Aliens

[hatuhsawl]

[Hastily added ending]

```
"Begin message: Greetings people of Earth, we are reaching out to you in hopes that someone on your planet is still alive. Please respond. Message repeats. — Begin message: Greetings peo-"
```

I froze. I overdressed and shaved everything but my moustache that day to look good on my first day. holding one ear of the headset to my head in one hand, the other hand holding my lit cigarette frozen over the ash tray on the desk. Some ashes fell off the tip into the tray before I said anything.

When it hit me, I chuckled, let my shoulders drop, tapped the cigarette and set it down, and leaned back in my rolling chair to yell to the other room. It was the night shift, so everybody but Bill and I went home for the day.

"Oh, ha-HA, very funny you guys, pulling a prank on the new guy. I get it, I have to get hazed to be a part of the team. Well you got me, I really believed it for a second."

I put the one cup back to my ear:

```
"... in hopes that someone on you—"
```

I took it off again,

"Huh, I don't recognize this voice, Bill, did you get one of your buddies to come in and record this?"

Bill walked in, stood over me, took a drag from my cigarette and I didn't get a word of protest in before he put the cans on his ears and listened with an annoyed but curious look on his face.

His face stayed that way while he listened, and it didn't change when he took off the headset.

He flipped a switch, and the reels above my desk started spinning. I assumed that meant he started recording it.

Ignoring me asking him whose voice it was, he walked over to the telephone on the wall, across the room.

He turned the rotary and when I stood up, he barked at me to sit back down and keep listening to it. I was to listen and tell him if anything changed.

"Oh wow, you've got a whole routine down, huh? This is good, I'll play along."

I couldn't hear what he was saying on the phone, but I could see his face. I assumed he is pretending for my sake to call someone to see "who did it."

But while his face and body posture started out as annoyed puzzlement and relaxed leaning against the wall, he slowly turned his whole body to hunched over the phone.

I saw the color drain from his face as he finished the first call, kept the receiver on his ear while he hung up by pushing the button down with his finger, then dialing someone else.

That call lasted for a minute, before he hung up and did it again. And again another time, and again, and again. Each time he dialed, his hands were more frantic and shaking. He got frustrated and messed up the dialing on the third and fourth time.

Jeez, this is a bit much for a prank, isn't it? I thought to myself, only haphazardly listening to the repeating broadcast in my ears.

```
".. pes that someone on your planet is still alive. Please res—"
```

I saw him grab a pencil and legal pad, walk to my desk, set them down beside me and fumble out a carton of cigarettes and book of matches. Hands shaking, he got a cigarette out into his mouth, and messed up striking two matches before getting one finally lit and pulling a huge drag.

Elbows on the table, head in his cigarette hand, he took the headset off me and put it on.

I started to say something and he snapped at me "Not now"

He picked up the pencil in his left hand, and started writing out the same message I had been hearing along with the time and date at the top of the page.

Mar 15, 1964. Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.

He looked over at me, squinted at my name tag as he took another drag.

Tapped the ashes and added my name next to the date.

C. Hall

He also added things from the machines, I hadn't had a chance to learn what these were yet, so I assume they were coordinates, or weather conditions, positioning of the satellites or telescopes or some such.

The doors flew open and some very decorated men in Air Force uniforms came in and talked to Bill in the corner while I was ordered to sit and not move until I was released.

The General came over to me and asked who I was, how long I'd been here, how I did this prank and told me that me and whoever helped me do this we're in huge trouble for wasting everybody's time like this.

Bill finally built up the courage to stand up to (or got fed up with) the general, and told him I couldn't have done it, I just had gotten the clearance to come in here today.

The General didn't seem to believe this, so he had the two MP that came with him to "escort" me to go with them all. I went without a fight, so they didn't need to cuff or even touch me.

They put me in this holding cell, and now I'm talking to you about it.