by Chris Pike
President Charles Sayer cleared his throat. “You’re right. Besides a few extra supplies and standard weapons, there is more to the story. What I’m about to tell you is related to National Security. I need your solemn oath you will never discuss what I’m about to tell you with anyone.”
The room went quiet. I don’t even think Kyle took a breath. Tommy was sitting in the corner sulking, but when ‘National Security’ was mentioned, he sat up.
“Kyle,” the president said, “you were recently discharged, right?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“You took the oath of allegiance to the United States when you joined the military.”
“I did.”
“Then I’m reinstating you.”
“My pleasure, Sir.” Kyle stood at attention, his eyes fixed on something in the distance.
“Ella, May, Tommy, and Travis. The United States has been attacked, and I need your help right now. I need you to enlist in the armed forces of the United States and to raise your right hand to take the oath of allegiance.”
“Excuse me, Sir,” May said. “I’m only 16. I’m not sure I’m old enough.”
“I’ll make an exception in your case, young lady, because we need you. Are you willing to step up to the plate for your country?”
May hesitated, so I took the chance to intervene. “She’s the only family I have left, President Sayer. I’d rather she not enlist. We lost our parents, and I couldn’t stand to lose my sister. She’s all I have.” I pleaded to him with my eyes.
“Ella,” he said, “we will all have challenges in the future, difficult decisions to make, and we may not make this out alive, but by God, I’ll go down fighting. I will stand my ground against our enemies, and if I die trying, then so be it. This is our home, our land, and I won’t stand idly by while some rogue nation comes in and takes what they want. If you’re with me, then take a step forward.”
The moment was tense, yet I had to act. There was no other alternative. I took a deep breath and stepped forward. May was right by my side, taking her own step. Travis joined us and stood on the other side of me. Only Tommy hesitated.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Tommy griped, his voice filled with anger and frustration. “We barely survived and now you want us to put our lives on the line for what? You?”
“Not me,” President Sayer said. “Your country, yourself, and those who survived.”
“Tommy,” I said loudly to get his attention, “when the going is easy you sure are the big man on campus, strutting around like you own the place. Captain of the baseball team. Homecoming King last fall. It took me a while to see your true colors.” My disappointment was apparent as my eyes flicked from his eyes to his feet then back up to his face. “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“Be a man and stand here with us.”
Reluctantly, Tommy joined us, standing on the other side of Travis. President Sayer asked us to raise our right hand and to repeat after him. In unison, we began. I said, “I, Cindrella Strong, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, and that I will obey the orders of the president of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”
We took a collective breath, and the mood turned surprisingly jovial. I high-fived May and gave her a hug, followed by another high-five with Travis and Kyle. I lamely slapped Tommy’s raised hand in a show of unity.
“Who wants a drink?” Travis asked.
“I do,” Kyle said.
“Me too,” Tommy chimed in.
Travis gave Tommy a skeptical glance. “You old enough?”
“I am now.”
Travis opened a cabinet on the far side of the engine room. Using a screwdriver, he removed two screws, set them aside, then removed a panel. Behind the panel was a bottle of Kentucky bourbon.
Travis cleared his throat. “It’s against regulations to have liquor on the train. I only kept this in case of an emergency, and I think this counts as one.”
He set the bottle on a flat surface, retrieved several Styrofoam cups, and carefully poured a shot in each cup before handing out the cups to the guys. He offered May and I a drink, but we declined. “You need something. How about a Coke?”
“That’ll do,” I said.
A moment later, Travis poured May and I a warm splash of Coke.
“I’d like to propose a toast,” Travis said, holding up the cup. “To us, our good fortune for being alive, and for finding Charlie, er, I mean the president.
“I’ll toast to that,” Kyle said.
We all tapped our Styrofoam cups together and took a drink.
“Thank you, everyone,” President Sayer said. “Now it’s time for us to work together to get that pod on the train.”
The room was quiet. I normally would have asked why, but since we were now military, and according to the oath I took, we were to obey the orders of the president.
“Are there any questions?” Charlie asked.
I checked the expressions around me. Everyone was stoic and was either looking at their feet or the walls, or the landscape outside, anywhere except at the President. I decided to speak up.
“I have a question.”
“Go on.”
“Why do we need to get the pod on the train?”
“We certainly don’t want the enemy to get their hands on it.”
“What enemy?”
“The people who did this to us, Ella. That’s who.”
Chapter 14
Present Day
West of Houston
Well, that piqued everybody’s interest, even May who, as of last week, was more concerned about her outfit matching and the latest gossip at school than matters of National Security. She had been suppressing her tears and masking her pain, and that made me very proud. My little sister, putting on a brave face.
From the concerned expressions, everyone else was waiting on the president to explain exactly what had transpired and what was so important in the pod. I had studied the constitution in class, and learned about world history, but I wasn’t versed on the intricacies of foreign affairs. Neither could I grasp why another world power would inflict so much misery and indiscriminate death on innocent people.
President Charles Sayer gathered us around him. The engine room had enough seats for the conductor, the assistant conductor, and the engineer, and fortunately a few more. A plethora of dials and gauges decorated the front panel along with other stuff I had no idea what it was. It looked like a mini cockpit. There were two bunk beds on one wall, which May and I occupied. This was a freight train, not a passenger train, so there were no comforts of the latter.
“Travis was right,” President Sayer said. “It’s not the water and medical supplies we need. It’s the entire pod.” He paused to let that sink in. “The escape pod is state-of-the-art technology and design. In layman’s terms, it has all the bells and whistles, hula hoops, skipping rope, along with the entire playground. The technology is so new that no other government has it, but I can tell you they know about it, and they want it. The technology is to today what the atom bomb was to WWII, and it will change the face of war. The energy that propels the pod is not a combustible engine, like what a car, an airplane, or even this train uses. It’s something different. It’s as sci-fi as the warp drive is on the Starship Enterprise. The possibilities are endless.”
“If you don’t mind me asking a question, who discovered it?” Travis asked.
“You won’t believe this, but a high school kid from Michigan. One of my National Security advisors saw it on YouTube.”
“You gotta be kidding,” I said, completely flummoxed.
“I’m not. It was a science fair project. To top it off, he didn’t even get an A on the project. You’d be surprised at the crazy things kids come up wi
th, and how the brilliance of their ideas isn’t understood or valued. The kid knew, and that’s why he put it on YouTube.”
“What prevented the kid or his family from selling the idea?” Travis asked.
President Sayer’s gaze dropped to the ground. “The entire family was killed in a car accident.”
The room went quiet, and we all looked around at each other. Tommy’s jaw dropped, and May, being as young as she was, gave me a quizzical look. She was too young to comprehend the president’s statement or its implications. Travis crossed his arms, keeping his eyes zeroed in on the president.
Travis finally broke the silence. “Oh? That sure was convenient, don’t you think? The U.S. government or perhaps even you,” he said, “gave the okay to have the family killed? For what? National Security?”
“Look, Travis,” President Sayer said, taking a step towards him, “you have to believe me that all I know was the family was killed on a slick road during a thunderstorm. Full stop. The end.”
“And I suppose nobody saw the accident,” Travis said quite smugly.
“Correct.”
“Unbelievable!” Travis shook his head in disbelief. “I always suspected the US government was behind some shady killings.”
The tenseness of the room was palpable, and I thought Travis was about to go into bat shit crazy mode. I wasn’t sure what his background was, but he wasn’t acting like he had just taken an oath to the United States. I had to think quickly, and decided some humor was needed.
“And to think, I was proud of my science fair project I did to determine how long the sun’s rays took to burn a hole in different colored construction paper,” I commented.
“That sounds interesting,” President Sayer said. “How’d you do that?”
“Using a magnifying glass.”
“Ella, that’s a good project because you can start a fire that way. The sun’s rays are channeled and magnified to burn a hole in the paper. It takes longer if it’s not sunny, but if it’s all you have, it’ll work.”
He gave me a look like he understood I was trying to divert everyone’s attention away from the so-called accident.
“So,” President Sayer said, “let’s get back on track. If the new technology falls into the hands of the wrong people, the balance of world power will change. That’s why we can’t leave the pod.”
“Okay, wait a minute,” Travis said. “So our government knew some other government wanted our new technology?”
“Yes.”
“Then why was it being used on the escape pod?”
“Because the previous pod had to have a pilot. This technology is so easy to use, it doesn’t need a pilot. The technology can also revolutionize travel. By that I mean cars won’t need to use gasoline anymore.”
“But you crashed the pod,” Travis pointed out.
“Yes, but it’s a good thing we had the new pod on Air Force One, otherwise I would have perished. I survived without a pilot, and that’s what counts.”
“Was anyone left alive on Air Force One?” I asked.
“Only me,” President Sayer mumbled. “I was the only one who didn’t succumb to the biological agent. All those good people. Gone.”
“Talk about draining the swamp,” Tommy added cheerfully, pumping his fist.
“Tommy! That’s awful.” I couldn’t believe he said that. “Now isn’t the time or place.”
“Perhaps, but it’s true. Who cares how many politicians are dead? I say good riddance to all of them.”
I looked away in disgust.
“Are you old enough to vote?” the president asked.
“I am,” Tommy answered in a cocky voice.
“Did you?”
“I don’t vote.” He put his nose in the air, proud of the fact he hadn’t bothered.
“That’s what I thought. I’ve had dealings with people like you. People who are only in this for themselves, who don’t give a damn about their fellow Americans. Next time you should consider voting.”
Tommy huffed. “You’re an old man, and damn lucky to have survived. If it wasn’t for us, that pod would’ve been your coffin.”
“Maybe so. But I would have died with the knowledge I’ve done something with my life. What have you done with yours?”
“I played sports in high school, and I was good enough to get a scholarship.”
“Then I defer,” President Sayer said with casual indifference. “If you received a scholarship based on grades and sports participation, then that is an accomplishment. Congratulations.”
I snorted, and Tommy sent me a wide-eyed stare full of razor sharp daggers.
“Am I missing something?” the president asked, his eyes flicking to me then to Tommy.
“I ‘tutored’ Tommy in school,” I said, making air quotes. “He applied for a scholarship, but hadn’t received it as of last week.”
“Yeah, Ella, but I was going to get it.”
“Now we’ll never know, will we?”
Tommy cut his eyes away from me.
“President Sayer, doesn’t Air Force One have some sort of protection from biological warfare?” I asked.
“It does, but by the time someone realized what was happening, it was too late.”
“Wait a sec,” I said. “I was watching TV when I saw a Secret Service man put on a gas mask.”
“What? Where?”
“Right before Air Force One was waiting to take off at Ellington Field. It was the biggest news of the morning. The Secret Service men had their weapons drawn, and had formed a barrier to the plane. One of the men put on the gas mask and ran away.”
President Sayer had a hard time digesting that. “That can only mean one thing.”
“Why? What does it mean?”
“The man knew enough to put on a gas mask before the biological agent hit everyone. He’s a traitor. Ella, did you get a good look at him?”
“No. They all looked the same to me. Black suits, dark sunglasses. So you think he knew what was about to happen?”
“Yes.”
“Incredible. So what happened? I mean, why did the plane crash? You obviously got on board.”
“We didn’t get off in time,” President Sayer said. “The plane takes in outside air, which gets compressed then funneled to the inside of the plane, meaning the biological agent was sent throughout the cabin.”
“Don’t you have a filter? Even our house has an air-conditioning filter,” I said.
“Good point, Ella. I like that you’re not afraid to ask questions. You’d make a good scientist.”
“It’s possible, but after what’s happened…” I dropped my gaze. It was too difficult to talk about.
“You’ll be okay,” Charlie said. He patted my back then lifted my chin with his hand. “Keep the faith, Ella. And keep a positive attitude. Can you do that?”
“I think so.”
“Good. Getting back to what happened on Air Force One, and to your question, the plane does have a filter. I’m guessing the cloud dispersed molecules of the biological agent in front of it. The pilots were worried about the cloud and its effects. Air Force One can’t lift off like a helicopter. It takes time to get a jet that size to lift off. So while I was being transported to Ellington Field, the plane had been preparing for takeoff. Doors were shut, engines running, and the moment I ran up the steps to the plane, someone opened the door, threw me in, and shut the door, but not before those molecules in front of the cloud got in. I was rushed to a secure room, buckled in, and we took off without waiting for clearance. That’s how the filter system got bypassed.”
We all stood there in shock. I couldn’t imagine how one simple action of not closing the door in time could cripple Air Force One. It goes to prove every possible emergency was impossible to plan for.
President Sayer continued. “After that, the pilots in the cockpit succumbed first. When they dropped, the backup pilot rushed forward. He dropped dead, then the fourth pilot did, my personal assistant, my National Secur
ity advisor, two speechwriters, Marines, a doctor and a nurse, and many members of the press. We were doomed like everybody else.”
“That’s awful,” I said.
“It had to have been worse on the ground.” He gave me a sympathetic look.
I nodded. “You must have known something bad was happening because I was watching the morning news that day. I remember reports on TV saying you were being rushed back to Washington.”
“I was. We had gotten reports about a suspicious weather phenomenon occurring in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s customary for our pilots to be in touch with the National Weather Service to check on weather conditions for takeoff. Specifically, it’s their chief meteorologist who alerted us to a strange weather pattern in the gulf. He wasn’t sure what it was since it wasn’t acting like a hurricane that can be tracked and prepared for. It wasn’t a thunderstorm, a tropical storm, or even red Sahara Desert sand that’s blanketed Europe before. He told us the cloud was growing bigger by the second, and was expected to reach Ellington Field by 8 a.m. There was no time to waste. Since Houston is only fifty miles from the gulf, it’s obvious now the people responsible for the attack knew I was in Houston. They were after me, no matter the amount of collateral damage.”
“President Sayer, I have a question,” I asked.
“Go on.”
“Why didn’t they shoot down Air Force One?”
“Impossible. We have sophisticated radar to detect incoming threats. And if by some chance a missile comes our way, we have countermeasures to protect the plane. It had to be done another way. I don’t think the enemy counted on Air Force One getting off the ground. I’m positive of it.”
“What’s next?”
“We can’t stay here. The people responsible will be looking for Air Force One, the pod, and me, or what they think is left of me,”
“Why would they want you if you’re dead?”
“Because only my DNA will launch the pod.”