Synopsis
Colonel Mitchell’s face paled as he stared into the briefcase the President had just opened. The President’s voice seemed to fade into the background as Mitchell became mesmerized by what he saw. The President forcefully cleared his throat to get Mitchell’s attention. “Colonel…there are only three people on this planet who know that thing exists: you, the retired general who found it back in 1953, and me. As I explained earlier, the general, who’s dying of cancer, brought that to me only two days ago. After he told me his story, I immediately began the search for the best person I could find to head up an investigating team. You’re that person. “I believe that device you’re looking at is a key, not only to our national security but, perhaps, to the survival of humanity as we know it. I want you to know, I will bring to bear all the powers of the President’s office to help you with this project. You have carte blanche to assemble the best team you can to unlock the secrets hidden in that device as quickly as you can. Time is of the essence. Of course, security will be of utmost importance; I don’t want to set off a world-wide panic. Do you understand what I’m saying, Colonel?” When Mitchell looked up, the President’s eyes were bearing down on him. Mitchell hadn’t taken a breath since he set eyes on the device. He almost hissed as the air escaped from his lungs. The room around him came back into focus as he sucked air. His voice quivered, “Yes Sir …I…I’ll begin immediately.” He closed the briefcase, clasping it tightly as he left the office, his face still pale. Alone now, the President looked out of his window and stared across the White House lawn. Life on Pennsylvania Avenue still appeared normal. The usual assortment of protesters was there, pushing their causes by marching in circles and brandishing their pickets. As usual, the press cameras were there too, trying to catch whatever human interest stories they might find. The President was deep in thought. " I have a real human interest story to tell, if only I could. I wonder how much time we have? Perhaps it’s already too late. Perhaps the general’s the lucky one; he’ll be dead in three months." In 1953 an alien artifact was found next to a UFO that crashed near Kingman, Arizona. The captain overseeing the recovery felt the device was more important than the craft itself and hid it on his person. Jump ahead to present time and he is a retired general, dying of cancer. He is concerned because he has been reading about abductees who, under hypnosis, have reveled that the aliens are about to make their presence known. The general sees this as a threat to humanity and takes the device to the President. The President is equally concerned that this is not only a threat to our national security but to all of humanity and commissions a colonel to put together a team of scientists to get the device activated so we can discover what the aliens are up to. Colonel Mitchell assembles a team to two scientists. Dr. Wendy Ahearn is a world renowned linguist with an innate ability to translate almost any written text. For her, what she does is intuitive. Paired with her is Dr. Corey Newton, a leading expert in gravity propulsion and a passion for ufology. His job is to interpret whatever Wendy translates. The team is sequestered in a secret underground base in Nevada. While working on the project, Wendy and Corey have an opportunity to study wreckage of a crashed UFO and to view the remains of an alien. This is all important for Wendy to do her job. Through serendipity, Wendy accomplishes her task of activating the device. She also discovers, in a very strange way, what the aliens are up to. Just as the team is about to use the device to access the alien’s “mainframe”, the device is stolen. A chase ensues leading the team into the desert where they capture the device and prepare to return back to base and continue their quest.
About the Author
Dr. Robert E. Farrell is a retired Associate Professor of Engineering from Penn State University. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Farrell spent twenty years in the plastics industry designing capital machinery.
For most of his life, Dr. Farrell has had a deep interest in physics, astronomy, space travel, and ufology and has stayed current in each. Ten years ago, he began doing serious research in the field of UFOs and ETs for his first novel, Alien Log. He believes good science fiction is soundly based on good science. To that extent, Dr. Farrell is trying to follow the style of Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code), Michael Crichton (Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, and many others) and Arthur C. Clarke in his Odyssey series. In addition to his Alien Log series, he has written numerous technical papers and articles for the plastics industry and three science fiction short stories that are included in an anthology, Sonoran Mirage, published by the Writer’s Round Table of Phoenix.
Since retiring, Dr. Farrell and his wife split their time between Arizona and Connecticut where he works on the Alien Log series. Having completed Alien Log II, he is now working on Alien Log III.
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