by Howard Marsh
“I don’t understand this, Walt. What the hell is going on? What have you got me into? These three are supposed to be dead. How come they’re working here?”
Brad replied, “You’ll understand soon enough if you want to continue. At this point, you’ve been given highly classified information that you must never reveal. The fact that these three scientists are still alive and are working with us is classified by the organization that owns this project. Penalties for revealing that information are very severe; more severe than the penalties normally applied by any of our nations. The fact that this project involves more than just US citizens is also classified to the same degree. You can never reveal any of this to anyone other than members of the project. Now, let’s show you one of our very basic toys. We have others that are even more interesting, and you can see them if you choose to join us.”
That was apparently the cue for Yuri and Ludmila to seat themselves at the strange console and to start to manipulate the controls. They were like the pilot and co-pilot in an aircraft, probably seated the same way that they were when they flew their small airplane into oblivion.
The console had a large screen in the middle and two slightly smaller screens off to each side and curving around slightly to the rear. The large screen appeared to be a viewer that looked out in front of whatever simulated vehicle they were supposed to be flying, and Harry assumed that the curved side screens gave views to the left and right, with slight visibility behind. He could see a star background and what looked like a planet growing larger as they flew toward it. He was impressed by the realism of the whole thing. It actually looked like they were flying in space toward – Mars? Yes, that definitely looked like Mars. Harry could even make out the two moons as they approached the planet.
“Hey, this is a really neat contraption. The graphic effects are great.”
“Keep looking Harry. It gets better,” Walt replied.
The simulated spacecraft flew closer and closer to Mars and began to descend into the atmosphere. The surface features appeared “more real than reality” as they swept by.
“Look at the side screens,” Walt said. “You can get a view of the surface as we stir up the dust when we land.”
Harry looked at the side screens, and he was amazed that he could even see the disturbance of the sand on the ground as the craft neared the surface and stirred it up with the turbulence from its rapid movement through the thin atmosphere.
“This is the best simulation that I’ve ever seen. How did you do it? It must have taken one hell of a lot of effort and money to build the NASA imagery of Mars into this simulator and to add all the realistic disturbances. I’m impressed.”
Walt grinned. “Harry, this isn’t a simulation. What we’re showing you is an actual recording of a landing on Mars. This is real. Yuri and Ludmila can attest to that since they personally flew the mission several months ago. We only use the simulator to replay the recorded data and to help train new pilots. The sensors on the spacecraft actually see in all directions, so Yuri and Ludmila are controlling the simulator to keep showing the things that they saw in the spacecraft’s view screens during the mission. For the sequence that you just saw, they kept things aligned as they were during the actual approach and landing, but if you like, they can replay the landing with the screens oriented any way that you want. The big screen can even be used to show the rear view, but that’s not too useful unless you need to see what’s behind you.”
“Hold on, Walt. You’re telling me that they actually went to Mars and that this is the record of the landing? You’ve got to be kidding. They went there and came back, and all of that in less than a few years? There’s no way they could have done that. There’s no one on Earth who has the ability to do this. We’re not even close to having that kind of capability. I keep up pretty well with the space program, and no one, not us, not the Russians, not the Chinese, no one on Earth can do this.”
“Well, you’re part right and part wrong, Harry. You’re right that no one on Earth has this capability, but you’re wrong to think that we’re putting one over on you. This is real, and it’s not something that was accomplished by any space program in the United States, Russia, China, or anywhere else on Earth, except for our project that used technology from elsewhere.”
Harry was speechless for a few seconds as he tried to take in what Walt had just said. “Elsewhere? What do you mean, elsewhere? You’re telling me that you just showed me video from a ride in a UFO that you bought from some aliens on a used UFO lot? Come on, Walt. I admit that I’m impressed by the video, but I’m not an idiot. Sure, the simulator is the best I’ve ever seen, and the Martian landscape looks pretty convincing, but the rest of it just sounds like bullshit to me. Come on Walt, let’s stop clowning around, and tell me what this is all about and why it’s so secret.”
“Calm down Harry. You’re not an idiot, and we’re not playing some joke on you. I felt the same way when they first showed me video from an earlier flight. But I’m telling you the truth. We used technology that we got from alien travelers who had an accident on Earth quite a long time ago. We managed to reconstruct the spacecraft and a lot of their systems, and we even found a partially completed base that they were building on Mars. But that’s the limit of what we can tell you at Level-1. If you want to learn any more, and there’s a lot that’s much more interesting and important, then you’ll have to sign on for the long commitment.”
“Let me get this straight. You and your project somehow got hold of a crashed UFO and put the pieces back together. Then you flew to Mars and found a base that the aliens put there and then flew back, all in less than a few years. That’s pretty hard to believe. Did you do all that by yourselves, or did these aliens help you?”
“Until you get cleared to the higher levels, I can’t tell you any more about the aliens other than they didn’t help us. It took us a long time and a lot of money to do it. I came onto the project pretty late in the game. They had already rebuilt the spacecraft and needed to expand the project. They needed people like me, Yuri, Ludmila, Nigel, and quite a few others to do what needs to be done. We need you too.”
“Where did all this money come from? Something like this has to show up in the federal budget. You can’t bury something this big. And what’s this need to do something.”
“First off, it’s not funded by the government. I can’t say any more about that or about what needs to be done until you agree to get cleared to the higher levels.”
“Levels? How many levels are there?”
“I can’t say until you agree to commit to the project for the long haul. I’m sorry, Harry. Those are the rules. You can back out now, or you can decide to go further. You don’t need to decide today, but we can’t give you more than the rest of the week. After that, you will either be in or out.”
Snap decisions were never Harry’s favorite things. He liked to think things over before making important decisions, but here he was, with the pressure of making a very important one in the next few days. It was one that could affect the rest of his life, and he didn’t even know what he was getting into.
“I’ll need to think this over, but at this point, I doubt that I can agree to sign on without a bit more information. It’s all too vague.”
“OK. There’s a bit more that we can show you,” Walt replied. “Brad, can we load the data for one of the outer planets, maybe Saturn? That’s a pretty impressive one.”
Brad thought for a few seconds before replying. “Yeah, I guess that it’s OK. He already saw Mars, so why not Saturn. But that will have to be it for today. Yuri, can you do the Saturn trip?”
“Sure. It may take a minute or two to load, but Ludmila and I ran it earlier today so a lot of the background images are probably still in runtime storage. We’ll play the flight exactly as we did it, and we can steer the projections to give the best views that our cameras recorded.”
Two minutes later, Harry was watching in amazement as the simulator flew toward
the large, ringed planet. It did a quick fly-by of several of Saturn’s moons, skimming just above the surface of several of them and then descended almost to the surface of Titan and hovered there to give Harry a good view. The projections in the view screen panned across the landscape, so Harry could see it almost as if he were standing on a hill several hundred meters above the surface.
The landscape and the views out to Titan’s horizon were spectacular, clearly alien in all aspects. The differences from Earth in terms of atmosphere and chemical composition of the soil itself provided a weird but beautiful mix of colors and textures that were almost like a surrealistic painting. Harry stared at the display as it scanned the full 360 degrees and then shifted view to gaze at the huge planet in the sky above Titan. It was the most spectacular thing that he had ever seen.
After a minute or two, the sightseeing on Titan ended and the simulated flight soared up through Titan’s thin atmosphere and took a path just above the rings, skimming over them and giving Harry a fantastic, close-up view. It then turned downward, directly toward Saturn, and flew almost all the way onto the gas giant itself. It stopped its descent just before it seemed that it would crash right into the surface, and then it did a loop around Saturn at a speed that Harry couldn’t even guess. Once again, he was almost blown away by the realism and the beauty of the pictures on the screen. The scenery on this trip was even more impressive than the views of Mars.
“That’s unbelievable,” Harry said. “How in the world did you get those close-up images? It’s almost as if you went there and took the pictures yourselves. But you blew it if you’re trying to convince me that you did. This demonstration proves that your story of Yuri and Ludmila flying the mission is obviously a fake. The flight didn’t even try to imitate trajectories that were anywhere near feasible orbits. That was a dead giveaway. Besides, it would have taken years to get to Saturn and return.”
Walt let out a big sigh. “You still don’t get it, do you? Yuri and Ludmila did go there and take these pictures. Orbital mechanics have nothing to do with it, and we can travel at relativistic speeds, so the time to get there and back isn’t much of a concern. This was real, and all the data in the simulator is from runs that they did throughout the solar system. I’ve been trying to tell you that what we have here is technology that’s so far beyond our own crude spacecraft that it’s a chance in a lifetime to get onto this project.”
“Whatever you say, Walt,” Harry replied sarcastically. “Look, whether or not I buy your story of alien technologies and day-trips throughout the solar system, I’m not about to jump into something without knowing a bit more. Like, why is it that all of a sudden you need to recruit me for whatever it is that you and your group need to do? If you can give me some idea of that, maybe it would help me understand why I should risk my career, and probably the rest of my life, to join you.”
Brad interjected before Walt could reply. “We need you to replace one of our team members who had a very unfortunate accident. You have the same academic background and skills and experience.”
Walt amplified Brad’s statement. “We need an expert in human-machine interfaces, particularly direct brain-to-machine devices, to replace the team member who had the accident. You’re our best prospect. I know your work, and I can assure you that what you would do with us would be years advanced over what you do at the university. We really can’t tell you any more until you sign on. The rest of the information is too sensitive for anyone but the people on the project to know. If you did sign on, you’d go well beyond Level-1 and what you’d learn would surprise you much more than what we showed you today. Once you did learn the rest, you wouldn’t even think of turning back. You don’t need to decide today. You can have the rest of the week, but that’s it. We’re on a very tight timeline, and we need to get a replacement onboard as soon as possible.”
“One last question, Walt,” Harry replied. “What kind of accident did this other scientist have? Why can’t you just wait for him to recover?”
“You don’t recover from the kind of accident he had,” Brad replied. “He won’t be able to rejoin the project, and we need a replacement. Now, if we’re finished with the questions, let’s get back in the car. You won’t need the blindfold for the trip back. You’re cleared high enough to know the location of this facility. But let me remind you that you are sworn to secrecy about the facility and everything that you saw here, including the fact that a few scientists presumed dead are actually alive and working with us. I think that I made that very clear, but I want to reemphasize since secrecy is an absolute requirement and the penalties for breaking the agreement are very severe.”
With that, they walked to the car, and the three of them drove back to the university where they left Harry and drove off to “only God knows” where. Harry had a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something very important was going on, and he could read between the lines and tell that it was more than just an important scientific breakthrough.
*
Harry went back to work the next day, but he continued to be bothered by what had happened and by Walt’s strange behavior, especially all the nonsense about alien spacecraft and travel throughout the solar system. He was also bothered by the presence of three scientists who had been presumed dead. It was all unsettling; not just the ridiculous scientific claims or the fact that three dead people were alive, in good health, and apparently enjoying their unique form of afterlife. There was also the extreme security, totally unexplained, and the “unfortunate accident” that required them to try to recruit Harry. He decided to put it all behind him, forget about what happened, and just go back to his research and teaching.
But things would not work out as easily as Harry planned. On his second day back from the strange visit with Walt and Brad Lincoln, Harry found that his research funding was being cut almost completely. The messages came by email and informed him that formal letters were on the way. The messages were very clear and gave no explanation other than a general need to reduce expenditures, both at the government agencies that funded about half of his work and at the non-profit foundation that covered the other half with matching grants. All that was left now was a very small amount that the university contributed to offset some of its usual fee and to provide office space, phones, and computers for his graduate students and postdocs. The university contribution would surely be eliminated when the other funds were withdrawn. This was a disaster. What would happen to the students and postdocs who were in the middle of their projects? Harry would probably be able to scare up some other funds from sponsors of his past work, but that wouldn’t help the others in his lab. They’d be left out in the cold.
He needed to act quickly and call in all the favors he could, and he was making a list of people to call when Walt popped into his office.
“I heard the bad news,” Walt said. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. It all hit so fast and out of the blue. I can’t understand it. The research was going well, and everyone seemed pleased with our progress and even with some of the initial results. We had rave reviews when we demoed the non-invasive brainwave actuated arm and hands. And the eye-track robotic control went over big too. I thought that our sponsors at DOD and NSF were onboard for the long haul, and the Chronos Foundation also seemed eager to co-sponsor the government efforts. We had plans for a huge number of applications, and now it just looks like the bottom fell out. What’s even more confusing is how all three messages came at the same time, as if all three sponsors had coordinated beforehand. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. What can I do except try to find other sources of funds?”
“I think that I can help there,” Walt replied. “As you know, the sponsors of our project have very deep pockets. They could pick up the full funding for your lab without batting an eye, but they’d need a quid pro quo.”
“What kind of quid pro quo?”
> “You agree to sign on and I can guarantee that your lab will be well funded, essentially forever if they keep producing high quality research. Of course, you’d need to get someone else to take over, since you’ll be working with us, but I think that either Juliet Davidson or Greg Hoffberg would be happy to absorb your students and postdocs. Either of them would do a good job in your place. Maybe not as good as you, but that’s why we want you and not them.”
“That sounds a bit like extortion, Walt. You’re putting me between a rock and a hard place. Can’t you try to get me some funds without this total commitment? I’m not sure that I want to leave here and join some strange outfit, to do something that you can’t tell me about, and to work on a project that seems to me to be a big hoax.”
“Sorry, Harry. I can’t do anything to help you unless you help us. That’s the bottom line. But like I said the other day, you wouldn’t regret coming onto the project once you get the full picture. It’ll be more exciting, challenging, and important than anything you did before or would do in the future. And the bonus is that all your research and your students and postdocs would be taken care of. It’s really a win-win for everyone.”
“I don’t see it that way. In fact, if I didn’t know you better, I’d be pretty suspicious that you and your friends have something to do with this. I’ll think about your offer, but that would be my last choice. I have some friends who might be able to bail me out. If not, maybe we can talk again, but I have to tell you that all my problems seem to have started when I got involved with you and your damned project.”
