CHAPTER FOUR
We think that John Smith and those with him crossed the border into Scotland on the evening of 19th July 2022. Waiting for them were three vehicles that transported them to an army base near Edinburgh. Here they spent several days undergoing medical tests and numerous interviews. Thereafter they simply disappeared. Rumour has it that they were given new identities and incentives to keep quiet.
Months before and two men surfaced in Scotland claiming to have escaped from a prison run by the US military in England. One managed to contacted a newspaper in Glasgow and the other a member of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.
Although sceptical at first, newspaper reporters were able to verify the identity of six of the soldiers who were detained along with eleven miners. Further investigation resulted in the names of several miners also being verified. Finally on 30th October 2021 The Scottish Independent published the story of a secret detention centre run by the US government in England. The story was a sensation and many queued for hours to read the single-sheet newspapers.
In Edinburgh the second escapee managed to contact a member of the Scottish parliament, through a relative who worked at Holyrood. On 3rd November 2021 a press conference was hastily arrange for both SMPs and the media. Originally scheduled for 10am, it was postponed until 2pm. But there was to be no press conference. The SMP and the escapee left the Scottish Parliament through a back door escorted by several government officials, as witnessed by a cleaner. Two weeks later and the same SMP returned to parliament, but refused to discuss the matter.
The newsprint media also dropped the story, this after the authorities confiscated various single-sheets from libraries, reading clubs and notice boards. Not before or since have the authorities acted with such ferocity in suppressing the news, and in unison the print media got the message and the story disappeared overnight, along with the two escapees. That said, the authorities were made aware of others being held captive, and after months of negotiations the matter resolved itself, albeit behind closed doors.
Some may argue that the media could have acted with more defiance, not to mention independence, but since 2014 those newspapers that survived became dependant on the authorities in supplying newsprint, not to mention the loan of a limited number of ancient printing presses. With the end of Radio and TV, not to mention the internet, these single-sheet newspapers became the only means to dissimilate news.
The existence of the mine and the buried space ship were already common knowledge, as were the plight of those forced to work underground. It was also known that the US military and civilian contractors now occupied most of England and Wales. While most were systematically stripping the country of anything of value, the US military were crawling all over Cumbria and Northumbria looking for discarded alien technology.
All this happened while I was still at school. For me John Smith was someone my dad often spoke about and who I hardly remember. For me life consisted of working on the farm while studying at School. Today, and while researching the events of 2014, we were successful in finding the grave of my mum, but our good fortune ended with another hand-delivered letter. It was just another envelope which was opened with little ceremony or apprehension, but which contained news that John Smith had died months before our adventure had even begun.
Me thinks "The Lost Diaries of John Smith" would make an excellent TV series! I'm just saying...
As with all my Steemit content, this post and my book "The Lost Diaries of John Smith" are the copyright of Phillip Rhodes (c) 2011-2017.
