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The SHADO Imperative: an article by: GF Willmetts.

Why was SHADO based in Great Britain rather than bigger continents like America, Russia or Asia, all of whom contributed to its funding and certainly would have some say in its location? Certainly the launch windows would have been a lot harder than being at the equator. Having the Lunar Modules taking off and landing on/in the flying Lunar Carrier meant they only had to really worry about was the right launch window and gently glide into orbit.

SHADO, the acronym for Supreme Headquarters, Alien Defence Organisation, is supposed to be secretive and using NASA facilities on the regular basis that it needs to supply Moonbase would have had questions asked by staff, let alone onlookers like the press. Granted that there were other lunar facilities like the Russians and, for a brief while, Dalotek, they certainly weren’t combat posts. That didn’t mean NASA wasn’t used from time to time when sending up the probe to follow a UFO back to its home planet or for repairing SID but these could be disguised as conventional missions.

Even so, the aliens have all of the Earth to choose for their organ banks so why choose the UK? There are instances where they haven’t but one could surmise that they would have been wary of NORAD or the Russian defence systems detecting them. As with SHADO, they have been keeping themselves unobtrusive for a long time with people dismissing claims of their existence until 1970 when military proof was provided.

With SHADO fully operational with vehicles and weaponry specifically targeting them, the aliens had a threat that they had no choice but to focus on as well as to steal body parts. One would possibly surmise that the UK was made slightly more accessible than the rest of the world with confidence that SHADO would keep kidnap victims to the minimum. It would certainly be easier and cheaper to police and monitor than an entire continent. Even so, the number of human agents would suggest that there was a means to do this on a regular basis on Earth outside of specific targets.

From the Psycho-Bombs incident, the aliens revealed their main ultimatum: SHADO and all of its facilities closed down. With the failure of that, the aliens brought in their bigger guns like the means to distort time in and even revive a dormant bomb that could wipe out most of south-east England which would have potentially destroyed SHADO’s hidden base had it not been located in time.

Up until 1970, the aliens landed and abducted with impunity across the world and it wasn’t until pilot Peter Carlin’s cine-film and evidence of his sister, Leila, being abducted that final proof was made. This proof was instrumental in the hands of American military personal General James Henderson and Colonel Edward Straker in convincing several nations via the United Nations to fund a covert organisation to protect the human race. It was deemed that this would have to be a secret war rather than risk world-wide panic.

Even so, the fact that the Rolls Royce taking the British Cabinet Minister, Henderson and Straker to a previous meeting was attacked by a UFO actually fulfilled this evidence. Obviously, security was already breeched, suggesting the aliens have encountered such problems in the past with other species. Security was therefore paramount and staff recruitment stringent. Even so, ten years later, the destruction of the Ultronics factory and nearly that of the necessary advanced detecting equipment en route to the United Kingdom does suggest that although SHADO’s own security might not have been breeched, its suppliers certainly were.

The aliens’ agents were already attempting to infiltrate SHADO. The later evidence from the medic Dawson, Interceptor pilot James Reagan and astronaut Craig Collins that they were controlled and not traitors. Other evidence shows the aliens capable of a variety of mind-controlling techniques, picking out the most vulnerable or accessible or, as in the case of Turner, feeding his ego with leadership.

Considering the technology, one would have to wonder why the aliens didn’t simply avoid the UK and search other parts of the world for their abductees as transplant options. This is very much a grey area as one would have to wonder as to how they select their victims like horse jockey Russell Stone and ignore and kill vagabond Benjamin Culley who wouldn’t have been missed. By 1980, tissue dating was already available in the UK and was the means to identify Leila Carlin’s transplanted heart in an alien corpse.

The aliens having access to this medical data would have made their job easier and focus on countries where this information was available. Certainly, they would have had the likes of Timothy Redman doing something in the ten years he waited by Catherine Frazer to recover consciousness. This would certainly preclude visiting third world countries. The UFOs that were attacked and destroyed might not necessarily be manned but a better smoke screen for their activities than going elsewhere in the world. Stone’s abduction might well have been to remind SHADO what they were there for.

SHADO interception from the Moonbase Interceptors and the Skydiver submarine fleet would certainly mean removing their threat. Even so, the evidence has frequently shown that UFOs have breeched SHADO defences for abductions still continued while other units kept the organisation busy. The objective to stop SHADO was still important but showing their current vehicles and weaponry did not need to be advanced further served as a distraction. The humans were kept busy. As Doctor Douglas Jackson pointed out, after one particular case, the alien personas were capable of existing in different bodies so even if they were killed, could probably continue in another body.

As such, the aliens were not so expendable as they appeared, allowing their bodies to die when exposed to Earth atmosphere. It should be pointed out that not all of these aliens immediately died when removed from the oxygenated green fluid they breathe while in transit or rapidly aged. The two aliens who died in SHADO custody were principally from primitive removal of their oxygenated fluid. The technique was improved on the second attempt but the alien patient reacted badly and terminally to the administration of the truth drug. A couple aliens survived with their helmets smashed suggesting that they knew the correct procedure to apply.

They did learn the reason for the aliens coming to Earth fairly early in their operations, although only later about them transferring their consciousnesses to other bodies. Although it was a war, it was for survival than the military acquisition of planet Earth. One would surmise that the aliens would provide some information and, as with the first instance, misdirect a little rather than outright lie. How these aliens think is still a matter of speculation. One would deem that indicating to the humans that they needed bodies for transplant would perhaps show their need was not the total annihilation of the human race, although the bombs deposited in the 1970s would suggest otherwise. We could speculate that like various human countries, that the aliens themselves had different views on how to handle their own situation.

There is also the matter of how many of their spacecraft they have. Although the mission to obtain photographs of their planet failed due to a technical fault in the camera, some detail was learnt. The aliens were not working out from a larger spacecraft but a home planet. It could be speculated that the aliens realised they were being followed and took the probe to a different destination but there’s little reason to believe that. It took 4 months for the alien craft to get that without a detour. For such a long trip with little supplies, the aliens on-board might well have been in suspended animation or hibernation most of the trip. Certainly the pod to transport Russell Stone was indicative of a hibernation cycle.

Putting the evidence together as in this document does indicate how long it took to piece together only scattered pieces of information and no idea why the aliens reduced their attacks. One can only hope they found alternative technology to keep themselves alive or another planet with a species with acceptable organs for transplant.

Does this mean SHADO was ineffective? On reflection, probably yes, although they had little evidence to know that. SHADO did advance technology but kept it mostly to themselves, although you would suspect that some of it would eventually get into general use if only to improve space technology. When you consider that the aliens were an advanced species using superior space technology and that SHADO had some minor victories when they had none prior to the organisation’s existence then it was a worthy expensive. If actual proof had gotten into the media and no country had done anything to defend its own population there would have been public outcry, not to mention governments toppling.

Although the number of alien visitations to Earth has diminished, should SHADO be disbanded? As with any war, nothing is won until it is finally over and a declared peace. The aliens might well have found another species to prey on for body parts but they might also have considered SHADO might have been seen an unnecessary financial burden, more so as Straker believed he needed to extend SHADO and might have been denied this. It is very much a cat and mouse game with more of a psychological as much as a military conflict. To remove protection altogether would be unwise. After all, what could happen next? We lose the Moon?

© GF Willmetts 2019

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UncleGeoff

Geoff Willmetts has been editor at SFCrowsnest for some 21 plus years now, showing a versatility and knowledge in not only Science Fiction, but also the sciences and arts, all of which has been displayed here through editorials, reviews, articles and stories. With the latter, he has been running a short story series under the title of ‘Psi-Kicks’ If you want to contribute to SFCrowsnest, read the guidelines and show him what you can do. If it isn’t usable, he spends as much time telling you what the problems is as he would with material he accepts. This is largely how he got called an Uncle, as in Dutch Uncle. He’s not actually Dutch but hails from the west country in the UK.

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