I heard the pop of the stun launcher a moment before the globe exploded and rendered me unconscious. When I awoke I found myself in a dim, grey room. The concrete walls, steel door and electrical lighting were all manmade, a good sign.

I remained laying on the bunk, gathering my thoughts, alien stun grenades did tend to leave you a little disoriented. Experience told me I had been out for about six hours so trying to guess my location was fruitless. In just six hours I could be moved literally anywhere in the world.

There were no restraints holding me in place and on looking around my sparse cell I spotted the camera watching me from its usual place in the upper corner. The room was typically military, devoid of decoration, totally utilitarian and painted in a desert colour only the forces would think to use.

I had no idea who had come for me or why, I could only surmise it was to do with my role during the Alien Incursion of 1999. I stretched and sat up and waited for them to come for me. Someone must have been monitoring my cell as I didn't have to wait long before I heard the approach of footsteps outside my door. An electronic pad beeped and the stainless steel door slid aside to reveal two armed troopers and a man in civilian dress, the black suit of anonymous officialdom. The troopers stood aside, their pulse weapons at the ready, they were wearing combats and light armour, and they had the bearing of veterans not actually expecting trouble but certainly anticipating it.

The civilian stepped into the cell and introduced himself, "Hello Mr Tyler, I am Dieter Franz, would you please accompany me to the interview room" I spent a moment assessing my captor, Dieter was incredibly tall and slender, with blonde hair and blue eyes, I guessed he was probably Scandinavian, maybe Swedish. The accent was barely noticeable.

He turned to exit the cell and I followed, curious to know what was going on but smart enough to know not to ask yet. I could sense the troopers fall in behind me; they kept a measured pace the entire time we traversed the complex.

The corridors we were in were the same desert yellow with coloured lines on the floor to assist with navigation in the complex. The air was dry and dusty and smelled of the desert, I was trying to figure out where I was. The halls seemed vaguely familiar though eerily empty with only the echo of our footfalls to keep us company. Soon enough we passed rooms that I did indeed recognise, we were in the lower levels of an old base developed by the X-Com group to respond to the Alien threat nearly 12 years ago. As far as I knew the ant farm, as we called it, had been mothballed after the invasion had been averted. This particular base was, if I remembered correctly, buried beneath the sands of Northern Iraq, near the small town of Erbil, it had allowed X-Com to protect Europe, the Middle east and North Africa. Alien forces had twice tried to take out the base and the personnel working here at the time, including me.

Dieter and the escorts deliberately avoided the residential levels and workshop areas; my guess was that they did not want me to see any other personnel here. We entered a service lift and I was eventually lead across one of the aircraft hangers, these hangers had once housed specially developed aircraft and it was here that repairs, maintenance and arming was done. The hanger had a number of ante rooms, stores and equipment rooms that kept the aircraft flightworthy. As we crossed the bay I noticed the smell of oil or grease and spotted new crates stacked near one of the store rooms. Looking around, the whole hanger appeared to have undergone some refurbishment work.

We passed through a small connecting corridor to a containment room. These rooms had once been used to interrogate alien captives, in each room stood a cell, constructed of non-ferrous alloys and armoured glass panels. Each containment cell sat in the centre of a reinforced concrete room and was surrounded by a mesh faraday cage to prevent any form of electro-magnetic signal getting into or out from the alien occupant.

The cells were devoid of any of the usual equipment except for a table and chairs; I did notice the containment protocol was still in place. The gas lines and igniters were attached to the exterior of the cell ready to incinerate the occupant should the need arise. They looked new and I had to wonder why they had been replaced and for what reason could they possibly be needed for now.

We entered the room and I sat facing Dieter. The furniture was not usual for the cell, and had been brought in to replace the equipment that would have once been here. The table was non-descript and the chairs were standard polypropylene, probably from the dining area. I made myself as comfortable as I could and asked "Ok, why am I here?"

Dieter looked at me and paused before answering, "We need to ascertain your psychological state of mind and whether or not you were compromised during the attacks on this planet."

I was stunned, "How the hell can you question my state of mind, I take it you know what I did back then? And what do you mean compromised, in what way?" I was suddenly angry, I leapt to my feet and leant over the table, my hands planted firmly on its cool surface, "how could you dare have the audacity to doubt me or indeed any of us after everything we went through."

He beckoned at the overhead camera and a combat clad aide came to the cell with a small black case, the reinforced plastic type used for carrying delicate equipment. I glared at him before retaking my seat. Dieter dismissed the soldier, opened the case and turned it to face me. "Do you recognise these objects?"

In the case before me, nestled in the sponge cut-outs were two items of tech developed from research into the alien telepathic abilities. The small globe or sphere was a mind probe; it was about four inches across and was made from the same alloys used in the construction of the alien spacecraft hulls. Inside it was intricate circuitry that used the element Elerium 115, not found on earth, as a source of power. It was used to garner information directly from the memory centres of the brain. It allowed us to retrieve tactical data during battles but also allowed us to communicate with the Aliens in a rudimentary way. The second object was a Psi-Amp. We developed this to enhance our own innate Psi powers, it had had mixed success and the people who could use them had to undergo rigorous testing and training. The most useful application of the Psi-Amp had been to induce feelings of fear, terror and panic in prisoners undergoing interrogation. In some rare instances we had even been able to directly control the actions of some subjects.

The objects worked on both human and alien physiologies but the Alien resistance to the devices was much higher than human. Human brain functions worked on a more emotional level and were therefore more susceptible to its effects.

I nodded my assent and asked why he was showing them to me, knowing full well that they would be used in my so called assessment. They would allow the questioner, I assume Dieter, to monitor my emotional state and dig into my memories to get all the detail and uncover anything I may be trying to hide. The probe was non-intrusive but there were side effects from its influence.

In an adjacent room there would be a team of people watching images from my mind appear on a screen and they would analyse my thoughts and actions as the probe retrieved them. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble to facilitate this so called interview.

The aide returned, this time carrying an archive box, he placed it on the table with a thump and removed the lid. The box was filled with files, mostly incident reports. I had written enough of them in the past to recognise them and actually spotted my writing on the corner of one of the files.

Dieter pulled one of the documents and asked me to describe the events of September 3rd 1998. I actually laughed, that was my first alien encounter. How was I supposed to recall all the details for events from 13 years ago? Even with the mind probe, the time frame was too large. Besides, everything was in the reports; I couldn't imagine I had anything more to add.

"The mind probe has been refined since you left X-Com, we can rerun, in detail, the events in your memory. All you need to do is relax, listen to my voice and remember what you can; the probe will do the rest."

He began reading and I took a deep breath and tried to recall the events of Sept 3 1998…

There had been numerous reports and media scares regarding abductions and livestock mutilations in a small farming community in Berkshire. There had even been a reported sighting of a landed spacecraft near the outskirts of Newbury. The local community and government were concerned and the area had been cordoned off by the military. I had been part of the guard detail and we were patrolling the area to keep out people trying to get a look at supposed UFO's. The hysteria had attracted all sorts of people as well as the press, all wanting to know the truth. There were even people wanting to rid the earth of alien invaders, ironic that a few years ago the same hippies had been happy clappy peace protesters down the road at Greenham Common.

I recalled moving along a track bordering a field in which sheep were ambling about, I still don't know if the bloody things sleep or not. It was late evening and was a pleasant enough end to a boring day, nobody enjoyed 'stagging on' but guard duty was a necessary evil of military life. I heard a noise behind me and turned to face my oppo, expecting to see Woody, who was about ten meters back. Woody was six feet of solid muscle, an Army PT instructor and a weapons engineer. He was motionless, staring open mouthed at the little grey figure that had stepped onto the track between us. It was looking at him and I think it may have been as surprised as he was.

I slowly and quietly brought my weapon into the aim and zeroed in on the things head; unsure as to what I should do, I observed it through my sights. It had a bulbous, hairless head and was about two feet high, I couldn't be sure as it was on its haunches with one of its front limbs raised. The skin was grey and leathery and its two arms and legs looked rather spindly, it had on some form of harness or webbing. It was wearing nothing else and appeared to have an item of equipment fastened to its arm but I could not see clearly from my vantage point. I managed a quick glance at Woody and in that moment the thing moved its arm and pointed an object at him. I watched him dive out of the way as the creature fired a small glowing ball of energy at him.

I immediately fired three quick rounds of 5.56mm into its back but the thing whirled round to take a shot at me, I fired another couple of rounds in quick succession and watched it fall, dark blood oozing from the wounds I had managed to inflict. It had large eyes, no mouth or visible means of reproduction and it had had a definite glow emanating from its chest which faded as it died.

Woody stepped up to the creature, looked at its weapon and then kicked it in the head for good measure, swearing at it as he did so.

I was already down on one knee, making sure there were no more of the things lurking in the hedgerow. He too crouched and checked his arcs of fire and we listened for anything unusual.

The radio came to life "All Call-signs, this is Zero, firing call-sign report in"

I looked at Stu and shrugged, we had to report in so I thumbed my pressel switch, "Hello Zero this is Echo-Two-Three-Alpha, contact wait out" That would give us a bit of time to clear our heads and they would wait for more information.

I waved Woody over and we moved off the track into some light cover, our combats blending into the greenery of the hedgerow. We paused again, listening and watching. I leaned close to him and whispered.

"You ok?"

He shook his head, "Dunno what happened mate, it stepped out and I couldn't move, I felt really odd until it moved. I saw it raise its weapon and just jumped. What the hell did it fire at me; I felt the heat of it as it passed me so it must have been close"

"Where did it come from? I must have walked right by it."

"It stepped out from that gap in the hedge, just appeared right in front of me, I thought it was an animal at first."

"OK, we'll take a quick look and call in for some help."

Woody provided cover as I headed for the gap he had pointed out. I found a suitable spot and covered for him as he moved into position. We waited a few seconds before ducking through the foliage into the field beyond. As well as the sheep and the odd lone oak there was a UFO. I mean a real flying saucer, on a tripod standing there, large as life. Nearby were the still, bloody remains of a sheep that looked as if it had been dissected.

"I guess the little chap was looking for mint sauce then." I grinned at him and he promptly gave me the finger. I guess he was still a little shaken from almost getting shot by god knows what.

We circled the saucer, I couldn't believe my eyes, it was about three meters in diameter, conical shaped and the legs were about 2 meters tall. It was a pale grey in colour with no form of markings or identification. We had a quick look around to be certain there were no more occupants about and I got on the radio to the command point and requested immediate backup.

The QRF team must have been itching to move as they arrived pretty quickly, we covered the alien body in a poncho and placed it in the back of the Landover. All the team were taking it in turns to look over the saucer and speculate as to where it had come from.

We heard more vehicles arriving and before long we were ushered off to headquarters for a full debriefing. In the meantime all the evidence of the incident was recovered and removed.

I blinked and was back in the interview cell; Dieter had switched of the mind probe. A dull ache began to manifest in my head and I rubbed my temples.

"Do you think that you or Corporal Woods were under any form of Alien influence at any time during that encounter?"

"No, can I get some water and an aspirin please?"

"Did he not state that he couldn't move and that he felt 'really odd' at the time of the encounter?"

"People freeze when presented with situations they are not familiar with; it takes a second or two for their minds to process what they are dealing with."

"Abductees often say that they could not move and feel strange at the time of abduction, in your experience with X-Com, have you ever felt this way?"

"Again, No, I have seen the effects of mind control and this was not one of those times. You have to remember that this was the first time anyone had seen a Sectoid, we didn't even know what it was at the time."

Dieter looked at his notes, "So you were eventually taken to Area 51 where you became part of X-Com and spent six months investigating reports and sightings. I see that public interest increased and it was decided to set you up in a new secret base outside of western press reach. Under the pretext of oil exploration, a base was created near Erbil in Northern Iraq."

I nodded, "Strategically, it allowed us to monitor and intervene in Alien activity in the Middle East, Northern Africa and Europe. Eventually we had to build other bases but you know this already, Why the history lesson?"

The aide reappeared with my water but there was no aspirin.

"We are drawing on early memories to determine a base line, that way we can ascertain if there were any sudden changes in your mind-set."

I looked him in the eye and asked "And if there are?"

He shrugged, ever so slightly and said "Surgery"

My jaw dropped, "you mean Lobotomised, I heard rumours that this was going on with agents that had been mind-controlled but I never believed it. I was told they were debriefed and removed from active duty. In fact I know they were"

"Many were, some were merely spooked by the Aliens and panicked but a few were under direct alien control for a prolonged period. These were the ones that needed direct intervention."

"Direct Intervention! It would have been better to put a bullet in them than to cut out half of their brains, I am sure the others would say the same, how could you be so barbaric!" I was by now enraged, standing and facing him over the table with both hands balled into fists at my side. "If I had known what you were going to do to them, I'd have shot them myself to save them from what you did, they would have thanked me for doing it too."

Dieter waited until I had calmed down and resumed sitting, the pain in my head was getting worse "I am not here to discuss ethics with you. What is past is past, we have questions and we will get the answers we need."

"How many others have you interviewed and used 'direct intervention' on before getting to me?"

"You are the only one we are questioning at this time."

He pulled another file and switched on the Mind probe...