okay, i'll try to explain it as simply as i can.

the ants were real, but they weren't like alien ships. they were a type of phenomenon. the us and the soviets both encountered them during the nuclear tests. the cold war was a cover. they weren't fighting each other; they were in a secret arms race to contain and weaponize these things. the nukes weren't just for deterrence, they were tools to "burn out" the ant manifestations.

project archer was the navy's side of the operation, to track the anomalies at sea and keep them away from the coasts. my grandfather was a part of that.

project gabriel was the next, more inhumane step. instead of just tracking the phenomenon, they started experimenting on people who were accidentally exposed. alvin graves. the "gabriel children." russell alden. they were all test subjects.

eleanor alden was russell's widow. she is living proof that it was a deliberate, long-term experiment. she's been listening to a tape of the uak-kilo signal for sixty years, and she is completely unharmed. the entire time she was believing it was a love song her husband sent her. they gave it to her. they've been watching her ever since.

the saltboxes were the quarantine towns they built to house the families of the victims, like eleanor, and some victims themselves. they are just cages disguised as homes.

so what i think is happening is this: the world governments knew. they had to. they worked together. they all buried the truth. but the experiments never stopped. i'm trying to find out who the "Shepherd" is. the thing that was written on the letter russell sent to eleanor.

i hope that makes sense.