THE SWORD AND SICKLE

CHAPTER SIX: CASSINI-2, PART TWO

THE SWORD AND SICKLE

PART TWO: DECEPTION

CHAPTER-SIX

CASSINI-2

©2017, Olan L. Smith

Julie responded, "Bob, I'm extremely concerned about her. What if a horrible thing happens to her? Maybe she's in a hospital or something."

"This FBI agent told me that her house did not appear to be occupied. Everything she owns is gone, and the counter is covered in dust. If the FBI fails to locate her, I doubt she will be found."

"Do you think Homeland Security has her, or maybe the CIA?"

"I doubt it, Julie. Everybody would be in on this." Whoever took her has more power than either of these guys."

"Who's stronger than them? You don't think the Russians or the Chinese have her?

"I'm not sure, and we can't tell anyone what we know.
"Who is more powerful than them? You don't think the Russians or the Chinese have her, do you?"

"I don't know, and we can't tell anyone what we know. We must just wait a few days and report her missing."

―――――

Director Morgan whizzed by the lab personnel, waving his badge. He grabbed the phone and called his agents. "Is there any word on Dr. Alicia Santos' whereabouts? No! and you say and she was here seven hours ago. You can't locate a nerdy doctor? Okay, okay. I know you're doing your best. Have you checked hospitals?"

"No one under that name is listed in any of the area hospitals, sir."

"How about Jane Doe?

"None of the Jane Does fits her description, to my knowledge."

"OK. Let her go. We have more important things to do." Damn, Director Morgan thought, I hate loose ends. He called Wescott. "Hello, Paul. This is Director Morgan... I need to bring you in on this full clearance. I want you to go to my desk. I placed a full debrief file, and it's marked Top Secret for your eyes only. Open it and read it. Then call me back immediately. After a while, Morgan called Wescott.

"Yes, Director, I've read the file and am up to date. I knew there was some super weird shit going on, but this is pure sci-fi if you ask me."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I have another problem. I am at mission control at the JPL laboratories, where the images were received of that thing. I was able to get them doctored, but the supervisor here tells me that anyone with enough resources could've downloaded these images directly from the signal. I know that if we get the images out first, then no one will believe the Russians with all their UFO news online. But I have another problem—yes, two problems. One of the team members, Dr. Alicia Santos, who works on the project, is missing. We have searched up and down for her. I think she is headed straight to St. Louis from LA to get the news out to the public before we do. Wescott, get your agents on her and find her before she gets her hands on a computer that can download the original images of the craft orbiting Jupiter.

―――――

Meanwhile, Director Morgan flew back to Washington, D.C., to meet Homeland Secretary Alderman at the White House and said, "The doctored images from NASA are ready. Is the Director of NASA ready for his news conference?"

"I informed him this morning to announce he will reveal the images to the public tomorrow at three p.m. Central Time."

"Is he aware the images have been doctored?"

Morgan replied, "No, he is out of the loop. The team will assemble to answer any questions."

"Do you have a cover story to tell the news people why Dr. Alicia Santos is not available for the news release?"

"She has suddenly come down with a bad case of the flu, is my story."

"Good, we don't need any conspiracy theories or stories floating around, since she is the one who usually fields most of the questions."

"Do you know her, William?"

"Not personally, but I am an astronomy buff, and I have followed the Cassini missions for years, and people will immediately know she is not in attendance."

"Do you believe that if she shows up in St. Louis with the SDL group and tells the world about this cover-up, she will lend them credibility?"

"She doesn't like being told what to do by anybody, let alone you. If people have come here and doctored the images, she will do whatever she must to beat them to the punch, and you can bet my bottom dollar on that.

"Then we will have to find her quickly."

"I doubt you will find her."

"The job done to her house was professional. Hell, I couldn't have done a better job. If she is with Levi's group, we won't see her until they are good and ready."

The director stated, "I thought they were not that well organized."

"In St. Louis, they are. And if we are not careful, they will be worldwide."

"What do you want to tell the President?"

"What I should tell him is that we are knee-deep in shit, but I doubt he will appreciate that. We tell him the truth. The images are ready, and the news release is set to go."

"What will we tell him about Dr. Santos?"

"He doesn't need to know. If he finds out later, then perhaps he fires us; we can only hope."

Sue said, "Gentlemen, the President is ready to see you."

―――――

Gibbon, Aspen, and Harden gathered for the news release and discussed what they would say about the new moon around Jupiter. Gibbon asked the team, "How are we going to explain why this object is not spherical in shape and still be as large as it is?"

"The truth. We don't know, and we won't know until we analyze the data more thoroughly. A more pressing question is going to be why the damn thing has no rotation or wobble. Astronomers are already blogging about this, and it is sure to come up in the question-and-answer session, and then there is spectrum analysis. They are sure to know it is not a ball of ice. They already know it is made partially of gold," said Tony.

"Yeah, this will be known as the gold rush of 2018.