Many of the characters within this story, and the universe they inhabit, are the intellectual property of Jason Katims Productions.
Roswell: Re-Imagined
Written by Horatio Jaxx
Chapter 30: Speculations, Revelations and Summations
It was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon when Lieutenant Ryan Kawecki was summoned to General Pittman's office. He had been wondering if a second invitation to be grilled by him was coming. Ryan knew that his latest report regarding Lieutenant Hytner expanded the mystery to include fourteen children that she took personal charge of while hiding their identities. That report did nothing to bring the enigma of Lieutenant Hytner's life to an end.
Ryan spent two weeks with the FBI searching for the unknown fourteen children that Jill Hytner took such an unusual interest in. After turning in his report, he spent two weeks working other projects while halfway expecting his latest work on Lieutenant Hytner to come back on him with new demands for clarification. During the third week, he started to believe that the project was finally behind him. He was not especially pleased about that. His curiosity still wanted an answer for the questions he created, but he suspected that those answers were trivial and that the whole investigation was a waste of his skills.
When Ryan received word that afternoon that General Pittman wanted to see him, he knew his Hytner report was back on his plate, at least for the duration of that meeting. He could think of no other reason why General Pittman would want to see him. Everything he had worked on since Hytner was routine and had no unanswered questions. Just the same, he could not imagine what more the General wanted from him. The FBI did a thorough search for the fourteen children. His only function in that was to write a report that said, in effect, the FBI could find no evidence to support the claim that these fourteen children ever existed. Halfway to General Pittman's office, Ryan could feel himself tensing up in anticipation of being harangued about the unanswered inconsistencies he authored in his original report on this former nurse's life.
When Ryan entered the reception area outside of General Pittman's office, an attractive female Airman First Class promptly got up from behind the secretary desk and went to the front of General Pittman's office door before acknowledging his entry.
"The General is waiting for you," she reported blandly.
The Airman opened the door as Ryan approached and ushered him into the office. Ryan walked into the room and came to an erect stop in front of General Pittman's desk just opposite the door on the far side of the room. He instantly noted that there were three other men in the room, seated in chairs and a small sofa around a coffee table in a small lounge area to the right side of the office. They were all in civilian clothing and he knew none of them. He ignored them as best he could and kept his attention straight ahead. General Pittman was seated comfortably behind his desk in uniform and with his legs crossed.
"General," Ryan acknowledged with a sharp salute.
General Pittman returned his salute halfheartedly as he uncrossed his legs and stood.
"At ease, Lieutenant," Pittman instructed as he walked around his desk and towards the three men sitting comfortably off to the right side of the office.
Ryan followed his lead with two steps to his right. He was then facing the three men directly. From his straight on vantage, he had a much better view of the three men. Two of them were still unfamiliar to him. But the third, a tall graying man with a full head of hair looking to be in his mid to late fifties, looked like someone he had seen before. The other two men looked to be older than he, at least by a decade.
"Lieutenant, I would like you to meet Lieutenant General Glen Snyder; Retired, Lieutenant General Spencer Garber; Retired and Deputy Secretary of Defense Kevin Bartley," Pittman introduced as he directed his attention to each with a gesture of his hand.
"Sirs," Ryan acknowledged with a nod.
Ryan recalled seeing a photo of the Deputy Secretary of Defense and understood that was why he looked familiar. The other two gentlemen he was better familiar with by reputation. Both had at one time held the position of Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence.
"Gentlemen, this is the young officer that we've been discussing," Pittman reported to the group.
The three men gave him no acknowledgement as they gauged him with their eyes.
"Have a seat, Lieutenant," Pittman instructed as he took a seat in one of the two open chairs there.
Ryan promptly took the last seat situated there around the coffee table. He noted two file folders sitting on top of the table. A pen was sitting atop one of them. He suspected that they in some way would pertain to what was about to happen here, but he had no idea how that would be so. The three men continued to study him as he situated himself. After several seconds of uncomfortable silence, for Ryan, Deputy Secretary of Defense Bartley spoke up with a question.
"Lieutenant, in one of your reports on Lieutenant Hytner you mention fourteen children, all two years of age, seven boys and seven girls, where do you think these children came from?"
"I'm sorry, sir," Ryan responded with a blank expression. "I don't know that."
"I'm not asking you about what you know, Lieutenant," Bartley rifled back. "I want to know what you think."
"Sir, I have no idea who these children are or where they came from. I just find it strange that Lieutenant Hytner should attach so much value to them," Ryan answered blandly.
"Well, she was working in a children's home, isn't that what people who work in children's homes do?" General Snyder questioned while holding a stare on him.
"It was out of character for Lieutenant Hytner," Ryan reported without hesitation.
"And you know this because you've spent what, … three weeks studying this woman's life?" General Garber questioned with an annoyed edge to his tone.
"Yes, sir," Ryan nearly grumbled back.
Ryan did not like where this conversation was going. He did not like being cross examined and criticized about a project that he never asked for. And he certainly did not like having the integrity of his work challenged with veiled accusations.
"You've brought up a lot of questions about the life choices that Lieutenant Hytner made, but you haven't given one reason why we should care about any of them. Why is that?" General Snyder continued to hold his stare on Ryan with his second question.
"With all due respect, sir, I don't know why an ex-Lieutenant in the Nurse Corps should require any attention at all. I'm simply doing the job given to me," Ryan responded with a hint of defiance.
"What is it about Lieutenant Hytner that made you so suspicious about her life?" Deputy Secretary of Defense Bartley queried with a look of intrigue.
"She is … she was a very smart, disciplined and motivated person from what I can tell by reading the reports about her," Ryan began with an introspective look. "She knew what she wanted and how to get it. And then, suddenly, she threw away the plan that she made for her life."
"Is that so unbelievable?" Deputy Secretary of Defense Bartley questioned back.
"I wouldn't," Ryan returned short and direct. "There would have to be some major event in my life to cause me to chuck out my whole life plan."
"So, she reminds you of you?" Deputy Secretary of Defense Bartley casually questioned back.
"Yes," Ryan answered with a word.
General Pittman had nothing to say in this question-and-answer session. He had been watching the back and forth between the participants with the expression of a spectator. After Ryan's last response, a lull fell over the questioning. The group looked to each other for the next question. After a short pause, Deputy Secretary of Defense Bartley initiated a new inquiry.
"What was your take on the nondisclosure agreement that Lieutenant Hytner signed?"
Ryan was made slightly confused by that question. He briefly looked to General Pittman for an explanation and quickly noted that he was getting no assistance from him. He then turned back to Bartley and gave the only answered that applied.
"I wasn't aware that she had signed any nondisclosure agreements."
"Come-on, Lieutenant," General Garber jumped in with a mildly aggressive tone. "You're telling me that in all of your research concerning this woman you didn't come across any information about the three-twelve form that she signed?"
"No, sir," Ryan answered sharply. "I had no information regarding any such event."
"But someone told you that she had access to information that would require her to be a signatory to a three-twelve?" General Snyder queried.
Ryan glanced at General Pittman once again. Still there was no change in his manner to suggest that he was going to assist in the answering of these questions. Shortly he turned back to General Snyder to give his reply.
"I was given no information regarding any activity that looked to warrant a three-twelve form."
Ryan was suddenly aware that he was, for the first time, getting information that would explain why Lieutenant Hytner was so important to the Defense Intelligence Analysis Division of the Air Force. He glanced back and forth at the three high ranking officers and the official sitting nearby and noted that they were studying him closely. After a short pause, Deputy Secretary of Defense Bartley tossed out a declaration in a mildly pleasant voice.
"This is not an inquisition, Lieutenant. You're in no trouble. In fact, we would be impressed with your investigative skills if you did get access to that information."
Ryan knew right away that this was a trap, but it made no difference to him. He had no information on this subject.
"Sirs, I have no knowledge of a three-twelve form or any activity in Lieutenant Hytner's past that would warrant such a form," Ryan retorted with finality.
Once again Ryan noticed that the Generals and the Deputy Secretary of Defense were looking to each other for the way to proceed. After a short pause, Deputy Secretary of Defense Bartley gave General Pittman a slight affirmative nod. As soon as he did this, General Pittman reached down, picked up the pen from off the folder on the coffee table, opened the folder and pushed it toward Ryan.
"I'll need you to sign this before we precede, Lieutenant," General Pittman advised as he extended the pen towards him.
Ryan took the pen, glanced around at the men watching him and then he looked down at the document. He instantly recognized it was a three-twelve, Classified Information Nondisclosure Document. He paused only long enough to note that and then he signed at the bottom. Immediately after doing so, he put the pen down and then pushed the open folder over to General Pittman so that he could verify his signature. He, in turn, did just that and closed the folder. After sitting back in his chair, Deputy Secretary of Defense Bartley began to speak again.
"Everything we tell you from here on is Top Secret. You are not to speak of it to anyone other than someone in this room, and only when asked. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir," Ryan answered with a nod of understanding.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Bartley turned his attention to General Snyder. Ryan followed his lead and noted that the General was preparing to speak.
"In 1947 Lieutenant Hytner was present at the interrogation of an E-B-E, an extraterrestrial biological entity, at the then Roswell Army Airfield."
General Snyder paused to note Ryan's reaction. He, in turn, glanced at the several pair of eyes watching him. He saw nothing in their expression to suggest that they were being anything less than serious. He then fixed his attention back onto General Snyder. He, in turn, continued with his report.
"During the course of that event, Lieutenant Hytner fainted. She recovered approximately five minutes later and was watched for several weeks following the incident. She showed no ill effects from the event and was returned to her regular duties."
Once again there is a lull in this briefing as everyone there studied Ryan's reaction to the report up to that point. Ryan looked to each of them, one after the other, for some explanation behind the report before questioning them directly several seconds later.
"I don't understand."
After another brief pause, Deputy Secretary of Defense Bartley reached down and opened the second folder. As he did that he began speaking about its contents.
"An unusual specimen of blood came into our possession a short time ago," Deputy Secretary Bartley reported as he pushed the folder towards Ryan. "The owner of the blood is a sixteen-year-old living in Roswell, New Mexico. The same age that one of your two-years-old would be right now. We found a medical record that lists the child as being adopted from the Holcomb Children's Home at the age of two, but we haven't been able to find a matching record for that."
Ryan immediately picked up the folder and began reading the report inside with great interest.
"Every geneticist, every biological engineer that has examined that blood is telling us that this teenager is several thousands of generations more advanced than any human known to exist on the planet."
"Could this be a fluke," Ryan questioned as he continued to examine the document in his hands.
"They say no," Bartley continued calmly. "The markers are all wrong. They tell us that this … person … was engineered and that the science that did it is far beyond anything humans today are capable of."
Ryan looked up at Deputy Secretary Bartley and noted that last statement with a look of astonishment. He then turned his attention back to the document and read on for another minute in silence. At the end of that time, he looked up at Deputy Secretary of Defense Kevin Bartley with a look of disbelief. As soon as he did, Bartley began to speak again in a very blunt manner.
"As of now you are Captain Kawecki. You're attached to this office. You report directly to General Pittman. Is that okay with you, Captain?"
"Yes, sir," Ryan quickly acknowledged.
"Congratulations, Captain," Bartley acknowledged an instant before standing up.
Generals Snyder and Garber followed his lead and got up onto their feet. Ryan and General Pittman got up as well.
"General Pittman," Bartley spoke politely. "I will be expecting to hear from you."
"Yes, sir," General Pittman acknowledged with a nod.
Deputy Secretary Bartley and Generals Snyder and Garber left the office without fanfare. Ryan watched them leave more than a little perplexed about what he would be doing for General Pittman. He turned to General Pittman for the answer to that question just as he was moving in behind his desk.
"Sir, what will we be doing?"
"Our job, Captain, is to find the remaining thirteen two-years-old," General Pittman calmly replied as he comfortably situated himself into his chair.
"Will we be arresting them?"
"No," General Pittman quickly answered. "Our job is to identify and report. This is top secret, is that understood, Captain?" he finished with finality.
"Yes sir," Ryan answered after a perplexed hesitation.