Blake arrived at the VP’s office to find Trevor already there protesting his innocence, “I didn’t have anything to do with it this time.” But his words were ignored by a vice principal who figured that for every ounce of trouble linked to Trevor, a pound went unpunished.
After Blake assumed full responsibility, and argued he had a right to defend his property, he and Trevor were sentenced to a day of detention where they had to write 500-word essays on the error of their ways. Trevor copied and submitted an essay from a previous offense while Blake wrote over 2,500 words, including 1,000 on the decline of western civilization because leaders like their esteemed vice principal violated citizens’ rights. He concluded the essay with a quote from the Declaration of Independence:
…when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
When Blake moved from Santa Cruz, California to campus in Los Angeles to begin his college career, Trevor packed a duffle bag, grabbed his surfboard and tagged along, establishing residence in a hammock he had slung from Blake’s dormitory bunk. Blake’s assigned roommate enjoyed the livelihood of Trevor’s company and didn’t mind the hammock dangling above his bottom bunk, except the time Trevor was so drunk he peed in his sleep.
Besides taking credit for Blake’s social wellbeing, Trevor also avowed himself responsible for having introduced Blake to Professor Eldred. Trevor had devised a water balloon launcher from surgical tubing that could hurdle projectiles upwards of several hundred yards from their dorm’s sixth floor window. Tactical balloon warfare became a daily social event for the floor’s male residents. The game lasted several weeks before someone — Trevor — scored the first direct hit on a person. Blake wasn’t present for the launch, but the student newspaper later gave him details and a front-page photo of Professor Bertrand Eldred picking balloon shrapnel from his coat. An accompanying bio that mentioned his interests in space exploration compelled Blake to visit the professor.
Blake and Trevor shared a variety of domiciles while living in Los Angeles. The latest was an aging two-bedroom apartment in West Los Angeles. Even with their low personal overheads, it amazed Blake that they, primarily Trevor, made ends meet. Yet, no matter how broke they may have been at times, Trevor always managed to pay the cable bill, keep beer in the fridge and finance frequent trips to Las Vegas.
Blake was so intrigued by his afternoon with the professor that he stayed up late working on the computer. Using various Internet search engines, he looked up key words: ANTI-GRAVITY, AREA 51, AIR FORCE, BLACK BUDGET, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY. Those searches steered him to web sites that hyperlinked to other topics: GRATCOR, ROSWELL, S-4, BACK-ENGINEERING, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, NEVADA TEST SITE and a host of UFO web sites. The UFO web sites offered significant amounts of information about Area 51, including directions, base photographs, maps and pictures of the surrounding land, even a Russian satellite picture.
The problem with researching on the Internet was credibility. There was no shortage of information for Blake to read, but he hesitated to believe many testimonials, especially when people claimed to have smoked a cigarette with aliens at Area 51, or others who said aliens abducted them while they hiked the hills surrounding the base. He focused on testimonials with multiple facts: dates, locations, names, technical references. A few sites offered possibilities. Blake hoped to find something or someone who might know what the drawings were, and maybe who might have used the codenames MJ-1 and MJ-10.
With all theories, a researcher made assumptions — educated guesses. Blake figured someone with knowledge about Area 51 and anti-gravity either received the information first hand or through a friend. Maybe even a friend of a friend. He went fishing on the Internet by sending E-mail letters to several individuals hosting informative web sites, hoping for a bite.
Glancing at the time on his computer he realized it was 3:30 am, and decided to turn in for the night, then try his luck at the library later in the day.
Blake visited the university library hoping to find more credible information than some of the facts posted on UFO websites. Science magazines offered an abundance of information about Area 51 and the related topics he sought. One article traced black budget money trails and showed how the Air Force had funded surveillance equipment at Area 51 in 1989, a time when the Air Force denied any existence of the base. Blake realized the information he sought was not common knowledge, but was out there.
His most striking discovery as he scoured through history books was that both the Air Force and Central Intelligence Agency were founded as part of the National Security Act of 1947. The same year as the purported UFO crash near Roswell, New Mexico. Both agencies became involved in the growing UFO phenomenon. Although these stories were new to Blake, everything the professor had told him about UFOs being a hot topic in the years following 1947 was supported in the history books.
Blake thought it amazing that the government once took UFOs seriously, wondering if there was more to the theory than his generation had been raised to believe. The underlying UFO stigma attached to Professor Eldred’s project still made Blake skeptical, but the more he read, the more he questioned if his skeptical response was conditioned. A reaction based on society’s programmed misunderstanding of the topic. His gut instinct said to follow the professor. As he continued to read, the information reinforced his instinct.
In spring 1952, the Air Force formed a new organization — Project Blue Book — that became the primary agency responsible for UFO reports and inquiries. Blue Book’s existence was publicized and made the Air Force appear interested in solving the UFO phenomenon, when in reality it was a public relations campaign. The overall purpose, not evident until post project evaluations, focused on controlling the public’s attitude toward UFOs.
Blue Book worked under the premise that sightings were terrestrial in nature. Investigators attempted to explain sightings as aircraft, hoaxes or astronomical conditions. When sightings didn’t fit the three categories, they were labeled unknown. Information about hoaxes and explained sightings was made available to the public, but unknown sightings were classified.
As his research stretched into the late afternoon, Blake wanted to check one more fact before heading home. The year 1947 had been on his mind all afternoon, and he wondered which happened first, the Roswell incident, or the passing of the National Security Act. He thumbed through a book on the UFO crash at Roswell and found a date, July 2, 1947, then referred to his notes. After years of opposition, Congress finally passed The National Security Act on July 26, 1947, several weeks after the Roswell crash, officially forming the Air Force and CIA. Surely an ironic coincidence, he thought.
Packing his notes, he lugged a stack of books to the counter. Every bit of information left Blake wanting more. Instead of helping him reach conclusions, the facts created more questions.
Blake plopped his stack of library books on one of two matching metal desks in his bedroom. He had purchased the desks at a city auction and lined them along one wall, using the second as a workbench for tinkering with computers and electronic devices. A futon was the only other furniture in the room. During the day he retracted the frame so the futon was in its sofa position, making the room less cramped. Often he paced about the center of the room, collecting his thoughts during studies. To help with his thinking, he kept the room neat. Shelves over the desks held perfectly aligned rows of books. The other walls were empty, except a tiny five-by-eight plaque centered eye-level above the futon with an inscription: