MYSTERY OF THE VANISHING STATE I am not really sure as to WHY this case merited such attention, other than the fact that a state just vanished, from North America. No-doubt, the main reason why "alarms" were raised was because both George H.W. (Read my lips...no new taxes), and George W., were in their home state, when the "incident" occurred. As to why our agency was called in, to assist federal investigators, all that Mr. Brown could say was that the incident seemed "most unusual", by federal standards. As a result, Tami and I would fly down, to join the investigation team. Ofcourse, nuclear regulatory was called in, first, in case this had been a "first strike". As we stood on what had been the Texas/New Mexico border, it seems that New Mexico was, now, a coastal state, as Texas had vanished, lock, stock, and barrel. All that nuclear regulatory could tell us was that there was no radiation present. Whatever happened to Texas, was NOT nuclear, in nature. Besides, who had ever heard of nuclear totally destroying land? Sure, nuclear melted metal, at the impact point, and saturated the ground, with radiation, but it left the land behind. Between spy satellites, overhead, and submarines, heading in, to survey sub-surface damage, it was clear to see that Texas was not just gone, as a state, but as a landmass, as well. The submarine skippers verified that the land was gone, from the continental shelf. When Tami and I joined in the investigation, and interviews, of witnesses, the same story kept repeating, over and over. Witnesses reported hearing a sound, which built in intensity, then was followed by a flash of light. Before the flash, Texas was there. After the flash, it was gone. Since neither the FBI, nor the CIA, were willing to ask the obvious questions, these were left to Tami and I, to ask. Questions such as "Who would want to steal a state?", and "For what purpose?". After all, a state was not like personal property. It couldn't just be auctioned off, during a sale. And, what about that noise, and the flash? What was there source, and purpose? If this was not a military strike, then what was it? Ofcourse, Homeland Security did their usual, stupid, thing, shutting down all major ports. (Never mind the hundreds, of smaller, and private, ports, across the nation). What they failed to comprehend is why the perpetrators would need conventional transport, to leave the nation. If they could use a "transporter beam", on a state, then they could use it on themselves. Although the American military went on high alert, this seemed more an exercise, to calm the public, since no one knew how a state had been "stolen". One thing was for sure, and that was that no group tried to claim responsibility, or to send a ransom demand. Ten days after the "theft", the American research outpost, in Antarctica, would report hearing a noise, which grew, in strength, then would be followed by a flash of light. When the team sent out a scout, to see if, maybe, a plane had crashed, the team would have to contact Washington, with some very bad news. 12 people, totally nude, would be found, frozen to death, on an ice sheet. Ten days after this, a cruise ship would report encountering a sound, which no one could identify, then a flash of light, followed by a most un-expected event. On an after deck, where crew had assembled a platform, on which to hold a play, there appearred 12 members of the Secret Service, presidential detail. All totally nude, and dis-oriented. The ships crew lead the detail away from the platform, allowing the men to cover up with table cloths, and so on. Ten days after this, another group appearred, in none other than Moscow, Russia. Here, the remainder, of the Bush family detail, would appear, completely nude, and dis-oriented, in the middle of a pubic market. None, of the security detail members, could report more than one moment being in Texas, when the sound, and light, came. The next second, they were in a place other than Texas. About every ten days, groups, of about ten, to fifty, Texans, were appearring, in places as distant as Paris, France. Mr. Brown would, soon, have Tami and I preparing to fly to Germany. According to "intelligence", there was a German scientist, who claimed he was tracking the beams frequency, and that he believed that he could intercept the beam, if given the funding. Tami and I were under simplle orders. Find out if the claim was true. If it was a hoax, as CIA, and Homeland Security, suspected, we could write it off, and focus on the real problem. The problem Tami and I found, in Germany, was that the research was sound, and the notes were thought out. Ofcourse, even the German agreed that there was a risk involved. The primary risk was that equipment, built on Earth, was not built to operate at the frequencies. The doctor believed that he could intercept the beam, but it would burn out his equipment. He would need to replace the equipment each time the beam was intercepted. When his findings were forwarded to the agency, then to NASA, and European Space Agency, it seems that almost everyone had intercepted a similar signal, at abbout the time, of the "events", but no one could track the beams, since they were well beyond our range. When Mr. Browns financiers gave the go-ahead, some ten million dollars was wired to a Berlin bank. Tami had to report that she felt that the professor was "on the level" since he sent his staff, for the money, and the supplies, while he concentrated on the calculations. He was as focused as the developers of the atom bomb. When his equipment detected the beam, several days later, he set his intercept so precisely that it was doubtful that the transmitter even know what Earth was doing. Although he burned out hundreds of thousands worth of parts, he did, successfully, divert the beam, to a nearby warehouse, where medical staff, cllothes, food, etc. awaited the arrival of the next batch of "returnee's". Although this group also returned, nude, this was the first group not to be seen, in public. Sure, the professor blew out hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, with each diverted beam, but he proved that his theory worked. He could divert the energy beam, to a point of his choosing. Over the coming weeks, the German would divert several, additional, beams, as well as one, surprisingly LARGE, and concentrated, beam. The problem, other scientists had, with the professors methodology, was that he was using his equipment, far beyond the range of what it, or any, Earth-based, technology was designed for. When asked, though, the professor did track the beam, for its point of origin. (There were large bets being made that the beam was originating right here, in our own system, probably from on Earth, itself). The professor won the bet, when he re-tasked the worlds military satellites, and had them scan the solar system, when the next beam came. Turns out, the beam was so powerful, yet so concentrated, that it could only be tracked to a point, several light years away from our solar system. After that, the signal disappearred, into deep space. Three months after Texas had "vanished", then re-appearred, a head count showed that just about all of the states population had been returned. Only four people were left un-accounted for. George H.W. Bush (and his wife, Barbara) George W. Bush (and his wife, Laura) For the plains states, though, the real issue was to be the cost of bridging the rivers which had been formed, by the states "theft". In some places, the opening was no wider than a shallow creek, while, in others, it was wide enough to need new bridges, to cross. While the plains states argued over who was going to PAY for the new bridges, Berlin was working with the European Space Agency, and N.A.S.A., on trying to figure out the WHO, and WHY, of the "theft". If the Bushes were being held, for ransom, then why were no demands being made? If the energy beam was so advanced, that it could "swallow" an entire state, then how was it so primitive, that it did not return, either the state, or its people, to the very spot, where they started? No, the fact that there were frozen dead, in Antarctica, as well as recorded arrivals, around the world, proved that the beam was not so "advanced" as suspected. Sure, the beam had a measured power level, of one hundred nuclear reactors, but the fact that neither the beam seemed dangerous, nor did the travelers suffer, from radiation sickness, alll but ruled out nuclear, AGAIN. The funniest story, to be circulated, during this time, was from a group, which claimed to have the abiity to reflect a beam, of energy, off the surface of Polaris (the sun), and use this beam to make similar actions take place. When the media, and the public, said "Prove it!", the people, making the claim, said they would only perform the task, if PAID to do so. When the public "snickered", the group insisted upon "payment in advance". The group was laughed off the "public stage", by those who knew they could not make a state vanish. None of this, however, addressed the fate of the Bushes. Where were they? Why had they not been returned, like the others? When a comedian suggested that, maybe, the aliens just wanted our former presidents, this made no sense, since Neither of the Clintons had been "taken", nor had the Carters, or the Obama's. For the federal government, though, the worst part was that there seemed nothing, that either Special Ops, or even Black Ops, could do. Four, full, "sweeps", of the planet, verified that the Bushes were not anywhere on the planet. What most people were opposed to, over the next couple of months, was how rapidly the Republican Party wanted to declare the Georges as "fallen" "war heroes". The men had been gone only three months. This was all anyone knew. The one thing the public did not object to was federal, and state authorities listing the Bushes as "Missing, Presumed Kidnapped". The families would not be shown, on broadcast television, including "America's Most Wanted", since the people were not really taken hostage. They had vanished, along with an entire state. Besides, crime reporters needed more to go on than "Victims vanished after unusual sound heard". Crime Reporters needed witnesses, license plates, and so on. How does one hunt down a sound, or a flash of light? Although the Hubble telescope would be used, to peer into deep space, to look for potential places, where people could be kidnapped to, N.A.S.A., U.C.L.A., and other places, would scan the sky, the problem was that the most likely places, to kidnap a person to, were so far distant that, with current technologies, a human, rescue ship would not even reach any of the possible targets until centuries after everyone, currently on Earth, was dead. Even the bodies, of the Bushes, themselves, would have long since turned to powder, before an Earth ship reached them. Although it was a poor substitute, the decision was made to send a message into space, asking the return of the Bushes. Since the transmitters, to send the message, would use normal, carrier wave, technology, and the message was to be sent, in multiple languages, it would take an estimated five years just to transmit the message. Not to mention the COST, of the transmission. Once the people, and land, of Texas, were returned, and no one else was REPORTED as vanished, the nation, and the world, got back to normal, even as Congress worked on attaching the transmission funding, to a "rider", on an energy bill. Ofcourse, there would be those who would suggest that, maybe, the Bushes were in some facility, on another planet, maybe even receiving the "Gitmo" treatment. But, whose to know? All that seemed clear was that the Bushes were beyond our reach, whereever they were.