PW-1. Spencer Scarcello
Читать онлайн книгу.
inside the craft looks dimly lit because of a power problem. Off in the distance you can see me taking pictures. I’m sure by now you have noticed the five beings standing inside the craft looking out at me. The recording is being made by something inside the craft ― I have no idea what ― but it is so far beyond anything we have. You can see me getting off my bike and walking toward the craft,” I continued. “I’m now about ten feet from the edge of the object, and I am reaching down to retrieve a small rock to lob at it, as I still don’t know if anything solid is actually there.”
I went on, “As the pebble contacted the top of the craft, it made a strange low-frequency humming noise, something like I had never heard before. Now I know there is definitely something there. As you can see, I’m turning my head and covering my eyes with my arm while reaching out with the other arm to try and make physical contact with it. I have no idea if it has an electrical charge or something else that may cause me harm, so I am being very careful.
“After several cautious swipes, I made contact. Thrilled I was still vertical, I put both hands on the surface. I am searching for telltale signs such as rivets, welded seams, or screw heads that would tell me that this was a terrestrial object. I found nothing; it was perfectly smooth. It felt like my hands were on a large pane of glass.”
“Cut!” Peter said in a loud voice. There was a collective “Oh, no” from everyone else in the studio.
“Take thirty people,” and looking at Carol, he said, ”We need to have a pow wow.”
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked.
“Not at all,” he said. “You’re doing a great job. The problem is that there are six camera persons and only one of me. I can handle two or three, but there is so much to see here, and I don’t want to miss anything. Usually, I know exactly what is going to happen next and can plan accordingly. With this, I have no idea what’s coming. We need two more people to help direct the other cameras. In my opinion this will have to be shown in a split-screen format at least some of the time. It’s your call, Carol.”
“I agree with you one hundred percent, Peter. Let me see what I can do.” Carol got up from her chair and walked out of the studio.
As everyone left, I said, “Peter, can I see you for a minute?”
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Let me show you something that might help.” I reached down and turned the disk on again. After the rings had all formed, I pointed toward a small white dot on the outer ring. “See that?” I said. I placed my finger on the dot and moved my hand backward. This created a viewing area about six inches in diameter. “If I move my finger to the right, you will see the recording begin to play within the viewing area. The further I move to the right the faster the recording. Conversely, moving to the left goes in reverse. If you would like, you can preview what’s coming up so you know where everyone needs to be.“
“Wow!” he exclaimed. “That’s fantastic! When we snag two more bodies, you can show that to the three of us, and we can plan the shots accordingly. Thanks. Come with me, I want to show you the break room.”
We left the studio and walked down the hall to a glass-enclosed room that was actually a restaurant; it was beautiful. I was expecting a typical lunchroom atmosphere with a refrigerator, sink, and vending machines, but this place was incredible. I was kind of hungry and ordered a sandwich and iced tea; Peter ordered a salad.
“This is on me,” I said.
Peter responded, “Everything here is free.”
“Still on me,” I said. He smiled. The food was amazing ― with giant proportions and large drinks.
“You guys are so fortunate to have such a nice place right here on the same floor.”
“Yes we are,” he said, “but it isn’t just a wonderful gesture on the part of management. Most of the stuff we do here is ‘hush hush,’ and they prefer we don’t mingle with others in the building for security reasons.” Makes sense, I thought. He continued, “Besides, under ‘Platinum Security’ we are not allowed to leave except for emergencies.”
“Where is everyone?” I asked. “I thought the rest of the gang would be in here.”
“They are all trying to find the two extra people I asked for,” he said.
“Wow, now that’s teamwork,” I replied.
“Everyone here was hand picked by Marty Talbert when he started Hard Facts; they are all the best of the best. If there is any sort of problem, regardless of whose area of responsibility it falls under, we all pitch in to find the solution. . . . It’s very effective.”
The gang all came into the lounge together about ten minutes later, with two additional people ― problem solved. Only fifteen minutes had passed and everyone was anxious to get started again. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be the only problem that day. No one had ever tried to tape this kind of recording before and being coupled with an interview, a number of technical problems had to be solved. For instance, studio cameras are meant to record on a fairly level field. They will tilt up and down but not much. There were things directly overhead and straight down that needed to be captured as well. Peter asked for yet another two people from the news department with hand-held cameras. Now there were a total of eight cameras trying to capture all the action. . . . This was unheard of. After all those problems were solved, we had a power outage due to an overload from all the additional equipment that had to be brought in.
I was extremely impressed by the professionalism displayed by everyone. There was no cursing, dirty looks, or someone blaming someone else for a particular problem. In fact they repeatedly apologized to me for the delays. With what they were paying me, I didn’t care if it took five years to finish. The day was more than half over, and we had accomplished very little. Peter got everyone’s attention and told them to stand by. He and the other two directors asked me to show them a preview of what was coming up. They decided collectively it would be best to preview a section, tape it, and move on to the next preview, tape it, and so on. After the entire recording was taped, Joyce and I would do a one-on-one interview, and she would have a better idea of what questions to ask. I resumed playback just where we left off.
I continued to feel my way along the object, and when I was about one-quarter the distance around, I suddenly found myself inside. There was one alien being in front of me, and four more about ten feet behind him. ”You boys aren’t from Spruce Valley Lake, are you?“ I jokingly asked.
They all looked nearly identical, about four and a half feet tall, average in stature with very long arms, having three long fingers and a thumb. Their heads were the same size as mine, which was large for their bodies, with faces that were very childlike . . . actually cute.
They looked to me to be about twelve years old; their noses, ears, and mouths were smaller than mine, with much larger eyes, which was their only distinguishing feature. The pupil was black like mine, but outside of that, the color(s) completely filled the eye socket . . . no white at all, and the eye colors were amazing. Some had a solid color, while others had many patches of color; they reminded me of those paintings that were so popular in the seventies of children with very large eyes. Their skin was kind of pinkish-gray, completely smooth and blemish-free, and they had no visible body hair whatsoever. They were all wearing identical light, yellow-green, one-piece suits with no sleeves, and metallic-looking shoes. Underneath the suit was a transparent garment that covered everything but their heads.
The one closest to me said, ”Please do not be afraid; we mean you no harm. In fact we desperately need your help. I am Zo-L. We are travelers from another planet and have come here simply to observe your civilization. We have lost all main power, and our auxiliary power is nearly depleted as well. We have been stranded here for six of your Earth days. Will you please help us?“
”Yes, of course.“ I said, ”What can I do?”
“We are in need of sodium chloride and oxygen,” came the response.
“By sodium chloride do you mean