by Rob Roth
She was young and pretty, about half the age of the Colonel. They also found out that the Colonel met Kandy every week on Saturday. He was one of her regular customers. Since they were willing to pay for one hour of Kandy’s time, she was willing, although not particularly eager, to meet with Davis and Severs in her room.
“Miss Hartwell, thanks for meeting with us,” began Severs. “Can you tell me the nature of your relationship with Colonel Steinmacher?”
“The Colonel? I didn’t really know his last name. I just called him the Colonel. He liked to visit with me once a week. He said I was his favorite girl, because I was such a good listener.”
“What kinds of things did you talk about?”
“Well, he did most of the talking. Usually it was how much he liked me, and that I helped him so much with the stress of his work,” she said with a sly smile. “Occasionally he would also talk about being sorry for things he had done in the past. That he had started out intending to do good, but things didn’t always turn out the way one wanted them to. He would ask me if I thought he was a good person. Really, it’s kind of funny when you think about it, he asking me that question…” she said with a nervous laugh.
“Did he ever tell you what his responsibilities were, where he worked? Did he ever talk to you specifically about any missions or actions he had performed, or told you any information regarding anything he had learned or uncovered?”
“No, nothing like that. We didn’t really talk about his work.”
“Did he ever tell you specifically what it was that he had done, that he was sorry about?”
“Not directly. All I know is he’s been seeing me since he got stationed at some base nearby five years ago. That’s what he told me. So, whatever it was must have happened before then. Hey, he really does seem like a nice guy, and he always treats me with respect. Sometimes his… performance... is a little… aggressive… but he never hurts me. It’s like he is trying to punish himself or rid himself of the guilt or burden he is carrying, but of course it never really does go away. Not permanently. I can tell when guys are like that. I think in some ways they think they are loving me when really they are trying to make up for hating themselves.”
“Very perceptive, Miss Hartwell. Your perspective on this matter has been most helpful.”
Severs thanked Kandy and said she provided the information they needed, and they would not need to come back. But, they would appreciate it if she did not say anything to the Colonel about their conversation. Apparently no security breach occurred, so the investigation would be dropped.
Later when they were back at their hotel, Davis asked Severs, “Why would Colonel Steinmacher turn to a girl half his age to try to atone for what he thinks he did in the past?”
“I believe I read somewhere that anyone seeking love in the arms of a prostitute is actually seeking intimacy with God. They just don’t realize it and don’t know how to achieve it.”
“Do you think God will forgive Colonel Steinmacher?”
“For seeking comfort with Kandy? Personally, I don’t think there is anything that God won’t forgive, for either of them. However, one always has to live with the consequences. As far as what Steinmacher did in the past, I believe our next step is to get with the Colonel and figure out just what it is he has done, and what consequences we now need to deal with.”
The next Saturday, Severs and Davis were positioned outside the Victorian brothel at about 9:30 am, waiting for the Colonel to arrive. They were dressed in casual, nondescript clothes, with caps on, looking down at their phones. They were near the door but not so close that Colonel Steinmacher would have any reason to note their presence or be concerned about them.
Right on time, Steinmacher parked his car in the small parking lot, and walked toward the door. But before he had got all the way up the steps, he felt Severs’ gun in his back.
“Colonel, what a surprise running into you here. If you don’t mind, Davis and I would like to have a private conversation with you. Please, come join us in our car.”
“Captain Severs,” the Colonel sighed. “I wondered how long it would take for you to come and find me. Don’t worry, there’s no need for the gun. I won’t try to run, and I won’t try to get you arrested either. Remember, I’m the one who warned you about Heissman. I assume you are here because of what I said about having started this whole mess.”
As they stepped into the car and closed the door, Severs put down the gun, and Steinmacher continued.
“I’m actually more relieved than anything that you are here. I’ve been carrying this secret for a long time, and it’s wearing on me. It’s time I came clean and told someone, even though I was sworn by our government to secrecy. But I have to tell someone. I can’t live with this burden any longer. I fear by holding onto it I may be endangering the whole world, and I have a feeling that time is running out.
“So, what is this big secret?” asked Severs.
“Well, it all began about seven years ago.”
Major Steinmacher was curious as to why he was being called to the Pentagon. Regardless, it was a sunny day in Washington D.C. and he always enjoyed the ride from the airport. He caught a glimpse of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln memorial, and then rode past Arlington cemetery as they drew near to the Pentagon. Even after years of service, those sights were able to stir wonder in him, and pride in his service to the country he loved.
After his driver dropped him off, he came in through the secure main entrance, and notified the desk that he was there for an appointment to see General Freemark. After sitting and waiting for a few minutes, a subordinate appeared and led Steinmacher through various hallways until ushering him into the General’s outer office. The secretary notified Freemark that Steinmacher had arrived, and shortly Steinmacher was sitting down in the office facing the General.
“Major Steinmacher. Thank you for meeting me here in my office on such short notice. Let me get right to the point. We have a new top-secret program we are initiating, and I would like you to take on operational oversight. It is a joint military program involving both the Army and the Navy, so it requires cooperation and coordination through both branches. Given your past performance I believe you are the right man for the job.”
“I don’t know what to say, General. I’m honored, and of course I am willing to serve in whatever capacity my Country deems necessary.”
“Let me give you a little history, Major. As you know, China and Russia, among others, are making significant advances in developing new classes of space-based weaponry. If we don’t act now to develop countermeasures, we will soon find ourselves in the unacceptable position of being defenseless in the advent of a space-based attack. Therefore, the United States government has authorized the development of an advanced particle beam weapon powerful enough to take out space-based targeting satellites and missile systems.
"Actually, they have authorized the development of two weapons. One will be developed at the Army’s White Sands Missile Range and one at the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake. We need a primary and a backup system, and so these will be developed in parallel using the same technology. In essence they will be very large linear particle accelerators, or LINAC systems, utilizing heavier atoms.
"These LINAC’s will be able to accelerate focused mercury nuclei to near-light speeds, providing a virtually instantaneous response against any threat directed against the United States, even those that are space-based. What do you say, Major? Do you think you are up to the task of coordinating these two branches of the military and delivering us our new weapons?”
Major Steinmacher was honored to be considered for this role, not only because the technology involved captured his imagination, but also because it would provide needed defensive technology that would not only protect the U.S. but could also be used to protect the whole world against threats from above. Little did he realize his actions would result not in protecting the world against dangers from above, but in creating t
he most significant threat to the world from above.
The project required a lot of focus from Major Steinmacher to ease tensions and soothe egos from the two branches of the military. But he was also able to leverage their competitiveness to drive the testing of the particle accelerators to dates sooner than anticipated, and for that Steinmacher was rewarded by a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, and eventually, to Colonel.
A date was picked to run the test, which would be performed well after midnight. The airlines were secretly instructed to make sure no craft would be in the air space between White Sands and China Lake between 1:30 am and 2:30 am, when the test would be performed. This took some complex coordination and planning, but Steinmacher was well up to the task.
“China Lake, the skies are clear, not only the air space, but there is nothing in orbit in your path. You have permission to fire a test beam 60 degrees up and in the direction of White Sands,” Steinmacher transmitted.
“Firing the beam. The intensity metrics appear to be solid and within acceptable ranges. Test fire was successful.”
“White Sands. Skies are still holding clear as well as space orbit. Go ahead and fire at will, a test beam 60 degrees up and in the direction of China Lake.”
“Firing the beam. Intensity metrics are solid and within target ranges. Test fire successful.”
Steinmacher was satisfied the tests demonstrated the capability of the LINAC systems. They were both working successfully and delivering the necessary punch. He should have stopped there and declared success. However, there were no linear accelerators on Earth as powerful as these two. That piqued his curiosity.
“China Lake, White Sands. What would happen if we combined the particle beams? Would we get twice the punch where the beams cross?”
There was quite a long pause before White Sands responded. “Unknown Colonel. I would not recommend doing that because we lack the knowledge to predict the results. Those particle beams are very powerful. Smashing two accelerated beams of mercury nuclei together could cause some sort of unanticipated reaction.”
“The beams would cross at a pretty high altitude, which should be safe enough,” countered Steinmacher. “I posed this question to several theoretical physicists on our team and they don’t think it should present any issues. Unless you see operational challenges with this, I would like to test the metrics of the energy output at the point of crossing. This would permit us to utilize a more powerful beam, if the need warranted. One that could reach farther into space in the event the enemy determined to locate weapons in a very high orbit.
"White Sands China Lake, go ahead and prepare the beams for firing simultaneously on my command. We will only run the beams for one second." Once they were ready Steinmacher started the countdown.
"Three… Two… One... Fire!” The beams were fired as instructed and crossed mid-way between the test ranges at an altitude of 40,000 feet.
“China Lake, White Sands. Report. What was the beam intensity at the intersection point? Please confirm if we achieved twice the intensity as anticipated,” Asked Steinmacher.
Another long pause transpired as the two sites checked and double-checked their numbers. Finally, the response came back from China Lake.
“Negative. The input was not doubled. It was halved.”
“That’s our measurement as well,” reported White Sands. “Half the intensity.”
“What the hell does that mean?” asked Steinmacher. “How could the intensity be cut in half? That doesn’t make sense.”
China Lake then said something rather prophetic, although they were unaware at the time and thought they were being funny.
“I don’t know, Sir. It must have gone through a hole somewhere.”
“Is that it?” Captain Severs asked Steinmacher. “That’s your big secret? The new weapon didn’t work like you wanted it to?”
“Don’t you get it, Captain!” Steinmacher said raising his voice. “Get out a freaking map and draw a line between White Sands and China Lake and see where it intersected! We blew a freaking hole in space-time right over the Barringer crater! Every damn appearance of the spacecraft starts at Barringer, 40,000 feet up in the air, right where the beams crossed.”
Steinmacher continued in a subdued voice. “Of course, I suspected what I had done when the first ships started appearing right after the test. They came for about a year before they stopped. We decided to create TUFO near Barringer so we could monitor them if they came back. I thought everything would be ok because they stopped coming, until last year when we saw them reappear and begin searching for something. Did you know they came again a little more than a week ago?”
Suddenly it began to make sense to Severs. “Yes, because they showed up above me that night. They must have come from Barringer.”
“And we had an earlier appearance in late April.”
“I was in Greenland and they showed up there above me too,” said Severs.
“I tell you — they are looking for something, Captain. And when they find what they want and are ready, God knows what they intend to do. But I don’t think their intentions are peaceful, and I am scared to death we won’t be able to stop them. And, it will all be because of my damn desire to see what would happen if we crossed those two beams.”
After Severs and Davis returned to their hotel, they realized they needed to update the team with what they had learned. Given the other four were on the other side of the world they decided to make their call that evening around 9 p.m. The sat phones had conference capability, so they were able to first reach Jace and Elysia, and then tie in Dooley and Allison. Severs and Davis relayed everything that had transpired with Steinmacher, and particularly, how an inter-dimensional hole 40,000 feet above the Barringer crater area now existed, where the spaceship was able to enter their world.
“So that explains where and how they are coming in," said Jace. "But that doesn't explain how they found us in Greenland.”
“I think I can answer that,” said Dooley. “Allie and I went to the Wolfe Creek crater, and I grabbed a handful of blue dust. Sure enough, they showed up. Somehow they tracked me, and I think it was because I handled blue dust. If it weren't for Allie’s quick thinking,” he said glancing at Allison, “we wouldn't be here. She is one of the best tactical officers I know and I'm very lucky she was with me.”
“And I can add to that,” said Severs. “They first located me right after coming through the Barringer hole, and then somehow through me, we believe they found Dooley.”
“So what mechanism are they using? If we knew that maybe we could break the link,” said Jace.
“Remember your vision, Dr Larkin? The one with verses?” said Davis. “'The link that binds the two together, the hand of man reaches out'? The artifact Captain Severs used to communicate with the aliens had the image of a man's hand. The Captain and I think when he put his hand there, they planted some tracker on him. We aren't sure how they tracked Mr. Marz, though.”
There was a long pause, then Dooley said, “You know, Captain, when I shook your hand for the first time, I thought I had felt a little electric shock. It was very peculiar, but I just wrote it off as nerves. Now I'm not so sure.”
“But I shook a lot of hands, even Jace's. Why was Dooley the only one affected?” asked Severs.
“I may be able to answer part of that,” said Elysia, who until this moment had felt like an outsider with little to contribute and had been fairly quiet since arriving to this very unfamiliar world.
“Jace had the Elicon in his possession. While he may not be able to intentionally utilize its power through his connection while in this world, it operates on its own none the less. It would have protected him from any tracker whose origin was from the Dark Lands.”
“But what about all the others I touched? asked Severs.
“I have a theory about that,” said Davis. “Mr. Marz, did you ever touch the blue dust before shaking the Captain's hand?”
“No. Not until Greenland.”
>
“What about the egg?”
“Well… sure, I tossed it in my hand a few times playing around with it.”
“That would have been enough contact,” said Elysia. “You transferred some of the same essence of the blue dust from the corruptible shell protecting the Elicon. The Maliconi are very skilled with devices. They likely built one to sense someone coming into contact with that essence, and then track them for the same purpose, so they could locate more blue dust. We need to break that link before they acquire more blue dust. It is a potent weapon. We cannot let any more fall into the hands of the Maliconi.”
“I think it’s a little late for that,” said Dooley. I have a feeling they already have enough blue dust for whatever purposes they want.”
"Perhaps you are right," sighed Elysia. "Fortunately the three attempts undertaken by Eld to deliver an Elicon to someone with enough virtue in your world delivered only small protective shells that would not produce much blue dust. They likely have only a small supply."
“No,” said Jace. “He’s talking about the impact crater in Greenland — the Hiawatha Crater. That crater has been around for about 12,000 years. They gathered all that dust.”
“NO! In the name of Eld!” Elysia cried out, “Did you say 12,000 years? Not the Hidden Cache... Eld preserve us! That could spell doom for everyone!” she said with a horror-struck look.
“What is the Hidden Cache?” asked Jace.
After she calmed enough to continue, Elysia said, “You remember I talked about Malic turning against the ways of Eld, and a number of Eldoni sided with him?” said Elysia. “This resulted in the Great Battle. The Maliconi were defeated, and much of what they had that was pristine before the rebellion fell into corruption and turned to dust. An abundant amount. It was still very powerful because it was originally of Eld, and even in its corrupted state Eld knew it could be used as a power for evil.
"Therefore, Eld gathered all the corrupted material and determined to place it in the unreachable realm, so the Maliconi could never get to it. He also placed it somewhere in your realm where few of your own would even venture. A remote place. A place of ice and cold. He even buried it under ice. I knew not where it was, only those facts. That battle was twelve thousand years ago, and most have forgotten about it altogether. If the Maliconi have taken that cache, they now have an immense supply. Jace, I’m not sure your world can survive an attack with that much power.”