Greg was left with Bubba and they chatted about the civilian population and how they were coping with the situation. Bubba said it was the biggest job he ever had and if it wasn’t for his new girlfriend, he would be faced with a much bigger task. We will have a population count in a day or so.”
Greg smiled and he sure liked this guy. He was always happy and cheerful; and above all intelligent and organized. Bubba took his leave and Greg sat there thinking how he would plan the visiting when his driver came in. Greg told him what he wanted to do and his driver, nicknamed Shorty, told him he knew what he wanted and would take him around whenever he was ready. Greg said, “Let’s go and get this over with.”
Greg, after his rounds, sat in the conference room going over his notes for the meeting coming up. He was sitting leaning back in his chair rubbing his chin thinking about what he had to do. He had a plan, but he knew it would not go over very well.
Greg’s father was a General Manager of a manufacturing plant and he had always told his son: “Cross training is the key to a successful operation.” Simply put. Everyone knows what the other guy is doing and can be replaced if needed. Greg never forgot that and now he was about to apply it to these overly protected department heads.
Way back when the terrorists hit New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the intelligence communities had egg all over their faces due to over protection of their information. Power brokers were a thing of the past and a new beginning was about to be born.
Just before six the room started to fill up and by Greg’s head count, all were present and accounted for. He waited until the shuffling and chair adjustments were quiet and then said to all of them, “Yesterday was just that: yesterday. Nothing we can do about the history of this place but there is everything we can do about the future. Starting tomorrow morning on a rotating basis until each of you will be fully aware of each other's department; you will work in a different department or wing of this base until you are completely knowledgeable of the workings of that department. All of you are experts in your fields. Now I want you experts in all fields working together to form a nucleus of knowledge. We need answers, not speculation. One week from now I want a joint report of what happened to our communication systems; the reasons for this weather we are experiencing; a plan to feed our ever growing community; a detailed plan to feed our people in the cities; and some ideas how we can branch out of our cities and states with a communication system that will work under these conditions. Now, if anyone of you objects to this plan, say so now and you will be replaced and no repercussions will come about.”
Greg waited a few moments looking around the silent table. “Fine, then I take it we are all aware of what needs to happen and I will leave you here to work out your own schedule of rotation.”
Greg looked at his watch as he passed out the door. It was just twenty minutes after six and time for something to eat as he called his wife on the way to the mess hall. She told him they were just leaving and would meet him there in a few minutes. Greg smiled when he would give a nickel to hear what was going on in the conference room about now. Never mind. Let’s see how they perform now. His driver dropped him off and Greg found his wife and kids sitting with Bubba and the president; Carol and Janet were also there. Greg sat down next to his kids and asked what they had been doing all day.
The kids said they went with mommy to their new school. “Daddy,” Greg junior said, “I met some kids from our old neighborhood and we had a good time exploring around this nice spooky place.”
Greg laughed and said, “Son I think you could spend a lot of time looking around here, but remember to not make a pest of you bothering other people who are working.”
Dinner was served and it was a change of pace with rice and vegetables and of course cake for dessert. Bubba said, “Man I will lose weight if I continue to eat like a bird around here.”
Everyone laughed and Greg said, “Bubba it is not the food why you are losing weight; it is your new girlfriend taking your mind away from food.”
More laughter and the president said, “Well Bubba, this is news to me. Everyone knows you have a girlfriend and the president is always the last one to know,” she said with warmth of congratulations in her voice.
Greg’s family back in their house sat watching older movies. Greg was starting to enjoy this life. He was spending more time with his family now more than ever. No commuting or traveling and his focus were on only a few things rather than going ten different directions at one. Nice he thought as he put his arm around his wife and rubbed his feet on Jasper. Jasper had been dividing his time as usual with his family and the president. In the near future Jasper would play a major part protecting the president.
In his office early the next morning, Greg was going over the inventory reports. Most reports were about what he expected, but he saw something that alarmed him. According to the dry goods and the storage of frozen items, it looked like feeding the mass of the population was in dire straits. He called, or rather, had his secretary call the mess hall supervisor and instructed him to come to his office now. Meanwhile, he decided to seek out the arm of the Space Exploration program and he rang up Steve. Steve came on the line and Greg said, “Steve, I need to know a person or persons connected with the Space program who watches out or listens for signs of life beyond our solar system.”
“I know the man you are seeking. He and I went over the video and he has some interesting ideas. He is very shy about speaking about ET because of its sensitive nature. I will call him and have him report to your office. What time would you like him to meet you?”
“Lunch time would be good and would you be available to come too?”
Steve replied he would be happy to come and they would be both there at noon.
The mess hall supervisor was waiting for him and his secretary buzzed him to tell him he was there. Greg said, “Have him come in please.”
The supervisor was a young officer. Clean cut and as Greg soon found out, fresh out of the Air Force Academy. He was nervous and after Greg introduced himself asked him to sit down and relax. Greg said, “You're not here to be put on the grill or anything like that, I just need to know a few things about your inventory of food stuff.”
His name was Roy Chandler from Wyoming. Greg asked him, “Roy how many meals a day are you serving at the present time?”
Roy looked at his file and told him “Yesterday we had a total of over six thousand meals served.”
“How long you can keep this total going before you run out of supplies,” Greg asked.
“By my estimate we will run out most things in a month. We can cut back as you suggested and extend that by a month or so. After that we are in trouble.”
Greg sat back and thought about what this young man told him. Roy was fidgeting in his seat and a moist upper lip beaded with sweat. Greg thought to put him at ease by saying, “Roy you are from this part of the world and how well do you know Colorado and especially Colorado Springs?”
Roy visibly relaxed now that he was on firmer ground. “Sir, having spent four years at the Academy and living in Wyoming I know this area very well.”
“Roy, are you willing to take on some responsibility and take a company of men on the train to all of our military bases in the area and gather up what is available?”
Roy sat up straight and said, “Yes sir, I would be honored to do exactly that. I know where to go and what buildings contain the supplies for all the bases. I know when the storm was coming most all of the soldiers from all the bases headed home with the permission of their commanding officers.”
Greg had heard such stories and it made him angry to think about it. Although, he couldn’t blame them for wanting to return to their loved ones; except the ones who actually lived on the bases with their families, what happened to them, he wondered. Greg told Roy that when the train came back from their trip he would plan another trip for food exploration.
Roy came back with this comment, “Sir,
I can pull up the other bases inventories from our computer system and have a rough idea what is available. However, I’m sure the supply houses have been raided prior to the main brunt of the storm arriving.”
Greg thoughts were exactly the same as he thanked Roy for coming as he heard through the door Steve arriving and talking to his secretary.
Steve and a mousy looking guy followed him meekly into his office. A typical computer nerd, Greg thought. He had long straggly brown hair hanging limply to his shoulders. A sickly white complexion but behind his thick glasses sharp bright brown eyes at once showed an observant person. Here was a man to have some respect for. He was dressed casually and in his plaid wool shirt, a pocket full of pens and pencils were at the ready. Behind his large ear a fresh looking long yellow pencil pointed at the ceiling. He was carrying a bunch of files under his arm that looked they had been through a war. Tattered and bent they were held together with a large rubber band. Greg smiled to himself and Steve introduced him as Clarence Brag. Greg asked his secretary to have some lunch sent to them. Greg said, “Let’s move to the conference table.” In a small side room a sleek oak table for about eight people could sit around. Greg took a legal pad and led them to the conference room.
Idle chat occurred while waiting for lunch to come. Clarence said he was from Oakland and had attended UC Berkeley and received his PhD from MIT. His love was space and the belief life was out there and he wanted to be on the cutting edge of when contact was made, be the one who heard it first. Greg starting to like this guy asked a few simple questions about his time spent here at the base. He told Greg he had been here for three years now recruited out of MIT by NASA. His first two years were spent in Florida and he was transferred here three years ago. He had no family to speak of as he was abandoned as a child and a wealthy aunt in Oakland raised him.
Lunch came and a pot of split pea soup with potatoes along with warm bread. It was meager, but healthy. In no time they were finished with lunch and Greg asked him, “Clarence, what do you think of this strange light beam Steve recorded.”
Clarence looked flustered and hung his a little. To Greg he was thinking how his conversation would come out. Greg nudged him a little by saying, “We are relying on you to help us out here. We are all in a struggle for our lives. Tell us what you think.”
Clarence shuffled his files, but never opened a one of them. For the next thirty minutes he laid out what he thought was going on in space with what little facts he had to substantiate his premise. He said, “I think it was or is a line of communication, but so advanced it killed or disabled our satellites. In layman terms the beam, if it was a beam, carried so much information it overloaded our communication system.”
Greg waited for more information from Clarence, but none was forthcoming. Greg said, “Do you have a recording of this short beam of light or whatever it was?”
Clarence perked up and said, “Yes I do, but I need the base main frame to slow it down so maybe we can decipher the message. I went to Ben Glass and proposed to him what I just told you, but he laughed and said he would not permit such a foolhardy thing to the officer in charge of the computer.”
Greg sat there in deep thought. Steve was sitting on the edge of his chair and Greg noticed he was anxious to say something, but afraid to interrupt his thoughts. Greg said, “Wait a minute please,” and opened his cell phone and called the president. Hilary was in the mess hall eating lunch when she got his call. Greg briefly asked her to come to his office when she finished lunch. She said she was almost finished as it didn’t take long to wolf down a bowl of soup these days. Greg smiled and hung up. Greg told Steve and Clarence to wait a minute as a guest was coming to sit in on this meeting. “I would like to know, while we wait, Clarence, who is second in command to Ben Glass in your department?”
Clarence said, “A woman by the name of Jenny Lee who is of Asian descent and very well qualified. She is open to my theory and supports my idea of using the mainframe to slow down the beam to see if any patterns exist.”
A knock on the door produced his secretary with the president and her two girls. Greg noticed the other secret service guys in the outer office for additional protection. All three of them stood up as Hilary found a seat across from Clarence and Steve. Greg introduced the two men to her and briefly summed up what had transpired to that point in time. The president didn’t say a word and Greg asked Clarence to go back in time and were there any other similar beam of light or some such thing. Clarence pawed through his files and opened one of the dog eared folders. He pulled out a clean document and read about its contents. In essence starting four years ago he had picked up something similar and in each subsequent year a like kind of transmission was heard. The irony was it was always one year to the date of the previous one.
Greg looked at the president and she looked at him back. Both were thinking the same thing: contact was trying to be made with planet Earth. Greg excused Clarence and asked Steve to stay for a few more minutes. He thanked Clarence for a job well done. Clarence’s face turned red as a beet and left in a hurry. Greg said to Steve after Clarence left, “Tell us anything you know about Jenny Lee and the rumors of that department.
Steve was reluctant to speak ill to a colleague, but said with emphasis that what he knew about Jenny Lee was that she was diligent and hard working with an open mind about space.
Greg thanked him for coming and said he would see him later on today in his office. Steve left the two sitting at the table beginning a conversation he wanted no part of.
Thirty minutes later Hilary left with her troops and Greg with his driver headed for the wing of space exploration and to see Ben Glass. He found Ben in the computer room talking with his staff. A much too relaxed atmosphere hit Greg when he walked up to the group. Around them were a few staff in front of computers, but when they saw him, the circle of men broke up in a hurry. Greg said to Ben, “I would like to talk to you in private. Do you have an office where we can have a few minutes to discuss a few things that are on my mind?”
Ben replied, “Sure follow me to our conference room,” as he walked away with Greg following him.
Sitting down Greg asked him about Clarence and his theory of maybe a transmission was the cause of our communication satellites going off line. Ben chuckled and said that Clarence has been hearing little green men since he arrived here. He went on to say none of our other listeners or technicians has reported any transmissions of messages to our world.
Greg said, “Is it true he asked for mainframe time to try and disseminate the message?”
Ben said, “Yes it is true but it would take a lot of time and our time is very valuable using the main frame. We have a schedule to keep and it is months behind what we have scheduled for other things.”
“I understand, but you were told to investigate any and all theories concerning our present situation and to look at all options available to you.”
Ben now was squirming in his chair. He knew he had made a mistake and now he was sure he was in the fight of his life. He decided to accept the blame and maybe this newcomer would give him another chance.
“I made a mistake” he said. “I should have pursued it further and I didn’t.”
Greg smiled a little and said, “Ben I have looked at your vita and you have an exemplary record. You posses a lot of knowledge and this is what I would like for you do. I want you to retire from this department and take over as principal of the high school we are forming. In addition I would like for you to teach college students and adults who want to learn more about your field of space.”
Ben knew he had no choice but to accept the proposal. He could save face and he did love to teach. He was a good administrator and maybe it would take the pressure off him. He was going on sixty and it was time to take it a little easier. He stood up and offered his hand to Greg signifying his taking the generous offer. Greg shook his hand warmly and they parted, Greg to find Jenny Lee and Ben to clean out his desk.
He found
Jenny Lee hunched over a computer in a back part of the lab. She was small as most Asians go and dressed in casual wear of jeans and sweater. Formal wear went out when the storm hit and Greg was not sure how to interpret the change. He walked up to her from the back and said, “Excuse me, are you Jenny Lee?”
A flawless skin on a round face turned around and smiled at him. “Yes, I’m she and your reputation precedes you Mr. Hoffman.”
She stood up and held out her hand. He took the dainty hand and surprising it possessed a firm grip. A mouth full of sparkling white teeth and flashing black eyes held his gaze. He said, “If you have a few minutes I would like to talk to you.”
“Sure give me a second to mark my place and I’ll be right with you.”
Greg noticed she had accent free English and supposed she had been born in the States. A quick walk to the conference room and twenty minutes later he left for his office.
Riding back to his office he went over his meeting with Jenny. In a nutshell she was what he was looking forward to explore all possibilities to find an answer to a very large problem. She was forthright and frank. She told him she was thirty nine and single. Mother was Korean and father was an American diplomat stationed in South Korea. Soon after she was born they moved back to the States where she was raised and educated. She was a graduate of Harvard and her graduate degrees came from both Brown and MIT. Like Clarence, she was recruited by NASA right out of MIT and transferred here five years ago. She told him she was engaged to Roy Chandler supervisor of the mess hall.
Greg looked at his watch at it was close to three pm. As he entered his office he asked his secretary to call the boss man of the computer department and have him or her report to him immediately. She quickly picked up the phone and entered an extension number.
Twenty minutes later a knock on the door and his secretary announced the arrival of the head of the mainframe computer department. In walked a military man short of stature and air of hostility surrounded him. His gray hair was cut in a crew cut and his eyes were full of contempt at being interrupted from his busy schedule. Greg stood up and shook the short guy’s hand. Greg noticed his name was Bullgorney. Without asking, his secretary brought in Bullgorney’s file. Greg opened it up and saw the man was early fifties and a graduate of the Academy with a rank of Lt. Colonel. A career man no doubt; Greg assumed he was and is a by the book man.
Unearthly Snowbound Page 20