Under Roswell

Acknowledgments

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I dedicate this Novel to my Mother, Friends, and Family. 

Without their inspiration and love,

This work would not have been possible.

Forward

Closing the hatch for the very last time on their home world, the beleaguered survivors of the plague, climbed into their ship setting their course for deep space.  Their short shortsightedness created an epidemic that would decimate their world. Medical science stretched to its limits left them no hope, other than to possibly find someone who could help them.  Prolonging the lives of the few that lived through the pandemic, they loaded into the Xpacia, setting sail for a new world in the stars.

Prologue

The all too familiar sound of the custodians cart banging against the double doors leading into Elliot laboratory, alerted him to the fact that he had once again lost track of time. It was clearly past his favorite diner’s closing time. At home, good tasting food was not his mother’s forte.  His stepmother was a wonderful person, however; she could not cook.  Because of this, Elliot had never learned to cook either.

The person acting as his mother was indeed his aunt. After Elliott's parents had passed away rather inexplicably, his mother's sister and husband took over the responsibilities of raising him.

He buried himself in his studies and then his work, never speaking to anyone about his personal feelings.

Spending his college years at MIT, after earning a full scholarship for his academic achievements, Elliot was a classic recluse.  Social skills were low on his list of priorities.

Cheating death was an adrenaline rush that fed him.  Dangling by a rope above a canyon with jagged rocks below was his fate on numerous occasions, as either he or one of his friends made a mistake losing their grip. The problem was all too often that there was not a good place for a grip or place which to put an anchor.

Elliot was working on a drill that would destabilize the rock enough to allow one just to brush away the rock like sand so they would have a grip. The design of the tool was to focus a broad spectrum of RF Energy into a small area, causing the atomic bonds of the material to destabilize.  Elliot had limited success with the drill but knew; if he could make it work, it would bring his hobby of rock climbing to an entirely new level, and make it much safer.

He purposefully designed the circuits in such a way that it would take a total redesign of the device to handle enough current to use that tool as a weapon.  While this was not out of the realm of possibility, it was in the realm of not probable, without his knowledge of the theory that went behind the design.

His regular job was in the development of electronic control systems used for military applications.  He worked for a company called Ohmicron. Ohmicron developed all sorts of equipment and devices.  Some of these devices were in common residential applications.  Military applications such as satellites, weapons guidance systems, as well as the security industry also had many of his circuits or devices incorporated within them.

Before Elliot knew of his hate of war, some of his inventions made it into different missile guidance systems. Ohmicron recognized Elliot as their fair haired boy and gave him much latitude in his choice of projects.  Elliot’s supervisor allowed him to experiment with his personal projects, taking care to make sure to maximize any opportunity for commercial development.

The owner of Ohmicron hired an assistant for Elliot. Susan’s job was to assist Elliot in his endeavors as well as to report to the upper echelon at Ohmicron, on what Elliot was spending his time and any progress.

Susan had her own motive for working with him. She was a gorgeous woman, however; in the office with a white lab coat covering her tight jeans, Elliot was oblivious to her well-proportioned body.  Most of the time her hair was pinned back, which did little for her appearance.  Still, overall, Elliot did catch a whiff of her perfume from time to time and learned to appreciate the fragrance.  He felt comfortable with her and looked forward to her popping in with coffee in hand, making notes, and taking care of the necessary paperwork that Elliot despised, which kept his bosses from bothering him.

While Elliot was an attractive man with wavy black hair and a well-trimmed goatee, he was not aware of it. He was over 6’, 2’’ and had a well-disciplined body, there was little fat to be found anywhere on him, and it was evident to Susan that he found time to work out. It was easy to see his muscles rippling underneath his shirt, as he would pick things up or move things around.

He had never been too interested in dating but found that he was comfortable around Susan.  His usually well-ordered mind would be thinking about her while driving, or doing things, which did not require his full attention.

July 1947

The water filling the tub gave off the distinct smell of minerals as it splashed around the scarlet stain near the drain of the old white porcelain claw-footed bathtub.  After years of trying to remove the stain, Emma concluded that it was just part of the character and charm of living in the country and accepted it.

The day had been one of the warmest on record for July’s that Henry could remember.  After working on repairing a fence most of the day, it felt good just to sit on the porch with a cold ice tea.

The Stars were vivid in the night sky.  There was something very calming about watching the stars float across the heavens.  The Big Dipper was straight overhead.  Henry remembered his father sitting with him on that very porch naming off the stars and constellations.  Henry’s father used to tell him that God put the stars there and knew their names.  Henry was doing good to remember two constellations, the Big Dipper and his favorite wintertime constellation, Orion.  With a good pair of binoculars, he could see a fuzzy area in Orion.  Henry always wondered what made it like that.

He had always toyed around with the idea of ordering the telescope from the Sears and Roebuck catalog.  About the time he could afford to buy the telescope, he discovered girls and so went the money, but not the interest in the subject.

Swishing the cold liquid around his mouth before swallowing it, he wiped his forehead feeling the grit of sand still on his skin from spending most of the day out in the hot, dry New Mexico summer. 

Emma was inside running a bath.  The fragrance of the tub was noticeable from time to time sitting there on the porch.  She won’t need much hot water in the tub tonight. He thought.  The air was dead still almost stagnant. Usually, there was a breeze from the southwest, but tonight, there was not a hint of so much as a puff of air.

Generally, after the sun went down it cooled off but, as of yet, there was no evidence of a cool down.  The heat of the sidewalk leading to the barn felt as if there were fire underneath it.

Henry heard Emma through the open windows singing one of her favorite Hymns.

"Just as I am, without one plea,

but that thy blood was shed for me,

and that thou bidst me come to thee,

O Lamb of God, I come, I come."

Henry was not sure if it was one of her favorites because of the song or just because they sang the song so much.  She was at peace in the church; she enjoyed their friends and neighbors and looked forward to seeing them.

Living on a ranch had its advantages, but she missed the closeness of life in a city.  In the city, one could walk next door or down the block to see a friendly face or share some coffee.

Their life on the ranch consisted mainly of mundane activities, with the occasional worry about water, or varmints eating the livestock.  Henry enjoyed working on things like the fence, or the tractor, anything to keep busy.  Idle hands are the Devils workshop, or was it idle minds?  Henry thought.  Either way, Henry liked to stay busy.  On the ranch, something always needed tending to, so there was little time for idle thoughts or idle hands.

Front porch time was one of his small pleasures that Henry appreciated. The birds finding their evening roosts while engaged in their evening soliloquies. The grand finale was watching the stars come out, one by one, as if on cue by some master planner.

There was the distinct sound of Benny Goodman coming through the screen door from the radio, which Emma had evidently switched on. Before long, another favorite emanated from the tabletop radio. This time, it was Moonlight Serenade by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. About the time Henry was getting used to the music, Emma came out to join him on the porch, in her old faded white cotton gown that she would not be seen in outside if it were light.  She smelled of strawberry shampoo with a hint of lilac bath soap.  Emma had taken the towel off her head. Her long hair played on her shoulders and down the curves of her body leaving small transparent spots on her gown, where the water in her hair allowed gravity to take hold, coming to its final resting point before it evaporated into the night air.

Are you coming in soon?  Emma asked.

In a few more minutes, Henry replied.

Think it will cool off anytime soon? Emma asked as she started humming along to the latest tune.

I sure hope so, won’t need much for covers tonight I suspect, Henry said.

That’s OK, I just hope a breeze comes up soon, Said Emma.

Supper sure was good tonight Emma, was that your mother's recipe or something that you made up?

Emma started laughing at Henry’s last remark, thinking to herself, If he only knew. 

That was me not wasting any leftovers.  I threw some stuff together hoping that you would not notice; did you really like it?

Yes Ma’am I did, sure glad that I married you and not your sister, Henry said with a joking laugh.

Emma’s sister Cloey had never learned to cook.  Emma swore that her sister could burn water.

Grabbing Henry’s tea she sat on the porch swing next to him. She took some ice out of the tea and dropped it down the back of his shirt in a playful response to his comment.

Henry squirmed around trying to get the ice out of the shirt all the while enjoying the attention from his bride of 15 years.

Some coyotes howling in the distance punctuated their laughter.  They sound hungry, Henry said. Then he mumbled something about losing more sheep to the bastards.

Emma fussed at him for his language and then kissed him on the cheek.  A sudden breeze came out of nowhere blowing Emma’s hair out of her face and her gown up well past her knees.

Henry looked at her and saw the silhouette of the women that he had fallen in love with so many years ago. Her white gown was in stark contrast to Emma’s tan legs.  Her slender build allowed her to wear the same clothes that she had in high school which, were too short to wear in public.  Emma was not a slave to fashion and was glad that Henry still noticed her.

She would be forced to retire her old clothes soon, as they had just learned that after several years of trying, Emma was expecting.

She knew that they would have to go into town, and she would have to start shopping for clothes. Henry would make an excellent father, and she secretly hoped for a son. Emma would imagine what Henry would be like taking the time to throw a ball to his son. However, if God granted her a daughter, she was certainly okay with that as well. Knowing Henry the way that she did, he would be thrilled to have a girl too.

Henry had hoped that the breeze would continue as it would help to cool things off.

They sat there listening to the rustling leaves in the trees and the mellow sounds of music while noticing how bright the big dipper looked, when without warning the ground around them lit up as though someone or something was shining a bright light from above.  About that same time, the music turned to static and sounded as if the radio had gone on the fritz. There was a shadow of the roof outline on the lawn in front of them as if it were early afternoon instead of 9:30 at night.  The big dipper faded into a pale shade of violet followed by a bright yellowish light.

Henry and Emma scrambled off the porch to witness three streaks of white light across the sky.  One huge one followed by two smaller ones running parallel to the first one on either side.  As quickly as it started, there was something, which resembled an earthquake. The glass of tea was the first casualty as it fell off the porch swing.  There were other crashing sounds from inside the house. Suddenly there were plumes of dust that came from just over the ridge that lies in front of the porch about a half mile away.

The light had been replaced by a dusty gust of air that was forceful enough to blow sand and debris up on the porch and through the open windows.  Emma’s wet hair became crusted in the dirt, and her white gown turned brown as sand and dust were everywhere. Wiping the sand out of their eyes and off their faces, they stood there in disbelief of the events that had just transpired.

Within moments, the wind had subsided. There was an orange glow coming from over the ridge, and Henry knew that the orange light meant something was on fire.

He told Emma to go call the sheriff while Henry ran off to the barn to grab some tools.  His plan was to go put out any fires and see if he could determine what that was that just crashed and if anyone needed help.

After shaking the sand and dust from her gown, Emma rushed off to call the sheriff.  Henry put a couple of different kinds of shovels, a rake and a hoe, into the bed of his truck and headed off over the ridge.  He had no idea what had crashed or what he would find, but he knew that anything burning needed to be put out. They were in the middle of a drought, and the sagebrush was nothing more than kindling.

He had watched falling stars from their porch for many years; he had guessed that this might be one of them

As he topped the hill, he found small fires burning over what seemed to be miles.  Henry had a large ranch that had belonged to his parents and their parents before them.

He took his shovel out of the truck and started throwing sand on the more massive fires.  As he put out some of the flames, he noticed that the others seem to be dying down on their own accord.  The night had turned still once again, which kept the fires from spreading.  There were just a few small fires dotting the field like small diamonds in a sea of charcoal.  The earth beneath his feet was pitch-black; the sagebrush, cactus, and tumbleweed in the area were scorched black as the night.  It was almost as if someone had taken a flamethrower to the area.

He drove around the ranch for several miles and noticed that new rocks were jutting up out of the ground where none had existed before.  He was sure that something had pushed them up, but it would have to wait until morning to truly gauge what had happened.

Henry drove around for about an hour or so looking for anything that could have caused the fires.  On the way back to the house, he noticed something on the ground sparkle in his headlights.  Stopping the truck, he got out to look at it.  It was a piece of metal that resembled a beam like the one might find in a building, but much smaller, and lighter.  He threw it into the seat next to him and looked for anything else in the area.  Scraps of metal littered the place.  Picking one up, there were no wrinkles in it.  If he were to wrinkle it up, the metal would once again straighten out.  Henry grabbed a few of those and threw them into the truck as well and then headed back to the house, he knew that Emma would be worried, and he was curious what the Sherriff would have to say.

Entering the house with the metal objects in his hand, he found Emma cleaning broken dishes off the kitchen floor.  Henry, covered in soot and dirt, smelled as if he had been too close to a campfire made with creosoted logs. 

Wearing one of his t-shirts with her hair wrapped up in a towel, the house was still disheveled from the upheaval.  Emma had cleaned up most of the things that had fallen.

Did you call Tom? he asked?  I called, Sarah answered the phone, she said that she would try to get in touch with him and tell him about it, Emma said.

What did you find?  Emma questioned while her blue eyes darted between his face and the strange looking metal that he was holding.

Something hit the ground but the only thing that I found, were these small pieces of metal.  Look at this one.  As they looked at it, they noticed what appeared to be writing inside of it.  The writing was unintelligible and more closely resembled that of hieroglyphics.

Emma and Henry looked at the metal for a little while until she could no longer stand the way that he smelled.

Go take your clothes off outside and leave them on the porch; I will wash them in the morning.

Henry was not one to argue with Emma and did as he was told.  He did not really smell anything out of the way when he was putting out the fires, but some plants do have natural creosote in them, and that does stink when you burn it he thought.

He heard the water running in the tub upstairs as Emma, was preparing a bath for him. He piled his clothes on the porch swing and headed to the tub.  His muscles were beginning to show signs of the day’s activities. The adrenaline rush of the night’s events was quickly fading away. 

Emma had just finished filling the tub when in walks her husband as naked as the day he was born. The lower parts of his arms, his neck, and his face, were about as brown as shoe leather while the rest of him, incredibly white. Henry was a very lean, very muscular man. Although the night was probably not going to end as Emma had hoped, she was just happy that it was ending.

The warm bath felt good as he worked to get the soot and dirt from him and out of his hair as well.  Emma showed up with a scrub brush and offered to use it on his back if he wanted.

The events of the day along with the dirt quickly melted away as Henry and Emma found solace in each other’s arms, in the claw-footed tub, with the stain around the drain.

Discovery

Tom showed up the next morning to find Henry and Emma were already awake and sitting down to breakfast.  Tom knocked on the screen door.

Hey Tom, come on in and grab a plate. Did anyone else call in last night about the earthquake or crash or whatever it was? Henry asked.

Tom poured himself a cup of coffee while noticing the broken dishes that were in the trash can underneath the sink.

There were a few calls.  The Henderson’s and the Jones’s to the south of you called in.  They were more interested in the earthquake than any lights in the sky. Tom said.  Looks like you lost a few dishes; it must have really shaken things up!

Emma fixed Tom a plate of eggs and bacon and biscuits.

I have never been in an earthquake, but I would guess that is what happened had I not seen the bright light and had to go put out fires last night.

Emma put her plate in the kitchen sink after rinsing it off, making a note of the fact that she would need some more dishes on her next trip into town.

Can I have some more coffee, Emma? Tom asked.

As much as he visited them, she felt like a short order cook whenever he was around. Tom and Henry were friends from high school, so she knew better than to say anything to Henry.  Tom was the best man at their wedding and then took the plunge and married her sister.  Emma felt sorry for Tom because of her sister’s lack of cooking skills, so she did not really mind cooking for him occasionally.  Emma had tried to teach her sister Cloey how to cook.  For some reason, Cloey could not grasp the concepts involved with cooking.  The best she could do was to heat things up. 

You make the best biscuits and gravy Emma.  Henry, what did you do to get this gal to say I do to you?  Tom said jokingly.

Well, if she married me for my money, she got the short end of the stick.  Henry said with a smile.

Henry and Emma were high school sweethearts; Emma knew she was going to marry Henry as soon as the 7th grade; she just had to wait on Henry to figure it out.

So you drove around up there last night? Tom asked.

Yes, I found some small pieces of metal but nothing bigger than a few feet, Henry said.

Henry grabbed the small I-beam off the counter and handed it to Tom.

Have you ever seen anything like this? Henry asked.

Good lord no; what in the world do you think that is? Tom asked.

Tom, I have never seen anything like this, I thought some of the military boys might have an idea, Henry said.

Look at that writing there, I don’t recognize that language.  I’ve seen Chinese writing before, and I don’t think that’s what it is.

I don’t know what it is either.  Maybe we could take it to the library and see if any of those people have ever seen it before. Tom offered.

Well if something crashed up there, we need to find out what it was, and if anybody was hurt.  I drove around for a couple of hours and didn’t find anything bigger than what you have here for debris. Henry said.

––––––––

After breakfast, Henry and Tom drove in Henry’s truck back up to where he had put out the fires from the previous night.  Tom was looking at the black colored ground while Henry was noticing that where there was once an extended range, there were now huge rocks jutting out of the ground several 100 feet in places.

There was also more of that metal all over the ground, and it seemed to go for miles.

What do you think Tom? Henry asked.

I surely don’t know; I don’t remember that bunch of rocks Henry, have they always been there?

No Sir, it looks like they go on for at least a mile or so, maybe even more than that, Henry said.

I wonder if the earthquake pushed them up, I know they can do that,  Tom said.

Maybe we should go get one of the guys at the airport to fly over this thing and see what they can see, Henry said.

The smell of the burned sagebrush was rife with the odor of creosote.  Now Henry understood why Emma made him leave his close outside last night.

Henry, I got to go and visit with your neighbors too and see what they have to say. There is an air force base not far from here; I think they need to see if this is something of theirs.  Tom said.

Henry and Tom drove around a little bit more before he drove Tom back to his cruiser.  They got close to the base of the rocks as they drove around looking for signs of what could have put them there.  Once Tom was back to his patrol car, he called on the radio to Sarah.

Sarah this is Tom, come in, over.

Hey Tom, did you go get breakfast with Henry and Emma again?

Yea, I got breakfast ok but listen, I need you to call over to the air force base and see if they lost anything last night.

Lost anything?  Like what?

Sarah, there is a mess out here at Henry’s place, the ground is all black, and there are scraps of metal on the ground that looks like something came down!

Ok Tom, I will call them now, be careful out there, you here?

I am ok Sarah; call me when you know something.

Ten Four

Lt. Hill took the call from Sarah. 

Lieutenant, this is Sarah from the sheriff’s office.  Did you lose any airplanes last night? Sarah asked

Sarah, I think that I would know if an airplane went down last night, why do you ask?

Lieutenant, one of our residents, has a mess out of his place.  Tom tells me that it looks like something crashed out there last night. Sarah said.

Lieutenant Hill checked the logs quickly and reported to Sarah that there had been nothing recorded from their base that night.  There were not even any flights in or out of the base past 1800 hours.  Lt. Hill knew Sarah and as a favor to her said that he would take an early lunch and have a look around.

Before he left, he saw the base commander. 

General Lambert was a crusty old fellow who was a few years short of retirement.  If anything had augured in from his base, he would certainly know about it.

After several minutes of looking at the logs, General Lambert told him to go take a look and report back.

Tinfoil

Lt. Hill was a serious kind of person.  He said what he thought and meant what he said.

As Lieutenant Hill pulled up to Henry’s ranch, several people had heard the word, (probably from Sarah) about the bright light and the fires.  The town’s people had wandered around the blackened earth and picked up several pieces of the metallic debris.

Lieutenant Hill was beside himself; if this were a crash site, they would need things left as it was to do a proper investigation.  Lt. Hill had seen crash scenes before, and this certainly resembled one.

Sheriff, what are all of these people doing here? Lieutenant Hill demanded!

Well Lieutenant, they heard about all the activity, and I am sure just want to check it out, Tom said.

Sheriff, if you don’t get these people out of here ASAP there will be hell to pay! Lieutenant Hill said.

Tom ushered the people away from the area as Lieutenant Hill ordered a helicopter from the base through his car’s two-way radio.

Before long, Lieutenant Hill was inspecting the area from 500 feet in utter amazement.  Two long scorched areas seem to be parallel from one another that went on for a couple of miles each.  One of the scorch marks paralleled the other about five miles to the south.  Whatever it was, there were at least two of them, and they must have been moving fast judging by the debris field.  Between the two scorch marks, there was one huge scorch mark just before a large outcropping of rocks.

Lieutenant Hill told the sheriff to keep everyone away, warning of possible radiation.  He took some of the metal that the sheriff had confiscated from the townspeople and jumped back on the helicopter.  He ordered the pilot to fly the field one more time then head back to the air force base.

In route, he called the general and advised him what he had found.

The local newspaper and radio had caught wind of the story and were debriefing the people who had walked the field.  The story became front-page news before the General could even get out to Henry’s ranch.

The local radio station sent a remote car out to talk with Henry and Emma as well as the sheriff. 

Several of the towns’ people had spoken live on air with the local DJ, who was spinning it as another War of the Worlds episode, part two.

Nine years ago on Halloween, HG Wells had scared the devil out of people with his yarn about alien invaders on a national radio show.  The local announcer was not losing any chance to capitalize on his 15 minutes of fame.

General Lambert appeared overhead in yet another helicopter about an hour later.  There were two parallel debris fields about five miles apart about two miles long.  Between and in front of the crash site was a large mountainous range.  The area looked like many other rock formations where the earth’s crust came together in such a way as to push the crust up in a vertical fashion.

The metallic pieces were strewn all over the debris field.  General Lambert ordered the pilot to fly over the widest part of the debris field thinking that is where the objects had rested.

Much to his surprise there seemed to be something metallic and large sticking out of the earth on the southern most debris field.  Judging from the size of things, this thing would just barely fit on a football field.

General Lambert called his superiors upon arriving back at Walker AFB.  Before long, the entire area was filled to capacity with military personnel.  The local radio station that had been reporting on the events at Roswell was suddenly off air.

Hundreds of soldiers were brought in to comb Henry’s ranch for everything that was left behind by the crash.  The locals who talked about it openly were detained until they were convinced that what they saw was a weather balloon.  Some of the town’s people were incarcerated. They never were the same when they returned.  It was almost as if something had happened to them, which affected their mental capacity.

Several truckloads of wreckage were removed from Henry’s ranch and taken to the local air force base where it was put on planes and shipped to other bases in Ft. Worth, and eventually to Write Patterson.

One large piece was trucked off, under cover of night.

Henry ended up with a new truck out of the deal and never talked about that night on his porch ever again.

Lieutenant Hill, who had spoken to the press about the incident, was made to hold the remains of a weather balloon up for the media.

Washington wanted history expunged of the incident and so they re-wrote history, or so they thought.

While Henry never spoke of that night, he and Emma’s lives had been turned upside down.  With the birth of their son, their life took a somewhat normal path.  Henry and Emma went back to raising sheep and raising their son.  Often, Henry would go out to the new mountainous ridge and explore it. 

The local radio station had been taken over by people from out of town.  The newspaper that reported the story also had been taken over by the same mysterious people from outside the city.

The individuals who had come out and walked Henry’s ranch moved away from the area for the most part.  Local business suffered, and the city became close to becoming a ghost town.

Every now and then while Henry was working in the field, he could swear he felt a vibration coming from the ground.

The local townspeople thought Henry was losing his mind when