Origins (Remote) Read Online Free Page A

Excellent vocabulary skills. Her story wasn’t anything as graphic as the boy’s, though. She saw a whale.”
    Thorne raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?” Thorne said.
    “A whale,” Ruff repeated. “She said there was a whale in the building and the whale was sick and there were people in the building making the whale better. I asked her if she thought they were doctors or veterinarians or something, and she said she didn’t think so. She didn’t know why they were different, but she didn’t think they were doctors. It’s all in the reports and on the tapes.”
    Thorne put down his beer and reached for his coat. “Continue this line of investigation. I’ll get things squared with Mr. Cutter on exactly how it will be presented to the school and to the families. Mr. Cutter and I will also send you an operational plan on exactly how we wish to proceed. Have a nice evening, gentlemen. You’ve done well.” With that, he stood and headed out the open door and down the street.
     
     
    By the time the raucous sixties melted into the seventies, the Cold War with the Soviet Union was decades long and showed no signs of abating. The silent battle continued, each country unwilling to cede any knowledge or advantage to the other. The Unites States defense system was on constant alert, the intelligence system in a controlled frenzy. Normal intelligence gathering operations were flush with cash and personnel, each trying to outdo the other in terms of prestige and performance.
    If there was a camera in the sky the intelligence community wanted a better one. Photographs were invaluable. A facility seem from overhead could be sliced and diced, analyzed to no end, and conclusions could be drawn from traffic patterns, entrances and exits, and movement.
    All of that was known by the Soviets so it became a great guessing game, a chess match between necessity and deception. If the U.S. wanted to take a peek they couldn’t be stopped. But the Soviet Union could control what they saw. Satellites were charted and plotted, open windows scheduled, and movement regulated, skewing results and forcing decisions on what was real and what was staged.
    The same applied to the interception of communications. Mundane messages flew around the globe on a constant basis. Content could be manipulated, a cover for hidden messages within. The security of inside information could be compromised and misleading news leaked once discovered. While the U.S. intelligence organizations did manage to imbed spies or turn some remarkable informants within the Soviet hierarchy, each report was exceedingly dangerous to deliver. Double agents weren’t unusual and the discovery of a plant within any organization presented a unique opportunity to do serious damage to an opponent if handled correctly. In other words, “Leave them be and use them to your own advantage.” One word could spell success or defeat, and the constant conflict between trusting your source and doubting their veracity left huge questions in seemingly obvious opportunities.
    Into that whirling chasm of information came even more disquieting news. Word was out that the Soviets had begun a program intent on developing the most covert of all intelligence gathering, the use of psychics. Long spurned as the imaginative arena of crazies and easily manipulated masses, the idea seemed incredible. But in the unending war of intelligence, no stone was being left unturned, and in fact, the U.S. government began turning them over new stones in the late 60s at Stanford University.
    By the time the ’70’s, began the program was in full swing. Dubbed Stargate, the black operation began to draw interest from several quarters. Despite ambiguous results, funding was being provided without question. But there were glimmers of hope. Information gleaned months earlier was often found to be relevant once events unfolded, its value realized only after the fact. Picking it out in time to be used was the problem, as