I decided to concentrate this release on the "Team" and their selection process, communication problems and the final exchange. There have been many questions pertaining to these issues.
BACKGROUND : Ebe #1 provided a communication device that allowed us to contact Serpo. This communication device was onboard the Eben craft that crashed in July 1947 near Corona, New Mexico. Ebe #1 showed us the proper use of this communication device prior to his death.
However, the device did not function properly and no contact could be made with Serpo. Just prior to Ebe #1's death, an American scientist from Los Alamos figured out the device worked and connected an energy source found in the Eben craft to the communication device. With Ebe#1's assistance and language input, several signals were sent during the summer of 1952. In early fall of 1952, we received several signals on the device.
- The first message was just letting his planet know he was alive;
- The second message explained the crash in 1947 and the death of his crew;
- The third message asked for a rescue craft for him;
- The fourth message suggested a formal meeting with leaders of Earth;
- The fifth message suggested an exchange program;
(NOTE: It is believed, but NOT documented, that Ebe #1's U.S. military caretaker had suggested to Ebe #1 that an exchange program be set up which would allow our people to visit and exchange culture, scientific information and collect astronomical during a space trip by an American military team or what eventually became known as The Team Members.)
- The sixth message provided landing coordinates for any future rescue or visitation mission to Earth. The incoming messages gave a time and date (Eben date and time system), and confirmed a landing location. However, once the message was translated by Ebe #1, it was determined the date was over 10 years away. Fearing that Ebe #1, who was sick at this point, did not translate the message correctly, our scientists began to translate the message, based on the Eben language that was taught to us by Ebe #1.
(NOTE: Ebe #1 was a mechanic, not a scientist. He was still able to teach us some of the Eben language. According to the document which I read, we translated about 30% of the Eben language. Complex sentences and numbers could not be recognized.)
Ebe #1 assisted us as long as he was alive. But once he died, then we were on our own. We sent several messages over a six-month period (1953). But we did not receive any return messages. We fine tuned our efforts over the next 18 months and finally sent two messages in 1955 and received a reply.
We were able to translate about 30% of the messages. We turned to several linguist specialists from several U.S. universities and even several from foreign universities. Finally, we were able to translate most of the messages. We decided to reply in English and see if the Eben's could translate our language easier than we could theirs. Approximately four months later, we received a reply in broken English. Sentences that contained nouns, adjectives, but no verbs. It took us several months to translate the messages. We then sent Eben our typed English lessons. Six months later, we received another English message. This time it was clearer, but not clear enough. Ebens were confusing several different English words and still failed to complete a proper sentence.
But we were able to provide the basic skill level for them to communicate in English. In one message, they provided us with a form of the Eben alphabet, with the equivalent English letter. Our linguist specialist had a very difficult time figuring this out. The written Eben language was simple characters and symbols, but our linguist specialist had an extremely difficult time comparing the two written languages. Over the next five years, we were able to perfect our understanding of the Eben language (somewhat) and the Ebens were able to better understand English. However, we had a major problem. Trying to coordinate a date, time and location for an Eben landing on Earth. Even though we could basically understand some Eben and the Ebens could understand some English, we could not understand their time and date system and they could not understand ours. We sent them our Earth's rotation schedule, revolution, date system, etc. For some reason, the Eben's never understood this.
In return, the Ebens sent us their system, which was difficult for our scientists to understand because we had no reference to their planet. The Ebens did not explain any astronomical data of Serpo or their system. We then decided to just send pictures showing the Earth, landmarks and a simple numbering system for time periods.
The Ebens sent back a message indicating they would return to Earth on a particular number date and location that we chose. The date was April 24, 1964 and the location was in the southern sector of White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
Now, our Government officials met in secret to plan the event. Decisions were made, then changed and then changed again. We had just about 25 months to plan for the event. Special teams, mostly military, were formed to plan the event.
Several months into the planning process, President Kennedy decided to approve a plan to exchange a special military team. The USAF was tasked as the lead agency. The USAF officials picked special civilian scientists to assist in planning and crew selection.
The Team Member selection process was the hardest to accomplish. Several plans were suggested in the make-up of the team. It took several months for the planners to decide on criteria for each Team Member. They decided that each Team Member must be military. They must be single, with no children. They must be career military (over four years of service). They must have special skills.
They must have cross-trained skills, meaning that they must have more than one speciality. They must be entirely "sheep dipped" and cleared of any identification problems that would haunt them while on the trip. One suggestion was to list all members as being dead. This was thrown around until it was decided each Team Member selected would be listed as "missing" on the official records and discharged on the unofficial records. That way, all connections between the team and their individual service was covered.
Every single record on each Team Member selected was purged, including their Social Security records, Internal Revenue tax returns, medical records, military records, and any other identification records were either destroyed or collected and placed in a special storage location. Originally, about 56,000 files were screened for possible selectees. The screening process finally got down to 12. These were the best of the best. During training, which lasted roughly six months, there were 16 going through training. The four were replacements just in case one of the originals was injured or released for some other reason.
TEAM TRAINING: Each Team Member selected was sent to a special facility located at Camp Perry, Virginia. This was an intelligence training location. We took over a complete complex inside Perry. Most of the training took place there, but some special training was accomplished at Sheppard Air Force Base, Wichita Falls Texas; Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota; Dow AFB, Maine; and isolated locations in Mexico and Chile. The training lasted for 167 days. The Team was allowed about 15 days off during this time period, but they were closely guarded. Just prior to their trip, each team member was transported to the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Ft. Leavenworth, KS and confined in locked cells. This prevented them from communicating with anyone from the outside world and kept each under close watch.
CHANGE OF PLANS: We received a message from the Ebens stating that they did not wish to make the exchange during their initial visit to Earth. They wanted to meet first and then plan the exchange in person. This created many problems since our Team was ready for the exchange. We sent a return message, but we did not receive a reply.
THE LANDING: In December 1963, the Eben's sent a message confirming the time, date and location of their landing. The message stated that two crafts were enroute to Earth and would make the appropriate landing at the pre-arranged location.
(NOTE: During this time period, our government was suffering from the loss of President Kennedy. Some on the project wanted to cancel the exchange because of his death. But President Johnson was briefed and decided to continue the event, although, it was noted, that Johnson didn't really believe it would happen.)
Our Team planned for two locations. One "cover" location on Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo, New Mexico and the other, which would be the actual landing location, was west of Holloman near the southern entrance to White Sands Army Post.
The first Eben craft entered our atmosphere during the afternoon of April 24, 1964. the Eben craft landed at the wrong location, near Socorro, New Mexico. Our team was in place at White Sands. We were able to communicate a message to the Eben craft that they landed at the wrong location. The second Eben craft picked up the message and landed at the correct location.
MEETING: The Eben craft landed exactly at the location we sent. There were 16 senior U.S. Government officials on the ground. Some were political and some were senior officials, including military officers. The Ebens exited their craft and walked under a pre-located canopy. The Ebens gave gifts of their technology. The Ebens had a crude translator device. It appeared to be some sort of microphone with a read-out screen.
The senior U.S. official was given one of the devices and the Eben kept the other one. The officials spoke into the device and the screen showed a printed form of the voice message, both in Eben and English. It was crude and hard to understand everything that was said. The exact transcript of the meeting won't be discussed at this time. The Ebens decided to make the exchange, but not until the following year. July 1965 was set and the location decided upon was the Nevada Test Site. Planners did not wish to keep the same location for fear that something might leak.
The Team Members were kept at Ft. Leavenworth until May 1964. They were transported to Camp Perry. The Team was isolated for the next six months, going over the same training they received. Fine tunning their individual skills and learning some newer skills. This gave the team an opportunity to better understand the Eben language. Although most team members had difficulty learning the language, the two linguists on the team were able to hone their language skills.
In April 1965, the team was transported to Ft. Leavenworth and confined until July 1965, when they were transported to Nevada. During the exchange, only a selected few officials were present, other than the preparation crew for the exchange team. The Eben craft landed and our Team was placed on board.
(NOTE: One item that was misstated by me in an earlier e-mail, was the amount of equipment that was taken to Planet Serpo by our Team Members. The correct amount loaded on board the Eben crafts was 90,500 lbs of equipment.)
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