According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons Database, more than 600,000 people disappear each year in the United States alone, of those 600,000, 1%, or 6000 people, are never found. If we compare these statistics to the UFO sightings reported to the National UFO Reporting Center we can find a correlation between sightings and disappearances.
-Excerpt from ‘Stolen From Earth’ by Robert Brown, Alexandria University
The wonderful thing about small university towns, was that it was easy to find people. Ross had been only a few years ahead of Becca, Bobby and Maggie in school, and knew their habits. Bobby was always one of three places: school, home, or the laundromat.
Today was no exception.
Bobby sat in the University library, a computer open next to him running the latest news reports on the UFO sightings and the search for Maggie, print outs and old newspaper clippings scattered around the table. A young woman with shiny black hair sat across from him, books on Ancient Egypt and the pyramids open around her. “Your friend wasn’t taken by aliens Bobby, won’t you give it a rest? Why would they even stop here anymore? There’s too many satellites and cameras for them to sneak onto the planet.”
“Which is why I have footage of the vehicle.” Bobby insisted, working to keep his voice low, even as excitement pitched it higher. “Mr. O’Leary’s doorcam caught a picture of it, look, that’s not a normal RV.” Bobby slid a picture over to the girl, Theo, if Ross remembered right. She usually did blurbs on the evening news talking about UFOs and aliens.
You’d think Alexandria was Roswell with all the press UFOs were getting lately. But right now, that was what Ross needed. That RV had flown into the air, and now he was missing days. Something was going on, and he wanted to know what. Unfortunately all the signs were pointing to something really crazy, and Bobby and his group of space nerds were the best source of crazy in town.
“It could just be a souped up version of an RV. Come on Bobby, why would the aliens still be visiting us anyways? We’ve got to be the ghetto of the galaxy! Think about it, poverty, nukes, racism, the top 1%, if I had a choice I wouldn’t stop here either. This is the type of planet that you drive by with your windows rolled up and doors locked.” Theo barely glanced at the picture Bobby had printed up, instead pulling up another picture, this one of a Mayan pyramid with measurements. “I say we look for evidence of aliens in our past, not our present.”
“And I say they’re here, now, and in Alexandria.” Bobby jabbed the picture with his finger. “And they took Maggie.”
“Why would they take Maggie?” Theo leaned forward over her own work, bangs falling across her eyes.
“I think she found something she wasn’t supposed to.” Bobby said, lowering his voice. “And they took her because of it.”
“I think you’re right.” Ross sat down next to Bobby, looking at the pair. “And I think someone wants to cover it up.”
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“Officer Ross?” Theo jumped, a blush forming on her face. “You- I thought you didn’t believe in aliens!”
“I didn’t, until I saw that RV fly off into the air. Bobby’s right, that’s no normal RV, and someone is poking around trying to find out more about it and Maggie.” It was insane, he knew that. But he also knew what he had seen. The RV had blasted off through the clouds with barely a sound.
“Told you! Told you told you told you!” Bobby crowed, jumping out of his chair and jabbing his fist into the air. “Aliens!”
“Shhh!” The young student librarian hissed, shooting a withering glare at Bobby. “Some people are trying to study.”
Ross grabbed Bobby’s arm, dragging him back into the seat. “Calm down. I don’t want to attract attention. You lot are the best lead I have on alien stuff, I want to find out who is trying to cover it up, and why. And, if possible,... I want to bring Maggie home.”
Bobby and Theo exchanged glances, the smile sliding off Bobby’s face as the excitement of his triumph melted away. “Bring her home? I- that would be great, but-”
“But Earth is no where near that technology level. If she’s been taken by aliens, there’s no way to track her down. And even if there was, wouldn’t that be way out of your jurisdiction?” Theo started to gather up her papers. She shook her head as she shoved them into her bag. “And who would bother covering up her disappearance?”
“Only our own government. I have it on good authority that they have a whole department dedicated to extraterrestrial threats and covering up alien visitation.” Bobby started to gather up his own papers, packing them into a folder already stuffed full of printouts and notes. “Let’s go talk to Professor Dickerson. I’m so glad you finally saw the truth Ross, this is going to be great. You’re an actual adult, a cop even. If anyone can dig up some stuff, I bet you can. For starters we should start looking at the town history. I know there’s some shady stuff in there. Then we should see what Electra remembers of the day Maggie disappeared, and then we can see if you can dig into some of the government databases. All I can access are the public ones.”
“You’re going to draw attention doing all that. And do you really want to bother Electra? She’s got to be feeling awful.” Theo frowned sternly at Bobby. “I hear she hasn’t been to the coffee shop since Maggie disappeared.”
“Even more reason to check on her don’t you think? A wellness check, right Ross?” Bobby gave up packing his papers away neatly, and just started to shove them haphazardly into his bag, much to Theo’s disdain.
“A wellness check wouldn’t be a bad idea actually.” Ross admitted reluctantly. He could count on one hand the amount of times Electra hadn’t shown up to the coffee shop since she opened it. That she hadn’t been in for days was enough to cause concern. “Let’s go there first. But let me do the talking.”
“Of course.” Theo and Bobby said at the same time.
Well, he had wanted space nerds. Now he had two of them. He shook his head, doubting his choices as he headed out of the library to his car. “You two ride in the back, and you better not be missing any classes for this.”
“We’ll call it field research.” Theo said primly. She pulled out her phone, checking the battery on it. “Maybe Electra will agree to a statement for tonights news.”
“Let me do the talking.” Ross repeated firmly. “We’re not going to harass the poor woman, she’s going through a hard enough time as it is.”
But as it was, he needn’t have worried.
When they got to Electra’s house the doors were locked, the lights were off, and the car was gone. Looking in the windows Ross saw only a few pieces of furniture left behind, everything else that might show anything about the people that had lived there most of his life was gone without a trace.