Chapter Four


"What do we have on the Nelsons?" asked General Bauer.

"Colonel Nelson's human … he photographs," replied a Man in Black standing before Bauer's desk. He opened a file folder and presented the General with an 8" by 10" photograph of Colonel Nelson, in his pajamas and slippers, picking up the morning newspaper in his driveway.

"Anything else on Nelson?" inquired General Bauer.

"Nothing eventful, Sir," replied the Man in Black.

"What about his kid?"

"His son photographs, but not very well," said the Man in Black as he presented the General with an 8" by 10" picture of a blurred Tony Jr. kicking a soccer ball.

"Anything else on the kid?"

"Nothing, Sir."

"What do we have on the wife?"

"Here's where it gets interesting," said the Man in Black as he thumbed through the file folder. "For some reason, she calls Colonel Nelson 'Master' … I'm wondering if it's some sort of sexual thing?"

"Colonel Nelson's and his wife's … sexual peccadilloes … are beyond the scope of this department's mission," said General Bauer icily. "Anything else?"

Subject Closed.

"The wife doesn't photograph," said The Man in Black as he presented the General with a 8" by 10" photo of a hair stylist at a beauty salon hovering over a clear plastic bib floating in an empty chair.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?" asked General Bauer.

"Mrs. Nelson, Sir," said the Man in Black. "As I said, she doesn't photograph. However, we did manage to capture her on the Dooley Eight-Thousand camera," he added as he presented the General with an 8" x 10" black-and-white photo of Jeannie in sneakers and a track suit jogging in a park.

Five million dollar system and they can't do any better than black-and white! The General thought angrily. "Reminds me of the Calrissians on Zeta 4," he said. "They don't photograph, either."

"You think she's a Calrissian?" asked the Man in Black.

"She can't be a Calrissian. The Calrissians are 2-foot tall praying mantises," General Bauer replied.

"If she IS an alien, how did she get here?" the Man in Black asked. "We've no recent records of any UFO crashes."

"Bellows's file dates back to the sixties. Check the archives," the General replied.

"Yes, Sir."

General Bauer cradled his chin in his palm, deep in thought. The bottle … the bottle. What IS it about that BOTTLE?

"That bottle," said the General. "That bottle may be the key to all this."

"Sir?" asked the Man in Black.

"According to Bellows's file, Colonel Nelson has this elaborately decorated purple enamel bottle that he's utterly obsessed with," General Bauer replied. "So much so that he's been willing to risk his entire career for it!"

"What's so special about that bottle?" asked the Man in Black.

"It could belong to his wife. It could be how she came to Earth," General Bauer replied. "It could be a ship … an interstellar portal." General Bauer paused. "We could be looking at the advance force of an alien invasion!"

"With all due respect, Sir, you're reading a great deal into this," said the Man in Black.

"It's our JOB to read into this!" the General barked, slamming papers down onto his desk for emphasis. "There could be an invasion going on right underneath our noses!"

"I see, Sir," said the Man in Black. "Permission to speak freely, Sir."

"Granted," General Bauer replied.

"If you don't mind my saying, Sir, a bottle seems like a terrible staging area for an invasion," said the Man in Black. "You'd think they'd go with a much larger vessel … one that could accommodate an invading force."

"We're dealing with ALIENS here," said the General, paranoia now creeping into his voice. "With their advanced technology, we must be prepared for ANYTHING."

"Yes, Sir," said the Man in Black with a sigh.

"For all we know, she's a sleeper agent!"

"Sir, there's no record of Mrs. Nelson posing any real national security issues," said the Man in Black. "To put it bluntly, all we have are innuendo and tall tales from Dr. Bellows."

"I want the Nelsons brought in for processing," said General Bauer.


2:00 a.m.

A black armored personnel carrier pulls up in front of the Nelsons' home. Following the armored personnel carrier was a large, ominous-looking black van.

A SWAT team clad in black body armor and armed with AR-15s poured out of the van and APC and surrounded the house.

"FBI! SEARCH WARRANT!" cried out one SWAT team member as another beat down the Nelsons' front door with a steel battering ram.

"GET THE BOTTLE! GET THE BOTTLE!" cried another SWAT team member as they streamed through the Nelsons' living room.

--

"FBI! SEARCH WARRANT!" cried out one SWAT team member as they burst their way into Tony and Jeannie's bedroom.

"What the devil is going on here?!" cried Colonel Nelson as several armed SWAT team members stood over him and Jeannie lying in bed, their AR-15s aimed at the Nelsons' heads.

"Stand up and put your hands behind your head!" the SWAT team member commanded in reply.

"Where's your warrant?" Colonel Nelson demanded angrily.

"DO AS I SAY!" the SWAT team member shouted back.

"Anthony, what is going on?" Jeannie asked as a SWAT team member handcuffed her from behind.

"They're not FBI," said Colonel Nelson as another SWAT team member handcuffed him from behind. "It's a fig leaf."

"They are not?" asked Jeannie.

"REAL FBI SWAT teams don't wear unmarked uniforms," Colonel Nelson explained, getting in a dig at the SWAT team.

"We've got the kid!" said another SWAT team member.

"We've got the bottle!" cried a third SWAT team member from the hallway as he held Jeannie's bottle aloft.

"You sure?" asked the first SWAT team member.

" 'Purple enamel with gold trim' … just like it says in the file," replied the third SWAT team member.

"Awright, people … we have what we came for," said the first SWAT team member. "Let's get em processed!"