Project Boomerang

My name is James Danvers and I am a colonel in the United States Army Air Corps. I had served in the 101st Airborne Division during World War 2, and was glad to come home after the Germans and Japanese had surrendered.

Thanks to our British friends and the invention of radar, blasting enemy planes out of the sky was much easier, along with dropping a shitload of bombs over German cities.

After the war, I came back home to San Francisco. I was expecting a long period of Rest and Relaxion, but once I had re-settled into my apartment on Market Street, my phone rang.

I picked it up to hear my superior officer.

"Colonel Danvers?"

"Yes, sir?"

"A 'Lieutenant Hoss' is requesting you to fly into the annex of Edwards Air Force Base ASAP."

I groaned in disgust. "What's the reason, sir? That annex doesn't mean much to me."

"He insists you come at once. He needs your technology expertise."

"Yes, sir." I hung up and groaned again. Why was the Air Corps wanting me in Nevada? I didn't hesitate. I packed a suitcase and headed for San Francisco International Airport. Within 2 hours, I was on a plane, headed for the annex.

When I landed a few hours later and climbed out of the plane, Lieutenant Hoss was waiting for me. He appeared elated once I touched the landing strip.

"Welcome to Edwards Air Force Base, sir!" I could tell he was happy to see me.

"Good to see you, Lieutenant."

"Come. We must get you situated." He led me to the barracks of the annex. On the way to the barracks, I noticed a rather large satellite dish, along with three large crates surrounding it.

"What's with the satellite, Hoss?"

"Communications, but not with terrestrial life."

I thought he was joking. "What...you're going to try to communicate with aliens?"

"Exactly!! The Department of Defense has dubbed our creation, 'Project Boomerang.'"

I was stunned for a moment from the words that passed out of Hoss' lips, but continued following him to the barracks. "You really think there's life out in deep space?"

"Indeed I do! And I won't rest until our project is completed!" Hoss snapped at me.

We arrived at the barracks. I set down my suitcase, then follwed Hoss to the future foundation of the giant radar. "This is where we will construct our 'telephone' with other life forms." Hoss had a little child's smile on his face.

I put a hand on his shoulder. "Perhaps we will be successful."

He turned to me. "We WILL be successful."

Five weeks had passed, and I was surprised that the new building had been completed within that time frame. The building had been separated into two rooms. The main room housed the giant satellite dish, along with a large array of switches, indicators, levels, wheels and other machinery. I was in the generator room, making sure that the generators wouldn't malfunction.

I looked at the clock. It was 7:05pm. Hoss looked at me through a window, and gave me a look to throw the main power switch. I did so, and at 7:06pm, the building roared to life. Hoss had set up a speaker to communicate with me. He went to a microphone, and said, "Colonel. Tone down the power with the wheel on Generator 1!"

I turned the wheel to the left. "That's good! That's good!" Hoss said. I couldn't help but laugh. I never knew a man to be so into a science-fiction-like experiment that had a slim chance of working.

Exactly 20 minutes later, the satellite picked up some feedback. I saw Hoss running around, turning switches, spinning wheels and checking the indicators. I then heard a sentence that I still have trouble erasing from my mind.

~bzzz! gzzz!~ Who is trying to contact us? ~Bzzz!~

I could see Hoss' eyes widen with excitement. "Colonel!! Colonel!!! We've done it!!! We've fucking done it!!!" He was jumping up and down like a madman. He grabbed a microphone and replied, "We are humans from planet Earth? Where are you from, you unknown creature?"

~zzzt!bzz!~We are from the Asteroid Belt.~bzzzzz....~ The transmission had ended, but I was sure that I heard faintly in the radio noise and static, "~zzzzzz---terminate...Hos...---gzzzzz!~ I thought my ears were playing tricks on me.

"Colonel. You may retire. I'll recalibrate the instruments. Please turn off the generators." I did so, left the building and went back to the barracks.

Three hours later, I was awakened by a loud humming noise. I got out of the bed, and realized that the humming noise was coming from the new building. I entered the building to a rather bright light from an unknown source. I looked up the lights. The brighter light wasn't coming from them. I entered the generator room to see that they were on. I then entered the main room to see Hoss shuffling around.

"Hoss?" No answer.

Hoss!" Still no answer. He appeared to be sleepwalking.

I approached him and violently spun him around. "HOSS!! Answer me, damnit. Why are you up so---?!" I stopped and stepped back a bit.

Hoss appeared thinner, and upon closer inspection, appeared to have nanocircutry running out from his eyesockets, nostrils and mouth. He uttered something, but it sounded distorted like the radio noise earlier. I punched Hoss in the face, which abruptly woke him up. The nanocircutry seemed to vanish.

"Ugh...my head...my face..."

"Lieutenant Hoss...are you alright?"

---This is a Creepypasta in progress---