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Roswell Conspiracies Bible: 7th Chunk

Here's the 7th Chunk from the darn long Roswell Conspiracies Bible:

THE ALLIANCE - TODAY.
[NOTE: This is a snapshot, taken (more or less) at the beginning of our second episode. What follows represents each character's job assignment at that time. Over the course of our series, we can expect a lot of shifting. Markus, in particular, will fast-track through the ranks, until in our final episode, he'll become the Alliance's third and final "Night Officer". For the purpose of our character's ages, I'm assuming that "today's date" is September, 1999. ]

"MANAGEMENT"
NIGHT OFFICER - WILLIAM T. HAWKING
Since the Alliance was formally inaugurated in February, 1945, it has only ever had two Night Officers. The first was the late "General" Warren Burdette. The second was and is Will Hawking, who's been with the Alliance from the beginning. Hawking is tall (over six feet), thin and fit. He's seventy-seven years old, way past the age of retirement. He claims he'd be happy to step down -- if anyone ever got up the nerve to suggest it out loud. He's British, but he's posed as an American for so long that he's no longer sure which of his accents is real, which affected. He's a veteran of World War II and an additional few hundred alien conflicts. Once upon a time, he was Burdette's right-hand man. There isn't any job in the Alliance (save for some of the hard science positions) that Hawking hasn't personally tackled and excelled at. Today, he cuts a lean, hard figure. With his gray crewcut, he resembles nothing so much as a steel beam -- in both appearance and temperament. He does, however, have a grim sense of humor, or at least an appreciation of irony. He's also a consummate actor. At the drop of a hat, he can appear to be a tired old man, a paranoid or an eccentric, a showman or a recluse... or all of the above at the exact same time.

The Alliance is a lean organization. Hawking has a small command staff working under him, but he largely counts on his four SECTION CHIEFS to keep "Management" informed and the Alliance running smoothly.

"INQUIRY"
SECTION CHIEF - ARTEMIS KATERAS
Artie Kateras is a thirty-eight year old woman with light brown hair. Born in Greece, she and her twin brother Apollo were recruited into the Alliance by their uncle Niko when they were in their early twenties. Artie is very down to Earth and had no trouble fitting into what was then the largely male world of the Alliance. She rose quickly through the ranks. When Jack McKay retired, he hand-picked Artie to take his place as Section Chief of "Inquiry". Today, it is very much HER section, remade in her image. "Inquiry" is an Alliance euphemism for the multiple investigative units that seek out any sign of alien activity throughout the world. Artie rarely goes out in the field herself, but she chooses and pairs her agents carefully. She knows how to listen to them, and she knows how to drive them to get the information the Alliance needs.

"Inquiry" is the largest of the Alliance's four Sections. Artie currently has thirty-five investigative units working under her command. That's seventy agents. (Don't panic. We'll focus on two units. Four agents.)

UNIT #7
SENIOR AGENT - TRI CHUNG
Tri is Chinese-Vietnamese. He was born in Vietnam but when Saigon fell, he had to flee by boat as a child. He wound up in San Francisco. The Alliance recruited him out of the F.B.I. when he was in his late twenties. Today, he's thirty-six years old. A suit and tie type. He's about 5'7" and in excellent physical condition. He's smart, fast and experienced. Like his new partner Markus, he's not too talkative, which is probably how both men manage to get along. Tri's former partner was REIKO TAKASHI. Tri was in love with her. She's dead now.

SECOND AGENT - TONY MARKUS
Markus is young, but hard. As taciturn as his partner. He's big on observation. Big on determination. He's also a fast study. He knows he can learn a lot from Chung, whom he quietly respects. Markus is 25 years old and approximately six feet tall. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California.

UNIT #27
SENIOR AGENT - ALEX DIENER
Alex is a third generation operative of the Alliance, joyously following in the footsteps of his grandfather, mother and father. Alex lived above the Bunker on the Vasquez Ranch until he was eighteen, when he was officially recruited into the family business. Alex is German on his father's side. Mexican-American on his mother's. At heart, he is a rogue and a pirate: life has to get pretty grim for Alex to take it seriously. He's very good-looking with brown skin, jet black hair and the devil's own smile. He's about 5'10". Because Alex's grandfather, father and mother each died at the age of 50, twenty-eight year old Alex is convinced that he's currently invulnerable. He's equally convinced that he's destined to die in 2021, the year he himself turns fifty.

SECOND AGENT - CLEA BALEWA
Clea is Nigerian. She's a pretty and petite 5'4" with very short hair. She dresses chic, though not sexy. She's warm, open, funny. Simply a joy to be around. She's also smart (heck, everyone in the Alliance is smart), highly-trained and dangerous when necessary. She's 23 years old and has been an operative of the Alliance (and Alex's partner) for a year.

"RESEARCH"
SECTION CHIEF - DR. MIGUEL CABRAL
Dr. Cabral is Portuguese. He's forty-two years old and specializes in theoretical physics. He's a bullish guy, short with very broad shoulders, dark hair and a mustache. He's the impatient type. Always scowling. And, of course, flat-out brilliant. He's been an operative of the Alliance for twelve years. He was a protégé of Dr. Michael Tyler's (the previous Section Chief) and considered the late scientist to be both his mentor and his best friend.

Cabral's "Research" Section -- a.k.a. the Alliance's scientific branch -- operates from a pool of some fifty experts, specialists and technicians all working in well-equipped labs inside the Bunker. A few of these scientists have received additional training so that they can function in the field as "Research Cells." There are four cells of three scientists each. Cabral gets antsy inside his lab, so when it's called for, he leads Alpha Cell himself.

ALPHA CELL
CELL LEADER/PHYSICS - DR. MIGUEL CABRAL
(See above.)

TECHNOLOGY - MICHEL THIBIDEAUX
Tib is French. Twenty-eight years old, from Paris. He's 5'9" with bleached-blond spiky hair. He's highly enthusiastic. And very good with his hands. Tib was personally recruited by Dr. Tyler in 1995 when France rejoined TGA. For four years, until Tyler was killed, Alpha Cell was known as "The Three Mikes" (Michael, Miguel and Michel). Despite their age differences, they were very tight.

BIOLOGY - DR. GISELA DIENER
Gisela is Alex Diener's younger sister. She's twenty-four years old. Blonde, tan, pretty. About 5'8". If Alex is the sinner, Gisela is the saint. Despite her medical and scientific background, Gisela has a distinct spiritual side. Alex can't understand it, but Gisela believes in little things like magic and mysticism, and big things like God and Destiny. Subsequently, she seems more fragile than she really is. Everyone's very protective of Gisela. Both of her parents were killed on Alliance missions. Her father Erich, when she was five years old; her mother Maria, when she was 14. She was basically adopted by the Alliance. They raised, trained and educated her. She joined "Research" after receiving her M.D. at age 19 and her Ph.D. at age 21. After three years in the "pool," Dr. Cabral chose her to replace Dr. Tyler as Alpha Cell's Biological expert.

"DELIVERY"
SECTION CHIEF - JOSEPH TEN-SAMSONS
Joe is another Alliance legacy. His father, Joseph Senior, worked in "Delivery" until the day he disappeared. Joe Jr. is a Navajo Indian, born fifty-two years ago in Roswell, New Mexico, exactly one month before the infamous "Roswell Crash." But don't let his age fool you, Joe is a very young 52. He's over six feet tall and solid as a New Mexico mountain. And there's very little erosion.

"Delivery" is the Alliance's combat unit. They're only sent out in case of an emergency -- to clean up a real mess. Anything short of a disaster can theoretically be handled by one of the other sections. Unfortunately, disasters aren't as uncommon as you might think. Joe always leads his team into battle himself. When that happens, he wears an exo-brace that enhances his natural movements. His strength, agility, etc. are all exponentially increased.

CODENAME: MILKMAN - YA-TUK
Ya-Tuk is an alien. A member of the peaceful, reclusive QUA-YETI race. Tuk wasn't born here, but he's lived on our world for over two hundred years. (That's almost half his life.) He sincerely wants to help preserve the planet Earth from all its various invaders and so joined the Alliance in August of 1945. He's extremely good-natured. Even a touch mischievous. He's also 8'7" and weighs 524 lbs. He's covered with snow white fur. Ya-Tuk cannot pass for human. So even when a disaster forces "Delivery" Section into the field, Joe still has to decide whether the disaster is big enough to warrant bringing the "Milkman" along. (Of course, it usually is.) Tuk possesses incredible strength, stamina and a complete imperviousness to the cold. He's also has an almost childlike fascination with technology, though his huge four-fingered hands don't exactly lend themselves to this pursuit. His quarters are highly air-conditioned. He's not at all fond of warm weather.

CODENAME: PAPER BOY - SIOBHAN BARROW
Siobhan (pronounced "sha-VAWN") is also an alien. She's a member of the SIDHE (pronounced "shee") race. In fact, her mother is the BHAN SIDHE (pronounced "bVawn SHEE"), Warrior Matriarch of the entire Earth Clan. Siobhan was born on Earth, (specifically in Ireland). Our planet is the only home she's ever known. She's nineteen years old, the youngest, least experienced operative in the entire Alliance. But what she lacks in experience, she makes up for in power. She can pass for human when she wants to: a pretty young woman, 5'10" tall with white-blonde hair and pale, pale blue eyes of (only) a slightly odd shape. But at anytime, she can transform, taking on her true Sidhe appearance with a devastating burst of energy that shreds her clothes and knocks out anyone standing within ten feet of her. When this happens, she becomes a creature less of matter than of energy. Her hair goes shock-white, with a slight blue tint. Her eyes crackle with power. An electric aura surrounds her body, allowing her to float a few feet off the ground or to fire off a bolt of lightning. She is ethereal, capable of passing through solid objects. And she can release the BANSHEE WAIL - a brief but violent burst of sonic energy that few can stand against. In fact, this is Siobhan's true form. Maintaining her human appearance requires some effort and discipline. When she loses consciousness (or even just her concentration), she always reverts to Sidhe.

And just to complicate things a bit more, Siobhan's loyalty isn't exactly at the 100% level. She's torn. Like Ya-Tuk, she wants to protect the planet Earth. But she's just not sure she wants to do that by betraying her own people. When you put all these things together, Siobhan is clearly the most dangerous creature our man Markus has ever encountered. Although the main reason for that is probably still related to the fact that he's falling in love with her.

CODENAME: POSTAL WORKER - CEDRIC HARRIS
Cedric is thirty-six years old. An African-American man from South Bend, Indiana. He's the WeaponsMaster of the group. You don't want to mess with Mr. Harris. He was recruited out of the Navy SEALs when he was only twenty, and he's a battle-hardened veteran of innumerable alien conflicts. He's also huge. Not Ya-Tuk huge, but the human equivalent. If Alex is a tight end, Markus a quarterback and Joe a fullback, then Harris is a linebacker (or two).

"SURPLUS"
SECTION CHIEF - PATRICIA AINSLEY-HAWKING
Patricia is twenty-seven years old. She's Hawking's daughter, but she was raised in England for most of her life by Hawking's estranged wife Trish Ainsley. Against her mother's wishes, Patricia joined the Alliance the moment she turned 21. She requested an assignment to "Surplus" -- considered the least appealing duty in the Bunker -- and quickly rose to the position of Section Chief. Still, her relationship with her father is uneasy at best. The Alliance has made nepotism into something akin to an art-form, but no one can complain about Patricia's performance as Section Chief. She's made sure of that. She believes that distancing herself from her father is a professional necessity, though deep down it's also a personal cop-out. Patricia is a tall red-head, but she's not exactly hot-blooded. She'd almost have to have ice in her veins to run "Surplus," the euphemism for the Alliance's alien prison. Patricia runs that prison with cold efficiency.


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ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES BIBLE: Chunks 5 & 6

Continuing the posting of pieces of the Bible for the version of THE ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES that I developed for BKN.

Here's the fifth chunk:

ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO - June 14, 1947.
Nothing happened. Nothing at all. Every witness on every side of every version of every event was already working for the Alliance. Oh, today, you might be able to find some old civilian who swears he or she saw the crash from a distance. But that's just a tip off that they're telling tales. Nothing happened.

Vasquez did call the Sheriff to report the crash. And Vasquez, McKay and Ten-Samsons did convene in the desert. And McKay did radio Walker Air Force Base.

Air Force Captain Will Hawking was dispatched to the site of the incident -- with a full platoon of men. Alliance men.

On June 15, the news services did report that a U.F.O. had crashed near Roswell. Captain Hawking did confirm the story later that day.

June 16. General Burdette explained about the weather balloon. And the Vasquez Ranch was declared off-limits to all non-Alliance personnel. Heavy machinery was brought in. Underneath the ranch, construction began on the Bunker to end all Bunkers.

By July 7, the Alliance was able to remove every sign that work was proceeding underground.

On July 8, Trish Ainsley filed her U.F.O. story. The Alliance made sure it never got on the wire. It also made sure that copies of the story were circulated privately, but widely.

July 9. Captain Hawking resigns his commission. He disappears to supervise the completion of the Bunker.

July 16. Ainsley contacted Vasquez, McKay and Ten-Samsons, laying the groundwork for decades of obfuscation.

May, 1948. The Bunker was completed. The Alliance was up and running.

In between investigative assignments for the Alliance, Trish Ainsley continued to "pursue the Roswell story." The plan was clearly working. Most people either believed in weather balloons or casually and unconcernedly assumed that the U.S. government was covering up the existence of aliens on our planet. The few who actively pursued the latter course, were led down a garden path of false witnesses and manufactured evidence designed to lull them into believing that aliens are little grey men in flying saucers. Recent arrivals. Largely harmless. And nothing like the truth.

1949. T.G.A., The Global Alliance admits ten more nations: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway & Portugal. The Alliance began drawing the best and the brightest from all of TGA's member nations.

1952. Greece and Turkey join TGA. West Germany will join three years later.

March, 1955 - The Alliance used Tyler and Ainsley to seed the story of recovered alien bodies.

November, 1960. Segundo Vasquez, a chain-smoker, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Since he couldn't be cured, the Alliance decided to take advantage of this "unique opportunity" to add another layer to the lie.

January 4, 1961. With Alliance help, Joseph Ten-Samsons Senior faked his death. The story was spread that he died of cancer.

December 13, 1961, Segundo Vasquez did die of cancer.

1964. Dr. Tyler retired from the U.S. Army and then vanished off the face of the Earth. Actually, he became the Alliance's head scientist, and thus no longer had the time to lead a double life.

1965. France breaks with TGA for thirty years. They will rejoin the organization in 1995. Meanwhile, Spain will join in '82 and the newly reunited Germany will replace West Germany in 1990.

Meanwhile, back in July, 1971, after over two decades of being Burdette's right hand man, Hawking was ordered to resurface in order to rekindle the lie. Together, Hawking and Ainsley produced the Alliance-written fiction: THE ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES. They also fell in love and were secretly married.

February, 1972. Trish Ainsley discovered that she was pregnant. She chose to leave the Alliance in order to give her baby a normal life. Hawking elected not to join her.

May 1, 1972. The Alliance helped Trish Ainsley fake her death in a car accident. She returned to Great Britain to give birth and raise her child. Hawking went back underground as a full time Alliance operative.

June 14, 1972. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Roswell Crash, Alliance operatives McKay, Vasquez Diener and Kateras staged a press conference to keep the curious guessing.

August, 1980. Erich Diener -- an Alliance operative and the husband of Maria Vasquez Diener, a second generation Alliance operative --was killed in the line of duty. The story in above-ground Roswell was that he ran off and abandoned Maria and their two children.

June 1, 1982. 83 year old Warren Burdette passed away in his sleep. The story was put out that he died of cancer. Hawking was promoted to Night Officer.

June 14, 1982. Will Hawking resurfaced on the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Roswell crash. He and Jack McKay became very public spokesmen for both versions of the lie.

December 13, 1986. Hawking and the Alliance bought the ranch adjacent to the old Vasquez place in order to expand the Bunker even further.

March 18, 1989. Maria Vasquez Diener died in the line of duty. Again, cancer was blamed. Her son Alex, a third generation operative, was given his first taste of action and obfuscation.

In 1995, under Alliance supervision, the U.S. Air Force launched a new investigation into the Roswell Incident. The resulting report sounded so pat and phony that most people either believed it flat out or assumed that all the Roswell myths must be entirely true.

1996. Hawking convinces TGA to allow him to recruit individual operatives without regard to their citizenship or the membership status of their country of birth.

September, 1999. Roswell, New Mexico is both a serious tourist trap and a Mecca for true believers seeking (inaccurate) knowledge about extraterrestrials on this planet. Every Friday night, McKay and Hawking stage another debate about the Incident. They don't have to do it. They just enjoy it.

And now the 6th Chunk:

ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO - September, 1999.
Tony Markus -- I bet you thought I forgot about him -- comes to town a half-step behind Siobhan Barrow. At this point, the only thing that's clear to Markus is that he's never had a case like this before.

Siobhan seems to have some kind of super-natural power --impressive super-natural power -- though not quite as impressive as that of the Tall Women pursuing her.

Likewise, the "Honeymooning Couple", though clearly not what they pretend to be, are also not what they seem to be either. Markus had thought they were Feds, but they've got some mighty strange methods, some even stranger weapons and the strangest possible friends.

Eventually, all is revealed. Siobhan is a member of an alien race, the SIDHE. She's on the run from her own people (the Tall Women) and is simultaneously trying to avoid being captured by ALEX DIENER & CLEA BALEWA (agents of the Alliance), who want to give her a life sentence simply because she exists. Markus just wants to get her back to L.A. so that cousin Dom doesn't have to pick up a fifty grand tab on her bail. Despite her power, Markus manages to reel her in and convince her to head west again with him. Together, they manage to stay a step ahead of both the Sidhe Warriors and the Alliance Agents. But all the good luck and skill in the world can't last forever.

Markus and Siobhan are cornered in the GRAND CANYON. The Sidhe attack, and it's the Alliance that comes to the rescue. But not Alex and Clea. The cavalry consists of JOSEPH TEN-SAMSONS JR., CEDRIC HARRIS and the alien YA-TUK. After an impressive battle, the Sidhe Warriors are captured. And Markus' life has been changed forever. There are aliens -- dangerous aliens -- loose on our world. He feels like his eyes are open for the first time. But he's not the only one. The Alliance has been very impressed with both Markus and Siobhan. They offer them each a job.

Markus, with his skills and experience, will become an investigator like Alex and Clea. Siobhan, with her raw power, will join Ten-Samsons' combat unit. Neither are sure they want what's being offered. Ultimately, Siobhan doesn't have many sunnier choices: (a) Life on the Run from her fellow Sidhe; (b) Life in an Alliance Prison, or (c) Life as an Alliance Operative. She chooses option (c).

As for Markus, it comes down to accepting the challenge. Hunting aliens. The ultimate skip chase. How can he resist? Well, once he's made sure that Dom hasn't been left in the lurch, the answer is: he can't. Thus Tony Markus and Siobhan Barrow become the two newest operatives of the Alliance.


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ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES: 3rd & 4th Chunk

Here's a couple more chunks from the 1998 Roswell Conspiracies Bible...

3rd Chunk:

EURASIA - 1944
In the last year of World War II, a select group of Allied Intelligence operatives stumbled upon a threat to the planet Earth that would make the War seem like a church social.

Aliens -- extraterrestrials from half a dozen different planets --had invaded our world. Some of them had been here for centuries. Some could pose or pass as humans. Some had infiltrated our governments and institutions, insinuating themselves into positions of power throughout the world.

Leaders of four of the most prominent alien races had formed a CADRE. Using the chaos caused by the War, the Cadre was positioning itself to take our planet for themselves.

Fortunately, their plan was discovered by O.S.S. agent Warren Burdette. Burdette's only problem was that no one believed him. Still, he was determined to save humanity despite itself. He gathered evidence -- some of it living.

An earlier, more mundane intelligence operation had once resulted in Burdette saving the life of WINSTON CHURCHILL. Burdette called on Churchill again and presented his evidence. Churchill was convinced. He contacted FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT and "THE GLOBAL ALLIANCE" (T.G.A.) was officially chartered. At the time, it consisted of only two nations, the United States and Great Britain.

Burdette was named the Alliance's first NIGHT OFFICER, (a euphemism for Head Honcho). His team consisted of an elite group of spies, soldiers and scientists from both nations, as well as a few aliens with an interest in seeing the Cadre defeated. Early operatives included:
--Lieutenant William Hawking, British Intelligence;
--Doctor Michael Tyler, a British Biologist;
--Colonel Joseph Ten-Samsons, an American Fighter Pilot;
--Sergeant John Gerald McKay, an American Army Commando;
--Doctor Segundo Vasquez, an American Physicist;
--Aidan Maguire, an alien of the Sidhe race;
--Ya-Tuk, an alien of the Qua-Yeti race.

Burdette's first mission was to stop the Cadre. This was accomplished most elegantly by turning the four member races against each other. In September, 1945, after a final battle in the Himalayas, the Cadre was finally smashed.

But the Alliance's work had only just begun. Now that the Wars (both Wars) were over, the Alliance needed a permanent base to carry out their on-going mission: to protect Earth from both its alien inhabitants and any future invaders. All without panicking the human population of the planet.

1946 was spent preparing for this new scenario.

A site for the base was chosen in an intentionally unlikely location: Roswell, New Mexico -- the home town of Joseph Ten-Samsons.

Segundo Vasquez bought a ranch using Alliance money.

Jack McKay came to town from Texas. Word "somehow" got out that he was a war hero, and when he ran for Sheriff, he won handily. He hired Joseph Ten-Samsons as his deputy.

Will Hawking and Michael Tyler were carefully trained to speak "American." Tyler was given a new identity as a U.S. Army surgeon. Hawking was made a Captain in the U.S. Air Force. He was assigned to Walker Air Force Base.

Burdette became an instant Two-Star General.

British spy (and new recruit) Trish Ainsley became a wire service reporter.

By now, it was June, 1947. The stage was set.

4th Chunk:

THE BIG LIE
The Lie was designed to operate on four levels in order to achieve three objectives:

Level #1: An incident is created that presents a plausible scenario, including witnesses and some evidence, for the limited arrival of intelligent alien life on our planet.
Level #2: An equally plausible counter-scenario is offered, including witnesses and some evidence, detailing a mundane explanation for the same events.
Level #3: In order to explain discrepancies between the first two levels, Level #1 is embellished with supplementary testimony in order to suggest that a government cover-up and conspiracy exists designed to hide any evidence of alien contact.
Level #4: None of these scenarios are completely plausible. None are completely without the ring of truth. None of the pieces fit perfectly. No theory or explanation is beyond reproach. The evidence is limited, inaccessible and/or unreliable. Witnesses appear and disappear. They change their stories. Nothing is made 100% clear.

Objective A: People who are inclined to believe in an alien visitation are given a safe (and inaccurate) outlet for their curiosity. They can believe in aliens, be paranoid about conspiracies and investigate both to their hearts' content without ever getting close to the actual truth.
Objective B: People who are disinclined to believe in the paranormal are offered a suitable explanation and an excuse to regard anyone who does believe as a fanatic.
Objective C: In general, the sum total of all this is such a quagmire that most people -- even if they believe in the possibility of alien visitation and/or government conspiracy -- will quickly lose interest and simply go on with their daily lives.

To date, few government programs in history have been quite so successful at meeting all of their objectives as the Big Lie.
****************


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ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES BIBLE - 2nd Chunk

That first chunk was pretty short. Hardly enough to pique your interest. So here's another piece...

ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO - June 14, 1947.
Rancher SEGUNDO VASQUEZ is sitting on his porch admiring the quiet desert night. Something, something fast, streaks across his field of vision. A shooting star? He's not sure. He doesn't get a good look. He stands and scans the sky. Suddenly a fiery explosion lights up the night! Now Vasquez can see flaming debris crashing to the Earth a few miles away. Thinking an airplane has gone down, he makes a quick call to the Sheriff, then gets in his pick-up truck and heads out into the desert to see if he can find any survivors.

Roswell Sheriff JACK MCKAY and his Deputy JOSEPH TEN-SAMSONS arrive on the scene an hour after Vasquez. McKay immediately radios his dispatch and has them connect him to WALKER AIR FORCE BASE.

Air Force Captain WILL HAWKING is dispatched to the site of the crash, with a full platoon of men.

The next morning, June 15, the news services report that a U.F.O. has crash-landed on the Vasquez Ranch near Roswell, New Mexico. Captain Hawking is quoted, and he confirms the story later that day.

June 16. The Air Force releases a correction. Two-Star General WARREN BURDETTE explains that Captain Hawking was mistaken. What he took for a U.F.O. was actually a weather balloon. Hawking cannot be reached for comment. And the Vasquez Ranch is off-limits to all non-military personnel.

July 7. The U.S. Armed Forces finally pulls its last transport out of Roswell. On July 8, in a SANTA FE motel room, Captain Hawking speaks to wire service reporter TRISH AINSLEY. Hawking maintains his original story. He saw a "saucer-shaped" vehicle broken into two distinct pieces with assorted small debris. He saw one corpse and one badly injured survivor. But neither individual was human. Their skin was grey. Their heads were disproportionately large. So were their eyes. They had no ears or nose or teeth. They had two long fingers and a thumb on each hand. Neither was over five feet tall. There's no doubt in Hawking's mind that what he saw was extra-terrestrial. An ALIEN SPACECRAFT from another world that had crashed on our planet, killing one occupant and injuring the other. Hawking claims that the U.S. Military knows all of this and is covering it up. They have removed the bodies and every trace of debris from the Vasquez ranch. Ainsley tries to get Hawking to call the aliens "Martians". She tries to get him to speculate as to what the government has done with the craft and the bodies. Hawking refuses to take the bait. He saw what he saw. The rest is as much of a mystery to him as to anyone. That night, Ainsley turns in her story. But her employers -- calling it preposterous -- refuse to put it on the wire.

July 9. Seven hours after the story is rejected, Captain Hawking resigns his commission. He phones Ainsley and tells her the resignation was less than voluntary. Then, he disappears.

July 16. Ainsley contacts Segundo Vasquez. But he won't talk to her. Won't even let her on the property. She goes to the Sheriff's office and speaks to McKay. McKay confirms the official version. He had seen everything Hawking had seen. There were no bodies. And the shattered craft was a weather balloon. McKay's deputy sits silently and listens to his boss speak. When Ainsley turns to Ten-Samsons, he simply stares back at her. He won't confirm. He won't deny. He won't open his mouth at all. That night, she confronts him in a local bar. He's silent. She presses. Finally, he speaks: "Don't ask me to talk to you. I have a son that I love." He leaves the bar. Ainsley doesn't follow.

But Trish Ainsley continues to pursue the story, to the detriment of her legitimate career as a journalist. Years pass, but she tracks down every army grunt who had ever set foot in Roswell, New Mexico. Most won't talk to her, and the few who will won't say anything on the record. But she begins to piece it together.

March 10, 1955. Following up on an anonymous tip, Ainsley finds an Army Surgeon, MAJOR MICHAEL TYLER, who claims to have seen and worked on the two recovered aliens.

January 4, 1961. Joseph Ten-Samsons dies of cancer.

December 12, 1961, Segundo Vasquez is on his deathbed, another cancer victim. Trish Ainsley arrives and speaks to him before he passes away early in the morning of December 13.

1964. Dr. Tyler retires from the U.S. Army and then seems to vanish off the face of the Earth.

Then in July, 1971, Will Hawking resurfaces after over two decades in hiding. Together, Hawking and Ainsley write a book: THE ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES.

May 1, 1972. Two weeks before the book is scheduled to be published, Trish Ainsley dies in a car accident. Hawking disappears again.

May 18, 1972. Nevertheless, the book is published. It reiterates Hawking's original story and expands upon it, using material that Hawking gathered while underground, combined with interviews that Ainsley had conducted over the last twenty plus years. These interviews include a startling 1961 deathbed confession from Segundo Vasquez, confirming Hawking's version of events. Vasquez explained his previous silence by detailing numerous threats against and attempts upon his life. He also hinted that his cancer was the result of his exposure to the broken and glowing alien spaceship all those years ago. Finally, Ainsley also claimed that in his last moments, Segundo had given Ainsley a piece of twisted metal from that craft that was clearly extra-terrestrial in origin.

The book also included Dr. Tyler's description of the alien autopsy, as well as his attempts to resuscitate the second, injured, alien. When it seemed certain that those attempts were failing, Dr. Tyler had been instructed to place both the dead alien and his still-breathing companion in cryogenic stasis. As late as 1963 (the last time either Hawking or Ainsley had seen Tyler), both alien popsicles were still in the custody of the Joint Chiefs.

The Roswell Conspiracies causes a minor sensation. It is on the non-fiction best-seller list for four weeks, peeking at #7. Although few legitimate scientists take it seriously, the Air Force issues an immediate and all-encompassing denial on June 2.

June 14, 1972. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Roswell Crash, Sheriff McKay actually holds a (fairly well-attended) press conference to debunk the book's findings. He reiterates his own version of events: simply put, there was a fallen balloon and some high-tech military debris on the Vasquez Ranch. Although, McKay doesn't pretend he could identify every bit of it, there was certainly nothing alien in it's design. And he literally scoffs at the notion that there were any bodies (living, dead, alien or human). The idea that exposure to the downed craft was carcinogenic seems to be belied by his own robust good-health.

At the press conference, McKay is joined by MARIA VASQUEZ DIENER, Segundo's daughter. Maria confirms that Ainsley had spoken with her father the night before he died. But Maria claims that in his delirium, her father spoke only in Spanish. Ainsley had admitted at the time that her command of that language was limited at best, but she nevertheless insisted on speaking to Segundo alone. Thus no one else heard this so-called confession, and the book gives no indication as to what language Segundo was using when he spoke these "startling revelations".

Maria is questioned about the piece of "alien metal" that her father supposedly gave to Ainsley. She confirms that her father had kept a piece of wreckage from the crash as a souvenir. This was no secret to his friends or family. It had been sitting on his mantel for over a decade. The Air Force had allowed him to keep it, so it couldn't have been too startling in anyone's version of events. A few days after the funeral, Maria noticed that the relic was missing. She can now only assume that Ainsley stole it. McKay chimes in with an observation. He acknowledges that Ainsley's death is a tragedy, but since the chunk of metal was conveniently missing from her effects, legitimate science has been prevented from examining it to confirm (or dispute) her conclusions.

At this point, reporter NICK KATERAS asks McKay if the timing of Ainsley's death isn't extremely suspicious. McKay agrees that it is. He's checked into it. Ainsley's body was cremated within 48 hours of her death, and the only person who identified that body was the now missing Hawking. McKay can't help wondering if Ainsley is actually dead, of if the whole thing isn't a publicity stunt that doubles as a way for her to dodge some tough questions. After all, if there really was a conspiracy that wanted her dead, wouldn't she have been killed BEFORE she wrote the book, or at least before she had delivered the manuscript to her publisher?

June 16, 1972. Jack McKay issues an apology to Trish Ainsley's "friends and family." It was insensitive to imply even in jest that she could or would have faked her own death for the sake of book sales.

The book drops off the best seller list, though it remains in print. Royalties are held in trust for Hawking. Ainsley has no living relatives. She does not resurface.

August, 1980. Maria Vasquez Diener's husband ERICH DIENER abandons her and her two children. She struggles to maintain the ranch.

June 1, 1982. Retired Four-Star General Warren Burdette dies of cancer. He was 83 years old. To the end, he refuses to comment on Roswell.

June 14, 1982. Will Hawking resurfaces on the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Roswell crash. He collects a substantial royalty check from his publisher and makes the rounds of all the morning talk shows. Jack McKay is a surprise guest on one of these, and Hawking and McKay engage in an intense and bitter debate on the air. Hawking is goaded into producing the "Roswell Fragment," the twisted piece of chrome-like metal that Ainsley either stole or received from Vasquez. Hawking insists that a battery of tests have already proven that the fragment is of extraterrestrial origins. McKay suggests that Hawking turn it over for independent testing, but Hawking refuses to let the evidence out of his sight.

December 13, 1986. Hawking uses his military pension and book royalties to buy the ranch adjacent to the old Vasquez place.

December 31, 1986. Jack McKay retires as Sheriff after 40 years in office. He purchases the old Vasquez place from Maria Vasquez Diener.

March 18, 1989. Maria Vasquez Diener dies of cancer. Her teen-age son ALEX DIENER claims that she lied about Segundo's last meeting with Trish Ainsley, because she was afraid of Jack McKay and his "friends."

June 14, 1992 - On the 45th Anniversary of the Roswell Incident, Jack McKay and Will Hawking once again do their point/counterpoint routine on television talk shows. They display hostility laced with humor and are a genuine success. Together, they are booked on lecture tours.

In 1995, after an investigation into the Roswell Incident intended to end the various rumors, the Air Force now maintains that the debris was part of Project Mogul, a formerly top secret operation using acoustic equipment on high altitude balloons in an effort to detect foreign atomic tests. When one of the Mogul balloons was downed in '47, the Air Force moved in to retrieve it before security could be further compromised.

The USAF also says that it conducted a variety of experiments in the same general area involving test dummies dropped from balloons and aircraft in order to measure the effects of falls from various altitudes. The dummies match the descriptions of the "aliens" reported by witnesses. The Air Force feels that the connection between the dummies and the balloon has been exaggerated over the years.

June 14, 1997. The 50th anniversary. Jack McKay now admits to having seen the dummies at the site. He claims he was asked not to mention them by the U.S. government, and he complied like any good patriot would. Hawking, his regular sparring partner, wonders aloud what else this patriot has lied about over the years. The debate that follows is lively, but it's clear that over the years Hawking and McKay have developed a strange little friendship. They actually like each other.

September, 1999. Roswell, New Mexico is both a serious tourist trap and a Mecca for true believers seeking knowledge about extra-terrestrials on this planet. Every Friday night, McKay and Hawking stage another debate about the Incident. Admission is a modest four dollars.

And by the way, almost none of the above is true.


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ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES BIBLE: 1st Chunk

Hi. In 1998, I started developing a series for BKN called "The Roswell Conspiracies". This was not an idea I created. (The credit for that, I believe, goes to Kaaren Brown.) But I did do extensive work on the project. I tried to create a detailed universe, and wrote a detailed bible, a timeline and a one hour pilot script (which some of you who attended Gathering 1999 in Dallas may recall). I wound up not doing the project, and my work was redeveloped by others before the show went on the air. I never saw the finished project so I have no idea (and little interest) in how it turned out. But I was thinking about it the other day and reread the materials. I think it's kinda some cool stuff. So I thought you might be interested in seeing it. (I figure the show's come and gone. I'm no longer revealing any secrets.) I'll post a chunk at a time here, as I have the time.

THE ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES:

Aliens, Myths & Legends

(development bible)

written by

Greg Weisman

SE: GDW

June 5, 1998
Revised: June 12, 1998

THE ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES:
Aliens, Myths & Legends
(development bible)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - Present Day.
TONY MARKUS is an L.A.-based skip tracer, a bounty hunter employed by DOMINIC BAIL BONDS to track down deadbeats who skip out on their bail. Saying Markus is a loner doesn't quite do him justice. He's cynical, hard and generally uninterested in the human race. His cousin (and boss) FRANK DOMINIC is the only guy that Markus has any tolerance for, and that's only because Dom knows Tony well enough to leave him alone. None of this makes Markus a particularly pleasant dinner companion. But it's done wonders for his career. He's relentless. Unemotional. Unflinching. And he has a near-perfect track record. Only one guy ever successfully skipped on Markus, and that was a long time ago during his first month on the job, back when he was pretty darn green. But green or not, Markus didn't like failing. So he just doesn't fail anymore. When Dom gives Tony Markus a skip to trace, Dom knows his cousin is going to deliver.

Which brings us to Markus' current assignment: her name is SIOBHAN BARROW. She's skipped on a Felony Assault Charge, and Dom is potentially out fifty grand on her bail. The trail is three days cold by the time Markus is on the hunt. But that's not the problem. Barrow is fleeing across state lines, from CALIFORNIA to ARIZONA and finally into NEW MEXICO. But that's not the problem either. She's also tougher than she looks, leaving a fair number of additional assault victims in her wake. But even that's not the problem.

The problem is that Markus isn't the only guy hunting her down. Two FEDERALES are after her too. At least he thinks they're Feds. They act like Feds, pretending to be Honeymooning Tourists. And then there are the TALL WOMEN. Scary types, but bearing a certain family resemblance to his quarry. They could be trying to help Ms. Barrow get away. Except that Siobhan Barrow seems more afraid of them than anyone. Markus doesn't know why there's a crowd after Siobhan, he only knows that he's going to be the one to run her down first.

The chase leads all interested parties to ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO. And that's when things really start to cook.


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Anonymous writes...

What do you think of Simon Furman(Roswell Conspiracies, Transformers UK comic, Beast Wars and X-Men Evolution)?

Greg responds...

I'm unfamiliar with the name.

And aside from one episode of X-Men Evolution, I'm unfamiliar with all the properties you named.

Well, obviously, I have some familiarity with Roswell Conspiracies, but I've never seen the version that aired on television. Only the work I did.

Response recorded on September 11, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

What exactly is your version of Roswell Conspiracies about?

Greg responds...

A skip tracer tracking a bail jumper, who's also being pursued by other factions and is in pursuit of something herself. They wind up joining forces with each other and with one of the factions.

(At least that's the main story in my version of the pilot. For more details, ask someone who was at Gathering '99 in Dallas.)

Response recorded on September 11, 2001

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Denis writes...

hi, Greg!
Not really a question, just a reply to your call about the script of Rosswell Conspiracies.

As you've read from the technic question about script terminology, I'm the one who bough the script.
I had it for 30 dollars, but could have gone up to 80, which was all the money I had left for the weekend.

I loved your version soooo much more than the one that was aired! Darker, more realistic, and the character much deeper than in the actual animated version. I never really cared for Nick Logan, but Tony Markus, ah! that's another story! He has that Anti-Lee Majors quality around him, that humor. I was LOL with his line, responding to his cousin. "In fact, things got downright charred and rare." Oh gosh I just LOVE that line!
It's really too bad that 1. they didn't use your script as it was and 2. that you didn't got to write more. R.C. could have been the sci-fi pendant of Gargoyles.
ten stars out of five! *back to re-read it again*

Greg responds...

Wow, Denis, thanks. I'm glad someone bought it who appreciates it. It's very gratifying. I liked Tony a lot too. That script wrote very fast. Much easier than most everything I've ever written before or since. It kinda surprised me. And I was blown away when they didn't use it. But that's life...

Response recorded on July 20, 2001

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Denis writes...

Hello, Greg!

Sorry that I didn't got to attend the Closing Ceremonies, last monday, at the Gathering. Anyway, to the question.

During the Auction, I bought the script of the ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES' pilot, and frankly I loved it! WAAYYY better than the one that was aired!. My question is purely 'technical' and concern one of the terms used in the script:

when you write "OTS on <Character's Name>", what does mean the OTS? And how does it translate on screen?

Thank you for your time

sincerly,
Denis

Greg responds...

OTS stands for Over The Shoulder. It means the Camera is placed at an angle looking over the characters shoulder onto the subject of the shot. (It foregrounds said character and puts him or her in relation to the action or background).

And I'm glad you liked the Roswell script!

Great to see you at the Gathering again, by the way.

Response recorded on July 17, 2001

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Todd Jensen writes...

Sorry for asking another "Roswell Conspiracies"-related question, but:

You've indicated in past responses that your original plans for the series included its female lead being a banshee whom you were going to name Siobhan. When you came up with Siobhan, were you planning to use her as an at least partial "cannibalization" of the plans that you'd had for the Banshee/Molly in "Gargoyles"?

Greg responds...

No. I developed Roswell Conspiracies, but I didn't create it. The basic concept was handed to me.

The idea on that show, at least when I was working on it, was that all those magical creatures like Yeti and werewolves and vampires and Shee, etc. did exist. But that they were various alien races from other planets.

Siobhan was native to Earth, in the sense that she was born here. But she wasn't human.

By the way, I offered up a copy of my pilot script to Roswell at the G2001 charity auction. I'm curious who bought it, what they paid for it and what they think of it? Please post and let me know.

Response recorded on July 01, 2001


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