I was puzzled when I found the box on
the doorstep. I had ordered twenty-four D-cell batteries, but this box was way
too big for twenty-four batteries. It was heavy, too.
I figured the company had screwed up and sent me the wrong
order. Now I would have to drive all the way into town to return the thing.
I live out in the sticks and only get to town about once a week and I’m lucky
any company delivers packages out here. Half the time they can’t find the place
and I’m forced to go down and pick up my packages, before they get them on the
individual delivery trucks.
I carried the box into the studio and opened it. Inside was an invoice, with my
name on it and the only items listed were twenty-four D-cell batteries. But, I
discovered that the batteries weren’t the only things there.
I started removing the other contents
from the box and laying them out. There was a small projector screen about
three feet by three feet, some wooden pieces to build a frame and two black
devices. One looked like a hockey puck and the other looked like a power
supply. Also, there was one piece of paper with assembly instructions.
I looked for a manufacturers mark on
everything, but there wasn’t one and no explanation as to what the assembly was
for or what it would do. I was beginning to wonder if someone had sent me
something to build a bomb, but why? And, as far as I know, a projector screen
has never been used as a bomb.
Besides, I don’t do that sort of
thing. I’m a radio broadcaster. Well, an internet broadcaster, to be more
precise. I own and operate an internet radio station and have a lot
of fun with it. I don’t do anything
that might anger my listeners (though you never can tell about some people),
and my biggest audience base is for the UFO shows I webcast.
The whole system is wired to
automatically record on video tape, whatever signal is getting sent in to and
out from the main computer. Video tape is less expensive than audio tape and I
just happened to have an extra VCR, but no extra audio recorder/player. I use
the VCR to record the audio portion of the live shows, which I then play back
on reruns.
Setting aside the building project, I
warmed up the two computers for tonight’s show. One computer is used to send
out the signal and the other I use for sound effects, commercials and public
service announcements.
It was a comedy show that evening and
I was wound up after all of the banter and jokes, so I decided to build the
thing that came in the box.
The instructions were written with
pictures and easy to follow. Build a frame around my computer and hang the
screen from it. Plug the black box into the slot in the back of the frame and
see what happens. It did not show me what the puck was for, though.
How did someone know I had a
computer? I never receive packages under the station name and I live far enough
out in the sticks it’s a wonder I have phone service. Cable or wireless
internet service is totally out of the question, too.
Only a handful of people not my
friends even know where I am located. Obviously, someone I was unaware of knew
I had a computer and possibly even knew I had a radio station. Was this a
practical joke by one of my friends? I didn’t think so, they weren’t that type.
By the time I was through putting the
framework together I was beat and it was 2:00 am. I shut everything down and
went to bed, figuring I would get to it the next day.
That night I had those types of dreams
where you keep trying to do something and can never get it done; so you just do
it over and over. Then when you wake up you feel like you have run a marathon.
My dogs finally came in my bedroom to
get me up, so I could let them outside. It was almost noon. My legs ached and I
was totally drained of energy. I could not remember any of the dreams, but I
knew they had kept me busy.
I looked awful from the night’s
sleep; if you want to call it that, and I had no energy to interact with
people. Thankfully I only had one live show scheduled and it was a man who
called in and interviewed people over the phone.
I went out to the studio about an
hour before the show, forgetting that I had built this thing around one
of my computers, so I was startled to see it there.
A little tickle in the back of my
brain told me this thing was going to change my life, or at least change
the way in which I looked at the world. I had a fleeting thought that I hoped
it would be for the better. I had just gotten my life where I wanted it to be;
quiet and simple.
I started the computers, got all of
the e-mail downloaded and proceeded to make sure everything was set up for the
show that evening.
Still having some time before the
show started, I plugged the black box into the socket on the back of the
projector frame. Nothing happened and I looked over the instructions to make
sure I had assembled everything in order. That’s when I noticed the
instructions did not show me what to do with the hockey puck.
I picked up the puck and pointed it
at the screen. Nothing happened. Then, imagining I was in a movie with witches
and goblins, I waved the puck in front of the screen and said, “Show me your
mystical powers, O’ Mighty One.”
I jumped when two people appeared on
the screen, standing on a sidewalk in front a building. My first thought was,
‘what’s so important about this?’ Then I noticed the building they were
standing in front of looked like some fantastic marvel right out of a
science-fiction movie. I could hear their voices but couldn’t make out what
they were saying. Sounded kind of like Russian… maybe. I never was very good
with languages.
The scene switched and the two were
now in a room with dozens of monitors mounted on a large, high wall. They sat
in front of a curved console with several built in monitors. It looked as
though they were watching individual screens that were on the wall.
The scene switched again and I found
myself looking up close, at a dozen or so monitors. The first thing I noticed
was the White House. Then another monitor had a picture on it like Moscow,
still another showed the Coliseum in Rome.
“What is going on?” I muttered.
That’s when I noticed other scenes on
other monitors. A few had buildings on them that I didn’t think were built here
on Earth. As I continued to look at the show in front of me I noticed movement.
There were cars and people at the White House and in
Moscow; a few cars and people were moving around in the
monitor from Rome and London became visible, the streets alive with people
walking to and fro.
“What the hell...?” I said out loud.
I looked at the scenes from places I
did not recognize. The “beings” walking around were definitely not from Earth.
Some had humanoid features, but there was one I saw that I never wanted
to get to know.
One screen was showing two-legged
humanoid beings fighting in an arena, reminiscent of the old Roman arenas,
where gladiators fought to the death. Except these particular beings weren’t
fighting near as “nice” as they did in ancient Rome.
One screen depicted a balloon type
“creature” so bright and shiny I could barely see its color, which was an
opaque white and it just seemed to be floating in water. Another had several
reptilian looking beings sitting on a bench in what appeared to be a park.
Still another had other beings which looked almost human, except for their six
fingered hands and copper colored skin.
I believe that we are not alone in
this vast universe. There has to be more than just Earth, with living,
breathing creatures on it.
I was thinking this had to be some
kind of a joke, when it dawned on me that no place I knew of had the type of
technology that I was now using.
Were we being watched by an alien
race? Why send it to me? Was it because of the radio station’s UFO shows?
I finally took note of the computer
screen and what I was seeing on the projector screen was also on my computer
screen. Using my secondary computer I checked to see if that video was going
out on my main computer. Sure enough, what was on the screen was going out to
the world, or as much of the world that listened to my station.
I only webcast
audio because video is a pain and takes more ‘web space,’ so how the hell did
this work? Was someone trying to let the world know there were
others out there watching? If I read the message right, many other worlds were
being watched also.
Would this information get me killed?
Would some weird looking men in black suits and black sun glasses come along
and tear down my studio and me with it?
I tried unplugging the black box from
the back of the screen but it wouldn’t budge. I waved the hockey puck in front
of the screen and it went blank. So too, did my computer screen, taking my
inadvertent video webcast off the internet. This
whole situation was unreal. I was beginning to think I had never awakened from
the previous night’s sleep.
My call-in UFO show went off without
a hitch but a few people had seen the same scenes and started sending e-mails
asking what had been happening. I didn’t answer them because I had no idea what
to tell them.
After the show I sat down to watch
more of the video from the projector screen. It started from the beginning and
only went a few minutes past what I had seen the first time.
I made sure I had a video recording
of the scenes from the projector screen and started dismantling the thing.
I stuffed it back in the box the same way it had originally been packed. If
someone was going to come after the box, I wanted it ready for them.
As I was leaving I heard a noise
behind me and the hairs rose on the back of my neck. I turned around and the
box had moved toward me. I took a step backwards and it moved again. I turned
and ran from the studio, slamming the door shut as I stumbled down the steps. I
heard a loud thump against the door. Then another thump and all was quiet. I
backed away from the building and went inside the house.
How was I going to get back in there
now? I couldn’t let the thing keep me out of my own studio! Could I? It was a
distinct possibility.
My two dogs were demanding dinner and
after I fed them I got busy answering e-mails on my personal computer, putting
my problems away for the time. By the time I was done I was bushed and ready
for bed.
I found the hockey puck in my pocket
where I had put it when I disassembled the thing. Wondering if that was why it
was following me, I went back out to the studio and cautiously opened the door.
The box was there, in front of the door. I put it back in the corner and took a
couple of steps away. It followed.
“Okay. Let’s see if it’s the puck.” I
said to the box.
I laid the puck down on the box and
moved away. The box stayed in place. I opened it up and put the puck back
inside, resealing it and setting it back in the corner.
I slept well that night; having only
one dream of a box following me around with dog-like devotion.
Two days later I was still mulling
over what to do with the information. Maybe I should go to the FBI or CIA or
NSA or even the local police. But I figured they would treat it as a hoax, or
possibly even lock me up and throw away the key.
That same afternoon a knock at my
door produced two of the classic, “men in black.” They were of the same height,
wore identical black suits and had the same black sunglasses. They wanted the
box. One of them told me that it had inadvertently been sent to me and they
were sorry for the inconvenience. Some how I didn’t believe they were sorry for
anything.
I handed the box over and asked no
questions. I got the distinct feeling they knew I had a recording of what I had
seen, or maybe that was just my paranoia.
That was four months ago and I still
have the tape. I haven’t done anything with it though. I think I am being
watched on occasion. A few times when I have gone down the hill to town, I have
seen a nondescript, dark blue car, with deeply tinted windows, sitting along
side the road that leads to my place.
I’ll think of something to do with
the tape. A man in Australia e-mailed me shortly after the incident. He too,
has a video recording.