I joined the British Army to make a difference; to keep our future — our tomorrow's safe. I joined to uphold a belief that the free world should stay just that — free.

My name is Kieran Fellows — Major Kieran Fellows, and when I joined the army, the world was all topsy-turvy with people doing all manner of crazy things in the name of patriotism or religion. I guess I was inspired by the heroism of the people involved in the aftermath of 9/11 and the London Tube bombings, vowing that if I had anything to do with anything, things like that would never happen again.

Eventually, I wound up at Land Command in a Joint Operations Task Force, codenamed 'The Fast Response Unit'. It consisted of members of the Royal Navy, Army and RAF and was led by Colonel James Acrington.

I was second in command, not because the Colonel was also an army man, but because I earned it. I was top of my class in computer science, had live experience of covert ops and proven leadership skills. Above all, it ensured that I was at the sharp end of any terrorist attacks, doing my bit to keep the country and its inhabitants safe.

On the morning of April 22^nd 2015, we got an emergency call from Yeovilton. It transpired that an unidentified aircraft crashed on Salisbury Plain. Hardly surprising considering the storm we were experiencing.

"Unidentified?" I asked as we headed towards the Chinook.

"They couldn't get close enough, sir."

"We are talking Tornado's aren't we?"

"Sir, yes sir, but it according to the pilots, they were at about mach 1.5 and it just disappeared."

"What, like vanished?"

"No sir. It accelerated to around mach 3 or more, sir. Had it not been hit by a bolt of lightning, they would never have known where it went."

"That's incredible."

"Yes sir. They think it's a UFO."

We had to wait until we got there and in the driving wind and rain, we located the downed aircraft to find that it was indeed unidentifiable though apparently undamaged. What was more, there was a pilot inside. He wasn't moving, which was why we took the decision to load the whole lot, into the Chinook.

It wasn't difficult. We marvelled at the fact that this thing wasn't any bigger than say a family estate car and yet, it was able to outrun our most technologically advanced fighters. Where it came from is anyone's guess, but it definitely wasn't from Earth.

Back at the base, Colonel Acrington was there to meet us as the craft was offloaded, still with the pilot inside, and placed in a large, secure hangar.

"Not of this world, eh?" he commented, drily.

"No sir. Wherever it is from though is far more advanced than us."

"You don't know that, Fellows. It could be something the damned A-rabs got their hands on."

"I don't think so, sir."

I was a little disturbed by that remark. The thing outran a pair of chasing Tornados that were heading for mach two in weather that would ground most civil aircraft and it did it almost silently. The thought that it might be something someone on this planet had put together was just not on my radar.

I was in the office when two RMP's turned up with the 'prisoner'. I looked at what looked like a normal human being, of average height and weight.

"Where shall we put h—, uh..."

"He is fine, Captain," I said irritably. "Confine him to quarters."

"But sir," the RMP Captain complained. "He doesn't have quarters."

"Then find him some."

This didn't go down well with the Colonel.

"Just what d'you think you're doing, Fellows?" he demanded. "This isn't a bloody holiday camp."

"I know, sir, but at the same time, this is our first contact with an alien species. I didn't think that it would be fair to just dump him in the cells."

"Didn't think?" he asked, his face reddening with the apparent effort it was taking to keep himself under control. "Didn't think?? I should say you didn't think. You have no idea what this ... this... thing is doing here and you're offering it guest quarters?"

"Sir," I said quietly.

"If you want anything done, do it yourself..." he muttered.

The interrogation of the 'prisoner' started later that day and I can't say I was in favour of the methods. To my knowledge, the pilot had been given no food or water since his arrival and we had no idea whether he was in any fit state to undergo interrogation.

"We have to get in before the suits from the ministry get here," was the Colonel's argument.

He had also had the pilot moved to the cells, where food and drink was provided and later, I got to sit in on a couple of the questioning sessions.

The pilot had a sufficiently good command of English to make it possible to converse — although that appeared to be the last thing on the Colonel's mind — browbeating might have been more accurate.

I was quite embarrassed by the way this lone pilot from who knew where was being treated. I had hoped it would have been with a little more decency and respect, but instead, he was being treated more like a criminal.

I think it was the fourth session that we finished late and still the Colonel had stormed out, having got nowhere — well aside from making the pilot more tight-lipped and I was alone with him, waiting for the guards to come to take him back to the cells.

I wondered what it was like on his planet, whether they had the same petty problems as we did and also what it looked like. Did they have trees or mountains? What was their weather like and what about the animals?

I knew I wouldn't have the chance to ask; to actually sit down and talk to this man whose life might not have been so dissimilar to my own and whose hopes and fears might weigh upon him just as ours did.

As the door opened, I motioned for the prisoner to stand and as he did so, he 'fell' forward and grabbed hold of me.

We stood locked together for what felt like a lifetime and as we did, I saw things I had never seen before and I could almost touch the scenery, the sky, the grass — the trees.

I could feel the fear he felt as we had marched him into the interrogation room for the first time. I understood how he felt about being captured, that one oversight at being hit by that lightning bolt as he crossed Salisbury Plain.

Then there was how he felt about me. He liked me, just as I felt that he and I were kindred spirits; that we would probably have put protocols aside and talked to one another. I knew he understood my position and trusted me.

He knew I would do the right thing.

As the guards rushed us, it seemed like it was all happening in slow motion as my head filled with stuff I couldn't comprehend and as they pulled the two of us apart, I heard his voice in my head:

"Use it wisely, my friend..."

At that point I had to sit down.

"You alright sir?" one of the guards asked.

"Yes, I'm perfectly alright thank you. No harm done, I think he just stumbled."

It took ages for me to get to sleep that night, but the more my brain processed, the more I understood Aldmect's motives. I had his entire life history in my head after all — or at least, that's how it seemed. It also seemed as if I had a choice for tomorrow...

The next morning, much had become clearer. I could see why Aldmect did what he did and somehow, his motives seemed to reinforce the feeling I had about him from the very beginning; that he wasn't here to harm.

On the contrary, he was here to save.

"Well that was a complete waste of time," said the Colonel.

"Sir?"

"We had him here for two days and learned nothing," he said, leaning back in his chair. "Still, we have his craft..."

"They're not taking it?" I asked.

"Not today. The have said that it's safe enough where it is and will come back in a week or so." But before then, I can get some of my chaps on it...

I nearly jumped out of my skin.

I looked around to see if there was someone else in the room, but apparently not. It must have been Colonel James thinking. I wondered whether telepathy was another facet to the 'gift' Aldmect had bestowed upon me.

A man appeared in the doorway. "Colonel Acrington?" he asked.

"What is it?"

"The man — um, well, the thing that was in custody..."

"Yes?" the Colonel asked irritably. "What is it man? Spit it out."

"He's dead."

They had found him this morning and it appeared as though he had died during the night.

I didn't know quite what to do. The information I had in my head was increasing and now not only did I know what Aldmect wanted, but what would happen if he failed.

It seemed that his race and ours were the same. Well we were originally. It was just that some of them went one way — his way, finding an uninhabited planet, while for some reason the others landed here where there was already an indigenous species present — Neanderthal Man.