THE UFO PHENOMENON

"UFO", standing for "unidentified flying object", is an abbreviation coined at the beginning of this century to describe unexplained objects seen flying in the skies of this planet. Nowadays it is used to represent a much more complex phenomenon than was at first imagined, referring to the activity of extraterrestrial creatures upon our planet. To be precise, the modern version of the UFO is a sign of an alien probe spread over a truly vast time scale, from ancient history to our modern times.
There are good reasons for believing this: the latest NASA space missions have photographed planets and solar systems in the process of formation; there are planets in orbit around Type G stars, similar to our Sun, and there are planets showing the presence of water; UFO's were seen by the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, mentioned in the bible and observed by the ancient Romans, not to mention the repeated contacts between the Imperial Chinese and metal objects descending from the sky; indeed, all over the world there are legends of colonising gods descending from the sky to teach the Arts and Sciences to mortals to help develop their civilisations.
Since the Second World War, the world's media has reported sightings of and contacts with UFO's by ordinary people, as  well as scientists, politicians and celebrities, including the ex-President of the USA, Carter, the ex-President of the USSR, Gorbachov, and Prince Charles of England. During the "space race", almost all American astronauts noticed the presence of UFO's and the Apollo astronauts and those of the recent Shuttle missions have seen "unidentified objects" around Earth and on the Moon.
Sightings on Earth are now beyond number, to such an extent that the governments and military establishments of the major powers are taking an active interest and an attempt has been made to classify the UFO phenomenon.
The American, Hyneck, has subdivided the phenomenon into three classes of sighting, to help to organise the flood of sightings that come in every day: close encounters of the first kind - when the alien object is sighted in the sky; close encounters of the second kind - when the alien object lands, leaving marks on the ground or affecting the observers or their mechanical or electrical equipment; and finally, close encounters of the third kind - when there is contact between the observer and the alien creature.
There are further classifications, of the 4th, 5th and 6th kind, which develop the theories of contact with the aliens and are used by the special bodies studying the UFO phenomenon.

THE OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT STANCE

The official research bodies of virtually every government declare that UFO's do not exist and explain them as either the results of hallucinations or the evidence of visionaries or else as familiar objects, such as planes and weather balloons, that have been mistakenly identified. In the face of the official stance the press in most countries tends to pour scorn on the phenomenon and scale it down to fit the official declarations.
Nevertheless, a US Air Force commission, the "Blue Book", set up by the US Senate, has stated for years that it holds data to show that UFO's exist and are not identifiable with objects of terrestrial origin. It states that no fewer than 663 cases of an alien nature have occurred in 18 years.
What about the theory of hallucinatory evidence? After years of studying the problem, a well-known psychoanalyst, Gustav Jung, came to the conclusion that, in his opinion, UF0's really do exist and have nothing whatsoever to do with pathologies of the psyche.
In 1977, the U.N. General Assembly agreed to set up a commission to investigate the UFO problem, for which all member states would provide documentary material on UFO's. In 1993, the EEC did the same for the countries of Europe.
Today, an American scientist, none other than Lazar, a colleague of Teller, who invented the neutron bomb, claims to have worked for the US Air Force at the Area 51 base in Nevada otherwise known as Dreamland, where there are said to be alien spaceships and aliens themselves, guests of the American government.
What is certain, is that now, and especially since NASA discovered other extrasolar planets in outer space, scientific resources are tuned in to possible extraterrestrial civilizations.

IS THERE A UFO COVER UP?

There really seems to be a wall of silence surrounding the UFO phenomenon and possible contacts between aliens and the military and government establishments of many countries. According to a number of independent experts on the matter, the latter agencies impede the dissemination of information and documents to distract public opinion from taking an interest in the matter.
A classic case in point is that of the ex-president of the USA, Jimmy Carter, who made pre-election promises to open the secret Pentagon files on UFO's if he was elected. In fact he never did, neither to confirm nor deny the existence of UFO's. Nor did he ever explain why he didn't....
Numerous independent researchers in various countries have complained of the apparent wall of silence around UFO's, that is put up by various governments, and the devious methods employed to keep people away from the data held by government agencies. Further evidence of conspiracy is suggested by the fact that civil and military pilots are forbidden to talk about their sightings and that government documents and UFO findings are all kept top secret.
In the USA on 30 September 1968, the US Army technical service ordered all airforce pilots sighting UFO's to fill out a special form, the famous AFR 80-17, and not to talk to the public about their sightings.
However, the most amazing cover up by the American government, and therefore also by its political ally nations, is enshrined in the Extra-terrestrial Exposure Law, a Federal law passed by Congress. This law makes it explicitly and unequivocally illegal for American citizens to come into contact with objects of an alien nature, be they items of equipment, spaceships or alien pilots. Heavy fines or long prison terms under the auspices of NASA face anyone who defies this law by exposing him- or herself to contact with alien elements.
Nowadays, the wall seems to be cracking. Despite the bans, astronauts are talking about their experiences in space and their UFO encounters; scientists like Sagan admit to believing in the possible existence of UFO's; and CIA agents are even making special statements to the effect that the US government has been in touch with aliens for years.

OUR CONCLUSIONS

If the UFO phenomenon can in fact be attributed to a real event and to extraterrestrial origins, then we cannot rule out the possibility that aliens exist and are capable of landing on our planet. What's more, if this is true, we have to accept that year's of UFO sightings and occasional contacts with earthlings means that they are already here among us.
Who knows if aliens, for reasons best known to them, are not living next to us in our cities, masquerading as scientists, anthropologists, politicians or simple tourists (why not?).
That's why the idea of a UFO Section, The Andromeda Project, was born and its work developed, research into contact with aliens!
Strange but true: Antares, the artificial intelligence computer system used by The Andromeda Project, has produced a typical alien identikit from collected data, identifying possible I.Q., behaviour patterns and the nature of his perceptive state of consciousness.

HOW TO HELP

The UFO section of the Merlin's Cave Club invites contributions to research work involving collection and elaboration of data relevant to UFO encounters on our planet, in order to establish a clearer and more detailed view of the subject.
Our aim is ambitious: we're not satisfied with simply recycling data to support a structure just for its own sake - we intend to try "every possible means" of making contact with aliens.
With this in mind, the UFO section organises a research laboratory, open to everyone who can offer their own material and who would like to join in a free exchange of ideas and experiences for mutual interaction and growth.
The aims of the research are: a) to establish a database, b) to examine landing sites, c) to experiment with possible methods of contact, d) to experiment with levels of consciousness which can overcome cultural barriers and enable communication on achieving contact with alien intelligence forms, e) to test these methods of contact by experimenting immediately with a relationship of communication with other forms of intelligent life that exist on our own planet.
The UFO section also organises a special training course to prepare for contact with possible extraterrestrial intelligence. The course is based on the information we hold and supported by the artificial intelligence computer system, Antares, which helps as a science fiction consultant in a field where reality, in any case, goes beyond the imagination.