SKY WOMAN OF GROOM LAKE Read online

  SKYWOMAN OF GROOM LAKE

  BY

  Charlie Peart

  © 2001 Charlie Peart

  All rights reserved. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book may not be translated without prior written permission of the copyright holder.

  DEDICATION

  To Vivian Cipriano, my editor, who works tirelessly, and sometimes thanklessly, to enhance and refine the author’s written page.

  Prologue

  When the Tree of Life was pulled from the center of the island in the sky, Sky Woman leaned over and peered down looking at the water that covered the earth below. She slipped and fell through the hole tumbling down through the sky towards the water. The birds watching her fall were distressed and gathered a great many of their kind to cradle her fall and carry her to safety on the back of a great sea turtle.

  From the Legend of Sky Woman, Iroquois version

  Chapter 1

  At night, on weekends, whenever they were not "at work" it was just the three of them together. They ate together, exercised together, watched television in the dayroom together, played video games, and tested each other’s memories for trivia to keep themselves stimulated.

  Originally, there had been four of them; now they were three. One had died of old age. He had been their pilot, their leader. He had been the one to rally them through the hardships of their many years of captivity by assuring them that rescue would eventually come. Even if he realized that no help would ever come, he wanted to keep them positive, wanted to keep the hope alive for them. This would keep their energy at maintenance level so that they could survive.

  But the years had gone by and rescue had eluded them and eventually their pilot’s strong convictions and positive energy were stilled by his death. Too many years had passed. Their deceased captain would never return home, and neither would they.

  Their current residence was a bunker, reinforced by concrete and steel. It was cordoned off, positioned in a top-secret area of the base, and reached by a passageway in an underground tunnel. Only specifically cleared, highly classified personnel were allowed to enter these living quarters.

  This isolated, dormitory-like structure was arranged as a pod. Four bedroom suites connected into a large dayroom, amply furnished with seating arrangements for enjoying video entertainment as well as office-like cubicles for reading or study, and with a dining area and utility kitchen built into this living space as well.

  Originally the walls had been painted white, by choice of the inhabitants, who seemed to prefer clean lines and an austere, contemporary decorating style. But, as time went by, their room colors were changed, by military order, to what their psychologists considered more soothing, pastel colors. This re-decorating had not appeared to actually alter the occupants diagnosed symptoms of depression. However, since it seemed to better please their keepers, the wall color choices remained permanently.

  Adjacent to the dormitory area was a small indoor gymnasium with running track and exercise equipment, and a door led from the gym to an odd solarium style room. Its ceiling was constructed using glass, especially designed for the occupants by an architect, and its purpose was to allow sunlight in, as the residents were never allowed outside. This was the inhabitants' window to the outside world and, as such, it was also reinforced with minute, metallic fibers to deflect the occupant’s energy and thought patterns. This glass ceiling allowed a view of the surrounding mountains and desert landscape. Yet, it was programmed to close automatically at sunset, and a ceiling with a painted evening sky dotted with stars replaced the glass window. At sunrise, the ceiling automatically retracted to expose daylight once again.

  This solarium was the residents’ simulated outdoor area, their "backyard". Astroturf covered the floor, in an attempt to resemble grass, and there was a walkway through real flowerbeds and shrubs. A grove of small trees had been planted in one corner of the solarium. Another corner held a stone fountain with a small concrete brook, from which water gurgled and splashed. This was also their patio area, where they could relax in lawn chairs. All of this was created to provide a replacement for the outdoor world to which they could never enter.

  Amequaxiquil had been the only female crewmember. When their ship had crashed, two had died instantly and she and three other crewmembers had been injured. Amequaxiquil and her companions had been treated in a heavily guarded wing of a military hospital for about six months before their transport to the housing created for them at Groom Lake in Nevada. During this recovery period, they had been poked, prodded, and analyzed as well as cured of their injuries. None had suffered serious wounds. In Amequaxiquil's case, she had been treated for a broken leg and slight head contusions. However, the harsh treatment she received as an inmate at the hospital depressed her spirit to such an extent that it was unclear whether she would achieve convalescence.

  As alien invaders whose intentions were unknown, the crewmembers were subjected to intense interrogation, both mental and physical. The latter resulted in numerous blood and bodily fluid samples being taken from them, with little regard for their well-being. They were always interviewed separately. Some of the interrogators were gentle and friendly, but most were considered by the aliens to be intense and harsh in tone. The questions were repeated constantly as the captors attempted to ascertain where the aliens had arrived from, how long their journey had taken, what their mission was, plus a desire for myriad details about their home planet and technology.

  The interrogators did not seem to understand, at first, that these aliens used their small mouths primarily for food consumption, not for talking. Although they did have the capacity to speak, it was for them an ancient method of communication used by their race in the long distant past, before they had evolved their minds to a higher state of energy. Therefore, Amequaxiquil and her companions communicated in a rather limited way with their captors, as it was awkward for them to enunciate complex ideas. Amequaxiquil, as well as the others, had been trained in language schools before the mission. Although they had all learned the basics of the language at their training academy, they were attempting to speak in English, a language foreign to them.

  At first, threats and deprivations had been utilized "to make them talk". This aggressive approach had served only to frighten Amequaxiquil, making her less responsive than she might have been. Eventually, the interrogators began to realize that voice communication was not normal for the foursome, and they changed their harsh tactics and tried a friendlier approach. This began to work.

  As aliens and their captors began to relax in each other’s presence, most of the captors finally became able to communicate and receive telepathic communication. For those who mastered this feat, it became the primary method utilized between the species to communicate in a clear and intelligent manner.

  Of course, Amequaxiquil and the other crewmembers had been thoroughly trained in how they should respond in the event of capture by Earthlings. They were given disinformation briefings to utilize in this eventuality. While all four appeared to ultimately cooperate with their captors and provide willing and detailed answers to the frequent questioning, any information they provided about their planet, governments, and population, was a carefully crafted mirage.

  As conditions softened for the captives and the interrogation pressures lessened, Amequaxiquil began to revive. But it was mainl
y the encouragement and support of her fellow crewmembers, whom she communicated with in the hospital ward recovery room between interrogation sessions, that caused her to rally and strengthen physically. Her vibrations and energy levels increased with their aid. She, like them, came to accept her fate. She would continue to live, even if it meant a lifetime of imprisonment in an alien world.

  Chapter 2

  The Janet Airlines 737 was three miles out on its final approach into Groom Lake. Nick checked to make sure his seat belt was fastened and smiled at his assistant, Shelley Carson, motioning her to do the same. He had made so many Monday flights to Area 51, as a liaison working for an aerospace defense contractor, that he had lost count.

  Nick had been assigned to this secret project four years ago. He remembered how astonished he had felt during his initial briefing session when told that he would be meeting and working with alien beings from some other world. He had known that his new assignment was unusual when, after submitting his application for the position, he was subjected to a battery of interviews and requested to undergo hours of psychological testing and counseling sessions. This new assignment was not only high-level, the epitome of his aeronautical career, but also of such a secretive nature that only a candidate of a certain type personality and emotional frame of mind could be suitable for the position.

  Nick had started his career working with NASA on the Apollo programs. He came from a working class background in New Hampshire, the one son in a family with three daughters. Always industrious, due to his father's strict admonitions to "work hard", he had saved enough money through teenage jobs at fast food restaurants and landscaping work to pay his own way through the University of New Hampshire. From there, he had secured a civil service engineering job at NASA. Working on his nation’s space program had always been a boyhood dream, fueled by TV coverage of the early astronauts as they were blasted into space. Eventually his NASA work led to a liaison position between the contract world and the military. Later he held a position that required liaison between NASA and NSA. Always he was the fixer, the one who smoothed over the inevitable irritations and difficulties that existed between agency mindsets. His nature was always to see both sides of an issue. He had thus risen through the ranks of government.

  Now he was a man nearing retirement, with a head of thick gray hair and a slightly spreading waistline. He still thought of himself as handsome, in a rugged and determined way, with a broad smile and strong Italian features, inherited from his deceased parents. Loud and humorous, he was a man who knew how to work people, yet so subtle were his persuasion techniques that most everyone found him endearing. Everyone came away believing that they were Nick's best friend.

  As Nick sat with his briefer, who was explaining to him the true nature of the job he was about to assume, he felt a tingle of fear pass through his body. It was being impressed upon him that he could never, under pain of prosecution or possibly death, reveal any of what he would be called upon to perform in his job duties. The citizenry of the world were not to know, could never be expected to understand or accept, what he was about to learn.

  Basically the briefer was revealing to Nick that the Earth had been invaded by beings from distant planets, probably since the beginnings of civilization. At the present time some beings were now held captive in various locations around the globe. Most astounding of all was that he would be working in a liaison capacity, side by side, with several of these inter-planetary aliens on a top-secret flight design project controlled by the Department of Defense.

  Upon hearing this almost surreal information coming from the lips of such a sober looking briefer, Nick felt compelled to laugh. But the dour-faced lieutenant colonel did not look like a man who would tolerate humorous comments. He appeared deadly serious and kept repeating the threat that Nick could never speak of his work to anyone under possible penalty of death. "What have I gotten into?" was a phrase that kept passing through Nick's mind as he listened to the somber voiced Air Force officer's recitation.

  The aerospace company employing him knew Nick was just topping off his successful career with one last high paying job before he was ready for full retirement. Unaware at first of the true nature of the assignment, Nick thought it would be a fairly easy and interesting one that would be his crowning achievement; a great opportunity and his last hurrah. Unfortunately, for Nick it would turn out to be anything but a cushy, laid-back assignment. The nature of his work would present a situation that would cause him to question the goals and mission of his life long career.

  Chapter 3

  Nick recalled the shocking moment when he was finally introduced to the three beings from another world. He managed to mutter an astonished “Hello” as each was introduced. Each merely offered a handshake and nodded politely back at him in reply to his greeting.

  They all had “American” names – Amie, Mike, and X-ray. His escort explained to Nick later on, when they were alone, that their true names were almost impossible to pronounce. Amie’s was Amequaxiquil and Mike’s was Mixstaphenequix, and X-ray’s was an impossible sounding name something like Xraxequayizophax. Hence the nicknames were given to make everything much easier.

  They would all be working on the hangar floor with Nick, but the female, Amie, was the one that became his true co-worker, a member of his team. From the first day he spent working with her, she fascinated and intrigued him. She, like her male companions, was physically akin to pictures and movies he had seen when Hollywood depicted alien beings. Certainly unthreatening, they were diminutive in stature, about five feet tall and much thinner than the average person with large, hairless heads and huge, dark, lidless eyes. Their eyes reminded him of a computer screen, and they seemed to be lit from their inner soul. Like a computer, the eyes seemed able to be turned on and off.

  The aliens’ skin was a disquieting light gray color. But with their skin, as with their eyes, there would at times appear to be subtle changes.

  Sometimes, as Nick began to relax around Amie, he would notice that her skin appeared to alter somewhat, almost seeming to glow and become more translucent, like a pearl. When something bothered her, he noticed that she would slightly darken in skin shade. Her eyes would also lose their inner light and appear to go hard and blank. It was interesting for him to deal with her.

  The most fascinating thing of all had been the process of learning to communicate with his alien workmate. It became quickly obvious that, if they were to become productive co-workers, they would need to speak in a much more technical language and clearer thought-process exchange than the banal utterances Amie made when trying to speak in his language. Her English was heavily accented and childlike, as if she had learned only phrases that would enable her to talk in a rudimentary way in order to get by in her Earth environment. Also, her mouth was extremely small, and it was difficult for her to pronounce certain English words.

  Amie explained to Nick verbally, and in her simple way, that her people did not speak with their voice boxes and use their tongues to form words. They had evolved from that ancient practice long ago. They now spoke telepathically. He would have to learn to communicate with her in that way also, if they were to truly share complex ideas and concepts.

  “But how can I do that?” Nick questioned.

  Amie’s reply perplexed him. She explained that it was very easy to do if Nick could only learn to relax and concentrate. If he would merely focus on her, try and open himself up to the energy waves she was sending his way, he would begin to hear her thoughts as they were being delivered to him.

  It was not easy for him to learn to do this, and it took several months before the two were able to freely communicate back and forth. What had bothered Nick most about this remarkable process was that Amie’s thoughts came to him in his own voice, not her own accented speech.

  At first Nick began to feel very uncomfortable, as if another being had invaded his body. Nick imagined a schizophrenic might feel much this way. He heard himself saying things in his min
d that were not his own thoughts. After he voiced or thought on his own, it was like some demon or angel were whispering a reply back to him.

  Eventually he caught onto the idea that Amie was getting through to him, albeit as if he were talking to himself. Nick still replied back to her aloud, for the first two months. Soon, he relaxed enough to let his thoughts forcefully pass to her, and she was able to hear his communication and responded back in kind. It was a unique experience, pure telepathy with a rapid response. Her mind seemed to fill him with the most incredible knowledge, as if he had suddenly gone to MIT and was awarded a doctorate in astrophysics.

  The only disquieting thing about this process was that he did not know how to hide his thoughts from Amie. Her race had apparently mastered this technique, but she did not convey to Nick how this was accomplished. He realized that she could, in essence, “read his mind”. He was an “open book” to her, while she conveyed to him only the thoughts related to the work that they were performing and little else.

  It had taken about a year of working together before Amie had gone beyond work-based conversation and opened up to Nick with some of her personal feelings, giving him a background perspective on who she and her people were. At first, she had begun to thought-speak to him about the history of her people’s visits to Earth.

  Amie related that in ancient times it had been easy to be accepted by Earth civilizations because, in each culture, the primitive people had worshipped them as gods. Nick could clearly see why this would be so. Beings landing from the sky in spaceships would readily be accepted as representatives of the sun or moon gods. Their technological superiority would serve to convince early human civilizations that these odd looking beings, who performed wondrous feats of magic, could only be divine.