🛸The Skyfire Project

Final chapter of a Cryptic mystery

Every episode of Into the Storymaze = writing ideas or writing-in-progress; something creative I’m into sharing; a spotlight on my comic book writing; and a quote worth a think.

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Alright, having covered off on "Disappearing Dan" last episode, let's *finally* wrap up this serial fiction. “Something To Watch Over Us” is a fake documentary, in the tribute band tradition of “In Search Of” — a rather fab Leonard Nimoy hosted weekly of the seventies where the sci-fi icon pondered "What if…?" scenarios on bigfoots and aliens and lost treasures. I miss the mysteries our too-close and too-informed world seems to have erased, so I thought this'd be a fun way to recapture that vibe.

(No doubt the misinformation express of generative AI will feed the beast of wild speculation in a whole new wave of "What's out there?!?" — but I'm worried it might not be as delightful as Mr. Nimoy's guided tours. In any case…)

Our first three parts established: a conspiracy-powered group called Skyfire is raising the alarm about strange visuals from the moon; which may be tied to demonic alien warnings of a preacher from the fifties; while the U.S. Space Force denies-denies-denies that their rogue military space shuttle has anything to do with any of it; and it's all tied together by a team of paranormal investigators calling themselves The Cryptic. Since that can't possibly do it justice, please catch up on the scripts that go us here: Pt. 1, Pt. 2 and Pt. 3. Now onto the final part:

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INVESTIGATOR/HOST — A Leonard Nimoy like guide into the unknown
KARL — An investigative researcher 
ANDREA - Leader of the Skyfire Project
COLONEL - A liaison for Space Force
WV GRANT - A preacher with a foreboding sense of doom

INT. THAILAND CYBERCAFE - DAY

SFX: Low level Thai voices; clattering of diner dishes; video game sounds. 

ANDREA: I don't know about prayer, but here's a thought. Our larger search for extraterrestrial intelligence is compromised because of a lunar based, high-powered signal blocker that keeps us "alone" in the cosmos.

SFX: Whispering, incoherent voices, infernal or alien.

ANDREA: There could have been negotiations between the astronauts and these — what Grant would have termed "devils." When that broke down, that drove us away from the moon. Adversaries to the adversary, as it were.

INT. SPACE FORCE HANGER - DAY

SFX: Indeterminate air traffic control chatter and high-speed whooshing aircraft.

COLONEL: Off the record? This is a very troubled individual. Yes, Ms. Foster holds degrees. Yes, she's worked in important private industry and high placed positions within our government. But her prior access does not give her insight or expertise into some "unknown forces."

INT. THAILAND CYBERCAFE - DAY

SFX: Low level Thai voices; clattering of diner dishes; video game sounds.

ANDREA: What's the actual mission of this Space Force. Are they out to defend us? Then we'd at least have a fighting chance. If it's conspiracy, though, if they are in collusion, looking to seal a deal... what chance do any of us have?

INT. SPACE FORCE HANGER - DAY

SFX: Indeterminate air traffic control chatter and high-speed whooshing aircraft

COLONEL: Ms. Foster's career has taken a dramatic turn. She was asked to leave many of these positions she held. She may simply be suffering from stress and pressure. Everyone has a breaking point, am I right? That's strictly my opinion. A possibility. I hold no malice, no ill will. I am just trying to be a human being about all this. Off the record, right?

INT. THAILAND CYBERCAFE - DAY  SFX: Low level Thai voices; clattering of diner dishes; video game sounds.

ANDREA: I know this can sound... unbelievable. But that's why I founded The Skyfire Project. My background and expertise is exactly the right voice to draw attention. Or even raise the alarm, if necessary.

SFX: Rapid fire camera shutter sounds.

ANDREA: It's more than just the X-37B. These other instances of upper atmosphere photography... you can see what appear to be enormous serpentine shapes, just below the lunar soil...

SFX: The low level hiss of an old tape recording.

W.V. GRANT: (tinny, warbling) Look to the stars, look to the skies. There is nowhere to hide when what seeks our doom is quite literally overhead.

SFX: Background chatter of Apollo moon mission transmissions.

INVESTIGATOR/HOST: X-37B maintains its eccentric orbit, drawing a line in the sky between the Earth and the Moon.

SFX: Aircraft crashing.

INVESTIGATOR/HOST: Access to Lt. Colonel Trent has been cut off. She has been removed from the public record as having any association with Space Force.

INT. GERMAN CYBERCAFE - NIGHT

SFX: Low level German voices; clattering of beer steins
toasting; video game sounds.

INVESTIGATOR/HOST: Andrea Foster continues to share the research of The Skyfire Project, using virtual private networks and proxy servers to mask her real location.

ANDREA: We've run tests showing those moon photos around the world. People are given no context. They're not prejudiced in any way. Every time, what they see lights up the amygdala — the fear center of the brain that screams fight or flight.

SFX: NASA spooky space sounds, howling planets and whistling
helium.

INVESTIGATOR/HOST: Does "something" watch us from the surface of the moon? We should wonder about such things more. I'm reminded of the words — or warning — of futurist Arthur C. Clarke. "Either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both possibilities are equally terrifying."

SFX: Sounds of a madhouse, babbling, electroshock, screams.

INVESTIGATOR/HOST: Skyfire exposed 212 individuals to those lunar images. 47 have been involuntarily committed to mental institutions, diagnosed with overwhelming panic disorder. Each suffering uncontrollable feelings of dread and menace.

SFX: Rising rhythm of off-kilter, eerie technology sounds.

INVESTIGATOR/HOST: This is The Cryptic.

SFX: Music “theme” for The Cryptic. Brief, eerie, techno,
disturbing.

In my head, I can still see the video game section in a regional (now defunct) department store called Caldor's. Growing up, it was part of a trifecta of shopping stops my mom and grandmother (nonni) would take us around to — the others being the equally "days gone by" Bradlees and Woolworth's. 

But Caldor's stood ahead of its competition in their commitment to a dedicated display to this up-and-coming form of entertainment. A special glass enclosed cabinet displayed each game behind a cashier's station, like high end jewelry. You had to "ask for assistance" when you were ready to buy — but you could admire the pixelated possibilities all you liked. 

And admire I did — largely because of the amazing artwork on the covers, especially for games playable on the leading system of the day: Atari. These were beautiful, movie-poster like scenes of intrigue and action and promise. 

The technology of the day could never live up to the narratives that would play out in a buyer's brain: those early days of digital entertainment were no more than a blocky blob here ("A flying saucer!") and a pointy blob there ("A knight's sword!"). But those boxes? Objects of wonder, true objet d'art.

Refreshingly, this is one memory that maintains its power, as evidenced by Tim Lapetino's mesmerizing "The Art of Atari." The book is a visual tour de force (what's with all the French terms?) that brings back "those days" in vivid, full color reproduction.

Adventure, Breakout, Space Invaders, Pitfall and dozens more are lovingly represented in this Storymaze, not just as nostalgia, but with enriched backstory that unpacks design choices, business decisions and deserved (overdue) recognition for the many talented artists who accomplished these feats of visual storytelling.

The rich rationale for Atari's standout art may be found in the words of its founder Nolan Bushnell:  "Design is the best return on investment that you can have. It's virtually the same cost to build something pretty as something shitty. So why not make the world a better-looking place?" (Steve Jobs worked for Bushnell for a time, and if Jobs didn't take that with him, he must have found a kindred spirit in at least that regard.) 

That mission statement was clearly also true for Lapetino, who has researched and crafted a loving and lavish production. Whether you're a fan of video games, marketing, design or creativity — or heck, all of 'em — this is a deeply entertaining book. It makes me glad for all those hours spent staring longingly at that Caldor's glass cabinet.

And then there was the time I was an ongoing character in the Alan Moore/Bill Sienkiewicz mega-opus Big Numbers. Big Numbers - original title The Mandelbrot Set - was an incredibly ambitious, 12 issue "maxi-series" that Alan and Bill were publishing on their own. It was an involved drama of all the lives impacted when a huge real estate development hits a relatively small English town.

(The Mandelbrot Set is a mathematical expression that refers to how repeating small patterns can be found within large, and vice versa. Vastly oversimplifying there, but it was a metaphor, of sorts, for the interrelations of the events and characters within the story. The mathematician behind the term — Benoit Mandelbrot — got wind of the title, and expressed his displeasure of any association with a mere comic book. Rather than court controversy, the Alan/Bill duo choose a new title — less mysterious, but on the same order of numerical significance.)

If that story description sounds "ordinary" — maybe it was, on one level: there was no extra-normal "Surprise!" in terms of aliens or conspiracies or such in the big story plan. But just as Mandelbrot's equation revealed layers within layers, with two insanely talented creators at the helm, there would be no shortage of surprises and superior storytelling to be found in this "everyday tale."

Among the VERY large cast of characters was a school teacher — which Bill asked me to model for. So one night before grabbing dinner, I dropped by his studio so he could shoot many a shot of me in various poses. This was the very  ponytailed, very bearded D.G. Chichester of yore. (An extinct species. It is not expected to spot his like again in our lifetime.) As Big Numbers would only run a mere 2 issues, "my" ongoing role was cut sadly short. (The tale of its shortened run is not mine to tell, but I’m sure The Google will take you down some kooky passages.)

That was not my only role in the pages: I was also the production manager on these comics — not quite an editor, but a bit more than a traffic manager. But that, as they say, is a tale for another time.

“Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.” ― Stephen King

Amazing Times

I’m D.G. Chichester. If that looks pretentious, feel free to just call me “Dan.”

I earned my storytelling cred writing comic book titles like Daredevil, Terror Inc., Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD and Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, along with digital widgets in the world wide web of advertising. I like weird tales, so if things here bend that way — now you know why!

Folks seem to like the comic book adventures I’ve written, so if you haven’t checked one out — please do. Many are now available in fab collected editions.

For the eager moments between newsletters…

@dgchichester — 280 characters from the Twitterverse

@dgchichester — images via Instagramland