A Silicon Valley company enters Fort Ord, troubleshooting the future in our midst.

It took 20-plus years, but Silicon Valley has finally arrived at the former Fort Ord.

It’s not in the form of a satellite office. Rather, a block of blighted buildings has become a semi-secret testing ground for drones that can make deliveries.

The project comes from X, formerly known as Google X, the innovative research arm of Alphabet Inc., formerly known as Google. (The company restructured and rebranded in 2015.)

The buildings – which are enclosed by a chain-link fence between 6th and 7th avenues off Gigling Road – are in Seaside, and the city inked a lease with X on April 11 allowing the company to use the property through the end of the year for $10,000.

According to Seaside Economic Development Program Manager Kurt Overmeyer, X has since been testing their drone prototypes – the company refers to them as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs – a couple of times a week.

“I went out and watched a few tests, and I barely understand how it works,” Overmeyer says, adding that the times when X does testing are kept under wraps, so as not to attract onlookers.

Both Overmeyer and City Manager Craig Malin have hopes the relationship could lead to something bigger.

“We’re definitely courting them,” Overmeyer says. “Part of the reason we want to help them is there’s potential to get some part, or a substantial part, of the project they’re working on down here.”

Per the confidentiality clause in the lease, city officials did not broadcast the agreement, and it was not published on any City Council agendas. A copy was provided to the Weekly upon request.

It turns out X might not be the only Silicon Valley company operating at Fort Ord. Josh Metz, economic development manager for the Fort Ord Reuse Authority, says he’s aware of at least three companies – X being one of them – that have explored possibilities there.

Metz won’t say which companies, other than X, nor can he speak to what, exactly, the companies are, or were, exploring. “I’m not at liberty to say anything,” he says.

Nobody from X would speak on the record about the Fort Ord tests, but the company did provide a statement via email that confirms they are occurring, and are part of X’s “Project Wing.”

“The old buildings, streets and trees make a great testing ground for our unmanned aerial vehicle delivery system,” the statement reads. “What we learn at Fort Ord will help us develop a system to transport and deliver goods in a way that’s cheaper, faster and greener than what’s possible using ground transportation today.”

A video on X’s website shows a UAV lowering a picnic box, attached to a cable, onto a field, where a man and woman await lunch with bottles of hot sauce ready. The cargo, presumably, is tacos.