Chariot 3: Conception

The hatch of the craft suddenly opened on the side underneath its wing sliding itself to the right over the surface of the craft. Even the simplistic noise that it created sounded futuristic.

The creature looked straight from the interior of his doomed craft but did not see much more than shadows obfuscated by the sunlight behind them.

The Grey creature slowly exited through the small opening with the hesitation that any other creature out of its world would naturally have under those circumstances. The Grey lifted his right hand protecting the eyes from the direct sunlight.

His first foot hit the ground with uncertainness as if he had never stepped off before.

The crowd of shadows stopped moving.

The creature could listen to each one of their hearts, along with his, biting faster than never before.

“Freeze! Identify yourself” The Grey looked straight at the first one who spoke while he slowly moved under the shade of the craft`s wing.

The big black eyes carefully moved towards the U.S. Army soldier who had his Colt pointed at the creature.

The visitor from outer space then cautiously moved his neck from side to side and browsed his eyes over the platoon who had all their M1 carbines aimed at him.

While he analyzed the primitive, although effective arsenal, the creature slowly raised the palm of his hand which, for the Earthians, resembled a stop gesture, and then mentally spoke to them all. “I come to this planet in peace. Please take me to your superiors.”

A blend of images representing those words penetrated their minds so clearly and almost naturally that most of the soldiers did not even notice the fact that no words had actually been pronounced.

“Who are you?” The Major leading the 509th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force Roswell Army Field, in charge of the recovery operation, enquired.

“I am a visitor from far beyond your comprehension.”

The Officer hesitated as his mind absorbed the message, thinking of his next step. The man then realized that the creature`s thoughts were inside his mind, and wondered if the others would be experiencing the same.

Different than the communication that the Nibirians managed to establish with the Greys with the help of their Brain Computer Interfaces, the humans could not listen word by word in their minds, but a blend of images which provided them with a clear idea of what was being said.

“Are you…hurt?” The Officer asked.

“No” was a much shorter answer than the soldier expected, having in consideration the current shape of his craft.

“Great. Search him.” His sympathy ended with the obvious sense of duty.

The First and Second Lieutenants next to him immediately stepped ahead and as their palms touched the immaculate uniform of the visitor, they immediately felt its distinctive texture. Definitely something none of them had seen or ever touched before.

After touching every surface of his body, a treatment that none of the Greys had experienced before, the two soldiers nodded their heads confirming that no weapons had been found.

Satisfied with the fact that the soldiers did not find his paralyzing device – although their hands surpassed it at least a couple of times – the out of world looking creature gave them a strangely empty look.

The two soldiers felt a brief discomfort which was then broken by the heavy voice of their Senior Officer. “Take him into custody.”

They subsequently grabbed the skinny humanoid by his arms, carefully carrying him towards the U.S. Army truck not many steps away.

With help, the prisoner boarded the back of the truck which was then loaded with the two Lieutenants and another six military police officers.

The Officer in charge approached them from outside the truck and with a rather serious expression, provided the men with their orders.

“Not a word with the prisoner. He is to be taken straight to the RAAF. He is to be personally assigned custody to Lieutenant Colonel Jennings and no one else. No one else.” The Officer slowly repeated after referring to the Roswell Army Air Field. “Understood?”

“Sir, yes Sir!”

“Here you are.” The Officer handed them the written orders, a folding map-shaped paper. “Remember, this is a Top Secret mission on a need to know basis only.”

The most senior, ironically the youngest of the group, a twenty three years old First Lieutenant grabbed the instructions and placed them into the pocket of his jacket.

“Sir, yes Sir!” The soldiers replied with a serious expression on each one of their faces which was accompanied by the standard U.S. Army salutation.

“One more thing: You are to have no communication with the subject.” The Major turned his eyes to the captive creature before lowering his saluting hand. An incredible feeling of curiosity blended with jealousy occupied his thoughts. All he wished was to meet the intriguing creature once again.

“Subject?” The creature politely enquired.

“Well, my apologies but we do not know your name. What is your name anyway?” The Officer felt sorry for a second.

“I do not have one.” It was the Major`s understanding as he perceived a very vague thought communicated by the creature.

“Major, is that your name?” The alien enquired noticing all around seemed to refer to their leader using that word.

“No, that is my rank.” He gave a short reply without bothering to provide him with his name.

“Then I shall assume you may call me Pilot.” The Grey visitor politely replied with images of him piloting his craft.

Confused, the Senior Officer slowly lowered his hand and so did the others. He closed the cargo colored curtain of the truck and then tapped its back making a hand signal to the driver while he digested the futuristic images of various different spaceships in his mind, all piloted by the very same creature.

“This is going to be a long trip.” The other Lieutenant whispered to the man seating next to him.

A brief shivering flowed through each one of their bodies alarming them that the duty was calling. It was time to move.

The vehicle took off followed by a couple of Jeeps on its rear, lifting a cloud of dust behind each other.

“Having to transport a probably far more advanced life form from outer space through 100 miles does not happen every day. Actually, I wonder if it ever happened to anyone. That`s why I probably never saw any of it on the manual.” The apprehensive thoughts of the young Lieutenant kept his mind busy.

“You shall not worry. I am here to cause you no harm.” The creature silently responded with peaceful thoughts while listening to a variety of thoughts – all similar in some way – from the other soldiers that, indirectly, stared at him while firmly holding their unlocked weapons.

The soldier raised his eyebrows surprised with the images, telepathically transmitted to him. He hesitated…“thank you” and then kept telling himself no to think of anything else, if that was even possible.

“Major Marcel.” His Captain approached him as the convoy departed.

The Major turned back. His eyes hovered the field once again, replete with debris from all shapes and sizes. The space was surrounded by a variety of military vehicles, mostly military Jeeps and trucks but also some black civilian looking vehicles from which some were equipped with sirens.

The big platoon moved quickly, collecting the pieces from the terrain while many others rushed to finish building several unmarked crates that were being filled and loaded onto the trucks.

“We have just received new orders. We are to pack everything as soon as possible and send it to Roswell Army Air Field.”

“Tell me something I don`t know Captain.” He sounded inpatient.

“Sir, from there they want to fly everything to Fort Worth.”

“Fort Worth?! Dammit! They are taking it from of us.” The Major could not hide his disappointment.

“Sorry, Major. General`s orders.”

Those were the last words the unnamed creature could hear as the truck reached a point beyond his telepathic capabilities.

As the Grey finished listening to the no longer secret conversation between the Major and his Captain, the prisoner privately raised a question to the First Lieutenant. “Are you bringing the others to the same base?”

“Others! What others?” The young soldier enquired, unable to hide the astonishment the braking news had brought him.

Before making a decision, the Lieutenant looked down and pondered for a second. “Get me on the radio. Now!”