Chapter One
June 1977
Frederick Tate was sat behind his desk in Manchester, England when his secretary Jennifer Lennon walked into his office looking somewhat put out about something. Frederick realised that she’d obviously had some bad news and decided to make her a mug of coffee to drink in order to try and cheer her up. Jennifer wiped her eyes with a hankie chief just as Frederick made his way back over towards her carrying the mug of coffee he’d just made for her to drink.
“If you want to share the news with me then I’m more than willing to listen to you, but if on the other hand you aren’t interested in telling me what has happened to you then I will perfectly understand.” Frederick informed her before she took the mug of coffee off of his hands and then quickly took a couple of gulps of it.
“I’ve just had some bad news. It seems my planned trip to Sydney, Australia has been cancelled for the time being. The airlines were apparently overbooked and I haven’t made it this time around.” Jennifer explained the problem to him and Frederick chuckled at this news since he had been expecting something a little bit more drastic to come out of her mouth than just a missed holiday opportunity.
“I’m sorry for laughing like this, but when you come to think about it a postponed holiday isn’t the worst thing in the world. There are so many worse things that could happen to people really.” Frederick reminded her that she still had her health for instance amongst many other things going for her.
“That’s what you think Frederick. I was really looking forward to going to the other side of the world and seeing things I’d only ever dreamt about seeing before.” Jennifer obviously didn’t share his viewpoint here and before either one of them could say another word the brown coloured telephone on the desk started ringing. Jennifer quickly moved to answer it since as the secretary it was kind of her job to do.
“Good morning Frederick Tate’s Investigations, how can we help you?” Jennifer started off while waiting for a response from her caller.
“Hello? My name’s Ken Wigginson. I’m calling from Liverpool, England in connection with a strange incident that occurred here last night.” Ken explained his problem to her.
“What happened last night then?” Jennifer looked to take down the details of the incident to which he had been referring.
“I was out and about with some friends following the Liverpool football match at Anfield when a fast moving object suddenly sped above our heads and appeared to crash someway up in the distance ahead of us.” Ken explained to her and Jennifer decided that the prudent move to make here was to hand the telephone straight over to Frederick Tate to take the rest of the message down since it seemed most important. Jennifer wandered over to another part of the office before pulling a magazine out of a desk drawer and reading it to her-self while Frederick continued taking the message from the very worried sounding Ken Wigginson.
Shortly afterwards Frederick made his way over towards Jennifer who placed the magazine down she had been involved with reading before looking up at him to see what was going on.
“How can I help you then?” Jennifer wondered what he had in mind, because from the look on his face he seemed to have something in mind to say to her.
“I know you were looking forward to going to Sydney before your flight was apparently cancelled. How do you fancy going on a trip to Liverpool instead?” Frederick wondered if this might go someway towards making up for her dream trip to Australia, but from the look on her face this was unlikely to be the case.
“How can a trip to Australia be replaced by an investigation to Liverpool?” Jennifer suggested to him and although momentarily flustered about her response Frederick managed to pull him-self, back together and recompose him-self.
“I know that it’s not a particularly ideal situation, but something is happening in Liverpool at the moment and the locals are feeling scared and concerned about what they could well be encountering there.” Frederick reasoned with her that they had to help out in any-way they could.
“Fine in that case? I have little other choice in the matter by the looks of things?” Jennifer soon worked out before Frederick started organising their hotel via the telephone he was now once again using. Jennifer placed her magazine down before putting it into her handbag. Frederick appeared besides her wearing a look of professionalism that he always pulled out for such investigations.
“I’ll have to go home and pack some things for the trip.” Jennifer reminded him that she barely had enough clothes hanging around to last a few days or more,
“I’ll drop you off in my Volkswagen Beetle and then we’ll make our way to Manchester Piccadilly Railway Station in preparation for our adventure to Liverpool in order to work out what the people of Liverpool had really seen last night.” Frederick explained to her.
“I can’t wait for this.” Jennifer wasn’t being entirely serious with him when she said the words and this wasn’t lost on Frederick. They left the office and headed for his Volkswagen Beetle car that was parked right outside the office.
Zodiac Isaac a six-foot-eight inch man in black was driving along in Southern England when he received a telepathic message that something was occurring up in Western England.
“Is there something up with you Zodiac?” The man driving the car asked him if something he’d seen had disturbed him.
“We have some trouble to deal with in Liverpool.” Zodiac explained the situation to them with a very serious look on his face.
“When you say trouble to deal with? Are we talking about football hooligans by any chance?” The man seated in the back of the car suggested to him while knowing full well that Liverpool was well - known for its football team.
“I wouldn’t say that was really our problem it’s more the problem of the football authorities. The trouble I’m referring to here is in actual fact Alien related.” Zodiac Isaac explained to them.
“So it would be UFO’s again?” The man driving the car quickly worked out what they would be coming up against once they arrived in Liverpool.
“The skies of England are always being filled up with visitors from outer space, but for the most part the British Government has people believing that these are all false alarms and no actual UFO’s or Aliens exist. I think we’ve been working with each other long enough to know by now that isn’t actually the case.” Zodiac reasoned with them.
“So that’s going to be our next port of call then?” The man seated in the back of the car suggested to him.
“Now we know that there is something there in Liverpool, we have no other choice in the matter than to go there. There are people out there who need our help and what kind of people would that make us if we didn’t come to their aid?” Zodiac placed the question out there for them to answer.
“I wasn’t aware that we were human?” The man driving the car wondered what he made of this idea, but Zodiac just started laughing at the remark while the car sped along the motorway in Southern England in preparation for the journey up to Liverpool to see what was really going on up there.
At Manchester Piccadilly Railway Station Frederick Tate and Jennifer Lennon looked to get a train from the platform they were stood on.
“Do you think that we might actually encounter something from another world when we get there?” Jennifer looked to get Frederick’s opinion here since it was something she wasn’t able to shake out of her mind.
“I really couldn’t tell you that at the moment, but after having spoken with Ken Wigginson I am starting to believe we could well encounter something very worrying, but that’s our job.” Frederick Tate explained to her, as a woman walked up to them looking for something.
“Excuse me I don’t suppose you could give me directions to Liverpool?” She wondered if this was possible.
“Well as a matter of fact we are heading that way ourselves. Why don’t you join us when the train gets here of course?” Frederick Tate suggested to her, but she wasn’t travelling alone and quickly called over her travelling companion.
“Kristy? We are on the right road to Liverpool. These people have invited us to travel along with them.” Rachel explained to her.
“Excellent! When is the train due to arrive at this platform then?” Kristy wondered if they have a time scale here.
“What are you going up to Liverpool yourselves for?” Rachel suggested to Jennifer and Frederick and they looked at each before responding to the question since what they had in mind was a little unusual.
“We are going to be conducting a scientific experiment when we get there.” Frederick looked to keep them off of their trail since he didn’t enjoy the mocking that came with telling people he was a UFO investigator and they looked fairly with it to him and could see that they probably would find the idea amusing.
“You will be conducting a scientific experiment? That sounds challenging and exciting at the same time.” Rachel was interested in what they were up to and was pleased to hear it was something that was right up her street.
“Rachel has been to university studying science, so anything like this seems to interest her.” Kristy explained why her friend liked the sound of their scientific experiment idea.
“So what do you do on these scientific experiments of yours then?” Rachel asked Jennifer about her involvement.
“I’m his secretary and personal assistant. I help out wherever I can and whenever I’m needed.” Jennifer informed them that her role was purely administrative in this experiment.
The train arrived at the platform whereupon they all quickly boarded it and settled inside one of the carriages for the journey from Manchester’s Piccadilly Station to Liverpool’s Lime Street Station.
“We are off to Liverpool for a concert ourselves.” Kristy explained where they were going to them.
“So who is playing in concert then?” Frederick wondered if they would spill this information his way since he did enjoy the odd concert himself whenever the mood took him.
“We are going to see Queen ‘Day At The Races’ they are playing live tomorrow June 2nd 1977 at the Empire Theatre.” Rachel explained to them while wearing an enthusiastic smile on her face.
“The band Queen you mean?” Frederick looked to make a distinction between the group and the monarch.
“That’s right the band Queen.” Rachel confirmed as much for him.
“What else would she be talking about here? I mean you would hardly get the Queen of England on the Empire Theatre playing to packed out crowds at a concert would you?” Jennifer suggested to him and Frederick realised that she was making a very good point.
“So about this experiment of yours?” Kristy harped back onto this and hoped that Frederick might just spill some more information their way just like they had with the Queen concert they planned to attend tomorrow in Liverpool.
“You might as well tell them what we are up to?” Jennifer suggested to him while feeling that if they could get this out of the way then the rest of the journey would be an absolute breeze and Frederick recognised the point she was making.
“My name’s Frederick Tate. I’m a UFO investigator by trade and I have my own office set up in Manchester.” Frederick explained to them although they didn’t seem too disturbed by the idea certainly not reacting in the way that he’d been expecting them to.
“Wow! I don’t really know what to say about that? I’m not sure if I should laugh at the way you said that, which by the way made you sound like you had just come from alcoholics anonymous. A UFO investigator is an Alien finder?” Rachel suggested to him while wondering if that ultimately was what he was looking for.
“I suppose you could certainly call me that, but I prefer trying to find rational reasons for things people are seeing rather than them coming from somewhere outer space.” Frederick explained to them, as the train now rolled away from Manchester’s Piccadilly Station.
“Frederick Tate? Wait a minute! My word you are that guy who wrote the book about ‘The Newcastle Sighting’. I’ve got to admit that was quite a work of fiction and put hairs on the back of my neck when I read about what apparently happened up there.” Kristy explained to him and this caught him a little off guard.
“You actually read my book?” Frederick was somewhat surprised even though it had sold well he hadn’t been expecting people from this young age group to have read his book.
“I’m sorry, but whatever you heard about this book he wrote is completely wrong.” Jennifer informed them.
“In what way is it wrong then?” Rachel asks her confused.
“I was there when this event actually happened and whatever else was going on in Newcastle? This was no work of fiction the book that Frederick wrote was based on pure fact and nothing else.” Jennifer explained to them and a stunned silence greeted her words.
“So what you’re saying in essence is there were real beings from other worlds involved in the story?” Kristy was the first to break the silence and ask the question.
“That’s exactly what we were getting at.” Frederick explained to them and the two young women contemplated the idea for a few moments before looking to change the subject.
“Anyway enough of this spooky kind of talk! What kind of things are you into musically speaking of course?” Rachel looked to change the subject on them since what they were saying worried her in a way she hadn’t been expecting and made her come over all cold as a result.
“I really like ABBA myself. That’s the sort of music I like whenever I go out to clubs and things.” Jennifer explained her viewpoint to them.
“Really? I kind of had you down as a disco diva myself.” Rachel had prejudged her and been totally wrong by the sounds of things.
“So what about you then Frederick?” Kristy hadn’t heard about his music interest yet.
“I really don’t think my sort of music would impress anyone. Although since we are talking about music then I still have a thing for the music by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.” Frederick explained to them while wearing a smart reflective smile on his face.
“So you really like the music from the past then?” Rachel clearly had her ideas about where the Beatles and the Rolling Stones fitted into her modern day nineteen seventy-seven and that was clearly in the past.
“They were both big in the sixties and I was a club going younger person myself at the time. For me the music well it might age, but it will never fade away. Do you have a favourite Queen song then?” Frederick wondered if they did have one they were really looking forward to hearing about.
“For me it’s got to be Bohemian Rhapsody!” Kristy instantly responded to the question and it was a Christmas number one song for the group in December of 1975.
“What about you Rachel?” Jennifer looked to find out if she had a different choice to her friend.
“For me it’s Killer Queen, that hit number two in the charts back in October 1974 and it was only kept off the top by Sweet Sensation’s Sad Sweet Dreamer.” Rachel reasoned with them while Kristy looked to find out what their favourite songs were.
“You’ve heard ours so let’s hear yours?” Kristy wanted some answers from them and Jennifer had one instantly to share with them.
“My favourite song is called Dancing Queen, which is of course by Abba. I had a brilliant summer dancing to that last year and I couldn’t get the song out of my mind.” Jennifer advised them while Frederick was contemplating his answer since he didn’t really have a favourite song in particular, but he needed to tell them something or they would think he was strange.
“My favourite song is called We Can Work It Out by the Beatles.” Frederick informed them and a look of amusement crossed Rachel’s face.
“What’s so funny?” Jennifer asked her in confused fashion.
“Well you are going up to Liverpool for a scientific experiment and Frederick’s favourite song is called We Can Work It Out.” Rachel advised her and this helped lighten the mood in the carriage as they continued to make their way towards Liverpool.
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