by Gary Chesla
Bill laughed and continued, “I don’t know what the hell they expect me to do in case there is a problem with the computer system, I’m a missile technician not a computer programmer or repairman. I guess all the computer techs are in the infirmary and I’m the closest thing they have to a computer tech.
I figure it all has something to do with that damn new cook that arrived here last week. The food has tasted like shit ever since he showed up.”
Bill chuckled.
“Bill, by any chance did it rain there last night?” Chervy asked.
“We had a massive thunderstorm go through here last night,” Bill replied. “Why do you ask?”
“Was there anything unusual about the storm?” Chervy asked. “Was there any hail, high winds or color in the rain drops?”
“Why are you asking about colored rain?” Bill asked.
“We had a storm last night here in Fallon and the damn rain was orange,” Chervy replied. “Now half our base is in the infirmary too. Now your base doctor is on the phone with our doctor. I’m sensing something is going on and was wondering if anyone else was experiencing the same thing as us. I get the feeling we aren’t alone. Was the rain colored?”
Bill was quiet for a long moment, but finally let out a long sigh and started talking quietly into the phone.
“We had a hail storm that looked like someone was pelting the base with oranges,” Bill answered. “Our base is basically on lockdown and the Doc told us to keep quiet about the orange storm until he figures out what the hell is going on.”
“Shit,” Chervy replied and thought to himself, “What the hell was on those satellites?”
“So, you guys are dealing with the same thing as we are,” Bill added. “Do you have any clue where this orange shit came from?”
“No idea,” Chervy lied, “But thanks for telling me. If you see Mark, tell him I said to take care of himself. Hopefully the doctors can figure this out. I’d appreciate a call if you hear anything. This shit is beginning to worry me.”
“It didn’t have me worried until I talked to you,” Bill replied. “Do me a favor and call me back and let me know if you find out anything about this orange stuff. No one tells me anything around here. By the way, do you know anything about computers?”
“A little,” Chervy grinned to himself, “why?”
“Because I don’t know shit about computer systems,” Bill laughed, “and anyone I know that does, is in the infirmary. Of course, with everyone in the infirmary I don’t know who is left to call me with a computer problem.”
“If you need help, give me a call,” Chervy laughed, “I’ll try to help if I can.”
Petty Officer Chervanak hung up the phone.
“Bill, I hope computer problems are all we have to worry about today,” Chervy thought to himself.
“Speaking about computer problems, I better get over to the monitoring station and do that software upgrade to the satellite tracking system before anything else happens around here,” Chervy said to himself as he got up, picked up the box he had received from the Pentagon containing the software package and instructions, then left his office.
Chapter 7
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Friday May 7th
Ryan guided his Jeep Cherokee up the dirt road.
Tony held on to the armrest in the passenger’s seat and Mike bounced around wildly in the back seat.
It wasn’t really a road, it was more of a five-mile long path through the woods. The path began where the dirt road ended a few miles back.
The people that built the cabin years ago, wanted a quiet secluded location untouched by civilization.
The cabin was located off Route 219 near Clearfield, ten miles south of the Allegheny National Forest and 40 miles north of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
It gave the appearance of being out in the middle of nowhere, but in reality, it wasn’t really too far from civilization.
An hour’s drive and you could be in Pittsburgh, Erie, Johnstown or Williamsport, but it was far enough away to give the illusion of isolation and freedom.
When Ryan and Tony bought the cabin ten years ago, driving up the lightly worn path through the woods was almost a deal breaker.
It was until they made it to the cabin.
It was only a small one room cabin on ten wooded acres, but the area, especially the small clearing where the cabin sat was amazingly beautiful.
A small creek that ran behind the cabin flooded the cabin with the relaxing sound of running water.
Wild deer and small game frequented the stream, along with the occasional black bear.
Chirping birds and chattering squirrels completed the sounds and sights of nature.
Mike was introduced to the cabin five years ago when he and Linda moved into Tony’s neighborhood and Mike and Tony became friends.
Tony and Ryan brought Mike to the cabin shortly after on a weekend getaway hunting trip.
They called it a hunting trip, but despite the fact that they all brought high powered Winchester rifles, they had never really shot any animals in all the years they had been coming up to the cabin.
It was more like an armed college kegger party whenever they came to the cabin.
They were never interested in doing any serious hunting.
Hunting was what they did when they became tired of drinking beer and playing cards.
Then they went out and drank beer while they pretended to hunt as they sat at the base of a large tree with a six pack under one arm.
Even when they decided to try to shoot a wild animal, with the amount of beer they had consumed, the animal had never been in any real danger.
It just felt exciting to shoot the rifles and scare animals.
The only time any of them had any desire to kill an animal, was the night Ryan had staggered out to the outhouse.
But without a gun and at the time without his pants, Ryan was in no position to shoot the bear he found outside.
The bear wasn’t interested in Ryan and just lumbered off as Ryan climbed a tree pant-less and yelled obscenities at the bear.
That was the closest any of their trips had resulted in any type of fatality.
“Damn Ryan,” Mike complained as the Jeep bounced from side to side as it climbed over tree roots and rocks, “I’d like to be alive when we get to the cabin.”
Ryan laughed, “I just want to get to the cabin before dark. I want to be able to see if that bear is around before I get out of the jeep.”
Tony laughed, “I saw the expression on that bears face when it looked up in the tree and saw your bare ass. Trust me, that bear wanted to get away from the cabin as fast as it could. I bet the damn thing is still running. It’s probably in northern Canada by now.”
Mike laughed until his head bounced off the roof above the back seat. Then he just cussed and rubbed his head.
“Go ahead and laugh, but I’m not using that damn outhouse in the middle of the night again,” Ryan laughed. “If it looks clear, I’ll go as far as the front door and that’s it.”
“If you take a shit inside the cabin, I’ll throw your ass out the door,” Tony laughed. “After a few beers, you smell up the cabin bad enough, I don’t want to have to watch where the hell I step too.”
“No promises,” Ryan laughed.
“Well, I’m sleeping on the top bunk,” Mike laughed then added, “if I can get up there after we’re done playing cards.”
“I got the couch,” Tony added and laughed. “It’s closer to the window and fresh air and as far as I can get away from you two assholes.”
They all got quiet as they studied the cabin when the Jeep entered the clearing and parked next to the cabin.
“Are you happy now?” Mike asked, “No bears.”
Ryan smiled looking relieved.
“The most dangerous thing we have to worry about now is the damn beer,” Tony added. “After that ride, it won’t be safe to pop a tab for at least half an hour.”
“You guys unpack the
car and I’ll go light the grill,” Tony said and grinned, “I’m hungry as a bear.”
“Kiss my ass,” Ryan said.
“God, that image,” Mike laughed, “I think I just lost my appetite.”
“Real funny,” Ryan laughed as they piled out of the car to get their weekend getaway started.
Chapter 8
Friday May 7th, Fallon Naval Air Station, Nevada
Rogers and Davis watched as Chervy rebooted the computers after installing the new updates to the satellite monitoring system software.
Rogers and Davis normally would have been off duty, but due to the fact the other four men that rotated shifts at the station were all in the infirmary, they had been required to man the station until other arrangements could be made.
When out on the base, they saluted and called Chervanak, Sir, but here in private quarters they simply called him Chervy, as did his other friends.
They were friends that had all entered the Navy around the same time and had all come from the same small town in Tennessee.
Chervy, unlike Rogers and Davis, knew his way around a computer and soon worked his way up to be the base’s top computer technician, which came with a promotion to reflect his position.
“What is this new computer update supposed to do?” Rogers asked.
“They didn’t add Grand Theft Auto by any chance?” Davis smiled. “I like that game. If they want my attention to be glued to the monitor, that would do it.”
“I’d settle for a simple game of Solitaire,” Rogers added.
Chervy laughed, “No, this new upgrade ties the monitoring system into a few of our satellites. It will let us visually examine any satellites we feel we need to take a closer look at. If we would have had this update when that North Korean satellite changed course, this update would have allowed us to visually zoom in for a look at the actual satellite to see what it looked like and what it was doing. Before, the system told us when its readings indicated something had changed and we had to guess at what its intentions were. But now we may be able to look at the actual space craft. We can see if it opens a panel to say, launch a missile or something like that.”
“We could have watched when the Airforce shot that damn thing down?” Rogers asked.
“That’s right,” Chervy replied. “This will give us more ways to determine what a satellite is really doing and eliminate a lot of guess work.”
“Are Davis and I supposed to start watching what is going on up there?” Rogers asked.
“No,” Chervy replied, “but when the system spots any unusual activity, along with an anomaly report the computer will print out actual photos of the satellite for command to look at. The system will also take pictures of the satellites once every orbit so we can see if there are any changes to their appearance over time. It will help us spot any changes going on up there that aren’t picked up by normal sensor readings. It will give us another way to determine if something unusual is taking place.”
“It sounds like Rogers and I could soon be out of a job,” Davis added.
“Goodbye air conditioning,” Rogers sighed.
Chervy laughed, “I think your job is safe. They will still need someone to wake up the Chief in the middle of the night.”
“Speaking of the Chief,” Rogers said. “I heard he is in the infirmary.”
“I heard that too,” Davis added. “Did it have anything to do with that orange stuff he had all over him last night?”
“Yeah, that was weird,” Rogers said. “Does anyone know what that shit was? He smelled like a vet’s office when he came back in here last night.”
“A vet’s office?” Chervy asked.
“Yeah,” Rogers replied. “I had to take my dog to the vet when he ate one of my socks. It jammed up his intestines and he couldn’t go to the bathroom. The vet had to operate to clear his intestines. The Chief smelled like the vet’s office. You know, like wet fur and medicine.”
“I’ve smelled your feet,” Davis laughed. “It’s a wonder that sock didn’t kill him.”
“I didn’t smell anything when the Chief came back in last night,” Chervy said.
“Maybe it was because I was closer to him than you were,” Rogers said. “You ran the reports but you gave me the reports to give him. It was when I walked over to hand him the report that I smelled it.”
Chervy thought for a moment, remembering how the infirmary smelled when he had gone in to check on the Chief earlier today.
“I know that smell,” Chervy replied.
“You had to take a dog to the vets?” Rogers asked.
“No,” Chervy replied, “I smelled it when I went to the infirmary to check on the Chief. There were a lot of men in the infirmary and that smell was really strong there. I didn’t give it a second thought until you mentioned how the Chief smelled last night.”
“I bet it was that orange stuff,” Rogers said.
“It couldn’t be,” Chervy replied, “the men would have been cleaned up when they were admitted to the infirmary. The smell had to be coming from the men themselves. Whatever that orange stuff was, it must be doing something to the men to create that odor.”
“I’m glad I didn’t go out in that storm last night,” Davis said.
“You and me both,” Rogers added.
As the men were talking, the door to the monitoring station opened and doctor Kennedy walked in.
When he saw Chervy sitting at the console, he walked over and sat down next to Chervanak.
Chervy nodded to Rogers and Davis and they got up and moved away to give him and the doctor some privacy so they could talk.
“How’s the Chief?” Chervy asked when the doctor sat down.
“No change, at least no changes for the better,” Doc replied. “Do you have a minute, I would like to ask you a few more questions?”
“Sure Doc, anything,” Chervy replied.
“I’m working on a theory and I need to confirm a few things,” Doc stated.
Chervy looked confused but nodded, “Unless it has something to do with computers, I’m not sure how much help I can be with your theory, but I’ll try.”
“You said that six satellites were damaged and fell into the atmosphere where they were destroyed. Three Russian and three Chinese satellites,” Doc said.
“That’s correct,” Chervy replied.
“What cities did the Russian satellites burn up over?” Doc asked.
Chervy thought for a second, “I believe the Russian satellites came down over St Louis, Chicago and Salt Lake City to the east of us.”
“I thought so,” Doc replied.
“Why did you think that was where the Russian satellites came down?” Chervy asked. “Did it have anything to do with the call you received this morning?”
The doctor nodded.
“Because those cities are experiencing the same problem that we are?” Chervy asked again.
The doctor nodded again.
“So it was something on the Russian satellites and not the North Korean ship,” Chervy said. “I didn’t think it was possible for anything to make it through the atmosphere. Our readings showed everything had burned up on reentry. Do you have any idea what the hell that orange stuff is?”
“We think so,” Doc replied. “That was why Doctor Anderson called me from St Louis. His analysis turned up something that looked familiar and he called me to discuss what he found. It’s not exactly the same thing but it has a lot of the same basic characteristics. When I looked at what Anderson had found, I recognized it. But after all this time in space, there was also something very different about it. But combined with what happened to those Russian satellites, it has to be the same thing. I should have spotted it in the orange liquid I collected from outside, but I never thought to look for that.”
“What has to be the same thing?” Chervy asked.
The doctor looked like his mind was a thousand miles away, then he focused and looked up at Chervanak.
“Sorry, I was just thinkin
g out loud,” Doc replied then he continued. “As you know, I have been in the Navy for a long time. Back in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed, Doctor Anderson and I were sent to Moscow to examine documents the CIA had uncovered in some of the defunct KGB files.
In the 1980s, all the major governments signed a pact to eliminate the production, testing and storage of biological weapons.
All countries were given five years to dispose of any and all biological weapons in their possession.
After the five-year deadline, countries were to open up their facilities for inspections.
The inspections were to verify that all biological weapons had been destroyed and confirm that they no longer had the capacity to create any new weapons.”
“But you found something?” Chervy asked.
“It seemed in the mid-eighties that the Russians had developed an extremely dangerous biological weapon. We couldn’t find most of the files on the new weapon, but what could find we code named it File Z.
It seemed that the new biological weapon was designed not to kill the human body, but to affect the brain and drive the victim insane. The insane victims would then be driven to attack and kill everyone they came into contact with.
In other words, once the biological weapon was deployed on a population, the population would then basically destroy itself. Once the population had destroyed itself, all the Russians would have to do was send in a cleanup crew and the place would be theirs without any resistance.”
“That’s sick,” Chervy said. “Lucky that shit was destroyed.”
“But was it?” Doc added. “We couldn’t find any records of the agent being destroyed. All we found was a partial memo regarding its disposal.”