Termination

by J C Ryan

  “What is?”

  “They’re going to confiscate the libraries of the Tenth and Eighth Cycles. They’ll want to put it under government control. Do I have to…”

  “We talked about doing that anyway.”

  Salome stared at him dumbfounded for a moment. “You did?”

  “Yes.” Daniel sighed and filled her in on the meeting of the Foundation Founders. “But a consensus was never reached, and then all this with the Re’an broke loose, and we never reconvened to settle the matter.”

  “Have you lost your ever-loving mind?” she asked incredulously. “That would be…”

  Daniel shook his head. “No, Salome, I haven’t lost my mind, and you don’t have to tell me – it would be a disaster.” He sat back in his chair. “I guess we can’t do anything other than what we’ve already been doing—keep it quiet.”

  “Yes, hope and pray we can find a way, within the next day or two, to stop those Re’an terrorists and destroy every bit of technology we find on them.”

  Daniel nodded again. “I agree. But one thing we have to do once this is over, and if we survive, is to vet a group of National Security Council members and brief them fully.”

  “Agreed. Let’s see how this morning’s meeting goes. It might even be necessary to start briefing two or three of the most loyal and trustworthy members today, if we think it’s necessary.”

  “A problem shared is a problem halved.” Daniel looked at his watch, took the last sip of coffee from his mug, and said, “Time to face the music.”

  * * *

  “THESE INCIDENTS WERE not accidents; this has to be the work of terrorists, Mister President!” Emory Lansing concluded his report. “There just isn’t any other explanation!”

  The council members were all nodding silently and started turning their attention to Daniel for his thoughts.

  Salome started speaking. “I agree with Emory. We are obviously under attack. My teams are working over-time tracking down leads and conducting investigations.”

  “What have they come up with so far?” Daniel inquired.

  “Not a lot, unfortunately,” Salome said. “The attacks all seem to have the same modus operandi, but no group or individual is claiming responsibility yet.

  “The attacks appear to have been carefully orchestrated and carried out by small groups of individuals and timed to occur simultaneously regardless of the time zone.

  “No incendiary instruments, chemicals, or devices, that we know of, have been identified, but analysts agree, based on the timing, location, and force of the blasts, they were carefully planned and executed to cause the most amount of damage.”

  Secretary of State, Bill Simms added, “My teams haven’t heard even a whisper or suggestion of who is responsible for these attacks.

  “Ordinarily, there would be some suspects, but in this case, those on our watchlists seem to be as surprised as we are.”

  “Do we have the manpower to provide some protection for these types of facilities in other cities?” Daniel asked to no one in particular.

  “I will meet with Salome after the meeting to get a list of potential targets and make personnel available for that purpose,” the Secretary of Defense, Cliff Willis said.

  “Very well, please see to it, Cliff. Salome will provide you with an analysis.”

  “I don’t want to borrow trouble, but I’m a little surprised they didn’t try to hit our power facilities,” Daniel said.

  “It’s probably only a matter of time,” Ted Marks, Secretary of Energy, said. “I’ve already put every power facility, no matter how small, on high alert and asked them to bring on extra security.

  “The largest power plants and all nuclear sites have been put on lock-down. They’re shut up as tight as we can make them. They also have additional security and are using the highest security measures they have in place.”

  The meeting adjourned a few minutes later, and Daniel hurried back to the Oval Office to set up a conference call with the Rosslerites leadership team.

  CHAPTER 61

  Video conference

  AN HOUR AFTER the National Security Council meeting, Daniel and Salome were in conference with the leadership at the Rabbit Hole and the team at the canyon site.

  “Please tell me we have a way to stop these attacks,” Daniel started.

  “I’m sorry, Daniel,” JR said. “We don’t, but we are working on it non-stop.”

  “Do we have any specific or promising ideas we’re working on now?”

  JR said, “Raj is working with Deszik and two of the L’gundo scientists that arrived last night to override the authentication system of the Re’an weapons we captured. They’ve made some progress but no breakthrough yet.

  “Roy is working with Robert, Linkola, and two more of the L’gundo scientists that arrived last night. They’re trying to find a way to destroy or at least disable their chips, even if it’s temporary. But as with Raj’s group, some progress has been made but no breakthrough yet.”

  JR nodded for Dennis to continue the report.

  “We are still on Plan A. Tectus members will have to launch attacks against these invaders. We have trained the leadership group and four additional members of each city. They’ve returned to their cities where they will equip the rest of their teams with Eighth Cycle laser weapons and train them. Unfortunately, they were too late to do anything about the attacks that happened this morning.

  “Thanks to Roy’s Spyflies and Spyders, the Tectus teams in all the target cities have identified the Re’an infiltrators and have been able to keep them under constant surveillance.”

  At this point Dennis paused for a long while. It was clear he had more to say, so no one interrupted.

  Finally, he cleared his throat, getting rid of the emotion before he continued. “Daniel, this morning when the attacks began, we were watching, and we were powerless to do anything. I can’t begin to tell you how difficult it was to stop my people from throwing caution to the wind and attack those villains with the weapons they had on them. If they had, they would’ve been slaughtered.”

  Daniel felt like crying, but he controlled his emotions and nodded for Dennis to continue.

  “The teams are being trained as we speak, and we will be ready by the end of the day. We are studying the surveillance data gathered by the teams and are working on a strategy. We’ll not stand by idly again.”

  “Thank you, Dennis. Let me and Salome know if there is anything, and I really mean anything, you need that we can do to help your teams,” Daniel said.

  Sinclair at the Rabbit Hole also reported, “We are searching records from the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth cycles in hopes of finding technology we can use, but so far there isn’t anything that looks promising.”

  “Thank you, all. Keep at it, and keep me posted,” was all Daniel said as his image vanished from the screen.

  CHAPTER 62

  Eighth Cycle Site, Grand Canyon, USA

  IT WAS AROUND mid-day when Roy and two of the L’gundo scientists, Dekka and Tellek headed out of the lab in search of coffee and something to eat.

  In the common area, they found Siasha and Telestra enjoying a glass of juice, talking quietly.

  He greeted them and headed for the coffee maker.

  Roy started pouring coffee for him and his colleagues, when Raj walked in looking dejected. Roy poured another cup and handed it to Raj asking, “What’s up with your team and those weapons?”

  He shrugged. “Nothing that I’d call progress.”

  “And you?”

  “Same story,” Roy said. “I know the answer is there, right in front of me. It’s going to be a simple one, and I’m going to kick myself when I get it.”

  Raj laughed. He could still remember how shy and introverted Roy was when he joined the Rossler Foundation. Back then he was almost too shy to speak, especially when there were strangers around. But not anymore. Since he and Salome started dating and got married, and since his exposure to the good-humored Rossle
rites, Roy had become much more of an extrovert. And from time-to-time, he could come out with the funniest sayings that had them cracking up with laughter.

  A few minutes later, JR and Rebecca strolled in and joined them at the table.

  Dekka said, “I am surprised that you all survived the invasion of Viktor’s top troops. How did you do it?”

  “We turned Raj and Roy loose on them!” JR replied with pride.

  “Just the two of you?”

  “We all had our part to do,” Roy responded.

  “That is modesty on his part,” JR said to Dekka. “He and Raj are the reason we succeeded, although the rest of us did help—but only a little."

  “How did you do it?” Telestra asked, now curious herself.

  Neither Roy nor Raj seemed compelled to answer the question, so JR began the narrative of the sound waves used to knock out the soldiers and the nanites that killed them.

  By the time JR concluded, Dekka was staring at the two men in astonishment. “You have accomplished quite a feat with your limited technological knowledge and equipment.”

  Roy shrugged as JR laughed aloud and slapped him on the shoulder. “Our Roy here doesn’t like being limited; his mind operates in the future, way ahead of the rest of us!”

  “Indeed, it seems it does,” Dekka said.

  Roy finally broke his silence. “I just wish it could be that easy with the soldiers that are attacking the cities. I’ve been experimenting with harmonics and distortion fields, but so far nothing has worked. It’s close, but just doesn’t produce an effect that would be helpful.”

  “Too bad we just can’t hit them with an EMP, assuming they aren’t shielded from such a thing,” Raj quipped.

  “Yeah,” JR agreed. “That is the one draw-back to EMP attacks, the loud boom of the nuclear explosion that creates the effect.”

  “EMP attacks?” inquired Telestra.

  “Electromagnetic pulse attacks,” Roy answered. “They destroy electronics as a result of a nuclear blast. You see…”

  “Please, no physics lessons, Roy,” JR moaned.

  “Although we were well aware of the concept of nuclear weapons, we never developed them,” Dekka said. “They were too general, massive and messy; ‘overkill’ I believe is the expression you use. We focused our energy on developing the more precise particle beam weapons – much more direct, and leaves very little mess.”

  “That is a good way of describing it,” Raj agreed nodding. “Way overkill.”

  None of them noticed that Roy had gone quiet, staring into the distance while they were talking.

  Raj, the first to notice, held his hand up to silence everyone, put his finger on his lip, and pointed to Roy.

  Everyone turned their gazes to Roy.

  When Roy became aware of the silence and everyone staring at him, he started speaking excitedly. “If you didn’t develop nuclear weapons, then does that mean your technology isn’t shielded from the effects of it?”

  Frowning in thought, Dekka replied hesitantly, “No… I don’t think… that we… ever… even… considered the possibility that we might need to.”

  “Excuse me,” Roy exclaimed jumping to his feet.

  “Wait!” JR grabbed Roy’s shirt. “What is going on in that head of yours?”

  “Well, an EMP doesn’t have to be large and massive like most people imagine. It can be a low-level contained burst that only jams electronics in a localized area. All I have to do is see if the chips are vulnerable to an EMP.

  “I can produce miniscule nuclear explosions that would send out an EMP in a small radius of say fifty to a hundred yards. That’s the answer—I think.”

  “It’s that easy,” JR quipped.

  Roy was on his feet, he looked at Dekka and Tellek and said, “C’mon, we’ve got work to do.”

  CHAPTER 63

  Washington, DC

  “THAT’S ONE-HUNDRED hospitals, nearly twice as many nursing homes, and fifteen of the leading mental health hospitals, hit this morning. The death toll stands well over five thousand already and is still rising,” Cliff Willis concluded his report.

  Grief and frustration washed through Daniel like a tidal wave. So many people!

  Daniel said, “Pull in all the military resources you need, and reassign them to reinforce security at the possible targets Salome identified.”

  “Yes, Mister President. Is there anything else?”

  “No, Cliff. Just get those troops reassigned before the end of the day,” Daniel replied. What he didn’t say was, I just hope if we have a strong troop presence at all targets, those lunatics will not attack them.

  The end of the day! Good grief! Blinking in surprise, Cliff hesitated slightly before responding, “Yes sir!”

  Pausing with the phone halfway to his ear, Daniel asked, “Is there a problem, Mister Willis?”

  Hearing the edge in the President’s voice, Cliff responded quickly, “That’s a lot of troops to reassign in a very short period of time, but I’ll see that it’s done.”

  “You can only do your best, Cliff. Nothing more,” Daniel said.

  It was shortly before midnight when Salome stepped into the Oval Office for a hastily called conference.

  “Hello Daniel,” she greeted with a smile.

  “Hi Salome. That smile tells me you must have good news.”

  “Got a text message from Roy.”

  “I can see why that’d put a smile on your face.”

  “It did, but not entirely for the reason you might be thinking.”

  * * *

  Video conference

  BEFORE DANIEL OR Salome could continue their conversation, Daniel’s mirror phone rang; it was JR asking him to join a video conference.

  Beckoning to Salome to join him, he seated himself in front of the screen and activated the conference link.

  Salome took a seat next to Daniel and greeted Sinclair and the rest of the Musketeers at the Rabbit Hole.

  “How’s everyone doing?” Daniel asked.

  “We’re all fine here, but very concerned about what’s happening with the Re’an of course. These attacks are terrible.”

  “As are we all,” Daniel said.

  “What’s this meeting all about?” Luke asked.

  “I’m not sure. JR said something about a new idea of Roy’s.”

  “It will probably be a humdinger, then,” Luke said.

  Daniel nodded with a grin, noticed Salome’s smile, and realized why she hadn’t stopped smiling since entering his office.

  She knows. Roy’s got a plan!

  Thinking of his injured friend and former operative, Sam inquired, “Have you heard how Jack is doing?”

  Shaking his head, Daniel said, “Last I heard, he was still in bad shape, but the Eighth Cycle medical techniques have been doing wonders for him. Rebecca said he’d make a full recovery.”

  “I’m here, Sam,” Jack said, joining the call from the canyon site.

  Still heavily bandaged, he looked pale and pained, but Sam was relieved to see him up and about.

  “Good to see you, Jack!” Sam exclaimed. “We didn’t think you’d be back on your feet for a while yet.”

  “And he shouldn’t be,” Rebecca said, stepping into the picture, glaring at Jack. “You told me you were going to the bathroom.”

  “I got lost,” Jack replied sheepishly.

  “Sure, you did. You’re still lost, this is not the bathroom.”

  “Well, I’m here, I might as well stay for the meeting, don’t you think, JR?”

  Very diplomatically, JR replied, “Jack, it would be nice to have you here, but usually the doctor knows best,” and he winced at the daggers in Rebecca’s eyes for not siding strongly with her.

  “Chicken,” Jack said.

  “Wouldn’t you be?” JR asked nodding toward Rebecca.

  “No, I wouldn’t,” Jack said, but when he caught sight of the look on Rebecca’s face, he flinched slightly and added, “Well, maybe… but only a little.”


  Rebecca threw her hands in the air and said, “You can stay, but I’ll be the sole judge and jury of how long.” She sat down in the chair next to him to keep a close watch on him.

  Jack nodded with a grin. “Yes, Doctor Rossler.”

  By now, everyone who had been called to the meeting was in their places and Sinclair started. “Apparently, our resident electronics genius has done it again."

  "Roy, why don’t you fill us in,” JR said.

  “This is Dekka and Tellek, two of the L’gundo scientists,” Roy introduced them to those who hadn’t met any of the scientists from the Tunguska site. “Robert and Linkola you already know.

  “I’ve been working with them, and with Raj, to develop a way to knock these soldiers out, and we think we’ve got it.”

  Full of energy, Roy left his chair and paced as he spoke. “Daniel, do you remember that warehouse I destroyed a while back with that Nano nuclear weapon I tested?”

  Daniel cringed, remembering the empty warehouse about a mile from the Foundation’s former headquarters in Boulder, Colorado. Roy had tested his newly developed Nano nuclear “bomb” on it, utterly destroying it and creating a legal and social headache for Daniel. The invention was impressive; the local fallout was equally impressive.

  “I remember,” Daniel acknowledged.

  “With the help of the team here, we’ve been able to re-engineer and miniaturize one of my nano nukes and test it. It’s tiny and it produces an electromagnetic pulse that is effective up to about seventy-five yards. By ‘effective’, I mean powerful enough to disable the Re’an chips, instantaneously rendering them unconscious.”

  “There he goes with them nano nukes again,” Sinclair jested. “But if that’s the way to stop them, then go for it, Roy.”

  Roy grinned and continued. “Once they’re unconscious, we move in and vaporize them with the laser weapons. The rest is simple – sweep up the ashes, collect all their weapons and technology, and get the hell outta Dodge.”