Lost in Magadan: Extraterrestrials on Earth

Captain Pilosus, looking at his hand-held display, added, “The Chersky mountain range is essentially uninhabited. There is little chance of detection, but we would be close enough to the crash site, if we are careful.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Present Day

Moon Base

Major Tom woke up at six am, just as he did every day, without the benefit of an alarm clock. He was sleeping in his twin bed; his personal quarters were smaller than a standard hotel room, as space was at a premium on the Moon Base. At least he had his own quarters; many of the lower ranking officers had roommates. As he unraveled from his twisted gray sheets, he stretched his arms and glanced out the small portal that stood watch over his bed. He was thankful for the window; not everyone had a view of the rocky moon surface. In the six months, that he had been stationed on the Moon, he had never left the confines of the base. His position did not require him to go outside the base’s ten-story structure.

The Moon Base had an enormous footprint, larger than any Earthly shopping mall. The ground level of the base was a large open area used to store space craft and vehicles that could be used to explore the rocky surface. Space craft could land directly next to the large hanger and be transported into the bay through a series of air locks. From the base’s command center, they could monitor all Earthly communications, travel, and dangers lurking in deep space. The level directly below the command center was the human crew’s quarters and DFAC. The Vitahicians, often referred to as Nordics, worked side-by-side with humans, but preferred their own separate crew’s quarters.

Levels three and four, above the hanger bay, were off limits to all humans. In those levels, the Nordics had complete autonomy to do whatever they wanted, away from prying eyes. It was sovereign Vitahician territory. That was the deal struck between Americans and Vitahicians decades earlier. In exchange for greatly advanced technology, the Americans agreed to give the Nordics their own sovereign territory, on Earth and the Moon Base.

Major Tom stood a slight five and a half feet tall, had strong jaw, and light brown, closely cropped, hair. Upon graduating from MIT at the top of his class, with an advanced astrophysics degree, he was courted by the top global corporations. He was offered signing bonuses large enough to pay off his student loans and buy a house in the suburbs. He never intended to go into the military; the idea never even crossed his mind. He always thought he would get a job working for a big corporation earning three to four hundred thousand a year, and maybe settle down and marry a smoking-hot chick and have some kids. That was not to be.

His whole life changed when, shortly before graduation, he was contacted by an Air Force recruiter. At first, he blew him off, but the recruiter persisted. Tom finally ceded agreed to do one interview. The recruiter met him at his apartment on a Friday morning and told Tom that he had to sign a confidentially agreement before even moving forward on the interview. Tom begrudgingly signed it and was told that if he spoke to anyone about what he saw, he would be thrown into an off-shore detention center for the rest of his life – no lawyer, no trial. By the look on the recruiter’s face, Tom knew he was telling the truth. He and the recruiter drove to the nearest Air Force Base and into an unmarked hanger.

There, Tom was introduced to an Air Force pilot who was standing in front of an unrecognizable plane. The recruiter explained to Tom that while NASA was reporting to the public about rovers being sent to Mars, the Air Force had been landing humans on both the Moon and Mars for decades. He went on to explain that they had a space ship that could carry people to Jupiter and back in a matter of a few days. The pilot explained that the antigravity plane behind him was capable of speeds up to Mach 6 and could travel around the globe in a few hours. The most impressive part was that the Mach 6 plane was over 20 years old.

The recruiter boasted that the technology Tom was being shown was nothing compared to what the Air Force truly had to offer. After taking a ride in the Mach 6 plane, Tom was beyond convinced, he was captivated. After signing numerous non-disclosure agreements, the Air Force gave him a measly signing bonus and sent him to officer’s training school. Over the next several months, Tom learned about the existence of alien technology, treaties with other worlds, and the Moon Base. He was surprised to learn that the penalty for unauthorized disclosure of classified alien technology was not imprisonment - but death.