It is not unusual for me to work late hours and I usually take my last break on the job around six in the evening. On this particular evening my break was anything but usual. Customarily I end my break with a ritual tobacco smoke on the roof and this night in that regards was typical. What was bizarre is what happened a minute or two after lighting up. It was a cool evening and I didn't have my coat, so I stood at the roof access doorway and looked blankly at a building about two hundred feet in front of me. Some movement caught my eye so I looked a bit up and to my left to see something just a bit unusual.

About half as far as the building I had just been looking at were two dark, slightly oblong objects circling each other in a clockwise direction, perpendicular to my perspective. The gun-metal grey oval shaped things followed a circle of around eight feet in diameter and, here's one of the oddest parts, were approximately sixteen inches in length. Although not much larger than your average balloon (though more symmetrical), they didn't behave like something so passive. Their course was steady, without the jerks and bobs you'd expect from balloons at the mercy of the wind. Even if they had been balloons the wind wouldn't be able to account for their movements since it should have been coming from the west (as is usual on the mostly cool San Franciscan days) and their motion was from North to South. Even if the wind was blowing from the North (which is far from typical here) I would have remembered if there was a strong wind and these objects were swift.

They did not diverge from their circular route until after I noticed them loop around at least three times. When the apparent leader broke the formation at the low point of a loop and continued directly south. I could have sworn that the twin object stopped in mid-stream (rather than waiting for the low point of the curve) and followed in pursuit. As I saw them become smaller in the distance I'd wished that a pair of binoculars were at hand.

Perhaps thirty seconds after this thought, shortly after seeing them disappear on the horizon, a much larger object came into view. A small, dark, and apparently highly maneuverable helicopter, flying much lower than normal in the city, was circling above the building in a tight arc. What was odd besides its low altitude is that I don't remember hearing much sound coming from it. It was extremely quite for the height it was flying at (as low as one hundred feet above me). I looked for markings but, since the sun was ready to set, any direct light from the sun would have come from behind it (there was also a tall building blocking the sun in direct line with me and the helicopter).

About a minute later I again witnessed a pair of small, dark oval shaped objects flying together at the same height and on the same course as the previous two. This time they didn't pause to perform any loops. Again their course was smooth and sure. Half a minute later the helicopter swooped over the building again. I put out my cigarette and descended the stairwell thinking "how very strange"...