The Manhattan Incident (3 page)

VIDEO: THE INCIDENT
. The video opened with a deep voiced narration to which Laurent listened with sadness. “You are seeing a retirement party at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, popularly known as the CDC. It is a sad time, an angry time, a bittersweet time for Dr. John Cabrot. Dr. Cabrot had worked his way up to Associate Director at the CDC through hard work, never missing a day because of illness. He gave 200%, unlike what some government workers give.” The narration stopped and one important looking individual spoke.  “And we thank Dr. Cabrot for his 40 years of service, well done John,” said the newly appointed Director, Thomas Soule. The narrator returned. It should have been John’s job. The current new appointee was a political hack, a plodder. In plain humor, he didn’t know one part of his anatomy from another. Upon hearing that phrase, there were a number of giggles and titters from the students. They knew what the real phrase reference was. “Unfortunately, Soule’s politics were right for the time, John’s were not. So he retired. Sure, they said the words, we need you. Please stay. John couldn’t work under the new Director. John had no respect for the new Director. So at 66, John ended his career and moved on.”

PRESENT DAY
. Even now Laurent missed his co-workers, well most of them. Quite a few were sad to see him go back then. It is so sad that none of them survived, thought Paul.

VIDEO: THE INCIDENT
. “The next scene takes place at a little Vermont cabin nestled on Killington Mountain. It was a vacation and retreat place where John Cabrot would go to relax or think out problems. He wasn’t a skier and never rented it out, as skiers of a certain age had reputations for trashing places. It is a cold January day in 2020, one month after his retirement, and Dr. Cabrot is working on his laptop. This is a pivotal point for Dr. John Cabrot. He is wondering what to do with the rest of his life. Events beyond his control over the next three months are already shaping his course of action.”

PRESENT DAY
. The video version of the cabin seemed larger and was decorated in a much more masculine style than Laurent remembered. Again, part of the hero image. There was no television service there, not worth the cost to the cable company for his remote location. Satellite dish service didn’t work, being blocked by the trees. He did have a physical broadcast antenna and fiber internet service, though, thanks to the local phone company, VTEL. It was actually pretty good, all things being considered. The internet first alerted him of things to come, but not yet shown in the video. Reception was poor, so he only got a few local channels.

VIDEO: THE INCIDENT
. “The date is January 16, 2020. The office you see is part of a monitoring facility at North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Deep in an office at the Cheyenne Mountain Command Center in Colorado we see Tech Specialist John Munger sitting at a desk. Truth be known, most of NORAD’s operations were sited at the nearby Petersons Air Force base. The mountain facility was now mainly for emergency use. A few offices were retained, usually referred to as the Gulag offices where the “wish you would leave staff” ended up. Munger was there as a result of the 2012 New Year’s Day fiasco. Those offices were mainly used for meteor, asteroid and comet monitoring. You can’t blame Munger for thinking it was a very boring job, especially given the graveyard shift. On the other hand, the fewer people, the better were Munger thoughts.

Suddenly a klaxon and rotating red lights are heard and seen on the video. The time is 3:45 AM. Munger immediately taps at the key board and brings up the warning location on the monitor. Most unusual were Munger thoughts at that moment.  The warning came from Dr. WATS, the nickname for the Monitoring, Detection and Warning of Asteroid Threat Surveillance, a satellite system known as MDWATS. This system of monitoring satellites had been put into place in 2017, when NORAD had expanded its space surveillance. Numerous satellite dishes for space monitoring had been added in the United States and in other nations allied with the United States. MDWATS had been installed to monitor asteroids throughout the solar system. While the threat of an asteroid extinction event was highly improbable, lobbyists working for defense contractors in bed with the military had convinced Congress of the need to secure the United States against all possible threats. At the time the economy was good and it would create many new jobs, so it sailed through Congress. Critics assailed it as a waste of taxpayer money. Conspiracy supporters, particularly those who believed in Area 51, thought their beliefs were being vindicated with this system, which was obviously an early-warning system for alien invasion. Truth be known, it was just another boondoggle project. That was why Munger thought it unusual as nothing ever came out of the system.”

Munger spoke to the computer responsible for all the Collective Integrated Satellite Systems Technical Administration, affectionately known as CISSTA. It was CISSTA’s function to monitor and analyze all incoming data from the thousands of satellites in near earth and beyond orbits. “What do we have, CISSTA?” A hologram of a woman in a lab coat appeared in the video. “Tech Specialist Munger, MDWATS has detected an anomaly about 108 million miles out between the moon and Mars orbits. It does not appear in our database as a known asteroid or other space debris object. Given its proximity to earth, I thought you should be alerted.” Munger’s first thought was this alarm must be a malfunction. “Have you run diagnostics on that particular satellite to check for malfunctions,” asked Munger? CISSTA responded, “Of course, it is not a malfunction.”

“Not a malfunction and not a known object, then what the hell is it?” said Munger. CISSTA replied, “I don’t know.” “CISSTA, where did it originate?” “Unknown.” “What do you mean, unknown. It must have followed some incoming path before its present position. Check your earlier data streams.” “I did. Unknown is because it came out of nowhere. One minute it was not there, and then suddenly it was.” One can hardly blame Munger for his reaction and thoughts at that critical moment. Munger started to sweat. His mind went back to that horrible New Year’s Day in 2012. Munger thought, Please God, not this shit again. I can’t take it. “OK, CISSTA, get our nearest satellite with high resolution imaging to focus on it. Also acquire a satellite capable of spectrographic analyses to take a look at it. Report back to me as soon as possible. I want images of everything. If it disappears, I want to know immediately.” This was not turning out to be your average boring graveyard shift. Munger decided not to alert anyone until he had further results to report. After all, between the Moon and Mars was a long way out there. Besides he didn’t want to be a two-timer laughing stock.

The video now shows the office clock at 4:34 AM and Munger looking up as CISSTA reappears. “I have the results. One, the objects are still there and two, they have not moved. Here is the enhanced image of one. It is not a natural object.” Munger gasps and sputters visibly. “What the Fuck! Jesus Christ. They look like the same disk-like craft I saw in 2012. This cannot be happening.” CISSTA resumed. “The composition is unlike any metal alloys we manufacture, but elemental analysis does show high strength steel, rare earths of various types, some unknown materials, and silicon nanotubules. Munger, the objects are suddenly moving and fast. Please hold for several minutes, while I triangulate and determine speed and direction.” Five minutes passed on the visible clock and Munger is shown sweating profusely at his armpits. “My early analysis of speed and path vectors indicates an earth-bound direction. I calculate their speed at 150,000 mph. They should be in Earth orbit in roughly 30 days.”

Finally at 5:00 AM Munger knew what he had to do. With trepidation and a shaking hand, Munger picks up the phone and presses the red button. A direct line to General Straub’s quarters is activated. He knows the General would still be asleep or perhaps just getting up. However, there would be 24 hour coverage by a duty officer. “Duty Officer O’Hara, What is the problem?” “Tech Specialist Munger here. We have a Code Red here. I repeat, Code Red, immediate danger requiring General Straub’s presence in the Geospatial Ops room in the Rock.” The Rock is code for the facilities remaining in the Cheyenne Mountain facility. “Tech Specialist Wedgie, I hope this isn’t more of the bullshit you are famous for. The General doesn’t take kindly to screw-ups like you.” “No Sir, this is not bullshit. CISSTA has confirmed the danger with hard data and imagery. We continue to monitor the situation.” “Alright, Munger, it’s your funeral.”

Several minutes later the elevator door opened in the nearby corridor. When Munger heard the elevator door’s whooshing noise he stood up and saluted smartly. “General Straub, Sir!” “At ease Tech Specialist Munger; what do we have and it had better be worth my time here.” Munger carefully explains the timeline and observations and then shows the General the images. “Good God, those look like spacecraft. There is nothing like these vessels on Earth as far as I know. CISSTA, this is General Straub.” CISSTA’s hologram appears and responds. “Yes, General, What is your command?” “Search your data bank for past images comparable to this one.” Several seconds elapse in the video. “General, I have no image match, but do have a written report about a similar object. The file is dated New Year’s Day, 2012.” General Straub is shown quickly reading the report. The written object description from 2012 and the current image seem identical, except that the current image shows many space crafts to only one in the 2012 report. They both are large, disk-like crafts with quarter score visible ridges. Shit, thinks the General, either Munger was right back in 2012 or he has doctored today’s stuff. Maybe all this hectoring has pushed him over the edge of sanity. The narration ends and General Straub speaks. “CISSTA, is there any chance your system has been hacked or compromised?” “Absolutely not, General; my protective software wouldn’t allow it.” Munger is shown shifting uneasily in his chair, as he can guess why the General asked. “Furthermore General Straub, the initial warning satellite observations have now been confirmed by other satellites, spectrographic analyses, and satellite telescopic observations. The images represent reality.”

“CISSTA, contact Campo Imperatore Near-Earth Object Survey in Italy. Using encryption, request per NATO’s Program Imminent Threat that
CINEOS look at certain coordinates that you specify. Give them the current and projected coordinates of the objects. Tell them this is a direct request from NORAD. Give them my cell phone number for confirmation. Tell them this request is a Code Red highest priority.” Minutes pass quickly in the video; we hear the General’s cell phone rang. “Operations Manager, DeSilvio here.” The voice had a distinct Italian accent. “This is General Straub at NORAD. I am going to transfer you to an encrypted line. We watch as General Straub transfers the call to a locked phone on the desk. Munger hands him the key. General Straub picked up the phone and spoke. “I am confirming the request from CISSTA. This request is top secret, your eyes only. Do you understand?” “Confirmed, General Straub; I will send the results via the encrypted internet channel to CISSTA.” “DeSilvio, I also want you to call me back on encrypted line five nine two after sending the data. I want verbal confirmation of what you find.” General Straub still wasn’t 100% convinced that CISSTA hadn’t been hacked.

About 30 minutes later according to the visible wall clock the encrypted desk phone rings. “Yes, the data just came in to CISSTA. What do you confirm?” The voice on the other end simply says, “Unidentified objects of artificial construction proceeding at rapid speed toward Earth.” The General replies “Thank you. This data is to remain for your eyes only. However, as a courtesy, contact General Antonio Umberto at the Aeronautica Militare Italiana
and relay this message, UN First Contact meeting soon.” General Straub turns to Munger and says, “Good job, Munger. I think your career might start moving up finally. You will soon be promoted to Tech Sergeant.” He salutes Munger and leaves hurriedly to contact President Braddick Tomlinson. For the first time in years, Munger is shown smiling at his long overdue change of luck.

General Straub sits at his NORAD command desk. It is now 6:01 AM on January 16
th
, 2020 according to the visible desk clock and calendar. He is shown reaching into the desk drawer and pulling out a bottle of Kentucky bourbon. He pours himself a finger of bourbon and downs it. The General grimaces, having run out of his favorite single malt scotch. Finally, he picks up the red desk phone which connects directly to the White House. A staff member answers. “You have reached the office of POTUS; how may I help you?” “This is General Straub at NORAD; I need to talk to POTUS immediately. Condition Red vector DEFCON.” “Yes, Sir, the President is in a cabinet meeting. I will page him immediately. Please hold.”

President Braddick Tomlinson is seen sitting at a meeting of the Cabinet, listening to the Secretary of the Treasury talking about currency problems on the global scale. “The problem is being aggravated by the continued intransigence of the Chinese government agreeing publically to let their Yuan float, but giving it calculated support in secret.” Suddenly the President’s pager plays three bell rings. President Tomlinson knows that the three bells means urgency and that he has to respond immediately. He presses the connect button and listens via the ear bud. President Tomlinson is then shown standing up and leaving the room rapidly without a word. Of course, Secretary of the Treasury Foster wonders what is more urgent than the current global currency problem.

The next scene shows President Tomlinson at the White House Oval office desk. He puts the desk phone on speaker and listens to General Straub’s report. Finally, he speaks. “What are your recommendations, General?” “I suggest we initiate operation Round House, yellow alert. I also recommend that we initiate Operation First Contact and convene a meeting at the UN in 48 hours.” “Thank you, General. Yellow brings us to DEFCON 3 which is unwarranted. We have no idea whether they are hostile. So I will authorize DEFCON 4, green alert. I will initiate the Operation First Contact protocol, but the UN meeting will be in 72 hours. I don’t think we could get the leaders and their militaries here on such short notice. That will be all, General.” General Straub is shown hanging up fuming and talking to the empty office room. “POTUS is a god-damned, spineless wimpy twink. The number of crafts coming our way is more than a greeting party. The important countries could be here in 48 hours. Screw the rest of them. They’ll only sit on their asses and let the USA do the heavy lifting.” He then takes another snort of bourbon to quiet his nerves.