Howza folks- A fellow HAMB'er tagged me in a pic and suggested that it would be a great visual for a story, and it was! Enjoy! WELCOME HOME It was November, 1954 and the instructions were simple. The hostage exchange would take place at 32 degrees North by 108 degrees West. In the most south western corner of New Mexico, AFOSI agent Gilbert would travel from his home base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to this desolate corner of New Mexico to meet for a pre arranged swap. Being in the military, vehicles were not the upmost of performance caliper. Gilbert's prize for his trip was a 1954 Plymouth Savoy 4-door sedan, painted in Air Force blue and stripped bare. The high desert is cold and unforgiving. Across the landscape out crops of sagebrush and yucca struggled against the continuous harsh winds whipping out of the North. Gilbert had driven 600 miles to this spot and then, per the instructions, had taken a right off of where the compass would nail down his exact location and travel a 1/4 mile down to an abandoned grange. He parked the Plymouth, stepped outside and paused. The sun was a dull nickel like disc hidden behind a dense fog. New Mexico. Land of Enchantment. That is the state's motto, and as the wind howled past him he took it all in. Rolling hills, painted deserts. Mountains carved by wind, water and time. No wonder this was where the exchange was to take place. Gilbert walked into the old building. Paused, pulled a Pall Mall out of the pack and lit up. He took a hard drag and was looking for a place to sit when a voice from his right snapped his senses. "Well done. Your penchant for timeliness is what I had hoped for. It makes all of this so much easier." Dressed in black suit he stepped from the shadows. "You were here all along I take it?" Gilbert asked. He was tense, Gilbert's left hand had stolen into his jacket pocket and his pistol was in his hand. Hidden behind sunglasses (who wears sunglasses inside? wondered Gilbert), the contact took a hesitant step back. "Easy now, I am unarmed. Per the agreement, this is a peaceful exchange. Remember?" Gilbert nodded. He removed his hands from his coat and slowly raised them palms out showing he had no weapons. The contact relaxed and his thin lips spread into a smile revealing a large smile with too many teeth for just an instant, and then gone. Gilbert narrowed his gaze. Outside the sky had gone grey. The windows of the old building had lost the glimmer of sunshine and now were succumbing to the tendrils of condensation brought on by low hanging clouds and a fog like condition. "I have been told that you have brought with you today the bodies of those who had perished here in an unexpected tragedy. That by those who have sent me, to retrieve them, that all knowledge and the official knowledge of what had happened on that day 4th July, 1947, shall and will be eradicated from the official record in return for those who had been deemed missing since day 2, July 1937." The contact in the dark suit spoke fluidly. Gilbert nodded. "Let's proceed, then." The pair approached the door and Gilbert slid it open. Where once a sky that was so blue it hurt his eyes, had been now replaced by a dense fog. The dark stranger walked past and from out of the fog his mode of transportation was there. Gilbert paused. His contact walked to something from out of a dream. Long. Low. Blacker than lust. Sleek. It just sat there looking as if it was going 200 m.p.h while idle. Out front were a quartet of headlights and a hood long low and smoothe. The windshield arced back at an impossible angle. The top was radically thin and flowed back as if sculpted by wind. The trunk was smoothe and large and rising from the quarter panels were two razor sharp fins with an angled red tail light lense in each. Gilbert gathered his thoughts and asked, “What the Hell is that?" The contact that was walking toward the trunk paused. He turned and spoke, "Wait 6 years. Beyond that this car will rattle imaginations for almost a century." Gilbert followed and as the contact approached the trunk Gilbert asked, "How many bodies ya think can fit in there?" The contact paused. Gilbert would later state he saw a flash of green from behind the dark glasses. The contact replied, “Enough to solve a problem." The pair walked to the Savoy. Gilbert opened the trunk and as they as a pair unloaded the cargo, Gilbert noticed the contact wince and shudder. The contact was saddened and horrified. There five total. Only two were complete bodies. Two had been almost obliterated by the crash and one had been partially examined. The contact snapped his head toward Gilbert. "We do not disassemble bodies. Never have. What kind of species are you?" "I don't know at times actually." was all that Gilbert could reply. The contact walked back to his vehicle, opened the trunk. Gilbert assisted as the bodies were placed inside. Then, the contact walked to the passenger's side door and opened it up. A man and a woman from out of a distant memory exited from the dark beauty. Dazed, the pair looked around. A wind had started to rise and the fog was starting to lift. The contact looked at Gilbert and took a step toward him. They shook hands and the contact walked around to the driver's side, opened the door and with a soft hum, the dark ride began to rise. Slowly upward. When it had risen to about 10 feet, the pods in the rear bumper lit up in a blue and orange flame and with a soft whoosh, the finned dark ride rapidly chased the sky and disappeared. Gilbert walked to the pair who had stepped out of the mysterious machine. The sky had once again returned to that incredible blue. Fred Noonan took in his surroundings, then fell to the ground and sobbed. His hands caressed the soft earth. The pilot turned to Gilbert and he said, "Welcome home Miss Earhart."
The Jalopy Journal
