Men in Black: Alpha Alert (Preview)

MEN IN BLACK: ALPHA ALERT

Mark A. J. Cristobal

 

Prologue: A Night at the Oval Office

October 7, 1945. The White House.

The curtains were closed in all of the windows, the entire West Wing was deserted save for a small unit of the U.S. Marines guarding all possible entry points. Sentries patrols outside and snipers were evenly spaced on the roofs.

U.S. President Harry S. Truman sat by his desk at the Oval Office, seated in a semi circle facing him were Senator Alben W. Barkley, U.S. Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, Rear Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, Major General William ‘Wild Bill’ Donovan, Captain William Stephenson of the British Security Coordination and an OSS Agent whose identity was not mentioned to the others; he was only introduced by Captain Stephenson as Agent X.

“Gentlemen, I know we all have much to do on our respective fields but I wouldn’t have summoned each and every one of you if this isn’t of such importance. I must be very clear that whatever you discover in this room tonight stays here. Now, to get things started, Captain Stephenson here will explain the basics.” President Truman said without preamble.

The British liaison took his briefcase and passed red marked dossiers to the gathered officers then he stood up and with the help of Agent X began setting up a projector.

“What you are about to see are authentic reports by reliable agents within the Allied Forces from your very own OSS to their British and Russian counterparts and from scattered but equally verified sources across the globe mostly during the course of the recent war.” Captain Stephenson nodded at Agent X who began operating the projector.

“Exhibit A dated September 1941 in the Indian Ocean. Two sailors at the deck of S.S. Pulaski, a Polish merchant vessel transporting British troops spotted, in their own words, a strange globe glowing with greenish light about the size of the moon from their vantage point. This phenomenon was reported to their superior officer and was observed for about an hour before it vanished through the clouds.” Captain Stephenson pointed at the encircled dot on the projected image taken by the S.S. Pulaski captain.

“Exhibit B dated March 1944 in Belgium/Holland area. Charles R. Bastien of the Eighth Air Force wrote in his report that it looks like two fog lights flying at high rates of speed that could change direction rapidly. Later, two RAF pilots reported a similar sighting. These were verified by Major General Carl Spaatz. Radar operators called them foo fighters, and the name stuck.” Captain Stephenson raised his hand silently putting Major General Donovan’s question on hold for the meantime.

The British liaison officer went to describe twenty seven more sightings on various parts of the globe and when Agent X closed the projector, the room was silent.

“Questions, Gentlemen? I’m quite sure there are hundreds.” President Truman smiled encouragingly.

Major General Donovan spoke first, “Could these objects be just experimental weapons of sorts by the Axis?”

“That Sir was everyone’s superior officers’ first assumption. Apparently as you have seen from some of the sightings, our enemies have also encountered similar cases and suspected that we made those. If we didn’t make it and they don’t either… who did?” the British winked.

“Do we have more tangible evidence than these obscure photos and footages?” Rear Admiral Hillenkoetter asked.

“The closest we ever got were from an encounter in the sky of Poland wherein an RAF pilot claimed, under oath, that he manages to shot down one of those things. Unfortunately it fell on the part of the city where the Germans are dropping their bombs. The OSS tried to search for the remains but it was practically impossible.” the Captain shook his head.

“What exactly are you trying to tell us about all of this?” Senator Berkley raised an eyebrow.

“We need to allocate a division dedicated in monitoring and investigating these unexplained sightings. We must know what they are, why they are here, who made them and where they came from.” Captain Stephenson straightened.

“That is a lot of questions.” Senator Berkley commented.

“And they all need answers. Unfortunately the military is currently in no position to devote our people to such obviously very tasking endeavor.” Chief of Staff Marshall stated.

“We are aware of that Sir. Agent X here has actually assembled a small team, what we only require is an official sanctioning and funding.” Captain Stephenson indicated his companion.

“Funding…” Senator Berkley groaned.

“The war has already cost us too much…” Chief of Staff Marshall added.

“I’m sorry if I have not made myself clear on this, this proposal will not be concentrated locally. This is a top secret international collaboration with our allies.  Our overall funding will come from various nations.” Captain Stephenson said.

“Captain Stephenson, this is what we’ll give you; get us one of those foo fighters for joint military and scientific studies and we’ll grant your team all the funding you need from our end.” President Truman offered.

“We will Mr. President.” Agent X spoke for the first time.

“So, what should we call them?” Senator Berkley wondered.

“They will go by the name; Division Six.” President Harry S. Truman declared.