A COSMIC SIGN part2...................

Sir,, sir,, wake up we’re about to land…
(the flaps and the lowering of the landing gear quickly bring
Colonel Pike back from his dreaming,, it had already been a long day)…

(Standing on the hard packed desert sand,, Colonel Pike watched as
the B2 bomber taxied its way away from him and lifted off at about
a 40 degree angle…it only took a few minutes before it was too high
and too far for him to see it anymore…the desert landing strip
was surrounded on all sides by mountains,, this must have been
a lake bed at one time he thought to himself… there were a few
clusters of what looked like farm sheds and 1950 era Quonset huts
in the distance…A small motorized cart was steadily coming towards
him,, leaving only a small dust plum to rise in the sky…
his ride to somewhere he thought)…

Colonel Pike,, get in…I’m Ted Johnson12…
What?...where am I?…
Sorry sir,, everyone here is called Johnson…well since you’re here,,
I guess its alright to tell you,, this is the Groom Lake research
facility in Nevada…everyone else is here,, you’re the last to arrive…

(Ted stops the cart near a small storage shed which is adjacent to
one of the large Quonset huts)…

This way Colonel…
(both men step inside the small shed)…
Please put your feet inside the red shoe outlines on the floor Colonel…
Level please…(a female voice emanates from somewhere
inside the small shed)…
Level 47…
Please present identification…
(Ted presents his ID badge to a small mirror on the wall)…
(Prepare for retina scan)…(Ted leans closer to the mirror)…
(Rising from the floor in front of Ted and the Colonel is a metal bar)…
Colonel,, hang on to the bar…
OK…
(the floor of the small shed starts its descent to level 47,,
it’s a quick 12 minute controlled freefall)…
(a pair of stainless steel elevator doors open into a gleaming
white corridor)…
This way Colonel…
What is this place?...
Oh,, this?...this is just the Administration building…there are
other building scattered around for R & D and such…
(stopping in front of a reception/security desk,, Colonel Pike
receives his ID badge and a security level microchip imbedded
behind his left ear)…
Now,, don’t ever take that badge off,, not even while your taking
a shower or…you know…it will make all the alarms go off and you
won’t like the results…believe me…
This way…they’re waiting for you…

(Conference Room 36D)
Hello John,, nice to see you again…
Hey Pete…what the hell an I doing here?...what’s this about?...
You’ll find out in a moment…have a seat…
(the conference room is a rather large room with an ellipse shaped
table in the center,, projection screens can be lowered from the
ceiling along any wall…at the conference table 12 men are already
seated,, some of them Colonel John Pike has already met or knows
from reading the newspapers… Pete Worden,, Nasa chief engineer
of digital satellite imaging,, director Charles Elachi director
of JPL operations,, Vice President Kelly,, General Bradkroff of
the Joint Chiefs…the other men look familiar from the small
world of Nasa and JPL)…
(director Charles Elachi,, presides over the meeting)…
Gentlemen as most of you already know,, today at approximately
05:00,, images broadcast back to Earth by MRO near the Martian
polar region showed an avalanche occurring in near real time along
the cliff wall of the Vastitas Borealis plateau region…
the broadcasting and analysis of those images was immediately
stopped and all data was transferred to NASA Delfi2 internal code,,
since then all MRO data has been removed from and transferred
to the DOD imaging analysis units here at Groom Lake….
Lights please…
(click,, click…a small digital projector rises from the center of the
conference table and a projection screen lowers from the ceiling
along the West wall)…
Gentlemen,, this first image shows the cliff wall two days before
the rock slide…a typical Martian cliff face with a top approximately
350 ft above the main Vastitas Borealis plateau valley…
This second photo shows the same cliff face just as the
rock slide was occurring…the next 6 photos show much the same
thing with the cliff wall being obscured by falling debris and red dust…
This image is why all MRO data has now been classified…
The bottom left hand corner of the original image has been digitally
magnified to show more detail…
(a red laser pointer points to a whitish structure along the
Vastitas Borealis plateau)…
These next photos show increased magnification and have also been
digitally enhanced…as you can plainly see now,, there’s what can only
be described as a,, hmm,, ‘manmade structure’...
Its estimated that the structure is about 120 ft high,, and 80 ft wide
by 80 ft wide…this dark recessed area,, we believe is a door of
some type about 60 ft high…MRO is expected to make another
fly-by in about 2 hours,, we should have more data about this
structure by the end of the day…the folders in front of each of
you contain all that we know above the Vastitas Borealis plateau
and photos of this structure… Needless to say this is beyond
Top Secret and is considered “eyes only”…

Colonel Pike,, you may wonder why you have been brought here…
Yes sir…I have been…
You’ve been selected to lead the crew going to Mars to investigate
this structure…your military and leadership experience during the
Panama conflict and the fact that you have been training crews
for the past 7 years just for a mission to Mars makes you the ideal
choice to lead this mission…the President agrees,, as do I…
congratulations…
Uhhh,, thank you sir…
The funding for this mission has already been approved and will
be paid for partly thru NASA and thru the DOD budget…
due to the secret nature of this project most of the construction
of the launch vehicles and the command modules will be built at
the Skunk Works and at Houston’s rocket assembly faculty…
it is expected to take two years before the launch vehicles and
the command ship will be ready for launch,, until that time all
communication with the press about a Mars mission will come
solely from my office…does everyone understand?...
(Yes sir was the common response)…
(Colonel Pike)…Sir,, with the military involvement… how big a
role will they have?...NASA has always been a civilian agency…
(General Bradkroff)…May I answer that question?...
Certainly General…
Colonel Pike your concerns about this being a military operation
are unnecessary,, the President has made it very clear that
NASA is in charge of the mission…the DOD is merely here as
advisors and because we have the necessary facilities and experts
to build the components for this journey quickly…Plus of course
our contractors are already under Top Secret classifications…
we do however insist than one of your crew members be a
military weapons expert of our choosing,, from a personnel list
supplied by you of course…we feel that any delays in starting this
project will only mean the greater likelihood of someone talking
about what was revealed on the photos today…and do to this being
an unknown possible alien encounter,, well frankly there might
me some military technologies that we can gather for use in our
nations defense should anything be found…the President also
agrees with this thinking,, as I’m sure you’ll agree…
(director Charles Elachi)… Colonel,, you’ll be in charge of selecting
and training your 7 person crew,, you’ll also be commander of
the Mars mission once it is in space ,, but until that time,,
these 12 men and yourself will have to cooperate and make
the necessary hard decisions to get this mission to Mars…
everyone in this room is working towards that goal and the
President will in a couple of months announce to the public
NASA’s new Mars Mission…
(Colonel Pike)…Yes sir…my concern was only for the safety of
my crew and that there would be no confusion about this mission
being led by NASA not the DOD…
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END OF PART TWO…………