The Majestic Committee

The Majestic Committee

By

Gerald W. Goble

The Majestic Committee

By

Gerald W. Goble

The Majestic Committee

by

Gerald W. Goble

Copyright © 2014 Gerald W. Goble

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical including photocopying, recording, taping by or by information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author with exception of brief quotations.

US Copyright

This is a work of fiction. All characters real or fictional, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either, the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

For Joan, my friend, my love

Chapter 1

The radio squawked at the Nellis Field control tower, Baron Control this is LAS. There is a contact our 15 degrees your 345 degrees. Is that contact military? Indicators show trouble. Contact fell from 100 thousand feet to 30 thousand feet, at 600 feet per second. It's not commercial.

The Nellis control tower answered, LAS this is Baron Control. No Military flights in the area and no cross over flights. Our indicators agree. Contact is going in. Location on US Range Land, will send team.

The man in the control tower picked up a phone and dialed a four-digit number then said, Emergency Response Team this is the Control Tower and there appears to be some aircraft down. The location appears to be 37.3 north by 115. 4 west. US Government Range Land. Contact started at more than 100 thousand feet.

The Emergency Response Team area was a small room off of the motor pool in the corner of the building. An airman was to be there day and night. Today, it was Airman Heck a muscular young man with a square jaw and a blonde flat top haircut. Today he had his feet on the desk reading a paper back book drinking a cup of coffee from a white porcelain cup when the call came.

He hung up the phone then picked it up dialing his Commander, Captain Davis, this is Airman Heck. We got a call from the control tower about a potential aircraft down at 37.3 North by 115.4 West out on the range land.

Captain Davis said, Damn, that’s the third time this week. The other two had nothing there. You take a couple of guys out there and make a grid search of the area. I’ll send over Airman Joseph to relieve you so you can go. I think it will be a waste of time, but if not give me a call. Take the emergency response truck. You are up on all the bulletins, and the SOPs? They are in the truck in case you find something.

Airman Heck hung up the phone and said, Oh Great, Davis doesn’t want to get off his butt, so he is sending me. Airman Heck was wearing olive-drab fatigues with two stitched creases down through the middle of his pockets and on the front of his pants. His Brogan boots were dyed and shined black, but they were the old-style Army brown boots.

In the room with him were two airmen Gomez and Casey. They were both third class still in their teens fresh from the Lackland Training Base. They were wearing the new gray colored fatigues and black Brogan boots. Heck looked on the uniform change that the Air Force was making as sloppy. His gray fatigues were at the tailors with the creases being sown in, and the sides tailored to fit his body. When the instructions came down with the shift to gray fatigues, he like many of the NCOs abhorred the gray cloth. He as other NCOs had ordered uniforms from outside of the United States made of the same grade of material as the olive drab uniform but gray. In a couple of weeks, he would no longer be able to wear the old olive-drab uniform.

Two hours later, Airman Heck and two other men were in the large olive-drab truck heading due west on the prairie. Airman Herman was looking through binoculars in the direction the truck was going. The land was flat prairie with the occasional rock outcropping; small bushes no more that three or four feet tall and the occasional cactus patch. There were blue colored mountains off to the north about thirty miles away. He said, Heck there is something out there. It looks like a couple of trucks and some sheep. One of the trucks looks like a Sheriff’s truck.

As Airman Heck approached the area, he slowed and pulled off to the right and stopped about thirty feet away from the other two trucks. The three airmen exited and walked in the direction of the Sheriff’s truck. Behind them was wreckage of an aircraft, but it was not apparent that it was military or civilian, but it was clearly broken in two pieces. The sheriff and another man were standing there looking at some sheep that were down on the ground next to the rear portion of the aircraft.

The Sheriff looked up at the approaching airmen and said, I’m Sheriff Benteen and this is Mr. Statehood a rancher. Over there is a Mexican shepherd Tony that is herding Mr. Statehood’s sheep. Is this your aircraft? We have a problem here. These four sheep came over here and now three appear to be sick and one is dead. The Sheriff had a belly that hung over his belt. He had a yellow stripe down his tan pants, a tan shirt and his black hair tucked under a white straw cowboy hat. The rancher was wearing a plaid red and blue shirt blue jeans, and a white felt cowboy hat.

Airman Heck looked at the sheep. The dead sheep was next to a piece of the aircraft. A second sheep was on its forward knees, and the two others appeared unsteady on their feet. Heck said, I don’t know let me look at it.

He turned and walked to the front section of the craft then around it and back to the rear section. The front section did not appear to have windows. He walked up to the front section and tapped on it and received a hollow sound but not with a metal sound.

He mumbled to himself, "Sounds like tapping a clay jug. He looked at the rear section again, and it appeared to be three metal cylinders in a stack configuration. There were no markings on the craft anywhere.

He was about to say something when Mr. Statehood dropped to his knees and vomited. The Sheriff turned to go to Mr. Statehood and wobbled as he walked as if he was unsure of his balance.

Heck turned to the two airman and yelled, Get those guys away from the aircraft and over near our truck. Then he ran to the back of the truck and opened a compartment. He extracted a black box about eight inches square with a wand hanging from it. He then walked toward the aircraft turning on the box and pointing the wand ahead of him. The box began to click, which became louder as he approached. He looked at the dial on the front.

He then turned and ran back to the truck to the radio. He called, Nellis this is the Emergency Response Team. I need you to patch me through to Captain Davis. A young airman answered and said, Captain Davis took his wife to lunch and isn’t back yet. He said he didn’t want to be disturbed."

Heck pulled out a book of letters and bulletins with a metal folding clip and flipped through page after page until he was about half way through the inch-thick document. Again, he called Nellis and said, Nellis this is Airman Heck at a crash site. I need you to patch me through to the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright Field now. While the call was going through the two airmen brought the Sheriff and Mr. Statehood back to the truck and set them down to lean against the rear wheel.

A woman answered the phone, A. T. I. C. Can I help you?

Sergeant Heck said, I am Airman Heck at a crash site and am calling in response to your Memo Number 371. The phone went silent for a moment and then a voice came on, Special Investigations Captain Terrence.

Heck said, This is Airman First Heck of Nellis Field Emergency Response Team. I am at a crash site. The aircraft doesn’t appear to be any US Commercial or Military configuration I have ever seen and your memo said to call if anyone ran across such a thing.

Terrence said, Describe the aircraft.

Heck said, The craft appears to have broken-in half with what looks like a crew compartment up front, but it doesn’t have any windows, and I can’t see any doors. It also doesn’t look like it is made of metal. I hit it with a quarter and it kind of sounds like a hollow clay jug. The back half of the craft is a metal cylinder about twenty-five feet long with beams out of the front and the back. It must have connected to the front part of the craft and broke off in the crash. He paused and when he started again his voice went temporarily high-pitched indicating he was nervous, The thing is it crashed near a ranchers sheep and there are several sheep sick with one that is dead. When we arrived the rancher Mr. Statehood, and Sheriff Benteen were on site. Shortly after we arrived both men appeared to become ill. I went to our truck to get some test equipment to check the air. I also picked up the Geiger Counter. When I turned on the Geiger Counter, it began clicking rapidly. The dial on the front indicates 200 CGS at twenty feet from the rear section of the craft.

Terrence said, Hold on a minute. I need to ask a few questions. First, who is the highest rank military on site?

Heck said, I am. There is just me and two airmen thirds that came with me.

Terrence asked, Who is your commander at Nellis?

Heck said, Captain Davis. I called him, but he was out and could not be reached.

Terrence asked, "How many people are on site?

Heck said, My two airmen, the rancher Mr. Statehood, Sheriff Benteen and a Mexican shepherd. The rancher made the shepherd move the sheep off to the north about a quarter of a mile.

Captain Terrence said, Now listen very carefully. I am declaring this a Majestic Site MJ51. Absolute control has to be maintained on the site until the Investigation Team arrives from Wright Field. You are temporarily in charge; I want you to keep a record of everyone that comes to the site with name and address. I will call Captain Davis and clear your being temporarily assigned to the Investigation Team and the Majestic Office. I will also have an ambulance sent to your site to pick up the Sheriff and Mr. Statehood. Where exactly is the crash site?

Heck said, We were sent by the Nellis Control Tower to 37.3 North by 115.4 West out on the range land. There are no roads. The Sheriff and the rancher both have trucks capable of going cross-country. The vehicle we came in is a converted Six By er M35 truck with metal containers for our equipment. So a common ambulance won’t be able to get here.

Captain Terrence said, Good point. I may send a helicopter or something. But it is important to get the two men to a hospital. Do you have a weapon available and do you have rations of any kind?

Heck said, There is an M1 Carbine in the truck and there are field rations that were packed about five years ago. I guess they are still good.

Captain Terrence laughed, I don’t think that stuff ever goes bad. He paused then said, "Absolutely, no one is to go near the wreckage. From now on, you refer to it, as the Craft. Don’t call it anything else. You need to ensure that no one goes near the craft, even if you have to use the M1. An investigation team will be sent from Wright Field today and should be there late tomorrow. There will also be someone from a high level Pentagon Committee that will arrive about that time. You may need to brief him on everything. Airman you have done a good job here, keep it up.

After the radio call ended, Heck looked around, and then called, "Gomez you and Casey move the Sheriff’s truck and Statehood’s truck back to that large rock there where we came in. When that is done Gomez, I want you to go to the Mexican shepherd over there and see if he is feeling OK. Casey you help move the Sheriff and Statehood back there-by-their trucks.

After the two men were moved back Heck took a small shovel from the Emergency Response Truck and walked to a clear spot nearby and began to remove small bushes and cactus plants throwing them from the center of the clearing. By the time Gomez returned from the shepherd Heck, and Casey had cleared a circle about thirty feet across.

Gomez said, The shepherd didn’t get near the aircraft. It scared the sheep when it crashed and he, and the dog had to chase after them. When he got the sheep together, Mr. Statehood told him to keep the sheep away.

Heck said, "Good, what is his name?

Gomez