by Jerry Ahern
My... first... emissary... attacked... you... because... of... his... deficiency... he... felt... a... need... to... destroy... you. I... made... him... aware... the... KI... return... was... about... to... be... discovered. My... first... emissary... desired... to... murder... you... and... obtain... what... you... call... artifacts... in... order... to... make... first... contact... with... them... himself.
John Rourke nodded. “Yep, that sounds like Dodd, alright. But that doesn’t explain the attack on the Capitol.”
My... emissary... had... been... copied... and... copied... again. I... believed... it... was... possible... to... correct... his... deficiency. I... was... not... correct. His... deficiency... infected... several... of... the... others. They... acted... not... in... accordance... with... my... instructions.
Rourke said, “They went ‘off the reservation’ on you. The original Dodd also had a core group of followers more loyal to him than humanity. Probably it was them you cloned and thought had been infected.”
It... became... necessary... to... terminate... those... individuals. My... later... attempt... at... contact... failed... also. That... was... not... due... to... deficiencies... on... their... part... but... on... mine.
Chapter Sixty-Two
Thorne woke early, grabbed a light breakfast and headed over to the hanger to go over the flight plan one last time; it would be tricky at best. To remain undetected by the KI, whose forces were still in geosynchronous orbit above the South Pole, he must launch into space with the bulk of the Earth’s mass between him and them. To avoid detection by the aliens, he must leap into space on the side of the earth opposite North America, then go like hell for the moon.
He studied the layout of coordinates with the Senior Flight Medical Officer and the Flight Coordinator. “Not only do I have to get to the moon, I have to hit these coordinates and fire the energy blasts along these specific paths and azimuths. Then I have to navigate back to Earth, and stay undetected through all of it.”
“That is about the size of it, General. What do you think?” Dalton said.
Thorne turned a wry smile on Dalton. “I hope you Brainiacs know what the hell you’re talking about, especially when it comes to fuel.”
Dalton nodded with concern. “General, we’ve been over every inch of this craft. We have not detected an engine, in the conventional sense. Nor are we sure what the fuel is, we simply haven’t found a power supply. The only thing that makes sense is it is powered by the mind of the pilot. We don’t know how; that technology is light years ahead of ours. But it’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Thorne nodded. “Well, I sure hope this isn’t going to be a one-way flight. I have been able to bring up flight data on every other system but that one.” Thorne stood up. “Not but one way to find out for sure, I guess.”
The flight coordinator checked his watch. “Twenty minutes to lift off.”
Thorne looked and nodded. “Roger that.” He walked from Flight Operations to the craft. He took his seat at the flight console and had his hands buckled into position. “Wait a minute, go ahead and take these straps off. I don’t think I need them anymore. The seat belt harness has been sufficient to hold me in place and I think I have keeping my hands in place, mastered.”
The Flight Technician looked at Dr. Dalton; Dalton nodded and said, “Do it, the General is on top of it.” The straps were removed and the Flight Tech saluted and offered, “Good luck, Sir.”
Thorne returned the salute. “Thanks, I’ll need it.”
The Flight Tech and Dalton exited the craft; the hatch hissed closed and locked. Thorne buckled his headset on, laid his hands on the control panel and activated the holographic heads up display by thinking, Systems on. Cloak on.
He spoke into his headset, “Research 1 to Tower, over.”
“Go ahead, Research 1, over.”
After a comm check, he said, “Research 1, requesting permission to launch.”
“Stand by Research 1; we have one craft clearing the restriction flight path... Alright, Research 1. You have permission to launch.”
“Research 1, Roger. Initiating lift off, over.”
The craft lifted smoothly, pivoted silently on its axis and shot off; this time over the Pacific Ocean in a north-northwest flight plan. “Research 1. All systems operational; will be initiating atmospheric breakthrough in three, two, one.” Thorne mentally increased the speed and changed the attitude of the craft, it shot almost straight up. “Research 1, atmospheric breakthrough complete, increasing speed to the target.”
He left Earth behind and headed into the darkness; even at the speed he was traveling... it would take a while. His path was curved to intercept the moon since both Earth and the moon were moving along their own orbits. In a straight line from the center of the Earth to the center of the moon is 238,900 miles. But this distance varies over the course of the lunar orbit from a little over 200,000 miles at the perigee to over 250,000 miles at apogee. The curved nature of the flight path added to the distance Thorne would have to travel.
The Flight Coordinator had told him, “It is a multi-faceted issue, very complicated equations but the simple view is, we’re not able to hit the moon where it is at the time of launch. We have to hit a point of where it will be at a specific time. It’s like trying to hit a very, very fast-moving object from an object that starts out at zero miles per hour. The moon will be at an inclination far above the latitude of the launch center. And so we have to launch at a particular time in order to catch up to the moon from below.
“Think of it like this, we’re accelerating a package from zero miles per hour to its orbital velocity of 17,500 per hour. Then following a curved path to intercept the moon. That’s the way the old astronauts did it, it only took about eight and a half minutes for them to escape Earth’s atmosphere, and it was a heck of a ride for the astronauts. This craft is completely different from the old style Saturn launch platforms, but the curved path will be pretty much the same. Your advantage is you will be able to visually track your progress and make on the spot corrections based on your speed.”
An hour into the flight, Thorne recalled it had taken Apollo 11 three days, three hours and forty-nine minutes from launch, to land on the moon. His flight appeared like it was going to take less than eight hours. Thorne also was aware that, in fact, the term “dark side of the moon” was a misnomer. The sun does illuminate it, as was proven in 1959, when the Russians got photographs of the far side of the moon taken in full sunlight. These were published in an Atlas of the Moon in 1960. The reality is that the far side of the moon, because of the lunar rotation, is simply never seen from earth.
Chapter Sixty-Three
The Rourke children and their escorts arrived at the complex headquarters. The flight back to the continent had been tiring but not exhausting. A mixture of excitement for the new adventure was mixed with fear about what they were going to be taught, and how the teaching would be done; it had kept them thoughtful.
John Rourke had decided it would be physically impractical to have one site that would be called the Survival Academy. Instead, many satellite sites, each capable of specified training based on its own unique terrain and climate, were called for. He located the main headquarters here in what had once been called the Texas Panhandle.
The kids were standing in the parking lot with their luggage when they met the senior instructor, a large man in a light tan uniform.
“Welcome to the John Thomas Rourke Survival Academy, my name is Mr. Dickson.”
“You’re not military?” Tim asked.
Dickson said with a smile, “No son, we have some military instructors you will meet but they are ‘on loan’ to us for specific topic instruction. Now, your courses of study over the next several years will be progressional. That means we’re going to start at the lowest level, build your skills and then move up through all of the levels culminating in your graduation.
“Basically, we will cover equipment care and selection,
ration planning, using a campstove and a fire, staying warm and dry, navigation, map reading, compass use, campsite selection, sanitation and waste disposal, communication and, most importantly, judgment and decision-making skills.
“We will also train you in tolerance for adversity and uncertainty, maintaining a good work ethic, stepping up to challenges, to have physical and mental endurance, self-awareness and vision and action. This will be a hands-on, learn-by-doing approach to give you the skills you will need to be competent, responsible survivors. While wilderness skills are important, we also have to train for survival on the street.
“There’s nothing quite like seeing the remote wilderness on your own two feet, carrying all your own gear on your back, while gaining the tools necessary to become a great leader in the backcountry and at home. Backpacking courses often have you hike three out of every four days. You’ll travel in small hiking groups, so you have more opportunities to lead, make decisions, and map read as you move through the wilderness. Hiking days begin early; you’ll cook your own meals, organize and pack your pack.
“Most courses are thirty days in length, and focus on technical traditional climbing skills in addition to camping and travel skills. You’ll learn knots and rope handling, belaying, rappelling, protection placement and hazard evaluation while working on improving your movement over rock and potentially being the lead climber. To help you learn basic first aid skills you will go on personal day hikes.
“We will supply your equipment which for the basic course will be a knife, mug, sleeping bag and liner, sleeping mat, rucksack and liner, head torch, water bottle and all technical safety equipment. On completion of the course, you will receive the coveted John Thomas Rourke Fighting Bowie designed by John himself.
“Right now the cadre will get you settled in and your equipment issued. We will meet back up in the training room at 1400 hours so you can meet your course leaders and teammates and ensure you have all of the required items and equipment. Then you will be released until 0600 hours tomorrow morning.
“We will meet here at the Operations Center then and using 4x4 vehicles, we’ll cross some pretty rugged terrain and move to the wilderness base camp up in the Palo Duro Canyon. There you will be issued a basic food ration and then we’ll head straight into some basic survival skills training. I warn you, it will be a pretty active day, but for supper we’re going to treat you to an Alpine style dinner.”
From behind them, the kids heard someone approaching. Dickson said, “I would like to introduce your primary trainer for this week, Sandy Tempest.” The kids looked at each other; they had expected a guy, a rough and tumble type. Instead, Sandy Tempest was female, about five feet, eight inches tall, with short graying hair and what appeared to be a somewhat grouchy disposition. “We call her Ma.”
Tempest said, “Not what you expected, huh? That’s okay; it’s the usual response when I’m first introduced. And don’t think them calling me Ma means I’m gonna be soft on you. I’ll kick your butt if I have to. We’ll just have to grow on each other, I guess. Alright, here is the schedule of training for this week. Day two starts with a field physical training session and a lesson in self-defense, self-preservation and primal instinctive training. Next, you will study wilderness navigation; learning how to find cardinal points and move without a map and compass across difficult terrain to the remote overnight site.
“There you learn shelter building then you get to build your own survival shelter. You’ll find out during the night if it is warm. Did it keep you dry? Next you will be shown fire lighting, rescue signals, steam crossings, stalking and a workshop on improvised harnesses and knots. Finally, we finish the day with a night exercise and a lesson on Astro navigation.
“For day three, hopefully you’ll wake up dry and warm, which will mean you built a good shelter! You’ll need to use your new skills to make a fire from scratch, check the snare and drop lines. Hopefully, you learned those lessons well because what you caught, if anything, will be your ‘wilderness’ breakfast. Then will be time to learn how to cross difficult terrain. That morning is the mountain training section, it will be a full course in mountaineering skills to traverse, climb and descend mountainous terrain.
“Once you have the easy stuff down, it will be time to cross extreme ground by use of ropes. We’ll use some hills northeast of us for climbing; scrambling, Tyrolean line traverse, classic abseil techniques, commando crawls, river runs and river bank jumps are all on the agenda. You will finish late that day and return to camp late in the day. That evening there will be lectures on wilderness/improvised first aid. You will finish with a briefing on a real life survival story. The rest of the evening is yours, to prepare for your time on the island.
“During the fourth and fifth days... Well, call these your final exercise. For the next thirty hours, you will move by foot, 4×4 land rover, and speed boat to the island. There you will climb, scramble, swim, wade, jump and crawl. Food and water? Who knows, let’s just say you’ll need to be putting all your new found skills to good use. Survival on the island is one thing, but we want to know if you have what it takes to self-rescue.
“Again you will need all your energy, courage and determination to get back to civilization. If you are successful, we’ll have the final passing out parade and awarding of the Rourke Survival Academy certificates and knives. Now, let’s go get your gear issued, get you settled in and,” checking her watch, Tempest said, “yeah, we got time for your first weapons class. Alright, let’s go...” She wheeled around and walked off, never looking to see if the kids were following her.
They were.
Chapter Sixty-Four
Terry Hickok, the weapons instructor, was tall and lean with a no nonsense air about him. He said, “Dr. Rourke insisted that all students get an orientation into the energy weapons our military uses, but we were to focus primarily on the old style projectile weapons he had used. He always said, ‘Energy weapons are good, but I trust lead slugs better.’ While we will go over weapon safety, that is not the focus of this lesson. I’m going to give you an orientation in surviving a gun fight. Here are the rules, remember this lesson and it will save your live. Rule one: Guns have only two enemies—rust and politicians. Number two: It’s always better to be judged by twelve than carried by six. Number three: Cops carry guns to protect themselves… not you. The average response time of a .357 is 1400 feet per second.
“Rule four: Never let someone or something that threatens you get inside arm’s length, and never say ‘I’ve got a gun.’ If you need to use deadly force, the first sound they should hear is the safety clicking off. Rule five: The most important rule in a gunfight is to always win—there is no such thing as a fair fight. Always Win!”
Tim raised his hand. “I’m a fair shot, but I’m not the greatest shot.”
“We will improve your shooting. For right now, focus on making an attacker advance through a wall of bullets. Sure, you may get killed with your own gun, but make him beat you to death with it because it will be empty.”
“How many bullets should we have with us?” Paula asked.
“As many as you are capable of carrying,” Hickok said. “Even then it won’t be enough but you can carry so much gear you can’t move, then you die. In a gunfight, especially in the beginning, you fire out your weapon pretty quickly. REMEMBER, if you’re not shooting, you should be loading. If you’re not loading, you should be moving. Because if you’re not shooting, loading or moving, you’re dead.”
Jack asked, “How do we know what to do?”
Hickok smiled. “We’re going to teach you, but a lot of surviving a gun fight is experience. You folks don’t have a lot so remember: in a life and death situation, do something ... it may be wrong but do something!”
Natalie said, “Kids at school say a person who carries a gun is paranoid.”
“Nonsense,” Hickok countered, “Nonsense! If you have a gun, what do you have to be paranoid about?”
“Are we supposed t
o holler stop or halt before we start shooting?” Tim asked.
Hickok shook his head. “The police do it. You won’t here. Just remember, you can say STOP or any other word, but a large bore muzzle pointed at someone’s head is pretty much a universal language. And if you have to shoot... shoot to kill. Never leave an enemy behind. If you have to shoot … shoot to kill. In court… yours will be the only testimony. Remember, this course is not designed to save the planet, but you may be able to save yourself and your family.”
“Now, let’s get you introduced to the weapons you will be carrying. We’ll not issue ammo for them today. You’ll get that in the field when you need it.”
Chapter Sixty-Five
Arin Ágústsson, the Icelandic cop who tried to kidnap Rourke, was being interviewed again; this time by FBI Special Agent, Hiram Ellis. “I told Mr. Shaw I was sent to make contact with John Rourke and advise him of a plot the Yfirlögregluþjónn discovered.”
Ellis flipped back through his notes. “Yfirlögregluþjónn, that’s the Chief Superintendent?”
She smiled and nodded. “The Chief Superintendent is a student of the Neo-Nazi movement. After Nazi Germany dragged the world through the World War II and then was defeated, the threat of Nazism did not die out. Although, after the fall of the Third Reich, for decades it was a discredited political philosophy that few could envision reviving; it resurfaced. By 1959, a former American who had been a Navy pilot in the Pacific theater created an Americanized Nazi uniform. He said America had made a tragic mistake by siding with the Allies instead of with Nazi Germany.”
Ellis nodded. “You’re talking about George Lincoln Rockwell, totally anti-Semitic; he praised Hitler as a visionary leader. It was he who introduced the next generation of Americans to Nazi theories of racial purity and biological determinism. Though his efforts were an abject failure, Neo-Nazism continued to spread.”