Hard Drive 13

History of the ISD Part 3: The Men in Black

The Roswell incident was an excellent resource of alien technology and equipment, and was originally reported (truthfully) as the capture of a flying saucer, but quickly hushed up as a balloon accident, complete with planted evidence and photographs. The technology discovered was too valuable for national (and planetary) defense strategies, and Air Force administrators quickly realized this.

During Grudge, the ISD’s main task was to become familiar with alien technology and formulate an operable defense strategy. The ISD began training in a hidden base in the Superstition Mountains east of Mesa, Arizona, and tested their weapons in a box canyon north of the China Lake Naval Weapons Center in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The ISD became known in conspiracist circles (and a short-run series of comic books) as the Men In Black, who intervened in the most credible UFO cases where national security seemed to be an issue.

Of course, it was nearly impossible to hide advances in ISD defense technology from the aliens, and when they realized Earth was becoming a formidable foe, they began de-escalating their activities.

In fact, beginning in the late sixties, the aliens began diplomatic relations with Earth, and our knowledge of their world increased. It turned out that not one, but two groups of alien craft had arrived in the summer of 1947 from a planet many light years away, one with the idea of conquest in mind, and the other with the idea of peaceful relations with Earth. Nothing much came of either scheme.

The travelers all eventually exceeded their natural life span of about sixty-five years and died of old age. The last one died in 1989. The ISD continued their research, but were eventually defunded.

Next week: The Present and the Future

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