A silver disc plows into the earth, desert sand and rock crashing around it, flames beginning to take life. A click and hiss interrupt a moment of pause as a hatch opens up. As if it has all the time in the universe, as if fire and dust does not engulf its surroundings in calamity, a creature emerges slowly, injured and trepidatious. The hot ground singes Its skinny limbs as it crawls away from the burning wreckage.
A crackle in the desert blue sky is nothing more than a blip to the untrained eye, but Mac has worked this ranch his whole long life. He knows that summers in Roswell are always the same: hot, bleak, dry; he has looked out on that blue and white sky day after day, and never has he seen such a thing. He makes his way over, chest tight. Something strange is going on.
By the time Mac arrives at the scene, the creature has hidden away, and before him is only the wreckage the spaceship left in its wake. Across the way, Mac sees the sheriff, George Wilcox, stumble over, pausing in awe to take in what’s before him. They stand there for another moment, perplexed and paralyzed. A whipping sound from up above draws Mac’s attention back to the sky, where fire jets swoop in. Sirens and booming voices over loudspeakers tell Mac and the Sheriff to back away from the crash as soldiers dressed in black fatigues commandeer the scene. Mac and the Sheriff answer their questions but have little information to offer beyond what they saw falling out of the sky.
The creature, its origins unknown, was found two days later by the US government not far from the crash site. They take it away, never to be heard of again, its destiny unknown. The US government sends out a press release, announcing the discovery of an unidentified flying object from a ranch in Roswell. The following day, the Roswell Daily Record runs a story about the crash and the US’ astonishing claim about this alien object. Public panic ensues and confidence in the US government sways. US officials quickly recant their claims. Upon further examination, they asserted, it was just a weather balloon. Everyone involved corroborates this latest story, from Mac to the Office of the US President. Peace is restored.