by J. W. Huemme
Chapter Twelve
Thinning the Herd
The computer knew that it would have to expend a tremendous amount of energy to perform the tasks necessary in stopping Operation Down-size. It would need its power systems at full capacity. “There are only a few hours before we must begin. It will be necessary for me to charge my power cells to their full capacity.”
Christopher looked puzzled. “How do you do that?”
“There are several sources of energy which I am capable of storing. The simplest and most available to me here is your sun. We are in route there as we speak. The closer I am to the source, the stronger the energy and the faster I am able to store it.”
“How do you store energy?” Cindy asked.
“The closest thing you could relate it to would be your batteries. My means of storing energy is different and far more advanced. Simply put, I do it by accelerating the molecules of the liquid metal. Not unlike your sun, it is a fusion reaction. As I expend energy, the core temperature drops and the molecules slow down. When I absorb energy, it raises the temperature and the molecules speed up. It’s an efficient means of storing energy. It can absorb energy from a variety of energy sources besides solar radiation. For that matter, almost any form of radiation is capable of adding power. Another method is charging the cells by adding hydrogen atoms, which are scooped up as I travel through open space. It is able to absorb large amounts of energy in a very short time.”
“Would it be possible to see this device?” Cindy asked.
“No. Not directly. I can show you a projection of the process, but you would gain nothing from it. The technology requires kelvinite and it is far beyond anything you are capable of comprehending. It would be like showing a schematic of one of your shuttle’s rocket engines to a Neanderthal. You are not quite ready to understand that level of technology yet.”
Although Christopher and Cindy knew the computer had a point, they couldn’t’ help but feel a little humiliated. They were fast becoming accustomed to the craft and its capabilities, but they were always aware of the advanced technologies they were dealing with. With the craft’s cells fully charged, the computer returned to the third planet.
Zero hour had arrived, or the time for Christopher, Cindy, and the computer to go into action in an effort to stop Operation Down-size. The first step in their multi-faceted plan was to seal all of the launch doors on the missile silos around the world. The majority of these were located in America and Russia.
They started with the American silos. Following a predetermined game plan, the computer maneuvered the craft to the first site on the East Coast. In total stealth mode, the computer positioned itself directly over the silo launch door atop the ballistic missile and began to melt the edge of the launch door using a high-powered laser. In an effort to minimize the amount of detectable smoke that would otherwise be visible as the metal was heated to the melting point by the craft’s laser, the computer fired the laser not in a continuous beam, but rather in short pulses. It took about two minutes to completely seal the door atop the missile, rendering it useless and trapping it in its tall cylindrical lair. Inspecting its progress as it went, the computer moved on to the next silo door when it was satisfied that it had completed its task.
While the computer went about its work, it displayed its progress as it went along, allowing Christopher and Cindy to track it. The craft moved almost too fast to follow just watching. The precision of its movements were nothing short of amazing. From one silo to the next, the computer guided the craft, sealing one silo door after another. As each door was sealed in its closed position, Christopher and Cindy kept track of the progress until it seemed the computer skipped a very large area of silos.
“Computer, you are aware that you have skipped over a large number of silos, aren’t you?”
“Yes. There’s a problem in that area. There is a thick fog on the ground. The laser would still be just as effective, but unfortunately it would also be quite visible to the naked eye. The risk of the laser being noticed by one of the soldiers in the silos on a video monitor is too great. We will have to return to this area later in the day after the fog has had a chance to burn off. There should be sufficient time.”
The three continued on their quest, traveling from one silo to the next, on every continent of the planet. Returning to those skipped after finishing with the rest. Upon their return, they found the fog had burned off completely, allowing them to finish the job. Three hours and thirty-one minutes total. Just four minutes over the projected three hours and twenty-seven minutes. The four-minute delay caused by the early morning fog posed no serious problem.
Now for the next step in their plan: sealing the missile hatches on all of the submarines. Following the projected positions of the submarines determined by the earlier scans, the computer wasted no time arriving at the location of the first target.
The computer explained the procedure as it began the operation. “The particle beam power and duration is determined by allowing for the water temperature, salinity, currents, and any marine life that may stray into the beam—not only the depth of the submarine, but the slight depth variations caused by the surface wave action. For instance, in five feet of sea, the depth will vary as much as ten feet with each passing wave, not to mention matching perfectly the submarine’s course and speed. If it should happen to be raining over any of the submarines, I will have to allow for the number and density of the drops of rain. If the calculations are not precise, the particle beam will not seal the hatches but rather just punch holes in them. A very ineffective and detectable result.”
Both Christopher and Cindy were able to appreciate the complexities of the task. As with the land-based missile silos, they watched and kept track of the computer’s progress. They were amazed to see that the submarines, mostly hundreds of feet below the water, were visible on the screen as if they were sitting on the surface. The computer had the ability to look through the water as if it weren’t even there. Aboard the submarines it was business as usual. The computer’s handiwork went completely unnoticed. The computer wasted no time moving from one vessel to the next. The earlier scans were turning out to be an invaluable aid in locating the submarines.
They were ahead of schedule, finishing the task in only six hours eighteen minutes, a little more than an hour less than the projected time. They had successfully sealed the missile tube hatches on every submarine at sea.
The next phase of their plan was to disable the aircraft on the ground. It had been decided that a narrow laser beam directed through the near center of the aircraft’s jet power plant would be the most effective. This would require a total replacement of the aircraft’s jet engine. There were spares available but not enough to replace every engine at the same time, not to mention time and the personnel required to perform the task. The computer had projected that this method could be expected to ground at least ninety-three percent of the aircraft in the world capable of delivering the necessary payload.
The computer put the guided craft into action. It would hover directly in front of the target aircraft’s engine, in stealth mode of course, and fire a short, narrow, and very powerful burst of its laser, leaving a hole about the size of pencil lead right through the engine’s bearings, and a few other intricate parts, turning it into a very expensive paperweight in a fraction of a second. This damaging effect would go undiscovered until the time came to start the aircraft’s engine in preparation for take-off. When the pilot tried to start the engine, or engines, of his aircraft, he would be welcomed by a vast array of warning lights that would make his instrument panel resemble a well decorated Christmas tree. He would be forced to immediately shut the engine down to avoid the risk of an explosion.
The entire process didn’t take any longer than the other phases of their plan already executed. If the situation wasn’t so grave, Christopher would have smiled at the thought of the pilots trying to start their aircraft only to be greeted by so many flashing warning ligh
ts and alarms. The gravity of the situation would only allow him to place his thoughts on the next task at hand. There would be plenty of time for humor later, providing they succeeded.
The next task would be much faster and easier. Arriving at the position of the first surface ship, the craft hovered about a thousand feet directly above it. It took less than a second for the computer to send an EMP rendering every piece of electric equipment on the vessel completely useless. On board the effected ship, it was total chaos as messenger after messenger arrived on the bridge to report their section’s total system failure. Those that were nuclear powered were under a bit more pressure than the others. It would soon become apparent to the ship’s captains that their ships had experienced a total ship-wide systems failure. Everything that could be done manually was done. It was all most of them could do just to go forward and steer. This was repeated through the oceans of the world until each and every military surface vessel was disabled. The ship’s bases grew more panic-stricken as contact was lost with ship after ship until after only about thirty minutes, they had lost contact with every ship that was to take part in Operation Down-size.
The panic quickly spread amongst those involved in Operation Down-size. They couldn’t even begin to guess what might be the cause of this sudden loss of communication with the surface vessels. They moved quickly to eliminate several possibilities, including natural phenomena. Perhaps it was the Russians? They claimed to be experiencing the same problem, but could they truly trust their former enemies of the Cold War? The military’s intelligence ruled out any possibility of a thermonuclear detonation; they would have picked up such an event as it happened. This ruled out an EMP, or so they thought. The reality of the situation was something far beyond their wildest dreams.
Chapter Thirteen
The Big Dog Barks
It was quiet on what appeared to be a day like any other day. At least it seemed that way on the surface. Unsuspecting people were on their way to work. Flight crews wheeled aircraft from their hangars onto the tarmac beginning to prepare them for what most of them thought was another day of routine flights. Behind the closed doors of military leaders around the world, ceaseless efforts were continuing to try to make sense of the sudden and total loss of communication with their entire fleets. Reconnaissance aircraft were just arriving on the scene of several of the disabled ships. They were able to communicate using the old Morse code, utilizing flashing lights to relay their predicament. The pilots then radioed the information back to base. They had been able to establish communication with the submarines and were able to verify they appeared to be unaffected. When they received the reports from the reconnaissance aircraft, they were relieved to find the ships were still afloat and the crews were all well. They were puzzled with the reports of ship-wide system failures. There were no signs of any nuclear detonations. As far as they knew, they still had land-based missiles, submarines, and the aircraft to do the job.
“I’ve never seen one of these before. Any idea what it is, Sergeant?” the private asked of his immediate superior.
“It’s supposed to be some new kind of computerized test bomb. It supposedly sends all the telemetry back through a satellite or something while it’s falling. At least that’s what they told me,” the sergeant replied.
“I thought they were making computers smaller. This thing is awfully big,” the private remarked.
“Our job is just to load them; we don’t have to know what they do.” The sergeant added.
They continued to roll the cart with the odd-looking bomb out to where the aircraft were sitting on the tarmac. Once to the assigned aircraft, they carefully loaded the ordinance into the belly of the aircraft.
“Good morning,” the pilot said as he walked up to the aircraft to do his traditional visual inspection before boarding the aircraft.
“Good morning, sir,” the sergeant replied. “How’s the new baby, sir?”
“Little guys doing terrific,” the pilot responded as he walked around the aircraft looking everything over. Satisfied that all was in order, the pilot climbed up into the cockpit and the sergeant helped with the job of strapping the pilot into place. This was only one of a long row of aircraft preparing for their flights this morning.
“Captain’s on the bridge,” the sailor announced as the captain entered the bridge of the nuclear submarine.
“How are we doing?” the captain asked his second-in-command.
“We’re right on schedule, sir. We should arrive at the designated coordinates in one hour and twenty minutes.”
“Very good. Any surface contacts?”
“Sonar is clear all the way around. Looks like we’re the only fish in the sea,” the second-in-command joked.
“Just the way I like it,” the captain responded. “When was the last missile drill?”
“Less than an hour ago, sir,” the second in command responded.
“What was their time?” asked the captain.
“One minute thirty-seven seconds.”
“Very good. I guess we’re ready for anything. I’m going to the mess for some coffee. You have the bridge.”
“Captain’s off the bridge,” the sailor said. As the captain left the bridge, the second-in-command went back to checking the ship’s course and speed. There was to be no room for error this day.
Back at the airfields, the pilots began to start the jet engines of their aircraft. Instantly their consoles began flashing warning lights of all kinds. They immediately shut down the aircraft and notified their superiors of the situation. Several of the aircraft were pulled back into their hangars and the problems assessed. As quickly as humanly possible, the engines on several of the aircraft were replaced with as many spares as were available. They were only able to repair a small percentage of the aircraft in time for them to be of any use for Operation Down-size.
At military headquarters, those in charge were beginning to realize the possibility of sabotage. It was too coincidental that the aircraft would be damaged at the same time as the loss of systems of the surface ships. They were unable to conclude how this could have been accomplished or who could have learned of Operation Down-size. They believed it had to be a well-organized group of military secretly opposed to the operation. Who it was, however, no longer mattered.
They had decided to go forward with the operation. They still had the land-based missiles and the submarines, and a small percentage of the aircraft was receiving replacement engines and would be ready in enough time to complete their task. They would, for the most part, still have an effective force. There would be a slightly larger number of survivors than previously planned, but it should still be a manageable number. The word went out to proceed as planned with Operation Down-size.
“I suppose it would have been too much to hope for them to cancel the operation completely,” Christopher said as he and Cindy watched the display of one of the implanted generals.
“I never really thought they would,” Cindy added.
“Computer, have you detected any airborne aircraft yet?”
“No, not yet,” the computer responded.
“Christopher, when this is all over, let’s go somewhere and spend some time, just the two of us. Maybe we could find a cabin in the woods or something. I know we’ve been together these last few weeks, but with all that’s going on, we really haven’t had much time to get to know each other better,” Cindy reflected.
Christopher replied, “I know just what you mean. A cabin in the woods sounds like a terrific idea. I’m sure we can manage that. You know, Cindy, I’ve been so involved in my work for as long as I can remember that I’ve never really taken the time to really care for anyone like I do for you,” Christopher said, blushing a little.
Cindy took his hand and held it lovingly. “I feel the same way. I guess I was just waiting for someone special like you.”
“Christopher, Cindy, I am detecting aircraft beginning to take off at several locations,” the computer interrupted.
“All right then, let’s go to work,” Christopher said. The computer guided the craft to the location of the closest airborne aircraft and positioned the craft directly beneath it. The computer instantly went to work welding the aircraft’s Bombay doors shut using a laser beam. In a matter of seconds, the job was complete and it was on to the next aircraft, where the procedure was repeated. The computer continued with each aircraft until each and every aircraft had been rendered useless. Not having a clue as to what had been done to their aircraft, the pilots continued on with their mission.
Now it was time to put Christopher’s idea into action. The computer positioned the craft about fifty yards directly in front of one of the fighter bombers, matching his course and speed exactly. The computer then disengaged stealth mode, allowing the craft to become completely visible not only to the pilot of the aircraft, but to radar as well.
“Eagle-seven to Base!” the pilot called in a panic. “Eagle seven to base! Come in!”
“Eagle-seven, this is Base. Go ahead.”
“It’s right in front of me! It’s right there!” the pilot replied in a panic.
“Eagle-seven, what’s right in front of you? Over.”
“It’s a UFO, an alien spacecraft of some kind. It’s about seventy, maybe eighty feet across. It’s all shiny like polished metal. It’s round and saucer-shaped!”