At night, observed a silent color changing object fly through the sky.

My self and two friends were looking at a white light approximately 1/2 mile away across a valley. From the way it was going on and off, we thought it was someone walking through the trees with a flashlight. Then the light became steady and started rising into the sky. It then began moving quickly to the North-East. Suddenly it stopped as if it had hit a wall. It remained motionless for about two seconds then the light changed to orange remaining motionless for about two more seconds then resumed the same course at a very high rate of speed. After a short time the light changed to red and the object appeared to double in speed. Within a few seconds it was out of sight. When it passed by we were approximately 1/4 mile away, yet we did not hear a sound.