A Glint In Time (History and Time)

by Frank J. Derfler

  The talk radio shows were still dwelling on the destruction and chaos around the destroyed Capitol building, so Ted didn't even want to get close to the Beltway. In order to avoid Washington, Ted routed himself through the Chesapeake Bay-Tunnel onto the Delmarva Peninsula. The trip might have taken longer than trying to navigate around DC, but it was a lot more pleasant. He arrived at McGuire Air Force Base, checked into the Visiting Officers' Quarters, had dinner at the Officer's Club, and went to bed. On Monday morning at 8AM Ted left the VOQ and found his way to the building housing the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. He was in uniform, but the two OSI agents, a man named Biggs and a woman named Colatti were in civilian clothes.

  They drove a government Ford Taurus to the police precinct at JFK airport. "It always pays to let the locals know that we're around." Biggs explained. The explanation that the three of them, with Ted in his blue Class A uniform, were checking on aircraft tires, made them uninteresting and invisible to the local cops.

  They found the same thing with the local airline maintenance people. As soon as a maintenance supervisor heard that Ted was "checking on tires", he was routed further and further from the offices and toward the flight line shops.

  Finally, Ted was stopped by a guy he had to look up to with grey hair and broad shoulders. Ted almost laughed out loud. Ed Glover was the archetype of the typical ass-kicking flight line senior NCO. He confirmed it by saying,"What can I do for you Colonel?"

  "Mr. Glover, on the morning of 9/1 1 you had an airplane that had a maintenance abort because of multiple flat tires. That's so unusual that I got sent out here to see if there was anything we can learn."

  Glover looked Ted in the eye and wrinkled his nose as if he smelled bullshit. "They sent a rated Lieutenant Colonel out here to ask about tires?Who did you piss off to get this detail?"

  "Hey, what can I say?Somebody thinks it's important. Make my day, Chief, tell me about it."Even if Glover wasn't a retired Chief Master Sergeant, he would take the promotion.

  "Well, it was spooky. Twelve of them tires. Good one minute and flat the next."

  "What did you find when you changed them out?" Ted asked.

  "They weren't shot. At least not by a gun. I can tell you that. I've seen tires hit by gun fire and shrapnel.That was the first thing I thought of with everything else going on that day. It wasn't that way with these tires. They were more like melted."

  "Did you find anything in the tires?"Ted kept pressing.

  "Yeah. Makes no sense. But look here. I kept 'em."

  Glover led the way across a hangar to a tool locker. He used a key from a large ring, opened a locked drawer, and pulled out a brown craft envelope. He lifted the flap and slid a dozen glass beads into the palm of his calloused hand. Most of them had melted rubber stuck to them.

  "Glass beads. I don't know if they got into the tires when they were mounted on the wheels or what. I haven't really wanted to tell anybody until I figure it out."

  "Do you think I could take one of those and show it around?"Ted knew what he was seeing. These were the fuzed quartz beads from the Project. He wanted at least one for analysis. "Maybe I'll come across somebody who has an idea."

  Ted shook Glover's hand and left with one bead in his pocket. He passed the time with the OSI agents in small talk on the way back to McGuire Air Force Base. It was almost noon when Ted left the base heading south.

  As he drove, he reached for his phone intending to call both Bill Wirtz and Sally, but then he stopped. He thought that it was difficult to monitor cell phone calls, but he wasn't sure. He was positive that the Project had stopped American Flight 43 on the ground before it left on the morning of 9/1 1. He was suspicious that the Project had something to do with United Flight 93 going down over Pennsylvania. That meant that they were somehow involved in the deaths of

  innocents. Perhaps the deaths were inevitable, but this was too creepy.

  He tried to use logic. If someone in control of the Project had used the Project's resources to somehow take down United Flight 93 over Pennsylvania -the NASA anti-satellite shotgun blast of beads ahead of the plane came to mind -then since they apparently successfully stopped whatever event they were trying to stop, they didn't need to do it. So, in his present timeline they never took over the Project and wouldn't be monitoring calls. Maybe. He needed to talk it all over with Sally, Bill, and the Colonel, but it would have to be face-to-face and secure.

  As he got closer to Washington, he took 295 through the heart of the city. Near Anacostia he cut over to the freeway that parallels Independence Avenue. He could see the dome of the Capitol building looking pristine and glimmering in the sunshine.Traffic slowed to a crawl on 395 heading south past the Pentagon. The side of the Pentagon where American Flight 77 hit, by the heliport, wasn't visible, from 395, but he couldn't see any smoke rising from the building. He did see an army of construction vehicles moving around the Mall and River entrances and slowing traffic on Washington Boulevard.

  "Why?" he wondered out loud. "Why would the Project have stopped American Flight 43 and probably United Flight 93, but not American Flight 77 that went into the Pentagon?"

  When he got back home and found Patrick sound asleep, he and Sally sat in their backyard and talked about next steps. Ted woke up Bill Wirtz when he called to tell him that they would be in Homestead by mid morning. Bill seemed guarded in his reply. "That would be good." was all he said.

  FLY OUT AND BACK

  Tuesday, September 25, 2001

  0830 Eastern

  Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina

  * * *

  Excerpt from the Personal Narrative of

  Major General Ted Arthurs

  Recorded April 2008

  UNCLASSIFIED

  "It is a great thing when leaders step forward. As it happened, The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs was a Cavalry officer. He sure led the charge that saved our day."

  * * *

  Ted didn't think they were going to find anything dangerous, but he and Sally decided to leave Patrick in the care of squadron friends at Seymour Johnson. They had him settled and were at the base aero club by 8:30AM. Ted had made a reservation for the aero club's Diamond DA-40XL. The nearly new aircraft made from composite fiber was a contribution to the base flying club from the Drug Enforcement Agency. It was confiscated in a major drug raid with the help of Air Force units based at Seymour Johnson and the rumor was that the DEA often borrowed it back when they needed an aircraft with plain civilian markings.

  The DA-40 cruised at 150 knots and could carry four adults. It would make the trip down to Homestead a short hop instead of a long drive. Since it was an Air Force aero club aircraft, it could land at Homestead Air Base without the otherwise necessary prior approval.

  They followed the coast for a little more than four hours. At six thousand feet they had a beautiful view of the coastline of Georgia and Florida. When they landed at Homestead, Ted was surprised when the follow-me truck took them to a hangar at the far end of the runway. The door of the hangar was down, but a pedestrian door was open and Colonel Landry, in full uniform including his round "wheel hat", was standing in the doorway.

  As Ted put the chocks under the wheels of the Diamond DA-40, he noticed that Air Force security police trucks were sitting discretely near the two corners of the hangar he could see. He walked with Sally to the Colonel and saluted. Landry saluted crisply and said, "We have company. Big brass. I gave them a tour and now they're chatting. They told me to bring you in when you arrived."

  "Big brass?" Ted asked.

  "The biggest." was Landry's only reply as he led the way through the hangar.

  Inside the hangar Ted saw a shining Air Force C-20, known to the rest of the world as a Gulfstream III. He identified it as belonging to the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews Air Force Base. Security police and maintenance personnel were alert and busy around the aircraft.

  The Colonel led them to a door at the side of the hangar labeled "Training". Obviously, it was
a classroom for the line maintenance people. He knocked lightly, opened the door, and entered. Since he left the door open, Sally and Ted followed.

  The classroom was arranged with tables in a hollowsquare. Two men sat at the far side of the square talking. Because they were absorbed in their discussion, Ted suppressed the instinct to come to attention and salute. He had seen both of their pictures hanging from squadron walls and in magazines and newspapers. Lowly Lieutenant Colonels don't often get to see a private discussion between the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. The two four star generals were flanked by one star generals wearing Class A uniforms and the aiguillette, the gold rope, of aide-de-camp to a four star general.

  The Chairman noticed them and turned. "General," Colonel Landry said, "This is Colonel Arthurs and his wife Sally."

  The Chairman nodded at them and said "What did you find out about that flight that never took off from New York?"

  "It was clearly done by the Project. " Ted replied. As he spoke he pulled a small envelope out of his pocket. He rolled the glass bead out on the table. One of the brigadier generals picked it up, looked at it briefly, and handed it to the Chairman. "This bead is one of a bunch that the airline

  maintenance people recovered. They had a dozen tires go out on the jet simultaneously. They were melted. That's definitely one of our fuzed quartz beads."

  "But you, none of you, have no memory, no knowledge of doing it?"

  Ted paused for a moment to see if Colonel Landry would interject, but when the Colonel was quiet, he continued."No Sir. We don't have any knowledge because we really didn't do it. At least not in this timeline that we are aware of."

  The Chairman waved his hand. "Yeah. I've heard the discussion. I'd rather hear incoming artillery than think about it again." He paused. "Look, here's the deal. This time transportation capability is damn near a WMD. A weapon of mass destruction. It is certainly a special weapon. There are factions in Washington who want to get hold of it. The SecDef stopped them cold, but he can't stop them from thinking and scheming. We know how to handle special weapons. We have procedures for management and for funding. But, since you folks are the closest to the operation, we want to hear what you've got to say. Missus Arthurs, you first. You know how this works and what it can do. What should we do with it."

  Sally didn't even need a moment to think. "I said it before. First, do no harm.You can't do just one thing. Anything you do, anything we do is likely to have unforeseen consequences."

  "Okay, good wisdom. Colonel?" he said, looking at Ted. Ted had thought this through before. He said, "This

  technology came from university research. We first ran into it in Indonesia. It's high tech, but a lot of the world is high tech. We need some defense. Some way to know if time transportation is being used. Put the button under two man control, but we need some sensors and strategic warning."

  "Colonel Landry? Any thoughts along that line?"

  "There are some ideas for detectors that we've kicked around. But it's been difficult to discuss because of the sensitivity of the topic. We need help from Scandia Labs and other places with the right security."

  The Chairman thought for about fifteen seconds. "The Project can stay here?" he asked the Air Force Chief of Staff.

  "Yeah, it's a good place for them." Those were the only words Ted and Sally had heard him speak.

  "Colonel Landry, you stay in charge. You'll have an administrative line to DARPA and a command and control line to the Office of the JCS. I don't want you to lose that DARPA funding. But listen to me, there will be no operational time transportation, no hot BBs, without a direct order from me. Got it?"

  "Loud and clear, Sir." Landry replied.

  At this point his Brigadier General aide handed the Chairman a note he had quickly written on the pad where he was taking notes. "Ah," the Chairman said. "General Rigney

  has again proven his worth. Colonel Arthurs, you're out of here. We're about to clear the Taliban out of Afghanistan and we need every operator we can get. I understand you have special forces experience?"

  Although no one else would notice it, Ted heard Sally suck in her breath. But, before he could reply, the Brigadier General said something that sounded like "No Feeba."

  "Oh yeah." The Chairman said. "If this time transport thing is a special weapon and you have knowledge of a special weapon, then you don't get to go within forty miles of the FEBA, the Forward Edge of the Battle Area. That's okay. I think that limitation applies to half of the Air Force, doesn't it, General?"

  The question was directed at the Air Force Chief of Staff who shook his head, rolled his eyes, and said "You won't be a shooter, but we can find work for you."

  Ted noticed Sally's left hand relax its grip on the table.

  The Chairman glanced again at the note. "How about Missus Arthurs stays on as a GS? She can work mostly from home. We'll give her some offline encryption software. Would that work?"

  This time Colonel Landry replied. "That would be a smart thing to do. She's thought about the problems and has a good understanding of the technology and its use."

  Sally didn't think any of that was true, but she wasn't about to say so.

  The Chairman had one more thought. "Colonel Landry. From this point forward it's all about strategic warning. Find a way to find out when and where someone is doing this.We have to know if time transportation is being used against us and, I guess, if it's being used at all."

  With that, the four generals nodded to each other and marched out of the room. By the time they were halfway across the hangar the doors were opening and the C-20s right engine was spooling up. Ted quickly looked outside to see that the rented DA-40 had been moved to make a clear path for the Special Mission Jet.

  Ted and Colonel Landry saluted the Jet as it was pushed out. After it was clear, Bill Wirtz walked in through the hangar door. "The security left, so I guess it was okay to come in?" Landry nodded waved them all back into the classroom.

  "We have a lot of thinking and consulting to do." Landry said when they had the door closed. Bill, I'll need your ideas. Ted is back to flying. Sally is consulting, and we're defending. We're going to need help."

  Almost on cue, the air shimmered and there was a hollow pop in the room. A shiny object appeared on the table and started it smoking. Sally grabbed a half empty Coke can and emptied the contents on the object. The Coke sputtered and sweet steam filled the air.After it had cooled for a moment, everyone bent down to see what had arrived.

  This glittering object was a cube, not a sphere. It was almost an inch on each side. Looking down from the top Ted saw an image trapped inside. It was a tiny still picture of

  the four of them standing in the hangar's classroom. Words were overlaid on each opaque side of the cube.

  "Follow the Light" Colonel Landry read out loud from his side.

  "Pattern recognition." Bill read. Ted said, "Home Pool Advantage." "What's that about?" Bill asked.

  "It's what my high school swimming coach used to shout at us. He told us we couldn't lose a home meet because we had a home pool advantage."

  Sally read her side of the cube and got a wonderful look on her face. "I'm pregnant." She said.

  FORWARD TO BOOK III

  This third part of the series has action and fun. By now you know the rules. Check the dates and listen to what the characters tell you.

  Not quite as many twists and turns in time as we had in the second section. Ted complained that he was getting whiplash from jumping timelines. In this book we have a little more good versus evil... in relative terms.

  Frank Derfler

  Islamorada, FL 2008

  GLINT IN TIME : BOOK III

  2007-2011 FRANK J DERFLER

  * * *

  * * *

  FOR LOVE AND FOR MONEY

  Thursday, February 28, 2007

  1100 JST

  Downtown Sapporo, Japan

  * * *

  Excerpt from the Perso
nal diary of Montana State Senator William G. "Willy" Abrahamson.

  Approximate date, March 1, 2007

  "...Isho was the perfect host. It was good to discuss things man to man."

  * * *

  illy Abrahamson couldn't consider himself as a tall person.The first time he walked through the airport in Tokyo in 1978 he felt a kinship of height with the people around him despite their other vast cultural differences. The average young Japanese had grown since then, Willy thought it was probably the effect of vitamins, but he still looked the average Japanese businessman right in the eye. He was always happy to be in Japan.

  As a young man of 22, he had followed Mike Mansfield from Montana to Japan when the former Senator Mansfield had become the US Ambassador to Japan. Because of his hard work in raising money in Great Falls, and his need to leave the state for a while, Willy had picked up a political job at the US consulate in Sapporo on the northern island

  of Hokkaido. It wasn't much of a job, but it got him out of Montana for a few years while the complaints against him about campaign finance irregularities and shake-downs died out.

  He returned to Montana in 1982 and worked hard for the national elections of 1984. His reward was getting sponsorship to run for the Montana state legislature. According to the state constitution, the legislature only meets in odd-numbered years for 90 day periods. Each of those periods is packed with action that is carefully orchestrated many months before. Typically, no party has a big majority in the state House or Senate and often each party controls one side of the legislature. A lot of horse trading and political maneuvering goes on all the time.

  The idea of the authors of the Montana state constitution was to create "citizen legislators" who only had to leave their farms and ranches for 90 days every two years to govern. In practice, they created a small class of full-time politicians who wielded the real power. As a senior state senator, Willy was on the top of the stack right now. That's why this meeting gave him so much pleasure. It was about both love and money.