The figures ignored the state trooper and carried on watching the readouts. Sergeant Moore and the other troopers pulled their side arms and pointed them at the figures.
“I won’t ask again.” Sergeant Moore shouted.
A gloved hand appeared out of nowhere and made Sergeant Moore jump as it rested on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry Sergeant, these men are with me. You have done well but please lower your weapons.”
The voice was familiar; it was the first man in the black suit, who had appeared out of thin air with an escort from the National Guard.
The state troopers lowered their weapons and the figures in the yellow space suits carried on with their work. Moore did not dare ask the question of who these people were but he stood and casually observed.
“Your job is done here Sergeant, you and your men must return to the town now and assist the National Guard with the important task of policing the civilians.”
“But sir with all due respect you tasked us with guarding the object and we haven’t let you down!”
The man in black removed his hand from Moore’s shoulder and then made his way around to face the Trooper.
“You have not let us down at all Moore but now you must do as I ask.”
Sergeant Moore felt the fight leaving his body and he succumbed to the man’s request, even though he could not see the man’s eyes, he could feel his burning stare go right through him.
“Yes, Sir.” He said and he turned to his boys, “Come on men we are going to police the town’s folk, make sure they don’t come snooping around.”
“Thank you Sergeant.” The man in black said as he watched them leave.
Sergeant Moore walked passed the five figures in half dazed like state, however as he passed the last figure he could easily make out the blue circle stitched on the arm. A red horizontal ‘V’ covered the top of four white letters, flanked by a comet and tail forming a circle. The four letters spelled out NASA.
Moore was not thinking straight but he was puzzled. ‘What the hell has NASA got to do with this? Did that thing really fall from space?’ The thought quickly went as he and his colleagues made their way back into the town.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
The yellow figures finished their sweep around the area and then stood at the edge of the crater for about five minutes, just watching the readouts fluctuate. Finally, the lead figure took off their gas mask and pulled the hair band that held her full shoulder length brown hair. She flicked her head and ruffled her hair.
“That feels better, ok men the readouts are clear, it is safe to remove your masks.” She ordered.
The four men under her command took off their masks.
“Ok let’s get to work; I want samples from the crater, including soil samples. I want readouts taken from the object itself and if you can take a small sample from the object as well. Let’s get to it.”
The NASA scientists started to remove various kit from their bags.
“That won’t be necessary. I want you to take samples from the ground and electrical readings from the device but you are not to damage it in anyway. Is that clear?” The man in black said.
The four NASA scientists looked to Betty who stood her ground; she focused her eyes on the man. He wore no military insignia, no identification but he was clearly in charge.
“What’s your name Sir? So I know who I’m addressing.” Betty asked she had always had a strong personality.
The man in black smiled, that unnatural smile. “I am agent 001 but one is fine. Now please will you continue with the research that I have asked for.”
Betty suddenly felt strange, she found it hard to focus on anything and a feeling that something unnatural was happening drifted out of her mind, it was replaced with obedience.
Betty nodded, “Yes, Sir.” She turned to get away from the man’s terrible gaze, even though she could not see his eyes. “You heard him team, let’s get to work.”
The NASA team jumped down into the crater and began to take all sorts of readings and samples. The youngest man in the team was just over twenty-three years old and he took a hammer to the solid, burnt soil under his feet. He began to break a piece of it away for a sample. Once the soil had come away, he rolled it around in his gloved palm, it was rock solid and the jagged edges managed to slice the glove in a few tiny places.
After studying it for several more seconds he placed it into specimen container and sealed the lid.
Betty walked slowly around the car-sized object, smoke still gently rose from the egg-shaped peak of the device but the temperature in the crater had returned to a steady fourteen degrees centigrade. Betty had not seen anything like it before but it looked to be made of a metal alloy. Slowly she moved forward and placed her hand on the side; it felt cold.
The man in black appeared to no longer be on the scene yet three members of the National Guard stood over the crater, keeping an eye on the scientists.
John leaned into Betty and whispered, “You shouldn’t have touched that… you could have burnt yourself… that was reckless.” He shook his head. “Anyway what are you thinking?”
Betty stood silently for a few seconds. Her bare hand was still placed on the object, she felt strange, in a kind of dream state; it was the same feeling she had got when she was speaking with the man in black.
“Betty… Betty…” John shook her shoulder and she finally snapped out of it.
“What is up with you Betty?”
She smiled meekly, “Sorry John, I just couldn’t shake a strange feeling I got when I touched the object.”
“Strange how?” Betty’s long-standing colleague asked.
“It’s nothing John, probably should have just eaten before we came out here… I felt a bit light headed for a few seconds.”
John let out a slight chuckle “Whatever you say, anyway what are your thoughts on the object?… And this heavy military presence?”
The two were interrupted by another of their colleagues who was busy taking pictures to document the object. The flash fired away every few seconds.
Betty moved John away to the other side of the object, she whispered. “I don’t think this is Kosmos 96, it’s just too large.”
John nodded in agreement, “We would expect more damage to the object if it was Kosmos 96, whatever this is it seems to be completely intact.”
“Agreed, it could be manmade but we have been unable to track any other unknown satellites.”
“A new type of spy satellite?”
Betty nodded, “That’s what I’m leaning towards.”
“Would explain all of this… and that odd bloke in the black suit.”
They got back to work. Betty shouted across to another of her team, “Can we get this crater measured up quickly please!”
Over the next couple of hours, Betty and her team took a variety of measurements, pictures, and readings. They took a reading that measured the electromagnetic properties of the acorn-shaped object. Betty was surprised to find the air in the area was electrically charged, as if a thunderstorm was due any minute; she looked around but the air sky was clear and the stars shone brightly.
“John, has there been a thunderstorm in the area recently?”
“No the weather has been good, thunderstorms are rare this time of year anyway.”
“Hmm… Thought as much.”
“You were thinking the same as me? Whatever this acorn is it’s giving off a high amount of electromagnetic energy!”
Betty nodded as she continued to write down notes.
The measurements from the crater came back but raised more questions than answers; the crater was just over ten-foot-wide and just over seven-foot-deep. For an object falling at such a speed for the lower atmosphere, the impact crater was far too small.