by Bob Blink
"Why?" the VP asked.
"How long can we continue to build and keep a force deployed looking, when we are finding nothing? For some reason they may have elected to pull back, wait, and later move forward again. Who knows their reasoning? Maybe they are not as invincible as we have been fearing, and they don't want us coming after them. They pull back, and later begin again somewhere else."
"This is going to greatly complicate matters," the President said. "We'll have to have some explanation for what we've been doing."
"And we are going to have to release those people with some kind of explanation and apology. We are going to look very foolish."
"I'm not ready to back off on this," the President said. "We have to have some other option."
At that moment the red phone on the President's desk rang. He looked at it annoyed at the interruption, but it wasn't a phone to be ignored. He walked over and picked it up.
"That was Chet," the President said to the group after listening a moment. "He says Stephanie believes they have found them."
Chapter 51
"Just where is this place?" Colonel Jones asked. "I've heard of it, but never paid any attention to where it is located."
"The Calvert Cliffs Nuclear facility is located on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay near Lusby," Steph explained. "It is the only nuclear plant in Maryland, and the closest to Washington, D.C."
"That's something like fifty or sixty miles from here," VP Rod Davis said after a moment's thought. "I thought these aliens were supposedly based here in Washington somewhere." He had come to the meeting to represent the White House, the President committed to a meeting with a couple of foreign leaders who were in town.
"Maybe they moved," Major Garcia suggested.
"We don't know anything about them," Steph reminded the group. "All the evidence suggests they somehow use our power transmission lines to move around. The Calvert Plant is connected into the East Coast power grid, so they could conceivably move almost anywhere from there. A lot would depend how quickly they travel."
"But a nuclear plant," VP Davis complained. "If they somehow set that thing to blow up, we're going to have real trouble."
"Nuclear power plants don't blow up," Colonel Jones said.
Karl nodded. He knew a great deal about such places. He planned to seek employment there after graduation. "The designers didn't have bombs in mind when they designed them. They can have core meltdowns, containment structure failures, or massive steam explosions, all bad, but they don't turn into atomic bombs."
"Unless the aliens blow it up somehow," Major Garcia suggested. "That could spread the radiation over a wide area."
"So could a core meltdown and a containment structure failure," Karl added.
"This could turn out very bad," The VP said. "The plant isn't all that far from Washington. If the winds were wrong, we'd be exposed to dangerous amounts of radiation. Washington would have to be abandoned."
"How come this place is just now reporting their findings?" the Colonel asked.
"I did some checking," Steph said. "The facility has had a checkered history. Whoever is running it apparently has their own views on priorities. A couple of years back they were investigated for lax security after a couple of reporters drove right up close to the reactor area without any permission or engagement with guards. Then they had an issue with incorrectly calibrated radiation sensors. My impressions from the engineer who I spoke with after receiving the data was they were busy with preparing a bid to add a third reactor, something they've done before and been denied. They had never seen any of the kinds of signals we asked about, their technical staff said they were unrealistic, and it was more Washington BS, and didn't take it serious. Only because one of their techs was curious did they even set up and make some measurements."
"And they found the same signatures you and Karl detected before?" Colonel Jones asked, to be certain.
"That's why I was talking with the engineer down there. After their report, I wanted to be certain, so I had him forward the data. Both Karl and I agree, these are the same."
Karl nodded. "They can't say how long the signals might have been present, since they haven't been monitoring for such things, but they have had a problem for several years now of unexplained losses in power output. They have been blaming the anomaly on the energy transfer between the primary and secondary coolant systems, something difficult to verify with the plant operational. I would question their postulate, since it appears to have been an intermittent problem, with a varying degree of severity."
"Only in Unit 2," Steph added for completeness.
"Unit 2," the VP asked.
"There are two functional reactors at the facility," Karl explained. "Both reactors are designed to output roughly 850 Megawatts of electrical power. Unit 1 has always run more or less to spec, but Unit 2 has shown the anomalous behavior."
"It sounds as if you are inclined to blame the power shortages on the aliens," Colonel Jones said.
Steph nodded. "I believe it's fair to assume the aliens need power for their activities. Now they might have access to their own sources, but if not, a nuclear plant would be ideal to supply sufficient power for what they might need, say clone building and the like. That could explain the random nature of the power shortages. More power is missing when the aliens were actively engaged in something."
"I was expecting something closer," the Colonel noted, agreeing with Major Garcia, "but this is the only instance we've uncovered, and it clearly is in the Washington area."
He turned to one of his aides, said something, and then turned back to the group.
"I want the plant manager from that facility here in Washington this afternoon. I want him to bring his chief engineers, and I want diagrams of the facility, and layouts that show every possible pathway through the facility and any areas large enough where these aliens might have set up shop, especially any spaces that might not be checked regularly. Before then, let's go have a look at this place. I just told my aide to get my chopper ready. We can fly down and have a look. It might be hard to get close on the ground in short notice, but we can see quite a bit from the air."
"It's a bigger facility than I thought," VP Davis noted as they passed overhead in the military chopper that the Colonel had ordered. "I had the impression for some reason that nuclear plants were smaller and more contained."
The facility was butted up against the bay, with a seemingly haphazard layout of buildings and other structures, including the power grid on the opposite side of the single access road that led to the facility. The road didn't appear to be designed to accommodate a large amount of traffic, nor did it end at what was an obvious entrance to the plant.
"There looks to be a lot of areas where the aliens might hide," Major Garcia said.
"Those two cylindrical structures house the two reactor units," Karl explained as he pointed to the two massive structures next to a large rectangular building, surrounded by support structures, tanks, power lines, and several smaller buildings. The immense scale was shown by the apparent size of the vehicles parked around the various buildings.
"Where are the cooling towers?" Colonel Jones asked. "That's one of the key structures that always suggests a power plant to me."
"This facility doesn't require them," Karl explained. "It uses the bay to dump the excess generated heat. You can see how provisions have been made to bring the water right up close to the edge of the facility. Millions of gallons of hot water are being dumped into the bay, to mix and remove the waste heat."
"Wouldn't that be an environmental problem?" the VP asked.
"They'd limit the difference in temperature to something like ten degrees," Karl explained. "That would easily be absorbed by the amount of water in the bay."
As the chopper circled and made another pass, Garcia noted, "It's going to be an impossible task to search all those outlying buildings."
"The signals appear to have been restricted to the area around the Un
it 2 reactor," Karl reminded them. "We can ask that they search a wider area to be certain, but that would suggest we only need to focus on the area around that reactor and the associated buildings. "
"I can't see how any aliens could function in a place this busy without someone noticing," the Colonel pointed out. "If those that work here haven't noticed anything, how can we expect our troops to sense anything out of the ordinary?"
"We'll have to rely on the monitoring gear and follow the electronic signatures," Karl said.
"The presence of all the armed troops can't go unnoticed," Steph pointed out. She'd heard what kind of presence the military planned on deploying. "Maybe that will stir up the aliens and get a reaction."
They were all silent as they considered what that might mean.
"We'll have to come in by land," Major Garcia said, considering the practicalities of getting his forces in here. There was no way to land troops from the bay, air drops into the area would be dangerous and clumsy, so the lone road in would be how they would get in.
"Anyone need to see more?" the Colonel asked.
When no one said anything, he ordered the pilot to head back to Washington. To Garcia he said, "I want continuous drone coverage of that area until we have verified whether the aliens are here or not. Start putting plans together to secure the plant. You need to be in the meetings this afternoon with the plant manager to see what we are facing once we get inside?"
"What about the staff?" Steph asked.
"They've been there all along without incident. I can't see they would be at risk until we move our people in place. We'll probably want them to field a minimum staff of volunteers, who are ready to clear out if things get dicey. It would be best not to cut off the power being delivered unless we find something to make that necessary. They can shut it down as they leave if we get into a fight like we did at the capitol plant."
"These things don't have a switch," Karl pointed out. "Shutting it down is considerably more complicated and time consuming than that. If you encounter trouble, the staff can't simply abandon it or you are going to risk that meltdown we were talking about."
"There's probably five million people within fifty miles of this place," the VP pointed out as they flew over the surrounding cities, "including the fringes of Washington itself."
The Colonel considered this information, but they had little choice in having to go in and have a look. Even if the President hadn't already directed the action, he knew there was no choice. They also couldn't reveal their purpose to either the plant people, or the surrounding communities. They'd have to hope the plant personnel would accept the terrorist lie, and that nothing would go wrong and put the nearby population at risk, but he knew this had disaster written all over it.
"Just what is this all about?" Jed Grummon asked as he was seated in the small conference room on the upper floor of the Pentagon. A former engineer turned manager, he'd spent all of his adult life in the nuclear power industry, the last ten in charge of the Calvert Cliffs nuclear facility, and had been stunned by the demand, supposedly from the President himself, that he make an unscheduled appearance today, with some very specific directions as to what he was to bring. His Chief Engineer, Nick Simmons, was with him as directed. He was used to directing others, and didn't like being told what to do, so when the limo appeared at the site to bring him to this meeting he was ready with a great number of questions, all which the driver was unable to answer. To top things off, he was brought not to the White House as expected, but here to the Pentagon. He didn't like how this was developing. He didn't recognize anyone other than the Vice President. The President, who supposedly summoned him, wasn't here, of course.
"Before we answer any questions, or begin, it is required that you read and sign this document," a man in a uniform that Grummon didn't recognize explained. He set a thin document in front of Jed.
It took Grummon only a moment to understand what it was.
"This is a non disclosure document. It forbids me from speaking to anyone about what we discuss today, or in the future regarding this issue, whatever it is, on the penalty of severe repercussions."
"That is correct," the military type agreed. "More simply, you mention anything about this without our approval, and you'll be sent to prison, for a very long time."
"How about I don't sign it, and we simply skip all this?" Grummon asked, not liking this even more.
"Then we simply send you off to confinement right now, and get someone else from your facility to help us," the officer replied, a harsh glare directed Grummon's way.
"You can't do that," Grummon protested.
"You don't want to test that theory," the VP injected into the conversation. "This meeting is being held at the pleasure of the President, and given the nature of events behind it, we can and will do many things you might think impossible. That document is to impress upon you the seriousness of the situation."
Grummon glanced at the assembled faces, decided he had little choice, and signed the paper. He noted that Simmons had already signed his, and glanced at the man harshly. He pushed the document toward the waiting officer, who glanced at it, and passed it off to an aide.
"You are aware of some measurements that one of your engineers made recently in response to a request from the government?" Colonel Jones asked as he returned to his seat.
"Yes, of course," Grummon answered. "I was rather annoyed that one of my people wasted time with that after I specifically directed the request was to be set aside."
"And why did you do that?" the VP asked.
"There was no explanation of the reason for the tests, and after a quick glance at the kind of thing that was to be looked for it was quite apparent that nothing in a nuclear power plant could generate that kind of signal. We are busy enough at the moment not to be wasting time on some irrelevant whim of some bureaucrat here in Washington."
"Yet the signals were found," an unidentified man down the table pointed out.
"So what?" Grummon replied.
"They indicate that your facility has a significant problem that is going to require investigation," the Colonel said.
"What kind of problem?" Grummon asked, still annoyed by this whole situation.
"What I am about to tell you is the reason for the document you just signed, so think carefully about what you hear and what you consider telling anyone when you leave this place. Those signals have been linked to some extraterrestrial visitors that have been responsible for a number of deaths and spying on the United States."
It took Grummon a moment to really get what he was being told. He started to laugh, then looked at the grim faces around the table.
"ETs? You've got to be kidding? You don't think we would have noticed a bunch of aliens running around the plant?"
"Unfortunately, we don't know much about these beings, but preliminary evidence suggests they might be some form of energy based creatures. The signals that your engineering staff have detected have been linked directly to them, and suggest, despite your doubts, that they are there. We are going to have to have a detailed look at your plant."
"Who is going to have to look at the plant?"
"An armed force prepared to engage these creatures when they are located," the Colonel replied.
"Guns? You want to bring men with guns into a nuclear plant? Are you nuts? You can't do that."
"Unfortunately, it will be necessary, and you are mistaken about what I can do. Admittedly there are great risks here, but the risks of failure to act are even greater. With your help, and that of your associate, we hope to minimize the dangers and simplify the action that we will begin in the morning."
"I'll get a court order and stop you," Grummon threatened.
"No, you won't," the VP said threateningly.
"If we encounter the aliens, as we have in the past, there is likely to be significant damage to the facility," the Colonel warned. "You can help us minimize the ultimate fall-out from such an encounter."
"What
would you like from us?" the Chief Engineer asked, seeing where this was going.
"First of all, we'd like you to shut down the plant," the Colonel said. "That would rob the aliens of any power it is producing, and will allow you to get your staff out of the facility and possible danger."
"It doesn't work that way," Simmons said. "The plant has been running at nearly one hundred percent power for a long time. You can shut down the reactor, and bring the fissions to a stop, but the decay products don't simply vanish. There are a large number of radioactive nuclei that will be slowly decaying for a considerable period. They will be producing enough heat to result in a core meltdown unless appropriate cooling is maintained until they have decayed away."
"But you can greatly reduce the manpower that will be required, and should something happen to the cooling system, the odds of major damage will be significantly reduced," Zack pointed out.
Simmons looked at Zack, and realized this was someone who knew about reactors. He nodded and said, "It'll help, but a potential problem remains."
"If the worst happens and the reactor is destroyed, we can accept that," Colonel Jones said. "What we don't want is a breech in the containment or leakage of large amounts of radiation to the surrounding area."
"You are willing to risk destruction of the core?" Grummon asked.
"There is the possibility of significant damage to the facility," the Colonel admitted. "The government will stand behind any losses, but we cannot allow this threat to go unanswered."
"You want both units shut down?" Simmons asked.
The Colonel nodded.
"Even though your people only found indications of the aliens in Unit 2, it will be prudent to shut down everything," the VP agreed.