Extracts from Reports 68879, and 68877
A long-time Agency Contact passed along the following:
"An African-American gentlemen came into the precinct late at night. I was on watch, nobody else was there, budget cuts. This man tells me I have to get the spider. I ask him to explain what he is talking about and he describes a matte black sphere with six legs on the bottom half. The tips of the legs have a rubber coat to dull the noise of the legs hitting the ground. The upper part revolves and it has six eyes set in tin cans around the entire circumference. It's about four feet high and also has a retractable laser rifle.
"Now I've talked to some crazy people but this guy did not sound crazy. He was old, he smelled, obviously homeless, but seemed to have his wits about him. And he was really scared. I didn't know what to do. Then he told me he was sure the spider was looking for him. When I asked why, all he said was, "They know! They know!" When I suggested that he see a doctor, he said, "No. No. They know!" And he ran off, saying something like, "Shouldn't a come here."
I collected a four man team and we went in to investigate. The location can't be named. Our first stop was a congregation point for local homeless people. We asked around about Willie, but the most we got was, "Haven't seen him in a few days." As to the spider, one lady told us, "That was real? I thought I had some bad booze!" We got a location and began the hunt for clues.
An empty field showed ground puncture marks consistent with a six legged vehicle. Best weight estimate was 600 to 800 pounds. There were no homes nearby and only a few dead-end streets. We decided to do a cold canvas of the nearest neighborhood. Problem was we were in a high crime area. Most homes had steel security doors with outside open metal bar doors. The windows had steel bars. People had dogs and there were a few people in the area that were young, muscular and probably carrying a gun.
Well, as I always tell my people, it's all in the presentation. Most people who know me would say my "sense of style" is from the 1960's. But I've become more aware of how other people respond to others' dress and attitudes. We decided to dress like "Feds" and rented some sedate black cars. The approach went like this: One car with two men would park on one side of the street. Another car with three people, including me, would park on the other side. My advice to everyone was to look and sound emotionless. I would then get out accompanied by another man who appeared to be a bodyguard.
"Good day, sir. We're investigating sightings of some kind of strange machine. Some people say it looks like a spider." I mostly got puzzled looks. A few people rudely told me I was crazy, among other things. One individual showed me a gun and insisted we leave. We got nothing.
We had just finished our last canvas and were driving down the street when a young lady appeared at the corner of the street. She flagged down our car.
"Mister, you took a big chance talkin' to those fools. Now I'm gonna say this once. Me and my boy saw this big metal spider walking through this field. It was about four feet tall and black. Uh, a beam of light came out of it. Then we started to run. That's it." Before I could say another word, she ran off.
I gave Analysis a call on my scrambled cell later that day to get their take. "Based on everything you've told me, this sounds like a government op. I did a background check on Willie Brown and came up with a few possibles. The Agency located both men and they do not fit the description of your Mr. Brown. Other than that, if they are out to eliminate this man, it's possible that they may have a few spotters in the area. It's also possible that this thing is remotely operated and they aren't going to risk exposing any of their people."
"How about an alien device?" There was a pause before I got the answer. "It's possible. The problem is we've got tactical lasers now, and walking vehicles, at least experimental types. Hard to say. But if that's the case, check around for recent UFO sightings."
Our team held a meeting later that night. Question one: Who is Willie Brown and why does someone want him dead? Two: Is this device one of ours or one of theirs? A number of possible scenarios were discussed, but the two that came out as most likely were: He saw a device he wasn't supposed to see. An alien device, possibly artificially intelligent, that also wants no witnesses of its presence on Earth. So we had someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It was 3 AM when I got a call from an Agency Contact from the local morgue. A John Doe, an African-American man, had just been brought in. He had a small circular wound in his chest. I said I'd be right over.
It was a ten minute ride but I was too late. When I knocked on the door, somebody that wasn't my contact answered.
"Can I help you, sir?"
"Uh, I heard a friend of mine was brought in here a little while ago."
"What's his name?"
"Willie. Willie Brown. At least I think it's him."
"I'm sorry. But no one has been brought in here all night. There must have been some mistake."
The next day, I began to investigate what really happened. My police contact confirmed that a body, probably that of Mr. Brown, had been found in a field near the area we had just canvassed. He cautioned me that his precinct Captain had warned everyone to not talk to anyone about "last night's John Doe" and to route any phone calls to him. He also told me that the local ambulance drivers got the same warning.
This might have ended up as a dead end, but I had a hunch and called one of our Agency Associates. I'll call him Mason.
"Well, I think you're right when you say you think this machine didn't kill an ordinary homeless person. I'll see what I can find out about Willie Brown."
True to his word, Mason forwarded me a copy of a short notice that appeared in a very expensive, restricted and obscure publication. It showed a picture of Dr. William H. Brown. A much younger version of Willie. The text read: Dr. Brown was honored for his achievements in microelectromechanical systems by [blacked out], and for his contributions to stealth systems for vehicles.
The last few lines of the article said that Dr. Brown died almost twenty years ago. So, it was one of ours.
Contact_21
Lazlo Agent
Meet Willie Brown
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Ron Caliburn
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