Chapter Three

The UFO was descending rapidly as it whizzed through the multiple layer of clouds towards the Columbian Mountains, which sat just feet below. There was a huge chance that it would hit with one of the peaks, but it seemed as if the UFO was going miss the peaks and hit the valley all together. The valley was a wooded area, swarming with wildlife and small rivers. Luckily, the area had remained un-populated as it was under the protection of the country’s national park system.

The UFO passed the first row of mountains, clipping numerous mountain ledges as it now glided down. Suddenly, it had cut power as it’s centre had stooped rotating. It was now using the strong wind current to glide down to the ground safely. Now SHADO had got themselves a fixed position on the UFO and the carrier plane moved out.

Lieutenant Mark Bradley had never believed that he would be back on duty again after so many months of leave. He had recently become a father and had to dedicate his time to look after his wife and his new born son. When he was asked to assist Hunter in the search, he had to accept otherwise he could’ve been out of a job for a long time as he was on the verge of losing his job with SHADO. Sure he wasn’t happy about leaving his family, but he didn’t have a chance. He had currently been holding a small part- time job as a office business man, which was bringing the money along with the child benefits and security benefits. He hoped that he never had to serve back on Moonbase again after the time when he got romantically involved with Lieutenant Gay Ellis. No, he wanted to stay as far away from Ellis as he possibly could.

He sat there in the departure lounge in the smoking area, as he waited for Alan Hunter to turn up for debriefing. He had never met Hunter before, but was less than anxious to meet him like he use to be with other members. He was a changed man now after SHADO changed his life. the same female voice echoed over the radio speaker for the fifth time in seven minutes and it was beginning to drive Bradley crazy.

“All SHADO Personal appointed to latest search mission are to report to Hangar two for final checks immediately. Mobile Transport flight 287 will take off in approximately thirty minutes.”

Bradley checked his wrist watch for the umpteenth time and realised the Hunter was running late. Sighing deeply, he lifted himself off of the comfortable, bright red foam couch and fastened his white jumpsuit belt. As he started to head for the exit, he turned to see Hunter, dash through the security check point terminal.

“Are you Alan Hunter?” He asked as he watched the young officer pant with exhaustion. “The guy that Commander assigned to work with me on this investigation?”

“That’s right.” Alan replied as he tried to pick up his words. “You must be Lieutenant Bradley?”

“That’s right.” Bradley replied, as he extinguished his cigarette onto a nearby ash tray.  “We better get going otherwise we’re going to be late on take off and Straker won’t like that. Hell he’s mad with you as it is at the moment.”

The two officers walked through the exit and walked out into the hanger bay where multiple transporters sat. the hanger bay was huge,  In the distance, the four Mobiles were being loaded onto the end transporter.
“How do you about my meeting with Straker?” Hunter asked as he tried to dodge the oncoming maintenance crews and equipment.

“I was given a copy of you personal and on-duty profiles.“ Bradley explained. “I just had to know who I was going to work with as I was called to duty as the last second.”

“I guess that means that you know about what happened with the Interceptor?” Hunter asked, gritting his teeth as he spat out the words.

“I did and I must say, you were crazy yet impressive. Especially with that crash landing stunt you pulled.” Bradley replied. “But there’s one thing that puzzles me about it all. How did you survive when there an oxygen leak in the cabin and when you weren’t even wearing a suit?”

“Just before the crash, I initiated the emergency field generator.” Hunter answered. “It set up a force field around the fractured hull, keeping the oxygen in and circulated.”

“Very clever.” Bradley continued. “And how did your Interceptor survive the re-entry?”

“That was easy.” Came the second answer. “It was due to my re-entry angle. At first I came in shallow until the gravity pulled me down. I then had no choice but to fire the emergency retro’s which pushed me clear of the dive. I had to push down on the controls to assist the rockets otherwise I’ve would’ve disintegrated.”

“Man, you are crazy.” Bradley replied, jokingly as they finally arrived at their transporter.

  A maintenance technician walked up to the men and provided them with the details on a clip board. He handed the clip board to Bradley and began to read out what was provided on the paper.

“All the standard checks have been carried out on the Mobiles.” He said. “ Mobile three had a loose vent, but it shouldn’t cause a problem.”

“Good.” Bradley replied. “And have place the caterpillar tracks like I’ve asked you to?”

“Yes sir.” The technician replied. “They’re now re-enforced and can withstand rocky off road terrain.”

“Good.” Bradley replied as he passed back the clipboard to the man. “Well Hunter, lets saddle up and go.”




The Jet skidded off the runway and hurtled up into the sky. The weather was clear, wind speed was normal and it looked as if it was going to be a strait, clear flight all the way to Tennessee. However, things were more bleak at SHADO control.

Straker hadn’t left his office for hours as he scanned a map of the Columbian Mountains. He was puzzled as the valley in between the mountains was thin and rugged. He knew that for a UFO to land there safely, it had to be intact and fully operational. A damaged UFO wouldn’t have been able to pull such a manoeuvre and would’ve collided with the mountain peaks. After drinking two polystyrene cups of cold coffee, he finally made a startling conclusion. The UFO was using the mountains as an ambush point.

Col. Alec Freeman entered the office with Col. Virginia, who had just finished her tour of Moonbase. They both took a seat in front of the Commander and instantly recognised the problem that Straker had just found.

“What’s up?” he asked.
“The UFO wasn’t damaged in the decent.” Straker replied. “It wasn’t even dented. Instead, it’s lands in the valley, using the mountains for cover.”

“I don’t understand?” Lake asked confusingly. “Why would it use the mountains for cover?”

“Because radar signals can’t penetrate through mountains. I believe that the Aliens plan to use the Mountains as an ambush point, probably for the Mobiles.”

“You think that the Aliens know that the Mobiles are on there way?” Freeman said, recognising Straker’s explanation.

“Yes. After all Alec, they’re used to seeing the Mobiles now, every time they hit the ground.” Straker went on. “It wouldn’t be such a surprise if they did have a plan to carry out. Every time a Mobile finds a UFO, it obliterates it completely.”

“Yes, but a UFO has destroyed a Mobile before?”  Freeman pointed. “Remember that incident in Northern Canada?”

“Hmm yes, but that was an odd occasion.” Straker corrected. “I have a feeling that this time, they’re planning something for the Mobiles. I just hope that Bradley and Hunter can identify the danger in time?”




Lieutenant Keith Ford was monitoring the flight transporter from his desk in HQ. He had been specifically ordered to watch for any changes in either weather patterns or UFO activity so he could divert the flight if he needed to. It was an intense job as he literally had to fix his eyes on the screen and risked the odd moment to blink. He had carried out the same order in the past and hated each passing second of it. the flight had appeared on the blip and remained there for the duration of the flight. It had been in the air for twenty minutes now and so far, there wasn’t a sign of UFO activity.

Straker entered the control room, followed closely by Freeman and Lake. As he approached Ford, he ordered a general order to prepare Skydiver for launch stations.

“I think it’s wise that we get Sky One up there to patrol the area first?” Straker explained about his order. “I want the Mobiles to have a bit cover themselves?”

“Makes sense.” Freeman ordered. “How far is Captain Waterman?”

“Well, his previous position was thirty miles south of North America.” Straker replied. “They must be in the general vicinity by now.”

Ford carried out Straker’s order and issued the general order without the act of hesitation that he use to pull.




Minutes after the issued order, Sky One launched through the oceans surface and headed towards the vicinity of the mountains. Captain Waterman was now facing a picturesque view of the Mountains. The area seemed so harmless and so tranquil. The sky was blue, the sun was shining and there was no visual sight of anything in the sky. It was as if nothing had happened.

It took Waterman an hour to complete the first sweep of the area and unfortunately, he could see nothing below or ahead of him. However, he was forced to report to SHADO control.

“Sky One to SHADO control.” Waterman reported. “Have no visual contact. First run is complete.”

“Okay Captain.” Straker replied over the radio. “Return to base immediately.”

As Sky One headed back towards the ocean, it passed over the wooded valley which sat between the Mountain fronts. There, sitting in valley amongst the burnt trees and scorched terrain was the UFO. It began to glow an eerie greenish colour which lit up the whole valley accompanied along with a deafly humming sound. It wasn’t going to explode, it was up it was up to something.