by J. W. Huemme
“All right. That will take care of the land based missiles. Now we need to work on the submarine based missiles. Computer, how many submarines are there worldwide capable of launching ballistic missiles?”
“Thirty-nine,” the computer responded.
Christopher went on, “I have to assume those submarines have already been refitted with the neutron warheads and will remain submerged until they launch, and for some time after I would imagine. Computer, is it possible to do the same thing to the missile hatches on the submarines?”
“No. the use of a laser beam would be impractical. The beam would reflect off the surface, and what it did penetrate would be refracted beyond use. It will require a different method, but it can be done. Use of a particle beam would be the most effective. It will penetrate the water like a laser does the air.”
“How much time will be required?”
“A maximum of seven hours twenty-three minutes. The actual time will be less, but I will have to scan their positions several hours before launch time for their current positions, at which time I can give you a more precise time frame.”
“That leaves just the aircraft to deal with,” Cindy surmised.
“I just thought of something. Even though they never made mention of it, they will undoubtedly use surface ships to launch cruise missiles. We’ll have to somehow disable them as well, but how?” Christopher pondered.
“That one is easy,” the computer offered. “I can disable their electronic control systems, as well as their guidance systems in the missiles themselves with an EMP similar to that produced by your nuclear devices.”
“That will work,” Christopher replied. “They’ll be under radio silence, and too far away from anything else to be of any threat. After the pulse, they won’t have the ability to communicate at all, short of waving flags at each other. That takes care of everything but the aircraft.”
“I hate to say this at a time like this,” Cindy interrupted, “but I’m starving. I haven’t eaten a thing for quite a while now. What I wouldn’t give for a pepperoni pizza.”
Christopher turned to Cindy. “I’m sorry. I guess we’ve been at this for hours. Now that you mention it, I haven’t eaten for some time either. We could both probably use a break, and a pepperoni pizza sounds like just the ticket. Computer, have you got any tricks up your sleeve for this one?” There was a pause. Christopher commented, “You can save the world, but you can’t order a pizza?”
“I didn’t say I couldn’t order one. It’s getting it delivered that’s the problem.”
Christopher and Cindy both laughed. “No problem, we can call in the order at a remote pizza place, then in stealth mode, set down behind it and shift me out when nobody’s around. I can just go around to the front, walk in, and get the pizza. Do you still have my old clothes?”
“That won’t be necessary. Your suit is made from my metal and can take on any appearance,” the computer responded.
“Then it’s settled. Let’s find an out of the way pizza joint and order us some dinner.”
“What are you going to use for money?” Cindy asked.
“I’ll make you a credit card to use for the purchase,” the computer responded.
“And what would you like to drink with your pizza?” he asked Cindy.
“A soda.”
“I’ve selected an appropriate location and placed the order. The young lady who took the order said it would be ready in about twenty minutes,” the computer reported.
“Terrific. Do you think we can get there that fast?” Christopher joked.
It was not a very busy night at the pizza palace. The craft set down in the back, and Christopher was shifted out. He walked around to the front and into the pizza palace.
“Can I help you?” the young girl behind the counter asked.
“Carry out for Adams. Could I also get a couple of sodas with that?” The girl retrieved a box being kept warm on top of the oven and grabbed a couple of sodas from the cooler.
“That will be twelve thirty-one all together, and be careful—it just came out of the oven so it’s really hot.”
Christopher paid for the pizza and sodas, thanked the lady and returned to the rear of the building. He was shifted back into the craft. Once inside, he asked the computer, “Can you give us a table and chairs?” The computer responded with a scene right out of an Italian restaurant, checkered tablecloth and all. “Perfect,” Christopher said as he set the pizza and sodas on the table.
After enjoying their pizza, it was back to work. They had what would prove to be the final and most difficult phase of their plan to work out yet. They had to figure out a way to stop the aircraft.
“Unfortunately, we can’t just seal the Bombay doors shut on all the aircraft while they’re in the air. There wouldn’t be enough time to be sure of getting to all of them before they dropped their payloads. So we’ll have to think of another approach. We don’t want anyone to get hurt in the process, so we can’t just blow them out of the sky. It would be nice if we could disable them on the ground in such a way that they wouldn’t have enough time to repair them, say, something like a narrow particle beam shot through the entire aircraft including the engine.”
“That would be a simple procedure,” the computer remarked. “They would still be able to get some of them airworthy.”
“If we were able to ground most of them, wouldn’t that be enough to stop them?” Cindy asked.
“No. They will still be under the impression that they have land-based missiles and the submarines as well. A few less aircraft wouldn’t be enough to stop the entire operation. We must stop every single aircraft.”
After a moment of silence, Cindy spoke up. “If we can’t keep all of them on the ground, isn’t there some way we could convince the ones in the air not to go through with dropping their payload?”
Christopher exclaimed, “Cindy, you’re a genius! There won’t be that many aircraft in the air, so we can deal with each one of them one at a time. What would happen if we…,” Christopher went on to explain what he had in mind. Cindy and the computer both agreed it would be a little risky, but it was the best chance they had. So it was decided. They had a workable plan.
Chapter Eleven
Computer Eyes
Christopher and Cindy felt safe in assuming that the American leaders would play the key role in the organization of Operation Down-size. They assumed the President would be notified just in time to reach the appropriate shelter by those in charge of the actual planning of the operation. They would need more advance notice than that if their plan was to work. The military leaders would be the obvious targets. They would be the ones making the decisions behind the scenes for Operation Down-size. They would start with the top generals. Their first choice was General Harding, the general who gave Christopher and Cindy’s Operation Down-size orientation. He was obviously heavily involved, and no doubt, one of the decision makers. The computer was able to locate the general quite easily. All they had to do was to wait until nighttime when the general was fast asleep.
Being an early riser, General Harding was fast asleep by eleven that evening. The computer located him at the Operations Center at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. In preparation for the procedure, the computer transformed the craft’s interior once again.
“I have formed a separate room where both of you can observe the procedure. It is necessary that I maintain completely sterile conditions throughout the procedure. Also the room must be filled with a gas, which would render both of you unconscious. This is necessary for two reasons. First, it will prevent the general from waking up during the procedure, and second, the device is designed to instantly dissolve when exposed to your atmosphere. This is a safeguard against being accidentally discovered during any surgical procedures. I will require no assistance. The general will remain unconscious throughout the procedure, which will take only two minutes. The general will remember nothing, nor will he realize he has been implanted. The imp
lant is not detectable by any of your current technology. If you will enter the observation room, I will seal the door and fill this area with the appropriate gasses and get started.
Christopher and Cindy went into the observation room the computer had created and the door was sealed behind them.
They stood watching as a flat table-like slab rose from the floor in the middle of the room on the other side of the window from them. A few moments later, they saw the outline of the transparent general emerge from the wall and onto the window from them. He quickly became solid as the computer completed the shift. A long narrow arm formed out of the ceiling above the general, stopping a foot or so above his head. Instantly a brilliant blue beam seemed to scan the general’s head. The beam started at the tip of the device protruding from the ceiling and spread out to a flat line a little more than the width of the general’s head, starting at the top of his head scanning down and back up.
The entire scan took no more than a second. As quickly as the device had appeared, it disappeared back into the ceiling. Christopher and Cindy watched as another device seemed to grow out of the floor between them and the general’s head. As the device neared the general’s head, the tip of the device spread out to form the shape of the skull. Upon reaching the general’s head, the device settled against the side of his head. Then from the center of the device, a small narrow probe-like item, smaller in diameter than the lead of a pencil, was precisely inserted into the side of the skull just above the ear.
A moment later, the probe came back out, but the small tip was gone. Four brilliant blue beams focused on the point of incision. They rotated in a circle remaining focused on the same point. After about thirty seconds of this, the beams ceased, leaving no trace of an incision ever being made. The device separated from the general’s head and returned into the floor. A moment later the general began to turn transparent as the computer shifted him back to the bed where he was taken from.
A few seconds later, the computer returned the interior to its normal state with the addition of two chairs in front of a view screen. “Now watch,” the computer said, “as I create a noise to awaken the general in order to test the implant.”
Christopher and Cindy watched the dark blank screen. A moment later the screen blinked, or rather the general did. He awoke to see what the loud noise was and turned on the light next to his bed. “What the hell was that? Is somebody there?”
Christopher and Cindy were amazed. The view projected onto the screen was the general’s. It was as if they were behind his eyes, seeing exactly what he saw as he saw it. The door to the general’s room swung open. “Is everything all right, sir?” the young captain asked.
“I guess so. I just thought I heard something. I was probably just dreaming. Thank you, Captain.”
“Yes sir,” the young captain replied as he closed the door. The general took another look around the room, then shut the light off and went back to sleep. Christopher and Cindy were beside themselves. “This is fantastic. We can see and hear everything the general does!” Christopher exclaimed.
“We can just keep implanting top military officials until one of them discusses the date and time of the operation,” Cindy remarked.
They had a sit-down session with a list of all the top military leaders in the American military provided by the computer. It seemed obvious. They could just start at the top and keep working their way down until one of them supplied the information they needed. To maximize their time, they would start on the East Coast and work their way west until daybreak. This way they would gain an extra three hours each night. From the list, the computer would systematically select targets according to the location of the selected personnel, making their effort as efficient as possible.
Over the next several days, they continued implanting the selected targets, averaging almost two hundred a night. They had implanted every general in every branch of military service and were now implanting subordinates. They also implanted members of the government, including all the members of Congress, the Senate, and state governors.
Christopher and Cindy, after watching three or four implanting procedures, spent most all of their waking hours watching reruns of what the computer believed to be the most informative of the monitoring that pertained to Operation Down-size. The computer supplied them with a seemingly endless supply of images to review. In a day or two of viewing this endless stream of information, Christopher and Cindy compared notes. Between the two of them, they felt they knew everything there was to know about Operation Down-size, except the exact date and time. Some of the information enabled them to narrow it down to between four days and two weeks away. It was close enough for the computer to decide it was time to start making preliminary scans for the positions of the submarines and surface ships.
Christopher and Cindy were becoming dizzy from the nonstop viewing of monitored signals. “How long will it take you to scan for all of the submarines and surface ships?” Christopher asked the computer.
“Approximately three minutes.”
“Cindy and I need a break, so I thought while you do that, we might have a picnic. Let’s go to the area we were at before by the stream.”
“I don’t think leaving you two alone for any length of time is such a good idea.”
“We’re both wearing the suits, and if there’s any trouble, we can let you know and you can be here in a matter of seconds, right?”
“Yes,” the computer answered.
“All right then, if you’ll take us to someplace where we can get a bucket of chicken, we can get this picnic started.” Even though the computer had offered a small pill that taken once a day provided all of their daily nutritional requirements, Christopher and Cindy still preferred real food when the occasion allowed.
They had perfected slipping in and out of restaurants unnoticed. Once again they repeated the well-practiced procedure, and in no time were ready for a nice picnic.
Before shifting Christopher and Cindy out, the computer reminded them to notify it if there was any problem. “Yes, Mom,” Christopher said jokingly, as the computer began to shift them out. Once the shift was complete, Christopher and Cindy took their meal to what had become their favorite spot by the stream.
“You know,” Cindy commented, “your way of dealing with the aircraft that do manage to get airborne is right out of an old sci-fi movie. Don’t get me wrong, I really think it will be very effective. That’s one of the reasons I think it will work. It’s something the pilots will understand.”
“I can’t wait to see the look on their faces.”
“Yes, it’ll definitely be a Kodak moment.”
Cindy started. “What was that?” she asked.
“What? I didn’t hear any, wait—it sounds like a couple of dirt bikes, and they’re headed this way.”
“Should we notify the computer?”
“We don’t have to. I’m implanted. The computer already knows.”
With that, they both heard the computer say, “Preparing to shift you in now.” A few seconds later, they began to turn transparent, and in a flash they were inside the craft watching the dirt bikes arriving at their former position to find a half-eaten bucket of chicken.
“I’m telling you, I saw someone here. Look at this,” the rider said pointing at the bucket of chicken. He picked it up and took a piece from the bucket, held it up to his nose, and said, “It’s still warm. I told you there was somebody here.”
“Then where are they, huh?” another rider asked. They looked around at the rather flat area of their location seeing nothing.
“I don’t know. How do you suppose this chicken got here?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not sticking around to find out.” With that he started his bike and took off. The rider holding the bucket of chicken dropped it on the ground like a hot potato and took off after his riding companions.
Christopher and Cindy both laughed and Christopher turned and asked the computer, “Computer, just what is it I
’m supposed to do to ‘prepare to shift’?”
“It’s just fair warning,” the computer replied. Perhaps I might convince both of you to join me while I finish my scanning for naval vessels.”
“Sure, but I would have liked to finish our bucket of chicken,” Christopher added.
The computer finished his scan and then informed Christopher and Cindy, “I believe I have monitored one of our implants with the information we’ve been waiting for.”
“Show us what you’ve got,” Christopher responded.
A screen formed in front of where they were sitting and was with what the computer had monitored. They listened to the following dialogue gleaned from one of the generals: “We should have all of the aircraft in the air by eleven hundred hours. They will have reached their targets easily by twelve-thirty hours. Once they are on their targets, they will stand by while land and sea-based missiles are launched. They will be instructed to drop their payloads when they see the first mushroom cloud, then proceed to their rendezvous points for pick up. By thirteen-hundred hours, the planet should be a very quiet place. That only gives you three more days to switch the remaining computer files so the aircraft can load the proper ordinance. We don’t want any mistakes on this one. They’ll be no second chances. Am I making myself perfectly clear?”
“That’s it!” Christopher declared. “Three more days, let’s see, that will make it Tuesday at twelve-thirty hours. We’ve got it.”
He gave Cindy a big hug. “Computer, continue to monitor all of the implants for verification. We have to be absolutely sure.”
It didn’t take long for them to get verification. Over the next twenty-four hours they received no less than eighteen time and date conformations via the implants. Using this information, the computer formulated a timetable starting with the land-based missiles first, then the submarines, then the surface ships with an EMP, then the aircraft on the ground. Finally they would deal with the aircraft that were repaired and put into the air. The computer did a scan of all submarines and surface ships every twelve hours, plotting their course and speed, keeping track of their every movement. He had already plotted the shortest route to reach all of the land-based missile silos some time ago, in order to keep the time required to reach them all at a minimum.