There, Tom was introduced to an Air Force pilot who was standing in front of an unrecognizable plane. The recruiter explained to Tom that while NASA was reporting to the public about rovers being sent to Mars, the Air Force had been landing humans on both the Moon and Mars for decades. He went on to explain that they had a space ship that could carry people to Jupiter and back in a matter of a few days. The pilot explained that the antigravity plane behind him was capable of speeds up to Mach 6 and could travel around the globe in a few hours. The most impressive part was that the Mach 6 plane was over 20 years old.
The recruiter boasted that the technology Tom was being shown was nothing compared to what the Air Force truly had to offer. After taking a ride in the Mach 6 plane, Tom was beyond convinced, he was captivated. After signing numerous non-disclosure agreements, the Air Force gave him a measly signing bonus and sent him to officer’s training school. Over the next several months, Tom learned about the existence of alien technology, treaties with other worlds, and the Moon Base. He was surprised to learn that the penalty for unauthorized disclosure of classified alien technology was not imprisonment - but death.
Like all other officers on the base, he had to follow a strict code of silence. There was absolutely no communication with Earth, other than official military business. Moon Base personnel were not allowed to return home prior to their leave for any reason, not for car accidents, holidays, or even family deaths. There was no email or video conferencing with people back on Earth. Most of the men on the base were single.
As Major Tom put on his clothes and made his bed, he thought about Marie, his girlfriend. ‘Girlfriend’ may be overstating it. She was a girl back in San Diego that he used for sex. He wanted more; he really liked her, but she could not wrap her head around him being gone for six months at a time with no communication. She protested that other military personnel could email and skype while they were deployed. It frustrated him that he could not tell her what he did.
He stepped out into a long hallway that contained dozens of doors. Each door led to crew’s sleeping quarters. On the same level as the crew’s quarters was the Dining Facility and recreational facilities. Tom had fifteen minutes before he had to be at his post; so, he stopped at the DFAC to grab a banana and cup of coffee.
“Good morning, Major Tom.” The greeting came from one of the eight full time cooks that worked in the DFAC. Archie was Tom’s favorite cook.
“Can I scramble you up some eggs, Major Tom? Or how about some grits and bacon?” Archie sounded even more cheerful than normal.
“No thanks, Archie, not today. I’m just going to get some coffee and a banana,” Tom replied as he filled up a mug and pointed to a basket full of fruit.
“Big day, huh,” Archie nodded his head as if to say he already knew. Even though he was a chef, Archie held a security clearance comparable to the President of the United States. Still, he should not have known what was happening today – compartmentalization at its finest.
“Don’t know what you are talking about Archie,” Major Tom smiled, security was not his department. Of course, on a base where everyone knew everyone else, the favorite chef is going to overhear conversations.
Archie chuckled. Archie was one of the few African American crew. In his late fifties, he had a pot belly and would normally never meet the physical qualification to be in the Air Force. Space Command was different. In addition to being an excellent Chef, prior to his first retirement, Archie had been a test pilot for experimental antigravity planes. Since Space Command wanted as few people to know about aliens and moon bases as possible, it made sense to recycle people that already had the knowledge rather than train new ones. Throughout Space Command, you would find seemingly entry level positions, cooks and janitors, filled with persons of incredible talent. It was commonplace to meet a maintenance technician that, in his first career, had been a test pilot or assassin. Space Command paid otherwise lower-skilled workers incredible salaries due to the top-secret nature of the things they may hear or see. It’s hard to convince an eighteen-year-old high school graduate that’s flipping burgers to keep his mouth shut about an interstellar space ship.
Tom walked to the elevator and pressed the button for the sixth floor where he worked most of the time. His team was developing a low yield antiproton ultra-dimensional missile to fire from the Moon Base at another planet. The missile would be completely undetectable to any radar because it would phase out into another dimension during travel time and only reappear in target dimension seconds before impact. Upon impact, the antiproton, a form of antimatter, would react with actual matter, creating an explosion equal to a 1,000-megaton bomb, yielding little to no long-term radiation. When the project was completed, the 1,000-megaton bomb would be capable of cracking the Earth’s surface and lighting the atmosphere on fire for 100 years. The ultra-dimensional aspects of this weapon were still in the experimental stages, but the antiproton missile was operational. Major Tom could not figure out why Space Command would want a missile that would break open the Earth like a child breaks open a piñata at a birthday party.
He and his team had just finished the final testing phase of another, more useful project. They had developed a Low Yield Tactical Earth Penetrating Nuke with Optical Stealth, or TEPNOS for short. The TEPNOS could be fired from the Moon Base and penetrate deep into the ground before detonation on a time delay set by a controller. The TEPNOS also had a variable yield aspect, allowing the controller to adjust the nuclear yield after launching the missile. The primary purpose of this weapon was to take out deep underground military bases and terrorists hiding in caves. This weapon would cause all the devastation of a nuclear blast with none of the long-term radiation issues. This was a relatively small nuclear missile and the variable yield could be anywhere from two kilotons to fifteen kilotons depending on the target and objective.
General Stone Byrd of United States Space Command, a division of the United States Air Force, stood in the command center of the Moon Base overlooking dozens of officers seated at their work stations. Unlike the FBI, CIA, ATF, DHS and any number of other government agencies that had compartmentalized data, the NSA and Space Command had real time access to all computer systems and the authority to step in and assume control of any operation. The President of the United States was on a need to know basis, but was briefed, upon taking office, to whom he would be receiving orders from should the need arise. Day-to-day military operations and political bickering was handled by the President, but all strategic decisions were made by General Byrd.
General Byrd was arguably one of the most powerful men in the world. He was one of twelve people chosen to handle all issues regarding planetary defense. President Harry Truman had decided that interplanetary representation and defense was too important an issue to leave to petty politicians and political whims. Truman established the Air Force, NSC, CIA, NSA, and, perhaps, most importantly, the Majestic Twelve. These organizations, each operating in secrecy, would handle all issues pertaining to interplanetary negotiations, trade, and defense. When Truman handed the reigns to Eisenhower, he explained the situation, and Ike continued the policy through his eight years in office. After ten years of building the military industrial complex, Majestic Twelve became a force so powerful that even the U.S. President could not remove them.
General Byrd was second generation MJ-12. At sixty-five years old, he was the most senior member. General Byrd’s title within the Majestic community was MJ-1. However, even he had to yield his considerable power to an MJ-12 vote of all members. All members of MJ-12 had above top-secret clearance. General Byrd knew he held the fate of the world in his hands; billions of souls depended on his decisions, and most of them did not even know he existed. Nor would they. The Moon Base, aliens, technology, alien wars and space craft were all above top secret and would never be revealed to the public. While NASA was still sending rovers to Mars, they were sending manned space craft to Neptune. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Air Force had toyed with the idea of disclosure. Project Grudge and Operation Blue Book were attempts to gradually reveal information to the public, but those plans were canceled in favor of deception. Some of his fellow MJ-12 members were responsible for manipulating the media into portraying those who believe aliens exist as unhinged, conspiracy theorists. There was an entire division at the CIA whose sole function was to discredit and destroy the character of anyone claiming to believe in aliens, but that was not his department.