Eyes Wide Shut An Enigma, Chapter 4

Chapter 4 What Was That?

It was a picture-perfect Saturday for riding ATV's in Mojave Desert. Riding in the winter was the best time. It was a brisk day. Curtis gunned his high-performance all-terrain Vehicle (ATV) to the top of the steep Mojave Desert hill. Shutting off his ATV, he watched his best friend, Jack Rose (JR) struggle up the hill.

Taking off his helmet, he gazed across nearby Edwards Air force Base. It was a bright, cloudless, clear day. Curtis could see for miles. A large shadow passed over him. Glancing up, he noticed a silver disk about 40 feet in diameter falling back and forth like a leaf. The disk disappeared quietly into a jagged, dark cave below him.

“What was that?” Curtis yelled to JR as he shut-off his ATV. “Did you see that silver disk? How could it have gone into that cave, when it was falling like a leaf?” JR, stretching and taking his helmet off, stands up, staring at the cave, matter-of-factly replies, “It is probably one of the experimental research aircraft from Edwards Air Force Base, or from the nearby Mojave Air and Space Port. Let’s check it out.”

Curtis’ and JR’s ATVs did not get far on the rocky hill. They got off their ATVs and began to hike to the cave. The terrain quickly became too steep and rocky. They discussed whether they should report what they had just witnessed. Curtis taking out his cell phone taking pictures and storing the GPS coordinates, says, “Let’s go see our friend Sherri ff Sloan. It is best to be on the safe side and report what we saw. He will get a laugh when we tell him what happened.”

They loaded their ATV’s onto their pickup truck and drove to the Kern County Sheriff's Sub-Station. It was located in a small rural community called, Mojave, California.

Mojave Air and Space Port is the first inland spaceport in the United States. It is where Burt Rutan’s Spaceship One took off and returned non-stop around the world. In addition, the civilian National Test Pilot School is located there. Various aerospace companies and institutions such as Scaled Composites are located there.

The Sherriff’s Office would probably not know anything about the silver disk, or cave. Hell, no one around here knows anything. Anything was possible. Mojave had a pyramid house with an old gas station that has a faded gas price sign: $1.10/gal.

Chapter 4 Reaction - Never Happened

Walking inside JR was thinking about the possibilities of what actually happened. Besides Edwards Air force Base that had all kinds of suspicious things happening, Mojave also was a hotbed of strange activities.

Their friend, Sheriff Sloan was at the counter. “What brings you guys here? Smiling he asked, “Bring any donuts?”

All three had been on many search and rescue operations for idiots that were riding motorcycles or ATVs. They would have an accident, get lost, or would be unable to get out of the rough, mountainous areas. They knew the vast area. They were experts.

“No donuts” A smiling Curtis replied, “We did not see any little green men, but we did see a falling silver disk that went into a cave while we were riding our ATVs.” Sheriff Sloan nodded his head grinning, looking back and forth at them, “Can I have whatever you guys have been drinking?” Sherriff Sloan noticing that they were serious, “OK, why are you really here?”

Curtis, now looking Sherriff Sloan straight into his eyes, “No joke, we saw a huge, silver disk fall into a cave.” Sherriff Sloan, grabbing a clipboard and attaching a form, says, “Let me make a report. You guys saw a large silver disk fall into a cave. Where is the cave? Give me the details. Let’s check it out.”

Most 60-year-old guys their age could not keep up with Curtis, JR and Sheriff Sloan on the trails. All were in excellent physical condition. Their ATV's climbed the same hill that they had just climbed a few hours before.

Stopping at the same place at the top of the hill where Curtis had taken his GPS coordinates, they looked for the cave. They compared the GPS coordinates and pictures to ensure that they were at the correct location. Despite a cloudless day at 2pm, they did not see a cave. Nothing.

Sheriff Sloan had brought his hiking equipment. They collected the hiking equipment and climbed to the GPS coordinates. They could not find the cave. They drove a stake in the location where the cave should have been. Sheriff Sloan called for a helicopter to assist the search for the cave. The helicopter flew to the indicated GPS site where the cave was. Despite a comprehensive search around the area, no cave was located.

They stopped searching. Scratching his head and looking at Curtis and JR, Sherriff Sloan said, “Either you guys were seeing a mirage, or it was something else…what else, I don’t know. Let’s go home.”

Sherriff Sloan went back to his Sub-Station. Curtis and JR left the area and went to their homes to a small mountain town 40 miles away, called Golden Hills, California.

Curtis knew what he saw was real. Edwards Air Force Base is the used by the American military for the flight-testing of experimental aircraft. Strange objects and activities were common. Curtis dismissed the incident as something the government must be doing. Curtis stopped at JR’s house and helped JR unload his ATV.

JR’s neighbor came over and said, “Some guy knocked on my door and asked if you were home.” I told him, “I did not know you were gone.” He asked, “If you worked for the government?” I told him, “You were on welfare. Screw him. He was a strange fellow.”

JR knew that Curtis had worked in various Top Secret government jobs. Did Curtis know more than he told him about the falling disk? How could a cave disappear? He had seen the cave. What about the silver disk, was it manned? Could the disk be from the nearby Mojave Spaceport? Burt Rutan does fly experimental aircraft from there. JR knew there were classified projects there too.

There were always rumors about weird things performing unusual maneuvers out in the desert. Curtis would not tell him even if he did know. That was how Curtis was. At times, he would be ambiguous, or just simply say that he did not know.

That night Curtis called JR, “JR have you noticed anything strange?” Noting except a guy came by and tried to sell me a vacuum cleaner at 6pm. He usually asked questions about what I did for a living, where I worked. He was weird.” Curtis replied, “The same incident happened to me. That was not a vacuum cleaner salesperson. Somebody is looking for us. They each described what the salesperson looked like and it was the same person.

That night Curtis’ cat jumped on the bed, playing with something. Curtis pried open “Boo Boo’s” jaws to see a little shiny beetle object that was vibrating its damaged wings. Curtis examined it. It was a bugbots. That “vacuum cleaner salesperson” had slipped it in the front door. Whoever “they” were, they were watching. Curtis knew that this was connected to the falling silver object. The government used dragonflies, sensorflies, samari, robobees and many more bio mimicry “insects” to monitor whatever they wanted.

Curtis called JR to warn him. JR said, “He was doing nothing wrong and had nothing to hide. Let them spy, he was going to sleep.”

Curtis hung up his phone and glanced out the front window. He saw a dark van parked across the street. Curtis understood he also was being watched.

Sunday around noon, Curtis was enjoying reading his newspaper, when his doorbell rung. A pretty, young lady said that she needed to verify his name because he had won a prize. Curtis asked her, “What prize?” She explained that her radio station had randomly selected a house address. His house address was a winner. Curtis told her that he needed to confirm this. He asked for the radio’s phone number. He dialed the number.

A person answered. Curtis thought that is strange. Hardly any business has a person answer the phone. Normally, you must dial a number and punch many numbers to select different menus to leave a message, or, finally talk to someone.

Curtis had been trained to interrogate and be interrogated by USAF in Crypto. He decided to do a passive questioning process, stalling, to assess the dynamic process. He could hear military, or police fast-paced radio conversations in the background.

Curtis told the person, “He was excited to have won the prize that the young lady was at his door.” Many questions were asked by the “radio station.” Curtis replied with vague answers. He sounded like a politician. He could obfuscate. After five minutes, Curtis knew what he needed to know.

This was not the radio station and the lady was phony. He thanked the radio station and thanked the lady… she was not in a hurry to leave. She said with a smile, “I am sooo excited. This is my first job. Will you help and answer questions? I need this job.”

Curtis replied, “I was just getting ready to go to church. I must leave now.” She insisted, “It would not take very long.” Curtis thanked her and shut the door. He wanted to learn about her and to discover who was behind this, but it would be on his terms and timing.

Curtis called JR and explained what had just happened. He asked JR if anything else weird has happened. JR explained, “He had called Sherriff Sloan and asked him if anybody had questioned him about their trip to locate the cave. Sheriff Sloan replied, “A strange incident happened, the Kern County Sheriff Wimball himself called and asked about the report.” After I explained what had happened, Sherriff Wimball requested that I deleted the report. I did. It did not happen.”