“In one of the outlying spiral arms of the Milky Way Galaxy, an inconspicuous, solitary yellow star slowly orbits the galactic center thirty thousand light years away.”* I was seeing this same view with my telescope. It was a clear, cool summer night. No clouds to hold the days summer heat or hide the stars as they lit up the sky for perfect viewing. The arm of the Milky Way swept across the sky as if it were a farmer’s hand scattering seed in newly turned over soil. Space is truly a wondrous, beautiful, and mysterious place. I wondered that night as I have on many others if there is life in space. If there is, what would the aliens be like? Large or small, independently sent or military sent, helpful or harmful, friendly or curious? With my telescope, I had a nice sighting of Jupiter with its giant red spot. I wrote down the objects that I saw in my night shy log along with the time, date, angle, and weather at the time. I could see faintly the rings of Saturn. Saturn is the most beautiful planet that I saw that night. I really enjoyed spending time outside looking at the night sky. I wished to have a chance to go to space and visit and study all the planets and different star types.

I was trying to find more planets with my telescope when I suddenly saw a disk-shaped object. I thought it could be a galaxy glittering with stars. The object had lights that changed color. I was so confused, because I did not know what it was. It was very exciting to see. The object was then getting bigger and bigger, not just bigger, but closer.
The object got so big that I could see it in the sky with my naked eye and it continued to get closer, both to me and the ground. The lights on the disk changed colors after, and it was making a loud humming noise. I stood still and quite, taking it all in. I was so surprised that my mind blanked out everything else. I think I even stopped breathing momentarily. I quickly grabbed my camera and started taking pictures of the disk. It hovered over my house and then slowly, purposefully the object moved away and zoomed across the sky. I had uncovered the arrival of a UFO or had the UFO discovered me?


I uploaded my pictures into the computer. It took a while as I paced and checked out the window. Finally, I looked at the pictures and they showed nothing! Well just nothing unusual on the screen. I did not see the UFO. All I saw was my house and the sky. The UFO had been over my house! How could the camera not get the image of the UFO? I sat there, feeling overwhelmed, confused, frustrated and saddened. I had no proofing evidence to support what I knew to be true.

I then picked up the phone and called my best friend, Danny. I waited. Then I heard his voice!
“Hello,” he said.
“Hey Danny! It’s Brendan,” I said.
“It’s late! So what’s up?” he asked.
“Did you see anything different in tonight’s sky?” I asked.



“Well, I saw a lot of stars and the arm of the Milky Way,” He said. “What exactly did you mean by different?”
“Well, you won’t believe what I just saw . . . a UFO!” I said.
“Are you joking?!” Danny said. “I saw nothing at my house.”
“But, I did!” I said. “It had floated above my house. It was in a shape of a disk. It had lights that were constantly changing colors, and it made humming noises!” I explained.

“I didn’t see anything like that, but I did hear a loud humming noise,” he said. “I was in our house when I heard it. It was a humming noise, and it got louder and louder, and I thought it was my neighbor’s big truck. I went outside, but I did not see anything,” he explained.
“I think it was that UFO that came near my house,” I said.
“Did you take any pictures of it?” he asked.
“Tons but the image did not show up. They must have been blocked by something,” I said.
“That’s odd,” he said. “We should ask someone like Mr. Blade, maybe he has seen it. I have to get going! Bye!”
As the phone was hung up, I wondered if Mr. Blade had seen the UFO. Would he tell us, or keep quite about it? Not wanting to be thought of as some kind of nut. Lucky for me, I didn’t worry about such things.
I returned to the computer and checked out UFO sightings. There were a lot UFO reports. The largest was about a report from Roswell, Arizona where a UFO was said to have crushed-landed 30 years ago, but the government covered it up. There was another report about disk-shaped objects most turned out to be free bees’. One disk was said to be 2 miles long and many saw it. Others thought it could be a big cloud, but clouds don’t have changing lights. The more I looked at the reports, the more I believed in UFOs.

I phoned my science professor, Mr. Blade.
“Hey Brendan!” he answered.

“Hey Mr. Blade! How are you?” I asked.
“I am fine as usual!” he answered.
“You won’t believe what I saw!” I said.
“Let me guess, you saw Mars,” he guessed.
“I saw a UFO!” I said.
“Did you?” he asked. “What did it look like?”


“The UFO was in a shape of a disk. It changed colors, and made humming noises,” I explained.
“I was stargazing last night and I did see a rather large shooting star,” he said. “But I did not see any disk-shaped object.”
“It was following the trail of the shooting star. If you continued to watch the shooting star stopped and behind it was the UFO, which then flew over me and my house. It had been changing colored lights and made a humming noise that quieted down as it neared the Earth.” I explained.
“Did it land?” he asked.
“No, but there is a possibility that it landed somewhere else,” I replied.
“How long was it?” he asked.
“Big as a football field and very tall,” I said. “I have got to see it again.”
“I really doubt that you will! But it doesn’t hurt to try,” he explained.

I must find that UFO and have everyone believe that UFOs exist. I hope that the aliens don’t take me.
Then I hung up the phone and called Danny again.
“Hello!” he said.
“Hey Danny! It’s Brendan again! I was wondering if you would like to come on a UFO hunt tonight.” I asked.
“Together is better than alone,” he said.
“Two are better than one,” I replied.
“We should get prepared. This could be great,” I said. “See you tonight, bye!”
Then I hung up the phone and it rang. And this time it was Mr. Blade!
“Hey, Mr. Blade!” I said.
“Hey Brendan! I know you are going to look for that UFO. Mind if I come along?” he asked.
“I don’t mind! I would like that,” I said.
“Excellent! Well, I’ll bring my new equipment. See you tonight,” he said.
We got together at a golf course. Boy, the stars were out that night and I could see the arm of the Milky Way. Mr. Blade brought his telescope, his radio, and a strange device he had invented. Danny brought his stargazing map and a digital camera. Myself, I brought my DVD camera and my telescope.

“Mr. Blade, what is that strange device you brought?” Danny asked.
“Well that is a homemade radio telescope. I use this device to find radio waves in space. I connect the device to the radio and hear those sound waves,” Mr. Blade explained.
He connected the radio telescope to the radio and turned it on. He aimed it at Alpha Centauri, the closest star to Earth. We got a strange signal from that star. It made the same type of humming noise as the UFO did.
“Mr. Blade, that’s the same sound the UFO made,” I said.
“Really!” he responded.

We used our telescopes to see Alpha Centauri. It is a very beautiful star. I moved my telescope slightly and saw Proxima Centauri, the star besides Alpha Centaur. Then Danny saw a shooting star. Mr. Blade and I saw it too. The shooting star had a long gaseous tail. At the end, I could see a blurry haloed object. It started to slow down and separate from the tail of the star. I quickly got out my DVD camera and started filming.

The shooting star’s tail began to fade quickly as it slowed to a stand still. The trailing object was still there. It was clearly in the shape of a disk. It was making the same humming sound as the signal from Alpha Centauri. Was it the same UFO I saw at home? It got closer and closer to the ground. It was going to land.
We freaked out and we ran into the woods. But, I wanted to see more of this UFO, so I hid behind a big boulder. Setting the camera next to the boulder, I watched with Danny and Mr. Blade as the UFO landed. Danny started taking pictures, as I was filming, and Mr. Blade mesmerized just watched. The humming sound faded to a purr. Then the hatch began to open. After it opened, several blue uniformed aliens emerged and formed a protective semicircle around the hatch!
I told Danny not to use his flash so the aliens wouldn’t see us. Since he was having problems with the camera, he decided better not take any more pictures. I filmed every move the aliens made. They seemed to be checking out the surface. They used small devices to scan the planets and rocks. I was amazed by them. I knew now for a fact there was other life out there somewhere in space! Mr. Blade and Danny were very awed by them as well. We couldn’t wait to show everyone what we had just seen! We had seen a life form from a different world.



*A quote from Rama Revealed by Arthur Clarke and Gentry Lee. From the prologue on page one.