Dear Helen,
My desk has presented me with the final draft. I found myself reading from cover to cover, again and again. Forgive the lateness of my reply, but to see the world from your eyes is to see a world so vivid, so riveting that it has captured my attention in a vice like a block of wood, ready to be sawn open at an angle entirely dictated by your wonderful mind. There is much that I knew in your book, but much that even I did not. You have been presented a thin brief: to tell the eighty year story of Black Sierra Air Force Base. In this endeavor, you have excelled. You have shown the world the simple bricks and concrete that we service personnel take for granted every day and transformed them into an Alexandrite palace of knowledge, into a New Mexican Shangri-La. For this, you have the gratitude of everyone stationed at Black Sierra; past, present and future. Every pilot, every airborne soldier, every controller, every administrator, every member of domestic staff. Every engine hums with your cerebral fuel, roaring above the skies as if the jets were holding up the sun itself. Once again: thank you.
With all this praise being laid upon you by not only myself, but also my staff - all of it deserved I assure you - there is one change that I implore you to make regarding the chapter on Project Silver Paper. One of the major figures involved - no, the major figure - is the relative of one of the United States of America's most important military officials. Perhaps you are already aware of this, or perhaps you have gasped in shock as you piece together what I might be insinuating. We have let you into the darkest hole imaginable, a void and unknowably long hell where every cog, gear and axle of the American military-industrial machine plays its part in a twisted orgy of vomitous oil. This darkest hole goes deeper than you know; than even I know; and we ask you to respect its boundaries. Scandal would not cover it. For the public to work out what I'm implying to you would cause the total collapse of the land we love. We want the official history of Black Sierra to be one of wonder and mystery, of tall tales that all shall enjoy and none shall believe. We do not want your magnificent prose to become a cookbook for terrorists domestic and foreign alike. I am not meaning to imply that you have seen too much, or that this letter will self-destruct within a few seconds of your reading these words. I'm just telling you to come up with something. Blame it on someone who sounds believable. The contract is at stake.
As for your son, he has been deployed to Libya, where he will continue to fight for the freedom of our nation and the rest of the world. Do not attempt to contact him, but be assured of his continued safety. For the sake of all humanity, we wish him well in his mission.
Regards,
Colonel Marlene Backhaus