THE BRINK - OPERATION DEEP FLIGHT

by Marshall Huffman

  He could hear Mad Dog saying, “Hey Doc. You back with me yet?”

  Peter mumbled, “Yeah, I think so.”

  “See? That was the effect of positive g-forces. The human body can’t stand much of that. Even I would have blacked out if I had pushed it very hard. I’m more used to it so my tolerance is higher. It only takes a few G's of positive and you’re out. That was just 2.6 G’s. This sucker would just be a crater in the ground if I went too long in the positive mode. You sure you’re okay?”

  “I think I’m okay now.”

  “Good, now watch this.”

  Before Peter could say anything, Mad Dog pitched the plane over in a half roll and headed for the ground again.

  “See Doc? We’re pulling 5.5 G’s and everything is fine. That’s the effect of negative G’s. Our bodies can stand a lot more. Of course you can still black out if you go too far, but you get the idea.”

  “Okay. Enough of the lessons. Just get me down and out of here. That, or I’m going to barf in your plane.”

  “Sure, sure. Just don’t throw up. I hate it when that happens.”

  Mad Dog brought it in nice and easy. Peter practically tore the seat from its mounting getting out. Enough is enough. Mad Dog’s name was fitting.

  The car was waiting to take him back. Peter looked at his watch. It was going on 10:00 p.m.

  “Take me to hanger L first. I want to see if anything is going on.”

  It was only a short hop from the flight line to the hanger. When Peter arrived he thought no one was there at first. Only a couple of lights were on. He was just turning to leave when he saw Luke sitting in a chair just outside the circle of light.

  “Luke, is that you?”

  “Oh, hi Peter. I didn’t hear you. I had my eyes closed. I see you made it back safe and sound. How was the flight?”

  “Don’t ask. I rode with a pilot called Mad Dog. Enough said,” Peter joked.

  “And the meeting?”

  “It was fine. Something’s wrong. What’s up?”

  “Nothing. Why do you say that?”

  “Hey, it’s me, Peter. Remember?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  “Then why are you sitting here in the dark? Talk to me Luke.”

  “Our three quarters test was a dismal failure today. I loaded everything into the simulator and it did fine until we hit twenty-four knots. Then I started getting behind in the course corrections. By twenty-six knots I was banging off canyon walls. It got worse with every incremental increase.”

  “But it was fine up until then?”

  “Peter, I have let you and everyone down. I thought I was so damn smart.”

  “Cut it out Luke. That’s bull and you know it. Tell me exactly what happened.”

  Luke explained the entire procedure and what lead up to the total system failure. Peter thought for a few minutes then went over the details one by one.

  “That’s right,” Luke confirmed, “I started to notice it a little earlier but I thought it was just my lack of knowledge of the controls. It turns out that the wrong turns yesterday were because the program was starting to breakdown. I guess I just didn’t want to accept it.”

  “What about the bow shock wave?”

  “Bow shock?”

  “Yeah. With the design of the Chameleon, when does the bow shock start to build up?”

  “Peter. That’s it. The shock wave is getting thicker and it is throwing off the imaging emitters. Yes. That makes sense. If I reconfigure the intensifiers to compensate for the change in density it should work. We’ll need to figure the coefficients for the hull design and maybe even allow for the temperature and salinity changes, but it should be solvable. Maybe the people over at AccuTech could work up a program to handle the calculations. Once that was done, it would be just a matter of reconfiguration.”

  “See? Here you are, sitting here brooding, and all the time you had the answer in your head.”

  “Not my head. Yours. I have gone through this a thousand times since this afternoon and it took you five minutes to see it.”

  “I just had the advantage of an uncluttered mind. You were too wrapped up in each detail to be able to see the whole picture.”

  “I should have caught it. It’s what you brought me here for.”

  “Drop it. Can we still get it done on time? That’s the real question.”

  “Thanks to you, I don’t see why not. I’ll start first thing in the morning.”

  They took the helo over to Goose Neck and a car was waiting.

  “Come on, I’ll drop you off,” Peter said.

  “I think I’ll walk. I need the exercise.”

  “Okay, I’ll walk with you.”

  “You? You hate to walk.”

  “I know, but it will do us both good.”

  Peter sent the car on and they started off toward their housing.

  “Peter......I...ah, never mind.”

  “Go on. I could tell that something else was sticking in your craw.”

  “I don’t know. It’s just that I don’t understand what’s happening to me. I seem to be spinning out of control. I’ve never felt this way before.”

  “Liz?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe it’s me. I think I’m trying, but maybe I’m just fooling myself.”

  “Go on. What’s happening?”

  “She just seems to have given up. We don’t talk. When we do, we argue.

  “Have you gone for help?”

  “We have. In fact, we've spent a fortune on it, but nothing has changed. Ever since she lost the baby she has been on a downward slide. It’s just getting worse.”

  “So what are your plans?”

  “I don’t know. I thought we would be married forever, but I tell you Pete, I’ve honestly just about had all I can take. I think she has just fallen out of love with me.”

  “Have you given up on her?”

  “I don’t know. I called her tonight and she hardly said ten words. She couldn't have cared less. I thought us being apart would help, you know, absence makes the heart grow fonder. That’s a crock. I think she is happy that I’m not around. I get the feeling that she would be just as happy if I didn’t come back.”

  “Come on Luke, you don’t mean that.”

  “Unfortunately, I do. You have no idea how serious it has become. I’m at a critical point. It won’t take a lot to push me over the limit. You know me Peter. I’m a stubborn SOB, but even I have my limits. I’ll only butt my head into a wall for so long before I realize it isn’t going to move for me. I’m about at that point.”

  “What do you intend to do?”

  “Ride it out until we finish here. If it’s the same when I get back, I will have to make some hard decisions. I love her Pete, but I’m not going to be miserable for the rest of my life.”

  “Luke I’ve known you for most of my life but I’ve never seen you give up. Give it a little more time. If anyone can make it work out, it will be you. Hang in there buddy.”

  “I’m trying.”

  They walked the rest of the way in silence and said goodnight. Peter was again tempted to try to locate Susan but when he looked at his watch he was surprised to find that it was almost midnight. He didn’t think she would have much of a sense of humor if he tracked her down this late. He would look her up tomorrow.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  - THE WHITE HOUSE -

  “The President of the United States.”

  They were all standing as the President entered the room.

  “Please be seated gentlemen,” he said, “Thank you all for making it on such short notice. I will be brief. A fourth possible transmission reception and sending site has been identified in the Southern Atlantic. We are seeing a further increase in occurrences. Either that or it’s just the simple fact that we are looking for them now. In any case, there were ten transmissions from the direction of Titan directed at the various locations and we detected seven outgoing. I have called this meeting to discuss what our options
are and to formulate a plan to deal with this phenomenon. I will be up front with you and say that I have no preconceived notion as to what our response should be. I will consider almost everything. Would anyone like to start?”

  No one jumped right in.

  “Okay, John, since no one wants to go first, I’ll start by asking you how your meeting with Admiral Marcus, and Doctor Ferris went?”

  “Actually, it went very well. As per our previous decision I told them what we suspected and asked for their help. Admiral Marcus is a good sailor. He accepted it with no reservations. Dr. Ferris was more cautious and wanted to know what we were basing our conclusions on. Smart man, our Dr. Ferris. He analyzed each incident and asked some darn good questions. The bottom line is that he accepts, for the most part, our conclusions. At least enough that he is willing to go along and help us locate the sources.”

  “And will he convince the others?”

  “He brought up an interesting point. They are all scientists and he would have to tell them what this was all about.”

  “Out of the questions,” General Durance said.

  “Please, General. Hear me out. As I was saying, he knows that they are too smart to pull the wool over their eyes. Being up front is the only way he is willing to approach it. The drawback, as he pointed out, is that if one or more declines, then the potential for a leak is drastically increased.”

  “Darn good point,” the President said.

  “That’s why we can’t tell them,” the General interrupted.

  “He won’t approach them with a lie. He made that abundantly clear.”

  “The hell you say. You let me talk to him and I’ll bet he’ll change his tune.”

  “General, he is not one of your flunkies that you can just bully around. This guy has brains,” John shot back.

  “Listen here. Maybe you can’t control your people, but I sure can control mine.”

  “Stop it. Both of you. If John says that it is the condition for getting those people to go along, then that’s it. I don’t have time for this posturing crap,” the President said.

  “Go on John.”

  “That’s the biggest part of it. He did suggest that we may need several other specialists.”

  “Oh Christ,” the General muttered.

  “Such as?”

  “A linguist, a medical doctor and a biologist.”

  “I get the linguist and the doctor, but why a biologist?”

  “How do we know what we run into is human?”

  “He’s right. We don’t know anything do we?”

  “Not much, I’m afraid.”

  “Admiral Zoren? What do you think?”

  “Well, first of all I must tell you that I don’t think much of not having the new submarine under my command where it should rightfully be.....”

  “Admiral, we have been over this before. It was my decision, and that’s all there is to it.”

  “That doesn’t make it necessarily right.”

  “Admiral. Look at your name tag. What does it say? Admiral Zoren. What does mine say? Commander-in-Chief. That makes it right. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

  “Yes sir,” the Admiral said.

  “Now. What about the situation in the oceans?”

  “We could stage some very large operations in the general areas and virtually flood the sea with sonar. If anything was down there they would get the picture quick enough that we were on to them.”

  “And what if they did come up and they were superior to our forces? Say it angered them, or they took it as act of aggression?”

  “Act of aggression? Hey, they are on our planet. They are committing the act of aggression.”

  “I’m not sure I agree,” the Secretary of Defense, George Whittaker, spoke up.

  “Why not?”

  “What if, in our visits to the moon, there had been another race? Would you expect them to wage war? Using your logic, we would have been the aggressors. We sure didn’t go there with that in mind, but according to you, it would have been justified.”

  “We didn’t capture any of their ships or whatever they would have had. We aren’t killing their people.”

  “He has a good point, George. If they we’re just checking us out, that’s one thing. The disappearance of our military people is entirely another,” the President said.

  “We don’t know that they have been harmed,” George said.

  “We don’t know that they haven’t. Besides it’s the same thing to the surviving members of their families. To them, it’s the same as dead.”

  “General Durance?”

  “We can force them to the surface. We don’t need the exact location. A couple of strategically placed nuclear bombs will force them up. The shock waves will crush them if they don’t show themselves.”

  “What about the fallout and contamination?”

  “You said that there wasn’t much around in that area.”

  “There are still people around, not to mention the fallout and damage to the environment.”

  “We can deal with that. It’s an acceptable risk. When you consider the fact that the whole world may be taken over by aliens if we don’t react. I think the fallout and environmental damage would be a small price to pay.”

  “And if we needed to drop one of the bombs on, say Lake Michigan? Would that still be an acceptable risk?” George asked.

  “They are in the middle of the ocean, not in Michigan.”

  “That’s not the point. The point is if they were in an area that would allow fallout and collateral damage to impact the US, would you still offer the same solution. Japan might differ with you on that point. They would be in the direct fallout zone.”

  “No Mr. Secretary. The point is, that we can’t be held hostage by some backward third world nation that happens to be in the fallout zone.”

  “Sir, I might remind you that neither China nor Japan can be considered third world.”

  “When it comes to military strength they are, in my book.”

  “So General,” the President said, “Your recommendation is some kind of military action?”

  “Yes sir, it is and the sooner the better.”

  “Thank you General. Would you mind putting together some sort of formal plan? What it would involve and how it could be done?”

  “Yes sir. I will have my people get on it immediately.”

  “Thank you.”

  “How about you George?”

  The Secretary of Defense stood up.

  “Gentlemen, we don’t know a lot about the situation. Are they aggressive? Are they really from Titan or is it just a stopping point. How many of them are there? Is their technology vastly superior to ours? What have they been doing down there? How long have they been there? The list goes on and on. I think the first thing we need to do is to locate the source and see if we are all just shouting at ghosts. If they are real, then we can consider our next step. Up until then you are all just spinning your wheels. Let’s take the hysteria out of the equation. For all we know they could have been here since the beginning of man on earth. It’s only lately that we have acquired the ability to detect them. Let’s all take a deep breath and find out what’s really down there. To do this in the most expedient manor we need to enlist the aid of the scientists who have really designed and built the Chameleon. I don’t have an answer to the security problem but I do know that without them we will be second guessing until we do get the fundamental answers.”

  “Well put George,” the President said, “George has hit the nail right on the head. Our first goal is to find out what, if anything is down there. Then we can talk about how to deal with it. General you can go ahead with your planning. It may come in handy and we would just be that much better prepared if the need arose.”

  “All right, Mr. President.”

  “Now, any suggestions on how to handle any of the scientists who do not want to go along?” President Beland asked.

  “Could we confine them to the Oti
s Air Force Base until the crisis was over?”

  “Legally, no way.”

  “Have them sign a national securities act compliance statement,” George Whittaker suggested.

  “Oh sure. That and fifty cents will get you a cup of coffee. That doesn’t stop anyone any more. It has to be stronger than that,” Admiral Zoren said.

  “We’ll have the same problem with the linguist and biologist.”

  “Not the linguist. We have some of the world’s best right here in the military. Same for medical doctors. Would a marine biologist do?” Admiral Zoren asked.

  “I would think so,” John Taylor said.

  “Well then, at least we can control those people,” Zoren said.

  “And the others?” General Durance asked.

  “We can try a three pronged approach. The national security compliance, using the influence of Dr. Ferris to explain the national need, and keeping them tied up at the base as a support group in case of emergencies,” the President answered.

  “I, for one, don’t like it much, but it’s worth a try,” the General said.

  “Admiral?”

  “I’m with the General. I can’t say I wholeheartedly support the idea, but it’s the best alternative offered so far.”

  “George?”

  “I’m for giving it a try. It’s a good compromise.”

  “John.”

  “Let’s try it. Anything else that has been suggested is totally unacceptable.”

  “All right gentlemen. John, you can inform Admiral Marcus of the decision. I would like to have a response from Dr. Ferris as soon as possible.”

  “Admiral Marcus is standing by for my call.”

  “Good. Anything else?”

  No one said anything.

  “All right then. Admiral Zoren, I would like a word with you. Please stay. The rest of you can get to it.”

  After they had all cleared the room and the door was closed the President said, “Admiral Zoren I know you don’t like me very much. That’s all right. I can’t say that I care much for you either. And just like you feel about me, many of your men can’t stand you either. It doesn’t matter much to you because you hold the power over them. You’re in control. Well Admiral, in this room, I’m in control. If you ever talk down to me again like that in public, or I hear about it from any source, I will relieve you of your command on the spot. This is not a threat. It is a simple promise. You don’t have to like me, but you damn sure have to obey my command decisions. Is that perfectly clear Admiral?”