine is to expose the governments complicity in the murder of my family."

As much as she wanted to she could not remain angry with him. He tried to protect her, and she wanted to resent him for that but couldn’t. "Is there anything else I should know? Anything you haven’t told me?"

Baines laughed. "Well, I suppose I had that coming. No. I’ve taken this as far as I can. The rest is up to you, my dear. It’s time we resolve this sorted affair, and you’re just the person to do it. I can only repeat what I said to you earlier: be careful. These guys play for keeps… Now listen, I want you to call me anytime you feel the need. This number is reserved for you and you alone. I personally will answer it no matter where I am or what I’m doing. Will you do that for me?"

"Yes, Mr. Baines, I will."

"It’s Jerry to you."

"All right, Jerry. Goodbye."
 
She laid phone down and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

She was standing in the jungle surrounded by strange trees she had never seen before. They had multiple trunks that twisted around themselves as they raced skyward. They reminded her of when her mother used to braid her long black hair. There was a small boy and a man walking in front of her. She did not know either of them yet the man seemed strangely familiar. They treated her presence with a nonchalance that suggested a connection between them. Above the crunch of their footsteps on the forest floor, she heard a ringing sound.

The boy suddenly came up with a tiny snake in his hands and showed it to the man. As the man began to explain that the snake would one day grow big enough to swallow him whole the ringing grew louder. The boy continued to play with the snake as the man went about inspecting tiny saplings of the same variety as the giant twisted trees that towered over them. He called the boy over but she could not hear what was said because the ringing had become intense. The boy laid the snake down at the base of the tree and looked to her for approval but ringing had become overwhelming. She screamed...
Julia sat bolt upright in bed. The phone was blaring at her with the impatience of an overdue alarm clock. She rubbed her eyes trying to focus on the clock sitting on the nightstand. It was ten to four in the morning. Who could be calling at this hour? She let it ring a few more times before deciding whoever it was on the other end was not going to give up. 


"Hello..."

"Julia!" Glenn Stratton shouted. "Get down here, now!"

"Glenn? What’s going on?"

"Something’s happened. Something you've got to see!" Glenn’s excitement was beyond containment. "I think it’s happened!"

"All right. Let me get dressed. I’m on my way."

"Hurry!"

***

She drove south on Highway 101 and made the Mountain View exit by five after five. She walked through the door at five fifteen and felt an electricity she had never experienced before. Everybody was fully charged. Lois Fairchild, Glenn’s second in command, raced by with an empty pot of coffee.

"Julia! My God, isn’t this exciting?" she blurted.

"Yes... I guess it is... What’s happened? Glenn didn’t say much on the phone."

Lois smiled and tilted her head toward Glenn’s office "I’d better let him tell you. He’s in there with Andy right now." She pointed to the well stained coffee carafe, "I’ve got to get another pot going right away," she said with a tiny laugh. "They're getting restless."

Julia knocked on Glenn’s door with trepidation; there was a resistance she could not overcome with positive thoughts alone. When she heard his voice she stiffened her back and smiled as she walked in. "Goodness, what's going on around here?"

Andy Gable could barely contain himself as he jumped out of his chair. "It’s happened, Julia. It's the real deal!"

"Well?" she said with eyebrows raised, her gaze swinging toward Glenn. "What's the story?"

"It goes like this... This morning at 3:08:22 AM we received a transmission from an unknown source that lasted 1.25 seconds. It blew the wheels off everything we have around here. This thing was effing huge!" He paused and tried to read her reaction.

"Have we been able to get a fix on it?" Julia asked optimistically. "Alpha Centurions? Vegans? Martians?"

"Funny..." Glenn smiled. "Not even close - it came from Earth orbit somewhere over the Western Hemisphere. We’d have it to within an eyelash right now if the goddam Array was fully online. But please, don’t get me started."

"What does NORAD have to say about it?"

"Hell, they called us. They don't have a clue."

"Then you’re talking about the visitors. Right?" Julia shot back. "Do you have any other independent confirmation?"

Glenn smiled. "The phone has been ringing off the hook. Everyone got it! I'm telling you this is huge." His face beamed. She knew this was not going to be another false alarm.

"What are the other possibilities?" She prodded them again. "What about something new from the Russians? Or the ESA... Or the Chinese, for that matter..." She stopped as Glenn shook his head back and forth.

"Why not?"

"Not possible. We know about every piece of junk they hurl up there before it ever leaves the ground. This did not come from any technology on this planet."

"Can I see it?"

"Absolutely," Andy said, "come with me."

He grabbed her hand, something he was still inclined to do despite the fact that they were not officially 'seeing each other' anymore. Julia still loved him dearly, but she could never be there for him the way he wanted. The success of the show had pulled them away from each other too many times. Rather than torture each other with guilt they put a stop to their budding romance before they grew to resent one another.

She watched the screen as Andy played the audio track of the event. It sounded like a burst of static. He expanded the graphic, stretching it across the screen. The rastorized image exceeded the upper and lower ranges, creating a flat line on top and bottom of the track. It had been so powerful that it spiked every measuring device they employed. All these years they had been expecting a whisper and instead they got a blood-curdling scream.

"What the hell is it?" she asked of no one in particular. "Have you thought of looking back at old daily logs?"

"Way ahead of you, darling," Glenn said. "We’ve got two people on that right now. And yes, there’s something to it."

"So where do we go from here?" she said looking between Glenn and Andy. "What does it mean if we don’t even know what we’ve got?"

"Well, our boy, Andy, has got himself a theory. If it all pans out we’ll have answers by this time tomorrow."

***

For twenty hours she watched and listened. Andy and his crew scarcely noticed her as they prepared the equipment for what they hoped would be a second event. She stayed close to him. Deep in her heart she knew he of all people could not tainted by conspiracy. There was not a cynical bone in his body. His wide-eyed enthusiasm and unquestionable patriotism strengthened her faith in his pureness. It was as if somehow he alone could protect her from the men with dark sunglasses.

As the hour drew near the crew nominated Julia to summon Glenn, whom they’d presumed was sleeping in his office. Despite her protests the nomination stood. After avoiding being alone with him all day there was no escape for her this time. She knocked on his door and almost immediately he called for her to come in. He hardly sounded like a man being jarred out of a slumber.

"Julia," he said with the phone perched on his shoulder, "I’ll be right with you." He resumed his conversation. "Then why did you even bother calling me? Oh, I see, just covering all the bases... No, I don’t think it very wise of you to pull my people off this project right now... For the Christ’s sake, John! We set this whole goddam thing up and now you are gonna slip right in and run it... Oh, is that right? Over my dead body…"

Julia paced his office trying not to seem interested in his conversation. With the events of the last three days she felt like an amateur sleuth picking up tiny clues wherever they hid themselves. She causally studied the pictures on his walls. It was just as she remembered: photos of Glenn with his father on various military installations in the southwest.

"... Carvin, it’s no wonder NASA is as screwed up as it is!" He slammed the phone down. "Boy, the nerve of some people..."

"I know it’s none of my business," she said timidly, "was that..."

"John Carvin, NASA. He’s going to try to pull the rug out from under us. I’ll tell you right now, I’m not going to stand by and watch that buffoon ruin everything I’ve done. There’s too damn much at stake. Anyway, not to worry honey, that’s my battle. Now, what can I do for you?"

"It’s time, well, in a half-hour."

He looked at his watch and shook his head. "So it is. Is everything ready?"
"Yes, I think so. Andy tells me that he’s attenuated the sensors with a gate that will clamp within 50 pico-seconds, or so he tells me. He’s adjusted the sensitivity to compensate for the expected spike. I guess that means he’s ready."

"Good," Glenn said as he stood up. "Let’s go then."

"Glenn?" she began as she looked at the photo of Glenn and his dad sitting in a Jeep. "Where was this taken?"

Glenn squinted at the photo. "That was at what they now call Nellis Air Force Base north of Las Vegas."

"How about this one," she pointed to the next one.

"Roswell, New Mexico." He smiled at her as he slipped his coat on. "Why do you ask?"

That was all she needed to hear. Now she believed what Jerry Baines knew along. "I just find it fascinating, that’s all. I mean, that was back when the military man was respected. After the big war and all."

"No doubt about it," he beamed, "people looked up to men in uniform back then. Not like when I was in during the 1960’s. God, what twisted time that was... But that’s the past. Today, if all goes well, we’ll be diving straight into the future. Head first." He smiled a toothy grin and walked out the door.

And just what would the future hold? She didn’t have it within her to confront him. But she knew it couldn’t go on the way it had, not now, not with what she knew about him. Whatever they shared in the past was gone. For the first time in her life she felt the painful sting of betrayal. She could never again trust anything he told her. It made her heart heavy.