“Sir. You just tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it. I think this young man is the right choice. If you left it up to the general he would pick someone that would probably get everyone killed. No disrespect intended,” Gunny said.
“James?”
“Like I said. Find the transportation that can get us there without being killed and I’ll do as you ask.”
“Thank you gentlemen, and God bless you,” Coaler said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
The team sent to Plattsburg Air Force base finally reached its objective. The soldiers were bushed and more than ready to stop and get some much needed rest. They had been under stress ever since they left the White House bunker.
Plattsburg Air Base had once been a SAC (Strategic Air Command) until it was closed. Just because it was closed did not mean it wasn’t used for other things and what better place to keep secret projects from the public’s prying eyes. It is located in an out of the way place just twenty miles from the Canadian border.
You do not simply drop in at the base. It is heavily guarded and only security personnel with the highest clearance are allowed in. The main reason for this was that many of our most secret projects developed at Dreamland, end up here for further testing, development, and combat readiness. The pilots who fly these aircraft are the best in the world.
“Take ten while I look around,” Captain Dillon told his men as he walked toward a side door on one of the large hangers.
It had a Palm Print Reader lock on the door. He decided he hadn’t come all this way to be kept out by a stupid lock. He upholstered his .45 1911 Colt and aimed it at the lock.
“I would not do that,” a voice said behind him.
Surprised, he turned around quickly as a hand came up and grabbed his wrist and twisted the gun out of his hand.
“Son of a...”
“It’s quite alright Captain. I'm Martin Zult, head of security here,” he said reaching down and picking up the gun and holding it out to the Captain.
“Sorry about that. I’ve seen men get shot in situations like that,” he said smiling briefly.
“Head of security? Isn’t this a military base?”
“Humm. Well sort of. The military officially owns it but several other agencies use this facility as well. It’s a very unusual situation.”
“And they have outside security?”
“Well, we have special parameters that the military doesn’t have because of Congress and other people that would limit our ability to protect the country.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“No matter. It doesn’t concern you. All I need to know is which group you actually represent. I see you are soldiers but where did you come from?”
“Washington DC. We are part of the military guard for the President.”
“I take it from what you are saying that our President is alive and well.”
“He is. Some of his Cabinet members survived as well.”
“I see. Captain. Were you told what goes on here? I mean specifically?”
“All I know is that we were sent to gather any military personnel still alive and take them back to Washington to meet with the President. Mr. Zult, why don’t you just tell me what the hell is going on here? Why the military can’t guard its own resources and why you are acting like we don’t belong here?”
“I suppose if I were you I would have the same questions. I see your point but what you have to understand is that this facility is very unique. We have three like this. One in Florida, one in Nevada, and this one here. Everyone knows about Area 51 and that is good for the other bases. Not to say that Area 51 doesn’t do some incredible work but what goes on here and in Florida is far more advanced. They produce the basic product and then we make it a thousand times better.”
“Right. So the F-117A really came from here,” the captain said skeptical.
“The final version came from here. Before that it was just a platform. There are capabilities we have added since it was first rolled out that have turned it into much, much more.”
“So do you have some secret weapon we can use against these things?”
“Unfortunately, not right now. Each platform, as we call them, has special characteristics that are only capable of responding to the pilot assigned to that unit. The pilot actually becomes part of the platform and they fly as one. When the initial attack came, our pilots were in Morrisville where we maintain a special medical facility.”
“They were all sick?”
“No. They have certain...attachments that actually plug into the planes interface. They need to be checked for infection and such every thirty days. It was just bad timing. None of them made it back.”
“Why were they all sent at once?” the captain asked.
“Well, I guess you would have to ask Professor Lawrenz, if he was still alive.”
“Can the planes be flown without the, whatever it is?”
“I suppose so but they would not have the same ability that they do now.”
“But they could fly?”
“Yes. They could indeed fly,” Zult replied.
**
“Holy smokes captain,” Lieutenant Beal said looking at the most unusual aircraft he had ever seen. It looked more like an arrowhead with strange protrusions. The cockpit window was no more than a slit maybe eighteen inches long and a foot high. It was integrated into the plane's body which was covered in octagon shaped rubberized material.
“Do you think you could get to back to Washington?” the Captain asked.
“Sir, I don’t even know how to get into the damn thing yet.”
“Mr. Zult. Is there anyone who can help us out? I understand about the pilots but your maintenance people and ground crews must know how to help us.”
Zult sighed and ran his hand across his face.
“I’ll get them. Just wait here and don’t touch anything. A certain procedure has to be enacted. The planes have explosive security devices on board.”
Zult returned a few minutes later with two dozen men and women. They went to work immediately and after a few minutes an opening appeared. Two men shoved a short ladder over and one went up and crawled up inside the plane. Five minutes later he backed out of the opening and down the ladder.
“Who is the pilot?” he asked.
“I’m not sure yet. I mean, Beal, Timmons and Gillman are qualified F-22 Raptor pilots.”
“These aren’t quite the same thing. First there are no instruments. That was done by the biomechanical link between the plane and the pilot. Secondly, this is VTOL vehicle. The landing gear is used only if a system fails.
“We can’t fly these things,” the pilot said at last.
“Let us go to work and see what we can do. We can’t add much due to space limitations but a speed indicator, altimeter, heading indicator and if room, an attitude indicator. I doubt we can get much more in. You have to understand you lay on your stomach to fly this thing using your thought processes. It does have a joy stick fortunately or there is nothing we could do.”
“Do what you can. I’m willing to give it a try,” the Beal told him.
**
It was nearly a week later when the pilot did a walk around the craft. The engineers had been going over how the ship operated and its abilities with the pilot during that time.
“Are you really okay with this?” the captain asked.
“Apprehensive, but yeah, I think I’m okay with giving it a shot.”
“And they are confident that those things will not be able to detect the presence of this machine.”
“The Invader is what they call it.”
“Whatever. I just don’t want you to get yourself blown out of the sky.”
“I’m not too fond of that possibility either.”
The air crew was holding the ladder in place and he climbed up and wiggled into the cockpit which wasn’t much more than a tube with a slightly raised area that was padded. A joy stick was on the
right side just below him. He could see the four instruments that they had rigged up. It sure wasn’t much for a jet jockey to look at.
“I know they told you before, but we will start it out here and all you have to do is leave the lever on hover. The landing gear will retract automatically when the turbines are up to proper speed. This is really important. Just barely nudge the joy stick forward. I know they told you but if you push it forward too fast you will be in a world of hurt. Be very, very gentle with that stick."
“Got it,” the Beal said.
He felt the aircraft tremble more than hearing the turbines. He felt a slight rising sensation and then it settled out.
“Okay, the landing gear is up. You can bring it out of the hanger. Please. Be very careful.”
“Yeah, I got it, okay?”
“Then ease it on out.”
He could see the hanger doors open and he just slightly pushed forward on the stick. It shot out of the hanger before he could take his hand off it.”
“Whoa. Holy crap,” he said, sweat breaking out instantly.
“No harm, no foul. I’m sure the engineers told you, it is hypersonic but don’t exceed Mach 3.5 on the way to Washington. Your reflexes will not be able to keep up. When you get there just pull back on the throttles and it will settle on its own. When you shut the turbines down, the landing gear will automatically deploy and it will settle down. You won’t have a ladder so getting to the ground is going to be hard.”
“Got it.”
“Okay. Let’s do some exercises with the aircraft before you head out.”
They spent the next hour and a half acclimating the pilot to the Invader. It was far from ideal but it was the best they could do. He landed, and practiced getting in and out with help. Once that was done, he fired up the turbines.”
“You are good to go.”
“Okay. See you guys when I can.”
“Good luck to you,” the captain’s voice said over the intercom.
“Thank you sir.”
Beal fired up the turbines, brought the craft to a hover and looked the meager instrumentation over once more. He put his hand on the joy stick and just nudged it gently. The aircraft started forward as he pulled it back further. The plane immediately shot forward and the nose rose. Almost before he had time to react, he was pushing through the sound barrier and going up at a thirty degree angle.
Now, if they just didn’t detect him he thought but then wondered how that would be possible with him breaking the sound barrier. Before he could give it much thought, he broke through it a second time.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The original plan had been to land the aircraft at the Reagan International Airport but Lieutenant Beal realized that he could actually put it down on the White House lawn.
He cut back on the power and let it slowly settle as the turbines wound down. He could feel a slight shudder as the landing gear lowered. The aircraft bounced slightly then settled.
He wiggled out of the plane and lowered himself to the ground.
“What the hell is that,” a voice said.
“Who’s there?”
“Lieutenant Beal? Is that you?”
“Gunny? What the hell are you doing out here?”
“We have a rotating watch in place. I saw that thing and wasn’t sure what the hell it was. I thought it was one of theirs at first. Where did that contraption come from?”
“Plattsburg. Look, I need to see the President immediately.”
“Come on, I’ll take you to him.”
Gunny led him through the maze to the President's bunker office and knocked on the door.
“Come.”
“Sir. I have Lieutenant Beal with me. You are going to want to talk to him.”
“By all means. Show him in.”
The tall lanky pilot walked in and saluted.
“Never mind the formalities, just tell me what’s going on,” the President said noticing the flight suit.
“Sir. I was with Team Alpha. We found some civilians and sent them on back. I hope they made it.”
“They did indeed. Nice work, but go on.”
“We finally reached Plattsburg. It was quite a shock. While some of the base is destroyed they have a lot of specially hardened bunkers and shelters. We found security personnel, engineers, and maintenance crews that work on special top secret military projects.”
“Damn it. Am I the last one to find out about everything?” he said, “Sorry. Go on.”
“Sir they take the projects that come from the Skunkworks in Area 51, platforms they call them, and modify them for special use.”
The President just shook his head. He had learned more down here in this bunker than at all the briefings that took place before he took over.
“Go on Lieutenant Beal.”
“Sir they had a plane called the FA 19I Invader. It is invisible to all radar, can fly at Mach 7.0 at full throttle and leaves no heat or sound signature. I don’t know technically how it works but I can guarantee that it does. I flew it here from Plattsburg.”
“You mean the thing is in Washington?” he said excitedly.
“Sitting on the White House lawn. I hope that’s alright with you Mr. President.”
“I don’t care where it is. What is important is that you got it here. You weren’t chased by those things?” President Coaler asked.
“Not a peep. I saw nothing after me. I was limited to Mach 3.5 because they are meant to be flown biomechanically.”
“Bio what?”
“The pilot actually plugs into the Invader and they communicate by thoughts.”
“My God,” was all he said.
“To make a long story short. They added some standard gauges so I could at least fly the thing. I can’t do anything fancy but I did manage to get it here.”
“I don’t understand how you managed to land it on the lawn,” he said.
“It hovers. It doesn’t need a runway.”
Again the President shook his head. How much he didn’t know about what was going on under his watch was disheartening to say the least.
“How many people will it hold?”
“Two. I came back alone because I didn’t need a wizzo on this trip.”
“A what?”
“Sorry. Weapons System Officer. We call them wizzos.”
“You know Lieutenant, I guess I would understand better if I saw this for myself,” the President said going to the door and calling in Gunny Baker.
“Sir?”
“I want you to take me to see this airplane.”
“Sir?”
“I want to see the plane for myself.”
“Uh...sir, I’m not sure going outside is such a good idea.”
“Why? You and the others go out there.”
“Sir, you are the President.”
“Could have fooled me. I seem to know less than anyone around here. Don’t worry, you warned me; now take me to this plane.
“Yes sir,” Baker said hesitantly.
He led the President back down the same maze and they walked into the sunlight.
“Whoa. I guess I forgot what the sun looks like,” he said and turned to look where the White House lawn used to be.
“My...that is an airplane?”
“Yes sir.”
“We built that?”
“We did indeed. Well, Plattsburg made the modifications.”
“Unbelievable. There is no cockpit that I can see,” he said walking up to the aircraft.
You have to wiggle in and lay on your stomach to fly the thing. Normally the pilot doesn’t ever need to look out but I didn’t have the biomechanical connection like they did.”
“I still don’t understand that exactly,” the President replied.
“Me either, exactly, except to say they physically plug into and become part of the plane. They actually use thoughts for most of the controls.”
The President just shook his head.
“Sir, this is making me ne
rvous,” Gunny said, “Could we please talk about this back in the bunker?”
“Gunny, you’re like a mother hen but I’ve seen it so lead on,” Coaler said.
**
“James, I was going to send you and a couple of others out to South Dakota if we ever found a way. Well we have found a way but the plane only holds two people so that plan is pretty much shot,” The President said.
“I’m willing to go along.”
“I know you are but honestly I just don’t know what good that would do. I’m going to have Lieutenant go out there and see if he can find anyone alive. It’s kind of a long shot in one way and not such a long shot in another.”
“Geez, spoken like a true politician,” James said.
The President looked up and started laughing. It took him several seconds to get it back under control.
“I love nonpolitical people. They just call it like it is. What I meant is that the DUSEL is an 8000 foot deep lab that does some of our most advanced work. It’s one that someone did happen to tell me about. Our hope is that we find them alive or some of them at least. They are brilliant scientists and engineers. Maybe if we can get them here they can come up with a solution.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to just let them work there?” James asked.
“Maybe, but the problem is they would still need help in the way of materials and a way to transport whatever they come up with.”
“So the plan is to send Lieutenant Beal out there. Get the top dog and whisk them back for a round of brainstorming.”
“Pretty much.”
“And this plane can do that?”
“It got Lieutenant Beal here so we are counting on it doing the job on the way out and back,” Coaler replied.
“Then I guess you don’t need me at this point,” James said.
“Actually we do. James, you have survived more encounters with these things than anyone. Lieutenant Beal and I talked it over and he feels it would be a real advantage to have you go along with him. That leaves the problem of you having to stay there until he can come back and get you so you would have to consider whether you are willing to do that or not.”
WORLDS END Page 15