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Project Galaxy

by H.J. "Walt" Walter

348 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-2653; ISBN 1-4120-2074-3; US$28.00, C$33.00, EUR23.00, £16.00

Project Galaxy, a must read, exposes the coverup of 50+ years of UFO sightings and relates the fight for survival in the Antarctic through exploits of the pilots flying there.

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About the Book      About the Author      Excerpts      Catalogue Information

About the Book

This book tells the story of the U.S. government's involvement in the secret UFO program with Navy pilots flying them out of a base in Antarctica. The story unfolds with the accidental discovery of the Antarctic base by a lost explorer and the subsequent coverup. Along the way it describes the various survival situations the navy pilots encounter in their everyday flying in Antarctica as members of Antarctic Development Squadron Six.

To learn more about this book please visit Project Galaxy

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About the Author

H.J. "Walt" Walter is a retired naval aviator who served four years in the Antarctic. He spent 22 years flying all types of naval aircraft including single engine props and jets, multiengine props, jets and the turboprop powered C-130. After retirement he earned college degrees in BSED, BS Sci and MSED. He taught high school and college and was employed in the engineering department of an aerospace corporation.

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Excerpts

Prologue

Fairfax, VA

    Deep sleep had finally descended on Jack Forester after tossing and turning for what seemed like hours. It had been a hectic day of briefings, meetings and finally a private dinner with the current CIA Director, Bill Reynolds. The phone was ringing for the fifth time and Jack was suddenly awakened from his hard earned deep sleep. It was a phone call with the potential to invariably alter the entire infrastructure of the U.S. government in Washington, D.C. from top to bottom.

    As he picked up the receiver and said hello, he developed goose bumps and chills. He knew instinctively it was the call he had dreaded would come someday, that Project Galaxy would be exposed to the whole world and he would have to face a ravenous press, an unbelieving Congress and the President. The frantic, almost hysterical voice of George Chambers on the other end of the line was telling him there had been a breach in security and that damage control was in progress. Jack was almost certain that the breach was uncontrollable and that the news would soon stun the world's capitals and leaders. The entire planet would finally know the true story behind the UFO sightings of the past 40 years.

    As Jack hung up the phone, his mind racing, he tried to figure out what needed to be done. He fumbled around in the dark and instinctively picked up his silk robe, putting it on without turning on the light so Kate, his wife of some 30 years, could get back to sleep having been awakened by the call.

Chapter 1

Hibbling, Minnesota, three years earlier

    It was midnight in Hibbing, as the long black limousine pulled up and stopped in front of 136 Elm Street. A man with a scruffy beard, in much need of a haircut but well dressed, emerged and paid the driver after having his bags unloaded. The driver pulled away and left the lonely figure standing there gazing into the night.

    The house was vintage thirties with the porch along the front and down one side. It was painted an off-white color and had the typical round posts supporting the roof over the porch. The porch railing spindles matched the supports and added quaintness to the whole scene.

    No lights were on in the house as the man picked up his luggage and started up the stairs leading to the front door. He set the bags down and searched his pockets for his house key. After some time he found it in his vest pocket, opened the door and, after some fumbling, found the light switch for the entryway. The light came on to reveal a well-tanned man with wrinkled skin standing some 5 feet 10 inches tall with a physique worthy of a 42 year old. He was neatly dressed in a navy blue, three-piece suit with white shirt and red silk tie. This was the now famous Arctic Explorer, Swede Larson.

    Swede had just returned from his triumphant snowmobile trek to the North Pole. When he deplaned in Minneapolis, he had a hero's welcome along with his two companions who accompanied him on his round trip to the pole. After his welcome back news conference, he had boarded the plane for Duluth and then had the limousine drive him to Hibbing. He brought all his vehicles and equipment used in his expedition back to Minnesota. These were being stored in a warehouse at the airport in Minneapolis. He had great expectations of making a fortune in endorsements from the equipment product manufacturers of what he had carried on his expedition.

    There had been a crowd of some two hundred people to greet him in Minneapolis but missing was the one person he had yearned to see, his ex-wife Susan. He had learned of the impending divorce during one of his daily radio conferences with mission control located in Kansas City, Missouri. They reported they had talked with Susan and she had informed them of her intentions. After 15 years of his schemes, she had had enough and left him. He was always dreaming of something to make him rich. Some schemes had failed but others had been successful. For Susan it was the long separations and lifestyle on which she based her decision. She had filed for and been granted the divorce while he was on his Northern trek.

    He picked up his luggage, brought it into the foyer, and set it down. He was too tired to lug it any further. Departure from Anchorage, Alaska, had been earlier that morning after a short flight, courtesy of the US Air Force, from one of the floating research ice islands in the Arctic Ocean. These floating stations on the Arctic ice pack were continually resupplied by the Air Force. Swede Larson had been up almost 30 hours and was too tired to do anything but get himself up the stairs and into bed.

    The spring sun woke him late the next morning, shining brightly in the glistening crisp 40° air. It was already mid-May and spring was well on its way in northern Minnesota. As he sat up in bed, he looked around the room. It still had the aura of Susan. She had decorated it in a feminine motif and the smells of perfume and bath powder wafting about had Susan written all over them. As his feet touched the floor, he espied a handwritten note attached to the mirror above the dresser. He leapt from the bed, in excitement and anticipation, and raced over, grabbed it and, as he unfolded it, started to read. "Dear Swede," she began, "I can't put up with any more of your big money making schemes so I am leaving and getting a divorce. I still love you but refuse to return until you get a real job and settle down in one spot. You needn't try to call me but I will be keeping track of what you are doing. If I should decide to begin our relationship again, I will contact you." Signed Susan.

    Swede finished reading the note, then folded it neatly and placed it in the drawer of the nightstand next to the bed. If that's the way she wants it, then she'll just have to wait, he mused, because he was already planning his next expedition, a snowmobile trip to the South Pole similar to the one just completed to the North Pole. After this next expedition, he thought, he could retire and settle down to lecturing and endorsing the products taken to the North and South poles. The images in his mind flashed like an old movie while thinking about the new venture. He disrobed and stepped into the shower. He finished dressing and went downstairs figuring that maybe he could at least find some coffee with which to make a pot.

    When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he noted how neat and clean Susan had left things. She hadn't taken a thing with her, not even the family pictures off the mantle over the fireplace. He went into the kitchen and found the coffee canister half full. The coffee had to be at least 5 months old since Susan had been gone that long. He found a filter and put on the Mr. Coffee. While it was brewing, he went about opening windows to get some fresh air into the house. It had been closed up since before Christmas. He sat down at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, having poured a cup of coffee. With pad and pencil in one hand, coffee cup in the other, Swede made notes of things he needed to accomplish in the next few weeks. After finishing his notes, he got his luggage from the foyer and dragged it up the stairs to his bedroom.

    Transportation was going to be a necessity so he proceeded to the two-car garage and flipped open the door. Inside there was one vehicle remaining, his 3 year old Nissan pickup truck. The Cadillac was gone, probably taken by Susan when she left. He wondered if the truck would start, after sitting unused for those many months. He doubted it would.

Chapter 8

Washington, D.C.

    Dawn broke early that February morning. It was not your typical winter day in Northern Virginia. The sky was clear with just thin wisps of cirrus clouds in the sky and the temperatures in the mid-fifties. It appeared to be a great day as Jack rolled out of bed about six-thirty. Kate was still half-asleep so he put on his robe, went down to the den and turned to ITN. If anyone would have the story this early, ITN would.

    The six-thirty news was just starting with a repeat of the breaking stories of the day. Machail Gorbachev, President of the Soviet Union, was visiting Lithuania today and challenging the leadership to remain within the Soviet Union. Heavy rains were causing flooding in the Midwest and California was bracing for another day of protests around the Diablo Nuclear Power Plant. Apparently it had been built on a fault. Jack had been daydreaming and just barely paying attention when the announcer said,     "The President is said to have expressed concern about the UFO activity recently observed in the Gulf Breeze, Florida, area over the last few days."

    They shifted quickly to their reporter in Gulf Breeze who interviewed the individual that had taken the video of the UFO on the road two nights earlier outside Gulf Breeze. He told of being run off the road in his pickup truck and described how the UFO had hovered and stayed in his sight for some 15 minutes. He also told of giving the videotape to a local television reporter for broadcast. Jack knew that the television reporter was a CIA man who sent the copy to the Director of the CIA.

    The original tape had been doctored so that the AFV was not as clear as before. ITN indicated they would try to obtain the tape for showing at a later time. They also interviewed a few more people who had observed the UFOs. They included military people from the Pensacola Naval Air Station, who claimed, when asked, that the Government couldn't possibly be responsible because it had no such advanced technology.

    Jack turned off the television. He had heard enough and had to get ready to go to the office. It certainly looked good. The plan and cover-up was working as planned. He went into the bedroom, walked over and sat on the bed next to Kate, and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. She turned over with a smile on her face.

    "Good morning, sweetheart," she said as she sat up.

    "What a nice way to be awakened. Have you been up long?"

    "No," replied Jack. "Just been up for about 15 minutes listening to ITN. The story broke that UFO sightings in Gulf Breeze were concerning the President. Looks good for our plan."

    "That's great darling. Do you want a big breakfast before you leave for the office?"

    "Nah, not this morning. Just toast and Jelly and the usual coffee will be fine."

    Kate put on her dressing gown and proceeded downstairs, started the coffee and then went out to the box for the morning paper. She quickly leafed though the paper and on page two found the headline, "UFOs Plague Florida Town." The basic story was about the same as Jack had just seen on ITN. Kate read the story and was finishing buttering the toast when Jack appeared in the doorway.

    "You made page two today, sweetheart."

    "Anything about the President being worried, Kate?"     "No, not in the article I read. Maybe there will be something in the late metro edition when you get to the office. You know this suburb an edition, they don't print all the stories sometimes."

    "You're right, Kate. I'll check the metro edition at the office."

    "Sit down, everything's ready. What kind of jelly do you want this morning?"

    "Orange marmalade will be good."

    Jack sat down and turned to CBS on the Sony TV sitting on the breakfast table. They were covering some of the same stories ITN had broadcast earlier. During the morning news capsule they cut to their White House Reporter Brett Dumas. "An unidentified government source reports that the President is concerned about the recent UFO activity reported in the Gulf Breeze area. Sources indicate that the National Security Advisor, General Bancroft, will possibly head an investigation into the situation. Sources also indicate the general opinion of the government is that they are possibly extraterrestrial in nature but at this time UFOs and nothing more."

    "Sounds good to me," Jack shouted aloud and to no one in particular. He had a big smile on his face. "Maybe things are going to work out after all, Kate."

    If CBS had it, no sense listening to the other networks, he thought. They would have had it before CBS anyway. CBS was always last to any of the news stories. Dan Courtner just wasn't doing that great a job with the news at CBS. Jack finished his breakfast, brushed his teeth and was putting on his coat.

    What have you got on the agenda for today, Kate?" he queried.

    "I'm picking up Mary Burke at 9:00 a.m. We're going to the National Art Gallery. I haven't been there in 10 years and I heard they have a lot of new exhibits."

    "Listen, see how the Navy Memorial is coming. You'll only be a couple of blocks from it. Al Shephard sent me a note the other day asking me to come to the dedication but he didn't know the exact date. He said there was some delay in construction so the dedication was being moved back to the fall."

    "What do you have planned for today?" Kate asked.

    "Just the usual, however don't expect me for dinner. I have a dinner appointment with Bill Reynolds at 7:00. I probably won't be home until late."

    "This situation is surely playing hell with our sex life."

    "I know Kate but be patient. When it's all over we'll be back to normal in a jiffy."

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Catalogue Information